Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what consideration his Department has given to investment strategies for (a) Wiltshire and (b) other rural areas which do not fall within the catchment areas of (i) large cities and (ii) mayoral combined authorities.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Office for Investment is aligned with the UK's Industrial Strategy, focusing on growth-driving and foundational sectors. The OfI will actively pursue and manage investment projects that support national growth missions and infrastructure strategies, across the UK and will support rural areas such as Wiltshire. I am delighted that Siemens Mobility is moving ahead with its £100 million investment in a rail infrastructure, digital engineering, and R&D facility after receiving Wiltshire County Council planning permission. Furthermore, German defence technology company, STARK, is opening a 40,000sq ft factory in Swindon, Wiltshire, producing military drones for NATO, creating over 100 skilled jobs.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Answer of 23 July 2025 to Question 62821 on Manufacturing Industries: Rural Areas, what the evidential basis is for the conclusion that investment in city-based advanced manufacturing zones will produce positive economic spillover effects for rural communities in Wiltshire.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Everywhere will benefit from the Industrial Strategy’s national policy offer – there are clusters of the growth driving sectors across the whole country including in rural areas and our package addresses the biggest constraints to growth highlighted by these businesses.
Our wider Growth Mission supports people and businesses across the country, including those in rural areas, through policies to create the conditions for businesses to invest and employ, and consumers to spend with confidence. This includes interventions in the Small Business Strategy.
We recognise that rural areas offer significant potential for growth and are central to our economy and we are committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the (a) staffing, (b) system, (c) compliance and (d) other costs of (i) implementing and (ii) administering the proposed changes to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief; and if she will take steps to publish an estimate prior to the reforms taking effect in April 2026.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer to the answer given on 5 September 2025 at UIN 70546 :
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-08-29/70546
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has conducted region-specific modelling of economic spillover effects in (a) Wiltshire and (b) other counties.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has not undertaken region-specific modelling of economic spillover effects for (a) Wiltshire or (b) other individual counties. In developing place-based policy, DBT may draw on cross-government evidence—for example, Office for National Statistics publications (e.g., subnational trade flows; UK input–output tables) and Department for Transport scheme appraisals of “wider economic impacts”—but these are not DBT analyses, are method- and scheme-specific, and are not designed to produce county-level spillover estimates. DBT keeps the available evidence under review to inform programmes where appropriate.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of Official Development Assistance was spent on (a) in-donor refugee costs and (b) overseas (i) poverty reduction, (ii) humanitarian aid and (iii) sustainable development programmes in the last financial year.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK reports its Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend on a calendar year basis in the Statistics on International Development.
Based on the provisional statistics published in April, in 2024, 20 per cent (£2.8 billion) of UK ODA was spent on in-donor refugee costs and 10 per cent (£1.4 billion) of UK ODA was spent on bilateral humanitarian assistance; this does not include humanitarian assistance spend through multilateral organisations.
It is not possible to differentiate between programmes that support poverty reduction and sustainable development.
Final figures for 2024 will be published in Statistics on International Development: Final UK ODA Spend 2024 on 18 September 2025. Provisional figures for 2025 will be published in Spring 2026.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to reform the units of dental activity system before the proposed full contract reform in 2026-27.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no current plans to fully reform the units of dental activity (UDA) system before 2026/27. As a first step to reforming the dental contract, we are consulting on a package of changes to improve access to, and improve the quality of, National Health Service dentistry, which will deliver improved care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. The reforms include new payment proposals for some treatments, which would be converted to UDAs for the purposes of reconciliation. Further information on the consultation is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms
The consultation was launched on 8 July 2025 and will close on 19 August 2025.
We are committed to more fundamental contract reform, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. We want a contract that matches resources to needs, improves access, promotes prevention, and rewards dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability. There are no perfect payment models, and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver genuine improvements for patients and the profession.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women in Wiltshire accessed perinatal mental health services in each of the last five years; and what the average waiting time was for an initial assessment in each year.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on the number of women accessing perinatal mental health services in Wiltshire, provided by the NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, and Wiltshire Health and Care over the last five years to May 2025, is available at the following link:
NHS England has advised that the average time between referral and assessment for patients using the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire specialist community perinatal mental health team was as follows:
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of long-term exposure to PFAS in drinking water on public health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
An evaluation of the evidence on polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) toxicity is ongoing through the Committee on Toxicity.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has contributed to an expert advisory group recommendation to the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) on the introduction of a regulatory limit of 0.1 micrograms per litre for the sum of 48 individual PFAS to protect public health. The Advisory Group Recommendations are available at the following link:
This is in line with the recent DWI March 2025 Guidance. This will limit exposures through drinking water, and thus any potential impact. The Guidance is available at the following link:
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to ensure young people in rural areas receive the financial skills needed to support long-term prosperity.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
I refer the hon. Member for Chippenham to the answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43513.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the national funding formula on educational outcomes in (a) rural areas, (b) Wiltshire and (c) other counties with lower levels of funding.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The government recognises the essential role that small schools play in their communities, many of which are in rural areas. The schools national funding formula (NFF) accounts for the particular challenges faced by small schools in rural areas through the lump sum and sparsity factor.
In the 2025/26 financial year, the sparsity factor provides eligible primary schools up to £57,400, and all other eligible schools up to £83,400. In 2025/26, 64 schools in Wiltshire attract additional funding through the sparsity factor. In addition to this, all small and rural schools have benefited from the increase to core factors in the NFF in 2025/26, including the NFF lump sum set at £145,100. The lump sum provides a fixed amount of funding that is particularly beneficial to small schools, as it is not affected by pupil numbers.
The purpose of the schools NFF is not to give every school the same level of per pupil funding. It is right that schools with lots of pupils with additional needs, such as those indicated by measures of deprivation or low prior attainment, receive extra funding to help them meet the needs of all their pupils.