Every parliamentary written question tabled by Steve Darling this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 221–240 of 527 · this parliament
Food and Rural Affairs, how many full time equivalent civil servants are working on animal welfare policy.
There are many civil servants across Defra that are responsible for multiple animal welfare policies, working flexibly according to business need. Civil Servants work across animal welfare, transforming farm animal health and welfare, wildlife and rural teams, with some responsibilities sitting across other teams.
Food and Rural Affairs, how many FTE civil servants his Department has allocated to work on the exemption scheme for dogs initially classified as XL bullies.
There are many civil servants across Defra that are responsible for multiple animal welfare policies, working flexibly according to business need. Civil Servants work across animal welfare, transforming farm animal health and welfare, wildlife and rural teams, with some responsibilities sitting across other teams.
Food and Rural Affairs, how many FTE civil servants his Department has allocated to work on developing a single point of search for the microchip database for (a) dogs and (b) cats.
There are many civil servants across Defra that are responsible for multiple animal welfare policies, working flexibly according to business need. Civil Servants work across animal welfare, transforming farm animal health and welfare, wildlife and rural teams, with some responsibilities sitting across other teams.
Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs are exempt under the XL bully exemption scheme.
As of 17 June 2025, 56,346 XL Bully dogs are registered with a Certificate of Exemption.
Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been allocated to animal welfare in the Spending Review 2025.
This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. The Prime Minister announced that we will be publishing an animal welfare strategy later this year. The allocations for projects and programmes will be set now following the Spending Review. This will build on the support already available through the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, which includes access to testing for priority diseases and advice to continually improve the health, welfare and productivity of farmed animals through funded vet visits.
Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the dangerous dogs control scheme in Calgary, Canada.
The Government has reconvened the Responsible Dog Ownership Taskforce to explore measures to promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. As part of this work, the taskforce may look at international models of dog control. We look forward to receiving its findings and recommendations in due course.
What steps her Department is taking to help reduce the educational instability that children in care face.
The department is committed to ensuring that looked-after children are supported to succeed in education and achieve positive outcomes. We recognise the critical importance of continuity and stability throughout a looked-after child’s life.Under the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review guidance and regulations, the child’s social worker should do everything possible to minimise disruption to their education. School changes should be minimised, and any transitions well-planned and supported. Where a change to a child’s educational arrangements is unavoidable, their personal education plan should set out arrangements to minimise disruption to education, especially during exam periods and other critical periods in their education.The government is introducing measures, including through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to rebalance the market, improve regulation and commissioning of placements. The department is also investing £2 billion over this parliament to give more children a safe, loving home, including expanding the children’s home estate, delivering more foster care placements and helping keep families together by providing targeted support before problems escalate.These measures will provide greater placement availability, stability and ensure that, where it is in a child's best interests, they are placed closer to home.
What assessment he has made of the potential merits of refusing new (a) oil and (b) gas developments at (i) Rosebank, (ii) Jackdaw and (iii) other potential oil and gas fields.
Neither the Secretary of State nor I will be commenting on the specifics of individual projects such as Rosebank and Jackdaw in order to avoid potentially prejudicing any future regulatory decisions the Secretary of State is required to make in relation to these projects.
If she will make it her policy to provide financial support to (a) Eat That Frog in Torbay and (b) other community organisations which are support hubs for those who are (i) disabled and (ii) neurodivergent to ensure their long-time viability.
The relationship between the department and Eat that Frog, as with all providers, is through the funding of learners through an agreed, published funding methodology. The department does not fund institutions/providers core costs, as the funding is driven by the learner funding methodology. In this case, as a Specialist Post-16 Institution (SPI), Eat that Frog is funded through the high needs funding methodology which is a combination of funding directly from the department and funding from the learners’ local authority, through their dedicated schools grant.Some of the programmes and support provided through Eat that Frog is outside the scope of departmental funding, for example employment support, and therefore their remit is much wider than that of the department.
Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of collecting data on the (a) length and (b) frequency of gaps in education for children in care that are the result of placement moves.
The department recognises the need to improve the data available about children’s social care, including making it more relevant to the experience of children and young people during periods of change.A core part of this work includes understanding the data needs of the children’s social care sector as a whole and scoping ways in which data gaps may be addressed over time. This year the department has published new statistics on stability measures for children looked after, providing further insight on school, placement and social worker stability for these children, here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/stability-measures-for-children-looked-after-in-england/2024.Existing statutory data is collected for children missing education, school attendance, and children in care. However, it is not yet possible to accurately link these datasets to obtain the information requested, as the children missing education data is collected at a local authority level, while data for children looked after, and school attendance is collected at a child level. Addressing data gaps in children’s social care will be a long-term endeavour due to the need to agree data standards and definitions, as well as redesign local authority and departmental systems before rolling out nationally.
What steps her Department took with Torbay Unitary Authority to help ensure the adequacy of consultation to reduce the number of moderate learning disability placements at Combe Pafford School Torquay.
As the relevant local authority, Torbay Council is responsible for keeping provision for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) in their area under review. They are also responsible for determining how many high needs places, funded at £10,000 per place, should be available at special schools in their area.Torbay Council concluded that there is less need for special school places for children with moderate learning difficulties and asked for the number of high needs places in Combe Pafford School to be reduced for the 2025/26 academic year.Local authorities should undertake detailed work to forecast the number of places they and neighbouring authorities will need in the forthcoming academic year. They should consult with their schools and colleges to plan where new placements will be needed, although this is not mandatory. The department understands that such consultations with Combe Pafford School commenced in January 2024.
