Written questions by Maguire.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether fines received for environmental breaches are hypothecated back into environmental schemes.

Following the Spending Review, this Government has confirmed that water company fines and penalties will be allocated to projects and programmes across the country which contribute to water quality. Over £100 million in fines levied against water companies since October 2023, as well as future fines and penalties, will be reinvested into projects to clean up our waters which could include local environmental programmes to address pollution.

With reference to her correspondence to the Interim Chair of the Office for Students, dated 19 May 2025, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on the reprioritisation of high-cost subject funding away from journalism courses.

We have made difficult decisions, driven by the challenging fiscal inheritance, regarding the allocation of Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) funding. We are protecting support for high-cost subjects that are essential to delivery of our Industrial Strategy and protecting core funding to support access to higher education for disadvantaged groups.Subjects that will no longer receive high-cost subject funding (media studies, journalism, publishing, and information services) are valued by the government, but they are not as expensive to deliver. We acknowledge their importance alongside numerous other subjects that do not attract SPG high-cost subject funding, which include mathematics, history and languages.

Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on the (a) development and (b) implementation of the registration scheme for short-term lets.

DCMS has commenced the second phase of digital development for the short-term lets registration scheme legislated for in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023. During this phase, we will test the user interface with a small number of users to ensure our systems and processes are robust and effective, before publicly launching a first version of the scheme. Public testing is planned to start within the next 9 months, with secondary legislation required to enact the scheme.

What assessment his Department has made of the challenges in the recruitment of (a) General Practitioners and (b) GP nurses in (i) North Cornwall constituency and (ii) rural areas.

We acknowledge the urgent challenge of ensuring that rural areas such as those in North Cornwall have the resources needed to service their patients, and to ensure that patients can access primary healthcare. To address this, we are increasing capacity in general practice by recruiting primary care workforce staff such as nurses and general practitioners through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, ensuring the necessary workforce is in place to provide integrated, patient-centred services.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a guest beer provision as part of the third statutory review and post-implementation review of the Pubs Code and Pubs Code Adjudicator.

The Pubs Code (the Code) applies to large pub-owning businesses with 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales, covering around 8,000 pubs. The statutory review will consider the operation of the Code and performance of the Pubs Code Adjudicator over the review period and interested parties can submit their views to the call for inputs until 14 August 2025.The government is also currently completing a separate exercise to understand whether there are any barriers to market for small brewers. Interested parties can contact beermarketreview@businessandtrade.gov.uk.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of Water Commission's 2025 interim report findings on (a) dividends and (b) debts of water companies.

The Government is clear that transformative change is needed across the water sector, and will be carefully considering Sir Jon’s preliminary conclusions as outlined in the interim report published on 3 June. The Government will respond to the findings in full once the Commission has produced its final report later this summer. Our response will include a detailed transition plan for the water sector, which will form the basis of future legislation to reset the sector and attract the investment we need to ensure its resilience for decades to come.

If he will consider the potential merits of allocating funding for the (a) building of and (b) supplying of specialised equipment to new, purpose-built dental practices.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards across England.The NHS contracts with independent dental providers, to deliver NHS dental treatment in primary care settings.Dental practices can make decisions on the buildings and specialised equipment which suit their needs, providing they remain compliant with the relevant regulations.

What steps his Department is taking to increase the uptake of HPV vaccines.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Rotherham on 5 March 2025 to Question 31921.

If she will publish her Department's timeline for the (a) development and (b) implementation of the Rural Crime Strategy.

The Government is committed to tackling rural crime, safeguarding rural areas through tougher measures to clamp down on equipment theft, anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and action to prevent fly-tipping.We recognise that there can be challenges in responding to rural crime. That is why we are working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to deliver the next iteration of the Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy, to ensure the government’s Safer Streets Mission benefits every community no matter where they live, including rural communities. This will be published in due course.This joined up approach between government and policing will help ensure the weight of government is put behind tackling rural crimes such as the theft of high value farm equipment and livestock.In addition, we are providing funding of £800,000 in the current financial year to the National Rural and National Wildlife Crime Units. This will ensure these specialist units continue to help police forces tackle rural and wildlife crime, including helping tackle organised theft and disrupting the activities of serious and organised crime groups.Rural communities will also benefit from more local visible policing through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, helping to tackle crimes like anti-social behaviour and county lines which can have a devastating impact on rural life.

