First elected: 4th July 2024
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
These initiatives were driven by Sarah Gibson, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Sarah Gibson has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Sarah Gibson has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Sarah Gibson has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th May is attached.
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th May is attached.
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 28th April is attached.
The Government will shortly publish a consultation covering the endorsement of International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Standards. It will seek views on UK versions of the ISSB Standards, which will be known as UK Sustainability Reporting Standards, including on the costs and benefits of reporting against those Standards. The Government will take endorsement decisions later this year, following the consultation.
There is no single 'best' way to identify the most critical subsectors and technologies, so the Government has used a range of quantitative and qualitative evidence and judgement. We have considered metrics which relate to the Industrial Strategy's objectives of delivering sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth and boosting business investment, such as wages, productivity, and the UK's international position to identify our current and emerging strengths. We have combined this with engagement with experts and stakeholders, including the Industrial Strategy Green Paper consultation, and multiple data sources. Further detail will be provided in the upcoming White Paper.
The Industrial Strategy Green Paper is clear that the people that create and work in businesses will be central to the success of the growth-driving sectors and clusters. The government is developing proposals to ensure that the current and future skills system supports employers to invest in and develop a skilled workforce, and has already taken steps to support this, including establishing Skills England and reforming the existing apprenticeship offer into a Growth and Skills levy-funded offer which will provide greater flexibility for both employers and learners. We will set out further detail in the forthcoming Industrial Strategy.
The Industrial Strategy will unleash the full potential of our cities and regions by attracting investment and creating the best environment for businesses in them to thrive
My officials are working with the devolved governments on how we can drive growth across the UK within the context of our Industrial Strategy. This includes regular ministerial engagement through the Interministerial Group for Business & Industry. This partnership will help make the Industrial Strategy a UK-wide effort and support the sectoral strengths and growth-driving clusters in all four nations.
A secure supply of critical minerals is vital for the UK's economic growth and security, Industrial Strategy, and clean energy transition. The Department for Business and Trade will publish a new Critical Minerals Strategy this year that will set out the Government’s refined approach including on international partnerships.
The UK is committed to collaborating with Ukraine on critical minerals through our 100 Year Partnership agreement to support the development of a Ukrainian Critical Minerals Strategy.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) does not collect local-level data specifically on cold or energy-inefficient homes occupied by pensioners. The latest estimate of the fuel poverty rate in Wiltshire, based on the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) metric, was 9.5% of households in 2023 (Table 2 of the sub-regional fuel poverty statistics).
Statistics on fuel poverty in England in 2024 by age of the oldest person in the household can be found in Table 15 of the fuel poverty detailed tables.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not currently support air-to-air heat pumps, as heat pump installations must provide both space heating and hot water heating, using liquid as a medium for delivering that heat. We want to target support at technologies that offer the greatest potential to decarbonise our buildings.
The Government is committed to incentivising moves to cleaner, more affordable heating, and will keep its position on alternative heating technologies under review and make further assessments as the supporting evidence base develops.
Government energy efficiency schemes such as the Energy Company Obligation, Great British Insulation Scheme, Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund and Warm Homes: Local Grant are targeted at low-income households to tackle fuel poverty.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant provides capital support for property owners to install a low carbon heating system.
Home energy efficiency improvements and upgraded heating systems under these schemes look to reduce carbon emissions, overall energy demand and energy bills for consumers. Further details on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out in due course.
The government is committed to strengthening protections to ensure that people can continue to enjoy gambling, without the risks that can ensue from harmful gambling.
The previous government published its gambling white paper in April 2023. The white paper set out the future of regulation and legislation in the gambling sector. This included a broad package of evidence-led proposals which aim to prevent harm as early as possible, and we have delivered on the introduction of the statutory levy and online slots stake limits. We will continue to monitor the best available evidence in taking decisions on future gambling reform, and the Minister for Gambling will outline further steps in due course, including on the ombudsman.
Schools have been prioritised because they met one or more of the following criteria:
More information about how the department prioritised schools can be found in the published methodology notes, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
The number of schools in Wiltshire that have been included in the School Rebuilding Programme is 3.
