Kelly Tolhurst: I, too, thank the Minister for his comments and his hard work over many months—not just in recent times. I am glad we are focusing on putting the right resources in place on the ground, but will he assure me that areas and counties such as Kent and Medway, which have experienced pressures over the last 12 months, will not be over-pressured to take further young people, given their existing...
Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what role local authorities will have in school place planning under the proposals in her Department's White Paper, Educational excellence everywhere, published in March 2016.
Kelly Tolhurst: I thank the Minister for his comments today and for his support with regard to our concerns about HMP Rochester and the Medway Secure Training Centre. I also thank him for his very speedy meeting with me and the governor of HMP Rochester earlier this year. The Minister will know that Medway Secure Training Centre was at the centre of abuse allegations. Will he confirm when the Medway...
Kelly Tolhurst: I welcome the Secretary of State’s strength in her statement. In my constituency, and in Medway as a whole, most secondary schools and a large proportion of primaries are already academies. Some of those were compelled to become academies. It is true that home-grown academies have played a massive role in driving up standards within our authority, which has historically been an...
Kelly Tolhurst: Will the hon. Gentleman give way on that point?
Kelly Tolhurst: Will the right hon. Lady give way?
Kelly Tolhurst: Will the right hon. Lady outline the conversations she has had with her local authority about the number that it is prepared to take? When Kent was in crisis last year and we asked other authorities for help, very few came forward. My question is: how many, and what has changed?
Kelly Tolhurst: I am actually quite sad tonight given what I have heard, because there is a clear sense and determination among Labour Members to suggest that the Government have not been doing enough. I spoke to the amendment two weeks ago, and the county of Kent has been rehoming unaccompanied minors and refugees for decades. Kent has been a gateway for people making their way to safety into this country,...
Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to adopt the recommendations made in the Local Plans Expert Group report, published in March 2016.
Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies of the conclusion of the report by the Local Plans Expert Group, published in March 2016, paragraph s15, that local plans in the South East may not enable the full scale of housing need to be met.
Kelly Tolhurst: Following the Chancellor’s welcome announcement about the launch of the new Thames estuary 2050 growth commission, will the Prime Minister outline his hopes for how the commission’s focus will deliver the much-needed infrastructure and economic development that will allow north Kent to prosper, including in my wonderful constituency of Rochester and Strood?
Kelly Tolhurst: I have been contacted by a number of my constituents who have expressed concerns about the balance between privacy and security in the Investigatory Powers Bill. Will the Home Secretary explain how the implementation of the Bill will provide that balance but will also provide essential protections against terrorism?
Kelly Tolhurst: What steps his Department plans to take to improve local dispensing arrangements.
Kelly Tolhurst: I have been contacted by a number of disabled constituents who have encountered difficulties receiving dispensed drugs from their local GPs because they fall outside geographical criteria as of last year, therefore adding a significant financial burden. Given instances where dispensing GPs have blocked the arrival of some local pharmacies in parts of my constituency, will the Minister give...
Kelly Tolhurst: I am proud that, of the south-east’s 348,000 apprenticeships, Rochester and Strood has provided 7,410, the fourth largest amount. I am also grateful to companies such as BAE Systems that makes an annual commitment to 12 higher level apprenticeships in my area. How can the Secretary of State provide further support to my constituency’s small and medium-sized businesses to offer more...
Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects the follow-up report to Children in Military Custody, a report written by a delegation of British lawyers on the treatment of Palestinian children under Israeli military law, published in June 2012, to be published.
Kelly Tolhurst: What steps his Department has taken to engage with British businesses since the EU referendum.
Kelly Tolhurst: I, too, welcome the new ministerial team. I have a number of correspondents in a few local—predominantly small—businesses in Rochester and Strood who have been trading with European partners over a long period, but whose supply chain costs have recently risen. Will my right hon. Friend outline his commitment to supporting our small businesses in our new relationship with Europe to ensure...
Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to analyse and expand health service capacity in areas of expected high population growth.