Written questions by Morello.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to promote cross-departmental collaboration to strengthen rural communities following recent riots.

The Government has made £15 million available to the places most severely affected by disorder through the Community Recovery Fund to support the immediate recovery. Officials from my department have also carried out an extensive engagement process with these places to understand and address the underlying causes of the unrest.The disorder that affected communities across the UK following the Southport tragedy this summer has made clear that a new approach to community cohesion is urgently needed. This is a priority for the Government and I have stood up a cross-government Communities & Recovery Steering Group to oversee this work.We are listening to communities across the country to understand the challenges they face and this will inform how this Government works to empower communities and build greater cohesion.

What steps she is taking to help reduce waiting times for SEND assessments by local authorities in rural areas with fewer staff.

The department wants to ensure that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) plan assessments are progressed promptly and, if needed, plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they need.Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to assess whether children and young people have special educational needs that require an EHC plan. EHC plans must be issued within 20 weeks of the needs assessment commencing so that children and young people can access the support they need. In 2023, there were 138,200 initial requests for an EHC plan and 90,500 assessments took place. 50.3% of new EHC plans in 2023 were issued within 20 weeks.The department knows that local authorities have seen an increase in the number of assessment requests and that more needs to be done to ensure that local areas deliver effective and timely services. This includes better communication with schools and families.The department continues to monitor and work closely with local authorities that have issues with EHC plan timeliness. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, we help the local authority to identify the barriers and put in place an effective recovery plan. This includes, where needed, securing specialist SEND Adviser support to help identify the barriers to EHC plan process timeliness and put in place practical plans for recovery.Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out a full SEND inspection of Dorset local area in March 2024. Their published report found that the local area partnership’s SEND arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND and the local area partnership is taking action where improvements are needed.Dorset are not subject to formal intervention from the department or NHS England and the next full area SEND inspection by Ofsted and the CQC will be within approximately five years.

What steps her Department is taking to help improve access to SEND services for children who need specific adaptations for their educational needs.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.The department wants to drive a consistent and inclusive approach to supporting children and young people with SEND through early identification, effective support, high quality teaching and effective allocation of resources.Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with SEND. To improve early identification and provision of support, the department is taking measures to help education settings have better access to educational psychology services by investing in the training of educational psychologists. The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from this year. This builds on the £10 million which is already being invested for the over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.High quality teaching is central to ensuring that pupils with SEND are given the best possible opportunity to achieve in their education and the department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers over the course of this parliament. To support all teachers, the department is implementing a range of teacher training reforms to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND. On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level national professional qualification (NPQ) for special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs). The NPQ will play a key role in improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND by ensuring SENCOs consistently receive high quality, evidence-based training. This is crucial given the central role SENCOs play in supporting pupils with SEND.The government has also launched an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review to look closely at the key challenges to attainment that children and young people face, in particular those with SEND, to ensure that all pupils benefit from a rich and broad curriculum.The department is providing an increase of almost £1 billion for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND.

If she will take steps to allocate more funding for SEND provision in rural areas.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.The department is providing an increase of almost £1 billion for local authorities’ high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion.The department is now in the process of calculating indicative high needs funding allocations for local authorities next year through the national funding formula, which it expects to publish shortly.This government is taking time to consider the funding formula that the department uses to allocate funding for children and young people with SEND. It is important that there is a fair education funding system, that directs funding to where it is needed, including funding for provision in rural areas.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that support for minimal to intensive assistance are tailored to each adult with autism.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including support services for autistic people, in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.The NICE quality standard for autism sets out that the needs of autistic people are varied, with some people needing complex levels of support from a range of professionals, and some people not wanting or needing any ongoing support. In line with this, the quality standard recommends that autistic people should have a personalised plan that is developed and implemented in a partnership between them, and their family and carers, if appropriate, and the autism team.On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. The guidance sets out what support should be available before an assessment, and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism, based on the available evidence. This includes setting out specific considerations for developing post-diagnostic support for adults diagnosed as autistic.In addition, under the Care Act 2014, it is the responsibility of local authorities to assess individuals’ care and support needs, including where it appears that an autistic adult may have care and support needs, and, where eligible, for meeting those needs.