The department does not have data on the proportion of young carers in Wiltshire who have received an assessment of their needs in the last 12 months. However, being a young carer was identified as a factor at end of assessment in 253 episodes of need in Wiltshire in the year ending 31 March 2024.
Services for young carers are monitored through the inspection of local authorities. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing how well local authorities in England are delivering their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including those relating to young carers. CQC has published their assessment of Wiltshire Council, rating them Good. It reports that there were no delays in wait times for young unpaid carers needs assessments and that the young unpaid carers offer was well established with robust oversight from senior leaders. Further, Ofsted’s inspection of Wiltshire’s Children’s Services in September 2023 found the overall service to be Outstanding.
The department is aiming to publish national key stage 2 and key stage 4 data for young carers for the first time later this year. Subject to data quality, this will allow comparison of young carers progress and attainment with their peers at local authority level.
The department does not have data on the proportion of young carers in Wiltshire who have received an assessment of their needs in the last 12 months. However, being a young carer was identified as a factor at end of assessment in 253 episodes of need in Wiltshire in the year ending 31 March 2024.
Services for young carers are monitored through the inspection of local authorities. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing how well local authorities in England are delivering their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including those relating to young carers. CQC has published their assessment of Wiltshire Council, rating them Good. It reports that there were no delays in wait times for young unpaid carers needs assessments and that the young unpaid carers offer was well established with robust oversight from senior leaders. Further, Ofsted’s inspection of Wiltshire’s Children’s Services in September 2023 found the overall service to be Outstanding.
The department is aiming to publish national key stage 2 and key stage 4 data for young carers for the first time later this year. Subject to data quality, this will allow comparison of young carers progress and attainment with their peers at local authority level.
The department does not have data on the proportion of young carers in Wiltshire who have received an assessment of their needs in the last 12 months. However, being a young carer was identified as a factor at end of assessment in 253 episodes of need in Wiltshire in the year ending 31 March 2024.
Services for young carers are monitored through the inspection of local authorities. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing how well local authorities in England are delivering their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including those relating to young carers. CQC has published their assessment of Wiltshire Council, rating them Good. It reports that there were no delays in wait times for young unpaid carers needs assessments and that the young unpaid carers offer was well established with robust oversight from senior leaders. Further, Ofsted’s inspection of Wiltshire’s Children’s Services in September 2023 found the overall service to be Outstanding.
The department is aiming to publish national key stage 2 and key stage 4 data for young carers for the first time later this year. Subject to data quality, this will allow comparison of young carers progress and attainment with their peers at local authority level.
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance on ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.The department will keep the statutory guidance under review as we take forward our commitment to delivering an inclusive mainstream system.
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The department has alerted schools to external resources from trusted allergy organisations. This includes the Schools Allergy Code, developed by The Allergy Team, Independent Schools’ Bursars Association and the Benedict Blythe Foundation, and Allergy School created by the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation.
In 2017, the Department of Health published non-statutory guidance confirming that schools can purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) from a pharmacy without a prescription and for use in an emergency situation. The department does not hold information on the number of schools which stock spare AAIs.
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The department has alerted schools to external resources from trusted allergy organisations. This includes the Schools Allergy Code, developed by The Allergy Team, Independent Schools’ Bursars Association and the Benedict Blythe Foundation, and Allergy School created by the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation.
In 2017, the Department of Health published non-statutory guidance confirming that schools can purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) from a pharmacy without a prescription and for use in an emergency situation. The department does not hold information on the number of schools which stock spare AAIs.
Pension scheme administrators have four months to implement pension sharing orders (PSOs), however the department is aware that for some members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, this timescale has been affected by the transitional protection remedy.
In some cases, there has been outstanding guidance whereby the scheme administrator could not progress PSOs until this was received, and other cases require responses from the member before they can be implemented.
The department is in regular discussion with the scheme administrator to consider the issues which have prevented some PSOs being issued to the normal timescales and will continue to closely monitor performance.
The government is committed to spreading opportunities and economic growth with the support of a strong skills system.
