The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.

Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.

The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an independent regulator responsible for assessing and monitoring providers in line with its statutory remit. The Department holds the CQC to account for its overall performance and delivery of its regulatory functions.

The CQC is undertaking a programme of improvement, and the Department continues to engage closely with CQC leadership to monitor progress through regular sponsorship and accountability meetings.

The CQC conducted inspections of community mental health services for adults of working age and crisis services as part of its Adult Community Mental Health Programme, a national programme focused on assessing access, quality, safety, and outcomes in community mental health services, including crisis pathways and single points of access. Following inspection, the adult community mental health services at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust were rated as ‘Requires Improvement’. This programme forms part of the CQC’s wider work to strengthen oversight of community mental health services across England.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an independent regulator, responsible for assessing and monitoring providers in line with its statutory remit. The Department holds the CQC to account for its overall performance and delivery of its regulatory functions.

The CQC is undertaking a programme of improvement, and the Department continues to engage closely with CQC leadership to monitor progress through regular sponsorship and accountability meetings.

The CQC has maintained ongoing regulatory engagement with the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust following its 2025 inspections, using a combination of continuous monitoring, engagement with the trust and system partners, and targeted follow-up activity to ensure risks are managed and improvements are supported and sustained.

The table attached shows the growth in the relevant subsection of the NHS Talking Therapies workforce over the five years to 2024. The high intensity workforce, which includes cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) therapists, increased by 2,582 between 2019 and 2024 to 6,913 full time equivalent therapists. The number of qualified, Band 7 or over, CBT therapists grew over the same period by 1,049 to 3,853 full time equivalents.

This data is published through the mental health national workforce census at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/mental-health-national-workforce-census/

The NHS Talking Therapies workforce includes staff employed by National Health Service providers and also staff in NHS-commissioned independent, local authority, and voluntary sector providers.

The data is not available for Lambeth and Southwark as local data by service is not held centrally.

The draft requirements of, and costs associated with, the Heat Network Technical Assurance Scheme will be published in a consultation and options assessment shortly. Heat network regulation is designed to be proportionate and to reduce costs in the longer term.

Further details on funding allocations for heat network schemes including the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme will be set out in the Warm Homes Plan later this year.

The Government has made no such assessment. The Department’s street design guidance Manual for Streets includes a hierarchy that puts consideration of the needs of people walking and cycling first. Kerbside strategies are one tool available to local authorities to help manage their roads in line with this hierarchy and with the wider principles of the Manual, to achieve their local objectives. Local authorities are encouraged to share good practice with each other.

In order to create a long-term, sustainable future for post offices in communities across the UK, Post Office is moving to a fully franchised network. All 108 Directly Managed Branches (DMBs) – including Brixton Post Office – are in scope of these changes.

Post Office intends to replace DMBs with Mains branches where possible (Mains branches offer similar services to DMBs). Where this is not possible, Post Office has committed to ensure that all communities currently served by a DMB will have at least one Mains branch within a 1-mile radius of the existing branch. Post Office will keep staff, customers and my honourable friend informed about changes to Brixton Post Office.

Sleepio is available for local commissioning by integrated care systems should they choose to commission this product, as part of local insomnia care and treatment pathways.

No central assessments relating to funding or availability of this product are currently planned.

The Government is committed to a preventative approach to public health. Keeping people warm and well at home and improving the quality of new and existing homes will play an essential part in enabling people to live longer, healthier lives, reducing pressures on the NHS.

There are multiple targeted schemes delivering energy efficiency measures to low-income and fuel poor households. The Warm Home Discount schemes provide a £150 rebate off bills to eligible low-income households across Great Britain.

The Government has kickstarted delivery of the Warm Homes Plan, including an initial £1.8 billion to support fuel poverty schemes over the next 3 years.

The Department has noted the recommendations made in the report, and values Marie Curie as a key stakeholder which engages with us constructively in this area. The primary way the Department supports people nearing the end of life is through special benefit rules which are known as the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL). These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment or serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit.

For many years, the Special Rules applied to people who have 6 months or less to live, they have now been changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live.  Changes to the Special Rules mean that thousands of people nearing the end of life are now able to claim fast-tracked financial support from the benefits system six months earlier than they were able to previously.

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme is central to delivering the Government’s commitments to give every baby the best start in life, and to deliver the healthiest generation of children ever. Lambeth is one of 75 local authorities the Government is funding to ensure parents and carers can access Start for Life services, from conception to the age of two years old.

We work closely with Lambeth to support programme implementation across all funded strands, and they have opened six Family Hub sites with Start for Life services at their heart since 2023. We also signpost policy toolkits, provide guidance, and facilitate the sharing of good practice between local authorities.

The Autumn Budget announcement included £69 million to continue delivery of a network of Family Hubs in 2025/26. The Department will confirm Start for Life funding in due course.

The Government is committed to creating the healthiest generation of children ever, as set out in our Child Health Action Plan. The Healthy Start scheme was introduced in 2006 to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four years old from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or can be put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk, and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries have access to free Healthy Start Vitamins for pregnant women and children aged under four years old.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) delivers the scheme on behalf of the Department. The NHS BSA is committed to increasing uptake of the Healthy Start scheme to ensure as many children as possible have a healthy start in life.

The NHS BSA promotes the Healthy Start scheme through its digital channels and has created free tools to help stakeholders promote the scheme locally. The NHS BSA has also reached out to stakeholders to see how it can support them in promoting the scheme.

The Government is committed to a prosperous horticulture sector and values the vital work of the industry in maintaining a secure supply of fruit and vegetables.

DfT has made no assessment of the effectiveness of Automatic Number Plate Recognition car pilots in the London Borough of (a) Lambeth and (b) Southwark.

Any service changes should be based on clear evidence that they will deliver better patient outcomes.

Within Lambeth, patients who will receive dialysis at the new site in Brixton will receive care in a significantly improved environment within brand new facilities in a great example of innovative public/private partnership.

NHS England has established the Renal Services Transformation Programme to reduce unwarranted variation in the quality and accessibility of renal care.