Written Statements

Thursday 25th January 2024 Written Statements

Thursday 25 January 2024

HM Treasury and Bank of England Consultation Response

Thursday 25th January 2024 Written Statements

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Bim Afolami)]

The Government have today laid the response to the Bank of England and HM Treasury’s consultation paper, “The digital pound: a new form of money for households and businesses?”—(CP 970).

The Bank of England and HM Treasury have been exploring the concept of a UK retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), or “digital pound”, issued by the Bank of England. A digital pound would be a new form of digital money for use by households and businesses for their everyday payment needs, and a complement to physical cash and other means of payment. However, it is important to stress that no decision has yet been made to build or issue a digital pound, either for corporates or for the public.

Alongside cash, a digital pound would help to ensure that central bank money remains widely available and useful in an ever more digital economy, continuing to support UK monetary and financial stability. It would also provide a public platform for private sector innovation, promoting further competition, efficiency and choice in payments. Many other countries are also exploring the issuance of CBDCs.

No decision has yet been made to build or issue a digital pound, but given changes in money and payments, as well as developments in other countries, we believe there is merit in further preparatory work. This work will allow us to build the necessary skills and put in place the technical capability to introduce a digital pound in a timely manner, were the decision made to do so in the future.

The consultation paper sought feedback from the public on a set of design proposals for the digital pound. The Government and the Bank of England are grateful to everyone who provided their feedback, which will be carefully considered during the ongoing design phase. Respondents from a range of industries and organisations were supportive of the design proposition set out in the consultation paper, while many other respondents raised concerns about the implications of a digital pound for access to cash, users’ privacy, and control of their money. The Government and the Bank of England recognise the critical importance of building the public’s trust in a digital pound.

The consultation response sets out commitments that the Government and the Bank of England are making in response to the feedback received in the consultation, including that primary legislation would be introduced before any launch of a digital pound. Today, the Government and the Bank of England are committing that this legislation would include measures to guarantee users’ privacy and control over how to spend their money. The response also reiterates the Government and the Bank of England’s commitment to protect access to cash. The digital pound, issued by the Bank of England, would be a complement to cash and not a replacement for it.

This consultation response sets outs the steps we are taking to reinforce public trust in the design of a digital pound before any decision is made:

Before any launch of a digital pound, the Government have committed to introducing primary legislation. This means that the digital pound would only be introduced once Parliament had passed the relevant legislation. A further consultation exercise would be held prior to the introduction of legislation.

Privacy, and preventing Government programmability, would be a core design feature of the digital pound issued by the Bank of England.

The Government and the Bank of England would not access users’ personal data, and legislation introduced by the Government for a digital pound would guarantee users’ privacy. Today, the Bank of England is committing to exploring technological options that would prevent the Bank from accessing any personal data through the Bank’s core infra- structure.

The Government and the Bank of England would not program a digital pound, and legislation introduced by the Government for a digital pound would guarantee this.

The Government have already legislated to safeguard access to cash, ensuring that it would remain available even if a digital pound was introduced.

The feedback to date will help to inform our work on the design of the digital pound. We will continue to engage with parliamentarians, the private sector, civil society, academia and the public to develop our proposals for a digital pound, so that we are prepared, should a decision to build a digital pound be taken in the future.

The document is published online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-digital-pound-a-new-form-of-money-for-households-and-businesses.

Copies of the document are also available in the Vote Office.

[HCWS210]

Public Service Pension Scheme Indexation and Revaluation 2024

Thursday 25th January 2024 Written Statements

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Laura Trott)]

Public service pensions continue to be among the very best available.

Legislation governing public service pensions in payment requires them to be increased annually by the same percentage as additional pensions (state earnings related pension and state second pension). Public service pensions will therefore be increased from 08 April 2024 by 6.7%, in line with the annual increase in the consumer prices index up to September 2023, except for those public service pensions which have been in payment for less than a year, which will receive a pro-rata increase.

Separately, in the career average revalued earnings public service pension schemes introduced in 2014 and 2015, pensions in accrual are revalued annually in relation to either prices or earnings depending on the terms specified in their scheme regulations. The Public Service Pensions Act 2013 requires HMT to specify a measure of prices and of earnings to be used for revaluation by these schemes.

The prices measure is the consumer prices index up to September 2023. Public service schemes which rely on a measure of prices, therefore, will use the figure of 6.7% for the prices element of revaluation.

