Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps his Department has taken to support small businesses in the retail sector in the West Midlands.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We’re creating a fairer business rates system that protects small retailers, including introducing permanently lower rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties under £500,000 rateable value. The government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all this year.

Our recently announced Small Business Plan aims to tackle late payments, boost access to finance, and remove red tape to enable small businesses, including retailers, grow and thrive. The West Midlands Growth Hub is where small and medium businesses in the West Midlands can benefit from specialist business advice on how to grow, access new markets and receive government support.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to sanction (a) General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and (b) Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo; and whether she plans to request that the International Criminal Court issue an international arrest warrant for them.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Since the outbreak of conflict in April 2023, the UK has frozen the assets of nine commercial entities linked to the parties involved in the conflict: five entities linked with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and four entities linked with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). These sanctions were designed to press the parties to engage in a sustained and meaningful peace process, allow humanitarian access and to commit to a permanent cessation of hostilities. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the UK also supported the imposition of UN sanctions on two RSF generals for their crimes against civilians in Darfur in November 2024.

We do not speculate on future designations as it would undermine their effectiveness. The UK strongly supports the International Criminal Court's (ICC) active investigation into the situation in Darfur, including allegations of crimes committed since April 2023. The Prosecutor of the ICC is independent, but we welcome the conviction on 6 October of former Janjaweed commander Ali Kushayb for war crimes and crimes against humanity, carried out in Darfur between 2003-2004. This is a victory for accountability and shows that justice can be served no matter how many years ago the crimes took place.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent progress she has made in helping to tackle (a) TB (b) HIV/Aids and (c) Malaria.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Government remains committed to work to meet Sustainable Development target 3.3, including to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, and supports several of the organisations at the forefront of the response including the Global Fund, Gavi, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, the Stop TB Partnership, UNAIDS and WHO.

For example, in 2024, through our support to the Global Fund - whose Eighth Replenishment we are proud to be co-hosting with South Africa - 25.6 million people are on antiretroviral therapy for HIV, 7.4 million people were treated for TB, and 162 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets were distributed.

We are also encouraged by the recent steps towards expanding access to lenacapavir as a key HIV prevention tool, thanks to effective coordination across UK-supported partners including the Global Fund, Unitaid and CHAI.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce incidences of gun crime in (a) the Birmingham City Council area and (b) Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government recognises the significant and long-lasting impact that incidents of gun crime can have both on victims and within the local community. That is why we are work with the police and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to tackle the trafficking and misuse of firearms by criminals to preserve public safety. The recent shooting in Sutton Coldfield is the subject of an ongoing investigation, but we will not hesitate to take further action if found to be necessary.

We are committed to delivering the Safer Streets mission to create a safer, fairer country for all. Incidents of gun crime are relatively rare in this country. The number of firearms offences has fallen by 16% in the 12 months to June 2025 to 5,053 offences, which is the lowest since 2015. Working with the police and the NCA, we are committed to ensuring that we have the right laws, intelligence, detection and enforcement capabilities to tackle the threat posed by the unlawful possession of firearms.

This includes recent and ongoing multi-agency action to target the importation and supply of imitation firearms that can be readily converted by criminals to fire live ammunition, which has seen significant numbers of these guns removed from circulation, helping to ensure the safety of all of our communities, including in the West Midlands.

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 the health outcomes of veterans in the West Midlands.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As well as being able to access all National Health Services across the United Kingdom, NHS England has introduced several bespoke services to improve the healthcare support available to veterans. These are: Op RESTORE which supports veterans with service-related physical health problems; Op COURAGE which supports veterans with a mental health pathway; and Op NOVA which supports veterans in the justice system.

In addition, the veteran-aware trust and the veteran-friendly accreditation schemes raise awareness amongst healthcare professionals of the specific needs of veterans. These schemes provide support to ensure appropriate signposting and referrals to relevant veteran and wider services within the NHS. All trusts in the West Midlands have been accredited as veteran aware and all primary care networks in the West Midlands have at least one accredited practice.

In May 2025, a national training and education plan was announced to help veterans benefit from improved and targeted healthcare. NHS staff across England will receive dedicated training to help them identify and support patients with military backgrounds. This will be rolled out across the NHS from November 2025.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 20 October 2025 to Questions (a) 81257 on Chagos Islands: Sovereignty and (b) 81258 on St Helena: British Nationals Abroad, what steps she is taking to implement (i) the commitment that entitled pensioners residing in St Helena receive unfrozen benefits from April and (ii) other provisions in the British Indian Ocean Territory Partnership Agreement, signed in October 2024.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is working together with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to address the complex considerations concerning the unfreezing of pensions for St Helena. I have recently met ministerial colleagues to discuss this issue again, and look forward to meeting the new Chief Minister soon to update them. We will update on progress in the usual way in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support the retention of (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers in Sutton Coldfield constituency.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

This government is committed to re-establishing teaching as an attractive profession, which is why the department announced a 4% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from September 2025, on top of a 5.5% pay award for 2024/25, resulting in a near 10% pay award since this government came to power.

The department also announced targeted retention payments worth up to £6,000, with eligible teachers of chemistry, computing, mathematics and physics in The Royal Sutton School in Sutton Coldfield constituency qualifying for these.

To further boost retention, the department worked with the sector to develop the ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service, which contains a range of supportive resources for schools to review and reduce workload, and improve staff wellbeing.

The education staff wellbeing charter, which sets out commitments from government, schools and colleges to improve staff wellbeing and workload, has over 4,200 signatories, including two schools in Sutton Coldfield.

Found: Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, a former Minister for International Development echoed this sentiment, telling

Found: Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP , a former Minister for International Development echoed this sentiment,

Found: The only other major intervention was another urgent question by my colleague Andrew Mitchell.

Found: The only other major intervention was another urgent question by my colleague Andrew Mitchell.

Found: The only other major intervention was another urgent question by my colleague Andrew Mitchell.