Liam Conlon

Last month we announced a package of new measures to tackle late payments and long payment terms for small businesses and the self-employed.

We will legislate in this parliamentary session to require that large companies include payment performance in their annual reports, driving up transparency on how they pay their suppliers.

We will also be consulting on potential primary legislation measures and launching a new Fair Payment Code that rewards companies who pay their suppliers quickly and fairly.

Since July the Government has taken rapid action towards meeting our mission for clean power by 2030. We’ve ended the onshore wind ban, approved enough solar to power hundreds of thousands of homes, secured a record-breaking 131 renewables projects and set up Great British Energy in Aberdeen.

The Government recently commissioned the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to provide practical advice on achieving a zero-carbon electricity system by 2030. The Government received NESO’s advice on 5 November, which will inform the 2030 Clean Power Action Plan, due for publication by the end of the year.

The Government wants to ensure the safe development of AI models. As set out in the Manifesto, the Government intends to introduce targeted requirements on the handful of companies developing the most powerful AI systems. We will be consulting on these proposals shortly.

These proposals will place the AI Safety Institute on a statutory footing. The AISI conducts research and model evaluations to assess the capabilities of frontier AI systems and works with developers and international partners to enhance the safety of models. Such policies are key to increasing public confidence in AI safety, which will drive adoption across the country.

The Government is committed to keeping people safe online. Our priority is the effective implementation of the Online Safety Act so that users, especially children, can benefit from its wide-reaching protections.

In-scope services will have to take effective action to reduce the risk their service is used for illegal activity, and they must take appropriate measures to protect children against harmful or inappropriate content such as pornography and the promotion of self-harm and eating disorders. Ofcom has robust enforcement powers available against companies who fail to fulfil their duties.

The department recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children and the role of local authorities to support them.

​The government has recently announced a £40 million package to trial a new Kinship Allowance in up to ten local authorities to test whether paying an allowance to cover certain costs, such as supporting children to settle into a new home with relatives or for activities to support their wellbeing, can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. This trial will help us make decisions about future national rollout. The department will share further detail on the process for selecting the local authorities taking part in the programme in due course.

The government recently published updated guidance for local authorities, the Kinship Care statutory guidance. This guidance outlines the framework for the provision of support for kinship children and their carers.

​The department also appointed the first National Kinship Care Ambassador, who will work alongside local authorities to help improve their kinship practice and local policies, and ensure they are following national guidance. As well as providing bespoke support to some local authority teams, they will share learning nationally so that more local authorities can benefit from evidence of best practice.

​​​​The department recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children and the role of local authorities to support them.

​​The government has recently announced a £40 million package to trial a new Kinship Allowance in up to ten local authorities to test whether paying an allowance to cover certain costs, such as supporting children to settle into a new home with relatives, or for activities to support their wellbeing, can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends.

The programme will begin in 2025 and decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation. The department will share further detail on the timetable and delivery of the programme in due course.

As part of the department’s measures to champion kinship care, the government has extended the delivery of over 140 peer support groups across England, available for all kinship carers to access, where they can come together to share stories, exchange advice and support each other.

The department is also delivering a package of training and support that all kinship carers across England can access.

For too long the education and care system has not met the needs of all children, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with parents struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve. This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

The department wants to drive a consistent and inclusive approach to supporting children and young people with SEND through early identification, effective support, high quality teaching and effective allocation of resources, regardless of whether they have a diagnosis.

The department is strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve inclusive practice in mainstream settings. We have recently commissioned evidence reviews from Newcastle University and University College London. These reviews will help to drive inclusive practices by highlighting what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people, aged 0 to 25, with different types of needs.

In November 2023, the department announced the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme. PINS brings together Integrated Care Boards, local authorities and schools, working in partnership with parents and carers to support schools to better meet the needs of neurodiverse children and their families and enable an inclusive school environment. PINS employs specialists from both health and education workforces into 10% of mainstream primary school settings, which equates to around 1680 schools. The programme is being evaluated and the learning will inform future policy development around how schools support neurodiverse children.

The department also holds and funds the Universal SEND Services contract, which brings together SEND-specific continuous professional development and support for the school and further education workforce. The programme aims to improve outcomes for children and young people, including those with autism. As part of the contract, the Autism Education Trust (AET) provide a range of training and support for staff on autism. Since the contract began in May 2022, over 185,000 professionals have received training from AET training partners.

In July, we announced swift action to begin resetting the water sector, including ringfencing vital funding for infrastructure investment and placing customers and the environment at the heart of water company objectives.

In September, the Government introduced the Water (Special Measures) Bill to give regulators new powers to take tougher and faster action to crack down on water companies damaging the environment and failing their customers.

