Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of his Department's procurement contracts were awarded to companies in the West Midlands in the 2024-25 financial year.

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

Five contracts were awarded by the Department to suppliers which had registered addresses and postcodes in the West Midlands area of England in 2024/25. This is 1.5% of the total number of contracts awarded by the Department in that financial year.

Larger suppliers to the Department may have supply chain companies and business locations and workforce in the West Midlands area.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to reduce educational inequalities for secondary school pupils in the West Midlands.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter where they are from. However, the government knows educational inequalities exist at every phase of education across the country. This is not acceptable in the West Midlands, or nationally.

Through our Plan for Change, we are tackling these inequalities and have set a milestone of a 75% of 5 year-olds reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage profile assessment by 2028. The department will invest close to £1.5 billion over the next three years to raise quality, close gaps, and break down barriers to opportunity for every child.

We are also rolling out free breakfast clubs in every state-funded primary school, expanding free school meals to all children on Universal Credit from September 2026 and have delivered record increases to the early years pupil premium.

This is alongside our work to drive high and rising standards in every school, including new regional improvement in standards and excellence teams, the Curriculum and Assessment Review and our commitment to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across secondary and special schools and in our colleges.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the number of pupils that miss education due to long term illness at (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools in the West Midlands.

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

The department collects data on children missing education from local authorities. The latest data, including breakdowns by geography, characteristic and length of time missing education, has been available since 12 December 2024 and can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education/2024-25-autumn-term.

The department does not yet publish data on physical health or mental health as a primary reason for children missing education. However, these fields have been added to the aggregate termly local authority data collection for the first time, beginning autumn 2025 and will be included in the next official statistics release.

Data on pupil absence is collected via the school census, and the latest publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2024-25-autumn-term. Reasons for absence are included in the publication, including the illness rate.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to support public awareness campaigns aimed at improving road safety in the West Midlands.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

THINK! is the Government’s flagship road safety campaign, which aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads. It targets those most at risk, particularly male drivers aged 17–24, who are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the road than drivers aged 25 and over.

Recent campaigns have addressed drink driving and speeding, with paid media activity delivered nationally, including in the West Midlands.

The Department also provides toolkits, creative assets, and guidance to help local authorities deliver tailored road safety messaging. This has included working closely with West Mercia Police to extend the reach of the campaign in the region through campaign messaging on ad vans and distribution of posters and beermats to bars and pubs.

All departmental campaigns will continue to target the West Midlands as part of national behaviour change efforts.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with (a) West Midlands Police and (b) Birmingham City Council on the forthcoming Road Safety Strategy.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Government treats road safety seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.

My Department regularly engages with the police and local authorities. With regards to the West Midlands, my officials have held conversations with Transport for the West Midlands and the West Midlands Road Safety Commissioner.

More details on the Road Safety Strategy will be set out in due course.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the prevalence of speeding in the West Midlands.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Department for Transport has not conducted a specific assessment of prevalence of speeding in the West Midlands.

The Government treats road safety seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. The Department for Transport issues best practice guidance on setting local speed limits. This is designed to make sure that speed limits are appropriately and consistently set, whilst allowing for flexibility to deal with local needs and circumstances.

The guidance can be viewed at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/publications/setting-local-speed-limits.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help tackle harm to pollinators in the West Midlands.

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

Pollinators are an essential part of our environment and play a crucial role in food production. Following the conclusion of our National Pollinator Strategy in 2024, we will be designing and delivering a refreshed Pollinator Action Plan, that sits underneath our broader Environmental Improvement Plan. This will set out key actions for pollinators across every area in England, including the West Midlands.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been allocated from the Active Travel England fund to local authorities in the West Midlands.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

From 2020/21 to 2025/26, Active Travel England has allocated a total of £101,488,475 to the West Midlands. Funding from 2025/26 for the combined authority has been provided through the Integrated Settlement.

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 support the full implementation of the British Indian Ocean Territory Partnership Agreement, signed in October 2024.

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

Further to the October 2024 Political Agreement, the UK/Mauritius Agreement concerning the Chagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia was signed on 22 May. The UK is working closely with the US and Mauritius on the arrangements to implement this treaty.

An implementation Bill - 'The Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill', has been introduced and is progressing through Parliament in the usual way.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the Chief Minister of Saint Helena on the unfreezing of pension benefits for entitled residents.

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

Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office officials are engaging closely with the new Government of St Helena on the issue of pensions, alongside other issues. I look forward to welcoming the new Chief Minister to the UK-Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council in London in November 2025, and discussing our priorities for the partnership between the United Kingdom and St Helena.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average length of time is between receiving an expression of interest and receiving a formal application and the start of a training programme for a new recruit in the (a) Army and (b) Army Reserve.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

In the 12 months ending 1 July 2025, the average time taken between application and untrained entry for UK/Irish Regular Other Ranks was 249 days.

In regard to the average time taken between application and untrained entry for the Army Reserve, this is information is not held centrally and will take some time to collate. I will write to the hon. Member with a response.

Notes/caveats:

1. The figures are for the Regular Army only and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves.
2. Time of Flight is defined as the time passed in days between the date of application and the date of intake to the untrained strength.
3. Average Time of Flight is expressed as the median number of days. That is, it is the middle value in the dataset when Time of Flight is put in ascending order e.g. half of those that entered the Regular Other Ranks did so in 249 and half took longer.
4. Application data is taken from the Defence Recruitment System and matched to intake data from the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system and should reflect time to entry.
5. Army figures differ from Recruiting Group (RG) information reported elsewhere due to differing methodologies. The RG figures are intended to support operational decision-makers monitoring operational and pipeline performance.
6. Applications from non-UK candidates are excluded, with Nationality as declared on JPA. Army figures include applications from Irish personnel but exclude applications from other countries and those applicants without a known nationality.

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