Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department plans to take to improve transport connectivity in Dudley constituency.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

This Government is committed to restoring pride and trust in a transport system that works – day in, day out – for the people who rely on it.

That is why we have allocated substantial funding to the West Midlands Combined Authority, to enable it to make the best decisions about how to maintain and improve its local transport network and connectivity, including in Dudley.

This funding includes over £2.4 billion, until 2031/32, from the Transport for City Regions settlements, as well as an additional £8.6 million in 2025/26 for local highway maintenance, and more than £49 million in 2025/26 in bus funding.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to review guidance on the application process of the Household Support Fund.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Work and Pensions have no plans to review the guidance on the application process for this iteration of the Household Support Fund, having reviewed and updated the guidance to launch the scheme on 1 April 2025.

Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination that the Department for Work and Pensions have set out for The Fund. Every Local Authority must operate part of their scheme on an application basis, to allow the opportunity for individuals struggling with the cost of essentials to ask for further support.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans her Department has taken to help tackle land banking.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 60243 on 24 June 2025.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions has she had with brick manufacturers on meeting the demand for new homes.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 60503 on 25 June 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to increase funding for mental health services for children.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is investing an extra £688 million this year to transform mental health services, including support for children.

The 2025 Spending Review confirmed that we will fulfil our commitment to provide access to mental health support within schools in England by expanding mental health support teams to cover 100% of pupils by 2029/30. This expansion will ensure that up to 900,000 more children and young people will have access to support from trained education mental health practitioners in 2025/26.

Additionally, we are continuing to provide top-up funding of £7 million to the 24 Early Support Hubs to expand their services, and we are also taking part in an ongoing evaluation of these services in 2025/26. This new funding will enable the supported Early Support Hubs to deliver at least 10,000 additional mental health and wellbeing interventions, so that more children and young people are supported.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the 10-year health plan will include policies on (a) community equipment services and (b) the timely provision of community care equipment.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government will deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, creating a truly modern health service designed to meet the changing needs of our changing population. Moving care from hospitals into the community and putting the building blocks in place to enable this to happen is at the heart of the 10-Year Health Plan.

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 potential merits of including incontinence in medical training for all healthcare professionals.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No assessment has been made. The standard of training for healthcare professionals is the responsibility of the independent statutory regulatory bodies who set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level and approve courses. Higher education institutions write and teach the curricula content that enables their students to meet the regulators’ outcome standards.

Whilst not all curricula may necessarily highlight a specific condition, they all nevertheless emphasise the skills and approaches a healthcare professional must develop in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients, including for incontinence.

Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver safe and effective treatment for patients.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she considered the potential merits of providing a higher level of funding to help support the implementation of the updated National Occupational Standards for hair and beauty qualifications.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

It is appreciated that over time National Occupational Standards change. The department expects providers to use the available funding to undertake any changes required.

The department uses the 16 to 19 funding formula to calculate the funding to institutions each academic year for the students they recruit. Funding rates depend on the size of students’ study programmes or T Levels, regardless of the type of institution.

In the 2025/26 academic year, the department will increase the national funding rate for students aged 16 and 17 and students aged 18 and over with high needs by 5.4%, compared with 2024/25, to £5,105. Other funding bands will increase proportionately.

For adults, the department is spending £1.4 billion on the Adult Skills Fund (ASF) in the 2025/26 academic year, ensuring that adults can access the education and training they need to get into employment or progress in work.

Currently, 62% of the ASF is devolved to nine Mayoral Strategic Authorities and the Greater London Authority. These authorities are responsible for the provision of ASF-funded adult education for their residents and allocation of the ASF to learning providers. The department is responsible for the remaining ASF in non-devolved areas.

For the 2024/25 academic year, the department introduced five new funding rates that apply to non-devolved ASF. Under these new funding rates, 78% of qualifications have seen an increase in funding. There are a range of factors that influence the funding bands, such as skills needs and the cost of delivery.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department provides for the provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages courses in the West Midlands Combined Authority area.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department will provide approximately £1.4 billion in funding for the Adult Skills Fund (ASF) in the 2025/26 academic year to ensure that adult learners can access the education and training they need to get into employment or progress in work. The ASF supports a range of courses, including English for speakers of other languages (ESOL).

Currently, 62% of the ASF is devolved to 9 Mayoral Strategic Authorities, including West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), and the Greater London Authority. These authorities are responsible for the provision of ASF-funded adult education for their residents and allocation of the ASF to learning providers.

WMCA devolved ASF budget for the 2024/25 academic year was £133.7 million. WMCA decide what to spend their ASF budget on and this includes ESOL. By honouring the department’s commitments to combine and further devolve adult skills funding, we give those with local knowledge the power they need to make decisions that are best for their areas.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure awarding bodies for hair and beauty qualifications update their (a) guidance and (b) training to promote inclusivity for all (i) hair and (ii) skin types.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This is a matter for the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham, to write to my hon. Friend, the member for Dudley directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of publishing records of incidents and fatalities at nurseries.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department’s priority is to grow high-quality, affordable and flexible education and care for children, whilst ensuring their safety, giving every child the best start of life and delivering on our Plan for Change.

The department is responsible for setting the standards which early years settings such as nurseries must follow, these are set out in the early years foundation stage statutory framework. The department has responsibility for policy on inspection and registration but how it is implemented is for Ofsted to decide and to be held to account by Parliament.

Given the sensitivity and quality of the information around incidents, Ofsted do not publish incident data as routine statistics. However, their annual report and accounts include some national level data on notifications that may relate to incidents. The latest is accessible at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e575d987cebda7c4ca4cde/31795_Ofsted_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2023-24_-_Accessible.pdf.

Ofsted can only commit to publishing national headline data about the number of complaints or notifications relating to incidents.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take in the context of trends in the level of competition for training places in postgraduate medical training.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are aware that competition ratios for speciality training have grown in recent years, and that this is causing concern across the medical profession.

As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training.

We will also ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.

We will publish a new 10 Year Workforce Plan later this year, to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department plans to take to support green projects in the Black Country.

Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government supports local places to drive action to deliver green projects and help realise our national net zero targets. Great British Energy will partner with community energy groups and local government, including Mayoral Strategic Authorities, to support the development of clean energy projects. Government also funds the Local Net Zero Accelerator pilot programme (including in West Midlands Combined Authority) to test how to support local places to leverage in commercial net zero investment at scale, alongside five Local Net Zero Hubs (including the Midlands Net Zero Hub) to support local government to develop net zero projects and attract commercial investment.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department plans to take to help support councils to require developers to (a) complete and (b) refurbish (i) building sites and (ii) existing empty buildings.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) for 2021-26 allows a proportion of programme delivery to come from new build and second-hand home acquisitions and funding replacement homes on regeneration schemes where there is a positive impact on overall housing supply.

Local authorities can also access funding through the AHP and Local Authority Housing Fund to bring homes back into use. Where funding, tax, and informal approaches are ineffective, local authorities can use formal enforcement levers to bring homes back into use such as Empty Dwelling Management Orders and Compulsory Purchase Orders.

The government recognise the frustrations that stalled or delayed sites can cause to communities.

Once housebuilders have been granted permission for residential development, meeting local housing needs and preferences, we expect to see them built out as quickly as possible.

Local planning authorities already have powers to issue a completion notice to require a developer to complete their development if it is stalled. If they fail to do so, the planning permission for the development will lapse.

The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December 2024 includes policies designed to support increased build out rates, including the promotion of mixed tenure development.

On 25 May, the government published a Planning Reform Working Paper: Speeding Up Build Out (which can be found on gov.uk here) inviting views on further action the government should take to speed up homes being built.

On the same day, we launched a technical consultation on implementing measures to improve the transparency of build rates from new residential development, which includes proposals to implement provisions in Section 113 of the LURA on the power to decline to determine applications. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here. Subject to the outcome of the consultation, the government intends bring forward the regulations to implement these measures at the earliest practical opportunity with the new build out reporting framework coming into force from 2026.

Local planning authorities have a wide range of enforcement powers, with strong penalties for non-compliance, which they can use where development has not taken place in accordance with the planning permission given. It is for authorities to decide how and when they use their powers depending on the circumstances of each case.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to make an assessment of the adequacy of the (a) accessibility and (b) range of youth facilities in areas where the population is expanding.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

We will not be making an assessment of youth facilities based on areas where populations are expanding. Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people in their area.

The government has committed to introducing simpler and fairer allocations for councils, using the most up-to-date data and taking account of growing demand. As part of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation, which is open until Friday 15 August, we are inviting views on using projections to increase the accuracy of allocations across the multi-year Settlement.

DCMS recognises the importance of ensuring that Local Authorities are appropriately supported to deliver accessible and effective youth provision. In 2025/26, we will commit £8m to launch the Local Youth Transformation Pilot which will test a new way of working and supporting local authorities to deliver for young people.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of funding for EHCP plans in (a) the UK, (b) the West Midlands and (c) Dudley constituency.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

​The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, following the Autumn Budget 2024. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to over £12 billion.

​Of that total high needs funding, the West Midlands region is being allocated over £1,228 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of over £95 million on their 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula. Dudley Council specifically is being allocated over £62 million through the high needs funding block of the DSG, an increase of over £5 million on 2024/25.

