The Government is funding the introduction of independent prescribing from Autumn 2026, as part of the Pharmacy First and the Pharmacy Contraception Service. These are both advanced services, which community pharmacies can opt into delivering.

There are over 3,000 independent prescriber pharmacists working in community pharmacies across England, and from September 2026 all newly qualified pharmacists can act as independent prescribers from registration. NHS England is further supporting this through fully funded national training, including prescribing and clinical skills, and by developing education supervisors.

The Government is committed to the safety and security of Jewish communities across the UK, including in Surrey, and to tackling antisemitism wherever it occurs. Everyone should feel safe to practise their faith and participate in public life free from intimidation or fear.

On 30 April, the Government announced £25 million of immediate funding for 2026/27 to strengthen policing, protect Jewish communities, and provide reassurance following the terrorist attack in Golders Green and the recent increase in antisemitic incidents. Of this, £4 million was allocated to the Jewish Community Protective Security (JCPS) Grant, bringing the total funding for the Grant to £32.4 million. This represents a record level of investment in 2026/27 to support the protection of Jewish communities. The JCPS Grant funds protective security measures at synagogues, Jewish educational institutions, and other community sites. It is administered by the Community Security Trust (CST) on behalf of the Home Office.

We continue to work closely with the police and CST to monitor threats and ensure that appropriate and proportionate protective measures are in place where they are needed.

Alongside this, the Government is taking a broad, cross-government approach to tackling antisemitism in all its forms. This includes action to address online hate through the Online Safety Act, under which platforms must take steps against illegal content, as well as wider work to support communities and strengthen resilience, including through programmes such as the Common Ground, which has received a £1 million expansion to support communities and places facing the greatest risk of antisemitism.

This Government is committed to protecting the right to peaceful protest, while ensuring public order legislation balances freedom of expression with protecting the public from serious disruption or harm. Under the Public Order Act 1986 the police have powers to manage protests, and it is for individual forces to determine the most appropriate approach based on the specific context.

The Home Office engaged with Surrey Police and the National Police Coordination Centre in relation to recent protest activity. The National Police Coordination Centre has recently received additional funding to improve its capabilities, including in relation to intelligence gathering and mobilisation to ensure it can properly support police forces in managing public order risks.

The Government is committed to supporting the mental and physical wellbeing of police officers, including during periods of heightened operational demands such as protests. We work closely with policing partners to ensure officers are properly supported. This includes continued funding for the National Police Wellbeing Service, which provides evidence-based guidance, advice, tools and resources to forces, supporting Chief Constables in their duty to safeguard the wellbeing of their workforce.

The College of Policing is responsible for recording the number of specialists trained officers in each police force, such as those with specialist training in responding to sexual offences.

The Home Secretary has instructed all police forces in England and Wales, including Surrey, to implement a specialist rape and sexual offences team by 2029. These measures will mean that by the end of this Parliament, victims and their supporters can be confident that, wherever they live police forces have the specialist skills, knowledge and capability to necessary to bring offenders to justice.

More broadly, we have committed to strengthen training on violence against women and girls for policing and are working closely with the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection to delivery this.

The Department for Transport has not made a specific assessment of the impact of speeding in Surrey on residents. Responsibility for assessing local road safety issues, including the impact of speeding, sits primarily with local authorities and police forces, who are best placed to understand local conditions, concerns and collision data.

Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning local National Health Services and contracting with providers, including in Surrey. Information is not routinely collected by the Department on the number of services outsourced to private providers in Surrey.

The Department for Transport does not hold information on the average time taken by Surrey County Council to repair reported potholes. Operational decisions on the management and repair of local roads rest with the local highway authority, which has a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. It is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances.

To receive their full share of the Governments £500m funding uplift for local highways maintenance this financial year, all local highway authorities had to publish transparency reports setting out how they comply with best practice. This included a requirement to set out how many potholes they have filled in the last five years and their plans for adopting preventative maintenance, which keeps roads in good condition for longer and stops potholes from forming in the first place.

The Urgent and Emergency Care plan for 2025/26 identifies reducing delays in hospital discharge as a key priority. Further information on the Urgent and Emergency Care plan for 2025/26 is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/

Hospitals are expected to eliminate discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by in-hospital issues, to work with local authorities to tackle the longest delays, starting with those over 21 days, and to profile discharges by pathway to support local planning. In addition to this, we published a new policy framework on 30 January 2025 for the £9 billion Better Care Fund policy framework 2025 to 2026, which requires the National Health Service and local authorities to jointly agree local goals for reducing discharge delays. Further information on the Better Care Fund policy framework 2025 to 2026 is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-care-fund-policy-framework-2025-to-2026

We are working with trusts, integrated care systems, and local authorities to share and embed best practice and to help them to use performance data more effectively to address their discharge delays. The Local Government Association has published a range of guidance documents and high impact change models to support improvements to hospital flow and discharge processes, which can be found at the following link:

https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/partners-care-and-health/better-care-fund-support-programme-2025-26

Officials held a call on 18 July 2025 with the Epsom and St. Helier Trust regarding the trust’s discharge challenges and proposed actions to improve the situation.

The Government has recognised that, nationally, the demand for assessments for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has grown significantly in recent years and that people are experiencing severe delays for accessing such assessments. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will make the National Health Service fit for the future and recognises the need for early intervention and support.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to autism and ADHD assessments, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

The Medium-Term Planning Framework, published 24 October, was explicit that ICBs and providers are expected to optimise existing resources to reduce long waits for autism and ADHD assessments and improve the quality of assessments by implementing existing and new guidance, as published.