The earnings measure is the whole economy year-on-year change in average weekly earnings (non-seasonally adjusted and including bonuses and arrears) up to September 2023. Public service schemes which rely on a measure of earnings, therefore, will use the figure of 7.7% for the earnings element of revaluation.

The effective date of revaluation listed in the order is 1 April 2024, but some schemes have chosen to move their effective revaluation date to 6 April 2024 in order to manage interactions with the annual tax allowance.

Revaluation is one part of the amount of pension that members earn in a year and needs to be considered in conjunction with the amount of in-year accrual. Typically, schemes with lower revaluation will have faster accrual and therefore members will earn more pension per year. The following list shows how the main public service schemes will be affected by revaluation:

Higher Education Student Support

Thursday 25th January 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education (Robert Halfon)]

I am announcing details of student fees and support arrangements for higher education students undertaking a course of study in the 2024-25 academic year starting on 1 August 2024, together with further help to address cost of living pressures in 2023-24. Also, I am confirming that eligibility for student finance is being extended to children granted indefinite leave to remain where their parent has been granted ILR as a victim of domestic abuse or as a bereaved partner.

The Government recognise the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that are impacting students. We have already made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available for the 2023-24 academic year to support successful outcomes for students, including disadvantaged students.

We are now making a further £10 million of one-off support available to support student mental health and hardship funding. This funding will complement the help that universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes.

In addition, we are investing hundreds of millions of pounds of additional funding over the three-year period from 2022-23 to 2024-25 to support high-quality teaching and facilities, including in science and engineering, subjects that support the NHS, and degree apprenticeships. This includes the largest increase in Government funding for the HE sector to support students and teaching in more than a decade.

I can confirm today that maximum tuition fees for undergraduate students for the 2024-25 academic year in England will be maintained at the levels that apply in the 2023-24 academic year. This is the seventh year in succession that fees have been frozen. This means that the maximum level of tuition fees for a standard full-time course will remain at £9,250 for the 2024-25 academic year, to deliver better value for students and to keep the cost of higher education down.

Thanks to the progress we have made on the Prime Minister’s five priorities, inflation has more than halved. Maximum undergraduate loans for living costs will be increased by forecast inflation, 2.5%, in 2024-25. The same increase will apply to the maximum disabled students’ allowance for students with disabilities undertaking full-time and part-time undergraduate courses in 2024-25. Maximum grants for students with child or adult dependants who are attending full-time undergraduate courses will also increase by 2.5% in 2024-25.

We are also increasing support for students undertaking postgraduate courses in 2024-25. Maximum loans for students starting master’s degree and doctoral degree courses from 1 August 2024 onwards will be increased by 2.5% in 2024-25. The same increase will apply to the maximum disabled students’ allowance for postgraduate students with disabilities in 2024-25.

The 2.5% increase follows standard procedure to base annual increases in support on forecasted inflation. We have continued to increase maximum loans and grants for living costs each year, with the most support for students from the lowest income families. Decisions on student finance have had to be taken to ensure that the system remains financially sustainable and the costs of higher education are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.

I am also announcing today a number of other changes to eligibility rules for student support and home fee status that will benefit certain vulnerable groups of students.

Students who have been granted indefinite leave to enter as a victim of domestic abuse, and their children who are granted ILE, will also qualify for student support and home fee status.

I am also confirming today that home fee status and tuition fee support is being extended to British citizens born in the Chagos islands, and their direct descendants who are also British citizens.

In addition, students who gain settled status part way through their course will qualify for student support and home fee status for the remainder of their course.

Looking forward to the 2025-26 academic year, the new lifelong learning entitlement will create a single funding system to help students to pay for college or university courses, and train, retrain and upskill flexibly over their working lives. In tandem, the Government will continue to recognise the importance of loans for living costs and targeted grants to support access and participation in higher education.

That is why, under the LLE, the Government will extend the scope of loans for living costs, and grants for students with adult and child dependants, making this support available for all designated full-time and part-time courses and modules that require in-person attendance. This will ensure that people will be able to develop new skills and gain new qualifications at a time that is right for them.

Further details of the student support package for 2024-25 are set out in the document available as an online attachment: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-01-25/HCWS209

I am today laying regulations implementing changes to student finance support for undergraduates and post- graduates for 2024-25. These regulations will be subject to parliamentary procedure.

[HCWS209]

Correction to Written Parliamentary Question 182223

Thursday 25th January 2024 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (David Rutley)]

On 2 May 2023, the FCDO responded to WPQ 182223 in relation to how much the FCDO spent on staff training related to diversity and inclusion in 2022.

