Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the size of the UK coach fleet.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no official estimate of the current coach fleet size. The Confederation of Passenger Transport published a report in 2020 which estimated that the UK coach fleet comprised around 27,500 vehicles.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of replacement batteries for defibrillators.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has arrangements in place to help ensure the continuity of the supply of medical products, such as replacement batteries for defibrillators, including the National Supply Disruption Response service, which – in the event of a supply issue – can work with the medical supply industry, the health and care system, and our system partners to help minimise any impact on the provision of care.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the total amount of public funding allocated to the development, validation and uptake of human-specific research methods each year between 2020-2025.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) invests in a range of human-specific research that does not rely on animal studies. Many studies developing and using human-specific and alternative methods are classified as basic research, so any funding values given would be an underestimate. Examples include the Medical Research Council’s Experimental Medicine programme, a £15 million UKRI, NC3Rs and Wellcome funding call for novel human in vitro models of complex disease, and an £18 million Experimental Medicine funding call on neurodegeneration. Between 2020 and 2025, UKRI also invested approximately £10 million annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the report Sustainable Alternatives to Culled Chicks as Captive Raptor and Reptile Feed published by the Vegetarian Society UK on 4 June 2026.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government will consider the Vegetarian Society UK’s report on alternative feed sources for raptors and reptiles as part of its work to work towards seeing an end the practice of culling male laying hen chicks.