Written questions by Aquarone.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of initiating a formal review of legislation that allows certified exemption of small caravan and motorhome sites from planning permission.

Under national permitted development rights, set out in Part 5, Schedule 2 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, land can be used as a caravan site in certain circumstances. The government continues to keep permitted development rights under review.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 74527 on Asylum: Staff, how many asylum decisionmakers were employed on 28 April 2025.

The number of full time equivalent (FTE) asylum caseworkers employed per month until June 2025 is published in the ASY_05(M) tab of the published migration transparency statistics, located here: Immigration and protection data: Q2 2025 (Migration transparency data - GOV.UK)At the end of April 2025, there were 1,995 FTE asylum caseworking staff. Attrition would likely occur since that time.

What steps his Department is taking to help support community-based preventative services for older people in Norfolk.

The NHS is implementing various preventative services to support older people in maintaining their health and independence. These services include:Support for frailty: The NHS Toolkit for General practice in supporting older people living with frailty offers tools to GPs and practice staff to identify and manage frailty in patients aged 65 and over.Integrated care systems: The NHS 10 Year Plan aims to move care from hospitals into communities, bringing together health and care professionals to provide proactive care and prevention services.Preventive primary care: Preventive primary care interventions are being evaluated to improve functional ability and self-rated health for older people. These initiatives are part of a broader strategy to improve the quality of care and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions for older people. The NHS is working with partners across health and social care to ensure that older people receive the highest quality care when they need it. Norfolk and Waveney ICB, working with Norfolk County Council, local authorities, the voluntary sector, and NHS providers, has established a wide range of preventative services to help older people live healthier, more independent lives. The ICB’s Protect NoW programme is tackling inequalities and improving access to health and care services through Population Health Management (PHM) and risk stratification. Projects include improving access to talking therapies, falls prevention, and the Dementia North Norfolk programme, which connects people to housing, benefits, social activities, and carers’ support. In addition, the Health Connect initiative has supported over 9,000 residents after hospital discharge, reducing the risk of readmission through practical, emotional, health, and social support.

If he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the availability of research into less survivable cancers; and what steps his Department is taking to incentivise people to undertake research into this area.

The Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).The Government is investing in new lifesaving and life-improving research to support those diagnosed with less survivable cancers. An example of this is the announcement of the NIHR’s new national Brain Tumour Research Consortium, which will bring together researchers from a range of different disciplines and institutions with the aim of making scientific advances in how we prevent, detect, manage and treat rarer but less-survivable cancers in adults and children.The NIHR continue to welcome further high-quality proposals from researchers to inform approaches to prevention, treatment and care in relation to less survivable cancers.Furthermore, the Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with rare cancers, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments. The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how the National Health Service will improve diagnosis and outcomes for all cancer patients in England, including for rare and less common cancers.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of ringfencing funding for cycle paramedic services.

No such assessment has been made.

Whether his Department has conducted any regional modelling of dental workforce planning in (a) Norfolk and (b) the East of England.

NHS England data shows that as of December 2024, 2,810 general dentists were working in the East of England, including 1,108 National Health Service full time equivalent (FTE) general dentists. The vacancy rate for NHS dentists was 17%. On the same date, 365 general dentists were working in Norfolk and Waveney, including 149 NHS FTE general dentists. The vacancy rate for NHS dentists was 18%.We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. Staff will be more empowered, more flexible and more fulfilled. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the best care for patients, when patients need it.Integrated care boards are also recruiting posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.

If he will take steps to ensure that dental patients in Norfolk will be included in NHS tie-in periods for newly qualified dentists.

It costs £200,000 of taxpayer’s money to train a dentist. We believe it is right and fair to taxpayers to expect graduate dentists to invest their skills and expertise in the National Health Service for at least some amount of time.As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will make it a requirement for newly qualified dentists to practice in the NHS for a minimum period. That will mean more NHS dentists, more NHS appointments and better oral health. We intend this minimum period to be at least three years.We will be working closely with the sector on the detail of the tie-in scheme and will consult on the detail and design of the model in due course.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of NHS tie-in periods for newly qualified dentists on access to NHS dental service.

