Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to improve access to reproductive health in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Improving access to reproductive health services in Eastbourne and East Sussex is a matter for local determination.

The Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception advice, through the Public Health Grant. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, and to commission the blend of service access that best suits their population.

In addition, under the GP Contract, contraceptive services are an essential service that practices must provide, or arrange for the provision of, to their patients. Practices are paid for providing essential services via the global sum, which is a capitated payment based on practice patient list size, weighted to account for estimated patient workload and unavoidable costs.

Contraception is also available direct from pharmacies, both prescribed and over the counter, as well as online and through other health care services.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many employers in Eastbourne accessed apprenticeship levy funds in the last financial year.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

120 employers in Eastbourne accessed funding for apprenticeships in the 2024/25 financial year to support new apprenticeship starts or those continuing their apprenticeships from previous years. This figure includes levy-paying employers as well as non-levy paying employers, who are likely to be small and medium-sized employers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of young people not in employment, education or training in Eastbourne constituency.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government is determined to break down barriers to opportunity for all our young people and transform their life chances, including those in Eastbourne.

Young people are entitled to participate in education and training up to age 18. Local authorities have statutory duties to support young people into education and training, including identifying and helping those who are currently not in education, employment or training (NEET). The department has published guidance to help local authorities identify young people at an increased risk of becoming NEET, based on characteristics such as a learning difficulty or disability, or poor school attendance, so they can be given extra support.

The government will establish a Youth Guarantee of support to access training, an apprenticeship or help to find work for all 18 to 21-year-olds to prevent them becoming excluded from the world of work at a young age. £45 million has been allocated to eight Mayoral Strategic Authority Trailblazers to develop the Youth Guarantee. The department will work with local areas on future expansion.

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 help grow the tourism industry in Eastbourne.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is implementing the most significant overhaul of regional destination management in a generation, creating a portfolio of nationally supported, strategic and high-performing Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) in partnership with VisitEngland. These LVEPs will provide strong local leadership and governance in tourism destinations all over the country, including in rural and coastal areas.

The East Sussex, Brighton & Hove and West Sussex LVEP are included in this partnership, and works collaboratively with both local authority and private sector partners to communicate investment opportunities and to showcase Eastbourne’s strengths as a place to live, work, study and invest in, as well as a premier destination for visitors.

DCMS continues to work with VisitBritain/VisitEngland to champion visits to the British countryside to a worldwide audience. VisitBritain’s new GREAT-funded international marketing campaign, ‘Starring GREAT Britain’, uses the hook of Britain’s rich film and television history to encourage more international visitors to explore across Britain, including many rural destinations.

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 support seaside tourism in Eastbourne constituency.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

With coastal and countryside destinations making up 25% of domestic day trips and 31% of domestic overnight stays in 2023, DCMS recognises tourism as a key sector with the potential to contribute strongly to economic growth and pride in place of an area.

DCMS and VisitEngland have transformed England’s visitor economy landscape through a new and robust structure of Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) – sharing priorities, resources and targets to help attract more visitors who stay for longer. Over 40 LVEPs have now been accredited, including the East Sussex, Brighton & Hove and West Sussex LVEP, aiming to drive investment and spend across regions and support the government's devolution agenda.

VisitBritain’s GREAT-funded international marketing campaign launched at the beginning of this year. ‘Starring GREAT Britain’ has used the hook of Britain’s rich film and television history to encourage more international visitors to explore across Britain, including many rural and coastal destinations.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to provide guidance to schools on when the roll out free breakfast clubs will take place in Eastbourne.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Free breakfast clubs were made available in up to 750 early adopter schools from April 2025, as part of a test and learn phase in advance of a national rollout. Further details on the national rollout, including guidance for schools, will be available in due course.

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 improve the supply of Pancreatin for people struggling to acquire their required quantity and dosage.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is currently managing a supply issue with the pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) Creon, which is used by patients with conditions such as cystic fibrosis and certain cancers, including pancreatic cancer and neuroendocrine cancer. The supply issue with Creon is impacting countries throughout Europe and has been caused by the limited availability of raw ingredients and manufacturing capacity constraints to produce the volumes needed to meet demand. This is causing knock-on supply issues with alternative PERT products.

