Jim Dickson

The schools national funding formula (NFF) distributes core funding for 5 to 16-year-old pupils in mainstream state-funded schools in England.

The vast majority of funding is allocated based on pupil numbers and characteristics. This means that, where pupil numbers are increasing, local authorities and schools will see a commensurate increase in school funding the following year.

In addition to funding through the pupil-led factors in the NFF, the department also allocates growth funding to local authorities. Local authorities can use this funding to support schools experiencing significant growth in pupil numbers, until the lagged funding system catches up.

Following any major incident National Highways carry out a full debrief to ensure any lessons are learnt to improve future incident management. National Highways is committed to implementing improvements based on their findings to ensure effective management of traffic during both planned and unplanned disruptions.

National Highways has not conducted a specific assessment regarding the impact of recent traffic disruptions on the local economy in the Dartford constituency. National Highways is responsible for the operation of the strategic road network and monitoring and improving performance indicators related to delay, journey time reliability, and incident clearance, which are reported publicly.

The A226 Galley Hill Road is a local road for which Kent County Council, as local highway authority, has responsibility. The Department for Transport has had regular discussions with Kent County Council to help understand the issue and is currently waiting for them to complete a detailed options analysis.

As set out in the November 2024 Government response to the consultation 'Mandating quit information messages inside tobacco packs', we are considering introducing more stringent packaging requirements for all tobacco products, including cigars and cigarillos, tobacco related devices, cigarette papers, and herbal smoking products.

We ran a call for evidence on standardising packaging for all tobacco products between November 2024 and January 2025. We will publish a consultation next year on future regulations. We will listen very carefully to the views and evidence put forward by stakeholders.

We intend to engage with a range of partners over the coming months to enable us to build a modern service framework which is both ambitious and practical, to ensure we can improve system performance for people with dementia and frailty both now and in the future.

No specific individuals or organisations have been appointed at this time. However, we intend to formalise a governance structure for the development of the modern service framework shortly which we will share with partners in due course.

The UK National Screening Committee keeps my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care informed of progress on its current review into prostate cancer screening, which includes targeted screening.

In the United Kingdom, national screening programmes are introduced based on the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent scientific advisory committee which advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries on all aspects of population and targeted screening and supports implementation.

The UK NSC last reviewed screening for sudden cardiac death (SCD) in people under the age of 39 years old in 2019 and concluded that population screening should not be offered. Information on that review is available at the following link:

https://view-health-screening-recommendations.service.gov.uk/sudden-cardiac-death/

The UK NSC is currently examining the evidence for SCD screening and will open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on this in due course.

To reduce the risks of sudden cardiac death, NHS England has a published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions that covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease or families requiring follow-up due to a death from this cause. This describes the service model and guidance that should be followed to support diagnosis and treatment of patients or family members. It also includes the requirement for specialised inherited cardiac conditions services to investigate suspected cases.

NHS England is currently reviewing this service specification in line with the national service specification methods review process. NHS England is working with a broad range of stakeholders as part of this review including National Health Service clinical experts, the Association of Inherited Cardiac Conditions, Cardiomyopathy UK, Heart Valve Voice and the British Heart Foundation.

Genomics has an important role to play in diagnosing and supporting the treatment and management of several cardiac conditions. The National Genomic Test Directory sets out the eligibility criteria for patients to access testing as well as the genomic targets to be tested and the method that should be used and this includes genomic testing for a number of conditions which affect the heart, including, for example, testing for familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), cardiomyopathies, long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome and others. The directory is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-genomic-test-directories/

Ministers and officials from the Department are regularly in touch with their counterparts across Government. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill has had its Second Reading in the House of Lords, and Committee stage will take place when parliamentary time allows. We expect the Bill to complete its passage within this parliamentary session.

The NHS is taking crucial steps to improve cancer outcomes for patients across England, including for lung cancer. The NHS is currently rolling out the National Lung Cancer Screening Programme to people with a history of smoking.

The timescale for full implementation of the lung cancer screening programme, alongside further ten-year plan initiatives, will be specified in due course.

Nicotine pouches are highly addictive, and we have a duty to protect children and young people from potential harms.

That is why, through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, we will introduce age of sale restrictions to 18 years old for nicotine pouches and will ban their advertising and sponsorship. The bill also includes powers to regulate the packaging, flavours, and product standards of all vapes and nicotine products, as well as their display in shops.

