Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of Birmingham City Council’s ability to provide a (a) comprehensive and (b) efficient library service in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Public libraries are funded by local authorities and each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources.
The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 requires the Secretary of State to “superintend and promote the improvement of the public library service provided by local authorities in England”. To assist this function the department regularly engages with local authorities to discuss issues related to their respective library service.
The Department has met with Birmingham City Council officers regularly in the last 20 months, the most recent of which was 7 May, to discuss changes to their library service provision.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 has taken to help support the regeneration of town centres in the West Midlands.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In December 2024, the government announced that the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will receive £46,463,600 in UKSPF funding for the 2025/26 financial year. This includes £13,727,835 in capital funding and £32,735,765 in revenue funding. The UKSPF funding will be part of the WMCA's broader Integrated Settlement award. Additionally, six areas in the West Midlands will receive £120 million towards regeneration and community support. Bedworth in Warwickshire, Bilston, Darlaston, Dudley, and Smethwick in the Black Country, and Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham will each receive £20 million over the next 10 years. The funding, available since April, comes from the government's Plan for Neighbourhoods programme, which is releasing £1.5 billion to 75 areas in the UK based on criteria such as deprivation, life expectancy, and investment needs.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to urge the Government of Burma to release Aung San Suu Kyi from solitary confinement and prison on grounds of clemency ahead of her 80th birthday on 19 June 2025.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We condemn the arbitrary detention of Aung San Suu Kyi. The charges against her are politically motivated. On 31 January, to mark the fourth anniversary since the coup, the Foreign Secretary called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, and all those arbitrarily detained. We will continue to call for her release, and the release of all those arbitrarily detained.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to sanction the Burmese (a) officials and (b) entities involved in conducting or planning the bombing against their own citizens.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In October 2024, the UK issued its nineteenth round of sanctions, targeting companies involved in the procurement of aviation fuel and equipment to the Myanmar military. In total we have imposed sanctions on 25 individuals and 39 entities under the Myanmar Sanctions regime and designated the military regime's two key conglomerates and their 111 subsidiaries under the Global Human Rights regime. The UK is committed to targeted sanctions, which directly impact the military without harming the wider population.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for ambulances in the West Midlands.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the pressures on the National Health Service and the impact this is having on ambulance response times, including in the West Midlands.
We are determined to turn things around, our 10-Year Health Plan will be published in summer 2025, setting out major NHS reforms to move healthcare from hospital to the community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention.
The NHS Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, published on 6 June 2025, requires health systems to focus on those areas likely to have the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care services this year. The plan includes actions that will reduce category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes and reduce ambulance handovers to 45 minutes, helping to get 550,000 more ambulances back on the road.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce youth-related violence in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Halving knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission and we are determined to tackle the scourge of serious youth violence on our streets.
To date, we have implemented a ban on the sale and possession of zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes and a ban on ninja swords will come into effect from 1 August. We are planning an expanded surrender scheme in July to allow those who currently own dangerous weapons to hand them in safely and securely. Limiting the availability and accessibility of lethal blades is a central part of our work.
To that end, we have also announced “Ronan’s Law”, following an independent review into online knife sales by Commander Stephen Clayman, which sets out a range of measures including strengthening age verification and delivery checks and reporting bulk sales to the police. These vital changes are included in the Crime and Policing Bill currently making its way through Parliament.
We are increasing the penalties for illegal sales of knives, creating a new offence of possessing a knife with the intention to commit unlawful violence and are giving the police a new power to seize knives when they believe they are likely to be used in connection with unlawful violence.
The Young Futures Programme is another key part of the Safer Streets Mission and the Government’s ambition to halve knife crime over the next decade. Through this programme, the Government will introduce Prevention Partnerships across the country, including in the West Midlands, to intervene earlier and ensure that Children and Young People who are vulnerable to being drawn into crime are identified and offered support in a more systematic way.
As we continue to design the Young Futures Programme, we want to ensure that it learns from and builds on the work of the Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in this regard. In 2025/26 we are investing £47m via the Home Office in core grant funding to VRUs, including making over £4.3m available to the West Midlands VRU this year.
This funding will support the delivery of a range of early intervention and prevention programmes such as youth workers in hospital settings (A&E Navigators), social skills training, and tailored support to individuals at risk of involvement in gangs and county lines to divert young people away from crime.
A further £14.3m in grant funding has been made available across all 43 local policing body areas to deliver the Serious Violence Duty with £254k available to the West Midlands.
Additionally, we have launched the Knife Enabled Robbery (‘KER’) Taskforce, focusing on reducing KER in the highest volume police force areas, including the West Midlands. The Taskforce identified school-age KER as a specific operational challenge and has worked with the Department for Education and school leaders to tackle it by developing bespoke “KER school action plans”.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to tackle rough sleeping in the Birmingham City Council area.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
For 2025/26, the department has allocated over £3.6 million to Birmingham City Council across rough sleeping grants.
The Government will develop a new cross government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of expenditure by his Department on businesses in the West Midlands.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence spent £1.6 billion in the West Midlands in 2023-24, which equates to £260 per person in the region and directly supported 7,100 jobs. This includes £137 million spent directly with SMEs in the same period.
Through the Defence Industrial Strategy, we will continue to engage with industry, devolved governments and local authorities to better understand the regional opportunities and barriers for growth in the defence sector.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to President Trump's announcement on 13 May 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of lifting UK sanctions on Syria.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We welcome the announcement by President Trump of the US' intention to lift sanctions on Syria and look forward to further details of the timeline and process. On 24 April, we lifted sanctions on some sectors of the Syrian economy, including trade, energy production, transport and finance. This follows the removal in March of asset freezes on 24 Syrian entities, including the Central Bank of Syria. These changes will help facilitate essential investment into Syria and underscore the UK's commitment to supporting the Syrian people to rebuild their country and economy. A stable Syria is in the UK's national interest.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she plans to take to improve rail services in the West Midlands.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
West Midlands Trains has recently introduced two brand new fleets of high capacity trains in the West Midlands area, with a third new fleet on its West Coast routes starting service shortly. Five new stations are also under construction. Meanwhile, CrossCountry started operating a bigger fleet last weekend, significantly boosting capacity on its network, and all its trains will be fully refurbished in the next three years. A Pay-As-You-Go scheme is being implemented to help deliver seamless journey integration. Longer term, work continues on developing the Midlands Rail Hub scheme.