Harriett Baldwin

I refer the hon. Member for West Worcestershire to the answer of 4 November 2024 to Question 901015.

Specific route performance for the West Midlands Railway (WMR) operated Birmingham to Hereford line can be found online for the most recent period (18 August to 14 September) online at: //www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/about-us/train-performance.

This data is updated every four weeks. WMR should be contacted for information about further periods.

Since 5 July 2024, the Government has had two meetings with the British Dental Association (BDA). My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, met with the BDA in July, and I had a further meeting in August. I also met with the Association of Dental Groups in September 2024.

While there is no data available for 2023, as of 10 July 2024, there were 87 dentistry practices in the Worcestershire and Herefordshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), 12 of which stated they were accepting new adult National Health Service patients, when availability allows. This data is sourced from the Find a Dentist website and is matched to ICBs based on the postcode shown on the website. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist

No assessments have yet been made on the impact of the £200 million NHS Dental Recovery Plan announced in February 2024.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

We are grateful to the Honourable member for bringing this matter to our attention. We apologise for the delay. The FCDO published a response to Question 7449 on 17 October 2024.

Since the coup in February 2021, the UK has provided more than £150 million for life-saving humanitarian assistance, healthcare, education and support for civil society and local communities in Myanmar. Since September 2022, UK funding has provided over 560,000 people in conflict-affected areas with essential humanitarian support, including safe water and sanitation. Most recently, the UK Government provided £1.3 million to help address the impact of the severe flooding in September.

The UK condemns human rights abuses by the Myanmar military regime and is clear that there must be accountability for atrocities committed. The UK has provided £800,000 to the Independent Mechanism for Myanmar and established the Myanmar Witness programme to gather and preserve evidence of human rights violations in support of future prosecutions. In April, we co-sponsored a UN Human Rights Council resolution on Myanmar which stressed the need to address the root causes of human rights violations and abuses against ethnic and religious minority groups.

This government will continue to support the Myanmar people and their aspirations for a free and democratic future. The UK will continue to use its role as penholder at the UN Security Council to maintain an international spotlight on Myanmar. We will continue to support ASEAN's leadership on the crisis, including the full implementation of the Five Point Consensus and the work of the Special Envoy. This government will continue to use targeted sanctions, to constrain the military's access to finance, arms and equipment. Since the coup, the UK has provided more than £150 million in life-saving humanitarian assistance, emergency healthcare and education support, and work to support civil society and local communities.

From 1 January 2025, VAT will be charged on private school fees at 20 percent. We have contacted the schools to ask how they intend to implement the introduction of VAT, but we do not yet have a full picture. Based on an assumption of how schools might apply the increase to parents and the impact on fees, we expect that the increased cost to the FCDO could be around an additional £1 million for 24/25 and £2.5 million in 25/26. The FCDO will continue to assess the longer-term financial impact.

As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, from 6 April 2027 most unused pension funds and death benefits will be included within the value of a person’s estate for Inheritance Tax purposes.

The inheritance tax treatment of death-in-service depends on where the relevant funds are held and how they are paid out. Some types of schemes make death-in-service payments from a group life insurance policy held in trust and therefore not within the scope on that basis. Whilst other (often defined benefit) schemes will make death in service payments as a pension lump sum, which will be in scope.

This change will ensure that there is consistent tax treatment, regardless of whether the scheme is discretionary or non-discretionary. For example, benefits from non-discretionary defined benefit schemes, such as the NHS, are already within the scope of inheritance tax.

All estates have a minimum nil-rate band of £325,000. In addition to this, an estate may qualify for up to £175,000 of residence nil-rate band, where the deceased is passing on a qualifying residence to their direct descendants. This means that qualifying estate can pass on up to £500,000 before any Inheritance Tax will be due, regardless of whether the deceased was married or unmarried when they died.