Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to increase Crown Court capacity in Kent.

Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Crown Court outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice System. The caseload has risen in recent years as a result of the pandemic and an increase in cases coming before the criminal courts.

To address this, we plan to sit 106,500 working days at the Crown Court this financial year and continue to keep 18 Nightingale courtrooms open for 2024/25. Alongside this, we consistently invest in the recruitment of c.1000 judges and tribunal members annually and are also considering further measures to speed up justice.

HMCTS receives a specified level of funding each year to operate the courts and tribunals. This level of funding is agreed by the Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice via the Concordat process. Sitting days are subsequently allocated to regions and local courts.

In 2024/25, Maidstone Crown Court is scheduled to sit at its maximum capacity in line with the number of judges and courtrooms it has available. We continue to explore the prospect of increasing the number of courtrooms available at the Court. Canterbury sits below capacity, but this reflects the improving performance picture at the court.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she had made of the adequacy of the condition of local roads in Kent and Medway.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to maintaining and renewing the local road network. Kent County Council and Medway Council are the local highway authorities for different parts of the Chatham and Aylesford constituency, and they are therefore responsible for the condition and maintenance of their local road networks. They will receive £38.3 million and £3.5 million respectively from this Department during 2024/25 to help them carry out their local highway maintenance responsibilities, and it is up to them 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.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help reduce driving test waiting times in (a) Medway and (b) Kent.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

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 (DE), conducting tests outside regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays and buying back annual leave from driving examiners.

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

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's timetable is for making a decision on the development Medway Maritime Trust elective care centre in Chatham.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Presently, there is no Medway elective treatment business case going through assurance with the Department. NHS England has delegated authority for business cases costed at under £25 million, in which case the Department is not the decision maker. This aligns with our approach that local health infrastructure needs are determined by local health system planners, in collaboration with NHS England.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the use of section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 by police forces to tackle nuisance behaviour involving (a) motorbikes, (b) e-bikes, (c) e-scooters, (d) quad bikes and (e) any other type of motor vehicle.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Information about the powers the police use to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) incidents is not held centrally by the Home Office, and is collected by HMICFRS.

The Home Office collects and publishes data about the number of ASB nuisance incidents on a quarterly basis, however information about which of these incidents involved motor vehicles is not currently identifiable.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes data quarterly on the proportion of respondents who experienced types of ASB in their local area, including “Vehicle related behaviour”, in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) – however the type of vehicle used is not currently identifiable.

Both the ONS and Home Office datasets for ASB in the year to March 2024 can be found here:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesotherrelatedtables

Information for the year to June 2024 will be published on 24^th October 2024.

100th anniversary of Kingswear Castle paddle steamer

Support for community energy initiatives

30 years of the National Lottery

Work of St John Ambulance

World Diabetes Day 2024

75th anniversary of NATO

360th anniversary of the Royal Marines

Access to banking hubs

75th anniversary of Mill Hill Synagogue

FareShare’s 30th anniversary

15th anniversary of the repair café movement

Celebrating the life of Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert MBE BEM

World Food Day

World Mental Health Day 2024

NHS Parliamentary Awards

20th anniversary of Parkrun

75th anniversary of the Cheltenham Literature Festival