Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The Government recently consulted on the proposed National Policy Statement EN-7, which outlines an updated planning framework for new nuclear projects, including Small and Advanced Modular Reactors. We aim to finalise and designate EN-7 later this year.

Great British Energy-Nuclear (GBE-N) recently announced that it has selected Rolls Royce SMR as preferred bidder, subject to final government approvals and contract signature, to partner with to build the country’s first small modular reactors. GBE-N aims to allocate a site for its small modular reactor programme later this year.

The East Coast Cluster reached financial close in December 2024 and the HyNet Transport and Storage Network, operated by Liverpool Bay CCS, reached financial close in April 2025, with Government signing contracts with industry to get the first CCUS projects up and running. These two clusters will help remove up to 8.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year and are due to start operating from 2028.

Officials have continued to engage with Track-2 clusters to understand their plans. We recognise industry will be hoping for clarity on Track-2 - and future CCUS clusters – and further details will be provided in due course.

Hydrogen Allocation Rounds (HARs) remains our primary mechanism for allocating revenue support through the Hydrogen Production Business Model to low carbon, non-CCUS enabled hydrogen production facilities across the UK.

In the Autumn 2024 Budget, we confirmed support for 11 green hydrogen projects from the first Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR1), and on 7 April 2025 we announced a shortlist of 27 projects that were invited to the next stage of the Second Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR2) process.

This announcement reinforces the Government’s recognition of the key role low carbon hydrogen will play in delivering our Clean Energy Superpower and Growth Missions.

The Government is encouraging growth in the data centre sector by addressing barriers to building. This includes changes to planning rules, cross-sectoral power reforms to reduce connection timelines and launching AI Growth Zones.

As part of the over £2 billion Spending Review settlement for the AI Action Plan, we have committed over £1 billion to expand the AI Research Resource, positioning the UK as a leader in high-performance AI computing, driving global innovation and scientific discovery. We’ve also announced that Scotland will host the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, backed by up to £750 million in additional investment.

Sustainability of local journalism, in print as well as online, is an area of particular concern for this Government. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. Our vision is a thriving local media that can continue to play an invaluable role as a key channel of trustworthy information at local level: reporting on the issues that matter to communities, reflecting their contributions and perspectives, and helping to foster a self-confident nation in which everyone feels that their contribution is part of an inclusive national story.

We are working across Government and with other stakeholders as the Strategy develops, and we recently held a roundtable discussion with local news editors to discuss our planned approach and collaboration with industry on the Strategy. An industry working group has now been set up to consider the issues in more detail and we will announce more in the coming months.

The department regularly engages with the higher education (HE) sector to discuss range of topics including the recruitment of international students. This has recently included discussions with various HE institutions and their representative bodies on the measures set out in the Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May, and plans for their implementation.

This government will always welcome international students where they meet the requirements to study in this country. Our world class HE sector can offer a fulfilling and enjoyable experience to international students from around the world.

The Immigration White Paper sets out a series of measures that will achieve a reduction in net migration, while maintaining the UK HE sector’s globally competitive position and making a significant contribution to growth by boosting the UK’s skills base.

This government is committed to tackling child poverty and earlier this month announced an expansion of free school meals eligibility to all pupils in England with a parent receiving Universal Credit. This will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the Parliament, in decisive action as a downpayment ahead of publication of the Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn.

The government will use the leading, internationally recognised measure of poverty, Relative Poverty After Housing Costs. This is the proportion of families with below 60% of the median income, after deducting housing costs.

The government will also measure the experience of children in the most severe and acute forms of poverty, which we are considering how best to measure as we develop the Strategy.

These headline metrics will be supported by a range of other metrics as part of a monitoring framework to ensure the Strategy is on track to meet its aims, which will be set out alongside the publication.

The department strongly encourages schools to have a uniform as it can play a key role in promoting the ethos of a school, provide a sense of belonging and identity and setting an appropriate tone for education.

By creating a common identity amongst all pupils, regardless of background, a school uniform can act as a social leveller. If, however, the uniform is too expensive it can place a financial burden on families. This is why the department has introduced legislation to limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require. The measure will help to bring down costs for parents and remove barriers from children accessing sport and other school activities.

Schools should prohibit the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones throughout the school day, including during lessons, the time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime, as set out in the ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance 2024. The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.

New research from the Children’s Commissioner, with responses from nearly all schools and colleges in England, shows that the overwhelming majority of schools, 99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools, already have policies in place that limit or restrict the use of mobile phones during the school day.

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.

To manage the drought, the EA and water companies have activated their drought plans. These plans outline actions that are needed to reduce the impact of the drought on the economy and communities. Current actions by the EA include enhanced monitoring, acting to save fish where rivers are at risk of drying up, responding to environmental incidents, and coordinating actions through the National Drought Group. Water companies are following statutory plans, and the Government and the EA are regulating water companies to ensure they follow their plans.

