The Government recognises the important role that small high street retailers play in supporting local economies and communities, including in Royal Sutton Coldfield.

We have introduced permanently lower business rates multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties, benefiting more than 750,000 premises.

Small businesses can access support through the Business Growth Service, Growth Hubs, the British Business Bank's Business Finance Hub, the Growth Guarantee Scheme, the Business Support Service and the Business Finance Finder.

More broadly, the Government remains committed to rejuvenating high streets and will bring forward a new High Streets Strategy to support businesses, local growth and thriving town centres.

Under the Environment Act 1995, local authorities are responsible for addressing areas where air quality objectives are exceeded and developing local action plans.

There are no published official statistics that specifically measures the number of entry level vacancies at the local level.

With around one million young people not in education, employment and training, this Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The Government is investing an additional £2.5 billion by 2029 into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy.

This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, including through expanded network of Youth Hubs, earlier intensive support in Jobs Centres through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, additional work experience and training opportunities, a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for employers, and a fully funded six month job for long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds.

We also recognise the crisis of participation that Alan Milburn has so clearly laid out in his interim report. We will use this interim report to continue to build our reforms and look forward to final recommendations in the Autumn.

The Government's Warm Homes Plan, published earlier this year, represents the biggest public investment in home upgrades in British history, rolling out cost-effective, clean energy technologies that reduce bills including solar, batteries, and heat pumps.

Low-income households can access fully-funded grant support through the Warm Homes: Local Grant, delivered through local authorities, and the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund, delivered through social housing providers.

Additionally, universal grants of up to £9,000 are available for heat pump installations through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and the Warm Homes Plan also committed to brand-new scheme offering low interest, government-backed consumer loans supported with £2 billion of public funding, providing further help with upfront costs.

Legal aid is a vital part of the justice system and underpins our plans to build a justice system that works fairly for all parties.

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) continuously assesses the available supply of legal aid services throughout England and Wales across all categories of law. Details about volumes of contracted legal aid providers are published in the LAA’s official statistics (Tables 9.1–9.9) and data visualisation tools (procurement area maps). These figures help the LAA monitor the availability of services. The LAA takes operational action, where it can, to respond to market pressures that may arise and works closely with the Ministry of Justice on policy solutions concerning the supply of legal aid.

For civil contracts, the LAA commissions legal aid services across larger geographic areas called procurement areas, rather than by local authority or parliamentary constituency. The relevant procurement area serving the Sutton Coldfield constituency varies depending on the type of civil law.

Constituents in Sutton Coldfield can access face to face services across all civil categories of law for which legal aid is available. All procurement areas serving Sutton Coldfield exceed the minimum required number of legal aid providers.

In addition to face-to-face services, constituents in Sutton Coldfield can access remote services provided via Civil Legal Advice (Housing, Debt, Discrimination and Education) and the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service where they are at risk of losing their home.

Criminal legal aid services are placed nationally although duty schemes operate locally. The LAA is satisfied that all police station and court slots are covered for each duty scheme in England and Wales, including those serving Sutton Coldfield. Provision under the duty schemes is demand led and so there may be variations in numbers across each local rota.

The LAA is satisfied there is adequate access to legal aid services in Sutton Coldfield.

Local councils are responsible for keeping their public land clear of litter and refuse and they have been given enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping. This Government continues to work with partners to strengthen the national response to waste crime through measures set out in the Waste Crime Action Plan.

The Government is committed to ensuring at least 99% of UK homes and businesses receive gigabit broadband coverage by 2032.

As of January 2026, Ofcom reports 80% of commercial premises in the Sutton Coldfield constituency already have access to a gigabit-capable connection. This is higher than the national average of 71%.

As part of Project Gigabit, the Government’s programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to UK homes and businesses that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans, the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme provides a subsidy of up to £4,500 for residents and businesses towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband via local community broadband projects.

Approximately 1,640 premises in the Sutton Coldfield constituency are included in voucher projects and to date, 170 of these premises have already received a gigabit-capable connection due to public subsidy.

In Royal Sutton Coldfield, and across the country, too many people have been waiting too long to receive support for their mental health needs, and we are determined to make mental health services more accessible for everyone who needs them.

As well as investing a record £16.1 billion into mental health services this year, we have recruited thousands more mental health workers since the Government came into office, and last month, we announced the rollout of 159 new National Health Service mental health facilities across England, backed by £343 million in funding. Later this year, our Mental Health Strategy will outline how we plan to future-proof the mental health system, including responding earlier and reducing waiting times for support.

The level of shop theft remains unacceptable. But our action to restore neighbourhood policing is making a difference – including delivering more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles since March 2025.There are signs the tide is turning, with a small fall in shop theft offences by 1% in the year ending December 2025 compared with the previous year. This is compared with increases of nearly 30% in the period before the election.

