Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment has been made of the progress of the roll out of Project Gigabit in South Shropshire constituency.

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

Through Project Gigabit, we are delivering gigabit-capable connections to premises not included in suppliers’ commercial delivery plans, predominately in rural areas.

We expect approximately 7,640 premises in South Shropshire constituency to benefit from gigabit coverage through Project Gigabit’s cross regional framework contract with Openreach.

Additionally, approximately 4,950 premises in South Shropshire constituency have received a gigabit-capable connection through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, which is part of Project Gigabit.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that veterans have access to childcare options.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

It is the department’s ambition that all families, including those from Armed Forces and Veteran communities, have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.

In April 2026, over 200 new Best Start Family Hubs in areas not previously funded are now open to families, backed by over £900 million of investment. These hubs act as welcoming, one-stop shops rooted in local communities, supporting families from pregnancy through to early childhood with everything from infant feeding support and parenting advice to help with the cost of living and early identification of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Support will also extend beyond dedicated hubs into up to 2,000 community venues, known as Best Start Network Sites, by 2028, ensuring families can access help.

The department's guidance for Best Start Family Hubs sets out minimum expectations for supporting Armed Forces and Veteran families. Hub staff are expected to be aware of the unique challenges these families can face, including the cumulative impact of mobility, separation, deployment, life after service and bereavement, and to signpost families to relevant support services including the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Education Advisory Team and the dedicated Armed Forces Families Federations.

Best Start Family Hub staff are also expected to be familiar with the joint non-statutory guidance 'Service Pupils in Schools' (April 2025) and the MOD Local Authority Partnership (MODLAP) principles for supporting Service children with SEND through school transitions. The guidance also encourages the establishment of a dedicated military champion in every hub, linked to existing Armed Forces Covenant commitments.

Veteran families who are based in England can apply for government funded childcare through the Childcare Service or through their local authorities. Families may also be eligible for support if they receive Universal Credit.

Current service families may be eligible for 30 hours (over 38 weeks of the year) funded childcare support, which is available to eligible working parents from the term after their child turns nine months old until they start school. Parents must earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the national minimum wage and under £100,000 adjusted net income per year to be eligible. In a two-parent household, both parents must meet the eligibility criteria.

All three- and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education per week (over 38 weeks of the year), regardless of family circumstances. This is available the term after the child’s third birthday. Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit Childcare are also available to families to help with childcare costs.

The department wants to ensure that parents are aware of and are accessing all the government funded childcare support they are eligible for. The department is raising awareness of the government funded childcare support available via the Best Start in Life Parent Hub website to stimulate increased take up by eligible families, because we know this could make a significant financial difference to families. The website can be accessed here: https://www.beststartinlife.gov.uk/.

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 access to NHS dentistry in South Shropshire constituency.

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

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population. For the South Shropshire constituency, this is the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB.

The Government is committed to ensuring that people can access urgent dental care when they need it. Over the past year, ICBs have been commissioning additional urgent dental appointments and there is now an urgent care safety net available in all areas of the country. 1.8 million additional courses of National Health Service dental treatment have been delivered in the seven months between April to October 2025 compared to the corresponding months prior to the general election.

We are committed to delivering fundamental reform of the dental contract before the end of this Parliament. From April 2026, we began introducing a package of reforms to address some of the pressing issues that dentists and dental teams have been experiencing.

These reforms will prioritise those with the greatest need, shifting care away from clinically unnecessary check-ups.

The Government wants to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most. We have reduced the NHS dentistry underspend from £392 million in 2023/24 to £36 million in 2024/25.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what percentage of consumable equipment in the defence supply chain is procured from China.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is always open to working with international companies, as long as our procurement guidelines are followed and our national security is kept safe.

Defence does use Chinese manufactured goods within its supply chain, though the percentage of consumable equipment is not centrally held. MOD Commercial Officers do, where necessary, work with their security advisers to conduct due diligence checks on suppliers of specific goods, particularly surveillance equipment, to ensure that they are not subject to Chinese National Intelligence Law.