Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) financial and (b) any other support (i) is and (ii) will be available to Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, in the context of improvement notice and auditor evaluations.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My department continues to work closely with Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council to ensure strong oversight of progress against the requirements of the best value notice issued in July 2025. The council is leading its own improvement journey and has secured independent challenge and support through its Improvement and Assurance Board, the Local Government Association and other sector bodies.
Through the multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement, Dudley will see an increase in Core Spending Power of 12% by 2028-29 compared to 2025-26, worth £44 million. We will also be maintaining their £5 million Recovery Grant allocation across the multi-year Settlement and they will benefit from the Recovery Grant Guarantee next year.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how he plans to support Councils with low council tax bases and entrenched deprivation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Following extensive consultation and engagement, we are realigning funding distributed through the Local Government Finance Settlement with need and deprivation. We will target a greater proportion of grant funding towards the most deprived places which need it most, ensuring the best value for money for government and taxpayers.
These updates will account for local circumstances, including for different ability to raise income locally from council tax, and the variation in the cost of delivering services, including between rural and urban areas. By using the most up to date data available, the government will be able to assess local authorities' relative demand for services more effectively. This includes using the most up-to-date 2025 Indices of Multiple Deprivation in our assessment of need.
We introduced the £600 million Recovery Grant in 2025-26 to support the most deprived local authorities which are least able to fund their own services through income raised locally. After years of funding cuts to local government, in which the most deprived places suffered the most, the recovery is not over. Following a large number of representations on the importance of Recovery Grant funding, the government has consulted on its plans to maintain the Recovery Grant across the multi-year Settlement, to enable these places to continue their recovery.
The government is considering the responses received following the consultation of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2026 to 2027 and will set out a position when the final Settlement is published in early February.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of financial penalties for social responsibility failings in acting as a deterrent.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Financial penalties are one element of the Gambling Commission’s regulatory toolkit. Action taken by the Gambling Commission is based on the need to gain compliance from gambling operators with the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice at the earliest opportunity. If breaches occur, financial penalties may be imposed.
Since 2016/17, the Commission’s enforcement action has resulted in over £215 million in fines and regulatory settlements. As a result of the Commission’s compliance and enforcement work, in the last three years there have been fewer instances of extreme failings at gambling operators. However, the Commission continues to address any non-compliance through use of its enforcement powers and will continue to do so wherever necessary.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of gambling advertisements on children and young people; and whether she plans to introduce legislative measures to restrict or ban gambling marketing and sponsorship.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
All operators advertising in the UK must comply with robust advertising codes, which are enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) independently of Government. These codes are regularly reviewed and updated and include a wide range of provisions designed to protect children and vulnerable adults from harm.
The Government does not currently have plans to ban gambling advertising. However, we recognise that children and young people’s exposure to gambling advertising is an important issue and we continue to work closely with the gambling industry to further strengthen protections.
We have welcomed the Premier League’s voluntary front of shirt ban on gambling advertisements from next season, which will reduce gambling exposure for children and young people. Additionally, we will redouble our efforts to work cross-government and with tech platforms to address illegal gambling advertising, which poses the most risk for children and young people.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of nationalising the M6 Toll road.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are currently no discussions underway about nationalising the M6 Toll. The M6 Toll sits outside of the Strategic Road Network managed by National Highways and is owned and operated by private entity Midland Expressway Ltd (MEL).
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support SMEs in the West Midlands to access the Growth and Skills Levy.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
To support SMEs to access apprenticeships, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers (essentially SMEs) for all eligible people aged under 25 from the next academic year. This change will make it easier for those employers to engage with apprenticeships across the country, including in the West Midlands, by cutting costs and reducing bureaucracy for both them and their training providers.
At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16 to 21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care. We also provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in care.
The government also facilitates and funds the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) which comprises 2,500 employers and apprentices who volunteer to promote the benefits of apprenticeships. It operates across all parts of England, including the West Midlands, through nine regional networks. These networks provide buddying and mentoring support to small businesses to help them recruit and retain apprentices.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many investigations are being carried out by the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery; and how many of those investigations relate to the deaths of (a) members of the Armed Forces and (b) police officers.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
We understand that there are currently 113 live investigations under the remit of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.
Within those 113 investigations, there were 35 victims who were military personnel and 16 police officers. This accounts for 44 of the 113 cases as some of these relate to multi-fatality incidents.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of long-term, stable funding models for cancer research projects.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s Medical Research Council (MRC) delivers a substantial portfolio of researcher-led projects, building on long-standing partnerships, including with Wellcome and CRUK, to fund investments such as the Francis Crick Institute, where over 40 groups work on research directly relevant to cancer.
UKRI takes a strategic, long-term approach to investing in infrastructure that will underpin future discovery research, including a £29 million award to the University of Nottingham in 2022 to establish the UK’s most powerful MRI scanner, facilitating patient cancer studies. It also includes UK Biobank, which is enabling researchers to investigate the impact of lifestyle on cancer.
The MRC Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE), provides long term funding to tackle transformational research questions, and will enhance approaches to the prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, including cancer.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to support research teams undertaking long-term cancer prevention and early-detection research.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology invests approximately £200 million annually in cancer research via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spent £141.6 million in 2024/25 via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The Office for Life Science’s Cancer Healthcare Goal Programme has invested over £16 million to support development of early detection innovations, such as multi cancer detection tests. DHSC will be publishing a National Cancer Plan for England in the new year. This will set out the Government’s long-term strategy to improve outcomes for cancer patients, including prevention and early-detection R&D.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to expand protected research time for NHS clinicians contributing to research.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future highlights the opportunities for improved care and innovation that comes from research and life sciences in the National Health Service. The upcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan is considering all aspects of the NHS workforce, including the research workforce. The 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future
The Department, through the National Institute of Health and Care Research, funds protected time for research and research training as part of career development awards, allowing award holders to develop and utilise research skills alongside clinical practice. This includes Academic Clinical Fellowships and Clinical Lectureships, which are clinical academic training posts, primarily for doctors and dentists, that are undertaken alongside specialty training. The Senior Clinical and Practitioner Research Award provides funding for professionals to have protected time for research within their current practice roles. It is available to all professions, with priority given to those typically underrepresented in research.
The Department is working with key stakeholders and the devolved administrations to develop a UK Research Workforce Strategy, to be published in the coming months. The strategy sets out a 10-year vision to embed research and innovation into core practice within the NHS, social care, and public health system, aligned with the 10-Year Health Plan, Life Sciences Sector Plan, and Office for the Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research reports. The ambition is to address barriers and build research capacity across all professions, settings, and geographies to lead and deliver high-quality research, as well as to routinely implement research findings to drive improved patient outcomes along with enhanced efficiency and productivity across the health, social care, and public health system.