This government had a dire fiscal inheritance which has made tough choices necessary to fix the foundations of our economy and prioritise in order to generate opportunities for young people that enable them to make a start in good, fulfilling careers. The department will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund Level 7 apprenticeships, outside of the levy-funded growth and skills offer.
The department will take advice from Skills England, who have been engaging with employers on this, and expects to make a final decision on affected apprenticeships in the new year.
Learners who have started these apprenticeships will be funded through to completion.
The government is committed to spreading opportunities and economic growth with the support of a strong skills system.
This government had a dire fiscal inheritance which has made tough choices necessary to fix the foundations of our economy and prioritise in order to generate opportunities for young people that enable them to make a start in good, fulfilling careers. The department will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund Level 7 apprenticeships, outside of the levy-funded growth and skills offer.
The department will take advice from Skills England, who have been engaging with employers on this, and expects to make a final decision on affected apprenticeships in the new year.
Learners who have started these apprenticeships will be funded through to completion.
The government is committed to spreading opportunities and economic growth with the support of a strong skills system.
This government had a dire fiscal inheritance which has made tough choices necessary to fix the foundations of our economy and prioritise in order to generate opportunities for young people that enable them to make a start in good, fulfilling careers. The department will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund Level 7 apprenticeships, outside of the levy-funded growth and skills offer.
The department will take advice from Skills England, who have been engaging with employers on this, and expects to make a final decision on affected apprenticeships in the new year.
Learners who have started these apprenticeships will be funded through to completion.
Lead local flood authorities are required to manage local flood risks from surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses. Local flood risks should be identified and managed as part of a local flood risk management strategy. The two lead local flood authorities in Wiltshire are Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council.
In the area covered by Wiltshire Council, £38,597,000 of Capital Flood Defence Grant in Aid funding was invested between 2015/16 and 2024/25 by the Environment Agency and other Risk Management Authorities on flood related projects. The most significant of these was the Environment Agency led Salisbury River Park Scheme which spent £35,070,000 to better protect 1,062 properties. These totals exclude maintenance spending, property-level protection schemes, and some projects which cross county borders.
In the area covered by Swindon Borough Council, £2,615,993 was invested between 2015/16 and 2024/25 by the Environment Agency and other Risk Management Authorities on flood related projects.
As the independent regulator for major industry and waste, the Environment Agency (EA) is investigating sites which fall under its regulation in the Calne area to determine whether they are potential sources of the odour currently being experienced. Investigations into other potential sources are being carried out by Wiltshire Council. The EA is sharing information and updates on its ongoing investigation into the source of odour complaints in Calne with stakeholders via briefing notes. An initial briefing note was circulated on 3 April 2025, with an update issued on 28 April 2025. Further briefings will be issued as the investigation progresses.
The briefings are being issued to members of the public who have contacted the EA to report the issue, Wiltshire Council, waste site operators, UK HSA, Local Councillors, and the honourable member for Chippenham.
The Environment Agency (EA) has received a significant number of reports of odour in the Calne area throughout April. EA officers have attended and substantiated odour, believed to be landfill gas from regulated activity in Compton Bassett.
While landfill activity will on occasion give rise to a level of odour, the odour substantiated by the EA indicates an unacceptable level of pollution and the EA is actively investigating potential sources.
As part of their investigations, the EA has carried out surface emission surveys to detect landfill gas at two landfill sites in Compton Bassett. These inspections have highlighted several points on the site infrastructure at Lower Compton Landfill where improvements are required to reduce emissions of landfill gas; the EA has required the operator to make these improvements. While these works will reduce the level of odour from this site, it is unlikely that in isolation the issues identified are the sole cause of the recent complaints. The EA is considering multiple potential sources.
Further inspections of both regulated landfill sites are planned, to confirm the improvements required at Lower Compton Landfill have been completed and to continue investigations into other potential sources.
The Department announced on 4 March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas.
The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the Government spending review.
The Government is committed to meeting current legal targets for air quality, including the targets recently set under the Environment Act 2021, and will review the policy measures needed to achieve them. We will deliver a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy, including a series of interventions to reduce emissions so that everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) air quality guidelines are intended to inform the setting of air quality standards and are not ready-made targets for direct adoption as they do not consider achievability or individual countries’ circumstances. However, we will consider WHO guidelines as part of an evidence led process when considering future targets.
