Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of inner London local authorities placing their residents in temporary and permanent accommodation in outer London local authorities and neighbouring counties on those counties and local authorities.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
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.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport of 20 December 2022, Official Report, column 73WH, whether Government funding was used by Transport for London to purchase ULEZ cameras before the consultation started in April 2022.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
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.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department is providing to sixth-forms to transition from providing BTECs to T-Levels, including with securing industry placements.
Answered by Robert Halfon
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:
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.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle (a) the theft of motor vehicles and (b) the use of signal blockers in those crimes.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
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.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a community diagnostic centre in Sidcup.
Answered by Will Quince
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.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure people living with motor neurone disease and other terminal illnesses have timely access to housing adaptations.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
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.