Simon Hoare

The department has made no separate estimate of the number of pupils in North Dorset specifically who will leave the independent school system as a result of VAT impact on school fees.

Across the UK as a whole, including North Dorset, the government predicts, in the long-term steady state, there will be 37,000 fewer pupils in the private sector in the UK as a result of the removal of the VAT exemption applied to school fees. This represents around 6% of the current private school population.

Of the 37,000 pupil reduction in the private sector, the government estimates an increase of 35,000 pupils in the state sector in the steady state following the VAT policy taking effect, with the other 2,000 consisting of international pupils who do not move into the UK state system, and domestic pupils moving into homeschooling. This state sector increase represents less than 0.5% of total UK state school pupils, of which there are over 9 million. This movement is expected to take place over several years.

The impact on individual local authorities will interact with other pressures and vary. Every year lots of pupils move between schools, including between the private and state-funded sectors.

Local authorities routinely support parents who need a state-funded school place, including where private schools have closed. Where local authorities are experiencing difficulties in ensuring there are enough school places for children that need them, the department will offer support and advice.

The department provides capital funding through the basic need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. They can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools.

Dorset Council has been allocated just below £1.5 million to support the provision of new mainstream school places needed over the current and next two academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026.

Assessing the impact of the new Inheritance Tax policy, which comes into force from 6 April 2026, relies on a number of factors such as ownership structure and debt levels. Without such information, which the Government does not hold at that level, area level assessments cannot be made.

This Government is aware that each farm is different, and so we encourage farmers to speak to their tax advisors and agents to understand how these changes may impact their specific situation and how to plan for the future.

As an outcome of the recent Spending Review, we have committed £5 billion in the agricultural budget over the next two years – the biggest ever budget for sustainable food production and nature recovery in this country’s history. This enables us to keep momentum on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector.

This government is committed to tackling the issues that matter to rural councils in England. Places with a significant rural population will on average receive around a 5% increase in their Core Spending Power next year, which is a real terms increase. No council will see a reduction – and new funding will be available to rural areas in 2025-26 through guaranteed EPR payments.  The government is keen to hear from councils about how best to consider the impact of rurality on the costs of service delivery, and demand, as part of our longer term consultations on local authority funding reform.

The government is absolutely committed to tackling the issues that matter to rural communities.

We are committed to pursuing a comprehensive set of reforms for public services to fix the foundations of local government in partnership with the sector and on the principle of giving councils early certainty. As a core part of this plan, the government is committed to introducing an improved and updated approach to funding local authorities from 2026-27. We are inviting views on our principles and objectives for funding reform through a consultation (18 December – 12 February).

These reforms will build on the proposals set out in the previous government’s review of Relative Needs and Resources (also referred to as the ‘Fair Funding Review’), using the best available evidence to inform local authority funding allocations. We will move gradually towards an updated system and will invite views on possible transitional arrangements to determine how local authorities reach their new funding allocations.

This Government is committed to empowering communities with a strong new ‘right to buy’ beloved community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces.

We will confirm plans on the Community Ownership Fund in due course.

Funeral directors have a profound responsibility to treat those who have died with the utmost dignity and respect and the majority of funeral directors conduct themselves in accordance with the high standards expected of them. However, the Government recognises that there are some significant concerns about certain practices within the funeral sector, as evidenced by the incident in Hull.

This is a complex and sensitive matter that demands careful consideration to ensure a response that effectively safeguards the public. It is crucial to protect the rights and dignity of those who have died and their grieving families, while implementing measures that are proportionate.

For that reason, the Government is thoroughly evaluating all potential next steps to ensure that the high standards upheld by many within the funeral director sector are consistently reflected throughout the entire industry. This includes the possibility of introducing suitable and proportionate regulation for funeral directors. Further updates on the next steps will be provided in due course and the Government will respond to the Fuller Inquiry when its part two report is published.