It costs £200,000 of taxpayer’s money to train a dentist. We believe it is right and fair to taxpayers to expect graduate dentists to invest their skills and expertise in the National Health Service for at least some amount of time.As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will make it a requirement for newly qualified dentists to practice in the NHS for a minimum period. That will mean more NHS dentists, more NHS appointments and better oral health. We intend this minimum period to be at least three years.We will be working closely with the sector on the detail of the tie-in scheme and will consult on the detail and design of the model in due course.

How many payments under the dental recruitment incentive scheme have been allocated to North Norfolk constituency.

Data is not held on how many payments under the Dental Recruitment Incentive Scheme have been allocated at the constituency level. The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population is delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England.ICBs have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.Further information on the dental recruitment process can be found in guidance issued by NHS England, which is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/dental-recruitment-incentive-scheme-2024-25/

With reference to her Department's press release entitled We’re recruiting Asylum Decision Makers across the UK, published on 28 April 2025, how many asylum decisionmakers have been hired since 28 April.

The Home Office is maintaining sufficient resource in place to clear the Asylum backlog.The number of full time equivalent (FTE) asylum caseworkers employed per month until June 2025 is published in the ASY_05(M) tab of the published migration transparency statistics, located here: Immigration and protection data: Q2 2025 (Migration transparency data - GOV.UK)At the end of June 2025 there were 2,057 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Asylum Caseworking Staff.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has considered developing an invasive American signal crayfish eradication strategy in (a) England and (b) Norfolk.

American signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) are listed as Species of Special Concern and actions such as their commercial use, release into the environment and transport are banned under the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019. Signal crayfish are also subject to management measures aimed at containing and controlling their populations where possible. This means that in England this species is more closely regulated through a system of Exclusion and Containment zones to prevent further spread. Crayfish trapping in the ‘exclusion zones’ is only allowed for conservation, scientific, or fisheries management purposes, and no commercial use of any kind is permitted.Trapping of signal crayfish is allowed in the containment zones (where an authorisation has been granted), but sale of live Signal crayfish is not permitted. Crayfish must be dispatched at the place of capture or taken to a licensed processing facility. Facilities are not licensed to obtain or receive crayfish taken from exclusion zones. To reduce the threat of this species being spread further, there is a total ban on the movement of live crayfish outside of licenced activity. More information about the public consultation which led to this policy can be found here.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of visual field testing for driving license holders diagnosed with glaucoma in (a) North Norfolk constituency, (b) Norfolk and (c) England.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) vision testing supplier, Specsavers, currently has 360 stores across England that provide visual field testing for DVLA purposes. In Norfolk six stores offer this service with the closest stores to North Norfolk constituency in Norwich or Wisbech. Specsavers is contractually required to ensure that an optometrist is available within a 25-mile radius of a customer applying for a licence. Where this is not possible Specsavers engages with local independent stores to provide the necessary services (typically this has only been in the Highlands of Scotland)

Pursuant to her Answer of 21 July 2025 Question 68537 on Emergencies: Sirens, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that communities in (a) coastal areas and (b) that have limited or no phone signal receive those alerts.

The Emergency Alert system is a UK Government capability that allows time critical life saving information to be broadcast to phones within a certain area. This was introduced in April 2023, and has now been used five times. Emergency Alerts are instantaneous and the Government can send alerts directly to all compatible mobile phones within a geo-targeted area. A list of compatible mobile phones can be found on https://www.gov.uk/alerts/how-alerts-work. A second national test of the Emergency Alerts system will take place on Sunday 7 September around 3pm in the afternoon. This is just one of many capabilities available to first responders in order to warn and inform the public of a risk to life. Broadcast media including local radio and online news websites disseminate important information, and specifically for adverse weather, warning methods include flood alerts via the Flood Warning Service, Met Office weather warnings and knocking door-to-door when safe.

Pursuant to his Answer of 15 July 2025 to Question 66761 on Emergencies: Mobile Phones, what steps she is taking to support communities who have (a) no emergency sirens and (b) had their emergency sirens removed.

