Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2025 to Question 45986 on Events Industry, what plans her Department has to change the (a) number and (b) grade of civil servants working on supporting the business events sector.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises the significant contribution that business events make to the UK economy, supporting jobs, driving regional growth, and showcasing the UK’s strengths on the global stage. Officials in DCMS continue to engage regularly with industry stakeholders to ensure that government policy reflects the needs of the sector.

The Department keeps its resourcing under review to ensure it can deliver against its priorities effectively, but there are no current plans to change the number or grade of civil servants specifically allocated to supporting the business events sector.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many lower-layer super output areas are within Telford constituency; how those areas are ranked by top (a) 1%, (b) 5% and (c) 10% in the index of multiple deprivation; and what impact that data has on the allocation of funding by her Department.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Data for the index for multiple deprivation at lower level super output area can be accessed from the Parliament website at https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/constituency-data-indices-of-deprivation/.

In England, the Household Support Fund (HSF) is a DWP funded scheme for Local Authorities (LAs) to provide discretionary support to vulnerable households in the most need. The distribution of the funding is targeted at the areas of the country with the most vulnerable households, on the basis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) local population estimates and Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) scores. Allocation amounts for upper tier Local Authorities in England are therefore reflective of population size and relative deprivation.

Eligibility for benefits administered by the department, and the relevant support that it provides through the Jobs and Careers Service and any contracted provision, is typically determined by the individual benefit rules and criteria, which do not explicitly account for the Index of Multiple Deprivation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of new born babies were admitted to neonatal care in each of the last five years.

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

This information is available from Imperial College London’s National Neonatal Research Database, at the following link:

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/neonatal-data-analysis-unit/neonatal-data-analysis-unit/nnrd-data-visualisations/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average length of stay for a baby in neonatal care was in each of the last five years.

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

This information is available from Imperial College London’s National Neonatal Research Database, at the following link:

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/neonatal-data-analysis-unit/neonatal-data-analysis-unit/nnrd-data-visualisations/

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding was allocated in cash terms to West Mercia Police in each of the last five financial years; what level of reserves that force held in each of those years; what the cost of (a) management and (b) administration of that force was in each of those years; and what the cost of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner was for that force.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The total funding amounts for West Mercia can be found in the table below. This includes funding from government grants, precept and in year funding for pay awards. The table does not include funding relating to any crime programmes, such as hotspot policing and county lines, outside of the police funding settlement.

The Home Office does not hold data relating to the management and administration costs of forces as well as the cost of the officer of the Police and Crime Commissioners. Decisions on how funding (including the holding of reserves) and resources are utilised are an operational matter for Chief Constables and locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners, who are best placed to make resourcing decisions within their communities based on their local knowledge and experience.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum hotels there are within Telford constituency; what (a) month and (b) year those hotels were opened; how many people are staying within each hotel; and what the contracted end date is for each hotel.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found in at Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.

The Home Office does not publicly comment on individual hotels, or individuals being accommodated.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many lower-layer super output areas are within Telford constituency; how those areas are ranked by top (a) 1%, (b) 5% and (c) 10% in the index of multiple deprivation; and what impact that data has on the allocation of funding by her Department.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Office for National Statistics Open Geography Portal provides information on Lower Layer Super Output areas in England and Wales. This is available online at: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/search?q=NAC_LSOA&sort=Date%20Created%7Ccreated%7Cdesc.

In relation to deprivation, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published the most recent iteration of the English Indices of Deprivation in September 2019. All data tables and resources are available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019. The Open Data Communities platform provides deprivation data at postcode level or at local authority level. This is available online at: https://imd-by-postcode.opendatacommunities.org/imd/2019.

With regards to how deprivation relates to funding decisions by the Home Office, the Department is responsible for funding a broad range of functions, services and programmes across its policing, national security and immigration remit. Decisions on how funding is deployed may consider factors such as deprivation if that is relevant based on the specific purpose and objectives of the funding stream.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average yearly earnings of women in the UK were broken down by income decile in each of the last three years.

Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 8th September is attached.

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 merits of extending capitalisation flexibilities to police forces.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Police and Crime Commissioners already fall under the definition of local authorities in the relevant parts of the Local Government Act 2003, under which the Secretary of State may grant capitalisation flexibilities to local authorities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of a reduction in the number of civilian staff on (a) police forces and (b) warranted police officers.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government’s Safer Streets Mission sets a clear expectation for policing to deliver safer communities and improved public confidence. An effective, well-supported police service is central to achieving this.

Police staff, alongside warranted officers, play a vital role in delivering an effective police service to communities across England and Wales. As at 31 March 2025, there were 81,996 full-time equivalent (FTE) police staff and designated officers employed by the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. This was an increase of 1,080 (FTE) compared with 31 March 2024.

We are committed to giving forces the resources they need to keep the public safe. The 2025-26 final police funding settlement provides of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. Total funding to police forces will be up to £17.6 billion, an increase of up to £1.2 billion compared to the 2024-25 police funding settlement – a significant increase, and more than the increase last year. This equates to a 7.1% cash increase, and 4.6% real terms increase in funding.

It is for Chief Constables and directly elected PCCs, and Mayors with PCC functions to make operational decisions based on their local knowledge and experience. This includes how best to allocate the resources at their disposal to provide an effective service to local communities.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish (a) the guidance (i) his Department and (ii) NHS England are providing to Trusts within (A) Category 3 and (B) Category 4 of the league tables of NHS trusts in England, published on 9 September 2025 and (b) the timetable for performance improvement.

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

The league table ‘segments’, or performance categories, published on 9 September 2025 are based on National Health Service trusts’ performance against the metrics and methodology in the NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26. NHS England published this framework on their website on 26 June 2025, and it is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nhs-oversight-framework-2025-26/

NHS England uses the segmentation scores, alongside wider information, to inform oversight and improvement activities. Trusts in segments 3 and 4 will receive targeted support to address their most challenged performance areas, which may include, for example, urgent and emergency care, outpatients, mental health, finance, or maternity.

NHS providers who have low performance, and which are therefore in segment 4, and low capability will be escalated to segment 5, where they will receive the most intensive support through the Recovery Support Programme (RSP). The RSP will soon be replaced by the National Provider Improvement Programme, focusing on determining whether the most challenged have the necessary conditions in place to deliver sustainable improvement and ensuring support is in place as needed.

There is no national improvement timetable. Improvement plans will be different from trust to trust depending on their particular challenges and local circumstances.

Found: Three of those MPs are on the Committee – Jake Richards, Shaun Davies and Connor Rand. 5.

Found: Bradley (Conservative, Staffordshire Moorlands) (Chair) (added 11 Sep 2024) 27 of 27 (100.0%) Shaun Davies