Absolutely; I set that out in my topical statement. We are working with every local authority to ensure places are available. The Conservatives have a plan for working parents while Labour has none.

We are making wraparound childcare available for all parents who need it, with £289 million investment to help schools develop programmes before and after school. I am sure the Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing will be happy to meet my hon. Friend to keep him updated on progress.

My hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Ben Bradley) raised the issue of flood damage with me as well, and we are looking at what we can do. We made a big decision on that, and improving the road network over time and allowing local authorities to spend that money shows an important sense of priorities.

As part of the Network North plan, the Government are providing a record funding increase of £8.3 billion for local highway maintenance in England over the next decade to enable local highways authorities to resurface roads up and down the country. Over that period, Nottinghamshire will get £138.44 million of additional funding over and above what it would have received.

With extra £1.5 billion in CRSTS for my hon. Friend's mayoral combined authority, there will be opportunities to look at important road schemes. I would be delighted to meet him as soon as possible.

My hon. Friend is a huge champion of mental health in his constituency. Based on my previous answer, we are giving the Office for Students £15 million to help universities with mental health support. We have asked universities to sign up to the mental health charter by September 2024. We have a new student implementation taskforce to spread best practice, which is reporting on its first stage by the end of the year. We are also commissioning a national independent review of student suicides.

Preventing tragic deaths by suicide is a priority for the Government. Our approach to improving mental health outcomes and reducing suicides is focused on three pillars: funding and resourcing vital services; spreading and implementing best practice and clear responsibilities for higher education providers; and protection for students. My hon. Friend is a huge champion of mental health in his constituency. Based on my previous answer, we are giving the Office for Students £15 million to help universities with mental health support. We have asked universities to sign up to the mental health charter by September 2024. We have a new student implementation taskforce to spread best practice, which is reporting on its first stage by the end of the year. We are also commissioning a national independent review of student suicides.

National Highways' suicide prevention strategy sets out a vision that no one should attempt to take their own life on our roads, and everyone who does is a tragedy. I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend to see whether there are further things we could do to prevent such events occurring in the future.

National Highways has been in contact with representatives of Spencer Academies Trust, the multi-academy trust responsible for George Spencer Academy, and has met in recent days with representatives on site to discuss their concerns about the A52 footbridge.

I thank my hon Friend for his service to his country. The Government are committed to making the UK the best place in the world to be a veteran. Veterans with urgent housing needs are always given high priority for social housing, and we are investing £11.5 billion under the affordable homes programme to deliver more social homes, including housing for veterans.

I can honestly say to him that “Gear Change” is an extremely important document that has a whole host of pledges that we would like to happen, Mini Hollands being one of them. Where they have been introduced before—Waltham Forest in London is a good example—we are getting towards nearly 50% of all journeys taken within the area being by active travel. That is a massive change in how people go about their business, and indeed massive acceptance by communities that might have been sceptical about them beforehand. They are really valuable schemes.

My Department is investing an unprecedented £2 billion in active travel over the course of this Parliament. This includes Mini-Hollands, with expressions of interest from more than 30 local authorities wishing to build them. The feasibility study will be received in the next financial year.

We are looking to empower local communities such as Kimberley, but I must stress that any project wishing to gain Government funding must have a fully developed plan before bidding. Places should have confidence in their capacity to deliver to agreed timescales.

This Government take extremely seriously the harm that serious violence causes all people across society, but particularly young people who are dragged into gangs by gang leaders. That is why, through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, we have introduced, as I said, the serious violence duty. We are also increasing sentences for the most violent offenders. VRUs remain a key part of our work to tackle serious violence, as demonstrated by our £2.6 million invested in Nottingham alone.

We have boosted funding for specialist services by £51 million, including £20.7 million for local community-based sexual violence and domestic abuse services and a £27 million investment to recruit more independent sexual and domestic violence advisers. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 contains new measures to protect victims and will be followed by new strategies.

My hon. Friend makes a very good point regarding investment in HS2 being critical to levelling up and his case for Toton resonates with the Department for Transport.

I am delighted to let me hon. Friend know that, as a result of the campaigning that he and other Nottinghamshire colleagues have undertaken, we will be opening a Nightingale court in Nottingham before the end of this month.

We have signed deals covering 64 countries, including the Caribbean nations, where my hon. Friend is our trade envoy. Total exports to CARICOM—the Caribbean Community—were worth £1.5 billion in the 12 months to September 2020, and I am sure he is actively looking for new opportunities to use those trade deals to benefit people in the Caribbean and here in the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom has a huge opportunity, with the presidency of the G7 this year and the election of Dr Ngozi as World Trade Organisation director general, to drive forward free and fair trade. This is more important than ever as we seek to recover from covid and address the issues with the WTO. We hope to make good progress ahead of the ministerial conference in December.

I thank my hon. Friend for the work that he has done in recent weeks to stand up for individuals and businesses in his constituency. The Government do listen to all representations that are made, as we have seen in recent weeks—for example, over takeaway beer.

At every stage of the pandemic, the UK Government have engaged with the devolved Administrations, metro mayors and local councils. Local resilience forums are at the frontline of providing the response to tackling covid-19, and the Government will continue to engage with local authorities to beat the virus.

As the House will know, the eastern leg is called the 2b, and, as the Prime Minister has said from this Dispatch Box, it is not a question of “to be or not to be”—it will be; it will be constructed. I think my hon. Friend will be pleased to hear that, through the integrated rail plan, we will ensure that we can properly connect up the midlands to the north, going up to Leeds on the eastern leg, and do so in a way that now takes into account the many plans that have evolved since HS2 was originally dreamed up 10 or 15 years ago.

We are committed to supporting regional and national connectivity, and we recently launched the union connectivity review.

I agree with my hon Friend that shovel-ready projects will play an important part in our economic renewal and levelling up of the UK. I congratulate him on setting out the case for the Toton link road. I encourage him to work with his local highway authority so that such schemes are ready to seek funding when suitable opportunities are available following the next fiscal event.

I thank my hon. and gallant Friend for his question, and I commend him on his maiden speech, in which he talked about these issues. I am very clear, and the Department is very clear, that the single biggest factor that can improve the life chances of veterans in this country is having a job. We have more veterans going into employment than ever before, but I would be delighted to meet him and hear about his specific efforts in Broxtowe.

My hon Friend raises a long-standing issue. I am aware that during the 2010 Administration, extra money was put in after the original proposal to support those on Equitable Life, but this is a matter for my right hon Friend the Chancellor and I would encourage my hon Friend to follow up with him directly.