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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Health and Safety Executive report entitled, Agency Opinion on the Annex 15 Dossier on the Proposal for a Restriction, published in December 2024, when his Department will publish its response.

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

Defra has received HSE’s final opinion on a proposed UK REACH Restriction on lead in ammunition and we are assessing their proposals. Given the need to work through the detail of HSE’s proposal a decision is expected in the summer due course. This decision will be taken with the consent of the Devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made on reducing waiting times for mental health treatment services in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

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

Waiting times for those referred to mental health services are too high all across England, including in the North East Somerset and Hanham constituency. Too many people with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they need, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.

We are committed to improving mental health care for people with a range of mental health conditions, and to shifting the focus from treatment to prevention as we make the National Health Service fit for the future.

In the Spending Review announcement, we have confirmed that we will fulfil the Government’s commitment to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health staff, to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, by the end of the Parliament, and will expand mental health support teams in schools in England to cover 100% of pupils by 2029/30.

We are also keen to learn from models like Open Mental Health in Somerset, that bring together different organisations to offer access to mental health support.

Our reforms to the Mental Health Act will give patients a greater say in their care and will ensure that people get the appropriate and compassionate mental health support they need.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps she has take to encourage people who are eligible to apply for pension credit.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government wants all pensioners to get the support to which they are entitled. That is why we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign. The campaign included adverts on television, radio, social media such as Facebook and Instagram, on YouTube, on advertising screens, including on GP and Post Office screens as well as in the press.

This drive has successfully boosted applications. The latest applications and awards statistics were published on 29 May and are available at: Pension Credit applications and awards: May 2025.(opens in a new tab) The statistics show that the Department received over 285,000 applications since 29 July 2024 and made almost 60,000 extra awards on the comparable period the previous year.

Since February, the Department has also been writing to all pensioners who make a new claim for Housing Benefit and who appear to be entitled to Pension Credit – directly targeting this group and encouraging them to make a claim.

The campaign is currently live on social media, radio and in print, with further promotional activity planned for this year.

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 help improve survival rates for (a) pancreatic cancer and (b) other cancers in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Improving survival rates for all cancers, including pancreatic cancer, is a priority for the Government. As the first step to ensuring faster diagnosis and treatment, we have delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week.

NHS England is providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those at high-risk to identify lesions before they develop into cancer. NHS England is additionally creating pathways to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms and is increasing direct access for general practitioners to diagnostic tests.

The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for all cancer patients across the country, including North East Somerset and Hanham, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment. It will aim to ensure that patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately bring this country’s cancer survival rates, including for those with pancreatic cancer.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to (a) encourage and (b) support local communities which host clean power projects.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

DESNZ and Great British Energy are developing the Local Power Plan, designed to accelerate the local and community energy sector in support of the Clean Power Mission.

On 21 May we published a working paper on community benefits and shared ownership of low carbon energy infrastructure. Developers of low carbon energy generation and storage infrastructure would be required to contribute to funds, which can be used to support the local community.

Plans are in place for households within 500 metres of new or significantly upgraded electricity transmission infrastructure to get up to £2,500 off their electricity bills over 10 years.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help mitigate flood risks in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

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

As a category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act the Environment Agency has supported Bath and North East Somerset Council at various events to develop resilient communities in North East Somerset and Hanham.

As a responding agency, the Environment Agency (EA) has been involved with protecting residents from various weather events such as Storm Bert in 2024. This included operation of ea assets, warning and informing residents and coordinating responses and recovery with their professional partners.

The ea is working to create a River Avon vision with partners for the Netham to Twerton Corridor to support the Government’s sustainable growth agenda and enable the restoration of nature and resilient communities faced with flooding and climate change.

The EA has a successful programme of Property Flood Resilience (PFR) for isolated properties at risk of flooding. In North East Somerset and Hanham installation of PFR at properties in Swinford, Hanham and Chew Magna has been completed.

