Written questions by Gibson.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief at the Autumn Budget on elderly farmers.

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances in a fair way. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. Where inheritance tax is due, those liable for a charge can pay any liability on the relevant assets over 10 annual instalments, interest-free. The reforms announced by the Government are expected to result in up to around 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief paying more inheritance tax in 2026-27. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the need for improved access to mental health services for people experiencing bereavement following sudden or traumatic deaths.

No assessment has been made. It is important that anybody who wants to access bereavement support can do so. We encourage anybody that wants to access support to speak with their general practitioner in the first instance. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning the significant majority of health services in their areas, ensuring these services meet the reasonable needs of their local population. NHS England has developed guidance to support ICBs with their duty to commission palliative care services within integrated care systems. This statutory guidance states commissioners should ensure there is sufficient access to bereavement services available for families and carers, including children and young people. Additionally, every local authority now has a multi-agency suicide prevention plan in place to address the needs of people in their area, which should include suicide bereavement support services.

What recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Great Western Railway’s proposed reductions on ticket office staffing on access for disabled and elderly passengers in Wiltshire; and if she will publish that assessment.

Any changes to ticket office opening hours in relation to regulated stations covered by Schedule 17 of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA) must be made following the TSA process and Secretary of State guidance. This includes a requirement to consider the impact the change will have on those with protected characteristics. No proposal has been submitted through the TSA Process.

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of (a) early morning and (b) late evening bus services in Wiltshire for (i) shift workers and (ii) NHS staff.

The government knows that a modern public transport network is vital to keeping communities connected, and ensuring people can get to education and work, including shift workers and NHS staff. The government believes that local transport authorities, working with bus operators, are best placed to determine and design local bus networks in their area. The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December to put the power over local bus services back into the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of communities that rely on them. In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country, of which Wiltshire Council has been allocated £6.9 million. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce improvements to bus services and infrastructure to best meet the needs of passengers in their local area, which could include supporting off-peak bus services.

If she will publish the average bus punctuality rates for Wiltshire for each year since 2015.

The average bus punctuality rates (specifically, the percentage of non-frequent bus services running on time) for Wiltshire are available for each year between the year ending March 2015 and the year ending March 2024 in the Department’s published Annual Bus Statistics. This data can be found in Table BUS09a: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus-statistics-data-tables#bus-reliability-and-punctuality-bus09.

What steps she has taken to (a) support and (b) encourage the installation of more audio-visual real time information on (i) busses and (ii) trains for (A) visually-impaired and (B) hard of hearing passengers in Wiltshire.

The government is committed to improving transport services right across the country, including in Wiltshire, so they are more inclusive and enable disabled people to travel safely, confidently and with dignity. On 1 October 2024, the first phase of the Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023 came into force, meaning that newer vehicles providing local services must provide accessible audible and visible information on stops, destinations and diversions. The majority of services will need to comply by October 2026. Last year, the Department launched the £4.65 million Accessible Information Grant Scheme, to support the smallest bus and coach companies to provide audible and visible information onboard their services consistent with the Regulations. With regard to rail, as of 1 January 2022, all passenger rolling stock is compliant with modern accessibility standards, including the requirement to have a dynamic audio-visual passenger information system for the benefit in particular of vision-impaired and hearing-impaired passengers.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of Great Western Railway’s proposals to reduce (a) ticket office windows and (b) station staffing levels on passenger (i) service and (ii) safety in Wiltshire.

While ticket office opening hours are regulated through the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement process, the operation of ticket office windows and staffing levels is the responsibility of the train operator. We understand that Great Western Railway has no plans to reduce station staff in Wiltshire.

How many calls to the Pension Service helpline (a) were not answered, (b) involved the caller being on hold for more than 10 minutes and (c) were terminated by the Pension Service following the caller being on hold for more than 10 minutes in each month between January 2015 and January 2024.

DWP does not have a specific enquiry line called the Pension Service Helpline, so I have provided the data from the State Pensions enquiries line. Over the period 1 February to 30 April 2025 a total of 28,775 calls were not answered due to caller abandonment. A monthly breakdown shows February 6,696; March 16,960 and April 5,119. The percentage of calls answered over these 3 months on average shows Feb 92%, March 84% and April 94%, against an expectation of 90%. A total of 67,736 callers were on hold for more than 10 minutes with the monthly breakdown showing February 9,082, March 51,746, April 6,908. No calls were terminated by DWP. We do not hold the data before June 2023 and therefore have based our answer on the period from 1st June 2023 to 31st January 2025. In this data, calls not answered were due to caller abandonment. No calls were terminated by DWP. Date Abandoned Hold for 10 mins or more Jun-2333631Jul-2322815Aug-23922259Sep-2345634054Oct-23763411403Nov-23582810297Dec-231208366 Date Abandoned Hold for 10 mins or more Jan-24167612Feb-2465694124Mar-243407163Apr-241582929090May-2447523296Jun-24952363Jul-2419471798Aug-2428542544Sep-2431311678Oct-2434783830Nov-2436713884Dec-2423211557 The information provided here is based on internal management information which is not intended for publication and has not been quality assured to official statistics standards.

