Written questions by Maguire.

Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will take steps to enforce the responsibility of water companies to publish accessible real-time data on sewage released into (a) rivers, (b) seas and (c) other public waterways.

Since 1 January 2025, water companies are required to publish data related to discharges from all storm overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning. The Secretary of State has authorised Ofwat to carry out enforcement action for this duty, in accordance with the powers conferred under sections 18 and 141DA (4) of the Water Industry Act 1991. Ofwat’s enforcement powers provide for a wide range of enforcement activity, including substantial penalties. Ofwat is monitoring compliance with the duty to report relevant data in real time. Where it detects non-compliance, will take appropriate enforcement action. In addition to this, the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 will introduce a matching duty for water companies to publish data related to discharges from all emergency overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning. Once commenced, this duty will be enforced in the same way.

If he will ensure that (a) UK legal services and (b) the use of English law are promoted overseas as part of an integrated trade policy.

The UK has a reputation for the rule of law and as a global centre for legal services excellence. To date, the government has ensured the inclusion of commitments which facilitate the provision of legal advisory services in UK and international law by UK lawyers in its Free Trade Agreements with the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, Australia and New Zealand.Furthermore, the government will seek to support UK service suppliers, including those from the legal sector, via the future Trade Strategy which will reflect the government's ambition to improve UK's trade and investment with international partners.

Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of rent increases on recent trends in the level of tenants being evicted.

The English Housing Survey found that in 2023-24 just under a third of private renters (32%) reported finding it either fairly or very difficult to afford their rent. This is an increase on the proportion seen in 2022-23 (29%), and pre-pandemic (27%).The English Private Landlord Survey in 2023-24 also found that one of the most common reasons for a landlord evicting a tenant was rent arrears (42%).The government recognises that paying rent is likely to be a tenant’s biggest monthly expense. The Renters’ Rights Bill empowers private rented sector tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases, with all rent increases taking place via an existing statutory process.Tenants who receive a rent increase that they feel is not representative of the market value will be able to challenge the increase at the First-tier Tribunal. This will prevent unscrupulous landlords using rent increases as a backdoor means of eviction, while ensuring rents can be increased to reflect market rates.

What steps she is taking (a) uphold the rule of law, (b) promote the UK's legal services and (c) increase access to justice.

The Government has made clear commitments to governing within the rule of law, and to promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law around the world. The rule of law therefore underpins the work done by the Ministry of Justice right across the justice system. The Ministry of Justice supports the UK’s legal services internationally by working to address market access barriers and promoting the legal sector, including through the ‘GREAT Legal Services’ campaign. Legal services will also form an important part of plans for professional and business services under the Government’s Industrial Strategy, in recognition of the key role they play in driving growth. The Government recently passed the Arbitration Act 2025 as one of its first acts of legislation. This will support the growth of London and the UK as a world leading jurisdiction for arbitration. To support access to justice, we announced in December 2024 that criminal legal aid solicitors will receive up to £92 million more a year to help address ongoing challenges in the criminal justice system and deliver justice for victims. This is in addition to the £24 million increase for criminal legal aid solicitors announced in November, in response to the ‘Crime Lower’ consultation. We are also consulting on uplifts to fees for immigration and housing legal aid. Subject to consultation, an additional £20 million will be invested in the civil legal aid sector every year in steady state. The Department also continues to fund the activities of advice charities to bolster the delivery of essential advice and support services and improve access to legal support for people with social welfare problems. In the financial year 2025/26 we will provide over £6 million to 60 frontline organisations to help improve access to legal support

What steps his Department is taking to (a) train, (b) recruit and (c) retain GPs in (i) North Cornwall constituency and (ii) other rural areas.

We acknowledge the urgent challenge of ensuring that rural areas, including North Cornwall, have the resources to continue serving their patients. To address this, we will increase capacity in general practice (GP) and ensure that rural areas have the necessary workforce to provide integrated, patient-centred services.We are committed to training thousands more GPs across the country, including in rural areas, and have committed to recruiting over 1,000 recently qualified GPs through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) over 2024/25, as part of an initiative to address GP unemployment and secure the future pipeline of GPs. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has confirmed that recently qualified GPs who are employed via the ARRS will continue to be supported through the scheme in 2025/26.Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have a full-time equivalent rate of 4.8 GPs, almost double the national rate of 2.5, per weighted 10,000 population. The NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board commissions the Cornwall Primary Care Training Hub to support and provide training, recruitment, and retention of GPs and other staff for all practices across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, including the North Cornwall constituency, as part of the north and east integrated care area. This includes relocation support, coaching and mentoring, professional development opportunities, sponsorship for international graduates, and bespoke support for GP partner retention. Thirty-six doctors are recruited into the Cornwall training programme annually, and this has increased by two for 2025/26 recruitment.

What steps her Department is taking to increase the accessibility of (a) PE and (b) sport provision for children in schools.