In addition, the EA has an ongoing project to understand flood risk in the Siston and Warmley catchment. As part of their asset management role, they have just completed urgent tunnel lining repairs to the Siston flood relief tunnel.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed balanced youth experience scheme on young people in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The details of any scheme will be subject to negotiation. We have agreed that any scheme will be capped and time-limited, and have been clear that it will need to be in line with our existing youth mobility schemes. Any scheme will need to be in the UK’s national interests.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an estimate of the number of people who will take part in the Youth Experience Scheme in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The details of any scheme will be subject to negotiation. We have agreed that any scheme will be capped and time-limited, and have been clear that it will need to be in line with our existing youth mobility schemes. Any scheme will need to be in the UK’s national interests.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many reports of incidents of flooding have been made in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency in the last five years.

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

The Environment Agency (EA) have records of 43 reports of flooding in the North East Somerset and Hanham Constituency over the last 5 years. However, property flooding is often underreported for many reasons, and this number only includes incidents of flooding that have been reported to the EA.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Spending Review 2025 on NHS waiting lists in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No formal assessment has been made of the potential impact of the 2025 Spending Review on National Health Service waiting lists in the North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

The 2025 Spending Review, announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in June 2025, prioritises health with record investment in the health and social care system. Until 2028/29, the Government is providing £29 billion for more day-to-day funding in real terms compared to 2023/24, along with the largest ever health capital budget, with a £2.3 billion real terms increase in capital spending over the Spending Review period, until 2029/30.

This funding will support delivery of our commitment that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029, including in the North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help support first time buyers in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The affordability challenges facing prospective first-time buyers mean that too many people are now locked out of homeownership. This government is determined to change that, ensuring that young families and hardworking renters can buy a home of their own.

Boosting the supply of homes of all tenures must be at the heart of any strategy to improve housing affordability which is why the government’s Plan for Change includes a hugely ambitious milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament.

In addition to increasing the supply of homes of all tenures, in July, the government will launch a new, permanent Mortgage Guarantee Scheme which will help to support and sustain availability of low deposit mortgage products, helping prospective buyers with a deposit as small as 5% to own a home.

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 speed up diagnosis and treatment for people living with dementia in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

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

The Government wants a society where every person with dementia receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.

A timely diagnosis is vital to ensuring that a person with dementia can access the advice, information, care, and support that can help them to live well and remain independent for as long as possible. To support recovery of the dementia diagnosis rates and implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, we have developed a memory service dashboard for management information purposes. The aim is to support commissioners and providers with appropriate data and to enable targeted support where needed.

We have published the D100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool to help simplify best practice for system leaders and help create communities and services where the best possible care and support is available to those with dementia. The D100: Pathway Assessment Tool launched in April, and is available at the following link:

https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/improving-care/nccmh/service-design-and-development/dementia-100-pathway-assessment-tool

To prepare for any potential new treatments, NHS England is working closely with regulators to ensure that arrangements are in place to support the adoption of any new licensed and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended treatments as soon as possible.

The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will address the challenges diagnosed by Lord Darzi and will set the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of complex health and care needs. It will set out how we support and enable health and social care services to work together better to provide that joined-up care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is tacking to support community pharmacies in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

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

The Government recognises that pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system and is grateful to pharmacy teams across the country, including in North-East Somerset and Hanham, for their hard work, professionalism, and dedication in supporting patients in their communities, and for delivering a wide range of National Health Services.

For 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26.

There is also additional funding available, for example for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations. The Pharmacy Access Scheme provides additional funding to support pharmacies in areas where there are fewer.

This year, we will take forward legislation to enable all pharmacies to benefit from the efficiencies of hub and spoke dispensing and enable greater use of the skill mix in pharmacy teams to free up pharmacists to spend more time with patients.

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 proposed expansion of free school meals on student attainment in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. The department has now announced that we are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty and put £500 back in families’ pockets, supporting parents in decisive action to improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy coming later this year.

In North East Somerset and Hanham, 2,008 pupils are currently eligible for FSM. Following the expansion of FSM to all on Universal Credit from September 2026, the department expects approximately 3,500 children to be eligible based on data from the Department for Work and Pensions. Providing over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day will lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.

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 proposed expansion of free school meals on pupil behaviour in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. The department has now announced that we are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty and put £500 back in families’ pockets, supporting parents in decisive action to improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy coming later this year.

In North East Somerset and Hanham, 2,008 pupils are currently eligible for FSM. Following the expansion of FSM to all on Universal Credit from September 2026, the department expects approximately 3,500 children to be eligible based on data from the Department for Work and Pensions. Providing over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day will lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.