Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what formula her Department is using to calculate Special Educational Needs and Disability high needs funding allocations for local authorities next year.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The high needs national funding formula will be used to allocate high needs funding to local authorities in the 2025/26 financial year. Provisional 2025/26 national funding formula allocations for local authorities have now been published and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs-2025-to-2026.

For 2025/26, Surrey County Council has been allocated a provisional high needs funding amount of over £239 million. This represents an increase of 7% per head of their projected 2 to 18-year-old population, compared with their 2024/25 formula allocation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many community pharmacies have closed in (a) Surrey and (b) Esher and Walton constituency in each year since 2019.

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

Since 2019, there have been a total of 39 pharmacy closures in Surrey, and four in the Esher and Walton Constituency. In Surrey, this has broken down as: seven closures in 2019; six in 2020; four in 2021; two in 2022; and 15 in 2023, with a further five having closed between January and 30 September 2024. In Esher and Walton, there were no closures between 2019 and 2022. Three closed in 2023, and one closed between January and 30 September 2024.

We are aware of the reduction in the number of pharmacies in recent years, and recognise that pharmacy closures can impact on local communities. Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served, and must keep these assessments under review. Integrated care boards give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from the new contractors. Contractors can also apply to open a new pharmacy to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA.

Patients can also access the approximately 400 Distance Selling Pharmacies who must operate nationally and send medicines to patients’ home free of charge. In rural areas, dispensing doctors can also supply medicines.

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 potential impact of community pharmacy closures on (a) local health provision and (b) patient outcomes in (i) England and (ii) Surrey.

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

Since 2019, there have been a total of 39 pharmacy closures in Surrey, and four in the Esher and Walton Constituency. In Surrey, this has broken down as: seven closures in 2019; six in 2020; four in 2021; two in 2022; and 15 in 2023, with a further five having closed between January and 30 September 2024. In Esher and Walton, there were no closures between 2019 and 2022. Three closed in 2023, and one closed between January and 30 September 2024.

We are aware of the reduction in the number of pharmacies in recent years, and recognise that pharmacy closures can impact on local communities. Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served, and must keep these assessments under review. Integrated care boards give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from the new contractors. Contractors can also apply to open a new pharmacy to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA.

Patients can also access the approximately 400 Distance Selling Pharmacies who must operate nationally and send medicines to patients’ home free of charge. In rural areas, dispensing doctors can also supply medicines.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what flood (a) prevention and (b) relief measures have been put in place to support communities along the Thames between Weybridge and Long Ditton in the event of flooding in winter 2024-25.

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

Following Storm Henk, the Environment Agency (EA) has undertaken a significant amount of debris clearance on weir structures, including the removal of a number of sunken & stricken vessels. The cost of the clean-up operation undertaken by our teams and supply chain partners has been more than £1 million over the last 6 months.

The main flood risk reduction plan currently being developed along this area is the proposed River Thames Scheme (RTS). It is a partnership between the EA, Surrey County Council and other local partners, that will reduce the risk of flooding for communities from Staines to Teddington, including between Weybridge and Long Ditton. This will be achieved through the creation of a new flood channel, in two parts, and capacity improvements to Sunbury, Molesey and Teddington weirs on the Thames and to the river in the Desborough area. RTS will reduce flood risk to around 11,000 homes and 1,600 businesses.

The EA are also looking at how to reduce the impact of flooding in Thames Ditton. Measures under consideration include raised barriers and property flood resilience measures to reduce the impact of flooding and allow a faster recovery. Any solution must be cost beneficial to attract public funding.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2024 to Question 13669 on Rivers: Sewage, which six sewage treatment works in the River Mole catchment have been inspected by the Environment Agency in this financial year.

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

The Environment Agency (EA) has confirmed that the six Wastewater Treatment works (WwTW) inspected in the River Mole Catchment in the current financial year, referenced in the response to PQ 13669 on Rivers: Sewage, are as follows:

• Burstow WwTW
• Crawley WwTW
• Holmwood WwTW
• Horley WwTW
• Merstham WwTW
• Leatherhead WwTW

In the time since the response to Question 13669 was provided, the EA has inspected three additional WwTW in the Rive Mole catchment:

• Warick Wold WwTW
• Colgate WwTW
• Ironsbottom WwTW

The EA has confirmed plans for a fourfold increase in water company inspections – 4000 by end of March 2025 - to hold companies to account, including unannounced inspections.

The increase in inspections will allow the EA to conduct more in-depth and independent audits to get to the root-cause of incidents, reducing the reliance on operator self-monitoring.

Bowel Cancer UK report into NHS services

UN Special Rapporteur's report on atrocity crimes in Iran

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sarah Champion (Chair); Monica Harding; Laura Kyrke- Smith; Noah Law

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sarah Champion (Chair); Monica Harding; Laura Kyrke- Smith; Noah Law

Submit Evidence (by 15 Jan 2025)

International humanitarian law includes important rules to facilitate the passage of humanitarian relief such as food, clothing and medical supplies as well as rules on the protection of humanitarian personnel. In addition, UN Security Council resolutions have called for safe and unhindered access for humanitarian personnel. Yet, in recent years there have been concerning trends in the adherence to IHL by combatant parties in conflict. In particular, there are increasingly frequent accounts of cases where the requirements for access to allow the delivery of relief material and the protections for those who deliver it have been ignored.

Submit Evidence (by 21 Jan 2025)

2024 saw a continuing rise in global displacement, with at least 117.3 million people forced to flee their homes, including nearly 43.4 million refugees, around 40% of whom are under the age of 18. These vast movements of peoples, and the associated costs and disruptions, can cause significant problems in host countries.