Written questions by Dance.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to future-proof housing for disabled people in Yeovil constituency.

Housing is one of this Government’s top priorities. Everyone deserves to live in a decent home that is suitable for them and meets their needs. The revised National Planning Policy Framework, published on 12 December 2024, requires local planning authorities to assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those of older and disabled people, and to reflect this in planning policies. Where an identified need exists, plans are expected to help bring forward an adequate supply of accessible housing. The Government will shortly set out its policies on accessible new build housing, reinforcing our commitment to ensuring everyone has access to a safe, suitable home.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to raise accessibility standards for new homes in Yeovil constituency.

Housing is one of this Government’s top priorities. Everyone deserves to live in a decent home that is suitable for them and meets their needs. The revised National Planning Policy Framework, published on 12 December 2024, requires local planning authorities to assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those of older and disabled people, and to reflect this in planning policies. Where an identified need exists, plans are expected to help bring forward an adequate supply of accessible housing. The Government will shortly set out its policies on accessible new build housing, reinforcing our commitment to ensuring everyone has access to a safe, suitable home.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she taking to improve the standard of new build houses in Yeovil constituency.

The Government recognises the critical importance of ensuring developers comply with building regulations, especially those relating to safety and accessibility. Under the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended), it is the legal responsibility of those undertaking building work, including the construction of new homes, to ensure all relevant requirements are met. Developers must demonstrate compliance with the building regulations to a Registered Building Inspector, who is responsible for verifying that the work meets the necessary standards. The Government continues to keep the regulatory framework under review to ensure it remains robust, proportionate, and fit for purpose. Recent reforms to the building control system, including the introduction of a new regulatory regime under the Building Safety Act, are designed to strengthen oversight and improve accountability across the sector.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Yeovil dated 13 March 2025 on a constituent renouncing Colombian citizenship.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has no record of receiving this correspondence.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decision not to fully fund the (a) 4 per cent teacher pay award for September 2025 or (b) 3.2 per cent pay award for school support staff on schools' budgets in Yeovil constituency.

School funding is increasing by £3.7 billion in financial year 2025/26. In May, the department announced that it is providing schools with £615 million in additional funding to support them with overall costs, including the costs of the 4% schools teacher pay award and the 3.2% local government services pay award in respect of support staff in financial year 2025/26.Somerset local authority (which allocates funding for schools in Yeovil constituency) is receiving £418.4 million for mainstream schools in financial year 2025/26 through the Dedicated Schools Grant, an increase of 2.4% per pupil compared to financial year 2024/25. On top of that, all schools will receive additional funding through the Schools Budget Support Grant, to support them with overall costs, including the costs of teacher and support staff pay awards.Schools will be expected to find approximately the first 1 percentage point of pay awards through improved productivity and smarter spending to make every pound count. This is in line with asks to the rest of the public sector to drive better value from existing budgets to help rebuild public services. Schools are not alone in making these decisions, and the department is supporting them through a suite of existing and new productivity initiatives. Our Energy for Schools service, for example, enabled the 400 schools who participated to save on average 36% compared to their previous contracts.

What his Department's planned timetable is for awarding the contract for the New Medium Helicopter.

The New Medium Helicopter programme is an initiative to acquire a modern medium-lift support helicopter, addressing multiple rotary wing requirements to improve efficiency and operational flexibility. All capability requirements, including the New Medium Helicopter (NMH) programme, are being considered as part of the Government's Strategic Defence Review and the Defence Investment Plan which is due to be published later in the year. The NMH programme is currently awaiting Government approval which must be allowed to complete before a decision on contract award is made. Whilst this approval process continues, the Ministry of Defence cannot comment further.

What steps he is taking to improve access to support for people with anxiety in Yeovil constituency.

The NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board is responsible for commissioning services to meet the mental health needs of the people in Yeovil.People with anxiety can self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies or their general practitioner can refer them. NHS Talking Therapies offer evidence-based psychological therapies to help with common mental health problems such as anxiety.Nationally, the Government is investing an extra £688 million this year to transform mental health services by hiring more staff, delivering more talking therapies, and getting waiting lists down. We are delivering on our commitment to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers for children and adults by the end of this Parliament.  6,700 of these workers have been recruited since July 2024, meaning we are more than halfway towards our target.

