Written questions by Slade.

Whether he plans to ensure Mental Health Support Teams in schools are trained in Speech and Language therapy.

We currently have no plans to train the education mental health practitioners, who are the primary workforce of mental health support teams (MHSTs), in speech and language therapy. We are expanding MHSTs in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029, and 900,000 more children and young people will have access to support from MHSTs in 2025/26. The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. In addition to the undergraduate degree route, speech and language therapists can now also train via a degree apprenticeship. This route is going into its fourth year of delivery and offers an alternative pathway to the traditional degree route into a successful career as a speech and language therapist.

Whether his Department plans to review the effectiveness of the working relationship between Ofcom and Royal Mail.

Ministers and officials have regular discussions both with Royal Mail and with Ofcom, as the independent regulator for the postal sector. The effectiveness of the working relationship between Ofcom and Royal Mail is fundamental to maintaining a sustainable and reliable universal postal service.

Media and Sport, whether she plans to remove the Television Licence exemption for people over 75 years old and in receipt of pension credit.

To ensure the BBC is on a stable financial footing, the Government has committed to the current licence fee model for the remainder of the current Charter period. Currently, TV licence concessions are available to people who are registered blind or severely sight impaired, people over-75 and in receipt of pension credit, and people living in qualifying residential care who are disabled or over 60 years old. The BBC, rather than the Government, is responsible for the concession for over-75s in receipt of pension credit.Looking further ahead, the Secretary of State has been clear that the BBC must be funded by a model that is sustainable and fair to all those that are paying it. The Government is keeping an open mind about the future of the licence fee, and the forthcoming Charter Review is a key opportunity to set the BBC up for success long into the future.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the incinerator capacity for waste destined for landfill in Dorset.

The Government publishes annual statistics related to waste collected by local authorities: Local authority collected waste management - annual results - GOV.UK. In 2023-24 Dorset Council reported sending 936 tonnes of collected waste to landfill and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council reported sending 18,724 tonnes of collected waste to landfill. However, this does not include waste processed by private waste management companies. Our Residual Waste Infrastructure Capacity Note shows that at the end of 2024, the Southwest of England had around 1.63 million tonnes of operational and under construction energy from waste capacity whilst total residual municipal waste arisings were reported as 2.27 million tonnes. Residual waste infrastructure capacity note - GOV.UK.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of re-instating the pause on the building of new waste incinerators.

Determining the need and location for waste management infrastructure is a matter for the relevant planning authority. To support decision making the Government has made it clear we only back new Energy from Waste projects if they meet strict local and environmental conditions. Projects are expected to demonstrate a clearly defined domestic residual waste treatment capacity need to facilitate the diversion of residual waste away from landfill, or enable the replacement of older, less-efficient facilities. Additionally, new facilities will have to maximise efficiency and support the delivery of economic growth, net zero and the move to a circular economy. We are considering how best to reflect the approach in this statement in the new set of national policies for development management which we have committed to producing, and in updates to National Policy Statements. The Government encourages those developing energy recovery facilities (at all stages in the process) to consider forecast changes to future capacity, demand, and the Government's circular economy opportunities.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of introducing a progressive remote betting duty on small, independent bookmakers.

The Government launched a consultation on proposals to simplify the current gambling tax system which closed on 21 July 2025. Responses are now being analysed and impacts are being assessed, and the Government will respond at Budget.

If she will publish guidance for schools on (a) responding to parental requests for the withdrawal of books from recommended reading lists and (b) the circumstances under which schools can remove books from those lists.

The current National Curriculum requires teachers to encourage pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. Following the publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review on 5 November 2025, the department will continue to emphasise the importance of pupils listening to, discussing, and reading for themselves a wide range of stories, poems, plays and non-fiction books.Within the framework of the National Curriculum, schools make their own choices about which specific books or other resources they use. Teachers have flexibility in their choice of books to teach within the context of the curriculum.  Any sensitive issues should be covered by the school’s own policy, and in consultation with parents.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of HMRC's Child Benefit verification checks on the timelines of Self Assessment tax repayments.

