Written questions by Dance.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help promote equality and inclusion as part of the National Year of Reading.

I refer the hon. Member for Yeovil, to the answer of 24 February 2026 to Question 112566.

Media and Sport, what role rural public libraries will play in the delivery of the National Year of Reading in Yeovil constituency.

Public libraries are central to the success of the National Year of Reading’s campaign to engage people of all ages with reading. The Reading Agency has been appointed to work with sector partners to deliver and support public library engagement. The Summer Reading Challenge in 2026, and World Book Night, the annual celebration of reading for adults on 23 April 2026, will be key moments for libraries during the National Year of Reading 2026. Throughout the year, The Reading Agency will provide public libraries with resources, toolkits, and print and digital materials to support their work.Somerset libraries launched its participation in the National Year of Reading on 16 January 2026. All 32 statutory static libraries in Somerset, including five in the Yeovil constituency, will participate across the year, through existing initiatives as well as specific National Year of Reading events, activities and promotions.

What steps she is taking to councils in South West England to complete road maintenance words to help reduce potholes.

The Government recognises that historic underinvestment has made it difficult for authorities to maintain their roads in the way that they would want to. The Government has therefore confirmed a record £7.3 billion investment into local highways maintenance over the next four years. This new, four-year funding settlement is in addition to the Government's investment of £1.6 billion this financial year, a £500 million increase compared to last financial year. The Department’s confirmation of increased funding allocations for the next four-year period has given authorities the certainty to plan ahead and shift away from short-term fixes to proactive and preventative maintenance to stop potholes from forming in the first place. Between 2026/27 to 2029/30, local highway authorities in the South West are eligible for £1.5 billion of this highways maintenance funding. In addition, the West of England Combined Authority is receiving highways maintenance funding consolidated as part of its £540m million City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, and from 2026/27 will receive increased Transport for City Regions funding worth £752 million in total up to 2031/32. Finally, the Department recently announced a new rating system for local highway authorities. Under this system, all local highway authorities in England received 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. The ratings will be updated annually and provide an incentive to highway authorities to further adopt best practice. They enable the Department to identify where councils need to improve and to support them.

What steps the department is taking to ensure that the National Year of Reading is accessible for neurodiverse people in (a) Yeovil constituency (b) Somerset and (C) the United Kingdom.

The National Year of Reading is a UK wide campaign designed to tackle the steep decline in reading enjoyment amongst children, young people and adults, and to engage new audiences in reading.’Go All In’ is a fully inclusive campaign, encouraging people to read about whatever interests them, via any genre and all mediums of reading. Embracing a variety of reading formats, from print to digital to audio, can make reading more accessible, engaging and inclusive for both children and adults, including those with neurodiversity and special educational needs.The campaign is reaching communities across the UK through schools, libraries, businesses and local partners. Libraries, as free to access community hubs, play a central role in supporting participation and helping people of all ages and from all sectors of society to develop a lasting love of reading.You can find out more about events in your local area by visiting the website here: https://goallin.org.uk/whats-on/.Schools and early years settings in Somerset and across the UK can also access a range of exciting online webinars, resources and activities throughout the year. They can find more information here: https://goallin.org.uk/get-involved/schools/.

How much Vehicle Excise Duty was raised nationally from people in (a) Yeovil constituency (b) Somerset and (c) England in the last 12 months.

The total amount of vehicle excise duty (VED) collected between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 was £8.4 billion. However, information about VED is not broken down into areas and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

What estimate she has made of the number of potholes to be fixed in (a) Yeovil constituency (b) Somerset and (c) England.

Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances. The Department does not hold data on the time taken by local highway authorities to repair reported potholes, but national guidance recommends that defects and potholes which require urgent attention should be made safe at the time of inspection or as soon as possible. This financial year, for the first time, local highway authorities were required to publish transparency reports setting out progress on highway maintenance, including the number of potholes they estimate they have filled in recent years. This information can be found on the websites of relevant local highways authorities. For the case of the constituency of Yeovil, Somerset Council is the responsible local highway authority.

Communities and Local Government, what proportion of funding was allocated to local authorities in the South West for road maintenance for 2025-26.

The 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement will make available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26. The majority of funding in the Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities. The Department for Transport has also allocated £300 million in capital funding for highways maintenance to local authorities in the South West for the 2025/26 financial year.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help increase access to libraries in rural areas with limited transport links.

The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 requires all local authorities in England to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. Each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within their available resources.Library service provision, including the number and location of static libraries, should take account of factors such as the rurality of the area and the availability and cost of public transport links. The statutory library provision in Somerset is delivered from 32 static libraries, as well as a mobile library service and a home library service.The Government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026-27 will make available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026-27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26.

