Written questions by Rosindell.

If she will publish a timetable for a decision on the funding of the Lower Thames Crossing.

As with all capital projects, spending decisions on the Lower Thames Crossing scheme will be subject to the upcoming spending review.

What steps she is taking to reduce crime on the London Underground Network.

The British Transport Police (BTP) are responsible for policing the London Underground and are committed to tackling crime on the network. As a devolved matter, the force works closely with TfL, the Mayor of London and rail industry partners to ensure passengers and rail staff feel safe.

Whether the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority will be put on a statutory footing.

The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) will combine the functions of the National Infrastructure Commission and Infrastructure and Projects Authority. NISTA will bring oversight of strategy and delivery into one organisation, driving more effective delivery of infrastructure across the country. On 17 January 2025, the Prime Minister announced in a Written Ministerial Statement that NISTA will be a joint unit of HM Treasury and Cabinet Office, effective from 1 April 2025. Further detail on the work and governance of NISTA will be announced in due course.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing funding for Crossrail 2.

My department has not provided any further funding to develop the Crossrail 2 scheme since it was paused in 2020.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure new build housing follows high build standards.

We need historic levels of housebuilding to address the housing crisis. It is vital that the homes we deliver are high-quality, well-designed places where people can work and thrive.The Building Safety Act enables the design and construction of more high quality homes and aims to ensure that all new homes meet stringent safety standards. It also requires the Building Safety Regulator to keep the safety and standard of buildings under review. Government is continually assessing the efficacy of Building Regulations to ensure that our new homes are safe and provide healthy living environments for their occupants.Building control procedures that came into force in October 2023 also provide strengthened regulatory oversight of Building Regulations before, during, and on completion of higher-risk building work. This will ensure safer, better-quality buildings, without systemic defects.

What steps she is taking to improve passenger safety on the railway network.

The Department works closely with rail industry and the British Transport Police (BTP) to ensure passenger safety on the rail network. Whilst the most recent Transport Focus survey (10th January) shows that 80% of the public rate their personal security positively when travelling by rail we are not complacent. BTP use a range of policing techniques including overt and covert patrols at hot spot locations, regular high-visibility patrols across the network and use internal and external intelligence to assist in targeting locations. BTP also encourage passengers and rail staff to report crime and suspicious activity via 61016, online or by calling 999 in an emergency. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), who are responsible for enforcing statutory health and safety legislation on the railways, continue to work closely with duty holders to deliver improvements in overall system safety, so far as is reasonably practicable. More generally, the Government is committed to maintaining a high standard of safety across the rail network.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure new build housing allows for sufficient soundproofing against external noise pollution.

The Government is continually assessing the efficacy of Building Regulations to ensure that our new homes and buildings are safe and provide healthy living environments for their occupants. Part E of the Building Regulations requires protection against sound from other parts of a building, adjoining buildings and within a dwelling-house, and prevention of unreasonable reverberation in common internal parts of buildings with residential flats or rooms. For guidance on reducing the passage of external noise into buildings the government published the National Model Design Code: Part 2 – Guidance Notes (MHCLG, 2021) and we encourage designers to note the Association of Noise Consultants’ Acoustics, Ventilation and Overheating: Residential Design Guide (2020). Installing background ventilators such as trickle vents, may increase noise pollution where façades face noisy environments. Approved Document F, volume 1 recommends that noise attenuating background ventilators are fitted in these circumstances.

If she will make an estimate of the number of assaults on pensioners in 2024; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce this.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes estimates, from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), on the population aged 16 years and over who had been victims of violent crime broken down by the age and sex of victims in its annual nature of violent crime statistical release. The latest information can be found here:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/thenatureofviolentcrimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2024The CSEW does not include children aged below 16 years in its main survey from which the headline estimates are derived.This Government has put prevention front and centre of our plans to improve the lives of people across the United Kingdom and is taking ambitious action to reduce violent crime. This includes a commitment to halve national levels of knife crime over the next decade as part of the delivery of our mission to make our streets safer.The Safer Streets Mission is one of five key missions the Government has committed to. It is the vehicle to drive delivery across Government to halve violence against women and girls, halve knife crime, tackle ASB, address the criminal exploitation of children and restore confidence in the policing and justice system.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote tree coverage in (a) the borough of Havering and (b) England.

The Government is working towards the statutory target to reach 16.5% tree canopy and woodland cover in England by 2050. Defra is funding a significant package of grants and supporting activity across England to increase tree coverage. This includes funding a national network of fifteen Community Forests. These Forests are planting thousands of hectares of new trees and woodland in and around our towns and cities providing social, economic and environmental transformation. The Thames Chase Community Forest is one of this network with tree planting sites in Havering.

What steps her Department is taking to tackle shoplifting.

In the last year of the previous government, shop theft soared to a twenty-year high, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers. We will not stand for this.Everybody has a right to feel safe at their place of work and the Government is committed to tackling retail crime.We will introduce a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We will also end the effective immunity, introduced by the previous Government, granted to shop theft of goods of and under £200. This will remove any perception that offenders will escape punishment.We will provide £100k additional funding next financial year for the National Police Chiefs' Council to give further training to police and retailers on prevention tactics.We will continue to crack down on the organised gangs targeting retailers. We will provide £5 million over the next three years to continue to fund a specialist analysis team within Opal, the National Policing Intelligence Unit for serious organised acquisitive crime.We will also invest £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other to prevent and combat crime.

