Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what her planned timetable is for the Norwich to Tilbury Great Grid Upgrade to be (a) constructed and (b) operational.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Norwich to Tilbury is being developed by National Grid, who are responsible for its construction and delivery. Under Ofgem's Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment framework, the licence delivery date for the project is December 2031. The project is the subject of a live application for development consent; it would not be appropriate to comment further on its timetable while that process is ongoing.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether (a) he, (b) his ministers and (c) his officials have had discussions and meetings with his counterpart in Mauritius to discuss the Chagos Archipelago since 20 July 2026; and whether any discussions and meetings are planned for the remainder of 2026.
Answered by Uma Kumaran - Assistant Whip
The UK Government continues to engage with Mauritius on issues related to the UK/ Mauritius Agreement concerning the Chagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia. We do not intend to provide a running commentary on these conversations.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Note 27 of her Department’s 2025/26 annual accounts, what estimate she has made of the level of public subsidy to rail services in each of the next five years.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department regularly forecasts the financial support required for passenger rail services as part of its financial planning.
The precise level of subsidy in future years will depend on a range of factors, including passenger demand, farebox revenue, the cost of operating services and the delivery of planned efficiencies. The Department’s current plans assume that financial support to passenger rail services will reduce over the Spending Review period, as ridership and revenue increase and efficiencies are delivered.
Budgets for individual financial years are confirmed through the Parliamentary Supply Estimates process. The Government has not set detailed budgets covering all five years requested, as this period extends beyond the current Spending Review settlement.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the grant formula funding to be provided to each of the five proposed unitary authorities in Essex under her local government reorganisations proposals in 2028/29.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt. Hon Member to the Secretary of State's oral statement of 7 September 2026.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of (a) the total costs of local government reorganisation and (b) the changes to staffing levels in Essex.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt. Hon Member to the Secretary of State's oral statement of 7 September 2026.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the total costs of cancelling the A12 Widening Scheme.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The current estimate was disclosed in the Department's 2025-26 Annual Accounts, representing costs incurred up to the end of the 2025-26 financial year. Any further costs will be calculated in due course.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she make an assessment of the potential (a) economic and (b) environmental impacts of establishing an offshore grid to connect offshore windfarms off of the coast of the East of England to the grid.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government is committed to identifying the most efficient and environmentally sustainable approaches to connecting offshore wind generation to the electricity networks, including solutions coordinating offshore cabling where they are most optimal.
This is why the National Policy Statements require developers to consider opportunities for offshore coordination and assess designs against cost, and cumulative impacts on the water environment - justifying how the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, reduce, mitigate, compensate), has been applied to address possible impacts.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, which offshore wind farms are scheduled to be connected to the grid in each of the next ten years; and what level of GW will be added to grid capacity from each development.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Offshore wind is crucial to the UK’s energy security and is already playing a central role in reducing billpayers’ exposure to volatile international fossil fuel markets and decarbonising the UK’s power sector, generating 17.7% of UK electricity in 2025, up from 0.8% in 2010 and 5.1% in 2015.
Through connections reform, NESO and the Network Companies are issuing revised connections agreements to projects in the queue. The contents of the revised offers are commercially confidential.
Once connections agreements are signed by customers, project details and connection dates are added to the publicly available Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) register (Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) register | National Energy System Operator).
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the changes to the Green Book social time discounting rate to 3% announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to revise the estimate of the net present value of the costs of the UK-Mauritius Treaty in respect of the future of the Chagos Archipelago.
Answered by Uma Kumaran - Assistant Whip
The value of payments under the UK-Mauritius Treaty were set out by the UK government at the time of signature and have not changed. No payments are due under the terms of the UK-Mauritius agreement until the Treaty has been ratified. Full details of the proposed payments have already been published in the Explanatory Memorandum accompanying the Treaty.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding has been allocated to invest in (a) GP practices and (b) health centres in Witham constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10 Year Capital Plan, Government has committed over £200 million of Utilisation and Modernisation funding over four years to continue upgrading the general practice estate. The NHS East of England region has been provisionally allocated £25 million.
A further £200 million from this fund will support refurbishing the existing estate to deliver approximately 50 neighbourhood health centres this Parliament. We announced Wave 1 of neighbourhood health centre upgrade schemes in March 2026, with 27 sites across England selected to bring care closer to home.
Proposals for future waves of neighbourhood health centres are currently being assessed against the published criteria, as set out in the Neighbourhood Health Centre Guidance, with final decisions on future schemes yet to be confirmed. Projects that meet the criteria will be invited to develop detailed business cases before any final funding decisions are taken.
Across 2026/27 to 2029/30, the NHS East of England region has been allocated £579.6 million to deliver a left shift from hospital to community care and support the return to constitutional standards. The NHS Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust has been allocated £181.6 million in operational capital with they can allocate to local priorities over 2026/27 to 2029/30.