There are always lots of conversations going on between Transport for London, the Mayor

and the Department. Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor of London and TfL, and it is because of decisions that the Mayor has made that TfL has found itself saddled with massive debt and unable to deliver infrastructure projects, leaving it in a weak position even before covid raised its ugly head. The Government—the UK taxpayer, therefore—have agreed two extraordinary financing packages for TfL worth over £3 billion to ensure the continuation of public transport services in this great city.

There are currently a record number of tests available. For those with symptoms of COVID-19 there is a local testing centre at 221 Erith Road, Bexley and a regional testing centre at Curtis Way Coach Park in Rochester.

Demand for testing is increasing and as such test sites in areas with higher prevalence will be prioritised. Areas with lower prevalence will have reductions of testing capacity.

We do not publish data on the number of people tested in the format you have requested. We publish daily statistics on tests cases and deaths down to lower tier local authority level; weekly Test and Trace statistics and Public Health England surveillance reports showing positive cases by various demographics at GOV.UK.

The Government recognises the geographical constraints on direct transport links between Essex and Kent. We have announced the preferred route for a new Lower Thames Crossing to improve strategic road links between the two counties that will help relieve pressure at the existing Dartford crossing. This extra road capacity could offer more direct journeys for passengers on any bus services making use of the new route. The Government continues to invest in improvements to rail infrastructure in both Essex and Kent and Department officials continue to work closely with local partners to identify local transport improvements. Separately, the independent Thames Estuary Commission has been considering, amongst other things, proposals for transport links to unlock growth potential in the area and we look forward to the publication of the Commission’s report later this year.

Local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare and early education places, and make this report available and accessible to parents. The Department does not hold borough-level estimates centrally of the number of places in local authority maintained nursery schools. However, the number of pupils attending local authority maintained nurseries can be found in the statistical first release and underlying data published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015

The Local authority and regional tables: SFR16/2015 (Table 7b)[1] indicates that 90 pupils were registered as attending local authority maintained nursery schools in Kent in 2015.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445755/SFR16_2015_LA_tables.xlsx

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC has provided the following information:

Active care home locations with the Dementia Service User Band in the Kent local authority

Source: CQC database at 11 April 2016

The Department does not hold this information in the format requested.

Data collected by the Health and Social Care Information Centre indicates that in 2014/15 there were 4,175 local authority supported long term residential and nursing care users aged 65 years and over supported by Kent County Council. This data is not available for the individual district councils in Kent, of which Dartford is one.

The data can be found at:

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB18663

An internal estimate carried out by the Department in 2012/13 estimated that 48% of people aged 65 and over in residential and nursing care in Kent were receiving local authority support at that time.

This Government is providing both tools and funding to local highway authorities in England, outside London, to tackle the condition of our local road network. In the Spending Review 2015, the Government announced that we are allocating a total of £6.1 billion funding for local highways maintenance between now and 2021. This funding includes an additional £250 million between 2016 and 2021 for a potholes action fund to improve local roads, to promote innovation within the sector and to ensure that taxpayers get greater value for money.

For Kent we are providing the following funding for local highways maintenance for the financial years 2015/16 and 2016/17:

Further details of the funding we are providing to all local highway authorities in England outside London can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/6-billion-funding-to-tackle-potholes-and-improve-local-roads

Local authorities are able to use revenue funding for maintaining their local highways and this is allocated by the Department of Communities and Local Government through the Revenue Support Grant.

The table below gives the number of a) fatalities, b) seriously injured and c) slightly injured casualties in personal injury road accidents reported to the police in i) Dartford, ii) Kent (excluding Medway unitary authority) and iii) Medway unitary authority for 2010 to 2014.

Data for 2015 will be available in June 2016.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Operation Stack is led by Kent police, with the support of all other emergency services, Highways England, Kent County Council, and many other key partners. Steps taken to mitigate the latest Calais disruption include:

• Providing additional resources to monitor the strategic and local network and to keep the agreed diversion routes clear.

• Agreed joint communications to inform customers of the current situation, including communications to keep freight on the M20 and within the Operation Stack phases.

• Identified, designed and implemented additional phases to Operation Stack as the situation has continued.

• Provided additional traffic management in Kent at roundabouts.

• Review and enhance the　current Signs and Signal Policy relating to Operation Stack.

• Kent County Council staff have been issuing bottles of water and food.

The Government is looking to all parties, including Eurotunnel and Port of Dover, Kent County and Local Councils, Kent Police and the Highways England to play their part in working towards, implementing and then reviewing and managing the various solutions.

The information requested is publicly available. Benefit expenditure for parliamentary constituencies and local authorities is published at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2014

Information on Jobseeker’s Allowance caseloads is available at: http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/select/wizpopular.asp by choosing “claimant count with rates and proportions” and following the steps to select the required geography and time period.

The Department for Education collects information from local authorities on the number of school places (school capacity) in state-funded primary and secondary schools (except special schools) as part of the annual School Capacity Collection. The most recent data available relates to the position in May 2013 and can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-capacity-academic-year-2012-to-2013.