The government is dedicated to increasing children's accessibility to physical education (PE) and sport provision, by protecting PE time and supporting grassroots clubs to expand access to sports for all girls and boys. Through the department’s independent, expert-led Curriculum and Assessment Review, we will seek to deliver a curriculum which is rich, broad and inclusive, ensuring all children and young people have the best start in life and have equal opportunities to participate in high-quality PE, sports and physical activities.Information on future funding will be shared in due course.

What steps she is taking to maintain the UK's status as a leader in legal services innovation.

The Ministry of Justice is keen to ensure the UK remains a world leader in legal services innovation. We achieve this through the LawtechUK programme, which, since 2019, has driven digital transformation in the legal sector. Key objectives of the programme include increasing innovation and adoption of lawtech in delivery of UK legal services, supporting the growth of the UK lawtech sector, and enabling English and Welsh law and the UK’s jurisdictions to become the foundation for emerging technology. The LawtechUK programme also supports the work of the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT). The UKJT promotes the use of English law and the UK’s jurisdictions for technology and digital innovation. They aim to provide market confidence and legal certainty for new and emerging technologies, such as Cryptoassets and AI. The Department works closely with international partners to co-operate on matters related to lawtech, including establishing dialogue on industry practise, knowledge sharing, and research. For example, the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement, which is the first trade agreement in the world to include these specific commitments on lawtech. The Ministry of Justice also delivers The GREAT Legal Services campaign which promotes the strength and breadth of the UK’s legal services sector and expertise overseas and facilitates the export of high calibre legal services, including lawtech. LawtechUK works closely with this campaign to promote the UK as a global hub for lawtech, including hosting a reception in March for New York Legal Week.

What plans she has to ensure a long-term funding agreement for PE and school sport.

The government is dedicated to increasing children's accessibility to physical education (PE) and sport provision, by protecting PE time and supporting grassroots clubs to expand access to sports for all girls and boys. Through the department’s independent, expert-led Curriculum and Assessment Review, we will seek to deliver a curriculum which is rich, broad and inclusive, ensuring all children and young people have the best start in life and have equal opportunities to participate in high-quality PE, sports and physical activities.Information on future funding will be shared in due course.

Innovation and Technology, whether there are funds available under the Shared Rural Network; and whether he has plans to use the network to eliminate partial non-spots in North Cornwall constituency.

North Cornwall has already benefited from the industry-funded part of the Shared Rural Network which aimed to tackle the majority of partial not-spots across the UK. In North Cornwall, 4G coverage from all four mobile network operators has risen from 68% to 83%, and 99% of the constituency now has 4G coverage from at least one mobile network operator, up from 97% at the start of the programme. This part of the programme has now been completed, and we do not expect there to be further improvements in this constituency from the programme.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to increase funding for social housing, in the context of the forthcoming spending review.

The government will set out set details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for social rent.Since October 2024, we have announced £800 million in new funding for the current Affordable Homes Programme. This will support the delivery of up to 7,800 new homes, with more than half of them being Social Rent homes.

Whether she plans to take steps to increase funding for the judicial system.

This Government inherited a record and rising courts backlog. Since taking office, the Lord Chancellor has funded up to 2,500 additional Crown Court sitting days this financial year, taking the total number of days sat to 108,500, the highest level since the financial year of 2015/16. On Wednesday 5 March, the Lord Chancellor announced for the financial year 2025/26, the Crown Court will be funded to sit up to 110,000 sitting days. It is also both the highest sitting day allocation made since HMCTS was created and the biggest fiscal resource settlement ever made for the Crown court. It is, in all respects, unprecedented and reflects how much importance this Government places on tackling the backlog.

What steps she is taking to support the (a) growth and (b) innovation of the lawtech industry.

The Ministry of Justice has supported the growth and innovation of the lawtech industry through the LawtechUK Programme providing £6 million in grant funding since 2019. Since 2023, LawtechUK has directly supported over 176 lawtech startups grow through their education programmes and attracted 1,274 attendees to 19 events, building a strong legal community focused on innovation.In the last year, LawtechUK have specifically focused on encouraging regional growth and maximising investment of lawtechs based outside of London and the South-East, with 53% of lawtechs on LawtechUK education programmes being based outside of these areas. This ensures that the social and economic benefits of lawtech are felt across the UK, not just in London which is already a global hub for lawtech.I will be speaking at the first UK Government-led lawtech conference on 12 March at Mansion House. The conference aims to highlight the success of the UK lawtech sector, the UK as a hub for innovation and the Government support on offer to lawtech companies.

What percentage of primary and secondary schools are delivering two hours of PE a week.

The government has pledged to protect physical education (PE) time and wants schools to offer a minimum of two hours of PE per week to their pupils. This government is committed to supporting schools to ensure this ambition is met, including through the PE and sports premium in primary schools.In December 2023 the department asked primary and secondary school leaders how many minutes of compulsory PE teaching were timetabled for pupils in the autumn term in the 2023/2024 academic year. The findings are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-and-college-voice-omnibus-surveys-for-2023-to-2024/school-and-college-voice-december-2023.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the changes made to the death certification process implemented in September 2024 on the time taken to process death certificates.