Over 300 properties flooded across 50 communities in Wiltshire alone during the winter of 2023/24, which was the wettest since records began 1871. These same areas of Wiltshire also experienced heavy rainfall in September 2024. The rural catchments that have seen numerous floods during this period are sensitive to both rainfall intensities and durations. It is understood that it has been a combination of both high intensity and prolonged durations during these storm events combined with saturated catchments resulting in localised flooding.
Wiltshire Council are in the process of undertaking Flood & Water Management Act 2010 Section 19 flood reports investigating the flooding issues experienced across the county last winter. We will input information and evidence into these reports.
We are working with flood risk management authorities, through a Wiltshire Rural Runoff project, to improve understanding of the causes of flooding, and it will look for potential for interventions to reduce the impacts of these types of flood events. The Calne catchments is in one of the five focus areas, and the evidence and understanding is being gathered this winter with support of the Wildlife Trusts and local landowners and farmers.
As these types of rainfall events are expected to become more frequent with climate change, The Environment Agency are exploring how they can make our flood warning service more effective for these types of rural catchment, that respond quickly to heavy intensity rain.
This Government has been clear that vital infrastructure investment is ringfenced and can only be spent on upgrades benefiting customers and the environment. When money for investment is not spent, companies must refund customers, with money never allowed to be diverted for bonuses, dividends or salary increases.
New infrastructure will need to be paid for, and while water companies can attract private investment, this will also need to come from customer bills. It is Ofwat's responsibility to independently scrutinise water company plans to ensure that the prices water companies charge their customers are fair and proportionate.
We have inherited a water system spilling record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas. Water companies must take action to turn this around and Ofwat must ensure customers do not pay twice for upgrades.
The government allocated £6.9 million to Wiltshire Council in 25/26 through the £712 million Local Authority Bus Grant to support and improve bus services. This includes £4 million to support the delivery of Wiltshire’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).
The government used a formula to determine BSIP allocations in 25/26 based on need, including population, the distance that buses travel, and the levels of deprivation. Under the formula, Wiltshire Council have seen an increase in BSIP funding compared to 24/25, when they were allocated £2.1 million.
This funding can be used whichever way the local transport authority wishes to deliver better bus services for passengers, including supporting bus services in rural areas.
The government knows that a modern public transport network is vital to keeping communities connected, and ensuring people can get to education and work, including shift workers and NHS staff.
The government believes that local transport authorities, working with bus operators, are best placed to determine and design local bus networks in their area. The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December to put the power over local bus services back into the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of communities that rely on them.
In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country, of which Wiltshire Council has been allocated £6.9 million. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce improvements to bus services and infrastructure to best meet the needs of passengers in their local area, which could include supporting off-peak bus services.
The government is committed to improving transport services right across the country, including in Wiltshire, so they are more inclusive and enable disabled people to travel safely, confidently and with dignity.
On 1 October 2024, the first phase of the Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023 came into force, meaning that newer vehicles providing local services must provide accessible audible and visible information on stops, destinations and diversions. The majority of services will need to comply by October 2026. Last year, the Department launched the £4.65 million Accessible Information Grant Scheme, to support the smallest bus and coach companies to provide audible and visible information onboard their services consistent with the Regulations.
With regard to rail, as of 1 January 2022, all passenger rolling stock is compliant with modern accessibility standards, including the requirement to have a dynamic audio-visual passenger information system for the benefit in particular of vision-impaired and hearing-impaired passengers.
The average bus punctuality rates (specifically, the percentage of non-frequent bus services running on time) for Wiltshire are available for each year between the year ending March 2015 and the year ending March 2024 in the Department’s published Annual Bus Statistics. This data can be found in Table BUS09a: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus-statistics-data-tables#bus-reliability-and-punctuality-bus09.
While ticket office opening hours are regulated through the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement process, the operation of ticket office windows and staffing levels is the responsibility of the train operator. We understand that Great Western Railway has no plans to reduce station staff in Wiltshire.
