Written Statements

Tuesday 14th May 2024 Written Statements

Tuesday 14 May 2024

Civil Service: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Tuesday 14th May 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister without Portfolio (Esther McVey)]

The Government have a plan 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 young 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 dignity they deserve in retirement, and with security at home and abroad.

The civil service is crucial to the delivery of that plan. We want to cut waste and inefficiency so civil servants can better support our frontline services. In that light, this Government wish to ensure that all public spending on equality, diversity and inclusion is proportionate, meeting all statutory requirements, and represents value for money.

Last October, and reaffirmed by the Chancellor in the autumn statement, the Government commissioned a review of EDI expenditure across the civil service, to identify current spend on roles and activities, and to understand whether existing expenditure is effective and efficient.

The review found that across 95 civil service organisations total EDI expenditure for the 2022-23 financial year was £27.1 million. We do not believe that this represents value for money.

We have also been informed by the Inclusion at Work Panel’s report from March 2024 which found that many employers want to “do the right thing” but are implementing EDI initiatives without an evidence base, and many do not know the impact these initiatives are having or whether they represent value for money. In a growing number of cases, particularly relating to positive discrimination and protected beliefs, the report found that EDI interventions are proving to be counterproductive.

In response to these findings, today the Cabinet Office is publishing the “Civil Service EDI Expenditure Guidance”. This includes an end to all external spending on EDI activity, unless cleared and authorised by Ministers. In addition:

There will be centralised EDI guidance for Departments and arm’s length bodies and EDI learning will be regulated through the civil service learning framework unless authorised by Ministers through the spend control.

Stand-alone EDI roles will also cease to exist outside of HR as Secretaries of State and permanent secretaries are expected to consolidate them into existing HR teams.

Diversity content included in civil service job adverts will also be standardised to ensure diversity policy is clearly and consistently shared. This will enable civil servants to focus on their specific job role and on delivering for the taxpayer.

Support for disability will be excluded from these changes, recognising the particular needs of disabled staff. As set out in the Government’s 2021 “National Disability Strategy” and 2024 “Disability Action Plan”, we will continue to support them and give them the help to achieve their goals and excel.

We are also publishing guidance on diversity and inclusion and impartiality requirements. This meets the commitment made in action 62 of the “Inclusive Britain” report.

The guidance makes clear that civil servants must not allow their personal political views to determine their actions or any advice they give related to diversity and inclusion in any part of their employment. This includes when carrying out Government duties, such as developing policy, or engaging in learning and development or participating in staff networks. It will ensure civil servants can carry out their work while retaining the confidence of Ministers and the public, and uphold the political impartiality required by the civil service code.

Further guidance on diversity staff networks will follow, and we will seek to publish additional data on historical spending to assist transparency in this area. We will also consider how such best practice can be embedded across the public sector.

We want to ensure that everyone has the equal opportunity to go as far in life as their ambition will take them. As set out in the “Inclusive Britain” report, lack of opportunity should not be seen through the prism of identity politics. We do not believe that any group is less intrinsically capable than any other. We know that while ability is spread across the country that has not always been the case when it comes to opportunity.

That is why we have already moved over 18,000 roles out of London, including to new offices across the United Kingdom. Diversity in the civil service should never just be measured in terms of race or sex; it should also be about background and differences of opinion—and, above all, merit.

Increasing social mobility and ending geographical inequalities are core to levelling up. It is essential that we mirror this ambition across the civil service to ensure that those developing and delivering our policies reflect and draw upon the widest range of experiences and skills that exist across the populations we serve.

Copies of the associated guidance will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses, and published on www.gov.uk.

[HCWS464]

Covid-19 Inquiry: Response Costs Quarter 4 2023-24

Tuesday 14th May 2024 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Alex Burghart)]

The Minister of State, Baroness Neville-Rolfe DBE CMG, has today made the following statement:

Throughout the covid-19 pandemic, the Government acted to save lives and livelihoods, prevent the NHS being overwhelmed, and deliver a world-leading vaccine roll-out which protected the nation. In establishing the UK covid-19 inquiry, the Government recognised the unprecedented and wholly exceptional circumstances of the pandemic, and the importance of examining as rigorously as possible the actions the state took in response, in order to learn lessons for the future.

As such, the inquiry is unprecedented in its scope, complexity and profile, looking at recent events that have profoundly impacted everyone’s lives.

The Government remain fully committed to transparency throughout this process. The UK covid-19 inquiry publishes its own running costs quarterly; the most recent update, covering costs for quarter 4 of the 2023-2024 financial year, was published on 9 May. The Government’s response to the inquiry is a significant undertaking and accordingly, the Government have updated Parliament on the UK Government costs associated with responding to the UK covid-19 inquiry.

Ensuring a comprehensive and timely response to the inquiry requires significant input from a number of key Departments, including the Cabinet Office, the Department of Health and Social Care, the UK Health Security Agency, the Home Office and HM Treasury, many of which are supported by the Government Legal Department.

Figures provided are based upon a sample of departmental costs, and are not precise figures for accounting purposes. While every effort has been made to ensure a robust methodology, complexities remain in trying to quantify the time and costs dedicated to the inquiry alone.

