Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support patients adversely impacted by pelvic mesh implants.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are nine specialist mesh centres across England, ensuring that women in every region with complications due to mesh inserted for urinary incontinence and vaginal prolapse gets the right support. Each mesh centre is led by a multi-disciplinary team to ensure patients get access to the specialist care and treatment that they need, including pain management and psychological support.

The Medical Devices Outcomes Registry was established by NHS England in April 2024 to fulfil Recommendation 7 of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, also known as the Cumberlege Review. The Pelvic Organ Prolapse and Stress Urinary Incontinence registry will be launched in early 2025. This will ensure that appropriate clinical vigilance data is collected, surgical outliers can be identified, and that comparative performance and outcomes across the centres are routinely available. NHS England is extending the registry to be United Kingdom-wide, to improve the recording of patient outcomes and experience.

Furthermore, the Department has commissioned, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, a £1.56 million study to develop a patient reported outcome measure (PROM) for prolapse, incontinence, and mesh complication surgery. Longer term, the PROM will be integrated into the pelvic floor registry.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many penalty charge notices have been issued against patient transport service vehicles in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The data requested is not held centrally.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a single Public Service Operator licence for each traffic area in England.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Under current arrangements, licensing for Public Service Vehicle (PSV) operators in Great Britain is divided into eight traffic areas. No entity can hold more than one PSV licence in any single traffic area (except in the case of Special Restricted licences). This means that in effect an operator could hold a single PSV operator licence in each traffic area in England.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions his Department has had with the Post Office on the number of expressions of interest for remaining directly-managed Crown Post Office branches.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

As the Minister responsible for the Government's interest in Post Office Limited, I meet regularly with the CEO and Chair of Post Office to discuss various issues related to Post Office Limited, including directly managed branches. My officials also meet regularly with Post Office and discuss a range of issues including directly-managed branches.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2024 to Question 20346 on Bus Services: ICT, if she will take steps to ensure all new buses include charging points.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The government is committed to delivering better bus services, and wants to make them a strong choice for passengers. Local bus operators have responsibility for managing and maintaining their bus fleets, and we expect them to consider how best to improve the experience for passengers when making decisions about their fleet, including considering making charging points available to passengers on their buses.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Public Service Vehicle operator licences were issued in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain collect annual data on the number of active and newly issued public service vehicle (PSV) operator licences and the vehicles authorised to operate under these licences. The number of new PSV operator licences issued in each of the last five years is as follows. Data for the reporting year ‘2024 – January 2025’ is accurate as of 14 January 2025.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing (a) home-to-school and (b) home-to-work transport from the registration of local services requirements of the Bus Open Data Service.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was launched in 2020 and requires all bus operators of local services in England to provide passengers with high-quality, accurate and up-to-date passenger information including timetables, fares, tickets and vehicle location information. 85% of bus operators in England have provided timetable, vehicle location and fares data to BODS.

The government is committed to delivering better bus services, and part of this work is improving the information available to passengers about their bus services. Regulations like those for Bus Open Data therefore form an important part of the Department’s efforts to ensure passengers have access to high quality bus services, including up to date, reliable information on where services are.

Publishing this data openly provides choice to parents, students and commuters in which apps they use for bus tracking, causing passengers to spend less time waiting at bus stops and helping to ensure they arrive at school or their workplace on time. Local authorities and bus operators also have better information on the punctuality and reliability of buses operating to provide school transport or home to work transport in their areas.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the roll out of the Bus Open Data Service.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was launched in 2020 and requires all bus operators of local services in England to provide passengers with high-quality, accurate and up-to-date passenger information including timetables, fares, tickets and vehicle location information. 85% of bus operators in England have provided timetable, vehicle location and fares data to BODS.

The government is committed to delivering better bus services, and part of this work is improving the information available to passengers about their bus services. Regulations like those for Bus Open Data therefore form an important part of the Department’s efforts to ensure passengers have access to high quality bus services, including up to date, reliable information on where services are.

Publishing this data openly provides choice to parents, students and commuters in which apps they use for bus tracking, causing passengers to spend less time waiting at bus stops and helping to ensure they arrive at school or their workplace on time. Local authorities and bus operators also have better information on the punctuality and reliability of buses operating to provide school transport or home to work transport in their areas.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data her Department holds on the number of bus incidents where driver fatigue was identified as an issue in (a) 2024 and (b) the last five years for which data is available.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department publishes statistics on road collisions and casualties involving personal injury reported by police via the data collection system known as STATS19.

Within this system, reporting police officers can assign up to 6 factors which, in their opinion, may have contributed to the collision. Please note that this does not assign blame for the collision to any specific road user but gives an indication of which factors the attending officer thought contributed to the collision.

The number of buses or coaches involved in collisions where the contributory factor ‘fatigue’ was assigned to the driver in each of the last 5 years for which data is available are shown in the table. Figures for 2024 are scheduled for publication in September 2025.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of local authorities franchising bus services on smaller bus operators.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Bus Services Act 2017 contains a duty for local authorities to make a statement on how they will facilitate participation from small and medium sized operators in service provision as part of the franchising process.

