Written questions by Norris.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps were taken to protect the newly establishing trees in the Western Forest during May’s heatwave.

Awaiting answer.

What recent steps her Department has taken to tackle knife crime in the North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

Awaiting answer.

Whether it is the policy of HM Revenue and Customs to inform NHS commissioners of concerns regarding unpaid VAT liabilities prior to filing a winding-up petition.

Awaiting answer.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the resilience of outsourced non-emergency patient transport services.

Awaiting answer.

Whether (a) his department (b) ICBs are routinely informed when major NHS contractors face significant tax enforcement action.

Awaiting answer.

What financial monitoring arrangements Integrated Care Boards are required to maintain for private ambulance contractors delivering NHS-funded services.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce fly tipping in North East Somerset and Hanham.

Local councils are responsible for tackling fly-tipping in their area and have a range of enforcement powers to help them do so. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000 and prosecution action. To support councils to make better use of their power to seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, we have published best practice guidance and case studies on the website of the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group. Defra also chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping. In addition, we have recently secured powers in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 to provide statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise these existing powers. We have also obtained powers in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 for the courts to award up to 9 penalty points on driving licences for those found guilty of fly-tipping. This would make it harder for offenders to continue dumping illegally if they are disqualified from driving and send a clear warning that fly-tipping is not tolerated.

Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to improve the safety of young people online in North East Somerset and Hanham.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of workforce training capacity to support the transition to electric vehicles.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of factory farming on ammonia pollution.

Defra does not have an assessment of “factory farms”. However, a breakdown of UK ammonia emissions by livestock sector can be found in Table 1 of this published document; 2509190841_UK_Agriculture_Ammonia_Emission_Report_1990-2023_26062025_Final.pdf.

What steps he is taking to help reduce waiting times at the RUH (Bath) A&E department.

The Government recognises the pressures facing emergency departments, including at the Royal United Hospital Bath, and is taking sustained action to reduce accident and emergency waiting times and improve patient flow across urgent and emergency care. Through the NHS Medium‑Term Planning Framework and the Model Emergency Department, NHS England has set out a clear trajectory for improving performance, with a focus on reducing long waits, improving safety, and delivering better patient experience.At the Royal United Hospital Bath, NHS England is working with the trust and the wider local system to support delivery of these improvements. This includes action to improve patient flow, increase the use of Same Day Emergency Care to avoid unnecessary admissions, strengthen discharge and community capacity, and deliver capital investment to improve emergency department flow. The trust is also receiving support from national improvement programmes, including Getting It Right First Time, alongside action to strengthen overnight staffing and real‑time performance oversight.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help increase accountability in the water sector in the West of England.

For too long, water companies paid out billions in dividends while pumping sewage into our rivers. This Government is ending that. The Water White Paper creates a single regulator, prevention-focused enforcement, and tougher laws: banning bonuses for failure and ensuring water works for customers, not just shareholders. To truly turn around the water sector we need the right people in to do the job. We want the sector to be attractive to high quality senior leaders, acting in the public interest, who can lead change from the top. To achieve this, the Government committed in the White Paper to consider taking forward a new regime for senior accountability. This would be carefully designed to ensure senior leaders are directly accountable for the service customers receive, whilst still allowing water companies to appoint capable leadership

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help tackle waste crime in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

The Government published its new Waste Crime Action Plan on 20 March which is the toughest ever crackdown on illegal waste. We will tighten regulation to close the loopholes criminals exploit, enable tougher enforcement to disrupt and punish them, and direct action to clean up the damage they leave behind. The Government is committed to tackling waste crime in North East Somerset and Hanham. We are strengthening the Environment Agency’s enforcement powers and funding, and supporting joint working with Bath and North East Somerset Council and the local police services. Across the constituency, the Environment Agency is using intelligence led inspections and investigations to identify illegal waste activity, take enforcement action, and disrupt organised waste crime, protecting local communities and the environment, and ensuring waste is managed responsibly locally.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to protect supported housing in NE Somerset and Hanham constituency.

