Local authorities are responsible for arranging home-to-school travel for eligible children. They use a mix of in-house services, passes for free travel on public transport and contracts with private operators and must ensure the arrangements they make are suitable for the needs of the children travelling.

Most local bus services in England outside London are run on a commercial basis where the operator decides on routes and provision, including the frequency of services and the type of vehicle used. The government is committed to improving bus services and has confirmed investment of over £3 billion until 2028/29 for local authorities and bus operators to maintain and improve bus services.

The evidence is clear that to drive improved economic outcomes, we must devolve core levers over growth – like transport, skills, employment support and strategic planning – and align these across functional economic areas in which people live and work. Decisions on future devolution, including for Wessex, will be confirmed in due course, subject to further ministerial review and local conversations.

The evidence is clear that to drive improved economic outcomes, we must devolve core levers over growth – like transport, skills, employment support and strategic planning – and align these across functional economic areas in which people live and work. Decisions on future devolution, including for Wessex, will be confirmed in due course, subject to further ministerial review and local conversations.

Regular meetings are held between officers from local authorities in Wessex and officials this Department on a range of topics important to the area, including devolution. Ministers have also exchanged views in correspondence with local leaders, in which we have been clear that decisions on future devolution will be subject to further ministerial decisions and local conversations.

Regular meetings are held between officers from local authorities in Wessex and officials this Department on a range of topics important to the area, including devolution. Ministers have also exchanged views in correspondence with local leaders, in which we have been clear that decisions on future devolution will be subject to further ministerial decisions and local conversations.

The Counter-Terrorism Policing network stretches across the UK. There are eleven regional counter-terrorism units (CTUs) and intelligence units (CTIUs) that collaborate daily to confront the threat from terrorism. The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, outlines the importance of working together with partners, including local authorities and communities, to keep us safe. For security reasons, we do not comment on specifics of partnership or operations.

The Home Office recognises the importance of this issue, and the Prevent Duty Guidance notes that “Extreme Right-Wing ideology is resurgent.”

Prevent tackles the ideological causes of terrorism and provides early intervention for people at risk of radicalisation. We work continually to ensure Prevent is ready to respond to all radicalisation risks. This includes developing our understanding of the range of factors that lead to someone being drawn into terrorism.

Prevent is run locally by experts who understand the risks and issues in their area, and how best to support their communities. These experts include local authorities, the Police, charities and community organisations.

Prevent provides funding for all local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales to address radicalisation risks through targeted projects, under the Preventing Radicalisation Fund.

In the year March 2023 to March 2024, 19% of Prevent funded projects focused solely on building resilience to Extreme Right-Wing (ERWT) ideology, and a further 57% focussed on both Islamist Extremist (IE) and ERWT ideology.

In the current funding year March 2025 to March 2026, the Home Office has received 78 project bids from local authorities. Of those bids, 15% solely focus on Extreme Right Wing ideology with a further 54% of bids covering both Islamist Extremism and Extreme Right Wing ideologies.

Our Prevent local delivery model ensures every local authority has ready access to expertise, guidance and support in tackling local radicalisation and extremism risks via a team of region-based expert Prevent Advisers, who work hand-in-hand with local partners across England, Scotland and Wales.

By working with and upskilling these local experts who best understand the risks and issues in their area, we are improving our ability to help frontline workers identify and protect those most susceptible to radicalisation.

Analytical teams within the Home Office assess all available information, including material from these local experts, in order to maintain the most up to date picture of the current risks and threats pertaining to radicalisation. This includes issues affecting rural areas and communities, and at a regional level across England, Scotland and Wales.

Due to operational and legal sensitivities, the Home Office does not publish specific details of the current intelligence assessment picture.

DWP does not take into account the value of a pension fund (such as a SIPP) that someone and/or their employer has paid into, this protects investments for retirement. Monies drawn from a pension fund, either as a lump-sum, a pension/annuity or both will be taken into account in means-tested benefits in the usual way. This includes where someone reaches the age for state pension credit and has chosen to continue to defer their private/occupational or state pension, in which case this may be taken into account as notional income.

How SIPPs are treated by local authorities is a matter for them and MHCLG.

The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. Total high needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is over £12 billion in 2025/26.

Of that total, the Southwest is being allocated over £983 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £71 million on last year’s DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula. Of this amount, Dorset is being allocated over £60 million, an increase of £4 million on last year.

The department intends to set out plans for reforming the SEND system in further detail in a Schools White Paper in the autumn and are considering the funding for future years following the spending review that concluded in June. We will also set out later this year how the government will support local authorities to deal with their historic deficits.

At the final Settlement, the government confirmed that it is making available over £69 billion for local government, increasing Core Spending Power by up to 6.8% in cash terms on 2024-25.

The Spending Review provides over £5 billion of new grant funding over the next three years for local services that communities rely on. This includes £3.4 billion of new grant funding which will be delivered through the Local Government Finance Settlement within financial years 2026-27 to 2028-29.

The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities.

The government has no current plans to facilitate the implementation or regulation of drug consumption rooms.

This government will continue to promote preventative public health measures and we are committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug problem can access the help and support they need.

