Lord Kennedy of Southwark

Democracy should not be cancelled because of covid. The Government has confirmed that the set of local and Police and Crime Commissioner elections scheduled for May will go ahead, and made a firm commitment that the Government will support the sector to deliver them.

The Government has published a clear Delivery Plan for the May elections, setting out how the Government will support local elections teams to deliver effective polls that are covid-secure for voters and staff.

Further guidance for all those involved in the elections will be available in due course and well in advance of the polls.

To support the smooth running of the Police and Crime Commissioner and local elections, there will be an estimated £92 million of government funding that will be provided to Returning Officers and local authorities for the elections. Of this, £31 million is an uplift to address costs associated with making the polls covid-secure.

Democracy should not be cancelled because of covid. The Government has confirmed that the set of local and Police and Crime Commissioner elections scheduled for May will go ahead, and made a firm commitment that the Government will support the sector to deliver them.

The Government has published a clear Delivery Plan for the May elections, setting out how the Government will support local elections teams to deliver effective polls that are covid-secure for voters and staff.

Further guidance for all those involved in the elections will be available in due course and well in advance of the polls.

To support the smooth running of the Police and Crime Commissioner and local elections, there will be an estimated £92 million of government funding that will be provided to Returning Officers and local authorities for the elections. Of this, £31 million is an uplift to address costs associated with making the polls covid-secure.

Primary legislation states that the elections will go ahead in May 2021.

We continue to work closely with the electoral and public health bodies to resolve challenges and ensure everyone will be able to cast their vote safely and securely - and in a way of their choosing.

The Government is also bringing forward additional measures to extend the ability to appoint a proxy, so that those that are affected by Covid-19 in the days before the poll are still able to make their voice heard.

Guidance will be published in good time ahead of the polls and this matter will be kept under review. The House will be kept updated.

I refer the noble Lord to the answer given to PQ HL9043 on 26 October 2020.

The Electoral Commission is independent of Government and accountable to Parliament via the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission.

The Government is committed to making sure that elections are secure and fit for the modern age. As part of this, we keep the Electoral Commission’s role and powers under review to ensure it is able to discharge its responsibilities effectively.

UK electoral law sets out a stringent regime of donations controls to ensure that only those with a genuine interest in UK electoral events can donate to political parties and to ensure transparency of those donations.

All donations over £500 need to be recorded by political parties and checked for permissibility. Certain donations need to be reported to the Electoral Commission, including all donations from impermissible donors, all donations over £7,500 and donations that are over £1,500 and come from a source that parties have already reported in the same calendar year. To ensure transparency about party funding, donation reports are published by the Electoral Commission on its website.

The Government is committed to upholding the integrity of our electoral system. As part of that, we are taking forward a programme of work that will strengthen and update the UK’s electoral regulation to ensure it is fit for the modern age; provides a robust framework for campaign finance; and supports public confidence in our processes.

The Government is working closely with the devolved administrations.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, holds regular calls with the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales and the First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, and ministers from the devolved administrations will be invited to attend the Covid-Operations Committee on a weekly basis. This supplements wider joint working by ministers and officials. The purpose is not simply to ‘ensure that the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are informed of actions being taken by the Government’ but to share best practice and data, coordinate action and work together as set out in the Joint Statement of 25 September.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

Dear Lord Kennedy,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people have died from inhaling nitrous oxide (HL7033).

In March 2018 we published a report providing the number of deaths related to volatile substance abuse and helium in England, Wales and Scotland[1]. This report describes trends in deaths involving volatile substances registered between 2001 and 2016 in Great Britain. Please see table 1 below for data where types of volatile substance are mentioned on the death certificate from the March 2018 publication. We would recommend referring to the report, where possible, due to the complexity of the methodology surrounding the use of coroner’s text to identify relevant deaths.

Following the March 2018 publication, we published ad-hoc requests from members of the public, which include: the number of deaths in England and Wales involving nitrogen and nitrous oxide 2001-2016[2]; and deaths where nitrous oxide was mentioned on the death certificate 1993-2017[3]. Please note, published figures differ across these datasets due to the methodology used and the differing definitions of nitrous oxide deaths.

We intend to publish an update of the volatile substance report and accompanying datasets later this year. This is dependent on resource due to the current pandemic.

Yours sincerely

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Number of deaths related to volatile substance abuse, where types of volatile substance mentioned on the death certificate, England and Wales, deaths registered in 2001 to 2016[4][5][6][7][8]

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/deathsrelatedtovolatilesubstancesandheliumingreatbritain/latest

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/adhocs/008203deathsinvolvingnitrogenandnitrousoxideinenglandandwales2001to2016

[3]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/adhocs/009096drugrelateddeathsinvolvingnitrousoxideinenglandandwales1993to2017

[4]Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth revision (ICD-10) codes.

[5]Figures for England and Wales include deaths of non-residents.

[6]Figures are for deaths registered rather than occurring in each calendar year.

[7]Specific substances included in each category, details are available in the published dataset.

[8]Counts total to more than the total number of VSA deaths, because more than one substance group can be involved in a single death.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

Dear Lord Kennedy,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has made of the possible reasons for the excess deaths in the UK since 1 March in which the cause of death was not recorded as COVID-19 (HL6132).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has investigated deaths not recorded as due to COVID-19 for England and Wales extensively, and published their findings on the website. The analysis presents excess deaths by age, sex, region of England, place of death and cause of death. Possible explanations for trends are put forward, and the extent to which weekly deaths registrations data support or contradict each suggestion is assessed. The main points of this analysis are outlined below:

• Between 7 March and 1 May, a total of 130,009 deaths were registered across England and Wales. This is an excess of 46,380 death registrations compared to the five-year average. 12,900 of these deaths (27.8%) did not involve COVID-19.

• The ONS’ article is based on 98.1% of the total deaths registered and 43,903 excess deaths, because a small proportion of deaths take longer to be fully coded and validated for analysis.

• Non-COVID-19 excess deaths occur predominantly in older age groups, to a greater extent with increasing age, and especially for the frail elderly with underlying conditions. Undiagnosed COVID-19 could help explain the rise in these deaths.

• In the period from week ending 13 March to week ending 1 May, over 8,000 fewer deaths were registered in hospitals, which is a 20.9% decrease in comparison to the corresponding period in the five-year average. In contrast, almost 11,000 more deaths (an increase of 60.5%) were registered in care homes, and over 8,000 more deaths (an increase of 42.6%) were registered in private homes,

• In the same period, the largest increases in non-COVID-19 deaths compared to the five-year average are seen in deaths due to ‘dementia and Alzheimer disease’ (5,404 excess deaths, an increase of 52.2%) and ‘symptoms, signs and ill-defined conditions’, which indicates old age and frailty (1,567 excess deaths, an increase of 77.8%). Together, these comprise two thirds of total non-COVID-19 excess deaths in this period.

• Deaths due to causes such as asthma and diabetes increased up to the week ending 24 April and occurred increasingly outside hospital. This could suggest that a delay in care for these conditions is leading to an increase in deaths, although it could also be related to undiagnosed COVID-19.

• Changes to death registration processes implemented in the Coronavirus Act 2020 have led to an increased number of death registrations made by doctors, increasing registration efficiency overall. At present, it is not clear whether increased efficiency is a cause or result of an increase in weekly registrations, but some further effects may become apparent in the future for conditions where deaths have a longer registration delay.

• The other theories investigated were reduced hospital capacity, and increases in deaths caused by stress-related conditions, but these cannot explain much of the increase in non-COVID-19 death registrations.

A full analysis of non-COVID-19 excess deaths will only be possible in several months' time when longer-term effects and additional data, both death registrations and other sources, can be considered. This analysis only investigates death registrations in England and Wales, as the ONS does not hold data on death registrations in the rest of the UK. Given the novel and exploratory nature of this analysis, this report published in early June presented findings about death registrations up to 1 May. This was a stand-alone release, rather than a regular series. We are currently designing a follow-up, however we have no provisional date for release as yet.

The latest information on excess deaths in general are available in our weekly deaths registration data, with latest available for week ending 19 July.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

Dear Lord Kennedy,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of the number of deaths due to medical conditions other than COVID-19 since 5 March (HL3543).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales. The most recent figures published are for deaths registered in 2018[1], however we do publish provisional weekly deaths registrations, which are currently published for deaths registered up to 24 April 2020[2]. We have also published an article which contains detailed analysis of all deaths that occurred in England and Wales between 1 and 31 March 2020, registered up to 6 April 2020[3]. This includes data on underlying causes of death. Detailed analysis of all deaths that occurred in England and Wales between 1 and 30 April 2020 is due to be published in mid-May.

National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for publishing the number of deaths registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

Cause of death is defined using the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th edition (ICD-10). Deaths caused by COVID-19 are identified by the ICD-10 codes U07.1 and U07.2.

Table 1 below provides the number of deaths by whether the underlying cause was COVID-19 or another medical condition, for deaths that occurred in England and Wales between 1 and 31 March 2020 registered up to 6 April 2020.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Number of deaths occurring in March 2020, where the underlying cause of death was COVID-19 or other causes, England and Wales[4][5][6]

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsregisteredinenglandandwalesseriesdrreferencetables

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending24april2020

[3]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsinvolvingcovid19englandandwales/deathsoccurringinmarch2020

[4] Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes. Codes used for COVID-19 are U07.1 and U07.2.

[5] Figures are for deaths that occurred between 1 and 31 March 2020 in England and Wales and were registered by 6 April 2020.

[6] More detail on the number of deaths broken down by leading cause groups (other than COVID-19) can be found in Table 1 of the dataset published alongside the article on Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales: March 2020.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

Dear Lord Kennedy,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking whether deaths due to COVID-19 by age are being recorded and if so, when this information will be released to assist in research modelling; and if not why (HL3407).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes mortality data that are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration. This includes information on the cause of death, such as COVID-19, and the age of the deceased.

The ONS are responsible for producing a weekly report on the provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales including deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19)[1]. As part of this report, data is published for death registrations and death occurrences where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate by five-year age bands. This weekly report gets published every Tuesday at 9.30am with the data available to be used for research purposes.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/previousReleases

BEIS officials have worked closely with colleagues in the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) which, on 6 October, produced a report entitled, “AGMs: An Opportunity for Change”. The report examines the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on company behaviour and shareholder experience over the course of the 2020 AGM season.

The Government recognises the role that the cooperative model can play in the UK’s renewable energy system and in helping to meet our target of net zero emission by 2050. The £10m Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) provides grant funding support to rural communities in England many of whom are co-operatives. RCEF grants cover the early development costs of local renewable energy projects that provide economic and social benefits to the community. There is also a range of support for power, heat and transport projects that are available to co-operatives who are developing net zero energy projects such as the Smart Export Guarantee, the Renewable Heat Incentive and the electric vehicle Workplace Charging Scheme.

On 28^th September, the Government made changes to the legal position around self-isolation making it an offence for an individual to leave their place of self-isolation (normally home) during the isolating period (either following a positive Covid test, contact by NHS Test and Trace or if they have returned from abroad and are required to quarantine). In order to support this, we have also made it an offence for an employer to knowingly allow a person who has been told to self-isolate to work anywhere other than where they are self-isolating. Often the best solution when someone is self-isolating is for them to work from home.

When it comes to homeworking more generally, we are aware that the period of increased homeworking has raised numerous issues which employers and employees need to consider. ACAS has produced comprehensive guidance on the key employer considerations for when people are working at home during the pandemic. This covers health and safety, data protection and insurance – the link to the relevant section of the ACAS site can be found here https://www.acas.org.uk/working-from-home.

It is a statutory requirement for employers to put measures in place to ensure that a workplace is safe – wherever that workplace is – and to take steps to manage the relevant risks. The new self-isolation offence does not change this legal framework.

