NHS England does not commission services from the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Funding for the centre is provided by the Leeds Hospital charity service. Therefore, neither NHS England, nor the Department, have made an assessment of the effectiveness of the centre.

NHS England commissions specialised services for neurology, which includes MND. There are 27 specialised neurology centres in England, eight of which are in London, three of which are in the south-east, and two of which are in the south-west.

In August 2025, NHS England published a revised service specification for specialised adult neurology services. It outlines a number of minimum service requirements for key specialties, including neuromuscular disorders like MND, and is avaiable at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/specialised-neurology-services-adults-service-specification-august-2025.pdf

There are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with MND, including the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit. NHS England has also established a Neurology Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme, which has developed a new model of integrated care to support integrated care boards to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including those with MND.

In 2024-25, the Ministry of Defence’s expenditure in Scotland per capita was £390. In comparison, the expenditure per capita was £1,120 in the South West, £810 in the South East, and £330 in London.

The Defence Industrial Strategy will support further investment into the defence industry in Scotland through initiatives such as the Defence Growth Deals, alongside other programmes such as the Type 26 Warship partnership with Norway, the biggest ever warship export deal by value, creating over 2000 jobs in Glasgow. We also signed the landmark Unity defence contract in January, creating at least 200 jobs in Scotland.

The Government is considering reforms through the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) to transition to a secure and decarbonised electricity system at lowest cost and pass through the benefits of cheaper renewables to consumers.

We will provide an update in due course.

The previous government consulted on various options to reform the electricity market and the government has committed to making a decision by the middle of 2025. We are developing further analysis to determine the impact of zonal or reformed national pricing on different consumers, geographical locations and businesses, working closely with the Department for Business and Trade.

The fundamental quantitative analysis will include scenario modelling of the electricity system to understand the wide-reaching impacts of market reforms. This will produce estimates of changes in the total electricity system cost and distributional consequences for consumer bills. This analysis will inform the final decision on market reform in mid-2025.

The Department is not aware of any evidence that the proximity of army barracks to a premises impacts energy suppliers’ ability to install smart meters.

The Oxford-Cambridge Arc represents a strategic growth corridor with the potential to facilitate sustainable economic, social, and environmental development for the region, and its impact on the transport system is multi-modal. It is recognised that additional analytical work will be necessary to comprehensively assess the interdependencies and areas of alignment with parallel studies, including the M4 to Dorset corridor study.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer provided to Dame Caroline Dinenage on 19 November 2024. The list of projects to receive Government funding in 2025/26 will be consented in the usual way through Regional Flood and Coastal Committees, with local representation – in order that allocations are confirmed before the start of the financial year.

When engineering work takes place, it is the responsibility of the train operators to ensure the provision of rail replacement bus services, via their contracted suppliers.

My Department does not hold the information on these costs at a granular level.

There are no current plans to make this specific assessment. NHS England publish quarterly data on how many people are waiting for an autism assessment, and for how long, by local area. The data provides useful information to support local areas to identify local demand.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population in line with relevant guidance, including assessments and services of support for autistic people.

In 2021, Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership published the Autism Strategy for Surrey (2021-26). Sussex Health and Care Integrated Care System have been implementing the Sussex All Age Learning Disability and Autism Strategy (2021-2024) since 2021.

The Provider Collaborative for Wessex and Dorset, responsible for Hampshire, are working in partnership with relevant ICBs on Dynamic Support Registers to ensure young people are assessed at an early point and there are timely interventions that will prevent escalation. Additionally, where gaps in commissioning are identified, system partners are working together to address these.

The information requested is not available. The Department does not collect data on care settings places for autism only. The following table shows data on total capacity in care homes that are able to serve users with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder.

Source: The CQC Care Directory data as of 1 March 2023.

The Environment Agency regularly monitors and reports on soil moisture deficit (a measure of how dry soils are) within its water situation reports:

Water situation: national monthly reports for England 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

(1) Soil moisture deficit is assessed on a weekly basis to track the recovery of soil moisture from the hot and particularly dry conditions earlier this summer. The latest assessment for the week ending 25 October 2022 for the southeast indicates that soil moisture deficits are now improving with the wetter conditions. This means that rainfall will start to penetrate and recharge the abnormally low groundwater levels developed through the drought conditions. However, it will still require above average rainfall this winter for groundwater and reservoir stocks in the southeast to fully recover.

(2) We are aware of the concerns around the dry conditions and lack of moisture in soil for autumn drilling, although rainfall was welcomed in September and October which has aided with the establishment of oilseed rape and the drilling of winter cereals.

