Written questions by Morello.

Whether his Department has had discussions with the University of Birmingham on the future of the Global Surgery Network beyond June 2026.

Departmental colleagues met with representatives of the University on 12 August 2025 to discuss the future of the Global Surgery Network. These discussions took place following the announcement from the Prime Minister in February 2025 to reduce Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the equivalent of 0.3% of gross national income by 2027. After this announcement, and the outcome of the 2025 Spending Review, the Department has taken the decision to focus new ODA research funding on global health security and particular diseases of poverty.The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)-funded Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery was originally awarded over £6.9 million in Global Health Research’s inaugural Units call in 2017 and, following a second NIHR funding competition, received a further award of £7 million in 2021 to establish a sustainable network of surgical research. This latest award is due to conclude in June 2026. The Department will honour all on-going research commitments.We continue to recognise the critical importance of global health research to drive the health and well-being of the poorest and most vulnerable. Any updates on our funding opportunities will be reflected on the NIHR website.

What discussions her Department has had with local authorities on increasing the availability of holiday club spaces in (a) rural areas and (b) West Dorset constituency through the holiday activities and food programme.

Through our Plan for Change, the government is committed to giving every child the best start in life. On 28 August 2025, we confirmed over £600 million for the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme for the next three financial years, from 2026/27. This equates to just over £200 million each year.We will communicate specific regional funding allocations in due course to ensure that children across the country can participate in HAF.Local authorities and their providers have flexibility about how they deliver provision to best serve the needs of children and families in their area. The department encourages all local authorities to have a rich mix of provision catering for children with different interests and of different ages. There should also be good geographical spread across the local authority but with increased supply in areas with higher levels of families eligible for free school meals.The multi-year funding commitment will provide local authorities with security and flexibility, enabling more strategic planning, innovation, and long-term partnerships to support increased value for money. Alongside the funding allocation we will also issue our updated guidance, which sets out how this funding can be used and builds on what we are learning from the very best provision across the country.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing guidance to (a) local authorities and (b) holiday club providers on enabling families to retain holiday club places without having to pay for additional weeks they do not intend to use.

Through our Plan for Change, the government is committed to giving every child the best start in life. On 28 August 2025, we confirmed over £600 million for the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme for the next three financial years, from 2026/27. This equates to just over £200 million each year.We will communicate specific regional funding allocations in due course to ensure that children across the country can participate in HAF.Local authorities and their providers have flexibility about how they deliver provision to best serve the needs of children and families in their area. The department encourages all local authorities to have a rich mix of provision catering for children with different interests and of different ages. There should also be good geographical spread across the local authority but with increased supply in areas with higher levels of families eligible for free school meals.The multi-year funding commitment will provide local authorities with security and flexibility, enabling more strategic planning, innovation, and long-term partnerships to support increased value for money. Alongside the funding allocation we will also issue our updated guidance, which sets out how this funding can be used and builds on what we are learning from the very best provision across the country.

What steps her Department is taking to educate schoolchildren about the dangers of radicalisation ideologies online in rural areas.

It is important that children and young people have the appropriate skills to remain resilient to misinformation and disinformation, and to extremist content. ‘Keeping children safe in education’ is statutory guidance which provides schools and colleges with robust information on how to protect pupils and students online.Online safety is also taught through compulsory national curriculum subjects such as relationships, sex and health education, computing and citizenship education. These subjects teach pupils a number of skills relating to staying safe online as well as ensuring that pupils are digitally literate, including being able to effectively evaluate and apply information online.The department publishes comprehensive advice and has made a range of resources freely available on our Educate Against Hate website, supporting teachers across all sectors to educate children and young people about the risks of all types of extremism and radicalisation. We also have a team of regional co-ordinators who work directly with education institutions in England to provide advice, support and training to ensure providers are well equipped to prevent children and young people from being drawn into terrorism.

If his Department will take steps to allocate funding for a dental school in West Dorset to increase the local dental workforce.

Tackling the geographical disparities in access to National Health Service dentistry is vital, and the Government welcomes efforts to help deliver this ambition.Government approval or funding is not required to establish a new dental school in West Dorset. We encourage prospective dental schools to approach the General Dental Council (GDC), who need to approve any new programmes.Provided a prospective dental school meets the requirements of the GDC and the Office for Students, it would be considered for any future Government-funded training places.The GDC published guidance for prospective dental schools in January 2025, which is available at the following link:https://www.gdc-uk.org/docs/default-source/education-and-cpd/das-guidance-for-providers-gdc-january-2025.pdf?sfvrsn=75d82e2a_3/DAS-guidance-for-providers-GDC-January-2025.pdf

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the level of funding for the holiday activities and food programme for local authorities in (a) rural areas and (b) West Dorset constituency.

