Written questions by Ferguson.

What recent steps she has taken to help reduce waiting lists for Approved Driving Instructor exams; and what recent progress her Department has made in reducing those backlogs.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is seeing an increased demand for Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) tests for those wishing to qualify as driving instructors. Since 2018-19, DVSA has seen a 152% increase in the number of those applying to start the ADI qualification process. This number continues to rise significantly and has increased to over 19,000 in 2024-25, a 17% increase compared to 2023-24DVSA recommends trainee ADIs use the ‘Book to Hold’ service. All tests must be paid for at the time of booking, including where tests are booked to ‘hold’. This gives DVSA an accurate picture of where demand is, and it can then ensure that it deploys its examiner resources in the right areas. Once ADI examiner programmes have been finalised, the DVSA will contact those on the hold list in the order they booked their test to hold to arrange a test.DVSA aims to train four more ADI examiners by the end of 2025. The agency has an ongoing national campaign to recruit more ADI examiners. This will help to increase the number of available ADI tests.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the UK-India free trade agreement on Scotland.

Our trade deal with India is great news for Scotland, increasing exports, growing our economy and securing jobs. Scottish products will benefit from significant tariff reductions. That includes whisky, where the current 150% tariff will be halved from day one, and reaching just 40% after 10 years. The Scotch Whisky Association has described this as ‘a once in a generation deal and a landmark moment for Scotch Whisky’. Other Scottish exports including chocolate, biscuits and salmon will reduce from a 33% tariff to 0%. And did the SNP back this transformation deal for Scotland? Of course not. They didn't back the US or EU deals either.

Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of workplace safeguarding rights for volunteers in the third sector.

Volunteers serve at the heart of our communities nationwide, dedicating their time to create positive change and enhance the lives of those around them. The Government is committed to supporting volunteering, which is critical to a vibrant, connected and resilient civil society.We monitor the rights and responsibilities placed on volunteers to ensure they are proportionate. These rights and responsibilities reflect that volunteers are not contracted employees, however sometimes do act on behalf of organisations. Legislation for paid employees or workers including the Equality Act 2010 and the Employment Rights Act 1996, does not apply to volunteers. Volunteers do have other protections, including through the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

What estimate she has made of the (a) total cost to the public purse for, (b) proportion of her Department’s total expenditure that was spent on and (c) spend per head for transport infrastructure in (a) the North East and (b) England the last 15 years.

Figures on public sector expenditure at national and regional levels are published as part of HM Treasury’s Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) statistics (Available here for current and previous publications: ‌https:/‌‌/​‌‌‌www.gov.‌uk/​‌‌‌‌‌government/collections/‌‌​country-and-regional-‌analysis). In the most recent publication, figures are provided from 2019/20 to 2023/24.In 2023/24, capital expenditure from the Department for Transport and its partner bodies was £489m in the North East of England and £17,298m in England. Capital expenditure in the North East of England was 1.6% as a proportion of total Department for Transport expenditure. Capital expenditure in England was 57.1% as a proportion of total Department for Transport expenditure.Department for Transport Expenditure by Selected Regions, 2023/24 prices, £m (2019/20 to 2023/24)Expenditure2019/202020/212021/222022/232023/24Total Expenditure25,01035,11332,39330,03930,306Capital Expenditure in North East England336480511549489As a Proportion of Total Expenditure1.3%1.4%1.6%1.8%1.6%Capital Expenditure in England13,18614,48516,67516,95917,298As a Proportion of Total Expenditure52.7%41.3%51.5%56.5%57.1% Applying regional population estimates from the ONS to HMT’s Country and Regional Analysis data allows for a view of per capita spend by region. In 2023/24, capital expenditure per capita from the Department for Transport was £180 in the North East of England and £300 in England.Department for Transport Capital Expenditure by Selected Regions per capita, 2023/24 prices, £ (2019/20 to 2023/24)Region2019/202020/212021/222022/232023/24North East England127182193205180England234257295297300 The Government remains committed to driving prosperity across the United Kingdom, ensuring that growth is felt at both a regional and national level.

