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Written Question
Dental Services: Rural Areas
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether dentists working in dental treatment vans will be offered one-off payments of up to £20,000.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We will offer Golden Hellos of £20,000 to up to 240 dentists who join existing National Health Service practices, in areas where recruitment is particularly challenging. Golden Hello payments will be phased over three years, and require a commitment to stay in that area delivering NHS work for at least three years.

We will also be deploying dental vans offering appointments to patients in need, including targeted rural and coastal communities who have the most limited access to dentistry, starting later this year. We are working with NHS England and the integrated care boards on the precise nature of the contracting and payment model for dental vans.


Written Question
Community Transport: Finance
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of allocating additional funding for volunteer led community transport schemes.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department makes available over £3 million each year to community transport operators through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), supporting them to continue delivering inclusive and accessible transport across the country.

An uplift of 60% has been added to BSOG claims for community transport operators until 31 March 2025. This means operators will receive £1.60 for every £1 claimed, reflecting the increased costs faced by the sector.

We also encourage Local Transport Authorities to engage with community transport operators when preparing their Bus Service Improvement Plans which are vital in setting out an areas’ long term plans for bus services and how they will be improved.

The bus fare cap, only available in England, has proven popular with bus passengers in communities across England, particularly in rural and non-metropolitan areas, where our statistics show the overall price of bus fares between September 2022 and September 2023 dropped by almost 11%.

Our £20 million Rural Mobility Fund (RMF) in England, also devolved, is supporting 16 innovative, demand-led minibus trials in rural and suburban areas across 16 local authorities in England. These pilots are exploring whether Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) can serve these communities more effectively than traditional public transport solutions alone.


Written Question
Gardens: Waste Disposal
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which local authorities (a) charged for collection of garden waste and b) provided a free garden waste service in 2023/24.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs does not hold this data.

Under section 45(3) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 waste collection authorities are permitted to charge a reasonable amount for the collection of garden waste.

Local Authorities are best placed to determine the effective delivery of local services.


Written Question
Fish: Consumption
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage (a) schools, (b) prisons and (c) hospitals to serve British-caught fish.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has consulted on changes to the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF), including increasing the sourcing of local and sustainable food. The consultation sought views on sourcing, where possible, a diverse range of seasonally available seafood species from locally caught or produced sources. As the Government response to the consultation has not yet been published, it is too soon to pre-empt any specific findings.


We have also now appointed an independent advisor to support the Government’s ongoing work to improve food procurement in the public sector and make the system more accessible to small- and medium-sized businesses and, subject to domestic and international legal obligations, explore the benefits of and steps to getting more local-caught fish into schools, prisons and hospitals.


Written Question
Dental Services: Travel
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the average distance people travel to access an NHS dentist in (a) North Shropshire constituency and (b) the UK.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We want to make sure that everyone needing a National Health Service dentist can access one. Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients, and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. This is especially important for those who live in rural or coastal communities, where we know access can be particularly challenging.

Our plan includes a new Golden Hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work. A Golden Hello of £20,000 will be offered per dentist, for a total of up to 240 dentists.

There are other measures in our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will help to improve access across all areas of the country. The new patient premium is designed to support dentists to see patients who may not have seen an NHS dentist for some time, and is offered in recognition of the additional time that may be needed for practices to assess, stabilise, and manage patients’ oral health needs. We will also raise the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate from £23 to £28, supporting practices across the country to deliver more NHS care. We do not hold data on the average distance people travel to access an NHS dentist.


Written Question
Dental Services
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to support access to dentists in (a) Penrith and The Border constituency and (b) England.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We want to make sure that everyone needing a National Health Service dentist can access one. Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry in England will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. This is especially important for those who live in rural or coastal communities where we know access can be particularly challenging.

Our plan includes a new Golden Hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work. A Golden Hello of £20,000 will be offered per dentist, for a total of up to 240 dentists.

There are other measures in our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will help to improve access across all areas of the country. The new patient premium is designed to support dentists to see patients who may not have seen an NHS dentist for some time, and is offered in recognition of the additional time that may be needed for practices to assess, stabilise, and manage patients’ oral health needs. We will also raise the minimum Unit of Dental Activity rate from £23 to £28, supporting practices across the country to deliver more NHS care.


Written Question
Dental Services: Closures
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that patients affected by unexpected closures of NHS dental practices can still access dental care.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We want to make sure that everyone needing a National Health Service dentist can access one. Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. This is especially important for those who live in rural or coastal communities where we know access can be particularly challenging.

