Anna Sabine

Dessert and culinary apples play an important role in local economies, with the sector worth a combined £188 million in 2023.

The Government is committed to championing British farming and, in partnership with the sector, we are considering a number of ways to achieve our ambitious, measurable and long-term goals for the sector, including development of new crop varieties that are more resistant to pests such as ermine moths.

The Environment Agency (EA) undertake a programme of ecological, water quality and chemical monitoring on the Somerset Frome according to the requirements defined by the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 (WFD). This provides an understanding of the overall Ecological Status of the river. The EA act on the findings of this monitoring, to investigate any failures to meet the status required.

The WFD monitoring classification shows the Frome from its source to the confluence with the Maiden Bradley Brook as achieving poor ecological status. The Frome from Maiden Bradley Brook to the River Mells is achieving a moderate ecological status.

The reasons for not achieving good ecological status are a mixture of point and diffuse source pollution. This is elevating the nutrient levels in the water which in turn are affecting the plant and algal communities in the river. The results of the Environment Agency’s monitoring work indicate that sources are a mixture of treated sewage discharges from water company assets and from agricultural and land management practices.

Cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas is a top government priority. Change has already begun – the Water (Special Measures) Bill, announced during the King’s Speech, delivers on our manifesto commitment to put water companies under special measures by strengthening regulation to clean up our waters. That change will take time. Over the coming weeks and months, the Government will outline further steps to reform the water sector and restore our rivers, lakes and seas to good health.

The safety of our roads is an absolute priority for this Government and will support our health mission. Since the general election, the Department has begun work on a new Road Safety Strategy, the first in over a decade. We will set out next steps on this in due course.

The Department is aware that many people are unable to access the Cycle to Work scheme, including the self-employed and those who are retired, on low incomes, or not in employment. The Department will continue to consider ways of addressing this as part of its future plans for active travel.

The safety of our roads is an absolute priority for this Government. We are committed to delivering a new Road Safety Strategy – the first in over a decade. We will set out next steps on this in due course.

The scheme is to repair a geotechnical fault and stabilise the embankment by the A36 and as such is a business as usual safety related scheme led by National Highways. National Highways has engaged with local businesses, residents residing within the limits of the closure, Bath and North-East Somerset Council, Wiltshire Council and is currently speaking with Parish Councils.

The scheme will produce a stable road with reduced risk of a more extended closure for a future failure. Work will commence from 12^th August 2024 and last until Spring 2025. Extensive signage will be erected from Bath and the south advising of the closure and diversion routes.

Somerset Council are the relevant highways authority for the A361 around Frome and are responsible for any assessments on road safety. However, I am aware that Somerset’s Road Safety Team have been active in engaging with the community and are working with the Police over further road safety engagement and enforcement plans for later this year. I understand they are also undertaking a reassessment of traffic engineering measures at certain locations to see if any measures might help to reduce the likelihood of collisions occurring.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.

As of 15 July 2024, there were 531,704 car practical driving tests booked, and 91,306 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window. The table below shows the average waiting time by year for a driving test at each driving test centre in Somerset.

*In 2020, the DVSA extended the booking window for customers, allowing them to book a driving test up to 24 weeks in advance. The 24-week booking window is still in place.

To support improving access and uptake of the NHS Cervical Screening Programme, the National Health Service has a series of initiatives underway, including:

• developing a digital-first approach to cervical screening invitations and reminders;
• introducing revised invitation correspondence, and a subsequent reminder letter, that is sent at 24.5 years old to specifically highlight the need to attend cervical screening, even if they have had the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, and raise awareness of HPV vaccine catch-up offers, for those up to 25 years old;
• using the new IT system, the Cervical Screening Management System, to enable an opt-in process for transgender and non-binary people’s screening invitations, to ensure that no-one eligible misses the opportunity to be invited and participate;
• expanding the of the range of accessible public information materials across all screening programmes, and continuing to highlight the importance of screening within our regular equalities-focused communications and engagement;
• developing an agile cervical screening workforce that can respond to fluctuations in demand through workforce planning, accounting for potential future changes to screening offers, directed by the UK National Screening Committee;
• identifying low-cost or no-cost opportunities to communicate the NHS’s aim to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040, highlighting the value of cervical screening and the HPV vaccination as fundamental to achieving this goal; and
• The UK National Screening Committee’s consideration of whether the introduction of self-sampling for non-attenders to the cervical screening programme may increase uptake.

