Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase reading for fun in South Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address long-term declines in reading enjoyment through engaging new audiences, reshaping public attitudes and building the systems needed to embed lasting, meaningful change, during 2026 and beyond. It includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout the year.
We are raising awareness of the National Year of Reading through a range of methods, such as via departmental communication channels, the National Year of Reading mailing list and social media, communications from the National Literacy Trust, and promotion via the English Hubs network.
The Reading Agency are also providing public libraries with resources, toolkits and print and digital materials to activate the National Year of Reading. Schools and Early Years settings in South Shropshire and across the UK can access a range of engaging online webinars, resources and activities throughout the year. More information can be found at: https://goallin.org.uk/get-involved/schools/.
This government is also providing £5 million of funding for secondary schools to purchase books to encourage reading for pleasure, as well as committing over £10 million in funding to guarantee a library for every primary school by the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to reduce barriers to cross-border travel without physical checks for thoroughbred horses.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As announced at the UK-EU Leaders Summit on May 19 2025, the UK and EU have agreed to work towards a common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Zone to reduce delays and paperwork at the border. Negotiations with the EU on the SPS agreement are underway. While those discussions are ongoing, we cannot provide a running commentary.
Compliance with the existing Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) controls for equines entering the UK from the EU must continue until further notice, because the UK’s biosecurity and public health must continue to be protected.
Please note that there are no plans to remove the border checks that currently apply to equines entering the UK from the Rest of the World (ROW). These checks remain a vital part of our commitment to safeguarding animal health and maintaining biosecurity.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support farmers impacted by flooding in South Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is funding Environmental Land Management schemes, which include measures to support farmers with managing flood risks or investing in natural flood management.
The Environment Agency is working in partnership with Shropshire Council, the Severn Rivers Trust and Shropshire Wildlife Trust to deliver natural flood management projects in South Shropshire. Working closely with farmers and landowners, these projects will reduce the impacts of flooding across sub-catchments of the River Teme, benefitting both land and communities.
One such project is the River Corve project, which is now well established. Further projects are progressing in the Ledwyche Brook, Brimfield Brook, and River Onny areas.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve mental health in rural areas.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst there may be mental health benefits associated with living in rural areas, such as through increased access to green space, living in rural areas may also present risks to mental health. For example, some people living in rural areas may have reduced access to services or experience loneliness and isolation. Latest data show that 22.6% of people have a common mental health condition in England and regional disparities are evident, as 20.6% of people in the North West had a common mental health condition compared to 24.6% in the North East and 16.3% in the South East.
The Farmer Welfare Grant supports projects improving the mental health and wellbeing of farming people in England. The projects aim to support farmers and their families by offering essential services such as online resources, workshops, training, networking, and one-to-one help.
We are making it easier than ever to access mental health support through the NHS App and expanding access to NHS Talking Therapies. This will benefit people living in rural areas who may be far from a physical service provider. We’re expanding Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029. This means all pupils will have access to mental health support in England. We are also opening new 24/7 Mental Health Centres around the country, backed by £473 million of capital funding for local systems.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase levels of deportation of foreign national offenders.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.
Between this Government coming to power and January 2026, over 8700 foreign national offenders (FNOs) have been returned either voluntarily or by enforced means. This is a 32% increase on the number of FNOs returned in the same period 19 months prior. Figures on deportations, which are a subset of enforced returns, are not separately available.
To further support the returns of those with no right to remain in the UK the Government is committed to reforming the appeals process by creating a new appeals body with professionally trained adjudicators. We will also strengthen the certification regime to deny appeal rights for clearly unmeritorious claims. Furthermore, the number of countries that foreign national offenders can be deported to before they can lodge an appeal from abroad has also been increased.