What steps his Department is taking to help support for people during their transition from child to adult autism services.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including services for autistic people, in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.NICE guidelines, specifically Autism spectrum disorder in under 19s: recognition, referral and diagnosis, and Autism spectrum disorder in under 19s: support and management, provide guidance on the transition to adult services, including that local autism teams should make arrangements for a smooth transition to adult services.On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance will help the National Health Service improve autism assessment services, and improve the experience for people referred to an autism assessment service. This includes guidance to local areas on how to manage referrals and transitions between child and adult assessment services.The Care Act 2014 places a duty on local authorities to conduct a transitions assessment for young people, adult carers, and young carers that are likely to have needs for care and support, or support as a carer, after they turn 18 years old.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing funding for research into the early detection of sepsis.

The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including sepsis diagnosis. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients, and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.In the last five years, the NIHR has invested over £9.2 million into 10 research projects to improve the diagnosis of sepsis. In addition, the NIHR Research Delivery Network, which helps patients, the public, and health and care organisations to participate in high quality research, has supported 19 studies on sepsis diagnosis.The NIHR’s investment into sepsis diagnosis includes research into the application of novel point-of-care diagnostic tests for sepsis, predicting those most at-risk of developing sepsis, and evaluating the accuracy of pre-existing measures to identify patients with suspected sepsis.For example, the NIHR funded the Prehospital early warning scores for adults with suspected sepsis (PHEWS) study, which aimed to determine the impact and accuracy of early warning scores to identify sepsis requiring urgent treatment. In 2024, the PHEWS study found that the National Early Warning score, a standardized early warning system based on simple measurements used to identify acutely ill patients, including those with sepsis, was as good as or better than all the other scores to prioritize people with suspected sepsis, and avoided missing patients with sepsis. This finding supports the early diagnosis of sepsis in patients, therefore reducing treatment delay, and consequentially deaths caused by sepsis.The UK Health Security Agency is conducting ongoing work to explore the development of two diagnostic tests to bridge gaps in early detection and disease confirmation, and inform detection and ongoing management.

Whether he has plans to provide additional support to ensure primary healthcare remains accessible in isolated regions.

We acknowledge the urgent challenge of ensuring that rural areas, including West Dorset, have the resources to continue serving their patients. To address this, we will increase capacity in general practices (GPs) 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. We have also committed to recruiting over 1,000 newly qualified GPs through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, which will increase the number of appointments delivered in GPs. This will increase capacity, secure the future pipeline of GPs, and alleviate the pressure on those currently working in the system.We are tackling the challenges that people in rural areas face when accessing National Health Service dental care. Work is underway to deliver our rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, and to recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. The Golden Hello scheme will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most, for three years.  To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served, and they must keep these assessments under review. These assessments inform integrated care boards when reviewing applications for NHS pharmacies. The Pharmacy Access Scheme provides additional funding to pharmacies in areas where there are fewer pharmacies. In rural areas where there is no pharmacy, GPs are permitted to dispense medicines. Patients can also choose to access medicines and pharmacy services through any of the nearly 400 NHS online pharmacies that are contractually required to deliver prescription medicines free of charge to patients.

What steps his Department is taking to provide additional funding for hospices in (a) West Dorset constituency and (b) other rural areas.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing services within the National Health Service. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between integrated care board (ICB) areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.Palliative care services are included in the list of services that ICBs, including the Dorset ICB, which covers the West Dorset constituency, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.NHS England has also developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of those their local population, thereby enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.I have met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care. We, alongside key partners NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including funding, in the coming months.

If he will undertake a review of the funding model for hospices serving (a) rural and (b) other isolated communities.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing services within the National Health Service. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between integrated care board (ICB) areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.Palliative care services are included in the list of services that ICBs, including the Dorset ICB, which covers the West Dorset constituency, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.NHS England has also developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of those their local population, thereby enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.I have met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care. We, alongside key partners NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including funding, in the coming months.