Through our Plan for Change, the government is committed to giving every child the best start in life. On 28 August 2025, we confirmed over £600 million for the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme for the next three financial years, from 2026/27. This equates to just over £200 million each year.We will communicate specific regional funding allocations in due course to ensure that children across the country can participate in HAF.Local authorities and their providers have flexibility about how they deliver provision to best serve the needs of children and families in their area. The department encourages all local authorities to have a rich mix of provision catering for children with different interests and of different ages. There should also be good geographical spread across the local authority but with increased supply in areas with higher levels of families eligible for free school meals.The multi-year funding commitment will provide local authorities with security and flexibility, enabling more strategic planning, innovation, and long-term partnerships to support increased value for money. Alongside the funding allocation we will also issue our updated guidance, which sets out how this funding can be used and builds on what we are learning from the very best provision across the country.

What steps her Department is taking to educate schoolchildren about the dangers of far-right extremist ideologies online.

It is important that children and young people have the appropriate skills to remain resilient to misinformation and disinformation, and to extremist content. ‘Keeping children safe in education’ is statutory guidance which provides schools and colleges with robust information on how to protect pupils and students online.Online safety is also taught through compulsory national curriculum subjects such as relationships, sex and health education, computing and citizenship education. These subjects teach pupils a number of skills relating to staying safe online as well as ensuring that pupils are digitally literate, including being able to effectively evaluate and apply information online.The department publishes comprehensive advice and has made a range of resources freely available on our Educate Against Hate website, supporting teachers across all sectors to educate children and young people about the risks of all types of extremism and radicalisation. We also have a team of regional co-ordinators who work directly with education institutions in England to provide advice, support and training to ensure providers are well equipped to prevent children and young people from being drawn into terrorism.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support (a) small and (b) independent hotels in West Dorset constituency during the off-peak season.

The Government is committed to supporting the hospitality sector as a valuable contributor to the UK economy and visitor offer. We are introducing permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with a rateable value under £500,000, alongside a new Licensing Taskforce to cut red tape. Targeted initiatives include a £1.5 million Hospitality Support Scheme and the Zero Carbon Hospitality Trial, helping over 600 SMEs cut costs and emissions. Through ongoing collaboration with the Hospitality Sector Council, we are strengthening productivity and resilience across the sector.DCMS works closely with VisitEngland, Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) and industry to support small and independent accommodation providers, including hotels in West Dorset. Targeted marketing campaigns encourage off-peak domestic breaks, while LVEPs like Visit Dorset improve local coordination and promote year-round tourism. These efforts, alongside the upcoming Visitor Economy Growth Strategy, help sustain the competitiveness of hotels and hospitality businesses throughout the year.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions her Department has had with Dorset Council on brownfield site development in West Dorset constituency.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that substantial weight should be given to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements, including the development of under-utilised land and buildings to meet the need for homes and other uses. Through the revisions made to the NPPF on 12 December 2024 we broadened the definition of brownfield land, set a strengthened expectation that applications on brownfield land will be approved, and made clear that plans should promote an uplift in density in urban areas. On 22 September 2024, the government published a ‘brownfield passport’ working paper inviting views on how we might further prioritise and fast-track building on previously used urban land. This included exploring the role of national policy in setting minimum density expectations for certain types of locations, to support intensification in the right places. Utilising the feedback provided, we intend to consult this year on a new suite of national policies for decision making that will give effect to these proposals. No brownfield land and infrastructure remediation funding is currently available in West Dorset. However, on 18 June 2025 my Department announced £5 billion of new capital grant funding for infrastructure and land. This funding will be administered by the new National Housing Delivery Fund, through which councils will be able to secure funding for prospective projects, to contribute to the Government’s priority of delivering 1.5 million homes.

What discussions he has had with representatives of people affected by Debendox on redress or compensation schemes.