We are also working to reform Human Rights claims. In these areas we will rebalance the public interest test for Article 8 claims and work with our international partners to reform the application of the ECHR’s prohibition on inhuman or degrading treatment.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help increase the number of youth workers in rural areas.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As announced in the National Youth Strategy, we are investing £15 million over the next 3 years in youth workers, volunteers, and other trusted adults to upskill the existing youth sector workforce and increase the number of trusted adults, including youth workers, providing safe support to young people. This will provide funding to youth organisations to help them get and keep the staff and volunteers they need, covering training and qualification bursaries, volunteer support, safeguarding, and new ways to help adults navigate the benefits and challenges of the digital world for young people.
Further work is underway to develop detailed plans for our future workforce funding, in partnership with the youth sector and with young people. This includes consideration of how to ensure young people in underserved communities have access to the support they need.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support culture and heritage in rural areas.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to ensuring everyone has access to culture and heritage, regardless of location.
Over the course of this parliament, £1.5 billion will be invested across the arts, culture and heritage providing support to arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings across England. It aims to keep venues open, finance urgent repairs and infrastructure projects, bolster long-term resilience, and widen access to arts and culture in communities that have faced under-investment, including in rural areas. The funding includes £160 million for local and regional museums; £425 million to support approximately 300 capital projects in arts venues; £230 million to support heritage projects, including listed places of worship; and £80 million to support Arts Council England's (ACE) National Portfolio Organisations.
ACE plays an important role in supporting arts and culture across the country through its national funding schemes, and is committed to responding to the specific needs of rural areas, supporting artists working in rural areas, improving access for rural audiences and building partnerships for growth. In their 2023–26 investment programme (the ‘National Portfolio’), worth around £440 million a year, investment to cultural organisations in rural areas increased to £44.6 million, benefiting 110 organisations across the country.
Historic England (HE) also plays a central role in celebrating and conserving culture and heritage within rural areas. HE supports DEFRA’s Environmental Land Management, Historic Buildings Restoration Grant, and Farming in Protected Landscapes schemes, which help to safeguard, repair and restore historic and archaeological features on farmland. Further information on HE’s work to support rural heritage, as well as guidance material, can be found on their website.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to improve the sustainability of post office services in rural areas.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As announced in the Government’s recent response to the Green Paper, we are protecting the sustainability of the Post Office network by retaining the minimum 11,500 branches and keeping all geographical Access Criteria. This will ensure that communities across the UK - including rural and remote areas - continue to have local and reliable access to Post Office services.
Furthermore, the Government continues to support the rural network by providing an annual network subsidy on the basis that Post Office meets the Government-set Access Criteria. For the 2025/26 financial year, the Government has confirmed that the network subsidy will be up to £83 million.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what action is being taken to increase the redistribution of surplus food.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the ‘Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate’ scheme, the Government has allocated grants totalling £13.5 million to 11 charities across England. This will help them to redistribute surplus produce from farms and into the charitable sector to provide a discounted or free food offer. The funding is going towards purchasing new packaging and labelling equipment and vehicles to move goods from farms to redistribution organisations, as well as new equipment, like fridges or freezers, to safely store the surplus food collected and ensure it lasts longer.
Defra also funds the groundbreaking UK Food and Drink Pact, a voluntary agreement with industry to tackle food waste. Through the Pact, Defra engages a working group of industry and redistribution sector organisations to develop best practice on how to redistribute surplus quickly and safely. The Pact also supports delivery of the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, which helps businesses to identify and measure their surplus and waste and take action to reduce it. This Target Measure Act approach enables food businesses to get more surplus to the redistribution sector.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what action is being taken to increase opportunities for SMEs in defence supply chains.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This Government has already committed to spending £2.5 billion more with defence SMEs. Central to driving this pledge is the recent establishment of the new Office for Small Business Growth which will help simplify and speed up cumbersome processes, provide advice to SMEs and encourage private sector investment. We have also recently announced a £20 million fund to offer accelerated contracts to small, innovative British startups, as well as establishing a protected budget of £400 million for UK Defence Innovation. We're breaking down barriers and opening new avenues for innovation, ensuring that our SMEs can play a vital role in strengthening our defence capabilities.