Our plan includes a new Golden Hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work. A Golden Hello of £20,000 will be offered per dentist, for a total of up to 240 dentists.

There are other measures in our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will help to improve access across all areas of the country. The new patient premium is designed to support dentists to see patients who may not have seen an NHS dentist for some time, and is offered in recognition of the additional time that may be needed for practices to assess, stabilise, and manage patients’ oral health needs. We will also raise the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate from £23 to £28 supporting practices across the country to deliver more NHS care.

Patients unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance. NHS dentists are now required to update their NHS website profiles regularly, at least every 90 days, to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care.


Written Question
South Asia: Development Aid
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the (1) actual, and (2) projected, aid contributions to individual countries in South Asia, broken down by category of project.

Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We do not have a breakdown by project category of future spend. Programme allocations are continually reviewed to respond to changing global needs, including humanitarian crises, fluctuations in GNI and other ODA allocation decisions.

We do have information on project category spend for previous calendar years which is published in the statistics on international development. This data is based on calendar year not financial year and covers the whole of HMG. Please see below data based on 2022, the last available calendar year.

2022

2022 Total

Row Labels

Afghanistan

Bangladesh

Bhutan

India

Maldives

Nepal

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Administrative costs (non-sector allocable)

£273,832

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£150,105

£0

£423,938

Advanced technical and managerial training

£0

£0

£0

-£54,390

£0

-£2,535

£0

£0

-£56,924

Agricultural development

£1,292,411

£0

£0

£47,020

£0

£0

-£1,361,746

£0

-£22,316

Agricultural policy and administrative management

£0

£2,809

£0

-£152

£0

£0

£0

-£253,566

-£250,909

Agricultural research

£0

£0

£0

£240,948

£0

£0

£7,715

£0

£248,663

Agricultural services

£0

£0

£0

-£2,274,286

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£2,274,286

Anti-corruption organisations and institutions

£2,518,313

£576,402

£0

£0

£0

£175,805

£144,143

£0

£3,414,663

Basic drinking water supply

£0

£350,000

£0

£0

£0

£219,574

£0

£0

£569,574

Basic drinking water supply and basic sanitation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£639,497

-£1,361,746

£0

-£722,250

Basic health care

£707,157

£250,000

£0

£0

£0

£2,994,645

£387,457

£0

£4,339,258

Basic life skills for adults

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£258,611

£0

£0

£258,611

Basic nutrition

£0

£712,997

£0

£0

£0

£14,770

£0

£0

£727,767

Basic sanitation

£0

£350,000

£0

£0

£0

£37,522

-£2,723,493

£0

-£2,335,971

Biodiversity

£0

£22,328

£0

£165,389

£74,068

£961,707

£37,573

£67,842

£1,328,907

Business development services

£0

£0

£0

£96,736

£0

£0

£0

£0

£96,736

Business policy and administration

£0

£0

£0

£565,783

£0

£0

£437,513

£0

£1,003,296

Civilian peace-building, conflict prevention and resolution

£4,130,547

£1,981,030

£0

£0

£0

£4,399

£2,225,242

£1,355,856

£9,697,073

Communications policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£0

£127,531

£0

£44,422

£0

£171,953

COVID-19 control

£0

£23,407

£0

£802,602

£0

£0

£5,949

£0

£831,958

Culture

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£61,341

£0

£61,341

Culture and recreation

£0

£0

£0

-£22,408

£0

£0

£85,158

£0

£62,750

Decentralisation and support to subnational government

£0

£0

£0

£0

£138,288

£2,475,959

£0

£0

£2,614,248

Democratic participation and civil society

£250,000

£1,394,795

£0

£0

£57,419

£973,571

£443,327

£0

£3,119,111

Domestic revenue mobilisation

£0

-£728,536

£0

£193,016

£0

£117,203

£1,059,571

£0

£641,254

Education and training in water supply and sanitation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£12,737

£0

£0

£12,737

Education facilities and training

£0

£115,830

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,464,741

£0

£1,580,571

Education policy and administrative management

£0

£577,278

£0

£97,983

£0

£0

£3,077,249

£0

£3,752,510

Educational research

£0

£361,000

£0

-£266,036

£0

£188,423

£594,639

£0

£878,026

Elections

£0

£12,027

£0

£0

£0

£0

£900

£0

£12,927

Electric mobility infrastructures

£0

£0

£0

£70,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£70,000

Electric power transmission and distribution (centralised grids)