Furthermore, on 23 October, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Welsh government, launched an Independent Commission on the water sector regulatory system, to fundamentally transform how our water system works and clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.

The Environment Agency regulates discharges to water using environmental permits and investigates pollution incidents, nationally and in the Beckenham and Penge constituency. Regulators will take action when illegality is identified, in line with their enforcement and sanctions policies.

(a) The Government will introduce a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy to deliver legally binding targets to improve air quality. The Clean Air Strategy will include a series of interventions to reduce emissions so that everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced.

(b) Air quality policy in London is devolved to the Mayor. The Mayor and the London Assembly prioritise action to improve air quality and support local authorities including Bromley to improve air quality in their area.

The Secretary of State has met with water company bosses, including Thames Water, to make clear companies will be held accountable for their performance for customers and the environment. During the meeting water bosses signed up to the Government’s initial package of reforms to reduce sewage pollution and attract investment to upgrade infrastructure.

In addition, the Government’s Water (Special Measures) Bill will strengthen regulation, giving the water regulator new powers to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met and increasing accountability for water executives. These are the first critical steps in enabling a long-term and transformative reset of the entire water sector. The Government will be carrying out a review to fundamentally transform how our water system works and clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.

Also, in Beckenham and Penge, and across the country, the Environment Agency undertakes weekly debris screen clearances and vegetation clearances at priority locations to keep the main rivers clear.

In the Beckenham and Penge constituency, we have a dedicated Disability Employment Adviser (DEA) who supports learning disabled and neurodiverse customers alongside partner organisations that we work closely with.

We have a range of specialist initiatives to support people with learning disabilities and other disabled people into work. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres, Access to Work grants, and joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies.

As part of the Get Britain Working plan, we will be devolving more power to local areas so they can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer that suits the needs of the people they serve.

Employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, to thrive as part of the workforce. Our support to employers includes promoting a digital information service for employers to help them support disability at work and the Disability Confident scheme.

No assessment has been made on the potential merits of including community pre-participation cardiac screening into the 10-year plan.

This is because the UK National Screening Committee does not recommend offering screening for sudden cardiac death in people under the age of 39 years old. Research showed that current tests are not accurate enough to use in young people without symptoms. Individuals with the condition may receive a negative test result, a false negative, giving them false reassurance.

Furthermore, individuals who do not have the condition may receive a positive test result, a false positive, which can lead to unnecessary tests, treatments, and caution against exercise, which itself is harmful.

The Government is committed to ensuring that all women and babies receive safe, compassionate, and personalised care, particularly when things go wrong. In February 2024, the Department launched the Baby Loss Certificate service. This service is a non-statutory, voluntary scheme to enable those who have experienced any pregnancy loss to record and receive a certificate to provide recognition of their loss, if they wish to do so.

To support the reduction of preventable baby loss, all trusts are implementing the third version of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, which provides maternity units with detailed guidance and a package of interventions to reduce stillbirths, neonatal brain injury, neonatal death, and preterm birth.

Many trusts have specialist bereavement midwives, who are trained to care for and support parents and families who have suffered the loss of their baby. All trusts are now signed up to The National Bereavement Care Pathway, which acts as a set of standards and guidance that trusts should follow when a patient has suffered a baby loss.

Paid Parental Bereavement Leave was introduced in 2020. This entitlement is available to parents who lose a child under 18 years old, including where a baby is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy.

In May 2024, NHS England published a new national policy framework to provide all National Health Service staff who suffer a miscarriage with up to 10 days additional paid leave. Women who experience a miscarriage in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy are offered up to 10 days paid leave, and their partners are offered up to five. The new guidance supports NHS employees and provides managers and colleagues with advice on how to support people affected by baby loss, including ensuring that staff who return from work after their pregnancy loss are offered occupational health support, including referrals to specialist services at their trust, or specialist miscarriage and baby loss charities and organisations.

NHS England is committed to delivering high quality care and support for every person with dementia, and central to this is the provision of personalised care and support planning for post diagnostic support.

The Department has produced guidance on what to expect from health and care services following a dementia diagnosis, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/after-a-diagnosis-of-dementia-what-to-expect-from-health-and-care-services/after-diagnosis-of-dementia-what-to-expect-from-health-and-care-services

There has been a longstanding priority in the London Borough of Bromley, including Beckenham and Penge, to ensure fast and effective dementia diagnostic services, as well as a strong community support offer which is provided by the Bromley Dementia Support Hub and MindCare Dementia respite service. These services are delivered through a partnership of National Health Service and voluntary sector partners to ensure that there is a tailored offer of support for those who need it.

The Bromley Dementia Support Hub, together with the MindCare Dementia Service provided by South-East London Mind, and in partnership with the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Bromley Well, and Age UK Bromley and Greenwich, offers a range of support services and stimulating activities both in-person and online for people living with dementia, and their friends and family carers.

People with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve or need, which is why we will fix the system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health, and that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it. We will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, which will also help ease pressure on hospitals.

NHS England’s three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services commits to offering all women a personalised care and support plan, considering physical health, mental health, and social complexities, with an updated risk assessment at every contact.

Specialist perinatal mental health services are available in all 42 integrated care system (ICS) areas of England. Maternal mental health services are available in 40 of the 42 ICS areas in England, and the last two are being supported by NHS England to ensure they are up and running as soon as possible. There are currently 19 Mother and Baby Units across England, with 153 operational beds.

We know that appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing. We want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. We want people to avoid poverty, and for this to happen we must ensure that disabled people and people with health conditions have the opportunity to work and save for as long as they wish and are able to. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group, so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key.

The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions are committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, and have range of support available so individuals can stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.

Measures include joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care, as well as support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants.

We have also launched WorkWell services in 15 integrated care board areas across England from October this year. WorkWell seeks to help people with health-related barriers to start and get on in work.

Employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions to thrive as part of the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers, and the Disability Confident scheme. Further information on the digital information service is available at the following link:

https://www.support-with-employee-health-and-disability.dwp.gov.uk/support-with-employee-health-and-disability

As part of the Get Britain Working plan, more disabled people and those with health conditions will be supported to enter and stay in work, by devolving more power to local areas so they can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer that suits the needs of the people they serve.

The Autumn Budget 2024 included more than £2.7 billion in 2025/26 for the Department for Work and Pensions to deliver individualised employment support programmes and reduce health related inactivity, helping the Government meet its ambition to support more people into work. This includes more than £800 million for disability employment support and £240 million to tackle the root causes of inactivity through the Get Britain Working White Paper.

The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary focused on action on climate and nature at the UN General Assembly and with Commonwealth leaders at CHOGM. We will send a strong delegation to COP29, including the new the UK Special Representative for Climate.

We are seizing the opportunity of this year's three COPs on biodiversity, climate and desertification, to drive international progress with partners. This will include building a Global Clean Power Alliance, taking our mission to make the UK a Clean Energy Superpower to the international stage, and pushing for an ambitious new climate finance goal at COP29.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.

We have committed to completing the outstanding commitments of the Fraud Strategy set out by the previous government and are determined to do more. We will be working closely with partners to develop our new, expanded strategy over the coming months. Details of our approach will be set out in due course.

In the meantime, the Government brought together key partners across law enforcement, industry and victim groups at the Joint Fraud Taskforce last month, launching an Insurance Fraud Charter with key insurance firms to reduce insurance fraud.

In parallel, we have taken steps to ensure a new corporate criminal liability offence of Failure to Prevent Fraud comes into effect next year and played a central role in the adoption of the first ever UN resolution on fraud, which will strengthen the international response.

The impact of fraud extends beyond financial losses. It is important that victims of fraud receive the critical support that they are rightly entitled to.

Improving support for victims is a key part of the Fraud Strategy and the replacement of Action Fraud over the course of 2025 will improve the service victims receive.

All 43 police forces in England and Wales have now also rolled out the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit service to ensure victims receive tailored support. Furthermore, we are supporting National Trading Standards in the rollout of their Multi Agency Approach to Fraud, bringing together local services to improve support to the most vulnerable victims.

Through the Fraud Strategy we also continue to tackle the ways in which vulnerable people might be targeted by fraudsters. We are working with Ofcom to stop malicious number spoofing and prevent mass texting services from abuse by fraudsters.

Under our Telecommunications Charter, the industry has introduced firewalls that detect and stop scam texts from reaching customers. Finally, we legislated to require the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to introduce mandatory reimbursement for APP scams, ensuring more victims get their money back.

As part of the Government’s Safer Streets mission, the Home Secretary has made a clear commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing through the introduction of a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.

This includes getting thousands of neighbourhood police personnel back on the beat, ensuring local people have a named officer who they can turn to when things go wrong, and cracking down on the street crime, shop theft and anti-social behaviour which has made communities feel less safe for far too long.

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

We will put thousands of new neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities and we will crack down on those causing havoc on our high streets by introducing tougher powers, including new Respect Orders to tackle repeat offending.

The Renters’ Rights Bill will prohibit rental bidding practices.

Community Land Trusts can apply to our delivery partners Homes England and the Greater London Authority for funding through the Affordable Housing Programme. If the development includes low cost rented tenures, they will also need to be a registered provider of social housing to receive funding or work in partnership with a registered provider.

I refer my Hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 11383 on 31 October 2024.

I refer my Hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 11383 on 31 October 2024.

The Government are committed to tackling unregulated and unaffordable existing ground rents. We will set out further details on this in due course.