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 steps his department is taking to improve community-based glaucoma care services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. This can include the commissioning of enhanced eye care services from high street optical practices, such as glaucoma referral refinement services and glaucoma monitoring.
The Getting It Right First Time programme is currently developing best practice guidance for glaucoma services to support the adoption of high standards across the pathway, from detection onwards.
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, whether the Newbury constituency will receive one of the 100 neighbourhood health centres due to be set up by 2030.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the Autumn Budget, we announced our commitment to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres (NHCs) through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments to expand and improve sites over the next three years and new-build sites opening in the medium term. The first 120 NHCs are due to be operational by 2030 and will be delivered through public private partnerships and public capital.
Nationwide coverage will take time, but we will start in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including rural towns and communities with higher deprivation levels, targeting places where healthy life expectancy is lowest and delivering healthcare closer to home for those that need it the most.
Integrated care boards and local health systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for NHCs.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the mandatory licensing scheme for builders provides adequate protections for homeowners who hire builders to complete work.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is fully committed to implementing the Grenfell Inquiry recommendation that principal contractors working on higher-risk buildings should be licenced through a scheme managed by the Building Safety Regulator. We have accepted this recommendation as an important step in enhancing building safety standards.
We continue to engage with stakeholders as to whether a wider licencing scheme would improve standards of consumer protection. This work is progressing alongside our broader initiatives to enhance competency across the construction sector through the Industry Competence Committee, ensuring a comprehensive approach to raising standards throughout the industry.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to increase requirements for builders to hold licensing fees.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is fully committed to implementing the Grenfell Inquiry recommendation that principal contractors working on higher-risk buildings should be licenced through a scheme managed by the Building Safety Regulator. We have accepted this recommendation as an important step in enhancing building safety standards.
We continue to engage with stakeholders as to whether a wider licencing scheme would improve standards of consumer protection. This work is progressing alongside our broader initiatives to enhance competency across the construction sector through the Industry Competence Committee, ensuring a comprehensive approach to raising standards throughout the industry.
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 promote agricultural (a) careers and (b) skills development among young people in rural constituencies.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In October, the department published the Post-16 education and skills white paper, setting out a strategy to build a world-class skills system aligned with student and employer needs. Central to these reforms is Skills England, which provides expert insight into current and future skills needs.
The department funds the Careers & Enterprise Company to increase young people’s exposure to industry. They work with sector bodies, such as the Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture to embed employer insight within careers education.
Through a network of careers hubs, the Careers & Enterprise Company connects careers provision in schools and colleges to the needs of local economies through strategic partnerships with local government. Several careers hubs covering rural constituencies work in line with local skills improvement plans by supporting young people’s career readiness and delivering application and interview support.
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, whether he is considering a 4% minimum annual increase in Core Spending Power for local authorities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Spending Review provides over £5 billion of new grant funding over the next three years which includes £3.4 billion of new grant funding which will be delivered through the Local Government Finance Settlement within financial years 2026-27 to 2028-29. The £3.4 billion, when taken together with a 3% core council tax referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept, results in a 2.6% real terms average annual increase in Core Spending Power over the Spending Review period. We expect that the vast majority of councils with social care responsibilities will see their Core Spending Power increase in real terms over the multi-year Settlement and by 2028-29 and that the 10% most deprived authorities will see a significant increase in their Core Spending Power per head compared to the least deprived.
The government wants to move decisively to a reformed system, but we have heard clearly that we need to implement funding reform in 2026-27 with transitional arrangements to allow others time to adjust. We will therefore phase in allocations over the multi-year Settlement, and protect the income of authorities which would see losses from funding reform using a range of funding floor levels appropriate to specific groups of authorities’ circumstances. Further details can be found here: Local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29 - GOV.UK.
We will publish provisional local authority allocations at the upcoming provisional multi-year Settlement in December. Proposals and allocations will be subject to consultation and the usual Parliamentary process.
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 he has made of the potential impact of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 on West Berkshire Council, with regards to their capacity to sustain statutory services and meet local demand.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On Thursday 20 November, we published the government response to the Fair Funding Review 2.0, which sets out the government’s plan to introduce a fairer and evidence-led funding system.
The government is making good on long overdue promises to fundamentally update the way we fund local authorities, realigning funding with need and deprivation. We are delivering fairer funding and targeting money where it is needed most through the first multi-year Settlement in a decade from 2026-27, and giving local authorities greater flexibility and certainty by streamlining over 33 funding streams worth almost £47 billion.
We expect that the vast majority of councils with social care responsibilities will see their Core Spending Power increase in real terms over the multi-year Settlement. We will publish provisional local authority allocations at the upcoming provisional multi-year Settlement in December. Proposals and allocations will be subject to consultation and the usual Parliamentary process.
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, whether he has plans to increase GP dispensing fees to bring them in line with community pharmacies.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices (GPs) are valued independent contractors who provide over £13 billion worth of National Health Services. Every year we consult with the sector both about what services they provide, and the money providers are entitled to in return under their contract, taking into account the cost of delivering services.
The Department and NHS England will begin consultation with stakeholders on the 2026/27 GP Contract shortly. Further information will be announced in due course.
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, when the Government will publish its guidance to local authorities on Neighbourhood Health Plans.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Neighbourhood health will move care out of hospitals and into communities, with more personalised, proactive, and integrated services starting from where and how people live their lives. This will involve building stronger links to wider local government services such as housing, family hubs, and programmes such as Pride in Place, as well as links with wider civil society including the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector.
The Planning Framework for the NHS in England, published on 8 September, reiterates the commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan, that place partners develop a local neighbourhood plan, which integrated care boards will bring together into a population health improvement plan. These local plans will be drawn up by local government, the National Health Service, and its partners at single or upper tier local authority level under the leadership of the Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs).
We will be publishing further guidance to support local areas to develop neighbourhood health plans in due course. This will set out how the NHS, local authorities, and partners should work together under the leadership of HWBs to develop and implement plans.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of planned redundancies of (a) scientists and (b) other staff at the Atomic Weapons Establishment on the (i) supply and (ii) maintenance of the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
AWE notified the Ministry of Defence last year of its intent to conduct a reorganisation to strengthen the company as it embarks on the challenge of designing and manufacturing the next generation of the UK’s sovereign nuclear warhead.
The ongoing restructuring will not reduce the overall number of employees, as the company will continue to hire appropriately qualified skilled professionals, including scientists and engineers. This activity will ensure AWE has the right people with the right skillsets in place to deliver defence outputs, both now and in the future.
The precise nature of the reorganisation is an operational matter for AWE. AWE will work closely with the trade unions throughout the consultation period and are committed to approaching the process with fairness, care and respect for its employees.