Sojan Joseph

The Department is introducing heat network regulation in January 2026 which aims to provide consumers with comparable protections to existing gas and electricity regulations.

Ofgem is being appointed as heat network regulator and will have powers to investigate and intervene where prices appear disproportionate or unfair.

We are exploring options on further price protections including potentially capping connection costs within heat network zones.

We are also working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure heat network regulation works alongside existing leaseholder and tenant protections.

The Online Safety Act has been designed to be technology neutral and applies to all services which support user-to-user interactions online, including game services. Where gaming services fall in scope, they will need to take appropriate measures to protect their users against illegal harms and harms to children.

The department wants to support all young people to be happy, healthy and safe, and to equip them for adult life so they achieve and thrive.

The statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance makes clear that teachers should be aware of common adverse childhood experiences, including bereavement, and understand when and how these may be affecting of their pupils. This will help teachers to tailor their lessons accordingly, taking decisions on appropriate resources and support to enable them to teach the curriculum effectively. Teachers are free to draw on the support and expertise of subject associations and other providers of curriculum support.

The RSHE statutory guidance, which sets out the specific topics pupils should be taught, is currently under review. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has been clear that children's wellbeing will be the government's priority, in light of which the department is looking carefully at the responses from the period of public consultation which ended on 11 July, engage with stakeholders and consider the relevant evidence before setting out next steps. As part of this process, the department will explore whether any more or amended content is required, including on death and bereavement.

The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions.

Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There is already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.

Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the Reading Framework and an updated list of high quality phonics programmes for schools.

The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.

Ashford’s local English Hub is Kingsnorth. Further information is available here: https://www.kingsnorth.kent.sch.uk/english-hub.

Following the inspection of Kent’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in January 2019, inspectors reported nine significant areas of weakness, requiring the local area to produce a Written Statement of Action.

A revisit by Ofsted and CQC took place in September 2022. The report was published on 9 November 2022 and judged that the local area had not made sufficient progress in addressing any of its significant weaknesses, which were:

(i) A widely held concern of parents that the local area is not able, or in some cases not willing, to meet their children’s needs.

(ii) A variable quality of provision and commitment to inclusion in schools.

(iii) That parents and carers have a limited role in reviewing and designing services for children and young people with SEND.

(iv) An inability of current joint commissioning arrangements to address known gaps and eliminate longstanding weaknesses in services.

(v) Poor standards achieved and poor progress made by too many children and young people with SEND.

(vi) The inconsistent quality of the education, health and care (EHC) plan process.

(vii) Weak governance of SEND arrangements across the EHC system at strategic and operational level.

(viii) Unacceptable waiting times for children and young people to be seen by some health services.

(ix) A lack of effective systems to review and improve outcomes for those children and young people whose progress to date has been limited by weaknesses in provision.

Every child and young person with SEND should have access to high quality services. Where a council does not meet requirements to provide appropriate support for these children, the department will take action to prioritise their needs and bring about rapid improvement. That is why Kent County Council (KCC) was issued with an Improvement Notice in March 2023, setting out the steps expected of them to raise standards in their SEND services.

After reviewing the actions that KCC has taken to improve its SEND services, the department lifted its Improvement Notice in August 2024 on the basis that KCC has met the conditions set out within it. The department continues to maintain close oversight of services and the further improvements KCC must make to ensure every child and young person with SEND has access to high quality services, including through regular review meetings, close working with NHS England, and the continued support of a department commissioned SEND Advisor.

The Government’s Water (Special Measures) Bill will the first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector, reducing pollution and cleaning up our waterways. The Government has also launched an Independent Commission into the water sector regulatory system, anticipated to form the largest review of the industry since privatisation.

With respect to the Ashford constituency, this year Environment Agency (EA) officers have inspected four permitted water company assets, with more planned in the coming months as part an increased programme of regulatory visits. No significant issues have been found so far. Where significant permit breaches or issues are identified, the appropriate enforcement response will be pursued according to the EA’s enforcement policy.

EA Agricultural Officers have been focusing their regulatory efforts in the Great Stour catchment this year. These inspections ensure farmers are operating in ways that reduce polluting inputs into watercourses.

The EA is also an active participant of the Kentish Stour Catchment partnership which identifies and commissions projects to improve water quality and river habitats across the catchment.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA’s) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.

DVSA continues to take measures to increase test availability. These include the recruitment of driving examiners (DEs), conducting tests outside regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays and buying back annual leave from DEs.

DVSA currently employs 7.33 full-time equivalent DEs at Ashford, Canterbury and Folkestone driving test centres (DTCs). It has made offers of employment to a further eight potential new DEs who, if successful in training, will join these DTCs.

