Written questions by Babarinde.

What steps his Department is taking to support veterans in (a) Eastbourne and (b) the South East.

This is a Government of service that will always stand up for those who serve our country, no matter which community they are based in. Across the country, including in Eastbourne and across the South East, a wide range of support is available for Armed Forces personnel as they transition into civilian life. The Veterans Welfare Service is a first port of call for veterans and their families if they are facing challenges and provides support on a wide range of issues. For support with employment, the Career Transition Partnership is the initial point of provision for those leaving military Service and Op ASCEND is the employment pathway for veterans. Across England, Op RESTORE and Op COURAGE provide physical and mental health specialist services. Housing support is available across the United Kingdom via Op FORTITUDE, a single referral pathway connecting veterans with support. We recently announced VALOUR, a new commitment to establish the first-ever UK-wide approach to veteran support, which will ensure easier access to essential care and support for veterans across the country. A new regional approach, based on a network of VALOUR recognised support centres and regional field officers, will help to ensure that services are designed to meet the needs of their local communities. Further details on VALOUR will be announced in due course and more information can be found at the following link:  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/valour-information-and-next-steps

What steps his Department is taking to increase levels of cleanliness in hospitals in Eastbourne.

Cleanliness in hospitals is integral for patient safety and to ward off infections. We expect all National Health Service hospitals, including in Eastbourne, to follow the National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025, which were published in February 2025. The standards apply to all healthcare organisations, and are available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/national-standards-of-healthcare-cleanliness-2025/

What steps his Department is taking to reduce A&E waiting times in Eastbourne.

The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years and is committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the NHS Constitutional standard across England, including in Eastbourne.Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out a fundamental shift in the approach to urgent and emergency care. It will drive collaboration across the system to deliver improvements for patients this year, and is backed by nearly £450 million of capital investment.Furthermore, our 10-Year Health Plan sets out how we will reduce waiting times in accident and emergency by shifting care into the community through new neighbourhood health services, forming a key part of our mission to reform the National Health Service.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reduce the number of empty retail units and (b) help regenerate high streets in (i) Eastbourne and (ii) other towns.

This government is taking several steps to reduce empty retail units and regenerate high streets in Eastbourne and other towns across the country. Eastbourne will benefit from up to £20 million over 10 years through the £1.5 billion Plan for Neighbourhoods programme announced in March, which aims to regenerate local areas, including high streets in deprived areas.Additionally, the government is tackling vacancy with High Street Rental Auctions, giving local authorities the power to auction rental rights of persistently vacant commercial properties. We are also legislating through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill for a new Community Right to Buy, enabling communities to acquire valued assets. These measures will help revive footfall, boost local economies, and empower communities.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure pupils are able to access high quality meals in schools in (a) Eastbourne and (b) the South East.

To ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, the department is acting quickly with experts across the sector to revise the school food standards, so every school is supported with the latest nutrition guidance. School governors and trustees have a statutory duty to ensure compliance with these school food standards. To improve understanding of the school food standards and give governing boards confidence to hold their school leaders to account, the department, along with National Governance Association, developed an online training course on school food for governors and trustees.Additionally, the department has announced that we are extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. Giving half a million more children access to a nutritious meal during the school day will lift 100,000 out of poverty and lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning they get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.

What steps his Department is taking to increase the number of dentist appointments in Eastbourne.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most.The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Eastbourne constituency, this is the NHS Sussex ICB. ICBs have been asked to start making extra urgent dental appointments available from April 2025. The NHS Sussex ICB is expected to deliver 26,546 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.ICBs have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive 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 and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support libraries in Eastbourne.

Public libraries are funded by local authorities and each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources. The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 requires the Secretary of State to “superintend and promote the improvement of the public library service provided by local authorities in England”. To assist this function the department regularly monitors local authority library service provision. I understand that as at 31 December 2023 the statutory library provision delivered by East Sussex County Council was 17 local authority-run static libraries. Two of these static libraries are located in the Eastbourne constituency: Eastbourne and Hampden Park. We are committed to ensuring that funding is targeted effectively at the places and services that need it most and allocated in a way that empowers local leaders to deliver against local priorities. Recent decisions taken at the Spending Review result in an average real terms increase in local authority core spending power of 2.6% per year between 2026-27 to 2028-29.

What steps his Department plans to take to support hospices in Eastbourne.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England, to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. The funding will help hospices to provide the best end of life care to patients and their families, in a supportive and dignified physical environment. The first £25 million tranche of that funding, which Hospice UK kindly allocated and distributed to hospices throughout England, has been fully spent by hospices on capital projects. From this first tranche of funding, St Wilfrid’s Hospice in Eastbourne received £179,191. Demelza Hospice Care for Children, which is the closest children’s hospice provider to Eastbourne, received £242,135. The second tranche of funding, consisting of £75 million, will be allocated in the coming weeks for use in 2025/26. In addition, we are also providing £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the children and young people’s hospice grant. Demelza Hospice Care for Children will receive an allocation of £1,750,000 for 2025/26.

