Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Q44 of the oral evidence given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to the Transport Select Committee on 4 December 2024, HC 437, what the average waiting time for driving tests is in Birmingham Northfield constituency.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The average car practical test waiting time for Driving Test Centres that serve the Birmingham Northfield constituency can be found in the table below:

The average waiting time for Vocational tests 3a and 3b, for Garretts Green test centre which serves the Birmingham Northfield constituency, can be found in the table below:

With regards to part 2 and 3 approved driving instructor tests, these types of tests are not booked the same way as other types of tests, and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is not able to record how long waiting times are at any given test centre.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 02 December to Question 15995, on Kings Norton Station, whether that £123m to design the first phase of the Midlands Rail Hub programme included any capital funding for (a) the reinstatement of the island platforms at Kings Norton Station and (b) track works for the purpose of extending Camp Hill services to Kings Norton station.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The funding for Midlands Rail Hub includes designs for the reinstatement of the island platforms at Kings Norton, which, subject to a future ‘Decision to Deliver’, could be constructed by the early 2030s. Camp Hill line trains will serve Kings Norton from their introduction, currently scheduled for late-2025.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 120 of Network Rail North West and Central's publication entitled West Midlands Strategic Advice, published in October 2022, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of the proposed (a) Longbridge Interchange project and (b) extension of Camp Hill services to Longbridge railway station.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government funds rail upgrades through the 'Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline'. Network Rail, or a third party, such as Midlands Connect or West Midlands Rail Executive, can bring forward proposals and make the case for development funding through this process, and schemes are assessed on alignment with the Government's priorities, value for money, and affordability.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 10 December 2020 to Question 126005, on Classroom Assistants: Pay, if she will provide the same salary data for (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022, and (d) 2023.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

The attached table provides the average salary for all full-time general teaching assistants, higher level teaching assistants and all teaching assistants in local authority maintained schools, academy schools and free schools in England, as at November each year.

Support staff may have more than one contract, therefore individuals may be counted more than once.

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.

This body will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook, training and progression routes, ensuring that schools can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver high quality, inclusive education.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of producing impact assessments for the Employment Rights Bill.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The publication of Impact Assessments for the Employment Rights Bill meets our requirements under the Better Regulation Framework to provide analysis of the impacts on businesses, households, and the wider economy. This is important to support ministerial decision making, enable parliamentary scrutiny and ensure transparency.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) does not routinely collate information on the specific departmental cost of producing impact assessments. Information on civil servants employed by DBT and payroll data are available at: DBT’s headcount and payroll data for March 2024 - GOV.UK

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information her Department holds on the number of legal cases against schools for claimed (a) disability discrimination and (b) a failure to make reasonable adjustments.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

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

Failure to make reasonable adjustments is not recorded as a separate category of disability discrimination.

Those claims will be included in the “uncategorised” data set.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department plans to respond to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme Review 2020, published on 16 July 2020.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The previous Government held three consultations, in 2020, 2022 and 2023, as part of its review of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012. It did not publish a response to these consultations prior to the 2024 election.

This Government is looking at how we can best support victims of crime. As part of this we are considering the previous review of the Scheme, and further updates will be provided in due course.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, which organisations are represented on his Department's Flexible Working Taskforce; and on what dates that taskforce has met.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Flexible Working Taskforce last met on 26 Jan 2024. It was comprised of business groups, charities and trade unions and was co-chaired by the Chartered Institute for Professional Development (CIPD) and the government. It met at regular intervals between 2018 and 2024.

The Government is committed to engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that policy works for businesses, workers, and the wider economy. That is why we continue to meet with stakeholders on a regular basis to discuss flexible working and related issues.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the Office for Statistics Regulation's publication entitled OSR’s statement on the Labour Force Survey-derived estimates and Annual Population Survey-derived estimates, published on 12 December 2024.

Answered by Tulip Siddiq

Data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) remains subject to a number of quality concerns following a fall in response rates and are currently badged as official statistics in development.

As set out in its December 2024 Labour Market Overview,[1] the Office for National Statistics (ONS) recommend using LFS data alongside other labour market indicators, including Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real-Time Information (RTI) and Workforce Jobs (WFJ).

The ONS are continuing to improve the quality of the LFS, as described in its latest report LFS performance and quality monitoring report,[2] and have carried out a reweighting of LFS estimates, detailed in its December 2024 article[3], that has brought them into line with the ONS’ latest population numbers. The ONS is continuing to develop the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) as the long-term solution for collecting labour market data [4].

1 https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/december2024

2 LFS performance and quality monitoring report: July to September 2024

3 https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/impactofreweightingonlabourforcesurveykeyindicators/december2024

4 https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/labourmarkettransformationupdateonprogressandplans/july2024

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what payments her Department has made to Birmingham City Council in support of the Birmingham roads PFI contract in each financial year from 2020-21 to 2024-25; and what was the total value of payments to the primary contractor under that contract in each of those years.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department has paid Birmingham City Council (BCC) a little over £50 million a year, broken down into quarterly payments of £12.6 million, from 2020-21 to 2024-25 in support of its PFI contract for its local highways. Payments from the council to its primary contractor are a matter for BCC.

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 implications for his Department's policies of the Office for Statistics Regulation's publication entitled OSR’s statement on the Labour Force Survey-derived estimates and Annual Population Survey-derived estimates, published on 12 December 2024.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department uses the data and outputs from both the Labour Force Survey and Annual Population Survey to feed into some of our own statistical products. We recognise the importance of these surveys, and whilst it is disappointing that the accredited official statistics status has been removed from these two surveys, we understand these products continue to follow statistical best practice where possible.

The reduced sample size in the Annual Population Survey means there may be more uncertainty around some of our estimates at a local authority level, and there may be a gap in some of our data at local authority level in the short term. We will continue to work with the Office for National Statistics to ensure that any implications for our own evidence is clearly understood and explained to our users, in line with the Statistics Code of Practice.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the Office for Statistics Regulation's publication entitled OSR’s statement on the Labour Force Survey-derived estimates and Annual Population Survey-derived estimates, published on 12 December 2024.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Putting the best evidence at the heart of policy development is critical to achieving the Department’s objective of supporting businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country.

The Department has been engaging with the Office for Statistics Regulation on quality concerns with the Labour Force Survey, so have noted their statement and welcome the clarity it provides. We will continue to work closely with the OSR and the ONS on their next steps to ensure that our labour market data is as strong as possible.

Found: Dr Scott Arthur; Catherine Atkinson; Olly Glover; Alex Mayer; Baggy Shanker; Rebecca Smith; Laurence Turner

Submit Evidence (by 7 Feb 2025)

The Transport Committee is examining investment pipelines for the railway.