We are committed to implementing a national targeted supervised toothbrushing programme to three, four, and five year olds living in our most deprived areas.

We know that waits for mental health services are far too long, including for children and young people. That is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across child and adult mental health services, and introduce a specialist mental health professional in every school. We will set out our timeline for introducing access to specialist mental health professionals in due course.

Ministers meet regularly with external stakeholders on a variety of topics, including but not limited to dentistry. Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly in arrears on the GOV.UK website.

National Health Service Commissioned School Aged Immunisation Service providers have robust catch-up plans in place for the adolescent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme based on population need.

The UK Health Security Agency works closely with charities and academics to develop resources that can be used to raise awareness of HPV and the importance of vaccination, including for boys.

NHS England has improved digital communications on vaccinations, including expanding the NHS app, and has improved access to the HPV vaccine outside of schools through community clinics at convenient times and locations.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. We have also introduced the Golden Hello scheme which will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in areas that need them most for three years. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

NHS England is responsible for issuing guidance to integrated care boards on dental budgets, including ringfences. NHS England will publish planning guidance for 2025/26 in due course.

In accordance with the NHS Provider Selection Regime, contracts for National Health Service-funded healthcare services may be awarded to NHS trusts or foundation trusts and to non-NHS providers from the private and voluntary sectors. It is possible for a private organisation, that holds such a contract to deliver services to the NHS, to be acquired by a private equity company. In such circumstances, the NHS commissioning organisation, either an integrated care board or NHS England, which holds the contract must be notified of the change of control. In all cases, organisations delivering NHS services must deliver the requirements of the contract, and failure to do so may result in sanctions or even contract termination. More information on the selection regime is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/how-commissioning-is-changing/nhs-provider-selection-regime/

We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer on time, diagnosing it earlier, and treating it faster, and we will improve patients’ experience across the system.

Lord Darzi’s report has set out the scale of the challenges we face in fixing the NHS and the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival. In particular, he has highlighted the need to improve the number of patients starting their treatment within 62 days of referral and to increase the number of patients diagnosed at an earlier stage.

Improving 62-day performance and early diagnosis are already key priorities for NHS England. Lord Darzi’s report will inform our ten-year plan to reform the NHS, which include further details on how we will improve cancer diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes.

The 2021 Census found that there are approximately 4.7 million people in England who said they provided unpaid care. In the Frome and East Somerset constituency, the Census data showed that there were 7,900 people who said they provided unpaid care.

The Department monitors and manages medicine supply at a national level so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand. No assessment has been made, as information on stock levels within individual pharmacies is not held centrally. Local demand is managed by individual pharmacies.

We are aware of supply issues with Tresiba FlexTouch 100 units per millilitre pre-filled pens and Fiasp FlexTouch 100 units per millilitre pre-filled pens. The Department continues to work with the respective manufacturers to help resolve the supply issues. We have issued communications to National Health Service healthcare professionals, providing comprehensive management guidance, advice, and information, to allow them to support their patients. These supply issues do not only affect the United Kingdom, and we have a range of well-established processes to manage them when they do occur.

The information regarding what the average and longest waiting times were to access children and adolescent mental health services in Somerset is shown in the attached table.

This report provides data on the number of referrals for children and young people waiting and entering treatment for mental health services along with median and 90th percentile waits.

The data provided covers the reporting period 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2024 and has been grouped at national level and at integrated care board (ICB) level for ICBs which cover Somerset. The data at ICB level has been rounded and suppressed in accordance with Mental Health Services Dataset suppression rules. NHS England have no published data for a comparable date prior to 2023/24.