Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many learner drivers have had their driving test cancelled by the DVSA (a) once and (b) more than once in each month since April 2025.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The table below shows how many learner drivers have had their driving test cancelled by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) once, and more than once, in each month since April 2025.
Please note, this data is based on the month the test was scheduled to take place, which might not be the same month the cancellation was made.
| Cancelled once | Cancelled more than once |
Apr-25 | 10,824 | 46 |
May-25 | 13,019 | 71 |
Jun-25 | 10,641 | 102 |
Jul-25 | 11,134 | 47 |
Aug-25 | 9,642 | 63 |
Sep-25 | 12,260 | 98 |
Oct-25 | 13,307 | 113 |
Nov-25 | 12,725 | 80 |
Dec-25 | 12,067 | 84 |
Jan-26 | 12,107 | 107 |
Feb-26 | 10,786 | 94 |
Mar-26 | 13,329 | 75 |
Apr-26 | 10,065 | 78 |
May-26 | 10,518 | 42 |
Jun-26 | 13,814 | 102 |
Jul-26 | 13,081 | 70 |
Aug-26 | 12,048 | 38 |
DVSA does not take the decision to cancel tests lightly and will only do so as a last resort. DVSA will try to find another examiner to provide cover if it can, but this is not always possible.
DVSA publishes data on car practical test cancellation reasons by month and driving test centre (DTC) on GOV.UK. This data, in report DRT122B, is updated annually and currently shows data to March 2026. The next update is due to be published in June 2027.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the average age of diagnosis of children with Asthma in the Cheshire and Mersey ICB area.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon Member to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance for asthma diagnosis, which is available at the following link:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/asthma/diagnosis/assessment/
There are 22,025 children, those who are under 16 years old, registered to a Cheshire and Merseyside general practice with a diagnosis of asthma in their primary care record. They have an average age at diagnosis of five years and 10 days, based on the earliest confirmed asthma diagnosis recorded in the available primary care data.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the earliest age a child can receive a diagnosis for Asthma.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon Member to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance for asthma diagnosis, which is available at the following link:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/asthma/diagnosis/assessment/
There are 22,025 children, those who are under 16 years old, registered to a Cheshire and Merseyside general practice with a diagnosis of asthma in their primary care record. They have an average age at diagnosis of five years and 10 days, based on the earliest confirmed asthma diagnosis recorded in the available primary care data.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people in Widnes and Halewood are on the waiting list for access to NHS Dentistry.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested by the Hon Member is not recorded at a constituency level.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders who volunteered under the Early Return Scheme have been removed for the UK since 1 April 2024.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information you have requested on the longest time period to return a foreign national offender (FNO) under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) since 1 April 2024 is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office does publish data on FNOs removed under ERS in the ad-hoc transparency release, which can be found here: Returns from the UK between 1 July 2024 and 31 July 2026 - GOV.UK
FNOs are referred to the Home Office for deportation immediately following sentencing. Time spent on remand means many prisoners will reach their ERS window immediately or very soon after they are sentenced. It is therefore not always possible for the Home Office to carry out all the case working and administrative processes as soon as an FNO becomes eligible for removal under ERS, even when they wish to return voluntarily.
The Home Office has worked closely with HM Prisons and Probation (HMPPS) to ensure the ERS runs as efficiently as possible and in the last year (ending July 2026) delivered a record number of ERS returns, 3,141 which is a 20% increase compared to the same period 12 months prior.
We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what has been the longest time period to return a foreign national offender who volunteered under the Early Return Scheme since 1 April 2024.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information you have requested on the longest time period to return a foreign national offender (FNO) under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) since 1 April 2024 is not available from published statistics.
The Home Office does publish data on FNOs removed under ERS in the ad-hoc transparency release, which can be found here: Returns from the UK between 1 July 2024 and 31 July 2026 - GOV.UK
FNOs are referred to the Home Office for deportation immediately following sentencing. Time spent on remand means many prisoners will reach their ERS window immediately or very soon after they are sentenced. It is therefore not always possible for the Home Office to carry out all the case working and administrative processes as soon as an FNO becomes eligible for removal under ERS, even when they wish to return voluntarily.
The Home Office has worked closely with HM Prisons and Probation (HMPPS) to ensure the ERS runs as efficiently as possible and in the last year (ending July 2026) delivered a record number of ERS returns, 3,141 which is a 20% increase compared to the same period 12 months prior.
We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many train delays have there been each year since 2020 caused by trains hitting animals on the track.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold a centrally published series showing the number of train delays that were caused specifically by trains striking non-human animals on the railway. Operational incident and delay attribution data are recorded and managed by Network Rail and train operators.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times faults have occurred on Evero trains operating on the West Coast Main line since their introduction.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold figures for the number of faults that have occurred on Avanti West Coast’s Class 805 and Class 807 Evero trains since their introduction into passenger service. However, the fleet performance metrics which are monitored by the Department show that the reliability of both fleets has steadily improved since they entered service, continues to do so, and is line with expectations for such fleets.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the health of the River Mersey.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
River ecological health status is based on Cycle 3 classifications in the River Basin Management Plans (RBMP), which were classified in 2019, partially updated in 2022, and again partially updated in 2025. The 2019 and 2022 classifications are publicly available, and the 2025 classifications are being readied for publication this Summer. Alongside this, the Environment Agency is currently reviewing all river classifications, reasons for failure, waterbody-level measures and river basin plan objectives, preparing for the December 2027 publication of Cycle 4. Cycle 4 baseline classifications are expected in 2028.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many training places were allocated for GPs in each year since 2015.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes the number of posts and fill rates for medical specialty training programmes, including general practice training. Data for 2013 to 2025 is available at the following link:
https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/fill-rates