There were 21.5 million smart and advanced meters in homes and small businesses across Great Britain, as of the end of June 2020. Research has found that 80% of people with smart meters say they have a better idea of their energy costs and 88% of prepayment customers with smart meters say that topping up has become easier.

Further to the publication of guidance on safe working during coronavirus (COVID-19) in May 2020, energy suppliers have been scaling up installation volumes, while implementing additional safety measures to ensure the wellbeing of customers and staff.

In June 2020, the Government confirmed that from July 2021 a new four-year policy framework will be implemented with fixed annual installation milestones for energy suppliers that will drive roll-out momentum.

In order to ensure the gas network is secure and safe for use, the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) enforcement policy for the Iron Mains Risk Reduction Programme (IMRRP) addresses the failure of ‘at risk’ iron gas mains. This involves the replacement of old, corroded iron pipes with polyethylene (plastic) pipes.

Launched in 2002 under Pipelines Safety Regulation (1996), the scheme aims to reduce the risk to consumers of gas leakage incidents from old iron mains. The Programme is also laying the groundwork for the use of the network to potentially carry decarbonised gases such as hydrogen in the future.

The proportion of iron pipes has fallen from 80% of the distribution network in the mid-1970s to around 20% today. This is forecast to fall to around 10% by the end of Ofgem’s forthcoming RIIO (Revenues Incentives Innovation Outputs) price control period (2021-2026) and fall to around 5% by the end of the Iron Mains Risk Reduction Programme in 2032.

The Government believes that nuclear power will play a key role in our future energy mix. Alongside other technologies, such as renewables, nuclear will help us to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The forthcoming Energy White Paper will address changes to our energy system, promoting high-skilled jobs and clean, resilient economic growth as we deliver on our net zero target.

Under consumer protection law where a cancellation occurs, consumers may be entitled to a refund within 14 days, depending on the nature of the contract in place. Some businesses are also offering consumers alternative arrangements which individuals are able to choose should they wish. Consumers who paid by debit or credit card for an event, may also be able to secure a refund from their bank or credit card provider.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has created a Covid-19 taskforce and set up an online form to enable consumers to report any business they believe is behaving unfairly during the coronavirus pandemic. The online form can be found on the CMA’s website. The CMA also announced on 30^th April that in response to complaints about refunds they would be considering enforcement action in a number of sectors.

The CMA has published guidance to help consumers understand their rights and to help businesses treat their customers fairly. The guidance, “Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, consumer contracts, cancellations and refunds” is available on the CMA’s website.

Consumers can also seek free advice and help from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133, consumers living in Scotland should contact Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 800 9060 or through their website.

Her Majesty’s Government monitors the national average retail prices of fuels and these are published on GOV.UK.

BEIS analysis shows that changes in the price of crude oil are the main driver of movements in the national average retail prices of fuels such a petrol and diesel. Other factors include currency exchange rates and the balance of supply and demand for these fuels in the wholesale petroleum products markets. Changes in the price of crude oil feed through to the retail prices over the course of about 6 weeks.

The Government believes that a competitive market is the best way to keep prices low. Retail fuels markets are subject to UK competition law under the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The Vaccine Taskforce fully recognises the importance of effective clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of potential vaccines. The case for early human challenge studies is under constant review and we are working at pace to develop a vaccine as quickly as possible.

OneWeb has met with the Royal Astronomical Society as well as representatives from the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency to discuss the potential impact of its operations on astronomy. We will continue to support this dialogue on an ongoing basis.

The UK Space Agency is working with UK Research and Innovation and the science community - including through our membership of international bodies - to ensure mitigation options are properly considered that may be necessary for the UK to continue to meet its obligations to the European Southern Observatory and other intergovernmental research organisations. Government will be encouraging a responsible and engaged approach from One Web.

As part of developing our bid and making the acquisition of OneWeb, the UK Government undertook appropriate due diligence.

OneWeb has met with the Royal Astronomical Society as well as representatives from the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency to discuss the potential impact of its operations on astronomy. We will continue to support this dialogue on an ongoing basis

BEIS and the UK Space Agency will continue to support the UK science and astronomy community in addressing this issue. The community is working with colleagues from the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the European Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union to clarify what actions could be taken to mitigate interference for the UK community and our international partners.

OneWeb has been engaging with the community and met with the RAS and representatives from the UK Space Agency in January. The RAS is now seeking further discussions with both Government and OneWeb to consider potential impacts on science and risk mitigations.

UKRI has been working at pace to deliver rapid response funding calls including the Joint UKRI-DHSC call launched on 4th February. Although there is a need to work faster than usual given the urgency of the current crisis, UKRI continues to follow existing processes for managing, monitoring, assuring, and reconciling applications and the delivery of funding.

As of 3rd April, professional membership organisations that receive at least 50% of their income from trading activity and that otherwise meet the scheme eligibility criteria can access the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

CBILS supports small and medium-sized businesses with access to working capital (including loans, overdrafts, invoice finance and asset finance) of up to £5 million and for up to six years. The Government will also make a Business Interruption Payment to cover the first 12 months of interest payments and any lender-levied fees, so smaller businesses will benefit from no upfront costs and lower initial repayments.

The Government continues to champion social enterprises and the significant and wide ranging contributions they make to our society, and more recently in the response to the pandemic including in health, social care and community support. There is no doubt that social enterprises are facing significant challenges and many have adapted their business models and operations to adjust to the new circumstances.

Social enterprises have access to the support measures that the Government has put in place to support organisations through the pandemic, including loan schemes, business rate reliefs, flexibility around tax payments and grants. A £750m targeted funding package has been made available to support the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector to allow organisations to continue to provide vital services to those affected by COVID-19. This unprecedented funding is in addition to the significant package of support that has been made available across sectors, which social enterprises can access. This includes the Job Retention Scheme, the Business Loan Interruption Scheme, and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund and more recent measures including the Job Support Scheme and the Kickstart scheme. A further £150 million from dormant bank and building society accounts has been unlocked to support urgent work tackling youth unemployment, providing emergency loans for civil society organisations and improving the availability of fair, affordable credit to people in vulnerable circumstances.

Last month the Government announced a social value procurement framework for central government contracts. This presents a real opportunity to grow social enterprises’ involvement in public sector supply chains.

The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has a statutory duty to further and protect the interests of telecoms consumers.

Ofcom recently undertook a review of the mobile handsets market. As part of that review it identified concerns that some mobile phone customers were not being treated fairly, in particular where they purchase their mobile handset and airtime together in a bundled contract but continue to pay the same price after the end of their minimum contract period (as these ‘out-of-contract’ customers can often save money by moving to a SIM-only deal).

Ofcom has put in place a range of measures to address these concerns, including end-of-contract and annual best tariff notifications which will alert customers when they are out-of-contract and advise them of the best deals available from their provider, including SIM-only deals, as well as a commitment from most of the major mobile providers to apply a discount when customers on bundled deals go out-of-contract.

Alongside these measures, last year Ofcom also secured a set of ‘Fairness for Customers’ commitments from all the major communication providers. These commitments are designed to embed a culture of fairness within the industry. Ofcom will be publishing a report on industry progress against these commitments in Q4 2020/21.

This Government recognises the significant contribution that the creative industries make to innovation and research and development. That is why, as part of the Government’s Creative Industries Council, chaired by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, there is a specific working group that focuses on this issue. Ministers have been in regular contact with the Creative Industries Council during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, on 6th May, the Government’s Arts and Humanities Research Council announced a major new campaign ‘Boundless Creativity’, backed by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. This campaign will pioneer new ways in which culture can thrive in a digital age by working with the UK’s leading arts organisations and creative businesses to create ambitious and ground-breaking projects to speed up the development of new and exciting ways of engaging, entertaining and educating audiences, not just in the UK, but around the globe.

The UK Government is in favour of strong encryption: it is critical to protect UK citizens’ data online and billions of people use it every day for a range of services including banking, commerce and communications.

Facebook’s encryption proposals as they stand would have a serious impact on the vital work Facebook currently does to tackle the most serious illegal content and activity on its platform, including child sexual exploitation and abuse and terrorism.

Under the new Online Harms legislation, a duty of care will make platforms take more responsibility for the safety of their users, and tackle harm caused by content or activity on their services.

Facebook should not implement end-to-end encryption across its messaging services without ensuring that there is no reduction to user safety and without including a means for law enforcement to obtain lawful access to the content of communications. We are committed to working with Facebook to ensure it meets its responsibility to keep users safe, and those conversations are in progress.

Data from Sport England’s Active Lives Adults and Children and Young People Surveys indicates that:

• 62,900 adults aged 16+ in England took part in rugby league twice a month over the May 2018 to May 2019 period.
• 684,500 children and young people in England in school years 1-11 took part in a form of rugby at least once a week over the 2018-19 academic year.

Through Sport England, since 2017, government has to date invested nearly £11m in grassroots rugby league, including investment in the Rugby Football League Ltd, together with investment in specific community rugby league projects.

Over this time period, Sport England has invested a further £9.1m in multi-sport projects where rugby league is one of the sports benefitting.

The government is investing up to £15m towards the hosting of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, and up to £10m in grassroots facilities to help drive a legacy from the event.

Sport is a devolved matter and Sport Wales has responsibility for supporting grassroots rugby league in Wales.

The DVLA’s online services have continued to work as normal throughout the pandemic. Drivers are advised to use the online services wherever possible as it is the quickest and easiest way of renewing a licence. Since 23 March the DVLA has issued just over 1.5 million driving licences.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is based predominantly in one building in Swansea. Due to the reduced number of staff on-site at any one time to maintain social distancing, there are delays in dealing with paper applications that have been posted to that office. The number of paper driving licence applications waiting to be processed fluctuates on a daily basis as licences are issued and new applications received.

The DVLA is actively working to process these applications as quickly as possible and has reconfigured its offices to accommodate more operational staff while maintaining the two metre social distancing requirements in Wales.

It is not possible to estimate how long it will take to process these applications.

Extensions to the West Midlands Metro are for the West Midlands Combined Authority to consider and will be subject to future funding being secured. The West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street, has already done significant work in improving connectivity across the West Midlands. For example, the Mayor has allocated a substantial portion of the West Midlands’ Transforming Cities Fund allocation to fund the Brierley Hill extension to the West Midlands Metro on which services are expected to commence in 2023.

There are 22 bypass schemes in England currently awaiting funding approval. These are schemes for which Local Authority sponsors have submitted Outline Business Cases which the Government is currently considering.

The Government and industry have supported the installation of over 17,000 devices providing over 24,000 publicly available chargepoints. This includes over 2,500 rapid chargepoints – one of the largest networks in Europe. Our grant schemes and our £400m public-private Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF) will see thousands more electric vehicle chargepoints installed across the UK with the first £70 million of the CIIF delivering another 3,000 rapid chargepoints by 2024.

Along with the private sector, the Government will invest £1 billion in charging infrastructure – making sure that everyone is within 30 miles of a rapid charging station for electric vehicles. The Government consulted on proposals for chargepoints to be installed with all newly built homes in England, where appropriate. Highways England has a commitment of £15m to ensure there are chargepoints (rapid where possible) every 20 miles on 95% of the Strategic Road Network by 2020. In July 2019 work commenced to determine a vision for a core rapid charger network on England’s strategic road network. The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) will set out a vision in early 2020 for a core infrastructure network of rapid and high powered chargepoints along England’s key road network. In January, OLEV announced the doubling of the value of the On-street Residential Charging Scheme to £10 million to support chargepoints for motorists who do not have off-street parking.

