David Pinto-Duschinsky

According to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com, over 99% of premises in the Hendon constituency can already access superfast broadband speeds (>=30 Mbps), and over 75% of premises can access a gigabit-capable broadband connection.

We anticipate that the majority of the premises in urban areas such as Hendon will receive a gigabit-capable connection through the commercial market, although we are conscious that connections to some properties in some areas can be affected by complex wayleave negotiations. Any remaining premises will be considered for support through the government’s Project Gigabit.

The Online Safety Act (OSA) establishes Ofcom as the UK online safety regulator. The OSA gives online platforms new duties where there are risks of their services being used to carry out certain priority offences, including posting illegal antisemitic content which stirs up hatred.

Ofcom will set out steps in codes of practice that different platforms can take to fulfil these duties. Ofcom must consult on proposed steps. For these consultations, it publishes evidence about in-scope harms. For example, in November 2023, it published research into these matters for its consultation on its OSA ‘illegal content duties’ proposals.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-content/protecting-people-from-illegal-content-online

The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology will make Regulations pertaining to Schedule 11 of the Online Safety Act as soon as reasonably practicable.

Under the Act, all user-to-user services – including online forums - will be required to proactively tackle illegal hate speech, such as illegal antisemitic abuse. If such a service is likely to be accessed by children, they will also be required to protect children from encountering specific types of legal but harmful content. This includes legal content which is abusive or incites hate on the basis of race or religion.

The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount.

National Governing Bodies are responsible for the regulation of their sports, and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm. The Premier League and Professional Footballers’ Association launched the Football Brain Health Fund for players impacted by dementia in September 2023 to assist former players and their families impacted by neurodegenerative conditions.

The Government will continue to discuss athlete safety with the football authorities in the coming months to ensure that everyone can take part in sport as safely as possible.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed, where possible in mainstream schools.

The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need. We are strengthening accountability for inclusivity, including through Ofsted, and encouraging schools to set up resourced provision or special educational needs units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.

Barnet are also one of the lead local authorities in the Change Programme, which is helping test and develop the government’s proposals for improving the SEND system.

High-quality teaching is also central to ensuring that all pupils, including those with SEND, are given the best possible opportunity to achieve in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers over the course of this parliament. To support all teachers, the department is implementing a range of teacher training reforms to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND.

On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level qualification for special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs). The qualification will play a key role in improving outcomes for pupils with SEND, by ensuring SENCOs consistently receive high-quality, evidence-based training on how best to support children with SEND

High needs funding will also increase by almost £1 billion in 2025/26, compared to 2024/25 and the department has announced £740 million of capital funding to create more specialist places, including in mainstream schools.

The government have confirmed £7 million of funding to tackle antisemitism in education in the wake of the unacceptable rise of antisemitism across the country. £500,000 has already been awarded to the University Jewish Chaplaincy to continue providing welfare support for Jewish students on university campuses to ensure Jewish students feel safe and supported.

A £4.15 million Tackling Antisemitism in Education procurement is currently live and is open for tender applications until 16 January 2025. This procurement seeks to equip education staff from across England with training and resources to build confidence through educating about antisemitism, helping to prevent it. This procurement consists of three elements, including a scholarship for professionals and action learning network, training and resources for universities, and training and resources for schools and colleges. Delivery will commence from spring 2025. The delivery will be nationwide, but the successful supplier(s) will prioritise and target those areas and settings which require support and training most to improve their understanding and ability to deal with antisemitism.

The remaining funding will go towards a future innovation fund to help tackle and build resilience to antisemitism and hate, likely focusing on how to identify and appropriately tackle misinformation and disinformation. Further details on the innovation fund will be provided in due course.

The Government is committed to working with law enforcement, regulators, and the financial and third sectors to address and prevent the harms associated with money mule networks and related financial exploitation.

The Home Office published the Money Mules Action Plan in March, which is a first of its kind, cross-sector action plan. The Plan balances deterrents and safeguarding measures to disrupt money muling while protecting the public from related harms. It brings together cross-sector innovations, including public awareness materials on the risks of money muling, initiatives from the financial sector to identify mule networks, and law enforcement work to target criminals.

The Government also recognises the devastating impact financial and economic abuse can have on victims. Economic abuse more widely is recognised in law as part of the statutory definition of domestic abuse included in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. The government continues to promote awareness of economic abuse to improve the public and private sector’s response, particularly working with the specialist charity Surviving Economic Abuse to strengthen financial systems and support victims.

This Government has set out an unprecedented ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade, and we are determined to use every lever available to us to deliver on that aim. That means working across Government departments to tackle threats to women’s safety in all areas of their lives, including in public spaces.

The Safer Streets Mission is the vehicle to drive delivery across Government to halve VAWG, halve knife crime, and restore confidence in the policing and justice system to record levels. We will spearhead a cross-government approach to VAWG and girls through the Safer Streets Mission Board.

We have ensured that the wording used to explain how to create a UVKI account and get access to an eVisa is simple and can be easily translated using various free online services. In consultation with stakeholders, we are also considering providing information about the transition to eVisas in other languages.

We are also working closely with our partner agency in delivering engagement activity with community groups, as they will be producing guidance materials translated into key languages.

We will continue to work with British Embassy communications teams at Post to explore the need for translations in specific regions. Where appropriate, we can provide editable social media assets that can be translated to support customer awareness of the changes to the immigration system in local languages.

We have engaged with, among others, the education sector, employers, local authorities and voluntary sector organisations to reach those affected by the transition to eVisas, including vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups. Many thousands of people have attended our calls.

People can nominate a ‘helper’ and give them limited access to their account, so that they can assist with creating a UKVI account, completing details to access an eVisa, and with any immigration application.

Where a person is unable to manage their own affairs due to, for example, age or disability, a ‘proxy’, who is authorised to act on their behalf, can create and manage the account on their behalf.

The consultation on introducing permitted insurance fees for landlords, freeholders and property managing agents was launched on 2 December and can be found on gov.uk here.

As per my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the government will look to consult on the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act’s provisions on service charges and on legal costs next year, bringing these measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter.

We remain firmly committed to our manifesto commitment to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and we will deliver this in legislation.

The government funds the provision of free information and advice by the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE).