Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to reduce congestion on key commuter routes in the West Midlands.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government is supporting improvements to public transport connectivity across the West Midlands through the £2.4 billion Transport for City Regions settlement allocated to the West Midlands Combined Authority through to 2031/32.

This devolved funding gives the Combined Authority, and the Mayor, the flexibility to determine local transport investment priorities, including those that improve connectivity and help tackle congestion on key commuter routes across the region.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve the reliability and punctuality of rail services in (a) Royal Sutton Coldfield (b) the West Midlands.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government is working closely with the rail industry to improve the reliability and punctuality of services across all regions. Denise Wetton has recently been appointed as Integrated Managing Director for the West Midlands, leading the integration of track and train across the region as part of the transition to Great British Railways. This single accountability across track and train will deliver a sharper focus on the measures that will most effectively reduce delays and cancellations.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the Prime Minister will make it his policy to distribute to the book entitled Everybody Loves our Dollars by Oliver Bullough to her Cabinet.

Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

No.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what support is available to households in Royal Sutton Coldfield seeking to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

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

The Government's Warm Homes Plan, published earlier this year, represents the biggest public investment in home upgrades in British history, rolling out cost-effective, clean energy technologies that reduce bills including solar, batteries, and heat pumps.

Low-income households can access fully-funded grant support through the Warm Homes: Local Grant, delivered through local authorities, and the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund, delivered through social housing providers.

Additionally, universal grants of up to £9,000 are available for heat pump installations through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and the Warm Homes Plan also committed to brand-new scheme offering low interest, government-backed consumer loans supported with £2 billion of public funding, providing further help with upfront costs.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of entry level employment opportunities for young people in Royal Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

There are no published official statistics that specifically measures the number of entry level vacancies at the local level.

With around one million young people not in education, employment and training, this Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The Government is investing an additional £2.5 billion by 2029 into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy.

This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, including through expanded network of Youth Hubs, earlier intensive support in Jobs Centres through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, additional work experience and training opportunities, a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for employers, and a fully funded six month job for long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds.

We also recognise the crisis of participation that Alan Milburn has so clearly laid out in his interim report. We will use this interim report to continue to build our reforms and look forward to final recommendations in the Autumn.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to improve air quality in Royal Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Under the Environment Act 1995, local authorities are responsible for addressing areas where air quality objectives are exceeded and developing local action plans.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what recent steps his Department has taken to support small high street retail businesses operating within Royal Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government recognises the important role that small high street retailers play in supporting local economies and communities, including in Royal Sutton Coldfield.

We have introduced permanently lower business rates multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties, benefiting more than 750,000 premises.

Small businesses can access support through the Business Growth Service, Growth Hubs, the British Business Bank's Business Finance Hub, the Growth Guarantee Scheme, the Business Support Service and the Business Finance Finder.

More broadly, the Government remains committed to rejuvenating high streets and will bring forward a new High Streets Strategy to support businesses, local growth and thriving town centres.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of parking provision at NHS hospitals across Birmingham.

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

No such assessment has been made. Provision of parking and related issues are the responsibility of the local National Health Service. All NHS trusts are expected to follow the published NHS Car Parking Guidance, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles

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 effectiveness of current measures to reduce fly-tipping in Royal Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Local councils are responsible for keeping their public land clear of litter and refuse and they have been given enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping. This Government continues to work with partners to strengthen the national response to waste crime through measures set out in the Waste Crime Action Plan.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the length of waiting times for access to mental health services for residents of Royal Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

In Royal Sutton Coldfield, and across the country, too many people have been waiting too long to receive support for their mental health needs, and we are determined to make mental health services more accessible for everyone who needs them.

As well as investing a record £16.1 billion into mental health services this year, we have recruited thousands more mental health workers since the Government came into office, and last month, we announced the rollout of 159 new National Health Service mental health facilities across England, backed by £343 million in funding. Later this year, our Mental Health Strategy will outline how we plan to future-proof the mental health system, including responding earlier and reducing waiting times for support.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of shoplifting in Royal Sutton Coldfield over the last three years.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The level of shop theft remains unacceptable. But our action to restore neighbourhood policing is making a difference – including delivering more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles since March 2025.There are signs the tide is turning, with a small fall in shop theft offences by 1% in the year ending December 2025 compared with the previous year. This is compared with increases of nearly 30% in the period before the election.

There is still more to do. That is why we are removing the £200 threshold for shop theft and commencing the new offence of assaulting a retail worker as soon as possible.