£0

£0

£0

£68,700

£0

£173,312

£0

£0

£242,012

Emergency food assistance

£128,041,086

£8,635,594

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£136,676,679

Employment creation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£255,005

£0

£0

-£255,005

Ending violence against women and girls

£21,461,697

£1,009,135

£0

£0

£0

£728,846

£3,068,578

£0

£26,268,255

Energy generation, renewable sources - multiple technologies

£0

£0

£0

-£889,376

£0

£1,200,806

£0

£0

£311,430

Energy policy and administrative management

£0

£50,553

£0

£158,146

£0

£368,287

£0

£0

£576,985

Energy research

£0

£0

£0

£23,688

£0

£147,098

£0

£0

£170,786

Energy sector policy, planning and administration

£0

£0

£0

£1,479,122

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,479,122

Environmental education/training

£0

£0

£48,668

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£48,668

Environmental policy and administrative management

£635,676

£6,904,699

£0

£24,064,426

£0

£4,380,855

£5,812,804

£0

£41,798,459

Environmental research

£0

£120,723

£0

£3,082,518

£0

£863,732

£0

£0

£4,066,974

Facilitation of orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility

£0

£102,902

£0

£0

£0

£234,377

£0

£0

£337,279

Family planning

£265,080

£565,862

£0

£0

£0

£102,500

£3,660,244

£0

£4,593,686

Financial policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£507,690

£0

£0

£301,387

£0

£809,077

Formal sector financial intermediaries

£0

£0

£0

£49,665

£0

£0

£0

£0

£49,665

Health education

£338,898

£0

£0

£0

£0

£219,770

£0

£0

£558,668

Health personnel development

£0

£273,503

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£273,503

Health policy and administrative management

£0

£1,760,392

£0

£3,122,660

£0

£2,298,530

£343,452

£0

£7,525,034

Higher education

£911,301

£649,203

£172,288

£2,693,479

£214,955

£434,329

£1,992,063

£395,690

£7,463,308

Human rights

£0

£1,775,384

£0

£0

£183,646

£0

£0

£0

£1,959,030

Immediate post-emergency reconstruction and rehabilitation

£4,081,072

£2,602,056

£0

£0

£0

£1,382,031

£12

£0

£8,065,171

Industrial development

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£317,516

£0

£0

£317,516

Industrial policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,102,394

£0

£0

£1,102,394

Infectious disease control

£0

£344,911

£0

£106,589

£0

£721,591

£3,657

£0

£1,176,748

Informal/semi-formal financial intermediaries

£1,133,493

£0

£0

£65,012

£0

£129,305

£0

£0

£1,327,810

Information and communication technology (ICT)

£0

£277,978

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£277,978

Legal and judicial development

£0

£562,328

£0

£0

£207,433

£219,762

£1,059,545

£23,435

£2,072,502

Legislatures and political parties

£0

£0

£0

£0

£86,128

£28,936

£0

£0

£115,064

Livestock

£1,133,493

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,133,493

Low-cost housing

£0

£0

£0

£7,590

£0

£0

£0

£0

£7,590

Material relief assistance and services

£133,863,525

£7,210,063

£0

£0

£0

£367,000

£13,753,266

£1,840,000

£157,033,854

Media and free flow of information

£0

£27,380

£0

£0

£85,021

£201,771

£0

£0

£314,172

Medical research

£0

£349,577

£0

£3,227,794

£0

£153,028

£1,625,422

£0

£5,355,821

Medical services

£0

£0

£0

£19,694

£0

£0

£0

£0

£19,694

Monetary institutions

£0

£0

£0

-£4,122,509

£0

£367,746

£0

£0

-£3,754,763

Multi-hazard response preparedness

£0

£3,119,353

£0

£0

£0

£2,296,059

-£346,074

£0

£5,069,339

Multisector aid

£10,000,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£10,000,000

Multisector education/training

£179,070

£2,964,257

£0

£10,757,244

£0

£1,082,590

£5,089,541

£1,148,813

£21,221,516

Participation in international peacekeeping operations

-£26,486,939

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£26,486,939

Personnel development for population and reproductive health

£0

£628,071

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£628,071

Population policy and administrative management

£0

£63,206

£0

£0

£0

£49,325

£159,552

£0

£272,083

Primary education

£677,795

£1,749,487

£0

£96,754

£0

£0

£1,368,615

£0

£3,892,652

Privatisation

£4,424

£0

£0

£62,081

£0

£0

£0

£0

£66,505

Public finance management (PFM)

