Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps are being taken to support local authorities with cyber security and the rise in related threats.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government has set out its approach to cyber resilience the Government Cyber Security Strategy (GCSS). Cabinet Office are the lead department for the implementation of the GCSS, local government are responsible for the resilience of their networks and systems, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is assigned stewardship of local government, with responsibility for cyber policy and assurance.
Since 2020, DLUHC has provided £19.9 million of grant funding and technical support to 192 English local authorities to improve their cyber maturity. In collaboration with the Local Government Association and the National Cyber Security Centre, DLUHC have been raising the awareness of cyber risk and fostering cyber-first cultures and practices in local government.
To support councils to assess and improve their cyber security, DLUHC are introducing the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) for the English local government sector later this year, providing a clear cyber security standard and method for local authorities to assess their cyber health.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Project Adjustment Requests were received in respect of Levelling Up Fund applications; and how many of these requests have been approved.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Recognising the challenging economic backdrop environment, we continue to work with local areas to find practical solutions to project delivery issues. We are working with projects to make sensible adjustments to the scope and phasing of their Levelling Up Fund (LUF) projects where necessary to mitigate delivery challenges whilst maintaining value for money. To date the Levelling Up Fund has received 61 project adjustment requests – 37 have been approved, 1 has been rejected, 16 were withdrawn, and a further 7 are currently being considered.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether additional new burdens funding will be committed to local authorities who will require additional enforcement capacity within trading standards teams to enforce the policies included in the 2023 Department For Health and Social Care policy paper Stopping the Start.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department published the command paper, Stopping the Start, in October 2023, which sets out our plans to create the first Smokefree Generation, to tackle youth vaping, and to strengthen tobacco and vape enforcement. These measures amount to the most significant public health intervention in a generation.
The policies announced in the command paper are being introduced through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which is currently undertaking its passage through Parliament. The bill changes the age of sale of tobacco so that those born on or after 1 January 2009 will never be legally sold tobacco. It also prohibits the sale of non-nicotine vapes to under 18-year-olds, and the free distribution of vapes to under 18-year-olds, and introduces fixed penalty notices for breaches of the age of sale legislation.
To help tackle the rise in youth vaping, the bill provides powers to restrict vape flavours, point of sale displays, and packaging, and the Government has also confirmed that under environmental legislation, we will ban the sale and supply of disposable vapes. Any new burdens on local trading standards to enforce these new measures will be assessed ahead of any future regulations.
We are strengthening our enforcement activity through £30 million of new funding per year for enforcement agencies, including for trading standards, to boost the enforcement of underage tobacco and vape sales. In addition, fixed penalty notices introduced in the bill will support trading standards to take quicker action against irresponsible retailers, through using on-the-spot fines rather than going through lengthy magistrate’s court processes. Local authorities will keep the proceeds, to invest back into their enforcement activity.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the merits of establishing a specific policing unit to support local councillors who are experiencing threats and intimidation.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The safety of our elected representatives is essential to the security of our country. All elected representatives should be able to participate fully in our democracy, without fear for their safety and security. Instances of abuse, intimidation and criminal offences are unacceptable, and that is why the Government will take every possible step to safeguard the people, processes, and institutions upon which our democracy relies.
On 28th February the Prime Minister announced the Government was investing an additional £31 million in funding to protect the democratic process and our elected representatives. Through this funding we are enhancing police capabilities, increasing private sector security provision for those facing a higher risk, and expanding cyber security advice to elected representatives.
The investment also enables the expansion of the Operation BRIDGER network, which already provides support to MPs, so that all elected representatives and candidates are given a dedicated, police contact to liaise with on security matters, where needed. Through this network elected representatives – including local councillors - will have access to security briefings from their local force.
The funding is accompanied by a new Defending Democracy Policing Protocol, agreed with police to enhance the safety of elected representatives, and protect the UK’s democratic process from disruption. Further information about the Protocol is available on GOV.UK.
The Defending Democracy Taskforce will continue to review the effectiveness of arrangements for protective security of elected representatives.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the role of the Environment Agency in ensuring that drainage ditches owned by riparian owners are maintained
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, the Environment Agency has a strategic overview of the management of all sources of flooding and coastal change and are the lead authority for managing the risk of flooding from main rivers, estuaries and the sea.
Many different public and private bodies are involved in flood and coastal erosion risk management, each accountable for different aspects of risk management. The National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England (copy attached) sets out the different roles and responsibilities and describes how organisations and communities can work together to tackle flood and coastal risk in a co-ordinated and effective way.
Landowners are responsible, under common law, for maintaining the bed and banks of any watercourses that run through their land in a state which avoids flooding on their neighbours’ or other land. This common law duty also extends to keeping watercourses and culverts clear of anything that could cause an obstruction, either on their own land or downstream if it is washed away.
