Juliet Campbell

The Mining Remediation Authority are seeking alternative ways to maximise opportunities from closed and abandoned mines across former coal field communities.

The Mining Remediation Authority are seeking alternative ways to maximise opportunities from closed and abandoned mines across former coal field communities.

To achieve net zero at lowest cost, the UK must look at how to accelerate all low carbon technologies including geothermal. The mine water from coal mines shows good potential as a renewable source for heat networks. The government is therefore supporting mine water schemes at Gateshead and Seaham Garden Village through the Heat Network Investment Project and the Green Heat Network Fund. Whilst no specific assessment has been made of the East Midlands potential the Northeast Local Enterprise Partnership published a report in 2021, supported by the Midlands Energy Hub, assessing options to increase deployment and the Mining Remediation Authority has released opportunity maps.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education (HE) sector. These data are shared with the department and include a wide range of information on staff working at UK HE providers.

However, information on the home addresses of HE staff is not collected, therefore those living in Nottinghamshire and employed by UK HE providers, cannot be identified by the department.

The following table presents staff numbers by HE provider for each academic year from 2014/15 to 2023/24: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/staff/table-24.

This table can be used to determine the number of staff working for HE providers that are based in Nottinghamshire, although we are not able to determine whether these staff also reside in Nottinghamshire.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education (HE) sector. These data are shared with the department and include a wide range of information on staff working at UK HE providers.

Information on the home addresses of HE staff, however, is not collected, therefore those living in Nottinghamshire and employed by UK HE providers, cannot be identified by the department.

The staff numbers by HE provider for the 2014/15 to 2023/24 academic years are accessible at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/staff/table-24. This information can be used to determine the number of staff working for HE providers that are based in Nottinghamshire, although the department is not able to determine whether these staff also reside in Nottinghamshire.

Adult (those aged 19 and above) apprenticeship starts in the Broxtowe parliamentary constituency and Nottinghamshire local authority from the 2018/19 academic year onwards are shown in the table below.

Note:

(1) Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and cover the finalised full academic year.

(2) Total starts are the count of apprenticeships started at any point during the stated academic period. Learners starting more than one apprenticeship will appear more than once.

(3) Geography is based on the learner home postcode.

(4) Broxtowe is based upon the 2024 parliamentary constituency boundary.

(5) Age is based on that at the start of the programme.

The department also publishes apprenticeship starts by age group as a proportion of the population, with breakdowns available by local authority. The latest figures for Nottinghamshire covering the 2018/19 to 2023/24 academic years are shown here:
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/09bc3f03-2391-4b73-6d25-08dd48e2728c.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service have published data on 18-year-old entry rates to full-time higher education (HE) by Parliamentary constituency.

The data covers students accepted to HE and entry rates covering the period from 2006 to 2023 and can be accessed at: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-end-cycle-data-resources-2023.

In the ‘School accountability reform – school profiles improvement and intervention’ consultation, the department defined stuck school as a school that was graded requires improvement, or equivalent, at its most recent Ofsted inspection and was also graded below good at its previous inspection.

For this purpose, we have considered a sub-judgement of requires improvement for leadership and management and/or quality of education for a school inspected in the 2024/25 academic year as equivalent to a previous single headline grade of requires improvement.

Based on the latest published Ofsted inspection data, at the end of December 2024 there were:

• 0 stuck schools in Broxtowe.
• 12 stuck schools in Nottinghamshire.
• 664 stuck schools in England.

The Environment Agency (EA) is making plans to allocate £20 million to schemes in Nottinghamshire.

This includes:

• £10 million for ‘Cocker Beck, Lowdham’, aiming to better protect 191 properties.
• £8 million for ‘Holme Sluices Urgent Works’, repairs to gates to improve functionality and extend the asset life.
• £0.7 million for ‘Property Flood Resilience Nottinghamshire Post Winter 2023 Storms’, aiming to use property flood resilience measures to better protect more than 40 properties.
• Approx. £10 – 20,000 inspecting seals on the Attenborough flood gates, replacing them if damaged, and repairing a flap valve in Toton.

The EA is also working with other Risk Management Authorities to deliver:

• Woodborough Natural Flood Management (NFM): a £197,000 project aiming to better protect 6 properties through natural flood management (NFM) measures.
• Gotham Lead Local Flooding Authorities NFM: a £35,000 project aiming to better protect 15 properties through NFM.
• Southwell Flood Alleviation Scheme: the final phase of this scheme aims to better protect another 120 properties with a 250m bund across parkland near Southwell Minster.
• Updating hydraulic models for the Erewash. This will improve flood outlines, increase accuracy of flood warnings, and increase accuracy of the floodmap for planning. It will also allow for investigations into future flood alleviation measures.

The Government recognises the impacts caused by invasive species, including Japanese knotweed.

Funding is available for control and management of Japanese knotweed and other invasive plant species through Defra’s Environmental Land Management (ELM) Countryside Stewardship scheme. Furthermore, Defra funds research to identify cost and time effective ways of managing this species through biocontrol. Information about the research can be found on CABI's website.

Additionally, the Government has developed guidance on how to prevent the spread of Japanese knotweed and other harmful weeds, as well as how to treat and dispose of them, which can be found on GOV.UK: How to stop invasive non-native plants from spreading - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

This Government is thoroughly reviewing the position it has inherited on HS2 and wider rail infrastructure and will set out detailed plans in due course, including future plans for HS2 Phase 2b safeguarding in Nottinghamshire and a disposals programme for land and property acquired for HS2 that is no longer required.

