Written questions by Savage.

If she will provide (a) additional resources and (b) oversight mechanisms to ensure local authorities provide educational, health and care plan assessments in a timely manner.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.The department is providing almost £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding is a 9% cash increase in funding compared to 2024/25 and will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.The department is working closely with experts on reforms, recently appointing a strategic advisor for SEND, who will play a key role in convening and engaging with the sector, including leaders, practitioners, children and families as we consider the next steps for the future of SEND reform.We want to ensure that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments are progressed promptly and, if they are needed, plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they require.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 required support. 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 must be done to ensure that local areas deliver effective and timely services.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Housing Ombudsman Service's report Special Report on GreenSquareAccord, published in October 2024, what discussions she has had with the Housing Ombudsman Service on GreenSquareAccord.

As has been the case under successive administrations, government does not normally disclose details of internal discussions.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of funding provided to Gloucestershire Constabulary for the 2024-25 financial year on frontline policing; and if she will take steps to increase that level of funding.

Gloucestershire Police received funding of up to £158 million in 2024-25. This is in addition to £1.3m provided for the 2024-25 pay award which was allocated outside of the police funding settlement.In 2025-26, Gloucestershire will receive up to £168.2m, an increase of £10.1m compared to last year’s settlement. This represents a 6.4% cash increase and 3.9% real terms increase.The 2025-26 funding settlement provides new funding of £200 million to kickstart the delivery of 13,000 additional neighbourhood officers, community support officers and special constables.

If she will take steps to provide additional (a) funding and (b) oversight of local authorities for the provision of education health and care plans.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.The department is providing almost £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding is a 9% cash increase in funding compared to 2024/25 and will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.The department is working closely with experts on reforms, recently appointing a strategic advisor for SEND, who will play a key role in convening and engaging with the sector, including leaders, practitioners, children and families as we consider the next steps for the future of SEND reform.We want to ensure that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments are progressed promptly and, if they are needed, plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they require.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 required support. 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 must be done to ensure that local areas deliver effective and timely services.

Whether his Department has plans to commission a review into the medicines supply market; what assessment he has made of the potential impact of price concessions on the medicines supply market; and what steps his Department plans to take to (a) support pharmacies and (b) ensure patients have access to medicines.

There are no plans to commission a review into the medicines supply market.Medicine supply chains are complex, global, and highly regulated, and there are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not specific to the United Kingdom and outside of Government control, including manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes or distribution issues, and regulatory issues. We have drawn on up-to-date intelligence and data on the root causes of medicine supply issues, with manufacturing problems being the most dominant root cause.The resilience of UK supply chains is a key priority, and the Department and NHS England are committed to helping to build long term supply chain resilience for medicines. We are continually learning and seeking to improve the way we work to both manage and help prevent supply issues and avoid shortages.The Department, working closely with NHS England, is taking forward a range of actions to improve our ability to mitigate and manage shortages and strengthen our resilience. As part of that work, we continue to engage with industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and other colleagues across the supply chain as we progress work to co-design and deliver solutions.In our assessment, concessionary prices support medicine supply by helping to ensure that when prices rise in a global market, pharmacy contractors can be paid fairly and continue to access medicines for their patients.Pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system. We are committed to expanding the role of pharmacies and better utilising the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. That includes making prescribing part of the services delivered by community pharmacists as part of the shift from hospital to community and from treatment to prevention. The Government recently resumed its consultation with Community Pharmacy England regarding funding arrangements. for 2024/25 and 2025/26.

What steps his Department is taking to (a) financially support community pharmacies and (b) support the expansion of (i) vaccination services and (ii) support for women's health and long-term conditions.

Community pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system. We are committed to expanding the role of pharmacies and better utilising the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. That includes making prescribing part of the services delivered by community pharmacists as part of the shift from hospital to community, and from treatment to prevention.Community pharmacies already play a key role in delivering a wide range of vaccine services. Currently, NHS England commission the Community Pharmacy Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Advanced Service and the COVID-19 Vaccination National Enhanced Service on a national level. The Department will keep the scope of vaccinations available in community pharmacies under review.The Government recently resumed its consultation with Community Pharmacy England regarding funding arrangements for community pharmacy across 2024/25 and 2025/26.Additionally, the Government has also launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities. The 10-Year Health Plan will also align with our priority for implementing the Women’s Health Strategy as we reform the NHS, ensuring that all women can access the care that they need.The Department also remains committed to supporting people with long-term conditions and ensuring they receive the support that they need, including referral to specialist services as appropriate. We invest in health research for long term conditions through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Medical Research Council, and UK Research and Innovation.Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning most services for people with long-term conditions. ICBs are allocated funding by NHS England to meet local needs and priorities and improve outcomes. NHS England continues to set national standards, service specifications, and clinical access policies which ICBs are expected to apply.

