Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the risk of flooding in the Fens in East Cambridgeshire.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Protecting communities around the country from flooding and coastal erosion is one of the new Secretary of State’s five core priorities.
This Government will improve resilience and preparation across central government, local authorities, local communities and emergency services to better protect communities across the UK. We will launch a new Flood Resilience Taskforce to turbocharge the delivery of new flood defences, drainage systems and natural flood management schemes.
In the short-term, the Environment Agency are working hard to sustain the current standard of service in the Fenland area. £172m in capital investment has been committed between 2021/22 - 2026/27 across the area, with £23.93m of this in the East Cambridgeshire area.
In parallel, work is progressing to develop a long-term adaptive plan for flood infrastructure in the Fens. The 'Fens 2100+’ is a £9.8m programme to develop a Fens-wide flood resilience investment strategy that achieves long-term value for money and generates regional and national benefits. It’s being developed with, and for, Flood Risk Management Authorities so they can plan for the next 20-25 years of flood risk management. This investment strategy will be completed in 2025.
Further information can be found here: Fens2100+ - Environment Agency - Citizen Space (environment-agency.gov.uk).
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has a strategy for maintaining floating roads in the Fens.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to maintaining and renewing the local road network.
Local highway authorities, such as Cambridgeshire County Council, have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. They are best placed to understand local needs and priorities as well as any particular challenges caused by the local geology or topography.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has a strategy to reduce waiting times on the 111 Option 2 crisis response service.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To ensure that crisis care services are safe, effective, and consistently provide high quality care across England, NHS England has asked all crisis care services accessible via NHS 111 option two to move at pace and begin reporting access, responsiveness, and patient feedback measures from quarter two of 2024/25.
The collected data will enable a better understanding of where pressures exist in the system and help to drive improvements in waiting times and overall service delivery. These measures will allow NHS England and local providers to monitor performance and implement targeted strategies to reduce waiting times, therefore ensuring a timelier response for individuals in crisis.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will roll out Community Mental Health Hubs across the country.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is currently piloting a new way of supporting people experiencing mental ill health, through neighbourhood based, open access community mental health centres, in six sites across the country. An external evaluation of these pilot sites will inform any future decision to roll these centres out in other parts of the country.
We will also roll out Young Futures hubs in every community, providing open access mental health support for children and young people in every community.