Communities and Local Government, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of low housing stock on young families in (a) North Cornwall and (b) other rural areas.

The government recognises the impact of low housing stock on young families in North Cornwall and other rural areas.We are taking decisive action to boost the supply of homes of all tenures and are giving further consideration to what more we can do to promote rural affordable housing and support local authorities to respond to the pressures caused by excessive concentrations of short-term lets and second homes.

Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of public waterways polluted by sewage on (a) young children and (b) families.

The level of sewage in our waterways is unacceptable, that is why this Government has taken practical steps to mitigate this. The Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 24 February. The Act will require water companies to publish real-time data related to spills from all emergency overflows. This builds on the pre-existing duty for water companies to publish data related to spills from all storm overflows within an hour of the spill beginning. Enhanced monitoring will create an unprecedented level of transparency, enabling the public and regulators to see where and how often storm overflows are spilling, hold water companies to account, and more accurately quantify the impacts of storm overflows. The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan represents an important forward programme to guide future investment in the sector. This Plan sets clear and specific targets for water companies, regulators and the government, to work towards the long-term ambition of eliminating the harm from storm overflows. Water companies are investing a record £11 billion over the next five years to improve nearly 3,000 storm overflows across England and Wales, targeted at those affecting the most sensitive sites for ecological and human health.

What steps she is taking to help tackle hate crime in rural areas.

This Government is determined to tackle all forms of hate crime, wherever in the country it occurs, and whoever is responsible for committing it.There is no excuse for violence or abuse driven by hatred and discrimination, and we support the police in taking strong action against those crimes.We currently fund an online reporting portal to ensure victims do not have to visit a police station to report any hate crime they experience, and we also fund a National Hub which provides expert advice to police forces across the country on what they can do to tackle the increasing levels of online hate crime.

How many NHS (a) nurses and (b) doctors are expected to (i) leave and (ii) retire in the next year.

The Department does not hold estimates of the number of nurses and doctors expected to leave the National Health Service or retire in the next year.The Government is committed to making the NHS the best place to work, to ensure we retain more of our skilled and dedicated staff. NHS England is leading work nationally through its retention programme to drive a consistent, system-wide approach to staff retention across NHS trusts. This ensures trusts have access to proven retention strategies, data-driven monitoring, and can foster a more stable, engaged, productive, and supported workforce.

How many (a) nurse and (b) doctor vacancies there are in the NHS.

NHS England publishes a compendium of NHS Vacancy Statistics each quarter. The information currently provides four measures of the level of vacancies in the National Health Service, one of which includes the number of medical and registered nursing vacancies reported by NHS trusts to NHS England, which is the most commonly used measure.Detailed information on the definition of collected data and the available timeseries, along with the measure’s strengths and weaknesses, can be found at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-vacancies-surveyData for the period to March 2025 was published on 29 May 2025.Due to the complex nature of how NHS vacancy data is defined and collected, all data sources should be treated with a degree of caution.

What steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) diagnosis, (b) treatment pathways and (c) levels of clinical awareness of Postural Tachycardia Syndrome in the NHS.

It is the responsibility of local integrated care boards to work with clinicians, service users, and patient groups to develop services and care pathways that are convenient and that meet the needs of patients with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (PoTS).The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published a clinical knowledge summary on the clinical management of blackouts and syncope, that provides advice for clinicians in the United Kingdom on best practice in the assessment and diagnosis of PoTS. This was last updated in November 2023, and is available at the following link:https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/blackouts-syncope/diagnosis/assessment/General practitioners (GPs) are asked to investigate symptoms to ensure that it is not misdiagnosed. Following referral, patients are treated within National Health Service cardiology and neurology services. Where more specialist advice is required, a referral will be made to an appropriate clinician.To improve awareness of PoTS amongst healthcare professionals, and specifically GPs, the Royal College of General Practitioners provides training on PoTS as part of its Syncope toolkit, which is available at the following link:https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/view.php?id=500

How many new NHS (a) nurses and (b) doctors will complete training in the next 12 months.