Great Western Railway (GWR) are not proposing any staffing reductions in Wiltshire and we have not had any representations from disability and passenger rights organisations on this subject. GWR have confirmed that they will not be bringing forward any changes to ticket office opening hours at the current time.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is committed to providing its customers, including those in rural areas, with the best service possible. DVSA continually reviews its estate to ensure it represents good value for money and is efficient.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publish statistics on punctuality and reliability of trains operating on the mainline network on a periodic basis.
The Train Operating Company providing services to Chippenham station is Great Western Railway. In the financial year 2024/25:
a) An average of 4.6% of services scheduled by Great Western Railways were cancelled.
(Source: ORR - Table 3124 https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/table-3124-trains-planned-and-cancellations-by-operator-and-cause-periodic/).
b) On average, 96.6% of services run by Great Western Railway trains arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time
(Source: ORR - Table 3138 https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/table-3138-train-punctuality-at-recorded-station-stops-by-operator-periodic/).
The government is investing over £150 million to deliver the new £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January until 31 December 2025 to help keep bus fares affordable. Under the plans of the previous administration, the £2 cap on bus fares had been due to expire on 31 December 2024, and prior to the Budget, there was no further funding available to maintain a cap on bus fares beyond this point.
The final monitoring and evaluation report into the impact of the £2 bus fare cap was published on 12 February. An evaluation of the £3 fare cap is due to be commissioned shortly.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is committed to providing its customers, including those in rural areas, with the best service possible. DVSA continually reviews its estate to ensure it represents good value for money and is efficient.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
The table below shows the number of car practical driving tests booked and available in the 24-week booking window, as of 31 March 2025, for the driving test centres (DTCs) serving customers in Wiltshire:
DTC | Car practical driving tests booked | Car practical driving test available |
Chippenham | 2,721 | 138 |
Salisbury | 1,795 | 84 |
Swindon | 3,233 | 144 |
On the 18 December 2024, DVSA set out further plans to reduce driving test waiting times across the country. These steps include recruiting 450 driving examiners (DEs). Full details of these steps can be found on GOV.UK.
DVSA continues to recruit DEs DTCs serving customers in Wiltshire and is currently working through the recruitment process from recent campaigns. As part of this, DVSA has four potential new DEs booked on training programmes.
On 31 March 2025, DVSA launched its latest DE recruitment campaign and has two vacancies for the area as part of this.
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system.
On the 18 December 2024, a call for evidence was launched, seeking views on the current rules to book tests. This will lead to consultation on improving processes, with potential future legislative changes.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 25 warnings, 4 suspensions, and closed 90 business accounts.
DVSA has deployed bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
The table below shows the number of car practical driving tests booked and available in the 24-week booking window, as of 31 March 2025, for the driving test centres (DTCs) serving customers in Wiltshire:
DTC | Car practical driving tests booked | Car practical driving test available |
Chippenham | 2,721 | 138 |
Salisbury | 1,795 | 84 |
Swindon | 3,233 | 144 |
On the 18 December 2024, DVSA set out further plans to reduce driving test waiting times across the country. These steps include recruiting 450 driving examiners (DEs). Full details of these steps can be found on GOV.UK.
DVSA continues to recruit DEs DTCs serving customers in Wiltshire and is currently working through the recruitment process from recent campaigns. As part of this, DVSA has four potential new DEs booked on training programmes.
On 31 March 2025, DVSA launched its latest DE recruitment campaign and has two vacancies for the area as part of this.
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system.
On the 18 December 2024, a call for evidence was launched, seeking views on the current rules to book tests. This will lead to consultation on improving processes, with potential future legislative changes.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 25 warnings, 4 suspensions, and closed 90 business accounts.
DVSA has deployed bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing.
Aside from Restoring Your Railway (RYR) projects currently at the delivery stage or in construction, all remaining RYR-originated projects, including the Corsham station proposal, will be reviewed as part of preparations for the upcoming Spending Review. Ministers have been clear that not all proposed transport projects will be able to proceed to delivery due to the challenging financial situation facing the Department.
