In the last 12 months the following number of Coastguard Rescue Officers have left the Coastguard Rescue Service – Coastguard Rescue Officers leave the service for a variety of reasons:

Changing the Coastguard Rescue Service operating model was not something which we wanted to do but is a mandated consequence of the Court of Appeal ruling.

Public safety remains our priority and careful consideration was given to the options for a revised operating model. The legal position, the operational implications, and the wider organisational impact have all been looked at in detail, as well as the views of current Coastguard Rescue Officers (CRO). They were clear that serving their community was a major reason why they volunteer. Protecting volunteering preserves a valuable form of public service. The revised model protects choice, flexibility and the ability for people to serve alongside their primary employment. As a result, the decision was made to move to a new model with expenses but no hourly remuneration. This will be implemented in September 2026.

In the 24 months to June 2023, 1,099,769 adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the Northeast and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), the equivalent to 46% of the population. This figure is 10% higher than the year before, as in the 24 months to June 2022, 996,298 adults were seen by an NHS dentist.

On 7 February 2024, we published Faster, simpler, and fairer: our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry, which is backed by £200 million, and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments. The plan sets out our actions to improve dental access for patients across the country, and to address the challenges facing NHS dentistry, including in Easington.

A New Patient Premium is supporting dentists to take on new patients, and since the end of January, nearly 500 more practices have said they are open to new patients. We have further supported dentists by raising the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate to £28 this year, making NHS work more attractive and sustainable.

From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all ICBs across England. The Northeast and North Cumbria ICB is responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need, and determine the priorities for investment across the ICB area.

Activity in National Health Service dentistry is measured by the number of Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) commissioned and delivered, and by the number of courses of treatment delivered, rather than by the number of appointments. Data on the number of UDAs commissioned and delivered is published each month on the NHS Business Services Authority Open Data Portal, which currently holds data up to February 2024, and is available at the following link:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/english-contractor-monthly-general-dental-activity

Data on the number of courses of treatment delivered in 2022/23, and in previous years, is published by NHS Digital, and available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics

As at June 2023, the total number of members of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme in the Easington constituency was 3,563. The breakdown by former miners and former miners’ widows is not available.

There were 21 physical pharmacies on 31 December 2023 in Easington constituency. Between 31 December 2019 and 31 December 2023, two pharmacies closed in Easington constituency. However, access remains good. 85 percent of the population in Easington live within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy. This exceeds the national average of 80 percent. Residents of Easington can also access services from distance selling pharmacies that operate nationally.

It is the statutory duty of local authorities in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards have regard to those assessments when commissioning services and where a pharmacy closure impacts on the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.

Data on dialysis that takes place at home is not collected centrally. The following table shows dialysis in English National Health Service hospitals as well as English NHS-commissioned activity in the independent sector for patients resident in the Easington constituency:

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England

The UK Government is investing £13.9 billion in Levelling Up projects to improve everyday life for people across the UK. Through interventions such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Community Renewal Fund, amongst others, the Government is supporting local communities to transform the places where they live.

County Durham has benefited from a range of funds totalling almost £100 million that will bring significant benefits to the whole area, including the constituency of Easington. The funds referenced in my answer on 11 December are allocated to local institutions at different geographies including the County Durham authority area and wider, depending on the nature of the fund. This funding mix allows local organisations to determine the areas and priorities to direct investment towards their key priorities

In July 2022, we announced a package of reforms to improve access to National Health Service dentistry, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care. NHS dental activity as measured by Courses of Treatments delivered has increased by 23% between 2021/22 and 2022/23 and 1.7 million more adults saw an NHS dentist in 2022/23 compared to the previous year, an increase of 10%.

But we know we need to do more, including in some areas where access is particularly problematic. We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will be published shortly.

From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. The Northeast and North Cumbria ICB dental commissioning team, which covers Easington constituency, continues to work closely with local dental networks as well as with providers to explore all opportunities to increase capacity and improve access to local dental services. Local practices that have the capacity to deliver additional clinical sessions outside of their normal opening hours have access to additional funding to provide treatment to patients with urgent dental care needs, looked after children, and patients with complex high care needs.

The information requested is not held centrally.

