Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The Office for Equality and Opportunity encourages the use of Government Statistical Service harmonised standards for ethnicity data collection across government departments and other public bodies.

The current ethnicity harmonised standard is based on the 2011 Census questions across the UK. The ethnicity questions were adjusted so they could be used in the 2021 censuses for England and Wales, and Northern Ireland; and the 2022 Census for Scotland.

The 2021 classification for England and Wales has 19 groups including the categories ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ and ‘Roma’. (https://analysisfunction.civilservice.gov.uk/policy-store/ethnicity-harmonised-standard/).

Data collected by government departments for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller groups is already published on the Office for Equality and Opportunity’s Ethnicity Facts and Figures website (https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/). It was the first of its kind in terms of scale, scope and transparency and has been welcomed as best practice internationally. It contains statistics covering topics such as health, education, employment and the criminal justice system.

The Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator of Higher Education (HE) in England, publishes an annual report on the financial health of the HE sector.

The OfS’ most recent report, published in May 2024, showed that the financial position of the HE sector has become increasingly challenging. The report can be found at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/ly1buqlj/financial-sustainability-report2024.pdf, as attached.

The government recognises the immediate financial strain that some providers are under, and the department is working closely with the OfS to monitor any risks to ensure there are robust plans in place to mitigate them. Sir David Behan has been appointed as interim Chair of the OfS to oversee the important work of refocusing their role to concentrate on key priorities, including prioritising the financial stability of the HE sector.

This government is committed to creating a secure future for our world-leading universities so they can deliver for students, taxpayers, workers and the economy. This government has already started reviewing options to deliver a more robust HE sector, but we recognise it will take time to get it right.

Ultimately, HE providers are independent from government and therefore it is their responsibility to ensure they have a sustainable business model.

This Government takes road safety very seriously and reducing those killed and injured on our roads is a key priority. The Department is currently considering policy options in this area.

There are now over 70,000 public charging devices in the UK, supporting drivers to switch to EVs, alongside 680,000 private chargepoints in England alone. The Government is committed to working with industry to further accelerate the rollout of affordable, accessible charging infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the Government is supporting the rollout of tens of thousands of local chargepoints, which are especially important for drivers without off-street parking. The Government also offers grants to support the installation of private chargepoints in certain residential and commercial properties and provides advice and guidance to support the planning and delivery of charging infrastructure.

The Government is reducing the upfront costs of zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) by providing plug-in vehicle grants for vans, trucks and motorcycles, taxis and wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Drivers of ZEVs also benefit from favourable tax rates, such as generous company car tax incentives. They are also exempt from vehicle excise duty (VED) until April 2025, after which electric vehicles will continue to have preferential first year rates of VED in comparison to the most polluting vehicles.

The Government has announced that it intends to publish a new Road Safety Strategy, the first in over a decade. Work is already underway on this.

The latest take up figures were published in October 2024. They showed that in financial year 2022/23, 65% of those entitled to Pension Credit claimed the benefit.

Data on Pension Credit claims and awards was published in November. It showed that there has been a 145% increase in Pension Credit claims received by DWP in the 16 weeks following the Chancellor’s Winter Fuel Payment announcement on the 29 July, compared to the number received in the 16 weeks prior to the announcement.

Benefit expenditure and caseload forecasts are regularly made publicly available by the Department. The latest published forecasts estimate that Winter Fuel Payments will cost £330m in nominal terms, for financial year 2025/26.

The Department is running a national uptake campaign to encourage the estimated up to 880,000 citizens who may be entitled to Pension Credit apply for it. The Department is in the process of modernising the Pension Credit delivery and has previously undertaken an assessment of the application process and introduced online claims in addition to telephone and paper claims. DWP Agents and third-party organisations are available to support customers with the application process.

It is of great concern that approximately 25% of children aged between 11 and 15 years old have tried vaping. Evidence suggests vaping products are regularly promoted in a way that appeals to children, despite the risks of nicotine addiction.