Drainage ditches are usually ordinary watercourses rather than main rivers, so the oversight of flood risk arising from unmaintained drainage ditches sits with other Risk Management Authorities (RMAs). Lead local flood authorities (county councils and unitary authorities), district councils, internal drainage boards, highways authorities and water and sewerage companies are collectively known as RMAs.
The Environment Agency has published guidance on owning a watercourse on GOV.UK, covering riparian landowners’ responsibilities and the rules to follow and the permissions needed. By March 2024, new engagement guidance will be published, to help RMAs, Environment Agency staff and landowners have more effective conversations on this matter.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial situation of internal drainage boards and what plans they have to ensure that internal drainage boards can collect levies independently to that of local government.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Internal drainage boards (IDBs) are local independent public bodies responsible for managing water levels and flood risk supporting and better protecting farms and communities in predominately low-lying areas in England. IDBs are funded by the beneficiaries of their important work, farmers, who pay drainage rates, and local authorities, who pay special levies.
The Government is aware of recent impacts on IDBs, predominately from rising costs and especially rising energy costs, and is keeping in close contact with IDBs, the Association of Drainage Authorities and relevant local authorities on this.
In recognition of the rising costs and following the winter storms the government will be providing £75 million in funding to IDBs in 2024-2025, on a one-off basis, to support agricultural land drainage and continue the important work IDBs do in helping to better protect farmers and communities from flooding. This will support IDBs to accelerate asset recovery from the winter storms and will also provide opportunities to modernise and upgrade their assets. More information will be available shortly, and we will work with the sector on delivery.
In addition, DLUHC is providing £3 million to support those local authorities in 2024/25 who are experiencing the biggest pressures with IDB special levies. DLUHC will confirm the distribution of this funding in the coming months.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a register of children outside of school.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government remains committed to legislating for a local authority registration system for children not in school, as well as placing a duty on local authorities to provide support to home educating families.
My hon. Friend, the Member for Meon Valley, introduced the Children Not in School (Registers, Support and Orders) Private Members’ Bill on 11 December 2023. The Bill’s Second Reading is scheduled for 15 March 2024. The government is working with her as she progresses her Bill.
In the meantime, the department continues to work with local authorities to improve their non-statutory registers; analyse local authority data from the voluntary elective home education and children missing collection to build a more accurate picture of the landscape.
The department has also held a consultation on revising its elective home education guidance for local authorities and parents. This consultation closed on 18 January 2024 and the department will publish its response and revised guidance in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average length of time taken by HMRC to process tax payments.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The average time taken to process tax payments is two working days. This is from the date the customer makes payment to the date it is shown on the customer’s HMRC record (plus postage time if the customer pays by cheque).
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing additional resources to fund places for looked after children to boarding schools; and what assessment they have made, of any, of any benefits such children could gain from that process.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department launched the Broadening Educational Pathways programme in 2020 to increase the role of the independent and state-funded boarding sector in the education of looked-after children. The Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation was appointed as a delivery partner, providing a placement brokerage service to ensure children are placed in schools best suited to support their educational attainment and personal wellbeing. In the ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ implementation strategy, the department committed to further expansion of the programme and has subsequently extended the contract until September 2024 to further open up educational opportunities in boarding schools to even more children in and on the edge of care.
The department will continue, over the course of the contract, to work in partnership with the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation to understand the benefits to the children and young people placed by the programme, including the findings of formal research they have commissioned, from the University of Nottingham, on the outcomes for looked-after and vulnerable children attending boarding schools.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by Josh MacAlister The Independent Review of Children's Social Care, published in May 2022, what is their response to the recommendation that the Department for Education "should consider investing some of the free schools capital budget into a new wave of state boarding capacity"; and whether funding will be provided for new state boarding capacity within the free schools budget.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department published bold and ambitious plans to reform children’s social care on the 2 February 2023 through ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’. It sets out how the department will help families overcome challenges, keep children safe, and make sure children in care have stable loving homes, long-term loving relationships, and opportunities for a good life. Over the next two years, the department will address urgent issues facing children and families now and lay the foundations for whole system reform.
As set out in the government’s response to the Independent Review of Children's Social Care, the department has extended the Broadening Educational Pathways Programme to increase the number of children in care in independent and state boarding schools. The department will use the evidence generated from this to inform long-term ambitions for this programme.
The free schools programme is open to proposals offering boarding provision. Although no such proposals were received in the most recent round of free school applications, there are currently five open free schools that offer boarding, with at least a further three set to open in the future. Plans for future free school application rounds have not yet been developed and will be considered as part of a future spending review.