Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of families are unable to access family support services in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not currently hold data to determine the proportion of families who are unable to access family support services at constituency level. However, a 2024 survey by UNICEF UK and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children found that one in four families with children under five cannot access local children’s centres or Family Hubs, rising to one in three low-income families.
On 7 July 2025, the government published ‘Giving every child the Best Start in Life’. This outlines our commitment to deliver a new Best Start Family Service to bring together parenting, healthcare and education support services, as well as creating and funding Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority. Local authorities not currently receiving funding for the programme this year will receive a development grant to support their preparations, ahead of national rollout of Best Start Family Hubs from April 2026.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department plans to develop to help support life sciences SMEs to prepare evidence dossiers that will be compatible with Innovator Passport standards to enable rapid access to NHS procurement.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England are committed to reducing procurement friction to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The development of the Innovator Passport will include close engagement with industry, including SMEs, to ensure that the approach taken and the implementation reflects the needs of SMEs, including the provision of clear guidance and ongoing support. To support this, the Department is developing a digital product comparison platform called MedTech Compass which will align with the new National Health Service Innovator Passport and provide improved visibility of the products available from SMEs. The Department is also launching Value Based Procurement Standard Guidance early next year, to provide a consistent and transparent approach to assessing medical technology. The guidance includes a bank of questions and model answers which outline the types of evidence that should be provided by bidders, and followed close engagement with industry to develop.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mechanisms are in place to ensure the alignment of Best Start Family Hubs with the rollout of Neighbourhood Health Services in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will launch a new Best Start in Life campaign in autumn which will guide parents, from pregnancy through their child's journey to starting school and beyond. It will be followed by a new Best Start digital parenting hub. Discussions around design and timelines for launch are ongoing. We are committed to ensuring it meets parents' needs and will share further updates as the work progresses.
We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. Through local commissioning, we will ensure that Neighbourhood Health Services work in partnership with family hubs, schools, nurseries, childminders and colleges, ensuring support for young children’s health and development is available and accessible in communities.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to (a) pilot and (b) test Best Start digital services in (i) Buckinghamshire and (ii) Milton Keynes.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will launch a new Best Start in Life campaign in autumn which will guide parents, from pregnancy through their child's journey to starting school and beyond. It will be followed by a new Best Start digital parenting hub. Discussions around design and timelines for launch are ongoing. We are committed to ensuring it meets parents' needs and will share further updates as the work progresses.
We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. Through local commissioning, we will ensure that Neighbourhood Health Services work in partnership with family hubs, schools, nurseries, childminders and colleges, ensuring support for young children’s health and development is available and accessible in communities.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the resilience of energy storage infrastructure co-located with solar energy developments in Buckinghamshire.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department has made no specific assessment on this. We have outlined our plans for the deployment of battery storage in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and will work with industry, NESO and Ofgem to build on those actions through the Low Carbon Flexibility Roadmap announced in the Clean Power Action Plan. This will include actions to enable the deployment of batteries, on their own and co-located with generation.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what comparative assessment he has made of the average time taken for planning decisions for solar farm applications in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) nationally.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Nationally Significant Infrastructure decisions are taken by this department and the majority of solar farm applications have been taken within the statutory deadline, although extensions are occasionally required. This department does not hold information on the time taken for solar application decisions taken by Local Authorities.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure consistency in his planning decisions on applications for solar farm with proposed generating capacity above 50 MW.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Decisions on consent applications for ‘nationally significant’ projects are made in accordance with legislation set out in the Planning Act 2008, and the relevant National Policy Statement made in accordance with that Act. For solar, this is the Renewable Energy National Policy Statement, which sets out how nationally significant solar projects should be assessed.
For solar farms with a generating capacity below the ‘nationally significant’ threshold,
planning decisions are made by Local Planning Authorities in line with the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The threshold for solar projects is currently 50MW but is increasing to 100MW from 31 December 2025.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has considered the potential merits of mandating the Listings Taskforce to consider sector-specific listing challenges for those priority areas identified in the Industrial Strategy.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is taking forward an ambitious programme of reforms to reinvigorate capital markets and ensure the UK is the best place for all firms to start, scale and list.
As the Chancellor announced at Mansion House on 15 July, the government will establish a Listings Taskforce to support businesses to list and grow in the UK. HM Treasury will work in partnership with the Office for Investment, and industry, to ensure the UK attracts the best and brightest businesses from around the world, and right here in the UK, to list on UK markets.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to align the National Wealth Fund’s investment mandate with emerging international definitions of transition finance.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The National Wealth Fund is represented on the Strategic Steering Group of the Transition Finance Council which is considering how to build the UK’s transition finance market, including guidelines for credible transition finance.
In the Statement of Strategic Priorities issued to the National Wealth Fund on 19 March 2025, the Chancellor set Growth and Clean Energy as key priorities. Blended finance solutions are being explored alongside the NWF’s standard financial instruments to effectively use public capital to crowd in private investment and support the transition to a low carbon economy.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an estimate of the NHS dental workforce that will be required in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in each of the next five years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan and will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the best care for patients, when they need it.