The government does not routinely produce noise forecasts for airports. However, the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement Appraisal of Sustainability Noise Annex shows a comparison of 43dB LAeq noise contours for 2024 and 2055 and estimates the number of people exposed to this level of noise.

An ineffective trial is one that does not go ahead on the scheduled trial date, so a further listing is required. This can be due to action or inaction by one or more of the prosecution, the defence, or the court.

The Ministry of Justice collates and publishes data on the volume of trials that were ineffective at the Crown Court including reasons in the ‘Trial effectiveness at the criminal courts tool’ on a quarterly basis. The latest period included covers January to March 2026. Data is available at a Crown Court level using the filter ‘crown_court_and_magistrates_lja’.Criminal court statistics - GOV.UK

We asked Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts to make recommendations to tackle inefficiencies within the criminal courts, including the causes of ineffective trials. We will publish our full response to Sir Brian’s review in due course, but we have already taken steps to deliver swifter justice through significant investment in the system – in record sitting days (increasing judicial capacity), court buildings and technology, and in legal professionals with significant investment in legal aid. In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister has already announced several initial measures we are taking forward to drive efficiency and reduce ineffective trials.

This includes the introduction of case coordinators in every Crown Court centre and supporting the Lady Chief Justice to publish the first ever National Listing Framework and pilot an AI Listing Assistant. We are also working with the Department for Transport and local authorities to expand the number of areas where prison transport vans can use bus lanes to reduce traffic delays - reducing wasted court time.

I am sure that the Mayor of London listens to the hon. Gentleman’s constituents’ concerns. We have increased funding to the Metropolitan police, and we are doing everything we can to reverse the increases in retail crime that we saw under the previous Government, and which we are beginning to tackle now.

My constituents are concerned about the imminent closure of volunteer-manned Pinner police station, as part of a programme of closure by the Mayor of London that leaves the whole London borough of Harrow with no in-person access to the police. Thus far, the volunteers who man the front desk and I have had no response at all from the Mayor of London to our attempts to raise this issue. Will the Minister intervene to ensure that we at least get a response, and that the Mayor of London listens to my constituents’ concerns?

Local councils are responsible for their own spending. The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities.

The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future, and we recognise that delivering high quality NHS healthcare requires the right infrastructure in the right places.

That is why, over the course of our 10-Year Health Plan, we aim to establish a Neighbourhood Health Centre in every community, transforming healthcare access by bringing historically hospital-based services into communities and addressing wider determinants of health through services like debt advice, employment support, and obesity management programmes.

We recently announced the places that will form wave 1 of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP), after a rigorous assessment of applications against the core criteria. The first wave of the NNHIP covers 43 sites across England, from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the south-west to Sunderland in the north-east, ensuring that communities nationwide benefit from this new model of care.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning, planning, securing, and monitoring general practice services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. Both ICBs and local health systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for Neighbourhood Health Centres.

Nationwide coverage will take time, but we are starting in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including rural towns and communities with higher deprivation levels, using public capital to update and refurbish existing, under-used buildings.

Buildings erected from 2000 have not used asbestos in their construction. Most older buildings will still have asbestos present in them, although some have undertaken asbestos removal programmes.

Asbestos ‘dutyholders’ for schools, who usually include local authorities and academy trusts, must comply with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. These require dutyholders to have a robust asbestos management plan, train staff, and maintain an asbestos register detailing location, type, and condition of asbestos in their buildings.

The department takes the safety of children and those who work with them incredibly seriously, which is why we expect all local authorities, governing bodies and academy trusts to have robust plans in place to manage asbestos in school buildings effectively, in line with their legal duties.

The asbestos management assurance process (AMAP) was a survey launched by the department in March 2018 to understand the steps schools and those responsible for their estate were taking to manage asbestos.

Data published in 2019 reflecting returns from 88.4% of schools showed that 80% of schools had some asbestos present in their estate. The department can confirm that from responses captured, the position in Harrow schools suggests a slightly lower percentage than the national picture, though we continue to gather data in this area through the Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) programme. The 2019 AMAP report is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f28153ed3bf7f1b17facda7/AMAP_Report_2019.pdf.

The department expects current percentages to reduce over time as schools are rebuilt or refurbished, and asbestos is removed. Information on how schools are managing asbestos is now being collected via the department’s CDC2 programme, which started in 2021 and will complete in 2026, and is expected to cover all state-funded schools.

The department follows the Health and Safety Executive’s advice that, provided asbestos-containing materials are in good condition, and unlikely to be disturbed, it is generally safest to manage them in place. Where asbestos-containing materials are likely to be disturbed by maintenance works or daily use of the building, and cannot be easily protected, schools should have them removed.

The Department takes the safety of children and those who work with them very seriously and expects Local Authorities, governing bodies and academy trusts to have robust plans in place to manage asbestos in school buildings effectively, in line with their legal duties.

Asbestos duty holders, such as Local Authorities and academy trusts, are responsible for understanding the presence of asbestos in schools and putting appropriate measures in place for its management.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates schools’ compliance with legislation to manage their asbestos safely. These require duty holders to have a robust asbestos management plan, train staff, and maintain an asbestos register detailing location, type, and condition of asbestos in their buildings.

Information on how schools are managing asbestos is now being collected via the Department’s Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) programme, which started in 2021 and will complete in 2026.

