Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether trains carrying Greater Manchester Bee Network branding or livery will remain rail assets of Great British Railways or the Secretary of State, rather than assets of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Livery reflects who is responsible for the service, not who owns the trains. Aside from some devolved services, where there are instances of ownership by the devolved authority, rolling stock is leased from rolling stock companies and managed day-to-day by the train operator. There is currently one Northern unit in temporary promotional Bee Network livery operating on Manchester‑area services, highlighting the forthcoming tap‑and‑go contactless integration on local rail; this is a branding exercise only and does not change ownership or leasing arrangements. As there are currently no rail services devolved to Greater Manchester, any trains operating on the GBR network would carry GBR livery rather than Bee Network branding. Through partnerships with GBR, there could be opportunities for external co-branding of rolling stock where Mayoral Strategic Authorities take a financial stake in service provision.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to support other combined authorities and local councils to replicate the Liverpool City Region’s programme to decarbonise public buildings.
Answered by Katie White - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the essential role that local government, including combined authorities and local councils, play in accelerating to net zero. Support for local government includes funding to deliver net zero through their core settlement, grant funding schemes and strengthened collaboration such as through the Local Net Zero Delivery Group.
Over the period 2025-2028 more than £190 million in public sector decarbonisation funding is being invested in local authorities through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. Over the same period £67.6 million is being invested on decarbonisation of public buildings through the Integrated Settlements with the West Midlands and Greater Manchester Combined Authorities.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if her Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of the levels of funding provided to Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council for highway surface preventative maintenance and carriageway structural work, including the prevention and fixing of potholes.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department provides substantial, formula‑based funding to all local highway authorities in England to help them maintain their local road networks.
Highways maintenance funding for Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council is paid to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). GMCA has been allocated a £1.07 billion City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) for the 2022–27 period and will receive a £2.5 billion Transport for City Regions settlement for 2027–32. This funding supports investment in GMCA’s local transport priorities and includes funding for highways maintenance. It is for GMCA to determine how much of this funding is allocated to highways maintenance, but they must ensure that appropriate levels are allocated to its constituent local highway authorities so that they can meet their statutory duty under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980.
These long-term settlements provide longer term funding certainty for local transport improvements and enable authorities to plan ahead and shift away from short-term fixes to proactive and preventative maintenance. In 2026/27, GMCA will also be eligible to receive an additional £15.5 million in highways maintenance incentive funding.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they plan to take to help young people struggling to find work out of welfare dependency.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government’s ambition is to transform young people’s prospects, by ensuring every one of them has the chance to earn or learn through a Youth Guarantee.
We have already taken the first steps towards delivering a Youth Guarantee, launching eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, announcing funding to almost double our Youth Hubs, and launching an Independent Report into Young People and Work, to identify potential areas for reform to better support young people with health conditions and disabilities.
At the Budget we announced the expansion of the Youth Guarantee, backed by an £820 million investment over the next three years, to reach almost 900,000 young people. This includes expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain and a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit and looking for work. This investment will also create around 300,000 additional opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21 through the Jobs Guarantee.
The application window for Phase One of the Jobs Guarantee opened on 29 January 2026. Through the application process, the government will identify delivery organisations to run the Jobs Guarantee scheme in the six Phase One areas of Birmingham & Solihull, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire & Essex, Central & East Scotland and Southwest & Southeast Wales.
In Phase One of the Jobs Guarantee, the Scheme will provide over 1,000 fully funded six-month paid jobs to eligible 18–21-year-olds, who have been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months. The DWP will fund 100% of eligible employment costs for 25 hours a week at the relevant minimum wage. The DWP will also fund wraparound support to help participants succeed on the scheme and transition into sustained employment.
Phase One will be followed by national roll-out of the Jobs Guarantee across Great Britain later in 2026.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with local authorities on the provision of services to prevent knife crime among young people.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government have set an ambitious but essential target to halve knife crime over this decade and we are making progress: since the start of this Parliament, knife crime has fallen by 8% and knife homicides are down by 27%.
To achieve this ambition we are engaging with partners across the system both to address knife crime and address the root causes of knife crime. This includes local authorities who play a vital role.
