Written questions by Robertson.

How many inquests are outstanding in the Isle of Wight Coroner’s Office; and how long they have been waiting to be heard.

Real-time information is not centrally collated on the total number of uncompleted coroner investigations in individual coroner areas, and their length.However, the number of open inquests at 31 December 2024 is published in the Coroner Statistics (Coroners statistics 2024 - GOV.UK). The data for each coroner area can be found in the CSV tables published alongside the statistical report.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme on food price inflation.

HM Treasury does not produce forecasts of the UK economy. Forecasting the economy, including the impact of Government policy decisions, is the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The OBR does not publish estimates of the impact of policy decisions, including the Extended Producer Responsibility, (EPR) on levels of food inflation. There is an impact assessment of the EPR system published, where the system’s impact on inflation can be found. It estimates the impact on headline CPI at around 0.07% and does not provide a separate estimate for food inflation The Bank of England’s August Monetary Policy Report notes that, under full pass-through of costs, packaging EPR would raise the level of food prices by a little over 0.5%.

Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department has provided to small and medium-sized food producers to help manage the costs of the extended producer responsibility scheme.

The Government has provided a comprehensive package of support to small and medium-sized food producers to manage costs under the extended producer responsibility for packaging scheme (pEPR). A de-minimis threshold exempts producers with turnover below £2 million and placing less than 50 tonnes of packaging on the market from cost obligations, thereby shielding around 70 per cent of small producers from pEPR fees. Practical support is delivered via a monthly Business Readiness Forum, sector-specific events and a regular newsletter, while collaboration with the Environment Agency also provides guidance and support. The Department continues to encourage small producers to reduce packaging use and adopt reusable systems to further lower pEPR-related costs.

Communities and Local Government, if she will publish a breakdown of responses to the Hampshire and Solent devolution consultation by local authority area.

The government published a detailed response to the Hampshire and the Solent Devolution Consultation on 17 July which is available on gov.uk here. This includes number of responses and detailed breakdowns by several categories of respondents.

Communities and Local Government, whether responses from Isle of Wight Council to the Hampshire and Solent devolution consultation will be published separately to general consultation responses.

The government published a detailed response to the Hampshire and the Solent Devolution Consultation on 17 July which is available on gov.uk here. This includes number of responses and detailed breakdowns by several categories of respondents.

Communities and Local Government, how many responses were received to the Hampshire and Solent devolution consultation.

The government published a detailed response to the Hampshire and the Solent Devolution Consultation on 17 July which is available on gov.uk here. This includes number of responses and detailed breakdowns by several categories of respondents.

Communities and Local Government, how many responses to the Hampshire and Solent devolution consultation were submitted by (a) residents and (b) organisations based on the Isle of Wight.

The government published a detailed response to the Hampshire and the Solent Devolution Consultation on 17 July which is available on gov.uk here. This includes number of responses and detailed breakdowns by several categories of respondents.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is monitoring the potential impact of extended producer responsibility scheme costs on food and drink prices in the (a) on-trade and (b) off-trade market.

In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the packaging extended producer responsibility scheme (pEPR). The impact assessment sets out the estimated inflationary impact of pEPR on the UK economy as a whole. The central estimate for the increase in the Consumer Price Index is 0.29%. This is based on an assumption that producers pass on 85% of the costs incurred through pEPR. The pEPR impact assessment does not split out impacts on individual sectors.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to encourage people into the youth work profession.

This Government recognises the vital role that youth workers play in the lives of young people. In 2024-25, we provided over £600,000 of bursary funding to support over 400 individuals from underrepresented groups to gain a youth work qualification. In a written ministerial statement on 15 May 2025, the Secretary of State announced DCMS's commitment to provide over £3 million in the financial year 2025-26 to increase youth sector and workforce capacity, this includes a further £250,000 in bursary funding to support up to 160 individuals to gain a qualification, and funding to the National Youth Agency to maintain youth work qualifications, national standards and curriculum to ensure a sufficiently qualified and trained youth work workforce.

Media and Sport, how she plans to allocate dormant assets to youth organisations.

On the 2nd June, DCMS Secretary of State announced that £132.5 million of dormant assets funding will be allocated to support the provision of services, facilities or opportunities to meet the needs of young people. This will increase disadvantaged young people’s access to enrichment opportunities in the arts, culture, sports and wider youth services, aimed at improving wellbeing and employability, and be delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund.It also includes the £15 million ‘Building Futures’ programme announced under the previous government in September 2023, and delivered by Youth Futures Foundation.Further details, including how the funding will be allocated, will be shared in due course.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the introduction of combined authorities on youth services funding.

We are working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the introduction of combined authorities and the potential impact this will have on youth services. Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people in their area. DCMS published the updated, more fit-for-purpose guidance in 2023 to support local authorities to better understand what their existing duty is and how to deliver it. We have launched the Local Youth Transformation Pilot which will test a new way of working and supporting local authorities to deliver for young people.

Media and Sport, whether funding for the National Citizenship Service will be redistributed to other youth services.

This Government recognises the transformative role that youth services play in young people’s lives. We know that being part of supportive communities and having access to youth provision can improve a young person’s wellbeing, health and personal development.The Secretary of State previously committed to set out this department's 2025-26 funding for youth programmes - an investment of over £145 million - to provide stability to the youth sector and ensure young people can continue to access opportunities, as we transition to the new National Youth Strategy.The Government will publish the National Youth Strategy this Autumn. The detail and scale of the funding commitments included in the strategy will be shaped by engagement with young people and the youth sector and will be announced in due course.

