Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of a) extended working hours and b) weekend testing in reducing driving test waiting times.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
DVSA acknowledges car practical driving test waiting times remain high and understands the impact this continues to have on learner drivers, including those living in rural and semi-rural communities. The government remains committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, particularly in rural areas where a driving licence is vital for accessing jobs and training, as part of our Plan for Change.
It is not possible to confirm how many people are waiting to book a practical driving test. DVSA only holds data on the number of tests booked.
DVSA continually reviews its recruitment needs to ensure the agency maintains the right level of resource to meet customer demand. The Agency’s latest national recruitment campaign closed in December 2025. As a result, it has a number of candidates progressing through the final recruitment stages. In the East of England. This includes:
11 potential driving examiners (DE) booked onto training courses.
14 potential DEs currently undergoing pre-employment checks.
72 applicants currently working their way through recruitment processes.
DVSA is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as possible at all test centres and regularly conducts tests outside of normal hours, including evenings, weekends and on public holidays. Between June - December 2025, DVSA conducted 1,158,458 car practical driving tests. This is an increase of 102,290 more car practical driving tests when compared to the same period in 2024. This increase can largely be attributed to the additional test allowance scheme introduced in June 2025.
DVSA publishes data on car practical test cancellation reasons by month and driving test centre (DTC) on GOV.UK. This data, in report DRT122B, is updated annually and currently shows data to March 2025. The next update is due to be published in June 2026.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of driving test delays on employment opportunities in rural areas.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
DVSA acknowledges car practical driving test waiting times remain high and understands the impact this continues to have on learner drivers, including those living in rural and semi-rural communities. The government remains committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, particularly in rural areas where a driving licence is vital for accessing jobs and training, as part of our Plan for Change.
It is not possible to confirm how many people are waiting to book a practical driving test. DVSA only holds data on the number of tests booked.
DVSA continually reviews its recruitment needs to ensure the agency maintains the right level of resource to meet customer demand. The Agency’s latest national recruitment campaign closed in December 2025. As a result, it has a number of candidates progressing through the final recruitment stages. In the East of England. This includes:
11 potential driving examiners (DE) booked onto training courses.
14 potential DEs currently undergoing pre-employment checks.
72 applicants currently working their way through recruitment processes.
DVSA is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as possible at all test centres and regularly conducts tests outside of normal hours, including evenings, weekends and on public holidays. Between June - December 2025, DVSA conducted 1,158,458 car practical driving tests. This is an increase of 102,290 more car practical driving tests when compared to the same period in 2024. This increase can largely be attributed to the additional test allowance scheme introduced in June 2025.
DVSA publishes data on car practical test cancellation reasons by month and driving test centre (DTC) on GOV.UK. This data, in report DRT122B, is updated annually and currently shows data to March 2025. The next update is due to be published in June 2026.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many practical driving tests were cancelled by the DVSA in the last 12 months; and for what reasons.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
DVSA acknowledges car practical driving test waiting times remain high and understands the impact this continues to have on learner drivers, including those living in rural and semi-rural communities. The government remains committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, particularly in rural areas where a driving licence is vital for accessing jobs and training, as part of our Plan for Change.
It is not possible to confirm how many people are waiting to book a practical driving test. DVSA only holds data on the number of tests booked.
DVSA continually reviews its recruitment needs to ensure the agency maintains the right level of resource to meet customer demand. The Agency’s latest national recruitment campaign closed in December 2025. As a result, it has a number of candidates progressing through the final recruitment stages. In the East of England. This includes:
11 potential driving examiners (DE) booked onto training courses.
14 potential DEs currently undergoing pre-employment checks.
72 applicants currently working their way through recruitment processes.
DVSA is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as possible at all test centres and regularly conducts tests outside of normal hours, including evenings, weekends and on public holidays. Between June - December 2025, DVSA conducted 1,158,458 car practical driving tests. This is an increase of 102,290 more car practical driving tests when compared to the same period in 2024. This increase can largely be attributed to the additional test allowance scheme introduced in June 2025.
