Written questions by Gill.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing regulations for managing agents.

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244).

What steps she is taking to help ensure effective prosecutions in cases of violence against women and girls in Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a national emergency and through the Safer Streets Mission, this Government will deliver on our ambition to halve VAWG in a decade. A key part will be delivering effective prosecutions, and we continue to see improvements in the prosecution of VAWG offences.As Solicitor General, I superintend the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is continuing to transform its approach to adult rape prosecution through the implementation of its new national operating model, based on robust evidence from Operation Soteria. Through this work, the CPS has seen substantial increases in referral, charge, and prosecution volumes for adult rape.These improvements have also informed the Domestic Abuse Joint Justice Plan with policing which launched in November 2024. Better partnership with policing has already led to modest initial increases in domestic abuse referrals, setting a strong foundation for future improvements.To address the increasingly complexity of VAWG offending and the holistic needs of victims, the CPS will also begin implementation of its 2025-30 VAWG strategy this spring. This will ensure prosecutors have the right skills and tools to prosecute VAWG effectively.I was delighted to give a keynote address at a joint CPS, Home Office, and National Police Chiefs’ Council conference on tackling honour-based abuse held in Birmingham last week. On the same day, I met with the Chief Crown Prosecutor for the West Midlands and the Area’s Victim Liaison Unit and heard directly from CPS staff about the critical work they are doing to prosecute VAWG offences.In the West Midlands police force area in 2023-24, the CPS prosecuted 1,596 domestic abuse flagged cases (an increase from 1,543 in 2022-23), 135 rape flagged cases (an increase from 108 in 2022-23), and 419 sexual offences (excluding rape flagged) cases (an increase from 295 in 2022-23).

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to continue supporting local authorities with large shares of exempt supported accommodation in their areas through the supported housing improvement programme.

Future spending on specific programmes in 2025-26, including for the Supported Housing Improvement Programme (SHIP), is yet to be determined. SHIP local authorities will be notified as soon as possible. The government is currently consulting on proposals for implementing the measures in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023. The consultation closes on 15 May. Following this, the responses will be analysed before regulations are drafted and consulted on. We are continuing to engage closely with the sector as we work to implement the Act.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle hate crimes based on religion in (a) the West Midlands, (b) Birmingham and (c) Birmingham Edgbaston constituency.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 37961 on 20 March 2025.

How many and what proportion of employees of NHS England: Midlands are in the (a) ESM 1, (b) ESM 2, (c) ESM 3 and (d) ESM 4 salary bands.

Of the 961 staff employed in the NHS England Midlands region, 2.3% of employees in the region are at Executive Senior Manager (ESM) grades, none of whom are at ESM4. The following table shows the number and proportion of staff in the NHS England Midlands region who are at ESM grades, as of end of February 2025:GradeNumber of staffPercentage of regional staffESM1161.7%ESM250.5%ESM310.1%ESM400.0%

Communities and Local Government, what progress has she made in implementing the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023.

Future spending on specific programmes in 2025-26, including for the Supported Housing Improvement Programme (SHIP), is yet to be determined. SHIP local authorities will be notified as soon as possible. The government is currently consulting on proposals for implementing the measures in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023. The consultation closes on 15 May. Following this, the responses will be analysed before regulations are drafted and consulted on. We are continuing to engage closely with the sector as we work to implement the Act.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in Yemen on the restriction of freedom of religion or belief for Baha’is in that country; and whether the John Bunyan Fund for Freedom of Religion and Belief will be used to assist people facing persecution.

The UK remains strongly committed to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all. It is our firm opinion that no one should live in fear because of what they do or do not believe in. We are championing the right to FoRB and promoting tolerance and mutual respect through our engagement in multilateral fora, our bilateral work, and our programme funding, including the FCDO John Bunyan Fund (JBF), a designated programme for FoRB-focused overseas projects.The FCDO works to ensure that Official Development Assistance is allocated to those who are most vulnerable and most in need of this assistance irrespective of race, religion, or ethnicity. This includes minority religious or belief communities, who are assessed by our partners when determining those most in need of protection and assistance.We track the treatment of the Bahá'ís in Yemen closely, including through meeting their representatives in the UK and lobbying the relevant authorities. We continue to condemn the continued persecution of the Bahá'ís and other religious minorities in Yemen.

Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment has she made of the adequacy of local authority powers to ensure that vacant rental properties are made available for new tenancies.

Local authorities have strong powers and incentives to tackle empty homes. They have the discretionary powers to charge additional council tax on properties which have been left unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for one or more years. The maximum premium that a council can apply increases, depending on the length of time that the property has been empty for, with a premium of up to 300% on homes left empty for over ten years.Local authorities can also use powers to take over the management of long-term empty homes to bring them back into use in the private rented sector. Local authorities can apply for an Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO) when a property has been empty for more than two years, subject to the production of evidence that the property has been causing a nuisance to the community and evidence of community support for their proposal. More information can be found here. The government expects social housing landlords to manage their stock efficiently, ensuring that vacant properties are made available where possible.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of proposals to (a) integrate geospatial data into the National Data Library and (b) review licensing barriers to its use.

This Government has been clear that it wants to maximise the benefits from public sector data assets to deliver better public services and cutting-edge innovation. The National Data Library will provide simple, secure and ethical access to our key public data assets for researchers, policy makers and business.Work is underway to design the National Data Library, including consideration of the data to be included and how it should be licensed, and decisions on its design and implementation will be set out in due course.

What steps she is taking to help ensure effective prosecution rates (a) serious and (b) violent crime in Birmingham Edgbaston constituency.

Reducing serious and violent crime is integral to this Government’s Safer Streets Mission and commitment to halve knife crime in a decade.Our new Crime and Policing Bill will back our police by giving them enhanced and tougher powers to keep our streets safe, to tackle anti-social behaviour, and to crack down on knife crime.The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutes serious and violent crime robustly, providing early investigative advice on complex and serious offending to build strong cases and deliver justice for victims.The CPS is working with cross-government partners to support the delivery of the Safer Streets Mission, and all CPS guidance and training is kept under constant review to ensure front-line prosecutors are equipped to prosecute these serious offences. Serious and violent crime encompasses many different types of crime but is more commonly associated with drug crime, knife crime, gun crime, and homicide.In 2023-2024, the CPS prosecuted the following serious and violent offences in the West Midlands Police force area, in which the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency is located:1,249 defendants for drug offences under the principal category offence for drugs (which includes possession of controlled drugs, supplying or offering to supply controlled drugs, unlawful importation of controlled drugs, and manufacturing a scheduled substance) (up from 942 in 2022-23).1,645 offences for possession of a knife under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and Prevention of Crime Act 1953 (up from 1,408 in 2022-23).189 offences under the Firearms Act 1968 (up from 117 in 2022-23).124 defendants were prosecuted for homicide offences under the principal offence category for homicide (which includes offences of murder, attempted murder, causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult, child destruction, conspiring or soliciting to commit murder and causing death by dangerous or careless driving) (up from 73 in 2022-23).

What the average waiting time for driving tests is in Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency.

The table below shows the average waiting time for driving test centres that serve customers living in the Edgbaston constituency, as of the 17 March 2025. Driving test centreAverage waiting time as of the 17 March 2025 (in weeks).Birmingham (Kings Heath)24Birmingham (South Yardley)24Birmingham (Shirley)24Birmingham (Garretts Green)24Birmingham (Kingstanding)24 The current national average for driving tests as of February 2025 is 21.3 weeks.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of supporting cooperatives in developing countries.

The Government recognises the important contribution cooperatives have made in serving local communities around the world. Cooperatives are a tried-and-tested model in international development, that can enable citizens and producers to access services or markets and strengthen their voice in local processes. Cooperatives can enable sustainable and inclusive development centred on self-help, democratic ownership, and concern for the community. The UK has supported cooperatives and producer organisations in developing countries, including, for example in agriculture through funding to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP), which supports producer organisations, and the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness Programme (CASA), which partners with cooperatives and small agribusinesses in low-income countries to improve smallholder farmers' access to markets.

