Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Departmental body is responsible for promotion of careers in dentistry; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of arrangements for promoting dentistry careers in (a) Devon and (b) other areas.

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

Strengthening the dental workforce is key to our ambitions. We intend to set out next steps on the dental workforce soon. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

No specific departmental body is responsible for the promotion of dentistry careers however, the responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) across England. For the North Dorset constituency, this is Dorset ICB.

Integrated Care Boards are recruiting dentists through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years. The scheme is designed to encourage relocation to areas with workforce challenges, to attract new workforce to the NHS, and to retain those who might have otherwise moved into private practice.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of regional variations in reducing NHS waiting lists.

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

The Department and NHS England regularly monitor regional and trust level variation in National Health Service waiting lists to address variation in performance, so patients can expect to receive high quality care in a timely way, wherever they live. We are committed to returning to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of all patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. Our Reforming elective care for patients plan, published in January 2025, sets out how the NHS will reform elective care services equitably across all trusts and regions.

As an interim goal, NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance 2025/26 has set the national ambition for 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks for treatment, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement in performance. In the Medium-Term Planning Framework, every trust by March 2027 is expected to deliver a minimum of 7% improvement in 18-week performance or a minimum of 65%, whichever is greater.

To support this improvement across all trusts, there is a robust performance management process in place. The new NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 ensures that there is public accountability for performance and NHS England national and regional teams work with systems and providers to support improvement. There is a specific process in place to identify, intervene and support the providers whose performance on elective waiting lists is most challenged, led by NHS England national and regional team.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help protect the South West Coast Path against storm damage.

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

The South West Coast Path (SWCP) is a 630 mile National Trail around the SW peninsula. As such it follows open and unprotected coast for much of its length, sections of which due to their geological make up are susceptible to coastal erosion. This has always been the case and will continue to be so.

Notwithstanding, Natural England, and Defra, have a statutory duty, emanating from the Marine & Coastal Access Act 2009, to establish a long-distance walking route, the King Charles III England Coast Path (KCIIIECP), around the entire English coast. In fulfilling this duty, the line of the SWCP has been largely adopted as ‘part of’ the KCIIIECP and a new legal provision for the path to ‘roll back’ in response to geomorphological events put in place. Going forward this will ensure that the basic right to walk along the coast is not lost in an often dynamic coastal environment.

Local authorities lead in planning for and managing coastal erosion. The Environment Agency (EA) has the strategic overview of the management of all sources of flooding and coastal change. To support those managing coastal erosion, in January 2025, the EA published new National Coastal Erosion Risk Mapping data which provides the most up to date national picture of current and future coastal erosion risk for England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 13 February 2026 to question 111483, what his Department's evidential basis is for the cost estimate of £1-1.5 billion for the rebuild of North Devon District Hospital under Wave 3 of the New Hospital Programme.

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

A range of factors were considered to produce cost estimates for schemes in the Plan for Implementation, for example, estimated size, cost per square metre, local and geographical factors, and consideration of construction-specific inflation costs. However, as pursuant to the answer on 13 February 2026 to Question 111483, these estimates are for planning purposes only, with final costs subject to the approval of a Full Business Case.

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 encourage people to join the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for organ donation in the UK and manages the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR).

NHSBT encourages recording an organ donation decision on the ODR through national campaigns, including case studies from donor families, transplant recipients and patients waiting for a transplant. Where appropriate, NHSBT works with individuals with an established public profile to reach new audiences. NHSBT’s partnerships with the likes of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Association, the passport application process and the NHS App are currently the most effective routes to engaging people to record their decision.

