Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will have discussions with National Highways on reactivating the overnight lights on the Rubery flyover on the A38.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Street lighting on this section of the highway is the responsibility of the local highway authority rather than National Highways. It is for each local highway authority to assess which parts of its network require attending to and to what standards based upon local knowledge and circumstance. The Government does not intervene in such local matters. Hence, I would encourage you to engage with the responsible local highway authorities, Birmingham City Council and Worcestershire County Council.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the number Yutong buses ordered for operation in the UK by operator.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department holds partial information on the number of Yutong buses ordered for operation in the UK. The information in the table below is correct as of November 2025 for England only, taken from projects which the Department has funded. This includes buses which are in service and those which have been ordered. We do not hold data on any Yutong buses ordered outside of these schemes.
Operator | Number of Yutong buses |
Stagecoach | 215 |
First Bus | 329 |
Kinchbus | 21 |
White Bus | 10 |
Leicester City Council | 6 |
Nottingham City Transport | 62 |
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, whether the Church makes funding available for the installation of CCTV cameras at pastoral buildings that are not churches.
Answered by Marsha De Cordova
The Church Commissioners have indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the recent 5CA data breach on protecting consumers online.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As the UK's independent regulator for data protection, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is responsible for monitoring compliance with the UK's data protection legislation and investigating complaints regarding breaches of the legislation. The ICO is investigating a data breach following a report by Discord.
The ICO provides guidance for the public on data protection on its website. Anyone concerned about the impact of the breach could also contact the ICO for further advice, by telephone on 0303 123 1113 and through its website: https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/.
Businesses can help prevent data breaches by improving their cyber resilience using the guidance and tools on offer from the government. This includes the new Cyber Action Toolkit for small businesses, the highly effective Cyber Essentials scheme which prevents common cyber-attacks, and the Cyber Governance Code of Practice to help boards and directors manage digital risks.
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, whether his Department's Vaccine Damage Payment Unit is still in operation.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) provides a one-off, tax-free payment of £120,000 to claimants who have been found, in rare cases and on the balance of probabilities, to have been severely disabled by certain vaccines for a disease listed in the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979.
Responsibility for the operation of the VDPS transferred from the Department for Work and Pensions to the Department of Health and Social Care on 1 November 2021. Since then, the NHS Business Services Authority has administered the VDPS on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care, which retains responsibility for the policy and legislation governing the scheme.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 83545 on Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, if he will publish a version of the table provided for the years prior to 2021-22.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held by the Department of Health and Social Care as the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was administered by the Department for Work and Pensions until 2021.
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 the total amount of payment is through the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme; and how much has been paid in each year for which figures are available.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme provides a one-off, tax-free payment of £120,000 to claimants who have been found, in rare cases and on the balance of probabilities, to have been severely disabled, 60% or more, by certain vaccines for a disease listed in the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979.
The following table shows the payments made through the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme since 2021/22, when NHS Business Services Authority took over the administration of the scheme, to 2025/26:
Year | Total amount paid |
2021/22 | £240,000 |
2022/23 | £8,640,000 |
2023/24 | £11,880,000 |
2024/25 | £6,480,000 |
2025/26 | £2,160,000 |
Total | £29,400,000 |
Note: data for 2025/26 is as of the end of September 2025, as this is the latest data available.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has held recent discussions with (a) DB Cargo and (b) railway preservation groups on preserving the 58050 locomotive.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Freight operators are private sector companies who lease or own their rolling stock. Any such decisions relating to the preservation of locomotives would be a commercial matter for those freight operators.
The department has not held any recent discussions with DB Cargo or railways preservation groups regarding the preservation of the 58050 locomotive.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
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 CEO of DfT Operator Limited.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The contract for the current CEO of DfT Operator Limited is due to end in December 2025. In preparation for this, work is continuing to recruit a new CEO to ensure continued leadership for the organisation.
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, when his Department plans to respond to the consultation on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government is committed to protecting consumers who enter subscription contracts. Chapter 2, Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 sets out a new regime for subscriptions contracts. Secondary legislation is required to implement it and the government ran a 12-week consultation on regulatory proposals (Consultation on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime - GOV.UK). We are analysing the responses and carefully considering the points raised. A government response will be published in due course.