Mandatory accessibility standards for trains have been in force since 1999. In that time over 9,400 new vehicles that offer wheelchair spaces, wheelchair passenger call-for-aid devices, boarding ramps and accessible toilets (where there are toilets offered on board) have been brought in to service for mainline services. A further 4,167 trains have been refurbished to offer these features. Over the coming months the small number of trains without dedicated wheelchair spaces will complete the necessary upgrades, meaning all mainline trains will offer compliant spaces for the safe and comfortable carriage of wheelchair passengers.

The Government is committed to developing an inclusive transport system which disabled people, including wheelchair users, can use easily and confidently. It is vital that taxis and private hire vehicle services play their role in ensuring that wheelchair users have the same access to public transport as everyone else.

The previous Government’s response to the Task and Finish Group report on taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) licensing, set out its commitment to taking action to ensure that taxi and PHV drivers receive disability awareness training. This remains the Government’s position.

In the meantime, later in the year we propose to issue for consultation revised best practice guidance for local licensing authorities, which will include strengthened recommendations on supporting an inclusive service.

Standards to safeguard the health, safety and wellbeing of patients and the public are set by the General Pharmaceutical Council. In addition, pharmacy businesses, like all others, are subject to health and safety legislation that aims to protect the health, safety and welfare of staff and the public. During the COVID-19 pandemic, community pharmacies would need to comply with the guidelines published by Public Health England for the relevant business and healthcare setting.

Public Health England is not the body that defines the nomenclature system for the genetic diversity of viruses. This is undertaken by the international scientific community.

The United Kingdom continues to have a strong and committed relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO), which has an important role to play in leading the global health response to COVID-19, and works closely with them at country, regional and global levels. The UK is the second largest member state donor to the WHO and has already contributed £75 million to help the WHO lead the international efforts to stop the spread of the virus.

The Government has now developed testing capacity to around 300,000 tests per day across in preparation for any second wave. We will constantly monitor demand, including anticipating winter pressures, and scale up the contact tracing workforce if needed.

We are also planning for the next phase of testing: ensuring our testing is as effective as possible in containing the virus, and building resilience for the long-term, especially ahead of winter. We plan further increases through the summer and into the autumn through a combination of improvements to existing labs and new partnerships. Increasing our testing capacity will further support the NHS Test and Trace system by allowing widespread testing of those suspected to be infected with COVID-19 and their contacts and enable the deployment of additional testing capacity to respond to local outbreaks.

The United Kingdom Government has discussed, and engaged on this issue, with other states. We are working closely with our international partners, both bilaterally and via multilateral fora, to deliver a robust global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to reinforce the resilience of vulnerable countries; ensure access to vaccines and therapeutics; keep international supply chains open; and support the global economy.

Furthermore, as part of our concerted national efforts to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, we are doing everything we can in this country to ensure patients continue to access safe and effective medicines. We are working closely with the pharmaceutical industry, the National Health Service and others in the supply chain to help ensure patients can access the medicines they need, and precautions are in place to reduce the likelihood of future shortages.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

All upper tier local authorities have access to record level (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) test and case data.

We also publish public dashboards at a national, regional and local authority level and the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) map, which allows individuals to type in a postcode to find their MSOA and see how many cases there are in small areas of around 7,000 people.

Data on the 7 day average for the number of people with COVID-19 identified through an NHS lab (Pillar 1) or from commercial swab testing (Pillar 2) back to March 2020 is available as part of the NHS Digital Progression Dashboard to upper tier local authority level and is available in an online only format through the NHS Digital website.

Whilst routine hospital treatments were suspended to provide capacity to treat COVID-19 patients, we are now working closely with the National Health Service and other partners to restart these in a safe way. Guidance has already been issued on this, and approaches are being tailored at local level according to local capacity and local demand, with the most urgent services being restarted first. Guidance also outlines that contracted independent sector hospital and diagnostic capacity should also be used in the restarting of routine elective procedures.

Control of COVID-19 requires the ability to detect asymptomatic and mild infections, that would not present to healthcare and would otherwise remain undetected through existing surveillance systems. This is important to determine the number of infections within the general population to understand transmission and to allow estimations of infection fatality and infection hospitalisation ratios.

Public Health England (PHE) is undertaking several studies on sero-prevalence in England, using samples from a range of sources, including the PHE seroepidemiology unit, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the ‘What’s the STORY’ study and NHS Blood and Transplant. PHE seroprevalence results are published weekly in the PHE surveillance report. A copy of the latest Weekly Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Surveillance Report: Summary of COVID-19 surveillance systems (published 19 June 2020) is attached.

There is good evidence that most people infected develop an antibody response. Work is continuing in PHE to understand whether the immune response to infection prevents reinfection, and if so how long any protection may last.

The Chief Medical Officer has advised that treatment given for COVID-19 other than general supportive care, treatment for underlying conditions, and antibiotics for secondary bacterial complications, should currently be as part of a trial, where that is possible.

The Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory Agency (MHRA) is working closely with the Department and others in the global response to COVID-19 and is prioritising review of applications relating to COVID-19 in response to this public health emergency.

There have been three United Kingdom clinical trials authorised that include investigation of Tocilizumab for treatment of COVID-19. The UK clinical trials are currently underway but have not been completed, and no conclusions have been reached on the safety and effectiveness of this medicine to treat COVID-19.

The Commission on Human Medicines has convened a COVID-19 Expert Working Group that meets on a regular basis to review the latest developments and advise the MHRA on its regulatory implications.

On 26 May 2020, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a positive Scientific Opinion through the Early Access to Medicines Scheme for the use of remdesivir in United Kingdom patients. This informs prescribers on the use of remdesivir across the UK in the treatment of adults and adolescents hospitalised with severe COVID-19 infection who meet additional clinical criteria.

Several clinical trials to evaluate remdesivir and its possible effects on patients with COVID-19 have already been approved by the MHRA and are ongoing in the UK. Currently the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use is considering an application for a conditional marketing authorisation for remdesivir through the European Centralised procedure, and the UK has contributed to the discussions.

There are no plans to review the methods for assessing scientific evidence following the outcome of the hydroxychloroquine arm of the RECOVERY trial.

Results from trials, even if the treatment proves ineffective, are still very useful in understanding COVID-19 and which other treatments could be more effective. This includes dexamethasone, which was also identified by the RECOVERY trial as having a significant benefit for hospitalised patients with COVID-19 who require oxygen or ventilation.

To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library

The Department, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), is working in partnership with the Centre for Black and Minority Ethnic Health in Leicester to ensure that black, Asian and minority ethnic communities have the information they need to take part and stay informed about COVID-19 research. The NIHR also requires a limited amount of demographic data on participants in all prioritized urgent COVID-19 studies to be collected to ensure recruitment is representative of the population. It is also actively supporting researchers to tackle the barriers that might stop some communities participating.

The Government launched its new NHS Test and Trace service on 28 May 2020.

If someone experiences symptoms of COVID-19 and gets tested, systems are in place to ensure that the NHS Test and Trace service automatically receives information if their test result is positive. Providing NHS Test and Trace have contact details, such as email, text or landline, they will aim to contact people within 24 hours of receiving the test result.

The more rapidly we can identify people who may have been at risk of infection and, if necessary, tell them to self-isolate, the more effectively we can reduce the R rate and the spread of the virus and maintain transmission at low levels.

The United Kingdom believes that the World Health Organization (WHO) has an important role to play in leading the health response to COVID-19 and in longer term leadership in global health including preparedness. We also want to see WHO continue to learn lessons on how to improve its response to global health emergencies and as such would expect a full review of all elements of their response once they are out of response mode, as has occurred after previous Public Health Emergencies of International Concern. The UK intends to engage constructively with a future review, including working with other governments.

Since 2017, we have, through the Department’s Global Health Security Programme, used our public health expertise to provide technical support to countries. This technical support and knowledge sharing helps build resilient public health care systems to prevent, detect and respond to disease and to better manage future public health emergencies including pandemics.

The UK supports strong mechanisms to promote equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. At the Global Vaccine Summit on 4 June 2020, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, launched a new Advance Market Commitment (AMC) for COVID-19 vaccines aimed at incentivising vaccine manufacturers to produce sufficient quantities of eventual COVID-19 vaccines, and to ensure access for developing countries with a primary focus on subsidising vaccines for the poorest countries. The UK committed £48 million to the AMC at the Summit.

In addition, the UK supported AstraZeneca’s announcement at the Summit of a $750 million agreement with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi to support the manufacturing, procurement and distribution of 300 million vaccine doses globally this year, including for the world’s poorest countries. AstraZeneca also announced a deal with the Serum Institute of India to manufacture a further 1 billion doses for distribution to developing countries.

The Government's COVID-19 public information campaign has evolved throughout the course of the pandemic. Campaign activity is informed by a solid evidence base and delivered across a range of channels and formats to maximise the reach of messaging and the adoption of critical public health actions. This includes tailored and upweighted activity for audiences who need additional motivation or support to adhere to social distancing guidelines.

The campaign has included television, digital and social media, press, radio, outdoor posters, PR and partnership activity in all four nations of the United Kingdom. We have also used daily press briefings, SMS texts and a letter from the Prime Minister to all households in the UK.

Characterisation of neutralising antibodies is still in its infancy. The role of neutralising antibodies in providing treatment or as a marker for protection against reinfection is not yet fully understood. Scientists at Public Health England and elsewhere are working in this area, and conclusions will be reported in scientific journals as new evidence emerges.

Chest X-rays or chest computed tomography scans are frequently performed for radiological lung assessments during which patients may be exposed to low doses of ionising radiation. Public Health England has not undertaken any specific assessment of the value of this diagnostic approach in the management of COVID-19. Medical exposure to ionising radiation is justified by the clinical team providing care on the basis that the benefit outweighs any potential risks to health.

There have been suggestions in the scientific literature that low dose radiation exposure of the lungs may be an effective treatment for COVID-19 related pneumonia, but this has yet to be proven.

As set out in the Government’s COVID-19 Recovery Strategy, the Government anticipates a range of indirect impacts on the nation's health, including harm caused by delays to important but non-urgent medical care and public health programmes, the mental health impact of isolation, and the health impacts of COVID-19 related economic instability.

Work is ongoing to plan for the recovery of suspended services. Public Health England has directly published or supported a range of guidance and resources, including how individuals can maintain their mental health and wellbeing during the pandemic. The Government is protecting jobs and the economy to mitigate economic impacts of COVID-19 and reduce their impact on population health.

Public Health England (PHE) has updated online channels such as Smokefree and One You, to make them consistent with the wider COVID-19 advice on quitting smoking. Specific guidance for smokers and vapers has been published online at Smokefree.

PHE supports smokers with a range of free quitting tools, including a Personal Quit Plan, the Smokefree app, a Smokefree Quit Smoking Support Group on Facebook, and a 28-day email and SMS programme.

PHE also provides free printed and digital resources to local authorities, local stop smoking services and National Health Service providers to integrate with national marketing activity.

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 – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library.

All systems relating to the attendance of patients at accident and emergency (A&E) commence at the point the patient is booked in. Administrative information is held in the Secondary Uses Service (SUS) and Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) datasets which includes details of any investigation, diagnosis made, and treatment carried out during the A&E attendance.

Information about the data collected during an attendance at A&E can be found in the NHS Data Model and Dictionary. Once this data is processed it is used to create the HES A&E dataset. Details of the fields and content of this asset can be found in the HES A&E data Dictionary.

The Monthly A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions collection also collects the total number of attendances in the calendar month for all A&E types, including minor injury units and walk-in centres, and of these, the number discharged, admitted or transferred within four hours of arrival.

The relationship between meteorological factors and COVID-19 hotspots, transmission (passing from one person to another), and environmental endurance (survival of the virus in the environment) have not been clarified sufficiently in any country, or globally. Much of the information currently available on transmission and the occurrence of COVID-19 hotspots relies on understanding the differences in epidemiology between other known species of human coronaviruses and COVID-19.