What recent representations she has received from disability and passenger rights organisations in Wiltshire on Great Western Railway’s proposed staffing reductions; and if she will publish a summary of those representations.

Great Western Railway (GWR) are not proposing any staffing reductions in Wiltshire and we have not had any representations from disability and passenger rights organisations on this subject. GWR have confirmed that they will not be bringing forward any changes to ticket office opening hours at the current time.

How many tribunal appeals were lodged against decisions made by Wiltshire Council relating to Education, Health and Care Plans in each of the last five years; and in how many cases the appeal was upheld.

Information about appeal outcomes to SEND is published at Tribunals statistics quarterly: October to December 2024 - GOV.UK, but is not broken down to the detail requested.The data requested, academic years September to August, are set out in the table below:Wiltshire Council2019-202020-212021-222022-232023-24Number of appeals lodged relating to EHCP2040666946Number of appeals upheld11939646745 (1) Is the total of cases where the appellant wins the majority of the appeal (i.e. the appellant may be successful in 2 out of the 3 sections they appeal against). It does not include those cases which were withdrawn or conceded before the hearing as the request was for the numbers upheld.The information provided has been extracted from local management information.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to regularly review the Government’s statutory guidance from 2017 in relation to supporting pupils with allergies at school.

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance on ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.The department will keep the statutory guidance under review as we take forward our commitment to delivering an inclusive mainstream system.

How many children with an EHCP in Wiltshire are currently placed in educational provision outside of the local authority area.

The department publishes local authority level information on cross border movement, which is where pupils attend school in a different local authority to the one where they live, in the following annual accredited official statistics publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2023-24.As of January 2024, there were 245 pupils with an education, health and care (EHC) plan living in Wiltshire and attending a primary, secondary or special school outside the local authority. This information does not include cases where the pupil attends an independent, general hospital school or non-maintained special school.

What recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of Bereavement Support Payments in covering the (a) immediate and (b) ongoing costs faced by bereaved families.

There has been no recent assessment of the adequacy of Bereavement Support Payment covering (a) immediate and (b) on going costs to bereaved families. The Bereavement Support Payment qualitative research published in 2021 explored how the lump sum and the monthly payments were used. Bereavement Support Payment is intended to help people through the immediate period following a bereavement. Where longer-term financial support is needed, benefits such as Universal Credit have been specifically designed to provide assistance with ongoing living costs. The rate of Bereavement Support Payment is reviewed on a discretionary basis as part of the annual uprating process, but there is no legal requirement to uprate it.

How many calls to the Pension Service helpline (a) were not answered, (b) involved the caller being on hold for more than 10 minutes and (c) were terminated by the Pension Service following the caller being on hold for more than 10 minutes in (i) February, (ii) March, and (iii) April 2025.

DWP does not have a specific enquiry line called the Pension Service Helpline, so I have provided the data from the State Pensions enquiries line. Over the period 1 February to 30 April 2025 a total of 28,775 calls were not answered due to caller abandonment. A monthly breakdown shows February 6,696; March 16,960 and April 5,119. The percentage of calls answered over these 3 months on average shows Feb 92%, March 84% and April 94%, against an expectation of 90%. A total of 67,736 callers were on hold for more than 10 minutes with the monthly breakdown showing February 9,082, March 51,746, April 6,908. No calls were terminated by DWP. We do not hold the data before June 2023 and therefore have based our answer on the period from 1st June 2023 to 31st January 2025. In this data, calls not answered were due to caller abandonment. No calls were terminated by DWP. Date Abandoned Hold for 10 mins or more Jun-2333631Jul-2322815Aug-23922259Sep-2345634054Oct-23763411403Nov-23582810297Dec-231208366 Date Abandoned Hold for 10 mins or more Jan-24167612Feb-2465694124Mar-243407163Apr-241582929090May-2447523296Jun-24952363Jul-2419471798Aug-2428542544Sep-2431311678Oct-2434783830Nov-2436713884Dec-2423211557 The information provided here is based on internal management information which is not intended for publication and has not been quality assured to official statistics standards.

What the total turnover was of the UK's low carbon and renewable energy economy for each year since 2015.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th May is attached.

How many full-time equivalent jobs there were in the low carbon and renewable energy economy in each year since 2015.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th May is attached.

If she will make an estimate of the potential impact of her Department's proposed changes to the eligibility for PIP on the number of people who qualify for (a) a Blue Badge, (b) Housing Benefit and (c) Carer’s Allowance in Wiltshire.

Changes to the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will not have an impact on Blue Badge holders as no changes are being made to the mobility component of PIP. The assessment by the Office for Budget Responsibility of the impact of the proposed changes on carers was made for England and Wales as a whole. The impacts can be found in table A4 here: Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts. Notes:There will be no immediate changes. Changes to PIP eligibility and rebalancing of UC aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from April 2026 for UC and November 2026 for PIP, subject to parliamentary approval.PIP changes will only apply at the next award review after November 2026. The average award review period is about three years. At the award review, claimants will be seen by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstances.We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. PIP is not based on condition diagnosis but on functional disability as the result of one or more conditions, and is awarded as a contribution to the additional costs which result.We also intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment which I will lead, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing compensation relating to pre-1997 pensionable service for Pension Protection Fund members to be indexed.

We are committed to consider and reflect on what we have heard on the issue of Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme rules on the indexation of pre-1997 pension accruals. Any change in this area has significant implications on public finances for both the taxpayer funded Financial Assistance Scheme and for the Pension Protection Fund which is levy-funded. These are complex matters requiring a balanced approach for those receiving compensation, levy payers and taxpayers. This is an important issue and one where we will continue to work with the Pension Protection Fund.

If she will make an estimate of the number of people with (a) musculoskeletal disorders and (b) learning disabilities who will be affected by changes to PIP eligibility in Wiltshire.

Estimates of the volumes of PIP claimants affected by the reform in the future are forecast for England and Wales only and are not broken down by Local Authority or any other geographic area, nor by specific primary health condition.After taking account of behavioural changes, the OBR predicts that 370,000 people who will be receiving PIP at the point of implementation of the four point requirement in November 2026, will have lost their PIP Daily Living entitlement by 2029/30. Of all PIP recipients at the point of implementation, 9 in 10 will not lose PIP during the subsequent 3 years from this change.The proportion of people in receipt of Personal Independence Payment daily living component who were awarded fewer than four points in all daily living activities, by local authority area, is available as part of the Pathways to Work Evidence Pack in Chapter 2, table 2.25, while data by primary health condition is in table 2.22.Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UKNotes:There will be no immediate changes. Changes to PIP eligibility and rebalancing of UC aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from April 2026 for UC and November 2026 for PIP, subject to parliamentary approval.PIP changes will only apply at the next award review after November 2026. The average award review period is about three years. At the award review, claimants will be seen by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstances.We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. PIP is not based on condition diagnosis but on functional disability as the result of one or more conditions, and is awarded as a contribution to the additional costs which result.We also intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment which I will lead, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.

If she will make an estimate of the number of people who (a) are currently eligible for PIP and (b) will not be eligible for PIP following her Department's proposed changes to the assessment criteria for that benefit in Wiltshire.

Estimates of the volumes of PIP claimants affected by the reform in the future are forecast for England and Wales only and therefore have not been broken down by Local Authority or any other geographic area. After taking account of behavioural changes, OBR predicts that 370,000 people who will be receiving PIP at the point of implementation of the four point requirement in November 2026, will have lost their PIP Daily Living entitlement by 2029/30. Of all PIP recipients at the point of implementation, 9 in 10 will not lose PIP during the subsequent 3 years from this change. The proportion of people in receipt of Personal Independence Payment daily living component who were awarded fewer than four points in all daily living activities, by local authority area, is available as part of the Pathways to Work Evidence Pack in Chapter 2, table 2.25. Notes:There will be no immediate changes. Changes to PIP eligibility and rebalancing of UC aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from April 2026 for UC and November 2026 for PIP, subject to parliamentary approval.PIP changes will only apply at the next award review after November 2026. The average award review period is about three years. At the award review, claimants will be seen by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstances.We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. PIP is not based on condition diagnosis but on functional disability as the result of one or more conditions, and is awarded as a contribution to the additional costs which result.We also intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment which I will lead, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.