Asked by: Chris Loder (Conservative - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether Natural England has invited the Dorset National Park team to be involved in the further assessment of the Dorset proposal.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Natural England is undertaking a strategic England landscape assessment to identify areas which may have potential for future National Park or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty designation, as well as places for alternative landscape action. This assessment is providing an opportunity to gather a wide range of views including those of local stakeholders, including groups such as the Dorset National Park team. All designation orders made by Natural England are subject to the Secretary of State’s confirmation.
Asked by: Chris Loder (Conservative - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what measures announced in his Department's Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper will specifically benefit West Dorset.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper upholds the Government’s central mission to reverse the geographical inequalities faced by our communities by spreading opportunity more equally across the country and by bringing left behind communities up to the level of more prosperous areas. This means spreading prosperity to all corners of the UK, including West Dorset.
Firstly, Dorset County Council area is included as one of 55 areas identified by the Department for Education as new Education Investment Areas. More broadly, higher educational attainment will be supported by a £560 million investment over three years into a new National Youth Guarantee.
Second, an additional £1.6 billion has been allocated to the British Business Bank’s Regional Investment Funds, which provide debt and equity finance to SMEs. These funds will be specifically directed toward the South West and North East of England, providing significant opportunity for the 97% of businesses within West Devon that are either small or micro-sized.
Third, Dorset will also see 5 of the 11 new hospital schemes in the South West.
Finally, all areas of the UK will receive an allocation from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund via a funding formula rather than a competition. The fund will seek to restore pride in place to communities across the UK, and a new prospectus will be published later in Spring 2022.
Asked by: Chris Loder (Conservative - West Dorset)
Question
To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2022 to Question 101841 on Church of England: Public Relations, how much Lambeth Palace spent on public affairs in the financial year 2020-2021.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
It is not possible to disaggregate expenditure on all public affairs activity from the overall total working costs for the Archbishop of Canterbury in the financial year 2020-21 without incurring disproportionate cost. During this period the public affairs team at Lambeth Palace comprised a social and public affairs adviser, research officer and a PA. The PA role will be reduced to half time in 2022.
Asked by: Chris Loder (Conservative - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the capacity of the booster vaccination programme in West Dorset.
Answered by Maggie Throup
In Dorset, larger vaccination centres extended their opening hours to 8am to 8pm, including at Vespasian House in Dorchester and walk-in appointments have been available.
Asked by: Chris Loder (Conservative - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of unlicensed schools operating in (a) West Dorset constituency, (b) Dorset and (c) England.
Answered by Robin Walker
Any education institution which provides full-time provision to 5 or more pupils of compulsory school age (or one or more pupils of compulsory school age who is ‘looked after’ or who has an education, health and care plan) is required to register with the Secretary of State for Education. It is a criminal offence under section 96 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 to conduct an independent educational institution unless it is registered.
Since those conducting an unregistered school are committing a criminal offence, they do not generally inform the Department for Education about the school’s operation. It is not therefore possible to accurately estimate the number of unregistered schools operating in (a) West Dorset constituency, (b) Dorset, and (c) England.
The Department for Education and Ofsted continue to investigate any institution where intelligence or evidence suggest the operation of an unregistered school. Section 97 of the 2008 Act permits the Chief Inspector to investigate, and conduct no-notice inspections of, institutions believed to be operating in breach of the registration requirement.
Ofsted publishes statistics on the number and outcomes of investigations carried out into unregistered schools. Statistics have been published online for the period 1 January 2016 to 31 August 2021. The statistics up to 31 August 2021 showing the investigations and inspections which have taken place both nationally and in the south-west are in the table attached.
Asked by: Chris Loder (Conservative - West Dorset)
Question
To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, how much the Church of England spent on (a) public affairs and (b) reputation management organisations in financial year 2020-21.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
It is not possible to give a cumulative figure for expenditure on public affairs for the Church of England, as each National Church Institution, diocese and parish is a separate charity and this information is not collected.
At a national level public affairs functions are not limited to a specific branch of the National Church Institutions. The Faith and Public Life team of the Archbishop’s Council (formerly MPA: the Mission and Public Affairs Division) handles much of the Church of England’s national engagement with Government, Parliament and policymakers but also has responsibility for work that is not public affairs. In the transition from MPA to the Faith and Public Life team under the Transforming Effectiveness process, the total number of NCI staff working in those public affairs roles has been cut.
The Archbishops’ Council Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2020 can be seen here: GS 2211 AC_annual_report_and_financial_statements_for_year_ended_31_December_2020.pdf (churchofengland.org)
The Church Commissioners for England Annual Report 2020 can be seen here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/Church%20Commissioners%20Annual%20Report%202020.pdf
Asked by: Chris Loder (Conservative - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of number of NHS dentists required in West Dorset.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As independent providers of NHS services, general dental practices are responsible for the recruitment of staff to meet the conditions of their National Health Service contract. No formal assessment has been made of the adequacy of the number of NHS dentists in West Dorset.
However, NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with Health Education England and Bristol and Peninsula Dental schools as part of the South West Dental Reform programme to address the challenges facing NHS dentistry in the region. The programme will be look at innovative ways to attract dental staff to areas including Dorset.
Asked by: Chris Loder (Conservative - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dentists his Department plans to recruit in (a) England and (b) Dorset over the next 12 months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As independent providers of NHS services, general dental practices are responsible for the recruitment of staff to meet the conditions of their National Health Service contract. No formal assessment has been made of the adequacy of the number of NHS dentists in West Dorset.
However, NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with Health Education England and Bristol and Peninsula Dental schools as part of the South West Dental Reform programme to address the challenges facing NHS dentistry in the region. The programme will be look at innovative ways to attract dental staff to areas including Dorset.
Asked by: Chris Loder (Conservative - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of unpaid carers living in West Dorset.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Department does not collect information about the number of unpaid carers, including those living in West Dorset.
Asked by: Chris Loder (Conservative - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what mechanism Ofcom use to test the accuracy of information reported to them by mobile operators in relation to Universal Service Obligations.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
When determining whether a premises is eligible for the broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO), Ofcom takes into account data from Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) on the provision of a fixed wireless service over their networks. Broader mobile coverage is not taken into account.
As part of Ofcom’s Connected Nations report MNOs are formally asked to provide a list of the premises where they are able to offer a service that meets the broadband USO specification, excluding any premises where they do not have sufficient capacity to serve Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) users. Ofcom’s analysis is based on this list of premises. MNOs are required to provide data that is as accurate as possible, but individual circumstances may mean actual availability is unable to match the prediction.
Ofcom does not include Vodafone and O2 in this analysis. Vodafone has not provided an estimate of premise level coverage which factors in the capacity available for FWA users, and O2 currently does not offer a fixed wireless service.
In terms of accuracy of this data, Ofcom tested whether fixed wireless could deliver decent broadband. It measured and published FWA performance service on the EE 4G network as part of its USO work programme (Annex 1 Page 84).
Where a premises is indicated to have an available fixed wireless service that meets the USO specification but this turns out not to be the case, the customer is eligible to apply for the broadband USO.