Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support charities who help (a) blind and (b) visually-impaired people.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Health and Wellbeing Alliance is the mechanism through which the Department, NHS England, and the UK Health Security Agency work together with voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector organisations to drive the transformation of the health and care systems, promote equality, address health inequalities, and help people, families, and communities to achieve and maintain wellbeing.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve water quality at beaches in North Cornwall constituency.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency (EA) has recruited two new Water Industry Regulation teams who are increasing regulation of water company sites in Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, undertaking more compliance checks (including unannounced inspections), translating storm overflow monitoring data into regulatory intelligence, and increasing enforcement actions for pollution incidents under the Enforcement and Sanctions policy. Inspection locations are prioritised according to environmental sensitivity, such as sites impacting bathing waters, and where EDM data is showing spills are higher than they should be. The EA increased inspections in 2024-25 and will more than double these in 2025-2026. This includes water company assets in North Cornwall constituency. It will also attend more incidents.

The EA has numerous charges relating to sewage discharges onto Cornish beaches waiting to come to court. Th EA’s duty is to hold those suspected of harming the environment to account so it will proceed with legal action.

The EA has also increased the number of farm inspections they are able to deliver. In Devon and Cornwall, dedicated farm inspection officers are currently inspecting farms and undertaking enforcement action in the highest priority catchments, including the Camel.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislation to force water companies to become public benefit corporations.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, will recommend reforms to reset the water sector regulatory system and is expected to form the largest review of the industry since privatisation. It is considering a wide range of areas, including different water company ownership models, as set out in the Commission’s Call for Evidence. The Commission is expected to publish its recommendations later in the summer.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of GP surgeries running above capacity on the delivery of health services.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The 2023 GP Patient Survey showed that of the patients who could not get an appointment at their general practice, over one in 10 went to accident and emergency, which has worse outcomes for patients and is more expensive for the taxpayer. To address this, we are seeking to increase capacity and appointment availability in general practice, improving access for patients. For example, we have recruited over 1,500 newly qualified general practitioners through an £82 million investment in the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of reduced bus service (a) frequency and (b) routes on people travelling to healthcare appointments in (i) North Cornwall and (ii) other rural areas.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The government knows that a modern public transport network is vital to keeping communities connected, and ensuring people can get to education and work, including healthcare workers.

The government believes that local transport authorities, working with bus operators, are best placed to determine and design local bus networks in their area. The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December 2024 to put the power over local bus services back into the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of communities that rely on them.

In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country, of which Cornwall Council has been allocated £10.59 million. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce improvements to bus services and infrastructure to best meet the needs of passengers in their local area.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made a comparative assessment of the potential impact of the Extended Producer Responsibility fees for (a) glass and (b) plastic packaging on small producers of premium products.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme on packaging producers as a whole. This impact assessment did not split the assessment by sector.

The Government recognises the importance of protecting small producers from direct cost obligations. This is why the regulations include a de-minimis threshold of £2 million turnover and 50 tonnes which exempts approximately 70% of the producers supplying packaging in the UK from paying scheme fees.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the National Planning Policy Framework to ensure that (a) schools, (b) hospitals, (c) sewage capacity and (d) other key infrastructure are in place before housing development works are started.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 26106 on 5 February 2025.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to monitor the impact of the cyber attack on the Legal Aid Agency on legal aid applicants; and steps he is taking to compensate any lost incurred by legal aid applicants following the cyber attack.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

To ensure the best chance of reaching as many potentially impacted individuals as possible the Ministry of Justice published a notice as swiftly as possible at 08:15 on 19 May on GOV.UK

The statement provides information about the cyber attack and directs concerned members of the public to the National Cyber Security Centre’s webpage, which contains information on how to protect yourself from the impact of a data breach.

The cyber-attack is subject to an ongoing investigation, and we are working closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre. Appropriate actions have been taken to mitigate the impact of the attack, including taking digital services offline. Contingency measures have been put in place to ensure those most in need of legal support and advice can continue to access the help they need during this time. This is an evolving situation, and we continue to update legal providers and users as it develops. To ensure that legal aid providers have the latest position with respect to legal aid applications and billing contingencies, and that affected parties can access the latest developments on the incident, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has created a dedicated space with contingencies and useful resources on GOV.UK.

