Written questions by Lowe.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of GP-to-patient ratios in the Great Yarmouth constituency as of April 2025.

General practitioners (GPs) have delivered an estimated 32.3 million appointments in March 2025, an increase of 6% since March 2024. In March 2025, in the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board there were 643,000 GP appointments delivered.In addition, through an £82 million funding boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), we have recruited 1,503 more GPs since 1 October 2024.As of 31 March 2025, the median number of full-time equivalent doctors in general practice per 10,000 registered patients was 7.0 in Great Yarmouth constituency. GPs employed through the ARRS are not included as they are employed by primary care networks, rather than directly by practices.There is no NHS England recommendation for how many patients a GP should have assigned, or the ratio of GPs or other practice staff to patients.The demands each patient places on their general practice are different and can be affected by many different factors, including rurality and patient demographics. It is necessary to consider the workforce for each practice as a whole; not only GPs but also the range of health professionals available who are able to respond to the needs of their patients.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of business rates on retail unit closures in Great Yarmouth town centre between 2018 and 2024.

The Government is creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century. As set out at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026-27. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support. During the interim period, for 2025-26, RHL properties will receive a 40% relief on business rates bills up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. To protect the smallest properties from inflationary increases, the small business multiplier paid by properties with RVs below £51,000 has also been frozen for a further year.

What steps her Department is taking to increase (a) employment and (b) apprenticeships for young people in Great Yarmouth constituency

The Department understands the negative effects of unemployment can be particularly pronounced for young people and can have longstanding implications on their future earnings potential and life chances. That is why as part of our plan to Get Britain Working, we will launch a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. The Youth Guarantee will build upon and enhance existing entitlements and provisions with the aim of tackling the rising number of young people who are not participating in education, employment or training. DWP currently provides young people aged 16-24 with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This includes flexible provision driven by local need, nationwide employment programmes and support delivered by work coaches based in our Jobcentres and in local communities working alongside partners. For example, In Great Yarmouth, Jobcentre Work Coaches refer 16- to 24-year-olds to the Mason Trust's 'Step Forward' programme for employability support, including CV drafting, confidence building, and interview preparation. They also refer 16- to 19-year-olds in Nelson Ward to the Matthew Project's 'On Track' programme, offering 1:1 coaching and community engagement for those NEET or at risk. Jobcentres host regular Job Fairs and Provider Events, showcasing employment and training opportunities, including local apprenticeships, with around 30 employers participating. Apprenticeships are a core part of the government’s skills agenda and a route to employment, open to everyone aged 16+, from career starters to those looking to upskill or retrain them. Work coaches nationwide, including Great Yarmouth, promote apprenticeships as a career path, and DWP employer-facing teams encourage businesses to develop suitable apprenticeship opportunities for customers. The Government is reforming the apprenticeships to be more flexible and aligned to the industrial strategy. The Department for Education is working to introduce new foundation and shorter apprenticeships for young people in targeted sectors. These will help more people gain high-quality skills, fuel innovation in businesses across the country, and provide high-quality entry pathways for young people.

How many reported knife crime incidents were recorded in the Great Yarmouth policing area in each of the last three years.

The Home Office collects and publishes official statistics on offences involving a knife or sharp instrument recorded by the police in England and Wales at the Police Force Area level.These data, including for Norfolk Constabulary, are available here: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK

What proportion of ambulance response times in Great Yarmouth constituency exceeded national targets for category 1 and category 2 calls in the last 12 months.

The Department does not hold the information in the format requested.NHS England publishes official statistics for average ambulance response times by category of incident at a national level and at ambulance trust level. In addition, information on Category 2 ambulance response times has also been published since April 2024 by integrated care board area. This information is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of GP service availability in Great Yarmouth constituency.

General practitioners (GPs) have delivered an estimated 32.3 million appointments in March 2025, an increase of 6% since March 2024. In March 2025, in the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board there were 643,000 GP appointments delivered.In addition, through an £82 million funding boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), we have recruited 1,503 more GPs since 1 October 2024.As of 31 March 2025, the median number of full-time equivalent doctors in general practice per 10,000 registered patients was 7.0 in Great Yarmouth constituency. GPs employed through the ARRS are not included as they are employed by primary care networks, rather than directly by practices.There is no NHS England recommendation for how many patients a GP should have assigned, or the ratio of GPs or other practice staff to patients.The demands each patient places on their general practice are different and can be affected by many different factors, including rurality and patient demographics. It is necessary to consider the workforce for each practice as a whole; not only GPs but also the range of health professionals available who are able to respond to the needs of their patients.