We are keeping the situation under close review, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG), which was set up by Defra and the Devolved Administrations to monitor the United Kingdom’s market situation across all key agricultural commodities. We have also recently increased our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real-time intelligence.

Border Force does not routinely publish this level of data, relating to the number of customs interdictions undertaken by government officials in the UK, and at specific geographic locations or ports.

A number of different factors influence housing demand, and officials monitor a wide variety of indicators to assess trends in housing demand, both at a national and sub-national level. We have previously published analysis on the determinants of house price changes which shows the scale of the effect of, for example, household growth:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/699846/OFF_SEN_Ad_Hoc_SFR_House_prices_v_PDF.pdf

My officials regularly liaise with the Office for National Statistics, who provide estimates of population and household formation which take account of factors such as population demographics.

The reason that, in just 10 days’ time, we on this side of the House are getting Brexit done is so that we can drive growth across our United Kingdom. From Clacton to Caithness, from Holyhead to Hull, we will be investing millions of pounds in communities, not least £2.5 million in the coastal community of Clackers.

Thank you for calling me, Mr Speaker, and may I say how lovely it is to see you in your place?

The Government’s aim of creating a level economic playing field between the north and the south is laudable and much needed, but can the Minister assure me that, in the rush to create this much-needed equality, we will not overlook deprived coastal areas in the south, such as some in the Clacton constituency which have been overlooked so often in the past?

As part of its initial assessment of water company business plans for the period 2020-2025, the economic regulator, Ofwat, announced that it would make available up to £358 million to companies for planning and pre-construction development of strategic regional water supply options, which may be delivered over the next 5 to 15 years. This funding is for pre-construction activities and not a commitment to construct. Of this £358 million, approximately £109 million is expected to be allocated to planning and pre-construction development of a South East Regional Strategic Reservoir. The rest of the funding is for development of alternative options for meeting the future water needs of the South East.

This funding will be made available through a gated process and Ofwat will claw back funding where a water supply option does not progress. Ofwat expects water companies to set out in revised business plans by 1 April, how they will work together to develop strategic supply options, how they meet the gated process and costs of completing works to achieve those gates, and how funding will be clawed back where schemes fail to achieve their milestones to the expected quality.

Strategic water resources solutions will be subject to public scrutiny through the statutory water resources management planning process and the planning regime, which will include the Planning Act 2008 processes for nationally significant water resources infrastructure.

As part of its initial assessment of water company business plans for the period 2020-2025, the economic regulator, Ofwat, announced that it would make available up to £358 million to companies for planning and pre-construction development of strategic regional water supply options, which may be delivered over the next 5 to 15 years. This funding is for pre-construction activities and not a commitment to construct. Of this £358 million, approximately £109 million is expected to be allocated to planning and pre-construction development of a South East Regional Strategic Reservoir. The rest of the funding is for development of alternative options for meeting the future water needs of the South East.

This funding will be made available through a gated process and Ofwat will claw back funding where a water supply option does not progress. Ofwat expects water companies to set out in revised business plans by 1 April, how they will work together to develop strategic supply options, how they meet the gated process and costs of completing works to achieve those gates, and how funding will be clawed back where schemes fail to achieve their milestones to the expected quality.

Strategic water resources solutions will be subject to public scrutiny through the statutory water resources management planning process and the planning regime, which will include the Planning Act 2008 processes for nationally significant water resources infrastructure.

As part of its initial assessment of water company business plans for the period 2020-2025, the economic regulator, Ofwat, announced that it would make available up to £358 million to companies for planning and pre-construction development of strategic regional water supply options, which may be delivered over the next 5 to 15 years. This funding is for pre-construction activities and not a commitment to construct. Of this £358 million, approximately £109 million is expected to be allocated to planning and pre-construction development of a South East Regional Strategic Reservoir. The rest of the funding is for development of alternative options for meeting the future water needs of the South East.

This funding will be made available through a gated process and Ofwat will claw back funding where a water supply option does not progress. Ofwat expects water companies to set out in revised business plans by 1 April, how they will work together to develop strategic supply options, how they meet the gated process and costs of completing works to achieve those gates, and how funding will be clawed back where schemes fail to achieve their milestones to the expected quality.

Strategic water resources solutions will be subject to public scrutiny through the statutory water resources management planning process and the planning regime, which will include the Planning Act 2008 processes for nationally significant water resources infrastructure.