Written questions by Gilmour.

What steps her Department is taking to help support rural (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools and (c) further education colleges to recruit (i) sustainable and (ii) adequate levels of staff.

High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child and young person’s outcome in schools and colleges. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child. This is why the department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new teachers across secondary and special schools and in our colleges over the course of this Parliament.The government is announcing a 4% pay award to school teachers and leaders, accepting in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s pay recommendation and doing so earlier than at any point in the last 10 years. This comes on top of the 5.5% pay award that we announced last July which has resulted in early improvements in recruitment and retention and has put us on course to meet the pledge. Over 2,000 more people are training to become secondary school teachers this year and recruitment is on track to improve even further for the cohort set to start training in 2025/26, with 1,070 more acceptances to postgraduate and teacher degree apprenticeship initial teacher training courses in secondary subjects by the end of April 2025, compared to the same time last year. Additionally, over 2,500 more teachers are expected to stay in the profession over the next three years.The department is doing more to continue to improve recruitment and retention. We have increased funding for training bursaries to £233 million in 2025/26, worth up to £29,000 tax-free, and initial teacher education apprenticeships to attract trainees in key subjects such as maths, physics and equivalent subjects in further education (FE) such as construction. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department is also offering a targeted retention incentive worth up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools and technical subjects in all FE colleges, including rural and coastal areas.As part of our recruitment and retention strategy, it is vital that we improve the day to day experience of teachers and ensure that teaching is once again a respected and attractive profession that teachers remain and thrive in. We are supporting teachers to reduce their workload and improve their wellbeing, and enabling greater opportunities for greater flexible working.To provide targeted regional support, including for rural areas, the department has established a network of 87 Teaching School Hubs across the country. The Hubs provide approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers and play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training, the Early Career Framework and National Professional Qualifications.We want to empower FE colleges to recruit the right teachers and subject specialists for their local areas. Our national FE recruitment campaign is targeted to raise awareness, improve perceptions and understanding, and increase consideration of a career in FE amongst industry professionals, and supports professionals to find FE jobs in their area.We have specific programmes to support these industry experts start their careers in FE. Taking Teaching Further (TTF) is a two-year programme that supports FE providers to recruit and provide early career support to those with the relevant knowledge and/or industry experience to retrain as FE teachers, aiming to boost the quality and industry-relevance of teaching.We are also investing over £400 million more in 16-19 education in the 2025/26 financial year and have made approximately £50 million of this funding available to colleges for April to July 2025 to respond to current priorities, such as recruitment and retention.

If his Department will make an assessment of the suitability of the appointment of General Sir Gwyn Jenkins as First Sea Lord.

General Jenkins is a proven leader with a distinguished career in both the military and at the core of Government. He brings with him a wealth of operational and organisational expertise and he will continue the modernisation of the Royal Navy, ensuring it can meet future threats and continue to safeguard our nation’s security and prosperity. As with all Defence appointments at this seniority, there was a rigorous selection process involving a panel with the Secretary of State, the Permanent Secretary, a Non-Executive Director and an independent panel member. Final approval to appoint was granted by the Prime Minister and the King.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of restoring the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund in the forthcoming spending review.

The government is investing an extra £680 million for mental health services, recruiting 8,500 extra mental health workers. Through our Plan for Change, we will tackle the mental health crisis and give every child a healthy start to life.The adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) will continue to complement other important services, including the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and our expanded access to mental health support teams in schools.This year we will be funding Adoption England to develop multi-disciplinary teams in more Regional Adoption Agencies, jointly with health and education partners, so adoptive families can get holistic joined up support.All funding after March 2026 is subject to decisions in the next spending review. However, we recognise and value the positive impact of the ASGSF in supporting adoptive and kinship families and its importance to many.The department was not able to consult organisations before the recent announcement, due to the need to open the fund for applications as soon as possible for the benefit for children. I regularly meet with adoption stakeholders, including recently meeting with the charity Adoption UK and, separately, with the department’s Adopter Reference Group, where we discussed the ASGSF.