It should be noted that alongside full-time resource within Departments, inquiry response teams draw on expertise from across their organisations. The senior civil servant staff costs associated with appearing as witnesses, preparing witnesses and associated policy development work on the covid inquiry are significant. Those costs are not included in the costs below.

Breakdown of Staff and Costs

The Government’s response to the UK covid-19 inquiry is led by inquiry response units across Departments.

Number of UK Covid-19 Inquiry Response Unit staff: 265 full-time equivalents (Q4).

Cost of UK Covid-19 Inquiry Response Unit staff: £5,100,000—including contingent labour costs—(Q4).

Second UK Farm to Fork Summit

Tuesday 14th May 2024 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Steve Barclay)]

Today the Prime Minister will host the second UK Farm to Fork summit alongside Government Ministers at No.10 Downing Street, recognising the crucial importance of the farming and food sector. The annual event will bring together representatives from across the supply chain to discuss some of the key challenges and growth opportunities that lie ahead, reaffirming our plans to bolster food security and support a resilient and profitable food and farming sector. The event will build on the progress made since last year’s successful summit, including work to embed fairness in supply chains, investment to unlock innovative new technologies, cutting unnecessary red tape and boosting exports of our great British food.



Despite the challenges farmers have faced in recent months, with the wettest 18 months on record in England, as well as the impacts of covid and the war in Ukraine, food businesses have continued to put food on our plates, day in, day out. The summit therefore reflects the crucial importance of the farming and food sector to our nation and provides an opportunity to explore how to turbocharge the sector as an engine for growth. To coincide with the event, the Government have set out a new package of measures to boost food security and support domestic production. This includes plans to:



Boost the production of UK fruit and vegetables. Today we have published a draft of the first ever UK food security index, which will allow us to monitor short-term trends across the UK. It complements the three-yearly UK food security report which focuses on longer-term trends. Alongside the index, we have published our blueprint for growing the UK fruit and vegetable sector, which aims to boost production of fresh produce and reduce reliance on imports. This is backed by our new horticulture resilience and growth offer, through which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will look to double to £80 million the amount of funding given to horticulture businesses when compared to the EU legacy fruit and vegetable aid scheme, which will be replaced from 2026 onwards. An improved, comprehensive, and simplified offer will recognise the producer organisation model, while at the same time bringing individual businesses within scope for support, with up to £10 million being made available to help orchard growers access the equipment, technology and infrastructure they need to produce more great British fruit.



Provide further support for farmers affected by the recent wet weather. Building on our commitment to extend the farming recovery fund to support farmers who have been flooded, temporary adjustments will be made for farmers and land managers where the wet weather has led to difficulties carrying out the requirements of our environmental land management schemes. Next week we will be setting out the detail of the £75 million fund to support internal drainage boards to accelerate recovery from the winter 2023-24 storms, and provide opportunities to modernise and upgrade assets that support resilience for farms and rural communities.

Invest in innovation to help our food system to be even more productive and resilient, thanks to British science. We have responded to the Shropshire review, ensuring that the sector has the labour it needs and funding to support greater automation in the sector. This includes extending the seasonal visa route for five years (2025 to 29), with 43,000 visas available for horticulture and 2,000 for poultry in 2025 to address immediate need. We will agree a taper for this period with industry, supporting them to transition away from migrant workers by increasing by up to £50 million the existing support for agri-innovation available from within the farming innovation budget. We are also unlocking the opportunities of gene editing, with a £15 million investment into genetic improvement networks, helping to boost access to more resilient crop varieties that require fewer inputs, and to cut farmer costs. We will launch a new endemic disease scheme, with over £80 million of funding, and create an infrastructure grant for laying hens, with over £20 million of funding, as part of the animal health and welfare pathway.



Grasp opportunities to add value at all stages of the supply chain. That includes supporting farmers to get a fair price for their products by announcing the next steps in the supply chain reviews for eggs, fresh produce and pigs. In all three sectors, we are introducing legislation to enhance fairness and transparency. We are also appointing the new supply chain adjudicator, Richard Thompson, who will focus on ensuring that fairness in the supply chain is effectively enforced, and making up to £3 million in support available for new and mobile abattoirs through the farming investment fund. This builds on the small abattoir fund, which opened last year to boost the sustainability and efficiency of smaller red meat and poultry abattoirs across England. We will also remove the 16-week derogation period for the labelling of free-range eggs produced by hens that are under mandatory housing orders due to avian influenza. And we are confirming the appointment of a commissioner for the tenant farming sector, delivering on a commitment in our response to the Rock review. The commissioner will provide a neutral, confidential point of contact, and advice for tenants, landlords and advisors who have concerns about poor behaviour.



Support the next generation of farmers and workers within the food system, helping to build a high-skilled workforce that attracts the best domestic minds. We are already collaborating with the Food and Drink Sector Council on how to make the sector more attractive to the next generation. We will further improve awareness of job opportunities and career paths through the development of regional recruitment strategies, reviewing the current education and skills offerings in the food supply chain, and creating a public facing workforce data product for the food supply chain.



