Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) stillbirths and (b) neonatal deaths were recorded in maternity units serving Wiltshire in each of the last five years.

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

The maternity units serving Wiltshire are provided by the Great Western Hospitals Trust, the Royal United Hospitals Bath Trust, and the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.

Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK’s perinatal mortality surveillance data provides the figures for stillbirths and neonatal deaths for these trusts, in each of the last five years that the data was available. This data is available at the following link:

https://timms.le.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk-perinatal-mortality/data-viewer/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) midwives, (b) obstetricians and (c) maternity support workers were employed in NHS Trusts serving Wiltshire as of the most recent date for which data is available.

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

NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. This covers staff working for hospital trusts and in integrated care in England. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service. Data is collected by the employing body and as such we have supplied information for the three main acute hospital trusts which would cover the Wiltshire region.

The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent midwives, obstetricians and gynaecologist, as data is not held for obstetricians alone, and maternity support workers employed by NHS trusts and core organisations within the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, and the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, as of April 2025:

Source: NHS workforce statistics, available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

Maternity support staff have been defined as all support staff that work in a ‘maternity services’ and ‘neonatal nursing’ care setting. This includes nursing associates, nursing assistant practitioners, nursery nurses, nursing assistants/auxiliaries, healthcare assistants, and support workers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much capital funding her Department has provided for maternity units serving Wiltshire in each of the last five financial years.

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

Over the 2020/21 to 2024/25 period, £5.9 million of capital funding was invested in maternity services across the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon, and Wiltshire Integrated Care System. This funding covered a range of schemes, comprising technology, equipment, and maternity service units. The capital schemes will include cyclical equipment replacement and renewal schemes.

As the integrated care board holds unified records covering the whole area of Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon, and Wiltshire, we are unable to provide a disaggregated response for the Wiltshire area only.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has set any targets for improving employment rates among autistic adults; and what additional support is being provided to employers to create neurodiverse-friendly workplaces.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In the plan to Make Work Pay (October 2024), government committed to raising awareness of all forms of neurodiversity in the workplace. This includes autism. We are supporting employers to be more inclusive in their workplace practices.

In January this year we launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity. This will build on the work of the independent Buckland Review which reported to the previous government in February 2024, and which focused more narrowly on autism employment. The panel will consider the reasons why neurodivergent people have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate, making their recommendations to employers and government later this summer.

The Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have also asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead the independent review Keep Britain Working. While not specific to neurodiversity, this review is considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, and how to support more people to stay in or return to work. Sir Charlie Mayfield will deliver his final report in the autumn.

Our existing support includes:

• Connect to Work which will make supported employment available to around 100,000 people each year in England and Wales, including autistic people. This will build on Local Supported Employment, which is offering supported employment to people who are autistic, have a learning disability or both;
• Our digital information service, Support with Employee Health and Disability, which provides tailored guidance on supporting employees in common workplace scenarios involving health and disability, including supporting autistic employees or employees with learning disabilities; and
• The voluntary Disability Confident scheme which encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work.

The employment of autistic people is estimated using data from the Annual Population Survey (APS), which looks at the employment circumstances of the UK population. It is the largest household survey in the UK and is the recommended source for employment-related statistics, such as estimates of the number of people in employment or unemployed.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is from initial referral to diagnosis for multiple sclerosis in each NHS region.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We do not hold data in the format requested. The latest data for referral to treatment waiting times in England, from April 2025, shows there were 223,699 pathways waiting for a neurology appointment, of which 53.8% were waiting for 18 weeks or less.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure adequate (a) welfare and (b) safeguarding protections for (i) elderly, (ii) vulnerable and (iii) other residents of mobile home sites.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Park homes are predominantly for those who can live independently. They are not specifically designated for particular groups or those with specific needs, though the evidence suggests that most park home residents are older adults. Any welfare or safeguarding concerns should be reported to the local authority’s social services department or, where there is an immediate risk, to the police.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to prevent incorrect reductions in benefits due to automatic system sweeps that apply data errors without prior human verification; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of long delays in refunding these incorrect deductions on claimants’ financial security.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

A claimant who thinks an incorrect assessment has been made can have the assessment reviewed. The number of data errors is very small. Fewer than 1% of Real Time Information (RTI) disputes processed are upheld in the customer’s favour.

