Alistair Strathern

The Government has set out its immediate priorities for reforming employment law in the Plan to Make Work Pay. The Plan includes a number of measures which may help people manage endometriosis and other menstrual conditions at work - including making sure people can benefit from flexible working and ensuring flexibility is a genuine default.

Some of the measures in Make Work Pay will be delivered through an Employment Bill. The Government will confirm the contents of that Bill in due course.

Delivering high quality affordable childcare is a priority for this government. As an initial step, the department is progressing work to deliver new places in 3,000 nurseries through upgrading space in primary schools. This will help increase the number of places available to parents, whilst also driving high and rising standards and better opportunities for every child.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing, including supporting them through the childcare delivery support contract where appropriate.

Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) have three core functions. Firstly, to deliver evidence-based early interventions for emerging and actual mental health issues, 1 to 1 and in groups. Secondly, to support a school or college’s mental health lead to embed an effective approach to promote and support mental health and wellbeing. Thirdly, to advise school and college staff, and liaise with external specialist services, to help pupils and learners to get the right timely support and stay in education.

Data specifically on how many MHSTs there are in Bedfordshire, Hitchin constituency and North Hertfordshire is not currently available.​

However, data published by NHS England shows that since 2018/19, when the first wave of MHSTs were commissioned, 11 MHSTs have been established across Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes. For the first 9 MHSTs established up to 2022/23, this equates to MHST coverage of 43% of pupils and learners and 40% of schools and colleges in these areas

A link to the data can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/cyp/trailblazers/#_Mental_Health_Support and https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F6642052bf34f9b5a56adc5dd%2FTransforming_children_and_young_people_s_mental_health_implementation_programme_2024_data-tables.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.

This government is committed to providing the necessary support to improve the experiences for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. The department is committed to taking a community-wide approach to improve inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools and alternative provision settings, as well as to ensure special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.

Ofsted inspected local arrangements for children with SEND in Central Bedfordshire in November 2019 and found six areas of significant weakness. The local area was required to produce a written statement of action, which was approved by Ofsted in September 2020. A follow up revisit in July 2022 found the local area had made sufficient progress in three of the six areas of significant weakness. The department monitors progress against Central Bedfordshire’s improvement plan and provides support and challenge, including from a SEND expert advisor.

Ofsted inspected local arrangements for children with SEND in Hertfordshire in July 2023. Its report, published in November 2023, concluded that there are widespread and/or systemic failings, leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND, which the local area partnership must address urgently. Hertfordshire local area partnership has established a SEND improvement board which is independently chaired by Dame Christine Lenehan to oversee progress and provide appropriate challenge. The department monitors progress against Hertfordshire’s improvement plan and priority action plan and provides support and challenge, including from a SEND expert advisor.

High-quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education.

There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, but the department must do more to recruit additional teachers, especially in shortage subjects in secondary. This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.

Numbers of teachers in Hitchin and East of England have increased slightly in the last year with 1,102 teachers in Hitchin and Harpenden in 2023/24 (up from 1,087 in 2022/23), and 52,995 teachers in East of England (up from 52,308 in 2022/23). The department is doing more to attract teachers in these areas. Financial incentives are one of the most effective ways to increase teacher supply, and the department is continuing to support teacher trainees with bursaries in shortage subjects, and with retention payments for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers, who chose to work in disadvantaged schools. In 2023/24, 286 schools in the East of England were eligible for these payments.

To further help retention to ensure teachers stay and thrive in the profession, the department is also addressing teacher workload and wellbeing, and supporting schools to introduce flexible working practices. For example, Thomas Gainsborough School of Unity Schools Partnership, as one of the Flexible Working Ambassador Schools, is helping schools across the East of England to introduce flexible working practices.

In addition, Chiltern Teaching School Hub in Hitchin, and the 10 Teaching School Hubs across the East of England, are centres of excellence, supporting teacher training and development.

This Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously, and is committed to maintaining and renewing our road network as a priority; on which Ministers will say more in future.

Maintenance of the local highway network within Hertfordshire, including the constituency of Hitchin, is the responsibility of Hertfordshire County Council. For 2024/25, Hertfordshire County Council has been allocated over £ 25 million to help it maintain its local highway network.

Future funding beyond 2024/25 is a matter for the next Spending Review.

