Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding is available to local authorities to improve oral hygiene education in primary schools.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Local authorities in England are responsible for assessing oral health needs and for improving the oral health of their local population. Public health services commissioned by local authorities in England are funded through a ring-fenced Public Health Grant. As part of a multi-year settlement, we will be investing £10.5 million in 2026/27, to enable local authorities to continue to implement the national supervised toothbrushing programme and for other local initiatives that improve education on oral hygiene. Dental health and the benefits of good oral hygiene are also part of statutory guidance on health education for schools in England. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve children's access to dental care in Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency, this is the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB.

The Government is committed to ensuring people can access urgent dental care when they need it. Over the past year, ICBs have been commissioning additional urgent dental appointments and there is now an urgent care safety net available in all areas of the country. In the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB, which includes the Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency, 25,315 NHS dental treatments were delivered in April to October 2025 compared to the same period before the election. Nationally, 1.8 million more NHS dental treatments were delivered across the same time period. Half of these additional treatments were delivered to children.

The 10-Year Health Plan confirms that child dental health is a priority, and we are committed to delivering fundamental reform of the dental contract before the end of this Parliament. In the meantime, we are introducing changes to dental access that will benefit children.

From April 2026, we began introducing a package of reforms to address some of the pressing issues that dentists and dental teams have been experiencing. We have introduced a new course of treatment for fluoride varnish for children to be applied by suitably trained dental nurses in between regular check-ups. We have also increased remuneration for dentists for fissure sealants, an effective intervention for children aged seven years old and over, and young people up to 18 years old, to support increased use for primary prevention purposes. These reforms will put patients with greatest need first, incentivising urgent care and complex treatments.

Reducing rates of tooth decay is central to our commitment to help children to live healthier lives. Tooth decay is also almost entirely preventable. We are delivering the national targeted supervised toothbrushing programme for up to 600,000 three to five-year-olds in the most deprived areas.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 24 March 2026 to question 121001, whether her Department has considered the use of independent, real-terms data when mapping mobile coverage.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Ofcom is responsible for reporting on the availability of telecommunications networks across the UK.

Government has restated the importance of Ofcom continuing to improve its reporting of mobile coverage in the draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of spectrum and postal services. This includes building on the launch of Map Your Mobile tool in June 2025, by exploring more use of measured and crowdsourced data to measure network performance.

Any use of independent data to support the mapping of mobile coverage and performance of mobile networks needs to be done in a robust way; this is something Ofcom are currently exploring.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has assessed the suitability of incentives to build mobile network infrastructure to meet the needs of rural areas.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Jointly funded by the Government and the UK’s mobile network operators, the Shared Rural Network is utilising Government funding to incentivise mobile network operators to deliver commercial outdoor mobile coverage in rural areas, where there was previously limited or no 4G coverage at all. The programme has successfully delivered its main objective of 95% 4G geographic coverage from at least one operator by the end of 2025 and will continue to deliver coverage improvements until it closes in January 2027.

Government is also committed to ensuring the policy and regulatory framework drives investment in widespread high-quality mobile connectivity across the UK, including working to identify and address barriers to deployment of mobile infrastructure where appropriate. To support this, we have recently launched the Mobile Market Review call for evidence, calling on stakeholders to provide detailed evidence on how developments across the sector impact investment in connectivity over the long-term and what more Government can do to support this. The call for evidence is open for responses until 5 May 2026.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to account for the costs of transporting SEND students to school in rural areas when making future funding allocations.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

Central government funding for home-to-school travel is provided through the Local Government Finance Settlement administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Settlement uses relative needs formulae to assess each local authority’s relative need to spend on specific services. From the 2026/27 financial year, we have introduced a new specific relative needs formula for home-to-school travel which estimates each authority’s relative need to spend based on pupil numbers and home-to-school distances. This ensures funding reflects real journeys to school including those for rural local authorities.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 26 March 2026 to question 121006, whether her Department will consider underlying geology within its review of the funding formula for the distribution of capital funding to local highways authorities.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department expects to consider underlying geology, as one of the many conditions that affect the wear and tear of local roads, as part of its review of the funding formula it uses to distribution highways maintenance funding to local highway authorities.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to respond to the Law Commission's recommendations on the reclamation and reuse of graves.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones

The Law Commission’s recommendations on burial were published on 18 March 2026 in its final report on the Burial and Cremation sub-project of a wider review of the legislative framework for burial, cremation and new funerary methods. Reports will also be published in due course in relation to New Funerary Methods and Rights and Obligations relating to Funerary Methods, Funerals and Remains.