In the UK, we have a number of public warning and informing mechanisms that can be used in different situations when there is a risk to life. This includes the Emergency Alert system, introduced in April 2023, which has been used five times. Emergency Alerts are instantaneous and the Government can send alerts directly to all mobile phones within a geo-targeted area. A second national test of the emergency alerts system will take place on Sunday 7 September around 3pm in the afternoon. Other warning methods include flood alerts via the Flood Warning Service, Met Office weather warnings and knocking door-to-door when safe.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of HMRC confidentiality rules on the ability of the Child Maintenance Service to (a) suspend and (b) revise liability, where possible fraudulent child benefit claims are under investigation by HMRC.

To qualify for maintenance payments a child must meet the Child Maintenance Service's criteria. They must be:under 20 years of age andin full time non-advanced education or approved training, andeligible for Child Benefit. They must also be habitually resident in the UK and usually living in the same household as the receiving parent. Child maintenance defines a child the same way as Child Benefit does to offer consistency across rules. Child benefit is not used as a blunt tool in determining who may be considered a receiving parent and the CMS can consider multiple different forms of evidence when determining who is the primary carer. If a paying parent believes that the Child Maintenance (CM) liability should cease because a qualifying child (QC) no longer meets the statutory definition of a qualifying young person but checks with His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) disagree, the CM caseworker can ask the receiving parent to provide;1. verbal confirmation of the QCs status if they agree that the paying parent’s statement is correct, or2. where they disagree with the paying parent, a letter from the school or college confirming the QCs status, or3. written confirmation from an employer that the QC has started work. Where the paying parent believes that Child Benefit is claimed fraudulently, the paying parent will be signposted to report the fraud to HMRC at Gov.UK. Child Maintenance Service make automated monthly requests to HMRC asking for all children aged 16 to 19 who are included in its caseload, to establish whether Child Benefit is still in payment. The CMS has a Financial Investigations Unit (FIU), that can investigate complex cases. This is a specialist team which can investigate the accuracy of information the CMS is given by either parent.

What assessment she has made of trends in the level of case backlog at the Valuation Office Agency; and what steps she is taking to reduce this.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is working as quickly as possible to clear cases, and moving staff to where there is the greatest customer demand. The VOA is focusing on the oldest cases first, and where customers are facing financial hardship. The VOA is replacing IT systems with modern cloud-based platforms that will deliver significant efficiencies. It is also upskilling its workforce to ensure there is flexibility in managing a wide range of cases and improving its digital services to make it easier for customers to self-serve.

What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of the availability of glaucoma testing for driving license renewal in (a) North Norfolk constituency, (b) Norfolk and (c) England.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) does not require driving licence holders or applicants to be tested for glaucoma. However, drivers are legally required to inform the DVLA if they have been diagnosed with glaucoma in both eyes, or if they have been advised by their optician or optometrist that they do not meet the eyesight standards for driving. When the DVLA is notified of a glaucoma diagnosis, the driver will be referred for a visual field test. The results of this test will be used to determine whether the individual concerned meets the required eyesight standards for driving.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 62866 on Neighbourhood Plans: Finance, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of this policy on levels of council tax.

Precept levels are decided by parish councils, considering the needs of their community. The government expects parish councils to consider carefully the burden they are placing on local taxpayers.

With reference to the publication entitled UK Government Resilience Action Plan published on 8 July 2025, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the adequacy of emergency alert systems in rural areas with (a) poor and (b) no mobile signal.

Emergency Alerts are broadcast through mobile phone masts, and will be received by phones connected to the targeted masts. 95% of the UK landmass has 4G/5G coverage. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is continuing to work with the UK telecommunications industry to deliver 4G and 5G mobile connectivity to places where there is limited or no coverage. Emergency alerts are part of a collection of warning and informing systems that we use in the UK for emergency response scenarios. Other methods include local sirens and knocking door-to-door when safe, as well as providing advice through media such as TV and radio.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the funding formula on the viability of small schools in rural areas.

The government recognises the essential role that small schools play in their communities, many of which are in rural areas. The schools national funding formula (NFF) accounts for the particular challenges faced by small schools in rural areas through the lump sum and sparsity factor.In the 2025/26 financial year, the sparsity factor provides eligible primary schools up to £57,400, and all other eligible schools up to £83,400. In addition to this, all small and rural schools have benefited from the increase to core factors in the NFF in 2025/26, including the NFF lump sum set at £145,100. The lump sum provides a fixed amount of funding that is particularly beneficial to small schools, as it is not affected by pupil numbers.