Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve teacher retention rates in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Retaining more skilled teachers is key to delivering our pledge to recruit 6,500 additional teachers. Our ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service, developed alongside school leaders, provides a range of resources for schools to review and reduce workload, and improve staff wellbeing.
We are also providing targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax for early career teachers in key subjects, with three schools eligible for this in the Gloucester constituency and 18 in the wider local authority. These incentives are available alongside a pay rise of nearly 10% over two years for all teachers.
We lose too many female teachers from the profession. We will fund schools to double the period of full maternity pay from four weeks to eight weeks.
We are also funding a programme focused on embedding flexible working, an important driver for teacher retention, in schools and multi academy trusts (MATs). These schools and MATs champion flexible working and provide bespoke peer support to other local schools.
The flexible working ambassador school for the South West, including Gloucester, is Malmesbury School and can be contacted through the programme website: https://flexibleworkingineducation.co.uk/about-fwams.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to end the use of the Ibis Hotel in Gloucester constituency as accommodation for asylum seekers.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government inherited a broken asylum system, with tens of thousands stuck in a backlog and claims not being processed, wasting millions in taxpayer money. We will empty asylum hotels as soon as possible, and by the end of this Parliament. That is a complex process that must be delivered through a controlled, managed and orderly plan of work.
For the safety, security, and wellbeing of those we accommodate, we do not publicly comment on individual hotels which may or may not be utilised by the Home Office, nor do we provide details of those we accommodate at any site.
The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of screen time on children aged five and under in Gloucester; and what steps her Department is taking to help reduce that time.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Gloucester to the answer of 23 February 2026 to Question 102803.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Millions more appointments as more than 2,000 extra GPs recruited, published on 24 July 2025, how many additional GP appointments have been delivered in Gloucester constituency in the current financial year to date compared to the previous financial year at that point.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
From December 2024 to December 2025, we have delivered 6.8 million more general practice appointments for patients in England than during the same period in the previous year.
In the Gloucestershire constituency, between April 24 and December 24, a total of 578,193 appointments were delivered. However, during the same period the following year, from April 25 to December 25, the number of appointments dropped to 564,172, indicating a decrease of 14,021.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve community health services in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community health services are a fundamental part of the health and care system and an essential building block in developing a neighbourhood health service. That is why we have set a clear ambition for community health services through our Medium Term Planning Framework.
For the first time, we have set a target for systems to work to reduce long waits for community health services. By 2028/29 at least 80% of community health services activity should take place within 18 weeks, bringing community health services in line with targets for elective care.
To support the shift to neighbourhood health, we have published for the first time an overview of the core community health services, via Standardising Community Health Services, that integrated care boards should consider when planning for their local populations to support improved commissioning and delivery of community health services.
In Gloucestershire, we remain committed to the principle of joined up services and support being delivered in neighbourhoods and communities where possible. In line with the 10-Year Health Plan, we will continue to support integration from the bottom up through our dedicated and innovative work in primary care networks and further development of integrated neighbourhood teams.
Community health services in Gloucester continue to be strengthened through the development of primary care networks and integrated neighbourhood teams. These bring together general practices, community clinicians, social care, and voluntary sector partners to provide more joined up and proactive support.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help support independent high street businesses in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This government is focused on ensuring that high streets are great places for independent businesses to thrive and support local economic growth. Through the Small Business Plan, the government sets out its vision to support small businesses operating on high streets and within the everyday economy.
Independent high street businesses in Gloucester can use face-to-face support from The Growth Hub Gloucestershire and benefit from national measures including action to tackle retail crime, reduce vacancies and make support easier to access through our Business Growth Service. Later this year we’ll publish a new High Streets Strategy that will build on the £5bn Pride in Place Programme to renew our neighbourhoods and high streets.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in Gloucester city centre.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are strengthening the powers available to police and other relevant agencies to tackle ASB, including introducing new Respect Orders to give local agencies stronger enforcement capability to crack down on the most relentless ASB perpetrators.
Under the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we are putting neighbourhood officers back into communities, both urban and rural, and restoring public confidence by bringing back community-led, visible policing. By the end of this parliament there will be 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales, including up to 3,000 additional neighbourhood officers by the end of March 2026. Gloucestershire Constabulary’s projected growth over 2025 to 2026 will be 23 police officers (FTE).
Gloucestershire Constabulary participated in the Safer Streets Summer Initiative, as part of activity to tackle anti-social behaviour, retail crime and street crime across six town centres. The force is currently participating in the Winter of Action, which builds on this work and covers twelve town centres, including Gloucester City Centre, with activity focused on anti-social behaviour, retail crime, offending linked to the night-time economy, and violence against women and girls. The full list of locations Gloucestershire has been focusing on as part of the Winter of Action can be found here: Winter of Action: location list - GOV.UK
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to tackle damp and mould issues in housing association properties in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Housing association homes must be free from dangerous damp and mould.
The first phase of Awaab’s Law, which came into force on 27 October 2025, requires all social landlords to repair emergency hazards within 24 hours and fix dangerous damp and mould within fixed timescales.
My Department published a response to our consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for social and privately rented homes on 28 January 2026. It can be found on gov.uk here. As part of the new Decent Homes Standard, landlords will need to ensure that their homes are free from damp and mould.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of home to school transport for pupils with SEND in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for eligible children. This includes children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem.
We know that challenges in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system are creating pressures on home-to-school travel. We have committed to reform the SEND system to enable more children to thrive in local mainstream settings. These reforms will be set out in the upcoming Schools White Paper.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the provision of secondary school places in Gloucester.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Curriculum and Assessment Review considered the extent to which the curriculum and the assessment system in England is fit for purpose and meeting the needs of children and young people. The government’s response set out key reforms to the national curriculum that we will be taking forward.
Schools are expected to organise the school day and school week in the best interests of their pupils, to provide them both with a full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude and ability, and to incorporate time for play and other activities.
The department is working to make sure that all children and young people have access to a variety of enrichment opportunities at school as an important part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity. For some schools, these opportunities may be used to encourage children and young people to play.