Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to increase funding levels for grassroots sports facilities in market towns.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that communities across the UK benefit from high-quality sports facilities, removing barriers to participation and enabling as many people as possible to be active.
The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.
In March, DCMS confirmed an additional £100 million investment in new and upgraded facilities across the UK as part of our Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme. Our delivery partner for the programme in England is the Football Foundation, who plan their investment pipeline using Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs), which are developed in partnership with local authorities so as to understand the needs of each community. These plans are being updated to better reflect current demand.
Future funding is subject to the ongoing Spending Review process, with further details to follow in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce ambulance response times in South Northamptonshire.
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 South Northamptonshire.
We are determined to turn things around, our 10-Year Health Plan will be published in summer 2025, setting out major NHS reforms to move healthcare from hospital to the community, analogue to digital and 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 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.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what support his Department is providing for local manufacturers in South Northamptonshire to expand their export markets.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is committed to supporting UK businesses, including in South Northamptonshire, including those in the manufacturing industry, to grow and export. UK businesses can access DBT's wealth of export support via great.gov.uk. This comprises an online support offer and a wider network of support including the Export Academy, UK Export Finance, the International Markets network and one-to-one support from International Trade Advisers.
As part of our work on a new trade strategy and a small business strategy, we are looking at further proposals to help UK businesses to export more.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support is available for older workers in rural areas seeking to return to employment.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is reforming jobcentres to better match people with the right jobs and provide employment skills, and career support to individuals including older workers and those in rural areas.
Design elements of the new National Jobs and Careers Service will be tested to develop a service that is effective for local areas, individuals, and employers. The service will cover Great Britain and will adapt to operate differently in each locality to accommodate local systems and needs, including rural regions and reflecting devolution settlements in Scotland and Wales.
DWP currently offers tailored employment support through Jobcentres, including a review of health finances and skills for eligible over 50’s on Universal credit, with an online offer available to all. Our network of 50plus Champions drive localised activity through Jobcentres. In rural communities this includes adapting delivery of employment support, to ensure attendees in rural communities can access information, training courses and job opportunities.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support veterans living in rural communities.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
This Government is committed to improving services for veterans wherever they live, including those who live in rural communities. We recently announced VALOUR, a new commitment to establish the first-ever UK-wide approach to veteran support, to ensure easier access to essential care and support for veterans across the UK.
This regional approach, based on a network of VALOUR support centres, together with regional field officers, will ensure that services are designed to meet the needs of their local communities.
Further details on VALOUR will be announced in due course and more information can be found at the following link https://www.gov.uk/guidance/valour-information-and-next-steps
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation agreement includes provisions for mutual recognition of (a) agri-input standards, (b) fertilisers and (c) pesticides.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Technical Barriers to Trade chapter of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) provides the structures to address non-tariff barriers for businesses. Annex 14 to the TCA recognises the equivalence of organic regulations between EU and UK, facilitating trade in organic products. The TCA does not otherwise make binding provision for mutual recognition of technical regulations in relation to agri-food standards, pesticides and fertilisers.
On 19 May, the UK and the EU agreed the principles for a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier, cutting costs and red tape for British producers and retailers. The agreement will cover SPS standards and controls and also wider agrifood rules related to food labelling, organics, and key marketing standards and compositional standards – as well as pesticides. This will further bring down costs for UK businesses by removing the majority of regulatory trade barriers to agrifood trade.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 standardise the approval process for battery safety management plans across local planning authorities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
National planning policy and guidance clearly considers safety aspects of a proposed energy development, with expectations set out early for applicants to submit supporting information with their application for the proposed development.
The overarching National Policy Statement for Energy (EN-1) sets out the role of the Health and Safety Executive as a statutory consultee in the planning system as well as how the Secretary of State should account for safety concerns in their decision making.
The government updated its Planning Practice Guidance (August 2023) to encourage battery storage developers to engage with Local Fire and Rescue Services before submitting a planning application. National Fire Chiefs guidance sets out how risks should be identified early on in the design process. Local authorities are consulted by applicants and can engage in the Development Consent Order process formally through relevant representations, local impact reports or through hearings at examination.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to review the development consent order process for solar projects to increase local authority input on battery storage safety.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
National planning policy and guidance clearly considers safety aspects of a proposed energy development, with expectations set out early for applicants to submit supporting information with their application for the proposed development.
The overarching National Policy Statement for Energy (EN-1) sets out the role of the Health and Safety Executive as a statutory consultee in the planning system as well as how the Secretary of State should account for safety concerns in their decision making.
The government updated its Planning Practice Guidance (August 2023) to encourage battery storage developers to engage with Local Fire and Rescue Services before submitting a planning application. National Fire Chiefs guidance sets out how risks should be identified early on in the design process. Local authorities are consulted by applicants and can engage in the Development Consent Order process formally through relevant representations, local impact reports or through hearings at examination.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) training and (b) resources her Department has provided to fire and rescue services to respond to battery energy storage system-related incidents.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is the responsibility of fire and rescue authorities to ensure that firefighters receive the appropriate equipment and training to safely respond to the wide range of incidents that they attend.
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) also provides guidance to fire and rescue services to help keep firefighters and the public safe. In 2023, the NFCC published guidance on Battery Energy Storage System sites.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance her Department has issued to fire and rescue services on responding to incidents involving large-scale battery energy storage systems.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is the responsibility of fire and rescue authorities to ensure that firefighters receive the appropriate equipment and training to safely respond to the wide range of incidents that they attend.
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) also provides guidance to fire and rescue services to help keep firefighters and the public safe. In 2023, the NFCC published guidance on Battery Energy Storage System sites.