Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on strengthening national flooding preparedness.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, including future flood preparedness, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential. Preparing for flooding in England remains a priority for Defra and the Environment Agency to protect communities.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to support small businesses in rural areas.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Many businesses benefitted from the £13.6 billion support package provided at Autumn Budget 2022, including those in rural communities. The government has gone further at this year’s Autumn Statement, announcing a business rates support package worth £4.3 billion. This includes protection for businesses who lose eligibility for Small Business or Rural Rate Relief through a generous Supporting Small Business scheme worth over £500 million.
The government provides extensive support to businesses, through Help to Grow Management, Business Support Helpline and a network of Growth Hubs. The Government has also increased the British Business Bank’s regional financing programmes by £1.6 billion.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to help reduce the number of potholes (a) nationally and (b) in West Lancashire constituency.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department is providing Lancashire County Council with a total of over £37.5 million of highway maintenance funding this financial year. This includes a £5.1 million uplift from the additional £200 million announced at Budget 2023, and a £3.6 million uplift from the additional £150 million Network North funding announced on 4 October. Through the Network North funding, Lancashire County Council will receive a minimum additional uplift in road maintenance funding between 2023-24 and 2033-34 of £244.5 million. It is up to Lancashire County Council to determine how best to use this funding to fulfil its statutory duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria his Department plans to use when allocating the new £2.5 billion fund for local transport across all areas in the North; and what his planned timetable is for announcing those funding decisions.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Since the Government announced Network North on 4 October, the Department has been working closely with delivery partners to establish and progress plans for delivery. Announcements on the progress of business cases and delivery will be made in due course.
The Department will announce further details on the criteria for the allocation of the new £2.5 billion fund for local transport across all areas in the North and the timetable for announcing funding decisions in due course.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate her Department has made of when the (a) Hinkley and (b) Sizewell nuclear power plant will be operational.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
EDF is the lead investor at Hinkley Point C and they have provided a target date for commercial operations for Unit Reactor 1 of June 2027, with Unit Reactor 2 following a year later in June 2028. Both units have a risk of a delay of 15 months. We expect Sizewell C to be generating power from the mid-2030s, subject to ongoing project development and the timing of a Final Investment Decision.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of elective surgeries cancelled in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Official NHS England statistics show that between September 2023 and September 2024 (latest National Health Service published data) the total number of elective surgeries cancelled in England for non-clinical reasons was 76,021. Some common non-clinical reasons for cancellations by the hospital include ward beds being unavailable, surgeon or theatre staff being unavailable, or emergency cases needing the theatre.
Further information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help prepare the NHS for winter 2023-24.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Winter planning for the National Health Service started earlier this year than in previous years. The urgent and emergency care recovery plan was published in January 2023 which included £1 billion of dedicated funding to support capacity. In July 2023, NHS England wrote to integrated care boards, trusts and primary care networks to set out a national approach to 2023/24 winter planning and the key steps to be taken across all parts of the system to meet the challenges expected from winter pressures.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department has taken to support the hospitality sector in the context of the rise in the cost of living.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
My Department meets regularly with the hospitality sector and understands the challenges businesses face. The Hospitality Sector Council is focusing on steps to build the sector’s resilience.
In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced a business rates support package worth £4.3 billion over the next five years to support small businesses and the high street. The small business multiplier will be frozen for a fourth consecutive year, and Retail,
Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief will be extended, ensuring the most vulnerable
businesses continue to be supported.
The Chancellor also announced a freeze on alcohol duties until 1 August 2024 to give businesses time to adapt to the duty system introduced on 1 August 2023.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure equitable standards of SEND provision in (a) urban and (b) rural communities.
Answered by David Johnston
In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published in March 2023, the department set out plans to build a consistent national SEND and AP system which parents and carers can trust, easily navigate, and have confidence in, whether they live in an urban or rural area.
The foundation for the new nationally consistent SEND and AP system will be new evidenced-based National Standards for early and accurate identification of need, and timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will include clarifying the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support.
This will help families, practitioners and providers understand what support every child or young person should be receiving from early years through to further education, no matter where they live or what their needs are. By the end of 2025 the department will publish a significant proportion of the National Standards.
New local SEND and AP partnerships will support this work by bringing together Education, Health and Care partners with local government to produce evidence-based Local Area Inclusion Plans setting out how to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND and in AP in the local area, in line with National Standards.
The department is testing and refining reforms through the £70 million Change Programme to collect evidence about what works for children and young people with SEND and their families at a local level. The department is working with 32 local authorities and their local areas in each of the nine regions. To form a Change Programme Partnership, in the majority of cases, a lead local authority will work in partnership with up to three neighbouring local authorities which will ensure impact is spread across a range of local areas, with differing levels of performance and demographics.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure there is adequate funding for the provision of SEND services in rural schools.
Answered by David Johnston
Funding for specialist Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) services is allocated to local authorities through the high needs funding block of their Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).
Local authorities are responsible for deciding how much of that funding to spend on appropriate local SEND services, to ensure there is effective support for the education of children and young people with SEND in all local schools, including rural schools.
Nationally, high needs funding is increasing to over £10.5 billion in the 2024/25 financial year, which is an increase of over 60% since the 2019/20 allocations. The department has already announced provisional 2024/25 high needs allocations for local authorities, and Lancashire County Council’s allocation is £203 million, which is over £10 million more than the Council will receive for 2023/24.