Jim McMahon

The Department has not made any estimates of these costs as internationally integrated supply chains make detailed comparative cost assessments highly complex.

The Prime Minister has made clear public service is a privilege and is committed to restoring trust in government by ensuring ministers are held to the highest standards.

Last year the Prime Minister published a new, strengthened, Ministerial Code which sets out the standards expected of all government ministers. It includes a full articulation of the Seven Principles of Public Life, bringing the importance of public service to the front and fore of the Code.

This commitment was further demonstrated in October when the Prime Minister updated the Ministerial Code. This update implemented reforms in relation to ministerial severance payments and changes to the operation of the Business Appointment Rules.

Information on the effectiveness of public sector procurement with local suppliers in each English region is not held centrally.

This Government is determined to ensure public procurement delivers jobs, growth and investment across all regions of the UK. Our National Procurement Policy Statement encourages contracting authorities to consider how procurement can foster economic growth, support small businesses, strengthen UK supply chains and drive delivery of the Government’s Industrial Strategy and missions.

We are considering additional measures to further assist local suppliers and support British skills and jobs.

The following table shows the total size of the Register of Companies and the trading status of companies in the specified periods:

The following table shows the status of entities on the register at the start and end of the reporting period:

Figures in both tables are extracted from management information. They are unaudited and subject to change.

Due to timing differences, discrepancies can occur between the register status statistics and the trading status statistics. Consequently, the trading status statistics have been adjusted proportionally to align with the Official Statistics publication.

A review of the statistics regularly published is ongoing.

No assessment has been made of the potential impact of year-round fireworks displays by commercial venues in and near residential areas on social well-being.

The Government recently launched new guidance for community groups and event organisers on running safe and considerate fireworks displays covering fireworks safety, the gathering of crowds and the impact on the local community. This supplements existing guidance from Government and other organisations that is available to help people to use fireworks safely.

The Department for Business and Trade committed to launch a Call for Evidence on co-operative and mutual business. The Call for Evidence will focus on how the government can continue to support co-operative and mutual businesses, to start, grow and scale, as well as support for existing businesses who want to transition to become a co-operative or mutual.

DBT is also looking at how to integrate support for co-operatives and mutuals within the government’s overall approach for supporting SMEs, including what we can do via the Business Growth Service, and through DBT funded Growth Hubs (England only) which aim to support local businesses, including co-operative and mutuals.

The Department for Business and Trade committed to launch a Call for Evidence on co-operative and mutual business. The Call for Evidence will focus on how the government can continue to support co-operative and mutual businesses, to start, grow and scale, as well as support for existing businesses who want to transition to become a co-operative or mutual.

As part of this, we will be collecting data on existing business support for co-operatives and mutuals, including, but not limited to government funded support.

Together with local and community energy groups and other key stakeholders from devolved governments to mayoral strategic authorities, Great British Energy and the UK government will turbocharge support for local and community energy projects across the UK.

Great British Energy will work closely with Local Authorities to provide commercial, technical and project-planning assistance to increase their capability and capacity to build a pipeline of successful projects in their local areas.

Mayoral Strategic Authorities also have a vital role in offering local expertise with their communities and in July, Great British Energy awarded all 14 mayoral strategic authorities in England a share of £10 million in grant funding to roll out clean energy projects at the heart of their communities.

The Online Safety Act enables senior management to be held to account. Action can be taken against senior managers who deliberately fail to ensure companies follow information requests from Ofcom. Ofcom will also be able to hold companies and senior managers (where they are at fault) liable if the provider fails to comply with Ofcom's enforcement notices in relation to specific child safety duties.

Ahead of the upcoming Charter Review, the Secretary of State has said that, to maintain the BBC as an institution, it must be accountable to those who fund it - the British people. The Government intends to keep an open mind about how the BBC can achieve that aim.

The Government has not made any wider assessment of the merits of co-operatives to the UK’s system of public service broadcasting.

We recognise the important role youth councils can play in young people’s lives and youth services. This includes empowering them to propose ideas, connecting them with local decision-makers, and enhancing a sense of community belonging and connection.

