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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support businesses in rural areas.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas, so that we can realise the full potential of rural business and communities.

Rural Rate Relief aims to ensure that key amenities are available, and community assets protected in rural areas. It provides 100% rate relief for properties that are based in eligible rural areas with populations below 3,000.

The specific challenges and opportunities that make rural economies distinctive can be harnessed through funds such as the Rural England Prosperity Fund, which will provide up to £110 million in targeted support to rural businesses and communities in England between April 2023 and March 2025.

We know farmers require stability, which is why we are committed to Environmental Land Management schemes and will optimise schemes in an orderly way, ensuring they produce the right outcomes for all farmers, while delivering food security and nature recovery in a just and equitable way. We will also support farmers by offering a new deal, including cutting energy prices by setting up GB Energy, ensuring future trade deals are fairer for British farmers, and procuring more British produce in Government.

Spending on rural businesses and farming in future financial years will be confirmed as part of the Government’s spending review.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing a mental health absence code for children with (a) autism and (b) other neurodivergent conditions who are unable to attend school due to mental health crises; and what steps her Department is taking to help support these pupils.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Tackling absence is at the heart of the department’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity. Poor mental health and inadequate access to support are real challenges facing children today and have a detrimental impact on their school attendance, reinforcing barriers to opportunity.

The ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ statutory guidance promotes a 'support first' approach, encouraging schools, trusts and local authorities to work with families to address attendance barriers. This guidance can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf.

The department is committed to providing access to a specialist mental health professional in every school so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. We will also deliver Young Futures Hubs, providing every community with an open-access hub for children and young people. In addition, we are conducting an expert-led Curriculum and Assessment Review to ensure that every child has access to a curriculum that is rich and broad, inclusive and innovative and supports their future life and work.

Illness, both physical and mental health related, is marked using the I code in the register. The department does not think that requiring schools to determine whether illness is mental or physical would be practically workable, given that schools cannot and should not diagnose a pupil’s illness.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that mobile network providers maintain (a) reliable coverage and (b) service quality in rural areas.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Government wants all areas of the UK to benefit from reliable and good quality mobile coverage. That is why our ambition is for all populated areas, including rural areas, to have higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030, and to increase 4G coverage to 95% of the UK landmass by the end of 2025 through the Shared Rural Network programme.

Ofcom is responsible for measuring and reporting on mobile network coverage. Far too often the data published by Ofcom does not match consumers’ experience of using mobile networks. I recently wrote to Ofcom asking them to set out steps to improve their mobile coverage reporting.

Social care workers and National Insurance

Access to banking hubs

Israeli Knesset decision to ban UNRWA

360 years of the Royal Marines in the South West

Found: Letter dated 02/10/2024 from Anneliese Dodds MP to Jeremy Corbyn MP, Kate Osamore MP, Jim Shannon MP, Richard

The Committee periodically questions the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and the Permanent Under-Secretary, alongside other relevant officials on the overall management of the FCDO, topical or urgent matters and the Committee’s inquiry work.

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