Written questions by Anderson.

Whether his Department is undertaking workforce planning to prepare for an increase in demand for heat-pump installations.

The Government’s Warm Homes Plan sets out that to meet future heat pump deployment targets the workforce will need to grow from around 4,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) installers today to around 12,000 FTE by 2030. The Government is continuing to support workforce growth through a 3-year, £21 million extension of the Heat Training Grant. Government is also supporting new entrants through the Low Carbon Heating Technician Apprenticeship. Government also recently established the Warm Homes Plan Workforce Taskforce, which will focus on growing a skilled and resilient net zero workforce.

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of business support for financial mutuals.

The government is committed to supporting the growth of financial mutuals in line with the manifesto commitment to double the size of the mutuals sector. To deliver this, the Chancellor announced a multi-year programme of measures at Mansion House 2024 which HM Treasury is now delivering. This included asking the Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority to produce a report on the current landscape of the sector. This was published in December 2025 and included measures to support the development of financial mutuals, including the FCA’s establishment of their Mutual Societies Development Unit. The government also welcomed the Mutual and Co-operative Sector Business Council and published the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, which will support all organisations in the financial services sector. For credit unions specifically, the government announced it is pursuing growth-focused reforms to the common bond in Great Britain. This was announced in the Financial Inclusion Strategy in November 2025 and followed a call for evidence on reforms. The government will provide a further update on this work in due course.

What steps her Department is taking to reform credit union common bond rules.

The government is committed to supporting the growth of financial mutuals in line with the manifesto commitment to double the size of the mutuals sector. To deliver this, the Chancellor announced a multi-year programme of measures at Mansion House 2024 which HM Treasury is now delivering. This included asking the Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority to produce a report on the current landscape of the sector. This was published in December 2025 and included measures to support the development of financial mutuals, including the FCA’s establishment of their Mutual Societies Development Unit. The government also welcomed the Mutual and Co-operative Sector Business Council and published the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, which will support all organisations in the financial services sector. For credit unions specifically, the government announced it is pursuing growth-focused reforms to the common bond in Great Britain. This was announced in the Financial Inclusion Strategy in November 2025 and followed a call for evidence on reforms. The government will provide a further update on this work in due course.

What steps her Department is taking to support the growth of co-operatives in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.

The government recognises the contribution co-operatives make to local communities, to a diverse business sector and a resilient UK economy. In line with the manifesto commitment to double the size of the co-operatives and mutuals sector, HM Treasury is taking steps to support the growth nationwide, including in Buckingham and Bletchley. This includes funding the Law Commission’s independent review of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, which is exploring options to modernise and update the legislative framework. The review is expected to report in 2026 and the government will carefully consider its findings before responding. At Mansion House 2024 the Chancellor set out a package of measures to support the growth of the co-operative and mutuals sector. This included welcoming the establishment of the industry-led Mutuals and Co-operative Business Council and asking the PRA and FCA to produce a report on the mutuals landscape. These reports were published in December 2025, and covered co-operatives through the FCA’s role as registering authority. HM Treasury works with other Government departments on support for co-operatives. This includes on the Department for Business and Trade’s call for evidence on business support for co-operatives, which was launched at Budget 2025 and closed in February 2026. In addition, the Ministry for Housing, Communities, and Local Government has announced the launch of a co-operative development unit as part of its Pride in Place Strategy. Together, these actions will help support the growth of the co-operative sector in across the UK.

What discussions her Department has had with rail industry partners on the commencement of passenger services between Oxford and Milton Keynes.

The Department continues to work closely with Chiltern and other partners to confirm a start date for the first East West Rail services between Oxford and Milton Keynes as soon as possible.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the level of funding that will be required to reduce leakage rates to target levels in Buckinghamshire.

We expect Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, to consider the funding required to enable companies to contribute to national leakage reduction targets as part of its Price Review process. Water companies have committed to reducing leakage, on a national level, by 50% from 2017-2018 levels by 2050, including a 30% reduction interim target by 2032. Defra is supporting the Ofwat led Smart Meter Delivery Board to enable, the identification and fixture of leaks through, the rollout of 10.4 million water smart meters this Price Review.

