Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what funding has been allocated to local authorities in England to lead local community energy schemes.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great British Energy (GBE) and the UK government will turbocharge support for local and community energy projects across the UK.
As such, Local Government has a vital role to play in the energy transition. To support this, £6.8 million has been allocated to maintain Local Net Zero Hubs located across England, which provide free expertise and resources to help local authorities deliver clear energy projects.
GBE is in the process of developing its longer-term funding offer and strategic support for working with Local Government and Community Energy Groups, as well as working with devolved governments. This includes commercial, technical and project planning assistance to increase capability and capacity to build a pipeline of successful projects in local areas. As set out in their Strategic Plan, published on 4 December 2025, GBE aims to support over 1,000 local and community projects by 2030.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate has been made of the number of reports of child (a) sexual (b) criminal exploitation safeguarding failings at (1) private (2) local authority children’s homes in England since 2015.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All registered children’s homes, whether privately run or local authority-operated, must notify Ofsted, the regulator for children’s social care, about certain serious incidents that happen to children in their care living with them and what they have done in response. The published data, available from April 2023, includes a category of ‘sexual exploitation’, which shows:
This data does not distinguish between private or local authority run homes and does not specify data on criminal exploitation.
Ofsted review the notifications received to ensure homes have acted to protect the child from immediate harm, and the information contained in the notifications informs their risk assessment and inspection scheduling.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential implications for Government policies of trends in the level of street clutter on the character of urban areas.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Management of local roads, including placement of fixed street furniture such as signs, benches, bins and cycle racks, is the responsibility of local traffic authorities. Neither good traffic management, nor good streetscape design is helped by over-provision and clutter. The Department’s good practice advice in the Traffic Signs Manual and the Manual for Streets stresses the importance of designing streets in such a way as to reduce clutter. These are available at the following links:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-signs-manual
www.gov.uk/government/publications/manual-for-streets.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of coordinating place-based (a) Government funding and (b) philanthropic, institutional and private sector investment on regional growth.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Following a review of the Green Book, the government has announced the introduction of place-based business cases. This new approach will highlight the reinforcing effects of different investments within an area and better coordinate both public sector funding decisions and non-public sector investments in specific places to support growth. Liverpool, Plymouth, Port Talbot and Birmingham will be the first adopters of place-based business cases. The government will set out plans to rollout place-based business cases further in due course.
More widely, Government is giving local leaders and communtiies the power and resources to make decisions for their places.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to prevent the sale of log-in details for DVSA driving tests.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State for Transport announced on 12 November significant changes to DVSA’s driving test booking system following a public consultation. The changes will allow a learner driver only to book a test and will limit changes that can be made to that test once booked. ADIs and businesses will no longer be able to access the booking system and this will eradicate the practice of re-selling tests.
The changes which will be introduced from Spring 2026 will make the practical driving test booking process fairer, providing all learners with equal access to the booking system and ensuring that everyone pays the prescribed fee.
While the majority of driving instructors who use DVSA’s booking services do so as intended, DVSA takes action to prevent learner drivers from exploitation and limit opportunities for misuse of the online booking services. DVSA has a zero tolerance for those who exploit learner drivers. In addition, DVSA will investigate any breaches reported to them.
In January 2025, DVSA introduced tougher terms and conditions for using the booking service to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit. Since the introduction of the revised terms and conditions, and as of 17 November 2025, DVSA has removed access for 346 businesses and driving instructors for misuse of the booking service.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many assaults on staff working in Job Centres were reported for each region for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions take any form of abuse and harassment (including violence-at-work incidents) of its staff very seriously. Robust controls are in place to mitigate the risk of unsafe interactions and eliminate violence-at-work as far as reasonably practicable, including security presence, risk assessments and training for our staff.
We review outcomes of our most serious incidents and consider any lessons learned to make improvements to our processes and training when necessary to help prevent reoccurrence.
DWP define assault as intentional physical contact which is directed at DWP or Partner employees (including Security Officers) in connection with working for DWP. Assaults range from minor to most serious. Actual assaults may include reports that resulted in no injury to those that result in major cuts and bruises.
