I refer my hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 67392 on 21 July 2025.

The Environment Agency plans to attend once a week to clear the debris and waste build up on the Priestley Way Screen. By exception, operatives may not attend if they are required elsewhere to carry out higher priority work that could cause flooding or an environmental incident (for example, responding to emergency incidents). The Environment Agency arranges for a grab lorry to attend site once a month (although this frequency does increase at times of heavy rain and higher river levels when the screen can become inundated with waste much quicker). This lorry takes away up to 3 tonnes of rubbish each trip.

The Environment Agency cannot provide exact dates for when it cleared the screen in the past 12 months but can confirm it cleared the screen 43 times (this includes planned visits to end of March 2024).

Our accommodation providers are contractually obliged to provide adequate accommodation and to conduct regular quality assurance checks across the asylum estate. Accommodation providers complete due diligence checks and all accommodation must be statutorily and regulatory compliant before they are selected.

The Department has published school-level information on funding provided through the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) for the 2022/23 academic year. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-tutoring-programme-ntp-allocations-for-2022-to-2023-academic-year. This information includes the Local Authority of each school that received funding.

Information for the 2021/22 academic year is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-led-tutoring-conditions-of-grant. This information includes funding provided to schools during the 2021/22 academic year and the net funding position for each school following recovery of any unspent funding. This information applies to school-led tutoring only.

School-led tutoring accounted for 84% of the NTP courses delivered in the 2021/22 academic year in the London Borough of Brent. Data on funding received by schools that employed Academic Mentors in the first year of the programme is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-data-on-funding-claims-by-institutions.

Drinking water quality is controlled by the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016 in England and companies are required to comply with these regulations. The Drinking Water Inspectorate is the regulator for drinking water in England, and take’s enforcement action should any breach of the standards in the regulations occur, in line with its enforcement policy. More information is available on the DWI website, including the annual report on drinking water quality and compliance tables for individual companies.

The dissolved solids in tap water supplies are made up of naturally occurring minerals derived from their source waters. The level of total dissolved solids in tap water in both Camden and Brent is consistent with those across southern England and not considered to be at a level that would cause harm to consumers or cause the water to be unpalatable. Therefore, there are no plans to reduce levels of total dissolved solids in tap water in those areas as it is considered unnecessary to do so.

For further context the World Health Organization quotes the following for palatability of drinking water:

“The palatability of water with a total dissolved solids (TDS) level of less than about 600 mg/l is generally considered to be good”

The total dissolved solids in both Camden and Brent are below this level.

Brent Cross Flyover is the responsibility of Transport for London (TfL). TfL will need to submit a business case to the Department if they would like this scheme to be considered under the Major Route Network programme which will be considered in the usual way

In September, the Government selected 31 Major Road Network (MRN) infrastructure projects to be accelerated, which include the Brent Cross scheme, which is a programme of infrastructure projects including upgrades to flyovers and bridges. The Department is working closely with TfL in order to help accelerate the projects that TfL puts forward as part of the business case process for the Brent Cross scheme.

The Environment Agency (EA) visits and checks the Priestley Way trash screen on a weekly basis to ensure blockages are not increasing flood risk to properties and infrastructure upstream. The EA clears the screen when it deems the accumulation of debris to present an increase in flood risk. The EA does not hold data on specific clearance dates.

The EA acknowledges that the accumulation of debris on site is unsightly however the screen has an important role in preventing debris from entering the larger protected Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI) area.

Data on the number of new variant cases by local authority area is not currently available.

The Welsh Harp or Brent reservoir is owned by the Canal and River Trust. As the Environment Agency does not own the asset, it is not responsible for dredging the reservoir or testing the chemical composition of the silt. Riparian landowners are responsible for maintaining the river channel, banks, and associated vegetation in order to control flood risk. This includes the removal of general rubbish.

The Environment Agency is, in partnership with the council, responsible for maintaining two trash screens that lie at the entrance to the Brent Reservoir: the Priestley Way trash screen that sits on the River Brent and the Edgeware auto-trash screen that sits on the River Silkstream. Both of these trash screens are cleared of debris on a weekly basis due to the large amount of debris that comes down the two rivers and collects at these locations.

The Priestley Way trash screen is due some repair and maintenance work. This will include removal of overgrown vegetation, replacement of worn/damaged parts, and removal of current debris. Whilst these repairs need to be completed to keep the asset in good working condition, they do not currently prevent the asset from operating as it should. The Environment Agency hopes to complete this work by the end of February.

The Welsh Harp or Brent reservoir is owned by the Canal and River Trust. As the Environment Agency does not own the asset, it is not responsible for dredging the reservoir or testing the chemical composition of the silt. Riparian landowners are responsible for maintaining the river channel, banks, and associated vegetation in order to control flood risk. This includes the removal of general rubbish.

The Environment Agency is, in partnership with the council, responsible for maintaining two trash screens that lie at the entrance to the Brent Reservoir: the Priestley Way trash screen that sits on the River Brent and the Edgeware auto-trash screen that sits on the River Silkstream. Both of these trash screens are cleared of debris on a weekly basis due to the large amount of debris that comes down the two rivers and collects at these locations.

