Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support schools experiencing structural damage caused by badgers.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has increased investment to improve the condition of school buildings across England to £2.1 billion for the 2025/26 financial year. We have also given a long term commitment to increase annual capital maintenance investment per year through to 2034/35.
In addition to capital funding and programmes, the department provides a range of guidance to help local authorities, academy trusts, governing bodies and other responsible bodies deliver their responsibilities to keep buildings safe, in good working order and compliant with relevant regulations. This includes school estate management standards and good estate management for schools. We also make available comprehensive risk protection for public sector schools as an alternative to commercial insurance through our risk protection assurance scheme.
Any school that suspects structural damage to its buildings, whether caused by badgers or anything else, should seek professional advice and, if the issue results in closure of part or all of the school, should notify the department.
The department expects all responsible bodies to have robust plans in place to manage any asbestos in their school and college buildings effectively, in line with their legal duties, drawing on appropriate professional advice. Asbestos management in schools and other buildings is regulated by the Health and Safety Executive, and the department has published guidance to help school duty holders comply with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
The department provides additional advice and support on a case-by-case basis in situations where serious and urgent safety issues with a building cannot be managed independently by a responsible body.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support schools that have discovered asbestos insulation in their building structures.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has increased investment to improve the condition of school buildings across England to £2.1 billion for the 2025/26 financial year. We have also given a long term commitment to increase annual capital maintenance investment per year through to 2034/35.
In addition to capital funding and programmes, the department provides a range of guidance to help local authorities, academy trusts, governing bodies and other responsible bodies deliver their responsibilities to keep buildings safe, in good working order and compliant with relevant regulations. This includes school estate management standards and good estate management for schools. We also make available comprehensive risk protection for public sector schools as an alternative to commercial insurance through our risk protection assurance scheme.
Any school that suspects structural damage to its buildings, whether caused by badgers or anything else, should seek professional advice and, if the issue results in closure of part or all of the school, should notify the department.
The department expects all responsible bodies to have robust plans in place to manage any asbestos in their school and college buildings effectively, in line with their legal duties, drawing on appropriate professional advice. Asbestos management in schools and other buildings is regulated by the Health and Safety Executive, and the department has published guidance to help school duty holders comply with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
The department provides additional advice and support on a case-by-case basis in situations where serious and urgent safety issues with a building cannot be managed independently by a responsible body.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support schools in rural areas.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government recognises the essential role that small schools play in their communities, many of which are in rural areas. The schools national funding formula (NFF) distributes core funding for mainstream schools. It accounts for the particular challenges faced by small rural schools through the sparsity factor. This recognises that some schools are necessarily small because they are remote and do not have the same opportunities to grow or make efficiency savings as other schools.
In the 2025/26 financial year, primary schools eligible for sparsity funding attract up to £57,400, and all other schools eligible for sparsity funding attract up to £83,400.
Small schools have also benefited from the increase to core factors in the NFF in the 2025/26 financial year, including the NFF lump sum set at £145,100. The lump sum provides a fixed amount of funding that is unrelated to pupil-led factors. It is therefore particularly beneficial to small schools that are more reliant on an element of funding that is not driven by pupil numbers.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the structural issues in The Corbet School in Shropshire.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has increased capital funding to £2.1 billion for school maintenance in the 2025/26 financial year, almost £300 million more than in 2024/25. As part of this, the department announced on 30 May that the £470 million Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) will support 789 essential projects at 656 eligible schools and sixth form colleges.
The appeals round for unsuccessful applicants to CIF 2025/26 opened on 2 June and closed at 12 noon on 23 June. We aim to announce the results of appeals in August, and do not comment on individual cases beforehand in order to be fair to all applicants.