Where system changes result in overpayments, there are safeguards in place which would mean any overpayment would not be actioned until an agent has considered the case and checked for vulnerabilities, prior to the claimant being notified.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that the Timms Review is co-produced with disabled people; and what steps she is planning to take to evaluate the inclusivity of that engagement process.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We published the Terms of Reference for the review (the Timms Review) on 30 June 2025, and will be updating them shortly.

As set out in the Terms of Reference, we are committed to co-producing the review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, experts, clinicians, MPs, and other stakeholders. We will engage widely over the summer to design the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.

We will work on how to embed disabled people in the leadership of the group, ensuring that we include those with relevant lived and professional experience. We will also set up arrangements to involve disabled people much more broadly.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will publish a timetable for stakeholder engagement in the Timms Review.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We published the Terms of Reference for the review (the Timms Review) on 30 June 2025, and will be updating them shortly.

As set out in the Terms of Reference, we are committed to co-producing the review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, experts, clinicians, MPs, and other stakeholders. We will engage widely over the summer to design the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.

We will work on how to embed disabled people in the leadership of the group, ensuring that we include those with relevant lived and professional experience. We will also set up arrangements to involve disabled people much more broadly.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to establish (a) accessible formats, (b) alternative communication methods and (c) other formal consultation mechanisms to allow disabled people to contribute to the Timms Review.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We published the Terms of Reference for the review (the Timms Review) on 30 June 2025, and will be updating them shortly.

As set out in the Terms of Reference, we are committed to co-producing the review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, experts, clinicians, MPs, and other stakeholders. We will engage widely over the summer to design the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.

We will work on how to embed disabled people in the leadership of the group, ensuring that we include those with relevant lived and professional experience. We will also set up arrangements to involve disabled people much more broadly.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to publish details on how (a) disabled people and (b) representative organisations can contribute to the Timms Review of the PIP assessment.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We published the Terms of Reference for the review (the Timms Review) on 30 June 2025, and will be updating them shortly.

As set out in the Terms of Reference, we are committed to co-producing the review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, experts, clinicians, MPs, and other stakeholders. We will engage widely over the summer to design the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.

We will work on how to embed disabled people in the leadership of the group, ensuring that we include those with relevant lived and professional experience. We will also set up arrangements to involve disabled people much more broadly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will revise the Eatwell Guide to include explicit guidance on (a) limiting ultra-processed food and (b) promoting whole and minimally processed foods.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

United Kingdom dietary recommendations are based on robust independent risk assessments by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). In 2023, the SACN reviewed the scientific basis of UK recommendations in its report Feeding young children aged 1 to 5 years.

The SACN also reviewed the evidence on processed foods and health in its 2023 and 2025 position statements, as well as non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) in a position statement published in 2025.

The SACN has made a number of recommendations for children in relation to the consumption of processed foods and drinks, for instance:

• formula milks are not required by children aged one to five years old;
• foods, including snacks, that are energy dense and high in saturated fat, salt, or sugars should be limited in children aged one to five years old, in line with current UK dietary recommendations;
• commercially manufactured foods and drinks marketed specifically for infants and young children are not needed to meet nutrition requirements; and
• giving children drinks and food sweetened with sugar or NSS should be avoided, and they should instead be given unsweetened food.

The SACN has concluded that on balance, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of processed foods which are high in energy, saturated fat, salt, and free sugars, and which are and low in fibre. This is based on the nutrient content of many ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and concerns raised in relation to health.

The SACN’s recommendations align with our existing policies for supporting healthier diets and our advice to consumers. The SACN will continue to keep the topic under review.

Government dietary advice, as depicted in the Eatwell Guide, already shows that people should eat more fruit and vegetables and wholegrain or higher-fibre foods, as well as less processed meat and processed foods and drinks high in calories, sugar, saturated fat, and salt. For most people, following this advice would lead to a reduced consumption of UPFs.

The terms ‘whole’ and ‘minimally processed’ are not used in Government dietary recommendations because they are difficult to define and could be interpreted as including foods that we advise to eat less often and/or in small amounts, such as butter.

Further research is required to determine whether the processing itself, rather than the poor nutrient content of foods, has an impact on health, before any significant updates are made to the Eatwell Guide.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of diets high in ultra-processed foods on the health of children under five.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

United Kingdom dietary recommendations are based on robust independent risk assessments by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). In 2023, the SACN reviewed the scientific basis of UK recommendations in its report Feeding young children aged 1 to 5 years.

