Written questions by Pinkerton.

What steps she is taking to protect civil liberties in the (a) development and (b) implementation of (i) public order and (ii) policing policy.

All protest legislation has been and is developed in line with the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, particularly Articles 10 and 11. The government remains committed to protecting civil liberties, including the right to peaceful protest.It has long been a principle in this country that individuals may gather and express their views, provided they do so within the law. Where protests contravene the law, it is essential that the police who are operationally independent have appropriate powers to respond.The Home Secretary launched an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October led by Lord Macdonald of River Glaven KC. The review will ensure police powers remain fit for purpose, are used consistently, and strike the right balance between protecting the public and upholding the right to lawful protest.It will address whether the existing legislation is effective and proportionate, whether it adequately protects communities from intimidation and hate and whether it strikes a fair and sustainable balance between the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest, and the need to prevent disorder and keep communities safe.The review is underway and will conclude by Spring 2026.

What assessment has been made of whether children’s social care practice adequately supports parents who have experienced trauma, including childhood abuse, to recover and safely parent.

The children’s social care national framework (2023) is statutory guidance that sets direction for children’s social care practice. It describes expectations for practitioners working sensitively with whole families, including to identify and address the impact of trauma. Ofsted plays a crucial role in upholding children’s social care standards. In November 2025, Ofsted confirmed they will update their Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services inspection framework from April 2026 and continue to align inspection with the national framework.The department has also confirmed the national rollout of Family Help, multi-agency child protection and family group decision making reforms, delivered through the Families First Partnership programme. These services will prioritise supporting the whole family and intervening at the earliest opportunity to prevent problems escalating, including where there are experiences of trauma. This will require excellent place-based service design driven by local authorities working effectively with local partners, including health, police and education providers, and listening closely to families.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that adoptive families caring for multiple children from the same birth family receive (a) tailored and (b) sustained support in Surrey Heath constituency.

As part of the criteria for the adoption and special guardianship support fund, all children must have an assessment of their individual needs completed within three months of the application submission. This ensures that any support commissioned by the local authority or Regional Adoption Agency is tailored to their circumstances.Where families adopt multiple children from the same birth family, each child is assessed separately, and each child has their own Fair Access Limit.

What steps she is taking to deliver effective community policing in Surrey Heath constituency.

The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee makes sure that every neighbourhood has named, contactable officers dedicated to addressing the issues facing their communities, including in Surrey Heath.£200 million has been made available in 2025/26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament, including up to 3,000 additional neighbourhood officers by the end of March 2026. Based on their £2,588,427 allocation from the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, Surrey Police are projected to grow by 25 FTE neighbourhood police officers in 2025/26.

What oversight exists to ensure that local authorities engage constructively with parents who raise concerns on (a) fair process and (b) statutory obligations.

Local authorities must engage constructively with parents when concerns arise about fair process or statutory duties. Oversight is provided through several mechanisms. First, parents can use the statutory three-stage complaints procedure for children’s services, which includes independent review. If they remain dissatisfied, they may escalate to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which investigates maladministration and recommends remedies to ensure fairness and compliance.Ofsted inspections also assess how effectively authorities involve parents and meet legal obligations.

Whether her Department plans to review the statutory framework governing post adoption support to help prevent avoidable family breakdowns.

The department is not currently planning to review the statutory framework for post adoption support.We are funding Adoption England £8.8 million this year to develop consistent and high quality adoption support provision across the country. This includes implementing a new framework for an early support core offer for the first 12 to 18 months after placement, rolling out a new Adoption Support Plan book for all new adoptive families, and developing a national protocol to be used for all adoption support service teams and local authority front door safeguarding services to ensure that parents receive support when they need it most and help prevent family breakdown.The department will set out plans to launch a public engagement process in 2026 to better understand how well the adoption and special guardianship support fund is working, what the evidence tells us and what further evidence is required, and importantly what is working well for families and why.

What steps she is taking to tackle hate crime in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.

The government is determined to tackle all forms of hate crime wherever in the country it occurs, and whoever is responsible for committing it. We have a robust legislative framework in place to respond to hate crimes which target race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity, and we back the police in taking strong action against the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. The Home Secretary launched an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October.  The review will ensure police powers remain fit for purpose, are used consistently, and strike the right balance between protecting the public and upholding the right to lawful protest. It will address whether the existing legislation is effective and proportionate, whether it adequately protects communities from intimidation and hate and whether it strikes a fair and sustainable balance between the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest, and the need to prevent disorder and keep communities safe. In addition, the government funds an online hate crime reporting portal, True Vision, designed so victims of all types of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. The government also funds the National Online Hate Crime Hub, which supports individual local police forces in dealing specifically with online hate crime, providing expert advice to police to support them in investigating these abhorrent offences.

Whether her Department plans to review the (a) funding and (b) accessibility of the Adoption Support Fund, particularly for families with (i) complex or (ii) high risk placements in Surrey Heath constituency.

This financial year, the department has invested £50 million into the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF). We have approved applications for nearly 14,000 children since April, for both therapy and specialist assessments. We continue to review the impact of the changes to funding made in April 2025. The ASGSF was formed specifically to meet the needs of complex and high-risk placements.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that South Western Railway rail replacement bus services are fully wheelchair accessible in Surrey Heath constituency.

