Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of funding was allocated to local authorities in the South West for road maintenance for 2025-26.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement will make available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26. The majority of funding in the Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities.
The Department for Transport has also allocated £300 million in capital funding for highways maintenance to local authorities in the South West for the 2025/26 financial year.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to councils in South West England to complete road maintenance words to help reduce potholes.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises that historic underinvestment has made it difficult for authorities to maintain their roads in the way that they would want to. The Government has therefore confirmed a record £7.3 billion investment into local highways maintenance over the next four years. This new, four-year funding settlement is in addition to the Government's investment of £1.6 billion this financial year, a £500 million increase compared to last financial year. The Department’s confirmation of increased funding allocations for the next four-year period has given authorities the certainty to plan ahead and shift away from short-term fixes to proactive and preventative maintenance to stop potholes from forming in the first place.
Between 2026/27 to 2029/30, local highway authorities in the South West are eligible for £1.5 billion of this highways maintenance funding. In addition, the West of England Combined Authority is receiving highways maintenance funding consolidated as part of its £540m million City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, and from 2026/27 will receive increased Transport for City Regions funding worth £752 million in total up to 2031/32.
Finally, the Department recently announced a new rating system for local highway authorities. Under this system, all local highway authorities in England received a red, amber or green rating based on the condition of their roads, how much they spend to maintain their roads, and whether they do so using best practice. The ratings will be updated annually and provide an incentive to highway authorities to further adopt best practice. They enable the Department to identify where councils need to improve and to support them.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the number of potholes to be fixed in (a) Yeovil constituency (b) Somerset and (c) England.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances. The Department does not hold data on the time taken by local highway authorities to repair reported potholes, but national guidance recommends that defects and potholes which require urgent attention should be made safe at the time of inspection or as soon as possible.
This financial year, for the first time, local highway authorities were required to publish transparency reports setting out progress on highway maintenance, including the number of potholes they estimate they have filled in recent years. This information can be found on the websites of relevant local highways authorities. For the case of the constituency of Yeovil, Somerset Council is the responsible local highway authority.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to the funding allocation model of Skills Bootcamp in Wave 7 on providers' ability to maintain services.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are giving local areas greater control of the delivery of Skills Bootcamps in line with our commitment to devolution; supporting areas to use Skills Bootcamps to more closely meet the needs of their local employers and economies.
As part of this, a new funding model for local areas from 2026-27 will ensure the distribution of funding remains fit for purpose and sustainable as the programme matures.
Under devolution, local areas are the commissioners of Skills Bootcamps and can plan provision according to local skills priorities. They are responsible for decisions relating to the allocation of funding to individual providers in line with their preferred commissioning method.
We will continue to work with local areas on the implementation of the new funding methodology.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of basing Skills Bootcamp Wave 7 funding allocations on historic delivery data from 2024-25.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are giving local areas greater control of the delivery of Skills Bootcamps in line with our commitment to devolution; supporting areas to use Skills Bootcamps to more closely meet the needs of their local employers and economies.
As part of this, a new funding model for local areas from 2026-27 will ensure the distribution of funding remains fit for purpose and sustainable as the programme matures.
Under devolution, local areas are the commissioners of Skills Bootcamps and can plan provision according to local skills priorities. They are responsible for decisions relating to the allocation of funding to individual providers in line with their preferred commissioning method.
We will continue to work with local areas on the implementation of the new funding methodology.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of projected funding allocations for Skills Bootcamps in Wave 7.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are giving local areas greater control of the delivery of Skills Bootcamps in line with our commitment to devolution; supporting areas to use Skills Bootcamps to more closely meet the needs of their local employers and economies.
As part of this, a new funding model for local areas from 2026-27 will ensure the distribution of funding remains fit for purpose and sustainable as the programme matures.
Under devolution, local areas are the commissioners of Skills Bootcamps and can plan provision according to local skills priorities. They are responsible for decisions relating to the allocation of funding to individual providers in line with their preferred commissioning method.
We will continue to work with local areas on the implementation of the new funding methodology.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the department is taking to ensure that the National Year of Reading is accessible for neurodiverse people in (a) Yeovil constituency (b) Somerset and (C) the United Kingdom.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Year of Reading is a UK wide campaign designed to tackle the steep decline in reading enjoyment amongst children, young people and adults, and to engage new audiences in reading.
’Go All In’ is a fully inclusive campaign, encouraging people to read about whatever interests them, via any genre and all mediums of reading. Embracing a variety of reading formats, from print to digital to audio, can make reading more accessible, engaging and inclusive for both children and adults, including those with neurodiversity and special educational needs.
The campaign is reaching communities across the UK through schools, libraries, businesses and local partners. Libraries, as free to access community hubs, play a central role in supporting participation and helping people of all ages and from all sectors of society to develop a lasting love of reading.
You can find out more about events in your local area by visiting the website here: https://goallin.org.uk/whats-on/.Schools and early years settings in Somerset and across the UK can also access a range of exciting online webinars, resources and activities throughout the year. They can find more information here: https://goallin.org.uk/get-involved/schools/.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much Vehicle Excise Duty was raised nationally from people in (a) Yeovil constituency (b) Somerset and (c) England in the last 12 months.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The total amount of vehicle excise duty (VED) collected between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 was £8.4 billion. However, information about VED is not broken down into areas and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 changes to the level of funding for maintained schools in Yeovil constituency since 2010-11 on educational outcomes.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Somerset local authority allocates funding for schools in Yeovil constituency. The table below sets out the funding Somerset local authority has received through the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) since 2019/20. Due to changes in the way that funding is allocated, the department cannot provide equivalent figures before then.
Financial Year | Overall funding (£ million) | Average per pupil (£) |
2019/20 | 294 | 4,361 |
2020/21 | 312 | 4,607 |
2021/22 | 339 | 5,008 |
2022/23 | 351 | 5,180 |
2023/24 | 372 | 5,451 |
2024/25 | 391 | 5,753 |
2025/26 | 418 | 6,228 |
2026/27 | 435 | 6,569 |
Somerset has historically experienced below-average educational performance at both primary and secondary levels. However, there have been measurable improvements in GCSE and Key Stage 2 outcomes since 2023. The department continues to work closely with the local authority, multi-academy trusts and other local partners to build on this progress, including through the regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) targeted and universal services.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help promote equality and inclusion as part of the National Year of Reading.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Yeovil, to the answer of 24 February 2026 to Question 112566.