The SACN also reviewed the evidence on processed foods and health in its 2023 and 2025 position statements, as well as non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) in a position statement published in 2025.

The SACN has made a number of recommendations for children in relation to the consumption of processed foods and drinks, for instance:

• formula milks are not required by children aged one to five years old;
• foods, including snacks, that are energy dense and high in saturated fat, salt, or sugars should be limited in children aged one to five years old, in line with current UK dietary recommendations;
• commercially manufactured foods and drinks marketed specifically for infants and young children are not needed to meet nutrition requirements; and
• giving children drinks and food sweetened with sugar or NSS should be avoided, and they should instead be given unsweetened food.

The SACN has concluded that on balance, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of processed foods which are high in energy, saturated fat, salt, and free sugars, and which are and low in fibre. This is based on the nutrient content of many ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and concerns raised in relation to health.

The SACN’s recommendations align with our existing policies for supporting healthier diets and our advice to consumers. The SACN will continue to keep the topic under review.

Government dietary advice, as depicted in the Eatwell Guide, already shows that people should eat more fruit and vegetables and wholegrain or higher-fibre foods, as well as less processed meat and processed foods and drinks high in calories, sugar, saturated fat, and salt. For most people, following this advice would lead to a reduced consumption of UPFs.

The terms ‘whole’ and ‘minimally processed’ are not used in Government dietary recommendations because they are difficult to define and could be interpreted as including foods that we advise to eat less often and/or in small amounts, such as butter.

Further research is required to determine whether the processing itself, rather than the poor nutrient content of foods, has an impact on health, before any significant updates are made to the Eatwell Guide.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what mechanisms exist for residents to report breaches of the fit and proper person requirements (a) anonymously and (b) safely; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure that those mechanisms are effective.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The fit and proper person test, which applies to a site owner or the person appointed to manage a park homes site, is aimed at ensuring that those managing park home sites are competent to do so. Local authorities are responsible for assessing this test and enforcing against breaches of the legislation.

Anyone who has concerns about a site owner’s conduct or capability should contact the local authority. Concerns can be shared anonymously in writing or by phone, however it is for each authority to decide how they treat anonymous reports.

If, after a person has been included in the register, new evidence relevant to the person's inclusion in the register becomes available, the local authority may decide to remove them from the register or impose additional conditions that must be met to retain their entry on the register.

Where properly applied by local authorities, the fit and proper person legislation has been shown to be effective. We will continue to monitor its operation and consider whether any changes are required.

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 full-time equivalent NHS dentists practising in Wiltshire in (a) 2025-26 and (b) 2013-14.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The latest year in which workforce data is available is 2023/24. There were 440 dentists who undertook some level of National Health Service activity in the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Due to changes in how data is collected, the Department cannot make a direct comparison to the number of dentists in 2013/14.

However, in that year there were 238 dentists who undertook some level of NHS activity in the Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group area. Please note that this area covers a smaller geographic area than the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many frontline NHS staff have completed both parts of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism as of July 2025; and what steps are being taken to ensure full compliance across all trusts.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Data on completion of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism (Oliver’s Training) is held locally and is reported to NHS England by integrated care boards. This data does not differentiate between completion by frontline staff and other National Health Service and social care staff, and is instead focussed on overall completion of Tier 1 and Tier 2. Tier 1 of Oliver’s Training is for those that require general awareness for their role, and Tier 2 is for those who may provide direct care for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The first part of both tiers of training is a co-produced e-learning module which has had over three million completions across all audiences. The most recently validated data on completion of both parts held by NHS England is up to March 2025, when it was reported that 85,718 staff had completed Tier 1 training and 113,003 had completed Tier 2 training.

NHS England is supporting the roll out of the training on a Payment by Results basis, co-coordinated by integrated care boards, and continues to monitor training uptake.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, published on 23 June 2025, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that investment in advanced manufacturing is allocated to rural communities.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Deeper partnerships with mayors and devolved governments will deliver real change in local communities, ensuring Sector Plan gains across the UK.

As part of this, we will support specific city regions and clusters through a new £600 million Strategic Sites Accelerator, and by investing £160 million in each of the UK's regional Advanced Manufacturing investment zones. This targeted support will have positive spillover effects on surrounding rural and urban communities.

