Written questions by Gilmour.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the ability of rural communities to contact emergency services in the event of a prolonged power cut following BT’s move from copper landlines to digital voice services.

The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks from the industry-led migration of the copper based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for everyone across the UK, including rural communities. In 2024/25, there were over 2,600 major incidents on the PSTN, each affecting 500 or more customers.In November 2024, the Government secured additional safeguards from the telecoms industry. These include the provision of free battery back-ups for vulnerable and landline dependent customers to ensure access to emergency services for at least one hour in a power outage. Many communication providers have gone further, providing battery back-ups with 4-7 hours of battery life.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of the UK’s readiness for war.

As set out in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, we are increasing national warfighting readiness to deter threats to UK and our interests. This includes transforming the Armed Forces to ensure they are more lethal, reversing the 14 years of hollowing out and underfunding this government found when it came into office.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the business rates model on rural pubs that have been rescued and are operated by volunteers in local communities; and what steps she is taking to ensure that non‑viable pubs, kept open because of the efforts of volunteers to preserve them, are not taxed for volunteering.

The Government has announced a £4.3 billion business rates support package to protect ratepayers from large overnight increases in bills. In addition, the Government is introducing permanently lower multipliers for eligible RHL properties. These are worth almost £1 billion per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties. On top of this, pubs and live music venues will also benefit from 15% off their new business rates bills, ahead of their bills being frozen in real terms for a further two years. Three-quarters of pubs will see bills flat or falling in April. The new relief is worth £1,650 for the average pub next year. As a sector pubs will pay 8% less in business rates in 2029 than they do right now. Pubs in rural areas may also benefit from either Rural Rate Relief or Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR). Rural Rate Relief aims to ensure that key amenities are available and community assets are protected in rural areas. It provides 100% rate relief for properties that are based in eligible rural areas with populations below 3,000. Around a third of properties in England pay no business rates because of SBRR. The Government will also launch a review which will explore how pubs are valued for business rates.

If he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of funding allocated for research into chronic pain disorders.

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) including research into chronic pain disorders. Between 2020/21 and 2024/25, the NIHR invested £39.4 million in direct research funding in this area. Further information on that research can be seen at the following link: https://nihr.opendatasoft.com/pages/homepage/ The NIHR provides an online service called Be Part of Research, which promotes participation in health and social care research by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest. At the current time, there are 41 studies actively recruiting for participants on many aspects of chronic pain. Further information is available at the following link: https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/results/search-results?query=chronic%20pain&location= The NIHR’s infrastructure also provides support for the country’s leading experts to develop and deliver high-quality translational, clinical, and applied research that is funded by the NIHR’s research programmes, other public funders of research, charities, and the life sciences industry, including many aspects of chronic pain. Further information is available at the following link: https://nihr.opendatasoft.com/explore/dataset/nihr-infrastructure-supported-projects/table/?q=Chronic+Pain&disjunctive.centre&disjunctive.pi_full_name&disjunctive.research_theme&disjunctive.financial_year&disjunctive.infrastructure_scheme

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will consider the merits of the development of an environmental quality standard for water for either Fipronil or Imidacloprid.

Environmental quality standards (EQS) are fundamental to the effective assessment and regulation of chemical impacts. This commitment has already been made in the roadmap produced by the Cross Governmental Pharmaceuticals in the Environment group. The Government has set out its new vision for water through a White Paper published on 20 January 2026. The White Paper sets out once in a generation reforms that will transform the water system for good. It sets out how we will deliver on our promise to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas – not just for today, but for generations to come. We have committed to explore setting new ambitious overarching targets for the water environment. In the meantime, we continue to work towards our obligation to secure continuous improvement for the water environment.

If he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the provision of NHS-funded programmes for pain management, with particular relevance to those designed for chronic pain conditions.

The Department recognises the significant impact that chronic pain has on individuals and the importance of ensuring that National Health Service‑funded pain management services are effective, accessible and evidence‑based. Integrated care boards (ICBs) commission a range of multidisciplinary pain management programmes across primary, community, and specialist care to help people manage persistent pain. These services include pharmacological and non‑pharmacological interventions, such as physiotherapy, psychological therapies, and supported self‑management.When commissioning pain management services, ICBs should have regard to the chronic pain guideline published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), reference code NG193, as NICE’s evidence‑based recommendations set out nationally recognised best practice for assessing and treating chronic pain, helping to ensure that commissioned services are safe, effective, and aligned with the highest clinical standards.The Getting It Right First Time Chronic Pain workstream, introduced in 2025, is reviewing pain services across all care settings to identify unwarranted variation and improve access, equity, and outcomes for people living with chronic pain. This work is aligned with wider NHS and Government plans to promote integrated, proactive, and person‑centred long‑term condition management.Through the 10‑Year Health Plan, the Government is expanding community‑based services, strengthening multidisciplinary care models, and improving access to diagnostics and specialist input, all of which support better management of long‑term conditions such as chronic pain. These measures will contribute to improving the adequacy and consistency of NHS‑funded pain management services across England.