NHSBT also partners with NHS organisations, charities, and community groups, such as the National BAME Transplant Alliance and South Asian Heritage Trust, to increase community engagement. This is supported by NHSBT’s Community Grants Programme, which supports over 30 community and faith/beliefs organisations to leverage their specialist knowledge, understanding and footprint in minority ethnic communities. More information on the Programme is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/how-you-can-help/get-involved/community-grants-programme/

In February 2026, the Organ Donation Joint Working Group, jointly formed by the Department and NHSBT, published recommendations to increase societal action for organ donation, which included actions to maximise the potential of the ODR and encourage more people to record a clear and informed organ donation decision. NHSBT is working with Government and other partners to implement the recommendations, and a five-year programme is being developed to drive further progress.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department is taking steps to trace potential beneficiaries of unclaimed Armed Forces pensions via National Insurance numbers.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) conducts a financial tracing exercise for the unclaimed pension cohort using the following fields: National Insurance number, forename, middle name, surname, date of birth, and previous address if held. The tracing uses all fields to search and will confirm whether they have full or partial matches.

The MOD is expanding its communications to better reach those with unclaimed pensions, developing new online materials specifically aimed at deferred members who have not yet submitted a claim.

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 causes of prescription medicine shortages in the UK, including reported shortages of aspirin 75mg dispersible tablets and supply disruption affecting carbamazepine (Tegretol) prolonged-release tablets; and what steps he is taking to improve national medicines supply.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Medicine supply chains are complex, global, and highly regulated and there are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not specific to the United Kingdom and outside of Government control, including manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes, or distribution issues and regulatory issues. There are approximately 14,000 licensed medicines and the overwhelming majority are in good supply.

The Department is currently not aware of any supply issues affecting Tegretol prolonged-release tablets.

The Department is aware of a recent disruption to the supply of aspirin tablets due to manufacturing issues and knock-on increased demand. The issues have been addressed, and we are working with suppliers to aid a return to normal supply as soon as possible with stock regularly being made available for pharmacies to order.

We continue to work with manufacturers and United Kingdom distributors to maximise supply to pharmacies and hospitals across the country. The Department is closely monitoring the situation and expects supplies to return to normal in the coming weeks.

In August 2025, the Department published a policy paper, Managing a robust and resilience supply of medicines, setting out our actions to strengthen supply chain resilience, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/managing-a-robust-and-resilient-supply-of-medicines/managing-a-robust-and-resilient-supply-of-medicines#next-steps

The Department has committed to providing a published update on progress in 2026.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his department is taking to effectively deliver Ministry of Defence procurement programmes designated with a Red rating for its Delivery Confidence Assessment during financial year 2024/5.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Performance of defence major programmes is subject to regular review. This enables the timely application of appropriate interventions to support a return to increased delivery confidence. An assessment of Red does not mean that the programme is undeliverable, but that there are management interventions required as a priority in order to increase the likelihood of being able to deliver to approved time, performance and cost.

Under our Defence Reforms the National Armaments Director holds all the levers of procurement, enabling the necessary interventions to be applied in support of programmes assessed as Red. In addition, implementation of the Defence Industrial Strategy will continue to remove many of the drivers for reduced levels in delivery confidence.

We inherited an equipment programme where the vast majority of programmes were over-budget and delayed. Through the work we are doing as set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy and Defence Investment Plan, we are seeking to get on top of this backlog and we are making progress.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will reassess the (a) combat readiness and (b) repair schedule of the Royal Navy's Type 45 Destroyers.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The MOD keeps Type 45 Destroyer readiness under continual review to meet operational tasking. Repair and maintenance schedules are managed through established programmes that ensure availability is maintained while delivering long‑term upgrades and improvements

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many responses were received to the consultation on trade union right of access; and whether he plans to publish analysis of those responses.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Consultation on trade union right of access received a total of 1612 responses. Policy officials are in the process of reviewing the responses to the consultation, and the government will publish a formal response in due course detailing our analysis.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his department has made of the phased rollout of tirzepatide weight management injections, prescribed by GPs to Cohort 1 of those with the highest clinical need since 2025, for initial trial under NHS England's Prevention Programme (Obesity).

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are legally required to fund National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)-recommended medicines within three months of final approval. NICE granted a phased rollout of tirzepatide for obesity to manage National Health Service resources and establish new care pathways. Tirzepatide became subject to a legal requirement for ICBs to fund its use in specialist weight management services from March 2025, and in primary care from 23 June 2025. Access is being prioritised for those with the highest clinical need.

Publicly available prescribing data shows that prescribing of tirzepatide has increased between April and December 2025, reflecting the early stages of phased implementation in primary care. As these medicines are licensed for multiple indications, national prescribing data cannot distinguish between use for obesity and diabetes.

NHS England continues to work with clinical experts and ICBs to monitor early implementation and support local pathway development. It will update its interim commissioning guidance as planned, and NICE will review progress after three years, including whether rollout can be accelerated if system capacity allows.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his department is taking to support rural and other off-grid households with the cost of heating oil.

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

The Government understands that many households, particularly in rural and off-gas-grid areas, rely on heating oil as their primary source of heat. Unlike gas and electricity, heating oil is bought on the spot market, making it more exposed to short-term volatility in global oil prices, which we recognise is a significant concern for those reliant on it.

The Chancellor has announced £53m for low income families, who heat their homes with oil to help tackle surging prices.

This funding is allocated as part of the Crisis Resilience fund, and will be distributed by Local Authorities.

In addition, the measures taken in the Autumn Budget reduce the cost of electricity and therefore benefit all households with a domestic electricity meter, including those not on the gas grid. On 30 January, we also announced the continuation of the Warm Home Discount scheme until 2030/31, providing around 6 million eligible households with the £150 rebate on their energy bills each winter.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his department has made of the potential merits of introducing a consumer price cap for heating oil, as is used for on-grid gas and electricity consumers.

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

Introducing a price cap on heating oil risks significant unintended consequences. If wholesale costs rose above the cap, it could drive distributors out of the market and possibly result in supply shortages.

Unlike gas and electricity, heating oil customers can shop around for the best prices delivery‑by‑delivery. There are commercial price comparison websites to help consumers find the best deal.

We continue support the transition away from fossil fuels to strengthen long-term resilience, while we keep under review whether any further action may be needed to protect consumers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department are taking to improve teacher retention; and whether her Department plans to publish a teacher retention strategy.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

Better retention of teachers and leaders keeps the skills and expertise they have developed in classrooms, underpinning high quality education for every child.

In our ’6,500 additional teachers’ delivery plan, the department set out it’s focus for delivery across three key themes: attracting, retaining and developing teachers.

The department is increasing access and awareness of flexible working, promoting best practice in workload and wellbeing management, and supporting teachers and leaders to harness the benefits of technology.

We are offering targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax for teachers in the first five years of their career, who teach key science, technology, engineering and maths subjects in the most disadvantaged schools. We have also made above inflation pay increases of almost 10% for teachers and leaders over the last two pay rounds, accepting the School Teachers' Review Body recommendations in full.

Our interventions are starting to deliver. The last school workforce census reported 1,700 fewer leavers than the previous year and a leaver rate of 9%, one of the lowest since 2010.

King's Guard's ceremonial bearskin caps

NHS funding for mental health services

Sign Language Week

LGBTQ+ veterans

Student finance system reform

State visits to the US

Energy prices for households and businesses

Heating oil prices

Outdoor learning

Recognition of armed forces personnel wounded in terrorist attacks outside of operational deployment

Centenary of Babbacombe Cliff Railway in Torquay

NHS dentistry

Covid Day of Reflection 2026

Leasehold reform

Import and sale of real fur

Found: Clive Efford (Chair); Luke Akehurst; Alex Ballinger; Pam Cox; Mr Paul Foster; Mr Mark Francois; Ian Roome

Found: present: Clive Efford (Chair); Luke Akehurst; Al Carns; Mr Paul Foster; Mike Martin; David Reed; Ian Roome

Found: It is an absolute mess, but let me hand over to Ian Roome.

Found: Ballinger; Juliet Campbell; Mr Paul Foster; Gerald Jones; Jayne Kirkham; Mike Martin; David Reed; Ian Roome

Found: Pam Cox; Mr Paul Foster; Mr Mark Francois; Gerald Jones; Jayne Kirkham; Mike Martin; David Reed; Ian Roome