There has been no recent assessment of the adequacy of Bereavement Support Payment covering (a) immediate and (b) on going costs to bereaved families. The Bereavement Support Payment qualitative research published in 2021 explored how the lump sum and the monthly payments were used.
Bereavement Support Payment is intended to help people through the immediate period following a bereavement. Where longer-term financial support is needed, benefits such as Universal Credit have been specifically designed to provide assistance with ongoing living costs. The rate of Bereavement Support Payment is reviewed on a discretionary basis as part of the annual uprating process, but there is no legal requirement to uprate it.
DWP does not have a specific enquiry line called the Pension Service Helpline, so I have provided the data from the State Pensions enquiries line.
Over the period 1 February to 30 April 2025 a total of 28,775 calls were not answered due to caller abandonment. A monthly breakdown shows February 6,696; March 16,960 and April 5,119. The percentage of calls answered over these 3 months on average shows Feb 92%, March 84% and April 94%, against an expectation of 90%. A total of 67,736 callers were on hold for more than 10 minutes with the monthly breakdown showing February 9,082, March 51,746, April 6,908. No calls were terminated by DWP.
We do not hold the data before June 2023 and therefore have based our answer on the period from 1st June 2023 to 31st January 2025. In this data, calls not answered were due to caller abandonment. No calls were terminated by DWP.
Date | Abandoned | Hold for 10 mins or more |
Jun-23 | 336 | 31 |
Jul-23 | 228 | 15 |
Aug-23 | 922 | 259 |
Sep-23 | 4563 | 4054 |
Oct-23 | 7634 | 11403 |
Nov-23 | 5828 | 10297 |
Dec-23 | 1208 | 366 |
Date | Abandoned | Hold for 10 mins or more |
Jan-24 | 1676 | 12 |
Feb-24 | 6569 | 4124 |
Mar-24 | 3407 | 163 |
Apr-24 | 15829 | 29090 |
May-24 | 4752 | 3296 |
Jun-24 | 952 | 363 |
Jul-24 | 1947 | 1798 |
Aug-24 | 2854 | 2544 |
Sep-24 | 3131 | 1678 |
Oct-24 | 3478 | 3830 |
Nov-24 | 3671 | 3884 |
Dec-24 | 2321 | 1557 |
The information provided here is based on internal management information which is not intended for publication and has not been quality assured to official statistics standards.
DWP does not have a specific enquiry line called the Pension Service Helpline, so I have provided the data from the State Pensions enquiries line.
Over the period 1 February to 30 April 2025 a total of 28,775 calls were not answered due to caller abandonment. A monthly breakdown shows February 6,696; March 16,960 and April 5,119. The percentage of calls answered over these 3 months on average shows Feb 92%, March 84% and April 94%, against an expectation of 90%. A total of 67,736 callers were on hold for more than 10 minutes with the monthly breakdown showing February 9,082, March 51,746, April 6,908. No calls were terminated by DWP.
We do not hold the data before June 2023 and therefore have based our answer on the period from 1st June 2023 to 31st January 2025. In this data, calls not answered were due to caller abandonment. No calls were terminated by DWP.
Date | Abandoned | Hold for 10 mins or more |
Jun-23 | 336 | 31 |
Jul-23 | 228 | 15 |
Aug-23 | 922 | 259 |
Sep-23 | 4563 | 4054 |
Oct-23 | 7634 | 11403 |
Nov-23 | 5828 | 10297 |
Dec-23 | 1208 | 366 |
Date | Abandoned | Hold for 10 mins or more |
Jan-24 | 1676 | 12 |
Feb-24 | 6569 | 4124 |
Mar-24 | 3407 | 163 |
Apr-24 | 15829 | 29090 |
May-24 | 4752 | 3296 |
Jun-24 | 952 | 363 |
Jul-24 | 1947 | 1798 |
Aug-24 | 2854 | 2544 |
Sep-24 | 3131 | 1678 |
Oct-24 | 3478 | 3830 |
Nov-24 | 3671 | 3884 |
Dec-24 | 2321 | 1557 |
The information provided here is based on internal management information which is not intended for publication and has not been quality assured to official statistics standards.