The government is committed to improving the quality of supported housing across England. We are implementing measures in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023, which will strengthen local oversight, improve quality of support and require councils to produce Local Supported Housing Strategies to understand local supply, demand and unmet need. We recognise the significant challenges faced by the supported housing and homelessness sector. As announced at Autumn Budget 2025, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury is leading work across government to improve the value for money of homelessness services, including delivery models to increase the supply of good‑quality, good‑value supported housing.

What estimate he has made of the number of renewable energy projects awaiting grid connection in NE Somerset and Hanham; and what steps he is taking to reduce connection delays.

Information on projects holding connection agreements is available at TEC Register | National Energy System Operator for transmission projects and National Grid - Embedded capacity register for distribution projects in the South-West. However, data is categorised by grid connection point, not geographic location of projects. At transmission level, Government is working with National Energy System Operator, network companies and Ofgem to prioritise connections for viable projects that meet our strategic needs. In addition, in its end-to-end review, Ofgem is proposing measures to hold network companies more to account on timely delivery of connections, to both the transmission and distribution networks.

Whether she collects data on local highways authority spending on highways maintenance additional to funding provided by central government.

Local authorities are responsible for setting their own highways maintenance budgets, drawing on a combination of Department for Transport capital funding and their wider local resources. To support greater transparency, the Department introduced a requirement last year for all local highway authorities to publish annual highways maintenance transparency reports. These set out how each authority plans to spend its Department for Transport highways maintenance allocation, alongside its total planned highways maintenance expenditure from all funding sources. This provides clearer visibility of the extent to which authorities invest above their DfT allocation. In addition, the Department introduced a new traffic light rating system for all local highway authorities in England on 11 January. All authorities are assessed annually and receive a red, amber or green rating based on the condition of their roads, how much they spend to maintain their roads, and whether they do so using best practice. As part of the spend scorecard within this rating system, authorities that reported plans to spend 100% of their Departmental allocation received an amber rating. The vast majority of authorities reported plans to invest at least 30% of additional capital from other funding sources to maintain their highway networks, and 113 authorities therefore received a green spend scorecard.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support new bathing sites in the West of England.

To designate a site as a bathing water, an application must be submitted to Defra. Applications for new bathing sites are driven by the public and put forward for consultation if certain criteria are met, which can be found online at gov.uk. We are currently consulting on proposals to designate 13 new bathing waters in England ahead of the 2026 bathing season. No applications were received from the West of England this year.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that councils do not use the Crisis and Resilience Fund to replace LWA schemes.

My Department has worked closely with local authorities and other stakeholders on the detailed design of the Fund. We published scheme guidance in January to enable local authorities to prepare for delivery. The guidance makes clear that the Crisis and Resilience Fund is classified as local welfare provision and is intended to support and strengthen local crisis support and wider local welfare systems, rather than replace existing Local Welfare Assistance schemes.

What steps he is taking to ensure people who rely on oil to heat their homes will be able to access a secure affordable supply in the context of the security situation in the Middle East.

The Government is closely monitoring heating oil supply and price in light of instability in the Middle East. We recognise that wholesale oil price volatility is placing pressure on domestic heating oil costs, and we are engaging with industry to ensure supply and pricing remains resilient. The supply of heating oil is subject to competition and consumer protection laws overseen by the Competition and Markets Authority, who monitor for any irregularities. The Warm Homes Discount Scheme continues to be available for low income off-grid households reliant on heating oil, while we work to support a transition away from fossil fuels to strengthen long-term resilience.

What his planned timeline is for reporting on the Call for Evidence into business support for co-operatives and non-financial mutuals.

The Call for Evidence (CfE) was open across Great Britain for 12 weeks and closed on 18th February. DBT’s focus is now on analysing responses and these will inform any potential business support policy for the co-operative and mutual businesses.