The figure provided—£25,412.96—was inaccurate and an error. The figure was incorrectly provided as that amount had been charged to the account code relating to training in the team that was responsible for the diversity and inclusion work in 2022. Recent work has identified that none of the transactions put to this account code during this time period were actually diversity and inclusion training, and instead related to the running costs of that team, such as conference attendance.

The FCDO does not have a centrally organised diversity and inclusion training offer; instead, we use courses provided via Civil Service Learning.

Directorates and posts have devolved training budgets, which could have been used on training needs, but information is not collected centrally on whether this spend relates to equality and diversity training.

The FCDO has contributed to the Cabinet Office-led civil service equality, diversity and inclusion expenditure review, which is assessing current spending on EDI activity across the civil service to ensure that spend is providing a return on investment and that activity is being carried out in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

I am apologising for this error and clarifying the position in relation to diversity and inclusion training spend in 2022. We have learned from this situation. There has been a change in budget managers in that team and new financial procedures have been put in place to ensure greater accuracy. The Department continues to take its responsibility for parliamentary accountability very seriously.

[HCWS208]

Improving Police Standards and Culture

Thursday 25th January 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire (Chris Philp)]

Last year, on 1 March, I issued a written ministerial statement (HCWS590) setting out actions being undertaken by the Home Office and partners to improve police standards and culture. This statement provides an update on that work.

The vast majority of police officers and staff perform their vital duties with professionalism, skill and courage. We are fortunate to have so many brave people dedicated to protecting us. However, we must not be complacent, we know that confidence and trust in the police must never be taken for granted.

That is why the Government asked the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) to undertake a “datawashing” exercise to ensure that all officers and staff employed within policing across the country were checked against the police national database (PND) for any new intelligence which forces were previously unaware of.

This week—22 January—the NPCC published the outcomes of this work, which represented the largest single integrity screening project undertaken in any national workforce. It is a key step to identify information and intelligence around our workforce and take appropriate action to remove those not fit to work in policing.

Checks were made against 307,452 officers and staff in total. In well over 99% of cases, no new adverse information was identified. Of the 461 cases that were referred to a decision-making process, 97 required no further action. Criminal investigations were triggered in nine cases, 88 cases led to disciplinary investigations, 139 others led to a vetting review while 128 cases led to management advice.

The Government have committed to provide further funding to the NPCC to develop an automated and continuous vetting system, enabling the identification of new information on officers and staff to be sent directly, at pace, to the force concerned. The NPCC will continue to work closely with the Home Office to achieve this.

This month will also see the closure of the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s programme to co-ordinate and monitor the police service’s progress against recommendations made by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in their November 2022 report into vetting, misconduct and misogyny. This follows evidence being submitted to HMICFRS on successful delivery of almost all of the 28 recommendations and five areas for improvement.

This work has driven significant improvements in force vetting processes and is underpinned by the new statutory code of practice for vetting, strengthened by the College of Policing at the Home Office’s request and published in July last year. The revised code makes clear the expectation on chief officers to ensure vetting standards are maintained within their force.

The vetting code of practice is supported by the college’s authorised professional practice guidance, or APP. The APP is regularly updated, and the college has now published a revised vetting APP, currently out for consultation, which will further promote national consistency and the highest standards in police vetting.

To further support the vetting code of practice, the Government are legislating to introduce a statutory requirement for officers to hold and maintain vetting clearance. Individuals who are unable to hold vetting clearance should face dismissal proceedings. Our new regulations will provide a stronger, clearer and more defined process to assist forces.

This is included, and will be delivered, as part of a wider package of reforms, announced as part of the Government’s review of the police dismissals process, to strengthen the systems that deal with police misconduct and performance. These include:

Enabling senior officers to chair misconduct hearings, giving them a greater role in decisions relating to the integrity of their workforce

Creating a presumption of dismissal where gross misconduct is proven; and

Prescribing that conviction of certain criminal offences automatically amounting to gross misconduct.

This package of measures is designed to improve not only standards, but efficiency and timeliness as well. The first tranche of these reforms is to be in place this spring.

It is imperative for public confidence in the police that we have assurance that professional standards departments are tackling misconduct and implementing these reforms. To ensure more rigorous scrutiny, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services has been developing a new inspection methodology looking at force professional standards departments. This will join the existing vetting and counter-corruption inspection arrangements to form a new integrity programme, which is due to commence in the new financial year.

Adhering to professional standards is just part of ensuring that those who work in policing deliver a service that is fair, ethical and can be trusted to make decisions in the interest of keeping people safe. Yesterday, the College of Policing launched the new code of ethics. This provides everyone in policing with clear principles and practical guidance for officers on making ethical decisions as they undertake their daily duties. This will complement provisions in the Criminal Justice Bill that require the college to set out a duty of candour in statutory guidance for chief constables, ensuring a culture of transparency and accountability.

The Government and our policing partners have made significant progress in delivering on our commitments to help rebuild confidence and trust in policing, and will continue to drive this work forward. This is what the public expect and the decent, hardworking majority of officers deserve. I will provide the House with further updates in due course.

[HCWS212]

Levelling Up

Thursday 25th January 2024 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Jacob Young)]

In 2019, we set out the Government’s commitment to level up and unite the country, making it our guiding mission to spread opportunity around the United Kingdom. The Levelling Up White Paper set out a broad prospectus on the long-term steps we would take to deliver on this ambition. On 26 October 2023, the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 received Royal Assent. To cement the Government’s commitment to levelling up, and meet the requirements of the Act, I am laying before each House a statement of levelling-up missions, setting out the Government’s levelling-up missions and the metrics against which we will measure them.

As has always been our intention, this first statement reaffirms the 12 long-term and ambitious missions set out in the Levelling Up White Paper. In the statement, we detail the definitions and metrics we will use to assess the two missions that were exploratory in the White Paper: wellbeing and pride in place. As this is the first time we have set out this detail, we have also published an accompanying narrative, setting out how we developed the definitions and metrics for the missions and the rationale behind some of the decisions we have taken during the exploratory phase.

In making our commitment to level up and unite the country across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, we set ourselves deliberately stretching missions designed to drive all levels of government, the private sector and civil society to think innovatively about how to address these challenges. Since then we have continued to push new and innovative ways to transform communities and respond to the issues that people care most about—whether that is by transferring powers away from Whitehall and investing in local growth and pride through the levelling-up fund and the community ownership fund, or through our investment in cities through investment zones and innovation accelerators that are driving nationwide economic growth.

Our progress

Cross-Government efforts to deliver levelling up mean that we have made significant progress—but there is more to do. Starting with transport, more than £36 billion previously earmarked for extending High Speed 2 will now be reinvested in transport improvements that will benefit far more people, in far more places, far more quickly. This will benefit towns, cities and rural areas through improvements to roads, rail, trams and buses. Every penny committed to the northern leg will go to the north and every penny committed to the midlands leg to the midlands. That means £19.8 billion and £9.6 billion is reserved for transport investments in the north of England and midlands respectively. This adds to the work already done by the Department for Transport to make sure that every local authority has a plan for improved bus services and the extension of the £2 bus fare cap until December 2024.

Digital connectivity is as important as transport. The 5G element of the mission, which commits to basic 5G coverage for the majority of the population, has been met. The wireless infrastructure strategy, published in April 2023, commits to an ambition of spreading advanced 5G coverage to all populated areas. On research and development, the £100 million innovation accelerator programme is empowering local areas by bringing together national and local government, industry and R&D institutions in a long-term partnership. The programme is investing in 26 transformative R&D projects to harness innovation in support of regional economic growth. The UK continues to lead the way in attracting significant foreign investment into the UK, with the latest data showing that we delivered the highest jobs total in Europe, with more jobs per project than our European partners and the most “new” projects.

On education, we have put in place targeted support in our 55 education investment areas across England to improve outcomes in the areas where attainment is weakest, including through the levelling-up premium, giving teachers up to £3,000 annually, aimed at helping schools to retain the best teachers in high-priority subjects. The Government are also offering additional intensive investment in 24 priority education investment areas in England, including through the local needs fund, providing up to £42 million to support schools to boost pupils’ literacy, numeracy and attendance.

In October, we launched the long-term plan for towns, a £1.1 billion lifeline to drive ambitious plans to regenerate local towns across the UK over the next decade, recognising that it is both our towns and our cities that are the engines of delivering change. Through the antisocial behaviour action plan, we are giving communities, police and local authorities the tools they need to protect the spaces and places they most care about. Our levelling-up partnerships have shown that central Government, working alongside local leaders, MPs and the communities they represent, can support bringing about real long-lasting change in the places that need it most.

