Chris Ward

The department’s home to school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home to school travel for children of compulsory school age, 5 to 16, who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. There are extended rights to free travel for children from low-income families.

I am keen to understand how well home to school transport supports children to access educational opportunity and will be working with departmental officials on this.

NHS England has developed a policy proposal for abiraterone acetate and prednisolone to be used as a routine commissioning treatment option for high-risk, hormone sensitive, non-metastatic prostate cancer.

In line with NHS England’s service development process, the policy proposal was considered by NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) in May 2024. Work is currently underway to confirm decisions on new treatments, the position will be resolved as soon as possible, and NHS England will update clinicians and patient groups on the outcome.

The CPAG's role is to make recommendations on the relative cost and benefit of different proposals, where they are outside the remit of the NICE, which in this case is because the treatment is an off-label use of abiraterone acetate and prednisolone. The CPAG assigns a priority level to different policies which may be funded through available discretionary funding.

The handling of hazardous materials is strictly regulated to prevent and limit the consequences of major accidents and to ensure that communities and the environment are protected. Hazardous substances consent is required for the presence of hazardous substances at or above specified limits set out in regulations. Planning Practice Guidance on Hazardous Substances provides advice on this matter. The Health and Safety Executive is a statutory consultee on hazardous substance consent applications and provides expert advice to local planning authorities on any risks to inform their decision making.

There are strong existing protections in national planning policy to safeguard people from unacceptable risks from air pollution and site decontamination. These will be material considerations for a local council when determining a planning application, as will the planning concerns of the local community.

The handling of hazardous materials is strictly regulated to prevent and limit the consequences of major accidents and to ensure that communities and the environment are protected. Hazardous substances consent is required for the presence of hazardous substances at or above specified limits set out in regulations. Planning Practice Guidance on Hazardous Substances provides advice on this matter. The Health and Safety Executive is a statutory consultee on hazardous substance consent applications and provides expert advice to local planning authorities on any risks to inform their decision making.

There are strong existing protections in national planning policy to safeguard people from unacceptable risks from air pollution and site decontamination. These will be material considerations for a local council when determining a planning application, as will the planning concerns of the local community.

The handling of hazardous materials is strictly regulated to prevent and limit the consequences of major accidents and to ensure that communities and the environment are protected. Hazardous substances consent is required for the presence of hazardous substances at or above specified limits set out in regulations. Planning Practice Guidance on Hazardous Substances provides advice on this matter. The Health and Safety Executive is a statutory consultee on hazardous substance consent applications and provides expert advice to local planning authorities on any risks to inform their decision making.

There are strong existing protections in national planning policy to safeguard people from unacceptable risks from air pollution and site decontamination. These will be material considerations for a local council when determining a planning application, as will the planning concerns of the local community.