What steps his Department is taking to increase the number of autism support services for adults in West Dorset constituency.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including support services for autistic people, in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines. The NICE guideline, Autism spectrum disorder in adults: diagnosis and management, aims to improve access and engagement with interventions and services, and the experience of care, for autistic adults.On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to improve outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. This guidance will help ICBs and the National Health Service to improve outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance sets out what support should be available before an assessment, and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism, based on the available evidence. This includes setting out specific considerations for developing post-diagnostic support.The Dorset ICB advises that it has conducted an all-age review of services for people with neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism, and is currently working through the outcomes of that review, including in relation to assessment, diagnosis, and pre- and post-diagnostic support. In the meantime, the ICB has identified additional funding to increase capacity for additional appointments for those that have waited the longest. The ICB has also recently launched an online neurodiversity hub.

What steps the Department is taking to support hospice funding to ensure (a) sustainability and (b) quality care in regions with limited alternatives.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing services within the National Health Service. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between integrated care board (ICB) areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.Palliative care services are included in the list of services that ICBs, including the Dorset ICB, which covers the West Dorset constituency, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.NHS England has also developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of those their local population, thereby enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.I have met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care. We, alongside key partners NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including funding, in the coming months.

What steps his Department is taking to improve access to primary healthcare services in (a) West Dorset constituency and (b) other rural constituencies.

We acknowledge the urgent challenge of ensuring that rural areas, including West Dorset, have the resources to continue serving their patients. To address this, we will increase capacity in general practices (GPs) 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. We have also committed to recruiting over 1,000 newly qualified GPs through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, which will increase the number of appointments delivered in GPs. This will increase capacity, secure the future pipeline of GPs, and alleviate the pressure on those currently working in the system.We are tackling the challenges that people in rural areas face when accessing National Health Service dental care. Work is underway to deliver our rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, and to recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. The Golden Hello scheme will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most, for three years.  To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served, and they must keep these assessments under review. These assessments inform integrated care boards when reviewing applications for NHS pharmacies. The Pharmacy Access Scheme provides additional funding to pharmacies in areas where there are fewer pharmacies. In rural areas where there is no pharmacy, GPs are permitted to dispense medicines. Patients can also choose to access medicines and pharmacy services through any of the nearly 400 NHS online pharmacies that are contractually required to deliver prescription medicines free of charge to patients.

What steps his Department is taking to increase the availability of autism support services for adults in rural areas.

Integrated care systems (ICSs) are responsible for the planning and delivery of health and care services in their local area, including meeting the needs of autistic people in rural communities. Local priorities are set out in the Integrated Care Strategy, which must be informed by local assessments of need. The Department published updated statutory guidance on integrated care strategies in February 2024.On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to improve outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. This guidance will help integrated care boards, including those in rural areas, and the National Health Service to improve outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance sets out what support should be available before an assessment, and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism, based on the available evidence.The importance of supporting rural communities has been recognised by the Chief Medical Officer in his reports, which also recognise the role played by ICSs in understanding local needs and arranging services to meet these needs.

What steps he plans to take to tackle primary healthcare staffing shortages in rural areas with limited local resources.

We acknowledge the urgent challenge of ensuring that rural areas, including West Dorset, have the resources to continue serving their patients. To address this, we will increase capacity in general practices (GPs) 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. We have also committed to recruiting over 1,000 newly qualified GPs through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, which will increase the number of appointments delivered in GPs. This will increase capacity, secure the future pipeline of GPs, and alleviate the pressure on those currently working in the system.We are tackling the challenges that people in rural areas face when accessing National Health Service dental care. Work is underway to deliver our rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, and to recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. The Golden Hello scheme will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most, for three years.  To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served, and they must keep these assessments under review. These assessments inform integrated care boards when reviewing applications for NHS pharmacies. The Pharmacy Access Scheme provides additional funding to pharmacies in areas where there are fewer pharmacies. In rural areas where there is no pharmacy, GPs are permitted to dispense medicines. Patients can also choose to access medicines and pharmacy services through any of the nearly 400 NHS online pharmacies that are contractually required to deliver prescription medicines free of charge to patients.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to review the funding formula for local authorities to increase the distribution of funding provided to communities in rural areas, in the context of levels costs for providing services in sparsely populated areas.

