Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support the provision of emergency co-responders in (a) rural and (b) coastal areas.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the important contribution of co-responders in improving response times, particularly in hard-to-reach rural and coastal communities.
The Department supports the provision of emergency co-responders in rural and coastal areas through the Community First Responders (CFR) programme, where volunteers are trained by the ambulance service to attend certain types of emergency calls in the area where they live or work.
Ambulance trusts are responsible, on an individual basis, for taking decisions on the capacity and support needed to deliver their services in their local areas.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he has taken ensure the continued availability of post office services in rural communities in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency and (b) Staffordshire since his appointment.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government protects the sustainability of the Post Office network - and the rural network in particular - by providing an annual Network Subsidy. This ensures Post Office Limited maintains a minimum number of branches and a geographical spread of branches in line with the Government-set access criteria.
This financial year we are providing £83 million in subsidy, up from £50 million previously, and building on the uplift provided last year. The access criteria ensures that, however the network changes, 99% of the UK population live within three miles of their nearest Post Office.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North 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 help reduce landfill use by 2028.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are developing policy options for the near elimination of biodegradable municipal waste to landfill, following publication of a call for evidence and a summary of responses published earlier this year.
The Collection and Packaging Reforms – Simpler Recycling, Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) and a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) – will help stimulate investment in recycling services across the UK and support our ambition to recycle 65% of municipal waste by 2035. The Circular Economy Strategy for England, which we plan to publish in the coming months, will contain further proposals to reduce our reliance on landfill.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the preparedness of local authorities in England to collect food waste separately to household waste from March 2026.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Simpler Recycling reforms, all local authorities in England must provide weekly food waste collections from households by 31 March 2026, unless a transitional arrangement applies (a later date set in legislation).
We have invested over £340 million to date to support councils as they get ready for weekly food collections. We have also published guidance to help local authorities and funded sector specialists WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) to provide further resources and support. This includes guidance on good practice when delivering services to householders and communications guidance for household food waste collections.
We have consulted and engaged extensively with local authorities throughout the development of this policy. This has included focused working groups, sector events and holding monthly stakeholder forums. We meet monthly with local authority waste network chairs to partner on delivery of these reforms. We are aware of some specific delivery challenges faced by some local authorities to meet these new obligations and are working with local authority waste networks and the wider industry to provide additional support where we can. We will continue to monitor progress and work with the sector to deliver these reforms.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he has taken to ensure the continued availability of in-person post office services in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire since 5 September 2025.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government protects the sustainability of the Post Office network – and the rural network in particular – by providing an annual Network Subsidy. This ensures Post Office Limited maintains a minimum number of branches and a geographical spread of branches in line with the Government-set access criteria. This financial year we are providing £83 million in subsidy, up from £50 million previously, and building on the uplift provided last year. The access criteria ensures that, however the network changes, 99% of the UK population live within three miles of their nearest Post Office.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that communities have access to local pharmacies.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that pharmacies, including in Ely and East Cambridgeshire, are an integral part of the fabric of our communities, as an easily accessible ‘front door’ to the National Health Service, staffed by highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals.
Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served by local pharmacies and must keep these assessments under review. Integrated care boards (ICBs) give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from the new contractors. Contractors can also apply to open a new pharmacy to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA. If there is a need for a new local pharmacy to open and no contractors apply to open a pharmacy and fill the gap, ICBs can commission a new pharmacy to open outside of the market entry processes and can fund the contract from the ICBs’ budgets. In some rural areas where a pharmacy may not be viable, local general practices are permitted to dispense medicines to their patients. In addition, patients can choose to access medicines through any of the distance selling pharmacies that are required to deliver the medicines they dispense free of charge, and which also provide other pharmaceutical services remotely.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of pharmacy provision in rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that pharmacies, including in Ely and East Cambridgeshire, are an integral part of the fabric of our communities, as an easily accessible ‘front door’ to the National Health Service, staffed by highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals.
Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served by local pharmacies and must keep these assessments under review. Integrated care boards (ICBs) give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from the new contractors. Contractors can also apply to open a new pharmacy to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA. If there is a need for a new local pharmacy to open and no contractors apply to open a pharmacy and fill the gap, ICBs can commission a new pharmacy to open outside of the market entry processes and can fund the contract from the ICBs’ budgets. In some rural areas where a pharmacy may not be viable, local general practices are permitted to dispense medicines to their patients. In addition, patients can choose to access medicines through any of the distance selling pharmacies that are required to deliver the medicines they dispense free of charge, and which also provide other pharmaceutical services remotely.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the Environment Agency increases (a) routine monitoring and (b) inspection of rivers.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Water (Special Measures) Act has introduced independent monitoring of every sewerage outlet, with water companies required to publish near real-time data (within an hour of a discharge occurring) for all emergency overflows, matching the pre-existing duty and meeting the government commitment to ensure monitoring of every outlet.
The Environment Agency (EA) has increased its water quality charges to £149 million from 2025-26, ensuring water companies pay the cost of regulating the sector. These charges include permit charges on water companies for inspections and the new enforcement levy, which will enable EA to recover the costs of their enforcement activity.
The Independent Water Commission has examined how to strengthen the regulation and delivery of water services to better support long-term water security, sustainable growth, and environmental protection. The Former Secretary of State provided an Oral Statement to Parliament in response to the final report and government will be taking forward a number of recommendations.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of pharmacy provision in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight area.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are required, by statute, to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served by local pharmacies and must keep these assessments under review. Integrated care boards (ICBs) give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from the new contractors. Contractors can also apply to open a new pharmacy to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA.
If there is a need for a new local pharmacy to open and no contractors apply to open a pharmacy and fill the gap, an ICB can commission a new pharmacy to open outside of the market entry processes and fund the contract from the ICB’s budgets. In some rural areas where a pharmacy may not be viable, local GP practices are permitted to dispense medicines to their patients. In addition, patients can choose to access medicines through any of the distance selling pharmacies that are required to deliver medicines they dispense free of charge and also provide other pharmaceutical services remotely.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of housing costs on the recruitment of health staff, in the context of his plans for a Neighbourhood Health Service.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. While we will be clear on the outcomes we expect, we will give significant licence to tailor the approach to local need. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in rural communities, coastal towns or deprived inner cities.