The Government will consider the Law Commission’s recommendations carefully and will respond in due course.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the closure of bioenergy power stations which burn agricultural waste, including straw and poultry litter, after the end of the Renewables Obligation Certificate scheme in 2027 on the environment.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

While operators of Renewables Obligation accredited generators will have been aware of the expiry of their entitlement to Renewables Obligations Certificates for some time, Defra recognises the potential for adverse environmental consequences of the ending of agreements. Informing this, Defra's research portfolio includes research into the agricultural landbank available to apply these types of materials as a source of nutrients to meet crop and soil needs and explores novel fertilisers from organic materials. The storage and application of these materials to agricultural land is also controlled by The Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Diffuse Pollution (England) Regulations 2018 and The Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2015. Defra has committed to consolidate these agricultural water regulations into a clearer and stronger set of rules. Through these reforms it will consider how best to regulate the use of organic manures on farms and the interdependencies with wider policies. Nonetheless, Defra would continue to expect individuals and businesses to abide by legal obligations.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what consideration her Department has given to including Battery Energy Storage Sites within the Environmental Permitting Regulations.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We are committed to including Battery Energy Storage Solutions as an activity in the Environmental Permitting Regulations, subject to final policy review.

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what consideration her Department has given to permitting the conversion of opposite-sex civil partnerships to marriages.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

In 2019, when civil partnerships were made available for opposite-sex couples in England and Wales, the Government ran a public consultation on the future of conversion rights between marriage and civil partnerships for both opposite-sex and same-sex couples in England and Wales:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/civil-partnerships-next-steps-and-consultation-on-conversion#:~:text=We%20are%20seeking%20views%20on,be%20brought%20to%20an%20end

This Government is considering all options, and we will update the House in due course.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what advice she has received from the Women in Tech Taskforce on equity in education.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Women are underrepresented across the tech sector, and this gap starts early, with girls making up fewer than 20% of A-level Computer Science entrants.

The Women in Tech Taskforce was set up to change this: helping more women enter, stay, and lead in tech.

It will make recommendations on education and career pathways.

DSITs £187m TechFirst programme is also delivering interventions in education to boost opportunities for women and girls. This includes the annual Girls Competition which saw cyber and tech challenges completed by over 10,000 12-13 year old girls across the UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce incidents of shoplifting in the Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Driving down retail crime remains a key priority as set out in the Plan for Change.

The central aim of our police reforms is to protect and revitalise neighbourhood policing. We are lifting national responsibilities off local forces so they focus on tackling local issues, like fighting retail crime.

We will deliver 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel into roles across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament. By February 2026 we had delivered more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles. The first-year growth target was first exceeded in January 2026, two months ahead of schedule.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a new specific standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to help tackle the epidemic of shop theft and violence towards shop workers that we have seen in recent years and protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

This bespoke offence will send a clear signal to perpetrators that assaults on retail workers are unacceptable and won’t go unpunished. It will also ensure that assaults on retail workers are separately recorded so that we know the true scale of the problem, enabling the police to respond accordingly

Additionally, we are removing the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously

A small proportion of offenders drive a disproportionate level of crime: around 9% of offenders account for over half of all convictions nationally. More specifically, prolific offenders are responsible for c.70% of all theft offences. We are supporting police forces to better tackle this cohort and are now working on a plan to pilot strengthened approaches in select force areas.

We are providing £7 million over a three‑year period covering 2025 to 2028, to tackle retail crime, including continuing to fund a specialist policing team – in partnership with the retail sector - to better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if his Department will consider suspending all trade between the UK and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Israel's illegal settlements and decisions designed to further them are a flagrant violation of international law. We make businesses aware of the UK position to discourage trade with settlements, as outlined in the Overseas Business Risk Guidance.

We also continue to consider a wide range of measures in relation to how we respond to the situation in the West Bank. This remains a priority for this Government and we welcome Parliament’s continued engagement on this matter. We will inform the House of any developments in our position.