Media and Sport, what role Young Futures Hubs will play in the delivery of the National Year of Reading in Somerset.

The National Year of Reading is a Department for Education initiative, in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust.Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive. Local Authorities participating in the programme will co-design the services in each hub alongside young people in the community to ensure it meets local needs.Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape, and will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing.

What plans her Department has to promote the National Year of Reading in (a) early years settings, (b) primary schools, (c) secondary schools, (d) further education and (e) higher education in Southwest England.

The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address long term declines in reading enjoyment through engaging new audiences, reshaping public attitudes and building the systems needed to embed lasting, meaningful change, during 2026 and beyond. It includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout the year.We are raising awareness of the National Year of Reading through a range of methods, such as via departmental communication channels, the National Year of Reading mailing list and social media, communications from the National Literacy Trust and promotion via the English Hubs network.The Reading Agency are also providing public libraries with resources, toolkits and print and digital materials to activate the National Year of Reading.  You can find out more about events in your local area here: https://goallin.org.uk/whats-on/. Schools and early years settings in South West England and across the UK can also access a range of engaging online webinars, resources and activities throughout the year. They can find more information here: https://goallin.org.uk/get-involved/schools/.This government is also providing £5 million of funding for secondary schools to purchase books to encourage reading for pleasure, as well as committing over £10 million in funding to guarantee a library for every primary school by the end of this parliament.

If her Department will fund and deliver a public awareness campaign in rural Somerset to promote the updated Highway Code as part of the new Road Safety Strategy.

Following updates to the Highway Code in 2022, the department ran THINK! advertising campaigns nationally to raise awareness of the changes. Local authorities are responsible for delivering road safety education and have a statutory duty to take steps both to reduce and prevent collisions. THINK! Highway Code campaign resources are available for local authorities to download from the THINK! website and are free to use for educational purposes: https://www.think.gov.uk/campaign/highway-code-changes/. Via the THINK! campaign, we are also running year-round radio filler adverts across England and Wales encouraging compliance with the Highway Code.Guidance to improve safety for those walking, cycling and horse riding. We will also continue to promote the changes via THINK! and Department for Transport social media channels, as well as through partner organisations. In addition to the Highway Code activity, THINK! also runs paid advertising campaigns focused on the priority issues of speed, drink driving and drug driving. The primary audience for these campaigns is young men aged 17-24, who are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the road than drivers aged 25 and over. All THINK! campaigns are run nationally, therefore rural Somerset is included. As set out in the Road Safety Strategy, more work is needed to continue embedding these changes and overall awareness of the Highway Code. We are considering options in this area, and further details will be shared in due course.

If he will make an assessment of trends in the level of administrative errors made by social housing providers when a resident transitions from Housing Credit to Universal Credit.

The verification process to assure that the correct housing amount is included in the Universal Credit Award provides opportunities for claimants to challenge the amount, should they disagree with the amount verified as correct by their Landlord/Housing Provider. This amount also features on their monthly award statement so continues to be transparent.

What steps she is taking to help improve the efficiency of His Majesties Revenue and Customs' operations.

As published in the Spending Review 2025 Departmental Efficiency Plans, HM Revenue and Customs will be delivering significant efficiencies of £886m per year by 2028-29 in five areas: moving to digital services – HMRC will use digital services as its main form of customer communication and the primary method of interaction. These services are more convenient, more productive, and more cost-effective;improving and modernising the IT estate – HMRC will replace its legacy IT infrastructure with modern platforms and services. Moving to modern IT platforms reduces risk, enables decommissioning of costly systems, and provides more productive digital tools for staff and customers;continuous improvement and productivity – HMRC has a strong track record of continuous improvement activity. Improvements in training, guidance and retention have also enabled HMRC to deliver productivity benefits;restructuring the physical estate – HMRC will consolidate its offices into modern regional centres, exit some sites and streamline its facilities contracts; andupstream compliance – HMRC aims to prevent non-compliance from happening proactively, rather than reacting when it has occurred. This prevents costly compliance and litigation, as well as closing the tax gap.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the social housing sector in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 28 January 2026 (HCWS1283)

What steps he is taking to ensure that people over the age of 71 can request a breast cancer screening in Yeovil constituency.

People in Yeovil who are over the age of 71 years old can request breast cancer screening once every three years by contacting their local National Health Service breast screening programme directly.They will be offered an appointment at either the nearest mobile screening van, which rotate around the county on a three-yearly cycle, or the static screening centre at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing the starting age for routine mammograms to 40.

