Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to monitor and report on its progress towards phasing out animal testing; and whether industry stakeholders will be involved in assessing the effectiveness of the strategy once implemented.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

We will establish governance structures to oversee strategy delivery, including a cross-governmental Ministerial group on alternative methods, chaired by the Science Minister, key performance indicators (KPIs) and a publicly available dashboard of progress against the strategy’s key deliverables. From 2026 we will also report biennially on updated research and development priorities, alternative methods accepted by regulatory agency and priorities for future development and validation.

We will work closely with experts from across many fields including regulators, academics, industry and civil society organisations, to ensure that this strategy remains up to date, focused on the key issues and delivers on track.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment the Government has made of the feasibility of replacing animal testing in the UK with Non-Animal New Approach Methodologies (NAMs); and if this will be reflected in the upcoming strategy to phase out animal testing.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

I refer the hon. Member for Birmingham Northfield to the answer of 01.12.2025 to Question 92600.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential merit of redirecting existing funding and resources to support the transition to Non-Animal New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) to support the phasing out of animal testing.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government’s publication “Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods” is supported by new funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology including £30 million to set up a translational hub and £30 million for the UK centre for the validation of alternative methods.

£11.4m has also been committed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Innovate UK’s core budgets and £4.5m from the Wellcome Trust to support strategy implementation to build a world-class UK research system by enhancing investment.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent progress the Office for National Statistics has made on the development of the Household Costs Indices.

Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of the 1st of December is attached.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the number of ticket sales for season tickets from (a) Longbridge, (b) Northfield and (c) Kings Norton to (i) Birmingham stations, (ii) Redditch and (iii) Bromsgrove in the 2024-2025 financial year.

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

The number of season tickets is shown below

The Birmingham stations group includes Birmingham Moor Street, Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Snow Hill.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the broadband provider BRSK has recently contacted her Department regarding a customer data breach.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

BRSK has not recently contacted my department regarding a customer data breach. I understand BRSK has reported a data breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent regulator for the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

Under PECR, public electronic communications service providers are required to take appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard the security of their services. They are required to notify the ICO of any personal data breach without undue delay, and where feasible, not later than 72 hours after having become aware of the breach.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults by prisoners on (a) prison officers and (b) other prison staff were recorded at HMP Hewell in each of the last five years.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

Please see the attached table showing the number of incidents of assault on (a) prison officers and (b) other prison staff at HMP Hewell in each of the last five years, and accompanying notes.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the employee (a) vacancy and (b) turnover rates were at HMP Hewell in each of the last five years by (i) prison staff and (ii) prison officers.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The latest published workforce statistics for HM Prison & Probation Service cover the period up to 30 September 2025 and contain figures for the last five years for working days lost, average staff and average working days lost for each public sector prison and for different grades, but not by prison and grade combined. The published figures are for the 12 months to 31 March each year and latest figures are for the 12 months to 30 September 2025. These figures for HMP Hewell, split by band 3-5 prison officers and other prison staff, are given in the table below.

Working days lost to sickness absence, for HMP Hewell, by band 3-5 prison officers and other staff – for 12 months to 31 March 2021 to 2025 and for 12 months to 30 September 2025.

(Full Time Equivalent)

Notes

1. Band 3-5 Officers includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officers (including specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officers, and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.
2. Figures relating to the most recent 12 months are provisional, and may be subject to change in the future

A comparison between target staffing levels and staff in post can be found in the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/691da96221ef5aaa6543ef83/annex-prison-and-probation-officer-recruitment-Sep-2025_final.ods.

Internal management information has long been used for workforce planning to monitor vacancies and other resource monitoring purposes. However, target staffing and parallel staff in post data has only been produced for the purpose of official statistics for the last few years. As a result, the full historic time series is not available in a consistent format for the grade breakdowns requested.

Turnover rates¹ at HMP Hewell for (i) band 3-5 officers² and (ii) all other prison staff, in the 12 months to 31 March 2021-2025 and in the 12 months to 30 September 2025

Notes:

1. Turnover rates include all reasons for leaving and include both permanent and temporary staff.
2. Band 3-5 officers include: Bands 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl. specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers

3. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time and is dependent on staff completing the details correctly. The database itself is dynamic and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, or are incorrect then these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate and may not match local data.

Figures relating to the most recent 12 months are provisional, and may be subject to change in the future.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many full-time equivalent days were lost to sickness absence at HMP Hewell in each of the last five years by (a) prison officers and (b) other prison staff.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The latest published workforce statistics for HM Prison & Probation Service cover the period up to 30 September 2025 and contain figures for the last five years for working days lost, average staff and average working days lost for each public sector prison and for different grades, but not by prison and grade combined. The published figures are for the 12 months to 31 March each year and latest figures are for the 12 months to 30 September 2025. These figures for HMP Hewell, split by band 3-5 prison officers and other prison staff, are given in the table below.

Working days lost to sickness absence, for HMP Hewell, by band 3-5 prison officers and other staff – for 12 months to 31 March 2021 to 2025 and for 12 months to 30 September 2025.

(Full Time Equivalent)

Notes

1. Band 3-5 Officers includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officers (including specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officers, and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.
2. Figures relating to the most recent 12 months are provisional, and may be subject to change in the future

A comparison between target staffing levels and staff in post can be found in the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/691da96221ef5aaa6543ef83/annex-prison-and-probation-officer-recruitment-Sep-2025_final.ods.

Internal management information has long been used for workforce planning to monitor vacancies and other resource monitoring purposes. However, target staffing and parallel staff in post data has only been produced for the purpose of official statistics for the last few years. As a result, the full historic time series is not available in a consistent format for the grade breakdowns requested.

Turnover rates¹ at HMP Hewell for (i) band 3-5 officers² and (ii) all other prison staff, in the 12 months to 31 March 2021-2025 and in the 12 months to 30 September 2025

Notes:

1. Turnover rates include all reasons for leaving and include both permanent and temporary staff.
2. Band 3-5 officers include: Bands 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl. specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers

3. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time and is dependent on staff completing the details correctly. The database itself is dynamic and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, or are incorrect then these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate and may not match local data.

Figures relating to the most recent 12 months are provisional, and may be subject to change in the future.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment Network Rail has made of the potential impact of (a) the reopening of the Camp Hill Line and (b) the May 2026 timetable change on capacity constraints at Birmingham New Street.

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

West Midlands Combined Authority produced a Full Business Case for delivery of Moseley, Kings Heath and Pineapple Road stations on the Camp Hill line. The stations facilitate a range of transformational benefits to the region including job creation, new supply chains, economic growth, and decarbonisation by moving passengers from road to rail.

The services for the new stations have been agreed via the usual Network Change process to ensure all stations affected, including Birmingham New Street, meet regulatory compliance requirements.

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

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

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

Found: Representations from Members The following Members made oral representations: • Laurence Turner: Compensation

Found: ; Mrs Elsie Blundell; Jacob Collier; 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

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

Submit Evidence (by 30 Jan 2026)

The Transport Committee is examining how effectively the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is progressing, considering the range of factors that are influencing uptake. This includes the effectiveness of existing financial incentives (such as the Electric Car Grant) the potential effect of the recently announced Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED), and the role of second-hand markets in shaping demand. The inquiry will also consider the rollout of charging infrastructure across the country including the equity of availability in urban and rural areas, the availability of grid connections and wider factors influencing consumer confidence.