Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
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 work with the supermarket sector to improve cyber resilience.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre and our own industry engagement forums to highlight cyber risks and raise resilience with key providers. This includes working on a range of policy approaches to ensure that significant parts of the wider food sector are aware of cyber security concepts and are taking action to understand and mitigate risks.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of a) the number and b) the proportion of dental clinical academics expected to retire over the next 10 years.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The requested estimate is not centrally held, but on the wider point the Hon. Member raises, as part of the approvals process for dental training expansion, providers must demonstrate to the Office for Students and General Dental Council that they have sufficient academic and clinical staffing to maintain quality and standards for professional registration.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of whether sufficient teaching capacity exists to support the planned expansion of dental training places from 2027.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The requested estimate is not centrally held, but on the wider point the Hon. Member raises, as part of the approvals process for dental training expansion, providers must demonstrate to the Office for Students and General Dental Council that they have sufficient academic and clinical staffing to maintain quality and standards for professional registration.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of mobile network performance and coverage projections supplied by mobile network operators used in national reporting and Ofcom coverage data.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Ofcom is responsible for reporting on mobile network coverage across the UK and publishes this data through the Connected Nation Reports and through their consumer-facing Map Your Mobile tool. The coverage data used by Ofcom is based on predictive modelling of received signal strength. Ofcom has started to integrate mobile network performance data into the Map Your Mobile tool, drawing on crowdsourced data.
The Government recognises that reported coverage and performance may not always reflect individuals lived experience due to a range of reasons such as local network congestion and topography. Government continues to work closely with Ofcom to improve the accuracy and transparency of mobile coverage and performance reporting and reiterated this to Ofcom in the Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum and postal services, which was designated 27 April 2026.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the gap between NHS England’s 2018 commissioning target of 1,000 LAAO procedures per annum and current delivery.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 24 June in response to Question 10430.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, further to the Public Interest Intervention Notice issued on 5 October 2026, whether she has had discussions with the Competition and Markets Authority on potential structural remedies, including the separation or divestment of PlatformX Communications and TalkTalk’s consumer business in the event that competition concerns are identified.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
An open bidding process for TalkTalk resulted in no deal being reached. Following that process, BT agreed to buy the business out of administration. This was a commercial transaction in which the Government was not involved.
The Secretary of State issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN), to enable consideration of public interest issues alongside any competition concerns the CMA may raise in their Report. See the PIIN for further detail.
Given the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in the process, it would not be appropriate to comment further while it is ongoing.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Public Interest Intervention Notice she issued on 5 October, if she will make an assessment of whether the time for the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate and report was adequate.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
An open bidding process for TalkTalk resulted in no deal being reached. Following that process, BT agreed to buy the business out of administration. This was a commercial transaction in which the Government was not involved.
The Secretary of State issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN), to enable consideration of public interest issues alongside any competition concerns the CMA may raise in their Report. See the PIIN for further detail.
Given the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in the process, it would not be appropriate to comment further while it is ongoing.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Public Interest Intervention Notice she issued on 5 October 2026, what alternative options to ensure continuity of service for customers were considered.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
An open bidding process for TalkTalk resulted in no deal being reached. Following that process, BT agreed to buy the business out of administration. This was a commercial transaction in which the Government was not involved.
The Secretary of State issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN), to enable consideration of public interest issues alongside any competition concerns the CMA may raise in their Report. See the PIIN for further detail.
Given the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in the process, it would not be appropriate to comment further while it is ongoing.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of inspections of NHS hospitals by the Care Quality Commission were (a) announced and (b) unannounced in each of the last three years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) current assessment methodology, not every assessment of a National Health Service hospital involves a site visit.
The following table provides the number and proportion of announced and unannounced NHS hospital site visits, rather than assessments, recorded by the CQC in 2024, 2025 and 2026 to date:
Year | Announced site visits | Unannounced site visits | Total site visits | Additional assessment activities with no site visit recorded |
2024 | 68 (74%) | 24 (26%) | 92 | 6 |
2025 | 186 (72%) | 71 (28%) | 257 | 134 |
2026 | 114 (49%) | 119 (51%) | 233 | 214 |
Total | 368 (63%) | 214 (37%) | 582 | 354 |
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much her department spent on contingent or contracted labour in each year since 2024.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
This information is publicly available in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Annual Report and Accounts for financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26.
The requested figures can be found in the Remuneration Report under spend on contract and agency staff wages and salaries.