What steps he is taking to ensure that the Access to Work Scheme supports people with multiple sclerosis in employment.

The support that a customer will receive from Access to Work is dependent upon their needs and circumstances at the time they make an application. Case managers will use the current guidance to ensure Access to Work principles are considered when making a decision on support. All assessments are done on an individual basis with all conditions, including Multiple Sclerosis where applicable, considered as part of an individual’s application. We continue to engage disabled people’s organisations and individuals with lived experience, drawing on their insights alongside the National Audit Office’s recommendations as we take forward improvements to the scheme.

What discussions his Department has had with the Department for Science and Technology about the potential for a respiratory Modern Service Framework to strengthen the UK’s life sciences ecosystem by scaling up the adoption of new medicines and innovations for lung conditions.

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care are working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore innovation and policy prioritisation in respiratory health, including the cross‑Government alignment that may be required.

What assessment his Department has made of (a) the prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) the number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in the Tiverton and Minehead constituency compared with national averages; and what steps he is taking to help ensure respiratory health is prioritised nationally, including through the introduction of a Modern Service Framework for respiratory care.

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.Data is available for emergency finished admission episodes where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. Data for Tiverton and Minehead is shown in the table.Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sectorWestminster Parliamentary Constituency of Residence (Office for National Statistics)2024/25 (August 2024 to March 2025)2025/26 (April 2025 to November 2025, provisional)Tiverton and Minehead995790England608,449423,588Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department of Health and Social Care Fingertips website. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency, but is available at regional, county, unitary authority and integrated care board level. Information for Somerset is available at the following link:https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/Respiratory#page/1/gid/1/pat/15/ati/502/are/E06000066/iid/40701/age/163/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1The Government has committed to delivering three big shifts that our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.Through our community diagnostic centres (CDCs), we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 CDCs across the country now offer out-of-hours services, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives. This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of training for GPs and emergency healthcare staff to understand chronic pain conditions.

Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients.General practitioners are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.All United Kingdom registered doctors are expected to meet the professional standards set out in the General Medical Council’s (GMC’s) Good Medical Practice. In 2012 the GMC introduced revalidation which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice, gives patients confidence doctors are up to date with their practice, and promotes improved quality of care by driving improvements in clinical governance.To support healthcare professionals in the assessment and management of chronic pain, the NICE has published guidance on this topic, which can be found at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng193The guidance includes recommendations for healthcare professionals on how to carry out a person-centred assessment when an individual presents with chronic pain, how to develop a care and support plan for a patient with chronic pain, and how to manage flare-ups of chronic pain. The guidance also includes recommendations on both pharmacological and non-pharmacological management options for chronic pain.

If he will ensure women's health services are included in the Neighbourhood Health Service.

The 10-Year Health Plan set out our ambition for high autonomy to be the norm across every part of the country. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services that meet the healthcare needs of their local population and which have the freedom to do so, and this includes women's health hubs and delivering the direction of the Women's Health Strategy. The Government is backing ICBs to do this through significant funding, with the Spending Review 2025 prioritising health and increasing investment across the health and social care system. The Government is encouraging ICBs to further expand the coverage of women’s health hubs and supporting them to use the learning from the women’s health hub pilots to improve local delivery of services to women and girls.We have announced our commitment to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme, with 120 delivered by 2030, and with rollout starting in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest.We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations, which may include women’s health services. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in different places across the country.

What steps his Department is taking to reduce levels of burnout of NHS staff.

The health and wellbeing of all National Health Service staff is a top priority.  NHS organisations have a responsibility to create supportive working environments for staff, ensuring they have the conditions they need to thrive, including access to high quality health and wellbeing support.At a national level, NHS staff have access to the SHOUT helpline for crisis support alongside the Practitioner Health service for more complex mental health and wellbeing support, including trauma and addiction.The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will have a focus on supporting our hardworking and dedicated healthcare professionals. This includes the development of a new set of staff standards for modern employment and the roll-out of Staff Treatment Hubs that will ensure staff have access to high quality support for occupational health, including support for mental health and back conditions.

Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made on the long-term housing strategy; and when he plans to publish that strategy.

The government is making good progress on a long-term housing strategy and will publish it shortly.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to financially support upland farmers in areas such as Exmoor.