Fulfilling the Prime Minister’s priority to turbocharge the farming and food sector as an engine for growth, the Government will continue to work hand in hand with the industry to champion UK food and drink, both at home and abroad, helping the food supply chain to grow, manufacture and sell more British food. A new DEFRA-chaired senior officials food leadership group will bring together Whitehall Departments to help drive progress.

[HCWS460]

Drug and Alcohol Treatment

Tuesday 14th May 2024 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Dame Andrea Leadsom)]

The Government’s landmark 10-year drug strategy “From harm to hope” committed to developing a comprehensive workforce strategy to rebuild the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce. Improving and expanding treatment and recovery services is central to the drug strategy mission, and this cannot be achieved without a resilient, well-trained, and properly supported workforce. The strategy also highlighted the importance of naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug, in preventing deaths, and our commitment to reviewing legislation to make it more easily accessible for those at risk.

The drug strategy was backed by an additional initial three-year investment of £532 million between 2022 and 2025 to improve the capacity and quality of drug and alcohol treatment. This funding is supporting the expansion of the workforce by the end of 2024-25 with:

800 more medical, mental health and other regulated professionals

950 additional drug and alcohol and criminal justice workers

Additional commissioning and co-ordinator capacity in every local authority

We know that recruitment and retention of a high-quality drug treatment workforce is crucial to ensuring we can deliver a world class drug treatment system. In the first year of this additional funding, the sector recruited over 170 medical, mental health and other regulated professionals and 1,250 drug and alcohol workers. The 2022-23 drug strategy recruitment targets for nurses, social workers and pharmacists were achieved.

We are today publishing the strategic plan for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce. The strategic plan has been developed by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and NHS England through extensive sector engagement. It sets out the path to developing a sustainable, multidisciplinary drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce, equipped with the skills to reduce the harm of problematic drug and alcohol use and help more people initiate and sustain recovery, by 2034.

The key elements of the plan are to:

provide clarity on the roles required to deliver effective drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services through the development and implementation of the capability framework;

develop training programmes in line with the capability framework and standardise and accredit training for drug and alcohol workers;

increase the professional mix in the sector, attracting and retaining more medics, nurses, psychologists, social workers and pharmacists;

significantly improve the quality and coverage of clinical supervision and enhance clinical governance systems;

develop the pipeline of regulated professionals entering the system.

In addition, we are also today publishing the Government response to the consultation proposals to expand access to take-home naloxone supplies. This consultation ran for six weeks and sought views on proposed changes to who can supply naloxone without a prescription. We received over 300 responses spanning all four nations of the UK and included responses from a variety of organisations and individuals such as charities, NHS trusts, housing services and drug and alcohol treatment workers. Of these responses, approximately 95% agreed with the proposals we set out.

The volume of responses and breadth of support for the changes we outlined from across the UK demonstrates the importance of expanding access to this lifesaving medication. On this basis, we are proceeding with plans which will do this through two routes:

First, by expanding the list of services and professionals named in legislation who are able to supply take-home naloxone without a prescription.

Secondly, by establishing a registration service enabling professionals and services not named in the legislation to, subject to appropriate training and safeguarding, supply take- home naloxone.

These changes, alongside the publication of the strategic plan, mark an important step forward. Widening access to naloxone will prevent the number of deaths from opioid overdose, and the workforce plan provides a foundation for better and more consistent training, career progression and longer-term workforce planning for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce. This is a clear demonstration of this Government’s ongoing commitment to making the ambitions of the drug strategy a reality and delivering world-class treatment and recovery systems of care across England.

[HCWS463]

High Streets

Tuesday 14th May 2024 Written Statements

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

Today, we publish the response to the high street rental auction consultation that was launched last year. We sought views on matters relating to the delivery of high street rental auctions and, today, I am pleased to announce the findings. This is a significant step in responding to landlords, tenants, industry bodies and local authorities, clarifying the design of this important new power.

Among a number of topics, the consultation response outlines how minimum energy efficiency standards will operate in relation to a high street rental auction, and responds to questions raised on the new permitted development right which will be introduced. This is a significant milestone prior to the publication of guidance and the launch of high street rental auctions.

The high street is the beating heart of every town and city. A thriving high street is the centre of a community, a place for socialising, shopping and doing business. They are a snapshot of a place, signalling how well the regional economy is faring. However, our high streets are facing tough times, and when retail and hospitality businesses are under stress the blight of vacant buildings tends to follow. Empty properties lead to a vicious spiral of decline, where fewer shops lead to less visitors, and our once vibrant town centres dwindle.

The Government are working hard to revive the nation’s high streets. We designed high street rental auctions to allow all councils to level up economic growth in their communities and improve pride in place. High street rental auctions, which will apply to England only, are part of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 which will allow local authorities to require landlords to let their empty high street shops through an auction, achieving a rental lease of between one and five years for a suitable high street use. This permissive power will be further articulated in secondary legislation, with the powers coming into force this summer.

I will be writing to local authorities and sector stakeholders reminding them of the introduction of this new power and the significant role it will play in tackling vacancy.

I will place a copy of the consultation response in the Libraries of both Houses.

[HCWS461]