That is why we announced strong measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to ban the advertisement and sponsorship of all vapes and nicotine products. It will also stop vapes from being deliberately targeted at children, providing new powers to limit flavours and packaging, and changing how and where they are displayed in shops.

The Department ran a public consultation in October 2023 which received responses from the vaping industry. The consultation informed the development of the current Tobacco and Vapes Bill. The bill contains a statutory duty to consult on the use of regulation-making powers related to vaping and other measures. We will consult with the vaping industry at the appropriate time.

There is no confirmed timeframe for the Government to set out its approach to any future professional regulation reforms.

The Government is currently considering its priorities for professional regulation, and will set these out at the earliest opportunity.

Good physical working environments are important for staff wellbeing and retention. Staff need to be given the time and space to rest and recover from their work, particularly when working on-call or overnight. This is recognised as a priority in the NHS People Promise, which sets out the importance of employers prioritising spaces for staff to rest and recuperate, and ensuring access to hot food and drinks.

In May 2024, NHS England and NHS Charities Together launched a £10 million Workforce Wellbeing Programme to support National Health Service staff in England. It will provide tailored health and wellbeing support to NHS staff, including grants to improve facilities. A three-year programme of work named Great Food, Good Health, led by NHS England, aims to improve the experience and quality of nutritious food that patients, staff, and visitors receive in hospital. As part of this, the NHS has made it clear that NHS organisations must be able to demonstrate they have suitable, around the clock food service provision.

There has been a reduction in the number of pharmacies since 2017. There are about 1,200 fewer pharmacies than in 2017, and over 600 fewer than two years ago.

Despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies, on average, access remains good with four in five people living within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy and twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas. Patients can also access 400 distance selling pharmacies that provide services nationally and must deliver any medicines they dispense free of charge.

The Pharmacy Access Scheme provides financial support to pharmacies in areas where there are fewer pharmacies.

The consultation with Community Pharmacy England on the national funding and contractual framework arrangements for 2024/25 was not concluded by the previous government and we are looking at this as a matter of urgency.

The UK is committed to supporting the sovereignty, territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as set out in the Dayton Peace Agreement. We maintain a range of tools to tackle destabilising behaviour; our sanctions regime remains one of them. We do not speculate on future designations.

The UK has underlined with Serbia's leadership concerns about the "All Serb Assembly" in June and the subsequent Declaration. The UK consistently emphasises at senior levels the importance of Serbia's role in building and supporting regional stability; Minister of State Stephen Doughty did so most recently in October meetings with Foreign Minister Djuric and the Serbian Ambassador in London. We encourage Serbia to adhere to the commitments made by all Western Balkans leaders at the 2018 London Summit on good neighbourly relations.

There are currently no plans to modify the operation of the Barnett formula. The Barnett formula has stood the test of time because it is simple, efficient and provides a clear and certain outcome.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is in regular contact with his devolved government counterparts on matters of devolved government funding and the Barnett formula. Officials are also in regular dialogue on the operation of devolved government funding arrangements, including the Barnett formula.

Overall, the Welsh Government currently receives at least 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in the rest of the UK. That translates into over £4 billion more in 2025-26.

The vast majority of airline passengers drink responsibly when travelling.

However, individuals who are drunk can be denied from boarding an aircraft, and tough penalties are in place for being drunk and disruptive on an aircraft (including imprisonment for up to two years or an unlimited fine, or both).

A call for evidence carried out in 2019 on imposing licensing restrictions on airside premises did not provide new evidence to make a compelling case for additional restrictions.

The requested information can be found on Tab WCS_05 of Windrush Compensation Scheme data: July 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) released on 29 August 2024. As at end of July 2024, 856 compensation claims were in the Work in Progress category.

We will ensure the victims of the appalling Windrush scandal have their voices heard and the compensation scheme is run effectively, with a new Windrush Commissioner.

The Government does not have any current plans to either review or repeal section 2(4) of the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948. However, the Department of Health and Social Care is currently reviewing a range of options around clinical negligence reform and will announce its position on this in due course.