Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when Transport Focus last published minutes of meetings of its Board.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Transport Focus is currently in the process of updating numerous sections of its website. This includes records such as the board minutes, and the board committee terms of reference. Transport Focus is committed to upholding the principles of transparency and accountability and will prioritise the publication of historic minutes as soon as possible.
The most current iteration of board meeting minutes available on the Transport Focus website are those from the November 2021 board meeting. Recordings of public board meetings are available on the website, with the most recent being from May 2024: https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/about/transparency-and-accountability/board-meetings/
In the interim, if there are any minutes/events of particular interest, Transport Focus will be more than happy to make these available upon request: https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/contact-form.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Office of Rail and Road's letter to Network Rail of 11 February 2025, entitled Management of structures – structures examination and assessment noncompliance, what recent assessment she has made of Network Rail's capability to (a) identify and (b) remedy infrastructure failings; and when the Independent Reporter commission that is referred to in that letter will conclude.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), in its capacity as the independent rail safety regulator for Great Britain, is responsible for assessing the adequacy of the measures taken by Network Rail to examine, assess and evaluate the safety of the structural assets it owns, and for deciding on any appropriate regulatory action. ORR expects the Independent Reporter commission to conclude in approximately 9-12 months.
Safety remains our top priority for the railways, and it is important the independent rail regulator can act proactively to ensure high standards are maintained. We will look to Network Rail to work closely with the ORR to agree a plan for prioritising delivery of its planned structures examinations and assessments.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to develop weightings for trade union (a) access and (b) recognition when (i) awarding public contracts and (ii) determining strategic suppliers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Social Value Model has been updated to ensure that in-scope organisations can implement the government’s new National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS). Procurement Policy Note 002: The Social Value Model sets out the government’s approach to social value.
Strategic suppliers are selected based on the scale, scope and criticality of the services they provide.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the levels of corrosion on the Class (a) 150/0, (b) 150/1, (c) 150/2, (d) 155, (e) 156 and (f) 158 vehicles operated by Northern Trains.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold information with regards to the levels of corrosion on the specified rolling stock. It is a matter for the operator, rolling stock owner and maintainer to ensure that their rolling stock remains in an appropriate condition for operation on the railway network.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2025 to Question 28794 on Railways: Season Tickets, what the cost of a standard-class annual rail season ticket from (a) Longbridge, (b) Northfield and (c) Kings Norton stations to Birmingham New Street was between 03 March 2024 and 01 March 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The price of the standard class annual season ticket for all these journeys was £971.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, what recent progress has been made on the Parliamentary archives relocation programme; and whether that programme is still expected to be completed in 2025.
Answered by Nick Smith
The Archives Relocation Programme is on track to be completed in 2025.
To date 65% of the physical records have been removed from the Victoria Tower with the remaining moves scheduled to be completed by the autumn.
The partnership agreement with The National Archives is expected to be signed within the next six weeks.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome there were in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) since 2014:
Year | Token Person ID |
2014 | 1,287 |
2015 | 1,279 |
2016 | 1,198 |
2017 | 1,184 |
2018 | 1,195 |
2019 | 1,083 |
2020 | 1,058 |
2021 | 1,163 |
2022 | 1,095 |
2023 | 1,056 |
2024 | 1,107 (provisional) |
Source: NHS England
Notes:
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps Network Rail takes to monitor air quality at Birmingham New Street station.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail monitors air quality at Birmingham New Street station as part of a £4.5 million air quality monitoring network, which is funded by the Department for Transport and managed by the Rail Safety and Standards Board.
The network, which began operating in 2022, has measured air quality at over 100 mainline stations across Great Britain, providing data on key pollutants that impact public health, such as nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5).
In addition, Network Rail conducts occupational health monitoring to assess staff exposure to diesel engine exhaust emissions at its managed stations, including Birmingham New Street.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of NHS (a) operations, (b) appointments and (c) tests that took place in Birmingham between July-November (i) 2024 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The scope of this data is limited to elective services consistent with consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times. It excludes emergency care, maternity, and mental health services. Birmingham has four trusts excluding these services, data for which has been aggregated into the table below. The following table shows the number of elective operations, outpatient appointments, and diagnostic tests, and the total of all three combined, delivered from July to November 2024 and from July to November 2023:
Time period | Elective operations | Outpatient appointments | Diagnostic tests | Total |
July to November 2024 | 105,253 | 708,569 | 260,143 | 1,073,965 |
July to November 2023 | 99,795 | 683,685 | 248,683 | 1,032,163 |
In addition, the following table shows the number elective operations, outpatient appointments, and diagnostic tests, and the total of all three combined, delivered from July to November 2023, adjusted for working days, and the number of addition appointments delivered in 2024:
| Elective operations | Outpatient appointments | Diagnostic tests | Total |
July to November 2023 adjusted for working days | 100,719 | 690,015 | 250,986 | 1,041,720 |
Additional appointments | 4,534 | 18,554 | 9,157 | 32,245 |
Note: the data excludes the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff employed by multi academy trusts were paid (a) between £150,000 and £199,999, (b) between £200,000 and £249,999 and (c) in excess of £250,000 in each of the last five years by trust.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department collates and publishes data annually in the ‘Academies sector annual report and accounts’ on the number of academy trusts with an individual staff member whose emoluments are above £100,000. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet and can also be accessed in the reports published on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-sector-annual-reports-and-accounts.
Emoluments include salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits received during the year. These are reported in bandings of £100,000 to £150,000 and £150,000 and above.
The department also publishes an annex alongside the academy sector accounts listing academy trusts paying one or more staff member remuneration of £150,000 in that year.
The academies sector annual report and accounts is drawn from academy trusts’ accounts data. The report for 2022/23 will be published shortly. The deadline for academy trusts to submit data for 2023/24 to the department was 28 January 2025 and this data is currently collated for publication. Academy trusts must also publish pay information in their annual audited accounts and on their website.