Prior to 2025, regional breakdowns are not held centrally, to provide this information would incur disproportionate cost, however we can provide the national annual breakdown of JC assaults from 2015 to 2024 and a breakdown of JC assaults by region for 2025.
The following table provides the information requested for DWP reported assaults.
Year | Number of Assaults |
Jan - Dec 2015 | 233 |
Jan - Dec 2016 | 137 |
Jan - Dec 2017 | 238 |
Jan - Dec 2018 | 257 |
Jan - Dec 2019 | 145 |
Jan - Dec 2020 | 65 |
Jan - Dec 2021 | 107 |
Jan - Dec 2022 | 183 |
Jan - Dec 2023 | 212 |
Jan - Dec 2024 | 314 |
Jan - Nov 2025 | 265 |
2025 assaults by region
Group Name |
|
Central & West Scotland | 9 |
Central Midlands | 13 |
East & North Scotland | 5 |
Eastern England | 17 |
London | 62 |
North East & Cumbria | 20 |
North West | 27 |
North York & Lincolnshire | 25 |
South East | 17 |
South West | 23 |
Wales & the Marches | 10 |
West Midlands | 35 |
Not recorded to a Group Name | 2 |
| 265 |
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate has been made of the volume, proportion and value of food waste in (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools, (c) colleges and (d) universities.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Schools, colleges and universities are responsible for their day-to-day running, including their meals service and waste management. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has engaged closely with the department and representative organisations from the education sector to raise awareness of the requirements and provide guidance and resources to support compliance.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the government has held discussions with Motability following the revision of vehicle brands supported by the scheme to prioritise British made vehicles and to report accurate data on the number of British and non-British made vehicles procured.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Motability Operations, an independent commercial company which delivers the Motability Scheme, has announced plans to support the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy. The number of British made vehicles purchased by the scheme will reach 25% by 2030, with an ambition of 50% of vehicles registered on the Scheme being made in the UK by 2035.
The Department for Work and Pensions will continue to meet regularly with Motability Foundation, the independent charity with responsibility for overseeing the Scheme, to discuss the Schemes operation.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the adherence of private children’s homes to notifying the receiving local authority of vulnerable young people being placed in their area.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not collect data on this activity. Ofsted conduct checks on compliance with notification processes as part of a home’s inspection, and if issues are found, this may impact their inspection rating.
The decision to place a child away from their local community should not be taken lightly, which is why it can only be made by those at director of children’s services level. The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review regulations and corresponding statutory guidance makes clear that both the local authority placing a child out of their area and those caring for looked-after children (including children’s homes) must inform the receiving local authority and all relevant safeguarding partners when a child has been placed within and/or leaves their boundaries.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many items from the Parliamentary Art Collection were reported as (a) missing, (b) stolen and (c) damaged beyond repair in each of the last ten years; and what was the total financial loss for each year.
Answered by Nick Smith
In the period 2015–2025 nothing from the Parliamentary Art Collection has been recorded as stolen or damaged beyond repair.
Since 2023 items have been recorded as missing where they have not been located on the estate or in stores for between three and 20 years, in line with collections management best practice. The number of artworks recorded as missing in each year since 2023 was:
Prior to 2023, some artworks were recorded under the category ‘location unknown’. Data prior to 2018 is not available, but from 2018 to 2023 148 artworks were recorded in this category. 44 were later recategorised as missing. The remainder were found or subject to another action such as a transfer.
As a living and working collection, artworks are on display in corridors, meeting and Committee rooms as well as private offices and public spaces. Artworks are sometimes therefore found to have moved from their recorded location. For instance, during multiple office moves required for the 2024 General Election, over 100 artworks were recorded as missing but later located. As objects may be found many years after being recorded as missing, none of the artworks currently recorded as missing have therefore been written off, so are not considered a financial loss.
The total number of artworks currently listed as missing is 72.
As part of our ongoing assurances processes, the internal audit team are currently conducting an asset check for the three Heritage Collections. The fieldwork is complete and is expected to report shortly.