Child Benefit is a non-means tested benefit payable to families as a contribution towards the cost of raising children. It is claimed through the Child Benefit service, which is separate to Self Assessment, so for the majority of families Child Benefit checks should have no impact on the timelines of Self Assessment tax repayments. There are no further impacts anticipated.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) delays in HMRC Self Assessment tax repayments and (b) the non-fulfilment of published complaint response timeframes on taxpayers awaiting refunds.

HMRC recognise that repayments are important for customers. They prioritise them to ensure they are processed as quickly and securely as possible. HMRC balance the provision of prompt payments to eligible customers with effective revenue protection from fraudsters. For Self Assessment repayments, once the repayment is created it goes through automated fraud and compliance checks. In 2024-25, after these checks, 93.1% of the repayments were paid automatically within a few days. HMRC continues to invest in automation and to review their internal processes to ensure repayments are issued as quickly as possible. HMRC recognise too the importance of keeping the customer, and where appropriate the customer’s representative, informed of progress, and are exploring ways of doing that more effectively.In the meantime, HMRC’s online ‘Where’s My Reply’ tool can help customers understand when they can expect to receive a response. HMRC aim to respond to complaints within six weeks.In 2024-25, HMRC responded to 73% of new complaints within this timeframe. HMRC are committed to prioritising customer experience and are reviewing their complaints processes. The Adjudicator’s Annual Report was published on 20 October 2025 and HMRC are using the insight in the report to make further improvements.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that Ofsted inspections are carried out in accordance with standardised procedures across childcare settings.

From 10 November 2025, Ofsted report cards will be introduced across all education remits Ofsted inspects, including early years. We need all inspections to be high-quality, consistent and conducted with the highest levels of professionalism. That is what Ofsted is determined to achieve.Ofsted will receive additional funding from the department as part of the Best Start in Life strategy to enhance the quality and consistency of early years inspections. We will also fund Ofsted to move to inspecting all providers at least once every four years, as opposed to the current six-year window, to achieve parity with schools. This investment will support the government’s ambition to deliver the best start in life for every child.

Whether he has made an assessment with Secretary of State for Education of the potential impact of amending Schedule 17, Part 1, Paragraph 12(b) of The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to enable schools to obtain new adrenaline nasal sprays for the treatment of allergic reactions on children with allergies .

Officials at the Department are in the early stages of considering if potential amendments to Schedule 17 of the Human Medicines Regulations (HMRs) 2012 are required.Should amendments to the HMRs be required, the Government will conduct a public consultation to ensure that the views of stakeholders are carefully considered, prior to any changes being made.

Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to amend the (a) Building Safety Act 2022 and (b) Building Regulations to ensure (i) building owners and (ii) nominated building design professionals can access Building Control records when required.

Provisions already exist within section 53 of the Building Act 1984 (as amended by the Building Safety Act 2022) to ensure relevant building control information is made available to both local authorities and those carrying out building work when changing building control body.When a building control body can no longer provider services, they are required to provide the local authority any information it would have obtained had it been performing building control functions itself, and any additional information reasonably required to enable it to do so within 21 days. The building control body must also provide the person carrying out the work, typically the building owner or their nominated building design professional, any such information and other records necessary to allow another building control body to perform those functions.The Department is considering how best to invest in building control digitalisation to improve the openness, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of building control data and deliver better outcomes for regulators, developers, built environment professionals and members of the public.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of requiring water companies to demonstrate efficient land asset management before price increases are approved on customers.

Water bills are set by Ofwat who consider all aspects of company business planning through their price review process. The Government is preparing to respond to the recommendations of the Independent Water Commission, including on asset management. Reforms outlined in the government's forthcoming white paper will form the basis of a new water reform bill to be introduced early in this Parliament.

Whether he has made an assessment with the Home Secretary of the potential merits of funding a wider rollout of long-acting Injectable Buprenorphine as a treatment option for people using opioids in Dorset.