Droughts pose a risk to communities and the economy by impacting public water supply, agriculture, fisheries, energy, transport, tourism and navigation. The EA recently published the National Framework for Water Resources, which identifies the ambitious actions needed to meet these significant national water resources challenges out to 2055.

Navigation authorities, including the Canal and River Trust and the Environment Agency (EA), are responsible for keeping their waterways clean, clear of obstacles, rubbish, aquatic plant overgrowths, and any other impediments, including responding to pollution incidents, to ensure safety of navigation for users.

EA funding is closely monitored to ensure it can carry out its duties and functions effectively and deliver for the public and the environment. Its total budget for 2025 to 2026 is £2,274 million.

The Canal and River Trust has responsibility for 2,000 miles of canals and rivers in England and Wales. Its purposes are to maintain the waterway network and conserve its heritage and natural environment in perpetuity for public benefit and enjoyment. Its grant from Defra, agreed for the period 2012 to 2027, is approximately £740 million.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment regulations make producers responsible for electrical products (including vapes) they place on the market when they become waste. This week, following a consultation under the previous Government, we laid an amending SI to create a new category of electrical equipment for vapes (previously included in category 7: Toys, and Leisure), to ensure vape producers pay their fair market share towards separate collection, treatment, and recycling costs of their products.

On 1 June 2025 the sale and supply of disposable vapes across the UK was banned. Officials considered other international bans, such as the one in Australia, as part of the work to develop this policy, but did not formally assess them.

Single-use vapes are a blight on our environment with an estimated 5 million incorrectly disposed of each week. This is why on 1 June 2025 we banned the sale and supply of these products. We have published our impact assessment which considers the environmental, economic and other impacts of this policy and will continue to monitor the impact of the ban.

There has been strong progress from industry on the rollout of chargepoints on our Strategic Road Network (England’s motorways and major A-roads). There are now over 5,560 open-access rapid and ultra-rapid chargers (excluding Tesla-only superchargers) within one mile of the Strategic Road Network (Zapmap, April 2025), which includes over 1180 open-access rapid and ultra-rapid chargepoints specifically at motorway service areas in England, (industry data, April 2025). This means charger numbers on the Strategic Road Network, including at motorway services, have nearly quadrupled in the last three years (Zapmap and industry data, 2022 – 2025).

Government is continuing to work closely with industry to support their ambitious plans to continue rolling out chargepoints at sites to meet demand, and to address barriers to further roll-out.

The resilience of the UK aviation sector is important, and key to its success. It is the responsibility of the industry to manage demand, recruit, and roster staff. The aviation sector has increased resilience, with ground handlers, airlines, airports and air traffic control providers all undertaking significant recruitment campaigns, whilst investing in new infrastructure, equipment and technology.

The Aviation Minister regularly writes to industry to seek assurances from the aviation sector that they have sufficient resilience plans to manage operations effectively over peak periods, and the department continues to work closely with the sector to understand any potential risks and mitigating actions.

Currently there are no automated vehicles on UK roads operating without a safety driver. There are, however, several organisations who have tested, or are at present testing, vehicles with a safety driver under our existing ‘Code of Practice: automated vehicle trialling’. The Code of Practice is available to support those planning to undertake a trial of automated vehicle technology with a safety driver and sets out their legal responsibilities.

Some of these trials have been, and currently are, Government funded including projects operating at the National Exhibition Centre and in Cambridge from park & ride sites to the Biomedical Campus. A recently completed CCAV funded project also saw a shuttle service operating in Sunderland, linking the city to the hospital.

The Government announced on 10 June that it will accelerate the timeline for the introduction of Automated Passenger Services (APS) regulations, as set out in part 5 of the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act 2024, subject to the outcome of a consultation later this summer. These regulations will help facilitate early commercial pilots of automated passenger services, which could include those that are taxi-and private hire-like in England and bus-like in GB from spring 2026. These pilots will drive innovation, attract investment, and help shape the final automated vehicles framework, which we aim to have in place by the second half of 2027.

APS pilots will be subject to the vehicle passing all relevant technical and safety approvals and local licensing authority (including taxi licensing authority for taxi like services) or bus franchising body consent being secured before any deployment can take place. Permits issued to enable deployments will include conditions for the service, which could include, for example: the number of vehicles, the type of vehicles, and the period for which the permit is granted for. If these conditions are not adhered to, the permit may be suspended or withdrawn.

The Secretary of State must also consider whether and to what extent granting a permit for an automated passenger service is likely to help improve understanding of how these services should best be designed for and provided to disabled and older passengers. Accessibility considerations will be set out in non-statutory guidance and related permit conditions can be enforced through the permitting process.

The UK aviation sector is predominantly privately operated therefore airports are responsible for managing their own contingency plans and ensuring that they are robust and meet their own individual circumstances.