Carefully designed studies take time to gather observations and currently results around how COVID-19 effects its interaction with environmental, population and societal aspects are not yet available. Therefore, the current Public Health England (PHE) infection control advice assumes that the transmission characteristics of COVID-19 are similar to those of the 2003 SARS-CoV outbreak.

PHE continues to review and consider evidence on the potential association between environmental factors, including temperature, and the health impacts of COVID-19, as it emerges.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 was first identified, the United Kingdom Government has set out to mitigate against the spread of the virus in the UK population through various measures, including promotion of hand and respiratory hygiene and social distancing. This has subsequently led to a reduction in R and new daily cases identified, helping to protect the National Health Service and save lives.

The Government has made no assessment of the possibility of the UK population achieving herd immunity as it is not the Government’s policy, nor its aim for herd immunity to be achieved. Whilst it is not and has never been UK policy to stride for herd immunity, the proportion of the UK population who have had COVID-19 and recovered will gradually increase over time unless disease activity ceases entirely. As we understand the science at this juncture, it appears that most individuals who recover from COVID-19 do develop antibodies.

The plans to change the COVID-19 social distancing guidance from two metres is under constant review. The Government continues to encourage two metre social distancing wherever that is possible.

In easing the lockdown, the Government accepts that maintaining two metre social distancing may be difficult in certain circumstances and will be issuing updated workplace guidance to address that and, subject to legislation, is mandating the use of face coverings on public transport from 15 June.

The Government collaborates closely with Public Health England to ensure guidance on two metre social distancing is kept up to date as regulations change in light of latest medical and scientific evidence.

Transparency, including on the evidence informing the views of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), is vital in helping to maintain the public’s trust and grow our collective understanding of the disease, while also helping to explain how scientific advice to the Government is being formed. The Government is working to publish evidence documents and studies, which have formed the basis of SAGE’s discussions and advice to Ministers, regularly, and will publish more evidence in the coming weeks.

SAGE does not currently publish the R value on a regional level. SAGE publishes an updated estimate of the United Kingdom-wide R range on a weekly basis.

Data on Hospital Episodes Statistics is published online by NHS Digital and the latest available data is for 2018/19. Annual data for 2019/20 is due to be published in October 2020.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) is advised on infectious disease modelling by a working group, the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M). SPI-M consists of several modelling groups, all of whom have developed their own models independently, and some have multiple models for different purposes, of which most have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. For those models that have not yet been published in peer-reviewed journals, there is an intention to do so. Some models have complex methodologies while others are simpler, with each different approach able to provide useful insights for policy-making decisions. These independent models come from a range of United Kingdom institutions and universities and the advice from them are regarded, individually and collectively, as some of the best in the world, and the UK Government is making the most of the talented UK modelling community’s expertise through SPI-M’s consensus approach.

The stochastic version of the Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered model CovidSIM v1.1 has not been used by SPI-M; it is a relatively simple simulation to support policy development in countries where there is less modelling capacity and capability.

To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library

We recognise the effect that social distancing and self-isolation may have on a person’s mental wellbeing. We have published official guidance on mental health and wellbeing online at GOV.UK and are promoting this through the Every Mind Matters online resource. Our guidance for households with possible or confirmed COVID-19 infection also includes tips on protecting mental wellbeing during isolation.

We are working with the National Health Service and Public Health England, service users, academics and the voluntary sector to gather evidence and assess the potential longer-term mental health impacts of COVID-19 and plan for how to support the public’s mental health and wellbeing throughout the ‘recovery’ phase.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), commissioned by the Department, conducts regular analyses of the COVID-19 and other clinical trials, including geographical analysis. This analysis enables NIHR to ensure patients and members of the public from all parts of England and in all relevant sites have access to research. In addition, it enables work to ensure a better matching of clinical trials with disease prevalence, which benefits both patients affected and researchers. The NIHR Clinical Research Network, using its 15 regional centres across the country, ensures that there is a balance between the different needs of localities based on local knowledge of disease burden and a coordinated response across England.

The situation is being closely monitored by the Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement.

The National Health Service is adapting how it runs its cancer services to ensure the safety of both patients and staff – this includes establishing dedicated cancer hubs for urgent treatment and diagnosis.

Essential and urgent cancer treatments are continuing. Cancer specialists are discussing with their patients the potential risks to them, either through undergoing or to delay treatment at this time.

Medical staff will always have the safety of patients at the centre of any decisions they make.

The information is not held in the format requested.

Since March 2020 surveillance of multisystem inflammatory syndrome, Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome has been underway in the United Kingdom. The British Paediatric Surveillance Unit and Public Health England have commenced a study which aims to understand the incidence, presenting features, laboratory features, management, clinical course and the outcome of this potentially new syndrome characterised by hyperinflammation which is temporally associated with COVID-19.

The study is scheduled to run until March 2021, or until sufficient case reports have been notified to allow data analysis.

Everyone in England, including those who are clinically extremely vulnerable, is required to follow the new national restrictions from 5 November, which have been set out by the government and apply to the whole population. Additional guidance and support has been provided to clinically extremely vulnerable people to further protect them from COVID-19 during this time.

Support is available to individuals who are feeling anxious or distressed. ‘Every Mind Matters’ offers advice and practical steps that people can take to support their wellbeing and mental health during this time. Help can also be provided by local charities, organisations and National Health Service Volunteer Responders.

At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in March there were more than 8,000 mechanical ventilators in hospitals across the United Kingdom. As of 19 May, we now have around 13,000 mechanical ventilators available to the National Health Service. Over 1,800 of these have been provided by new suppliers responding to the Prime Minister’s ventilator challenge and almost 1,600 by established suppliers (with another almost 1,200 available from the private healthcare sector). In addition, there are also almost 8,000 non-invasive ventilators available to the NHS across the UK which were not available before mid-March.

These figures will continue to rise as we procure further equipment and more products from the Prime Minister’s ventilator challenge become available. Our expectation is that we will secure several thousands more in the coming weeks.

As part of our concerted national efforts to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, we are doing everything we can to ensure patients continue to access safe and effective medicines, including those used in clinical trials. The Department is working closely with the pharmaceutical industry, the National Health Service and others in the supply chain to help ensure patients can access the medicines they need, and precautions are in place to reduce the likelihood of future shortages.

We are implementing a joined-up and streamlined process across research, manufacturing and distribution that will rapidly test potential treatments for COVID-19 and prepare to increase supplies if trials show positive indications. In order to support clinical trials, there are centrally procured and managed supplies of a number of medicines.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is providing expedited scientific advice, and rapid reviews of clinical trials applications to support manufacturers and researchers on potential treatments for COVID-19.

The MHRA is also working closely with the Department and other healthcare partners and stakeholders to rapidly identify where flexibilities in the regulation of medicines and medical devices may be possible. This is with a view to supporting the healthcare products supply chain and wider response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United Kingdom. These flexibilities are being offered to provide flexibility in exceptional circumstances. The flexibilities are temporary and will be kept under review, except where regulatory extensions have been stated.

Precautions to prevent respiratory virus transmission are based on long-established infection prevention and control principles and the scientific studies that inform them.

In addition, the Government continues to review evidence about COVID-19 transmission as the pandemic evolves. To date, there is no new evidence to suggest that the route of transmission has changed, or that the methods required to prevent transmission need to change.

Data is not collected centrally on the different types of treatment COVID-19 patients receive and the outcomes of such treatments.

Based on data provided by those companies as of 19 May 2020, the suppliers have provided the following details of oxygen levels across hospitals in England.

In addition to bulk oxygen supplies, there are also hundreds of thousands of medical oxygen cylinders in circulation from several different suppliers, the vast majority of which will be held by NHS trusts. These are available in a wide range of sizes and capacities to meet different uses. Optimum levels for cylinder oxygen would be determined locally by each hospital and trust. This information is not collected centrally. However, we are unaware of any instances where cylinder oxygen has not been available to treat patients.

The Government has been closely monitoring the emerging data and evidence on COVID-19. This happens in a number of ways including academic research networks, regular conversations between United Kingdom experts and their international colleagues, and resources such as the live systematic map being updated by the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre, funded by the National Institute for Health Research.

The Government has carefully considered risks to groups as part of the process for determining what measures to include in The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 and at each review point, in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirement for public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities.

There is currently no plan to use data on individuals to develop individualised risk assessments.

We are aware of the approaches of New Zealand, Thailand, and Taiwan in deploying digital technologies to enforce quarantines. No formal assessment has been made due to differences in approach: New Zealand, for example, does not have a contact tracing app. We will, however, continue to work with others to exchange ideas and develop solutions which take into account cultural and societal difference.

The National Health Service COVID-19 app’s risk scoring algorithm does not currently use Bayesian inference. Instead, a user’s risk is calculated using a combination of heuristics, developed in collaboration with expert epidemiologists from the University of Oxford’s Big Data Institute. We have published an explanation of how the risk scoring algorithm works on the FAQ page of the NHS COVID-19 website in an online only format. For future versions of the app, we are working on a fully probabilistic, Bayesian risk scoring algorithm.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) is responsible for ensuring that timely and coordinated scientific advice is made available to decision-makers, to support United Kingdom cross-Government decisions. In fulfilling this role, SAGE considers a wide range scientific evidence. This paper has not been considered by SAGE, but SAGE members may consider a range of evidence in their work.

The Government continues to be guided by the best scientific and clinical advice to aid decision-making but is not using automatic intelligence or machine learning algorithms to prioritise the allocation of testing for COVID-19.

In the case of COVID-19, infection is most commonly detected by using a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR); a test that detects viral genetic material (in this case, ribonucleic acid; RNA). The detection of viral RNA alone does not necessarily indicate an active virus infection.

Evidence shows virus can be cultured from upper respiratory tract samples for about eight days after the onset of symptoms.

Stay at home: guidance for households with possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection recommends that individuals remain at home for seven days after the onset of symptoms. If a person still has a high temperature, they should keep self-isolating until their temperature returns to normal. If the individual lives with others, all other household members who remain well must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill. Stay at home: guidance for households with possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection was first published on 12 March in an online only format on GOV.UK.

The Government is reviewing the guidance on the duration of the self-isolation period.

To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library

The positive reaction and adherence to social distancing measures from the public has meant that the reproduction number (R number) has been slowly falling. After assessment of the figures and following scientific advice, the Government will slowly start to lift some of the restrictions that have been in place since 23 March. This will be completed through a phased approach and only if the R stays below 1.

Additionally, to try to ensure that we work together to achieve this, the Government has increased the fines for the those who break the rules, starting at £100 but doubling with each infringement up to £3,600.

The Government’s approach to the next phase of the pandemic will be guided by the scientific advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). It is SAGE’s role to ensure that timely and coordinated scientific advice is made available to support Government decisions.

The data requested is not held centrally.

Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), is used in many laboratories to test patient samples for the COVID-19 virus.

RT-PCR is used for detecting certain viruses to help diagnose infection. It is being used throughout the United Kingdom to detect the COVID-19 virus. RT-PCR makes millions of copies of a virus’ genetic material and these can be detected on laboratory equipment. If this equipment detects a signal, it means the test is positive (virus detected). If the equipment does not detect a signal, it means the test is negative (no virus detected).

The Government is in the process of setting up a life assurance scheme for frontline health and social care staff who contract COVID-19 during the course of their work.

The scheme is non-contributory and pays a £60,000 lump sum where staff die as a result of COVID-19 and had been recently working in frontline roles and locations where personal care is provided to individuals who have recently contracted COVID-19. These arrangements cover pharmacy teams working in hospitals and general practitioner practices.

The scheme permits the Secretary of State to consider exceptional cases which may not fall within the eligibility criteria, such as cases from community pharmacy.

