Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of providing NHS standard eye tests to children in primary school in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) England.

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

The UK National Screening Committee recommends vision screening in school for children aged between four and five years old to look for reduced vision in one or both eyes.

Free National Health Service sight tests are also widely available for children under 16 years old and under 19 years old in full time education from high street optical practices. To address challenges with access to high street NHS sight testing services faced by children with learning disabilities and/or autism, integrated care boards are now able to commission NHS sight tests in special educational settings across England.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with industry bodies on strengthening (a) apprenticeships and (b) training routes in the hospitality sector to support small and medium-sized businesses in Yeovil constituency.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government offers a range of training options, including apprenticeships and BTECs, to support employers of all sizes in the hospitality sector to benefit from and develop the skilled workforces they need.

Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) give small and medium businesses a stronger role in identifying local skills issues and working collaboratively with skills providers and other local stakeholders to resolve them. From October, Business West and Somerset Chamber of Commerce will begin the process of developing a new 3-year LSIP for Somerset, which includes the Yeovil constituency.

The department and Skills England engage regularly with the hospitality sector, including industry bodies such as UK Hospitality, regarding training for the sector and the government’s plans for skills.

To support apprenticeships in small and medium-sized enterprises the government pays full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been, or are, in local authority care, when they undertake apprenticeships with non-levy paying employers.

The government also continues to pay £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16 to 18, and for apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an EHC plan or have been, or are, in local authority care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of providing NHS standard hearing tests to children in primary schools in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) England.

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

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is an independent scientific advisory committee advising Ministers and the National Health Service about all aspects of population and targeted screening. It reviewed screening children for hearing problems in 2019 and did not recommend school age screening unless already implemented in an area. A summary of the recommendations conclusions is available at the following link:

https://view-health-screening-recommendations.service.gov.uk/hearing-child/

We would encourage anyone with concerns about their child’s hearing to speak with their general practitioner.

The NHS does, however, run a national newborn hearing screening programme offering screening to all babies in England ideally within the first four to five weeks after they are born. The test can be done for babies up to the age of three months old. Newborn hearing screening aims to identify permanent moderate, severe and profound deafness and hearing impairment in newborn babies.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to raise awareness of Type 1 Diabetes and Eating Disorders among healthcare professionals in diabetes and eating disorder services in (a) Somerset and (b) England.

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

NHS England is currently funding five Type 1 Disordered Eating (T1DE) pilots, with the aim of increasing understanding of the characteristics and care needs of people with T1DE, assessing the feasibility of the service delivery model and build the evidence base for an integrated diabetes and mental health pathway.

Pilot sites are delivering a national high level service specification alongside testing local novel approaches to improving care including to awareness raising of the condition amongst both diabetes and eating disorder health care professionals. A national evaluation is currently underway to assess the impact of the five current pilot services. NHS England will review the evaluation findings to understand further opportunities to promote awareness of T1DE amongst healthcare professionals beyond the five pilot areas.

NHS England works alongside its partners to support the delivery of key messages around diabetes education and awareness. This includes through a digital diabetes platform which is developing educational resources for T1DE.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the NHS (a) funding and (b) commissioning structures on Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy provision in South West England.

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

The National Health Service keeps under review the range of services it offers patients. The use of stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy is thought to prolong overall survival and improve quality of life. NHS England provides the treatment to those eligible across England.

Our £70 million investment in new radiotherapy machines will ensure that the most advanced treatment is available and accessible to patients across the country. By March 2027, up to 27,500 additional treatments per year will be delivered, including up to 4,500 receiving their first treatment for cancer within 62 days of referral, helping to treat more cancer patients in faster time.

Adiditionally, the Department is working closely with NHS England to make sure we have the right workforce with the right skills up and down the country. This includes cancer care and radiotherapy treatment services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to require Integrated Care Boards to provide sustainable funding to enable (a) the continuation of successful pilot projects on Type 1 Diabetes and Eating Disorders and (b) those projects to become regional centres of excellence.

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

NHS England has provided up to £1.5 million a year for the five current Type 1 Disordered Eating pilots for three years. This funding is transferred to integrated care boards on an annual basis and in 2025/26 has been ringfenced.

Decisions on funding for future years have yet to be taken.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) clinical oncology workforce shortages and (b) staffing levels on the adoption of innovative cancer treatments by NHS Trusts.

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

We are building our cancer workforce. As of June 2025, there are over 1,800 full time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the speciality of clinical oncology in National Health Service trusts and other core organisations in England. This is almost 440, or 31.5%, more than 2020.

Following additional investment through recent spending review settlements, trainees across 16 cancer-related specialties, including clinical and medical oncology, increased from 623 to 773 per year, a 24% increase.

To grow the workforce, NHS England has been expanding specialty training places in key cancer professions. Targeted national campaigns and outreach activities, for example in clinical oncology, also promote cancer career pathways, with a focus on increasing applications to under-supplied professions.

Training Academies in Imaging, Endoscopy, and Genomics are being delivered across regions to provide intensive skills development and support new models of care, including for cancer patients. Ongoing investment in practice education enhances clinical supervision, education and training across cancer and diagnostic workforces, increases placement capacity, supports staff retention, and contributes to high-quality patient care.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support (a) schools and (b) local authorities to provide education, care and health plans for children with special educational needs in Yeovil constituency.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The duty to conduct education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments, and to issue EHC plans if required, rests with the local authority.

The department monitors and works closely with local authorities that have issues with the EHC needs assessment and plan process. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make improvements, we ensure that the cause of problems is identified and an effective recovery plan is implemented.

A joint local area inspection of Somerset’s special educational needs and disabilities services, undertaken by Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) in March 2020, identified nine areas of significant weakness. Following actions taken, the CQC and Ofsted revisited in November 2022 and confirmed that sufficient progress had been made in seven areas, including the timeliness and quality of EHC plans. Somerset produced an Accelerated Progress Plan to address the two remaining areas. With specialist support from special educational needs and disabilities advisors, sufficient progress was made on these areas and the plan was stepped down in February 2025.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2025 to Question 75506 on the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs: Finance, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of delivering funding beyond 2025-26 to the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

My officials continue to work closely with the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs in delivering the 25/26 grant. Any assessment of the potential merits of providing further funding beyond 25/26 will form part of future spending decisions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to establish a specialised service for people with very severe myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue symptom in Yeovil constituency.

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

We published the final myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), delivery plan on 22 July, which focuses on boosting research, improving attitudes and education, and bettering the lives of people with this debilitating disease.

The commissioning of ME/CFS services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs), including the NHS Somerset ICB, which covers the Yeovil constituency, based on their local population. The ME/CFS final delivery plan includes an action for the Department and NHS England to explore whether a specialised service should be prescribed by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for very severe ME/CFS.

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