Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the levels of brightness of street lighting on community safety; and whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on this issue since July 2024.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The management of street lighting in England is the responsibility of local highway authorities, who have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highways in their charge, including street lighting. Authorities do not have a duty to light their networks but, where lighting has been provided, the authority has a duty to maintain it.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what cross government support is provided to local authorities to identify the location of, and those buried in, historic unmarked mass child graves in England such as those discovered in Royton, Oldham.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the distress caused to bereaved parents by these historic practices and we commend the work that families and charities have been doing to highlight this issue and support other bereaved parents. We are working across Government to better support parents searching for the final resting place of their child’s remains and will ensure they are given as much help as possible. Ministers from across Government will be meeting shortly to discuss this issue, to ensure effective cross-Government coordination and support for affected families.
Tracing a baby’s grave or a record of cremation can be a very difficult time for people both mentally and emotionally. It is important, therefore, that parents searching for the final resting place of their child’s remains are given as much help as possible. The Government expects all hospitals and burial and cremation authorities to assist by providing all information and records available to them, to any parents that enquire about what happened to their stillborn babies and their final resting place, in a timely manner.
The 2025/26 Local Government Finance Settlement makes available over £69 billion for local government. The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced, recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities.
Standards from the mid-1980s onwards brought an end to the historic practice of placing the remains of stillborn babies’ bodies in unmarked graves. The current death certification process means that this historic practice is no longer possible.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the regional impact of having no workforce representation in any English region outside London and the South East.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office operates out of three locations in the UK; King Charles Street in London, Hanslope Park in Milton Keynes and Abercrombie House in East Kilbride. We are committed to the Government's Places for Growth 2030 strategy to move more roles outside of London and the Government's Plan for London to streamline and make savings across the London estate. We continue to make a positive impact to the East Kilbride and Greater Glasgow region as one of the larger Civil Service Departments in Scotland.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential safeguarding risk of unknown adults from the general public being on premises such as B&Bs and hotels along with families with children living in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is clear that B&B accommodation is never suitable for families with children and their use in emergencies should be rare and short. Our National Plan to End Homelessness sets a target to end the use of B&B accommodation for families with children by the end of this parliament.