Data is available for emergency finished admission episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. The following table shows the number of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’ for North Cornwall and England, for activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS-commissioned activity in the independent sector, for 2024/25 and provisionally for 2025/26:

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.

Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s Fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for Cornwall is available at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/Respiratory#page/1/gid/1/pat/15/ati/502/are/E06000052/iid/90933/age/314/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for assessing the needs of their population and ensuring that the relevant dental services are available. The ICB has confirmed a range of measures to increase appointment availability for local residents, including a dental van launched in 2025 that is providing treatment to vulnerable patients, those in rural communities, and those who have been waiting a long time to see a National Health Service dentist.

Community health services, including speech and language therapy, are locally commissioned to enable systems to best meet the needs of their communities.

North Cornwall Speech and Language therapist services are commissioned through the National Health Service, local authorities, educational institutions, independent providers, and the non-profit sector across multiple settings within geographical areas.

Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) workforce for Cornwall and Isles of Scilly includes:

• A (adult SLT) team of 10.95 whole time equivalent registered Speech and Language Therapy staff which support adults countywide, which include those referred from North Cornwall. The teams work across the county to give resilience, with 3.80 whole time equivalent of these registered Speech and Language Therapy staff designated to the North and East Teams.
• A (Children SLT) team of 37.60 whole time equivalent registered Speech and Language Therapy staff and one apprentice which support children countywide, the registered staff designated to the North and East of Cornwall 13.64 whole time equivalent.

We recognise the impact that long waits to access speech and language therapy can have on the individual, their families, and carers and we are working closely with NHS England to improve timely access to community health services and on actions to reduce long waits. We have also published for the first time an overview of the core community health services, in Standardising Community Health Services, which includes speech and language therapy, and that integrated care boards should consider when planning for their local populations to support improved commissioning and delivery of community health services.

The Government recognises the transport challenges faced by rural communities, including those in North Cornwall. While there are currently no plans to reintroduce rail services to North Cornwall, we encourage local authorities and transport providers, including Great Western Railway, to explore opportunities for enhancing integrated transport links, particularly between rail and bus services. For example, the new £15million Okehampton Interchange station is due to open in 2026, funded by the Government's Levelling Up Fund. This station will become a hub for trains and buses, including enabling improved bus services to North Cornwall, and improved walking and cycling links.

The government recognises the need for social and affordable housing for key workers in North Cornwall and other areas.

The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December 2024 makes clear that local planning authorities should assess the size, type, and tenure of homes needed, including for those who require affordable housing, and to reflect this in their planning policies. When identifying affordable housing need in their areas, the Framework makes clear that local planning authorities should incorporate the minimum proportion of Social Rent homes required.

The Department is aware of the safety issues at the junction between the A30 and B3257 at Plusha. National Highways is investigating a number of possible modest safety improvements for this stretch of the A30 as part of its A30 Kennards House to Five Lanes Safety Study, for possible delivery in a future Road Investment Strategy.

The Government recognises that ambulance response times, including in North Cornwall, are not meeting the high standards patients should expect.

We are determined to turn things around and our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025-26, backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, commits to reducing ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average this year.

Our 10-Year Health Plan sets out how we will reform the National Health Service, including urgent and emergency care services, with a key focus on shifting urgent care into the community through new Neighbourhood Health Services.

The Government is backing British farming. We are prioritising investment that supports the government’s Plan for Change and building on the Secretary of State’s work to reform Defra to drive growth while maintaining a steadfast commitment to farming, food security, and nature’s recovery.

We are providing farmers and land managers with the support needed to help restore nature, which is vital to safeguard our long-term food security and build resilience to climate change. There are currently record numbers of farmers taking part in farming schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive. As of April 2025, these schemes supported 885,000 hectares of arable land being farmed without insecticides; 330,000 hectares of low input grassland being managed sustainably; and 85,000 kilometres of hedgerows being protected and restored.

In the recent spending review, we committed to carrying on the transition towards paying to deliver public goods for the environment, with over £7 billion directed into nature’s recovery between 2026 and 2029. This includes environmental farming schemes (£5.9 billion), tree planting (£816 million) and peatland restoration (£85 million). We do not hold that information at a constituency level.

This Government continues to work at pace to address the transport challenges people face in rural areas like North Cornwall.

We recently announced £2.3 billion of Local Transport Grant funding for local authorities over the four-year Spending Review period. This includes more than £24m for Cornwall Council for maintenance and enhancements, such as improving public transport, improving accessibility, and making our streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

We also confirmed £900 million in annual resource funding for local authorities to maintain and improve vital bus services, such as those helping people to travel in rural areas, at the same time as extending our £3 national bus fare cap until March 2027, to continue supporting cost of living pressures.

We look forward to presenting our Integrated National Transport Strategy later this year, which will present a place-based approach to empower local leaders to make appropriate decisions for their areas, including in rural communities.

