Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the answer of 18 September 2025 to Question UIN 76304, what progress has been made since that date towards to help enable the commencement of passenger services on each phase of East West Rail; what delivery milestones and indicative dates is her Department is working to; and when she expects to be in a position to publish a final timetable for the project.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department continues to work closely with Chiltern and other partners to confirm a start date for the first stage of services. For passenger services to commence, trains will need to have been modified and fully tested, and driver training will need to have been completed. East West Rail Company published its consultation on the remaining stages of the scheme on 14th April 2026 as part of preparations for its application for a development consent order in 2027. The consultation sets out timelines for delivery of services along the route.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what support is being provided to regional innovation clusters, to i) support UK Research & Development in clean tech ii) promote the export of high-value research and development.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is supporting regional innovation clusters by working with priority city regions to connect universities, Catapult centres and innovative firms, aligning place-based R&D with the UK’s Industrial Strategy and net zero objectives alongside partners such as UK Research and Innovation, ensuring clean tech research is developed, commercialised and scaled across the country.
DBT provides targeted export support, trade missions, clean tech showcases and investor engagement. We help high value, research-intensive firms reach global markets, boosting productivity, attracting knowledge intensive investment that complements local R&D ecosystems and creating skilled jobs in every region of the UK.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what support is available for UK-based research and development companies in the solar industry.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government supports UK solar research and development companies in various ways.
There is funding available for innovation companies looking to grow, including through UK Research and Innovation.
Moreover, the Solar Roadmap included several actions to support R&D companies in the UK, including working with the National Physical Laboratory to explore the establishment of a PV innovation and infrastructure platform. We recently worked with Solar Energy UK to produce a practical guide for companies in the solar supply chain, including R&D firms. It is available here: https://solarenergyuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Growing-the-UK-Solar-Supply-Chain-A-practical-guide-for-businesses.pdf.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much was spent by NHS England on (a) each Section 7A service, (b) immunisation programmes within Section 7A services, (c) childhood immunisations within Section 7A services and (d) school-age immunisations within Section 7A services under the National Health Service Act 2006 in each financial year since 2019-20.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for public health functions delegated by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to NHS England, known as section 7A services, is allocated as part of NHS England’s mandate funding total. The following table shows the spend for section 7A services by NHS England for the financial years 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24:
Section 7A service area/programme | 2019/20 (£, million) | 2020/21 (£, million) | 2021/22 (£, million) | 2022/23 (£, million) | 2023/24 (£, million) |
Childhood immunisations | 125.4 | 94.4 | 62.9 | 84.2 | 95.6 |
School age immunisations | 41.1 | 41.1 | 36.5 | 42.6 | 55.4 |
Flu vaccination | 260.2 | 345.8 | 388.6 | 448.1 | 403.9 |
Other immunisations | 32.2 | 22.1 | 8.0 | 25.1 | 29.2 |
COVID-19 immunisation | 0.0 | 554.6 | 1,080.2 | 386.2 | 268.4 |
National immunisation programmes total | 458.9 | 1,058.0 | 1,576.2 | 986.2 | 852.5 |
National population screening programmes total | 644.6 | 668.5 | 675.8 | 647.4 | 701.2 |
Child health information services total | 46.5 | 31.4 | 25.2 | 52.2 | 53.4 |
Public health services in secure and detained settings total | 95.5 | 84.5 | 90.8 | 82.0 | 82.1 |
Sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) total | 33.2 | 39.0 | 42.3 | 48.1 | 52.8 |
Grand total | 1,278.7 | 1,881.4 | 2,410.3 | 1,815.8 | 1,742.0 |
Source: NHS England.
Notes:
Expenditure for 2024/25 and 2025/26 is not yet published.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the pay gap between Further Education lecturers and school teachers; and whether she is taking steps support FE colleges in recruiting and retaining skilled teachers to deliver technical education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The statutory requirements for maintained schoolteachers' pay are set nationally subject to recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body. In 2023/24, the median FTE salary for teachers in secondary schools was £47,666.
Further education (FE) colleges have statutory autonomy over the pay of their staff. Colleges should have the freedom to meet local technical skills needs within their own local circumstances, and the government does not set college teacher pay. In 2023/24, the median FTE average salary for teachers on permanent or fixed term contracts in FE colleges was £36,316 and £47,133 in sixth form colleges.
FE teachers are central to delivering high-quality technical education. Last year, we announced an additional £190 million broadly equivalent to the pay award in schools for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers to help them address the recruitment and retention of specialist FE teachers. Our targeted retention incentive offer is designed to retain eligible FE teachers in technical subjects with payments of up to £6,000 after tax. In its first year, nearly 6,000 teachers received a payment.