Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of food imports are subject to sanitary and phytosanitary checks.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Food is not a category used to record import checks within sanitary and phytosanitary controls as it covers a large range, of varying types, of imports. Imports are subject to controls based upon their composition or commodity type. Products are categorised as high, medium or low risk, with controls appropriately weighted against the risks posed both by the commodity and the country of origin. The current risk levels are identified on GOV.UK Import risk categories for animals, animal products, plants and plant products - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 implications for her policies of trends in the level of food supply chain resilience in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a resilient food supply chain underpinned by diverse sources, robust domestic production and reliable import routes. Defra works with industry and across Government, including Cabinet Office, to monitor risks to food supply chain resilience that may arise.
This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains. At the local level Defra engages with local resilience forums, with support from MHCLG, to build additional resilience to supply chain shocks and emergencies.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what performance metrics his Department will use to evaluate the employment outcomes of participants in construction training initiatives.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP) is a Department for Work and Pensions initiative designed to help unemployed people move into work. It offers sector-specific training, work experience and a guaranteed job interview, supporting claimants to develop the skills and behaviours that employers are looking for in key industries such as construction.
A SWAP is demand-led and generally run in sectors with high volumes of vacancies; this includes the construction sector. From April 2021 to December 2025, there have been 65,930 starts on construction SWAPs. This represents 15% of all SWAP starts in that timeframe. We publish management information on SWAPs quarterly (Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) Management Information - GOV.UK). This includes SWAP starts by sector, and the proportion of SWAP starts with earnings at 6 and 9 months following a SWAP start.
DWP also collect and publish information about Skills Bootcamps starts, completions and employment outcomes. Further information about the methodology can be found on the relevant Explore Education Statistics page: Skills bootcamps starts, completions and outcomes, Financial year 2023-24 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions her Department has had with rail industry partners on the commencement of passenger services between Oxford and Milton Keynes.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department continues to work closely with Chiltern and other partners to confirm a start date for the first East West Rail services between Oxford and Milton Keynes as soon as possible.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dental appointments were provided in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in the last three 12-month periods.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The table below shows the available data for the number of National Health Service dental treatments delivered each year between 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 in the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (ICB), which includes the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency. Data for dentistry is measured in courses of treatment, not appointments. One course of treatment can be more than one appointment.
Financial year | Number of NHS dental treatments delivered in the first seven months of the financial year. |
2025/26 | 377,291 (partial year) |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority monthly statistics, available at the following link: https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/dental-activity-data-england-july-2023-to-october-2025
Financial year | Number of NHS dental treatments delivered |
2024/25 | 594,667 |
2023/24 | 557,798 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority, available at the following link: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202425
The data for 2023/24 and 2024/25 are not directly comparable with the 2025/26 data due to the 2025/26 data being provisional. Final data for 2025/26 will be published in August 2026. Furthermore, the 2025/26 data covers seven months of activity, but the 2023/24 and 2024/25 data covers the full 12-month period.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the funding required to meet demand for NHS dental services in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in the next 12 months.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care dentistry and receive an annual allocation of funding to secure services to meet the needs of their population. For the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency, this is the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB. Further information on ICB allocation funding for 2026/27 to 2027/28 is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/allocations/
In 2024/25, we invested around £3.7 billion on primary care dentistry. We want to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most.
We have reduced the National Health Service dentistry underspend from £392 million in 2023/24 to £36 million in 2024/25.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate he has made of the amount of private capital expected to be leveraged as a result of the UK–US critical minerals partnership over the next five years.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We do not have concrete estimates for private capital that will be leveraged and note that the MoU will serve to advance UK projects beyond just investment, including potential offtake agreements with US industry. In 2024, the UK exported around £2 billion worth of critical minerals and their immediate derivatives to the US, whilst importing around £1 billion originating from the US.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what criteria his Department will use to determine priority projects under the UK–US critical minerals partnership.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The MoU will help unlock more high‑quality potential investment into UK mining, processing and recycling. Our bilateral coordination will align with priorities set out in UK’s Critical Minerals Strategy with a view to boosting local growth and developing UK capabilities.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what mechanisms will be used to monitor supply chain resilience outcomes arising from the UK–US critical minerals partnership.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK’s Critical Mineral Strategy sets out ambitious success features to build domestic resilience and diversify global supply chains. These include meeting 10% of UK demand from domestic production, 20% from recycling and no more than 60% of any critical mineral from a single country. Our Memorandum of Understanding with the US will seek to deliver against these success features, with outcomes monitored by the Department for Business and Trade.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is considering regulatory changes to help improve water infrastructure provision in Buckinghamshire.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Water White Paper published in January 2026, available on GOV.UK, sets out the changes we are making to bring a holistic approach to water planning, which better considers current water infrastructure asset health and the resilience enhancements needed to cater for future needs. This includes bringing together the functions of Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and parts of the Environment Agency into a powerful single regulator. This will ensure water companies identify and delivery critical water infrastructure to improve our resilience and meet our future needs. This is in addition to the £104 billion of private sector investment that has been secured to fund essential infrastructure improvements in the 2025-2030 period.