Written questions by Sandher.

What steps she is taking to help improve local bus services.

This government is determined to provide better bus services for communities across the country. Our Bus Services Act will empower local authorities to improve services, and its backed by over £3 billion in funding to support local leaders and bus operators. This includes multi-year allocations, giving them the certainty they need to plan for the future.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that home-grown hydrogen fuel cell developers are supported by the (a) Modern Industrial Strategy and (b) Clean Energy Industries sector plan.

As part of the Modern Industrial Strategy, the Government’s Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan re-iterates our commitment to driving long-term, sustainable growth in hydrogen. It provides deployment certainty with clear timelines for future deployment and clarifies how Government will capitalise on the enormous growth and jobs potential. It includes our ambition to ensure hydrogen benefits from the comprehensive public finance institution support package for clean energy industries including a £1 billion Great British Energy supply chain fund and empowering the National Wealth Fund with £27.8 billion in capital.

What steps he plans to take to support the home-grown hydrogen fuel cell sector in the proposed Hydrogen strategy.

The Industrial Strategy, through the 10 Year Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan, already backs hydrogen as a frontier technology. It clarifies how Government will capitalise on the enormous growth and jobs potential. The associated Action Plan gives the green light to industry investors and the supply chain. It provides a clear deployment timeline for our hydrogen allocation rounds and announces new investment rounds and policies to turbocharge growth in the sector. Our Hydrogen Strategy, which we intend to publish in Autumn 2025, will build on this long-term infrastructure investment to realise the value of the hydrogen economy for the UK, optimising the job creation and economic benefits that brings.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the flood risk and coastal erosion risk management budget has been allocated to nature based solutions in the current financial year.

Many projects in the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Capital Investment Programme deliver a combination of nature-based solutions (NBS) and hard defences, and we do not explicitly capture the expenditure on NBS separately. Due to this, we are unable to separate spend on NBS into each financial year. For the years available, the total investment across the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Capital Investment Programme from April 2021 to March 2024 was £3.5 billion, with approximately £40.6 million spent on NBS. The total forecast investment across the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Capital Investment Programme for the current financial year, 2025/26, is £1.1 billion, with an estimated £24.8 million allocated for schemes that include NBS.

Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to implement the proposed land use framework.

The Government ran a consultation on land use in England from January to April this year. The responses to this consultation, and feedback from supporting workshops, are being analysed. These responses and outputs will inform the preparation of the Land Use Framework, which will be published in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support land owners to implement nature based solutions to (a) drainage and (b) flood management.

Farmers and landowners have an increasingly important role to play in reducing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion, through measures such as nature-based solutions (NbS). To support this the Government is investing in NbS measures, such as natural flood management (NFM), via its Environmental Land Management schemes and floods investment programme. On 3 June we launched a consultation on reforming our approach to investing in flooding and coastal erosion for communities across the country. The proposals will enable a broader range of resilience interventions and will make it easier to invest in natural flood management schemes that also boost nature, water resources and fight climate change.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much and what proportion of the Flood Risk and Coastal Erosion Risk Management budget was spent on nature based solutions in the (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25 financial year.

Many projects in the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Capital Investment Programme deliver a combination of nature-based solutions (NBS) and hard defences, and we do not explicitly capture the expenditure on NBS separately. Due to this, we are unable to separate spend on NBS into each financial year. For the years available, the total investment across the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Capital Investment Programme from April 2021 to March 2024 was £3.5 billion, with approximately £40.6 million spent on NBS. The total forecast investment across the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Capital Investment Programme for the current financial year, 2025/26, is £1.1 billion, with an estimated £24.8 million allocated for schemes that include NBS.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to bring into force the legislative provisions of schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 for the adoption of sustainable draining systems in England.

This Government is committed to requiring standardised Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in new developments. These should be to designs that cope with changing climatic conditions as well as delivering wider water infrastructure benefits, reduce run off and help to improve water quality, amenity, and biodiversity. It is also important to ensure appropriate adoption and maintenance arrangements are in place.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of undertaking a National Mesothelioma Clinical Audit to (a) identify gaps in mesothelioma care, (b) optimise allocation of resources and (c) help tackle regional inequalities in care.

