Jim Dickson

The National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 does not define "critical national infrastructure".

My Department has not carried out an assessment of the impact of delays at the Dartford Crossing on local businesses. However, area teams in my Department engage closely with local stakeholders, including businesses, to support delivery of their economic plans.

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.

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.

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.

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

Exposure to air pollution is associated with increased hospital admissions, particularly for respiratory and cardiovascular conditions. The UK Health Security Agency has not calculated the potential impact of air pollution on the number of admissions to the Darent Valley Hospital specifically.

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:

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:

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:

Dialogue is critical to achieving a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon. The UK Government is committed to supporting efforts which will bring a peaceful solution through inclusive dialogue but we believe it is important that these efforts are owned and led by Cameroonians. We are also aware of the impact of the conflict on the regions' civilian populations, and urge that all perpetrators are held to account for violence against civilian communities.

Public access to council meetings is an essential part of ensuring accountability and transparency at the local level. Except where specific exemptions apply, the Local Government Act 1972 is clear that all council meetings are open to the public.

Under the current rules it is for individual local authorities to agree and determine the provisions for remote public access to local authority meetings through their standing orders.

Many councils already broadcast their meetings online, which the public can attend, and meeting agendas and papers are routinely shared in advance of meetings on council websites.

This Government is committed to resetting the relationship between local and regional government to establish partnerships built on mutual respect, genuine collaboration and meaningful engagement. We are keen to work with any local authorities facing challenges to support recovery and reform.

As part of the sector support programme the ministry funds the Local Government Association (LGA) to deliver a Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) review programme. Local authorities are subject to scrutiny from a number of government bodies, including inspectorates and ombudsmen. External audit is also important, which is why, on 30 July, the Government announced measures to tackle the local audit backlog we inherited. We will also update the House in the autumn on longer-term plans to fix the local audit system.

It is important that Government can act where local authorities may need more intensive support or intervention in order to meet their Best Value Duty. The Secretary of State has a set of tools and statutory powers, detailed in the statutory guidance ‘Best value standards and intervention’. This includes a statutory power to commission inspections of local authorities in relation to their compliance with the Best Value Duty. Decisions about statutory inspections are taken based on the circumstances of each case following an evidence based assessment.

On 30 July we opened an eight week consultation on a revised National Planning Policy Framework.

As well as reversing the damaging anti-supply changes made by the previous government in December 2023, proposed reforms include making housing targets mandatory, strengthening policy support for brownfield development, and the targeted release of low-quality grey belt land within the green belt.

The consultation will run until Tuesday 24 September.