The Department is continuing to work with all suppliers of PERT to help resolve the supply issues in the short and longer term. This includes asking that they expedite deliveries, source stock from other markets, and increase production. Through these discussions we have managed to secure additional volumes for 2025 for the United Kingdom.

The Department has also reached out to specialist importers who have sourced unlicensed stock to assist in covering the remaining gap in the market. In May 2024, pancreatin preparations were added to the Department’s list of medicines that cannot be exported from the UK or hoarded. In the longer term, the Department has had interest from non-UK suppliers of PERT wishing to bring their products to the UK and, along with colleagues in the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, we are working with these potential suppliers, and if authorised, these products could further diversify and strengthen the market.

The Department has widely disseminated comprehensive guidance to healthcare professionals about these supply issues, which provides advice on how to manage patients whilst there is disruption to supply to ensure that no patient is left without PERT.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support the recruitment of teachers in (a) Eastbourne constituency and (b) East Sussex.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest impact on children’s outcomes. This is why the government’s Plan for Change has committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in secondary and special schools, and in our colleges over the course of this Parliament.

To support this key pledge, we recently announced a 4% pay award for 2025/26, building on the 5.5% pay award for 2024/25, resulting in a near 10% pay award for teachers since this government came to power. We also announced a teacher training financial incentives package worth nearly £233 million, including bursaries worth up to £29,000 tax-free, and scholarships up to £31,000 tax free. We also announced targeted retention payments worth up to £6000, with 10 schools in the Eastbourne constituency, and 31 schools in East Sussex qualifying for these.

The teaching workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers, between 2023/24 and 2024/25, in secondary and special schools. In Eastbourne constituency there are 30 more secondary and special school teachers, with 457 FTE teachers this year.

35th anniversary of the murder of Ian Gow MP

Introduction of the Hillsborough Law and the 36th anniversary

Found: Current membership Andy Slaughter (Labour; Hammersmith and Chiswick) (Chair) Josh Babarinde (Liberal

Found: Claire Young Sarah Dyke Charlotte Cane Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde

Found: Claire Young Sarah Dyke Charlotte Cane Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde

Found: Gilmour Tom Gordon Martin Wrigley Calum Miller Charlotte Cane Mr Angus MacDonald Ian Roome Josh Babarinde

Found: Gilmour Tom Gordon Martin Wrigley Calum Miller Charlotte Cane Mr Angus MacDonald Ian Roome Josh Babarinde

Found: Claire Young Sarah Dyke Charlotte Cane Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde

Found: Claire Young Sarah Dyke Charlotte Cane Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde

Found: Claire Young Sarah Dyke Charlotte Cane Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde

Found: Claire Young Sarah Dyke Charlotte Cane Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde

Found: Claire Young Sarah Dyke Charlotte Cane Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde

Found: Claire Young Sarah Dyke Charlotte Cane Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde

Found: Gilmour Tom Gordon Martin Wrigley Calum Miller Charlotte Cane Mr Angus MacDonald Ian Roome Josh Babarinde

Found: Gilmour Tom Gordon Martin Wrigley Calum Miller Charlotte Cane Mr Angus MacDonald Ian Roome Josh Babarinde

Found: Gilmour Tom Gordon Martin Wrigley Calum Miller Charlotte Cane Mr Angus MacDonald Ian Roome Josh Babarinde

Found: Gilmour Tom Gordon Martin Wrigley Calum Miller Charlotte Cane Mr Angus MacDonald Ian Roome Josh Babarinde

Found: Claire Young Sarah Dyke Charlotte Cane Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde

Found: Claire Young Sarah Dyke Charlotte Cane Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde

Found: Gilmour Tom Gordon Martin Wrigley Calum Miller Charlotte Cane Mr Angus MacDonald Ian Roome Josh Babarinde

Found: Gilmour Tom Gordon Martin Wrigley Calum Miller Charlotte Cane Mr Angus MacDonald Ian Roome Josh Babarinde

Submit Evidence (by 30 Sep 2025)

This inquiry will examine how advice and legal services are adapting to secure access to justice across civil, criminal, and family law, and the impacts of the cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency.