Baroness Redfern

The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) is appointed by the Secretary of State and holds and vacates office as the Adjudicator in accordance with the terms of their appointment.

The government will undertake the fourth statutory review of the GCA in 2025. The review must consider how much the Adjudicator’s powers have been exercised and assess how effective the Adjudicator has been in enforcing the Groceries Supply Code of Practice over the review period. The government will give all interested parties the opportunity to contribute to this review.

The Office for Clean Energy Jobs (OCEJ) has been created to ensure that clean energy jobs are abundant, high quality, paid fairly, and have favourable terms and good working conditions.

The OCEJ is engaging widely with industry, experts, and trade unions for a clear assessment of the skills opportunities and challenges. It is working closely with Skills England to ensure that skills systems reforms support the clean energy transition.

An apprenticeship is a job with training. Through a combination of on and off the job training, an apprenticeship will enable an apprentice to be competent in a specific occupation. Not all apprenticeships will include a mandatory qualification, but some will, such as a degree or a professional accreditation.

This government is reforming the apprenticeships offer into a new levy-funded growth and skills offer, which will offer greater flexibility to employers and learners and align with the industrial strategy. It will feature shorter duration apprenticeships and new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted, growing sectors. These will help more people learn high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country. The department will take the time to work closely with employers and providers to design new training that offers young people a route into good, skilled work and meets the needs of the industrial strategy.

The department continues to pay additional funding to employers and training providers to support them to take on young apprentices, apprentices with learning difficulties and disabilities, and care leavers.

The department is continuing outreach work in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme and targeting young people through the Skills for Life campaign.

We acknowledge that more can be done to reduce food waste in the primary production stage.

Conversations with industry have suggested that a potentially significant cause of food waste on farm are unfair business practices at the point of first sale, where the specification requirements can lead to produce being left unharvested or rotting in the field.

We have taken powers to clamp down on these kinds of unfair contractual practices through the ‘fair dealings’ powers contained in the Agriculture Act 2020 and intend to work with stakeholders to explore how these powers could be exercised to address such concerns.

Total UK food waste arisings are 10.7 million tonnes with approximately 1.6 million tonnes (15%) occurring on farm.

The amount of food we waste is a stain on our country. This Government will work with business to drive down food waste and make sure food is put on the plates of those in greatest need.

We continue to support WRAP and their work to drive down food surplus and waste in homes and businesses. This includes work to ensure surplus food is redistributed to charities and other organisations who can use it and on programmes to help citizens reduce their food waste.

We thank food producers, charities and retailers in the sector for tackling the problem of food waste.

A public consultation on fairer food labelling was undertaken between March and May 2024 by the previous government. This sought views on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will publish a response to this consultation in due course.

The government committed in its manifesto to banning the import of hunting trophies.

Ministers are reviewing policies, which will be announced in due course, including the consultation on the Fur Market in Great Britain. Defra is continuing to build the evidence base on the fur sector. This includes commissioning our expert Animal Welfare Committee on what constitutes responsible sourcing of fur. The report that they produce will support our understanding of the fur industry and help inform our next steps.

We have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world and this Labour Government will introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation.

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.

The use of farrowing crates for pigs is an issue we will want to fully consider in due course.

To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to National Health Service dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

There are no perfect payment systems, and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system, so that we deliver a system that is better for patients and the profession.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, and to recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to National Health Service dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists. There are no perfect payment models and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system, so that we deliver genuine improvements for patients and the profession.

We are continuing to work with the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to deliver our shared ambition to improve access to treatments for NHS dental patients.

Food labelling legislation means that food, including sauces and condiments, needs to include back of pack nutritional information, which includes total sugar content.

In addition, Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling is intended to support healthier choices by communicating complex nutritional information to consumers in a way that is easy and quick to understand. The United Kingdom was one of the first to introduce a national Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling system, and the voluntary Multiple Traffic Light scheme has been in place across the UK since 2013. It is widely used by consumers and some businesses.

In 2020, the Government and the devolved governments at the time held an evidence-gathering consultation on Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling. This considered whether improvements were needed to the UK’s Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling scheme and invited views on international examples of labelling, including the use of warning labels.

If changes to Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling are required in future, we will publish findings and consult again on the proposed policy changes.

We are working at pace to introduce a supervised toothbrushing scheme for three to five-year-olds, targeting the areas of highest need. We are currently reviewing the Dental Recovery Plan, including proposals to deliver fluoride varnish treatments to more than 165,000 children in under-served areas, and what elements of the plan can be taken forward effectively. Further information on the timing of implementation will follow the budget on 30 October 2024, as well as the ongoing Spending Review process.

We have not carried out such an assessment. However the Department publishes data on how many new homes have been delivered, including through which planning mechanism, across England. This is available at:

Housing supply: net additional dwellings - GOV.UK

The Government is committed to supporting local government and recognises the challenges it faces. To give councils the stability and certainty they need to plan for the long-term, and flexibility to spend their funding where it’s needed most, we will provide multi-year funding settlements and end wasteful competitive bidding. We will share further detail on our plans in due course.

The Government is committed to supporting local government and recognises the challenges it faces. To give councils the stability and certainty they need to plan for the long-term, and flexibility to spend their funding where it’s needed most, we will provide multi-year funding settlements and end wasteful competitive bidding. We will share further detail on our plans in due course.

Oasis Restore, the provider of the UK’s first secure school, has developed a comprehensive package of continuing support for children as they leave the school, and for their families. Its Family Strategy – a live document, which will be developed iteratively, with the voices of children and families – outlines how the school intends to support and engage families and carers.

Children returning to the community will be supported by the school and their Youth Offending Teams to ensure that key provisions, such as education and training, health provision, housing, and finance, are in place for release. Where appropriate, the school will use the temporary release scheme to prepare a child for return to the community.

When children transition to alternative youth detention accommodation, Oasis Restore will work closely with the receiving establishment to share information, for effective planning and support. Staff will support children and families with the transition, particularly to understand the new setting and what support is available.

Through Oasis Community Learning, the school will be able to access education and training opportunities, as well as housing and mentorship, for children returning to the community.