Defra is working with Dr Hilary Cottam to develop a place-based approach for what uplands communities need, co-designing solutions to specific problems. The Government recently announced the extension of the Farming in Protected Landscape (FiPL) programme until March 2029. This supports farmers and land managers in England’s National Parks and National Landscapes, including upland farmers in Exmoor National Park, to deliver projects that achieve climate, nature, people and place outcomes. The Sustainable Farming Incentive will be reformed to make it simpler and fairer. To ensure as many farmers as possible can benefit from SFI, we will begin by opening an initial window from June for small farms, and also those without existing Environmental Land Management agreements. This will be followed by a second window opening from September for all other farmers. The Farming Roadmap and the government response to Baroness Batters’ Farming Profitability Review will be published later this year, setting out wider plans to boost profitability and long-term viability. Information about agricultural scheme payments made to farmers and land managers in the Exmoor area can be found at the Find farm and land payment website.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of an increase in urgent care Units of Dental Activity on trends in the level of the provision of routine and preventative NHS dental care.

We recognise that urgent, routine, and preventative dental care is important and we are taking steps to address this.We are committed to delivering fundamental reform of the dental contract before the end of this Parliament. As a first step, on 16 December we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on quality and payment reforms to the National Health Service dental contract. The changes will be introduced from April 2026, and an impact assessment will be published. The proposals are intended to make it easier for those who need dental care and treatment by requiring all dental practices to provide an agreed amount of urgent and unscheduled care which is accessible to all who need it, irrespective of whether they have been to the practice before. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms/outcome/government-response-to-consultation-on-nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reformsWe have invested £11 million in 147 local authorities in 2025/26, alongside an innovative partnership with Colgate-Palmolive, to rollout a national targeted supervised toothbrushing programme for three to five-year-olds. This will reach up to 600,000 children targeted in the 20% most deprived areas of England to reduce inequalities.

Communities and Local Government, what support and encouragement the Government is giving to local authorities to fast-track planning applications for developments on brownfield sites.

The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that substantial weight should be given to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements to meet the need for homes and other uses. The revised Framework published on 12 December 2024 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. The definition in question can be found in the NPPF glossary on gov.uk here. The government is currently consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making. For further details about the proposed changes to national planning policy and wider funding and support, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 16 December 2025 (HCWS1187). The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of State Pension age changes for 1950s-born women on woman in Tiverton and Minehead constituency.

All women born since 6 April 1950 have been affected by changes to State Pension age. Estimates can be made using ONS 2021 Census Data on how many women born in the 1950s resided in each constituency in that year.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of support available to schools who wish to decarbonise their buildings but who currently do not have the means to do so.

The department recognises that decarbonising the school estate is an important part of meeting the government’s net zero commitments.The Great British Energy Solar Partnership (GBESP) programme is supporting 250 schools and colleges to decarbonise by investing £100 million on solar panels and other energy efficiency and net zero interventions including LED lighting and electric vehicle chargers.We are providing support for all schools and colleges to start on their journey towards net zero through our Sustainability Support Programme, which includes an online platform of guidance, tools and resources to help schools plan and deliver climate action available here: https://www.sustainabilitysupportforeducation.org.uk/.The publicly available Department for Energy Security and Net Zero commissioned schools decarbonisation guidance, along with tools and checklists developed by Energy Systems Catapult can be found here: https://es.catapult.org.uk/tools-and-labs/public-sector-decarbonisation-guidance/developing-your-strategy/schools-resource-hub/. We will be issuing guidance to school settings in spring 2026 to help schools plan future retrofit and adaptation strategies to support decarbonisation and good education outcomes using their estates effectively.

What recent progress his Department has made on implementing the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme.

The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme, with up to £150 million expected to be allocated to, or aligned with it, aims to speed up the development of new treatments for dementia and neurodegenerative conditions by accelerating innovations in biomarkers, clinical trials, and implementation. This is co-chaired by Hilary Evans-Newton CBE and Professor Nadeem Sarwar.So far, the programme has invested approximately £100 million into biomarker innovation projects, experimental medicine studies, and clinical trial infrastructure. This covers a broad range of biomarker technologies and studies to help researchers, patients, and industry partners work together to better understand how dementia begins and progresses. This amount also supports the Medical Research Council’s Dementia Trials Accelerator which aims to embed more innovation in how clinical trials are designed and delivered in order to increase the speed and quality, while driving down the cost of large-scale trials, as well as the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s UK Dementia Trials Network which seeks to speed up early-stage clinical trials.The programme is now setting up the Neurodegeneration Initiative, which will be a globally unique, not-for-profit, industry led, public-private partnership with charitable status, that will work together across the Government, industry, academia, the National Health Service, and third sector, and will deliver the programme’s remaining objectives.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the latest data on the ecological status of rivers across the UK.

The Environment Agency (EA) is preparing the next update of water body classifications which underpin river basin management plans and guide investment decisions.