In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for people referred to an autism assessment service. NHS England has continued to support services to identify challenges and how they might overcome these.  NHS England also established an ADHD taskforce to better understand the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including in accessing timely and equitable access to services and support. We are pleased that the final report was published on 6 November, and we are carefully considering its recommendations.

The Government has recognised that, nationally, the demand for assessments for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has grown significantly in recent years and that people are experiencing severe delays for accessing such assessments. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will make the National Health Service fit for the future and recognises the need for early intervention and support.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to autism and ADHD assessments, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

The Medium-Term Planning Framework, published 24 October, was explicit that ICBs and providers are expected to optimise existing resources to reduce long waits for autism and ADHD assessments and improve the quality of assessments by implementing existing and new guidance, as published.

In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for people referred to an autism assessment service. NHS England has continued to support services to identify challenges and how they might overcome these.  NHS England also established an ADHD taskforce to better understand the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including in accessing timely and equitable access to services and support. We are pleased that the final report was published on 6 November, and we are carefully considering its recommendations.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Epsom and Ewell constituency, this is the Surrey Heartlands ICB.

We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent dental needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from 1 April 2025. The Surrey Heartlands ICB is expected to deliver 6,585 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.

We recently held a full public consultation on a package of changes to improve access to, and the quality of, NHS dentistry, which will deliver better care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. The consultation closed on 19 August 2025. The Government is considering the outcomes of the consultation and will publish a response in due course.

We are committed to reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention, and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability. The Government is committed to achieving fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Epsom and Ewell constituency, this is the Surrey Heartlands ICB.

We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent dental needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from 1 April 2025. The Surrey Heartlands ICB is expected to deliver 6,585 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.

We recently held a full public consultation on a package of changes to improve access to, and the quality of, NHS dentistry, which will deliver better care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. The consultation closed on 19 August 2025. The Government is considering the outcomes of the consultation and will publish a response in due course.

We are committed to reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention, and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability. The Government is committed to achieving fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.

The Government wants to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most.

Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local populations and to determine the priorities for investment.

Upper tier local authorities in England, including Surrey, are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access to most sexual health services (SHSs) funded through the public health grant (PHG). In 2025/26, we increased funding through the PHG to £3.884 billion, providing local authorities with an average 6.1% cash increase and a 3.4% real terms increase, the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending.

From 2026/27, we will bring together over £4 billion of public health funding for local government by consolidating service-specific grants into the PHG. Individual local authorities are well-placed to make funding and commissioning decisions about the SHSs that best meet the needs of their local populations.

The Government is committed to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030 and is developing a new HIV Action Plan in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency, NHS England, and a broad range of system partners, which we aim to publish this year. The Action Plan will have a key objective to support the system to work better together in the delivery of SRH services.

In 2024, there was a 20% vacancy rate for NHS dentists in the Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board (ICB), which includes the Epsom and Ewell constituency. We do not hold data at constituency level. More data is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/dental-workforce/

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to ICBs across England. For the Epsom and Ewell constituency, this is Surrey Heartlands ICB.

We will deliver 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments per year, and ICBs have been making extra appointments available from 1 April 2025. Surrey Heartlands ICB is expected to deliver 6,585 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.

The Government’s ambition is to deliver fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.

Decisions on the employment of newly qualified nurses are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts, which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, universities, and regional nursing leads to ensure support is in place to help graduating nurses find a role as soon as possible after qualification and transition into the workplace.

As announced in January, Pay As You Go will be rolled out to 49 further stations in the South East, this year, including Ashtead and Leatherhead within the Epsom and Ewell constituency. This will give passengers simper, easier, and more flexible ways to travel, ensuring passengers pay the best price for the journey on the day of travel.

South Western Railway is now under public ownership, and it has been tasked with developing a detailed plan to improve performance and introduce the new Arterio fleet. This new fleet will replace the aging Class 455 fleet and improve reliability. Following the rollout of the Arterio fleet, there will be an opportunity to look at the timetable and frequency of services to Surrey.

The department has not assessed the air quality of classrooms in Surrey.

The department regularly reviews its guidance to ensure that it aligns with best practice and industry standards in order to deliver high-quality school environments.

Between January 2022 and April 2023, the department provided over 9,000 air cleaning units to over 1,300 settings that had been identified with poor ventilation. The department has published guidance on how to use CO2 monitors and air cleaning units, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-co-monitors-and-air-cleaning-units-in-education-and-care-settings.

Neighbourhood policing is the bedrock of the British policing model. Every community deserves visible, pro-active and accessible neighbourhood policing with officers tackling the issues that matter to them.

£200m has been made available to police forces in England and Wales in 2025/26 to fund additional policing personnel into neighbourhood teams. By the end of this parliament there will be 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales, including up to 3000 additional neighbourhood officers by the end of March 26.

In 2025/26 Surrey Police has been allocated £2,582,672 and has a delivery plan which sets out a projected growth of 25 newly recruited officers and 15 newly recruited special constables.

Full details of the Neighbourhood Policing Grant allocations and projections for 2025/26 can be found here: Neighbourhood policing grant allocations and projections: 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK

Every year we consult with each primary care profession about what services they will provide, and the funding providers are entitled to in return under their contracts.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services within their regions. This includes ensuring service providers are able to meet the reasonable needs of their patient population. Where necessary, ICBs can commission local enhanced services which can vary in scope and funding, to fit the needs of the patient population.