Sarah Edwards

Historic England, HM Government's statutory adviser on the historic environment, is responsible for working with all stakeholders to champion historic places and help people to understand, value and care for them. In particular, Historic England has made assessments in relation to Heritage at Risk in Tamworth. There are three entries on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register in the Tamworth constituency:

1. the Deanery wall at Lower Gungate;

2. the Church of St John the Baptist; and

3. the Fazeley and Bonehill Conservation Area.

The Heritage at Risk programme protects and manages the historic environment. Historic England works with owners, friends groups, developers and other stakeholders to find solutions for ‘at risk’ historic places and sites across England.

In addition, heritage assets within the Tamworth constituency have benefited from National Heritage Lottery funding totalling £3,553,753 since 1994, including a grant of £555,400 to the scheduled and grade I listed Tamworth Castle in 2016.

The Environment Agency works on plans for flood preparedness and resilience with all Category 1 and 2 responders as part of the Staffordshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF). The membership includes the Environment Agency, Staffordshire County Council, Tamworth Borough Council and Lichfield District Council.

The LRF has regular formal meetings at a Strategic and Tactical level, Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit (CCU) provide the Secretariat and coordination.

The dates for the most recent and next planned LRF meetings:

Strategic Group

• 01 December 2023
• 01 March 2024

Tactical Group

• 09 November 2023
• 08 February 2024

The Environment Agency also met with Staffordshire CCU Emergency Planners to influence tactical flood plan guidance for all Districts and Boroughs on 15 November 2023.

During flood incidents all LRF members are invited to attend Flood Advisory Service calls arranged by the Environment Agency to be informed of likely flood impacts. A Flood Advisory Service call was held for Staffordshire LRF members on 02 Jan 2024.

The Environment Agency in its strategic overview role for flood risk, meets with Staffordshire County Council formally at least monthly, as Lead Local Flood Authority for the county, representing Boroughs and Districts. There was a meeting between the Environment Agency and Staffordshire County Council on 19 January 2024.

In addition to its work via Staffordshire County Council, the Environment Agency meets directly with Borough and District Councils as required.

There was a meeting with Tamworth Borough Council in July 2023 to discuss progressing a potential flood risk management scheme in the area.

In a flood situation local partners will come together to manage the response and support their communities. These will include our blue light services, the local authority and the Environment Agency as well as community members themselves. Their staff, and volunteers, play such an important role in supporting those affected, for which I am sure the hon.Member will agree they should be thanked and congratulated.

Depending on the severity of the flooding, this will usually be coordinated through the Local Resilience Forum. This is where partners will come together to will manage a response to a flood event that may have impacts on homes, infrastructure, transport links and community hubs.

Flooding can be devasting for those at risk impacted, which is why we are investing £5.2 billion in continuing to build defences that will better protect both homes and business, building on the £2.6 billion invested between 2015 and 2021 which provided better protection to 314,000 homes across England.

I am aware that during Storm Henk in January, the Polesworth gauge on the River Anker recorded its highest level, which would have been very worrying for your constituents. But I am delighted to know that investment already made in Tamworth meant that some 2,500 properties in Tamworth were protected, with only some minor surface water flooding behind defences. Many of which I am sure benefitted from the £15 million Lower Tame scheme, competed in 2015.

Following the recent storms the Environment Agency is assessing its existing defences to ensure they can continue to meet current and future needs. I know the Environment Agency is also exploring with partners the feasibility of the Tamworth Left Bank Flood Alleviation Scheme, on which, if it can go ahead, they anticipate beginning construction in late 2026 with completion expected in early 2029.

Any property that is no longer required will be disposed of and a programme is being developed to do this. We will ensure it is compliant with requirements on the disposal of surplus government property, delivers value for money for taxpayers and does not disrupt local property markets.

To drive a school minibus the driver must have the relevant driving licence entitlement. Drivers who passed their car test before 1 January 1997 were automatically entitled to the minibus licence category D1(101), allowing them to drive minibuses not for hire or reward, such as school minibuses. Drivers who passed after 1 January 1997 are not automatically entitled to the minibus D1(101) category and may need to take a D1 driving test.