Regulatory requirements apply to South Western Railway (SWR) to ensure rail replacement buses meet the necessary standards on accessibility across their network, including in Surrey Heath constituency. SWR works with its rail replacement providers to ensure services are accessible as far as possible, but if accessible options are not available, SWR will arrange alternative accessible transport.

Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with charitable organisations working on loneliness among older people in Surrey Heath constituency.

From a government perspective, social connection is the golden thread running through much of our work. It will help us to achieve ambitions including creating a healthier society, more connected communities and ensuring opportunities for all. This government also recognises the social benefits and connections that volunteering can offer to all, including older people. That is why DCMS is supporting the launch of The Big Help Out 2026, which this year will be running alongside the Big Lunch, bringing more people together including in Surrey Heath.Government alone cannot improve social connection; collaboration is required across the public, private and civil society sectors. Charitable organisations have a key role to play. The government provides funding for the Tackling Loneliness Hub, an online forum for people including voluntary community groups, working to reduce loneliness and isolation to come together and share insights, research and best practice.

Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with the hospitality industry in Surrey Heath constituency on staffing levels in the hotel sector.

DCMS regularly engages with representatives of the hospitality industry, both nationally and regionally, to understand current challenges and opportunities in the sector, including staffing levels.While we have not had discussions specifically with businesses in the Surrey Heath constituency, we work closely with industry bodies such as UKHospitality, which represent employers across the country (including those in Surrey Heath). Through these forums, the Government has listened to concerns about recruitment and retention, and continues to respond through a range of measures.We will also set out our vision and ambition for the sector in our forthcoming Visitor Economy Growth Plan.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) homelessness and (b) temporary accommodation on (i) families and (ii) children in Surrey Heath constituency.

Homelessness is one of the deepest forms of poverty. A stay in temporary accommodation is linked to worse outcomes for children’s education, health and future.Through our Child Poverty Strategy and National Plan to End Homelessness, this government is focussing on delivering long-term solutions to tackle poverty, boost living standards, and address the lack of affordable housing supply, whilst also taking immediate action to end the unlawful use of Bed and Breakfasts for families, improve the quality of temporary accommodation and reduce the costs for councils.

What recent discussions her Department has had with local authorities regarding the number of special educational needs and disabilities school places required to meet the needs of children in Surrey Heath constituency.

The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), sits with local authorities. To support local authorities with this duty, in December, the department announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30, to support children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision. This builds on the £740 million invested in 2025/26, which is on track to create around 10,000 new specialist places. Of this year’s funding, Surrey has been allocated £16.1 million. This funding is intended to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs. It can also be used to adapt mainstream schools to be more accessible and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of providing police officers with additional roadside powers in cases where a driver has tested positive for (a) drugs or (b) alcohol.

We are considering a range of policies under the new Road Safety Strategy; the first for ten years. This includes the case for changing the motoring offences, such as drink and drug driving. We will set out more details in due course.

What discussions her Department has had with local authorities on (a) public awareness and (b) education on (i) drug and (ii) drink driving in Surrey Heath constituency.

The Department for Transport routinely engages with local authorities to assist them with using and promoting our campaigns, and we work closely with Road Safety GB who help disseminate and coordinate our outreach to their network of road safety officers and professionals. My department has recently engaged with contacts at Surrey Roadsafe who have helped promote our THINK! drink and drug driving campaigns through their channels. Surrey Roadsafe is a road safety partnership, comprising: Surrey Police, Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner, Surrey County Council, Surrey Fire and Rescue and National Highways.

What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of public awareness of road safety issues relating to (a) drug and (b) drink driving in Surrey Heath constituency.

In respect of drug driving, as the THINK! campaign, launched on the 24th Novmeber is still running. The Department has not yet made an assessment of its reach and impact as this will be evaluated in full next year. In respect of the 2025 THINK! summer drink driving campaign, at a national level 9 in 10 of those who saw or heard the campaign took action as a result. There was a significant increase in the proportion of young male drivers who said they are very likely to have a 0% alcohol alternative when driving, up from 31% pre- to 42% post-campaign.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with (a) Surrey County Council and (b) borough councils in west Surrey on the financial arrangements for a proposed unitary authority.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 99016 on 19 December 2025.

Communities and Local Government, whether safeguards are in place to prevent newly established unitary authorities in Surrey from being required to dispose of local assets in order to manage financial liabilities.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 99016 on 19 December 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of funding for new unitary authorities in Surrey, including in (a) statutory services and (b) wider local infrastructure and housing provision.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 99016 on 19 December 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with Surrey Heath Borough Council on brownfield site development in Surrey Heath constituency.

The Surrey Heath constituency has so far received a total funding of £1,480,300 from the Brownfield Land Release Fund 2 to release land for 132 homes. Our delivery partner OPE monitor progress and provide practical and technical support to deliver new homes on derelict and underused brownfield land in the Surrey Heath constituency and is responsible for continued engagement with Surrey Heath Borough Council on brownfield site development. The government has also announced £5bn of capital grant funding for infrastructure and land through the new National Housing Delivery Fund. This Fund will be fully operational from 1 April 2026 and will complement investment from the new National Housing Bank.