Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to allocate funding to the Great South West Partnership after April 2026.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Following a four week public consultation, in March 2025 the government announced its intention to end funding for Pan-Regional Partnerships, with an exceptional, time-limited award of £281,250 for the Great South West Pan-Regional Partnership for the 2025/26 financial year.
Pan-Regional Partnerships, including the Great South West, have made a valuable contribution, supporting collaboration between local authorities and government and taking forward a breadth of work on shared growth opportunities. However, as our English Devolution White Paper sets out, we are now moving to a different model of regional collaboration, where we are keen to support new models driven by local leaders.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the planned switchover from landlines to digital technologies by January 2027 on rural households without broadband.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to ensuring any risks arising from the industry-led migration of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for all customers. No formal assessment has been made of the impact of the PSTN migration on rural households without broadband. In order to function correctly, VoIP requires a minimum connection speed of just 0.5Mbps, meaning that a broadband connection will not be required.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her European counterparts on collective sanctions against Russia.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Exerting maximum economic pressure on Russia is a central part of our support for Ukraine, and our best tool to force Putin to de-escalate the war and engage in meaningful talks. The UK continues to lead international efforts, including coordination with our European and US partners. Together, we have sanctioned major Russian oil companies, including Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, and sanctioned over 500 Russian shadow fleet vessels.Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners have lost entitlement to Pension Credit as a result of their calculated entitlement being short by 50p or less.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department does not hold information about the total income and circumstances of all pensioners.
That is why we ask people to apply for pension credit rather than being able to make awards automatically.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) increasing the level of funding available for demand responsive transport and (b) introducing bus concessions for people up to the age of 22.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government knows how important affordable and reliable bus services are in enabling people to access education, work and vital services, and we are committed to delivering better bus services, including in rural areas right across the country.
As part of the Autumn 2024 Budget, the Government allocated over £1 billion to support and improve bus services in 2025/26 and keep fares affordable. This includes £712 million for local authorities that can be used to expand services and improve reliability, which are currently massive obstacles for too many people. Devon County Council and Somerset Council have been allocated £11.6 million and £6.8 million of this funding respectively. Funding allocated to local authorities to deliver better bus services can be used in whichever way they wish to improve services for passengers, including introducing or expanding demand responsive transport provision in the area, or measures to reduce fares for young people.
The Government reaffirmed its commitment to investing in bus services long-term in this Spending Review, confirming additional funding per year from 2026/27 to maintain and improve bus services, including taking forward franchising pilots and extending the £3 bus fare cap until March 2027.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the size of the backlog on Valuation Office Agency decisions.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is working as quickly as possible to clear cases, and moving staff to where there is the greatest customer demand. The VOA is focusing on the oldest cases first, and where customers are facing financial hardship.
The VOA is replacing IT systems with modern cloud-based platforms that will deliver significant efficiencies. It is also upskilling its workforce to ensure there is flexibility in managing a wide range of cases and improving its digital services to make it easier for customers to self-serve.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of changing the English indices of deprivation to include rurality as a factor.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The most recent iteration of the English Indices of Deprivation was published in September 2019 and all data tables and resources are available online here - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019
The department is currently working on an update and confirmed recently that the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 will be published within a provisional October/November 2025 timeframe. This has been published on GOV.UK.
As part of this work, DEFRA has contributed funding to investigate rural deprivation. This collaborative project is considering what deprivation in rural areas is, data sources and methods to help quantify it and more formal guidance on the use of the Indices and their application to rural areas. A report on rural deprivation will form part of the updated English Indices of Deprivation release.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding for specialised rural crime teams.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Rural crime can also have devastating consequences for countryside communities and the agricultural sector. This financial year we are providing the first Home Office funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit, a national policing unit which help forces tackle rural crime priorities and is a great example of farmers and police working together at national and local level.
Under our Safer Streets Mission reforms, rural communities will be safeguarded, with tougher measures to clamp down on equipment theft, anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will also ensure that every community in England and Wales will have named and contactable officers dealing with local issues, and that neighbourhood teams spend the majority of their time in their communities providing visible patrols and engaging with local communities and businesses. This will be supported by the delivery of up to an additional 3000 officers into neighbourhood teams by Spring next year, as part of our ambition to deliver 13,000 neighbourhood officers into police forces across England and Wales by the end of this parliament.
We worked closely with policing to develop the Neighbourhood Policing Programme. Our approach to delivery in 2025/26, which is year 1 of a 4-year programme, is designed to deliver an initial increase to the neighbourhood policing workforce in a manner that is flexible, and can be adapted to the local context and varied crime demands police forces face. The precise workforce mix is therefore a local decision.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to tackle violence against women and girls.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Equalities Ministers and their officials are working closely with the Home Office, and other Government departments to develop a cross-government strategy on tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), to be published in the Autumn.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support food security.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Food security is national security. We need a resilient and healthy food system, that works with nature and supports British farmers, fishers and food producers.
As part of the Government’s Plan for Change we are delivering on the Government’s New Deal for Farmers which includes a raft of new policies and major investment to boost profits for farmers.
We've allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament.