Laurence Turner

The Government's manifesto committed to overhaul the local audit system to provide high quality, timely assurance to taxpayers. On 30 July, Jim McMahon, the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, outlined to Parliament immediate actions to address the local audit backlog in England. Longer-term, he committed to reviewing the evidence (including external review recommendations) and to update the House this autumn.

The draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill will tackle bad financial reporting through a strengthened regulator. It will uphold standards and independent scrutiny of companies' accounts, supporting investment and economic security.

Small businesses are essential to our economic success.

This Government is committed to take action on late payments to ensure small businesses and the self-employed are paid on time. The practice of cash retentions can create problems for contractors in the construction supply chain, due to late and non-payment. Any policy solution must be a sustainable one that works for the industry.

We are committed to Sizewell C. New nuclear will play an important role in the Government’s vision for achieving energy independence, lowering consumers’ bills, and securing thousands of good, skilled jobs.

The Sizewell C project has recently received its Nuclear Site Licence and commenced its Development Consent Order. Work continues at pace to secure a final investment decision.

The Government will continue to update the House as project development continues.

DCMS officials have met with Birmingham City Council officers to ensure that they are aware of their responsibilities to provide a ‘comprehensive and efficient’ library service across the area as required by the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964, and to advise on superintendence processes.

However, the development of options for future library service provision in Birmingham is the responsibility of the Council.

Local authorities are not required to monitor the average cost of delivering education, health, and care (EHC) plans within their area. Local authorities are required to submit data on education spending, including spending relating to special educational needs and disabilities, as part of their annual returns to the department. But these returns do not cover the average cost of EHC plans.

School support staff play a vital role in children’s education and development. The department values and recognises the professionalism of the entire school workforce and will address recruitment and retention challenges by reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB).

The SSSNB will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook, training, career progression routes and fair pay rates for support staff. This reform will ensure that schools can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver high quality, inclusive education.

The department will consider the merits of collecting information on school support staff vacancies through the school workforce census during the setup of the SSSNB.

The tables below provide average per-pupil funding from 2020/21 to 2024/25.

For Birmingham, the West Midlands and England, the figures represent the funding provided through the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). All of the figures in table one exclude growth funding but include premises and additional funding from grants.

The DSG is allocated at local authority level, and as such the equivalent figures are not available for Birmingham Northfield constituency. The constituency level data for Birmingham Northfield is therefore instead calculated based on the notional schools national funding formula (NFF) allocations for all mainstream schools in the constituency. The figures in table two are not comparable to those in table one, not only because DSG funding cannot be aggregated down to constituency level, but also because the context of the funding figures are not the same. The figures in table two do not include the money that schools in the Birmingham Northfield constituency have received through additional grants, such as the Schools Supplementary Grant (SSG) and the Mainstream Schools Additional Grant (MSAG), therefore making the constituency-level funding appear to rise slower than that of the others presented.

Table one

Table two

* The allocations that schools within a constituency actually receive are determined by the local funding formula in their area.

Apprenticeship starts by parliamentary constituency are published in the Apprenticeships Statistics publication. Figures for Birmingham Northfield constituency can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/2abb827d-653c-4a6f-5350-08dca71310d3.

Note: Figures are based on parliamentary constituency boundaries as at July 2024.

Further information on apprenticeship starts can be found in the Apprenticeships Statistics publication, which can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships.

The department publishes statistics on education, health and care (EHC) plans at local authority level. This data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans. This includes information on children elsewhere than at school, such as those awaiting provision, in elective home education, in other arrangements, permanently excluded, and having notice to cease of their plan, as well as those Not in Education, Employment of Training (NEET). The number of children with an EHC plan who were elsewhere than at school and who were NEET in Birmingham from 2020 to 2024 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/fffc2c6e-ef02-4be1-689a-08dca70c1109.

The data collection on children and young people with EHC plans does not include information on previous special educational needs (SEN) support identification.

Wider data on SEN, including information on the total number of pupils with EHC plans and SEN support at local authority level is available on GOV.UK, and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england.

A copy of the letter will be deposited in the House of Commons Library.

Department for Transport officials sent a letter to Birmingham City Council’s chief executive to acknowledge receipt of the letter in question and to offer a meeting to discuss the PFI contract. The letter from DfT officials will be deposited in the House of Commons Library.

Individuals can apply for Access to Work assistance either online via Gov.UK or by telephone on 0800 121 7479. Once the application is assigned to a Case Manager, the customer is provided with the direct contact details of their personal case manager for the duration of the decision-making process.

The following table shows the number of referrals to Birmingham mental health services for those aged 17 years old and under, those referrals who received first contact, and those referrals who received first contact within six months of the referral date, over each of the last five years:

Source: data taken from the Mental Health Services Dataset, published by NHS England.

Notes:

1. in some instances, it may not be expected that a first contact would be recorded, for example those received by triage teams may be closed without a contact, with a new referral being opened once triaged instead; and
2. a cyber incident between August 2022 and March 2023 impacted several providers submitting Mental Health Services data, therefore some individual providers may not be able to submit complete data.

Finally, as of March 2024 the number of referrals still waiting for first contact, having waited at least six months and regardless of when the referral started, is 15,181.

The following table shows the number of referrals to Birmingham mental health services for those aged 17 years old and under, those referrals who received first contact, and those referrals who received first contact within six months of the referral date, over each of the last five years:

Source: data taken from the Mental Health Services Dataset, published by NHS England.

Notes:

1. in some instances, it may not be expected that a first contact would be recorded, for example those received by triage teams may be closed without a contact, with a new referral being opened once triaged instead; and
2. a cyber incident between August 2022 and March 2023 impacted several providers submitting Mental Health Services data, therefore some individual providers may not be able to submit complete data.

Finally, as of March 2024 the number of referrals still waiting for first contact, having waited at least six months and regardless of when the referral started, is 15,181.

In 2024/25, NHS England provided £25 million in funding for children and young people’s hospices. This was distributed via integrated care boards, in line with National Health Service devolution. We are currently considering the future of this important funding stream beyond 2024/25.

The Government is committed to tackling the workforce crisis across the National Health Service. This will be achieved through better workforce planning, which will address the recruitment and retention challenges facing the NHS.

Valuing and supporting our NHS workforce will be essential in delivering our mission to build an NHS fit for the future and the pay uplifts announced on 29 July 2024 will mean paramedics will see their pay increase by 5.5%, backdated to April 2024.

In the meantime, NHS England continues to lead on a range of initiatives to boost retention, with a strong focus on improving organisational culture, supporting staff wellbeing, and promoting flexible working opportunities. It is continually reviewing the effectiveness of these and their impact on the workforce.

New retirement flexibilities were introduced in the legacy NHS Pension Scheme last year. These measures are designed to allow older staff to choose to work for longer in a more flexible way, thereby helping to boost capacity, supporting patient care.

The Department does not collect data on the closure of National Health Service sites. The NHS, however, publishes the annual Estates Returns Information Collection, which is a mandatory collection for all NHS trusts and includes detailed information on all operational or temporarily unoccupied sites larger than 500m2 or with 10 or more inpatient beds, including site name and postcode. The collection is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection

The UK is pursuing all diplomatic avenues to press the warring parties into a permanent ceasefire, allow unrestricted humanitarian access, protect civilians and commit to a sustained and meaningful peace process. We will continue to support and encourage international mediation efforts by: using our influence on the multilateral stage; direct messaging to the warring parties; and pressing for greater coordination between the different mediation tracks. We welcomed the re-opening of the Adre border on the 15 August. However, the warring parties must remove any unnecessary restrictions on trucks moving through Adre to urgently facilitate unimpeded access to those most in need. The UK called a UN Security Council session on 6 August to urgently discuss the findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)'s Famine Review Committee that famine is present in Sudan's Zamzam Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Northern Darfur, and we called on the warring parties to stop the obstruction of aid.

This Government will champion freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all abroad. No one should live in fear because of what they do, or do not, believe in. Envoy roles are under Ministerial consideration and will be decided upon in due course. In the meantime, we will continue to use the strength of our global diplomatic network, including dedicated staff within the FCDO, to promote and protect FoRB around the world.

As the Foreign Secretary announced on 19 July, UNRWA is absolutely central to humanitarian efforts on Gaza. It also plays a critical role in the wider region in providing essential services, including healthcare and education, to Palestinian refugees. The UK is committed to supporting UNRWA's lifesaving work, and will resume funding, releasing £21 million new funding for its work in Gaza and the region.

The alignment of the methods and data sources of the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs into the Retail Price Index (RPI) reflects the flaws in RPI which can either overstate or understates price changes. The Bank of England will assess if these changes significantly impact certain index-linked gilt holders.

The Government recognises the widespread use of RPI and that there are potential impacts from the reform. Whilst there is legislation around the minimum indexation requirements for defined benefit schemes, scheme rules will determine how any pensioners' benefits are increased each year.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility will publish a revised 5-year wage-growth forecast in their next Economic and Fiscal Outlook, considering all relevant factors.

The Home Office does not centrally collect data on the number of police station closures and has not collected this data previously.

As previously set out in my answer to Question UIN 3908 on 5 September 2024, officials attended the meeting between the former Secretary of State and Max Caller on 26 September 2023. As has been the case under successive administrations, the details of internal correspondence and meetings between officials are not routinely published.

The meeting on 26 September 2023 between the former Secretary of State and Max Caller was attended by officials.

Commissioners at Birmingham City Council provided a response to the Audit Lab Report which is publicly available at: https://auditreformlab.group.shef.ac.uk/value-for-money-and-accountability/. The Ministry will continue to work with commissioners and the Council on the challenges faced at the authority to return it to financial stability. I also refer my Hon Friend to the answer given by my Rt Hon Friend the Member for Ashton-under-lyne to his Oral Question 900270 on 2 September 2024.

Both officials and former Ministers in the Department were notified of the decision of Birmingham City Council to issue a Section 114 report after the report had been issued by the Council’s Section 151 officer.

The previous government introduced a recruitment process to identify potential candidates for future commissioner appointments and other improvement roles.

A recruitment consultant was hired to help create a high calibre, diverse pool of candidates with interest and availability confirmed in advance of any need.

The exercise to identify potential commissioners and other improvement roles was public, and applicants were able to apply online through a dedicated website. I refer my Hon Friend to the written statement made on 1 December 2021 (HCWS435) which referenced the open recruitment process.

Candidates were drawn from the recruitment pool and elsewhere, reflecting the experience and expertise considered necessary. Decisions on appointment were taken, following due diligence and conflict of interest checks, by the former Secretary of State under section 15 (6) of the Local Government Act 1999.

Information about appeals to the First-tier Tribunal for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.

The table below sets out the number of appeals to the SEND Tribunal against decisions made by Birmingham City Council for the academic years 2019 to 2022 (the latest period for which data are available); and the numbers of those appeals that were (i) determined in favour of the appellants, (ii) determined in favour of the local authority, (iii) withdrawn, (iv) conceded before the hearing, and (v) still awaiting a hearing.

Appellants would include appeals made by parents and young persons.

1- Appeal data is only available for 3 years due to record retention policy.

2- Appeals registered and appeals concluded will not tally due to spanning over academic years.

I can confirm that my department will consider and explore options for carrying out a review into these events. If the member wishes to write with more information I will provide him with a further update once this matter has been considered.