Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department made during the development of the autumn budget 2025 on the potential impact of the Budget on the hospitality sector in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) the South West.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The hospitality sector is the heartbeat of our communities, and the Government recognises the contribution it makes to our culture and the UK exchequer.

We are determined to support hospitality businesses and help them succeed. At Budget, the Chancellor announced the first National Licensing Policy Framework which sets a new strategic direction for licensing authorities to have more regard for growth when reviewing licensing applications and decisions in England and Wales. We are exploring planning reforms to help pubs and hospitality expand and will appoint a Retail and Hospitality Envoy shortly.

The new Community Right to Buy will help communities safeguard valued community assets – such as pubs – and the English Devolution Bill will ban upward only rent reviews.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of food inflation on residents in Yeovil constituency.

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

Food and drink prices showed an annual rate of inflation of 4.2% in the year to November 2025, in the most recently published inflation figures for the UK, released by the Office for National Statistics. This is a decrease from 4.9% in October 2025.

General inflation in the UK was 3.2% in November 2025, down from 3.6% in October 2025.

These inflation figures are for the UK and are not available by constituency.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to support victims of (a) rape and (b) sexual abuse in Yeovil constituency (i) through the criminal justice process and (ii) beyond.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Department has committed £550 million to victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date.

The 42 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales, including the Avon and Somerset PCC, receive annual grant funding from the Department’s victim and witness budget. Funds are used to commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types. This includes ‘core’ funding, allocated at the PCC’s discretion, based on their assessment of local need, and ring-fenced funding for sexual violence and domestic abuse services.

The Department also provides grant funding directly to over 60 specialist organisations through the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF). Activities support victims to cope with their experiences and move forward with their lives, regardless of whether they report the crime to the police. Three organisations in Avon and Somerset receive RASASF funds, offering tailored support to victims of rape and sexual abuse, including Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVA), counselling, therapy, and groupwork.

The 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, also commissioned by the Department, provides victims access to vital help and information whenever they need it.

On 1 December 2025, all PCCs and RASASF recipients received confirmation that their grants will be extended for two years until March 2028, with a 2% year-on-year uplift in recognition of the increasing cost of service delivery.

During the criminal justice process, special measures, such as screening the witness from the defendant or giving evidence via live link, are available to victims of rape and sexual offences, who may otherwise feel unable to give evidence.

We are introducing legislation to make access to special measures easier, so eligible victims and witnesses can give their best evidence to the court.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to strengthen guidance for schools in (a) Yeovil Constituency and (b) England on Individual Healthcare Plans for children with Epilepsy.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

Governing bodies must ensure that the arrangements they put in place are sufficient to meet their statutory responsibilities, and that policies, plans, procedures and systems are properly and effectively implemented. This includes the duty under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions and the duties under the Equality Act 2010.

The statutory guidance, ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’, recommends the use of individual healthcare plans as good practice. They can help schools support pupils with medical conditions, providing clarity about what needs to be done, when and by whom. The school, healthcare professionals and parents should agree, based on evidence, when a healthcare plan would be appropriate. The guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ce6a72e40f0b620a103bd53/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions.pdf.

The government has committed to reviewing this statutory guidance. Our aim is to ensure that schools are better equipped to support all pupils with medical conditions as part of our wider ambition to create more inclusive schools through the forthcoming Schools White Paper.

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 support for people with hearing loss in Yeovil constituency.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

National Health Service audiology services are locally commissioned, and the responsibility for meeting the needs of non-hearing people lies with local NHS commissioners.

We expect local commissioning to be informed by the best available evidence, relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, and guidance issued by NHS England. In July 2016, NHS England published the report ‘Commissioning Services for People with Hearing Loss: A Framework for Clinical Commissioning Groups’. This framework supports integrated care boards in England to make informed decisions on maximising value for local populations and provide consistent, high quality, integrated care. It also addresses inequalities in access and outcomes between hearing services. In 2018, the NICE issued the guidance ‘Hearing loss in adults: assessment and management' which aims to improve hearing loss services.

Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged. NHS England is rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag which enables the recording of key information about a patient and their adjustment needs, to ensure support can be tailored appropriately. Guidance and free training on the Reasonable Adjustments Digital Flag is available for health and social care staff.

In addition, all NHS organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), which details the approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss. NHS England published a revised AIS on 30 June 2025 and is working to support its implementation with awareness raising, communication and engagement, and a review of the current e-learning modules on the AIS.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the need to improve drought resilience in Yeovil Constituency following the publication of the Environment Agency's Drought Prospects for Spring 2026.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We recognise that improving drought resilience in Yeovil Constituency remains important following the Environment Agency’s (EA) latest Drought Prospects for Spring 2026, which highlights the need for continued monitoring of groundwater levels and winter rainfall. While recent rainfall has helped reservoirs, including Sutton Bingham near Yeovil, to refill to capacity, groundwater levels in the chalk aquifers of Wiltshire remain below average and are important to the wider Wessex Water supply grid.

Wessex Water is required to update its statutory drought plan, with a draft due to be published in 2027. This plan will set out improvements to their drought response as well as measures to manage demand and maintain supplies during drought while mitigating environmental impacts. In the meantime, Wessex Water continues to promote water efficiency and work with the EA to monitor conditions and update drought prospects as new data becomes available.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support people living with (a) arthritis and (b) other musculoskeletal conditions to (i) return to and (ii) enter into work in Yeovil constituency.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Just under 18 million people in England were estimated to be affected by musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions in 2023 and improving their health and work outcomes will help deliver this government's mission to kickstart economic growth.

MSK problems were one of the leading causes of sickness absence in the UK in 2024. Early detection and prevention, including increasing access to employment advice, can support people with MSK conditions getting into and remaining in work.

The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including arthritis and MSK conditions, with their employment journey. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well Connect to Work and WorkWell.

In Yeovil, there are various support services available for individuals with arthritis and musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. For example, the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust provides MSK physiotherapy services, the Orthopaedic Assessment Service in Somerset offers specialist opinions for ongoing MSK problems that haven't been resolved by a GP or physiotherapist and Yeovil Hospital Rheumatology Department has a dedicated multi-disciplinary team, including doctors, specialist nurses, and physiotherapists, for the diagnosis and long-term management of inflammatory arthritis, connective tissue diseases, and osteoporosis.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to improve access to mental health services.

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

It is unacceptable that some people are not receiving the mental health care they need and we are determined to change that

In 2025, we invested an extra £688 million. Nearly 40,000 more children received support this year, supported by 7,000 extra mental health workers

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out to introduce 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, expand NHS Talking Therapies and Mental Health Support Teams in schools, and improve access to support through the NHS App.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of retired civil servants that have been required to repay overpaid pension benefits due to administrative errors made by civil service pension providers in the last ten years; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of these instances on the people affected.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme is the responsibility of the Cabinet Office. While the scheme does not publicly report overpayments due to administrator errors, in the last ten years overpayments caused solely by ‘administrative errors’, resulted in a total of 381.

The scheme follows the HM Treasury guidance on “Managing Public Money” which requires the scheme, where possible, to recover any money that a member is not entitled to. Recognising that recovery of overpayments may cause distress we work closely with individual members to ensure that payment recovery plans are affordable, take account of hardship and minimise the impact for the member both in terms of finances and wellbeing. This usually includes setting payment plans to recover monies owed over a reasonable period of time.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential risks to rural landscapes posed by removing the Gardens Trust as a statutory consultee in the English planning system.

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

On 17 November 2025, my Department published a consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system. That consultation closed on 13 January 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.

No decision will be made on the Garden Trust’s role until responses to the consultation have been fully analysed and considered.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of His Majesty's Revenue and Customs timings for processing tax refunds on residents in Yeovil constituency.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC recognise that repayments are important for customers. They prioritise them to ensure they are processed as quickly and securely as possible. HMRC balance the provision of prompt payments to eligible customers with effective revenue protection from fraudsters.

