Written questions by Davies.

Communities and Local Government, if she will publish the criteria by which communities may qualify for capital grants from upper tier local authorities for physical and social regeneration funding.

At Spending Review, we announced support for up to 350 deprived communities, which includes the 75 places named in the Plan for Neighbourhoods in March 2025. The investment will support communities to drive forward the changes they want to see in their neighbourhoods, championing local leadership, fostering community engagement and strengthening social cohesion. Further details will be published in due course.

Pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2025 to Question 60172 on Motability: Telford, if she will publish the number of Motability Scheme claims in Telford constituency by medical condition.

We estimate that in 2024, payments totalling £600 million were sent by the department to the Motability Scheme. We are unable to provide volumes of all people benefitting from the scheme. We can, however, provide the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants in a contract with the Motability Scheme to receive a vehicle. In April 2025, this was 589,550 claimants. A breakdown of these claimants by primary medical condition can be found attached in Table 1. Table 2 contains the same breakdown for Telford constituency only. The Motability Scheme is overseen by Motability Foundation and delivered by Motability Operations Ltd. Motability is independent of government and is wholly responsible for the terms and administration of the Scheme, including determining what types of vehicles they use. Notes:- The monetary value provided is rounded to the nearest £1 million. The volumes provided have been rounded to the nearest 10. Values which are above 1 and below 5 have been replaced with a dash.- Data is provided for claimants under DWP policy ownership (England, Wales and Abroad) only.- The monetary value provided covers the money sent to the Motability Scheme in total. The volumes provided cover claimants of PIP with an active contract for the Motability Scheme only.

If she will publish the (a) the cost of the Motability Scheme, (b) number of people who benefit from the scheme, (c) analysis of the medical conditions of people who benefit from the scheme, (d) age of the (i) newest and (ii) oldest vehicle in the scheme, (e) proportion of vehicles in the scheme which are (A) hybrid and (B) fully electric, (f) number and proportion of vehicles in the scheme by manufacturer, and (g) proportion of vehicles in the scheme manufactured in Britain, for each year for which data is available.

We estimate that in 2024, payments totalling £600 million were sent by the department to the Motability Scheme. We are unable to provide volumes of all people benefitting from the scheme. We can, however, provide the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants in a contract with the Motability Scheme to receive a vehicle. In April 2025, this was 589,550 claimants. A breakdown of these claimants by primary medical condition can be found attached in Table 1. Table 2 contains the same breakdown for Telford constituency only. The Motability Scheme is overseen by Motability Foundation and delivered by Motability Operations Ltd. Motability is independent of government and is wholly responsible for the terms and administration of the Scheme, including determining what types of vehicles they use. Notes:- The monetary value provided is rounded to the nearest £1 million. The volumes provided have been rounded to the nearest 10. Values which are above 1 and below 5 have been replaced with a dash.- Data is provided for claimants under DWP policy ownership (England, Wales and Abroad) only.- The monetary value provided covers the money sent to the Motability Scheme in total. The volumes provided cover claimants of PIP with an active contract for the Motability Scheme only.

With reference to the Spending Review 2025, published on 11 June 2025, what assessment she has made of the (a) adequacy of the funding for the M54 link road to the M6 and (b) potential economic impact on the (i) region and (ii) UK.

As the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 11 June 2025, this Government will deliver notable improvements to people’s everyday travel by providing £24 billion of capital funding between 2026-27 and 2029-30 to maintain and improve roads across the country. Delivering faster, safer and more reliable journeys and unlocking economic growth across the country. We will provide updates on specific schemes in due course.

Communities and Local Government, what plans she has to enable upper-tier councils to increase council tax bills by a set amount rather than a fixed percentage through future reviews of local government funding.

As an important part of local democracy and accountability, it is for individual councils to set their own level of council tax. The Spending Review assumed 5% council tax increases over the period made up of a 3% core referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept. The final set of referendum principles will be set out each year as part of the local government final settlement in the usual way.