In total DVSA has made offers to 15 potential new DEs in Kent. DVSA launched its latest recruitment campaign in September 2024. From this campaign DVSA aims to recruit a further eight DEs in the Kent area.

Good local bus services are an essential part of prosperous and sustainable communities. As announced in the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024, the government will introduce a Buses Bill later this parliamentary session, which will put decision-making into the hands of local leaders, including in Kent and other rural areas right across England. This will allow local areas to determine how best to design their bus services so that they have control over routes and schedules.

The government has also committed to increasing accountability by providing safeguards over local networks across the country and empowering local transport authorities through reforms to bus funding.

The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to maintaining and renewing the local road network. Kent County Council is the local highway authority for the Ashford constituency, and it is therefore responsible for the maintenance of its local road network. Kent County Council will receive £38.3 million from this Department during 2024/25 to help it carry out its local highway maintenance responsibilities: it is up to it to decide how that funding is used. For England as a whole, the Government has a commitment to enable local highway authorities to fix up to a million more potholes a year.

Department for Transport Ministers and officials regularly meet colleagues from the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and FCDO to discuss the impacts of the EU Entry/Exit System on travel between the UK and the Schengen Area, including the impacts on freight. We are intensifying these discussions with our ministerial colleagues across government as we approach the implementation date.

I can confirm that a cut of the field to remove the thistles and ragwort was completed by Sunday 8th September. The cut was started following an ecological walkover visit on Monday 2nd September to ensure that the works could go ahead without impacting nesting birds.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish the child poverty strategy in the Spring.

Our publication on 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ sets out how we will develop the Strategy, harnessing all available levers to deliver a reduction in child poverty this Parliament.

The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

The Taskforce will hear directly from experts on each of the Strategy’s themes including children and families living in poverty and work with leading organisations, charities, and campaigners.

To support struggling families, we have already boosted the Household Support Fund by a further £421 million in England. The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to roll out free breakfast clubs at all primary schools, create 3,000 additional nurseries, as well as deliver our plan to make work pay to turn the minimum wage into a real living wage.

The forthcoming Youth Guarantee is testament to our commitment to do more to help young people achieve their potential and how we intend to maximise the role of as wide a range of local partners as possible in helping us to achieve this goal.

Ashford Jobcentre has had several meetings with Ashford Borough Council with the Welfare team and the Economic Development Manager where they have been discussing the developments in Ashford and changes in the labour market and how the youth cohort can find employment.

Recent examples of positive collaboration in Ashford include strong support for Southeastern rail apprenticeships to close the skill gaps in that sector, and the Jobcentre is also looking for solutions with the local authority around transportation links.

As of 1 December 2024, 49 appeals linked to COVID-19 vaccinations have been escalated to tribunal. Eight of these appeals have now concluded, with zero resulting in a payment being awarded.

Between 1 November 2021 and 1 December 2024, the total spent by the NHS Business Services Authority on behalf of the Department to defend against appeals within the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was £104,005.05. As of December 2024, 49 appeals linked to COVID-19 vaccinations have been escalated to a tribunal.

The NHS Operational and Planning Guidance for 2024/25 makes clear that integrated care boards are expected to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard by increasing their investment in mental health services in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.

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 dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local populations and to determine the priorities for investment. For the Ashford constituency, this is the NHS Kent and Medway ICB.

To fix the chronic workforce shortages in the mental health workforce we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers, across both child and adult mental health services, to reduce waiting times and provide faster treatment across all areas of England, including Kent and Medway.

We are working to consider options to deliver this expansion of the mental health workforce, including where they should be deployed to achieve maximum effect. NHS England is also working to improve retention through clearer career progression pathways.

The UK is deeply concerned about reports of human rights abuses and violations in Pakistan, including in Balochistan province. The British High Commission regularly raises these issues with the Government of Pakistan at a senior level. The UK will continue to urge the Government of Pakistan to guarantee the rights of all people as laid down in Pakistan's Constitution and in accordance with international standards.

Pension abatement rules formed part of the overall design of most legacy Public Service Pension Schemes. These rules worked as part of an overall package to safeguard against undesirable practices and ensure propriety and value for money. Reformed schemes were introduced in 2014/15 and do not contain abatement provisions.

The government has no plans to review the abatement rules. It is generally not appropriate to retrospectively improve the terms of public service pensions, as this would place costs on current employers for benefits that were not envisaged at the time such pensions were accrued.

This Government is committed to ensuring that the police have the resources they need to tackle crime effectively.