This government inherited a special educational needs and disability (SEND) system that has been failing to meet the needs of children and families for far too long. The department knows that families face real challenges getting education, health and care (EHC) plans where their children need them and ultimately, even after fighting to secure the entitlement, a plan does not guarantee that the right support will be delivered.

That is why the department is currently considering reforms to the SEND system and will be setting out proposals in a White Paper in the autumn. Our priority is improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, so that they can achieve and thrive. This means addressing the overall systemic issues that make SEND support so hard to access. As part of the work leading up to the White Paper, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has met a range of children, families and campaigners to explore how the SEND system can be improved.

At this stage the department has not made any decisions about the future of EHC plans. As my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has said, there will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need.

The Government has no plans to ban disposable barbeques. Local authorities already have powers to apply local bans on council or public land. It is a crime to litter a disposable barbecue for which councils have powers to issue fixed penalty notices of up to £500 or prosecute.

Research published under the previous Government titled Sky Lanterns, Single-Use Barbecues and Helium Balloons - Risks and Mitigation Options - EV04104 considered the risks posed by disposable barbecues but failed to demonstrate a clear net benefit from a total ban.

National Landscapes and National Parks also have powers to regulate and prohibit fires on access land.

The public are encouraged to behave responsibly when using products which have a fire risk. We are working across government to increase wildfire messaging to the public. The Countryside Code advises visitors to only use barbecues where signs state they are allowed.

Voluntary guidelines by the British Retail Consortium encourage retailers to restrict the sale of disposable barbecues during extreme heat events, or when there are increased fire risks, or when asked to by local authorities.

Wildfires are not in Defra’s remit, but instead fall to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). If you would like further information on wildfires, please reach out to MHCLG.

The department is aware of the challenges in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, and we understand how urgently we need to address these. We do not, however, believe that what the SEND system needs is another body which would add to the bureaucracy in the system. Our focus is on making the system less bureaucratic and getting support to children and young people who need it, quickly and efficiently.

Details of the government's intended approach to SEND reform will be set out in a White Paper in the autumn.

NHS England has asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to act primarily as strategic commissioners of health services and reduce duplication of responsibilities within their structure. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts on 1 April 2025 where ICBs are tasked to develop plans setting out how they will manage their resources to deliver across their priorities. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/

Local authorities are mandated statutory partner members of ICBs and will maintain their important role to deliver integrated health and care service for their local population. Ministers and the Department will work with the transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to ensure ICBs continue to fulfil their future functions effectively within the running costs cap and unlock the benefit of working at scale to deliver better care for their population.

Local authorities have a range of enforcement powers to tackle fly-tipping. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, vehicle seizure and prosecution action which can lead to a significant fine or even imprisonment. We encourage councils to make good use of these powers, and we are taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to consistently and effectively exercise their powers. We have also announced a review of their powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.

Research commissioned by Defra in 2023 into the effectiveness of enforcement against littering, fly-tipping and dog fouling is available at: https://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/ProjectDetails?ProjectId=21398. The report was unable to identify any firm conclusions about the effectiveness of enforcement due to data limitations. A more recent assessment of the effectiveness of local authority enforcement powers to prevent fly tipping has not been made.

We have committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.

This government is committed to providing greater stability to local government by giving councils multi-year funding settlements and ending wasteful competitive bidding.

Funding to local authorities for transport in future years is being considered as part of the current Spending Review, the outcome of which will be confirmed in due course.

For Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Authority, the final Settlement makes available a total of up to £74.9 million in 2025-26, representing an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £2.4 million.

The government will continue to work closely with stakeholders across the sector to ensure Fire and Rescue services have the resources they need to protect communities. Decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions are a matter for each fire and rescue authority.

For too long, water companies have discharged unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.

It is the responsibility of water companies to invest in infrastructure and other improvements to reduce untreated wastewater pollution incidents. The Price Review 24 programme, which runs from 2025-2030, will see Wessex Water investing £580 million to reduce the use of storm overflows. This investment includes the following actions to protect the River Lim and Church Cliff bathing water in Lyme Regis:

• Uplyme sewage treatment works and Gun Cliff sewage pumping station will be fitted with certified flow monitoring equipment,
• Improvements to Uplyme storm sewage tanks,
• Improvements to the Cobb sewage pumping station,
• Two combined sewage overflows (CSO) are to be investigated and assessed in relation to the possible impact on water quality,
• Five further CSOs to be improved to meet the bathing water standard of no more than 2 spills per bathing season
• An investigation will be undertaken to confirm the benefits of these works for Church Cliff beach.

There are no improvements identified in the Price Review 24 programme specifically for the West Stream in Charmouth.

The Environment Agency (EA) is not currently pursuing any enforcement action in the Charmouth Lyme Regis area. However, water company assets in the Char and Lim catchments may be inspected as part of the EA’s new water industry regulation inspection programme. The EA will continue to monitor all this work to ensure the quality of the River Lim and Church Cliff beach further improves.

Full details of the storm water overflows in the area are available here and information on Lyme Regis Church Cliff Beach is available here.