How many households stopped receiving child benefit following the introduction of (a) the two child benefit cap and (b) means testing in (i) Telford constituency, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England.

Child Benefit is a non-means tested benefit payable to families as a contribution towards the cost of raising children. The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) is a tax charge for families in receipt of Child Benefit payments on higher individual incomes, of £60,000 or more. These families can either get the Child Benefit payments and pay the tax charge or opt out of receiving the payments, and not have to pay the HICBC. The number of families opting out of Child Benefit payments by Westminster Parliamentary Constituency, region and country can be found in table 12 in the latest annual Child Benefit statistics release: Child Benefit Statistics: annual release, August 2024 - GOV.UK. The number of those paying the tax charge by region and country can be found in table 17 of the same publication. These figures relate to 2022 to 2023 tax year when the HICBC threshold was £50,000. The policy to provide support for a maximum of two children in Universal Credit does not apply to Child Benefit.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the performance of the train line between Aberystwyth and Birmingham International in the last 12 months; and whether she plans to allocate funding to improve (a) services and (b) rolling stock on that line in the next 12 months.

Services and rolling stock on this line are the responsibility of Transport for Wales. My officials meet regularly with TfW to agree performance improvement actions on this cross-border route. Building on the recent UK Government funded upgrade of the line’s signalling system to support the intended introduction of new trains, and the investment plans detailed in the recent Spending Review, we will continue to work collaboratively with the Welsh Government to further develop services on routes across Wales and the Borders

How many universal credit claimants there were in Telford constituency in each year for which data is available by category.

Official statistics for the number of people on Universal Credit are published regularly on Stat-Xplore, with breakdowns available by conditionality group and by various geographies including Westminster Parliamentary Constituency. The latest statistics on conditionality are available from April 2015 to March 2025. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required. For guidance on the Universal Credit datasets on Stat-Xplore, see the Universal Credit Official Statistics Stat-Xplore User Guide.

How many customers were supported by Telford Job Centre in each year for which data is available.

Telford Jobcentre works closely with local employers and providers to support its customers. Our Work Coaches have tailored appointments to work closely with customers to understand their circumstances and needs. The Jobcentre offers customers a range of provision which includes job fairs, Sector-based Work Academy Programmes and Mentoring Circles to help those customers who are ready for employment. For those customers on the health journey, Telford Jobcentre has a Disability Employment Advisor (DEA) to engage with customers to ensure they are connected with the right partners such as NHS talking therapies. The DEA and Employer Advisors also work closely with employers to promote Disability Confident, Access to Work and Reasonable Adjustment in the workplace. Official monthly claimant count statistics by Parliamentary Constituency Areas are published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the NOMIS website.

How many customers claimed a mobility car in Telford constituency in each year for which data is available.

Information is not available centrally to identify which claimants claimed a car through the Motability Scheme. However, data is available for the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants with an active Motability Scheme agreement in Telford constituency in each month and is provided in the attached table for December 2013 to January 2025. Notes: - The Motability Scheme enables anyone in receipt of a qualifying mobility allowance to use all or part of their mobility allowance to lease a vehicle. Vehicles include cars, wheelchair accessible vehicles, powered scooters, and powered wheelchairs.- The Department for Work and Pensions facilitates a direct transfer to Motability of a claimant’s DLA, PIP or AFIP mobility allowance if they elect to join the Scheme.- The data provided covers Motability Scheme agreements for PIP only. There may be agreements made on Daily Living Allowance, Armed Forces Independence Payment, and War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement however data on such agreements is not held centrally for analysis.- Volumes provided are rounded to the nearest 10.

When he expects the NHS England Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel to make a decision on GP out of hours services in the Shrewsbury and Telford and Wrekin ICB.