The Department has committed £1.8 billion of capital funding for the 2023/24 financial year to improve the condition of school buildings, as part of over £15 billion allocated since 2015. In addition, the Department will transform poor condition buildings at 500 schools and colleges through the School Rebuilding Programme.

The Department provides annual capital funding to Local Authorities to improve the condition of their schools and keep them safe and compliant with relevant regulations, including removing asbestos, when it cannot be managed safely in situ. Harrow local authority was allocated £2.7 million in School Condition Allocations for the 2023/24 financial year to provide funding to the schools for which it is responsible. This is part of £19 million allocated since 2015, when School Condition Allocations were introduced.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It is the responsibility of those who run schools - academy trusts, Local Authorities and voluntary aided school bodies - to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert the Department if there is a serious concern with a building. It has always been the case that where the Department is made aware a building may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.

The 2021 Spending Review announced a budget of over £19 billion of capital funding to support the education sector between 2022/23 and 2024/25. This funding is in addition to targeted work on RAAC. The Department has continued to fund improving the condition of schools, with over £15 billion allocated since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed for 2023/24, informed by consistent data on the condition of the estate.

On top of this, 500 schools will be transformed through the School Rebuilding Programme, prioritising buildings in the poorest condition and those with evidence of potential safety issues. The Sacred Heart Language College in Harrow has been announced as one of the schools included in the School Rebuilding Programme.

Harrow Local Authority has received £2,695,355 in School Condition Allocations (SCA) for the 2023/24 financial year. Harrow Local Authority is responsible for allocating this funding across its schools based on local knowledge of condition need, prioritising keeping schools safe and operational. Academy trusts and voluntary aided school bodies also have access to capital funding each year, but allocations typically cut across constituency and Local Authority boundaries. Local Authority schools in Harrow have also been allocated a total of £334,502 in Devolved Formula Capital in 2023/24 to spend on their own priorities. Allocations can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding#funding-allocations-for-the-2023-to-2024-financial-year.

The Department’s immediate focus is supporting schools and colleges with remedial work to deal with RAAC. The Department will fund mitigation works that are capital funded, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall or office, this should be discussed with the Department in the first instance to agree any further support needed. All reasonable requests are expected to be approved. Longer term refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects will also be funded where these are needed, to rectify the RAAC issue in the long term.

With regard to school capacity, the Department is funding nearly £750 million in 2023/24 for new mainstream school places needed for September 2024, a further £195 million for 2024/25 for places needed for September 2025, and nearly £530 million for 2025/26 for places needed for September 2026. £2.6 billion is also being funded between 2022 and 2025 in high needs capital which represents a significant, transformational investment in new high needs provision.

The Department is also improving the capability and effectiveness of the sector through guidance such as Good Estate Management for Schools (GEMS), and Capital Advisers Programme to help schools and responsible bodies achieve value for money and make the most of their resources.

The Department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in education settings at the heart of its policy decisions.

On 18 August 2023, following routine maintenance, reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) was identified at Harrow Crown Court, a court built in the 1990s. HMCTS took the decision to close the site and work is underway at Harrow Crown Court for the removal of RAAC from the building. We are now carrying out surveys at all courts built during 1990s.

The current estimate is that this work will take between six and nine months to complete. HMCTS have taken steps to minimise disruption to operational services. Cases have been moved to other courts within London.

On 18 August 2023, following routine maintenance, reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) was identified at Harrow Crown Court, a court built in the 1990s. HMCTS took the decision to close the site on the same day and work is underway at Harrow Crown Court for the removal of RAAC from the building. We are now carrying out surveys at all courts built during 1990s.

Local authorities are responsible for setting and maintaining their own balanced budget. Harrow set a balanced budget at Full Council on 23 February and the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 made available additional funding to Councils to assist in their work.

The Department does not performance manage or inspect the financial position of councils. Officials do talk to local authorities regularly, and any authority worried about its ability to maintain a balanced budget should contact the department.

Information on the school workforce in England, including subjects taught in state funded secondary schools, is collected as part of the annual School Workforce Census each November. Information is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

Information on the number of qualified teachers of Romanian is not collected by the Department. Any teachers of Romanian will be reported by schools to the Department within the ‘Other modern foreign languages’ category.

It is up to individual schools to decide which languages are taught as part of their curriculum, both at primary and secondary school, and the Department does not specify which languages should be taught or how to teach them. When deciding which languages to teach their pupils, schools are likely to consider the needs of the community in which they serve. Schools would be able to teach pupils Romanian as a language option, if they thought there was sufficient demand to do so.

In March 2023, the Department launched its new Language Hubs programme, managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE) based at University College London’s Institute of Education. As part of this programme, the NCLE is expected to increase access to home, heritage, and community languages, signposting to supporting materials and good practice, and working more closely with supplementary schools.

Whilst the department does not hold this information, we do collect annual data on the performance of local authorities in relation to receiving a request for an education, health and care needs assessment, and if approved, to issuing an education, health and care plan, within the statutory period of 20 weeks.

From the latest information available, which covers activity during the 2021 calendar year, Harrow completed 55% of such assessments within the required timeframe. This is an increase from their 2020 figure, which was 38.4%, and covers a period affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The department will continue to monitor the annual data and act as and when appropriate to ensure that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities are able to reach their full potential and receive the right support to succeed in their education.