Earl Russell

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is prioritising work to understand and tackle the risks presented by e-bikes and e-scooters and has commissioned research into the safety of lithium-ion batteries.

OPSS and Local Authority Trading Standards Services have powers to remove unsafe products from sale and are using data and intelligence to target unsafe products at the border, including those containing large batteries.

In terms of safety awareness, in addition to the required information supplied with the products, the Home Office has published new guidance for consumers on safe battery charging practices in the home.

The Government launched its Product Safety Review consultation on 2 August which explores the future of the UK’s product safety framework including consideration of third party conformity assessment requirements.

On 7th September, the Prime Minister announced that the UK would associate to Horizon Europe. The Government has negotiated a bespoke deal in the UK’s national interest and UK scientists can participate confidently in Horizon Europe, the world’s largest programme of research cooperation.

Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff. It has always been the case that where we are made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, the Department takes immediate action.

It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, Local Authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – who work with their schools on a day-to-day basis, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert us if there is a concern with a building.

The Department has acted decisively and proactively to tackle this issue. This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK. The Department issued comprehensive guidance in 2018, and subsequent years, to all responsible bodies highlighting the potential risks associated with RAAC and supporting them to identify this within their buildings, as well as to take appropriate steps in meeting their obligations to keep buildings safe. The most recent guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-estates-guidance.

There are over 22,000 schools and colleges in England, and the vast majority are unaffected. A significant proportion of the estate was built outside the period where RAAC was used, with around one third of the estate built since 2001, therefore, the Department has focused efforts on buildings built in the post-war decades.

The Department issued a questionnaire in March 2022, asking responsible bodies to inform the Department of any suspected RAAC identified in their estates. Responsible bodies have submitted questionnaires for over 98% of schools with blocks built in the target era, of which there are 14,900. We are pressing all remaining schools to get checks completed, to determine which schools require surveys.

The Department is contacting responsible bodies to help them respond to this request and to advise on what needs to be done, so that they can establish whether they believe they have RAAC. This work will continue until we have a response for all target era schools.

Schools and colleges where RAAC is suspected are being fast tracked for surveying, which is used to confirm whether RAAC is actually present. All schools and colleges that have already told us they suspect they might have RAAC will be surveyed within a matter of weeks, in many cases in a matter of days.

All schools where RAAC is confirmed are provided with a dedicated caseworker to support them and help implement a mitigation plan and minimise the disruption to children’s learning.

Across Government, Departments have been asked to report on the current picture of suspected and confirmed RAAC in their estates as soon as possible. This will be updated on a regular basis as new buildings are identified and surveying and remediation are carried out. The Department for Education published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC on Wednesday 6 September, and committed to providing further updates.

Schools will contact parents where RAAC is identified and inform them of any impacts on their child. The vast majority of schools are unaffected. Any parents that are unsure if their child’s school is affected should contact their school directly.

While some short term disruption is inevitable, all available measures will be taken to minimise disruption to pupil learning and ensure that pupils continue to receive face-to-face teaching. Where there is any disturbance to face-to-face education, schools will prioritise attendance for vulnerable children and young people and children of key workers. The guidance published by the Department in August also includes guidance on provision for pupils with SEND and sets out expectations that schools continue to provide free school meals to eligible pupils.

The Department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall or office, the department will provide that support for all reasonable requests. The Department will also fund longer term refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to rectify the RAAC issue in the long term.

All previously confirmed School Rebuilding Programme projects announced in 2021 and 2022 will continue to go ahead. A full list of confirmed projects can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.

Further information on RAAC in education settings is available on the Education Hub: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/06/new-guidance-on-raac-in-education-settings/.

We do not require local authorities to submit this information to central Government as a standard requirement. Local authorities vary their collection arrangements in line with local decisions. Information on the number of bins or containers offered to residents for recycling collections is publicly available on each local authority website.

Defra launched the “Keep it, Bin it” anti-litter campaign in 2018 with Keep Britain Tidy to encourage people to dispose of their litter responsibly. Defra spent over £200,000 on scoping, developing and launching the campaign. Since 2019/20, the campaign has been funded by external partners. Keep Britain Tidy have now made the campaign available to local authorities and landowners for local use.

In response to COVID-19, Defra spent just under £100,000 on the development and launch of the 'Respect the Outdoors' campaign which included messaging about littering among other issues. We also contributed £30,000 for Keep Britain Tidy's Love Parks campaign, which encouraged people to treat our parks with respect.

We have previously provided nearly £1million across 44 councils to help them to purchase new bins, in support of targeted interventions to reduce litter. Across the last two years, our fly-tipping grant scheme has awarded nearly £1.2million to help more than 30 councils tackle the dumping of waste at known hot-spots.

We have also used social media to raise awareness of the impact of litter and to encourage individuals to put their rubbish in the bin or to take it home. The cost of these activities cannot be separated. Likewise, spend on Defra staff cannot be disaggregated.

Under the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion per year by March 2024 to enable an extra two million people in England, including 345,000 children and young people, to access National Health Service-funded mental health support.

We also provided an additional £500 million for 2021/22, targeting those groups whose mental health has been most affected by the pandemic, including children and young people. Within the £500 million, £79 million was invested to allow around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services, 2,000 more to access eating disorder services and a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges. £13 million was invested to ensure young adults aged 18 to 25, including university students, were supported with tailored mental health support, helping bridge the gap between children’s and adult services.

In February, NHS England published the outcomes of its consultation on the potential to introduce five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services, including that children and young people should start to receive care within four weeks from referral, as part of its clinically led review of National Health Service access standards. We are now working with NHS England on the next steps.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) conducts routine monitoring and surveillance of COVID-19 and the emergence and spread of new variants internationally via a range of surveillance systems and genomic capabilities. These systems report on infection rates, hospitalisations and the risks posed by new variants.