This role is formalised within the Serious Violence Duty which places a statutory requirement on a range of public sector bodies, including local authorities, to work collaboratively, analyse the local problem, and put in place a strategy to prevent and reduce serious violence. Community Safety Partnerships, led by the local authority and whose partners match those subject to the Serious Violence Duty must also comply with these requirements.
The Home Office had discussions and worked with relevant local authorities to deliver the extended knife surrender arrangements which the Government ran in July 2025 and covered various locations in London, West Midlands and Greater Manchester. The extended surrender arrangements involved the use of a mobile surrender van and 37 bespoke weapons surrender bins and a total of a 3,570 knives and weapons were surrendered through these arrangements.
The Home Office maintain regular discussions with local authorities through Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) and Young Futures Panels partnership arrangements to support the effective delivery of services to prevent knife crime among young people.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 108291 on IVF: Greater Manchester, if he will have discussions with the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board on the potential impact of the decision to reduce NHS-funded IVF provision across Greater Manchester to one cycle on (i) patient outcomes and (ii) health inequalities; and if will hold discussions with that ICB on current NICE guidance on IVF provision.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no current plans to discuss with the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (ICB) any changes to its provision of National Health Service funded in vitro fertilisation treatment or the current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on fertility services.
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by ICBs and are based on the clinical needs of their local population. They are expected to commission fertility services in line with NICE guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England.
Updated NICE fertility guidelines are expected in spring. The Department will continue to support NHS England as they work closely with ICBs to ensure the guidance is fully considered in local commissioning decisions.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time was for a practical car driving test at driving test centres in (a) Stockport and (b) Greater Manchester in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The attached Excel document shows what the average waiting time was for a practical car driving test at driving test centres in (a) Stockport and (b) Greater Manchester in each of the last ten years.
Please note there is no data available for Chadderton test centre for 2015. Chadderton was commissioned for practical car driving tests on 19 January 2017. For 2016/17 only partial data is available based on just over two months of operation.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 the decision to reduce NHS-funded IVF provision across Greater Manchester to one cycle on (a) patient outcomes and (b) health inequalities.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessments have been undertaken by the Department. Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards and are based on the clinical needs of their local population. We expect these organisations to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of public health funding in reducing rates of preventable illnesses in disadvantaged communities.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Public Health Grant supports local authorities to deliver vital public health services that focus on reducing preventable illnesses through services such as smoking cessation, drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery, health visiting, and sexual health clinics. Public Health Grant allocations are weighted heavily towards deprivation, with per capita funding for the most deprived local authority more than two times greater than that for the least deprived.
More than £13.4 billion will be consolidated into the Public Health Grant to local authorities, and a retained business rates arrangement with Greater Manchester local authorities, over the next three years beginning in 2026/27. This is a 5.6% total cash increase over the period, on top of 5.5% cash growth in 2025/26.
The National Health Service also funds important public health services, including national screening and immunisation programmes. In doing so, NHS England has regard to the need to reduce inequalities both in access to services and in health outcomes.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish a list of organisations represented at his Department's conference on food poverty on 14 and 15 January 2026.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP Food Poverty Conference took place at the Abbey Centre on 15 January 2026.
Our aim was to bring together a range of local authorities, other government departments, charities and academics to share and discuss a range of good practice happening on the ground to respond to increasing need in relation to food poverty.
We received a high level of interest in the conference. Due to venue capacity, places were offered on a first come first served basis.
We saw over 30 local authorities represented from different regions across England. Examples include the Greater London Authority, Medway Council, Bristol City Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, North Yorkshire Council, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk and East Lindsey District Council. Local government sat alongside over a dozen national third sector organisations – such as Trussell, Feeding Britain, Sustain and Community Shop – as well as officials from across five government departments, including DWP, DfE, Defra, DHSC and MHCLG.
We’ve been encouraged by the positive feedback on the conference and the strong engagement shown across sectors. As a result, we are exploring the possibility of hosting a second conference online later in the year to enable more organisations to participate. We will provide further details as plans materialise.