Grahame Morris

The Government recognises the sacrifices made by so many veterans and the huge debt of gratitude owed to those who have served their country.

The current pattern of UK bank holidays is well established and accepted. Whilst an additional bank holiday may benefit some sectors, the cost to the economy of an additional bank holiday remains considerable. The latest analysis estimates the cost to the UK economy for a one-off bank holiday to be around £2bn.

The government welcomes the CMA’s work to investigate fuel prices and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Work has already started across Government to deliver on our manifesto commitments. I will be meeting the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme Trustees shortly to discuss the best way to deliver our commitments.

The department is committed to working in partnership with local government to support children in care, whether they are being looked after by their community of wider kinship care, foster carers and adoptive parents, or being cared for in children’s homes, if this is the best place for them to be. The department recognises many challenges kinship cares experience, including the financial challenges that many kinship carers face. The government is considering how to most effectively transform the children’s social care system so that it can deliver better support and outcomes for children and families. This will include considering how best to support kinship carers and children in kinship care.

The department is committed to working in partnership with local government to support children in care, whether they are being looked after by their community of wider kinship care, foster carers and adoptive parents, or being cared for in children’s homes, if this is the best place for them to be. The department recognises many challenges kinship cares experience, including the financial challenges that many kinship carers face. The government is considering how to most effectively transform the children’s social care system so that it can deliver better support and outcomes for children and families. This will include considering how best to support kinship carers and children in kinship care.

Rail North Partnership (RNP), through which the department jointly manages Northern Trains’ contract with Transport for the North, monitors operators’ planned train deployment to ensure this falls within the requirement on them to match capacity to demand. While we have no evidence passengers’ safety is being compromised, RNP will discuss the loading on Durham Coast services with Northern and ensure it takes the actions open to it to meet its targets

Rail North Partnership (RNP), through which the department jointly manages Northern Trains’ contract with Transport for the North, monitors operators’ planned train deployment to ensure this falls within the requirement on them to match capacity to demand. While we have no evidence passengers’ safety is being compromised, RNP will discuss the loading on Durham Coast services with Northern and ensure it takes the actions open to it to meet its targets

Access to the rail network is ultimately a decision for the ORR in its role as regulator for the rail industry. We will continue to work with ORR through the consultation process.

Since April 2022 the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines sits with local systems. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside £12 billion in operational capital for the National Health Service for 2022 to 2025, and the latest Capital Planning Guidance.

The NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, sets out the National Health Service’s key ambitions on cancer. The plan sets out the NHS ambition to increase the number of cancers diagnosed at stages 1 and 2 to 75% by 2028, and to increase the number of people surviving cancer for five years by 55,000 as a result.

Professor Lord Darzi is currently undertaking an independent investigation into the state of the NHS, the findings of which will feed into the Government’s 10-year plan to build a health service that is fit for the future. The Government will set out any further priorities on cancer and health in due course.

There are no plans to reintroduce school dental screenings in England. The UK National Screening Committee does not recommend population screening for dental disease in children aged six to nine years old. Further information is available at the following link:

https://view-health-screening-recommendations.service.gov.uk/dental-disease/

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission to take back our streets.

The Government will give police the powers they need to take illegal, dangerous and antisocial bikes off the streets for good, so that they will be able to quickly destroy the bikes that they seize from offenders. We will set out more information in due course.

We keep all policies under review. Any changes will be announced to Parliament in the normal way.

Affordable housing is defined for planning purposes in the National Planning Policy Framework. The Government will be publishing a consultation on national planning policy before the end of July.

We are committed to the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. New development will allow us to deliver thousands of affordable homes, including more for Social Rent. We will work with councils and housing associations to build capacity and ensure we build the homes people need.

The Government is committed to the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and we will work with councils and housing associations to achieve this. More announcements will be made in due course.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to working in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to ensure that continuity of care is in place for individuals leaving prison under the ECSL scheme and who have an ongoing drug and or alcohol treatment need.