Asked by: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she can list the (a) Ministerial responsibilities and (b) the responsibilities and reporting arrangements of any relevant cross-departmental units in relation to drugs policy.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Joint Combating Drugs Unit (JCDU) is responsible for driving and co-ordinating efforts across Government to tackle drugs, working in close partnership with six departments – the Home Office, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Department for Education. JCDU comprises full-time civil servants who are seconded from key government departments.
Each department is responsible for delivery of their programmes and projects. Progress is overseen by the lead departmental ministers but also reported to me as the lead drugs Minister, while a lead Permanent Secretary fulfils the role of senior responsible owner at official level.
Illicit drug use affects the whole of society, and this Government is taking a collective response to deliver safer streets, improve health outcomes and contribute to opportunities and growth through reducing crime and saving lives.
Asked by: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average Crown Court waiting time is for sexual offences in England and (b) Northumbria Local Criminal Justice Board; and what steps he is taking to help reduce those waiting times.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Waiting time is the time that a defendant spends at the Crown Court before the main hearing starts (for example, the trial). The latest data to Q3 2025 shows that the median waiting time for sexual offences in England was 27 weeks and was 32 in the Northumbria Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB).
The Government commissioned Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts and, after considering the recommendations made in the report, we have announced our intention to take forward a bold package of structural reforms designed to speed up justice for all victims, including victims of sexual offences. This financial year we also funded 111,250 Crown Court sitting days – an all-time high - so that more cases could be heard.
We have also published our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy - ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse’ - setting out the Government’s approach to tackling sexual and other offences perpetrated against women and girls. We are already acting by:
Supporting victims with the largest ever investment of £550 million in victim support services over the next three years;
Announcing a package of court measures to protect victims, particularly of sexual offences, from unnecessary and intrusive cross-examination about their personal lives.
Asked by: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the performance of Network Rail and Northern Trains in the refurbishment of Sunderland station.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail has apologised for the frustration and inconvenience caused to the people of Sunderland. It has conducted an investigation of the issues raised, and I am aware that Northern is working with the honourable member to improve various aspects of the station.
Asked by: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the (a) retention of DVSA employed driving test examiners and (b) pay of DVSA driving test examiners in comparison to the earnings of private sector driving instructors.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To aid retention and to encourage existing driving examiners (DE) to stay in role, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is making an exceptional payment of £5,000 to DEs and eligible roles (divided into two payments) over the next 12 months. By keeping more experienced driving examiners and bringing in new ones, DVSA will lose less testing capacity from the system, making more tests available for learner drivers.
Examiner capacity is rising, with 1,542 FTE examiners now in post (the highest since 2021) as of December 2025.
DEs are civil servants and as such, their salary is determined by the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance. The guidance sets out the financial parameters Civil Service departments can use to determine pay awards for their staff. DVSA cannot act independently from this guidance. DVSA continues to look at different financial incentives to recruit examiners and, indeed, to offer to existing employees conducting tests.
The attached excel spreadsheet shows the (a) average and (b) highest waiting time for driving test centres (DTC) in the North East of England, from the financial year 2015/16 to the financial year-to-date (YTD). Please note, that DVSA does not hold data for Elswick and South Shields DTCs beyond 2022/23, due to these centres closing.
Asked by: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting time was for a driving test in each of the the test centres in the North East region in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To aid retention and to encourage existing driving examiners (DE) to stay in role, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is making an exceptional payment of £5,000 to DEs and eligible roles (divided into two payments) over the next 12 months. By keeping more experienced driving examiners and bringing in new ones, DVSA will lose less testing capacity from the system, making more tests available for learner drivers.
Examiner capacity is rising, with 1,542 FTE examiners now in post (the highest since 2021) as of December 2025.
DEs are civil servants and as such, their salary is determined by the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance. The guidance sets out the financial parameters Civil Service departments can use to determine pay awards for their staff. DVSA cannot act independently from this guidance. DVSA continues to look at different financial incentives to recruit examiners and, indeed, to offer to existing employees conducting tests.
The attached excel spreadsheet shows the (a) average and (b) highest waiting time for driving test centres (DTC) in the North East of England, from the financial year 2015/16 to the financial year-to-date (YTD). Please note, that DVSA does not hold data for Elswick and South Shields DTCs beyond 2022/23, due to these centres closing.
Asked by: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of funding of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) receives core funding from the Home Office.
In 2025/26 HMICFRS is receiving £28m to enable it to carry out its statutory functions. Additional in-year funding is provided if there is a requirement for extra inspections that are commissioned and are not part of the agreed inspection programme.
As part of Home Office’s work to allocate its Spending Review settlement for the period 2026/27 to 2028/29 work has been undertaken to assess the required level of funding allocated to all areas of Home Office activity including HMICFRS.
Asked by: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the suitability of the current upper age limits for former members of the Armed Forces seeking to join the Reserve Forces, in the context of the Government's plan to expand reserve forces recruitment.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Alongside delivering the Strategic Defence Review recommendations aimed at re-energising our relationship with, and increasing the strength of our Reserve Forces, we continue to review the policies and legislation which shape the Reserves landscape. This includes the terms and conditions of service for all elements of our Reserve Forces. The age limits for joining the Reserve Forces are, together with all employment polices, regularly reviewed to ensure they meet the demands of the Services and are determined by the branches and trades of each Service.
As well as the Services reviewing their policies, the Ministry of Defence also annually reviews the overarching policies for the Reserve Forces. This is to ensure that we are making the most of the unique skills offered, we attract and retain the personnel needed to deliver Defence outputs and, as much as possible, reflect wider societal norms such as upper age limits which have recently been reviewed across all the Services resulting in retirement ages being raised to align more closely with society.
Asked by: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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.
Driving test centre (DTC) | Average car practical driving test waiting time (Oct 2025) | Booked tests (as of 24th Nov 2025) | Tests available in 24 week booking window (as of 24th Nov 2025) |
Sunderland | 24 weeks | 4795 | 58 |
Gateshead | 24 weeks | 3200 | 121 |
Gosforth | 24 weeks | 4003 | 171 |
Durham | 23 weeks | 3560 | 168 |
Great Britain (National) | 21.9 weeks | 635,938 | 27,872 |
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.
Asked by: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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.
Asked by: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of introducing method of production labelling to (a) the economy and (b) farm incomes.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Manchester Rusholme, Afzal Khan, on 20 October 2025, PQ UIN 78472.