Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency early access service for innovative technologies to open.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In July of this year the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency published a statement of policy intent for the development and implementation of an Early Access Service for innovative medical devices, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statement-of-policy-intent-early-access-to-innovative-medical-devices/statement-of-policy-intent-early-access-to-innovative-medical-devices#next-steps

The service aims to speed up safe access to innovative medical devices for patients, supporting the Government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan. The statement set out our intention to work with stakeholders across the life science ecosystem to further develop the policy and to build the internal capability required to deliver the service throughout 2025. Further information on our plans will be provided in early 2026.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with the Royal Mail on tackling postal delays in rural communities.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Ministers and officials have discussions with Royal Mail on a regular basis in its capacity as the universal service provider to ensure that service standards are upheld across all regions, including rural areas.

It is for Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, to monitor Royal Mail’s service standards. The regulator sets Royal Mail enforceable targets to deliver a certain proportion of items on time each year. Ofcom takes compliance with its regulatory targets seriously and this involves conducting thorough investigations where failures have been identified.

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 the visitor economy in South Shropshire constituency.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Tourism contributes to growth and jobs across all parts of the country particularly in rural constituencies like South Shropshire, home to historical sites such as Ludlow castle and the diverse landscapes of the Shropshire Hills.

DCMS works with VisitBritain and VisitEngland to champion visits to the British countryside to a worldwide audience with the aim of ensuring that the economic benefits of tourism are felt by all regions and nations.

The Telford and Shropshire Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) has an important role to play in supporting the development of local tourism products and packages that meet the needs of visitors and benefit local communities to the area.

The Government is committed to supporting the sector through the forthcoming Visitor Economy Growth Plan, which will set out a long term plan to increase visitor flows across the UK, boost value, and deliver sustainable growth.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure the provision of childcare in all rural areas.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

In our Plan for Change we have set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn. We will measure our progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile assessment by 2028.

The government has committed to working with the sector to better support parents in poorer and rural areas. We have announced over £400 million of funding to create tens of thousands of places in new and expanded school-based nurseries to help ensure more children can access the quality early education where it is needed and get the best start in life. The first phase of the programme is creating up to 6,000 new nursery places, with schools reporting over 5,000 have been made available in September 2025.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.