The Government relies on modelling work undertaken by several academic groups, who report to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies through its various subgroups. A collection of modelling information, including methodologies, which has informed decision making on COVID-19 has now been published online on GOV.UK and further papers will be published online at regular intervals.

The incubation period for COVID-19 ranges from one to 14 days, with a median of five days. Data on the mean and mode are not published.

Results for COVID-19 swab tests are reported to those taking them in the order they are processed, which will be in the order of receipt by the laboratory.

Once a swab sample is taken as part of COVID-19 testing, it must be sent to a laboratory to be processed. We aim to make results for polymerase chain reaction tests available within 48 hours of the test being undertaken. In some cases results may take a little longer to arrive.

Pharmacy employers’ responsibilities to their staff are outlined in Public Health England (PHE) COVID-19 employers and business guidance, encouraging measures such as regular hand washing, frequently disinfecting surfaces/objects that are touched, not attending work if symptomatic and working side by side or face away from each other when unable to remain two metres apart. Reasonable adjustments should be made to the pharmacy layout and working pattern to enable two metres distancing between staff and patients. PHE personal protective equipment guidance states that where social distancing cannot be maintained from patients, the sessional use of a fluid-resistant surgical mask is recommended.

The Government had set a demanding objective of conducting 100,000 tests per day by the end of April 2020. This objective was met, with 122,347 tests conducted on 30 April.

The United Kingdom is not currently participating in the Solidarity Trial, launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, as the same compounds are already being tested in existing UK trials. Lopinavir/ritonavir is being trialled in the RECOVERY and REMAP-CAP trials; interferon beta-1a is being trialled in REMAP-CAP; and hydroxychloroquine is being trialled in the RECOVERY, REMAP-CAP and PRINCIPLE clinical trials. The UK trials have been designed to be compatible with the Solidarity Trial so that UK data can be shared with the WHO platform.

We are working with leading tech firms and experts in clinical safety and digital ethics in developing our contact-tracing app, drawing on a wide range of commercial, academic and international best practice. The technology is based on research evidence developed by epidemiologists, mathematical modellers and ethicists.

We are actively considering when the best time would be to roll-out the app. Scaled-up contact tracing is likely to have greatest value when we have achieved reductions in the incidence of the virus to ensure low levels of transmission are maintained.

The COVID-19: guidance for households with possible coronavirus infection and COVID-19: guidance on shielding and protecting people who are clinically extremely vulnerable from COVID-19 has been translated into 11 languages.

We are constantly evaluating what more we can do to support different groups in society that have particular needs or face particular challenges.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is currently engaging with the research community and Government scientific advisers to investigate whether monitoring COVID-19 in waste water could be used as a way of tracking the outbreak and assessing the impact of control measures. The World Health Organization is clear there is currently no evidence that the virus has been transmitted via sewerage systems.

COVID-19 is a new virus and we are learning more about the properties of the virus every day. The United Kingdom is carrying out research to better understand the virus and inform the actions that will lessen its effect on the UK population.

UK clinical experts recognise that most patients recover from COVID-19 without complications, but a small proportion develop a severe delayed hyper-inflammatory illness that includes a set of symptoms or complications sometimes referred to as ‘cytokine storm’. The UK is assessing in clinical trials, several drugs that may make a difference at this stage in the illness.

The Government will continue to review the evidence as it emerges and will always be ready to upgrade the guidance with new scientific evidence and on the expert advice of New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG).

Direct comparisons between countries are difficult. Outbreak responses includes packages of control measures and the components of packages differ between countries, as do the times at which they are introduced. Real-time comparisons of impacts of COVID-19 on different countries are likely to be less accurate and less useful than the comparisons that we can expect to occur at the end of the pandemic, when complete data are likely to be available.

In a public statement given by the Prime Minister on 15 March, it was explained that as part of the Government’s main message on self-isolation, if someone has symptoms of COVID-19, however mild, they should not leave their home for seven days from when their symptoms started on the provision that they are no longer showing any signs of the virus.

The 14-day period is for those who have had exposure to a confirmed case but have not shown symptoms.

The 14 days represents the potential incubation period (the time it takes for symptoms to show if someone has been infected).

Most people will no longer be likely to transmit the virus seven days after the onset of symptoms.

The Government is currently funding two United Kingdom vaccine candidates; one at the University of Oxford led by Professor Sarah Gilbert and one at Imperial College London led by Professor Robin Shattock.

Imperial’s vaccine candidate is in pre-clinical testing and the University of Oxford started Phase 1 (human safety) trials on Thursday 23 April. Oxford have recruited healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 55 to take part in these trials.

As part of the national effort to focus the United Kingdom’s manufacturing industry on this immediate challenge, the Government has issued a ‘call to arms’ for industry partners and other manufacturers to make essential personal protective equipment (PPE) that demonstrably meets required specifications for use by the National Health Service and care sector.

Each offer from industry is being followed up with checks on the organisation making the offer and technical checks on the safety and effectiveness of the products on offer before they are purchased for use within the NHS and care sector. The large number of offers means that it has been taking some time to respond. This is because we have a rigorous process in place and are checking at every step to ensure that the offers meet our safety requirements.

Lord Deighton will lead the national effort to boost UK PPE production and also support the scaling up of engineering efforts for small companies capable of contributing to supplies.

The Government is committed to providing a full and transparent picture of COVID-19-related deaths, while avoiding double counting or publishing statistically misleading information. We publish daily figures on confirmed COVID-19 deaths in hospital, which provide the most up-to-date data on a consistent basis as the vast majority of serious cases and fatalities of the virus will occur in hospital settings.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is also publishing data on deaths registered each week, which includes deaths outside hospital settings. From 28 April 2020, the ONS will publish counts of deaths involving COVID-19 in care homes, based on reporting from care home operators to the Care Quality Commission.

The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) reports that as of 27 March 2020, 57 patients have been recruited to a clinical trial of treatments for patients with COVID-19 via the NIHR Clinical Research Network.

On 20 March, the Government published scientific evidence supporting the United Kingdom Government response on COVID-19, including modelling on the dynamics of transmission of the virus.

The proportion of cases who are asymptomatic is difficult to estimate. Information about the scientific evidence used to support the UK Government response can be found online via GOV.UK.

Those with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic are unlikely to be treated, as they would not have health issues.

As part of our concerted national efforts to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, the Department is working closely with industry, the National Health Service and others in the supply chain to help ensure patients can access the medicines and medical devices and equipment they need. Precautions are in place to reduce the likelihood of future shortages, including management of demand.

The Department shares regular information about impending supply issues and management plans with the NHS via networks in primary and secondary care and will liaise with relevant patient groups about issues affecting specific medicines, medical devices and equipment.

Community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are regulated healthcare professionals and must ensure they have adequate indemnity insurance cover, either personally or through their employer.

Clinical pharmacists employed in National Health Service trusts are covered by the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts. Clinical pharmacists employed in general practitioner practices providing NHS services (either primary medical services under a Part 4 contract or other NHS services provided by the practice) are covered by the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice.

The Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts and the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice, both administered by NHS Resolution, provide indemnity for clinical negligence liabilities for healthcare workers for the majority of NHS services in England. Some staff, such as community pharmacy professionals, are indemnified by their employer or hold their own personal indemnity product. Sections 10, 11 and 12 in the Coronavirus Act 2020 enables the Secretary of State to provide indemnity for clinical negligence liabilities arising from National Health Service activities carried out for the purposes of dealing with, or in consequence of, the coronavirus outbreak, where there is no existing indemnity arrangement in place. Together these schemes cover healthcare staff for clinical negligence liabilities arising during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new sections in the Act are effectively a backstop where other indemnity arrangements do not apply.

NHS Resolution also meets legal representation costs at some inquests, on a discretionary basis, under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts. The state schemes do not extend to the costs of legal representation at regulatory, employment or criminal proceedings and many healthcare professionals obtain their own cover for these contingencies.

We also recognise the importance for healthcare professionals of access to medico-legal advice and support, and the Medical Defence Organisations and other indemnity providers and are providing this advice and support to healthcare professionals assisting with the COVID-19 response.

The latest data on the number of people accepting an offer to study a podiatry course in England is presented in the following table.

Source: Universities and Colleges Admissions Service End of Cycle data, 2019

This information is not held centrally. The funding and commissioning of services for musculoskeletal disorders is a local matter, over which individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have responsibility. CCGs are best placed to understand the needs of local populations and allocate funding for services to meet those needs from the overall resource allocations they receive.

The information is not held in the format requested.

The NHS People Plan work programme is completing a review of all allied health professions, including podiatrists. This will look at capacity requirements up to 2024 considering both the current and future capacity needs for all allied health professions. The NHS People Plan is due to be published in early 2020.

The article adds to the growing body of evidence that cancer genes and mechanisms are altered by mutations in non-coding DNA, this is approximately 95% of the genome which does not contain code for a protein. Analysis of whole genome sequencing data can provide information on how mutations in both coding and non-coding regions relate to cancer and other diseases.

In 2018, the Government committed to sequencing at least one million whole genome equivalents over the next five years and this will provide the data for further analysis of the contribution of both coding and non-coding DNA to disease processes.

The Department has made no assessment of the comments made on ITV’s This Morning Programme.

Last July, the Government set out plans in a landmark five-year Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework deal. This will see community pharmacies fully integrated in the National Health Service providing more clinical services.

This deal full recognises the valuable contribution that community pharmacies, situated in the hearts of our communities, make to the NHS. Pharmacists are fully trained, over five years, as experts in medicines. That is why we have recently commissioned the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service and are currently running a mass media campaign to promote their role in supporting people to deal with minor illnesses.

We also see a role for pharmacists in supporting people to stay healthy for longer by identifying and supporting people to address key risk factors for disease, for example high blood pressure or weight, and signposting those who want support to services locally.

The Department has made no assessment of the comments made on ITV’s This Morning Programme.

Last July, the Government set out plans in a landmark five-year Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework deal. This will see community pharmacies fully integrated in the National Health Service providing more clinical services.

This deal full recognises the valuable contribution that community pharmacies, situated in the hearts of our communities, make to the NHS. Pharmacists are fully trained, over five years, as experts in medicines. That is why we have recently commissioned the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service and are currently running a mass media campaign to promote their role in supporting people to deal with minor illnesses.

We also see a role for pharmacists in supporting people to stay healthy for longer by identifying and supporting people to address key risk factors for disease, for example high blood pressure or weight, and signposting those who want support to services locally.

​The UK remains concerned by the human rights situation in Equatorial Guinea and reports of arbitrary detention. We have no diplomatic mission or resident diplomatic staff in Equatorial Guinea. We use regular visits by our non-resident Ambassador (based in Cameroon) and discussions with the Chargé in London to raise human rights concerns. The British Ambassador raised human rights during his most recent visit in January.

We are concerned by Jackie Umuhoza's continued detention without charge and urge the Government of Rwanda to abide by its international human rights obligations and international norms on arrest and detention. The Prime Minister raised human rights and the importance of adhering to Commonwealth values when he met President Kagame during the UK-Africa Investment Summit on 20 January. The British High Commission in Kigali regularly raises human rights concerns with the Government of Rwanda.

We remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation in Yemen and continue to raise the importance of respect for human rights with all parties to the conflict.

We also acknowledge that the conflict has had a disproportionate impact on women and girls. The incidence of gender based violence has risen by 60% since the start of the conflict. Women and girls bear the disproportionate brunt of obstacles caused by protracted displacement, including lack of access to services and civil documentation.

In the 2018 Foreign and Commonwealth Office human rights report, we highlighted our concerns over women's rights including girls' education, and attacks on freedom of religion or belief and on freedom of speech and association. The UK is a global leader on the Women Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and penholder at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). We are prioritising strengthening the implementation of UNSCR 1325 on WPS by increasing women's meaningful participation in peace processes. Through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF), we support UN Women initiatives, such as the Yemeni Women Pact. We also support the work of UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths, who is actively engaging women in the peace process. We recognise there is more to do to support the Special Envoy and are funding advisers on gender and inclusion within his office.

