Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her department gives for determining neighbourhood health centre catchment/geographical areas.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer provided on 14 July to Question 17076.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to align support provided to housing associations with support provided to local authorities to enable them to provide people with low-cost access to EV charging.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Government grants are available for housing associations, offering up to £500 towards the purchase and installation of a charge point.
We will shortly be launching a consultation on ways to ensure more people have the ability to charge from home. This includes ways to support landlords and freeholders to provide timely permissions to install charge points.
Government is engaging with stakeholders to understand barriers and develop policy that will allow housing providers to provide scalable, affordable charging for their residents.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to expand the terms of reference of the Cost of public EV charging review, published on 9 June 2026, to include VAT levied on public EV charging.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
While tax costs will be reflected within the review, recommendations on tax policy are out of scope. This is consistent with other such reviews which avoid pre-empting fiscal events, where decisions on tax can be made in the round, taking into account the wider economic and fiscal context.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the membership and remit of the water delivery taskforce.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Water Delivery Taskforce was established in Spring 2025 to unblock growth constrained by water and wastewater capacity, while maintaining and strengthening environmental protections.
As Minister for Water, I chair the Water Delivery Taskforce. The taskforce brings together key representatives from government departments and the water sector. Its core membership includes representation from: Defra, MHCLG, OxCam, EA, Ofwat, DWI, NE, NISTA, DBT and Water UK. This supports coordinated, sector-wide action.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the (a) total and (b) per-pupil primary school revenue funding earmarked for sport and physical education in England in (i) 2023/4, (ii) 2024/5, (iii) 2025/6 and (iv) 2026/7.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The PE and Sport Premium was £320 million per academic year in 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 across England. Hampshire allocations were approximately £8 million in each year across eligible schools.
The department is investing over £1 billion for PE and school sport over three years, including £530 million for a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network.
Our new approach combines both a universal offer to all primary and secondary schools, which includes school requested intervention, plus targeted direct support for those schools and pupils who will benefit from it the most. This includes coaching, swimming provision and support to open facilities, as well as stronger links to extra‑curricular sport and local clubs. We will also provide targeted funding for schools to test and share effective practice, alongside more accessible programmes from National Governing Bodies and clearer pathways into community sport. Provision will be informed by baseline and ongoing needs assessments led by a national delivery partner.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the (a) total and (b) per-pupil primary school revenue funding earmarked for sport and physical education in Hampshire in (i) 2023/4, (ii) 2024/5, (iii) 2025/6 and (iv) 2026/7.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The PE and Sport Premium was £320 million per academic year in 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 across England. Hampshire allocations were approximately £8 million in each year across eligible schools.
The department is investing over £1 billion for PE and school sport over three years, including £530 million for a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network.
Our new approach combines both a universal offer to all primary and secondary schools, which includes school requested intervention, plus targeted direct support for those schools and pupils who will benefit from it the most. This includes coaching, swimming provision and support to open facilities, as well as stronger links to extra‑curricular sport and local clubs. We will also provide targeted funding for schools to test and share effective practice, alongside more accessible programmes from National Governing Bodies and clearer pathways into community sport. Provision will be informed by baseline and ongoing needs assessments led by a national delivery partner.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring transparent display of price paid per gramme among (a) over-the-counter and (b) online operators in the gold-buying sector.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 prohibits unfair commercial practices, including misleading actions that are likely to impact the average consumer’s transactional decision. The DMCCA also requires traders to display prices inclusive of all taxes and unavoidable charges before payment is made. Prices must be accurate and not misleading. Failure to do this may be taken as an unfair trading practice and constitute an offence.
The department has not made any assessment on this matter, but we continue to closely monitor consumer protection issues.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her department is taking to support the recruitment of more Educational Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists, pursuant to her reforms in SEND provision.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards, to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer. The funding will support local areas to recruit more educational psychologists, speech and language therapists (SaLTs), occupational therapists and specialist teachers, so they can bring this vital support directly into mainstream settings and improve access to early intervention.
To support delivery of Experts at Hand, we are investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce. This includes £26 million to train at least 200 educational psychologists per year from 2026 and 2027, followed by further investment to train more from 2028, subject to future spending reviews. Upon graduating, trainees will be required remain in local authority employment for a minimum of three years.
The remaining £15 million will be invested to establish new speech and language therapist advanced practitioners in every Integrated Care Board geographical area, to get more SaLTs working in educational settings.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, further to the answer to WPQ 14794 received on 8th July, what estimate he has made of the cash amount of his Department's funding contribution to the Department for Education for the Primary PE and Sport Premium, and the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, in (i) 2023/4, (ii) 2024/5, (iii) 2025/6 and (iv) 2026/7.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Government is investing over £1 billion for Physical Education (PE) and school sports over three years, including £580 million for a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network. This represents a collaborative approach across the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Education, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in providing all children, but particularly those who are least active, with the opportunity to reap the health benefits of being physically active, whilst ensuring value for money. Detailed design and funding allocations will be confirmed through the procurement process for a National Delivery Partner in due course.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the present period of extreme heat on the capacity of schools to remain safe and operational.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises that heatwaves can disrupt pupils’ learning, attendance and wellbeing. We are committed to supporting schools and responsible bodies to maintain a safe learning environment during periods of extreme heat. While high temperatures can cause discomfort, reduced concentration and, in some cases, lower attendance, these impacts can usually be managed through practical and proportionate steps.
Schools are encouraged to adapt their arrangements in hot weather, for example by adjusting timetables, limiting strenuous activities, and ensuring classrooms are well ventilated and kept as cool as possible. Where attendance in person is not safe or reasonable, schools can provide high-quality remote education to maintain continuity of learning
The department has published the guidance ‘Hot weather and heatwaves: guidance for schools and other education settings’, which is based on UK Health Security Agency advice to support education settings. In most cases, schools remain the safest place for children during hot weather, as staff can monitor pupils, encourage hydration and take steps to keep them comfortable. Evidence also shows many homes are prone to overheating, affecting around 1.6 million children.
Maintaining attendance where possible therefore supports both educational outcomes and pupil wellbeing during heatwaves, and the vast majority of education settings remained open across the country, including in hotter areas.