Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether a date has been set for her planned international summit on future of aid; and when she plans to announce her objectives for that summit.

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

The Government continues to work with our partners overseas and international organisations to support sustainable development across the world. We have set out intentions to host a Conference on the Future of Development in collaboration with partners and will set out details in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of nursery availability on parents' ability to return to work in Sutton Coldfield constituency.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

It is our ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change. In 2025/26, we plan to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, which is an additional £2 billion compared to 2024/25, saving eligible families who use their full entitlement £7,500 a year on average.

The government will provide an additional £1.6 billion per year by 2028/29, compared to 2025/26, to continue the expansion of government-funded childcare for working parents.

We have announced over £400 million of funding to create tens of thousands of places in new and expanded school-based nurseries to help ensure more children can access the quality early education where it is needed and get the best start in life. The first phase of the programme is creating up to 6,000 new nursery places, with schools reporting over 5,000 have been made available in September 2025.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to promote (a) Sutton Coldfield (b) the West Midlands as destinations for British holidaymakers.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

DCMS recognises the contribution of the West Midlands, and the constituency of Sutton Coldfield, to the visitor economy. The region's attractions, from Sutton Park to the Black Country Living Museum, and its reputation in hosting major events, including the upcoming 2026 European Athletics Championships, all contribute to local job creation and economic growth.

Screen tourism is also a powerful driver of the West Midlands' visitor economy, with major global hits such as Peaky Blinders providing invaluable global marketing for the destinations. To tap in to screen tourism, and drive more inbound visits across Britain, VisitBritain launched a global screen tourism campaign ‘’Starring Great Britain’’ in January 2025. The campaign uses the country's rich film and television history as a hook to inspire visitors to explore diverse and often rural destinations. The launch was supported by a wider advertising campaign across the UK’s largest and most valuable inbound visitor markets including Australia, the Gulf Co-operation Council countries, France, Germany and the USA.

The West Midlands is also represented in the joint industry and Government-led Visitor Economy Advisory Council, through membership of the Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Chief Executive of the West Midlands Growth Company. In this way the views of the West Midlands help to inform and shape Government policy and the forthcoming sector growth plan which will set out a long term plan to increase visitor flows across the UK, boost value, and deliver sustainable growth. I work closely with the Mayor of the West Midlands and recently met with them to discuss tourism.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the value for money of the contract to house asylum seekers in the Ramada hotel in Sutton Coldfield constituency.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

For the safety and security of those we accommodate and our staff, the Home Office does not comment publicly on sites which may or may not be utilised to accommodate asylum seekers.

This Government recognises that hotels are not a sustainable or cost-effective solution for accommodating asylum seekers and remains committed to ending their use, already reducing the number in operation. We do not provide a running commentary on hotel numbers, our objective is to close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament, reducing costs to the taxpayer and restoring control to local communities.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department is providing to NHS trusts to increase (a) crisis support services in the local community (b) mental health inpatient beds in the West Midlands.

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

Local integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning National Health Service mental health crisis services and mental health inpatient beds to meet the needs of people across the West Midlands.

Nationally, progress has been achieved in building more robust crisis care pathways across all ages and in all regions, ensuring that people in a mental health crisis can receive the right care. This includes the introduction of the ‘mental health’ option for NHS 111 and the opening of new mental health crisis centres to provide accessible and responsive care for individuals in a mental health crisis.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our ambitions to go further by developing up to 85 dedicated mental health emergency departments so that patients get fast, same-day access to specialist support in an appropriate setting. This expansion builds on a number of early implementer sites that have been established in recent years by local health systems to provide a dedicated therapeutic alternative to emergency departments for individuals in a mental health crisis.