What assessment her Department has made of the capacity of (a) children and adolescent mental health services and (b) other services to support adopted and kinship cared children, in the context of the reduction of the Adoption and special guardianship support fund.

The government is investing an extra £680 million for mental health services, recruiting 8,500 extra mental health workers. Through our Plan for Change, we will tackle the mental health crisis and give every child a healthy start to life.The adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) will continue to complement other important services, including the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and our expanded access to mental health support teams in schools.This year we will be funding Adoption England to develop multi-disciplinary teams in more Regional Adoption Agencies, jointly with health and education partners, so adoptive families can get holistic joined up support.All funding after March 2026 is subject to decisions in the next spending review. However, we recognise and value the positive impact of the ASGSF in supporting adoptive and kinship families and its importance to many.The department was not able to consult organisations before the recent announcement, due to the need to open the fund for applications as soon as possible for the benefit for children. I regularly meet with adoption stakeholders, including recently meeting with the charity Adoption UK and, separately, with the department’s Adopter Reference Group, where we discussed the ASGSF.

With which organisations her Department held discussions on changes to the level of funding provided through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.

The government is investing an extra £680 million for mental health services, recruiting 8,500 extra mental health workers. Through our Plan for Change, we will tackle the mental health crisis and give every child a healthy start to life.The adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) will continue to complement other important services, including the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and our expanded access to mental health support teams in schools.This year we will be funding Adoption England to develop multi-disciplinary teams in more Regional Adoption Agencies, jointly with health and education partners, so adoptive families can get holistic joined up support.All funding after March 2026 is subject to decisions in the next spending review. However, we recognise and value the positive impact of the ASGSF in supporting adoptive and kinship families and its importance to many.The department was not able to consult organisations before the recent announcement, due to the need to open the fund for applications as soon as possible for the benefit for children. I regularly meet with adoption stakeholders, including recently meeting with the charity Adoption UK and, separately, with the department’s Adopter Reference Group, where we discussed the ASGSF.

If she will make an estimate of the (a) length in number of applicants and (b) duration of time of the backlog in Personal Independence Payment awards for appeals where a decision was previously made.

As of April 2025, a total of 8,900 appeals are currently in progress. This figure has been rounded to the nearest 100. DWP is not solely responsible for appeals wait time. Appeals are lodged by claimants with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), which the claimant may take up to 13 months to do. DWP then have 28 days to respond to the appeal when notified by HMCTS. DWP will either lapse the appeal and overturn the initial decision if new evidence allows or uphold the original decision and provide a written response as to why the decision cannot be revised. After this the time taken to list the appeal is dependent on HMCTS, who run tribunal hearings. For clearances made in the Financial Year 23-24, the median time between an appeal being lodged and DWP’s response was 5 weeks. For those cases who had a tribunal hearing, the median time between an appeal being lodged and tribunal hearing was 34 weeks. Data for Financial Year 23-24 was used to ensure reasonable time has passed for an accurate assessment of the time between an appeal lodgement and clearance within DWP.

Food and Rural Affairs, what the average time was between a pollution discharge notification and a public bathing water quality warning being issued during the 2024 season.

The Environment Agency (EA) does not record the time between notifying a Local Authority of a pollution incident that may affect a bathing water and how long it then takes the Local Authority, who have the responsibility for notifications being put up at bathing waters, to relay this to bathers. Discharges from water company assets are reported directly through their regional storm overflow maps as well as being collated and displayed in near real time via the National Storm Overflow Hub. The EA does not have records of what information Local Authorities choose to provide to bathers in response to this discharge information. The EA provides information to bathers, via the Swimfo website, of any pollution incidents that may affect a bathing water. Operational procedures specify that duty officers receiving information on pollution incidents consider displaying these via Swimfo if they have the potential to affect a bathing water as part of the incident recording. When this is done Swimfo will display these warnings within a couple of minutes.

What data his Department holds on confirmed cases of waterborne illness linked to exposure to (a) Salmonella and (b) Leptospira at UK bathing waters since 2020.