Whether his Department has plans to develop a pharmacy-specific workforce strategy.

Community pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system. We are committed to expanding the role of pharmacies and better utilising the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. That includes making prescribing part of the services delivered by community pharmacists as part of the shift from hospital to community, and from treatment to prevention.Community pharmacies already play a key role in delivering a wide range of vaccine services. Currently, NHS England commission the Community Pharmacy Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Advanced Service and the COVID-19 Vaccination National Enhanced Service on a national level. The Department will keep the scope of vaccinations available in community pharmacies under review.The Government recently resumed its consultation with Community Pharmacy England regarding funding arrangements for community pharmacy across 2024/25 and 2025/26.Additionally, the Government has also launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities. The 10-Year Health Plan will also align with our priority for implementing the Women’s Health Strategy as we reform the NHS, ensuring that all women can access the care that they need.The Department also remains committed to supporting people with long-term conditions and ensuring they receive the support that they need, including referral to specialist services as appropriate. We invest in health research for long term conditions through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Medical Research Council, and UK Research and Innovation.Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning most services for people with long-term conditions. ICBs are allocated funding by NHS England to meet local needs and priorities and improve outcomes. NHS England continues to set national standards, service specifications, and clinical access policies which ICBs are expected to apply.

What steps his Department is taking to support the funding model for community pharmacies, in the context of recent trends in the number of (a) service reductions and (b) pharmacy closures.

Community pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system. We are committed to expanding the role of pharmacies and better utilising the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. That includes making prescribing part of the services delivered by community pharmacists as part of the shift from hospital to community, and from treatment to prevention.Community pharmacies already play a key role in delivering a wide range of vaccine services. Currently, NHS England commission the Community Pharmacy Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Advanced Service and the COVID-19 Vaccination National Enhanced Service on a national level. The Department will keep the scope of vaccinations available in community pharmacies under review.The Government recently resumed its consultation with Community Pharmacy England regarding funding arrangements for community pharmacy across 2024/25 and 2025/26.Additionally, the Government has also launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities. The 10-Year Health Plan will also align with our priority for implementing the Women’s Health Strategy as we reform the NHS, ensuring that all women can access the care that they need.The Department also remains committed to supporting people with long-term conditions and ensuring they receive the support that they need, including referral to specialist services as appropriate. We invest in health research for long term conditions through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Medical Research Council, and UK Research and Innovation.Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning most services for people with long-term conditions. ICBs are allocated funding by NHS England to meet local needs and priorities and improve outcomes. NHS England continues to set national standards, service specifications, and clinical access policies which ICBs are expected to apply.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of repurposing Nightingale hospitals to provide temporary accommodation for elderly patients awaiting discharge.

We currently have no plans to repurpose Nightingale Hospitals to provide temporary accommodation for elderly patients who are awaiting discharge. The Nightingale Hospitals were established as temporary hospitals by NHS England as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all seven sites closed on April 2021.

Whether his Department plans to (a) review and (b) release (i) underused and (ii) surplus land to help meet housing targets in South and North Cotswolds.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is committed to reviewing its estate to ensure it is of the right size and suitable for Defence purposes, whilst supporting wider Government house building initiatives. On average, the MOD releases enough surplus land for over 3,500 new homes a year. Any new sites identified as surplus would be disposed in the usual way. As set out in December, the Government has purchased over 36,000 military homes through a landmark deal to bring the military housing estate back into public ownership. Alongside this, the Government kickstarted work on a new military housing strategy which will explore better use of MOD land to support the delivery of affordable homes.

When she plans to publish the Road Safety Strategy; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing graduated driving licences for young people in that strategy.

Whilst we are not considering Graduated Driving Licences, we absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads, and we are exploring options to tackle the root causes of this without unfairly penalising young drivers. My Department is developing our road safety strategy and will set out more details on when it will be published in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of restructuring Thames Water as a Community Interest Company.

The Government and Ofwat are carefully monitoring the situation with Thames Water, and the company remains stable. Thames Water is a private company, as such it would be inappropriate to comment any further on their corporate structure.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of funding provided to Gloucestershire Constabulary for the 2024-25 financial year on the effectiveness of frontline policing in Gloucestershire; and if she will take steps to increase that level of funding.

Gloucestershire Police’s received funding up to £158 million in 2024-25. This was in addition to £1.3m provided for the 2024-25 pay award which was allocated outside of the police funding settlement.In 2025-26, Gloucestershire will receive up to £168.2m, an increase of £10.1m compared to last year’s settlement. This represents a 6.4% cash increase and 3.9% real terms increase.The 2025-26 funding settlement provides new funding of £200 million to kickstart the delivery of 13,000 additional neighbourhood officers, community support officers and special constables.

Media and Sport, if she will make an estimate of the number of charities that will pay increased employer National Insurance contributions in financial year (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 in South Cotswolds constituency.

At the recent Budget, the government took a number of difficult decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to fix the foundations of the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability.The government recognises the need to protect the smallest businesses and charities, which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This means that more than half of businesses (including charities) with NICs liabilities will either gain or see no change next year, such as those in the South Cotswold constituency.We are also expanding eligibility of the Employment Allowance by removing the £100,000 eligibility threshold, to simplify and reform employer NICs so that all eligible employers now benefit. Businesses and charities will still be able to claim employer NICs reliefs including those for under 21s and under 25 apprentices, where eligible.Within the tax system, we provide support to charities through a range of reliefs and exemptions, including reliefs for charitable giving. More than £6 billion in charitable reliefs was provided to charities, Community Amateur Sports Clubs and their donors in 2023 to 2024. The biggest individual reliefs provided are Gift Aid at £1.6 billion and business rates relief at nearly £2.4 billion.DCMS does not hold the specific regional financial impacts of this policy. A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) has been published by HMRC, setting out the impact of the policy on the exchequer; the economic impacts of the policy; and the impacts on individuals, businesses, civil society organisations and equality impacts. The TIIN for the employer NICs changes was published on 13 November 2024.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help farmers transition from the Higher Level Stewardship Schemes to the Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship agreements.

We want to support farmers with High Level Stewardship (HLS) agreements to apply for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) or Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier when it becomes available (initially CSHT will be by invitation). To provide farmers in HLS with some certainty and continuity until they can move into the new ELM offer, we have offered extensions for farmers with expiring agreements. Those with HLS agreements expiring in 2024 have been offered 2-year extensions and those expiring in 2025 have been offered 1- or 2-year extensions. These agreement extensions will allow farmers to continue delivering land management practices in their HLS agreement without interruption to the funding they receive and to continue delivering environmental outcomes on their land. Farmers can still apply for a separate agreement in the expanded SFI offer to run alongside their existing agreement. This is possible if a farmer and their land are eligible for each scheme; if the activities or outcomes they are being paid for are compatible; and if they will not be paid twice for a similar activity or outcome on the same area of land at the same time (known as ‘double funding’). We understand for farmers with an existing HLS agreement they may be more limited in their ability to apply for an additional SFI agreement. We are very aware that some farmers wish to end their existing HLS agreement early to apply for our new scheme and we will provide more information soon about how to do this. Due to the complexity of closing agreements early, it may take some time to end an agreement and could result in a period of some months between one agreement ending and a new agreement starting.

What steps she is taking to help tackle delays in the granting of probate.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service has invested in additional staff and made system and process improvements to reduce waiting times. Management Information published by HMCTS shows, despite continued high levels of receipts, average waiting times are improving and currently stand at 5 weeks, from receipt of the documentation needed, for November 2024.Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on gov.uk via the Family Court Statistics (Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK.) and HMCTS Management Information (HMCTS management information - GOV.UK)

If he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of domestic wood burners on public health.

The Chief Medical Officer’s 2022 annual report on air pollution highlighted that wood burning, particularly in urban locations, significantly worsens local air quality and has links to asthma and poor respiratory health.The Government recognises that it is important we take action to reduce emissions from domestic burning, and the impact on the health of those in homes which burn and their neighbours. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is currently evaluating a number of options to reduce emissions of fine particulate matter, including options for reducing emissions from domestic burning. We will support the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in developing a series of interventions to reduce emissions so that everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced.

What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on steps to ease the process by which farms connect to the national grid.

The Government is working with Ofgem, NESO and the network companies to fundamentally reform the connections process and reduce unacceptable grid connection delays. These reforms, if approved by Ofgem, will remove stalled projects and accelerate connections for viable customers with viable projects, including those on farms.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's web page entitled Steve Reed speech at the 2025 Oxford Farming Conference, published on 9 Janaury 2025, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on reforming permitted development rights on farms.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to regulate property management companies to protect homeowners from (a) unprofessional practices and (b) additional charges.

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244).