What steps his Department is taking to improve hospital food for patients in Eastbourne.

Access to nutritious, tasty, and aesthetically pleasing hospital food can improve patient morale and contribute to their recovery.All National Health Service trusts, including in Eastbourne, are expected to follow the NHS National Standards for Healthcare Food and Drink. There are eight mandatory standards all trusts are required to meet. This includes having a food and drink strategy and demonstrating that they have suitable food service provision, which is appropriate for their demographic, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Further information on the NHS National Standards for Healthcare Food and Drink is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-standards-for-healthcare-food-and-drink/

What steps his Department is taking to increase access to addiction support in Eastbourne.

The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need, and we recognise the need for evidence-based, high-quality treatment.As a condition of the Public Health Grant, local authorities are responsible for improving the take up of, and outcomes from, their drug and alcohol treatment services, based on an assessment of local need and a plan which has been developed with local health and criminal justice partners. In addition to funding through the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26, the Department is providing East Sussex County Council with £3,095,946 from the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Improvement Grant and £168,422 from the Individual Placement and Support grant to help improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery support, which includes housing and employment. In the 12 months to May 2025, there were 2,791 adults who had benefited from treatment in East Sussex, compared to 2,657 in the 12 months to May 2024.This year, the Government is providing an additional £70 million for local authority-led Stop Smoking Services in England, building on existing funding made available via the Public Health Grant. Additional funding for Stop Smoking Services is based on the number of smokers in each local authority, and East Sussex County Council has been allocated an extra £710,734 for 2025/26.All funding is provided at the East Sussex level, and it is for East Sussex County Council to determine how to meet needs in Eastbourne.In April 2025, a new statutory levy on gambling operators, expected to raise approximately £100 million per year, was introduced to fund the research, prevention, and treatment of gambling-related harms. The levy will be distributed across the three workstreams, with 50% allocated to NHS England, alongside appropriate bodies in Scotland and Wales, to commission the development of effective treatment and support services at national and sub-national levels.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support grassroots sports clubs in Eastbourne.

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. This funding builds upon the additional £100 million that was announced for the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in March. Details regarding funded projects can be found via the recently updated 2024/25 project lists, which are publicly available here - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/multi-sport-grassroots-facilities-programme-projects-2024-to-2025 - and is also available in the Library of the House.The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sports and health club facilities in England, through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.We will now work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, and then set out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.

What steps his Department is taking to increase the number of available general practice appointments in Eastbourne.

The Government is determined to work with the National Health Service to fix the front door of our health service and ensure that everyone can access general practice (GP) appointments and services, including in Eastbourne. Through our 10-Year Health Plan, it will be easier and faster to see a GP. The 8:00am scramble will end, we will train more doctors, and we will guarantee digital consultations within 24 hours. In October 2024, we invested £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to support the recruitment of 1,900 individual GPs into primary care networks across England, helping to increase appointment availability and improve care for thousands of patients. We have also delivered the biggest boost to GP funding in years, an £889 million uplift, with GPs now receiving a growing share of National Health Service resources. Additionally, the new £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund will create additional clinical space within over 1,000 practices across England. This investment will deliver more appointments and improve patient care.

Steps his Department is taking to support patients with (a) Type 1 and (b) Type 2 diabetes in Eastbourne.

NHS Sussex has made notable progress in recent years in tackling the growing challenge of diabetes, with a strong focus on prevention, equity, and modernisation of care pathways. NHS Sussex is committed to commissioning the diabetes care that people need, and has a range of services available. With rising prevalence, particularly among those under 40 years old, prevention is a strategic priority. A range of nationally commissioned programmes are available to support people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, including: - the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme;- the type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission Programme;- the Digital Weight Management Programme; and- access to GLP-1 receptor agonists where clinically appropriate. Sussex partners are actively working to increase the uptake of these offers, particularly in high-inequality and underserved populations. In 2024/25, Sussex launched a multi-agency initiative to co-design a structured education programme tailored for people under 40 years old with type 2 diabetes, an increasingly prevalent yet underserved group. In 2025/26, this work will shift to a neighbourhood level delivery model, enabling enhanced reviews and improving access to bespoke, community embedded education, especially for those in high-need areas. In Eastbourne, a specialist diabetes care service is provided at Eastbourne District General Hospital, complemented by a general practice led locally commissioned service to support primary care delivery. Building on this, NHS Sussex is co-designing an integrated, all-age, whole-pathway model for diabetes care across Sussex. This model will: - embed prevention throughout the pathway;- align with Integrated Community Team structures;- leverage the diabetes technology revolution, for instance remote monitoring, diagnostics, and digital coaching;- reduce variation in access and outcomes; and- support a resilient and retained specialist workforce, through robust training and multi-disciplinary team development In the first year of the hybrid closed loop (HCL) roll-out, Sussex achieved approximately 80% uptake among eligible children, young people, and high-risk adults with type 1 diabetes. In the second year, the rollout will expand to additional national priority groups in line with NHS England’s guidance. Workforce planning is fully embedded in this process to ensure sustainable, equitable access to HCL technology across the system. NHS Sussex continues to make progress and remains fully committed to improving outcomes, reducing variation, and delivering person-centred, future-ready diabetes care for people across Eastbourne and the wider Sussex system.

Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help improve levels of digital literacy in the South East.

The Government published its Digital Inclusion Action Plan, which outlines the first five actions we are taking over the next year to boost digital inclusion in every corner of the UK.These will be targeted at local initiatives for boosting digital skills and confidence, widening access to devices and connectivity, and getting support to people in their own communities. This includes improving digital literacy, increasing digital upskilling, and enhancing support for the Essential Digital Skills framework, which helps businesses and individuals to get the digital skills they need.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support music and arts programmes in (a) Eastbourne and (b) England.

For 2023 - 2026 our arms-length-body Arts Council England is investing around £444 million per annum into their National Portfolio Organisations across England. This includes nearly £550k of annual funding to the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne, which attracts over 175,000 visitors a year, and engages with over 55,000 participants a year through its learning and outreach programme. Arts Council England’s open funding programme, National Lottery Project Grants provides over £100 million of support annually to individuals and organisations, and since 2023 has invested over £600k into arts projects across Eastbourne. The government wants to ensure everyone has access to high quality arts and culture in the places they call home, and the new Creative Foundations Fund, announced in February, will invest £85 million to support arts and cultural organisations across England to resolve urgent issues with their estates. This will ensure their buildings and infrastructure will provide improved user experience for visitors and ensure they can be enjoyed by visitors for many more years to come. Guidance for the fund was published at the end of May and Arts Council England will be accepting Expressions of Interest until 25 July. With grants available from £100,000 and up to £10 million, this fund is a significant opportunity for eligible organisations across the country, including those in Eastbourne, to address their capital needs.

What steps his Department plans to take to improve access to reproductive health in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex.

Improving access to reproductive health services in Eastbourne and East Sussex is a matter for local determination.The Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception advice, through the Public Health Grant. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, and to commission the blend of service access that best suits their population.In addition, under the GP Contract, contraceptive services are an essential service that practices must provide, or arrange for the provision of, to their patients. Practices are paid for providing essential services via the global sum, which is a capitated payment based on practice patient list size, weighted to account for estimated patient workload and unavoidable costs.Contraception is also available direct from pharmacies, both prescribed and over the counter, as well as online and through other health care services.

What steps he is taking to help tackle health inequalities in (a) Eastbourne and (b) the South East.

The Government is committed to building a fairer Britain, one where people can live longer, healthier lives regardless of where they are born or their financial circumstances. Tackling health inequalities requires a whole-Government effort. The newly published 10-Year Health Plan outlines a long-term vision to tackle these inequalities, address social determinants of health, and to make the National Health Service fit for the future, with further information available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-futureIn Eastbourne and across the South East, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ South East Regional Team provides system leadership for population health and for reducing health inequalities. This includes working with local authorities and integrated care systems to develop and deliver population health programmes at a local level, supporting regional NHS priorities and long-term planning on prevention and health inequalities, contributing to the development of the public health workforce, and enhancing data, intelligence, and insights for population health.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help grow the tourism industry in Eastbourne.

The Government is implementing the most significant overhaul of regional destination management in a generation, creating a portfolio of nationally supported, strategic and high-performing Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) in partnership with VisitEngland. These LVEPs will provide strong local leadership and governance in tourism destinations all over the country, including in rural and coastal areas. The East Sussex, Brighton & Hove and West Sussex LVEP are included in this partnership, and works collaboratively with both local authority and private sector partners to communicate investment opportunities and to showcase Eastbourne’s strengths as a place to live, work, study and invest in, as well as a premier destination for visitors. DCMS continues to work with VisitBritain/VisitEngland to champion visits to the British countryside to a worldwide audience. VisitBritain’s new GREAT-funded international marketing campaign, ‘Starring GREAT Britain’, uses the hook of Britain’s rich film and television history to encourage more international visitors to explore across Britain, including many rural destinations.

What steps her Department is taking to support the uptake of apprenticeships in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex.

This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will provide greater flexibility to employers and learners across the country, including in Eastbourne and East Sussex, and support the industrial strategy.From August, the department will be introducing seven new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted sectors, including construction and the built environment, digital, and health and social care. We are also reducing the apprenticeship minimum duration to eight months so that shorter apprenticeships are possible from August. These flexibilities will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country.To support employers to access apprenticeships, the government pays £1,000 to employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18 years old, and for apprentices aged 19 to 24 years old who have an education, health and care plan or have been in local authority care. We will also provide £2,000 payments to employers for every foundation apprentice they take on and retain. Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to 25 when they earn less than £50,270 a year.

How many employers in Eastbourne accessed apprenticeship levy funds in the last financial year.

120 employers in Eastbourne accessed funding for apprenticeships in the 2024/25 financial year to support new apprenticeship starts or those continuing their apprenticeships from previous years. This figure includes levy-paying employers as well as non-levy paying employers, who are likely to be small and medium-sized employers.