NHS England has communicated that the decision on general practice (GP) out-of-hours service in the Shrewsbury, Telford and Wrekin ICB will be published on 26 June 2025.GPs are independent businesses who are contracted by National Health Service commissioners to perform medical services. The GP contract ensures that a consistent provision of healthcare is provided, including out of hours services which should be available to all patients in the Shrewsbury, Telford and Wrekin area. Decisions regarding these services are made locally and independently. Practices have the option to provide out-of-hours services directly, in which case they receive payment for doing so. If a practice chooses not to offer these services, arrangements must be made to ensure that an alternative provider delivers them for that practice’s registered patients. These decisions should not affect patients’ access to care.

What plans he has for the future of the NHS England Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel; when that panel last made a decision; what the average length of its (a) decision making and (b) appeals process is; what criteria it uses to make decisions; and whether that panel will consider public procurement rules when reviewing cases.

The Patient Choice and Procurement Panel is set up by NHS England to review complaints related to patient choice and representation in relation to the Provider Selection Regime (PSR) for the foreseeable future. The Panel last published a decision on 28 May 2025. Since its inception on 1 January 2024, the Panel has reviewed and published advice on 11 procurement processes. The Panel aims to publish its advice within six weeks though it can take more time to process complex cases Providers seeking a review by the panel must ensure that they submit any such requests through the appropriate channels, either for patient choice or for PSR, which are available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/how-commissioning-is-changing/nhs-provider-selection-regime/independent-patient-choice-and-procurement-panel/ The Panel has been set up to give advice under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. The Panel has terms of reference which task it with offering expert advice about whether commissioners have acted consistently with the PSR regulations and published Statutory Guidance.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of raising the retirement age of reservists from 60 to 65.

I am grateful for the contribution of our Reserve Forces who provide the UK with the ability to meet the threats we face at home and overseas, with the scale, skills, agility and connection to society that it needs, in a cost-effective way. Alongside the Strategic Defence Review’s interest in Reserves, and in tandem with the transformational work already underway in Defence, I am reviewing the Reserves landscape, in a meaningful and impactful way, to ensure that we are making the most of the unique skills our Reserves offer Defence. A total of 2,860 Reservists are aged between 55 and 60. Of those, 450 will turn 60 in 2025 if they remain on strength.

How many reservists are aged between 55 and 60; and how many will be 60 in the next 12 months.

I am grateful for the contribution of our Reserve Forces who provide the UK with the ability to meet the threats we face at home and overseas, with the scale, skills, agility and connection to society that it needs, in a cost-effective way. Alongside the Strategic Defence Review’s interest in Reserves, and in tandem with the transformational work already underway in Defence, I am reviewing the Reserves landscape, in a meaningful and impactful way, to ensure that we are making the most of the unique skills our Reserves offer Defence. A total of 2,860 Reservists are aged between 55 and 60. Of those, 450 will turn 60 in 2025 if they remain on strength.

How much her Department has spent on its scheme to offer £1000 sign-on incentives to help recruit early years professionals.

The early years workforce is at the heart of this government’s mission to give every child the best start in life and deliver the Plan for Change. We have set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn in the classroom. We will measure our progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile assessment by 2028.Early education is delivered by a mixed market of providers who recruit staff depending on business need. The department is supporting providers by creating conditions for improved recruitment. Funding breakdowns by region are not held.In 2025/26 alone, the department plans to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements – a more than 30% increase compared to 2024/25. This ensures funding reflects forecasts of average earnings and inflation, as well as the National Living Wage announced at the 2024 Autumn Budget.The ‘Do something BIG. Work with small children’ recruitment campaign had a budget of £6.5 million for the 2023/24 financial year. Subsequent years’ budgets are being reconciled and the department will publish spend once confirmed.In 20 local authorities between April 2024 and March 2025, we piloted whether £1,000 financial incentives boost recruitment in early years. The demand-led programme totalled £2.64 million, comprising £2.47 million in 2023/24 and £173,000 in 2024/25.A Childminder Start-up Grant Scheme has supported childminders with the costs associated with setting up their new business. The demand-led scheme ran for a 2 year period and is worth up to £7.2 million.Our delivery support contract, Childcare Works, supports local authorities and providers on early years and wraparound delivery. Given the breadth of remit, we cannot isolate spend to early years recruitment activity only.