What steps she plans to take to reduce court backlogs affecting residents of Great Yarmouth constituency.

This Government inherited a record and rising courts backlog. We have funded a record-high allocation of 110,000 Crown Court sitting days this financial year to tackle the outstanding caseload. As part of our commitment to bearing down on the caseload we have increased magistrates’ court sentencing powers from 6 months to 12 months’ imprisonment for single triable-either way offences. This will free up capacity in the Crown Court, ensuring it is reserved for the more serious and complex cases.However, the scale of the challenge is beyond what increasing sitting days alone can achieve. This is why we have commissioned an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, to consider the merits of longer-term reform and the efficiency of processes in the criminal courts.In Great Yarmouth, we continue to maximise the use of our Crown court estate to increase the number of cases we sit, by utilising a room in Whitefriars for video hearings and an additional room in King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court (in addition to Norwich Combined). For the Magistrates’ Court, recruitment of legal advisors has taken place, resulting in increased hearings in the autumn, following training.

Whether she plans to allocate additional police resources to tackle antisocial behaviour in Great Yarmouth town centre.

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) and the harm it causes is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.​The Government’s Plan for Change details our commitment to reduce ASB, including the delivery of a dedicated lead officer in every police force in England and Wales working with communities to develop a local ASB action plan. We are also delivering on our commitment to restore and strengthen neighbourhood policing, ensuring thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers are out patrolling in our town centres and communities to make streets safer. As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, Norfolk Police have been allocated £2,237,478 for an increase of 31 police officers.These officers will be equipped with tougher powers, such as the Respect Order, which was introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill, to crack down on ASB and crimes blighting our high streets and town centres.The 2025-26 final Police Funding Settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1.2 billion when compared to the 2024-25 settlement and includes an additional £200 million to kickstart the first phase of putting 13,000 additional police officers and personnel into neighbourhood policing roles.The Home Office is providing funding this financial year (2025-26) to police forces in England and Wales to deliver high visibility patrols in the areas worst affected by knife crime, serious violence and ASB. Norfolk Constabulary will receive £1m.

How many apprenticeships were started by young people aged 16–24 in Great Yarmouth constituency in each of the past five years.

The number of apprenticeship starts in the Great Yarmouth constituency by age group are published in the ‘Apprenticeships’ accredited official statistics publication, which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a9552480-ccf9-421e-95ad-08dd85738b16. These were last published in March 2025. They include full year figures covering the 2019/20 to 2023/24 academic years, and year-to-date figures for 2024/25 (August 2024 to January 2025).

Communities and Local Government, what funding she has made available for town centre regeneration in Great Yarmouth constituency.

This Government is fully committed to supporting the regeneration of our town centres and coastal communities.Our new £1.5bn Plan for Neighbourhoods programme will deliver up to £20 million of funding and support over the next decade into 75 communities across the UK, including Great Yarmouth and 24 other coastal towns; laying the foundations to kickstart local growth and drive-up living standards.The programme will help revitalise local areas and fight deprivation at root cause. Funding from the Plan for Neighbourhoods will help people across all 75 towns create bespoke regeneration plans that best fits the needs of their community, delivering change that people can see and identify with.Alongside this, Great Yarmouth will benefit from an additional £597k for 2025-26 to support new or existing UK Shared Prosperity Fund investments.

How many deportation orders have been issued to illegal migrants in Great Yarmouth constituency in the last year.

The requested information is not held on a constituency level, and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

What steps she is taking to tackle (a) knife crime and (b) gang activity in Great Yarmouth constituency.

Halving knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission. To do this, we have:Launched a Halving Knife Crime Coalition, including representation from Norwich, to agree how best to tackle youth knife crime.Implemented a ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes. It is now illegal to sell, manufacture or possess these weapons.Introduced new legislation in Parliament to ban ninja swords.Planned a surrender scheme in July to allow those who currently own these weapons to hand them in. From 1 August 2025 it will be illegal to sell or own these weapons.Allocated £66.3m nationally, including £1m for Norfolk, for the Hotspot Action Fund for 25/26, to deliver high visibility patrolling in hotspots of knife crime, serious violence and ASB.Launched a Knife-Enabled Robbery Taskforce to deliver new operational tactics to bring down levels of knife-enabled robbery.Started development of a new Young Futures programme to intervene earlier to ensure young people facing poorer outcomes and vulnerable to being drawn into crime are identified and offered support in a more systematic way.Invested £1.5 million to support Violence Reduction Units to expand their Focused Deterrence Interventions to steer young people away from criminality.To deliver our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle the gangs that run county lines through violence and exploitation.Through the County Lines Programme we will continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade. Between July and September 2024, policing activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, the arrest and charge of over 200 deal line holders, 500 arrests and 800 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people.Through the Programme, we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. In addition, we have a dedicated surge fund which provides local forces with additional funding to tackle county lines, including Norfolk Police.As committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we are also introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation in the Crime and Policing Bill to go after the gangs who are luring children into violence and crime, and we are providing specialist support for children and young people involved in county lines to exit safely.

