Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to announce whether they will provide the remaining £6.2 million necessary to restore the Tyne Bridge.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

All capital funding within the Department for Transport is subject to internal review which is feeding into the Comprehensive Spending Review; the outcome of which will be known later this year.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the condition of Redheugh Bridge; and whether they intend to provide funding for its restoration.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Gateshead Council and Newcastle City Council, as local highway authorities, are responsible for the condition and maintenance of Redheugh Bridge through the Newcastle and Gateshead’s Joint Bridges Committee". Both Councils are members of the North-East Combined Authority (NECA).

The Department does not hold a central contingency fund to pay for repairs of this sort but is always willing to discuss with individual highway authorities what support might be available. At Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced an extra £500 million for local highway maintenance for the 2025/26 financial year, which will allow authorities to undertake more repairs of this sort. As part of the funding uplift, NECA will receive an additional £21.7 million, on top of its existing City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement. It is a matter for the Mayor to determine how to allocate this funding to NECA’s constituent authorities to allow them to maintain their highway networks, including bridges and other assets.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Rural England’s State of Rural Services 2025 report and what steps they are taking to improve access to services in rural areas.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government welcomes the work of the Rural England CIC and Professor Martin Phillips on their fourth State of Rural Services report. This important research underlines the importance of our commitment to improve the provision of services for rural communities going forward, including healthcare and education.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increasing A Level attainment gap between the North East and London and what steps they are taking to reduce this gap.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter where they are from. However, we know pupil attainment varies considerably across the country and between regions. These disparities are not acceptable.

Through the Opportunity Mission, the department will improve opportunities and life chances across the country for all children and young people.

High and rising standards are key to strengthening outcomes and closing gaps for every child and young person. We are driving these improvements through new regional improvement for standards and excellence teams, the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, and our commitment to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across secondary and special schools and in our colleges, over the course of this parliament.

Despite this, there is further work to do, which is why our schools and post-16 skills white papers later this year will set out our vision for a system that drives educational excellence for all, regardless of background or where they live.

Found: failure of implementation, HL Paper 10046 support.167 Lord Palmer of Childs Hill and the Lord Bishop of Newcastle

Found: LORD PALMER OF CHILDS HILL THE LORD BISHOP OF NEWCASTLE 78_ After Clause 17, insert the following new

Found: LORD PALMER OF CHILDS HILL THE LORD BISHOP OF NEWCASTLE 78_ After Clause 17, insert the following new

Found: LORD PALMER OF CHILDS HILL THE LORD BISHOP OF NEWCASTLE 78_ After Clause 17, insert the following new