Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to increase capacity on the West Coast Main Line north of Birmingham.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department recognises concerns about capacity on the West Coast Main Line north of Birmingham and are considering advice before setting out detailed plans in due course. The Department is evaluating possible interventions to improve capacity north of Birmingham, such as changes to timetabling and service patterns, as well as incremental improvements to infrastructure and rolling stock that could help to alleviate capacity shortfalls.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report entitled Impact of Changes to the Ukraine Visa Schemes on Ukrainians in the UK, published by the University of Birmingham in March 2025.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, referenced by the report, continues to provide certainty and security for Ukrainians, allowing those with permission under one of the Ukraine schemes to apply for a further 18 months to stay in the UK. This will allow a continuation of rights to work, live and study as well as access to healthcare and welfare support in the UK.

We continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders and keep the schemes under review in line with the ongoing conflict.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish a public consultation this year that would enable the Government to provide the best support to farmers to end the use of pig farrowing crates.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The use of farrowing crates for pigs is an issue we are currently considering very carefully.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to make Animal Health and Welfare Pathway grants available to pig farmers to install free farrowing systems.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We will simplify and rationalise our grant funding, ensuring that grants are targeted towards those who need them most and where they can deliver the most benefit for food security and nature.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to table 10.10 of her Department's publication entitled Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2024, published on 30 July 2024, if she will publish a version of the regional breakdown of per capita railway expenditure that excludes HS2's contribution.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The country and region tables shown in chapters 9 and 10 of PESA including table 10.10, were originally published the previous December as part of the Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) dataset. It is possible to reproduce railway expenditure excluding HS2 using the data published alongside each CRA release.

Provided below is a link to collected editions of the Country and Regional Analysis publications on GOV.UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/country-and-regional-analysis

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of reports of NHS staff being taxed as a second job for working overtime.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

All income earned through employment is taxable, including income from further employment, such as from overtime or through additional employment. Tax is paid on individual’s overall income, regardless of the source of that income. Not all individuals who receive an income are formally employed, as many earn through self-employment or receive other sources of income.

By paying tax on overall income, rather than solely through income from a single source of employment, the income tax system is highly progressive, with different rates of tax sitting above an internationally high Personal Allowance. When an individual moves from one tax band to another because of an increase in their income, they will only pay additional tax on the portion of their income that falls within the new tax band.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of her Department's intervention at Birmingham City Council since October 2023.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Commissioners’ fees and expenses are published on Birmingham City Council’s website at regular three-month intervals. There are additional costs associated with the admin support team provided by Birmingham City Council. Commissioners’ fees and expenses for one year were just over £1.3m.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress she has made on the appointment of a new Chair of Network Rail.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department plans to launch an open and fair recruitment to appoint a new permanent Chair of Network Rail and has appointed an Executive Search Agency to run the recruitment.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2025 to Question 42342 on Railways: Public Expenditure, if her Department will make the calculations for each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

It is possible to reproduce English regional railway expenditure excluding HS2 for the last five years using the Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) dataset. The table below shows the impact for the most recent CRA publication from November 2024:

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of prescribing medical cannabis to treat Charcot-Marie-Tooth Syndrome.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not recommend the use of any cannabis-based medicines to manage chronic or neuropathic pain in adults and that cannabidiol (CBD) only be offered as part of a clinical trial.

NICE recognises the lack of evidence to support the use of these medicines and recommends that further research is carried out on the clinical and cost effectiveness of CBD as an add-on treatment for adults with fibromyalgia or for persistent treatment resistant neuropathic pain.

The National Institute for Health Research welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. As for all other medicines, it is the responsibility of the manufacturers to generate the evidence required for assessment by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and NICE.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to support the SEND-specialist Further Education sector; and what central capital grants have been provided to that sector during the last ten years.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department has now published allocations for £740 million of high needs capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year. Of this funding, Birmingham has been allocated a total of just under £15 million which can be used to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings including early years, post-16 settings and alternative provision. It can also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.

This is in addition to over £3 billion of high needs capital funding allocated to local authorities since 2018.

The department has also announced allocations of high needs revenue funding, which will be allocated as part of the dedicated schools grant to local authorities, and which they can use to support specialist further education provision for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), particularly those with education, health and care plans, as well as children with SEND in the schools sector. High needs funding will total over £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year.

Found: Aquarone; Dr Scott Arthur; Catherine Atkinson; Mrs Elsie Blundell; Alex Mayer; Baggy Shanker; and Laurence Turner

Found: Presented by Gareth Snell supported by David Baines, Shaun Davies, Dave Robertson, Laurence Turner,