Each youth council is different to reflect the needs of the local area or setting. Youth councils assist government and local authorities in designing services and support that meet their needs. The best youth councils are invited to co-create youth provision or wider services focused on young people locally, ensuring public money is spent wisely in a way that addresses their needs.

This year, DCMS is running the Local Youth Transformation Pilot which will support local authorities to build back capacity in the youth space and improve local youth offers.

DCMS is committed to enabling effective youth empowerment, involving young people in decision making at all levels. We are co-producing the National Youth Strategy in partnership with young people, drawing together the voices of over 14,000 young people who engaged in the National Youth Strategy Survey. We will publish the National Youth Strategy later in the year.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) supports the vital role of local news, helping communities and local businesses to scrutinise decisions that impact them and holding public services to account through fact-based local reporting. The Government welcomed the recent retendering of LDRS contracts and the extension of the scheme until the end of the current BBC Charter period (December 2027).

Separately, we are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. As part of this work, we are exploring the role of the BBC in the local news market, including the contribution made by the LDRS, as we move towards the next Charter Review. We are working across Government and with other stakeholders as the Strategy develops. An industry working group was set up in June to consider the issues in more detail and has been meeting regularly since then, including with BBC representatives to discuss the LDRS. More will be announced on the Strategy in due course.

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone should have access to, and benefit from, quality sport and physical activity opportunities. Participation in grassroots sports helps keep people active and creates opportunities for social interaction that bolster mental resilience.

In October 2024, DCMS research showed that the sport and physical activity sector contributed £53.6 billion of direct Gross Value Add (GVA) to the UK economy in 2021. The same research showed that football, throughout the whole football pyramid and grassroots sport, as well as football’s indirect impact on the economy at large, generated £8.71 billion towards the total UK GVA in 2021.

In 2024-25, grassroots clubs in Oldham Borough received £1,902,056 of funding via the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, which funds projects such as new artificial grass pitches, floodlights and clubhouses. No funding has been provided to AVRO FC.

The Government recognises the vital role of theatre in enriching communities across the country and provides funding primarily through Arts Council England (ACE). Expanding access to high-quality theatre remains a shared priority for the Government and ACE. Across all ACE funding programmes for the financial year 2024/25, ACE awarded around £300 million to theatres/theatre based organisations.

In 2023, Oldham Council secured £1.845 million from ACE to enhance creative and cultural activity in the borough, with a strong focus on theatre. This funding supports a vibrant cultural programme for residents and visitors, delivered in partnership with organisations such as Oldham Theatre Workshop and Oldham Coliseum Theatre. The Council has a four-year business plan to redevelop, reopen, and operate the Coliseum Theatre on Fairbottom Street. This work aligns with Oldham’s Cultural Strategy, the Creating a Better Place Programme, and ACE’s Let’s Create strategy.

As set out in the English Devolution White Paper, Strategic Authorities have a key role in ensuring there are clear pathways of progression from education into further and higher education and local employment opportunities. The government values the insight and local accountability of Strategic Authorities and is proceeding with the devolution of adult education functions to tailor training opportunities and drive growth.

Strategic Authorities help shape the training offer in their region through joint ownership of Local Skills Improvement Plans and can work with their constituent councils to plan provision locally.

Education for 16 to 19-year-olds is distinct and forms part of the compulsory education and training system. It offers young people high quality options that enable their transition into apprenticeships, employment, or further learning, such as higher education or higher technical programs. These options support the development of a skilled workforce and break down the barriers to opportunity.

The department recognises the need for trusts, local authorities and Members of Parliament to have certainty about projects as soon as possible, and we will provide them with an update on next steps in due course.

We have engaged with trusts, local authorities and other stakeholders in relation to individual projects in scope of the review, including gathering evidence on the local need for places, value for money, and the distinctiveness of the educational offer compared to what is already available locally.

Our young farmers are vital to the future of UK farming, and we work closely with the National Federation of Young Farmers to consider how best to support them.

To secure that future for young farmers, we are investing £2.7 billion annually and developing a 25-year roadmap to boost profitability.

