Legislation and statutory guidance are clear that local authorities should, wherever possible, place homeless households within their own area. If this is not possible, they should secure accommodation as close as possible to where the household was previously living. Section 208 of the Housing Act 1996 requires local authorities to notify the receiving authority whenever a household is placed outside their district, whether in temporary accommodation or through a final offer to end homelessness duties.

We have committed in the National Plan to End Homelessness strategy to taking action to improve practice, where out of area placements are used. We have also published new data on out of area placements to improve transparency and will use this to drive out the use of unsuitable placements.

The National Plan sets out that areas will be required to publish and keep updated a homelessness action plan, which will include how they will procure and allocate temporary accommodation, mitigate any disruption in support and services, and ensure that any placements are suitable – including those out of area.

This matter is sub judice so the Home Office cannot comment at this time. Once the matter is resolved they may re-table the question to obtain a more substantive response.

The rise in the number of small boat crossings has placed significant pressures on local authority care placements for young people.

The safety and welfare of those in our care, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, is our primary concern and the Home Office has robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure those in our accommodation are as safe and supported as possible as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.

The National Transfer Scheme (NTS) transferred 3,148 children to local authorities with children’s services between 1 July 2021 and 30 September 2022. This compares to 739 children transferred in the same time frame in the previous year. From 16 December 2022 we are also providing local authorities with children’s services £15,000 for every eligible young person they take into their care by the end of February 2023.  This is in addition to the funding local authorities already receive for supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

The rise in the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) crossing the channel in small boats means there are significant challenges on providing Local Authority care places for UASC. Out of necessity and with the best interests of the child in mind, we have had no alternative but to temporarily use hotels to give some unaccompanied children a roof over their heads whilst local authority accommodation is found.

Robust safeguarding, welfare and security procedures are in place to ensure all children and minors are safe and supported in interim hotels as we seek urgent placements with a Local Authority.

Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day.

Records are kept and monitored of children leaving and returning to the hotel. Support workers will accompany children off site on activities and social excursions, or where specific vulnerabilities are identified.  The Home Office has no power to hold children in hotels or any temporary accommodation if they wish to leave.

As of 26 January 2023, there were 199 missing UASC from Home Office operated hotels, of which 76 were missing from Home Office operated hotels in Brighton and Hove.

When any young person goes missing the ‘missing persons protocol’ is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers. A multi-agency, missing persons protocol is mobilised alongside the police and local authorities, to establish their whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, extremely seriously. The wellbeing of children is our number one priority and our accommodation providers are required to ensure accommodation is safe and in line with contractual requirements.

It is also not true to say that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are being kidnapped from Home Office hotels. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are not detained and are free to leave the accommodation. They may choose to leave for a number of reasons, such as visiting family.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to protect all children, regardless of where they go missing from. This can be from home or from a care setting as a looked-after child.

Home Office Safeguarding Hub works closely with accommodation providers to ensure early identification of vulnerabilities, where issues are not disclosed by customers, and onward referral to the statutory agencies of health, police, and social services. Asylum seekers have full access to the advisory services provided by Migrant Help who are available to contact 24/7. Contracted security staff within UASC hotels complete comprehensive training.

The rise in dangerous small boats crossings means there are significant challenges on providing local authority care places for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC). Out of necessity and with the best interests of the child in mind, we have had no alternative but to temporarily use hotels to give some unaccompanied children a roof over their heads whilst local authority accommodation is found. The safety and wellbeing of those in our care is our primary concern.

The Home Office engaged with the local authority before UASC were housed in the hotel, but operational pressures resulted in a reduced period of notice prior to their moving into the site.

We take our safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously, and we have robust procedures in place to ensure all children are accommodated as safely as possible whilst in hotels. The movements of UASC in and out of hotels are monitored and recorded and they are accompanied by support workers when attending organised activities and social excursions off-site, or where specific vulnerabilities are identified.

We have no power to detain unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in these hotels and we know some do go missing. Many of those who have gone missing are subsequently traced and located. It is not true to say that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are being kidnapped or abducted from these hotels.

Ending the use of hotels for UASC is an absolute priority and we will continue to work around the clock with councils to increase the number of care placements available. To achieve that goal we are providing are providing local authorities with children’s services £15,000 for every eligible young person they take into their care from a Home Office-run hotel dedicated to UASC or the Kent Reception and Safe Care Service by the end of February 2023.

The rise in dangerous small boats crossings means there are significant challenges on providing local authority care places for unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC). Out of necessity and with the best interests of the child in mind, we have accommodated UASC on an emergency and temporary basis in hotels while placements with local authorities have been vigorously pursued. This work is led by dedicated team leaders and support workers who provide 24/7 supervision

We take our safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure UASC in hotels are as safe and supported as possible as we seek urgent placements with a local authority. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses. All children receive a welfare interview which includes questions designed to identify potential indicators of trafficking or safeguarding issues and subsequent safeguarding plans are put in place.

Records are kept and monitored of children leaving and returning to the hotel. Support workers will accompany children off site on activities and social excursions, or where specific vulnerabilities are identified.  The Home Office has no power to hold children in hotels or any temporary accommodation if they wish to leave.

