Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take urgent steps to respond to Professor Hughes’ deadline for the Government to commit to a compensation scheme for women harmed by pelvic mesh and sodium valproate.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 14 July in response to Question 16121.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what plans the Government has to support retailers and their direct suppliers with energy bills, in particular addressing non commodity costs.
Answered by Polly Billington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Tackling affordability is this government’s number one priority. Bringing down energy bills for good can only be achieved by ending our reliance on international fossil fuel markets.
Non-commodity costs pay for essential network infrastructure, system operations and generation investment to support the clean energy transition. We are committed to ensuring that the framework for recovering these costs is fair, proportionate, and supports a well-functioning and competitive market. We continue to work closely with the independent regulator, Ofgem, on these issues.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department will consider the potential merits of bringing forward a deadline before October 2028 regarding the closure of the de minimis loophole.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
Goods valued at £135 or less imported into the UK are predominantly imported through a simplified customs declaration. Before 2023, it was not mandatory to provide the total value of goods as part of the simplified customs declaration. However, since collecting this information, it is estimated that £5.8bn worth of goods under £135 are declared annually.
Following consultation, at Tax Update Day 2026, the Government announced that implementation of new customs arrangements for goods valued at £135 or less would be accelerated from March 2029 to October 2028. A new system for duty collection will need to be built to handle the significant volume of low value goods and avoid disruption at the border. Businesses involved in the sale and movement of these goods will also need time to prepare for the changes. The Government is making every effort to introduce changes to the low value import regime as quickly as reasonably possible while avoiding disruption, which is a core design principle of the reform.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 14 April 2026 to Question 124216, whether the final modifications have been delivered and tested on the trains that will be used on East West Rail from West Midlands Trains.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Modifications are nearing completion, and a full testing regime is underway that will support the safety validation process. A start date for the services will be announced as soon as it is possible to do so.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2026 to Question 14930 on Railways: Standards, whether her Department has requested management information from any state-owned Train Operating Company on service cancellations attributable to staff sickness or crew unavailability since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The department is keen to ensure that the causes of service cancellations are understood and that plans are in place at Department for Transport Operator (DFTO) train operating companies to address these and improve performance. The department regularly engages DFTO to monitor the effectiveness of measures being implemented.
To help improve reliability, the department developed a seven-point traincrew framework, which includes ensuring operators have high-quality workforce plans based on realistic traincrew establishments, tackling causes of traincrew unavailability, including sickness absence, as well as taking a collaborative approach with staff representatives and the wider workforce to build a more resilient railway. The responsibility for managing this, as well as tracking and tackling the causes of cancellations, sits with DFTO and will sit with Great British Railways in the future.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which train operating company had the highest proportion of passenger services that were (a) cancelled because of rolling stock failures and (b) operated with fewer carriages than planned in the latest 12-month period for which data is available.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold data on the number of services cancelled because of rolling stock failures. The Department does hold information on short formations. However, the data is recorded differently across operators and is not sufficiently comparable to enable a robust assessment of which operator had the highest proportion of services operated with fewer carriages than planned. The Department expects train operators to provide appropriate capacity to meet anticipated passenger demand, including through the effective deployment and maintenance of rolling stock.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on how many passenger services operated by each train operating company were affected by defective passenger doors in each month since July 2024.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold a centrally collated dataset showing how many passenger services operated by each train operating company were affected by defective passenger doors in each month since July 2024. Information on rolling stock defects, including door-related faults, data are recorded and managed by Network Rail and train operators.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2026 to Question 15380 on South Eastern Main Line: Mobile Broadband, what the names and locations are of the (a) 57 railway tunnels and (b) 12 Network Rail-managed stations included in the current phase of Project Reach.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The 12 Network Rail-managed stations included in the current phase of Project Reach are Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central, Leeds, Liverpool Lime Street, London Euston, London King’s Cross, London Liverpool Street, London Paddington, London Waterloo and Manchester Piccadilly.
The locations of the 57 tunnels included in the programme are located on the East Coast, West Coast, Great Western, Thameslink, Kent, North West and Wales.
The full list of tunnels is as follows –
| Tunnel |
1 | Ardsley Tunnel |
2 | Potters Bar East Tunnel |
3 | Potters Bar West Tunnel |
4 | Wood Green Centre Tunnel |
5 | Wood Green East Tunnel |
6 | Wood Green West Tunnel |
7 | Barnet West Tunnel |
8 | Barnet East Tunnel |
9 | Barnet Centre Tunnel |
10 | Hadley Wood South East Tunnel |
11 | Hadley Wood South West Tunnel |
12 | Beechwood Tunnel |
13 | Polperro Tunnel |
14 | Buckshead Tunnel |
15 | Farnworth Tunnel (Up Line) |
16 | Farnworth Tunnel (Down Line) |
17 | Clerkenwell No. 1 Tunnel |
18 | Copenhagen Centre Tunnel |
19 | Copenhagen West Tunnel |
20 | Gasworks Centre Tunnel |
21 | Gasworks West Tunnel |
22 | Ludgate Tunnel |
23 | Harecastle New Tunnel |
24 | Primrose Hill Slow Lines Tunnel |
25 | Primrose Hill Fast Lines Tunnel |
26 | Kensal Green Fast Lines Tunnel |
27 | Kensal Green Slow Lines Tunnel |
28 | Kilsby Tunnel |
29 | Stowe Hill Tunnel |
30 | Linslade Up Slow Tunnel |
31 | Linslade Centre Bore (Up Fast / Down Slow) |
32 | Linslade Down Fast Tunnel |
33 | Macclesfield Tunnel |
34 | Prestbury Tunnel |
35 | Marley Tunnel |
36 | Monument Lane Tunnel |
37 | New Street North Western Lines Tunnel |
38 | New Street Midland Lines Tunnel |
39 | Newport New Tunnel |
40 | Newport Old Tunnel |
41 | Northchurch Fast Line Tunnel |
42 | Northchurch Up Slow Tunnel |
43 | Northchurch Down Slow Tunnel |
44 | Parsons Tunnel |
45 | Patchway Up New Tunnel |
46 | Shugborough Tunnel |
47 | Sodbury Tunnel |
48 | Alderton Tunnel |
49 | Peascliffe Tunnel |
50 | Stoke Tunnel |
51 | Treverin Tunnel |
52 | Watford Tunnel Slow Lines |
53 | Watford Tunnel Fast Lines |
54 | Welwyn North Tunnel |
55 | Welwyn South Tunnel |
56 | Whiteball Tunnel |
57 | Wiveliscombe Tunnel |
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many passenger services were cancelled due to rolling stock failure by each train operating company in each month since July 2024.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department expects train operators to provide appropriate capacity to meet anticipated passenger demand, including through the effective deployment and maintenance of rolling stock. While the Department does not hold data on rolling stock availability, or the number of services cancelled because of rolling stock failure, it does hold information on short formations. However, this data is recorded differently across operators, and is not sufficiently comparable to enable a robust assessment of which operator had the highest proportion of services operated with fewer carriages than planned.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the number of people who were employed in the automotive manufacturing sector in each month since May 2026 up to and including the most recent month for which figures are available.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Parliamentary Question of 7th July is attached.