Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of NHS neighbourhood mental health service pilot sites; and how learning from those sites will be used to inform his Department's future policy on mental health services.

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

The six National Health Service neighbourhood mental health centres currently being piloted will bring together a range of community mental health services under one roof, including crisis services and short-stay beds. People with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder will be able to walk in without an appointment if they need mental health support, as well as advice on employment, housing, or volunteering, delivered by a multi-disciplinary team.

The pilot sites will allow us to test the extent of the benefits this model will realise in this country, but we still expect it to be an improvement as it has demonstrated positive outcomes and efficiencies in other health systems across the globe.

While the evaluation of the six pilots will not be available until next year, evidence from comparable international models shows an association with positive outcomes such as reduced admissions and length of stay.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time is for a driving test in (a) Sunderland and (b) neighbouring test centres; and how many additional driving examiners have been recruited to test centres in the North East since May 2025.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The table below shows the current average waiting time in weeks and the number of tests available at Sunderland, Gateshead, Gosforth and Durham driving test centres (DTC) as of 24 November 2025.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is continuing with recruitment campaigns across the country to provide as many tests as possible. A full-time driving examiner (DE) can be expected to add approximately 1,200 tests per year to the booking system.

Since May 2025, DVSA has recruited two new entrant examiners for Sunderland, two new entrants for Gateshead, one new entrant for Gosforth, and one new entrant for Durham. There are also two new entrants undertaking training who are earmarked for Gosforth.

From DVSA’s most recent recruitment campaign, DVSA advertised for further examiner positions for DTCs in the area and is starting to make employment offers, with the hope to have further new entrants in post early in 2026, after all pre-employment checks and training have been successfully completed.

DVSA will also be advertising for further examiner positions in the next recruitment campaign, scheduled to launch next month.

Found: Instruments Current membership Sir Bernard Jenkin (Conservative; Harwich and North Essex) (Chair) Lewis Atkinson

Found: Life peer) House of Commons Sir Bernard Jenkin (Conservative; Harwich and North Essex) (Chair) Lewis Atkinson

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Karen Bradley (Chair); Lewis Atkinson; Mr Paul Kohler; Robbie

Found: Home Affairs Committee Member also present: Lewis Atkinson.

Found: Life peer) House of Commons Sir Bernard Jenkin (Conservative; Harwich and North Essex) (Chair) Lewis Atkinson

Found: Life peer) House of Commons Sir Bernard Jenkin (Conservative; Harwich and North Essex) (Chair) Lewis Atkinson

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Karen Bradley (Chair); Lewis Atkinson; Margaret Mullane; Chris