Alcohol or drug dependence is rare in young people under the age of 18 years old, although they may be drinking problematically. The most effective and sustainable approach to reducing alcohol and drug harms in young people is by giving them the best start in life, the best education possible, and keeping them safe, well, and happy.

Statutory guidance on relationships, sex, and health education requires all primary and secondary school pupils to be taught the key facts and risks of alcohol and drug use, as well as how to manage influences and pressure, and keep themselves healthy and safe. The Department has worked with the PSHE Association to develop the lesson plans on alcohol and is currently commissioning an update of the resources, to be published later this year. Current resources are available at the following link:

https://pshe-association.org.uk/drugeducation

Through the cross-Government Drug Strategy, the Department has allocated £532 million of additional funding through to 2024/25, to support improvements in alcohol and drug treatment, including facilitating 5,000 more young people into age-appropriate treatment by 2024/25. Local authorities can also invest their allocation in options from a menu of interventions, some of which include strengthening the services available to young people and families.

The Government also has an information and advice service called Talk to FRANK, which aims to reduce alcohol and drug use and its harms by providing awareness to young people, parents and concerned others:

https://www.talktofrank.com/

National Highways are responsible for litter collection on motorways and some trunk roads. Local authorities manage litter collection on the rest of the roads in England including junctions and verges.

National Highways inspect and grade the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in accordance with Defra’s Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse and litter is picked almost every day on their roads. Their activities are reported and monitored via its corporate Performance Indicator outlined in the Roads Investment Strategy. The Office for Road and Rail also play an important role in monitoring on behalf of the Secretary of State, by ensuring that National Highways’ deliver its commitments.

The Resources and Waste Strategy sets out how we want to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042 and move towards a circular economy. In 2023 we published the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) which set out our progress in this area and future plans.

Where the evidence supports the case, we will not hesitate to introduce bans and other measures to limit its use. We have brought in multiple bans and restrictions, including most recently in October 2023, on the supply of many unnecessary single-use plastic items. To tackle the use of virgin plastic and incentivise the use of recycled plastic, the Government brought in the Plastic Packaging Tax in April 2022.

Meanwhile, our Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging reforms will incentivise businesses to use packaging that is more easily recyclable and where possible, eliminate single-use plastic.

We do not currently intend to publish any further strategies as we continue to work on our plans laid out in the EIP.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 24417 on 8 May 2024.

This government is committed to providing a world class education system for all children and has invested significantly in education to achieve that. Overall school funding, including the recently announced additional pensions funding, is rising to £60.7 billion in 2024/25, which is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil. This means that real terms funding for schools in England has increased rather than decreased since 2010.

Through the National Funding Formula (NFF), funding is distributed fairly based on the needs of each school and their pupils and all schools attract a per pupil increase in funding. Mainstream schools in the Rochdale Constituency are attracting an extra £1 million in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24 through the schools NFF, which is an increase of 1.9% per pupil in their pupil-led funding. This means schools in the Rochdale Constituency will attract over £112.1 million, based on the schools NFF. Constituency figures are based on an aggregation of school-level allocations through the NFF, and final allocations will depend on the local authority’s funding formula.

There are no plans to make such an assessment.

All applications to register new party descriptions are assessed against the criteria set out in law. The criteria are designed to ensure voters can mark the ballot paper with confidence.

The description referenced was registered 23 years ago. The Commission has since updated its approach to descriptions that feature individuals’ names, to ensure the statutory criteria which prevent voters from being misled or confused are met.

The Commission periodically reviews the registers of political parties to ensure registered details continue to meet the statutory tests. It will consider descriptions that include an individual’s name as part of its programme of future reviews.

The Net Additional Costs of Military Operations will be identified and reported in the Annual Report and Accounts in due course.

Parties have the option to register descriptions which can appear on the ballot paper, instead of the party name. As the registrar for political parties, electoral law requires the Commission to assess whether a party’s description meets the requirements set out in law. If it does not, the description cannot be registered.

If a person, other than the candidate, is named in a description and thus appeared on the ballot paper, it is likely to mislead a voter about the candidate standing in their area. It would not therefore meet the legal requirements for a description, and the Commission would be required to refuse it.

This Government are taking action on plastics. Let me give the hon. Gentleman a specific example: there has been a 93% reduction in the use of plastic bags as a result of measures that this Government have introduced. If he looks at the communiqué from the G7 in Turin, he will see that the Government were supporting action on plastics, building on the work announced from Ottawa last week.