Reducing unwarranted variation in cancer care and treatment is a priority for the Government. In December 2024, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care committed to developing a National Cancer Plan. The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, and will apply to all cancer types, including mesothelioma. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care, including experiences and outcomes and addressing inequalities in care. Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next 10 years. In October 2022, the NHS Cancer Programme commissioned the Royal College of Surgeons to deliver six new cancer clinical audits on primary breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and kidney cancer. These were in addition to four ongoings clinical audits on lung, bowel, prostate and oesophago-gastric cancer. The new audits, commissioned in 2022, released their first annual State of the Nation report in Autumn 2024, which is available at the following link: https://www.natcan.org.uk/audits/

What steps she is taking to increase the number of construction apprenticeships.

This government has an ambitious plan for re-building Britain, delivering 1.5 million homes in England in this Parliament. Around 5,000 more construction apprenticeship places will be made available per year by the 2027/28 financial year thanks to an £140 million industry investment to get Britain building again. 32 new Homebuilding Skills Hubs will deliver fast-track training in critical areas such as bricklaying, groundwork, and site carpentry, to boost housebuilding and drive forward the government’s growth mission.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to expand the Flood Resilience Scheme to households which (a) have been affected outside named storms and (b) are at risk of flooding in the future.

To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining, and repairing flood defences. Included in this programme, the Environment Agency is working proactively with local authorities to deliver Property Flood Resilience (PFR) projects, where it is cost beneficial to do so, in areas where PFR is the best solution for reducing flood risk. The EA’s PFR programme is focused on reducing risk to those households and businesses at the highest risk. Separately, we continue to support those who were affected by last year’s Storms Babet and Henk thought the PFR grant scheme, which can provide up to £5000 for eligible households and businesses to install PFR measures.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Flood Recovery Framework will be activated for the flooding in Leicestershire.

My thoughts remain with householders and business owners impacted by flooding after the recent heavy rainfall, flooding is a devastating experience for all those affected.Government support in the aftermath of flooding is only provided in exceptional circumstances and at present, overall, the scale of impacts is not sufficiently significant for the Flood Recovery Framework to be activated. However, my officials continue to review impacts data and stand ready to support as appropriate.Activation of the Framework is not limited to flooding following named storms and, when activated, provides a range of support to business and households in eligible areas.

What steps his Department is taking to improve maternity services in Leicestershire.

Following Care Quality Commission inspections in January 2024, the trust has strong improvement plans in place for maternity services at the Leicester Royal Infirmary and Leicester General Hospital (LGH). Many actions from both the 2023 and 2024 inspections are already complete or well underway, with key achievements including a targeted improvement programme for Induction of Labour, and implementing a new Telephone Triage system to reduce delays and improve experience.In September and November, the University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) respectively opened a new maternity theatre and a new day assessment unit at the LGH, meaning that planned and emergency caesareans can take place in separate areas, further improving access to non-urgent appointments. The UHL have also welcomed 40 midwives, with 28 more due to start before the end of 2024. The trust has also recruited three new consultant obstetricians, alongside nine speciality doctors. The UHL have over 230 student midwives in training, and the trust is also seeing a higher proportion of permanent employees, with the turnover rate reducing to just over 7%, as of April 2024, versus 10% the previous year.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support Ukraine.

In chairing the UN Security Council on 18 November, the Foreign Secretary made clear that UK support for Ukraine is ironclad. We have stepped up the delivery of vital military equipment, led the way in investing in Ukraine’s defence industrial base, and imposed major new sanctions upon Russia. As the Prime Minister has said, we must double down and give Ukraine the support it needs for as long as it needs.

Whether his Department plans to integrate the recommendations of the Lampard inquiry into mental health services nationwide.

The Lampard Statutory Inquiry began public hearings in September 2024. The Department will await the findings of the Inquiry and will consider its recommendations once submitted by the Chair. In the meantime, we are working with NHS England to understand the factors driving poor quality and safety in inpatient and community mental health settings to ensure patients are treated with dignity and respect throughout their treatment in a mental health hospital.