There is still more to do. That is why we are removing the £200 threshold for shop theft and commencing the new offence of assaulting a retail worker as soon as possible.

We are also equipping the police to fight the organised crime gangs that drive shop theft across the country. Our £5m investment in the specialist OPAL policing unit is boosting intelligence-led policing to identify offenders, disrupt the tactics used to target shops, and bring more criminals to justice.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of notifiable offences, including shoplifting offences, recorded by the police in England and Wales, at the Police Force Area level and the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) Area level. This information is published on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

The Home Office does not publish information at the Parliamentary Constituency level.

With over one million young people not in education, employment and training, this Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The Government is investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy.

This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, including through expanded network of Youth Hubs, earlier intensive support in Job Centres through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, additional work experience and training opportunities, a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for employers, and a fully funded six month job for long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds.

We also recognise the crisis of participation that Alan Milburn has so clearly laid out in his interim report. We will use this interim report to continue to build our reforms and look forward to final recommendations in the Autumn.

In total, over the next three years almost one million young people on Universal Credit and looking for work in Great Britain will benefit from the Youth Guarantee Gateway receiving a dedicated work support session, followed by four additional weeks of intensive support.

The Department does not forecast demand at a constituency level. All young people in Royal Sutton Coldfield who are eligible will benefit from the Youth Guarantee Gateway.

The latest January 2026 statistics on funded early education and childcare were published on 2 July and can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/funded-early-education-and-childcare/2026.

These statistics show an estimated 85% of eligible children aged 9 months to 4 years were registered for the working parent entitlement. However, as stated on the methodology page, it is not possible to calculate sub-national estimates for this measure due to data/sample size limitations.

This Government has supported the West Midlands Combined Authority to develop the West Midlands Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), which covers Royal Sutton Coldfield. This brought local stakeholders together to agree priorities to help nature recover and support locally and nationally important species. The West Midlands LNRS will help groups and individuals target action with the most impact for biodiversity.

Discussions with Birmingham City Council regarding agri-environment schemes and developer-funded support to improve Sutton Park’s facilities and management, are helping restore biodiversity while managing increased recreational pressure from new housing developments.

The department recognises the incredible work and commitment of emergency and short-term foster carers in providing stability and support for children.

Foster carers play an essential role in children’s lives, and the department remains committed to strengthening support for them.

To achieve this, the department has launched a consultation on updated national standards and guidance for fostering. These standards apply across all fostering arrangements, including emergency, short-term, long-term, short-break and parent-and-child placements.

The standards set clearer expectations for fostering services to provide foster carers with high-quality training, support, multidisciplinary expertise and early intervention, helping to prevent placement breakdown and improve carer retention. They reinforce these expectations for short-break care, emphasising effective information-sharing and supporting relationships between carers, children and families to provide continuity across repeated stays.

Alongside this, the department is investing in the Mockingbird Family Model to expand access to enhanced support and peer networks for foster carers.

We want people in all corners and nations of the UK to feel the benefits of economic growth so we can raise living standards and ensure opportunities are felt everywhere. We have the right economic plan to do exactly that, particularly through devolution, investment and reform.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act has put Mayoral Strategic Authorities on a statutory footing for the first time, cementing a base of devolved powers through the devolution framework. Royal Sutton Coldfield falls within West Midlands Combined Authority, which benefits from government funding. WMCA will receive at least £2.5 billion in funding for 26-27 to 29-30 through their integrated settlement.

They will also receive investment through the Transport for City Regions Fund, improving transport to the city hubs, investment in HS2, the £3 bus fare cap and investment from the British Business Bank, all of which will support growth in the area.

Royal Sutton Coldfield will also benefit from the Pride in Place programme, which will provide up to £20m over 10 years. The fund will target investment to communities that need it most, addressing the visible decline on high streets and the wider public realm. Local areas will be able to decide where to invest, including things like youth clubs, libraries, community grocers, cultural venues, and health and wellbeing services.

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, including older people, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities to stay fit and healthy.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through DCMS’s Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. Their ten-year Uniting the Movement strategy reinforces their commitment to increasing participation in sport and physical activity for those from under-represented groups, including older people.

Sport England also provides support for grassroots sport through the Movement Fund, which offers crowdfunding pledges, grants and resources to improve physical activity opportunities for the people and communities who need it the most, including older people.

As of 1 April 2026, there were 102 public EV chargers in Sutton Coldfield. To build on this, the West Midlands Combined Authority has received over £18 million to deliver additional local charging infrastructure through the Local EV Infrastructure Fund.