What criteria his Department will use to determine priority projects under the UK–US critical minerals partnership.

The MoU will help unlock more high‑quality potential investment into UK mining, processing and recycling. Our bilateral coordination will align with priorities set out in UK’s Critical Minerals Strategy with a view to boosting local growth and developing UK capabilities.

What mechanisms will be used to monitor supply chain resilience outcomes arising from the UK–US critical minerals partnership.

The UK’s Critical Mineral Strategy sets out ambitious success features to build domestic resilience and diversify global supply chains. These include meeting 10% of UK demand from domestic production, 20% from recycling and no more than 60% of any critical mineral from a single country. Our Memorandum of Understanding with the US will seek to deliver against these success features, with outcomes monitored by the Department for Business and Trade.

What estimate he has made of the amount of private capital expected to be leveraged as a result of the UK–US critical minerals partnership over the next five years.

We do not have concrete estimates for private capital that will be leveraged and note that the MoU will serve to advance UK projects beyond just investment, including potential offtake agreements with US industry. In 2024, the UK exported around £2 billion worth of critical minerals and their immediate derivatives to the US, whilst importing around £1 billion originating from the US.

How many NHS dental appointments were provided in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in the last three 12-month periods.

The table below shows the available data for the number of National Health Service dental treatments delivered each year between 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 in the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (ICB), which includes the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency. Data for dentistry is measured in courses of treatment, not appointments. One course of treatment can be more than one appointment.Financial yearNumber of NHS dental treatments delivered in the first seven months of the financial year.2025/26377,291 (partial year)Source: NHS Business Services Authority monthly statistics, available at the following link: https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/dental-activity-data-england-july-2023-to-october-2025Financial yearNumber of NHS dental treatments delivered2024/25594,6672023/24557,798Source: NHS Business Services Authority, available at the following link: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202425 The data for 2023/24 and 2024/25 are not directly comparable with the 2025/26 data due to the 2025/26 data being provisional. Final data for 2025/26 will be published in August 2026. Furthermore, the 2025/26 data covers seven months of activity, but the 2023/24 and 2024/25 data covers the full 12-month period.

What estimate he has made of the funding required to meet demand for NHS dental services in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in the next 12 months.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care dentistry and receive an annual allocation of funding to secure services to meet the needs of their population. For the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency, this is the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB. Further information on ICB allocation funding for 2026/27 to 2027/28 is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/allocations/In 2024/25, we invested around £3.7 billion on primary care dentistry. We want to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most.We have reduced the National Health Service dentistry underspend from £392 million in 2023/24 to £36 million in 2024/25.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is considering regulatory changes to help improve water infrastructure provision in Buckinghamshire.

The Water White Paper published in January 2026, available on GOV.UK, sets out the changes we are making to bring a holistic approach to water planning, which better considers current water infrastructure asset health and the resilience enhancements needed to cater for future needs. This includes bringing together the functions of Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and parts of the Environment Agency into a powerful single regulator. This will ensure water companies identify and delivery critical water infrastructure to improve our resilience and meet our future needs. This is in addition to the £104 billion of private sector investment that has been secured to fund essential infrastructure improvements in the 2025-2030 period.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of food imports are subject to sanitary and phytosanitary checks.

Food is not a category used to record import checks within sanitary and phytosanitary controls as it covers a large range, of varying types, of imports. Imports are subject to controls based upon their composition or commodity type. Products are categorised as high, medium or low risk, with controls appropriately weighted against the risks posed both by the commodity and the country of origin. The current risk levels are identified on GOV.UK Import risk categories for animals, animal products, plants and plant products - GOV.UK.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the level of food supply chain resilience in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.

The UK has a resilient food supply chain underpinned by diverse sources, robust domestic production and reliable import routes. Defra works with industry and across Government, including Cabinet Office, to monitor risks to food supply chain resilience that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains. At the local level Defra engages with local resilience forums, with support from MHCLG, to build additional resilience to supply chain shocks and emergencies.

