Q10

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Luke Taylor (Sutton and Cheam) (LD):

On Monday, with colleagues, I wrote to the Health Minister following the news that women’s health and maternity services may be relocated away from St Helier hospital due to building safety concerns. Yesterday we heard Baroness Amos’s review state:

“Poorly maintained buildings…affect how safe people feel, how effectively staff can work, and whether care can be delivered in a way that is private, respectful and reliable.”

It has been reported today that the Department of Health and Social Care’s capital budget will be cut by more than half a billion pounds over this Parliament to fund the DIP, which puts the new hospital programme timeline in doubt. Will the Prime Minister arrange for the Health Secretary to visit St Helier hospital with me to see its condition and hopefully agree to bring forward the build of the new Sutton specialist emergency care hospital—build it today, not in 2034—to ensure safe and modern healthcare and maternity facilities for my constituents?

In relation to the hon. Gentleman’s hospital, he knows that those decisions are taken at a local level, based on expert advice. We are committed to prioritising women’s health as we reform the NHS, including through our women’s health strategy. In his area alone we are investing £57 million to transform care. That is money we provided at the Budget. He actually voted against it, along with the rest of the Lib Dems. They cannot complain about the lack of investment and then, when we put the money forward, vote against it. That, again, is very Lib Dem.

We have put the New Hospital Programme (NHP) on a sustainable footing, with a credible plan, timeline, and budget aligned with the Government’s fiscal rules. As set out in the NHP Plan for Implementation published in January 2025, main construction on the new Specialist and Emergency Care Hospital in Sutton is expected to begin between 2032 and 2034 as part of Wave 2.

While most development work on the scheme has been paused, the NHP continues to support the Epsom and St. Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust to progress essential enabling work, including securing and developing the business case for an appropriate power supply. The programme remains engaged with the trust to ensure that it is fully resourced and ready when the time comes to progress the scheme through to on-site construction.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out an ambitious agenda on how we will improve the nation’s health by creating a new model of care that is fit for the future.

We recognise that local authorities such as Sutton Council are ambitious, seeking to deliver universal support to babies, children, and their families, and prevent escalating need. We are committed to delivering the 10-Year Health Plan’s ambition to match Healthy Babies, formerly Start for Life, to Best Start Family Hubs over the next decade.

Healthy Babies funding is helping families during the critical 1,001 days, and parents have said they are more confident in feeding their babies and have better perinatal mental health because of this support. We continue to assess how we can best support early-years service integration across the country and remain committed to working with delivery partners locally to achieve this.

Healthy Babies is one element of our broader commitment to supporting babies, children and families. From April 2026, Best Start Family Hubs will expand to every single local authority, including Sutton Council, backed by over £500 million to reach up to half a million more children and families. This funding will help all local authorities to integrate a range of statutory and non-statutory health and family services.

Yes.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. As you probably know, south London is wonderful, but you may not know that it is one of the UK’s largest regional economies. Last week my local council, the London borough of Sutton, launched its economic growth plan, inviting businesses to take advantage of opportunities in the area. Will the Minister meet me and the local council leader to connect the business community with all the opportunities that exist in my borough?

We have now put the New Hospital Programme on a sustainable footing, with a timeline that can be met, and a budget that is consistent with the fiscal rules under which the Government is operating. We are backing this plan with investment, which will increase to up to £15 billion over each consecutive five-year wave, averaging approximately £3 billion a year from 2030. The exact profile of funding will be confirmed in rolling five-year waves at regular Spending Reviews, as with all Government capital budgets in future. The cost estimates for schemes include the significant cost of inflation in recent years and use a construction specific index to inflate future costs.

The final funding amount for the Specialist and Emergency Care Hospital in Sutton will be subject to the review and approval of a Full Business Case nearer to construction starting between 2032 and 2034, as is standard for large infrastructure projects.

Works at Angel Hill Free School are expected to commence in September 2025 subject to the contract being awarded in August.

Departmental officials working on the programme would be happy to meet to discuss the project in detail alongside the Trust.

I thank the hon. Member for raising this important project. I can confirm that works at Angel Hill free school are expected to commence in September 2025 subject to the contract being awarded in August.

In April, I wrote to the Minister for School Standards about the Angel Hill free school, which will provide 96 desperately needed places for children with SEND in my constituency. I thank her for her response in which she said that we would get an update shortly. I ask again: when does she expect construction of the Angel Hill free school in Rosehill to begin?

Further details of all measures announced in the Immigration White Paper will be set out in the normal way in due course, and where necessary, will be subject to consultation.

Further details of all measures announced in the Immigration White Paper will be set out in the normal way in due course, and where necessary, will be subject to consultation.

Visible and responsive policing in communities is critical and that is why the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee is placing 13,000 additional police personnel into neighborhood policing roles.

The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will hold forces to account for ensuring neighbourhood policing teams are protected from routine abstraction to ensure neighbourhood teams remain focused on serving their local communities and providing a visible policing presence.

Halving knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government’s Safer Streets mission and we are taking a range of steps to realise this ambition.

