Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vacancies for prison officers there were in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) the East Midlands in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We publish prison establishment level indicative vacancies in the HMPPS Workforce stats, table 4 of the Prison and Probation Officer Recruitment annex: HM Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly: June 2025 - GOV.UK.
East Midlands and Lincolnshire data as below (further information and Notes explanation can be found at the above link).
Table 4: Difference between Target Staffing (Full Time Equivalent) and Staff in Post(2) (Hours Adjusted FTE) for Band 3 to 5 Prison Officers(3), by HMPPS Public Sector Prison Establishment(12) | ||||
|
|
| Jun-25 |
|
Group | Prison Establishment | Staff in Post(1)(2)(3)(14)(16) | Target Staffing(4)(10)(16) | Difference(5)(11)(13)(15)(16) |
East Midlands | Leicester | 135 | 139 | -4 |
East Midlands | Morton Hall | 118 | 125 | -6 |
East Midlands | Nottingham | 289 | 300 | -11 |
East Midlands | Onley | 182 | 195 | -13 |
East Midlands | Ranby | 264 | 271 | -7 |
East Midlands | Stocken | 269 | 283 | -13 |
East Midlands | Whatton | 196 | 192 | 4 |
Lincolnshire | Lincoln | 196 | 201 | -4 |
Lincolnshire | North Sea Camp | 57 | 61 | -3 |
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
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 adequacy of levels of pay for resident doctors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government allows the independent Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) to make recommendations on headline pay for doctors, including resident doctors. Within their report they make an assessment on the level of pay with regard to various factors such as recruitment and retention.
We received the latest DDRB report at the end of April and on 22 May 2025, the Government announced the 2025/26 pay awards for National Health Service staff in England. The Government accepted the headline pay recommendations of the DDRB, which meant that resident doctors were awarded an, on average, 5.4% uplift to pay.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has held several meetings with the British Medical Association’s Resident Doctors Committee chairs to discuss pay and wider working conditions since the report was received.
Resident doctors received the highest pay award of the entire public sector this year, an average 28.9% pay rise compared to three years ago.
The process for the 2026/27 pay round is already underway, with the Department setting out the remit to the DDRB in July. The DDRB report, which was submitted earlier this year, is available at the following link:
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what investment they are making in the planning system to ensure that planning departments have the resource they need to address planning application backlogs.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Supporting local planning authorities to attract, retain and develop skilled planners is crucial to ensuring they provide a proactive, efficient planning service for local communities and that new developments are well designed and facilitate local growth.
The government appreciates that planning departments across the country are experiencing challenges with recruitment, retention, and skills gaps and that in many cases these issues are having a negative impact on service delivery.
At the Budget last year, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026.
Our manifesto committed us to appointing 300 new planning officers into LPAs. We are on track to meet that commitment through two routes, namely graduate recruitment through the Pathways to Planning scheme run by the Local Government Association and mid-career recruitment through Public Practice.
On 27 February 2025, the government announced funding to support salaries and complement graduate bursaries. Further information can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement Minister Pennycook made on 27 February 2025 (HCWS480).
On 25 February 2025, the draft Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 were agreed. These regulations increase planning fees for householder and other applications, with a view to providing much-needed additional resources for hard-pressed LPAs.
More broadly, the Department’s established Planning Capacity and Capability programme is also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to ensure that LPAs have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future, to modernise local plans and speed up decision making, including through innovative use of digital planning data and software.
Lastly, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes provisions that will allow LPAs to set planning fees or charges at a level that reflects the individual costs to the LPA to carry out the function for which it is imposed and to ensure that the income from planning fees or charges is applied towards the delivery of the planning function.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what information His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service holds on (1) the immigration status and (2) the nationalities of prison chaplains.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The immigration status of Prison Chaplains is not held internally by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). Immigration status is checked as part of the recruitment and vetting process, and all Prison Chaplains must hold valid right to work and meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules to be eligible for employment in HMPPS.
Table: Chaplaincy staff directly employed(1)(2) by HMPPS in public sector prisons(3), by Nationality(4), as of 30 June 2025.