This year’s autumn influenza and COVID-19 vaccine programmes is starting earlier than planned in England, on 11 September 2023, as a precautionary measure. Speeding up the Autumn vaccine programme will deliver greater protection, supporting those at greatest risk of severe illness and reducing the potential impact on the National Health Service.

The COVID-19 vaccine will be offered to:

- residents in a care home for older adults;

- all adults aged 65 years and over;

- persons aged six months to 64 years in a clinical risk group;

- frontline health and social care workers;

- persons aged 12 to 64 years who are household contacts of people with immunosuppression; and

- persons aged 16 to 64 years who are carers and staff working in care homes for older adults.

An appointment will be offered to eligible people between September and December 2023, with those at highest risk being called in first. Those eligible for vaccination are encouraged to take up the offer of the vaccine as soon as they are called to ensure they head into winter with the best protection.

Recent NHS Digital data suggests there has been an increase in young people aged 19 years old and under with a finished admission episode with a primary or secondary diagnosis of a vaping disorder. There were 40 reported cases in 2022/23, seven more than in 2021/22.

The Government is taking a number of steps to prevent the circulation of illegal vaping products. In April 2023, we announced £3 million of funding to support a new illicit vapes enforcement squad to tackle underage sales and the illicit market. National Trading Standards have now begun setting up the operation, gathering intelligence, training staff and bolstering capacity and will begin field work later this year.

Recent NHS Digital data suggests there has been an increase in young people aged 19 years old and under with a finished admission episode with a primary or secondary diagnosis of a vaping disorder. There were 40 reported cases in 2022/23, seven more than in 2021/22.

The Government is taking a number of steps to prevent the circulation of illegal vaping products. In April 2023, we announced £3 million of funding to support a new illicit vapes enforcement squad to tackle underage sales and the illicit market. National Trading Standards have now begun setting up the operation, gathering intelligence, training staff and bolstering capacity and will begin field work later this year.

The UK Government delegation to the UN General Assembly High Level Week on 18-22 September will be led by the Deputy Prime Minister, accompanied by the Foreign Secretary, myself Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon as Minister of State for the UN, Minister Mitchell as Minister for Development and Minister Stuart as Minister for Net Zero. Building on the significant announcements made by the PM at the G20 in New Delhi, the UK delegation will show how these, and other UK priorities can be advanced through multilateralism as we work alongside a wide range of countries, ahead of major Artificial Intelligence and food security summits in the UK later this year.

Digital ID, an IT supplier to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) advised them on 26 August 2023 that they had been subject to a ransomware attack, potentially putting at risk data for officers and staff.

The MPS immediately put in place appropriate security measures following the incident and reported the incident to the National Crime Agency and the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The Home Office, along with the National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre is engaged with both the MPS and Digital ID to investigate and provide support.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of age dispute cases that have arisen in adult prisons and is unable to confirm the statistics referenced in the Guardian article, which are derived from local authority responses to an FOI request. Our published data on age assessment can be accessed here. Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Furthermore, the Home Office published data on age disputes aggregates the age disputes resolved by including the outcomes of initial age decisions by the Home Office taken at the point of first contact, comprehensive Merton compliant age assessments conducted by social workers and any subsequent legal challenge into one category.

Determining the age of a young person is a difficult task and therefore, the age assessment process for immigration purposes contains safeguards.

Where a new arrival does not have genuine documentary evidence of their age and their claimed age is doubted, an initial age decision is conducted as a first step to prevent individuals who are clearly an adult or minor from being subjected unnecessarily to a more substantive age assessment and ensure that new arrivals are routed into the correct accommodation and processes for assessing their asylum or immigration claim. The lawfulness of the initial decision on age process was endorsed by the Supreme Court in the case of R (on the application of BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 38.

Where doubt remains and an individual cannot be assessed to be significantly over 18, they will be treated as a minor for immigration purposes until further assessment of their age by a local authority.

The Home Office initial decision on age is not binding on the courts, and where the Court has doubt whether the individual is a minor or not, the courts will take a decision on the age of an individual before them based on the available evidence. This decision would then determine the type of detention estate someone is sent to if given a custodial sentence or remanded in custody. If an individual is sent to an adult prison and is later found to be a child, they can be moved to the youth custody estate if there continues to be a need to detain them.

The recent legislative reforms introduced by this government will improve the accuracy of the scientific age assessment outcomes, minimising the risk that a person will be incorrectly treated as either an adult or a minor and ensure that age-appropriate services and care are reserved for genuine minors.

The UK has provided Rwanda with an initial investment of £120m into its economic development and growth as part of the Economic Transformation and Integration Fund (ETIF). Investment has been focused in areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, and job creation. A separate advance payment of £20m was also paid last year to support initial set up costs for the relocation of individuals.

Funding will also be provided to support the delivery of asylum operations, accommodation, and integration in Rwanda. Costs and payments will depend on the number of individuals relocated, the timing of when this happens, and the outcomes of individual cases. We will not enter into speculation as to what the final costs of the partnership may be nor provide a running commentary.

Legal proceedings are ongoing, and we have been granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court with a hearing scheduled to take place in October. We always knew that our policy was ambitious and novel, and that it would be tested in the courts, but we have also been clear we are committed to this partnership and will continue to robustly defend this policy so we can make it a reality.

The Illegal Migration Act received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023.

The bans on re-entry, settlement or citizenship to people who come to the UK illegally came into force from Royal Assent.

As is standard practice for any legislation, commencement of wider measures in the Act will take place over the coming months.