Each year, over 15 million people are invited for screening by National Health Service screening programmes, with over 10 million taking up the invitation. Through our NHS screening programmes, we can reduce mortality and morbidity from cancer and other conditions in the population who appear healthy and have no symptoms, by detecting conditions at an earlier, more treatable stage.We are guided by the independent scientific advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) on all screening matters. It is only where there is robust evidence that an offer to screen provides more good than harm that a screening programme is recommended.As screening programmes can also cause harms, each of the adult screening programmes has both an upper and lower age range, within which there is good scientific evidence that the benefits of screening outweigh the harms.The NHS Breast Screening Programme does not currently offer screening to women younger than the age of 50 for breast cancer due to the lower risk of women under this age developing breast cancer, and the fact that women below 50 tend to have denser breasts tissue. The density of breast tissue reduces the ability of getting an accurate mammogram, the accepted screening test for breast cancer.There is therefore a risk of unnecessary treatment and distress for women who do not have breast cancer, but who would be subjected to invasive and painful medical treatments and diagnostic tests.We are in line with most European countries, most of whom screen women between the ages of 50 to 69 years old.The UK NSC recognises that screening programmes are not static and that, over time, they may need to change to be more effective. Work is underway within the breast screening programme to investigate the possibility of routinely screening below the currently recommended age. The AgeX research trial has been looking at the effectiveness of offering some women one extra screen between the ages of 47 and 49 years old.It is the biggest trial of its kind ever to be undertaken and will provide robust evidence about the effectiveness of screening in these age groups, including the benefit and harms. The UK NSC will review the publication of the age extension trial when it reports.

What steps he is taking to raise awareness amongst men in Yeovil constituency about the risks of breast cancer.

The National Health Service in England encourages everyone, including men in the Yeovil constituency, to check their breast and chest regularly for firm lumps, changes or thickened areas of tissue, and to consult their general practitioner straight away if they have any concerns.To increase knowledge of cancer symptoms, and address barriers to acting on them, the NHS runs Help Us Help You campaigns. These campaigns focus on recognising a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness, to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers, including breast cancer, at an earlier stage.NHS England and other NHS organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including breast cancer. Further information on breast cancer symptoms in men can be found on the NHS.UK website, which is available at the following link:https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/breast-cancer-in-men/symptoms-of-breast-cancer-in-men/

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of people walking on (a) cancer prevention and (b) cancer recovery.

Being physically active, including walking and brisk walking, can help with the prevention and management of long-term health conditions, such as some cancers. Movement is an important part of care for people going through cancer treatment, helping to support recovery and boosting mental health and wellbeing.The recently published National Cancer Plan is putting quality of life at the heart of cancer care, including physical activity to help patients through treatment successfully. Every patient will get a personalised plan that looks at their physical, mental, and practical needs, with support increasingly delivered through neighbourhood services and accessible digitally through the NHS App.Under the plan we will deliver a universal digital-first prehabilitation offer for all cancer patients through the NHS App and other digital channels. This will include signposting to other existing digital services such as exercise classes and walking apps like NHS Active 10, ensuring cancer patients can best prepare for their treatment at, or close to, home.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the phonics screener for the early identification of dyslexia in primary schools.

Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia.There are several assessments in place to measure progress and help teachers to identify where pupils may require additional support with literacy. These include the phonics screening check, the end of key stage 1 non-statutory assessments and the key stage 2 statutory assessments. The phonics screening check helps teachers to identify pupils who may need extra help and enables schools to benchmark their pupils against national performance. This is not specifically designed to test for dyslexia.The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. Reading Ambition for All is a continuous professional development programme to support the lowest attaining children in reading, with a particular focus on those with SEND. This programme is delivered by 34 English hubs, reaching more than 600 schools, this academic year.

What steps she is taking to increase training on Personal, Social, Health and Economic education for teachers in Yeovil constituency.

The revised relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance was published on 15 July 2025.The department will invest £3 million in a teacher training fund over the next two years to ensure that the new curriculum has the greatest impact and £5 million to pilot healthy relationships training delivered by external providers.Following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, published on 5 November 2025, we will strengthen financial literacy content and sequencing in citizenship and maths. More details on the conclusions and recommendations from the Curriculum and Assessment Review are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report.To ensure all pupils benefit from the refreshed national curriculum, we will ensure that core training throughout a teacher’s career has a strong focus on high-quality adaptive teaching, formative assessment and high expectations for all. This includes initial teacher training and the early career framework.The government commissioned Oak National Academy to develop resources for schools in line with new curriculum requirements.