DVSA publishes data on car practical test cancellation reasons by month and driving test centre (DTC) on GOV.UK. This data, in report DRT122B, is updated annually and currently shows data to March 2025. The next update is due to be published in June 2026.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how her Department plans to ensure that the Arts Everywhere programme delivers long‑term improvements not dependent upon continued external funding.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Over the course of this parliament £1.5 billion will be invested across arts, cultural and heritage providing support to arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings across England. It aims to keep venues open, finance urgent repairs and infrastructure projects, bolster long-term resilience, and widen access to arts and culture in communities that have faced under-investment. The funding is made up of:
£600 million infrastructure funding, which will support national museums and DCMS sponsored cultural organisations, and £160 million to our local and regional museums.
£425 million Creative Foundations Fund which will support approximately 300 capital projects in arts venues across the country.
£230 million for heritage, which includes:
£75 million for at risk heritage which provides grants towards repairs and conservation of historic buildings;
£46 million for the Heritage Revival Fund; and
a new £92 million fund called the Places of Worship Renewal Fund
£27.5 million for the Libraries Improvement Fund.
£80 million capital funding over four years to benefit National Portfolio organisations that receive regular investment from Arts Council England, part of a 5% uplift next year for these organisations. This is the biggest uplift for an existing National Portfolio in decades and will directly support NPOs in your constituency, such as the Mercury Theatre and the Colchester Arts Centre.
The £600 million for DCMS sponsored cultural bodies is allocated through the Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund (PBIF) which is delivered directly by DCMS and allocated to eligible organisations.
The grant recipients for the £425 million Creative Foundations Fund, the £160 million investment for local and regional museums, and £27.5m Libraries Improvement Fund will be determined through competitive application processes, which will be administered by Arts Council England (ACE). The £230 million investment in heritage will be administered by Historic England and the Architectural Heritage Fund.
We are clear that this investment package will particularly support organisations in underserved areas. ACE currently prioritises funding to underserved places via their priority places strategy. Historic England has been using a place-based approach, with the current Heritage At Risk Capital Fund having a clear emphasis on delivering funding to the places that need it most. They will continue this approach with the new Places of Worship Renewal Fund.
The detailed criteria for individual funds will be announced in due course and we encourage arts and cultural organisations in the South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency and Essex to apply for the competitive funds.
ACE and DCMS regularly assess the adequacy of national cultural infrastructure within England and identify places with higher need for cultural investment. As part of their Delivery Plan for 2021-24, ACE identified 54 places across England in which investment and engagement is too low, and opportunity for ACE to effectively increase investment and engagement is high. As part of this exercise Tendring and Basildon were prioritised for additional support and funding.
DCMS will monitor the impact of Arts Everywhere Funding via a series of independent evaluations of each funding programme. The department will procure these evaluations over the next year to assess the funding's impact on cultural organisations in England. Since the impacts of these capital programmes will only be measurable after this parliament ends, the department will work with contractors to develop interim monitoring measures for project completion.
Support for arts and culture in England depends upon a successful mixed funding model, in which external funding from individuals and business, trusts and foundations, plays a crucial role alongside earned income and public investment. This significant investment will help cultural organisations, up and down the country, fix long term issues and renovate their spaces allowing them to continue their creative programming attracting increased ticket sales and donations. It will help alleviate financial difficulties, supporting organisations to reach their communities, including children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
This funding will also support community-led initiatives by maintaining and improving buildings, ensuring affordable spaces and improved facilities while enabling community arts groups to create, collaborate, and engage local audiences more widely. In addition, following the recent ACE Review, we are committed to ensuring that a repurposed Arts Council will be shaped around communities and local areas. DCMS is now working through these recommendations in detail with relevant departments, as well as ACE.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Arts Everywhere programme will include funding for community‑led initiatives.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Over the course of this parliament £1.5 billion will be invested across arts, cultural and heritage providing support to arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings across England. It aims to keep venues open, finance urgent repairs and infrastructure projects, bolster long-term resilience, and widen access to arts and culture in communities that have faced under-investment. The funding is made up of:
£600 million infrastructure funding, which will support national museums and DCMS sponsored cultural organisations, and £160 million to our local and regional museums.