There have been no reported outbreaks of salmonella spp. associated with recreational water use in the time period requested since 2020.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes surveillance of Salmonella spp. infections. No information is available on the suspected cause of gastrointestinal infection for individual cases, unless salmonellosis cases are epidemiologically linked to an outbreak.The UKHSA also undertakes routine surveillance for leptospirosis infections in humans, and publishes a quarterly report on the common animal-associated infections, with further information available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/common-animal-associated-infections-2024/common-animal-associated-infections-england-second-quarter-2024#leptospirosisExposure history is not well reported by cases. Water sources may be in the United Kingdom or abroad, and do not necessarily reflect where the infection was acquired. The following table shows the most recent figures of confirmed cases of leptospirosis in each quarter, from Quarter one of 2020 to Quarter two of 2024:Year20202021202220232024Confirmed leptospirosis cases5154527030Potential exposure to water source181716216

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of beach closures caused by pollution on tourism in coastal communities.

DCMS recognises the importance of clean and accessible beaches to the tourism offer in coastal communities.For too long, water companies have discharged unacceptable levels of sewage which affect coastal beaches.That is why the Water (Special Measures) Act will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry and the Independent Water Commission will make recommendations to shape further action to transform how our water system works and clean up our waterways for good.As part of Price Review 2024 (PR24), water companies will be delivering over £11 billion to improve nearly 3,000 storm overflows across England and Wales which OfWat expects will reduce storm overflow discharges by 45% by 2030, compared to 2021 levels. Water companies are prioritising investment at storm overflows near Bathing Waters, with improvements being delivered at them all by 2035.”While DCMS has not conducted a specific assessment of the impact of beach closures caused by pollution on tourism, we continue to engage with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which leads on water quality, to ensure that the environmental health of coastal areas supports a thriving tourism sector. Moreover, it stands to reason that if tourists feel our beaches aren’t safe or clean, this will impact tourism figures.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with water companies on expanding the usage of community testing.

The Environment Agency (EA) engages with citizen science groups on a site-by-site basis regarding bathing waters along with water companies who do the same. The EA uses citizen science data to provide supplementary insights. Citizen science initiatives focused on sewage and wider catchment pressures include Riverfly, The Big River Watch, Great UK WaterBlitz, and SmartRivers.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help increase social housing supply through the Spending Review.

The government will set out set details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for social rent.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to reduce the cost of temporary accommodation for local authorities through the Spending Review.

At phase 1 of the Spending Review the Government announced a £233 million increase for homelessness services, taking total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26. This includes the largest-ever investment in prevention services, enabling councils to intervene earlier with targeted support, preventing homelessness before it happens and reducing reliance on expensive, ill-equipped temporary accommodation.As part of this investment, the Government is working with 20 local authorities with the highest levels of B&B use for temporary accommodation through a new programme of Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots. The £8 million programme will test innovative approaches and kickstart new initiatives to reduce the reliance upon the most expensive and least suitable forms of temporary accommodation.Future funding for homelessness services is subject to the outcome of phase 2 of the Spending Review.

What estimate she has made of the potential cost to the public purse of (a) food insecurity and (b) economic hardship.

It is unacceptable that people are falling into hardship and using foodbanks. This is why we have committed to tackling poverty and ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels. Our plan for Making Work Pay and our Get Britain Working White Paper, alongside our work to develop our Child Poverty Strategy, will ensure better outcomes for families whose lives are damaged by poverty as well as supporting the delivery of our missions on economic growth and opportunity. We have taken action to help those facing hardship through the increase in the National Living Wage from April, the extension of the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments in England and Wales in 2025/26 and the introduction of the Fair Repayment Rate from April.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of restricting permitted development rights for (a) caravans and (b) temporary installations on agricultural land to cases where planning permission has been granted for a dwelling.

The government continues to keep permitted development rights under review.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of the Strategic Outline Business Case by West Somerset Railway for linking Bishops Lydeard and Taunton.

The Government believes that local authorities are best placed to decide on, and take forward, transport schemes that will most benefit their local areas. The Department does not currently have any plans to take forward development of Bishops Lydeard and Taunton. The Department has reached out to the Local Authority to meet with them to discuss this scheme.

What steps his Department is taking to increase levels of funding for research into essential tremors.

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR is supporting research that involves essential tremors and has awarded £2,814,334 for related studies in the last five years. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of health and care, including essential tremors, and research topic proposals can be made to the NIHR via the following link: https://www.nihr.ac.uk/get-involved/suggest-a-research-topic Funding applications to the NIHR 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.

What steps his Department is taking to help people with arthritis to stay physically active.

Guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the diagnosis and management of osteoarthritis recommends therapeutic exercise for all people with osteoarthritis that is tailored to their needs and that is part of a wider structured treatment package. It advises that for people with osteoarthritis, long-term adherence to an exercise plan can help to reduce pain and increase functioning and quality of life. The guidance is available at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng226More widely, the Government and the National Health Service recognise the important role of physical activity in the prevention and management of long-term health conditions, including arthritis. The NHS Better Health Campaign promotes ways for adults, families and children to move more, and signposts people, including those living with long term conditions who are ready to build movement into their routine, to digital support like the NHS Active 10 walking app.Local authorities and the NHS also promote and provide services for people living with long term conditions, such as exercise on referral and social prescribing, including access to physical activity interventions, falls prevention and walking groups.The Department, with Sport England, has delivered support and training to equip healthcare professionals to enable patients to move more to improve their physical and mental health. Sport England continues to support work in this area through the Physical Activity Clinical Champions programme, which is currently being piloted in local areas.NHS England is working closely with partners nationally and locally to explore how the NHS might galvanise support to make physical activity a core part of NHS care to benefit patients, NHS staff, and the wider public.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the number of sewage discharges into waterbodies in Tiverton and Minehead constituency; and what steps he is taking to ensure that companies are accountable for those spills.

For too long, water companies have discharged unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas. That is why we are placing water companies under special measures through the Water (Special Measures) Act. The Act will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector. Storm Overflows are strictly regulated by the Environment Agency (EA). Where breaches are found, EA will not hesitate to hold companies to account. The Tiverton and Minehead constituency is served by both South West Water and Wessex Water. As part of Price Review 2024 (PR24), which runs from 2025–2030, water companies will be delivering record levels of investment. This includes South West Water delivering £764 million and Wessex Water delivering £580 million of investment on storm overflows, continuous water quality monitoring, and event duration monitoring. Beyond the Water (Special Measures) Act, we are also carrying out a full review of the water sector. The Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, will make recommendations to shape further action to transform how our water system works and clean up our waterways for good. A public Call for Evidence closed on 23 April, with all interested parties invited to share their views. The review's final recommendations will be published and shared with the UK and Welsh Governments this summer.

What steps he plans to take through the 10 Year Health Plan to support community pharmacies.

The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and community pharmacies will have a big role to play in that shift.As part of the work to develop a 10-Year Health Plan, we have been carefully considering policies, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our partners, including from the community pharmacy sector.

Whether his Department plans to publish (a) an arthritis action plan and (b) other disease-specific action plans following publication of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.

There are currently no plans to publish an arthritis action plan following the publication of the 10-Year Health Plan.Services for those with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, including arthritis, are commissioned locally by integrated care boards (ICBs). The Department expects MSK services to be fully incorporated into integrated care system planning and decision-making.As announced in the Get Britain Working white paper, we are delivering the joint Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England Getting It Right First-Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. With a £3.5 million funding boost, GIRFT teams will deploy their proven Further Faster model to work with ICB leaders to further reduce MSK community waiting times, including for those with arthritis, and improve data and metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services.To support health and care professionals in the early diagnosis and management of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, and in the provision of services for people living with arthritis, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published expert guidance for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, with further information on both available, respectively, at the following two links:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng100https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng226