Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to improve the retention of coroners.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Whilst the Ministry of Justice has responsibility for coroner and inquest law and policy, coroner services are locally funded and administered by individual local authorities. In line with this framework, coroners are appointed by the lead local authority for a coroner area, with the consent of the Lord Chancellor and the Chief Coroner.
In its response to the Justice Committee in December 2024, the Government endorsed the Committee’s view that the coroner service in England and Wales “is staffed with highly skilled and dedicated people performing a difficult but essential service”. We are therefore committed to continuing to work with the Chief Coroner to ensure consistency, high standards and better resilience across coroner services.
In addition, we support steps taken by the Chief Coroner to improve the system of regional governance in her office, including enhancing the role of regional leadership coroners and creation of a diversity and inclusion lead and wellbeing lead. These leadership coroners work alongside the Chief Coroner and the deputy Chief Coroners to encourage consistency of approach at a regional level and to support the link between the Chief Coroner, her Office and the coroner judiciary as a whole.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many additional (a) tanks and (b) armoured vehicles are expected to be operational in 2027-28, in the context of increases in defence spending.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Whilst the Army’s modernisation will continue over the next decade with a programme of investment worth billions of pounds, future capability development priorities will be guided by the Strategic Defence Review (SDR). There are no current plans to procure additional tanks or armoured vehicles to those already announced however, it would be inappropriate to comment on future capability decisions until the SDR has reported and decisions have been made.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full-time regular personnel were serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps on 14 March 2025; and if he will make an estimate of the number of full-time regular personnel who will be serving in the (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27 and (c) 20270-28 financial years.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Royal Army Medical Corps have been amalgamated with Royal Army Dental Corps and Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps to form the Royal Army Medical Service. As at 1 January 2025 there were 3,954 Trade Trained Regular personnel in the Royal Army Medical Service.
The Army does not routinely release detailed future workforce forecasts.
Notes/Caveats:
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of additional service personnel who will be recruited to the (a) Royal Navy, (b) British Army, (c) Royal Air Force in the 2027-28 financial year, in the context of increases in defence spending.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The increase in defence spending is a vital part of ensuring the nation can realise the ambition which will be set out in the Strategic Defence Review (SDR). All Defence personnel - in and out of uniform - are at the heart of Defence's plans. The SDR has been considering all aspects of Defence, including the approach to recruiting, training, and retaining the people Defence needs, including Regular, Reserve, Civil Service, and Industry.
The new tri-service Armed Forces Recruiting Service will also launch in 2027, providing a flexible Candidate recruiting pathway, with the aim of recruiting from the broadest spectrum of society to attract the best talent into the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the 24 Archer artillery systems ordered in 2019 were operationally ready on 14 March 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
A total of 14 Archer 6x6 artillery systems were procured in 2023 to fill a capability gap following the Granting in Kind of AS90 to Ukraine. Archer reached Initial Operating Capability in November 2024 and there are no current plans to procure any additional systems.
I hope the hon. Member will understand that we would not routinely disclose figures relating to operationally deployable platforms in the interests of security and operational effectiveness.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of mandating CitizenAID training within the national curriculum.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All state-funded schools are required to teach about first aid as part of the statutory health education set out within the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance. Independent schools are required to cover health education as part of their responsibility to provide personal, social, health and economic education.
The statutory guidance includes basic first aid for primary school children. For example, dealing with common injuries, such as head injuries. Pupils in secondary schools will be taught further first aid. For example, how to administer CPR and the purpose of defibrillators.
Schools also have the autonomy to decide how they teach first aid and which resources to use, so schools are free to incorporate citizenAID’s materials into their lessons if they choose to.
The department is currently reviewing the statutory RSHE curriculum, which includes considering whether any additional content is needed, including first aid and life-saving skills.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the application of VAT on independent school fees on the number of independent school closures in the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial years.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Approximately 50 mainstream private schools close each year. There are a range of reasons for closure, including financial viability and action taken by the department where schools are not meeting standards. We expect the number of private school closures to remain relatively low, and be influenced by various factors, not just the VAT policy.
The government is aware there may be a temporary increase in the schools closure rate over the normal rate during the few years after implementation of the VAT policy. It is estimated that this may be broadly equivalent to 100 schools in total closing over the next 3 years, in addition to the normal levels of turnover, after which closures would return to historic norms. The government has conducted a thorough and detailed analysis of this policy’s impacts and published a Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN), which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees/ac8c20ce-4824-462d-b206-26a567724643#summary-of-impacts.
Historically, there has been significant turnover within the sector. Since 2000, average fees in the sector have increased by 75% in real terms, while pupil numbers have remained stable, as have total school numbers.
Local authorities routinely support parents who need a state-funded school place, including where private schools have closed. The department works with local authorities to support place planning and ensure there is capacity in the state-funded sector to meet demand. Parents can seek places in other private schools or find a state-funded place through their local authority.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the risk of interference by Russia in Georgia.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Georgia remains at the forefront of Russian hybrid aggression, with Russian military units stationed just 30 minutes from the capital, Tbilisi. In December 2024 I discussed with Georgian Dream representative, Maka Botcharishvili, Russian interference in Georgia. The UK remains vocal at the UN and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), where Russia regularly exerts pressure, in our support for Georgian territorial integrity and sovereignty over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We continue to call on the Russian Federation to withdraw their troops from Georgian sovereign territory and reverse recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetian independence.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the number of road traffic fatalities related to potholes in (a) Solihull Borough, (b) the city of Birmingham, (c) Warwickshire, (d) Oxfordshire and (e) Worcestershire in each of the last four years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Statistics on reported road injury collisions in Great Britain are published based on data reported by police via the data collection known as STATS19.
Within STATS19, reporting police officers can assign up to 6 factors which they believe may have contributed to the collision, including ‘poor or defective road surface’. Contributory factors are assigned based on the opinions of the reporting officer at the scene or within a short time of the collision, rather than a detailed investigation.
The number of road fatalities where a police officer assigned the contributory factor “poor or defective road surface” in Solihull Borough, the city of Birmingham, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and Worcestershire for the last 4 years for which data are available totalled 1 fatality. This fatality occurred in Warwickshire in 2020.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to he Answer of 27 January 2025 to question 24346 on NHS: Standards, how many additional Value Weighted Activity appointments have been delivered since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Between July 2024 and November 2024, the latest available data, there were 1,635,136 more value-weighted activity appointments compared to the period July 2023 to November 2023.
This includes elective ordinary and day case admissions, outpatient first appointments, and outpatient follow-up appointments with a procedure. It does not include other outpatient follow-ups, or diagnostic tests, except for endoscopy tests which are included within elective admissions or outpatient procedures as appropriate.
Including diagnostic tests, between July 2024 and November 2024, the latest available data, there were 2,199,579 more appointments compared to the period July 2023 to November 2023.