The Government is committed to enabling local highway authorities to maintain and renew their local highway networks. Decisions on which materials to use to repair their roads are matters for local highway authorities, but the Government encourages them to trial innovative processes and materials. The Department is currently supporting a £30 million “Live Labs” research programme, part of which allows innovative and environmentally friendly road-mending materials of this sort to be trialled and evaluated. The lessons learned will be shared with other local highway authorities.

A number of UK research institutions, including Swansea and Cambridge universities, are working on advanced materials, including self-healing asphalt, for filling potholes and resurfacing roads. Self-healing asphalt could potentially help prevent cracks from turning into potholes, but the technology is at an early stage and has not been tested at scale.

The Government is committed to patients having the right to choose their provider when referred to consultant-led treatment, or to a mental health professional, for their first appointment as an outpatient. This is a legal right for patients set out in legislation.

There is, at present, no single, established dataset that can be used to monitor waiting times for assessment and diagnosis for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) nationally or for individual organisations or geographies in England.  Although the data requested is not held centrally, relevant information may be held locally by individual National Health Service trusts or commissioners.

We are supportive of a taskforce that NHS England has established to look at ADHD service provision and its impact on patient experience. The taskforce is bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the NHS, education and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD including timely access to services and support.

In conjunction with the taskforce, NHS England has carried out detailed work to develop a data improvement plan, understand the provider and commissioning landscape and capture examples from integrated care boards who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services.

Information on autism assessments is not held centrally in the format requested, but may be held by individual providers or integrated care boards (ICBs). Some relevant information is available on autism assessment waiting times for the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB and the Midlands commissioning region.

In the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB, the Autism Waiting Time Statistics published by NHS England show that there were a total of 6,120 patients of all-ages with an open suspected autism referral in December 2024, the latest available data. The median waiting time of all patients in this ICB with an open suspected autism referral, where their first care contact was in the quarter, was 244 days in December 2024.

In the Midlands commissioning region, the Autism Waiting Time Statistics show that there were a total of 58,445 patients of all-ages with an open suspected autism referral in December 2024. The median waiting time of all patients in the Midlands commissioning region with an open suspected autism referral, where their first care contact was in the quarter, was 352 days in December 2024.

Caution should be used when interpreting these statistics since they are experimental rather than official statistics.

Schools decide whether a pupil has additional needs that warrant them being on the school's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities register. Some relevant information on waiting times for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities is available from the GOV.UK website, from Education, health and care plans: England 2024, with the latest data available being from 2023. In Nottingham,

TARGET DATE 05/03/2025

67.1% of EHCPs, including exceptions, were issued within 20 weeks and in the East Midlands 40.4% of EHCPs, including exceptions, were issued within 20 weeks.

The Department has no plans to discuss Androfeme with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and has made no assessment of the potential merits of prescribing Androfeme. Androfeme does not have a marketing authorisation for use in the United Kingdom.

Newly licensed medicines are appraised by the NICE, which is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on new medicines that represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. If Androfeme is granted a marketing authorisation in the future for this indication, the NICE will consider producing guidance under the appropriate programme, such as its technology appraisal programme.

The Department has no plans to discuss Androfeme with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and has made no assessment of the potential merits of prescribing Androfeme. Androfeme does not have a marketing authorisation for use in the United Kingdom.

Newly licensed medicines are appraised by the NICE, which is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on new medicines that represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. If Androfeme is granted a marketing authorisation in the future for this indication, the NICE will consider producing guidance under the appropriate programme, such as its technology appraisal programme.

Fire and Rescue Authorities have duties under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) to prepare for emergencies, including major flooding. Fire Rescue Authorities also have discretionary powers to respond to incidents under their general powers in the Fire and Rescue Services Act (2004) and in response to the risks set out in their Community Risk Management Plans prepared under the National Framework.

The Home Office is undertaking further work alongside Defra, National Fire Chiefs Council and other relevant stakeholders to understand in more detail if there are gaps in the Fire and Rescue Services flooding response and resilience system.

The Armed Forces Commissioner is the first step in a series of steps that will be taken by the new Government to renew the nation’s contract with those who serve, and to improve service life. They will be a direct point of contact for the Armed Forces and their families in every constituency, including Broxtowe, to raise welfare issues that impact on their service life. Through reports and recommendations, the new Commissioner will bring those welfare issues to the attention of Parliament and the public.

The Bill to create an Armed Forces Commissioner is now undergoing consideration in the House of Lords having completed its Commons Stages last month.

Joint enterprise is not a specific criminal offence. It is a common law doctrine which can apply in situations where two or more individuals have a common purpose to commit a criminal offence. No data is therefore available on either the average sentence or the number of individuals convicted of a criminal offence which may have been prosecuted, and resulted in a conviction, as part of a joint enterprise.

The Ministry of Justice only collects information on how many defendants are prosecuted and convicted for specific criminal offences, and the data on the average sentence for those offences, in any given year.

Joint enterprise is not a specific criminal offence. It is a common law doctrine which can apply in situations where two or more individuals have a common purpose to commit a criminal offence. No data is therefore available on either the average sentence or the number of individuals convicted of a criminal offence which may have been prosecuted, and resulted in a conviction, as part of a joint enterprise.

The Ministry of Justice only collects information on how many defendants are prosecuted and convicted for specific criminal offences, and the data on the average sentence for those offences, in any given year.