The majority of repayments are issued promptly and HMRC’s online ‘Where’s My Reply’ tool can help customers understand when they can expect to receive a response.

This year, HMRC customer service performance has improved and that is positively impacting repayment processing. In addition, HMRC is continuing to invest in automation, deploy additional resources where required and review their internal processes to ensure repayments are issued as quickly as possible.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the level of funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund on therapeutic support for (a) adopted children and (b) people in kinship care in Yeovil constituency.

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

The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. This included reviewing the equalities impact assessment, which was deposited in the House Libraries in July. The funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) still enables children in Yeovil to access a significant package of support, tailored to meet their individual needs. The department’s delivery partner is routinely processing ASGSF applications within a few days of receipt, including those relating to children in Yeovil.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help tackle delays in funding allocated through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund to services in Yeovil constituency.

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

The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. This included reviewing the equalities impact assessment, which was deposited in the House Libraries in July. The funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) still enables children in Yeovil to access a significant package of support, tailored to meet their individual needs. The department’s delivery partner is routinely processing ASGSF applications within a few days of receipt, including those relating to children in Yeovil.

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 adequacy NHS support pathways pathways for people with Tourette’s Syndrome in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) England.

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

The NHS England Neurology Transformation Programme and the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) initiative are playing an important role in improving care for people with Tourette’s syndrome, including in Yeovil. These programmes aim to ensure that patients receive timely, high-quality, and evidence-based care. For Tourette’s, this means supporting local integrated care boards (ICBs) to develop clearer referral pathways, improve access to multidisciplinary teams, and embed best practice in local services. GIRFT also uses data to identify gaps in provision and highlight where improvements can be made, helping to ensure that people with Tourette’s are not left behind in the transformation of neurological care.

Our 10-Year Health Plan is designed to transform the way we deliver care for people with long-term conditions, including Tourette’s syndrome. By shifting the focus from hospital-based treatment to more integrated, community-led care, the plan aims to ensure that individuals with Tourette’s can access timely support closer to home, including in Yeovil.

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 support people with Tourette syndrome in Yeovil constituency.

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

The NHS England Neurology Transformation Programme and the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) initiative are playing an important role in improving care for people with Tourette’s syndrome, including in Yeovil. These programmes aim to ensure that patients receive timely, high-quality, and evidence-based care. For Tourette’s, this means supporting local integrated care boards (ICBs) to develop clearer referral pathways, improve access to multidisciplinary teams, and embed best practice in local services. GIRFT also uses data to identify gaps in provision and highlight where improvements can be made, helping to ensure that people with Tourette’s are not left behind in the transformation of neurological care.

Our 10-Year Health Plan is designed to transform the way we deliver care for people with long-term conditions, including Tourette’s syndrome. By shifting the focus from hospital-based treatment to more integrated, community-led care, the plan aims to ensure that individuals with Tourette’s can access timely support closer to home, including in Yeovil.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) increases in business rates valuations and (b) the removal of 40% rate relief announced in the Autumn 2025 Budget on grassroots music venues in Yeovil Constituency.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. Music venues are valued in the same way as any other class of non-domestic property, through applying the statutory and common law principles that apply across non-domestic rating.

This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down next year. Government support also means that most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.

More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, including grassroots music venues, while ensuring that warehouses used by online giants will pay more. The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since Covid.

Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.

The Good Fellowship Club

Yeovil College's University Centre

Swan Theatre, Yeovil

UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons

N-Fest

Import of illegal meat

Public health campaign on tackling stigma towards suicide

Richard Clothier MBE for services to sustainable agriculture and food production

Less Survivable Cancers Week

Loan Charge and settlement terms offered to large companies and individuals

Support for early years and the National Literacy Trust

Libraries in state primary schools