Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken to support pubs in Royal Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)

The Government recognises the important contribution that pubs make to local communities, including in Royal Sutton Coldfield. The Government has taken steps to support the sector with eligible pubs benefiting from a 15 per cent business rates reduction from April 2026, followed by a further 20 per cent reduction for pubs, social clubs and qualifying live music venues from April 2027. Taken together, these measures are expected to save the typical pub around £3,100 in 2027-28.

We have also doubled the Hospitality Support Fund to £10m which will help rural pubs to diversify and ensure they can continue to be vital community hubs. We have also ended upward-only rent review clauses and new Community Right to Buy legislation will strengthen powers for local people to buy assets like hospitality venues and pubs before they are lost – keeping them in the hands of the community.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the role Post Office branches can play in maintaining access to (a) face-to-face banking services and (b) cash in Royal Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government recognises the importance of access to cash and banking services for individuals and businesses, including in Royal Sutton Coldfield. Cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, and the Government is committed to protecting access to cash for individuals and businesses.

The Government is also committed to ensuring that people who need in-person banking can continue to access essential services.

That is why the Government commissioned an independent Review into Access to Banking Services, to assess whether changes to access to in-person banking services are causing consumer detriment, the scale of any detriment, and who it affects, including the digitally excluded. The Review will consider access to in-person banking services for both personal and business customers.

As part of this, the Review will consider existing forms of in-person banking provision. The Post Office provides banking services through over 10,000 branches via the Banking Framework agreement and, as such, the provision of services by the Post Office on behalf of banks will be considered as part of the Review.

Alongside the Review, the Government intends to use the Financial Services and Markets Bill to introduce a power to allow action to be taken in future to protect access to banking services, should the evidence support intervention.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of paramedics in the West Midlands.

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

I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer provided on 16 July in response to Question 16343.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve the number of extracurricular activities offered to pupils in state primary schools.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The department has published a new Enrichment Framework with benchmarks to provide a clear, simple structure against which schools and colleges can evaluate their own provision and make considered improvements to their offer.

It is supported by five Enrichment Ambassadors and the £22.5 million Enrichment Expansion Programme, which will work with over 400 schools in the most deprived areas of England to help them meet the framework's benchmarks.

​This sits alongside wider government programmes, including PE and School Sport Partnerships, the National Centre for Arts Education, National Education Nature Parks, the Cadet Expansion Programme, Erasmus+ and Building Equal Access to Chess in Schools and free enrichment offers through the Free Breakfast Club programme from the LEGO® Group and Youth Sport Trust, in partnership with Sports Directory. In addition, the Every Child Can programme will invest £132.5 million of dormant assets funding in new enrichment activities through schools, community programmes, weekend activities and holiday provision.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to tackle the causes of youth unemployment in Royal Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

With around one million young people not in education, employment and training, this Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The government is investing an additional £2.5 billion by 2029 into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy, supporting almost one million young people and creating up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn.

Young people in Royal Sutton Coldfield will benefit from the full breadth of Youth Guarantee support, such as an expanded network of Youth Hubs, earlier intensive support in Jobcentres through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, additional work experience and training opportunities, a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for employers, and a fully funded six-month job for long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds.

We also recognise the crisis of participation that Alan Milburn has so clearly laid out in his interim report. We will use this interim report to continue to build our reforms and look forward to the final recommendations in the Autumn.

Found: Sir Andrew Mitchell: Thank you very much, Chair.