Baroness Hayman

The UK was the first major economy to commit to Net Zero by 2050, and to achieve that ambition, we want to ensure that every financial decision takes climate change into account. This will require a drastic increase in the quantity, quality and comparability of climate-related disclosures. That is why, in November 2020, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the UK’s intention to make disclosures in line with the recommendations of the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures mandatory in the UK across the economy, including the financial services sector, by 2025. This commitment is world-leading and significant progress towards achieving our ambition, including new requirements for premium-listed firms to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, has already been made.

We have committed to implementing a green taxonomy that will establish a common definition for ’sustainable economic activities’ and improve understanding around the impact of firms’ activities and investments on the environment. Together, these measures will ensure that firms across the whole economy are disclosing robust and comparable climate and sustainability-related information that is decision-useful for investors. This will help close the sustainability data gap, as well as preventing greenwashing and supporting the greening of the UK economy.

Finance is one of the four over-arching goals of the UK Government’s COP26 Presidency. At the core of the COP26 finance campaign is the creation of a private finance system for net zero. This entails building a virtuous cycle of innovation and investment, making sure that policies, business plans and investment decisions all align with net zero targets. As a result, we are already seeing very positive momentum within the private finance sector. For example, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero has secured commitments from 160 firms (together responsible for assets in excess of $70tn) across the global financial system to accelerate the transition to net zero emissions. All members must be accredited by the UN Race to Zero campaign and use science-based guidelines to reach net zero emissions, covering all emissions scopes (including a 2030 interim target). Hence, there is already a large push for voluntary setting of net zero targets by financial institutions.

The UK follows the agreed international approach for estimating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is for countries to report emissions produced within their territories. All UK domestic and international greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets, including our Net Zero commitment, are based on these territorial emissions.

The UK was the first major economy to commit to Net Zero by 2050, and to achieve that ambition, we want to ensure that every financial decision takes climate change into account. This will require a drastic increase in the quantity, quality and comparability of climate-related disclosures.

That is why, in November 2020, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the UK’s intention to make disclosures in line with the recommendations of the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures mandatory in the UK across the economy, including the financial services sector, by 2025. This commitment is world-leading and significant progress towards achieving our ambition, including new requirements for premium-listed firms to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, has already been made.

We have also committed to implementing a green taxonomy that will establish a common definition for ’sustainable economic activities’ and improve understanding around the impact of firms’ activities and investments on the environment. Together, these measures will ensure that firms across the whole economy are disclosing robust and comparable climate and sustainability-related information that is decision-useful for investors. This will help close the sustainability data gap, as well as preventing greenwashing and supporting the greening of the UK economy.

The department publishes pupil numbers in the annual 'Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics' statistical release. The most recent figures for January 2021 are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

Between January and October 2020 the number of pupils in state funded primary schools in Inner London decreased by 8,106 from 249,818 to 241,712. Over the same period the number of pupils in state funded secondary schools increased by 4,820 from 181,758 to 186,578. This gives an overall decrease across both phases of 3,286 pupils.

Core school funding increased by £2.6 billion in financial year 2020/21 and will increase by £4.8 billion and £7.1 billion in 2021/22 and 2022/23 respectively, compared to 2019/20. Schools in London will receive an additional £124.5 million this year, 2021/22, taking total funding to £6.7 billion. On average, schools in London will receive £5,914 per pupil this year, far greater than the national average of £5,228.

The schools national funding formula (NFF) continues to distribute this funding fairly, based on the needs of schools and their pupil cohorts. The vast majority of funding is distributed on the basis of pupil numbers and pupils’ characteristics, which ensures that resources are delivered where they are needed most. In addition, schools in more expensive areas, like London, have higher funding per pupil than other parts of the country to reflect the higher costs they face. All schools also attract a lump sum of £117,800, irrespective of their size.

The funding system is “lagged” - this means that schools’ allocations in any given year are based on pupil numbers from the previous autumn school census. The lagged funding system gives schools certainty over their budgets, as they know how many pupils they will receive funding for in the next year. This means that when pupil numbers fall, schools have time to respond before this starts to affect their budgets.

Decisions on International Travel Corridors, and therefore whether visitors to the UK from specific countries have to self-isolate, are currently informed by risk assessments provided by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), working closely with Public Health England (PHE), using methodology endorsed by the four Chief Medical Officers (CMO) of the UK.

JBC and PHE monitor over 250 countries, territories and islands to inform these risk assessments. This includes African nations. Factors taken into consideration include:

• An estimate of the proportion of the population that is currently infected (this is known as ‘point prevalence’);
• Weekly case incidence rate taking into account population size of the country, territory or island;
• Trends in incidence, deaths, hospitalisations and intensive care admissions;
• Information on laboratory capacity, testing and contact tracing strategies, and test positivity rates;
• COVID-19 cases detected in the UK following travel to the country, territory or island (‘imported infections’);
• Qualitative information related to the reliability of reported data and the maturity of public health systems;
• Public health measures in place and the enforcement of, and adherence to, those measures.

We intend to take forward a Remedial Order to extend eligibility for Bereavement Support Payment to cohabitees with children.

We are currently considering the detail and implementation of the policy and will update the House once we have a confirmed laying date.