The Government is committed to supporting all groups in society, including the most vulnerable, with the challenges caused by Covid-19. The Government has boosted the generosity of the welfare system by £7.4bn in 2020-21 including through a temporary £20 a week increase in Universal Credit (UC) standard allowance and Working Tax Credit basic element, an increase in Local Housing Allowance rates and relaxation of UC minimum income floor for self-employed claimants. The Department for Work and Pensions offers HMG Payment Exception Service that allows customers access to funds via PayPoint outlets, for individuals who cannot access a bank account.

However, the Government recognises the importance of having a bank account, as it provides a way of receiving income, whether that be salary, pension, benefits or tax credit and opens up opportunities to access other financial products such as savings accounts, credit, insurance and mortgages. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, HM Treasury and the financial regulators have worked closely with banks, building societies and credit unions to maintain branch access for essential services, including for the purposes of opening a bank account.

The Treasury does not make assessments of the number of people who do not have a bank account. However, in 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the results of the Financial Lives Survey which found that 1.3 million UK adults do not hold an account they can use for day-to-day payments and transactions.

The 9 largest personal current account providers in the UK are legally required to offer fee-free basic bank accounts to customers who do not have a bank account in the UK or who are ineligible for a bank’s standard current account. The Treasury publishes data on basic bank accounts annually. The December 2019 publication shows that in total there are nearly 7.5 million basic bank accounts open in the UK. More information can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/basic-bank-accounts

The Government remains closely engaged with the financial regulators, including through the Treasury-chaired Joint Authorities Cash Strategy Group, to monitor and assess risks around cash relating to COVID-19.

It is too early to predict what permanent impacts the COVID-19 pandemic will have on cash usage and payments more broadly. However, it is reasonable to expect that knock on changes in how people purchase goods and services, and social distancing measures, have accelerated the decline in the use of cash, as people have become more comfortable with other forms of transactions and payments, for example contactless card payments.

The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates on the volume of fraud against adult individuals in England and Wales in the Crime Survey for England and Wales quarterly releases.^[1]

The ONS estimated that in the year ending June 2020 there were approximately 4.3 m fraud offences against adults in England Wales.

The ONS also publishes, as part of its data on crime, the total number of fraud offences that are referred to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) by industry bodies (UK finance and CIFAS) or recorded by Action Fraud each year. In the year ending June 2020, 733,967 cases were referred to the NFIB or recorded by Action Fraud. The ONS also provide a breakdown of this data by fraud type. For example, there were 415,274 cases of banking and credit industry fraud reported and 14,616 cases of financial investment fraud.^[2]

The Home Office has estimated that the total cost of fraud to individuals in England and Wales in 2015/2016 was £4.7bn^[3]. They also estimated that the economic cost of organised fraud against businesses and the public sector in the UK was £5.9bn.^[4]

[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingjune2020

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables

[3] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/732110/the-economic-and-social-costs-of-crime-horr99.pdf

[4] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/782656/understanding-organised-crime-mar16-horr103-2nd.pdf

The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates on the volume of fraud against adult individuals in England and Wales in the Crime Survey for England and Wales quarterly releases.^[1]

The ONS estimated that in the year ending June 2020 there were approximately 4.3 m fraud offences against adults in England Wales.

The ONS also publishes, as part of its data on crime, the total number of fraud offences that are referred to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) by industry bodies (UK finance and CIFAS) or recorded by Action Fraud each year. In the year ending June 2020, 733,967 cases were referred to the NFIB or recorded by Action Fraud. The ONS also provide a breakdown of this data by fraud type. For example, there were 415,274 cases of banking and credit industry fraud reported and 14,616 cases of financial investment fraud.^[2]

The Home Office has estimated that the total cost of fraud to individuals in England and Wales in 2015/2016 was £4.7bn^[3]. They also estimated that the economic cost of organised fraud against businesses and the public sector in the UK was £5.9bn.^[4]

[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingjune2020

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables

[3] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/732110/the-economic-and-social-costs-of-crime-horr99.pdf

[4] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/782656/understanding-organised-crime-mar16-horr103-2nd.pdf

The Government has taken the unprecedented step of providing over £10 billion in business rates relief this year for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties.

As announced at the Spending Review, to support businesses next year the Government will freeze the multiplier and will announce any decisions on future rate reliefs in the New Year.

The VAT payments deferral scheme ended on 30 June 2020, as planned. As part of the Winter Economy Plan, the Government announced further support for those with deferred VAT, allowing them to spread what they owe over smaller monthly payments. More information on the VAT deferral new payment scheme is available on GOV.UK, as is more information on other support for businesses.

The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the crisis on the debt situation in developing countries, including through our membership of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Paris Club. It is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is placing extraordinary pressures on the finances of low and middle income countries. Recognising this, the G20 has taken action to support these countries, agreeing the landmark DSSI (Debt Service Suspension Initiative). The DSSI provides a suspension of debt repayments to eligible countries so they can focus resources on their coronavirus response. The UK is also pleased with the in-principle agreement by the G20 to a Common Framework for debt restructuring. This is crucial to ensuring coordinated debt relief to countries which require it on a case-by-case basis, with fair burden sharing between all official and private creditors.

Credit unions play a vital role in the financial wellbeing of their communities, providing an ethical home for their members’ savings, and affordable loans to those who may otherwise have to resort to high-cost lenders. The Government is committed to seeing a strong and resilient credit union sector. That is why the Chancellor announced at Budget 2020 that the Government will bring forward legislation to enable credit unions to offer a wider range of products and services.

HM Treasury officials are working closely with the Prudential Regulation Authority, Financial Conduct Authority and sector representatives to monitor the impact of the disruption caused by COVID-19 on credit unions and their members.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury has also engaged regularly with representatives from the credit union sector through the Consumer Finance Forum and Financial Inclusion Policy Forum, which are bringing financial services and consumer group representatives together to discuss how to best support people through this period.

On 21 July, HM Treasury published a Call for Evidence for the fundamental review of business rates. The Call for Evidence invites stakeholders to contribute their views on ideas for reform on all elements of the business rates system and on alternative taxes.

As set out in the Call for Evidence, the fundamental review will conclude in Spring 2021.

The Call for Evidence can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/hm-treasury-fundamental-review-of-business-rates-call-for-evidence

As part of its package to support businesses affected by COVID-19, the Government has provided a business rates holiday for eligible properties in retail, hospitality and leisure, worth £10 billion this year.

The Government has also postponed the next business rates revaluation until April 2023, in order to ensure that the revaluation better reflects the impact of COVID-19.

In addition, HM Treasury is conducting a fundamental review of business rates and invites stakeholders to contribute their views on all elements of the business rates system, including any future reliefs.

The Government recognises the contribution credit unions have made to support vulnerable people during the Covid-19 pandemic. Credit unions play a vital role in the financial wellbeing of their communities, providing an ethical home for their members’ savings, and affordable loans to those who may otherwise have to resort to high-cost lenders.

The Centre for Community Finance Europe (CFCFE) published research in May 2020, setting out the range of activities credit unions have undertaken to support their local communities during the Covid-19 pandemic, including adapting existing services and introducing new products. The research is available on the CFCFE website.

In April 2020, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury wrote to credit union trade bodies to thank frontline credit union staff for their efforts to continue to provide essential services to their members. Furthermore, the Economic Secretary has engaged with representatives from the credit union sector through the Consumer Finance Forum and Financial Inclusion Policy Forum, which has brought financial services and consumer group representatives together, to discuss how people can be best supported.

HMT officials also hosted a meeting with credit union trade bodies in June 2020 to understand their experiences of supporting members through the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Treasury has been reviewing the Small Brewers Relief (SBR) scheme since 2018. The SBR scheme in part aims to provide smaller brewers support with their higher production costs. Small brewers receive a 50% reduction from their beer duty bills, but currently once brewers produce more than 5,000 hectolitres this is rapidly withdrawn.

Based on evidence provided by a survey of brewers conducted in 2019, which received over 300 responses, and data provided by the Society of Independent Brewers and other brewing groups, the Treasury has concluded that production costs for brewers in the range of 2,100-5,000 hectolitres are not significantly different for those in the 5-10,000 hectolitres range.

Accordingly, the Treasury considers that the radically different tax treatment both groups currently face is not appropriate. It disincentivises growth and distorts business decisions.

Therefore, the Treasury has concluded that both groups of brewers should be brought in scope of the scheme’s taper. The Treasury will discontinue the “cliff edge” design of the current taper in favour of a new one, which tapers relief more smoothly over a broader range of production.

The details of these proposals are subject to further consultation, and the final shape of these reforms has not yet been determined. The Treasury expects that more than 80% of all brewers will be unaffected by these changes, and brewers who are affected will benefit from the improved economics of the scheme. Final changes will not take effect until at least 31 December 2021.

The Government has announced unprecedented support for public services, workers and businesses to protect against the current economic emergency. These measures are supporting millions of families, businesses and self-employed people from every community in the UK to get through this crisis and emerge on the other side both stronger and more united.

HM Treasury takes care to pay due regard to the equality impacts of its policy decisions relating to the COVID-19 outbreak, in line with all legal requirements and the Government’s commitment to promoting equality. There are internal procedural requirements and support in place for ensuring that such considerations inform decisions taken by Ministers.

The Government does not have this information available. Local Authorities, which are operating the business grants schemes and the business rates holiday, do not have systematic access to data on the turnover of businesses in their area.

We are aware that some small businesses are finding themselves excluded from the business grants schemes because of the way in which they interact with the business rates system.

On 1^st May the Government announced that it would make up to £617 million of additional funding available to Local Authorities to enable them to make discretionary payments of up to £25,000 to businesses in this situation.

The discretionary funds will be administered by Local Authorities, who will ask businesses to apply for a grant. Local Authorities will shortly receive guidance regarding which kinds of businesses should be considered a priority for these funds. It is the Government’s intention that the following businesses should be considered a priority:

• Businesses in shared offices;
• Regular market traders who do not have their own business rates assessment;
• B&Bs which pay Council Tax instead of business rates; and
• Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief which would otherwise have been eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief.

Local Authorities may also choose to pay grants to businesses outside of these areas, according to local economic need, so long as the grants are aimed at:

• Businesses with ongoing fixed building-related costs
• Businesses which can demonstrate that they have suffered a significant fall in income due to the Covid-19 crisis
• Business with fewer than 50 employees
• Businesses that were trading on or before 11^th March

Businesses will need to apply to their Local Authority in order to receive grants. Each Local Authority will need to create their own process, which may take some time. The Government encourages businesses in the creative sectors which have not been eligible for grants to look out for their Local Authority’s version of this scheme, and to contact their Local Authority for more information in due course.

Businesses in the creative sector which remain ineligible for business grants may be able to benefit from other measures in the Government’s unprecedented package of support for business, including:

• An option to defer VAT payments by up to twelve months;
• The Bounce Back Loan scheme, which will ensure that small and micro businesses can quickly access loans of up to £50,000 which are 100% guaranteed by the Government;
• The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, now extended to cover all businesses including those which would be able to access commercial credit;
• The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, to support businesses with their wage bills;
• The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, to provide support to the self-employed.

In 2014 the Government passed the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act, to reduce legal complexity for co-operatives and community benefit societies, and increased the amount of share capital an individual member can put into a cooperative society to £100,000.

Co-operatives UK’s ’Co-op Economy’ report has found that annual turnover for co-operative and mutual businesses across the UK has grown year on year, reaching a record high of £37.7 billion in 2019.