What comparative estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of spending on road infrastructure in (a) the North East and (b) England over the last 15 years by (i) percentage of total Departmental spend and (ii) per head.

Figures on public sector expenditure at national and regional levels are published as part of HM Treasury’s Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) statistics (available here for current and previous publications: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/country-and-regional-analysis). In the most recent publication, figures are provided from 2019/20 to 2023/24.The figures included below are in 2023/24 prices.In 2023/24, capital expenditure for the Department of Transport and its partner bodies on national and local roads was £284m in the North East of England and £3,754m in England. Capital expenditure on national and local roads in the North East of England was 0.94% of total Department for Transport expenditure. Capital expenditure on national and local roads in England was 12.39% of total Department for Transport expenditure.Department for Transport Expenditure and Capital Expenditure on national and local roads by Selected Regions, 2023/24 prices, £m (2019/20 to 2023/24)Expenditure2019/202020/212021/222022/232023/24Total DfT Expenditure25,01035,11332,39330,03930,306Capital Expenditure in North East England: national roads and local roads193315301369284As a Proportion of Total DfT Expenditure0.77%0.90%0.93%1.23%0.94%Capital Expenditure in England: national roads and local roads4,0494,1763,5633,6413,754As a Proportion of Total DfT Expenditure16.19%11.89%11.00%12.12%12.39% Applying regional population estimates from the ONS to HMT’s Country and Regional Analysis data allows for a view of per capita spend by region. In 2023/24, capital expenditure per capita on national and local roads was £105 in the North East of England and £65 in England.Department for Transport Capital Expenditure on national roads and local roads by Selected Regions £ per capita, 2023/24 prices, (2019/20 to 2023/24)Region2019/202020/212021/222022/232023/24North East England73119114138105England7274636465 The Government remains committed to driving prosperity across the United Kingdom, ensuring that growth is felt at both a regional and national level.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support democracy in Georgia.

On 16 December I spoke with Georgian Dream's Foreign Minister, Maka Bochorishvili, about recent events in Georgia, and about Georgia's negative democratic trajectory. I stressed that police violence targeting peaceful demonstrators, opposition figures and journalists was unacceptable. On 19 December, the UK implemented sanctions against the Minister and Deputy Minister of Internal affairs and three police officials responsible for these violent actions. We have also suspended all programme support to the Georgian government, restricted defence cooperation, and limited engagement with Georgian Dream representatives. We continue to call on Georgia to realign itself with European values.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the NHS supply of Futibatinib.

NHS England funds the use of licensed medicines that have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Futibatinib is licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and has been recommended by the ...

What funding is available for patients to receive the immunotherapy drug Futibatinib through the NHS; and what criteria his Department uses to determine whether a patient is eligible for any fundin

NHS England funds the use of licensed medicines that have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Futibatinib is licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and has been recommended by the ...

What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of qualified teacher status on the quality of teaching.

Evidence shows that high quality teaching is the most important in-school factor for improving the outcomes of children, which is why qualified teacher status (QTS) is so important. The government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and ...

What the average life expectancy is in (a) Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency and (b) each ward of that constituency.

Life expectancy estimates for Parliamentary constituencies are not available. Life expectancy estimates for local authorities in England are produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The latest available figures from the ONS are for the three-...

How many primary school children are (a) eligible for and (b) registered to receive free school meals in Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency.

The most recently published figures on free school meals (FSM) eligibility are from the January 2024 school census, published in June 2024 here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.Th...

How many kinship carers are registered in Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency; and if she will make an estimate of the average number of kinship carers registered per constituency.

The information is not available as requested. The department does not collect information on the number of kinship carers or the average number of registrations per constituency. We do collect information on the numbers of foster care placements with fam...

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his (a) French and (b) Mozambique counterpart on the alleged massacre of civilians by Mozambican military personnel at the TotalEne

Our High Commissioner in Mozambique has raised the alleged massacre of civilians at the TotalEnergies plant in 2021 with representatives of the Government of Mozambique and local counterparts, alongside France and the US. The UK is offering continued supp...