What performance metrics his Department will use to evaluate the employment outcomes of participants in construction training initiatives.

The Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP) is a Department for Work and Pensions initiative designed to help unemployed people move into work. It offers sector-specific training, work experience and a guaranteed job interview, supporting claimants to develop the skills and behaviours that employers are looking for in key industries such as construction.A SWAP is demand-led and generally run in sectors with high volumes of vacancies; this includes the construction sector. From April 2021 to December 2025, there have been 65,930 starts on construction SWAPs. This represents 15% of all SWAP starts in that timeframe. We publish management information on SWAPs quarterly (Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) Management Information - GOV.UK). This includes SWAP starts by sector, and the proportion of SWAP starts with earnings at 6 and 9 months following a SWAP start. DWP also collect and publish information about Skills Bootcamps starts, completions and employment outcomes. Further information about the methodology can be found on the relevant Explore Education Statistics page: Skills bootcamps starts, completions and outcomes, Financial year 2023-24 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK

What assessment he has made of the trends in the level of demand for construction-related skills in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency over the next three years.

The Department does not hold up to date data on the projections of construction-related skills at a constituency level. The CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) does produce the Construction Workforce Outlook which projects the growth in construction from 2024 to 2029 and is available at a national and regional level here: https://www.citb.co.uk/cwo/index.html.

Whether she has assessed the adequacy of financial investment in (a) weekend, (b) short-break fostering and (c) supported lodgings.

We have announced an ambitious reform programme to urgently address the sharp decline in foster carers and modernise fostering.We are investing £88 million over the next two financial years to transform the foster care system. That will include direct action to recruit and retain a wide range of foster carers, including weekend and short-break foster carers.This investment includes an innovation programme supported by £12.4 million to scale and spread new and existing models of care, including different models of foster care that push at the boundaries of how we achieve better results for children. This programme can also include initiatives that make greater use of supported lodgings to enable older children, where appropriate, to live more independently.Our policy paper also sets out plans to ensure that carers can rely on their own trusted networks, and to tackle unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles that carers often face when attempting to do this. The policy paper is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewing-fostering-homes-for-10000-more-children.

What assessment he has made of how export credit support affects business resilience to global economic shocks.

The recently published report by Oxford Economics, Analysing UKEF-Supported Supply Chains (which is available online at: Research and Analysis: Analysing UKEF-supported supply chains - GOV.UK), shows that in the last five years, deals supported by UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, were responsible for £23 billion gross value added contributions to the UK economy, and supported an average of up to 66,000 jobs per annum. That report also showed that the supply chains of the businesses directly supported by UKEF include 115,000 businesses around the UK.In April 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an expansion of UKEF’s support to bolster the resilience of British businesses. This included increasing its financial capacity by £20 billion, to £80 billion, and targeting £10 billion of that to support firms that had been impacted by uncertainties in the world economy, including the new tariff environment.Further information about the nature and extent of UKEF’s support is available in the Annual Report and Accounts, available online at: UK Export Finance annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of betting shops on town centre vitality.

Some high streets have become increasingly dominated by certain types of premises – including gambling establishments – which don’t always meet the needs of their communities. According to the Gambling Commission, the number of adult gaming centres (AGCs) rose by 7% between 2022 and 2024, with additional data showing that AGCs are most concentrated in areas of higher deprivation.My Department will take action to tackle the number of gambling premises in vulnerable areas by introducing Cumulative Impact Assessments in gambling licensing when parliamentary time allows.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he us taking to help ensure new regeneration tools like Community Right to Buy deliver outcomes for independent retailers.

The Government is committed to supporting independent retailers and the high streets on which they operate. Community right to buy, which we are introducing through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, will empower local communities to bring a wide range of assets into community ownership and protect them for future use, including shops.This is part of a wider suite of regeneration tools the Government is introducing, including High Street Rental Auctions and a more streamlined Compulsory Purchase Order process, which offer councils and communities the chance to preserve valuable spaces and create a higher quality trading environment for independent retailers.