Guidance on how contracting authorities, including National Health Service trusts, should respond to the COVID-19 pandemic was published in March 2020 and February 2021, reminding them of the options available when undertaking procurements in an emergency. These two guidance documents are available, respectively, at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0120-responding-to-covid-19

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0121-procurement-in-an-emergency

Authorities are allowed to procure goods, services, and works with extreme urgency in exceptional circumstances, using regulation 32(2)(c) under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. These include a direct award under which authorities may enter into contracts without competing or advertising the requirement.

Contracting authorities assess the market conditions for procuring supplies related to any procurement, in accordance with procurement guidance and regulations. Where any procurement meets the tests for the use of Regulation 32(2)(c) for the direct awarding of a contract, then that approach can be used. However, where it doesn’t, other approaches will be considered.

The Government’s plan – "Fighting retail crime: more action" was launched on 10 April, and includes a new standalone offence for assaults on retail workers and electronic monitoring for prolific shoplifters. This builds on the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan, launched in October 2023.

We will legislate through the Criminal Justice Bill, currently before Parliament, to introduce a presumption towards electronic monitoring as part of a sentence served in the community for those who repeatedly steal from shops.

The new bespoke offence of assaulting a retail worker will also be introduced via the Criminal Justice Bill. The offence will have a maximum penalty of six months in prison, or an unlimited fine – and upon conviction, it is expected that courts will make a Criminal Behaviour Order, which could bar offenders from visiting affected shops or premises. Breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order is a criminal offence and carries a five-year maximum prison sentence.

Those who repeatedly assault retail workers will be electronically monitored after their third offence, to crack down on reoffending and ensure those continuing down a path of violent behaviour will be met with further consequences. For the most serious violent offenders of assault, custodial sentences of up to five years in prison are already available.

The Home Office does not hold data on vacancies in frontline policing roles.

The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the function of police workers (officers, staff, designated officers (S.38) and Police Community Support Officers) as at 31 March each year in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.

This includes information on the number and proportion of police workers in frontline policing roles. Data from 31 March 2021 to 31 March 2023, by worker type, can be found in the ‘Functions Open Data Table’ here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64ba635306f78d000d7426aa/open-data-table-police-workforce-functions-260723.ods. Data for previous years, can be found in Tables F1 to F3 of the data tables accompanying each publication.

Data for the ‘as at 31 March 2024’ publication will be published in July 2024 as part of the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 16976 on 7 March 2024.

I wish to be clear with the Hon Member once more. My visit to Tamworth was a political visit. It was arranged through political channels.

I notified the Hon Member ahead of visiting her constituency as per parliamentary protocols.

Furthermore, she should note that the cost of answering a written ministerial question has previously been estimated to be in region of £150. I have so far answered multiple questions on this subject.

To put it in perspective, the train ticket I purchased to visit Tamworth (at no cost to the taxpayer) cost £5.60.

If the honourable lady would like to meet me to discuss any of these matters further, at a far cheaper cost to the taxpayer, I am happy to facilitate such a meeting.

But I would prefer to discuss how this Government can level up all parts of this great country, including of course Tamworth.

No departmental resources were deployed in facilitating the visit to Tamworth. No briefing materials were prepared by my department in preparation of the visit.

As I said in response to Question UIN 13191 on 8 February 2024, this was a political visit arranged through political channels at no cost to the taxpayer.

Visits are categorised as political if they are organised via political channels and not funded from official resource.

The Government is committed to levelling up the whole country. Tamworth has been awarded £21.65 million from the Future High Street Fund to deliver regeneration of the Town Centre.

The department understands that inflation is an issue facing many projects. Where requests to re-scope projects are submitted, we are looking to deal with these flexibly, provided changes still represent good value for money. Details of meetings with external organisations are published on Gov.uk.

The Government is committed to levelling up the whole country. Tamworth has been awarded £21.65 million from the Future High Street Fund to deliver regeneration of the Town Centre.

The department understands that inflation is an issue facing many projects. Where requests to re-scope projects are submitted, we are looking to deal with these flexibly, provided changes still represent good value for money. Details of meetings with external organisations are published on Gov.uk.