The Department, as part of the Impact Assessment for the Bus Services (No.2) Bill, has considered the potential effects of franchising; this includes the effect on small-to-medium-sized operators.

The Department is also providing support and guidance to authorities considering franchising and we will continue working with local authorities to develop different franchising models that could be smaller scale, require less financial commitment and support participation from a range of operators.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the proportion of rail journeys eligible for discounts through the 2025 Rail Sale.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Over two million tickets at discounts of up to 50 per cent are available for purchase as part of the Rail Sale. Train operating companies have decided on a commercial basis, the proportion of tickets available at discounted prices on their services.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many open access applications (a) were approved in 2024 and (b) are awaiting a decision from the Office of Rail and Road.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Office of Rail and Road has confirmed to us that in 2024 they approved 2 applications from Open Access operators to provide completely new services and approved a further 8 applications from existing Open Access operators to either continue or make small-scale amendments to existing services.

The Office of Rail and Road is currently considering 13 applications from Open Access operators. Details of all decisions and live applications are published on the Office of Rail and Road’s website.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the second stage of the process evaluation of the Active Travel Fund Tranche 2 will take place.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department recently published both stages 1 and 2 of the Active Travel Fund tranche 2 process evaluation. Active Travel England will continue to work with the University of Westminster and Sustrans to consider further evaluation of government investment in active travel and the impact of interventions to encourage more walking, wheeling and cycling.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many roads were closed during flooding in (a) Bedfordshire, (b) the East of England and (c) nationally in (i) 2024 and (ii) the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department recognises the profound importance of our country’s road network in moving people, goods, and services around the country. The impact of closing roads will vary greatly depending on the roads in question and on the scale and severity of the flooding.

The Government does not keep centralised lists of local road closures during periods of severe weather and flooding, either in Bedfordshire or nationally. These are matters for local highway authorities.

Bedford Council and Central Bedfordshire Council, as the relevant local highway authorities for Bedfordshire, are responsible for the management of their respective local networks, including making operational network decisions in the event of severe weather events including flooding.

On a national basis, management of the English highway network is the responsibility of over 150 highway authorities, who make operational decisions based on the scope and severity of severe weather affecting their area.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the level of contribution of coaches to the tourism industry.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Coaches are a really important part of the tourism industry, enabling millions of people every year to go on day-trips, visit heritage sites, go to the theatre or travel around the UK, often at affordable prices. We remain committed to collaborating with stakeholders to strengthen our partnerships and promote sustainable growth within the sector.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds data on the number of coaches booked by schools for (a) cultural and (b) sports trips in (i) 2024 to date and (ii) the last five years.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department does not hold data on the number of coaches booked by schools, including for (a) cultural and (b) sports trips.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit’s annual report 2023, published on 17 December 2024, what steps her Department is taking to increase compliance with (a) legislation and (b) licence conditions with respect to the provision of care for animals.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Regulator’s annual report details the range of ways in which it detects instances of non-compliance and seeks to drive greater compliance with the Animal (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) and licence conditions.

The Regulator conducts regular on-site audits. The published framework for audit is based on clear benchmarks and assessing compliance through organisational governance to encourage greater commitment to compliance. The framework is publicly accessible at: www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-research-technical-advice#process-and-standards-for-establishment-full-system-audits.

To provide assurance of compliance with the Regulation, the Regulator provides clear and accessible operational guidance. All establishments licensed to breed or supply animals, or to carry out regulated procedures on animals, under ASPA must comply with the Code of Practice which sets out mandatory standards for the appropriate care and accommodation of animals.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit’s annual report 2023, published on 17 December 2024, for what reasons has there been an increase in incidents involving failure to provide adequate care for animals.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office takes non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 very seriously. The numbers of non-compliance cases vary in any given year. The total number of non-compliance cases reduced from 175 to 169 cases from 2022-23. Between these same years there was also a 48% reduction in adverse welfare cases.

The reasons for each non-compliance involving failure to provide adequate care is provided in the Animals in Science Regulation Unit annual report. The Regulator has not made any further assessment.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of a single, universal app for bus Real-Time Information provision.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The government is committed to delivering better bus services, and part of this work is working closely with bus operators and local transport authorities to improve the information available to passengers about their bus services. The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was launched in 2020 and requires all bus operators of local services in England to provide passengers with high-quality, accurate and up-to-date passenger information including timetables, fares, tickets and vehicle location information. Bus operators are obliged to have working systems to provide real-time information for bus services in order to fulfil the requirements of the Public Service Vehicles (Open Data) (England) Regulations.

As part of this work, the government understands the importance of having real time information widely accessible in a range of spaces that passengers use, and is conscious of the need to continually consider new ways to improve access to real-time information, whilst staying in line with wider government digital and data strategies.

