Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing subsidies to support farmers to (a) introduce and (b) maintain beekeeping.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Figures from the annual hive count suggests that the number of beekeepers has remained relatively stable and is not declining. Defra supports beekeepers through the work of the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit which operates our bee pest surveillance programmes and provides free training and advice to beekeepers, including on pest and disease recognition. Effective pest and disease control is important for preventing spread to other apiaries and pollinators.
Defra supports pollinators through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Landscape Recovery, in that the schemes offer a choice of support for more regenerative approaches to farming, and creation or restoration of habitats in appropriate areas. We are working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding, and further information about the reformed SFI will be provided shortly.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to provide subsidies for farmers who diversify into beekeeping.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Figures from the annual hive count suggests that the number of beekeepers has remained relatively stable and is not declining. Defra supports beekeepers through the work of the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit which operates our bee pest surveillance programmes and provides free training and advice to beekeepers, including on pest and disease recognition. Effective pest and disease control is important for preventing spread to other apiaries and pollinators.
Defra supports pollinators through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Landscape Recovery, in that the schemes offer a choice of support for more regenerative approaches to farming, and creation or restoration of habitats in appropriate areas. We are working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding, and further information about the reformed SFI will be provided shortly.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with farming organisations on subsidies for beekeeping.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Figures from the annual hive count suggests that the number of beekeepers has remained relatively stable and is not declining. Defra supports beekeepers through the work of the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit which operates our bee pest surveillance programmes and provides free training and advice to beekeepers, including on pest and disease recognition. Effective pest and disease control is important for preventing spread to other apiaries and pollinators.
Defra supports pollinators through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Landscape Recovery, in that the schemes offer a choice of support for more regenerative approaches to farming, and creation or restoration of habitats in appropriate areas. We are working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding, and further information about the reformed SFI will be provided shortly.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing vaccination as part of the national bovine TB control strategy.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
An assessment of the potential merits of vaccination was made by a reconvened panel of independent experts, led by Professor Sir Charles Godfray. The panel’s updated report, published on 4 September 2025, considered the latest evidence on both cattle and badger vaccination, and will inform the development of the refreshed bovine TB strategy for England.
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, if his Department will take steps to allocate funding for a dental school in West Dorset to increase the local dental workforce.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tackling the geographical disparities in access to National Health Service dentistry is vital, and the Government welcomes efforts to help deliver this ambition.
Government approval or funding is not required to establish a new dental school in West Dorset. We encourage prospective dental schools to approach the General Dental Council (GDC), who need to approve any new programmes.
Provided a prospective dental school meets the requirements of the GDC and the Office for Students, it would be considered for any future Government-funded training places.
The GDC published guidance for prospective dental schools in January 2025, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department is taking to support communities affected by extreme weather in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The preparation for, response to and recovery from extreme weather sits across a number of organisations, including the Cabinet Office, UK Health and Security Agency, and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. As the Lead Government Department for flooding, Defra works with partners across local and national Government to strengthen preparedness for flooding.
In 2024, Defra established the Floods Resilience Taskforce, a collaborative initiative uniting all levels of Government, emergency services, businesses, and environmental groups to improve flood preparedness. Over the past 12 months, the taskforce has helped drive improvements to national flood modelling and forecasting, the communication of flood warnings, and has raised awareness of schemes to support those affected by flooding. The fourth meeting in September discussed preparedness for the 2025 autumn/winter period.
Following the wettest winter on record, the Environment Agency is investing £5 million to protect 444 properties in West Dorset, maintaining key assets, supporting coastal projects, improving property flood resilience, and working with partners on natural flood management and coastal risk response.
Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) in England are tasked with coordinating local emergency preparedness, including extreme weather events. West Dorset is represented on the Dorset LRF as part of the Dorset Councils Partnership. The Dorset LRF Community Risk Register, which includes local risk assessments for extreme weather events in Dorset, can be found here.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of extreme weather events on West Dorset.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The preparation for, response to and recovery from extreme weather sits across a number of organisations, including the Cabinet Office, UK Health and Security Agency, and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. As the Lead Government Department for flooding, Defra works with partners across local and national Government to strengthen preparedness for flooding.
In 2024, Defra established the Floods Resilience Taskforce, a collaborative initiative uniting all levels of Government, emergency services, businesses, and environmental groups to improve flood preparedness. Over the past 12 months, the taskforce has helped drive improvements to national flood modelling and forecasting, the communication of flood warnings, and has raised awareness of schemes to support those affected by flooding. The fourth meeting in September discussed preparedness for the 2025 autumn/winter period.
Following the wettest winter on record, the Environment Agency is investing £5 million to protect 444 properties in West Dorset, maintaining key assets, supporting coastal projects, improving property flood resilience, and working with partners on natural flood management and coastal risk response.
Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) in England are tasked with coordinating local emergency preparedness, including extreme weather events. West Dorset is represented on the Dorset LRF as part of the Dorset Councils Partnership. The Dorset LRF Community Risk Register, which includes local risk assessments for extreme weather events in Dorset, can be found here.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to educate schoolchildren about the dangers of far-right extremist ideologies online.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is important that children and young people have the appropriate skills to remain resilient to misinformation and disinformation, and to extremist content. ‘Keeping children safe in education’ is statutory guidance which provides schools and colleges with robust information on how to protect pupils and students online.
Online safety is also taught through compulsory national curriculum subjects such as relationships, sex and health education, computing and citizenship education. These subjects teach pupils a number of skills relating to staying safe online as well as ensuring that pupils are digitally literate, including being able to effectively evaluate and apply information online.
The department publishes comprehensive advice and has made a range of resources freely available on our Educate Against Hate website, supporting teachers across all sectors to educate children and young people about the risks of all types of extremism and radicalisation. We also have a team of regional co-ordinators who work directly with education institutions in England to provide advice, support and training to ensure providers are well equipped to prevent children and young people from being drawn into terrorism.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to educate schoolchildren about the dangers of radicalisation ideologies online in rural areas.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is important that children and young people have the appropriate skills to remain resilient to misinformation and disinformation, and to extremist content. ‘Keeping children safe in education’ is statutory guidance which provides schools and colleges with robust information on how to protect pupils and students online.
Online safety is also taught through compulsory national curriculum subjects such as relationships, sex and health education, computing and citizenship education. These subjects teach pupils a number of skills relating to staying safe online as well as ensuring that pupils are digitally literate, including being able to effectively evaluate and apply information online.
The department publishes comprehensive advice and has made a range of resources freely available on our Educate Against Hate website, supporting teachers across all sectors to educate children and young people about the risks of all types of extremism and radicalisation. We also have a team of regional co-ordinators who work directly with education institutions in England to provide advice, support and training to ensure providers are well equipped to prevent children and young people from being drawn into terrorism.
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 he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential impact of supervised drug consumption facilities on (a) crime and (b) health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has not discussed the potential impact of supervised drug consumption facilities on crime and health with my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for the Home Department.
The Government will continue to promote preventative public health measures to support people to live longer and healthier lives, and we are committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug problem can access the help and support they need.