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR is not currently funding any specific research into how many people with terminal illnesses die as a result of suicide per year, but welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

The Office for National Statistics is unable to collect data on suicide where a terminally ill person has taken their own life, as information on the deceased’s terminal illness is not generally recorded

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR is not currently funding any specific research into how many people with terminal illnesses die as a result of suicide per year, but welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

The Office for National Statistics is unable to collect data on suicide where a terminally ill person has taken their own life, as information on the deceased’s terminal illness is not generally recorded

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR is not currently funding any specific research into how many people with terminal illnesses die as a result of suicide per year, but welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

The Office for National Statistics is unable to collect data on suicide where a terminally ill person has taken their own life, as information on the deceased’s terminal illness is not generally recorded

Regional officials worked closely with the local and district authorities, the Director of Public Health for Norfolk and the company in Watton to support the Incident Management Team’s (IMT) meetings and facilitate the deployment of mobile testing units (MTU) to enable testing of the workforce to take place.

The outbreak was escalated by the Norfolk local authorities to the Joint Biosecurity Centre Regional Lead for the East of England and to the Escalation and Response Unit.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs set up an animal welfare cell as part of the IMT to mitigate the impact of the public health measures on animal welfare where possible. The factory is being supported to participate in the lateral flow testing scheme. This will allow the company to carrying out routine testing and help reduce the risk of further workforce outbreaks at the factory.

To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Science of COVID-19 which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library.

The UK was the first major economy to commit to Net Zero by 2050, and to achieve that ambition, we want to ensure that every financial decision takes climate change into account. This will require a drastic increase in the quantity, quality and comparability of climate-related disclosures, to provide the information necessary for everyone to make informed decisions.

That is why, in November 2020, the Chancellor announced the UK’s intention to make disclosures in line with the recommendations of the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures – including that firms must disclose how they identify, assess and manage climate-related risks – fully mandatory in the UK across the economy by 2025. This includes the financial services sector. This commitment is world-leading and significant progress towards achieving our ambition, including new requirements for premium-listed firms, has already been made.

We have also committed to implementing a green taxonomy that will establish a common definition for ’sustainable economic activities’ and improve understanding around the impact of firms’ activities and investments on the environment.

Together, these measures will ensure that firms across the whole economy are disclosing robust and comparable climate and sustainability-related information that is decision-useful for investors. This will help close the sustainability data gap, as well as preventing greenwashing and supporting the greening of the UK economy.

In addition to this work, ahead of COP26, the UK launched the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), a global net zero alliance for the whole financial sector to ensure credibility and generate momentum behind private sector commitments to reach net zero emissions by 2050. GFANZ will mobilise and elevate net zero ambition by motivating financial institutions to make credible net zero commitments by the time of Glasgow and beyond and establishing defined and agreed ways for all financial institutions to meaningfully commit to net zero by 2050.

The Government has announced that it will be launching a Green Technical Advisory Group to provide independent advice on how to effectively implement a Green Taxonomy in the UK. This group will be made up of experts drawn from taxonomy users, academia, science, and NGOs. The Green Finance Institute will act as the secretariat for this group. As a first step, the GFI will provide independent advice, in consultation with industry, on the group’s membership and its work plan. we will provide more details on this in due course.

The Government is required to make Technical Screening Criteria (TSC) for climate change mitigation, and climate change adaptation no later than 1 January 2023. These TSC will be subject to appropriate, open consultation prior to making.

The Government has announced that it will be launching a Green Technical Advisory Group to provide independent advice on how to effectively implement a Green Taxonomy in the UK. This group will be made up of experts drawn from taxonomy users, academia, science, and NGOs. The Green Finance Institute will act as the secretariat for this group. As a first step, the GFI will provide independent advice, in consultation with industry, on the group’s membership and its work plan. we will provide more details on this in due course.

The Government is required to make Technical Screening Criteria (TSC) for climate change mitigation, and climate change adaptation no later than 1 January 2023. These TSC will be subject to appropriate, open consultation prior to making.

The UK Taxonomy will use the EU framework which is already part of UK law, as amended by the EU Withdrawal Act. The UK will be establishing a Green Technical Advisory Group to advise the government on an ongoing basis on any improvements or additions that could be made to the taxonomy for the UK context. We will set out more details on this in due course.

Onshore wind has deployed successfully to date and is an important part of our energy mix. The Government currently has no plans to revisit national planning policy for onshore wind energy schemes. The National Planning Policy Framework confirms planning’s important role in tackling climate change and making the transition to a low carbon economy, setting out that plans should provide a positive strategy for energy supply from renewable sources. In the case of wind energy, national planning policy sets out that planning permission for new wind energy projects should only be granted if the development site is in an area identified as suitable for wind energy development in a local or neighbourhood plan and, following consultation, it can be demonstrated that the planning impacts identified by the affected local community have been fully addressed and the proposal has their backing.

The Ministry of Justice oversees the legal framework that governs the coronial system but does not have operational responsibility for coroner services. Ministers and officials meet with the Chief Coroner, individual coroners and local authorities from time to time to discuss a range of issues including suicide. We have not had recent discussions on the issue or the number of people with terminal illnesses who take their own lives.