Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the amount of water lost due to leaking toilets in the UK; and if he will take steps to help reduce this.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Waterwise, the lead environmental non-governmental organisation for water efficiency, estimates to 8% of toilets are leaking around 400 litres a day each.
The Government is committed to reducing leakage by 50% by 2050 as part of our legally binding target to reduce water use per person by 20% by 2038. This includes taking steps to reduce water wastage from toilets. Our recent update to our government response on a Call for Evidence on leaking toilets, conducted in 2022 outlined we are reviewing initial discussions with stakeholders as part of a ‘leaky loos taskforce’ to understand the steps needed to reduce toilet leakage.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment has he made of the reasons for the exemption of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency from the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
ARIA is a small body with limited administrative capacity to handle Freedom of Information Act requests. It is important that ARIA is focused on funding long-term transformational research for the benefit of the UK.
ARIA is, however, dedicated to transparency. ARIA has other statutory commitments to transparency, including requirements for it to submit an annual report and a statement of accounts, which are laid before Parliament and audited by the National Audit Office or a commercial auditor. In addition to this, ARIA regularly publishes transparency information on its website, including on its financial transactions, contracts and funding recipients.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of existing flood-related resources for fire and rescue services; and whether she plans to increase guaranteed resources.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Protecting communities from flooding is a key priority for this government. Fire and Rescue Authorities already have duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to prepare for emergencies, including major flooding. However, we recognise the interest in creating a statutory duty for flood rescue and officials are working with DEFRA, as lead government department for flooding, to consider the wider implications of this.
MHCLG supports Fire and Rescue Authorities in responding to flood incidents by providing national resilience High Volume Pump (HVP) capabilities. These are available to be used by Fire & Rescue Services across the country during major flood incidents. Additionally, DEFRA hold the Flood Rescue National Asset Register, a list of teams or assets that voluntarily join the register and maintain availability for national deployment in England.
The 2025/26 Local Government Finance Settlement set out funding allocations for all local authorities, including Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs). Standalone FRAs will see an increase in core spending power of up to £69.1m in 2025/26.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to make flood rescue a statutory duty of the fire and rescue service.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Protecting communities from flooding is a key priority for this government. Fire and Rescue Authorities already have duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to prepare for emergencies, including major flooding. However, we recognise the interest in creating a statutory duty for flood rescue and officials are working with DEFRA, as lead government department for flooding, to consider the wider implications of this.
MHCLG supports Fire and Rescue Authorities in responding to flood incidents by providing national resilience High Volume Pump (HVP) capabilities. These are available to be used by Fire & Rescue Services across the country during major flood incidents. Additionally, DEFRA hold the Flood Rescue National Asset Register, a list of teams or assets that voluntarily join the register and maintain availability for national deployment in England.
The 2025/26 Local Government Finance Settlement set out funding allocations for all local authorities, including Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs). Standalone FRAs will see an increase in core spending power of up to £69.1m in 2025/26.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding her Department plans to provide for (a) tennis and (b) padel facilities during the Spending Review period.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the nation following the Spending Review.
We will now work closely with sporting bodies - including the Lawn Tennis Association - and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. Sport England provides long term investment to the LTA, which receives up to £10.2 million for 5 years from 2022 to invest in tennis and padel initiatives that will benefit as many people as possible.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many newly qualified nurses have been recruited to each NHS Trust in the last four years; and how many have been recruited from overseas.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on the number of newly qualified nurses recruited by each National Health Service trust, and where they were trained.
The table attached shows the number of joiners to the nursing and health visitors staff group at a band five level, by NHS trust, for each of the past four financial years. It is not possible to accurately identify a member of staff who is newly qualified, but in the attached table we have given the number of staff joining the NHS in band five roles, which is the pay grade at which nurses begin their employment, although this will include some nurses who have left NHS employment for a period of time and returned into band five roles, including those returning from unpaid career breaks. The Electronic Staff Record System, the Human Resources system for the NHS from which this information is drawn, also includes the self-declared nationality of staff, and whilst this may not equate to where they were trained, it allows new joiners to be split by United Kingdom and non-UK nationalities.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
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 impact of hospital Safer Staffing requirements on the newly qualified nurses’ ability to become employed in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made of the potential impact of hospital Safer Staffing requirements on newly qualified nurses’ ability to become employed in the National Health Service.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the (a) number of students who graduated in nursing and (b) number and proportion of those graduates who were employed within six months in the last four years, broken down by higher education institution.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) publishes information on the number of United Kingdom trained nurses joining their register for the first time, who are resident in England. The following table shows the number of UK trained nurses joining the NMC register in England for the first time by financial year:
Financial year | Number of UK qualified registered nurses joining the NMC register for the first time |
2021/22 | 15,132 |
2022/23 | 16,420 |
2023/24 | 18,478 |
2024/25 | 19,670 |
Source: Nursing and Midwifery Council, March 2025 Annual Data Report.
The Department does not hold information on the number of graduates who are employed within six months.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people currently claiming Carer’s Allowance who would be expected to lose their allowance due to the proposed changes to the Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As I made clear in my statement to the House, Hansard, 1 July, col 219, any changes to PIP eligibility will come after a comprehensive review of the benefit, which I am leading, and which will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard. This review aims to ensure that the PIP assessment is fair and fit for the future. The review is expected to conclude in autumn 2026.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of claimants losing their Carer’s Allowance as a result of her Department's proposed changes to Personal Independence Payments on local authorities.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As I set out in the House of Commons on 1 July 2025, this Government has listened to the concerns raised by Members from across the House regarding the proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Clause 5 of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill would have amended the legal framework underpinning PIP assessments, specifically by implementing a new requirement that claimants must score a minimum of four points in at least one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component of PIP.
In light of the concerns raised, I confirmed during the debate that we are going to remove clause 5 from the Bill in Committee. (Hansard, 1 July, col 219)
Any changes to PIP eligibility will come after a comprehensive review of the benefit, led by me and co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard. This review aims to ensure that the PIP assessment is fair and fit for the future.