Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to launch the call for evidence on how gamebirds are reared in the gamebird sector.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As stated in the Animal Welfare Strategy the Government will launch a call for evidence to improve its understanding of the welfare issues on how gamebirds are reared. The Government will take this forward in due course.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 20 May to Question UIN 362, what her Department's proposed timetable is for introducing a consultation to ban the use of carbon dioxide gas stunning of pigs.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in the response to UIN 362, further details will be shared later this year.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 22 of the Road Safety Strategy, what discussions her Department has had with trade unions on the development of the National Work-Related Road Safety Charter.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The National Work-Related Road Safety Charter is in the early stages of development with contributions from a range of stakeholders within industry and the public sector. There have not been specific discussions with unions at this point, but they will be invited to contribute as the Charter takes shape.
I expect unions will play an important part in not just representing their members but providing input in areas such as education and improving driver behaviour.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when HS2 Ltd will next publish minutes of its board meetings.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
HS2 Ltd Board minutes covering the period between August and November 2025 will be published by the end of May, following this week’s cost and schedule ranges announcement. HS2 Ltd Board minutes covering the period between December 2025 to March 2026 will be published shortly afterwards.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many passenger rail delay minutes were attributed to trespassers in each year from 2020/21 to 2025/26.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The British Transport Police work in collaboration with the rail industry to minimise disruption to the network following a trespass incident. Their activity includes innovative new tactics such as the deployment of Beyond Visual Line of Sight drones, which provide early situational awareness to support officers on the ground and inform decision-making at live incidents so the railway can reopen as quickly as possible.
The table below summarises delay minutes attributed to trespass (excluding fatalities) in the years 2020/21 to 2025/26.
Table: delay minutes and incidents attributed to trespass, total delay minutes and trespass delay minutes as a share of total delay minutes, Great Britain, 2020/21 to 2025/26
Financial Year | Trespass delay Minutes1 | Incident Count1 | Total Network delay minutes2 | Trespass delay minutes as a share of total delay minutes2 |
2020/21 | 388,444 | 9,409 | 6,744,325 | 6% |
2021/22 | 561,702 | 11,547 | 10,484,576 | 5% |
2022/23 | 718,916 | 11,574 | 13,730,898 | 5% |
2023/24 | 864,867 | 12,712 | 15,496,138 | 6% |
2024/25 | 1,120,521 | 13,588 | 15,989,802 | 7% |
2025/26 | 1,148,914 | 13,902 | 16,756,962 | 7% |
Notes: 2020/21 to 2022/23 were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
Source:
1 Network Rail
2 ORR Table 3184 - Delay minutes by operator and cause (periodic) | ORR Data Portal
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Deputy Prime Minister, on 05 November 2025, Official Report, column 903, what recent progress his Department has made on ensuring that the NHS supports people with Friedreich’s Ataxia.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the oral question, the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety met with Jonathan Brash, his constituent, and Ataxia UK. Under the UK Rare Diseases Framework, the Government is working to improve access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs across all rare conditions, including Friedreich’s Ataxia. In February, we published the fifth England action plan reporting on progress. This year, we will continue to review the effectiveness of early access pathways for rare disease therapies, including the Early Access to Medicines Scheme, the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, and the Innovative Medicines Fund, which are designed to help innovative treatments reach patients sooner.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2025 to Question 29687 on Traffic Officers, how many National Highways traffic officers were employed on 15 March in (a) 2025 and (b) 2026.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The number of traffic officers employed by National Highways on 15 March in 2025 and 2026 were as follows:
Year | Traffic officer headcount on 15 March |
2025 | 1,626 |
2026 | 1,620 |
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding has been allocated to the construction of the Frankley Hill specialist school in New Frankley, Birmingham.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Frankley Hill School in Birmingham is currently at an early stage of development. At this stage, a specific project budget has not yet been confirmed. A feasibility study is underway, including site surveys and initial design work, which will inform the overall project budget.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact on patients with (a) Addison's Disease and (b) adrenal insufficiency of the permanent discontinuation of hydrocortisone sodium phosphate 100mg/1ml solution by Advanz Pharma.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The Department are aware of the discontinuation of hydrocortisone sodium phosphate 100 milligram/one millilitre solution for injection and we continue to work with industry to find a longer-term solution.
Hydrocortisone sodium succinate 100 milligram powder remains available for patients. We have issued comprehensive management guidance to healthcare professionals on how to manage patients while supply is disrupted. The guidance highlighted the differences between the two hydrocortisone injections. It also included resources for patients and healthcare professionals on how to administer the alternative hydrocortisone injection.
We also understand that The Addison’s Self Help Group have also published information on this discontinuation to keep patients informed along with resources for patients on how to administer the alternative hydrocortisone.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse was of her Department's acquisition of Class 365 units in 2019.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The cost of the purchase of the Class 365s in 2019 was £123.6M which was set out in the 2020 accounts of Train Fleet (2019) (“TF19”) available through Companies House (see principal activities and note 7 fixed assets).
This purchase price has been substantially recovered which can be seen through the subsequent published accounts of TF19 with only £9M remaining in the March 2025 accounts.