Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what her planned timetable is for updating her Department's guidance entitled Public Sector Equality Duty: guidance for public authorities, last updated on 18 December 2023.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The government will uphold the Public Sector Equality Duty and ensure that all parties exercising public functions comply with its provisions. This includes ensuring effective guidance for these parties and updating it as the need arises.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with Shadow Great British Railways on future management of the 20 railway stations directly managed by Network Rail.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State has not yet held any conversations with Shadow Great British Railways on the future management of stations.
The government has set Shadow Great British Railways several initial priorities, including being passenger focused - improving services for passengers and freight-customers, unlocking barriers to delivery and moving the rail network towards greater financial sustainability.
The government will shortly be setting out plans for how Shadow Great British Railways will be delivering on these priorities.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department issues guidance to local authorities on running good-quality bus stops.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has published Local Transport Note (LTN) 1/24 Bus User Priority which provides guidance on good practice in the design of bus stops. The Department has also published guidance to Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) and bus operators on developing Bus Service Improvement Plans. This guidance encourages all LTAs to set priorities for improving their bus stops, stations and interchanges.
On 17th December 2024, the Government introduced a new Bus Services Bill that will give local leaders the freedom to take decisions to deliver their local transport priorities and ensure networks meet the needs of the communities who rely on them. The Bill will provide powers for the Secretary of State to issue statutory guidance on the inclusivity of the design of bus and coach stations and stops, and to require authorities commissioning work to provide new or upgrade existing facilities to have due regard to this guidance.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of recent trends in the number of coach companies that have ceased trading.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department recognises the importance of good transport links and this Government aims to improve connections between towns and cities across the country. We recognise the important role the coach sector can play in making these connections across the country for education, business and leisure travel.
Coaches are a deregulated sector, so commercial decisions, such as whether to cease trading, are a matter for the operators concerned. The Department does not have the data to estimate the number of coach companies that have ceased trading. We are, however, working with the sector to hear their concerns and address the challenges they face.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will commission research on the potential impact of room temperature during examinations on student performance.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is not currently considering commissioning research on the effect of room temperature during examinations on student performance, although we continue to keep abreast of research in this area. The department has provided advice for schools about how they can manage the learning environment during hot weather.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number of working hours lost as a result of (a) extreme heat and (b) flooding in 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon. Lady’s Parliamentary Question of 16 December is attached.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Education on neurodiversity-affirmative approaches in schools.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions on a wide range of matters with Cabinet colleagues, including my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of teaching were lost as a result of (a) extreme heat and (b) flooding in 2024.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
From the start of the 2024/25 academic year, schools have had a duty to provide daily attendance data to the department. Attendance data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools.
The department does not specifically collect data on teaching hours lost due to extreme heat and flooding.
It is for individual settings and responsible bodies to determine their approach to closure based on their own risk assessment. Closures should be considered a last resort and the imperative is for settings to remain open, where it is safe to do so.
Where a school was planning to be open for a session, but then has to close unexpectedly, for example, due to adverse weather, the attendance register is not taken as usual because there is no session. For statistical purposes this is counted as a not possible attendance.
Where settings are temporarily closed they should consider providing remote education for the duration of the closure in line with the department’s guidance. Providing remote education does not change the imperative to remain open or to reopen as soon as possible. As set out in the department’s guidance on providing remote education, pupils who are absent from school and receiving remote education still need to be recorded as absent using the most appropriate absence code. Schools should keep a record of, and monitor, pupil’s engagement with remote education, but this is not formally tracked in the attendance register. The guidance on providing remote education is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providing-remote-education-guidance-for-schools/providing-remote-education-guidance-for-schools.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether there will be a minimum service requirement for broadband on train services under Great British Railways.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There have been no discussions around the minimum levels of service for wifi or broadband on trains under Great British Railways. However, officials are looking more widely into different solutions to improve passenger connectivity, such as a low earth orbit satellite and neutral host solutions to improve connectivity via Network Rail’s ‘Project Reach’.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department is taking to improve the availability of (a) eye clinic appointments and (b) hospital eye services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to putting patients first. This means making sure that patients are seen on time and have the best possible experience during their care. As of October 2024, the waiting list for ophthalmology services stands at just over 593,000. 66.1% of these involved treatment within 18 weeks.
This is not good enough, and we have committed to getting back to the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients should be seen within 18 weeks of referral, by the end of this Parliament, across all specialities. Funding announced in the Autumn Budget will support delivery of an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments during our first year in Government, which is equivalent to 40,000 per week, as a first step towards achieving this.
NHS England is also testing how improved IT connectivity between primary care optometry and secondary eye care services could improve the referral process and allow for the virtual triage of patients. This also includes looking at whether patients can be managed in the community, freeing up hospital eye clinic capacity for patients that need face to face specialist input.