Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what technical assistance her Department plans to provide to Kent County Council for restoring the collapsed section of the A226 Galley Hill Road at Greenhithe.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has had a number of meetings with Kent County Council (KCC) on this matter and I visited the road in question in September. The Department is waiting for KCC to submit an analysis of the costs and benefits of different options to inform a decision on any Government support.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Statutory levy and online slot stake limits to be introduced to tackle gambling harm, published on 27 November 2024, what steps she plans to take to monitor the spending of the 30% of levy funding allocated for prevention.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in the Government’s response to the consultation on the statutory levy, the levy will for the first time provide dedicated, statutory investment for prevention activity in the gambling space. This could include a range of projects and services to increase awareness of risks and prioritising early intervention measures. To guarantee sufficient accountability and transparency within the new system, including the use of funding allocated for prevention alongside research and treatment, we will establish appropriate governance arrangements consisting of a Levy Board for the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments to monitor the health and impact of the levy system, and an Advisory Group to provide informal advice to lead commissioning bodies regarding strategic and funding priorities. The UK government will also formally review the statutory levy system within five years with the first formal review expected by 2030.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to alter the messaging provided on cervical screening leaflets to make clear it does not screen for (a) ovarian cancer and (b) other gynaecological cancers.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
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:
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Office for National Statistics web page entitled How the population changed in Dartford: Census 2021, published on 28 June 2022, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for school funding of the recent growth in the population of Dartford constituency; and if she will take steps to reflect the growth in Dartford's population in future school funding allocations.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
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.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Office for National Statistics web page entitled How the population changed in Dartford: Census 2021, published on 28 June 2022, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for police funding of the recent growth in the population of Dartford constituency; and if she will take steps to reflect the growth in Dartford's population in future police funding allocations.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary has already announced that central government funding for policing will increase by over half a billion pounds in 2025-26; this includes an increase of over £260m in the core grant for police forces, additional funding for neighbourhood policing, and for the NCA and counter terrorism.
Force level funding allocations for the financial year 2025-26 will be confirmed at the forthcoming police funding settlement. Funding for future years beyond 2025-26 will be set out in phase 2 of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to ensure adequate levels of funding for healthcare in Dartford.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
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.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to NHS dentistry in Dartford constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
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.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to work towards a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Southern Cameroon.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the impact of delays at the Dartford Crossing on businesses in Dartford.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of recent traffic disruption on the local economy in Dartford constituency since October 2023.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
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.