Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the annual cost to the NHS of illnesses attributable to extreme heat.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
A cross-Government collaboration, which includes the National Health Service and the Department, produces an annual Adverse Weather and Health Plan that incorporates heatwave preparedness measures. Services are expected to be prepared for periods of hot weather from 1 June to mid-September each year.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many inspections the Health and Safety Executive has undertaken relating to excessive workplace temperatures in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prioritises its resources to concentrate on the most serious risks and target dutyholders with the worst risk management record. Therefore, there have been no proactive inspections specifically relating to excessive workplace temperature.
HSE uses a targeted blend of interventions to deliver its strategy and maximise its impact. The main interventions are:
As part of this HSE provides guidance for employers to manage the risk to workers, including from extreme heat. HSE issued a press release on Friday 19 June to raise awareness of managing the risks to workers to help workplaces in the current hot weather.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with the Birmingham City Council Commissioners on the potential financial impact of the cancellation of the Birmingham Highways PFI contract.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the statutory intervention that commenced in October 2023, Commissioners continue to support Birmingham City Council’s improvement and recovery. My department regularly engages with both the Council and Commissioners, in line with standard practice, alongside receiving regular updates on progress, including on the Council’s financial sustainability and any specific financial pressures faced by the council.
Arrangements relating to the Birmingham Highways PFI contract are led by the Department for Transport. This government has taken significant steps to support councils financially, including Birmingham City Council, through the Fair Funding Review 2.0. The Local Government Finance Settlement has made up to £2,090m available in Core Spending Power for Birmingham City Council in 2028-29, which means that under this government Core Spending Power will increase by 45% from 2024-25 to 2028-29.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support Birmingham City Council in managing the potential financial implications of the cancellation of the Birmingham Highways PFI contract.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the statutory intervention that commenced in October 2023, Commissioners continue to support Birmingham City Council’s improvement and recovery. My department regularly engages with both the Council and Commissioners, in line with standard practice, alongside receiving regular updates on progress, including on the Council’s financial sustainability and any specific financial pressures faced by the council.
Arrangements relating to the Birmingham Highways PFI contract are led by the Department for Transport. This government has taken significant steps to support councils financially, including Birmingham City Council, through the Fair Funding Review 2.0. The Local Government Finance Settlement has made up to £2,090m available in Core Spending Power for Birmingham City Council in 2028-29, which means that under this government Core Spending Power will increase by 45% from 2024-25 to 2028-29.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the cancellation of the Birmingham Highways PFI contract on Birmingham City Council’s capital spending requirements.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to working with the Council to achieve a successful transition away from its PFI arrangements alongside progress with the Council’s financial management and recovery.
To support this, the Department for Transport has put in place future funding arrangements for Birmingham’s local highways. Starting this financial year, funding for the Council’s local highways will be provided via the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Integrated Settlement. For 2026/27, we will uplift the Combined Authority’s Integrated Settlement by £17 million, which was calculated using the Department’s local highways maintenance funding formula.
Councils are responsible for their own capital spending requirements. Nonetheless, the Department has collaborated with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the Council’s transition away from its PFI to help ensure alignment with MHCLG’s work with the Council regarding its financial management and recovery.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many instances of heat-related speed restrictions on the rail network occurred in each of the last five years.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail has recorded the following number of daily incidents of “Critical Rail Temperature speed-restriction incidents” as follows:
Financial Year | Heat speeds (Incident-days) |
2019/20 | 527 |
2020/21 | 575 |
2021/22 | 1080 |
2022/23 | 1622 |
2023/24 | 624 |
2024/25 | 332 |
2025/26 | 803 |
2026/27 YTD* to 1 July 2026 | 864 |
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to publish her Department’s most recent decision letter regarding the Final Business Case for the Birmingham Highways PFI contract.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The letter from DfT officials will be deposited in the House of Commons Library.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of Government-funded home energy efficiency and retrofit schemes in reducing the risk of overheating during periods of extreme heat.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As set out in the Warm Homes Plan, our buildings are not currently built to deal with record summer temperatures and some are at significant risk of overheating. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has estimated there have been 10,000 excess deaths caused by summer heatwaves since 2020 (Heat summary – heat mortality monitoring reports - GOV.UK).
That’s why the government is introducing the most appropriate, cost-effective passive cooling measures into our capital schemes, to support low-income consumers and those in social housing. These include internal blinds, external shutters, reflective window films, and cooler building materials.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of extreme heat on outdoor workers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
I refer the Hon. member to the response to UIN 14088.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the resilience of the rail network to increasing summer temperatures.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department recognises that increasing summer temperatures can affect the safe and reliable operation of the railway, including through impacts on track, signalling and power infrastructure. The rail industry has established procedures to manage these risks, including enhanced monitoring, inspections and operational measures such as temporary speed restrictions during periods of extreme heat.
More broadly, the Department is working with the rail industry to improve the long-term resilience of the rail network to climate change. Network Rail is investing £2.6 billion between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2029 in activities and technology to help its infrastructure better withstand extreme weather and climate change. It has also published regional Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation plans for 2024-29, setting out how weather and climate risks affect infrastructure at a local level. Publicly owned train operators have similarly developed weather resilience and climate change adaptation plans to identify and address risks to operations, staff and passengers.