Whether capital funding has been allocated to South Western Ambulance Service for the modernisation of their estate.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the needs of their local communities, including in the South West, as they are best placed to take those decisions. Integrated care systems in the South West have been provisionally allocated a combined total of £447.9 million in operational capital funding, including primary care business-as-usual capital, for 2025/26, to be prioritised according to local needs.In addition to the system allocation, ICBs and providers in the South West region have been provisionally allocated £82.6 million from our £750 million Estates Safety Fund to deliver vital safety improvements, enhance patient and staff environments, and support National Health Service productivity in 2025/26. They have also been provisionally allocated £10 million from our Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund to support improvements in the primary care estate, boosting productivity and enabling practices to deliver more patient appointments.The Dorset ICB and providers have been provisionally allocated £7.9 million from our Estates Safety Fund for 2025/26, of which the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust will receive £1.7 million. This will fund improvements at Taunton Ambulance Station, St James Ambulance Station, Derriford Ambulance Station, and the trust’s headquarters.
Whether he plans to take steps to ensure that specialist medical services are accessible outside London.
Specialised services are typically delivered on a scale that allows for some concentration of clinical expertise and for the management of relatively small caseloads. As such, it is more likely that some patients may need to travel further to access high-quality services. Commissioners are required to review the geographic spread of patients and to reflect this in their commissioning strategies, which may include the use of remote appointments, shared care models, outreach, education and training, and support with travel and accommodation.
Whether his Department plans to increase funding into research on the (a) causes of and (b) treatments for Tourette’s syndrome.
The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).The NIHR has funded a number of research projects on Tourette’s syndrome, including the live ORBIT-UK study, which aims to translate an evidence-based online behavioural therapy intervention for tics in young people into a patient-ready digital tool, deliverable at scale within the National Health Service.The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and social care, including Tourette’s syndrome. These applications 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. Welcoming applications on Tourette’s syndrome to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.
What assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing NICE guidance for (a) Tourette’s Syndrome and (b) other tic disorders.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has established a prioritisation board that takes decisions on which topics should be prioritised for the development of a clinical guideline, in line with the criteria set out in NICE’s published prioritisation framework, and through engagement with experts and other interested parties. The prioritisation board recently considered the development of a guideline on Tourette’s and tic disorders and concluded that many of the challenges relate to service provision, where NICE guidance is likely to have limited impact. It was, however, recognised that there could be value in developing a clinical knowledge summary on this topic, and NICE is exploring this possibility further.NICE has produced guidance on suspected neurological conditions, which includes recommendations on treatment for tics and involuntary movements in adults and children. The guidance can be found at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng127/On 7 May 2025, NICE published Early Value Assessment guidance on digital therapy for chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome. The guidance states that Online Remote Behavioural Intervention for Tics, created by the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s MindTech national research centre, can be used with standard care in the National Health Service during an evidence generation period as an option to treat chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome in children and young people nine to 17 years old. Further information on the digital therapy for chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome is available at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/hte25
What plans his Department has to improve the quality of training on (a) Tourette’s syndrome and (b) other tic disorders for service providers nationally.
We will publish a new workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and to ensure the National Health Service has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it. NHS England’s Neuroscience Transformation Programme is supporting integrated care boards to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including providing care closer to home.NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and RightCare Toolkits aim to improve care for patients with neurological conditions by reducing variation.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has produced a range of guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of neurological conditions for use by healthcare professionals and commissioners. NICE guidance ensures that patients are cared for in a consistently evidence-based way.
What plans his Department has to increase the number of specialist practitioners (a) researching and (b) treating Tourette’s Syndrome.
We will publish a new workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and to ensure the National Health Service has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it. NHS England’s Neuroscience Transformation Programme is supporting integrated care boards to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including providing care closer to home.NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and RightCare Toolkits aim to improve care for patients with neurological conditions by reducing variation.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has produced a range of guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of neurological conditions for use by healthcare professionals and commissioners. NICE guidance ensures that patients are cared for in a consistently evidence-based way.
What criteria her Department plans to use to determine when to end Universal Credit reassessments for people who are incapable of ever working.
Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill legislates that those who meet the Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC) will not be called for reassessment for Universal Credit (UC). The Severe Conditions Criteria are set out in the Bill, which was introduced to the House on 18 June 2025 and can be found here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0267/240267.pdf
What estimate she has made of the number of people who are (a) incapable of ever working and (b) will no longer have Universal Credit reassessments.
The Department for Work and Pensions has not made a formal estimate of the number of people who are incapable of ever working. However, we recognise that a proportion of claimants receiving health-related benefits have severe or lifelong conditions that significantly limit their ability to engage in work. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill sets out that those who meet the Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC) will not be called for future reassessments for Universal Credit (UC). We estimate that over 200,000 people will be covered by this exemption in 2029/30. This comprises:106,000 people in the ESA Support Group, who have met the SCC as of January 2025, but some will move to UC over the coming years.56,000 people who are existing recipients of the UC Health element, 6,000 of whom are also in receipt of ESA, as of January 2025. This number will fluctuate prior to implementation of the policy in April 2026.71,500 people who we expect to flow on to the UC Health element and meet the SCC after April 2026. Further details can be found in The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill: Impact Assessment (May 2025).As outlined in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, the Department intends to make changes to both the UC health element and the reassessment process. While final decisions are yet to be made, the Government has committed to ensuring that people with severe or terminal health conditions, such as those meeting the SCC or the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL), will not be subject to routine reassessments. The Department is currently consulting on these proposals, and further detail will be provided following the conclusion of the consultation period on 30 June 2025.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the merits of incorporating targeted cattle-based testing, enhanced slurry management, and wildlife vaccination from the Gatcomb project into its TB eradication strategy.
Work is underway on a comprehensive new bovine tuberculosis eradication strategy, and findings from local initiatives such as the Gatcombe farm project will be considered as part of its development.