£425 million Creative Foundations Fund which will support approximately 300 capital projects in arts venues across the country.
£230 million for heritage, which includes:
£75 million for at risk heritage which provides grants towards repairs and conservation of historic buildings;
£46 million for the Heritage Revival Fund; and
a new £92 million fund called the Places of Worship Renewal Fund
£27.5 million for the Libraries Improvement Fund.
£80 million capital funding over four years to benefit National Portfolio organisations that receive regular investment from Arts Council England, part of a 5% uplift next year for these organisations. This is the biggest uplift for an existing National Portfolio in decades and will directly support NPOs in your constituency, such as the Mercury Theatre and the Colchester Arts Centre.
The £600 million for DCMS sponsored cultural bodies is allocated through the Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund (PBIF) which is delivered directly by DCMS and allocated to eligible organisations.
The grant recipients for the £425 million Creative Foundations Fund, the £160 million investment for local and regional museums, and £27.5m Libraries Improvement Fund will be determined through competitive application processes, which will be administered by Arts Council England (ACE). The £230 million investment in heritage will be administered by Historic England and the Architectural Heritage Fund.
We are clear that this investment package will particularly support organisations in underserved areas. ACE currently prioritises funding to underserved places via their priority places strategy. Historic England has been using a place-based approach, with the current Heritage At Risk Capital Fund having a clear emphasis on delivering funding to the places that need it most. They will continue this approach with the new Places of Worship Renewal Fund.
The detailed criteria for individual funds will be announced in due course and we encourage arts and cultural organisations in the South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency and Essex to apply for the competitive funds.
ACE and DCMS regularly assess the adequacy of national cultural infrastructure within England and identify places with higher need for cultural investment. As part of their Delivery Plan for 2021-24, ACE identified 54 places across England in which investment and engagement is too low, and opportunity for ACE to effectively increase investment and engagement is high. As part of this exercise Tendring and Basildon were prioritised for additional support and funding.
DCMS will monitor the impact of Arts Everywhere Funding via a series of independent evaluations of each funding programme. The department will procure these evaluations over the next year to assess the funding's impact on cultural organisations in England. Since the impacts of these capital programmes will only be measurable after this parliament ends, the department will work with contractors to develop interim monitoring measures for project completion.
Support for arts and culture in England depends upon a successful mixed funding model, in which external funding from individuals and business, trusts and foundations, plays a crucial role alongside earned income and public investment. This significant investment will help cultural organisations, up and down the country, fix long term issues and renovate their spaces allowing them to continue their creative programming attracting increased ticket sales and donations. It will help alleviate financial difficulties, supporting organisations to reach their communities, including children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
This funding will also support community-led initiatives by maintaining and improving buildings, ensuring affordable spaces and improved facilities while enabling community arts groups to create, collaborate, and engage local audiences more widely. In addition, following the recent ACE Review, we are committed to ensuring that a repurposed Arts Council will be shaped around communities and local areas. DCMS is now working through these recommendations in detail with relevant departments, as well as ACE.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total annual expenditure on coastal protection against erosion by the sea, broken down by how much was spent in (1) England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales, and (4) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Coastal erosion risk management is a devolved responsibility; therefore, this response applies only to England.
Between April 2024 and March 2026, around £609 million will be invested in schemes that reduce risk from coastal erosion, sea flooding, and tidal flooding. Approximately £102 million of this is allocated to projects where coastal erosion is the primary risk, £56 million for 2024/2025 and £46 million for 2025/2026. Some projects reduce risk from multiple risk sources, so there may be some projects with coastal benefits that may not be included in these figures.
Further to this, on 28 January, the Government announced £30 million for Coastal Adaptation Pilots which will deliver advanced adaptation actions such as selective property purchases and the development of long-term financing solutions in East Riding of Yorkshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The funding will also deliver smaller adaptation actions, such as relocating or adapting community buildings, and early warning systems in other places facing coastal erosion across England.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle youth knife crime and serious violence in (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are already making clear progress against our ambition to halve knife crime. In our first year in Government, police-recorded knife crime offences fell by 5%.