What steps she is taking to modernise Job Centres in Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency.

This Government’s number one mission is to grow the economy and drive up living standards right across the country as part of its Plan for Change. Building a thriving and inclusive labour market – which spreads the benefits of good work to as many people as possible – is central to achieving that goal. Linking to the government’s missions of Kickstarting Economic Growth and Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunities, the Department is working to ensure that the DWP estate is more flexible and responsive and can react to the changing demands for services and economic changes. As set out in the ‘Get Britain Working White Paper’, the Department is transforming the Jobcentre Plus network across Great Britain to create a new national jobs and careers service that will enable everyone to access tailored support through an enhanced focus on people’s skills and careers, rather than merely monitoring and managing benefit claims.

What progress he has made on joining up NHS records so a patient's vaccination history is recorded all in one place.

NHS England has been establishing the digital infrastructure required to maintain a consistent view of vaccination status between both individuals and healthcare providers. This includes data sharing across general practice, National Health Service trusts, community pharmacies and school-aged immunisation services.The COVID-19 vaccination campaigns have demonstrated effective sharing of vaccination data across the NHS vaccination network. Effective data sharing across general practice, maternity services and targeted community pharmacies has since helped mobilise the delivery of respiratory syncytial virus vaccination programmes for older adults and pregnant women, to protect newborn babies, which were introduced in September 2024. Progress has also been made in the sharing of pertussis vaccination events delivered in maternity services, to protect babies from whooping cough.NHS England continues to extend this capability across wider NHS vaccinations, ensuring that vaccination records are consistently visible to individuals and vaccination providers.Work is also underway to improve the public’s vaccination experience, via the NHS app. This service will use this same digital infrastructure to help individuals understand which vaccinations they are eligible for, those they’ve already had, as well as how and where to access them.

Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the contribution of the creative sectors in (a) Birmingham, Edgbaston, (b) Birmingham and (c) the West Midlands to the UK economy.

The creative industries sector is one of eight growth-driving sectors identified in the government’s Industrial Strategy. We will publish a Creative Industries Sector Plan to drive growth in the late spring. The creative industries can be found in clusters throughout the UK, with the Creative Policy and Evidence Centre noting 55 clusters making a strong contribution to the sector’s contribution of £124bn to the UK’s GVA.In 2023, the West Midlands was one of the top three regions in terms of median annual earnings for the creative industries (£40,650). The West Midlands’ Creative Industries contributed £4 billion to the UK economy and there were 138,000 filled jobs in the sector in the region. This includes a strong presence in video games, film and television as well as in the wider culture and creative industries.Government support for the sector has included £520,000 to the West Midlands region to provide creative industries specific business support and develop regional investor readiness through the Create Growth Programme. This is delivered in combination with the West Midlands Combined Authority, Creative UK, Create Central and Innovate UK with funding from DCMS. A further £425,000 will be provided by DCMS via the Integrated Settlement during the 2025/26 Financial Year.In November at the Beyond Conference, we announced £6.74m to deliver the CreaTech Futures Creative Industries Cluster with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. This will drive research and development, business innovation and skills within the creative industries ecosystem across the West Midlands. This will be led by Birmingham City University with Coventry University, the University of Birmingham, the University of Warwick and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Cluster will create a network of four complementary, interconnected R&D labs in immersive audio and video technologies, virtual production, applied AI for createch and gaming, esports, and animation.At the Creative Industries Growth Moment in January, we announced additional funding, to be agreed as part of the Spending Review to six Mayoral Combined Authorities including the West Midlands Combined Authority to drive business growth.