How much has been (a) budgeted and (b) spent by the Care Quality Commission on the (i) design, (ii) development and (iii) rollout of its new regulatory platform.

The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) budget for its new regulatory platform was £88.3 million. The actual cost of the regulatory platform is £92.4 million, including the utilisation of contingency, which isn’t accounted for in the budget, and so is the rea...

What steps her Department takes to determine the level of funding required to facilitate an adequate number of crown court sitting days in each financial year.

Every year, the Government and the Judiciary agree a number of sitting days and an overall budget in what is known as the Concordat process.In June, the Judiciary reached an agreement with the former Lord Chancellor to sit 106,000 days in the Crown Court ...

Communities and Local Government, whether it is her policy that developers are responsible for financing (a) aluminium composite material assessments and (b) subsequent fire safety remedial modifications other th

The department collects data on the number of residential buildings over 18 metres in height in England with unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding. In the Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency, fewer than 10 such buildings have been ide...

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that leaseholders do not have to fund remedial building modifications associated with aluminium composite material cladding.

The department collects data on the number of residential buildings over 18 metres in height in England with unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding. In the Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency, fewer than 10 such buildings have been ide...

Communities and Local Government, what data her Department holds on the number of buildings over (a) 11 and (b) 18 metres in Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency that have aluminium composite material clad

The department collects data on the number of residential buildings over 18 metres in height in England with unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding. In the Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency, fewer than 10 such buildings have been ide...

How many people have been waiting to access Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services support in Gateshead for more than six months.

The following table shows the number of referrals that subsequently received a first contact over six months from the referral request date from 2019/20 to 2023/24, and the number of referrals still waiting for a contact having waited at least six months, regardless of when the referral started, as of the end of March 2024, for those aged zero to 17 years old:Reporting PeriodReferrals who received first contact over six months from the referral request dateReferrals still waiting for a contact having waited at least six months2019/20852020/21150 2021/22570 2022/23145 2023/24601,745Source: Mental Health Dataset.As the definition of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in the dataset is not clear cut, and the methodology for deriving CAMHS changes over time, the use of age at referral is the most reliable way of defining those referred to CAMHS.The number provided includes all new referrals in each year where the person was a resident of the local authority of Gateshead. In addition, the number of referrals which have had a contact is included to provide context around the numbers of referrals which have been received and subsequently had a care contact.For some referrals it may not be expected that a contact would be recorded. For example, in some circumstances, referrals are received by triage teams. These referrals are subsequently closed without a contact, with a new referral opened once triaged.In some scenarios, referral IDs are being re-used. For the purposes of this analysis, the care contact must take place within the same referral for the same person, as such a small number of contacts may not be included within a specific referral, but this is a data quality issue.

How many referrals have been accepted by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Gateshead in each of the last five years.

The following table shows the number of referrals for those children aged between 0 and 17 years old at the time of referral to mental health services in Gateshead local authority between 2019/20 and 2023/24:Reporting PeriodNumber of new referralsNumber of new referrals that received a first contact (contact can occur at any point within the referral)2019/202,4151,7452020/212,4201,7552021/224,1302,6952022/234,1502,2602023/246,9402,225Source: Mental Health Dataset, NHS England Notes:The definition of by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the dataset is not clear cut and also the methodology for deriving CAMHS changes over time. As such, the use of age at referral is the most reliable way of defining those referred to CAMHS.The number provided includes all new referrals in each year where the person was a resident of the local authority of Gateshead. In addition, the number of referrals which have had a contact is included to provide context around the numbers of referrals which have been received and subsequently had a care contact.For some referrals it may not be expected that a contact would be recorded. For example, in some circumstances, referrals are received by triage teams. These referrals are subsequently closed without a contact with a new referral opened once triaged.In some scenarios, referral IDs are being re-used. For the purposes of this analysis, the care contact must take place within the same referral for the same person, as such a small number of contacts may not be included within a specific referral but this is a data quality issue.