Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of steps to help reduce fatality rates of cyclists on rural roads in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has not made an assessment of steps to help reduce fatality rates of cyclists on rural roads in West Dorset constituency.
Dorset Unitary Authority has been awarded £774,233 in revenue and capital funding from the Consolidated Active Travel Fund. It will be for the local authority to allocate this funding in line with local investment priorities, such as improving safety for cyclists in West Dorset.
We are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. The Department is developing our Road Safety Strategy and will set out more details in due course.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Integrated Care Board mergers are planned for Dorset.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to act primarily as strategic commissioners of health services and reduce duplication of responsibilities within their structure. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts on 1 April 2025 where ICBs were tasked to develop plans setting out how they will manage their resources to deliver across their priorities. The guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/
Dorset ICB is discussing proposals to form a wider ICB “cluster” with neighbouring colleagues at NHS Somerset and NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire. This is very much a proposal, which will need to be worked through in more detail over the coming months.