Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with Yemeni community groups on the cessation of pension payments to Yemeni steelworkers.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We recognise the tragic conflict in Yemen is hindering the normal means of administrating pensions for those based abroad. In May 2025, I held a meeting with several Members of Parliament who represent Yemeni pensioners facing challenges receiving their State Pension payments. Since then, we have supported individual cases and taken steps to support pensioners living in Yemen.
Previously, officials met community leaders in 2022.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people she estimates have been impacted by the cessation of pension payments to Yemeni steelworkers who worked in Britani.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are unable to identify which State Pension claimants are ex-steelworkers and therefore unable to provide any estimate of the number of people whose payment has stopped.
As of May 2025, there are 832 State Pension recipients in the Yemen.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will take steps to reinstate the pensions of Yemeni steelworkers who worked in Britain.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pension payments to Yemen are being disrupted due to banking and currency issues, war, international sanctions and some issues over verification of identity. We are looking at ways to ensure payments are completed.
Our dedicated Yemen telephone number can be found on GOV.UK ( International Pension Centre - GOV.UK) and includes a Yemen-Arabic language translation as part of the opening message and we provide callback and translation services. We urge anyone who is having issues with their State Pension to contact us via this dedicated helpline.
Additionally, the Department is working with the Yemeni banks to enable payments in different currencies in order to get payments to the intended recipients.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the number of EIR complaints that have been made against water companies in the last 12 months.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This information is held by water companies and is governed by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure water companies comply with transparency obligations.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This information is held by water companies and is governed by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the number of people (a) suffering problem gambling and (b) at risk of problem gambling in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is acutely aware of the impact that harmful gambling can have on individuals and their families.
We recognise the importance of using impartial, accurate and up-to-date statistics, in the context of the wider evidence base, to inform policy and regulatory decisions. A number of studies have looked at this issue. This includes the Gambling Commission’s recent Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) 2024 annual report which highlighted how approximately 2.7% of adults in Great Britain had a score of 8+ on the Problem Gambling Severity Index.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many drivers were arrested of a driving offence while on bail for causing death by careless or dangerous driving for each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The data requested is not held centrally.
The Home Office collects data on arrests by offence group in England and Wales as part of the Police Powers and Procedures statistical series. The latest data is available here: Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UK
However, the data is collected by broader offence group, such as ‘violence against the person’ or ‘miscellaneous crimes against society’. Data on arrests for non-notifiable offences is not collected. Additionally, we do not collect information centrally on whether a person was on bail at the time of their arrest.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons vehicles may not have registered keepers.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Vehicles that are currently in the motor trade may legitimately have no registered keeper as well as vehicles that have been sold but the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has not yet been notified of the new keeper.
There will also be cases where the DVLA has been made aware of someone being incorrectly associated with a vehicle they are not responsible for. In those cases, the DVLA will remove the person’s name from the vehicle record to help ensure that they are not contacted about a vehicle for which they are not responsible.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many fines the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has issued to people who have failed to update their address on their driving license in each of the last five years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) does not allow individual vehicle keepers to use a PO Box address to register their vehicles. Fleet companies are able to use a PO box address but this must always be accompanied by the full and verifiable postal address. This supports vehicle accuracy and the traceability of registered keepers. The DVLA is unable to identify the number of vehicle records with a PO box number as part of the address as the data is filtered by post code.
The DVLA has not issued any fines to people who failed to update their vehicle registration certificate or driving licence in the last five years.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many fines the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has issued to people who failed to update their V5C logbook in each of the last five years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) does not allow individual vehicle keepers to use a PO Box address to register their vehicles. Fleet companies are able to use a PO box address but this must always be accompanied by the full and verifiable postal address. This supports vehicle accuracy and the traceability of registered keepers. The DVLA is unable to identify the number of vehicle records with a PO box number as part of the address as the data is filtered by post code.
The DVLA has not issued any fines to people who failed to update their vehicle registration certificate or driving licence in the last five years.