Nationality | Headcount | Full-time equivalent |
British | 245 | 188 |
English | 38 | 28 |
Irish | 0 | 0 |
Scottish | 1 | 1 |
Welsh | 1 | 1 |
German | 1 | 1 |
Italian | 0 | 0 |
Polish | 1 | 1 |
Other National Identity | 18 | 11 |
Not known/Prefer not to say | 203 | 162 |
Grand Total | 508 | 393 |
Notes:
1. Religious provisions in prisons are also delivered by Chaplains engaged on a sessional basis and by unremunerated Chaplains. The number of non-directly employed Chaplains is not recorded centrally. The table contains information on the number of full time and part time Chaplains directly employed by HMPPS.
2. Unpaid staff, such as those on career breaks and on long term sick or unpaid maternity / adoption leave, are excluded from the data.
3. Only includes staff who are based in public sector prisons.
4. Most staff who joined the Ministry of Justice after 2017 have their nationality recorded but this information is missing from the centralised HR database for the majority of staff who joined before this date. If the nationality composition is different for newer recruits, then the above table might not be representative of all chaplains in post.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of c2c's transfer to public ownership on levels of senior management and specialist operational expertise; how many such staff have left since the transfer; and what steps her Department is taking to retain senior management and specialist operational expertise from c2c within the publicly owned rail network.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is determined to retain the committed and talented staff who keep the railways running for passengers. As services are transferred into public ownership, including c2c’s services, staff employed by the privately-owned operator transfer to the public sector operator in accordance with Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations. The potential impact of this is closely monitored throughout the transfer process by the Department and DFT Operator. The transfer of c2c’s services and staff to public sector operator, c2c Railway Limited, on 20 July 2025 was successful. c2c Railway Limited is responsible for recruitment and retention of its staff.
The Government’s reform of the railways, including the creation of Great British Railways (GBR), will continue to modernise the railway’s dedicated and skilled workforce. Through workforce reform and the simplification of industry processes, we aim to restore pride in the railway as an employer and empower every colleague to deliver better service and value. While details on exact roles are subject to further design work, GBR will continue to need colleagues from across the railway to continue the hard work that they do delivering for passengers. We will continue to engage with the industry on our plans for GBR.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vacancies for prison officers there were in the West Midlands in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
In the latest published figures as of 31 March 2025, there were 89 FTE fewer staff in post compared to the target staffing level. This relates to the full-time equivalent, adjusted for different contracted hours, for Band 3 to 5 Prison Officers working in public sector prisons in the West Midlands. These figures are available in HM Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly: March 2025, Prison and Probation Officer Recruitment annex: March 2025 via HM Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly: March 2025.
Notes:
This figure covers all Band 3 - 5 Officers includes Band 3 - 4 Prison Officers (including specialists), Band 4 Supervising Officers, and Band 5 Custodial Managers.
The figure is a net value and balances out surpluses and deficits between the individual establishments.
Prisons included in this analysis cover the West Midlands Prison Group (Birmingham, Brinsford, Featherstone, Hewell, Stafford, Stoke Heath, Sudbury, and Swinfen Hall), supplemented by a Long Term High Security Estate prison, a women’s prison and a Young Offenders Institution in the West Midlands region (Long Lartin, Drake Hall and Werrington).
Data only includes Public Sector Prisons. Data does not include Private Sector Prison establishments.
The Target Staffing level changes regularly in response to Governors' freedoms and other changes requested by the business.
Target Staffing is the number of staff required to run an optimal regime in each prison. This level is greater than the minimum number of staff required for a prison to operate safely, and includes allowances for staff taking leave, being off sick or being on training.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how her Department monitors whether contributions from agreements under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 are spent (a) within agreed timeframes and (b) on the purposes specified in those agreements.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Supporting local planning authorities (LPAs) to attract, retain and develop skilled planners is crucial to ensuring they provide a proactive, efficient planning service for local communities and that new developments are well designed and facilitate local growth.
The government appreciates that planning departments across the country are experiencing challenges with recruitment, retention, and skills gaps and that in many cases these issues are having a negative impact on service delivery.
At the Budget last year, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026.
Our manifesto committed us to appointing 300 new planning officers into LPAs. We are on track to meet that commitment through two routes, namely graduate recruitment through the Pathways to Planning scheme run by the Local Government Association and mid-career recruitment through Public Practice.
On 27 February 2025, the government announced funding to support salaries and complement graduate bursaries. Further information can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 27 February 2025 (HCWS480).
On 12 March 2025, the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 were made. These regulations increase planning fees for householder and other applications, with a view to providing much-needed additional resources for hard-pressed LPAs.
More broadly, the Department’s established Planning Capacity and Capability programme is also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to ensure that LPAs have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future, to modernise local plans and speed up decision making, including through innovative use of digital planning data and software.
Lastly, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes provisions that will allow LPAs to set planning fees or charges at a level that reflects the individual costs to the LPA to carry out the function for which it is imposed and to ensure that the income from planning fees or charges is applied towards the delivery of the planning function.
Planning practice guidance on planning obligations makes clear that it may be appropriate in some cases for LPAs to make use of collaborative agreements, skills of officers from other LPAs, or external third-party experts to ensure planning obligations can be agreed quickly and effectively.
The relevant PPG also encourages local planning authorities to use and publish standard forms and templates to assist with the process of agreeing planning obligations.
On 28 May 2025, the government published the Planning Reform Working Paper: Reforming Site Thresholds (which can be found on gov.uk here) which sought views on a number of specific proposals including standardised S106 templates and the rules relating to suitable off-site provision and/or appropriate financial payment.
Local planning authorities are required to keep a copy of any planning obligation – together with details of any modification or discharge of that obligation – and to make these publicly available on their planning register. In addition, any local planning authority that has received a contribution from development through section 106 planning obligations is legally required to publish an Infrastructure Funding Statement at least annually, which sets out how developer contributions are used to fund local priorities. On 26 June, the Chief Planner wrote to all LPAs reminding them of their statutory duty to publish an Infrastructure Funding Statement where applicable.
Authorities can charge a monitoring fee through section 106 planning obligations, to cover the cost of monitoring and reporting on delivery for the lifetime of that obligation. Authorities must report on monitoring fees in their Infrastructure Funding Statements.
The government is committed to strengthening the system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure. Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
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 require local planning authorities to publish (a) agreements under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and (b) related compliance information in (i) standardised and (ii) accessible formats.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Supporting local planning authorities (LPAs) to attract, retain and develop skilled planners is crucial to ensuring they provide a proactive, efficient planning service for local communities and that new developments are well designed and facilitate local growth.
The government appreciates that planning departments across the country are experiencing challenges with recruitment, retention, and skills gaps and that in many cases these issues are having a negative impact on service delivery.
At the Budget last year, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026.
Our manifesto committed us to appointing 300 new planning officers into LPAs. We are on track to meet that commitment through two routes, namely graduate recruitment through the Pathways to Planning scheme run by the Local Government Association and mid-career recruitment through Public Practice.
On 27 February 2025, the government announced funding to support salaries and complement graduate bursaries. Further information can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 27 February 2025 (HCWS480).
On 12 March 2025, the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 were made. These regulations increase planning fees for householder and other applications, with a view to providing much-needed additional resources for hard-pressed LPAs.
More broadly, the Department’s established Planning Capacity and Capability programme is also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to ensure that LPAs have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future, to modernise local plans and speed up decision making, including through innovative use of digital planning data and software.
Lastly, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes provisions that will allow LPAs to set planning fees or charges at a level that reflects the individual costs to the LPA to carry out the function for which it is imposed and to ensure that the income from planning fees or charges is applied towards the delivery of the planning function.
Planning practice guidance on planning obligations makes clear that it may be appropriate in some cases for LPAs to make use of collaborative agreements, skills of officers from other LPAs, or external third-party experts to ensure planning obligations can be agreed quickly and effectively.
The relevant PPG also encourages local planning authorities to use and publish standard forms and templates to assist with the process of agreeing planning obligations.
On 28 May 2025, the government published the Planning Reform Working Paper: Reforming Site Thresholds (which can be found on gov.uk here) which sought views on a number of specific proposals including standardised S106 templates and the rules relating to suitable off-site provision and/or appropriate financial payment.
Local planning authorities are required to keep a copy of any planning obligation – together with details of any modification or discharge of that obligation – and to make these publicly available on their planning register. In addition, any local planning authority that has received a contribution from development through section 106 planning obligations is legally required to publish an Infrastructure Funding Statement at least annually, which sets out how developer contributions are used to fund local priorities. On 26 June, the Chief Planner wrote to all LPAs reminding them of their statutory duty to publish an Infrastructure Funding Statement where applicable.