We have banned zombie knives and ninja swords and are holding online sellers criminally responsible removing almost 60,000 knives from streets in England and Wales. We are taking a range of action in the Crime and Policing Bill to strengthen legislation on knives.
New crime mapping tools are already allowing us to identify highly specific knife crime concentrations and focus police and community safety resources where they are needed most. Further investment in cutting-edge capabilities, such as knife detection technology, improved data platforms, and live facial recognition will further enhance our ability to target knife crime.
Preventing young people from getting involved in crime is crucial to achieving our ambition. As part of the Young Futures programme, we are piloting new Young Futures Panels. These pilots proactively identify and refer children who may be falling through the gaps, to a range of different support services much earlier. More than 50 panels went operational in October and November, including in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
This financial year (2025/26), we have also allocated £47m to the network of 20 Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) across England and Wales to support their valuable work. VRUs bring together partners to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area. This includes over £1m in VRU grant funding to Leicestershire specifically. We have also allocated £194k to Leicestershire and £1.9m across the East Midlands in grant funding to continue the implementation of the Serious Violence Duty.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 25 November 2025 to Question 90706, how the Neighbourhood Health Service will improve access to care in rural areas and communities with poor digital connectivity or low digital confidence in the West Midlands; what safeguards are in place to ensure that neighbourhood health centres do not lead to the downgrading or closure of existing GP surgeries or community hospitals; what evaluation he has made of previous neighbourhood care pilots in the region; and what timetable he has set for expanding the programme beyond wave 1, including the inclusion of additional West Midlands areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Neighbourhood Health Service will make it easier for people to access care closer to where they live, including in neighbourhood health centres. Delivery will be locally led, with systems determining how neighbourhood health is designed to meet local population need. This will factor in how services may need to look different across rural and urban areas.
The Neighbourhood Health Service will also move us towards a fully digitally enabled health service. We are striving for digital services to improve access, experiences, and outcomes for the widest range of people, based on their preferences, as any digital healthcare benefits will be limited if people remain digitally excluded.
Neighbourhood health provides the unifying framework that brings together what is already underway across primary care, community services, urgent care, prevention, digital, estates, and population health, and will build on existing assets and services rather than replacing them. We are intending to publish further guidance that will set-out how areas should work together to design neighbourhood health services around local needs and different population cohorts.
In September 2025, we launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 places across England, including in East Birmingham. Collection of metrics is currently being piloted across all NNHIP sites. Systems are also encouraged to participate in the monthly Community of Practice, that aims to share learning and strengthen collective delivery.
Work is underway to consider the future direction of the NNHIP, and we will share an update on this as soon as we can.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Dental patients to benefit from 700,000 extra urgent appointments, published on 21 February 2025, how many additional urgent dental appointments will be delivered in Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency in (a) 2025–26 and (b) 2026-27.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from April 2025.
Appointments are available across the country, with specific expectations for each region. These appointments are more heavily weighted towards those areas where they are needed the most. The NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB, which includes the Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency, is expected to deliver 57,559 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.
Data on delivery of urgent dental care, including additional delivery, will be published annually as part of the NHS Dental Statistics England Official Statistics series. These statistics are released each August and are the primary source of data on the delivery of NHS dental care.
On 16 December, we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on quality and payment reforms to the NHS dental contract. The changes will be introduced from April 2026. These reforms will put patients with greatest need first, incentivising urgent care and complex treatments. More information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average wait time is for a patient to see a GP in (a) England and (b) by integrated care board.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on general practice appointments, including the approximate length of time between appointments being booked and taking place, at a national and integrated care board level, although this is not a proxy for “waiting times”.
Several factors can affect when appointments take place, for example, patients may choose to book routine check-ups in advance for their own convenience. It is not possible to estimate the time between the patient’s first attempt to contact their surgery and an appointment.
Nationally, in November 2025, 43.1% of appointments were delivered on the same day, and 81.2% were delivered within two weeks. In the NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board, 42.7% of appointments were delivered on the same day, 0.4 percentage points below the national average. 79.5% were delivered within two weeks, 1.7 percentage points below the national figure.