Government has also secured £4 billion from the British Business Bank and £27.8 billion from the National Wealth Fund to support business across the UK access the finance they need to grow.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many serious incidents involving maternity care were reported by NHS Trusts covering Wiltshire in each of the last five years.

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

Across the last five years, there have been a total of 116 serious incidents involving maternity care reported by National Health Service trusts covering Wiltshire. The following table shows the number of incidents per year against the trusts in Wiltshire, from 2020/21 to 2024/25:

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 help reduce the number of dentists moving from NHS to private practice in (a) Wiltshire and (b) other (i) rural and (ii) semi-rural areas.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most.

Integrated care boards have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.

Training a dentist costs the taxpayer up to £200,000. Having consulted on the principle of requiring all dentists to work in the NHS for a minimum period, we will now make it a requirement for newly qualified dentists to practice in the NHS for a minimum period. We intend this minimum period to be at least three years. That will mean more NHS dentists, more NHS appointments, and better oral health.

As a first step to reforming the dental contract, we are consulting on a package of changes to improve access to, and improve the quality of, NHS dentistry, which will deliver improved care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. Further information on the consultation is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms

The consultation was launched on 8 July 2025 and will close on 19 August 2025.

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 and proportion of GP practices operating in premises not fit for purpose; and what steps his Department is taking to increase funding to address this issue.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future, with world class infrastructure across the entire NHS estate and confronting the challenges posed by historic underinvestment in primary care.

There are 8,500 buildings that form the general practice (GP) estate nationally and we have worked with integrated care systems to develop infrastructure strategies which create a long-term plan for future estate requirements and investment for each local area and its specific needs. These strategies bring together planning for the existing and future primary care and secondary estate when considering how best to improve local service delivery.

Bath, Northeast Somerset, Swindon & Wiltshire Integrated Care Board is responsible for commissioning, planning, securing, and monitoring GP services within Wiltshire through delegated responsibility from NHS England and works with local practices to ensure that the community continues to receive world class health services.

We recently announced over 1,000 GP schemes which will benefit from this year's £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund, supporting GPs to improve the use of their existing buildings and space, boosting productivity and enabling delivery of more appointments. However, GPs are independent contractors who should routinely fund investment in maintaining their estate by utilising their own funds, borrowing, or through partnerships with third party developers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of GP premises in Wiltshire; and what recent estimate he has made of the number of practices operating in buildings considered unfit for purpose.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future, with world class infrastructure across the entire NHS estate and confronting the challenges posed by historic underinvestment in primary care.

There are 8,500 buildings that form the general practice (GP) estate nationally and we have worked with integrated care systems to develop infrastructure strategies which create a long-term plan for future estate requirements and investment for each local area and its specific needs. These strategies bring together planning for the existing and future primary care and secondary estate when considering how best to improve local service delivery.

Bath, Northeast Somerset, Swindon & Wiltshire Integrated Care Board is responsible for commissioning, planning, securing, and monitoring GP services within Wiltshire through delegated responsibility from NHS England and works with local practices to ensure that the community continues to receive world class health services.

We recently announced over 1,000 GP schemes which will benefit from this year's £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund, supporting GPs to improve the use of their existing buildings and space, boosting productivity and enabling delivery of more appointments. However, GPs are independent contractors who should routinely fund investment in maintaining their estate by utilising their own funds, borrowing, or through partnerships with third party developers.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what financial support his Department provides for early-phase trials into (a) neuroblastoma and (b) other rare paediatric cancers.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology invests approximately £200 million into cancer research annually via UK Research and Innovation, particularly via Innovate UK and the Medical Research Council (MRC). In parallel, the Department of Health and Social Care funds cancer research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research and invested £133 million in 2023/24. UKRI and NIHR does not ringfence funding for specific cancer types. However, from 2020-2024 MRC committed £982,632 to research on neuroblastoma, this includes a project to develop and clinically test a new probe to diagnose and aid resection of tumours in children.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department provides to (a) GPs and (b) health visitors to aid the early diagnosis of neuroblastoma.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

General practice teams are expected to follow guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Where symptoms are suggestive of neuroblastoma, appropriate referral to a specialist must be made.

Health visitors are not responsible for making diagnoses, but they play a vital role in providing advice and support to families and in recognising when a child may require further clinical assessment. They remain vigilant for signs that could indicate serious health concerns, including cancers, in line with professional guidance and protocols.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to embed financial education and investment literacy in apprenticeship programmes.