The Department supports the provision of long-acting injectable buprenorphine as an option for those undergoing Opioid Substitution Treatment. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment services according to local need, and this includes the provision of long-acting injectable buprenorphine.In addition to the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26 the Department is providing Dorset Council with £1,469,140 to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services. The Department encourages local authorities to prioritise resourcing long-acting injectable buprenorphine prescribing from this additional funding if current provision is not adequate.The Department is currently doing more analysis to understand cost-effectiveness and develop clinical guidance, and to scope out how best to expand access to long-acting injectable buprenorphine further.

Whether her Department holds data on families with home-educated children who are unable to (a) secure a place in a GCSE examination centre and (b) afford exam entry fees.

The department does not hold data on families with home educated children who are unable to secure a place in a GCSE examination centre or afford exam entry fees.The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce the first ever duty on local authorities to provide support for home educating families in their areas who are registered with them and who request support. This support could include advice and information on how to access examinations.

What assessment his Department has made of (a) the optimum number of pharmacies and (b) areas where there is an oversupply of pharmacies.

Community pharmacies are private businesses that provide National Health Service funded services.There were 10,402 community pharmacies on 30 September 2025. In general, despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies in recent years, patient access to pharmacies remains good, and continues to be better in the most deprived areas when compared with the least deprived.The vast majority of pharmacies are not directly commissioned or contracted by the NHS, instead contractors apply to gain entry to the NHS pharmaceutical list and if an application is approved, a pharmacy can start providing NHS services.The assessments of the adequacy of provision, the location, and the number of pharmacies required in a certain area are the statutory responsibility of local authorities health and wellbeing boards. Local authorities are required to publish a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years. Integrated care boards (ICBs) give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from potential contractors.Contractors can apply to open a new pharmacy to meet any current or future need identified in the PNA, but also to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA. If there is a need for a new local pharmacy to open and no contractors apply to open a pharmacy and fill the gap, ICBs can directly commission a new pharmacy to open outside of the market entry processes and can fund the contract from the ICB’s budgets.Contractors can already seek an ICB’s permission to either consolidate different premises onto one site or to relocate their pharmacy premises to a different address. The approval of such requests depends on the impact it is likely to cause for patients and commissioners.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the CMA's decision to allow some water companies to increase bills above the rate set by OFWAT on consumers.

Redetermination is an independent process, and the decision remains subject to consultation. The CMA will publish their final decision in March 2026.We expect all water companies to put appropriate support in place for customers struggling to pay their bills and to proactively engage with their customers to ensure they know what support schemes are available and how to use them.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether Ofwat records non-operational land assets held by water companies.

Information on water companies non-operational land assets is held by water companies themselves.

Whether he has plans to adapt pharmacy contracts so that pharmacies can be re-located to areas of high need.

Community pharmacies are private businesses that provide National Health Service funded services.There were 10,402 community pharmacies on 30 September 2025. In general, despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies in recent years, patient access to pharmacies remains good, and continues to be better in the most deprived areas when compared with the least deprived.The vast majority of pharmacies are not directly commissioned or contracted by the NHS, instead contractors apply to gain entry to the NHS pharmaceutical list and if an application is approved, a pharmacy can start providing NHS services.The assessments of the adequacy of provision, the location, and the number of pharmacies required in a certain area are the statutory responsibility of local authorities health and wellbeing boards. Local authorities are required to publish a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years. Integrated care boards (ICBs) give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from potential contractors.Contractors can apply to open a new pharmacy to meet any current or future need identified in the PNA, but also to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA. If there is a need for a new local pharmacy to open and no contractors apply to open a pharmacy and fill the gap, ICBs can directly commission a new pharmacy to open outside of the market entry processes and can fund the contract from the ICB’s budgets.Contractors can already seek an ICB’s permission to either consolidate different premises onto one site or to relocate their pharmacy premises to a different address. The approval of such requests depends on the impact it is likely to cause for patients and commissioners.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent appointments to the Food Strategy Advisory Board on (a) animal welfare, (b) farming practices and (c) farmers in Dorset.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given to the hon. Member for Newton Abbott, Martin Wrigley on 30 October 2025 PQ UIN 82470.