Southeastern is assessing the viability of installing ticket barriers at several of its stations including Hayes. Network Rail's Industry Revenue Generating Investment Fund allows the train operating companies to apply for funding for schemes that are financially positive and reduce the cost of rail to the public purse. Installing ticket barriers at Hayes is one of several potential schemes Southeastern is considering for an application to the fund later in the year. Applications will be assessed as part of a competitive process, therefore submitting a bid for a scheme is no guarantee of funding.

The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities. The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. Local authorities can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools and can work with any school in their local area, including academies and free schools. Bromley has received just over £80 million to support the provision of new school places needed between 2011 and 2022. Bromley has not been allocated funding in subsequent allocations because its data indicates need for mainstream places up to September 2026 had already been funded in previous years.

Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has supported TfL with over £6bn in grant funding. However, transport in London is devolved to the Mayor of London, so decisions on money spent on road maintenance in London is for the Mayor and TfL to make. Therefore, the Department does not hold information on the money provided to each London borough via TfL.

Government has supported TfL throughout the pandemic as a result of a fall in passenger demand. This includes just under £1.2bn of funding in the latest settlement and takes government’s total funding to over £6bn since the start of the pandemic. However, as transport is devolved in London to the Mayor and TfL, it is for them to decide how much of it is used to maintain London’s roads.

I have been informed that the footbridge is due to be reopened in April.

To reduce congestion at busy junctions and give better punctuality and fewer cancellations for Southeastern customers overall, all trains on the Hayes line now go to London Charing Cross.

This means that customers looking to travel to Cannon Street need to change on to frequent connecting services at London Bridge or Lewisham. As the train operator, Southeastern are responsible for the detailed planning of their timetable and in doing so have to weigh up a range of factors such as passenger demand, operational impacts, customer feedback and financial constraints.

Department officials hold regular discussions with the Southeastern covering all aspects of their service including timetable development. Recent scenes of crowding at London Bridge, which attracted media attention, were unrelated to the timetable.

Nitrous oxide is subject to the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 which makes it an offence to supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, produce, import or export nitrous oxide knowingly or recklessly for its psychoactive effect. Possession of nitrous oxide is lawful, except in custodial settings, and a Home Office controlled drugs licence is not required by those who wish to use it for legitimate medical, research, catering or industrial purposes.

The Government are concerned about the misuse of nitrous oxide, its recognised health harms and the potential impact on communities. That is why I wrote to the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) on 7 February asking them to expedite their updated harms assessment on nitrous oxide following the Government’s initial request to the ACMD in September 2021.

The ACMD published their report on nitrous oxide on the 6 March, setting out the evidence as it currently stands and making a number of recommendations for action. The Government will consider the ACMD advice carefully along with any other available evidence, as appropriate, before deciding how to proceed.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is an advisory non-departmental public body. The ACMD is independent of Government and therefore the timescales for, and progress of, their reviews are a matter for them.

Home Office officials work closely with the ACMD and the Government will consider their recommendations on nitrous oxide once they are published.

Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) is calculated using a standard interest rate that is based on the Bank of England’s monthly published average mortgage rate.

Any increase in SMI payments will occur when the Bank of England’s average monthly mortgage rate differs from the standard rate by 0.5 percentage points or more.

The Government has committed to making enfranchisement cheaper for leaseholders by reforming the process of valuation they must follow to calculate the cost of extending their lease or buying their freehold. We will abolish marriage value, cap ground rents in the calculation, prescribe the rates to be used and introduce an online calculator.

Leaseholders will be able to extend their lease with zero ground rent on payment of a premium. The length of a statutory lease extension will increase to 990 years, from 90 years (for flats) and 50 years (for houses).

The Government has already legislated via the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 to protect future leaseholders. The Act will mean that if any ground rent is demanded as part of a new residential long lease, it cannot be for more than one literal peppercorn per year.

We understand the difficulties some existing leaseholders face with high and escalating ground rents. This is why we asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector, which has resulted in commitments benefitting over 20,000 leaseholders. The CMA continue to engage with a number of firms and we urge other developers to follow suit.

We have been clear about our commitment to addressing the historic imbalance in the leasehold system. We are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this Parliament.

The Government has committed to making enfranchisement cheaper for leaseholders by reforming the process of valuation they must follow to calculate the cost of extending their lease or buying their freehold. We will abolish marriage value, cap ground rents in the calculation, prescribe the rates to be used and introduce an online calculator.

Leaseholders will be able to extend their lease with zero ground rent on payment of a premium. The length of a statutory lease extension will increase to 990 years, from 90 years (for flats) and 50 years (for houses).