£0

-£4,128,373

£0

£0

£0

£820,701

£1,854,023

£0

-£1,453,650

Public sector policy and administrative management

£34,999

£576,042

£0

£859,780

£0

£789,046

£91,270

£0

£2,351,137

Relief co-ordination and support services

£59,853,084

£2,072,828

£0

£0

£0

£0

£6,022,939

£0

£67,948,851

Removal of land mines and explosive remnants of war

£5,000,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£5,000,000

Reproductive health care

£1,369,857

£1,435,386

£0

£52,362

£0

£490,359

£1,851,776

£0

£5,199,740

Research/scientific institutions

£378,625

£1,287,873

-£72,577

£740,328

£0

£1,049,080

£908,916

£2,760

£4,295,005

Road transport

£0

£0

£0

-£1,137,143

£0

£2,256,726

£1,800

£0

£1,121,383

Rural development

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£202,165

£0

£0

£202,165

Security system management and reform

£0

£43,536

£0

£0

£458,799

£69,946

£0

£0

£572,281

Site preservation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) development

£5,530

£0

£0

£1,245,753

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,251,283

Social Protection

£0

£1,351,346

£0

£39,879

£0

-£345,949

£226,615

£0

£1,271,891

Solar energy for centralised grids

£0

£0

£0

£117,792

£0

£648,694

£0

£0

£766,486

Statistical capacity building

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£353,100

£0

£0

£353,100

Teacher training

£0

£508,061

£0

£0

£0

£0

£663,698

£0

£1,171,759

Trade facilitation

£5,530

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£133,722

£0

£139,252

Trade policy and administrative management

£6,637

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£203,275

£0

£209,912

Transport policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£69,054

£0

£128,892

£1,200

£0

£199,146

Tuberculosis control

£0

£29,991

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£29,991

Upper Secondary Education (modified and includes data from 11322)

£338,898

£897,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£985,293

£0

£2,221,190

Urban development

£0

£0

£0

£542,146

£0

£0

£0

£0

£542,146

Urban development and management

£0

£1,050,000

£0

£78,000

£0

£695,269

£781,523

£0

£2,604,792

Vocational training

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£646,527

£0

£0

£646,527

Waste management/disposal

£0

£0

£0

£14,424

£0

£0

£0

£0

£14,424

Water resources conservation (including data collection)

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£219,574

£0

£0

£219,574

Water sector policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£31,842

£0

£0

£31,842

Water supply - large systems

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£737,655

£0

£0

£737,655

Water supply and sanitation - large systems

£0

£0

£0

-£1,137,143

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£1,137,143

Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions

£0

£1,800,998

£0

£0

£0

£59,406

£1,444,631

£0

£3,305,036

Grand Total

£352,405,092

£54,672,670

£148,379

£45,728,404

£1,633,288

£37,241,408

£57,842,803

£4,580,830

£554,252,874


Written Question
Dental Services
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the availability of NHS dentistry.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

18.1 million adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the 24 months up to 30 June 2023, an increase of 1.7 million, or 10%, when compared to the previous year. 6.4 million children were seen by an NHS dentist in the 12 months up to 30 June 2023, an increase of 800,000, or 14%, when compared to the previous year. Our plan to recover and reform NHS Dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients, and will fund around 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment.

Our plan sets out a number of actions which will improve access for patients, by helping the sector to recover activity more quickly, including the introduction of a New Patient Payment Premium of up to £50 for each new patient. This is on top of the funding dental practices already receive for delivering that care. We will further incentivise dentists to do more NHS work by raising the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate to £28. As an additional part of the plan, we will launch a new Golden Hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work. We will also deploy dental vans offering appointments to patients in targeted rural and coastal communities who have the most limited access to dentistry, starting later this year.

NHS dentists are now required to update their NHS website profiles at least every 90 days to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care. From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.


Written Question
Water Companies: Debts
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the financial implications for her policies of trends in the level of debt acquired by water companies.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Water companies are allowed to raise debt to fund the delivery of their services.

Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, assesses and monitors the financial resilience of each company, including levels of debt, on an individual and ongoing basis and challenges companies where they identify this is needed.

Over recent years, as investment requirements have risen, Ofwat has taken further steps to strengthen the financial resilience of companies. This includes increasing its financial monitoring and improving levels of reporting transparency. As part of this work, Ofwat produces an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company.