If she will make an estimate of the number of assaults on (a) men and (b) boys in 2024; and what steps she is taking to reduce this.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes estimates, from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), on the population aged 16 years and over who had been victims of violent crime broken down by the age and sex of victims in its annual nature of violent crime statistical release. The latest information can be found here:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/thenatureofviolentcrimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2024The CSEW does not include children aged below 16 years in its main survey from which the headline estimates are derived.This Government has put prevention front and centre of our plans to improve the lives of people across the United Kingdom and is taking ambitious action to reduce violent crime. This includes a commitment to halve national levels of knife crime over the next decade as part of the delivery of our mission to make our streets safer.The Safer Streets Mission is one of five key missions the Government has committed to. It is the vehicle to drive delivery across Government to halve violence against women and girls, halve knife crime, tackle ASB, address the criminal exploitation of children and restore confidence in the policing and justice system.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to stop the accidental poisoning of wildlife.

Defra itself is a principal funder of the National Wildlife Crime Unit which helps prevent and detect unlawful poisoning. Defra also provides funding for England’s Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme which determines the underlying cause of death of wildlife where illegal use of rodenticides is suspected. To help ensure wildlife is not accidentally poisoned, Defra would advise anyone managing rodents to consider a range of effective, alternative methods to rodenticides including elimination of harbourage, food and water. Spring traps and live capture traps are also inexpensive, reusable and widely available.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of travel arrangements between British Overseas Territories and the Caribbean constituent countries of the Netherlands.

There are a number of direct and indirect connections between the British Overseas Territories and the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Both Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands have direct flights to Sint Maarten. Anguilla and Sint Maarten are also connected via ferry. Regular flight connections between Montserrat and Sint Maarten will operate in February and March this year.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what was discussed between his Department and his Chilean counterparts during the delegation to Santiago and Punta Arenas in January 2025.

Baroness Chapman, Minister for Latin America and the Caribbean, visited Chile 7-9 January to meet with Chilean political and business leaders, and to strengthen bilateral and trade ties following the UK's recent accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. In Santiago, Baroness Chapman met her ministerial counterpart, Gloria de la Fuente, and visited the Chilean headquarters of Anglo American to discuss the growing use of carbon-neutral technologies within the mining sector. Baroness Chapman also visited Punta Arenas to celebrate the longstanding and enduring UK-Chile relationship on Antarctica, and our strong naval partnership.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure the safety of British citizens travelling in Central America.

Through the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's (FCDO) consular prevention work, we aim to provide information and guidance to help British nationals make informed decisions and take responsibility for themselves when they are living and travelling abroad. FCDO Travel Advice for countries in Central America is kept under regular review and provides information to help British nationals make informed decisions. The FCDO also works closely with host authorities in Central America to reduce risks, share expertise, and build capacity to improve the support British people receive.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with opposition figures in Venezuela since the Presidential election in that country in July 2024.

Since the elections in July, the Foreign Secretary has discussed the concerning situation in Venezuela on multiple occasions, including with international partners and members of the opposition. On 10 January, he announced that Maduro's claim to power was fraudulent and announced new sanctions designations against members of the Maduro regime. The UK will continue to engage internationally in order to achieve a peaceful solution that respects the will of the Venezuelan people.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had any discussions with his counterparts in Colombia regarding the ongoing conflict in the Catatumbo region.

The UK continues to monitor the concerning escalation of conflict in the Catatumbo region of Colombia. At the UN Security Council meeting on the Colombian Peace Process in January, we condemned the violence between the National Liberation Army (ELN in Spanish) and General Staff of Blocks and Front (EMBF in Spanish), which has left many dead and thousands displaced. Senior Embassy officials have been in contact with government negotiators and the relevant government ministries to express our concern at the situation. The START fund is providing £150k of aid, and the UK is one of its largest donors.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant of the Answer of 20 January 2025 to Question 23271 on Faroe Islands and Greenland: Politics and Government, what the Minister of State for Europe and North America discussed with his counterparts from Greenland in those meetings.

I have met with Greenlandic Foreign Minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, twice since taking office. The first time, at the Arctic Circle Assembly in October 2024, we discussed the UK's Arctic policy, security, trade and bilateral relations. The second time in London, in January 2025, we discussed the Kingdom of Denmark's chairship of the Arctic Council in 2025, Arctic policy, security, trade as well as bilateral relations.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help protect native wildlife on South Georgia in the context of the potential risk of a collision of the iceberg A23a with the island.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is in close contact with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI) about the movement of iceberg A23a. BAS and GSGSSI are both actively monitoring the movement of the iceberg and are working to identify a range of likely future scenarios and potential implications, including for the region's wildlife. It is currently anticipated that A23a will run aground on the continental shelf before it reaches the landmass of South Georgia, and that any impacts on wildlife are likely to be localised and transient, but we will keep this assessment under review.

Pursuant of the Answer of 20 January 2025 to Question 23276 on Energy: Investment, what steps his Department is taking to help support British companies with investments in Mexico during the period of regulatory change.

My Department is following this period of regulatory change in Mexico closely. We are utilising all tools available, through the British Embassy and through dialogue with our respective counterparts within the Mexican government, including encouraging engagement on the reforms with businesses.