Debendox was originally available as a triple combination of doxylamine succinate, an antihistamine, pyridoxine hydrochloride, a form of vitamin B6, and dicyclomine hydrochloride, an antispasmodic. The product was later reformulated to remove dicyclomine hydrochloride following a review which concluded that dicyclomine did not contribute to the effectiveness of the other two ingredients. In the early 1980s, the medicine was available as a dual combination product, as doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride.Since July 2018, the dual combination of doxylamine succinate 10 milligram and pyridoxine hydrochloride 10 milligram has been authorised as Xonvea, a safe and effective treatment for nausea and vomiting due to pregnancy in women who do not respond to conservative management, like changes in diet or other non-medicine treatments. As described in the product information for Xonvea, a large amount of data on pregnant women, including two meta-analyses with over 168,000 patients and 18,000 exposures to the doxylamine/pyridoxine combination during first trimester, indicates no malformative nor feto/neonatal toxicity due to doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride.As with all medicines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will keep this issue under review and will carefully evaluate any new evidence which becomes available linking use of Debendox or Xonvea with adverse outcomes in pregnancy.The Department has not made any recent assessments of the number of people exposed to Debendox and is not considering support or compensation.

Whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of people impacted in utero by their mother's use of Debendox during pregnancy.

Debendox was originally available as a triple combination of doxylamine succinate, an antihistamine, pyridoxine hydrochloride, a form of vitamin B6, and dicyclomine hydrochloride, an antispasmodic. The product was later reformulated to remove dicyclomine hydrochloride following a review which concluded that dicyclomine did not contribute to the effectiveness of the other two ingredients. In the early 1980s, the medicine was available as a dual combination product, as doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride.Since July 2018, the dual combination of doxylamine succinate 10 milligram and pyridoxine hydrochloride 10 milligram has been authorised as Xonvea, a safe and effective treatment for nausea and vomiting due to pregnancy in women who do not respond to conservative management, like changes in diet or other non-medicine treatments. As described in the product information for Xonvea, a large amount of data on pregnant women, including two meta-analyses with over 168,000 patients and 18,000 exposures to the doxylamine/pyridoxine combination during first trimester, indicates no malformative nor feto/neonatal toxicity due to doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride.As with all medicines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will keep this issue under review and will carefully evaluate any new evidence which becomes available linking use of Debendox or Xonvea with adverse outcomes in pregnancy.The Department has not made any recent assessments of the number of people exposed to Debendox and is not considering support or compensation.

Whether the Government has considered introducing a (a) support and (b) compensation scheme for people with lifelong disabilities as a result of exposure to Debendox during pregnancy.

Debendox was originally available as a triple combination of doxylamine succinate, an antihistamine, pyridoxine hydrochloride, a form of vitamin B6, and dicyclomine hydrochloride, an antispasmodic. The product was later reformulated to remove dicyclomine hydrochloride following a review which concluded that dicyclomine did not contribute to the effectiveness of the other two ingredients. In the early 1980s, the medicine was available as a dual combination product, as doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride.Since July 2018, the dual combination of doxylamine succinate 10 milligram and pyridoxine hydrochloride 10 milligram has been authorised as Xonvea, a safe and effective treatment for nausea and vomiting due to pregnancy in women who do not respond to conservative management, like changes in diet or other non-medicine treatments. As described in the product information for Xonvea, a large amount of data on pregnant women, including two meta-analyses with over 168,000 patients and 18,000 exposures to the doxylamine/pyridoxine combination during first trimester, indicates no malformative nor feto/neonatal toxicity due to doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride.As with all medicines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will keep this issue under review and will carefully evaluate any new evidence which becomes available linking use of Debendox or Xonvea with adverse outcomes in pregnancy.The Department has not made any recent assessments of the number of people exposed to Debendox and is not considering support or compensation.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing compensation to people impacted by in utero exposure to Debendox.

Debendox was originally available as a triple combination of doxylamine succinate, an antihistamine, pyridoxine hydrochloride, a form of vitamin B6, and dicyclomine hydrochloride, an antispasmodic. The product was later reformulated to remove dicyclomine hydrochloride following a review which concluded that dicyclomine did not contribute to the effectiveness of the other two ingredients. In the early 1980s, the medicine was available as a dual combination product, as doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride.Since July 2018, the dual combination of doxylamine succinate 10 milligram and pyridoxine hydrochloride 10 milligram has been authorised as Xonvea, a safe and effective treatment for nausea and vomiting due to pregnancy in women who do not respond to conservative management, like changes in diet or other non-medicine treatments. As described in the product information for Xonvea, a large amount of data on pregnant women, including two meta-analyses with over 168,000 patients and 18,000 exposures to the doxylamine/pyridoxine combination during first trimester, indicates no malformative nor feto/neonatal toxicity due to doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride.As with all medicines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will keep this issue under review and will carefully evaluate any new evidence which becomes available linking use of Debendox or Xonvea with adverse outcomes in pregnancy.The Department has not made any recent assessments of the number of people exposed to Debendox and is not considering support or compensation.