In Kent, between May 2012 and May 2013, the number of places in schools deemed as primary schools increased by 960 and the number of places in schools deemed as secondary schools increased by 2,011. Schools that cross phases, for example middle schools, are deemed as either primary or secondary.

Data on the number of school places for the past 12 months is not yet available as this information is currently being collected from local authorities and will be published in due course. Information about the number of school places is not available at constituency level.

Details of confiscation orders are only recorded on databases at county area level, therefore we are unable to provide specific information for Dartford. The details for Kent are as follows:

There are 1,343 confiscation orders, made under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) 2002, within Kent. Of those orders, 1,062 (79%) have been paid in full of all granted confiscation orders in Kent.

The total value of these orders is £57,271,448. The total amount recovered within Kent under the POCA legislation is £22,689,241. Of the £34,582,207 outstanding, £21,945,696 (63%) relates to just nine confiscation orders.

Of the 1,343 confiscation orders, 32 (7%) have a total value of £3,953,976 where the time to pay has not expired and are not in default of payment.

HMCTS takes the issue of confiscation enforcement very seriously. Over the last four consecutive years the amount recovered, including payments to victims of crime has increased year on year. HMCTS continually looks at new ways ensure that defendants pay their confiscation orders in full, including securing the debt against any properties that the defendant may have.

Information on the number of pupil enrolments with a permanent exclusion or with one or more fixed period exclusions in Dartford constituency, Kent local authority and England is shown in the following tables.

Information has been provided for 2007/08 to 2010/11. To provide data for further years would incur disproportionate cost.

The most recent available data on exclusions was published in the “Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools in England” Statistical First Release on 25 July 2012 at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-from-schools-in-england-academic-year-2010-to-2011

It is not possible to identify offences of dog theft from the police recorded crime statistics, and this information is not held centrally by the Home Office.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Glen Watson, dated March 2013:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State for Justice for the number of victims of residential burglary of each ethnic group in (a) Dartford, (b) Kent and (c)the UK in the last five years (149181)

The two main sources of crime statistics are police recorded crime and the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), and a breakdown by ethnic group is only provided by the CSEW. CSEW data are not available at the focal authority level so we are unable to provide any estimates for Dartford and Kent.

The number of victims of burglary, broken down by ethnic group as estimated by the CSEW are provided for the last five financial years (April to March) for England and Wales.

An additional table has also been provided which shows the proportion of the population who were victims of burglary broken down by ethnic group for England and Wales.

The crime statistics data published by the ONS cover England and Wales only. Crime data for Scotland are published at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice

and data for Northern Ireland are published at:

http://www.psni.police.uk/index/updates/updates_statistics/update_crime_statistics.htm

The following table presents the proven re-offending rates for adult offenders in Dartford and Kent who were released from custody in the 12 months ending March 2011.

The local authority area is based on where an offender resides when they committed their most recent offence.

A proven re-offence is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period and receiving a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow-up. Following this one year period, a further six month waiting period is allowed for cases to progress through the courts.

This question is a matter for Ofsted. HM chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has written to my hon. Friend, and a copy of his response has been placed in the House Libraries.

Letter from Sir Michael Wilshaw, dated 31 January 2013:

Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for response.

Since 2005, maintained school inspections have been carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 and more recently the Education Act 2011. Under section 5, Ofsted inspects maintained schools (nursery, primary, secondary and special schools and pupil referral units), state-funded independent schools such as academies and certain non-maintained special schools in England. The following table summarises the overall effectiveness judgment of schools' latest inspection between 1 September 2005 and 31 August 2012 for the Dartford constituency and Kent local authority.

The underlying data for all schools' latest inspection are available on the Ofsted website at:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/official-statistics-maintained-school-inspections-and-outcomes

They can be found within the ‘Maintained schools inspections and outcomes—Annual Report 2011-12’ zip file by opening the file ‘06 1112 Most Recent 31 Aug 2012 (Final)’.

A copy of this reply will be placed in the Library of both Houses.

All offenders serving a determinate sentence serve part of their sentence in custody and part on licence in the community.

If the sentence was imposed under the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (for offences committed on or after 4 April 2005), the first half of the sentence is served in custody and the second half is served on release on licence in the community.

If the sentence was imposed under the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 and is four years or longer, release is determined on the basis of risk by the Parole Board between the halfway and two-thirds point of the sentence. The offender is on licence from the point at which he is released until the three quarter point of sentence and then at risk for the final quarter. If a 1991 Act sentence is less than four years, the offender will be released at the halfway point, on licence to three quarter point and then at risk for the final quarter.

We do not hold figures for the number of prisoners held in Kent over the last ten years, as the data we collect is a snapshot of the prison population. However, the following table provides information on the prison population in Kent prison establishments as of 30 June of each year from 2003 to 2012.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

The available information is shown in the following table.

No estimates have been made centrally of the cost to the national health service of

missed out-patient appointments.