We are also equipping the police to fight the organised crime gangs that drive shop theft across the country. Our £5m investment in the specialist OPAL policing unit is boosting intelligence-led policing to identify offenders, disrupt the tactics used to target shops, and bring more criminals to justice.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of notifiable offences, including shoplifting offences, recorded by the police in England and Wales, at the Police Force Area level and the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) Area level. This information is published on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

The Home Office does not publish information at the Parliamentary Constituency level.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the accessibility of legal aid services for residents of Royal Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Legal aid is a vital part of the justice system and underpins our plans to build a justice system that works fairly for all parties.

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) continuously assesses the available supply of legal aid services throughout England and Wales across all categories of law. Details about volumes of contracted legal aid providers are published in the LAA’s official statistics (Tables 9.1–9.9) and data visualisation tools (procurement area maps). These figures help the LAA monitor the availability of services. The LAA takes operational action, where it can, to respond to market pressures that may arise and works closely with the Ministry of Justice on policy solutions concerning the supply of legal aid.

For civil contracts, the LAA commissions legal aid services across larger geographic areas called procurement areas, rather than by local authority or parliamentary constituency. The relevant procurement area serving the Sutton Coldfield constituency varies depending on the type of civil law.

Constituents in Sutton Coldfield can access face to face services across all civil categories of law for which legal aid is available. All procurement areas serving Sutton Coldfield exceed the minimum required number of legal aid providers.

In addition to face-to-face services, constituents in Sutton Coldfield can access remote services provided via Civil Legal Advice (Housing, Debt, Discrimination and Education) and the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service where they are at risk of losing their home.

Criminal legal aid services are placed nationally although duty schemes operate locally. The LAA is satisfied that all police station and court slots are covered for each duty scheme in England and Wales, including those serving Sutton Coldfield. Provision under the duty schemes is demand led and so there may be variations in numbers across each local rota.

The LAA is satisfied there is adequate access to legal aid services in Sutton Coldfield.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of gigabit-capable broadband for small businesses in Royal Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is committed to ensuring at least 99% of UK homes and businesses receive gigabit broadband coverage by 2032.

As of January 2026, Ofcom reports 80% of commercial premises in the Sutton Coldfield constituency already have access to a gigabit-capable connection. This is higher than the national average of 71%.

As part of Project Gigabit, the Government’s programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to UK homes and businesses that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans, the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme provides a subsidy of up to £4,500 for residents and businesses towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband via local community broadband projects.

Approximately 1,640 premises in the Sutton Coldfield constituency are included in voucher projects and to date, 170 of these premises have already received a gigabit-capable connection due to public subsidy.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to eliminate rough sleeping in the Birmingham City Council area.

Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

On his first day in office the Prime Minister launched an urgent national drive to end rough sleeping at the earliest opportunity. We are providing £442 million new funding to local areas through a new Rough Sleeping Programme to ensure that everyone who needs it is offered a route off the streets before Christmas this year, while providing longer-term accommodation and support for people with the most complex and long-term experiences of rough sleeping.

Funding has been targeted towards areas with the greatest rough sleeping pressures, while giving Mayoral Strategic Authorities and local authorities flexibility to shape services around local needs and priorities. A full breakdown of allocations of funding, including for West Midlands Combined Authority, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rough-sleeping-programme. MHCLG will continue to work closely with the Mayoral Strategic Authority and Birmingham City Council to develop plans for accommodation and support provision through the Programme.

These measures build on the Government's wider action to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, and take total investment in homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years to more than £4 billion. Further details of the Government's most recent measures are set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 1 September 2026 (HCWS300).

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking ahead of the winter to help relieve pressures on NHS services within the NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board area.

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

Preparations for winter are led locally by integrated care boards (ICBs) working with acute trusts, primary care, community services, mental health providers, local authorities and social care partners. On 17 July, NHS England wrote out to the system with the annual winter planning 2026/27 letter, which sets out expectations and assurance mechanisms for winter, including key actions for all local areas to take.

Local areas, including trust and ICB leadership, are developing robust plans to manage demand and capacity and respond to periods of increased pressure. They are also being asked to provide a named executive winter lead and will stress test plans at the September regional stress test exercise.

This builds on progress made last winter, when more patients were treated within four hours, fewer patients waited over 12 hours in accident and emergency departments and Category 2 ambulance response times improved, despite increased demand.

Found: annex," 1 May 2026. 20 UK Health Security Agency, UKHSA Strategic Plan: 2023 to 2026. 21 Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell