Louie French

The department has extensive packages of support available to ensure schools with sixth forms, sixth form colleges and other providers are prepared to deliver T Levels. This includes:

• One-to-one support with implementation, planning, and access to networks of other providers offering T Levels.
• Up-front funding for the additional hours involved in teaching a T Level and funding to support delivery of industry placements.
• A full range of T Level professional development programme resources and support, including the T Level Professional Development Programme available to all teachers that will teach T Levels.
• Tailored advice and support to providers to deliver industry placements.
• Over £400 million in capital funding made available to T Level providers, to bid for new and refurbished buildings and to fund specialist equipment.

The department has invested £245 million over the past four years to help providers prepare for industry placements and build relationships with local employers. We recently announced a £12 million employer support fund to reimburse employers for the costs of offering placements. The ‘Connect with employers interested in T Levels’ service enables providers to find employers in their area.

Guidance for local highway authorities on all matters relating to signage is set out in the Traffic Signs Manual, which is available on gov.uk. The Department has no plans to update this advice to cover this specific issue.

Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and TfL, and it is their responsibility to manage and oversee the transport network. This includes decisions with regards to road schemes which charge users. The Mayor of London announced his decision to expand the ULEZ on 25 November 2022 following a public consultation.

Prior to the Mayor’s announcement, Government had been clear, via the August 2022 longer-term funding settlement, that funding cannot be used to cover the cost of implementing the new (or any future) scheme; this includes the purchasing of cameras.

Future Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) locations are currently under review. NHS England is working with integrated care systems, diagnostic networks and primary care services to assess and determine the location and configuration of services for future CDCs, based on the needs of the local population.

No discussions are currently planned between the Home Secretary and the Metropolitan Police on this matter.

Enforcement of speed limits is an operational matter for local Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced.

If there are problems with the issue of speeding tickets then the matter can initially be raised with the Metropolitan Police, MOPAC and TfL as the authority responsible for the road in question.

This Government is committed to tackling the guerrilla tactics used by a selfish minority of protesters, which take up precious resource and disrupt the lives of others. That is why we introduced the Public Order Act 2023, which improves the police’s ability to manage highly disruptive protests and take a proactive approach to prevent such disruption happening in the first place. For example, the lock-on offence and the associated stop and search power will allow the police to pro-actively prevent protesters from causing serious disruption on our roads and save the taxpayer time and money.

Through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the Government also raised the maximum penalty for wilful obstruction of the highway, ensuring offenders can receive proportionate sentences for the disruption they cause.

We have also recently amended the Public Order Act 1986 via statutory instrument to align the definition of “serious disruption” with the Public Order Act 2023. These changes give the police greater flexibility and clarity over when to intervene to stop disruptive tactics such as blocking roads and slow walks.

The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime.

We are working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by ACC Jennifer Sims, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, to take forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce vehicle crime nationally. This includes training police officers on methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles and working with industry to prevent theft.

A network of vehicle crime leads has been established in every police force in England and Wales, ensuring forces share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and are better able to tackle regional issues.

A vehicle crime intelligence group has been set up to monitor emerging trends in vehicle crime, such as the use of signal blockers, and provide a link between the Home Office, police, vehicle manufacturers and Thatcham Research, the automotive insurer’s research centre.

A breakdown of government grants and other sources of income for each of the seven constituent bodies of the Greater London Authority (GLA) Group can be found in the Mayor of London's annual budgets. Copies can be found here.

We have introduced legal obligations on both private and social landlords to provide carbon monoxide detectors in their properties and we have amended the statutory guidance (Approved Document J) supporting Part J of the Building Regulations to require that carbon monoxide alarms are fitted alongside the installation of fixed combustion appliances of any fuel type (excluding gas cookers) in all tenures.

We continue to advise homeowners to install carbon monoxide alarms and support the Health and Safety Executive when they recommend these alarms as one useful precaution to give advance warning of carbon monoxide in a property. We also commend the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group and the Carbon Monoxide and Gas Safety Society.

The latest report from the Cross-government Group on Gas Safety and Carbon Monoxide Awareness can be found at Cross government group on gas safety and carbon monoxide (CO) awareness (hse.gov.uk).

We have introduced legal obligations on both private and social landlords to provide carbon monoxide detectors in their properties and we have amended the statutory guidance (Approved Document J) supporting Part J of the Building Regulations to require that carbon monoxide alarms are fitted alongside the installation of fixed combustion appliances of any fuel type (excluding gas cookers) in all tenures.

We continue to advise homeowners to install carbon monoxide alarms and support the Health and Safety Executive when they recommend these alarms as one useful precaution to give advance warning of carbon monoxide in a property. We also commend the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group and the Carbon Monoxide and Gas Safety Society.

The latest report from the Cross-government Group on Gas Safety and Carbon Monoxide Awareness can be found at Cross government group on gas safety and carbon monoxide (CO) awareness (hse.gov.uk).

The latest homelessness statistics, which includes data on temporary accommodation placements out of borough, can be found here.

Local authorities must ensure any temporary accommodation placement is suitable and should try to place individuals within their own area. If an authority places a household in temporary accommodation outside of the local area, this should be as a last resort and they should still try to place the household as near as possible to the original local authority.

Since 2010 Government has invested £4 billion into the Disabled Facilities Grant (2010-11 to 2021-22) to help meet the cost of home adaptations for people of all ages and tenures, including those living with motor neurone disease and other terminal illnesses.

The Government announced £573 million for this grant in each year from 2022-23 to 2024-25, in the recently published Adult Social Care White Paper, People at the Heart of Care. Local authorities also have legal powers to fast-track assistance for home adaptations if agreed locally and published in a local Housing Assistance Policy.

The Government is currently delivering 10,000 new prison places by the end of 2025 and have a long-term commitment to build 20,00 places overall, which is the largest prison building programme in Britain since the Victorian era. We have already delivered c.5,900 of these, including through our two brand new modern and secure prisons. A third prison will open next year, and two more have planning permission; as a result, the total number of prison places is significantly higher than in 2010 and will rise further.

Meanwhile, with a new prisoner transfer agreement with Albania and expansion of the Early Removal Scheme, strong and decisive action is being taken to drive down the number of Foreign National Offenders in our prisons.