The Department for Transport (DfT) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the transport network in England and for transport matters that are not devolved to the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 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.
In Northern Ireland, transport functions are largely devolved to the Department for Infrastructure, with the exception of Civil aviation and navigation, which remain reserved.
Publications
The department publishes policy papers, statistical releases, strategic plans, and its annual report and accounts.[2]
List of Public Bodies
The Department for Transport sponsors a total of 24 public bodies, including executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies and public corporations.
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:
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.[4][5]
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.[6][7]
Ministers
The DfT Ministers are as follows, with cabinet ministers in bold:[8]
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.
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
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