National Health Service dental practice profiles at NHS.UK show whether practices across England are currently accepting new patients. This information is available at the following link: https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist

The information requested is not held centrally.

The information requested is not held centrally.

According to the independent website thinkbroadband.com, the estimated mean upload speed in the Easington constituency during the third quarter of 2022 stood at 20 Mbps. This is slightly lower than the national average of 22 Mbps across the UK. These averages are derived from crowd-sourced data and it is worth noting that users may not opt for the fastest speeds available when selecting a broadband package.

Almost 99% of premises in the Easington constituency are able to access superfast broadband (>=30Mbps), which meets the vast majority of everyday requirements such as high definition streaming and video calling on multiple devices. This is higher than the national average. I am also pleased to share that 74% of premises in the Easington constituency can access a gigabit-capable connection, which is ahead of the national average of 72%.

Further improvements to broadband speeds in the Easington constituency will be delivered as part of our £5 billion investment in Project Gigabit, which is upgrading and future-proofing network infrastructure for decades to come. Easington is included in Project Gigabit’s North East England regional procurement, which covers up to an estimated 53,000 premises and has an indicative contract value of £82 million. Building Digital UK (BDUK) plans to award a contract between April and May next year.

Alongside direct Government investment, we have created a competition-friendly environment in areas where deployment is commercially viable. As a result, there is now a thriving market of over 80 providers investing nearly £35 billion rolling out gigabit broadband all over the UK.

According to the independent website thinkbroadband.com, the estimated mean download speed in the Easington constituency during the third quarter of 2022 stood at 90 Mbps. This is slightly lower than the North East regional average of 96 Mbps and the UK average of 95. These averages are derived from crowd-sourced data and it is worth noting that users may not opt for the fastest speeds available when selecting a broadband package.

Further improvements to broadband speeds in the Easington constituency will be delivered as part of our £5 billion investment in Project Gigabit, which is upgrading and future-proofing network infrastructure for decades to come. Easington is included in Project Gigabit’s North East England regional procurement, which covers up to an estimated 53,000 premises and has an indicative contract value of £82 million. Building Digital UK (BDUK) plans to award a contract between April and May next year.

In addition to our Project Gigabit procurements, we are providing additional support through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher scheme to support rural communities across the UK with the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections. Through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme and its previous iterations, we have issued over 100,000 vouchers worth more than £214 million.

Projects under the previous Superfast Broadband Programme in the North East covering Durham, Northumberland and Newcastle benefitted from UK Government funding of £24 million, alongside £24 million from the local authorities, £2 million European funding and £26 million from suppliers, to upgrade over 170,000 premises to superfast speeds over the lifetime of the programme. BDUK also delivered a Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) project in the North of Tyne area, with more than £5.8 million in government funding.

At national level, spend through BDUK on broadband in each of the last five years is as follows:

According to the independent website www.thinkbroadband.com, the estimated mean download speed in the Easington constituency during the third quarter of 2022 stood at 90 Mbps. This is slightly lower than the average of 96 Mbps in the North East, and UK average of 95 Mbps. It should be noted that these estimates are derived from crowd-sourced data and that users may not opt for the fastest speeds available when selecting a broadband package.

I am pleased to share that almost 99% of premises in the Easington constituency can already access superfast broadband and just over 74% of premises can access a gigabit-capable connection. This is higher than the national averages of over 97% and 72% for superfast and gigabit-capable, respectively.

We are investing £5 billion through Project Gigabit to enable hard-to-reach communities across the UK to access lightning-fast gigabit-capable broadband. Project Gigabit is focused on connecting homes and businesses that are not included in broadband suppliers’ commercial rollout plans.

The constituency of Easington is included in Project Gigabit’s North East England regional procurement, which covers up to an estimated 53,000 premises and has an indicative contract value of £82 million. Building Digital UK (BDUK) plans to award a contract between April and May next year.

Eligible premises in Easington can also receive gigabit-capable connections through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. We recently announced an increase in the value of these vouchers so that new projects can receive as much as £4,500 towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband in rural and particularly hard-to-reach areas.

This information is not collected in the format requested.

This information is not held in the format requested.

This information is not held in the format requested.