Communities and Local Government, if her Department will prioritise (a) Great Yarmouth constituency and (b) other coastal areas for economic regeneration funding.

This Government is fully committed to supporting the regeneration of our town centres and coastal communities.Our new £1.5bn Plan for Neighbourhoods programme will deliver up to £20 million of funding and support over the next decade into 75 communities across the UK, including Great Yarmouth and 24 other coastal towns; laying the foundations to kickstart local growth and drive-up living standards.The programme will help revitalise local areas and fight deprivation at root cause. Funding from the Plan for Neighbourhoods will help people across all 75 towns create bespoke regeneration plans that best fits the needs of their community, delivering change that people can see and identify with.Alongside this, Great Yarmouth will benefit from an additional £597k for 2025-26 to support new or existing UK Shared Prosperity Fund investments.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the fishing industry in Great Yarmouth constituency following the UK’s departure from the EU.

As an independent coastal state, we have been able to progress our fisheries management in a way that better supports the needs of our own fishing industry. This includes reforming the way we manage our fisheries, such as through fisheries management plans which will play a crucial role in supporting the long-term sustainability of fishing businesses and delivering growth in coastal communities such as Great Yarmouth. We are also making progress on a wider set of fisheries management reforms, including for example the way we manage discards, the introduction of remote electronic monitoring and trialling new ways to allocate quota. At the same time, our departure from the EU has generated additional fishing opportunities with a quota uplift. For example, it is estimated that the UK secured 126,000 tonnes more in fishing opportunities for 2024 (worth around £133m) than we would have received as a Member State.

What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of dentistry in Great Yarmouth constituency.

Dental Statistics - England 2023/24, published by the NHS Business Services Authority on 22 August 2024, is available at the following link:https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324As Lord Darzi made clear in his independent investigation of the National Health Service in England, there are wide variations in the number of NHS dentists per population in different areas of the country. Rural and coastal communities particularly lack access to NHS dentistry. This is certainly the case in Norfolk and Waveney, where the integrated care board has 31.5 dentists per 100,000 population, compared to an average of 49.5 per 100,000 across England.We have announced a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of conducting an analysis of the potential cost saving to the public purse of each deportation.

The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, in consultation with a wide range of experts and stakeholders.

Innovation and Technology, for the total estimated cost to the public purse of experiments to dim the Sun.

The Advanced Research and Invention Agency’s (ARIA) ‘Exploring Climate Cooling’ programme, backed by £56.8 million, has been designed to build an evidence base which will enable scientists to better understand and properly assess whether or not Earth cooling approaches could help to mitigate climate change safely.ARIA’s proposed research is small-scale and exploratory, looking to gain a deeper scientific understanding of the effects, risks and benefits of a number of approaches. All funded activities are localised, very short term and reversible and will comply with relevant domestic and international regulation, as well as ARIA’s programme oversight and governance principles, which are available here: https://www.aria.org.uk/media/5emktzd3/aria-exploring-climate-cooling-programme-oversight-and-governance.pdf.

What information her Department holds on the amount of overseas remittances by (a) nationality and (b) country of receipt in each of the last 10 years.

The Treasury does not collect or report data on the flow of remittances out of the UK. However, the World Bank publishes data annually on remittances through formal banking systems. Further information can be found on the World Bank’s website: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/migration/brief/remittances-knomad

How many assaults on prison staff there have been in each of the last five years, by religion of the prisoner.

The number of individuals involved in incidents of an assault on staff within prisons in England and Wales, by religion, for 2020 to 2024, can be found in the accompanying table.

Whether his Department has issued guidance on the (a) use of evidence and (b) status of the findings of (i) non-statutory and (ii) statutory inquiries into failures by public institutions.

The Cabinet Office provides advice and guidance to Ministers and officials on statutory and non statutory public inquiries.