The Department does not formally assess the impact of individual resilience issues due to the complexity of the impact and vast range of indirect impacts across the economy.

To achieve our ambitions for the automated vehicle sector, we are working at pace to implement the regulatory framework for self-driving vehicles in the second half of 2027.

We are exploring options for accelerating early commercial pilots in advance of full implementation and will update on this work soon. By combining long-term regulatory certainty with near-term trialling opportunities, we are creating the right conditions for a thriving self-driving vehicles market.

Alongside developing our domestic regulations, we are playing a leading role in work to align international rules and regulations on self-driving, which will enable our companies to export globally. This work is anticipated to complete in early 2027.

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.

We hugely value our health and social care workers from overseas, who work tirelessly to provide the best possible care and enhance our health and care workforce with their valuable skills, experience, and expertise.

The Health and Care Worker visa offers a reduced visa fee, faster processing times, and an exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge to eligible overseas health and social care workers who wish to work in the United Kingdom.

National Health Service employers work at a local level to ensure they have the workforce they need, which includes making decisions about recruiting internationally educated healthcare professionals.

However, the Government also remains committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join our NHS. Following publication of our 10-Year Health Plan, we will produce a refreshed workforce plan, setting out how we will train and provide the staff that the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities and treat them on time again.

The Immigration White Paper sets out reforms to legal migration, so that we can restore order, control, and fairness to the system, bring down net migration, and promote economic growth. The changes set out include a complete overhaul of the relationship between the immigration system, training, and the labour market, to support sustainable growth as well as a sustainable immigration system.

The Department considered the potential impact of the Immigration White Paper (IWP) as part of its assessment to inform the Spending Review. The Home Office made an assessment in the technical annex of the IWP that closing the route could by reduce net migration by 7,000 people per year. As a guide to scale, there were nearly one million filled posts for care workers and senior care workers in the sector in 2023/24. Therefore, while the Department does not project the number of vacancies advertised by independent providers in the adult social care (ASC) sector, any direct impact on capacity is likely to be limited. This is partly because there will be a transition period until 2028, to be kept under review, where in-country switching for those already in the United Kingdom will continue to be permitted.

The Spending Review allows for an increase of over £4 billion of funding for ASC in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26. This includes additional grant funding, growth in other sources of income available to support ASC, and an increase to the National Health Service contribution to ASC via the Better Care Fund compared to 2025/26. The Department continues to monitor ASC workforce capacity, bringing together national data sets from Skills for Care’s monthly tracking data, the Capacity Tracker tool, and intelligence from key sector partners. The Department primarily uses filled posts as the most accurate measure of ASC workforce capacity rather than the number of vacancies. As vacancies are the total number of posts advertised by the ASC sector’s independent and competing providers, they don’t reflect the number of workers required to meet ASC needs and are not necessarily a good indicator of capacity pressures.

In England, as per the Care Act (2014), it is the responsibility of local government to develop a market that delivers a wide range of sustainable high-quality care and support services, that will be available to their communities. English local authorities have responsibility under the Care Act 2014 to meet ASC needs, and statutory guidance directs them to ensure there is sufficient workforce in ASC.

The following table shows the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) routinely published data on laboratory confirmed cases of measles, mumps, rubella, and pertussis, also known as whooping cough, in 2022, 2023, and 2024:

The United Kingdom was declared polio-free by the World Health Organization in 2003. The last case of natural polio infection acquired in the UK was in 1984.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes research to understand how people experience vaccine services, their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes towards immunisation, vaccine safety, and disease severity, and how these may influence vaccine uptake decision-making. This evidence helps to assess public confidence in national vaccination programmes, guide programme management, and support the creation of vaccine information materials in multiple languages and accessible formats.

The Government is committed to having high uptake in all vaccination programmes and has an established independent scientific advisory group, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which is responsible for advising United Kingdom health departments on immunisations for the prevention of infections and/or disease.

The UKHSA has also established a forum bringing together the four UK nations together to review factors impacting uptake, to identify actions and shared learning to improve access to services, and to address other potential barriers.

NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. The following table shows the payments made for clinical negligence claims from 2021/22 to 2023/24:

Notes:

1. The data for 2024/25 is not yet finalised; and
2. annual payments for clinical negligence claims can relate to incidents which occurred many years ago, and so payments for one claim can occur over multiple years, including interim amounts paid before settlement, payments upon settlement, and annual periodic payments for some matters settled in previous years.

The rising costs of clinical negligence claims against the NHS in England are of great concern to the Government. Costs have more than doubled in the last 10 years, and are forecast to continue rising, putting further pressure on NHS finances.

The causes of the overall cost rise are complex and there is no single fix, as costs are likely to be rising because of a range of factors, including higher compensation payments and legal costs, rather than more claims or a decline in patient safety.

We recognise that this is an important issue, and ministers intend to look at all the drivers of cost.