Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with Govia Thameslink Railway on the reduction of its (a) Southern and (b) London Bridge to East Croydon railway lines.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The department has regular discussions with Operators to assess the level of service provision and ensure that the timetable meets passenger demand. The timetable will remain under regular review however there are no significant changes currently planned to services between East Croydon and London Bridge
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reinstating direct trains from Greenwich and Woolwich to London Charing Cross.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The train operator Southeastern are responsible for the detailed planning and operation of their timetable. The realignment to Cannon Street, as the terminal station for Woolwich Line services, was required to reduce congestion at the busy Lewisham Junction and delivers the most benefit for the greatest number of passengers by improving punctuality, reducing cancellations, and improving the network’s ability to recover from disruption.
Passengers on the Woolwich Line wishing to travel to Charing Cross now need to change at either Lewisham or London Bridge where there are frequent connecting trains.
I understand that this structural change is fundamental to delivering the operational and performance benefits of Southeastern’s new timetable.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure young people have timely access to mental health services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion per year by March 2024 to enable an extra two million people in England, including 345,000 children and young people, to access National Health Service-funded mental health support.
We also provided an additional £500 million for 2021/22, targeting those groups whose mental health has been most affected by the pandemic, including children and young people. Within the £500 million, £79 million was invested to allow around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services, 2,000 more to access eating disorder services and a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges. £13 million was invested to ensure young adults aged 18 to 25, including university students, were supported with tailored mental health support, helping bridge the gap between children’s and adult services.
In February, NHS England published the outcomes of its consultation on the potential to introduce five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services, including that children and young people should start to receive care within four weeks from referral, as part of its clinically led review of National Health Service access standards. We are now working with NHS England on the next steps.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect Hammersmith Bridge to reopen to traffic.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Transport in London is devolved. Hammersmith Bridge is owned by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (LBHF) which is responsible for its repair and maintenance.
Stabilisation works are underway; a business case for strengthening works is in development. Providing a schedule for the full reopening of the bridge is part of the business case development process.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he is taking diplomatic steps to support the proposal by the Israeli government to construct a land bridge to connect Israel to United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government welcomes all initiatives that aim to facilitate regional integration, enhance economic growth, and build peace.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We are investing an additional £2.3 billion per year by March 2024 to enable an extra two million people in England, including 345,000 children and young people, and including those in the Enfield area and across London more widely, to access National Health Service-funded mental health support.
We also provided an additional £500 million for 2021/22, targeting those groups whose mental health has been most affected by the pandemic including children and young people. Within the £500 million, £79 million was invested to allowed around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services, 2,000 more to access eating disorder services and a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges. £13 million was invested to ensure young adults aged 18 to 25, including university students, are supported with tailored mental health support, helping bridge the gap between children’s and adult services.
This additional funding has accelerated coverage of mental health support teams across the country. As of spring 2022, 287 mental health support teams were in place in 4,700 schools and colleges, covering 26% of pupils in England. This means that we achieved 25% coverage a year earlier than planned.
There are now almost 400 mental health support teams in place, covering over 3 million children or around 35% of pupils in schools and colleges, with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.
Over 10,000 schools and colleges have trained a senior mental health lead, including more than six in ten state-funded secondary schools in England.
In February, NHS England published the outcomes of its consultation on the potential to introduce five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services, including that children and young people should start to receive care within four weeks from referral, as part of its clinically-led review of National Health Service access standards. We are now working with NHS England on the next steps.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding has been allocated for LGBTQ+ appropriate mental health treatment for financial years (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision of mental health services and thus for allocating funding for services tailored to their local populations. This means that the provision of LGBTQ+ appropriate mental health treatment should be commissioned at ICB level.
At a national level, we are expanding and transforming National Health Service mental health services in England, backed by additional funding of £2.3 billion a year by March 2024. This will allow an extra 2 million people, including LGBTQ+ individuals, to get the mental health support that they need.
Through its mental health equalities strategy, NHS England is working closely with patients, carers, health system leaders and other key stakeholders to bridge the gaps for groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community, faring worse than others in mental health services.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the time taken for research into cancer treatments to reach clinical trials.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) invests in infrastructure to speed up translation of scientific discoveries into new or improved treatments, from early translational research through to clinical trials. This includes the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs), NHS/University partnerships which bridge the gap between basic science and early phase clinical trials. There are 20 NIHR BRCs across England based in our leading NHS/University partnerships, which collectively are receiving £126m over five years to support cancer research.
UK Research and Innovation Medical Research Council (MRC) provides funding across the full pathway from basic biology to application, actively supporting researchers as they transition discoveries through translation towards patient benefits. This includes funding for fundamental and mechanistic biology and translational research through to early phase 2a clinical trials. MRC's main translational route, the Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme, has an annual budget of over £30 million, for which cancer research is strongly competitive.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to safeguard the UK's industrial heritage.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK’s industrial heritage is a vital part of our nation's rich history and cultural life, and His Majesty’s Government has taken a number of steps to safeguard and promote our industrial heritage across the UK, including in the North East of England.
HM Government is committed to safeguarding our nation’s built heritage. The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 includes protection for iconic assets of industrial and engineering accomplishment, including the Grade I listed High Level Bridge, the Grade II* listed Tyne Bridge, and the Grade II* listed Swing Bridge, which is also a Scheduled Monument.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has invested more than £610 million in industrial, maritime and transport heritage projects across the UK since 1994, including £40 million in the North East.
In 2019, DCMS invested £18.6 million in the National Railway Museum’s ‘Vision 2025’ project through the Government’s Cultural Investment Fund. This involves a major capital transformation of the National Railway Museum in York and Locomotion Museum in Shildon, County Durham, which will help to celebrate the North East's unique relationship with heritage rail.
HM Government is also investing £95 million across 65 High Street Heritage Action Zones to revitalise high streets and connect people with their local heritage. The Stockton and Darlington Railway Heritage Action Zone is a brilliant example, restoring 26 miles of historic railway, and developing a major industrial heritage attraction, in the run-up to the bicentenary of the first public steam rail journey between Stockton and Darlington in 1825.
Repairs Grants for Heritage at Risk, managed by Historic England, have restored a number of industrial heritage sites across the North East, including £250,000 towards the restoration of a Grade II* railway goods shed in Darlington, thought to be the oldest surviving one in the UK.
Beyond the North East, DCMS has invested in the restoration of other industrial heritage assets. In Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, Historic England is working with developers to revitalise old textile mills, transforming them into new homes, commercial spaces, and cultural hubs. Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have helped to reopen Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings – the first iron-framed building in the world – as a new workspace and community asset, with its conservation providing work placements, training and hands-on experience in heritage preservation and construction skills.
DCMS is working more broadly to promote the UK’s industrial heritage. Our sponsored museums and arm’s-length bodies are playing a key role in engaging young people with our industrial cultural heritage, and encouraging them into STEM pathways. This includes the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, inspiring future engineers with its focus on how Britain’s industrial heritage changed the world. This is supported by the work of the four other Science Museum sites and the Natural History Museum.
Historic England’s Heritage Schools programme supports primary and secondary schools to engage children with their local industrial heritage and to consider possible future career paths.
DCMS, in partnership with DfE, is developing the Cultural Education Plan, which will aim to support career progression pathways, and tackle disparities in opportunity and outcomes for children and young people within the cultural and creative sectors. This includes improving engagement in our heritage sectors and industrial heritage.
Industrial heritage is also fundamental for tourism and our local visitor economy, especially in the North East. The Government is currently developing the Destination Development Partnership, which includes working with partners across the North East to improve the region's visitor economy.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with Ministers in the Department for Education of the role of industrial cultural heritage in attracting young people into STEM subjects.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK’s industrial heritage is a vital part of our nation's rich history and cultural life, and His Majesty’s Government has taken a number of steps to safeguard and promote our industrial heritage across the UK, including in the North East of England.
HM Government is committed to safeguarding our nation’s built heritage. The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 includes protection for iconic assets of industrial and engineering accomplishment, including the Grade I listed High Level Bridge, the Grade II* listed Tyne Bridge, and the Grade II* listed Swing Bridge, which is also a Scheduled Monument.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has invested more than £610 million in industrial, maritime and transport heritage projects across the UK since 1994, including £40 million in the North East.
In 2019, DCMS invested £18.6 million in the National Railway Museum’s ‘Vision 2025’ project through the Government’s Cultural Investment Fund. This involves a major capital transformation of the National Railway Museum in York and Locomotion Museum in Shildon, County Durham, which will help to celebrate the North East's unique relationship with heritage rail.
HM Government is also investing £95 million across 65 High Street Heritage Action Zones to revitalise high streets and connect people with their local heritage. The Stockton and Darlington Railway Heritage Action Zone is a brilliant example, restoring 26 miles of historic railway, and developing a major industrial heritage attraction, in the run-up to the bicentenary of the first public steam rail journey between Stockton and Darlington in 1825.
Repairs Grants for Heritage at Risk, managed by Historic England, have restored a number of industrial heritage sites across the North East, including £250,000 towards the restoration of a Grade II* railway goods shed in Darlington, thought to be the oldest surviving one in the UK.
Beyond the North East, DCMS has invested in the restoration of other industrial heritage assets. In Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, Historic England is working with developers to revitalise old textile mills, transforming them into new homes, commercial spaces, and cultural hubs. Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have helped to reopen Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings – the first iron-framed building in the world – as a new workspace and community asset, with its conservation providing work placements, training and hands-on experience in heritage preservation and construction skills.
DCMS is working more broadly to promote the UK’s industrial heritage. Our sponsored museums and arm’s-length bodies are playing a key role in engaging young people with our industrial cultural heritage, and encouraging them into STEM pathways. This includes the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, inspiring future engineers with its focus on how Britain’s industrial heritage changed the world. This is supported by the work of the four other Science Museum sites and the Natural History Museum.
Historic England’s Heritage Schools programme supports primary and secondary schools to engage children with their local industrial heritage and to consider possible future career paths.
DCMS, in partnership with DfE, is developing the Cultural Education Plan, which will aim to support career progression pathways, and tackle disparities in opportunity and outcomes for children and young people within the cultural and creative sectors. This includes improving engagement in our heritage sectors and industrial heritage.
Industrial heritage is also fundamental for tourism and our local visitor economy, especially in the North East. The Government is currently developing the Destination Development Partnership, which includes working with partners across the North East to improve the region's visitor economy.