What steps she plans to take to ensure the provision of high-quality library services in primary schools in Yeovil constituency by the end of this Parliament.

School libraries complement public libraries by giving pupils access to a range of books and other kinds of texts, both in and out of school.​It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils. Headteachers have autonomy to decide how best to spend the core schools funding that is allocated to them by the department. The Autumn Budget 2024 announced an additional £2.3 billion for schools for the 2025/26 financial year, compared to 2024/25, bringing the total core schools budget to almost £63.9 billion in 2025/26.The Dormant Assets strategy, published on 2 June 2025, announced that more than £130 million from the Dormant Assets scheme will be allocated to support the provision of services, facilities or opportunities to meet the needs of young people. Some of this will be used to invest in helping to foster a culture of reading for pleasure amongst disadvantaged children and young people in the spaces and places that matter to them, including schools, youth clubs and other settings like early years providers and libraries, through targeted intervention and increased access to reading material.Additionally, the English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, and they deliver the Transforming School Reading Cultures programme, as part of the English Hubs continuous professional development offer. For schools in the Yeovil constituency, the local English Hub is Cornerstone Hub.

What steps he is taking to reduce the prevalence of alcohol-related illnesses in Yeovil constituency.

The NHS Somerset, Wiltshire, Avon, and Gloucestershire Cancer Alliance is supporting liver services in these regions by ensuring that sufficient ultrasound capacity is available to provide six-monthly liver surveillance to people with cirrhosis and advanced fibrosis and by establishing robust call and recall systems within each provider to track and invite those eligible for liver surveillance to attend appointments. The alliance is also ensuring that those who qualify for ultrasound appointments are included on liver surveillance registers. In addition to funding through the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26, the Department is providing Somerset County Council with £2,101,277 from the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Improvement Grant and the Individual Placement and Support Grant to help improve alcohol and drug treatment and recovery support, which includes housing and employment. All funding is provided at the Somerset level, and it is for Somerset County Council to determine how to meet the needs in Yeovil.The Department has several analytical tools to help local authorities understand local need. This includes a publication of estimates of the number of alcohol dependent adults in each local authority in England and fingertips published data on alcohol and alcohol related conditions, including mortality and hospital admissions at a regional level. This is alongside a collection of alcohol and drug misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery guidance to support commissioners, service providers, and others providing alcohol and drug interventions. The Department has also developed the first ever United Kingdom clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment which are expected to be published in the next few months. The aim of the guidelines is to promote and support good practice and improve the quality of service provision.

What steps she is taking to help support people to purchase affordable electric charging points for existing homes in Yeovil constituency.

To further accelerate the uptake of EVs, the Government offers grants to support the installation of chargepoints in residential and commercial properties. The Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant supports the provision of chargepoints for residents in flats and rented accommodation with grants of up to £350. SMEs and residential landlords can also claim car park grants of up to £15,000 and £30,000 per site towards the cost of infrastructure works and chargepoints.Additionally, on the 13 July, the Government announced the £25m Electric Vehicle Pavement Channel grant to further support local authorities in England to adopt pavement channels. This will allow EV drivers to access their domestic electricity tariffs by safely connecting a home EV charger to their vehicle parked on-street and adds to published local authority guidance and chargepoint grants.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of prescribing medical cannabis as a treatment for the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

No assessment has been made by the Department of the potential merits of prescribing medical cannabis as a treatment for symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.Where there are demonstrated therapeutic effects, we would expect manufactures to apply to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for a marketing authorisation (licence) for their medicines, to enable prescribers to be confident of the medicine’s quality, safety and effectiveness.Assessment by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) would then precede any routine prescribing on the NHS.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of mandating digital prescribing for medical cannabis.

Cannabis-based products for medicinal use are Schedule 2 controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. Electronic prescribing of Schedule 2 and 3 Controlled Drugs in NHS primary care settings has been operational since 2019.It is mandatory for electronic prescriptions for controlled drugs in Schedules 2 and 3 to be sent using an advanced electronic signature and sent via the NHS Electronic Prescribing Service as part of enhanced security measures.There are no current plans to make legislative changes to enable similar systems in private healthcare to prescribe Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Ten Year Health Plan on community hospital bed provision in Yeovil constituency.