The information requested regarding the average cost of bus fares is not available. The Department produces quarterly bus fare statistics in the form of a local bus fares index. However, this data is not available specifically for (a) Hitchin constituency, (b) Bedfordshire and (c) North Hertfordshire.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards. To increase the number of available test slots, it is conducting tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from driving examiners.

To increase the number of car driving test slots, the DVSA deployed eligible managers and administrative staff back on the front line to do driving tests from the beginning of October 2023 until the end of March 2024, which created over 145,000 additional test slots. Driving examiners from areas with lower waiting times continue to travel and test in those centres with longer waiting times. This is in addition to the DVSA recruiting additional examiners across the country into areas where waiting times are highest.

The DVSA is unable to calculate the waiting time between booking and taking a driving test.

The table below shows the June 2024 average waiting time, number of booked car practical driving tests, and available tests as of 22 July 2024 at the test centres that serve the constituency of Hitchin:

The information requested regarding (a) car ownership, (b) bus usage (c) light rail usage, (d) train usage and (e) active travel usage in Hitchin constituency is not available. Information for the Hertfordshire local authority is given below, where available. Alternative data for the former Hitchin and Harpenden Constituency is also offered where relevant.

Car ownership

According to the Department’s vehicle statistics, there were 56,667 licensed cars as at end March 2024 in the former Hitchin and Harpenden Constituency.

Bus usage

According to the Department’s annual bus statistics, in the year ending March 2023 there were 20.8 million local bus journeys taken in Hertfordshire.

Train usage

According to Office of Rail and Road statistics, in the year ending March 2023 there were 17.8 million passenger rail journeys within East of England that started or ended in Bedfordshire or Hertfordshire. There were also 52.6 million journeys that started or ended in Bedfordshire or Hertfordshire that ended or started from regions other than the East of England.

Active travel usage

According to the Department’s annual walking and cycling statistics, between November 2021 and November 2022, 78.2% of adults walked or cycled at least once per week in North Hertfordshire (Non-Metropolitan District) and 73.8% of adults walked or cycled at least once per week in Hertfordshire (County).

Govia Thameslink Railway is introducing additional peak only services between King’s Cross and Hitchin in December 2024. There is also a wider plan to increase peak time capacity on the route to King’s Cross, which would benefit services out of Hitchin, however this is dependent on the future wider East Coast Mainline timetable recast.

Alongside this, Hitchin will benefit from the East Coast Digital Programme, a £1.8 billion investment in infrastructure, which will introduce digital signalling, improving punctuality and reliability of services, with the potential to further improve service frequencies, dependent on demand and business case.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department is committed to implementing the recommendations of Lord O'Shaughnessy’s review into commercial clinical trials, making sure that the United Kingdom leads the world in clinical trials, and ensuring that innovative, lifesaving treatments are accessible to National Health Service patients, including those with brain tumours.

The Department funded National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research.

In addition, the NIHR provides an online service called Be Part of Research, which promotes participation in health and social care research by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest. This makes it easier for people to find and take part in health and care research that is relevant to them.

When designing research studies, researchers consider inclusion and exclusion criteria carefully to ensure they are not unnecessarily excluding specific groups who would benefit from the outcome of their study. The Health Research Authority is developing guidance to improve practices in this area.

The standard of training is the responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC), who set the outcomes and standards expected at undergraduate level. Medical schools are responsible for their curricula, and for ensuring that they deliver high quality placements that enable their students to meet the GMC’s requirements. The GMC have issued guidance on placement quality, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gmc-uk.org/education/standards-guidance-and-curricula/guidance/undergraduate-clinical-placements/guidance-on-undergraduate-clinical-placements

In addition, placements must meet NHS England’s Quality Framework, which is monitored locally in collaboration with medical schools, and is available at the following link:

https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/quality

The Government knows that patients are finding it harder than ever to access general practice (GP) appointments. Patients can’t get through the front door of the National Health Service, so they aren’t getting the timely care they need.

We have pledged to guarantee a face-to-face appointment for all those who want one. We will make sure the future of the NHS is sustainable by training thousands more GPs, ensuring increased capacity to deliver this commitment, and securing a future pipeline of GPs.

The Government is considering what action may be appropriate to drive up rates of swift brick installation in new build properties.

The requested information is not held by the department.

The Government is committed to taking steps to bring the injustice of ‘fleecehold’ private estates and unfair maintenance costs to an end and we will consult on the best way to achieve this.

In the interim, we will act quickly to provide residential freeholders with greater protections by implementing the relevant provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.