Schools and sixth-form colleges eligible for CIF, including The Corbet School, may apply for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) at any time, where they have evidence of serious and urgent issues that threaten the operation of the school and which cannot be managed independently or wait for a future funding round. Further details on UCS can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund#urgent-capital-support.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hours each ambulance service has spent on hospital handovers in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the aggregate number of handover hours recorded by each ambulance service by year:
Trust | Total handover time in hours | ||
October to March 2023/24 | April to March 2024/25 | April to 25 May 2025/26 | |
East Midlands Ambulance Service | 153,860 | 305,717 | 43,598 |
East of England Ambulance Service | 143,789 | 272,836 | 37,300 |
Isle of Wight Ambulance Service | 2,672 | 6,692 | 819 |
London Ambulance Service | 129,007 | 274,021 | 47,281 |
North East Ambulance Service | 39,280 | 83,995 | 13,293 |
North West Ambulance Service | 144,460 | 336,579 | 49,600 |
South Central Ambulance Service | 82,926 | 143,509 | 18,152 |
South East Coast Ambulance Service | 67,139 | 132,974 | 21,046 |
South Western Ambulance Service | 267,813 | 436,019 | 63,329 |
West Midlands Ambulance Service | 225,806 | 506,414 | 87,221 |
Yorkshire Ambulance Service | 123,836 | 245,675 | 31,920 |
Source: the Ambulance Quality Indicators dataset, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/
Note: Data is unavailable prior to October 2023.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will approve The Corbet School’s appeal against the rejection of its 2025-26 Condition Improvement Fund bids.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has increased capital funding to £2.1 billion for school maintenance in the 2025/26 financial year, almost £300 million more than in 2024/25. As part of this, the department announced on 30 May that the £470 million Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) will support 789 essential projects at 656 eligible schools and sixth form colleges.
The appeals round for unsuccessful applicants to CIF 2025/26 opened on 2 June and closed at 12 noon on 23 June. We aim to announce the results of appeals in August, and do not comment on individual cases beforehand in order to be fair to all applicants.
Schools and sixth-form colleges eligible for CIF, including The Corbet School, may apply for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) at any time, where they have evidence of serious and urgent issues that threaten the operation of the school and which cannot be managed independently or wait for a future funding round. Further details on UCS can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund#urgent-capital-support.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 reduce ambulance handover delays at hospitals in Shropshire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the pressures on the National Health Service and the impact this is having on ambulance response times, including in Shropshire.
We are determined to turn things around, and our 10-Year Health Plan will be published in the summer, setting out major NHS reforms to move healthcare from the hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention.
The Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, published on 6 June 2025, requires health systems to focus on those areas that are likely to have the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care services this year. The plan includes actions that will reduce ambulance handovers to 45 minutes, helping to get 550,000 more ambulances back on the road. The plan is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 potential impact of ambulance handover times on the number of paramedics employed by West Midlands Ambulance Service.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made for West Midlands Ambulance Service Trust. It is for local ambulance trusts and their commissioners to take decisions on staff resourcing to meet local patient demand.
However, we recognise the impact that handover delays have on ambulance resourcing, which is why the Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, published on 6 June 2025, sets out specific actions to tackle ambulance handover delays by meeting the maximum 45-minute ambulance handover time standard. This will help to get 550,000 more ambulances back on the road for patients. The plan is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Local Nature Recovery Strategy mapping on future (a) funding opportunities, (b) land development and (c) land use planning for farmers.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) are designed to support more strategic decision-making and investment in nature recovery. They do this by agreeing priorities for nature recovery and mapping where habitat creation or improvement could contribute most towards those.
Farmers and land managers are encouraged to deliver the actions proposed on their land but are not required to do so. Developers are incentivised to deliver actions proposed in LNRSs through an uplift in the biodiversity net gain calculation. LNRSs will also provide information that can help farmers and land managers make stronger bids for funding through schemes such as Landscape Recovery, and to help them make choices about how they manage their land. Government is continuing to explore how delivery of LNRS actions might be further incentivised so that environmental targets can be met more cost effectively.
LNRSs are also supporting nature recovery to be better reflected in the planning system and in development. Planning practice guidance was published in February 2025 which explains the role of LNRSs in helping planning authorities to conserve and enhance the natural environment.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the NHS of patient transfers from ambulance to A&E taking longer than 15 minutes in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No estimate is currently planned. The Government recognises the pressures on the National Health Service and the impact this is having on ambulance response times, including in Shropshire.
We are determined to turn things around, and our 10-Year Health Plan will be published in the summer, setting out major NHS reforms to move healthcare from the hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention.
The NHS Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, published on 6 June 2025, requires health systems to focus on those areas that are likely to have the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care services this year. The plan includes actions that will reduce category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes and reduce ambulance handovers to 45 minutes, helping to get 550,000 more ambulances back on the road.