Baroness Eaton

We will consider enforcement of single-use vapes alongside other types of illicit vapes. In the coming months we will be working closely with the Department for Health & Social Care and relevant enforcement bodies to understand how we can support those enforcing the ban.

Protecting communities around the country from flooding is one of the new Secretary of State’s five core priorities for Defra.

The Government fully supports the important work internal drainage boards (IDBs) do in managing water and flood risk, benefiting communities, businesses and the environment. To support this important work, and in recognition of the significant impact flooding has on farms and rural communities, the Government has announced [Written Ministerial Statement HCWS214] additional financial support for IDBs.

For calendar year 2024 to date, 75% of incident reports received by the Environment Agency (EA) have been assessed within the target time of one hour. All incidents reported to the EA are classified by their risk to the public and environment. The EA cannot report the time taken to respond to individual incidents by locality but plans for future upgrades to systems should enable this.

The EA inspects flood risk assets on a frequency of between six and 60 months, depending on risk. If the EA is alerted to a concern with an asset, an inspection can be undertaken before the due date. If an asset is identified below required condition, it is fixed within 60 days or, if the damage is significant, a more detailed assessment is completed to determine appropriate actions. Where an asset is likely to remain below required condition for more than 60 days, mitigation measures are put in place to ensure the asset can operate until the full repair is complete. If an asset requires urgent repairs and there is an immediate risk, emergency repairs are undertaken.

Whilst the Environment Agency (EA) has flood risk assets in many locations, many of these are in the river channels or are the line of defence between water and dry land. For this reason, flood zones do not provide the best measure of what flood risk areas the EA’s assets protect.

The EA instead looks at assets based on their 'consequence system' which rates the impact of assets on people, property and land.

Below are the planned maintenance costs for April 2024 to March 2025 split over these flood risk consequences:

These totals are based on work planned for 2024-25 and are subject to change. These Totals also include wider asset management costs that are integral to delivering and supporting works in these consequences areas.

I can confirm that the Environment Agency has published its reports of their investigation into the fault at the Horncastle flood storage reservoir. The reports were published on the Horncastle Town Council website in February and a public meeting held in April for the community to raise questions. The reports conclude that the flooding was caused by heavy rainfall downstream of the reservoir and to the east of Horncastle in excess of the flood storage reservoir scheme design. It was not caused by the delayed closure of the reservoir sluice gate.

The reports can be found Flooding – Horncastle Town Council. The report from February and the notes of the April meeting are attached to this answer.

The wellbeing and safety of women accessing abortion services, including early medical abortion at home, is our first and foremost priority. Before prescribing abortion medicine for use at home, either an in-person or a virtual consultation is held with the woman concerned. If any health issues are identified during a virtual consultation which could make home use of early medical abortion medicine potentially unsuitable, the woman will be asked to attend an in-person appointment for further assessment.

In ensuring that views of key external stakeholders are sought and partners engaged with, the Home Office has dedicated Regional Engagement Leads who liaise directly with local authorities or via Regional Strategic Migration Partnerships (SMP). SMPs are Local Government led partnerships funded by, but independent of, the Home Office, whose role is to coordinate and support delivery of national programmes in asylum and refugee schemes as well as agreed regional and devolved migration priorities.

In ensuring that views of key external stakeholders are sought and partners engaged with, the Home Office has dedicated Regional Engagement Leads who liaise directly with local authorities or via Regional Strategic Migration Partnerships (SMP). SMPs are Local Government led partnerships funded by, but independent of, the Home Office, whose role is to coordinate and support delivery of national programmes in asylum and refugee schemes as well as agreed regional and devolved migration priorities.

Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 does not make any reference to silent prayer.

Section 9 makes it a criminal offence for a person who is within a Safe Access Zone to do any act with the intent of, or reckless as to whether it has the effect of, influencing any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services, obstructing or impeding any person accessing, providing, or facilitating the provision of abortion services, or causing harassment, alarm or distress to any person in connection with a decision to access, provide, or facilitate the provision of abortion services.

The government has no direct role in funding parish and town councils - and therefore does not intend to provide compensation, consistent with the approach taken by the previous government.

The English Devolution White Paper sets out more detail on the government’s reorganisation plans, including on working with councils to move to simpler structures that make sense for their local areas, with efficiency savings from council reorganisation helping to meet the needs of local people.

The Department is committed to resetting the relationship between local and central government. As part of this, in September the Government announced it would review the remit of the Office for Local Government (Oflog), to ensure that it is adding the greatest possible value to the system of transparency, accountability and support of local government. No decisions on the appointment of its Chair will be taken until this process is complete.

The Department is clear that data alone is rarely enough to assess any local authority’s performance and often needs context through further investigation. Oflog’s Data Explorer presents published data from across government and carries a prominent warning that it should be used to generate questions and not reach judgements.

The Department is committed to resetting the relationship between local and central government. As part of this, in September the Government announced it would review the remit of the Office for Local Government (Oflog), to ensure that it is adding the greatest possible value to the system of transparency, accountability and support of local government. No decisions on the appointment of its Chair will be taken until this process is complete.

The Department is clear that data alone is rarely enough to assess any local authority’s performance and often needs context through further investigation. Oflog’s Data Explorer presents published data from across government and carries a prominent warning that it should be used to generate questions and not reach judgements.

Raising the revenue required to fund public services and restore economic stability requires difficult decisions on tax, which is why the government are asking employers to contribute more. The Government has committed to provide support for the public sector employers for additional employer national insurance contributions costs. This applies to those directly employed by the public sector, including local government. We will set out further details at the provisional Settlement in December.