The plan also sets out our plans to transform mental health services to improve access and treatment, and to promote good mental health and wellbeing for the nation. This includes improving assertive outreach, investing in neighbourhood mental health centres, and increasing access to talking therapies and evidence-based digital interventions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of unemployment in Sutton Coldfield constituency.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is published and available at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

Guidance for users can be found at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

The estimated unemployment levels can be found by selecting “Query data” on the NOMIS home page and selecting “Annual Population Survey/Labour Force Survey” and then “annual population survey (Dec 2004 to Jun 2025)” in the lists of data sources. The Geography will need to be set for the relevant Westminster constituency from the menu, and the Variable set to “Unemployment rate - aged 16+” from the “Key variables” list.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to press the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided in the House of Lords on 12 November in response to Question HL11464, which has been reproduced below for ease of reference:

The UK acknowledges the report and shares its concerns regarding human rights violations in Myanmar. We condemn the Myanmar military's airstrikes on civilian infrastructure. The UK is clear that no country should provide arms, funds, or fuel to the Myanmar military. We have implemented 19 sanctions packages since 2021, including 10 targeting aviation fuel imports.

We are clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. The UK has provided £900,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar since 2021 and established the Myanmar Witness program to collect evidence of human rights violations. As penholder on Myanmar at the UN Security Council, we have convened four meetings this year to maintain international focus and press for accountability. We co-sponsored a Human Rights Council resolution in April and coordinated a joint statement in May calling for an end to violence.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the prevalence of airstrikes against civilian populations by the military regime in Myanmar.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided in the House of Lords on 12 November in response to Question HL11464, which has been reproduced below for ease of reference:

The UK acknowledges the report and shares its concerns regarding human rights violations in Myanmar. We condemn the Myanmar military's airstrikes on civilian infrastructure. The UK is clear that no country should provide arms, funds, or fuel to the Myanmar military. We have implemented 19 sanctions packages since 2021, including 10 targeting aviation fuel imports.

We are clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. The UK has provided £900,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar since 2021 and established the Myanmar Witness program to collect evidence of human rights violations. As penholder on Myanmar at the UN Security Council, we have convened four meetings this year to maintain international focus and press for accountability. We co-sponsored a Human Rights Council resolution in April and coordinated a joint statement in May calling for an end to violence.

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 ensure international justice for (a) past and (b) continuing atrocity crimes in Myanmar.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided in the House of Lords on 12 November in response to Question HL11464, which has been reproduced below for ease of reference:

The UK acknowledges the report and shares its concerns regarding human rights violations in Myanmar. We condemn the Myanmar military's airstrikes on civilian infrastructure. The UK is clear that no country should provide arms, funds, or fuel to the Myanmar military. We have implemented 19 sanctions packages since 2021, including 10 targeting aviation fuel imports.

We are clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. The UK has provided £900,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar since 2021 and established the Myanmar Witness program to collect evidence of human rights violations. As penholder on Myanmar at the UN Security Council, we have convened four meetings this year to maintain international focus and press for accountability. We co-sponsored a Human Rights Council resolution in April and coordinated a joint statement in May calling for an end to violence.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with (a) large supermarket chains and (b) representatives of independent retailers on the illegal sale of fireworks.

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

The Government met with supermarkets and representatives of independent retails in July where the illegal sale of fireworks and what measures they could take in addressing illegal sale was discussed. This includes, but is not exclusive to, supermarkets and independent retailers via the British Retail Consortium and Associations of Convenient Stores.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the number of pensioners who will need to pay back the Winter Fuel Payment through tax system in Sutton Coldfield constituency in the next 12 months.

Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The vast majority of pensioners, around 9 million individuals, will benefit from Winter Fuel Payments this winter.

The Government has been clear that the Winter Fuel Payment should be means-tested on the basis of income. For higher income pensioners, those with an annual income of more than £35,000, the payment will be recovered via the tax system.

Estimates for winter 2025/26 are not available at the Parliamentary Constituency level.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been released early from prisons in the West Midlands in 2025 due to overcapacity.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We have had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.

The Ministry of Justice has published SDS40 release data alongside the quarterly Offender Management Statistics which includes figures on SDS40 releases by prison (Table 8) to June 2025: Standard Determinate Sentence 40 (SDS40): September 2024 to June 2025 - GOV.UK.

Found: David Cameron and Andrew Mitchell really worked to sustain what Stefan Dercon called an elite consensus

Found: David Cameron and Andrew Mitchell really worked to sustain what Stefan Dercon called an elite consensus