We plan to consult on these measures, including packaging restrictions, in due course.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will stop vapes and nicotine products from being deliberately promoted and advertised to children, to stop the next generation from becoming hooked on nicotine.

The bill includes a range of new regulation-making powers for the Government. Proposed regulations will be consulted on and subsequently laid. They will be implemented as soon as possible after the Tobacco and Vapes Bill has received Royal Assent.

The new age of sale restrictions for nicotine pouches will come into force six months after Royal Assent.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will stop vapes and nicotine products from being deliberately promoted and advertised to children, to stop the next generation from becoming hooked on nicotine.

The bill includes a range of new regulation-making powers for the Government. Proposed regulations will be consulted on and subsequently laid. They will be implemented as soon as possible after the Tobacco and Vapes Bill has received Royal Assent.

The new age of sale restrictions for nicotine pouches will come into force six months after Royal Assent.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will end the current loophole which allows free samples of vaping and nicotine products to be given away to anyone of any age. This will come into force six months after Royal Assent of the bill.

We are currently focused on optimising the implementation of the current clinical pathways that allow for the supply of prescription only medicines, and which cover seven common health conditions, including: sinusitis; sore throat; earache; impetigo; shingles; infected insect bites; and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women aged 16 to 64 years old. NHS England is keeping the clinical scope of the service under review.

We are committed to ensuring that all hospitals integrate ‘opt-out’ smoking cessation interventions into routine care. As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England has prioritised and put new funding out to integrated care boards (ICBs) for the rollout of tobacco dependence services in hospital settings. Future funding decisions are subject to the Spending Review process.

Local authorities work with ICBs to provide a range of interventions recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training, based on the needs of their local populations.

We are committed to ensuring that all hospitals integrate ‘opt-out’ smoking cessation interventions into routine care. As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England has prioritised and put new funding out to integrated care boards (ICBs) for the rollout of tobacco dependence services in hospital settings. Future funding decisions are subject to the Spending Review process.

Local authorities work with ICBs to provide a range of interventions recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training, based on the needs of their local populations.

The information requested is not collected centrally by NHS England. The national service specifications set an expectation that the workforce composition will include volunteer and paid peer-support roles within each liaison and diversion and RECONNECT service. However, the service specification does not stipulate the number or ratio of volunteer or peer support roles per service. It is a matter for the provider to satisfy the regional commissioner that the overall workforce plan is appropriate to meet the needs of the patient population.

NHS England is responsible for delivering the NHS Cervical Screening Programme, and works to ensure that core public information on screening is easily accessible and understandable to the public. NHS England regularly reviews key public information across National Health Service screening programmes.

NHS England has advised that they are currently updating the Cervical screening: helping you decide leaflet, and that the draft update already addresses the concerns raised, making it clear that cervical screening does not screen for other cancers of the reproductive system. The final updated version is expected to be published in early 2025, and the current leaflet is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cervical-screening-description-in-brief/cervical-screening-helping-you-decide--2

We have taken tough decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, and this enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26.

NHS Kent and Medway will in turn receive a share of this additional funding. NHS England is responsible for funding allocations to integrated care boards. This process is independent of the Government, and NHS England takes advice on the underlying formulae used to help determine allocations from the independent Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation.

The formulae are based on independent academic research and include factors statistically associated with higher or lower need per head for National Health Services. The formulae produce a target allocation, or ‘fair share’ for each area, based on a complex assessment of factors such as demography, morbidity, deprivation, and the unavoidable cost of providing services in different areas.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Dartford constituency, this is the NHS Kent and Medway ICB.

The data regarding cancelled and missed appointments at Darent Valley Hospital on 21 October 2024 is not currently available to the Department.

Data on the number of people hospitalised or admitted is not recorded. Finished Admission Episodes (FAE) are recorded, although these are not substitutions for counts of people, as the same person may have been admitted to hospital on more than one occasion within any given time period.

The following table shows a count of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of all respiratory conditions, for patients aged 70 years old or over, at Darent Valley Hospital for the period 2014/15 to 2023/24:

The following table shows a count of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of asthma, for patients aged zero to 17 years old, at Darent Valley Hospital for the period 2014/15 to 2023/24:

The following table shows a count of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of all respiratory conditions, for patients aged less than one years old, at Darent Valley Hospital for the period 2014/15 to 2023/24: