Written questions by Anderson.

What data her Department holds on the proportion of five-year-olds in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire who met a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Information on the proportion of five year-olds who have a good level of development by local authority is published annually in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results statistics release. The release is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results/2023-24.The proportion of five year-olds in Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire who had a good level of development in the latest academic year, 2023/24, can be accessed at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c7642b61-084e-46e3-a412-08dd8e33d0bf.

How many SMEs located in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes in receipt of British Business Bank support in the last 12 months also sought finance from high street banks.

The Department for Business and Trade does not hold data relating to businesses also seeking finance from high street banks.

What estimate his Department has made of the proportion of SMEs in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes that have secured angel investment in the last 24 months.

Business angels are a significant source of equity investment for start-up and early-stage businesses. Angel investments are typically private arrangements and therefore there is no requirement for them to be publicly reported. The British Business Bank supports angel investment through its Regional Angels Programme, which helps reduce regional imbalances in access to early-stage equity finance for smaller businesses across the UK. As at March 2024 the Regional Angels Programme has committed £219m and supported 593 businesses. In late June the British Business Bank will publish its annual Small Business Equity Tracker 2025. The report will include an analysis of the UK Business Angel Market and will also provide detail on equity deals in the South East region.

How many companies in the scale-up category have accessed British Business Bank-backed debt finance in the last 24 months.

The British Business Bank publishes performance data on the Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS) on a quarterly basis. Up to 31 December 2024, GGS has been utilised by accredited lenders to enable 13,447 scheme facilities, totalling £2.11 billion. The data is broken down by facility status, lender, nation and region, sector, facility type and size, company size, turnover and age of business, but does not define facilities by scale-up category.

What proportion of prescription items dispensed in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire were exempt from charges for each of the last three years.

The information requested has been provided by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA). It has not been possible to collate data for the Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire area alone as this would require the NHSBSA to hold postcodes for all addresses in this area, however we do hold data for the two National Health Service integrated care boards (ICBs) which cover the Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire area, namely the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB and the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB. Therefore, the following table shows the percentage of prescription items for which the patient held a prescription pre-payment certificate or did not pay a charge because the item was covered by an existing exemption that were dispensed for the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB, for 2022, 2023, and 2024: YearPercentage of items where no per item charge was paid at the point of dispensing202293.73%202393.95%202494.31% In addition, the following table shows the percentage of prescription items for which the patient held a prescription pre-payment certificate or did not pay a charge because the item was covered by an existing exemption that were dispensed for the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB, for 2022, 2023, and 2024: YearPercentage of items where no per item charge was paid at the point of dispensing202292.91%202393.26%202493.69% To note, prescriptions purchased using a prescription pre-payment certificate are recorded as exempt at the point of dispensing by the NHSBSA. Given this, prescription pre-payment certificate dispensing data is included in the above data set.

How many people in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire are eligible for free NHS prescriptions under the low-income scheme.

The information requested is not held. Eligibility for the NHS Low Income Scheme and the amount of help an individual can get depends on their weekly income and necessary outgoings, plus any savings or investments they have at the time of application. Given this, it is not possible to know the total number of people eligible for the scheme at any given time.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of early years providers in England that may increase their capacity through the use of free flow outdoor space under the proposed changes to the early years foundation stage statutory framework.

The expansion of funded childcare is continuing to support families. The department is exploring new ways to help providers offer more high-quality childcare places for working families, which includes access to outdoor space. Therefore, the department has launched a consultation on whether to introduce flexibility into the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework that will allow free-flow outdoor space to be included in the indoor space requirements, with a possible cap on the number of additional places that can be offered. The consultation can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/space-requirements-in-early-years-childcare-settings-in-england. The EYFS framework can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2.The department’s ‘Pulse surveys of childcare and early years providers’, which were published April 2024, found strong support for these proposals with the majority of providers, with 70 per cent (7 in 10), saying they would be likely to use these flexibilities. The survey results can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pulse-surveys-of-childcare-and-early-years-providers. The results of the consultation, and the department’s response, are expected to be published in autumn 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many of the 3,000 farming businesses that started but did not submit applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2024 scheme after 12 January 2025 are based in Buckinghamshire.

There are 34 farming businesses in Buckinghamshire that started but did not submit an application to the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2024 scheme after 12 January 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many live Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements were in place in Buckinghamshire as of 11 March 2025.

As of 11 March 2025, there are 323 farmers who have accepted a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement (SFI Pilot, SFI 23 and SFI EO) in Buckinghamshire.

What data his Department holds on the proportion of British Business Bank-backed loans which include personal guarantee requirements from borrowers.

