Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Foot and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of compliance with conservation obligations on scheduled monuments located within agricultural land; and what steps he is taking to ensure that land management practices are compatible with heritage protection legislation.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Scheduled Monuments are protected via the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. Since 2013, positive management of Scheduled Monuments located within agricultural land, promoted through Defra’s agri-environment schemes, has helped to remove approximately 700 from Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register. Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier has measures to support such practices, further information is available at Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of awarding Qualified Teacher Status to PhD holders without requiring completion of a Postgraduate Certificate in Education.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Qualified teacher status (QTS) is the professional qualification for teachers in primary and secondary schools. Having a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) is not required to become a qualified teacher but many Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses also offer an academic award such as a PGCE.
QTS is usually achieved following successful completion of an ITT Course. All ITT courses leading to QTS must incorporate the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework in full. This framework is underpinned by the best independently verified evidence about what makes great teaching.
To achieve QTS, individuals must demonstrate all Teachers’ Standards. Subject expertise is a critical part of great teaching, but teachers also need to understand how children learn; how to plan a curriculum and structure lessons; how to adapt their teaching to the needs of the children in their classes, including those with special educational needs; and how to manage behaviour effectively.
Evidence shows that high-quality teaching is the most important in-school factor that improves outcomes for children, which is why we think it is right that only teachers who have met the Teachers’ Standards are awarded QTS.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to ensure that funding allocations for (a) rural and (b) coastal communities adequately (i) recognise and (i) reflect the additional costs of delivering services in those areas.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
From 2026-27 we want to fundamentally improve the way we fund local authorities and direct funding to where it is needed most.
The Fair Funding Review 2.0 set out a proposal for an updated assessment that will effectively account for the different needs felt by communities across the country including considering the impact of remoteness on costs faced by rural and coastal communities, and the impact of commuters and tourists on major cities and coastal towns alike.
The consultation invited respondents to provide additional evidence for the impact of remoteness on the cost of delivering services.
We are reviewing responses and will publish more details in the consultation response in Autumn, followed by the provisional local government finance settlement.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to ensure that funding allocations for coastal communities adequately (a) recognise and (b) reflect the (i) circumstances of and (ii) impact of seasonality on public services in those communities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
From 2026-27 we want to fundamentally improve the way we fund local authorities and direct funding to where it is needed most.
The Fair Funding Review 2.0 set out a proposal for an updated assessment that will effectively account for the different needs felt by communities across the country including considering the impact of remoteness on costs faced by rural and coastal communities, and the impact of commuters and tourists on major cities and coastal towns alike.
The consultation invited respondents to provide additional evidence for the impact of remoteness on the cost of delivering services.
We are reviewing responses and will publish more details in the consultation response in Autumn, followed by the provisional local government finance settlement.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that adequate levels of infrastructure are provided alongside new housing developments.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 65505 on 14 July 2025.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available to help young people (a) develop skills and (b) access opportunities in South East Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As announced in the spending review, the department is making over £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/29.
This will support and grow the wide range of technical routes and work-based training available for people of all ages, across the country, including South-East Cornwall. This includes:
There are a number of post-16 education and training providers in Cornwall delivering further education and skills provision. The largest of these is Cornwall College, judged as overall Outstanding in their latest Ofsted inspection, and which has campuses throughout Cornwall.
We have also strengthened legislation to ensure all secondary pupils have multiple opportunities for meaningful encounters with providers of technical education and apprenticeships.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 account of the age profile of communities in Cornwall when allocating resources for health and social care in that area.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs), including the Cornwall Isles of Scilly ICB, receive funding allocations from NHS England to pay for the services they commission. Most funding is allocated as a non-ringfenced budget, informed by a calculation of what would constitute a ‘fair share’ of funding based on a formula that takes account of population, age, need, deprivation and health inequalities considerations.
NHS England published a ‘Technical Guide to Allocation Formulae and Convergence’ that sets out the methodology; the formula takes into account age profiles in the modelling of the need for health care services by recognising that older populations typically have a higher need per capita. The guide is available at the following link:
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 tackle health inequalities in coastal communities, in the context of the Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2021: health in coastal communities, published on 21 July 2021.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Chief Medical Officer in his 2023 Annual Report made clear that future health and care needs will vary significantly, with the populations of rural, semi-rural and coastal areas more likely to experience worse health outcomes. In the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government commits to reducing the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest areas by tackling health inequalities and the social determinants of health.
The Department will address under performance in areas with the worst health outcomes, including coastal communities, where access is often poor. National Health Service regions are compiling action plans for each provider in these areas to begin improvements.