The Department estimates a range of between 19,000 and 22,500 nurses trained in England joining the Nursing and Midwifery Council register for the first time in the year to March 2026, based on the 23,240 acceptances to English nursing courses in the 2022 cycle, published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, as part of its undergraduate end of cycle data resources for 2024. These nurses may go on to work in the National Health Service, but also in other settings including social care or for non-NHS providers including some carrying out NHS work.The numbers of joiners to the General Medical Council (GMC) register who are graduates of education courses in England has been increasing as medical school intakes have been expanded. We estimate between 8,000 and 8,500 doctors will join the GMC register having qualified from English universities during 2025.

If her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of reduced bus service (a) frequency and (b) routes on people travelling to healthcare appointments in (i) North Cornwall and (ii) other rural areas.

The government knows that a modern public transport network is vital to keeping communities connected, and ensuring people can get to education and work, including healthcare workers. The government believes that local transport authorities, working with bus operators, are best placed to determine and design local bus networks in their area. The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December 2024 to put the power over local bus services back into the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of communities that rely on them. In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country, of which Cornwall Council has been allocated £10.59 million. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce improvements to bus services and infrastructure to best meet the needs of passengers in their local area.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to increase the provision of youth clubs in (a) North Cornwall constituency and (b) rural areas.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we remain committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential regardless of where they grow up. In Cornwall, over £1.2 million was invested under the Youth Investment Fund, with Yes KBSK dance group in Bodmin receiving a £400,000 grant to provide them with a permanent home called "the Space". The group offers sessions in the performing arts and other youth work, focusing on helping disadvantaged families. Our engagement for the National Youth Survey has proactively involved young people from rural areas, as well as other demographics. In order to reach young people in all areas of the country, we developed a communications campaign and worked with a variety of stakeholders who support young people to disseminate information. We developed a toolkit for organisations to run their own consultation workshops with young people to feed in their views. In addition to this, we have run a wide-ranging survey, workshops, focus groups and ‘hacks’ to give young people the opportunity to develop solutions.

If his Department will make an assessment of the potential barriers to access to Primary Healthcare in rural areas.

We acknowledge the urgent challenge of ensuring that rural areas have the resources needed to continue serving their patients. To address this, we are increasing capacity in general practices by recruiting more general practitioners (GPs), ensuring the necessary workforce is in place to provide integrated, patient-centred services.We have invested £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme which has enabled the recruitment of over 1,500 recently qualified GPs across England since October 2024. This will increase the number of available appointments, secure the future pipeline of GPs, and alleviate the pressure on those currently working in the system.We have also delivered the biggest boost to GP funding in years, an £889 million uplift, with GPs now receiving a growing share of National Health Service resources. The new 2025/26 GP Contract includes key reforms to improve access to GPs, including making sure patients can request appointments online throughout core hours.

What steps she is taking to monitor the impact of the cyber attack on the Legal Aid Agency on legal aid applicants; and steps he is taking to compensate any lost incurred by legal aid applicants following the cyber attack.

To ensure the best chance of reaching as many potentially impacted individuals as possible the Ministry of Justice published a notice as swiftly as possible at 08:15 on 19 May on GOV.UKThe statement provides information about the cyber attack and directs concerned members of the public to the National Cyber Security Centre’s webpage, which contains information on how to protect yourself from the impact of a data breach.The cyber-attack is subject to an ongoing investigation, and we are working closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre. Appropriate actions have been taken to mitigate the impact of the attack, including taking digital services offline. Contingency measures have been put in place to ensure those most in need of legal support and advice can continue to access the help they need during this time. This is an evolving situation, and we continue to update legal providers and users as it develops. To ensure that legal aid providers have the latest position with respect to legal aid applications and billing contingencies, and that affected parties can access the latest developments on the incident, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has created a dedicated space with contingencies and useful resources on GOV.UK.This data breach is the result of heinous criminal activity but it was enabled by the fragility of the LAA’s IT systems as a result of the long years of neglect and mismanagement of the justice system under the last Conservative Government. Upon taking office, I was shocked to see how fragile our legal aid systems were. They knew about the vulnerabilities of the Legal Aid Agency digital systems, but did not act. By contrast, since taking office, this Government has prioritised work to reverse the damage of over a decade of under-investment. That includes the allocation of over £20 million in extra funding this year to stabilise and transform the Legal Aid Agency digital services. This investment will make the system more robust and resilient in the face of similar cyber attacks in future.