Employers have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments, including workplace flexibilities, where a disabled person or person with a long-term health condition would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage. This includes chronic and fluctuating health conditions and disabilities, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The Equality and Human Rights Commission provides statutory guidance to employers covering this. DWP also provides tailored guidance through its Support with Employee Health and Disability online service and the Disability Confident Scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces including guidance on flexible working.

All employees have the existing right to request flexible working arrangements. The Employment Rights Bill is designed to make it more likely that flexible working requests are accepted and would require employers to explain the basis for their decision where rejecting a request. The Keep Britain Working Review is currently establishing vanguards to explore innovative ways to support more disabled employees to stay in work.

No assessment has been made.

All employers have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 not to unlawfully discriminate against disabled people and people with long term health conditions, including people with multiple sclerosis. This includes making reasonable adjustments where employees would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act and provides guidance to businesses and individuals, including the statutory Code of Practice on Employment.

The Government also offers guidance to employers on supporting disabled people and people with health conditions in the workplace, through its Support with Employee Health and Disability service. The service was developed with input from smaller businesses and disability organisations and provides a step by step guide to supporting employees in workplace scenarios involving health and disability. This includes guidance on having conversations about health and disability, supporting employers to understand and respond to an employee’s individual needs, circumstances and capacities. This service is fully compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard.

My Department has actively engaged with stakeholders on the design for the new Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process. This has involved a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. The concluding event on 22 October 2025 was attended by over 750 stakeholders.

We plan to publish guidance in January 2026. Provisional allocations will be published as part of the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, ahead of the scheme going live in April 2026.

The Government is committed to tackling poverty and ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels. We have already introduced the Fair Repayment Rate, reducing the Universal Credit overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s standard allowance, giving 1.2m households an average of £420 per year. In addition, we have also uprated benefit rates for 2025/26 in line with inflation, with 5.7 million Universal Credit households forecast to gain by an average of £150 annually.

The Government has also taken further action to support low-income households including through the increase in the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025, boosting the pay of 3 million workers.

Ahead of Child Poverty Strategy publication in the autumn, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament and a new £1 billion package to reform crisis support, including funding to ensure the poorest children do not go hungry outside of term time. We have also announced £600 million to extend the Holiday Activity and Food Programme.

We plan to publish guidance for the Crisis and Resilience Fund in January 2026. Provisional allocations will be published as part of the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, ahead of the scheme going live in April 2026.

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) and the harm it causes is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. Every police force in England and Wales now has a dedicated lead officer for ASB, who will work with communities to develop a local ASB action plan.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are strengthening the powers available to the police and other relevant agencies to tackle ASB quickly and effectively. ​We will crack down on those making neighbourhoods feel unsafe and unwelcoming by introducing the new Respect Order, which will carry tough sanctions and penalties for persistent adult offenders. Breaching a Respect Order will be a criminal offence, allowing police officers to immediately arrest offenders and disrupt ongoing ASB. We are also extending the maximum exclusion period for dispersal directions from 48 to 72 hours and enhancing the powers for the police to seize nuisance off-road bikes, and other vehicles which are being used in an anti-social manner, without having to first give a warning to the offender.

There are currently no plans to introduce fast-track courts for ASB.

This Government inherited a record and rising courts backlog. We have funded a record-high allocation of 110,000 Crown Court sitting days for this year to tackle the outstanding caseload, including in relation to ASB cases.

The Home Office does not hold the requested information. Details of the numbers of Metropolitan Police Services employees in different locations are a matter for the service itself.

The Home Office does not hold the requested information. Details of the numbers of Metropolitan Police Services employees in different locations are a matter for the service itself.

The College of Policing has issued guidance on when a roads policing pursuit is justified and proportionate, the Home Office has no plans to issue its own updated guidance on roads policing pursuits involving push bikes.

Any decision on when it is appropriate to use tactical contact is an operational matter for the police as outlined in the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice on Police Pursuits.

The Online Safety Act requires platforms to take action to prevent the proliferation of illegal content online and ensure that their services are not used for offending. This means they will need to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share illegal content, and to design their services to mitigate the risk of this occurring.

Ofcom has now laid the first edition of the Illegal Harms Codes in Parliament, setting out what platforms need to do to comply with the Online Safety Act. These will come into force, subject to Parliamentary approval, on the 17th of March 2025. Firms do not need to wait for these duties to come into effect and can act now.

Ofcom has a tough suite of enforcement powers to use against companies who fail to fulfil their duties. This includes fines of up to £18 million or 10 per cent of qualifying annual global turnover (whichever is greater).

The Home Secretary has also outlined measures to prevent the online sale of knives and other weapons to children to reduce knife crime. We have already banned deadly zombie-style knives and machetes and are fast progressing with banning Ninja swords. We have also consulted on introducing personal liability measures on senior executives of online platforms and marketplaces who fail to take action to remove illegal content related to knives and offensive weapons off their platforms and marketplaces. The consultation closed on 11 December 2024 and we are currently analysing the responses. The Home Secretary has also announced that the Government intends to strengthen age verification controls and checks for all online sellers of knives at the point of purchase and on delivery.

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

The Government recently announced Respect Orders which will be introduced through the Crime and Policing Bill. Respect Orders can be applied for by the police and local councils and are issued by the courts. They will enable courts to place wide-ranging restrictions on the behaviour of the most persistent and disruptive ASB offenders.

Respect Orders will be piloted prior to national rollout to make sure they are as effective as possible. Consideration will be given to where the pilots will take place in due course.

The Government are committed to tackling antisocial behaviour and the harm and misery that we all know it causes in communities. This is part of our safer streets mission that will introduce respect orders and put 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles so that each community has a visible presence and an accountable police team.

No specific assessment has been made about the use of Nightingdale Courts for these specific offences ; 20 of which remain open and will continue to be used by judges until at least March 2025.

This Government is committed to halving knife crime over 10 years. Knife enabled robbery accounts for 42% of all police recorded knife crime, so tackling it is a key focus. We are convening a Knife Enabled Robbery Taskforce with policing leaders to take immediate action to halt its rise.

We have implemented a ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes and will act to ban Ninja swords. We are also introducing the Young Futures programme to stop young people being drawn into a life of violent crime in the first place.

As part of our Safer Streets mission, this government is also determined to crack down on theft and other crimes that make people feel unsafe in our communities.

Set against soaring levels of snatch thefts and pickpocketing in the last year of the previous government, and the demand for stolen mobile phones increasing, we have announced a Home Office Mobile Phone Theft Summit, drawing together the tech companies and law enforcement to see what more can be done to break the business model of mobile phone thieves.