Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of her Department's funding for bus service improvements will be spent in Bedfordshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has allocated £670 million to local transport authorities in 25/26 to support the delivery of Bus Service Improvement Plans as part of a more than £1 billion investment in buses confirmed at the Budget. Local transport authorities in Bedfordshire, consisting of Bedford Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire Council and Luton Borough Council, have collectively been allocated £11.4 million of this funding.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2025 to Question 35855 on Govia Thameslink Railway: Standards, what information her Department holds on when Great British Railways plans to publish provisional (a) timetables and (b) capacity improvement plans for services on the Bedford line.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government will establish a new access and charging framework in primary legislation, enabling Great British Railways to be a true directing mind for the railway. We will simplify the operational running of the railways by bringing together responsibility for managing allocation of railway capacity and timetabling with the management of infrastructure.
Legislation will be introduced later this session to make these vital reforms.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Great British Railways will consider housing growth in capacity planning.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
An integrated, affordable and sustainable transport network plays a vital role in unlocking homes and providing access to jobs and essential services.
Great British Railways (GBR) will work closely with the Department for Transport, MHCLG and other government departments to align housebuilding with future transport infrastructure strategy and investment. This will include considering housing growth as part of future capacity planning to help us deliver 1.5 million homes over the next 5 years.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of people in receipt of a pension in the (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28 and (c) 2028-29 financial years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The estimated total number of people in receipt of State Pension in the 2025-26 to 2028-29 financial years is available in the following table. This is from the latest Benefit Expenditure and Caseload tables published following Spring Statement 2025. This covers State Pension recipients in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and outside the UK. Figures are rounded to nearest one thousand and represent a mid-financial year average. Source: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2025 - GOV.UK
As forecasts of private pension receipt are not produced, this response has reference to the State Pension only.
Financial Year | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
Total State Pension Claimant Forecast (in thousands) | 13,196 | 13,209 | 13,075 | 13,157 |
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.72 on page 29 of the Spring Statement 2025, whether the funding will deliver 10 colleges per region or 10 colleges in total.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
At the Spring Statement, this government committed £100 million to establish 10 new Technical Excellence Colleges specialising in construction across every region in England and to further build capacity to boost the provision of skills in construction. This means there will be ten construction Technical Excellence Colleges in total.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press release entitled Public land unlocked for the next generation of homeowners, published on 27 March 2025, whether any of the land will be in Bedfordshire.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Secretary of State for Defence has identified a long-term opportunity to build over 100,000 homes on surplus defence land, improving opportunities for homeownership and creating jobs across the country, while Network Rail has announced the establishment of a new property company to unlock up to 40,000 homes over the next decade.
There are Bedfordshire sites in both the Ministry of Defence and Network Rail pipelines, including RAF Henlow, which is due to close in 2026, and the Bedford Station redevelopment – part of the major East West Rail project – which could unlock a substantial number of new homes close to the station.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she had made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of 3G football pitches on the environment.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is aware of the potential impacts which 3G, or Artificial Grass Pitches (AGPs), have on the environment. The most prominent of these impacts relates to the spread of rubber infill (also known as ‘rubber crumb’) - which contains harmful microplastics - from 3G pitches, into the environment.
It is also important to note though that AGPs currently play a crucial role in getting more people active across the UK. They provide durable, safe, year-round playing surfaces which can sustain up to 80 hours of use per week - significantly more than grass pitches, helping more people to access the benefits of physical activity.
While, currently, there is no clear alternative to rubber crumb, DCMS continues to work closely with DEFRA and the wider sector to help identify a viable long-term solution. This includes the Sheffield Hub Test Site, where the Football Foundation are leading research to pilot a number of alternative infills which have a lower environmental impact, while still delivering safe, high-quality facilities for people to take part in physical activity.
Sport England is also committed to working with partners to mandate - through grant conditions - that Artificial Grass Pitches (AGPs) are recycled when reaching their end of life. To support this, Sport England continues to work with relevant industry partners to increase recycling capacity available to sports providers across the country.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the correspondence of 5 February 2025 from the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire on Swallowfield Primary School.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
A response has been sent to the letter dated 5 February from the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of school students in Mid Bedfordshire constituency impacted by changes to funding for the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Excellence in mathematics is one of the many skills needed to drive economic growth, and we are committed to ensuring all children and young people have opportunities to secure mathematical knowledge, regardless of background and socio-economic status.
The Advanced Maths Support Programme (AMSP) is a vital government funded programme that continues to positively impact mathematics education across England. We are currently working with the AMSP supplier (MEI) to ensure that its important work evolves to better align with the government’s Opportunity Mission and skills for the future, such as AI and Data Science.
More details on AMSP funding and the full offer for schools and colleges nationally and locally will be published in due course, on the AMSP website, which can be accessed here: https://amsp.org.uk/.