Written questions by McMahon.

What estimate he has made of the number of community pharmacies in England relative to indices of multiple deprivation.

NHS Business Services Authority publishes quarterly consolidated NHS pharmaceutical lists with all community pharmacies in England. As of the end of September, there were twice as many pharmacies located in the lowest two deprivation deciles than there were in the top two.The data is available at the following link:https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/consolidated-pharmaceutical-list

How many knives and other weapons were confiscated in schools in England in the most recent year for which data is available.

Every child must be safe and the government is committed to making schools safer places for every child by tackling the root cause of serious violence.The department does not hold data on the number of knives and other weapons confiscated in schools in England. Confiscations are operational matters managed at school level and are not part of statutory data returns to the department. Guidance on searching, screening and confiscation is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62d1643e8fa8f50bfbefa55c/Searching__Screening_and_Confiscation_guidance_July_2022.pdf. However, findings from the School and College Panel survey indicate that in March 2024, 27% of secondary school leaders noted a known incident of weapon possession by a pupil on school premises since the beginning of the year, compared to only 2% of primary school leaders. The department also monitors a range of data related to children’s risk of violence, including education, social care and police national computer data. Our published dashboard can be accessed at: https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/childrens-social-care-and-offending/.

What assessment he has made of the value for money of management and service charges paid by GP surgeries to related parties in England.

General practice surgeries are independent contractors, and as private businesses it is within their own remit to consider the value for money of management and service charges paid to related parties in England.

How many (a) plumbers, (b) electricians, (c) joiners, (d) bricklayers and (e) plasterers are forecast to leave and join the labour market in each year to 2030.

The Department does not hold up to date data on the numbers of (a) plumbers, (b) electricians, (c) joiners, (d) bricklayers and (e) plasterers leaving and joining the labour market. The CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) does produce the Construction Workforce Outlook for England which projects the growth in these occupations from 2024 to 2029 and is available here: https://www.citb.co.uk/cwo/reports/cwo_report_england.pdf.

How many (a) fatal accidents, (b) serious accidents, (c) minor accidents and (d) near misses were recorded on smart motorways for each year from 2015 to date.

National Highways reports annually on smart motorway safety performance. The latest report was published in September 2025 using DfT’s most up to date validated STATS19 casualty dataset and annex A contains a breakdown of casualties by severity from 2015. The latest analysis continues to show that overall, smart motorways remain our safest roads in terms of deaths or serious injuries, but we have been clear that we will not build any new ones.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of personal allowance threshold freezes on people in each income decile for each year from 2015 to date.

The previous government made the decision to freeze the income tax Personal Allowance at its current level of £12,570 until April 2028.The previous government published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) setting out the impacts.

Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to introduce a fit and proper persons test for social media platform ownership.

The Online Safety Act enables senior management to be held to account. Action can be taken against senior managers who deliberately fail to ensure companies follow information requests from Ofcom. Ofcom will also be able to hold companies and senior managers (where they are at fault) liable if the provider fails to comply with Ofcom's enforcement notices in relation to specific child safety duties.

How many incidents of inoperable active lane signage were recorded on smart motorways in each year since 2015.

It is vital that roadside technology is working as intended to best support driver safety and confidence. Smart motorways have a system of inter-related features that work together to keep drivers moving safely and reduce reliance on one single feature.The Office of Rail and Road has reported on the availability of roadside technology assets on all lane running smart motorways in its three annual assessments of safety performance on the SRN. Between April 2022 and December 2024, monthly availability for signs has ranged from 88.4% to 92.4%, and from 92.3% to 97.4% for signals.National Highways is continuing to invest in upgrading roadside technology to further improve performance and availability.

How many vehicles (a) are taxed, (b) have Statutory Off Road Notifications, (c) are untaxed and (d) are undeclared as having Statutory Off Road Notifications by nation and region.

The information requested is shown in the table below. Please note the table includes vehicles for which there is a current registered keeper on record and where a postcode match was found:England regionsTaxed vehicles Vehicles for which a SORN has been made East Midlands3,230,522520,712East of England4,352,181668,578London3,008,654429,872North East1,509,315207,761North West4,503,390549,655South East6,883,503826,967South West4,353,614641,457West Midlands3,667,490609,163Yorkshire & The Humber3,335,460479,448Total for England34,844,1294,933,613 WalesScotlandNorthern IrelandTaxed vehicles 2,086,8613,218,5481,306,521Vehicles for which a SORN has been made410,187505,357357,610 The most recent information available shows that 98.7 per cent of vehicles across the UK were properly licensed. More detail can be found at the following link: gov.uk/government/statistics/vehicle-excise-duty-evasion-statistics-2023 Information is not available about vehicles which are being kept off the road but for which no SORN is in place.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of tree planting and the provision of public open space for completed residential developments in England since 2015.

My Department has made no such assessment. The implementation of national planning policy is a matter for local planning authorities. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out clear policy regarding tree planting and the provision of public open space as part of new development. It outlines that planning policies should be based on robust and up-to-date assessments of the need for open space, sport and recreation facilities and opportunities for new provision, which plans should then seek to accommodate. In relation to tree planting, the Framework outlines that planning policies and decisions should ensure that new streets are tree-lined (unless, in specific cases, there are clear, justifiable and compelling reasons why this would be inappropriate), that opportunities are taken to incorporate trees elsewhere in developments (such as parks and community orchards), and that existing trees are retained wherever possible.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many fly-tipping incidents were reported and how many prosecutions were secured for each year from 2015 to date.

Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents and enforcement action, such as prosecutions, to Defra, which the department have published annually since 2012, at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. This data isn't available at a constituency level and excludes the majority of private-land incidents.  Data for the 2024/25 reporting year is still being collected. Due to methodological changes, incident data for 2018/19 onwards is not comparable to earlier years.

