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, what estimate he has made of the value of unclaimed benefits by each benefit in (a) England, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Oldham.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 30 October 2025 the Department published Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2024, covering Pension Credit and Housing Benefit for pensioners in Great Britain. As these estimates are based on survey data, they are not available for lower-level geographies.
On the same day the Department also published Households potentially eligible for Pension Credit, 2023 to 2024, a sub-national analysis of eligible households in receipt of Pension Credit and potentially eligible households not claiming Pension Credit.
Estimates are not currently available for other DWP benefits, however on 15 May 2025 the Department published Unfulfilled eligibility in the benefit system: financial year 2024 to 2025 estimates, providing estimates of how much extra money benefit claimants in Great Britain could be getting if they told us accurately about their circumstances. It does not cover take-up of benefits, which is where people could have claimed certain benefits based on their current circumstances but have not done so. As these estimates are based on sample data, they are not available for lower-level geographies.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of hospital parking charges on (a) staff and (b) visitors to hospitals; and what information he holds on the total cost of such charges in the last 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of hospital parking charges. Hospitals in England are permitted to charge users for car parking, but those charges must be reasonable and in line with local charges. The revenue from hospital car parking is used to maintain car park facilities and any surplus income is put back into the National Health Service. The following table shows the income from car parking from patients and visitors as well as staff in 2023/24 and 2022/23:
| Income from car parking - patients and visitors | Income from car parking - staff |
2023/24 | £172,332,199 | £70,510,110 |
2022/23 | £145,873,556 | £46,653,234 |
Data on the income from car parking charges is published annually through the NHS Estates Return Information Collection, which is available at the following link:
In 2025/26, the Department is backing the NHS with over £4 billion in operational capital, enabling local NHS organisations to allocate funding to local priorities, which could include hospital car parking.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department plans to provide to help support hospitals to provide adequate levels of car parking for visitors in the next 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of hospital parking charges. Hospitals in England are permitted to charge users for car parking, but those charges must be reasonable and in line with local charges. The revenue from hospital car parking is used to maintain car park facilities and any surplus income is put back into the National Health Service. The following table shows the income from car parking from patients and visitors as well as staff in 2023/24 and 2022/23:
| Income from car parking - patients and visitors | Income from car parking - staff |
2023/24 | £172,332,199 | £70,510,110 |
2022/23 | £145,873,556 | £46,653,234 |
Data on the income from car parking charges is published annually through the NHS Estates Return Information Collection, which is available at the following link:
In 2025/26, the Department is backing the NHS with over £4 billion in operational capital, enabling local NHS organisations to allocate funding to local priorities, which could include hospital car parking.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the mandatory displaying of food hygiene ratings on (a) shop fronts and (b) online food ordering platforms.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Evidence from Wales and Northern Ireland demonstrates that mandatory display has improved transparency, which encourages businesses to achieve better levels of compliance with hygiene requirements.
Introducing a statutory scheme in England, with a mandatory display of ratings at premises and online, would require primary legislation and the securing of a suitable legislative vehicle and parliamentary time. Ministers will consider the options in due course, supported by the FSA.
In the meantime, the FSA is working with its local authority partners to maintain and improve the impact and benefits of this highly successful public health scheme.
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, how many vehicles (a) are taxed, (b) have Statutory Off Road Notifications, (c) are untaxed and (d) are undeclared as having Statutory Off Road Notifications by nation and region.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information requested is shown in the table below. Please note the table includes vehicles for which there is a current registered keeper on record and where a postcode match was found:
England regions | Taxed vehicles | Vehicles for which a SORN has been made |
East Midlands | 3,230,522 | 520,712 |
East of England | 4,352,181 | 668,578 |
London | 3,008,654 | 429,872 |
North East | 1,509,315 | 207,761 |
North West | 4,503,390 | 549,655 |
South East | 6,883,503 | 826,967 |
South West | 4,353,614 | 641,457 |
West Midlands | 3,667,490 | 609,163 |
Yorkshire & The Humber | 3,335,460 | 479,448 |
Total for England | 34,844,129 | 4,933,613 |
| Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
Taxed vehicles | 2,086,861 | 3,218,548 | 1,306,521 |
Vehicles for which a SORN has been made | 410,187 | 505,357 | 357,610 |
The most recent information available shows that 98.7 per cent of vehicles across the UK were properly licensed. More detail can be found at the following link: gov.uk/government/statistics/vehicle-excise-duty-evasion-statistics-2023
Information is not available about vehicles which are being kept off the road but for which no SORN is in place.