The Government is monitoring the impact of the death certification reforms which came into legal effect on 9 September 2024. Early data indicates the median time taken to register a death appears to have risen by one day, from seven days to eight. This figure is for all deaths, as it includes those certified by a doctor and those investigated by a coroner. The average time taken to register has increased further over the Christmas weeks, but this was expected given increases are observed during this period every year. Latest data from the Office for National Statistics indicates that the average time has subsequently decreased.The median time taken to register a death varies depending on the type of certification. Deaths certified by a doctor, that comprise approximately 80% of deaths registered each week, have typically had a median time to registration of seven days, though there can be variation at a local level. It is important to note that the medical examiner system was active on a non-statutory basis before the introduction of the statutory system on 9 September 2024, and this makes direct ‘before’ and ‘after’ comparisons challenging to draw conclusions from.The core purposes of the death certification reforms are to introduce scrutiny of the cause of death to detect and deter malpractice, to improve reporting, and crucially to put the bereaved at the centre of the process by offering a conversation with the medical examiner about the cause of death. The expectation on doctors and medical examiners is clear, that they should complete certification as quickly and efficiently as possible, and the Government is working with all stakeholders to make sure this is the case.

Communities and Local Government, whether any alternative funding streams are available for parish councils seeking to purchase community assets following the closure of the Community Ownership Fund.

I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 29854 on 12 February 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to prohibit water companies from passing on any fines to customers via increasing their water bills.

Ofwat are clear that when financial penalties are imposed on water companies, customers should not bear the costs and water companies cannot surcharge their customers to recover the funds. Building on this, during its first week in office, the government announced that funding for vital infrastructure investment is ringfenced and can only be spent on upgrades benefiting customers and the environment. Ofwat will ensure that when money for investment is not spent, companies refund customers.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the changes made to the death certification process implemented in September 2024 on the time taken to process death certificates.

The Government is monitoring the impact of the death certification reforms which came into legal effect on 9 September 2024. Early data indicates the median time taken to register a death appears to have risen by one day, from seven days to eight. This figure is for all deaths, as it includes those certified by a doctor and those investigated by a coroner. The average time taken to register has increased further over the Christmas weeks, but this was expected given increases are observed during this period every year. Latest data from the Office for National Statistics indicates that the average time has subsequently decreased.The median time taken to register a death varies depending on the type of certification. Deaths certified by a doctor, that comprise approximately 80% of deaths registered each week, have typically had a median time to registration of seven days, though there can be variation at a local level. It is important to note that the medical examiner system was active on a non-statutory basis before the introduction of the statutory system on 9 September 2024, and this makes direct ‘before’ and ‘after’ comparisons challenging to draw conclusions from.The core purposes of the death certification reforms are to introduce scrutiny of the cause of death to detect and deter malpractice, to improve reporting, and crucially to put the bereaved at the centre of the process by offering a conversation with the medical examiner about the cause of death. The expectation on doctors and medical examiners is clear, that they should complete certification as quickly and efficiently as possible, and the Government is working with all stakeholders to make sure this is the case.

What recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of NHS dental capacity in Bude.

Data on dental activity is available at integrated care board (ICB) level, with statistics available from the NHS Business Services Authority. These are available at the following link, with the most recent statistics for 2023/24 having been published on 22 August 2024: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324 The data for NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB, which includes Bodmin, Bude, Camelford, Launceston, Padstow, Wadebridge, Tintagel, Delabole, Port Isaac and Saint Columb Major, shows that 34% of adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the previous 24 months up to June 2024, compared to 40% in England; and 48% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months up to June 2024, compared to 56% in England. The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with 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.

What recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of NHS dental capacity in Port Isaac.

Data on dental activity is available at integrated care board (ICB) level, with statistics available from the NHS Business Services Authority. These are available at the following link, with the most recent statistics for 2023/24 having been published on 22 August 2024: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324 The data for NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB, which includes Bodmin, Bude, Camelford, Launceston, Padstow, Wadebridge, Tintagel, Delabole, Port Isaac and Saint Columb Major, shows that 34% of adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the previous 24 months up to June 2024, compared to 40% in England; and 48% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months up to June 2024, compared to 56% in England. The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with 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.

What recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of NHS dental capacity in Delabole.

Data on dental activity is available at integrated care board (ICB) level, with statistics available from the NHS Business Services Authority. These are available at the following link, with the most recent statistics for 2023/24 having been published on 22 August 2024: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324 The data for NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB, which includes Bodmin, Bude, Camelford, Launceston, Padstow, Wadebridge, Tintagel, Delabole, Port Isaac and Saint Columb Major, shows that 34% of adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the previous 24 months up to June 2024, compared to 40% in England; and 48% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months up to June 2024, compared to 56% in England. The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with 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.