When a young person goes missing the ‘missing persons protocol’ is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers. Missing After Reasonable Steps (MARS) is a new protocol which enables children’s homes and supported accommodation placements to have more ownership over the missing episodes of children within their care.

We engage with the local police and work in conjunction with the Local Authorities (LA) children’s services to invoke a missing child multi agency strategy meeting chaired by children’s services.

The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including in Hove. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. This funding aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million additional checks and procedures and 30% further elective activity by 2024/25 than pre-pandemic levels. A proportion of this funding will be invested in workforce capacity and training and we have committed to invest £5.9 billion for new beds, equipment and technology.

The target to eliminate waiting times of two years or more for elective procedures was met in July 2022 and we aim to eliminate waiting time of eighteen months or more by April 2023. This will be achieved through increasing capacity, seeking alternate capacity in other trusts or the independent sector and engaging with patients to understand choices made regarding their care.

In September we announced ‘Our Plan for Patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health and eating disorder services, including in Hove. Making it easier to access general practice through our ABCD priorities will expand this route as a gateway to mental health care.

Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand these services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Walsall South.

We will invest approximately £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness, including eating disorders, by 2023/24 and an additional £53 million per year in children and young people's community eating disorder services to increase capacity in the 70 community eating disorder teams.

In September we announced ‘Our Plan for Patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health and eating disorder services, including in Hove. Making it easier to access general practice through our ABCD priorities will expand this route as a gateway to mental health care.

Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand these services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Walsall South.

We will invest approximately £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness, including eating disorders, by 2023/24 and an additional £53 million per year in children and young people's community eating disorder services to increase capacity in the 70 community eating disorder teams.

No specific assessment has been made. However, NHS England asked dental practices to return to full delivery of contracted activity from July 2022, including in Hove. In September, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Hove.

The plan includes improvements to ensure dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work, allowing greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver National Health Service treatment, whilst enabling full use of the dental team. The plan also includes streamlining processes for overseas dentists and holding the local NHS to account for dentistry provision. In addition, Health Education England is also reforming dental education to improve the recruitment and retention of dental professionals.

No specific assessment has been made. However, NHS England asked dental practices to return to full delivery of contracted activity from July 2022, including in Hove. In September, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Hove.

The plan includes improvements to ensure dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work, allowing greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver National Health Service treatment, whilst enabling full use of the dental team. The plan also includes streamlining processes for overseas dentists and holding the local NHS to account for dentistry provision. In addition, Health Education England is also reforming dental education to improve the recruitment and retention of dental professionals.

Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential, therefore the Home Office does not publish this information.

The flexible season ticket is a national product, priced to provide better value and convenience for commuters travelling two to three days a week.

For most 2 and 3 day a week commuters, the flexible season ticket will offer savings against buying daily tickets or traditional seasons, provided that they are following this commuting pattern.

For those with different commuting patterns, existing tickets such as traditional seasons or dailies may be the best choice.

Commuters should always consider which product best suits their journey and travel pattern. This is easier than ever with the updated season ticket calculator.

The Government has introduced new flexible season tickets across England, tickets are on sale now and will become available for travel from 28 June 2021.

Passenger demand has fallen significantly since March 2020 due to restrictions put in place in response to COVID-19. Due to this, the uptake of flexible season tickets is uncertain. However, we do expect the savings offered to encourage and support flexible working patterns.

We publish data on the number of pillar 2 tests processed in each local authority weekly alongside the Test and Trace statistics publication on GOV.UK at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nhs-test-and-trace-statistics-england-weekly-reports

The number total number of pillar 2 tests processed in Brighton and Hove in September was 14,582, with a daily average of 486.

It is not possible to separately identify the criminal caseload at Hove Trial Centre in the data that is centrally collated by the Ministry of Justice. Hove is a satellite of Lewes Crown Court and as such it does not have its own caseload.

A table detailing the volume of outstanding cases at Lewes Crown Court by adult and youth from Q1 2018 to Q2 2020 (latest published) can be found below:

Table 1: Outstanding¹ cases in the Lewes Crown Court, quarterly Q1 2018 - Q2 2020

1)Outstanding cases excludes cases that have a live bench warrant issued on the case, at the end of the period. The number of cases outstanding at the end of each period will not be equal to the sum of cases outstanding at the start of the period and those received during the period, minus cases disposed due to the exclusion of cases that have a live bench warrant issued on the case.

The Government is developing policies to increase tree planting at a national scale and does not target particular constituencies.

The Government is committed to increasing tree planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by 2025. The challenges we face to achieve net zero require cross-party support, collaboration with stakeholders and collective vision to mitigate and adapt to climate change. To support this we have announced a new Nature for Climate fund, which will support tree planting in England - our plans for this will be announced at the budget.

The Government currently supports tree planting and woodland creation through a range of existing grant schemes. For example, the Urban Tree Challenge Fund, which plants trees in partnership with local authorities and community organisations. We are working hard to increase the uptake of existing schemes and strongly encourage eligible organisations to do so.