Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 April to Question 40395 on Further Education: Special Educational Needs, whether any ringfenced capital grants have been made to the SEND-specialist further education sector in the last ten years; and what information her Department holds on capital expenditure by SEND-specialist further education providers.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision sits with local authorities.
The department provides funding to local authorities to support them to meet this duty. Local authorities can spend their funding across the 0 to 25 age range, including in special post-16 institutions or other further education settings. The need for investment across this age range will differ between different local authorities, dependent on local circumstances, and it is therefore for local authorities to determine how best to prioritise available funding to address their local priorities.
The department has published £740 million of local authority high needs capital allocations for the 2025/26 financial year. Although this funding is not ringfenced and local authorities have discretion over how they spend their funding, we do ask local authorities to complete and return a grant assurance data return each year to provide details on the projects they intend to fund using their high needs provision capital allocation funding.
Whilst local authorities are not required to publish these returns, the department does encourage them to consider doing so to aid local transparency.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2025 to Question 46451 on Birmingham City Council: Finance, what the estimated cost of providing central support to that intervention was in (a) 2023-2024, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26 to date.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is established practice for MHCLG to provide a Chief of Staff function to support Commissioners appointed to local authorities in statutory intervention. In line with normal practice, the Department does not comment on the detail of civil service staffing or pay arrangements.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2025 to Question 46451 on Birmingham City Council: Finance, whether her Department has made an inexact estimate of the cost of providing central support to that intervention.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is established practice for MHCLG to provide a Chief of Staff function to support Commissioners appointed to local authorities in statutory intervention. In line with normal practice, the Department does not comment on the detail of civil service staffing or pay arrangements.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2024 to Question 45320 on Employment: Disability, how many complaints have been made against employers in each year for which figures are available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of complaints received by the Disability Confident scheme made against employer members are as follows:
2020 – 35 (part year from June to December)
2021 – 65
2022 – 50
2023 – 54
2024 – 96
2025 – 21 (part year from January to March)
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her timetable is for appointing a new Chair of the School Support Staff Negotiating Body.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government values and recognises the professionalism of the entire school workforce. School support staff play a vital role in children’s education and are crucial to ensuring we give children the best possible life chances.
The School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) will mean that employers and employee representatives come together to negotiate terms and conditions and pay for school support staff, to ensure that support staff are properly recognised and rewarded for the work they do.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education plans to follow the usual public appointments process and appoint a Chair for the SSSNB after primary legislation receives Royal Assent.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what plans he has for the future composition of the Steel Council.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Following the publication of the Strategy, the Secretary of State intends to continue to convene the Steel Council throughout this Parliament, so we can make sure we drive implementation of the Strategy. Discussions will be held with members of the Council regarding its future composition.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the additional time taken to introduce the South Western Railway Arterio rolling stock fleet.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Arterio delays were initially caused by manufacturing and software issues, the responsibility of Alstom. There have been a number of more recent issues including driver training and platform infrastructure readiness, the responsibility of South Western Railway, which have impacted the ability to bring further units into passenger service as envisaged. My officials are actively engaged in ensuring all appropriate actions are being taken in the interests of passengers and taxpayers.
The Rail Minister has asked FirstGroup and MTR, the current owners of SWR, to meet with me urgently to explain what they are doing to address these issues as a priority.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of remodelling Manchester Oxford Road railway station on rail capacity.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Improving rail capacity and performance are key aims of the Government’s investment programme for Manchester, hence the prioritisation of improvements to Oxford Road station which is a key constraint on the network. As the Oxford Road project develops over the next couple of years, further timetable and station capacity studies will be made.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference of the oral contribution by the Rt hon. Member for North West Essex of 12 April 2025, Official Report, column 846, what estimate his Department made of the potential impact of the proposed commercial deal with Jingye on (a) jobs and (b) cost to the public purse.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This Government has not been able to assess the potential impacts of the last Government’s proposed commercial deal with Jingye given it does not exist. We do know there had been a lack of progress before this Government took office.
This Government has worked intensively with Jingye to try and reach a co-investment deal that met our public accountability and legal requirements, worked for local people and UK taxpayers, safeguarded as many jobs as possible, and put British Steel on a sustainable footing for the future. When Jingye rejected an offer of substantial financial support and took steps to enact pre-emptive blast furnace closures, we took prompt action which resulted in British Steel cancelling the consultation on a potential 2,700 redundancies.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 43306 on Birmingham City Council: Finance, whether Birmingham City Council has reimbursed her Department for any costs associated with that intervention; and if she will publish details of any such costs, broken down by heading.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is established practice for MHCLG to provide a Chief of Staff function to support Commissioners appointed to local authorities in statutory intervention. There are currently two full-time equivalent roles attached to the intervention in Birmingham City Council. These costs are contained within existing departmental budgets, and in line with standard practice. No separate estimate of exact costs has been made.
As is standard practice for Councils under intervention, Birmingham City Council has not reimbursed the department for any costs associated with the Chief of Staff function, but does cover the Commissioners’ fees.