Our 10-Year Health Plan is creating a National Health Service truly fit for the future, keeping patients healthy and out of hospital, with care closer to home and in the home.An impact statement for the plan will be published shortly.

With reference to the 10 Year Health Plan for England, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of neighbourhood health centres on the provision of community hospital services in Yeovil constituency.

On 3 July 2025, the Government announced the 10-Year Health Plan and set out its vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service to bring care into local communities, transform access to health services, and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions.Neighbourhood Health Centres will play a key role in realising this vision and transforming healthcare access by bringing historically hospital-based services into communities and addressing wider determinants of health in communities across the country, including in places like Yeovil.On 21 July 2025, I wrote to Members of Parliament highlighting that the Department and NHS England have written to integrated care boards (ICBs) and local authorities to invite applications from local places to participate in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme.

Pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 62375 on Buses: Safety Belts, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of 3-point seat belts on passenger safety.

The Road Safety Observatory, supported by the Department for Transport, summarises and reviews research on road safety, including seat belts. It identified research indicating that 3-point seat belts in vehicles can reduce the serious injury rate by 60% compared to being unrestrained. There is no specific assessment for buses. The Road Safety Observatory synthesis on seat belts is available from the RoSPA website and can be found at the following link:- https://www.rospa.com/siteassets/images/road-safety/road-safety-projects/road-safety-observatory/vehicles-seatbelts.pdf.

What recent discussions he has had with NHS dentists on rises in the costs for (a) NHS dental practices and (b) (i) laboratories and (ii) dental materials.

The Government is continuing to meet the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector on a regular basis and some of these meetings have included the discussion of costs associated with delivering National Health Service dental care.In addition, the Government is conducting a research project to better understand the costs and pressures associated with running a dental practice in England.As part of this research, a survey was launched on 13 May 2025 and closed on 16 June 2025. This included questions on laboratory fees and dental materials as well as other associated costs with running a dental practice.We are currently reviewing and analysing responses to understand findings.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the family of Michael Frison who went missing in Sardinia on 13 July 2024.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been providing consular support to Michael Frison's family since his disappearance in Italy in July 2024. Officials have remained in contact with the Italian authorities to seek updates on the investigation. Our thoughts remain with the family at this difficult time.

Whether residents in Yeovil constituency will be consulted on changes to the provision of education, health and care plans.

The department is determined to restore confidence in the system of support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), so that all children and young people get the chance to achieve and thrive in their education. Our aim is to improve educational outcomes.The department is working with and listening to parents, local authorities, SEND organisations, education settings and others on how best we can strengthen the SEND system. We want to deliver better support for these vulnerable children and young people and their parents, and we are committed to getting this right. We will continue with this engagement over the summer, in preparation for consultation on a Schools White Paper in the autumn.We have made no decisions yet on the future of education, health and care plans. There will, however, always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with SEND.

What assessment the has made of the adequacy of the 1.68% uplift to the practice expenses element of the NHS dental contract in 2023-24, in the context of changes to the costs of running a dental practice.

The pay elements of the 2024/25 National Health Service contracts for general dental practitioners and salaried dentists were all uplifted by 6%, in line with the independent Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration’s recommendations. The overall contract value was uplifted by 4.64%, net of pay and expense elements. Uplifted payments were backdated to 1 April 2024.Whilst no specific assessment of adequacy has been carried out, the use of a gross domestic product deflator for expenses was consistent with other areas across the NHS, including for general practitioners and ophthalmology.

How much funding his Department plans to provide for NHS dentistry in each of the next three financial years.

Prior to 2023/24 there was no specific dental budget allocation, as dentistry formed part of a wider budget which included community pharmacy and optometry. Since 2023/24, there has been a specific dental ringfence allocation for integrated care boards. This includes primary, secondary, and community dentistry and is set net of patient charges. The following table shows the dental budget as a proportion of the total National Health Service budget in each of the last two years:YearProportion of NHS budget2023/242.17%2024/252.12%Note: the figure for 2025/2026 is not yet confirmed. The details of budget allocations within each Government department for future years is still being determined. The Department is working to provide the detail and certainty needed on future funding and spending plans. This includes preparing for the first multi-year planning round for the NHS in more than half a decade, which will give local leaders the certainty they need to deliver.