Department for Transport

Department overview
Formed	29 May 2002; 23 years ago (2002-05-29)
Jurisdiction	England (wholly) Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales (limited powers)
Headquarters	Great Minster House, Horseferry Road, London
Annual budget	£2.9 billion; 2019–20[1]
Secretary of State responsible	Heidi Alexander MP, Secretary of State for Transport
Department executives	Jo Shanmugalingam, Permanent Secretary Vacant, Second Permanent Secretary
Child agencies	Active Travel England; Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency; Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency; Maritime and Coastguard Agency; Vehicle Certification Agency
Website	gov.uk/dft

The Department for Transport (DfT) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is wholly responsible for overseeing the transport network in England, and for limited transport matters that are not devolved to the governments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The department develops national transport policy, coordinates infrastructure investment, and regulates transport services. It is headed by the Secretary of State for Transport, who is supported by a ministerial team and the Permanent Secretary as the department’s most senior civil servant.

The department’s expenditure, administration and policy are scrutinised by the Transport Select Committee.

The department’s objectives are set out in its strategic and policy publications.^[2]

• Improve performance and reliability on the rail network.
• Support and grow bus services across England.
• Deliver major transport infrastructure and improve connectivity.
• Decarbonise transport and support the transition to net zero.
• Integrate transport modes to improve journey efficiency.

Transport policy is devolved in a number of areas, with certain matters remaining reserved to the UK Government.^[3] Some of the devolved matters for the Scottish Government, Northern Ireland Executive and Welsh Government are:^[4]

The three governments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales each have their own executive agencies responsible for transport – Transport Scotland (Scotland), Transport for Wales (Wales) and the Department for Infrastructure (Northern Ireland).

• Air transport (Wales and Scotland)
• Setting drink and drug-driving limits (Scotland)
• Speed limits (Scotland)
• Concessionary travel schemes (Scotland)
• Parking and cycling (Scotland)
• Driving and vehicle certification (Wales and Scotland)
• Navigation (including merchant shipping) (Wales and Scotland)
• Road signs (Scotland)
• Local road pricing (Scotland)
• Railways (cross-border services and infrastructure)
• Road numbering (Wales and Scotland)
• Promotion of road safety (Scotland)
• Transport security (Wales)

In Northern Ireland, transport functions are largely devolved to the Department for Infrastructure, with the exception of Civil aviation and navigation, which remain reserved.

The department publishes policy papers, statistical releases, strategic plans, and its annual report and accounts.^[2]

The Department for Transport sponsors a total of 24 public bodies, including executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies and public corporations.

Ministry of Transport Act 1919

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to establish a Ministry of Transport and for purposes connected therewith.
Citation	9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 50
Dates
Royal assent	15 August 1919
Status: Partially repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Ministry of Transport Act 1919 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Ministry of Transport was established by the Ministry of Transport Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 50) which provided for the transfer to the new ministry of powers and duties of any government department in respect of railways, light railways, tramways, canals and inland waterways, roads, bridges and ferries, and vehicles and traffic thereon, harbours, docks and piers.

In September 1919, all the powers of the Road Board, the Ministry of Health, and the Board of Trade in respect of transport, were transferred to the new ministry. Initially, the department was organised to carry out supervisory, development and executive functions, but the end of railway and canal control by 1921, and the settlement of financial agreements relating to the wartime operations of the railways reduced its role. In 1923, the department was reorganised into three major sections: Secretarial, Finance and Roads.

The ministry's functions were exercised initially throughout the United Kingdom. An Irish Branch was established in 1920, but then was taken over by the government of the Irish Free State on the transfer of functions in 1922.

The department took over transport functions of Scottish departments in the same year, though certain functions relating to local government, loan sanction, byelaws and housing were excepted. In May 1937, power to make provisional orders for harbour, pier and ferry works was transferred to the Secretary of State for Scotland.

The growth of road transport increased the responsibilities of the ministry, and in the 1930s, and especially with defence preparations preceding the outbreak of war, government responsibilities for all means of transport increased significantly.

Government control of transport and diverse associated matters has been reorganised a number of times in modern history, being the responsibility of:

• 1909–1919: Road Board
• 1919–1941: Ministry of Transport
• 1941–1946: Ministry of War Transport, after absorption of Ministry of Shipping
• 1946–1953: Ministry of Transport
• 1953–1959: Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation
• 1959–1970: Ministry of Transport
• 1970–1976: Department of the Environment
• 1976–1997: Department of Transport
• 1997–2001: Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
• 2001–2002: Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions
• 2002–present: Department for Transport

The name "Ministry of Transport" lives on in the annual MOT test, a test of vehicle safety, roadworthiness, and exhaust emissions, which most vehicles used on public roads in the UK are required to pass annually once they reach three years old (four years for vehicles in Northern Ireland).

Following a series of strikes, poor performance, concerns over access for the disabled and commuter protests relating to Govia Thameslink Railway, a group of commuters crowdfunded £26,000 to initiate a judicial review into the Department for Transport's management and failure to penalise Govia or remove the management contract. The oral hearing to determine if commuters have standing to bring a judicial review was listed for 29 June 2017 at the Royal Courts of Justice.^[5][6]

The attempted judicial review was not allowed to proceed, and the commuters who brought it had to pay £17,000 in costs to the Department for Transport.^[7][8]

The DfT Ministers are as follows, with cabinet ministers in bold:^[9]

Minister	Portrait	Position	Portfolio
Heidi Alexander MP		Secretary of State for Transport	Overall responsibility for the department; overarching responsibility for the departmental portfolio and oversight of the ministerial team; delivering the transport priorities of the government: making transport cheaper, greener, and more reliable; ensuring the transport network is safe and accessible; corporate functions such as oversight of departmental finance and public appointments.
Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill		Minister of State for Rail	Rail; light rail; London and TfL
Simon Lightwood MP		Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Roads and Buses	Roads; buses; accesibility; automated vehicles; motoring agencies
Lilian Greenwood MP		Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Transport	Local transport; active travel; violence against women and girls; taxis and private hire vehicles; road safety
Keir Mather MP		Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Aviation, Maritime and Decarbonisation	Aviation and airport expansion; maritime; decarbonisation and electric vehicles; freight and borders; security

The Permanent Secretary is Jo Shanmugalingam.^[10]

• Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport (1924–1970)
• Under-Secretary of State for Transport (1976–1997)

• Julie, a public information film of the department's "THINK!" campaign
• Transport Research Laboratory (formerly known as the Road Research Laboratory, then the Transport and Road Research Laboratory); now a privatised company
• Urban Traffic Management and Control
• Rail transport in Great Britain

•  This article incorporates text published under the British Open Government Licence: National Archives (1613–2010). "Records created or inherited by the Transport Ministries, and by related bodies, and by the London Passenger Transport Board". Retrieved 16 February 2021.

• Official website

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