Those experiencing gambling-related harm in England can access specialist treatment through the NHS National Gambling Clinic and a range of support through the National Gambling Support Network.

To improve and expand the services available to tackle gambling-related harm, the Government is introducing a statutory levy on gambling operators to improve and expand research, prevention and treatment of gambling harms. This will include ringfenced funding overseen by NHS England and appropriate bodies in Scotland and Wales to commission the full treatment pathway, from referral and triage through to aftercare. We will continue to work with NHS England in collaboration with the Scottish and Welsh governments, as well as third sector providers, to design and deliver our approach to treatment of gambling-related harms across Great Britain.

The Department has already initiated a series of meetings with key animal welfare stakeholders as part of the development of an overarching approach to animal welfare. We will be outlining more detail in due course.
BACKGROUND NOTE (NOT TO BE PUBLISHED)

According to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com, over 99% of premises in the Hendon constituency can already access superfast broadband speeds (>=30 Mbps), and over 75% of premises can access a gigabit-capable broadband connection.

We anticipate that the majority of the premises in urban areas such as Hendon will receive a gigabit-capable connection through the commercial market, although we are conscious that connections to some properties in some areas can be affected by complex wayleave negotiations. Any remaining premises will be considered for support through the government’s Project Gigabit.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed, where possible in mainstream schools.

The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need. We are strengthening accountability for inclusivity, including through Ofsted, and encouraging schools to set up resourced provision or special educational needs units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.

Barnet are also one of the lead local authorities in the Change Programme, which is helping test and develop the government’s proposals for improving the SEND system.

High-quality teaching is also central to ensuring that all pupils, including those with SEND, are given the best possible opportunity to achieve in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers over the course of this parliament. To support all teachers, the department is implementing a range of teacher training reforms to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND.

On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level qualification for special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs). The qualification will play a key role in improving outcomes for pupils with SEND, by ensuring SENCOs consistently receive high-quality, evidence-based training on how best to support children with SEND

High needs funding will also increase by almost £1 billion in 2025/26, compared to 2024/25 and the department has announced £740 million of capital funding to create more specialist places, including in mainstream schools.

The consultation on introducing permitted insurance fees for landlords, freeholders and property managing agents was launched on 2 December and can be found on gov.uk here.

As per my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the government will look to consult on the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act’s provisions on service charges and on legal costs next year, bringing these measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter.

We remain firmly committed to our manifesto commitment to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and we will deliver this in legislation.

The government funds the provision of free information and advice by the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE).

This Government has set out an unprecedented ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade, and we are determined to use every lever available to us to deliver on that aim. That means working across Government departments to tackle threats to women’s safety in all areas of their lives, including in public spaces.

The Safer Streets Mission is the vehicle to drive delivery across Government to halve VAWG, halve knife crime, and restore confidence in the policing and justice system to record levels. We will spearhead a cross-government approach to VAWG and girls through the Safer Streets Mission Board.

Though the National Church Institutions are not responsible for the operation of individual schools, the Diocese of London has volunteered the following information, which I hope is useful.

There are two Church of England schools in the Hendon Constituency.

St Mary’s and St John’s educates more than 1,600 pupils. One quarter are on free school meals, which is higher than the Local Authority average. Pupils are making above-average progress at an 8-level attainment of 0.39 compared with the national average of -0.03.

St Paul’s School Mill Hill educates 210 pupils. One fifth of pupils are in receipt of Free School Meals, in line with the Local Authority average. Pupils attainment is above-average; 84% attained the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths last summer compared to the national average of 60%.

I commend the teachers and leadership teams in both schools for these achievements.

The Church of England educates over one million children in its 4,700 schools across England. Church Schools are committed to the flourishing of children and deliver a rounded education that remains in high demand with parents. They serve all those in the community, whatever their faith or belief.

The government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools, as swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities. In 2023/24, the Government has provided over £60 million additional funding to support operating costs and help improve energy efficiency of facilities through the Swimming Pool Support Fund, delivered via Sport England.

Announcement of successful Swimming Pool Support Fund (SPSF) Phase I revenue funding awards was made by Sport England and on gov.uk on 4 November 2023. The fund was significantly oversubscribed and as a result we were unfortunately not able to fund all centres who applied. The criteria considered a range of factors including: financial need; the risk of closure; the proximity to other swimming pools providing public swimming access, and the level of demand for the facility.

The blue plaque scheme plays an important role in championing local cultural heritage, and its expansion will ensure that more places around the country will be able to commemorate local people who made their mark on national (and international) life.

The national expansion will build on the success of the London scheme operated by English Heritage, which covers the Hendon constituency, and which is now more than 1,000 blue plaques strong. The London scheme remains open for nominations via the English Heritage website. There are 19 blue plaques in the London Borough of Barnet, including ones dedicated to the football manager Herbert Chapman, the music hall comedian Little Tich, and Juan Pujol Garcia, also known as Agent Garbo.

Public nominations for the national blue plaques scheme will be launched at the end of May and will invite nominations from people across England to celebrate inspirational figures who deserve commemoration. The scheme, which is being developed and led by Historic England, recognises that every place has a unique story to tell, and will help communities across England discover the history and cultural heritage on our doorsteps.

DLUHC has invested in the mixed-use regeneration of Brent Cross Town between Hendon and Cricklewood with £419 million of grant for the new Brent Cross West station which opened to passengers on 10 December 2023 – the first major new mainline train station in London in over a decade – and £148 million from the Home Building fund to deliver 6,700 new homes. These investments will support the transformation of Brent Cross to deliver over 50 new locations for retail, food and drink and provide high quality workspaces for over 25,000 people, including flexible, small business spaces adjacent to the new high street.

Local business support is available through the London Business Hub, which delivers London’s growth hub services.

The department’s most comprehensive measure of housing supply is our annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’. This includes estimates of new homes added in each local authority, but does not show figures at the constituency level.

You can find data for the London Borough of Barnet here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing.

The UK response is underpinned by the Modern Slavery Strategy 2014 and the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which has given law enforcement agencies the tools to tackle modern slavery, including maximum life sentences for perpetrators and enhanced protection for victims.

In addition to core police funding, since 2016 we have invested £17.8 million in the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit - a specialist police unit which supports all police forces in England and Wales, including the Metropolitan Police Service, to improve their response to modern slavery by increasing forces’ capability to identify and prosecute modern slavery crimes.

The Metropolitan Police Service also operates a dedicated Modern Slavery and Child Exploitation Team staffed by specialist officers, which plays a vital role in tackling modern slavery across London.

Data on the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area and the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Home Office publishes data on returns and asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.

Data on asylum appeals lodged and determined (including those dismissed) by year are published in tables Asy_D06 and Asy_D07 of the ‘Asylum appeals lodged and determined detailed datasets’. The data are not broken down by how many people remain in a constituency followed a dismissed asylum appeal.

Data on asylum-related returns by year and return type are published in table Ret_05 of the ‘Returns summary tables’. The data are not broken down by the constituency the individual lived in prior to their return or whether the return followed a dismissed asylum appeal.

The Home Office publishes data on returns and asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.

Data on asylum appeals lodged and determined (including those dismissed) by year are published in tables Asy_D06 and Asy_D07 of the ‘Asylum appeals lodged and determined detailed datasets’. The data are not broken down by how many people remain in a constituency followed a dismissed asylum appeal.

Data on asylum-related returns by year and return type are published in table Ret_05 of the ‘Returns summary tables’. The data are not broken down by the constituency the individual lived in prior to their return or whether the return followed a dismissed asylum appeal.