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 improve access to NHS dentistry in the Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population is delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency, this is the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB.

1.8 million additional courses of National Health Service dental treatment have been delivered in the seven months between April to October 2025 compared to the corresponding months prior to the general election, nearly half of which were delivered to children. We have reduced the underspend from £392 million in 2023/24 to just £36 million in 2024/25, maximising the treatments provided for taxpayers’ money and delivering on our aim that every penny for NHS dentistry is spent on NHS dentistry.

From April 2026, we began introducing a package of reforms to address some of the pressing issues that dentists and dental teams have been experiencing. These reforms will prioritise those with the greatest need, shifting care away from clinically unnecessary check-ups.

We are also committed to fundamentally reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention, and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the dental recruitment incentive scheme on reducing dental practice vacancies in the Ely and East Cambridgeshire Constituency.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population is delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency, this is the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB.

ICBs are continuing to recruit dentists through the Golden Hello scheme. The scheme offers a £20,000 recruitment incentive payment to dentists to work in those areas that need them most. The recruitment of dentists in underserved areas remains a priority and ICBs continue to be able to use the scheme in 2026/27, alongside locally led schemes.

Golden Hello data will be published this year and will consist of data showing the regional distribution of the original allocation of posts and the number of posts recruited to at both a national and regional level.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consideration her Department has given to the issuing of nationwide guidance on school uniform policy, to permit the removal of blazers, jumpers and ties when pupils are uncomfortably hot.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The department has published non-statutory guidance on school uniform, which encourages schools to ensure their policies are reasonable, inclusive and practical. This includes taking account of the needs and comfort of pupils, for example by allowing flexibility in uniform requirements during periods of very hot weather. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform/school-uniforms.

110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme

Abolition of Healthwatch

NHS funding for mental health services

Access to GP appointments

NHS dentistry

World Cider Day

Climate Change Act 2008

Draft Code of Practice on Services, public functions and associations

Towards a ceasefire and political resolution in Sudan

Official Development Assistance

Renewable energy and coal

Warm Homes Plan

Nuclear Regulatory Review and habitats regulations

Energy prices for households and businesses

Climate Change Committee's seventh Carbon Budget

Civil Service pensions

Nature Friendly Farming Week

Online abuse and exploitation of Ukrainian refugees

Graduate driving licences

US sanctions on Cuba

Rough sleeping, homelessness prevention and long-term housing support

Local government and social care

Devolved powers in Wales

Blackhall Children’s Sports Committee

Shoemakers Museum shortlisted for Permanent Exhibitor of the Year at the 2026 Museum and Heritage Awards

Free-to-air coverage of European finals

Safety of British nationals following the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla

UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures agreement

St Albans Interfaith League and support for inter-faith initiatives

Fundraising by Albie Lavallee for the National Autistic Society

Protest rights

Carers Week 2026

UK-EU Youth Mobility Scheme

Mobile connectivity in rural areas

Israel death penalty

UNESCO World Heritage status for chalk streams in England

Heating oil prices

Protections for Hong Kongers

A UK-EU customs union to help tackle the cost-of-living crisis

EU Entry/Exit System and border delays for British travellers

UK arms sales to Israel

Access to banking services

Holding Iran’s regime to account and proscribing the IRGC

Two-state solution in Israel and Palestine

National Emergency Briefing

Mental Health Awareness Week

Legal protections for individuals making protected disclosures under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998

New US sanctions on Cuba

Found: Jenkin (Conservative; Harwich and North Essex) (Chair) Lewis Atkinson (Labour; Sunderland Central) Charlotte Cane

Found: 2026 Virtual meeting Members present Sir Bernard Jenkin (Chair) Lord Brady of Altrincham Charlotte Cane

Found: Jenkin (Conservative; Harwich and North Essex) (Chair) Lewis Atkinson (Labour; Sunderland Central) Charlotte Cane

Found: Jenkin (Conservative; Harwich and North Essex) (Chair) Lewis Atkinson (Labour; Sunderland Central) Charlotte Cane

Found: Jenkin (Conservative; Harwich and North Essex) (Chair) Lewis Atkinson (Labour; Sunderland Central) Charlotte Cane

This inquiry will examine two reports laid by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in September 2025 which relate to separate investigations into two complaints about the Charity Commission for England and Wales (the Charity Commission).