What steps his Department has taken to assess the long-term health and social care requirements of people impacted by in utero exposure to Debendox.

Debendox was originally available as a triple combination of doxylamine succinate, an antihistamine, pyridoxine hydrochloride, a form of vitamin B6, and dicyclomine hydrochloride, an antispasmodic. The product was later reformulated to remove dicyclomine hydrochloride following a review which concluded that dicyclomine did not contribute to the effectiveness of the other two ingredients. In the early 1980s, the medicine was available as a dual combination product, as doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride.Since July 2018, the dual combination of doxylamine succinate 10 milligram and pyridoxine hydrochloride 10 milligram has been authorised as Xonvea, a safe and effective treatment for nausea and vomiting due to pregnancy in women who do not respond to conservative management, like changes in diet or other non-medicine treatments. As described in the product information for Xonvea, a large amount of data on pregnant women, including two meta-analyses with over 168,000 patients and 18,000 exposures to the doxylamine/pyridoxine combination during first trimester, indicates no malformative nor feto/neonatal toxicity due to doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride.As with all medicines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will keep this issue under review and will carefully evaluate any new evidence which becomes available linking use of Debendox or Xonvea with adverse outcomes in pregnancy.The Department has not made any recent assessments of the number of people exposed to Debendox and is not considering support or compensation.

Whether she plans to maintain the legal right to additional support for children with SEND.

This government’s ambition is that every child or young person in our country deserves the best possible educational experience, one that is academically stretching, where every child or young person feels like they belong, and that sets them up for life and work. There will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need.This government is determined to deliver reform that stands the test of time and rebuilds the confidence of families, which is why we are launching a further period of listening and engagement, testing our proposals with parents, teachers and experts in every region of the country, so that lived experience and partnership are at the heart of our solutions.We know that families need change, and that is exactly why it is critical we get this right. The department will set out the full Schools White Paper in the new year, building on existing work to create a system rooted in inclusion, where children receive high-quality support early on and can thrive at their local school.

Pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2025 to Question 66057 on Special Educational Needs: Reform, when her Department plans to make a decision on the future of Education, Health and Care Plans.

This government’s ambition is that every child or young person in our country deserves the best possible educational experience, one that is academically stretching, where every child or young person feels like they belong, and that sets them up for life and work. There will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need.This government is determined to deliver reform that stands the test of time and rebuilds the confidence of families, which is why we are launching a further period of listening and engagement, testing our proposals with parents, teachers and experts in every region of the country, so that lived experience and partnership are at the heart of our solutions.We know that families need change, and that is exactly why it is critical we get this right. The department will set out the full Schools White Paper in the new year, building on existing work to create a system rooted in inclusion, where children receive high-quality support early on and can thrive at their local school.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of dementia care provision in (a) rural constituencies and (b) West Dorset constituency.

The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). We would expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking into account National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.This Government is committed to improving dementia care and is empowering local leaders with the autonomy that they need to provide the best services to their local community, including those with dementia. That is why we have published the D100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool. This will help places and systems identify where improvements need to be targeted.Under the 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services. We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.

What steps her Department is taking to improve access to specialist dementia care services in West Dorset constituency.

The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). We would expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking into account National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.This Government is committed to improving dementia care and is empowering local leaders with the autonomy that they need to provide the best services to their local community, including those with dementia. That is why we have published the D100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool. This will help places and systems identify where improvements need to be targeted.Under the 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services. We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.

For what reason she plans to implement changes to the Access to Work scheme in phases from May 2025, prior to the conclusion of her Department’s consultation.

No changes have been made to Access to Work policy. We will announce any changes before they are implemented. Current operational guidance is published online at GOV.UK. Following the consultation, which concluded on 30 June, we will be reviewing all aspects of the Scheme.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of the fruit-growing sector on access to innovation funding for harvesting technologies.

We recognise the specific needs of the horticulture sector, and Defra ministers and officials meet regularly with a variety of growers from across the sector, including representatives from the fruit-growing sector, to discuss a wide range of issues to help us understand how best to support the sector.