This data breach is the result of heinous criminal activity but it was enabled by the fragility of the LAA’s IT systems as a result of the long years of neglect and mismanagement of the justice system under the last Conservative Government. Upon taking office, I was shocked to see how fragile our legal aid systems were. They knew about the vulnerabilities of the Legal Aid Agency digital systems, but did not act. By contrast, since taking office, this Government has prioritised work to reverse the damage of over a decade of under-investment. That includes the allocation of over £20 million in extra funding this year to stabilise and transform the Legal Aid Agency digital services. This investment will make the system more robust and resilient in the face of similar cyber attacks in future.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to inform applicants for Legal Aid that their personal data was compromised in the cyber attack on the Legal Aid Agency on 23 April 2025.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

To ensure the best chance of reaching as many potentially impacted individuals as possible the Ministry of Justice published a notice as swiftly as possible at 08:15 on 19 May on GOV.UK

The statement provides information about the cyber attack and directs concerned members of the public to the National Cyber Security Centre’s webpage, which contains information on how to protect yourself from the impact of a data breach.

The cyber-attack is subject to an ongoing investigation, and we are working closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre. Appropriate actions have been taken to mitigate the impact of the attack, including taking digital services offline. Contingency measures have been put in place to ensure those most in need of legal support and advice can continue to access the help they need during this time. This is an evolving situation, and we continue to update legal providers and users as it develops. To ensure that legal aid providers have the latest position with respect to legal aid applications and billing contingencies, and that affected parties can access the latest developments on the incident, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has created a dedicated space with contingencies and useful resources on GOV.UK.

This data breach is the result of heinous criminal activity but it was enabled by the fragility of the LAA’s IT systems as a result of the long years of neglect and mismanagement of the justice system under the last Conservative Government. Upon taking office, I was shocked to see how fragile our legal aid systems were. They knew about the vulnerabilities of the Legal Aid Agency digital systems, but did not act. By contrast, since taking office, this Government has prioritised work to reverse the damage of over a decade of under-investment. That includes the allocation of over £20 million in extra funding this year to stabilise and transform the Legal Aid Agency digital services. This investment will make the system more robust and resilient in the face of similar cyber attacks in future.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential barriers to access to Primary Healthcare in rural areas.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We acknowledge the urgent challenge of ensuring that rural areas have the resources needed to continue serving their patients. To address this, we are increasing capacity in general practices by recruiting more general practitioners (GPs), ensuring the necessary workforce is in place to provide integrated, patient-centred services.

We have invested £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme which has enabled the recruitment of over 1,500 recently qualified GPs across England since October 2024. This will increase the number of available appointments, secure the future pipeline of GPs, and alleviate the pressure on those currently working in the system.

We have also delivered the biggest boost to GP funding in years, an £889 million uplift, with GPs now receiving a growing share of National Health Service resources. The new 2025/26 GP Contract includes key reforms to improve access to GPs, including making sure patients can request appointments online throughout core hours.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to increase the provision of youth clubs in (a) North Cornwall constituency and (b) rural areas.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we remain committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential regardless of where they grow up.

In Cornwall, over £1.2 million was invested under the Youth Investment Fund, with Yes KBSK dance group in Bodmin receiving a £400,000 grant to provide them with a permanent home called "the Space". The group offers sessions in the performing arts and other youth work, focusing on helping disadvantaged families.

Our engagement for the National Youth Survey has proactively involved young people from rural areas, as well as other demographics. In order to reach young people in all areas of the country, we developed a communications campaign and worked with a variety of stakeholders who support young people to disseminate information. We developed a toolkit for organisations to run their own consultation workshops with young people to feed in their views. In addition to this, we have run a wide-ranging survey, workshops, focus groups and ‘hacks’ to give young people the opportunity to develop solutions.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle hate crime in rural areas.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government is determined to tackle all forms of hate crime, wherever in the country it occurs, and whoever is responsible for committing it.

There is no excuse for violence or abuse driven by hatred and discrimination, and we support the police in taking strong action against those crimes.

We currently fund an online reporting portal to ensure victims do not have to visit a police station to report any hate crime they experience, and we also fund a National Hub which provides expert advice to police forces across the country on what they can do to tackle the increasing levels of online hate crime.

Support for farmers

UK Government recognition of the state of Palestine

Lionesses and Welsh women’s national team at the UEFA Women’s European Championship in Switzerland

Reform of monetary limits on charity lotteries

Gaza (No. 2)

Progress in UK-EU relations

Postural Tachycardia Syndrome

World Bee Day (No. 2)

Political parties at Pride

Jewish LGBTQ+ groups at Pride

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This inquiry will examine the drivers of extremism in the UK, with a focus on emerging trends of young people being drawn into extremism, violence and crime through online radicalisation. It will assess whether the Government’s approach is keeping pace with the evolving threat and evaluate the effectiveness of measures such as Prevent in combatting new forms of extremism.

Submit Evidence (by 21 Aug 2025)

Digital ID can refer to many different aspects of a person’s identity which can be recorded and stored digitally, including names and demographic information, digital versions of government-issued documents such as visas, or even biometric information like a fingerprint or face scan.