DfT motivation
I think you ought to examine the motivation of the civil servants in the DfT. Their first priority is to protect the Secretary of State and the Minister. Their second and third priorities are the same as the first. Then, they desperately need to keep themselves out of any trouble. They must not get caught taking the blame for any decisions. Thus, they do their best to avoid decisions, unless those decisions enable them to blame someone else.
So why anyone on pprune looks to the DfT for sensible help is entirely beyond me.