​Local authorities allocate this funding to schools, colleges and other settings, to help them with the costs of SEND provision, including for those children and young people with education, health and care plans. The department provides operational guidance for local authorities to support their allocation of high needs funding: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-funding-arrangements-2025-to-2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to make eye tests mandatory for primary school children.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are currently no plans to make eye tests mandatory for primary school children. The UK National Screening Committee recommends vision screening in school for children aged four to five years old, to look for reduced vision in one or both eyes.

In addition to vision screening, free sight tests are widely available for children under 16 years old and under 19 years old in full time education. Free sight tests are also being made available for children and young people with special educational needs, attending special educational settings across England, where those settings choose to host a service.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to increase economic growth in Dudley constituency.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The recently announced Industrial Strategy and Trade Strategy, forming part of our wider Growth Mission, aim to support businesses across the country by creating the conditions for companies to invest, employ and grow.

Dudley, with its rich manufacturing heritage, will benefit from a range of new interventions, including measures to reduce energy costs and, assistance to develop and attract the right skills.

As part of the West Midlands Combined Authority, Dudley has and will continue to benefit from enhanced support targeting the region including devolved funding for local leaders, to continue delivering the right support.

We will also be publishing our Small Business Strategy soon which will set out further measures to increase economic growth in Dudley and across the country.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the emissions trading scheme on the clay brick and rooftile industry.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) participants, including the clay brick and rooftile sector, are provided with free allocations, reducing their exposure to the carbon price and mitigating their risk of carbon leakage whilst continuing to provide an incentive to decarbonise at the least cost route. This approach is currently being reviewed to ensure we can better target support for sectors most at risk of carbon leakage.

We are very mindful of the impact of the ETS on industrial participants, and have committed to an ongoing assessment of the scheme’s effectiveness – outputs of this review will be published in 2026. Interim outcomes of this review can be found on gov.uk.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to increase awareness of the importance of pelvic floor strength for women before pregnancy to prevent post pregnancy incontinence.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Supporting women’s health before, during, and after pregnancy is a priority for the Government. The women’s health area on the National Health Service’s website brings together over 100 health topics for women seeking health information, including information and advice on planning for pregnancy, keeping well in pregnancy, and pelvic health.

NHS England has rolled out perinatal pelvic health services to support the prevention and identification of pelvic floor dysfunction, including incontinence, during pregnancy and post-birth. Additionally, NHS England the Royal College of General Practitioners have published guidance on the six to eight week postnatal check-up. This check-up provides personalised postnatal care for women’s physical and mental health, including a specific section on pelvic floor health.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the UK's 41st place in the Hologic Global Women’s Health Index, what steps his Department is taking to improve women's health.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health as we build a National Health Service fit for the future.

Our focus is on turning the commitments in the Women's Health Strategy into tangible action, such as providing emergency hormonal contraception free of charge at pharmacies on the NHS from October 2025, setting out how we will eliminate cervical cancer by 2040 through the new cervical cancer plan, and taking urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan.

The 10-Year Health Plan for England, published on 3 July, sets out the vision to distribute power to patients, including women, and to revitalise the NHS, making it fit for the future.

Found: Sub-Committee members present: Liam Byrne (Chair); John Cooper; Sarah Edwards; Alison Griffiths; Sonia Kumar

Found: Members present: Liam Byrne (Chair); Antonia Bance; John Cooper; Sarah Edwards; Alison Griffiths; Sonia Kumar

Found: Members present: Liam Byrne (Chair); Antonia Bance; John Cooper; Sarah Edwards; Alison Griffiths; Sonia Kumar

Found: Members present: Liam Byrne (Chair); Antonia Bance; John Cooper; Sarah Edwards; Alison Griffiths; Sonia Kumar

Found: Members present: Liam Byrne (Chair); Antonia Bance; John Cooper; Sarah Edwards; Alison Griffiths; Sonia Kumar

Found: Sarah Edwards (Labour; Tamworth) Alison Griffiths (Conservative; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) Sonia Kumar

Found: Members present: Liam Byrne (Chair); Antonia Bance; John Cooper; Sarah Edwards; Alison Griffiths; Sonia Kumar

Found: Members present: Liam Byrne (Chair); Antonia Bance; John Cooper; Sarah Edwards; Alison Griffiths; Sonia Kumar

Found: Members present: Liam Byrne (Chair); Antonia Bance; John Cooper; Sarah Edwards; Alison Griffiths; Sonia Kumar

Found: Hatton Sarah Gibson Joe Powell Rosie Wrighting Amanda Hack Pam Cox Sam Carling Jeremy Corbyn Sonia Kumar