The British Business Bank utilises accredited delivery partners to deliver its schemes. Under the Growth Guarantee Scheme (formerly the Recovery Loan Scheme), delivery partners are required to apply personal guarantees where they would in the course of their normal commercial lending. Under GGS and RLS 3, approximately 70% of facilities have been recorded by the lender as having a personal guarantee attached.

What data his Department holds on lending approval rates for SMEs applying for finance to invest in (a) technology, (b) commercial premises and (c) workforce training since 2022.

Earlier this year, DBT launched a call for evidence on access to finance to better understand the barriers that SMEs experience when applying for loans. However, currently available results from the SME Finance Monitor provides the following data on SMEs needing funding for R&D and new premises:In 2024, 7% of SMEs reported a need for funding. Of those SMEs reporting a need for funding, 6% needed funding for new premises and 4% needed funding for R&D.In 2022, 6% of SMEs reported a need for funding. Of those SMEs reporting a need for funding, 3% needed funding for new premises and 5% needed funding for R&D.In 2024, 47% of all applications for new or renewed finance by SMEs were successful.In 2022, 62% of all applications for new or renewed finance by SMEs were successful.Source: SME Finance Monitor 2024 and 2022

Whether his Department has made an assessment of trends in the level of tiered lending rate structures in SME finance products offered by UK-regulated banks since 2022.

Tiered interest rates relate to retail deposits and personal loans, not commercial finance. Bank of England data shows that interest rates on lending by banks to UK SMEs are as follows:In March 2025, effective interest rates for new SME loans were 6.75%In March 2024, effective interest rates for new SME loans were 7.49%In March 2023, effective interest rates for new SME loans were 6.36%In March 2022, effective interest rates for new SME loans were 3.49%Source: Bank of England

How many nursery places she expects the programme to deliver 6,000 new school-based early years places to create in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire.

Of the 300 schools which received funding under the School-Based Nurseries Capital Grant 2024/2025, three are in Milton Keynes and one is in Buckinghamshire. These projects are all expanding their existing nursery provision to provide additional childcare places for families in the area, which is crucial to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give children the best start in life.

What the average funding is allocated per pharmacy in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency under the 2025–26 contractual framework.

In 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework will be increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service, at over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. There is also additional funding available, for example for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.The majority of this funding is linked to activity, so each pharmacy’s share of the funding depends on how many prescriptions it dispenses, and the volume of NHS clinical services it delivers. Therefore, we cannot forecast how much pharmacies in Buckingham and Bletchley will earn from delivering NHS services in 2025/26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GPs in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes have been recruited through the increase to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.

As of 31 March 2025, the number of general practitioners (GPs) who had been recruited through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) was 26 in the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (ICB), and 58 in the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB.As of 28 February 2025, the number of full time equivalent (FTE) ARRS GPs was 13.5 in the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB, and 35.3 in the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB.Funding to employ GPs through the scheme has been available since October 2024 and therefore the number of GPs recruited is from 1 October onwards.

What the current capacity is of renewable energy generation in Buckinghamshire.

Renewable electricity generation statistics for each local authority are published in Regional Renewable Statistics. At the end of 2023, Buckinghamshire’s recorded electricity generation capacity was 223 MW.

What estimate he has made of the potential change in renewable energy capacity in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire over the next five years.

The Department does not forecast changes in renewable electricity capacity at this level. The progress of UK renewable electricity projects over 150 kW through the planning system are published in the Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD).

What estimate he has made of how many jobs carbon capture and storage network initiatives will create in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes over the next five years.

A strong UK CCUS sector will support well paid, highly skilled jobs across the UK, supporting 50,000 jobs in the 2030s across the CCUS industry. Whilst there are no projects that are currently being negotiated with HMG through the cluster sequencing process, in the mentioned areas, the CCUS sector is expected to have a positive impact with DESNZ analysis showing that CCUS has the potential to generate £4-5bn GVA per year by 2050.

What the estimated administrative cost savings to HMRC are from tax simplification measures announced in Spring 2025.

The tax simplification measures announced will support economic growth by reducing burdens on businesses, employers and employees. The ongoing Spending Review will, once collectively agreed by Cabinet, set out HMRC’s settlement, including the administrative cost savings that HMRC will deliver through the simplification measures announced on 28 April. The Spending Review will be presented to Parliament in the usual way on 11 June.

How many taxpayers in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes are expected to be removed from Income Tax Self Assessment following the recent criteria review.

HMRC does not hold unitary authority-level estimates of taxpayers who could be removed from Self-Assessment following the criteria review.