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 her Department has made of the impact of “historic vehicle” status on preserving Britain's motoring heritage.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Classic and historic vehicles are a testament to British innovation and the Government is committed to supporting this sector. Following a call for evidence, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) worked closely with historic vehicle stakeholders and in August 2025 new policies were introduced to support vehicles that have been repaired, restored and modified. The new guidance supports historic vehicle keepers and the wider industry with clearer registration processes that reflect modern restoration and modification practices.
The feedback from the historic and classic vehicle sector is that the new policies reflect a pragmatic approach and address the major issues raised. The new policy has alleviated many of the difficulties associated with the previous policies.
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 estimate she has made of the number of licensed private hire drivers with criminal convictions for (a) sexual and (b) violence against the person in offences in England.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
All licensing authorities in England have a duty to ensure that any person to whom they grant a taxi or private hire vehicle driver’s licence is a fit and proper person to be a licensee and that they remain so throughout the duration of the licence. As part of this assessment all licensing authorities have reported that they undertake an enhanced disclosure and barring service (DBS) check and check both the children’s and adults’ barred lists.
Licensing authorities make decisions based on “the balance of probability”, so when determining whether a driver remains fit and proper to hold a licence, a driver should not be given the benefit of the doubt. If a licensing authority is only fifty percent certain as to whether a licensee is fit and proper, they should not hold a licence. The threshold used here is lower than for a criminal conviction (that being beyond reasonable doubt). This means that driver licences may be revoked even if any safety concerns do not result in a criminal conviction.
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, how many (a) fatal accidents, (b) serious accidents, (c) minor accidents and (d) near misses were recorded on smart motorways for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
National Highways reports annually on smart motorway safety performance. The latest report was published in September 2025 using DfT’s most up to date validated STATS19 casualty dataset and annex A contains a breakdown of casualties by severity from 2015.
The latest analysis continues to show that overall, smart motorways remain our safest roads in terms of deaths or serious injuries, but we have been clear that we will not build any new ones.
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 she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of bank closures on footfall in (a) town centres and (b) high streets.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Banking is changing, with many customers benefiting from the ease and convenience of remote banking. Whilst the Government does not make estimates regarding the impact of branch closures on town centre footfall, the Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to high streets and is committed to championing sufficient access for customers. That is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs on high streets across the UK by the end of this Parliament. More than 240 hubs have been announced so far, and over 190 are already open.
This Government is fully committed to rejuvenating our high streets and supporting the businesses and communities that make our town centres successful. Alongside the £5bn funding for Pride in Place, we have announced a suite of tools to support communities to improve their high streets, including: High Street Rental Auctions giving councils the power to auction the lease of long-term vacant premises; a Community Right to Buy for communities to take ownership of local buildings they value; and streamlining the compulsory purchase process to help local authorities regenerate high streets.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the point of contact is for the local inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Oldham for victims and survivors; (a) when and (b) how the terms of reference for that inquiry will be consulted on; and what (i) safeguarding and (ii) wellbeing support is in place to support those victims and survivors.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
In June this year, Baroness Casey published her independent audit into group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, and the Government accepted every recommendation it made, including establishing a new national inquiry. The national inquiry, equipped with statutory powers under the Inquiries Act 2005, will direct targeted local investigations in specific areas.
The former Home Secretary previously committed in January to provide guidance and establish a £5 million fund which would have supported non-statutory local inquiries. Given that we have since committed to establish a national inquiry with statutory powers, undertaking local investigations, we have discontinued work related to the previously announced guidance and £5 million fund.
In relation to Oldham specifically, the former Home Secretary made a commitment to support Oldham Council in undertaking their own local inquiry. The Department has been in discussions with Oldham Council about the right approach for Oldham, in light of the Government’s commitment to a new national inquiry. We intend to confirm the proposed approach for Oldham alongside further details about the national inquiry in due course.
With regards to safeguarding and wellbeing support, we are committed to ensuring specialist support is provided to victims and survivors. We are currently engaging with victims and survivors participating in the consultation group supporting the establishment of the national inquiry, coordinated by the National Working Group (NWG) charity. This includes ensuring they are able to access support, including therapeutic support (via the NWG).
We are also providing £2.59 million in 2025-26 for the Support for Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Fund, providing a range of support services with national reach.
The national inquiry, once established, will develop its own plans for engaging and supporting victims and survivors.