The new transport secretary Mark Harper will appear before the transport committee for the first time on Wednesday (December 7).
The Conservative MP for will face questions from the committee alongside Dame Bernadette Kelly, permanent secretary at the Department for Transport, and Gareth Davies, second permanent secretary at the DfT.
Harper became the third transport secretary in less than two months as part of new prime minister Rishi Sunak’s ministerial reshuffle in late October.
Since his appointment, Harper has tweeted about his involvement and views on issues such as rail strikes, climate protestors, zero-emission shipping, the UK’s spaceport in Cornwall, the Elizabeth Line in London, HS2, Ukraine and travel for people with disabilities.
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He took over the role from Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who was appointed in early September by former prime minister Liz Truss.
When Trevelyan appeared before the committee in October, she said plans for a wide-ranging transport bill have been dropped. She was also quizzed about electric cars, powers for the CAA, flight cancellations and delays, the closure of Doncaster Sheffield airport and the withdrawal by India of e-visas for British visitors.
Topical issues the committee will raise on Wednesday include service cancellations by Northern Trains, Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express, as well as Network Rail’s planned engineering works on several major London routes over the Christmas holidays.
Harper will also be asked to explain the recent Budget announcement that electric vehicles will be subject to vehicle excise duty from 2025.
Furthermore, the cross-party committee may seek answers on the DfT’s potentially crowded legislative agenda before the next general election.
There may also be questions regarding ministers’ role in negotiating with trade unions and rail operators over forthcoming industrial action in mid-December and early January.
The former transport committee chair Huw Merriman was also made a transport minister as part of Sunak’s government reshuffle. The MP for Bexhill and Battle had been a high-profile figure in highlighting issues affecting aviation and transport during the pandemic.
Milton Keynes South MP Iain Stewart was elected as the new chair of the Commons transport committee last month.
Stewart has been a member of the transport committee for six years and was a transport parliamentary private secretary in 2023-15.
Grant Shapps, who oversaw the transport brief during the pandemic, is now business secretary.