After years of delaying much needed fair funding reform, we will update and improve the approach to funding allocations within the Local Government Finance Settlement by redistributing funding to ensure that it reflects an up-to-date assessment of need and local resources.This will start with a deprivation-based approach in 2025-26 with additional funding targeted to the places that need it most. Broader redistribution of funding will follow through a multi-year settlement from 2026-27.We will be publishing a policy statement in late November, where we will set out our intentions for reform of the local government finance system.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support local authorities in sparsely populated regions, in the context of varying levels of per capita costs for delivering services.

We have announced £1.3 billion of new grant funding in 2025/26 for local government to deliver core services, of which at least £600 million is for social care.After years of delaying much needed fair funding reform, we will update and improve the approach to funding allocations within the Local Government Finance Settlement by redistributing funding to ensure that it reflects an up-to-date assessment of need and local resources.This will start with a deprivation-based approach in 2025-26 with additional funding targeted to the places that need it most. Broader redistribution of funding will follow through a multi-year settlement from 2026-27.We will be publishing a policy statement in late November, where we will set out our intentions for reform of the local government finance system.

What steps he plans to take through social care reforms to help (a) reduce waiting times for and (b) increase access to care services in rural areas.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing individuals’ care and support needs and, where eligible, for meeting those needs. Where individuals do not meet the eligibility threshold, they can get support from their local authorities in making their own arrangements for care services, as set out in the Care Act 2014. Local authorities have a further duty to shape their care markets and commission a diverse range of care and support services that enable people to access quality care.The majority of grant funding for adult social care is distributed to local authorities using the Adult Social Care Relative Needs Formula. This is designed to account for factors that affect the differences in the need for, and cost of, adult social care services that are outside of local authorities’ control, including population, income and wealth, informal care support, wages and prices, and population sparsity.We recognise that there are challenges in adult social care. Lord Darzi’s report indicated a growing gap between requests and those receiving publicly funded care, and some people are waiting too long to get the care they need. Long-term reform is needed in adult social care, and we will work with the sector to create a sustainable care system across all constituencies that supports people to live independent and dignified lives.In the short term, the Government is providing at least £600 million of new grant funding for social care in 2025/26, as part of the broader estimated real-terms uplift to core local government spending power of approximately 3.2%. We will set out further details at the Local Government Finance Settlement.In addition, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) local authority assessments consider the performance of the delivery of Care Act 2014 duties. If the CQC identifies that a local authority has failed or is failing its functions to an acceptable standard, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has powers to intervene. The CQC has published twelve local authority ratings and reports.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the current funding model on rural constituencies.

The majority of public funding for police forces in England and Wales is provided by the Home Office and is agreed by the House of Commons on an annual basis at the police funding settlement. Each year the Home Office produces a Police Grant Report which is published and voted on by Parliament and contains grant funding allocations for the following year to be paid out under the Police Act 1996.The funding formula used for distributing Home Office Police Main Grant divides funds between different activities that the police undertake. A portion of total funding is also distributed according to population sparsity, to address the specific needs of rural forces. A copy of the most recent Grant Report for 2024-25 has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and can be found online:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65b913a1ee7d49000d9849d4/E03063051_-_Police_Grant_Report__England_and_Wales__24-25_Accessible.pdfAs announced at the Autumn budget 2024, the settlement will increase the core government grant for police forces in 2025-26 and help support frontline policing levels across the country, force level funding allocations for the financial year 2025-26 will be confirmed at the forthcoming police funding settlement. Funding for future years beyond 2025-26 will be set out in phase 2 of the Spending Review.

What steps her Department is taking to accelerate the rollout of public charging points.

The Government is committed to accelerating the roll-out of charging infrastructure so that everyone, no matter where they live or work, can make the transition to an electric vehicle (EV). As of 1 November, there are over 71,000 publicly available charging devices in the UK. The Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund supports local authorities in England to work with industry to transform the availability of EV charging for drivers without off-street parking and will support the installation of tens of thousands of local chargers. The Government confirmed in the October 2024 Budget that it will continue to support the uptake of EVs by investing over £200 million in 2025/26 to accelerate chargepoint rollout.