The Priestley Way trash screen is due some repair and maintenance work. This will include removal of overgrown vegetation, replacement of worn/damaged parts, and removal of current debris. Whilst these repairs need to be completed to keep the asset in good working condition, they do not currently prevent the asset from operating as it should. The Environment Agency hopes to complete this work by the end of February.

The Welsh Harp or Brent reservoir is owned by the Canal and River Trust. As the Environment Agency does not own the asset, it is not responsible for dredging the reservoir or testing the chemical composition of the silt. Riparian landowners are responsible for maintaining the river channel, banks, and associated vegetation in order to control flood risk. This includes the removal of general rubbish.

The Environment Agency is, in partnership with the council, responsible for maintaining two trash screens that lie at the entrance to the Brent Reservoir: the Priestley Way trash screen that sits on the River Brent and the Edgeware auto-trash screen that sits on the River Silkstream. Both of these trash screens are cleared of debris on a weekly basis due to the large amount of debris that comes down the two rivers and collects at these locations.

The Priestley Way trash screen is due some repair and maintenance work. This will include removal of overgrown vegetation, replacement of worn/damaged parts, and removal of current debris. Whilst these repairs need to be completed to keep the asset in good working condition, they do not currently prevent the asset from operating as it should. The Environment Agency hopes to complete this work by the end of February.

We are increasing the number of police officers in England and Wales by 20,000 over the next three years.

The Metropolitan Police Service was allocated 1,369 additional officers in the first year of the police uplift which covers the period to the end of March 2021. As at 30 September 2020 the Metropolitan Police Service has already recruited its year one allocation.

The deployment of these officers is an operational decision for the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

As of 14 April, since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak we have delivered over 923 million pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) to 58,000 different health and care settings including National Health Service trusts, general practitioners, pharmacies and community providers. We have provided PPE equipment to over 26,000 care homes including home care and hospices across the country. Over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, over 48 million PPE items have been delivered.

We are working around the clock to give the NHS and the wider social care sector the equipment and support they need to tackle this outbreak. We have brought together the NHS, industry and the Armed Forces to create a new nationwide PPE distribution network, delivering critical PPE supplies to those who need it.

We have a 24 hours a day, seven days a week helpline for those experiencing supply disruption with business as usual ordering channels. Where there may be any shortages, we act on this immediately. Local Resilience Forums are also supporting care homes, hospices, home care and primary care in getting hold of PPE equipment.

HS2 Ltd does not have information as to the specific number of properties that may be affected by ground settlement as a result of construction activity. Buildings which are identified as having the potential for being at risk of settlement, will be subject to an assessment to establish the extent of the risk; and to identify any monitoring measures or protective measures that need to be put in place. Any building identified as high risk through the assessment will trigger mitigation either in the tunneling or to the building itself.

In March 2018, the 20-year contract covering the majority of DWPs current estate of over 900 sites came to an end. This presented an opportunity to re-evaluate what we needed from our estate. The increased use of our online services in recent years, coupled with reductions in unemployment and improved efficiency, meant that 20% of the rent being paid by DWP was going toward space we were not using. In response, we have sought to redesign our estate in a way that delivers value for the taxpayer. We would stress that this is not about reducing services, but about taking the opportunity to stop spending money on empty space so we can spend more on supporting those in need.

The face-to-face support our work coaches offer at jobcentres will continue to be a core part of the service we deliver. The Department has a number of co-located colleagues working to support the community in Brent. These include:

• Troubled families advisers co-located within Brent Local Authority alongside social workers, providing employment and skills support.

• Work coaches working with the care leaver team within Brent Local Authority providing employment and skills support to care leavers, including appropriate access to relevant benefits.

• A Work Coach providing employment and skills support on an outreach basis in St. Raphael’s Estate in Brent. This is one of the most deprived estates in the borough. The Work Coach is based in the community hub alongside other local authority service providers.

DWP will also explore with Brent Local Authority jointly funding an employment team to deliver employment advice and guidance through community hubs, which will be located in Willesden, Kilburn, Harlesden and St. Raphael’s Estate. DWP will provide employment and skills support alongside the Employment Team managed by the council, with the aim of having a more holistic support offer working in partnership with Housing, Health and Financial Inclusion advice and support.

The department has supported the growth and creation of additional places to deliver the 30 hours entitlement and in 2016 ran a £100 million early years capital bid round, for which local authorities, in partnership with providers, were invited to submit bids. The department announced that over 350 projects across 123 local authorities were successful in this bid round. Brent being one of the local authorities who received capital funding. We have also provided significant support to local authorities and providers through our delivery contractor, ‘Childcare Works’, and in November 2017 we launched the Delivery Support Fund to support local authorities and enable them to support their providers.

‘Childcare Works’ regularly contact all Local authorities to assess sufficiency and readiness for 30 hours childcare and are providing a programme of tailored and universal support for councils, to help progress implementation plans, including Camden and Brent. Currently, Camden and Brent have reported no sufficiency issues for the spring term.

My Department is actively considering the report of the Inspector into the London Borough of Barnet Compulsory Purchase Order (No 1 & 2) 2015. Once the Secretary of State has received advice and made a decision on whether or not to confirm Compulsory Purchase Orders 1 & 2, a formal, reasoned decision letter will be issued.