Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed national tariff for NHS-funded ADHD and autism services from April 2027 on (a) assessment capacity and (b) waiting times in the Black Country.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism, led by Professor Peter Fonagy, was published on 9 October, providing analysis and recommendations across a wide range of issues relating to the current provision of services in this area, including ADHD and autism assessments.
The Government issued an initial response to Professor Fonagy’s report on the day of publication, including action to strengthen the oversight and regulation of ADHD and autism assessments, but we will set out the full action we are taking in response to the review recommendations in our new Mental Health Strategy to be published later this year. The response is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-pledges-earlier-support-to-tackle-mental-health-crises
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support horseracing.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
I thank the right honourable member for championing British horseracing and the contribution that it makes to rural communities. It is worth £4 billion to the British economy and supports 85,000 jobs. I visited Newbury racecourse a week ago to see it in action first hand.
Government is supporting the sector. Racing remains the only sport to benefit from a Government-mandated levy, generating over £100m annually. We also protected bets on British racing from the 2025 Budget’s gambling duty increase.
We will continue to work closely with the sport to support its long-term sustainability.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to encourage NHS Trusts in England and Wales to adopt the NHS barcode for correspondence sent through Royal Mail.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England and Royal Mail have worked together to improve how NHS letters are sent to patients across the UK and ensure NHS providers have a choice of both price and speed when sending letters. The Royal Mail NHS barcode, introduced in April 2025, is designed to optimise the delivery of NHS letters during times of local and national disruption, but it is for individual NHS trusts to register for the barcode and decide on its usage. Further details can be found on the Royal Mail website at the following link:
https://www.royalmailwholesale.com/news/nhs-mail-new-barcode-solution
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer to Question 18620 on 23 July 2026, on Housing: Land Use, what assessment her Department has made of the comparative infrastructure requirements and public-sector costs associated with delivering housing on (a) brownfield, (b) urban greenfield, (c) Grey Belt and (d) Green Belt sites; and whether those costs are reflected in the assumptions underpinning the 1.5 million homes target.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has made no such specific assessments.
It is for local planning authorities, through local development plans, to address needs and opportunities in relation to infrastructure, identify what infrastructure is required, and how it can be funded and brought forward.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment the Department has made of the amount of brownfield land in Walsall Borough that is (a) suitable, (b) available and (c) viable for housing development; how many homes could be delivered on that land; and what financial support will be provided to remediate contaminated or otherwise unviable brownfield sites before Green Belt land is considered.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has made no specific assessment of brownfield land in Walsall Borough.
It is for individual local planning authorities to assess the suitability, availability, and achievability of sites for inclusion on their Brownfield Land Registers using specific criteria set out in the Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017.
My Department launched the National Housing Delivery Fund (NHDF) on 1 April 2026. The NHDF will provide c.£5 billion of capital grant funding for infrastructure and land from 2026 to 2030. This includes £1.3 billion allocated through the Integrated Settlement for Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities (EMSAs) to support mayors to deliver more housing over the Spending Review period.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer to Question 18620 of 23 July 2026, on Housing: Land Use, what spatial modelling her Department has undertaken to assess how the Government’s target of 1.5 million new homes will be distributed between (a) previously developed land, (b) greenfield land within existing settlements, (c) greenfield land outside existing settlements, (d) Green Belt land released through local plans and (e) grey belt land; what datasets and assumptions are used in that modelling; and whether she plans to publish (i) the results and (ii) underlying methodology.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has made no such specific assessments.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer to Question 18620 on 23 July 2026, on Housing: Land Use, whether her Department has estimated the number and proportion of homes in the Government’s 1.5 million homes target that will require (a) Green Belt boundary changes, (b) the application of Grey Belt policy and (c) the release of land not previously allocated for housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has made no such specific assessments.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much of the £9.58 billion of initial strategic partnership funding announced under the Social and Affordable Homes Programme on 25 August 2026 is expected to be spent in (a) Walsall Borough and (b) the West Midlands; and how many homes of each tenure that expenditure is expected to deliver in each area.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Social and Affordable Homes Programme does not have numerical targets or ringfenced budgets for particular regions or types of home, beyond a confirmed portion allocated to London.
In the Written Ministerial Statement made on 1 September 2026 (HCWS299), we made clear that of the £9.58 billion in initial funding awarded to Strategic Partners outside of London an estimated £2.45 billion was for delivery in six Established Mayoral Strategic Authority (EMSA) areas, supporting the individual priorities of mayors who set the strategic direction of the Programme in their areas.
Estimated Strategic Partnership spend in the West Midlands Combined Authority area is £409m and will support the delivery of c.3,200 homes.
We have not produced estimates of delivery in individual local planning authority areas.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which railway stations serving Walsall Borough meet the definition of a well-connected station in the National Planning Policy Framework, published on 17 August 2026; what geographical area surrounding each station will be subject to the policy of in-principle support for development; and if her Department will publish maps showing the land affected.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The definition of ‘well-connected’ station is set out in the glossary at Annex B of the National Planning Policy Framework. It is for decision makers to determine whether any given station meets the definition of ‘well-connected’. My Department has not made an estimate of the impact of the policy around any specific station.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the proposed railway station at Aldridge has been included in any assessment of land subject to the National Planning Policy Framework policy on development around well-connected stations; and whether that policy can apply before a proposed station has secured funding and become operational.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The definition of ‘well-connected’ station is set out in the glossary at Annex B of the National Planning Policy Framework. It is for decision makers to determine whether any given station meets the definition of ‘well-connected’. My Department has not made an estimate of the impact of the policy around any specific station.