Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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:
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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.