Which contracts valued over £25,000 for dispersed accommodation providers have been contracted by Serco in Greater Manchester.

The Home Office holds seven Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts across the UK. The Home Office has contracted Serco Ltd as the AASC Provider for the North West region, including Greater Manchester. Responsibility for the provision of all dispersal accommodation in Greater Manchester therefore lies Serco Ltd. This includes the management of all subcontractors.The Home Office does not hold contracts with other suppliers for the direct provision of dispersal accommodation and support services in Greater Manchester.Further information on the Home Office’s contract with Serco Ltd is available here: AASC - Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW - Contracts Finder

What estimate he has made of the value of car parking income generated by NHS trusts in England; and how much was spent maintaining and operating car parks in those trusts in each year since 2015.

No estimate has been made of the car parking income generated by National Health Service trusts in England. The following table shows the income generated for car parking and car parking services costs for England from 2017/18 to 2023/24:YearCar parking services costTrust income from Car parking2023/24£77,232,171£242,832,3092022/23£73,103,126£192,526,7902021/22£71,364,527£102,303,0532020/21£65,538,670£53,149,1622019/20£70,037,633£289,326,6682018/19£71,170,922£271,777,9162017/18£28,936,526£226,357,822Source: the Estates Returns Information Collection, available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection

What proportion of household income is spent on (a) Council tax, (b) Income tax, (c) National Insurance and (d) VAT by income decile.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 17th November is attached.

Communities and Local Government, how many Houses of Multiple Occupation there were in England in each year since 2010.

Estimates of the number of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in England in each year since 2000-01 can be found in my Department’s Local Authority Housing Statistics open data, which can be found on gov.uk here.The latest figures for 2023-24 show an estimated 472,823 HMOs in England.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of Ofcom's enforcement of news channel impartiality.

Ofcom, by law, carries out its duties independently of the Government. Ofcom is required by legislation to enforce a Broadcasting Code for television and radio, to ensure that news, in whatever form, is reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality. The Government believes broadcasters should uphold the highest standards and ensure polemic is not presented as fact.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many criminal cases were not prosecuted because the offender had diplomatic immunity broken down by nationality from 2015.

I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement (HCWS1075) made on 19 November 2025 which sets out the serious and significant offences allegedly committed by those with immunity in the UK. We do not share details of individual cases.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2025 to Question 87814, what proportion of mileage claims are made using a). HMRC Approved Mileage Allowance Payment rates and b). employers own assessment by 1). employees and 2). the self-employed.

The rate at which employees are reimbursed for undertaking business mileage in their personal vehicles is a matter between employers and their employees. As such these are exempt from reporting to HMRC, and the Government does not routinely collect the information requested. HMRC recently published research on benefits-in-kind and expenses. Of those employers surveyed, 41% of employers reimbursed mileage for employees using their own car for business travel, of which 37% reimbursed at the Approved Mileage Payment Rate and 4% at another rate. The research report can be found here: Research with employers on Benefits in Kind and expenses - GOV.UK Self-employed people are able to choose whether to use the simplified mileage rates or claim actual expenses and capital allowances for a vehicle. HMRC published research carried out in 2023 which showed that 29% of self-employed people who use vehicles in their business use the simplified mileage rates. The research report was published on 28 May 2025 and can be found here: HMRC Mileage Rates Research - GOV.UK

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 86689, what information his Department holds on the number of court cases that (a) did not progress and (b) were delayed due to the non-attendance of professional witnesses in 1). England and 2). Greater Manchester in the last 12 months.

An ineffective trial is a trial that does not go ahead on the scheduled trial date, and so a further listing is required. This can be due to action or inaction by one or more of the prosecution, the defence or the court. If a trial is deemed ineffective due to the witness being absent, this would indicate that the trial has been delayed.The Ministry of Justice publishes ineffective trials statistics by reason including trials that are rescheduled due to “prosecution witness absent – professional/expert” here: Criminal court statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK. These statistics can be filtered by Local Criminal Justice Board to isolate figures for Greater Manchester. We do not have access to data on ineffective trials due to the absence of a defence professional witness.The Ministry of Justice cannot provide data on cases that “did not progress” due to the non-attendance of professional witnesses. This information would only be held in the individual court records for cases that are discontinued, and examination of these records would be of disproportionate cost.

What proportion of NHS England staff will be employed by successor organisations and other government bodies.

Subject to the passage of the NHS Reform Bill, NHS England will be abolished and most of its functions brought together in a new centre. Our ambition is to reduce staff numbers by up to 50% across the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and integrated care boards, which will be largely accomplished through voluntary exits. These reductions will be made by March 2028. The NHS voluntary exit scheme includes clawback arrangements that would compel employees who leave under voluntary redundancy to repay all/some of their voluntary redundancy payment if they are re-employed in the National Health Service, other Government departments or arm's length bodies within six to 12 months of their exit, depending on seniority, size of package and length of time between exit and re-employment.In general, DHSC is the successor body to NHS England, which means most of NHS England’s functions and staff will be transferred to DHSC. However, some functions could also be transferred elsewhere in the system where there is a strong rationale for doing so. Voluntary exit schemes have been launched to enable us to reduce headcount and meet our targets for a leaner and more efficient center.We are assessing the full range of current functions across both organisations together with initial appraisal of options for future allocation of functions. At this stage, it is too early to determine what the precise changes in personnel and organisational design will be, but this work is taking place at pace between the two organisations.As we progress with returning functions to DHSC, due process will of course be followed, including a comprehensive assessment of any impacts and risks associated with the reforms. We will ensure our decisions are guided by evidence, and above all, focused on improving patient care.