Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve ambulance response times in (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance response times have not met the high standards patients should expect.
We are determined to turn things around. Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan 2025/26, is backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, and commits to reducing category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes on average this year. The East Midlands Ambulance Service is investing over £4 million for additional clinicians in its control rooms to help patients with urgent care needs who call 999 to get signposted to the right care at the right time in the right place.
The latest data from December 2025 for ambulance response times for East Midlands Ambulance Service shows progress, with category 2 incidents responded to in 44 minutes 19 seconds on average, which is 21 minutes and 56 seconds faster than the same period last year.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance is issued to police forces on the investigation of suspicious animal deaths; and what recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of investigative standards in such cases.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Police forces investigate suspicious animal deaths under the statutory powers provided in the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which enables officers to act where there is evidence that an animal has suffered, or is likely to suffer, harm. These powers apply to circumstances involving the unexplained or potentially unlawful death of an animal.
Decisions on how such investigations are carried out are matters for individual Chief Constables, who hold operational independence and are responsible for determining the investigative approach taken by their forces. Police forces may also draw on wider investigative frameworks developed by the College of Policing, which support officers in handling cases that may involve criminal harm to animals.
Defra has not undertaken any recent formal assessment of investigative standards in relation to suspicious animal deaths.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) monitoring and (b) enforcement action his Department undertakes to ensure that temporary accommodation in Leicester meets minimum health, safety and hygiene standards.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Housing authorities must, as a minimum, ensure that all temporary accommodation is free of Category 1 hazards as identified by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Households may request a review of their accommodation if they feel it is unsuitable.
If an applicant is not satisfied with how the council has handled their case, they may complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman or take legal action through the courts.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of diesel operation on the Midland Main Line north of Leicester on emissions and air quality in a) Leicester and b) the East Midlands.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Prior to the decision being made to pause the Midland Main Line Electrification programme as part of Spending Review 2025, the benefits of the scheme were being assessed. The benefits of fully electrifying the Midland Main Line (MML) are predominately those that would deliver greener transport, such as reducing carbon and improving local air quality, particularly at stations, through trains using electric traction rather than diesel.
Whilst not as clean as fully electric trains, the new intercity bi-mode trains currently being introduced by East Midland’s Railway are much cleaner and will contribute to improving air quality on the route.
Station managers in areas with poor air quality are required to develop and implement Air Quality Improvement Plans (AQIPs) which should outline feasible measures to improve air quality. The AQIPs for Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, and Sheffield stations on the MML have been developed and must be reviewed and updated annually.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what criteria were applied in the Spending Review for assessing proposed rail infrastructure projects.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Rail infrastructure projects are carefully considered to assess their value for money. This includes consideration of strategic, economic, social and environmental factors, the local context and regional distribution of projects, as well as affordability and the government’s wider fiscal position.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department considers the level of rail infrastructure investment in (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands to be proportionate to its population.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Decisions made by the Government on investment in rail infrastructure are taken to ensure that the railways are funded to operate safely and efficiently and in line with our strategic goals.
The funding identified for rail infrastructure enhancements as part of Spending Review 2025 was not apportioned regionally. Schemes were prioritised for funding on a value for money basis and we needed to make difficult decisions to reach an affordable and sustainable position.
In addition to funding for rail enhancements, the Office of Rail and Roads’ periodic review process determines Network Rail’s funding allocation for the Operation, Support, Maintenance and Renewal (OSMR) of the network. The periodic review process is undertaken on a regional basis. Funding for Network Rail to operate, maintain and renew the railway in the East Midlands during Control Period 7 (from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2029) is included in their £9.6bn settlement for the Eastern region.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding his Department has provided to Leicester City Council to support the provision of temporary accommodation for rough sleepers in each of the last three years.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In each of the last three years the government has allocated councils funding through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, which can be used flexibly according to local need, including for temporary accommodation costs. Over this time the government has also provided specific funding to support people at risk of and experiencing rough sleeping, including through the provision of accommodation.
You can find local authority level allocations for homelessness funding through gov.uk here.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of teachers in England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The latest school workforce census reported that the workforce has grown by 2,346 FTE between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools. This year has one of the lowest leaver rates since 2010, with 1,700 fewer teachers leaving the state-funded sector and more teachers returning to state schools than at any point in the last ten years. The latest data showed 17,274 teachers returned to the classroom.
This government agreed a 5.5% pay award for 2024/25 and a 4% pay award for 2025/26, meaning teachers and leaders will see an increase in their pay of almost 10% over two years. In 2024/25, we also confirmed targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax for teachers in the first five years of teaching in maths, physics, chemistry and computing in the most disadvantaged schools.
The government manages Teaching Vacancies, a website where schools can list their teaching, leadership and support vacancies. The service helps schools save money by removing advertising costs for their recruitment activities.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on how much local authorities spent on providing temporary accommodation to households containing at least one non-UK national in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government publishes data on local authority revenue expenditure, including total expenditure on temporary accommodation, which is available here.
We also publish data on the nationality of main applicants for households assessed as owed prevention and relief duties. This is available in Table A9 in detailed local authority level files published alongside our annual release here.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to review its policy on access to UK e-gates by foreign nationals; and whether consideration has been given to limiting access to nationals of countries that do not offer equivalent facilities to UK passport holders.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government operates the UK border solely in the best interests of the UK, not the principle of reciprocity as this could undermine our security and ability to respond to emerging border pressures or threats.
We recommend all eligible nationals make use of eGates where possible, as they provide a safe, secure and efficient method of entering the UK, however, we continue to keep eGate eligibility under review to ensure we are balancing border security and passenger flow
In May 2025, we published the Immigration White Paper, which stated we are moving to the next phase of our vision to transform the UK border, by using technology to increase the use of automation and make visible changes to security, flow and the passenger experience.