The government also recognises the importance of building local transport authority (LTA) capacity and capability to improving bus services. The government has allocated funding in 25/26 to each LTA in England outside London to support the capacity and capability of local areas. This builds on the work of the government-funded Bus Centre of Excellence which seeks to deliver a long-term programme of activities to support and upskill the bus sector.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring utility companies to coordinate the digging up of roads and pavements.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

My Department issues statutory guidance in the form of the Co-ordination Code of Practice as we know that effective planning and coordination of works can reduce congestion and impacts of works on local communities. Highway authorities have a duty to co-ordinate all works, including their own, and they are responsible for managing street works in their area.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making it a mandatory requirement for bus Real-Time Information (a) apps and (b) roadside displays to mark when data is taken from scheduled bus service information as opposed to a calculation based on live data.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The government is committed to delivering better bus services, and part of this work is working closely with bus operators and local transport authorities to improve the information available to passengers about their bus services. The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was launched in 2020 and requires all bus operators of local services in England to provide passengers with high-quality, accurate and up-to-date passenger information including timetables, fares, tickets and vehicle location information. Bus operators are obliged to have working systems to provide real-time information for bus services in order to fulfil the requirements of the Public Service Vehicles (Open Data) (England) Regulations.

As part of this work, the government understands the importance of having real time information widely accessible in a range of spaces that passengers use, and is conscious of the need to continually consider new ways to improve access to real-time information, whilst staying in line with wider government digital and data strategies.

The government also recognises the importance of building local transport authority (LTA) capacity and capability to improving bus services. The government has allocated funding in 25/26 to each LTA in England outside London to support the capacity and capability of local areas. This builds on the work of the government-funded Bus Centre of Excellence which seeks to deliver a long-term programme of activities to support and upskill the bus sector.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of training and skills available within local transport authorities to effectively (a) manage and (b) resolve issues related to Real-Time Information data provision and accuracy.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The government is committed to delivering better bus services, and part of this work is working closely with bus operators and local transport authorities to improve the information available to passengers about their bus services. The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was launched in 2020 and requires all bus operators of local services in England to provide passengers with high-quality, accurate and up-to-date passenger information including timetables, fares, tickets and vehicle location information. Bus operators are obliged to have working systems to provide real-time information for bus services in order to fulfil the requirements of the Public Service Vehicles (Open Data) (England) Regulations.

As part of this work, the government understands the importance of having real time information widely accessible in a range of spaces that passengers use, and is conscious of the need to continually consider new ways to improve access to real-time information, whilst staying in line with wider government digital and data strategies.

The government also recognises the importance of building local transport authority (LTA) capacity and capability to improving bus services. The government has allocated funding in 25/26 to each LTA in England outside London to support the capacity and capability of local areas. This builds on the work of the government-funded Bus Centre of Excellence which seeks to deliver a long-term programme of activities to support and upskill the bus sector.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of potential impact of the switch-off of 2G and 3G networks on the (a) accuracy and (b) availability of Real-Time Information for bus services in rural areas.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The government is committed to delivering better bus services, and part of this work is working closely with bus operators and local transport authorities to improve the information available to passengers about their bus services. The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was launched in 2020 and requires all bus operators of local services in England to provide passengers with high-quality, accurate and up-to-date passenger information including timetables, fares, tickets and vehicle location information. Bus operators are obliged to have working systems to provide real-time information for bus services in order to fulfil the requirements of the Public Service Vehicles (Open Data) (England) Regulations.

As part of this work, the government understands the importance of having real time information widely accessible in a range of spaces that passengers use, and is conscious of the need to continually consider new ways to improve access to real-time information, whilst staying in line with wider government digital and data strategies.

The government also recognises the importance of building local transport authority (LTA) capacity and capability to improving bus services. The government has allocated funding in 25/26 to each LTA in England outside London to support the capacity and capability of local areas. This builds on the work of the government-funded Bus Centre of Excellence which seeks to deliver a long-term programme of activities to support and upskill the bus sector.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make a comparative assessment of the potential advantages of TransXChange over the GTFS Plus format for bus Real Time Information provision.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was launched in 2020 and requires all bus operators of local services in England to provide passengers with high-quality, accurate and up-to-date passenger information including timetables, fares, tickets and vehicle location information.

The Department for Transport ran a public consultation on Bus Open Data policy prior to the launch of BODS, which included consideration of the use of different data formats, including TransXChange and GTFS. The response to this consultation can be found on GOV.UK at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ca4b38d40f0b625eb19dba5/bus-open-data-consultation-response.pdf.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will outline his Department’s planned timetable for reviewing the funding formula for flood defences.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We will launch a consultation in the coming months which will include a review of the existing flood funding formula to ensure that the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account when delivering flood protection. Feedback will be sought on the advantages and disadvantages of potential reforms to the flood funding formula.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists have been recruited via the dental recruitment incentive scheme in (a) Bedfordshire and (b) the East of England.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Within the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (ICB), five dentists have been recruited under the dental recruitment incentive scheme. In the East of England in total, 11 dentists have been recruited under the dental recruitment incentive scheme. ICBs continue to work with practices in their area to support recruitment to these posts.

This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most, for three years.

Found: meeting Members present: Ruth Cadbury (Chair); Dr Scott Arthur; Catherine Atkinson; Olly Glover; Alex Mayer