Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2026 to Question 110890 on HGV Parking and Driver Welfare Grant Scheme, what schemes have been withdrawn by (a) location and (b) operator.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

A total of 16 projects have been withdrawn by operators from the HGV Parking and Driver Welfare Grant Scheme.

The regional distribution of withdrawn schemes is as follows:

East Midlands: 7

East of England: 5

North West of England: 1

South East of England: 1

West Midlands: 2

The location and names of these operators are commercially sensitive.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Warrington North, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what the (a) sickness absence rate, (b) total number of days lost to sickness absence and (c) number of days lost to sickness absence per head was for Member's staff in each of the last three years.

Answered by Charlotte Nichols

This data is correct as of 12 March 2026, and it should be noted that this only includes sickness absence that has been reported to IPSA and excludes any pregnancy-related sickness.

The sickness absence rate, based on an assumption of 228 working days per employee per year, for each of the past three calendar years, is as follows – 13.79% (2023), 11.86% (2024), and 8.28% (2025). Year-to-date in 2026, the figure is 5.7%.

The total number of actual working days lost to sickness absence since 1 January 2023 is 32,152.

The average number of actual working days lost to sickness per head of MPs’ staff in each of the past three calendar years is as follows – 8.18 (2023), 8.56 (2024), and 5.68 (2025). Year-to-date in 2026, the figure is 5.60 days.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Warrington North, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what the (a) median and (b) mean full-time equivalent salary was for each staff job title in 2024-25 for hon. Members' staff (i) outside and (ii) inside London.

Answered by Charlotte Nichols

IPSA has provided the median and mean full-time equivalent salary for each MPs’ staff job family and job title in 2024-25 for both staff members employed outside and inside London in the table below. The data excludes cases where only one staff member holds a specific title, to avoid the risk of disclosing information about identifiable individuals.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Warrington North, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, pursuant to the Answer of 09 March 2026 to Question 117392 on Staff, what the a) full-time equivalent median salary and b) full-time equivalent mean salary is for Members' staff.

Answered by Charlotte Nichols

The full-time equivalent median salary for Members’ staff as of 12 March 2026 is £35,000. The full-time equivalent mean salary for Members’ staff as of 12 March 2026 is £36,595.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether banking hubs are obliged to accept cheque deposits.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government recognises that cheques remain an important payment method for some people. Decisions on whether cheque deposits are accepted and processed through Post Office counters in banking hubs are commercial matters for individual banks, based on their arrangements with the Post Office and Cash Access UK, which operates banking hubs.

Most retail banks currently accept cheque deposits at banking hubs and the Government expects firms to ensure that customers can continue to access the services they need.

Where this service is not available at a banking hub counter, customers continue to have alternative options to pay in cheques, including at bank branches and by post, or digitally via mobile banking apps using cheque imaging technology.

Any customers affected by changes to cheque depositing services offered through banking hubs are encouraged to contact their bank directly to request information about the bank’s plans to support them.

The Government continues to engage with the banking industry banking industry, the Post Office and Cash Access UK to improve the consistency and level of services provided through banking hubs, so that they meet the needs of communities across the UK.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022 in preventing unlicenced use of glue traps.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

No formal assessment of the effectiveness of the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022 in preventing unlicensed use of glue traps has been made.

The Act aims to improve animal welfare by reducing the use of glue traps in England. Since 2022, market-leading suppliers have been removing glue traps from sale and promoting more humane alternatives; and since 2024, professional pest controllers have only been able to use glue traps in exceptional circumstances under licence. Defra has confidence that the number of these devices deployed across England has been significantly reducing.

Found: Ruth Cadbury (Chair); Steff Aquarone; Olly Glover; Alex Mayer; Baggy Shanker; Rebecca Smith; Laurence Turner

Found: Ruth Cadbury (Chair); Steff Aquarone; Olly Glover; Alex Mayer; Baggy Shanker; Rebecca Smith; Laurence Turner

Found: ; Mrs Elsie Blundell; Jacob Collier; Olly Glover; Alex Mayer; Baggy Shanker; Rebecca Smith; Laurence Turner