We acknowledge the urgent challenge of ensuring that rural areas such as those in North Cornwall have the resources needed to service their patients, and to ensure that patients can access primary healthcare. To address this, we are increasing capacity in general practice by recruiting primary care workforce staff such as nurses and general practitioners through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, ensuring the necessary workforce is in place to provide integrated, patient-centred services.

The government recognises the impact of low housing stock on young families in North Cornwall and other rural areas.

We are taking decisive action to boost the supply of homes of all tenures and are giving further consideration to what more we can do to promote rural affordable housing and support local authorities to respond to the pressures caused by excessive concentrations of short-term lets and second homes.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we remain committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential regardless of where they grow up.

In Cornwall, over £1.2 million was invested under the Youth Investment Fund, with Yes KBSK dance group in Bodmin receiving a £400,000 grant to provide them with a permanent home called "the Space". The group offers sessions in the performing arts and other youth work, focusing on helping disadvantaged families.

Our engagement for the National Youth Survey has proactively involved young people from rural areas, as well as other demographics. In order to reach young people in all areas of the country, we developed a communications campaign and worked with a variety of stakeholders who support young people to disseminate information. We developed a toolkit for organisations to run their own consultation workshops with young people to feed in their views. In addition to this, we have run a wide-ranging survey, workshops, focus groups and ‘hacks’ to give young people the opportunity to develop solutions.

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 healthcare workers.

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 2024 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 Cornwall Council has been allocated £10.59 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.

The Environment Agency (EA) has recruited two new Water Industry Regulation teams who are increasing regulation of water company sites in Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, undertaking more compliance checks (including unannounced inspections), translating storm overflow monitoring data into regulatory intelligence, and increasing enforcement actions for pollution incidents under the Enforcement and Sanctions policy. Inspection locations are prioritised according to environmental sensitivity, such as sites impacting bathing waters, and where EDM data is showing spills are higher than they should be. The EA increased inspections in 2024-25 and will more than double these in 2025-2026. This includes water company assets in North Cornwall constituency. It will also attend more incidents.

The EA has numerous charges relating to sewage discharges onto Cornish beaches waiting to come to court. Th EA’s duty is to hold those suspected of harming the environment to account so it will proceed with legal action.

The EA has also increased the number of farm inspections they are able to deliver. In Devon and Cornwall, dedicated farm inspection officers are currently inspecting farms and undertaking enforcement action in the highest priority catchments, including the Camel.

Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services to meet the needs of their local population, including blind and partially sighted people.

Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged. To make it easier for disabled people to use health services, there is work underway in NHS England to ensure that staff in health settings know if they need to make reasonable adjustments. This includes rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag, which enables the recording of key information about a patient, and their reasonable adjustment needs, in health records to ensure support can be tailored appropriately.

Since 2016, all National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), which details the recommended approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss, including blind and partially sighted people. NHS England has been undertaking a review of the AIS to help ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss are met in health and care provision. A revised AIS will be published in due course. In the meantime, the current AIS remains in force and therefore there should not be a gap in provision for people using services.

The Department knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families. NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of their local communities are met, including providing support for travel.

The National Health Service in England runs the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional.

Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or a Personal Independence Payment. There are also a number of charities in the United Kingdom who provide support, including financial support, for patients with cancer.

The Department of Health and Social Care has not made an estimate of the average distance travelled and cost incurred by children and young people when attending cancer appointments in the North Cornwall constituency.

On 4 February 2025, the Department relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients. The taskforce will explore opportunities for improvement, including detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience. The taskforce will also ensure that the unique needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan.

We are committed to improving capacity and access to local services across the country, including in the North Cornwall constituency. North Cornwall sits within the NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board. Since June 2024, there has been an 18.2% increase in appointments delivered, higher than the national average increase of 17.8% in the same period.

In October 2024, we injected £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to enable the recruitment of 1,000 newly qualified general practitioners (GPs) across England, which will increase the number of appointments delivered, and care for thousands of patients

The Government has delivered the biggest boost to GP funding in years, an £889 million uplift, with GPs now receiving a growing share of National Health Service resources. For the first time in four years, the General Practitioners Committee England backed the new 2025/26 contract, which includes key reforms to improve access, for instance by making sure patients can request appointments online throughout core hours.

The affordability challenges facing prospective first-time buyers mean that too many people are now locked out of home ownership. This government is determined to change that, ensuring that young families and hardworking renters can buy a home of their own.

The most sustainable long-term method to improve housing affordability and help people into home ownership is to increase the supply of housing. That is why the Government committed to deliver 1.5 million homes over the Parliament in the Plan for Change.

In addition to increasing the supply of homes of all tenures, we are committed to introducing a permanent, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme meaning first-time buyers in North Cornwall and across the country will be able to take their crucial first step on to the property ladder with only a small deposit.