Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much additional funding her Department plans to provide to Avon and Somerset Police as part of the Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy 2025-2028.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This financial year the Home Office has provided the first Government funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit (£365,000) as well as continuing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit (£450,000). The National Rural Crime Unit assists all police forces, including Avon and Somerset, in tackling rural crime.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy 2025-2028 is a vital step in our mission to deliver safer streets everywhere and comes as we give the police new powers to take on the organised criminal gangs targeting the agricultural sector.
As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, the Government has made £200 million available in FY 25/26 to support the first steps of delivering more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales. Of this, Avon and Somerset Police have been allocated £4,574,856 for an increase of 70 police officers.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department will review the Annual Investment Allowance threshold and take steps to improve the eligibility and uptake of capital allowances among horticultural businesses who are investing in the transition to peat-free growing, water resilience measures, and automation to boost efficiency.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Annual Investment Allowance allows both incorporated and unincorporated businesses to deduct the entire cost of investment in both main and special rate assets in one go, up to £1 million per year, which covers the investment of 99% of businesses.
In line with the commitments in the 2024 Corporate Tax Roadmap, at Budget the government confirmed it has maintained the parts of the UK Corporate Tax offer that are most important for attracting new investment for the duration of the parliament: the low Corporation Tax main rate of 25%, the generous full expensing offer for plant and machinery and the Annual Investment Allowance.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with South Western Railway on the delivery of new stock.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department officials meet regularly with South Western Railway (SWR) to hold it accountable for performance, safety, and fleet. The rollout of the new Arterio trains is continuing with great progress being made. Since transferring to public ownership, the number of trains in service has quadrupled with 28 now in service.
In addition to the new Arterio fleet, SWR is currently in the process of refurbishing its Class 158 and 159 diesel fleet, which will benefit customers using the West of England line. Collectively, the enhancements will improve comfort, connectivity and productivity for customers travelling on these trains.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will provide additional funding to help mitigate ongoing soil moisture deficit effects for railway companies.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport funds Network Rail to operate, maintain, and develop the nation's railway infrastructure. As the climate changes, we expect to see hotter, drier summers, and therefore we will expect to encounter more instances of soil moisture deficit. To plan for the changing climate, Network Rail is undertaking a programme of adaptation pathways across the network to develop a long-term strategic adaptation plan and identify priority areas for further adaptation investment. This approach will help identify those parts of the network which may require work to increase resilience to enable safe and reliable services to continue in the future climate. Adaptation pathways consider different climate hazards, including those which affect earthworks, such as soil moisture deficit and heavy rain. This work is already informing discussions for future funding periods.
The soil moisture deficit was particularly disruptive for South Western Railway’s West of England line customers this summer, with a reduced timetable having been in place since August.
South Western Railway and Network Rail closely monitored the ground conditions, and as soon as it was safe to do so, the track repairs were made. I am pleased to confirm that the usual timetable will be reinstated from Saturday 29 November.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much money has been spent on improving flood defences in Somerset since 2014.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since the flooding of 2013/14, over £200 million of Flood and Coastal Risk Management Grant-in-Aid (FCRM GiA) and local levy has been spent on improving the standard of flood protection in the local authority areas of Somerset, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset. This is in addition to the annual budget of over £3 million for the Somerset Rivers Authority and the annual budget the Environment Agency has for repairing existing assets and individual property-level resilience programmes.
Improvements have included dredging, building new flood defences, raising river banks and roads and upgrading existing flood defences. The Environment Agency has also spent additional money on providing a local stock of Ultra High Volume Pumps so they are guaranteed to be available in the event of a major incident.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much maintenance activity has been carried out on Somerset’s Main Rivers in the last a) year, b) 5 years and c) 10 years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since the flooding of 2013/14, over £47 million has been spent on operating flood defences and maintaining rivers in Somerset. This includes £4.7 million this financial year and over £24 million in the last five years.
This includes the daily operation and maintenance of hundreds of flood defence assets across the Somerset Levels and Moors and on the coast, the clearing of vegetation from river channels, the management of flood storage reservoirs and the deployment of additional pumps after heavy rainfall. In addition to this, the Environment Agency also provides a flood warning service and incident response 365 days of the year.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to reduce carbon emissions from peatland.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
England’s peatlands are our largest terrestrial carbon store. By 2030, we will invest £85 million to restore and manage peatlands. We are committed to restoring approximately 280,000 hectares of peat by 2050.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many injuries were caused due to reindeers in the UK over the past year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not collected centrally. NHS England does not record hospital admissions specifically caused by reindeer. The closest available data is for admissions with the external cause ‘Bitten or struck by other mammals’. In 2024/25, there were 4,620 such admissions in England. However, this category covers a wide range of animals and is not limited to reindeer. It also does not capture all animal-related injuries such as those coded under ‘Car occupant injured in collision with pedestrian or animal’.
Data on hospital admissions by external cause is published by NHS England and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the remedial notices handed out by the Food Standards Agency in the last year were given to abattoirs with a throughput of less than 5,000 livestock units per year.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
During the period from 1 November 2024 until 31 October 2025, the Food Standards Agency has served five Remedial Action Notices in three abattoirs with a throughput of less than 5,000 livestock units per year.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the Small Abattoir Fund was spent by her Department prior to it's closure in 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Rural Payments Agency have offered agreements for the Smaller Abattoir Fund worth a total of £1,119,347.59.
Smaller Abattoir Fund grants are claimed in arrears and as of 04 November 2025, £593,018.55 has been paid out under the scheme.