What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of vaccination rates among babies and children for tuberculosis in (a) Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency, (b) Birmingham and (c) the West Midlands.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) monitors trends in the level of childhood vaccination rates, including Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination, at upper tier local authority, region and country level.Official vaccine coverage estimates, for the BCG vaccine, are measured for eligible children in England at three months and 12 months of age and are published quarterly by UKHSA. These are available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cover-of-vaccination-evaluated-rapidly-cover-programme-2024-to-2025-quarterly-dataAnnual estimates are published by NHS England at local authority level, and are available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics/england-2023-24Edgbaston falls within the Birmingham Upper Tier Local Authority. The latest data, published in December 2024, captures BCG coverage at the age of three months for children born April to June 2024 and at age 12 months for children born July to September 2023. Measured at three months, coverage was 87.0% in Birmingham and 87.1% in the West Midlands. Measured at 12 months, it was 85.3% in Birmingham and 87.0% in the West Midlands. These figures are higher than the coverage of 78.4% at 3 months and 84.1% at 12 months in England.

Media and Sport, how many public libraries across England and Wales were open in the most recent 10 years for which data is available.

DCMS has policy responsibility for public libraries in England only. The following table shows the number of open static libraries in England in the most recent 10 years for which data is available. The data is taken from the Arts Council England Basic Dataset for Libraries 2023 which consolidated and validated previous datasets. 1/7/201631/12/201931/12/202131/12/202231/12/2023Number of open static libraries included in the dataset3,0102,9382,9142,8942,8771Number of open static libraries within the statutory provision2,7272,5852,5502,5762,5781 1. Figures do not include 10 static libraries for which the operating model is unknown

What performance improvement targets he has sought from the MHRA on bringing down the licensing backlog of generic and biosimilar medicine applications.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) focus has been to ensure all applications received through all routes are processed on time. The MHRA has now embedded improvements in processing licencing applications into standard working practice. Milestones for licencing clearance during 2024 were achieved in line with the business plan commitment to remove backlogs, including generics and biosimilars by the end of March 2025.During 2024, the MHRA has been working through a high number of applications to return to working to statutory timelines. From 1 September 2024, all applications submitted, regardless of application pathway, are being completed within statutory timelines. The Agency’s original background of national marketing authorisation applications has been eliminated, with decisions made for over 1,680 licence applications in 2024.The MHRA has been working in close collaboration with health system partners and industry to ensure that robust, appropriate and prompt decisions are made. The MHRA is on track to clear all statutory backlog activities by the end of March 2025.

What recent assessment he has made of the role of (a) generic, (b) biosimilar and (c) off-patent medicines in addressing medicine shortages.

The resilience of United Kingdom supply chains is a key priority, and the Department is committed to helping to build long term supply chain resilience for medicines. The Department recognises the important role all off patent medicines, including generic and biosimilar medicines, together with branded medicines play in ensuring patients across the UK market have access to the medicines they need and at a price that also ensures value for money.It is important to note that, like branded medicines, generic and biosimilar medicines can also face issues with supply. While we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise and mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of serious shortage protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals including pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients.

What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of vaccination rates for routine childhood immunisations in (a) Birmingham, Edgbaston, (b) Birmingham and (c) the West Midlands.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) monitors trends in the level of childhood vaccination rates by upper tier local authority (UTLA), region and country level.Edgbaston falls within the Birmingham UTLA. From 2013/14 to 2023/24, coverage of the first dose of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR1) vaccine in children aged five years old has decreased by 7.1 percentage points to 87.0% in Birmingham and 3.5 percentage points to 91.9% in the West Midlands. In comparison, the 2023/24 MMR1 coverage in England was 91.4%.The most recent figures, published in December 2024, show immunisations coverage across all vaccines in children aged one and two years old was 80% or higher in Birmingham and 87% or higher in the West Midlands, in comparison to 87% or higher in England overall. Coverage was slightly lower in children aged five years old, at or above 74% in Birmingham and at or above 82% in the West Midlands, in comparison to 81% or higher in England overall. No local authority in the West Midlands had coverage exceeding the World Heath Organization (WHO) target of 95% in all the routine childhood immunisations.Data on coverage of all routine childhood immunisations are published quarterly by UKHSA, and annually by NHS England. They are available at the following links:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cover-of-vaccination-evaluated-rapidly-cover-programme-2024-to-2025-quarterly-datahttps://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics/england-2023-24