Question

To ask the hon. Member for Warrington North, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, with reference to page 68 of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority's Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24, whether IPSA recognises the PCS trade union for collective bargaining purposes.

Answered by Charlotte Nichols

IPSA does not recognise the PCS union for the purposes of collective bargaining. IPSA has established a long standing, trusted and collaborative arrangement with its PCS representatives over the years with whom it engages on significant matters that relate specifically to the small number of IPSA employees who are members of a trade union, as appropriate.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Warrington North, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, with reference to page 68 of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority's Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24, whether any IPSA activity necessitated formal employee consultation during (a) 2024-25 or(b) 2025-26 to date.

Answered by Charlotte Nichols

There is no IPSA activity during 2024-25 or 2025-26 to date that necessitated formal empoyee consultation. However, IPSA collaborates effectively with the PCS trade union representative on matters such as the pay of IPSA's people or significant changes to terms and conditions. Ahead of structural changes made in autumn 2025, IPSA collaberated with its trade union representative who was able to raise concerns at that point. Pay data and recommendations are raised with a formal sub-committee of IPSA's board and ultimate decisions on the pay of IPSA's people are taken at Board level.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Bryony House care home in Birmingham Northfield constituency will next be inspected by the CQC.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Bryony House Care Home was last inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in May 2025 and was rated as Inadequate and placed into special measures.

The CQC has advised that it continues to monitor the service closely and will carry out a further assessment, based on assessment priorities and the level of risk across the region. As this assessment will be unannounced, the CQC is unable to provide a timeframe for completion.

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.

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