Kent Police’s funding will be up to £431.5m in 2024-25. This is in addition to £4m provided for the 2024-25 pay award which has been allocated outside of the police funding settlement.

As announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, the settlement will increase the core government grant for police forces and help support frontline policing levels across the country.

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.

The 2024-25 police funding settlement provides funding of up to £18.5 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. Kent Police’s funding will be up to £431.5m in 2024-25. This is in addition to £4m provided for the 2024-25 pay award which has been allocated outside of the police funding settlement.

Across all rounds of the Safer Streets Fund, and the Safety of Women at Night Fund, the Kent police force area has received just under £3.5 million, supporting 12 projects. This includes just over £760,000 through the latest, fifth round of funding to deliver three projects across various locations, including in Folkestone, Chatham, Sittingbourne and Sheerness, which have a focus on preventing anti-social behaviour, violence against women and girls and neighbourhood crime.

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) in Kent has been allocated £1,568,614 to deliver the Hotspot Response programme in 24-25. This programme is a combination of additional, high visibility patrols targeted to the exact locations where they are needed most (‘hotspots’), and funding of problem-oriented policing tactics. Problem oriented policing aims to tackle the underlying drivers of crime using a comprehensive menu of policing interventions.

More broadly, this Government will treat tackling violence against women and girls as a national emergency and we will use every tool to target perpetrators and address the root causes of violence.

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, which includes getting thousands of neighbourhood police personnel back on the beat, giving local people a names officer who they can turn to when things go wrong, and cracking down on the street crime, shop theft and anti-social behaviour which makes communities feel less safe.

The 2024-25 police funding settlement provides funding of up to £18.5 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. Kent Police’s funding will be up to £431.5m in 2024-25. This is in addition to £4m provided for the 2024-25 pay award which has been allocated outside of the police funding settlement.

Across all rounds of the Safer Streets Fund, and the Safety of Women at Night Fund, the Kent police force area has received just under £3.5 million, supporting 12 projects. This includes just over £760,000 through the latest, fifth round of funding to deliver three projects across various locations, including in Folkestone, Chatham, Sittingbourne and Sheerness, which have a focus on preventing anti-social behaviour, violence against women and girls and neighbourhood crime.

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) in Kent has been allocated £1,568,614 to deliver the Hotspot Response programme in 24-25. This programme is a combination of additional, high visibility patrols targeted to the exact locations where they are needed most (‘hotspots’), and funding of problem-oriented policing tactics. Problem oriented policing aims to tackle the underlying drivers of crime using a comprehensive menu of policing interventions.

More broadly, this Government will treat tackling violence against women and girls as a national emergency and we will use every tool to target perpetrators and address the root causes of violence.

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, which includes getting thousands of neighbourhood police personnel back on the beat, giving local people a names officer who they can turn to when things go wrong, and cracking down on the street crime, shop theft and anti-social behaviour which makes communities feel less safe.

The 2024-25 police funding settlement provides funding of up to £18.5 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. Kent Police’s funding will be up to £431.5m in 2024-25. This is in addition to £4m provided for the 2024-25 pay award which has been allocated outside of the police funding settlement.

Across all rounds of the Safer Streets Fund, and the Safety of Women at Night Fund, the Kent police force area has received just under £3.5 million, supporting 12 projects. This includes just over £760,000 through the latest, fifth round of funding to deliver three projects across various locations, including in Folkestone, Chatham, Sittingbourne and Sheerness, which have a focus on preventing anti-social behaviour, violence against women and girls and neighbourhood crime.

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) in Kent has been allocated £1,568,614 to deliver the Hotspot Response programme in 24-25. This programme is a combination of additional, high visibility patrols targeted to the exact locations where they are needed most (‘hotspots’), and funding of problem-oriented policing tactics. Problem oriented policing aims to tackle the underlying drivers of crime using a comprehensive menu of policing interventions.

More broadly, this Government will treat tackling violence against women and girls as a national emergency and we will use every tool to target perpetrators and address the root causes of violence.

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, which includes getting thousands of neighbourhood police personnel back on the beat, giving local people a names officer who they can turn to when things go wrong, and cracking down on the street crime, shop theft and anti-social behaviour which makes communities feel less safe.

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission to take back our streets. The Government will give police the powers they need to take illegal, dangerous and antisocial vehicles off the streets for good and quickly destroy the vehicles they seize from offenders. We will set out more information in due course.

However, the use of those powers and the enforcement of road traffic law, including in relation to the anti-social use of electric bikes and electric scooters, remains an operational matter for Chief Officers who will decide how to deploy available resources, taking into account any specific local problems and demands.