We have implemented the ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes approved by Parliament in April. The ban came in to force on 24 September 2024 and it is now illegal to sell or own these weapons.

We launched a consultation on 13 November 2024 seeking views on the legal description of a Ninja sword to help our plans for an effective ban.

We know that more needs to be done to tackle the sale of knives online which is why last October, the Home Secretary commissioned Commander Stephen Clayman, as the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for knife crime, to carry out a full review into the online sale and delivery of knives. The report was received at the end of January and once we have considered the review in full, the Government will set out its next steps for strengthening the controls and processes around the online sale and delivery of knives.

Ahead of this, the Home Secretary has already announced that the Government intends to strengthen age verification controls and checks for all online sellers of knives at the point of purchase and on delivery.

We have also consulted on introducing personal liability measures on senior executives of online platforms or marketplaces who fail to take action to remove illegal content relating to knives and offensive weapons. The consultation closed on 11 December 2024, and we are carefully considering the responses as we plan our next steps.

Additionally, over £9.3m has been made available this financial year to the London Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). VRUs bring together police, local government, health, community leaders and other key partners to tackle violent crime and its underlying causes. London VRU is using this funding to deliver a range of interventions across all 32 boroughs to divert young people from a life of crime. This includes intensive mentoring by YOUthink for children and young people in Sutton to reduce re-offending.

We have also created a new Young Futures programme, which will include the establishment of Young Futures Prevention Partnerships across England and Wales, bringing partners together to intervene earlier to stop young people being drawn into crime. It is vital we have a system that can identify and support those young people who need it most.

Details on the multi-criteria decision support analysis tool, and how it was applied during the review, can be found in the New Hospital Programme Plan for Implementation, published on 20 January on the GOV.UK website, and available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-hospital-programme-review-outcome/new-hospital-programme-plan-for-implementation

Integrated care boards (ICBs) will collectively receive over £4 billion in annual capital allocations in 2025/26, which will be managed locally, with funds allocated according to local priorities, including maintenance at New Hospital Programme sites. Recently published National Health Service planning guidance sets out the NHS’s operational capital envelopes, national capital programmes, including a £750 million estates safety fund, and allocation processes for 2025/26. I would encourage the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust to discuss options with the South West London ICB, to allocate operational capital and national capital programme allocations towards repairs at their sites.

Final costs of schemes are subject to the approval of a Full Business Case. Cost estimates produced to enable planning during the business case development process are based on a variety of data which is generated by both the trust and the programme, and includes the capacity, design, and location of the hospital, the enabling works requirements, and the clinical requirements.

Details on the multi-criteria decision support analysis tool, and how it was applied during the review, can be found in the New Hospital Programme Plan for Implementation, published on 20 January on the GOV.UK website, and available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-hospital-programme-review-outcome/new-hospital-programme-plan-for-implementation

Integrated care boards (ICBs) will collectively receive over £4 billion in annual capital allocations in 2025/26, which will be managed locally, with funds allocated according to local priorities, including maintenance at New Hospital Programme sites. Recently published National Health Service planning guidance sets out the NHS’s operational capital envelopes, national capital programmes, including a £750 million estates safety fund, and allocation processes for 2025/26. I would encourage the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust to discuss options with the South West London ICB, to allocate operational capital and national capital programme allocations towards repairs at their sites.

Final costs of schemes are subject to the approval of a Full Business Case. Cost estimates produced to enable planning during the business case development process are based on a variety of data which is generated by both the trust and the programme, and includes the capacity, design, and location of the hospital, the enabling works requirements, and the clinical requirements.

Details on the multi-criteria decision support analysis tool, and how it was applied during the review, can be found in the New Hospital Programme Plan for Implementation, published on 20 January on the GOV.UK website, and available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-hospital-programme-review-outcome/new-hospital-programme-plan-for-implementation

Integrated care boards (ICBs) will collectively receive over £4 billion in annual capital allocations in 2025/26, which will be managed locally, with funds allocated according to local priorities, including maintenance at New Hospital Programme sites. Recently published National Health Service planning guidance sets out the NHS’s operational capital envelopes, national capital programmes, including a £750 million estates safety fund, and allocation processes for 2025/26. I would encourage the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust to discuss options with the South West London ICB, to allocate operational capital and national capital programme allocations towards repairs at their sites.

Final costs of schemes are subject to the approval of a Full Business Case. Cost estimates produced to enable planning during the business case development process are based on a variety of data which is generated by both the trust and the programme, and includes the capacity, design, and location of the hospital, the enabling works requirements, and the clinical requirements.

On 27 November 2024 we launched new Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Orders (DAPNs/DAPOs) in select areas - specifically Greater Manchester, three London boroughs (Croydon, Bromley and Sutton) and with the British Transport Police. We will soon be going further by onboarding two additional sites in early 2025 to give the greatest possible number of victims access.

The Home Office has commissioned an independent evaluation of DAPNs and DAPOs. The evaluation aims to understand how the new order works in practice and its effectiveness.

For the first time, these orders provide protection for all forms of domestic abuse including coercive or controlling behaviour; have no maximum duration; and can impose electronic monitoring or require attendance to a behaviour change programme.