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 16662 on NHS: Public Consultation, if he will provide a full breakdown of the total costs incurred.

Following an invitation to tender competition process, we appointed Thinks Insight, Kaleidoscope Health and Care, and the Institute For Public Policy Research to support us to run the engagement exercise for the 10-Year Health Plan. The details of this award and the redacted contract can be found on contracts finder, at the following link:https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/80963989-c4d6-4a16-8e12-c31b43a81ddaThe awarded value of the contract was up to £2,961,595.50, with an option to vary to £3,500,000 in the event that the scope of the contract evolves. Following the conclusion of the engagement exercise and launch of the 10-Year Health Plan, the contract cost is £3,336,483.50.The increase in costs was largely due to the high number of responses received during the engagement exercise, and the ensuing analysis required. The number of responses received during the engagement exercise significantly exceeded the estimates provided by any of the prospective suppliers bidding for the contract. In total, the Department received over 270,000 contributions, making it the largest ever conversation on the future of the National Health Service.

What discussions her Department has had with (a) the equine sector, (b) local authorities and (c) road safety bodies on enforcing safe driving practices around horse riders.

The Government is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads and my Department works with a broad range of stakeholders, including discussions with the British Horse Society, to help us achieve our aim. In 2022 The Highway Code was updated to improve the safety of all road users, particularly the most vulnerable. Key changes included the introduction of a Hierarchy of Road Users, which ensures that those who do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat that they pose to others, along with the strengthening of guidance on safe passing distances and speeds when overtaking horse-riders. Local authorities are responsible for road safety on the local road network. The Government treats road safety with the utmost seriousness and provides local authorities with guidance on road safety measures but it is up to individual authorities to determine how they meet their statutory duty.

What steps her Department is taking to improve road safety for horse riders in Isle of Wight East constituency.

The Government is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads and my Department works with a broad range of stakeholders, including discussions with the British Horse Society, to help us achieve our aim. In 2022 The Highway Code was updated to improve the safety of all road users, particularly the most vulnerable. Key changes included the introduction of a Hierarchy of Road Users, which ensures that those who do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat that they pose to others, along with the strengthening of guidance on safe passing distances and speeds when overtaking horse-riders. Local authorities are responsible for road safety on the local road network. The Government treats road safety with the utmost seriousness and provides local authorities with guidance on road safety measures but it is up to individual authorities to determine how they meet their statutory duty.

What steps her Department has taken to increase public awareness of changes to the Highway Code made in 2022.

Following updates to the Highway Code in 2022 introducing a hierarchy of road users, the department ran a THINK! campaign to raise awareness of the changes as they came into effect. This was followed by broader behaviour change campaigns in the summer of 2022 and 2023, to help embed the changes and encourage understanding and uptake of the guidance. Over £2.4million has been spent on paid advertising across the Highway Code campaign, utilising channels such as radio, digital audio, video on demand and social media advertising.We continually review our campaign priorities using data and research to make sure we are addressing the most important road safety issues to help make our roads safer. We also continue to promote the Highway Code in partnership with other organisations, through THINK! social channels and via education resources. In addition we run three radio filler adverts year-round, encouraging motorists to maintain safe passing distances from cyclists and horse riders, to use the Dutch Reach when opening car doors to help keep cyclists safe, and to raise awareness of pedestrian priority at junctions.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2025 to Question 57194 on Motorcycles: Convictions, on what date the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency plans to complete its scan of the driver database; and when the information will be shared.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency wrote to the Honourable Member on 20 June by email to joe.robertson.mp@parliament.uk with the information requested. Officials will re-send this letter by email and by post.

How many staff were moved from Great British Railways Transition Team to (a) Network Rail, (b) DfT Operator and (c) her Department following the disbandment of the Great British Railways Transition Team on March 31, 2025.

On 31st March 2025 GBRTT had 208 employees. Since this date 31 people have left the legacy organisation's employment, and 12 people have joined or are joining; resulting in 189 employees. The remaining 189 employees have almost all moved into Network Rail, except for four people who are working at DfTO and one person who has re-joined DfT.

How much transformation funding for (a) learning disability and (b) autism services NHS England has allocated to integrated care board areas for 2025-26.

As set out in NHS England’s Planning Guidance, integrated care boards (ICBs) are expected to work with local system colleagues to ensure that there is high quality and accessible community infrastructure in place for people with a learning disability and autistic people. They should also ensure that admissions to a mental health hospital are for assessment and treatment that can only be delivered in an inpatient setting.ICBs are planning to spend £3.35 billion on Learning Disability and Autism services in 2025/26. Previous transformation funding for learning disability and autism has been transferred to core ICB funding. This is in line with the objective of giving systems greater financial flexibility to manage constrained budgets, which includes transferring a higher proportion of funding than ever before directly to local systems and minimising ringfencing, allowing local leaders maximum flexibility to plan better and more efficient services.

What steps the Government is taking to establish Great British Railways, following the disbandment of the Great British Railways Transition Team in March 2025.

The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act was the first step towards fixing our railways, enabling the majority of services to be owned by and run for the public, but we need further fundamental reform to fix the underlying structural problems and put passengers and customers back at the heart of the railway. Great British Railways (GBR) is set to be the ‘directing mind’ for the rail industry, bringing together the management of the network and the delivery of passenger services into a single public body. A design programme for GBR is underway, which is jointly run by the Department for Transport, DfT Operator and Network Rail. We anticipate that GBR is to be set up over the following 12 months after the Railways Bill receives Royal Assent. The Bill is expected to be introduced later in this session.