Our landmark Water (Special Measures) Act will introduce independent monitoring of every sewerage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill.

We have begun rebuilding the water network to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. In one of the largest infrastructure projects in this country’s history, £104 billion is being invested to upgrade crumbling pipes and sewage treatment works across the country.

The Government strongly supports the benefits co-operatives can bring and recognises the important role they play in food security, the resilience of the food sector and as a lifeline for community access to food.

Through the food strategy, Defra is considering how to better support local and place-based initiatives to deliver the changes needed for resilience, including food and farming co-operatives and mutuals.

The Government strongly supports the benefits co-operatives can bring and recognises the important role they play in food security, the resilience of the food sector and as a lifeline for community access to food.

Through the food strategy, Defra is considering how to better support local and place-based initiatives to deliver the changes needed for resilience, including food and farming co-operatives and mutuals.

National Highways reports annually on smart motorway safety performance. The latest report was published in September 2025 using DfT’s most up to date validated STATS19 casualty dataset and annex A contains a breakdown of casualties by severity from 2015.

The latest analysis continues to show that overall, smart motorways remain our safest roads in terms of deaths or serious injuries, but we have been clear that we will not build any new ones.

The information requested is shown in the table below. Please note the table includes vehicles for which there is a current registered keeper on record and where a postcode match was found:

The most recent information available shows that 98.7 per cent of vehicles across the UK were properly licensed. More detail can be found at the following link: gov.uk/government/statistics/vehicle-excise-duty-evasion-statistics-2023

Information is not available about vehicles which are being kept off the road but for which no SORN is in place.

It is vital that roadside technology is working as intended to best support driver safety and confidence. Smart motorways have a system of inter-related features that work together to keep drivers moving safely and reduce reliance on one single feature.

The Office of Rail and Road has reported on the availability of roadside technology assets on all lane running smart motorways in its three annual assessments of safety performance on the SRN. Between April 2022 and December 2024, monthly availability for signs has ranged from 88.4% to 92.4%, and from 92.3% to 97.4% for signals.

National Highways is continuing to invest in upgrading roadside technology to further improve performance and availability.

The Government is committed to tackle the high costs of motor insurance. The cross-Government motor insurance taskforce, launched in October 2024, is comprised of ministers from relevant government departments and the Financial Conduct Authority and Competition and Markets Authority. The taskforce is supported by a separate stakeholder panel of industry experts representing the insurance, motor, and consumer sector.

This taskforce has a strategic remit to set the direction for UK Government policy, identifying short- and long-term actions for departments that may contribute to stabilising or reducing premiums.

The taskforce’s final report is expected to be published shortly.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) have a key performance indicator (KPI) requiring that theory test candidates will wait on average no more than 28 calendar days from booking to their appointment. Despite unprecedented levels of high demand for theory tests, this KPI is consistently met.

The average waiting time for a car practical driving test in October 2025 in England was 22.4 weeks.

The attached Excel spreadsheet shows the average waiting time in weeks at driving test centres (DTC) in England, as of October 2025. Please note that this spreadsheet also includes DTCs, such as part-time test centres, which do not count towards the official waiting time measure mentioned above. Also please note that DTCs included in the official measure can change, for example for temporary or permanent closures, or other operational reasons.

On 30 October 2025 the Department published Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2024, covering Pension Credit and Housing Benefit for pensioners in Great Britain. As these estimates are based on survey data, they are not available for lower-level geographies.

On the same day the Department also published Households potentially eligible for Pension Credit, 2023 to 2024, a sub-national analysis of eligible households in receipt of Pension Credit and potentially eligible households not claiming Pension Credit.

Estimates are not currently available for other DWP benefits, however on 15 May 2025 the Department published Unfulfilled eligibility in the benefit system: financial year 2024 to 2025 estimates, providing estimates of how much extra money benefit claimants in Great Britain could be getting if they told us accurately about their circumstances. It does not cover take-up of benefits, which is where people could have claimed certain benefits based on their current circumstances but have not done so. As these estimates are based on sample data, they are not available for lower-level geographies.

Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation with oversight of the Motability Scheme. DWP is responsible for the main disability benefits (excluding Scottish disability benefits) that provide a gateway to the Scheme. If a claimant chooses to join the Scheme, DWP facilitates the transfer of these benefits to Motability Operations.

Whilst the Department works closely with Motability Foundation, responsibility for the terms and administration of the Scheme, including the choice of vehicles, sits with Motability Foundation and its Board of Governors. Motability Foundation publish annual reports which set out the number of customers on the Scheme as a whole and can be found on this link: Annual Reports and Accounts | About Us | Motability Foundation.

The requested data on apprenticeship vacancies that were advertised on the Find an Apprenticeship website are published in the Apprenticeships statistics publication and can be found here:

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/37950fb3-a95f-425c-f86d-08de0724494a

This has been available since 17 July 2025. The next update to these figures will be in the Apprenticeships: November 2025 statistics publication. ​

This government is committed to tackling child poverty and the Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious Child Poverty Strategy which we will publish in the autumn. We are considering all available levers, including social security reforms, to give every child the best start in life. The causes of child poverty are wide-ranging and deep-rooted, and so it is right that the Taskforce carefully considers and assesses the available levers as it develops this Strategy.

In the meantime, we are pressing ahead with action.

As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1bn a year including Barnett impact, investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap.

In August, we confirmed funding of £600m for the Holiday Activities and Food programme for the next three years, ensuring that children and young people can continue to benefit from enriching experiences and nutritious meals during the school holidays.

No assessment has been made of the potential impact of hospital parking charges. Hospitals in England are permitted to charge users for car parking, but those charges must be reasonable and in line with local charges. The revenue from hospital car parking is used to maintain car park facilities and any surplus income is put back into the National Health Service. The following table shows the income from car parking from patients and visitors as well as staff in 2023/24 and 2022/23:

Data on the income from car parking charges is published annually through the NHS Estates Return Information Collection, which is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/summary-page-and-dataset-for-eric-2024-25

In 2025/26, the Department is backing the NHS with over £4 billion in operational capital, enabling local NHS organisations to allocate funding to local priorities, which could include hospital car parking.

No assessment has been made of the potential impact of hospital parking charges. Hospitals in England are permitted to charge users for car parking, but those charges must be reasonable and in line with local charges. The revenue from hospital car parking is used to maintain car park facilities and any surplus income is put back into the National Health Service. The following table shows the income from car parking from patients and visitors as well as staff in 2023/24 and 2022/23:

Data on the income from car parking charges is published annually through the NHS Estates Return Information Collection, which is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/summary-page-and-dataset-for-eric-2024-25

In 2025/26, the Department is backing the NHS with over £4 billion in operational capital, enabling local NHS organisations to allocate funding to local priorities, which could include hospital car parking.

No assessment has been made of the trends in the level of hospital parking charges.

All National Health Service trusts that charge for hospital car parking provide free parking for those ‘in-most need’. This includes frequent outpatient attenders, parents of sick children staying overnight, blue badge disabled holders, and NHS staff working overnight.

NHS trusts are expected to follow the principles set out in the NHS Car Parking Guidance. The guidance makes clear that charges, where they exist, should be reasonable for the area. Further information 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

NHS England has confirmed that since 1 April 2016, the total number of general practices (GPs) in England has reduced from 7,680 to 6,200, as of 1 November 2025.

At a local level, NHS England holds information dating back to 2013. Across Greater Manchester there have been 31 GP closures since April 2013, of which six GP closures have been in Oldham.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Evidence from Wales and Northern Ireland demonstrates that mandatory display has improved transparency, which encourages businesses to achieve better levels of compliance with hygiene requirements.

Introducing a statutory scheme in England, with a mandatory display of ratings at premises and online, would require primary legislation and the securing of a suitable legislative vehicle and parliamentary time. Ministers will consider the options in due course, supported by the FSA.

In the meantime, the FSA is working with its local authority partners to maintain and improve the impact and benefits of this highly successful public health scheme.