Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's timetable is for announcing future funding arrangements for the Stewardship Scheme.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will open our improved Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) later this year. We have started inviting farmers and land managers to begin the pre-application process and have published information that sets out what farmers and land managers can do now to help prepare to apply. CSHT will initially roll out in a controlled way by invitation, so everyone gets the right level of support.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to increase school funding to expand the provision of free school meals.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department spends around £1.5 billion annually on free lunches for 2.1 million school pupils under benefits-based free school meals, over 90,000 disadvantaged students in further education, and around 1.3 million infants under universal infant free school meals. In addition to this, eligibility for free meals drives billions of additional pounds in disadvantage funding.
Schools have autonomy to allocate their budgets to comply with their duty to provide free meals in line with nutritional guidance set out in the school food standards.
As with all government programmes, including free school meals, we keep our approach under continued review.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding allocated to schools for free school meals is not used for other purposes.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department spends around £1.5 billion annually on free lunches for 2.1 million school pupils under benefits-based free school meals, over 90,000 disadvantaged students in further education, and around 1.3 million infants under universal infant free school meals. In addition to this, eligibility for free meals drives billions of additional pounds in disadvantage funding.
Schools have autonomy to allocate their budgets to comply with their duty to provide free meals in line with nutritional guidance set out in the school food standards.
As with all government programmes, including free school meals, we keep our approach under continued review.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve (a) the referral process and (b) treatment for people with brain tumours.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that cancer patients, including those with brain tumours, are often waiting too long for referral and treatment. It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including brain tumours, earlier, and to treat them faster, so more patients survive, and patient experience improves across the system.
As the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and treatment, NHS England has delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week since the start of this administration.
The Department recognises that there are currently limited treatment options available for people who have been diagnosed with brain tumours, and the significant impact that rarer forms of cancer can have on patients, carers, and their families. The Government is invested in driving new lifesaving and life-improving research, supporting those diagnosed and living with brain tumours.
In the five years between 2018/19 and 2022/23, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) directly invested £11.3 million in brain cancer research projects, plus an estimated £31.5 million to enable brain tumour research to take place through NIHR research infrastructure, namely facilities, services, and the research workforce, enabling delivery of 227 studies involving 8,500 people.
The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care. Research is a key focus of the plan, and the Department will work closely with partners, including the National Institute for Health and Care Research, on this.
The Department, with NHS England, will develop the plan, which will address the challenges in diagnostic waiting times, providing the number of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and other tests that are needed to reduce cancer waits. The Government’s goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next ten years, including to brain tumours.
The Department expects to publish the National Cancer Plan later this year, following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of developing an integrated digital strategy in West Berkshire.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We are committed to supporting public service productivity in all regions of the UK, and that includes helping unlock the benefits of digital transformation. The Blueprint for modern digital government launched in January sets out a six-point plan for public sector digital transformation. Government Digital Service has been engaging with local digital practitioners from across the UK, including West Berkshire specifically, as part of the local government collaboration sprint. Work across local government includes expanding GOV.UK One Login and other common components; supporting innovation and reforms in the local government technology market and enabling greater access to data through the National Data Library.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools in deprived areas offer A-level physics courses to pupils.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High and rising school standards are central to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and provide every child with the best start in life. Whilst it is ultimately for individual schools to decide which A level courses to offer their students, the best way of supporting schools to offer A level physics courses, including those in deprived areas, is to ensure high quality physics teaching at all levels by helping schools to recruit and retain good teachers.
For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is offering a targeted retention incentive worth up to £6,000 after tax for physics teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in schools in disadvantaged areas. This is double the payments that were previously offered.
For those training to teach in the 2025/26 academic year, there is a bursary worth £29,000 tax-free or a prestigious scholarship worth £31,000 tax-free to train to teach physics.
There were 688 new entrants to physics postgraduate initial teacher training (PGITT) in the 2024/25 academic year, a 48% increase on the number of 2023/24 entrants.
Recruitment is on track to improve even further for the cohort set to start training in the 2025/26 academic year. As of April 2025, 962 candidates have accepted offers for PGITT courses in physics, an increase of around 47% compared to the same point last year.
Subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses support recruitment to initial teacher training in hard-to-recruit subjects, such as physics. SKE participants benefit from blended courses tailored to their individual needs to meet the minimum knowledge required to train to teach their chosen subject, which leads to the award of qualified teacher status.
The department also funds the Subject Knowledge for Physics Teaching programme. This is a series of blended learning courses, with modules available each term to support non-specialist teachers of key stage 3 and 4 physics to enhance their subject knowledge.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on the health of chalk streams.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 45278 on 30 April 2025.