How much her Department has spent on programmes to help recruit early years professionals in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) programme and (b) region and nation.

The early years workforce is at the heart of this government’s mission to give every child the best start in life and deliver the Plan for Change. We have set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn in the classroom. We will measure our progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile assessment by 2028.Early education is delivered by a mixed market of providers who recruit staff depending on business need. The department is supporting providers by creating conditions for improved recruitment. Funding breakdowns by region are not held.In 2025/26 alone, the department plans to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements – a more than 30% increase compared to 2024/25. This ensures funding reflects forecasts of average earnings and inflation, as well as the National Living Wage announced at the 2024 Autumn Budget.The ‘Do something BIG. Work with small children’ recruitment campaign had a budget of £6.5 million for the 2023/24 financial year. Subsequent years’ budgets are being reconciled and the department will publish spend once confirmed.In 20 local authorities between April 2024 and March 2025, we piloted whether £1,000 financial incentives boost recruitment in early years. The demand-led programme totalled £2.64 million, comprising £2.47 million in 2023/24 and £173,000 in 2024/25.A Childminder Start-up Grant Scheme has supported childminders with the costs associated with setting up their new business. The demand-led scheme ran for a 2 year period and is worth up to £7.2 million.Our delivery support contract, Childcare Works, supports local authorities and providers on early years and wraparound delivery. Given the breadth of remit, we cannot isolate spend to early years recruitment activity only.

How many early years teachers there are in each region.

The department does not hold data on staff qualification levels by region.In 2024, 42% of staff within school-based providers and 11% of staff within group-based providers held graduate-level qualifications, as per the 2024 Early Years Provider Survey.

What estimate she has made of the number of early years professionals required in each region in each of the next five years.

To meet the additional demand placed on the childcare sector by expanding government funded entitlements to childcare, the department estimates that around 35,000 additional staff (headcount) nationally are needed above the 31 December 2023 baseline for autumn 2025. This represents approximately a 10% increase.We have seen a strong response from the sector so far. 2023 to 2024 saw around 20,000 more staff working in early years nationally, over 1.5 times the level of growth seen between 2022 to 2023.Responsibility for ongoing market sufficiency rests with local authorities, who are required by legislation to provide sufficient childcare places for children in their local area. We are in regular contact with each local authority, and have a delivery support contractor, Childcare Works, in place to support them, including with analysing workforce demand in their area.

How many early years professionals were recruited following the introduction of the £1000 tax-free cash incentive.

The early years workforce is at the heart of the government’s mission to ensure every child has the best start in life. Early education and childcare is delivered by a mixed market of private, voluntary and independent provision who recruit and employ their staff depending upon their business and local need. We are supporting the sector to attract talented staff and childminders to join the workforce by creating conditions for improved recruitment and new routes into the workforce.Financial incentives are an important part of this plan, and the government has been running two schemes testing incentives in 26 local authorities. New starters and returners needed to meet certain eligibility criteria and to have started in an eligible provider in one of these 26 local authorities to be eligible to receive a £1000 payment.The financial incentives pilot ran from April 2024 to March 2025 in 20 local authorities and tested whether the offer of an incentive payment would increase recruitment.The financial incentives live test ran from November 2024 to March 2025 in an additional 6 local authorities. This tested the use of a new online portal as a possible delivery mechanism.Delivery on both schemes ended in March 2025. The pilot is currently being evaluated and we will set out the results in due course.

If she will publish any centrally-owned workforce planning documents for early years provision.

The early years workforce is at the heart of this government’s mission to give every child the best start in life and deliver our Plan for Change. We will continue to drive forward our progress on our 2028 Plan for Change target for a record proportion (75%) of children starting school ready to learn. To achieve this, we will work in partnership with the sector, reforming training and supporting the workforce to drive up standards and offer sustained professional development. We will test new approaches to achieve the common goal of giving every child the best start in life.