The Government has already legislated via the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 to protect future leaseholders. The Act will mean that if any ground rent is demanded as part of a new residential long lease, it cannot be for more than one literal peppercorn per year.

We understand the difficulties some existing leaseholders face with high and escalating ground rents. This is why we asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector, which has resulted in commitments benefitting over 20,000 leaseholders. The CMA continue to engage with a number of firms and we urge other developers to follow suit.

We have been clear about our commitment to addressing the historic imbalance in the leasehold system. We are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this Parliament.

The Government has committed to making enfranchisement cheaper for leaseholders by reforming the process of valuation they must follow to calculate the cost of extending their lease or buying their freehold. We will abolish marriage value, cap ground rents in the calculation, prescribe the rates to be used and introduce an online calculator.

Leaseholders will be able to extend their lease with zero ground rent on payment of a premium. The length of a statutory lease extension will increase to 990 years, from 90 years (for flats) and 50 years (for houses).

The Government has already legislated via the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 to protect future leaseholders. The Act will mean that if any ground rent is demanded as part of a new residential long lease, it cannot be for more than one literal peppercorn per year.

We understand the difficulties some existing leaseholders face with high and escalating ground rents. This is why we asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector, which has resulted in commitments benefitting over 20,000 leaseholders. The CMA continue to engage with a number of firms and we urge other developers to follow suit.

We have been clear about our commitment to addressing the historic imbalance in the leasehold system. We are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this Parliament.

The Government has committed to making enfranchisement cheaper for leaseholders by reforming the process of valuation they must follow to calculate the cost of extending their lease or buying their freehold. We will abolish marriage value, cap ground rents in the calculation, prescribe the rates to be used and introduce an online calculator.

Leaseholders will be able to extend their lease with zero ground rent on payment of a premium. The length of a statutory lease extension will increase to 990 years, from 90 years (for flats) and 50 years (for houses).

The Government has already legislated via the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 to protect future leaseholders. The Act will mean that if any ground rent is demanded as part of a new residential long lease, it cannot be for more than one literal peppercorn per year.

We understand the difficulties some existing leaseholders face with high and escalating ground rents. This is why we asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector, which has resulted in commitments benefitting over 20,000 leaseholders. The CMA continue to engage with a number of firms and we urge other developers to follow suit.

We have been clear about our commitment to addressing the historic imbalance in the leasehold system. We are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this Parliament.

The footbridge at Beckenham junction is closed whilst Network Rail carry out a full refurbishment of it. My officials have been informed that the line possessions required to complete them are planned for the Christmas period, allowing the bridge to reopen in January 2023.

The OECD’s Two Pillar Solution to the process of digitalisation represents a major reform of the international tax framework and will help to ensure multinational businesses pay their fair share, with the right companies paying the right amount of tax in the right place.

Both Pillars 1 and 2 will be subject to the standard tax policymaking process, with their impacts formally assessed through the OBR forecast process.

Lead sponsors are eligible for monthly payments for as long as the guest remains living in their accommodation for up to 12 months. Further information can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils.

We are actively exploring options to find suitable long-term accommodation for Ukrainians who stay in this country beyond their sponsorship.

The Consolidated Advice will shortly be retired. We are developing more risk-proportionate guidelines for fire risk assessors, including PAS 9980 and new statutory fire safety guidance which will be published as soon as possible.

The Government keeps all policy under review. However, to extend the timeframe by which annual meetings are held would require primary legislation.

We have received representations from local authorities and sector representative organisations making the case for the continuation of remote meetings beyond 7 May 2021 and are carefully considering next steps in this area.

The table below shows the Trade Trained Regular strength of English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish Infantry and Royal Armoured Corps regiments, and Infantry Gurkha strength as at 1 January 2021.

Table notes:

1. The above figures are for Infantry and RAC only and include all members within the regiment regardless of whether they are serving at regimental duty.
2. Figures provided are for Trade Trained Regular and Infantry Gurkhas only and the figures do not include Reserves.
3. Regimental data has been provided as opposed to battalion, in order to capture the c.4200 who are not working at regimental duty.
4. All Officers of Paid Rank Colonel and above are included in Staff regardless of late Arm/Corps and have therefore been excluded from the figures.
5. The above Regular figures only include those regiments that are considered English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish. Those who are not associated to a specific country are not included.
6. All other regiments within the RAC are not wholly related to any one country due to historical mergers.
7. The Royal Gurkha Rifles figure includes both GURTAM and Regular Army Officers.
8. Figures have been rounded to 10 for presentational purposes, numbers ending in ‘5’ have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to present systematic bias.