Written questions by Dickson.

How many children under one year old were admitted to Darent Valley Hospital for respiratory issues in each of the last 10 years.

Data on the number of people hospitalised or admitted is not recorded. Finished Admission Episodes (FAE) are recorded, although these are not substitutions for counts of people, as the same person may have been admitted to hospital on more than one occasion within any given time period.The following table shows a count of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of all respiratory conditions, for patients aged 70 years old or over, at Darent Valley Hospital for the period 2014/15 to 2023/24:YearNumber of FAEs for patients over aged 70 years old2014/151,5852015/161,6102016/171,9202017/182,1502018/192,0652019/202,0752020/211,2302021/221,7402022/231,9852023/242,075 The following table shows a count of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of asthma, for patients aged zero to 17 years old, at Darent Valley Hospital for the period 2014/15 to 2023/24:YearNumber of FAEs for patients aged zero to 17 years old2014/151302015/161102016/17952017/181002018/191002019/201102020/21652021/221502022/231002023/24120 The following table shows a count of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of all respiratory conditions, for patients aged less than one years old, at Darent Valley Hospital for the period 2014/15 to 2023/24:YearNumber of FAEs for patients aged under one years old2014/156452015/167952016/179352017/189152018/191,0302019/201,1552020/212602021/221,4652022/231,7402023/241,715

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of pollution on the number of admissions to Darent Valley Hospital.

Exposure to air pollution is associated with increased hospital admissions, particularly for respiratory and cardiovascular conditions. The UK Health Security Agency has not calculated the potential impact of air pollution on the number of admissions to the Darent Valley Hospital specifically.

What assessment he has made of the impact of delays at the Dartford Crossing on businesses in Dartford.

My Department has not carried out an assessment of the impact of delays at the Dartford Crossing on local businesses. However, area teams in my Department engage closely with local stakeholders, including businesses, to support delivery of their economic plans.

Whether the Postcode Address File is critical national infrastructure under the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

The National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 does not define "critical national infrastructure".

Whether his Department has had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on the potential merits of regulating the outdoor advertising of high fat, salt and sugar products.

Departmental officials engage with a range of external stakeholders on diet and obesity policies. Supporting people to stay healthier for longer is at the heart of the Government’s Health Mission which aims to reduce the amount of time spent in ill health, tackle health inequalities and drive economic growth. This includes taking bold action to tackle the childhood obesity crisis and create the healthiest generation of children ever.The Government welcomes recent action at local level to ban junk food marketing across the public transport networks and public spaces that are controlled locally.Whilst no assessment has been made on the potential impact of outdoor advertising of less healthy food and drink products on children's consumption of those products, the Government has committed to implementing the advertising restrictions set out in the Communications Act 2003 on less healthy food and drink products without further delay. The regulations introduce a 9pm watershed for the advertisement of less healthy food or drink products on television and a total restriction of paid-for advertising of these products online will come into force across the United Kingdom on 1 October 2025.Evidence shows that these restrictions will have a direct impact on childhood obesity by reducing children’s exposure to advertising of less healthy products. We estimate that these restrictions will remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets per year in the UK and reduce the number of children living with obesity by 20,000.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of outdoor advertising of food and drink products that are high in fat, salt and sugar on children's consumption of those products.

Departmental officials engage with a range of external stakeholders on diet and obesity policies. Supporting people to stay healthier for longer is at the heart of the Government’s Health Mission which aims to reduce the amount of time spent in ill health, tackle health inequalities and drive economic growth. This includes taking bold action to tackle the childhood obesity crisis and create the healthiest generation of children ever.The Government welcomes recent action at local level to ban junk food marketing across the public transport networks and public spaces that are controlled locally.Whilst no assessment has been made on the potential impact of outdoor advertising of less healthy food and drink products on children's consumption of those products, the Government has committed to implementing the advertising restrictions set out in the Communications Act 2003 on less healthy food and drink products without further delay. The regulations introduce a 9pm watershed for the advertisement of less healthy food or drink products on television and a total restriction of paid-for advertising of these products online will come into force across the United Kingdom on 1 October 2025.Evidence shows that these restrictions will have a direct impact on childhood obesity by reducing children’s exposure to advertising of less healthy products. We estimate that these restrictions will remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets per year in the UK and reduce the number of children living with obesity by 20,000.

Communities and Local Government, what recent progress her Department has made on planning reform.

On 30 July we opened an eight week consultation on a revised National Planning Policy Framework.As well as reversing the damaging anti-supply changes made by the previous government in December 2023, proposed reforms include making housing targets mandatory, strengthening policy support for brownfield development, and the targeted release of low-quality grey belt land within the green belt.The consultation will run until Tuesday 24 September.