Our levelling-up funds have continued to provide much-needed capital to bring back into use or transform cultural and town centre assets. Towns, cities and communities across the UK have benefited from significant funding through the levelling-up fund, the future high streets fund and the towns fund. Across the three rounds of the levelling-up fund, £4.8 billion has been awarded to 271 projects across the UK, driving prosperity and boosting pride in place in communities. Investment zones are exemplifying our commitment to unlocking growth potential, and driving innovation in city regions across the UK. All eight freeports in England—East Midlands, Freeport East (Felixstowe and Harwich), Humber, Liverpool, Plymouth and South Devon, Solent, Teesside, and Thames—are now open for businesses, offering attractive tax incentives to companies looking to invest and create jobs. These incentives have recently been extended to 2031, giving businesses the long-term certainty to invest. In 2023, we also announced two new green freeports in Scotland—Inverness and Cromarty Firth green freeport and Firth of Forth green freeport—as well as two new freeports in Wales—Celtic freeport and Anglesey freeport—which are currently working through Government approvals and will be open for business later in 2024.

Finally, we have made significant progress against our local leadership mission. Today’s devolution deal signing with Devon and Torbay means that Government have agreed 10 devolution deals with 26 different local authorities since the Levelling Up White Paper was published in February 2022. Taken together, these deals take the proportion of the English population living in a place with a devolution deal up from 41% when the White Paper was published to 60% today—an increase of over 10 million people. More than 90% of the north of England, and 55% of the midlands, now stands to benefit from devolution, with over £5 billion of new long-term funding committed as part of devolution agreements in the last 18 months. In total, these deals will see the election of seven new mayors or directly elected leaders in the next two years, with voters having their say on a new mayor in York and North Yorkshire, the east midlands, and an expanded north-east, for the first time this May. As well as extending devolution, we have also deepened arrangements, with two trailblazer deals in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands announced last year, and the offer of a deeper “level 4” to all eligible institutions. We continue to extend and deepen devolution in England with further live negotiations, including new trailblazing provisions for the north-east.

We also committed to publishing a current analysis of geographical disparities in the UK and a document showing how we have had regard to the considerations of the devolved Administrations in relation to the missions. These accompanying documents will be published on gov.uk in due course. We will also deposit all relevant documents in the Libraries of the House.

This is just the start, and there is more to do, but we will continue to drive change across the United Kingdom.

[HCWS214]

Universal Credit: Managed Migration from April 2024

Thursday 25th January 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for Employment (Jo Churchill)]

The Government are working to deliver a brighter future for Britain, with long-term economic security and opportunity, where hard work is always rewarded; where ambition and aspiration are celebrated; where people get the skills they need to succeed in life; where families are supported; where those who have worked hard all their lives have the retirement they deserve.

Universal credit plays a vital role in providing financial support to households. For more than 10 years, universal credit has successfully delivered a tailored service to millions of people, adjusting each month to an individuals’ needs and helping people progress in work.

The “move to universal credit” activity will bring those who remain on the older, legacy benefits on to universal credit, completing the implementation of this major welfare reform.

Throughout 2023-24 our activity has focused on notifying households that receive tax credits only. This activity is progressing well, and we remain on track to notify over 500,000 tax credit-only households of the need to claim universal credit by the end of March 2024. Furthermore, by February 2024, a month earlier than originally anticipated, “move to universal credit” will be under way across all jobcentre districts within Great Britain. The Department continues to listen to all feedback to continuously improve the service, but to date there have been very few complaints, and any issues have been swiftly resolved.

Looking ahead to 2024-25, we will be migrating the remaining groups of households receiving legacy benefits to universal credit, excluding employment and support allowance only and employment and support allowance with housing benefit.

Our plans for 2024-25 are to undertake the issuing of migration notices to in-scope working age benefit households sequentially, starting with income support claimants and those claiming tax credits with housing benefit from April, housing benefit-only claimants from June, claimants of employment and support allowance with child tax credits from July, and jobseekers allowance claimants in September. Households may be in receipt of a combination of benefits, for example an income support recipient could also be claiming housing benefit and/or child tax credits.

From August, we will contact those claiming tax credits who are over state pension age, with households being asked to apply for either universal credit or pension credit, depending on their circumstances.

The Government recognise that some individuals may need additional support to move to universal credit. The Department is committed to providing such support through a range of channels for anyone who needs it. We will continue to review and revise this approach to ensure the success of “move to universal credit” for our customers.

[HCWS213]