Authorities can charge a monitoring fee through section 106 planning obligations, to cover the cost of monitoring and reporting on delivery for the lifetime of that obligation. Authorities must report on monitoring fees in their Infrastructure Funding Statements.
The government is committed to strengthening the system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure. Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that local planning authorities have adequate resources to (a) negotiate, (b) monitor and (c) enforce agreements under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Supporting local planning authorities (LPAs) to attract, retain and develop skilled planners is crucial to ensuring they provide a proactive, efficient planning service for local communities and that new developments are well designed and facilitate local growth.
The government appreciates that planning departments across the country are experiencing challenges with recruitment, retention, and skills gaps and that in many cases these issues are having a negative impact on service delivery.
At the Budget last year, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026.
Our manifesto committed us to appointing 300 new planning officers into LPAs. We are on track to meet that commitment through two routes, namely graduate recruitment through the Pathways to Planning scheme run by the Local Government Association and mid-career recruitment through Public Practice.
On 27 February 2025, the government announced funding to support salaries and complement graduate bursaries. Further information can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 27 February 2025 (HCWS480).
On 12 March 2025, the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 were made. These regulations increase planning fees for householder and other applications, with a view to providing much-needed additional resources for hard-pressed LPAs.
More broadly, the Department’s established Planning Capacity and Capability programme is also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to ensure that LPAs have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future, to modernise local plans and speed up decision making, including through innovative use of digital planning data and software.
Lastly, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes provisions that will allow LPAs to set planning fees or charges at a level that reflects the individual costs to the LPA to carry out the function for which it is imposed and to ensure that the income from planning fees or charges is applied towards the delivery of the planning function.
Planning practice guidance on planning obligations makes clear that it may be appropriate in some cases for LPAs to make use of collaborative agreements, skills of officers from other LPAs, or external third-party experts to ensure planning obligations can be agreed quickly and effectively.
The relevant PPG also encourages local planning authorities to use and publish standard forms and templates to assist with the process of agreeing planning obligations.
On 28 May 2025, the government published the Planning Reform Working Paper: Reforming Site Thresholds (which can be found on gov.uk here) which sought views on a number of specific proposals including standardised S106 templates and the rules relating to suitable off-site provision and/or appropriate financial payment.
Local planning authorities are required to keep a copy of any planning obligation – together with details of any modification or discharge of that obligation – and to make these publicly available on their planning register. In addition, any local planning authority that has received a contribution from development through section 106 planning obligations is legally required to publish an Infrastructure Funding Statement at least annually, which sets out how developer contributions are used to fund local priorities. On 26 June, the Chief Planner wrote to all LPAs reminding them of their statutory duty to publish an Infrastructure Funding Statement where applicable.
Authorities can charge a monitoring fee through section 106 planning obligations, to cover the cost of monitoring and reporting on delivery for the lifetime of that obligation. Authorities must report on monitoring fees in their Infrastructure Funding Statements.
The government is committed to strengthening the system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure. Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of (a) urban design and (b) architecture skills in local planning authorities; and what steps she is taking to improve those skills.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Supporting local planning authorities to attract, retain and develop skilled planners is crucial to ensuring they provide a proactive, efficient planning service for local communities and that new developments are well designed and facilitate local growth.
The government appreciates that planning departments across the country are experiencing challenges with recruitment, retention, and skills gaps and that in many cases these issues are having a negative impact on service delivery.
At the Budget last year, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026.
Our manifesto committed us to appointing 300 new planning officers into LPAs. We are on track to meet that commitment through two routes, namely graduate recruitment through the Pathways to Planning scheme run by the Local Government Association and mid-career recruitment through Public Practice.
On 27 February 2025, the government announced funding to support salaries and complement graduate bursaries. Further information can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 27 February 2025 (HCWS480).
On 25 February 2025, the draft Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 were agreed. These regulations increase planning fees for householder and other applications, with a view to providing much-needed additional resources for hard-pressed LPAs.
More broadly, the Department’s established Planning Capacity and Capability programme is also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to ensure that LPAs have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future, to modernise local plans and speed up decision making, including through innovative use of digital planning data and software.
Lastly, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes provisions that will allow LPAs to set planning fees or charges at a level that reflects the individual costs to the LPA to carry out the function for which it is imposed and to ensure that the income from planning fees or charges is applied towards the delivery of the planning function.