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

Apprenticeships are jobs that equip learners with the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need for a specific occupation. Employers, working in conjunction with Skills England, develop the content of apprenticeship standards according to the needs of their industries. This will include job-specific mathematics or English skills wherever relevant.

In addition, the department funds apprentices to achieve up to level 2 qualifications in mathematics and English as part of their apprenticeship. The qualifications give apprentices the broader skills they need to thrive in work and life and the mathematics qualification includes content on calculating interest, discounts and percentage increases/decreases, probability and budgeting, as well as building confidence with numbers more generally. We require all 16 to 18-year-olds to achieve a level 1 or level 2 qualification as part of their apprenticeship, if they do not already hold one.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of long-term exposure to PFAS in drinking water on public health.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

An evaluation of the evidence on polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) toxicity is ongoing through the Committee on Toxicity.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has contributed to an expert advisory group recommendation to the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) on the introduction of a regulatory limit of 0.1 micrograms per litre for the sum of 48 individual PFAS to protect public health. The Advisory Group Recommendations are available at the following link:

https://dwi-production-files.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/28110805/Recommendations-and-full-report-of-the-advisory-group-Dec-2024.pdf

This is in line with the recent DWI March 2025 Guidance. This will limit exposures through drinking water, and thus any potential impact. The Guidance is available at the following link:

https://dwi-production-files.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/24141825/DWI_PFAS-Guidance_Mar_2025.pdf

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to ensure young people in rural areas receive the financial skills needed to support long-term prosperity.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

I refer the hon. Member for Chippenham to the answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43513.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the national funding formula on educational outcomes in (a) rural areas, (b) Wiltshire and (c) other counties with lower levels of funding.

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) accounts for the particular challenges faced by small schools in rural areas through the lump sum and sparsity factor.

In the 2025/26 financial year, the sparsity factor provides eligible primary schools up to £57,400, and all other eligible schools up to £83,400. In 2025/26, 64 schools in Wiltshire attract additional funding through the sparsity factor. In addition to this, all small and rural schools have benefited from the increase to core factors in the NFF in 2025/26, including the NFF lump sum set at £145,100. The lump sum provides a fixed amount of funding that is particularly beneficial to small schools, as it is not affected by pupil numbers.

The purpose of the schools NFF is not to give every school the same level of per pupil funding. It is right that schools with lots of pupils with additional needs, such as those indicated by measures of deprivation or low prior attainment, receive extra funding to help them meet the needs of all their pupils.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Dedicated Schools Grant per pupil in Wiltshire relative to comparator authorities with similar pupil numbers and demographics.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Local authorities’ dedicated schools grant (DSG) allocations are calculated using the national funding formula (NFF), by reference to their numbers of pupils and schools, and their characteristics. The purpose of the NFF is not to give every school the same level of per pupil funding. It is right that schools with lots of pupils with additional needs, such as those indicated by measures of deprivation or low prior attainment, receive extra funding to help them meet the needs of all their pupils. In addition, schools in more expensive areas, like London, attract higher funding per pupil than other parts of the country to reflect the higher costs they face.

We will take the time needed to consider changes to various funding formulae going forward, ensuring that we get any changes right, and recognising the importance of establishing a fair funding system that directs funding where it is needed.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to amend the high needs funding formula to reflect current levels of need and not historic expenditure.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Our aim is to establish a fair education funding system that directs resources to where they are most needed and enable improved support and outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Because it is important that we take the time needed to review the high needs national funding formula, the structure of the formula is largely unchanged for the 2025/26 financial year allocations to local authorities.

The department is considering the funding required for future years and how it is to be allocated, following the conclusion of the recent spending review. Our objective is that future funding for SEND supports our plans for reforming the SEND system, which will be set out in further detail in a White Paper in the autumn.

Access to care and support for people living with arthritis

Green House Climate Club campaign

Tribute to David Lawrie

2025 Island Games

Dose of Nature

UK-based medical charities in Palestine

Reform of the special educational needs and disabilities system

Cool hubs

Funding and role of community pharmacies

Bath and North East Somerset Community Wellbeing Hub

Support for people with dyscalculia

Access to dentistry

Tackling food waste

Found: Herefordshire) Barry Gardiner (Labour; Brent West) Anna Gelderd (Labour; South East Cornwall) Sarah Gibson