At Autumn Budget 2018, the Government announced a package of measures to support credit unions, and other social and community lenders, including:

• A £2 million affordable credit challenge fund, harnessing the UK’s FinTech sector to address challenges faced by social and community lenders, including credit unions. Six finalists were selected in October 2019, receiving initial funding of £150,000.
• A change in the regulatory boundary of credit broking to make it easier for registered social landlords such as housing associations to refer their tenants to social and community lenders.
• A prize-linked savings pilot scheme, to encourage the growth of the credit union sector, and encourage consumers to build up their personal savings. This pilot launched on 17 October, International Credit Union Day, in 15 credit unions across the country. Over 6,000 accounts had been opened by the end of January 2020.
• A feasibility study for a UK No-Interest Loans Scheme.

Regulation of the credit union sector is a matter for the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The PRA concluded a consultation on a simplified, proportional capital requirement regime for credit unions on 24 January 2020.

At Autumn Budget 2018, the Government announced a package of measures to support credit unions, and other social and community lenders, including:

• A £2 million affordable credit challenge fund, harnessing the UK’s FinTech sector to address challenges faced by social and community lenders, including credit unions. Six finalists were selected in October 2019, receiving initial funding of £150,000.
• A change in the regulatory boundary of credit broking to make it easier for registered social landlords such as housing associations to refer their tenants to social and community lenders.
• A prize-linked savings pilot scheme, to encourage the growth of the credit union sector, and encourage consumers to build up their personal savings. This pilot launched on 17 October, International Credit Union Day, in 15 credit unions across the country. Over 6,000 accounts had been opened by the end of January 2020.
• A feasibility study for a UK No-Interest Loans Scheme.

Regulation of the credit union sector is a matter for the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The PRA concluded a consultation on a simplified, proportional capital requirement regime for credit unions on 24 January 2020.

At Budget 2018 the Government announced that the Digital Services Tax would be implemented from April 2020. Following this announcement the Government carried out consultation, and published draft legislation in July 2019. The Government is now reviewing this legislation.

Government ministers and officials maintain regular contact with the US administration on a range of issues but cannot disclose the topic of specific conversations.

The 2020 Annual Meetings of the World Economic Forum took place from 21-24 January in Davos.

The Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was the only Minister to attend this year. The Chancellor was accompanied by two Special Advisers and two officials.

Sir Edward Lister, Prime Minister’s Chief Strategic Adviser and Antonia Romeo, the Permanent Secretary at the Department for International Trade, were also in attendance.

The UK’s Criminal Records Office (ACRO) has worked closely with technical teams in the Home Office who manage the Police National Computer (PNC) to implement a technical fix to ensure the data is shared with affected Member States.

Each affected Member State was informed when the historic data held on the PNC became available. ACRO has now sent the majority of those notifications to Member States.

Justice is a devolved matter in Scotland and so the introduction of any new offence in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Government and Parliament to consider and we will monitor the effects of the new Scottish legislation.

The Government is committed to keeping our retail environments safe by driving down violence and abuse towards shop staff. We are working with retail stakeholders through the National Retail Crime Steering Group to ensure the response to these crimes is as robust as it can be. A wide range of offences already exist which cover assaults against any worker, including shop workers. In all cases, the fact that an offence has been committed against a person serving the public will be considered an aggravating factor for the purpose of passing sentence.

The Government will be legislating to bring in pre-charge bail reforms at the earliest opportunity.

During the passage of any relevant legislation through both Houses, the Home Office will continue to work closely with the policing sector and those involved in the pre-charge bail process to ensure that any new measures can be understood and adopted, and that sufficient time is given for implementation.

To help keep the public safe from crimes related to their phones, the Government works closely with the police, industry and other partners. As part of this work police forces issue advice to the public on keeping their property safe, including ensuring that the range of security features on devices are activated by consumers to prevent them being used if stolen.

The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales (year ending March 2019) shows that the proportion of mobile phone owners who experienced theft of their devices in the last year continued to follow a downward trend, falling to less than 1% compared with 2.1% in March 2009 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtables

The Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (‘the 2016 Act’) provides the legislative framework for restrictions on supply of psychoactive substances, which includes nitrous oxide. The 2016 Act makes it an offence (with limited exemptions) to intentionally supply psychoactive substances , where the person knows, or is reckless as to whether, the psychoactive substance is likely to be consumed by a person for its psychoactive effects. A review of the Act was published in November 2018, concluding that it had been effective in addressing the open sale of psychoactive substances. Further action in relation to addressing online harms, including online supply of psychoactive substances for their psychoactive effect, is set out in the Online Harms White Paper which aims to make companies more responsible for their users’ safety online, especially for children and other vulnerable groups.

No Fixed Penalty Notices have been issued as a result of failure to supply an address.

Due to COVID-19, Her Majesty’s Passport Office continues to operate at reduced staffing levels so its people can continue to socially distance. It is therefore taking longer than usual to process passport applications.

As part of its contingency arrangements, HM Passport Office is rapidly increasing its capacity for processing passport applications, in line with public health guidance, which will help to ensure it continues to meet the travel needs of its customers.

As at 7 July 2020, work in progress of approximately 126,000 passport applications is 31% higher than at the same period last year. There are a further 284,000 applications which will need to be worked through in the coming weeks once initial documentation has been received and allocated, which is an increase of 172% from last year.

The National Ballistic Intelligence Service (NABIS) has coordinated several national firearms surrender campaigns removing thousands of potentially lethal items from getting into criminal hands.

Surrender campaigns were held in 2014 and 2017 with the last campaign running between 20 July and 4 August 2019.

The 2019 campaign had two key purposes. Firstly, to remove firearms from criminal availability, and secondly, to allow the public to safely surrender, without prosecution, firearms held illegally or without knowledge of the legislation, providing the opportunity to dispose of a firearm or ammunition by handing it in to the police.

The last national knife amnesty in the UK occurred under Operation Sceptre on 23-29 March this year. Operation Sceptre is a national week of action coordinated by the National Police Chiefs’ Council. The Operation focuses on tackling knife crime and wider violence and in addition to the surrender of knives, including through amnesty bins, it involves targeted stop and searches and weapon sweeps. The next week of action is currently being planned for this September, and knife amnesties are also undertaken by forces on a local level throughout the year.

The Government is committed to tackling knife crime and making our streets safer - we encourage all police forces to participate in Operation Sceptre and run local knife amnesties.

The Government currently has no plans to hold an amnesty of acids and other dangerous substances in the UK. We recently strengthened the law on corrosives through the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 with legislative measures specifically stopping the sale and delivery of corrosive substances to under 18s and making it an offence to possess a corrosive substance in a public place. The Act requires the publication of statutory guidance before a number of the measures can be commenced, including the corrosives measures, and this guidance will be published shortly.

While it is yet too early to identify any trend in online crime since the outbreak of Covid-19 the Government and law enforcement colleagues are working tirelessly to identify and disrupt those seeking to use online platforms to commit these crimes.

Criminals are looking to take advantage; Covid-19-related fraud and cybercrimes now represent 2.7% of all reported fraud to Action Fraud. Operational partners, the National Crime Agency, the National Cyber Security Centre and City of London Police, have thwarted over 2,000 scams in April alone.

The Government is committed to preventing criminals from profiting from covid-19 and ensuring that the public and business can protect themselves.

• On 21 April the National Cyber Security Centre launched the Suspicious Email Reporting Service. This allows members of the public to report any suspicious emails. This has received over 160,000 reports, leading to over 300 previously unknown phishing campaigns being taken down.

• On 23 April the Home Office launched a gov.uk page on coronavirus-related fraud and cybercrime, including easy-to-follow steps for people to better protect themselves as well as signposting all relevant advice and tips. This page can be at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-fraud-and-cyber-crime

• The Home Office are working closely with partner organisations such Trading Standards, the Financial Conduct Authority and all major banks to ensure key online safety guidance and messages are communicated

Domestic abuse is a devastating crime that can shatter the lives of victims. The Government is committed to tackling and preventing domestic abuse. We reintroduced the landmark Domestic Abuse Bill in the House of Commons on 3 March 2020. The Bill will better protect and support victims of domestic abuse and their children and bring more perpetrators to justice.

In the March 2020 Budget, the Chancellor announced a further £15 million, on top of existing funding, to tackle domestic abuse. This includes £10m for interventions to disrupt the activities of high-harm perpetrators, and £5m for the piloting of domestic abuse courts.

We are working closely with the domestic abuse sector, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and local authorities to understand the impact of coronavirus and self-isolation on victims of domestic abuse.

The locally enabling provisions within the Policing and Crime Act 2017 allow Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to take on fire and rescue governance, where a local case is made.

Four PCCs have so far taken on responsibility for fire governance.

There are currently no plans to give PCCs responsibility for further blue light services.

The Home Office collects and publishes information from police forces in England and Wales on the number of people released on pre-charge bail, broken down by bail-length. These are published as experimental statistics in Police powers and procedures England and Wales, the latest version of which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2019

In the year ending March 2019, based on a subset of 41 police forces in England and Wales able to supply data, there were around 86,600 individuals released on pre-charge bail. Of these cases:

• 57% were released on bail for 28 days or less
• 78% were released on bail for 3 months or less
• 22% were released on bail for more than 3 months

The Home Office is seeking to collect additional information from police forces on individuals released under investigation, without bail conditions, to provide a fuller picture than is currently available.

The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of arrests made by each police force in England and Wales for drug offences in each year.

However, it is not possible to separately identify those arrested specifically for possession with intent to supply illegal substances or for possession of an illegal substance.

Arrests data are published in the ‘Police Powers and Procedures, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, the latest of which can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2019

Keeping people safe is the Government’s top priority, including from violent crime involving the misuse of knives and other offensive weapons. This is why the law makes it an offence to carry a knife in public without good reason, makes it an offence to sell to under 18s and why a number of knives and offensive weapons, including zombie knives, are banned.

The Government does not currently have plans to ban any additional, specific types of knives, but we do keep the law under review and the Government will not hesitate to take action if needed. This is why we have strengthened the law on knives and other offensive weapons, through the Offensive Weapons Act 2019. The Act will make it an offence to possess certain offensive weapons in private, it will stop knives being sent to residential addresses after they are bought online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that the product will not be delivered to an under 18. The Act will also:

• change the legal definition for threatening with an offensive weapon to make prosecutions more straightforward;

• ban the possession of knives on a further education premises;
• update the definition of a flick knife to reflect changing weapon designs;

and

• introduce Knife Crime Prevention Orders to help the police target those most at risk of being drawn into serious violence.

The Government also works with retailers to encourage responsible sales of knives. We have agreed a set of commitments with eighteen major high-street and online retailers to prevent the sale of knives to under-18s, which cover staff training, displays, and packaging. We are continuing to work with retailers to stop knives getting into the hands of young people.

We have also committed to introducing a new court order to target known knife carriers and make it easier for the police to stop and search those convicted of knife crime offences, to deter them from continuing to carry knives, and to make it more likely that those who persist in doing so will be caught, brought before the courts, and sent to prison.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of class A and class B drug seizures in England and Wales made by the police, including the British Transport Police, and Border Force. These are published annually as official statistics and available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/seizures-of-drugs-in-england-and-wales

However, information on the total value of such drugs seized is not held.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of class A and class B drug seizures in England and Wales made by the police, including the British Transport Police, and Border Force. These are published annually as official statistics and available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/seizures-of-drugs-in-england-and-wales

However, information on the total value of such drugs seized is not held.

The Home Office is working to support ACRO to resolve the issue and find a technical fix which will be implemented as soon as possible.

Last year the UK sent over 30,000 conviction notifications to EU Member States and received over 16,000 from the EU.

This has led to many hundreds of criminals being brought to justice and ACRO are working urgently to resolve any outstanding alerts.

The Home Office is working to support ACRO to resolve the issue and find a technical fix which will be implemented as soon as possible.

Last year the UK sent over 30,000 conviction notifications to EU Member States and received over 16,000 from the EU.

This has led to many hundreds of criminals being brought to justice and ACRO are working urgently to resolve any outstanding alerts.

The Home Office is working to support ACRO to resolve the issue and find a technical fix which will be implemented as soon as possible.

Last year the UK sent over 30,000 conviction notifications to EU Member States and received over 16,000 from the EU.

This has led to many hundreds of criminals being brought to justice and ACRO are working urgently to resolve any outstanding alerts.

The Home Office is working to support ACRO to resolve the issue and find a technical fix which will be implemented as soon as possible.

Last year the UK sent over 30,000 conviction notifications to EU Member States and received over 16,000 from the EU.

This has led to many hundreds of criminals being brought to justice and ACRO are working urgently to resolve any outstanding alerts.

The Home Office is working to support ACRO to resolve the issue and find a technical fix which will be implemented as soon as possible.

Last year the UK sent over 30,000 conviction notifications to EU Member States and received over 16,000 from the EU.

This has led to many hundreds of criminals being brought to justice and ACRO are working urgently to resolve any outstanding alerts.

This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The UK currently has no programmes specifically targeting World War II ordnance in North Africa although sometimes World War II mines are encountered by HMG-funded mine action projects in that region, and the UK has provided assistance to the Egyptian authorities. We have made no estimates on the number of landmines laid in North Africa during World War II that remain a danger to people in that region.

The UK currently has no programmes specifically targeting World War II ordnance in North Africa although sometimes World War II mines are encountered by HMG-funded mine action projects in that region, and the UK has provided assistance to the Egyptian authorities. We have made no estimates on the number of landmines laid in North Africa during World War II that remain a danger to people in that region.

The Ministry of Defence commissioned a study by Northampton University that identified that RAF Air Cadets make a significant contribution to the UK by enabling young people to improve their social skills, mental and physical wellbeing and increase social mobility. The RAF Air Cadets encourages educational and career attainment for both cadets and adult volunteers and promotes the development of transferable skills which helps to foster good citizens of the future who are able to contribute to society and the local community.

In developing the proposals we are taking account of any potential impacts of the proposals on people with protected characteristics. A full Impact Assessment has also been prepared which will be published shortly.

In developing the proposals we are taking account of any potential impacts of the proposals on people with protected characteristics. A full Impact Assessment has also been prepared which will be published shortly.

In developing the proposals we are taking account of any potential impacts of the proposals on people with protected characteristics. A full Impact Assessment has also been prepared which will be published shortly.

In the Charter for Social Housing Residents – Social Housing White Paper published on 17 November 2020, we commit to consult on measures to ensure that social housing residents are protected from harm caused by poor electrical safety.

On the 9 March 2021, we announced the launch of a working group to inform the content of the consultation. The first meeting will take place on 29 March 2021, and the group will run until Summer 2021. Meetings will explore proposals to best protect social residents from electrical harm, including consideration of mandatory electrical safety checks.

The English Housing Survey is a continuous national survey commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It collects information annually about people’s housing circumstances and the condition of housing in England.

English Housing Survey data shows that local authority (LA) homes are in better condition in respect of electrical safety than other tenures. In 2018, 73% of LA dwellings had all 5 recommended electrical safety features installed. This has increased from 56% in 2010. This compares with 60% of owner-occupied, 62% of private rented and 74% of housing association dwellings.

Local government loans fall under the Prudential Framework, which governs how authorities borrow and invest. Loans are classed as investments in Government's Statutory Guidance on Local Authority Investments. The guidance, which councils must have regard to, sets out requirements for transparency and how authorities should assess risks before providing loans. Government is currently reviewing all elements of the Prudential Framework to ensure it is fit for purpose, and carefully considering where changes are needed to better constrain risk and support good investment decision-making. Further, recent reforms to the lending terms of the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB), designed to prevent authorities investing primarily for yield, also apply to where the authorities are borrowing to lend. In such cases, the authority is required to report the eventual use of the money and restrictions over investing primarily for yield apply.

We are aware of the Public Interest Report concerning Northampton Borough Council and are monitoring the situation. It is for the council to consider and respond to the issues raised in the Report. I understand that they are planning to provide a full response at their Council meeting on 22 February.

There is no question of any top down review or imposition of Government solutions. The Government believes that locally-led changes to the structure of local government can be an appropriate means of improving local service delivery, saving taxpayers’ money and improving local accountability, and is clear that any reform of an area’s local government, where there is strong local support for the principle of a unitary structure, is most effectively achieved through locally-led proposals put forward by those who best know the area.

The Government is aware that there is interest in a number of areas across the country about developing proposals for unitary local government. It is clear, however, that the pandemic has rightly necessitated resources across Whitehall and in local government being re-allocated to tackling Covid-19 and on economic recovery, and this must be Whitehall’s and town halls’ number one priority at present.

There is no question of any top down review or imposition of Government solutions. The Government believes that locally-led changes to the structure of local government can be an appropriate means of improving local service delivery, saving taxpayers’ money and improving local accountability, and is clear that any reform of an area’s local government, where there is strong local support for the principle of a unitary structure, is most effectively achieved through locally-led proposals put forward by those who best know the area.

The Government is aware that there is interest in a number of areas across the country about developing proposals for unitary local government. It is clear, however, that the pandemic has rightly necessitated resources across Whitehall and in local government being re-allocated to tackling Covid-19 and on economic recovery, and this must be Whitehall’s and town halls’ number one priority at present.

There is no question of any top down review or imposition of Government solutions. The Government believes that locally-led changes to the structure of local government can be an appropriate means of improving local service delivery, saving taxpayers’ money and improving local accountability, and is clear that any reform of an area’s local government, where there is strong local support for the principle of a unitary structure, is most effectively achieved through locally-led proposals put forward by those who best know the area.

The Government is aware that there is interest in a number of areas across the country about developing proposals for unitary local government. It is clear, however, that the pandemic has rightly necessitated resources across Whitehall and in local government being re-allocated to tackling Covid-19 and on economic recovery, and this must be Whitehall’s and town halls’ number one priority at present.

There is no question of any top down review or imposition of Government solutions. The Government believes that locally-led changes to the structure of local government can be an appropriate means of improving local service delivery, saving taxpayers’ money and improving local accountability, and is clear that any reform of an area’s local government, where there is strong local support for the principle of a unitary structure, is most effectively achieved through locally-led proposals put forward by those who best know the area.

The Government is aware that there is interest in a number of areas across the country about developing proposals for unitary local government. It is clear, however, that the pandemic has rightly necessitated resources across Whitehall and in local government being re-allocated to tackling Covid-19 and on economic recovery, and this must be Whitehall’s and town halls’ number one priority at present.

There is no question of any top down review or imposition of Government solutions. The Government believes that locally-led changes to the structure of local government can be an appropriate means of improving local service delivery, saving taxpayers’ money and improving local accountability, and is clear that any reform of an area’s local government, where there is strong local support for the principle of a unitary structure, is most effectively achieved through locally-led proposals put forward by those who best know the area.

The Government is aware that there is interest in a number of areas across the country about developing proposals for unitary local government. It is clear, however, that the pandemic has rightly necessitated resources across Whitehall and in local government being re-allocated to tackling Covid-19 and on economic recovery, and this must be Whitehall’s and town halls’ number one priority at present.

The Government is clear that no one should be without a roof over their head. That is why we are spending over £700 million this year and will be spending over £750 million next year to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, further demonstrating the Government’s commitment to end rough sleeping.

The latest homelessness and rough sleeping data can be found (attached) on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics.

All 201 households from Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk have accepted an offer of accommodation, and over 95% (194 households) have moved into a new permanent home.

Those households not in permanent homes, are currently living in high quality temporary accommodation; these households have either already accepted a permanent home, or have a suitable permanent home reserved for them. The Council is working with these households at a pace that suits them.

Government is clear that warranties on construction projects need to be fit for purpose and provide proper protection for consumers. It is the responsibility of the Financial Conduct Authority to regulate new build warranties and protect consumers. If a consumer is unhappy with the warranty provider’s action, they can contact the Financial Ombudsman Services for free.

We committed in Planning for the Future to review the roadmap to the Future Homes Standard to ensure that implementation takes place to the shortest possible timeline. We will be publishing the Government response to the Future Homes Standard interim uplift consultation as soon as possible. This will set out a roadmap to the Future Homes Standard.

The Government is grateful to the LGA for their work on behalf of local government.

Government has a long-standing policy to provide funding to local authorities on a non-ringfenced basis. This is based on recognising that the removal of ringfences supports good, efficient and innovative financial management at a local level and gives local authorities the freedom and flexibility to make spending decisions based on their local needs and priorities. However, there are occasions where Ministers collectively consider that there is a recognised need to designate specified resources for specific purposes.

The Communities Work: How community organisations can lead the post-Covid jobs recovery report by Locality on local and national recovery is clearly timely. It is a reminder of the importance of working with local partners to address the challenges we will face as we recover from the economic effects of the pandemic. We remain committed to gaining a clear picture of how local economies are impacted by Covid-19 and how we can effectively enable local areas to recover. We will continue working closely with community organisations as we work through this.

According to the latest data from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council (RBKC), as of 12th June 2020, of the 201 households from Grenfell Tower and Walk that require rehousing, 194 households have moved into permanent accommodation. Of the 7 households who have not yet moved into a permanent home, they have either accepted a permanent home or have a suitable permanent home reserved for them that meets the Council’s assessment of their housing need.

We expect RBKC to do whatever is necessary to ensure households can move into permanent homes as swiftly as possible, but to do so sensitively and taking into account individual needs, and are continuing to work closely with RBKC to ensure this occurs without unnecessary delay.

The Secretary of State has called in nine planning applications since 1 January this year.

These figures are published as part of the Planning Inspectorate’s statistical releases. For the calendar years requested, the figures were as follows:

2015 - 26

2016 - 14

2017 - 18

2018 - 7

2019 - 7

The Department regularly meets with council Leaders, Chief Executives of English councils and their representatives, including the Local Government Association, to ensure we have a collective understanding of the issues arising from the Covid-19 outbreak. Local government is a devolved matter, and therefore MHCLG do not engage directly with Welsh councils.

We have now made £3.2 billion available to local authorities in England through an un-ringfenced grant so they can address pressures they are facing in response to the pandemic. The package recognises the additional costs and pressures on finances councils as a result of the current crisis. It demonstrates the Government’s commitment to making sure councils, including upper and lower tier authorities, have the resources they need to support their communities through this challenging time.

In total, the Government has committed over £27 billion to local areas to support English councils and their communities. This also includes: £300 million to support the new test and trace service, £600 million to support providers through a new Infection Control Fund and £12.3 billion of support through the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality & Leisure Grants.

We will continue to work with local government and their representatives to ensure they are managing as the pandemic progresses.

The latest figures show that nearly 15,000 vulnerable people have been housed in emergency accommodation, including hotels, since the start of the Covid-19 lockdown period. This includes people coming in directly from the streets, people previously housed in shared night shelters and people who have become vulnerable to rough sleeping during the pandemic.?To support councils across England with these efforts, the Government provided £3.2 billion in funding. This is in addition to providing £3.2 million in emergency funding for local authorities to support vulnerable rough sleepers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Building on the considerable success so far,?we?announced that Dame Louise Casey will spearhead a taskforce to lead the next phase of the Government’s support for rough sleepers during the pandemic.

The taskforce will work hand-in-hand with councils across the country on plans to ensure rough sleepers can move into long-term, safe accommodation once the immediate crisis is over – ensuring as few people as possible return to life on the streets. It will also seek to ensure the thousands of rough sleepers now in accommodation continue to receive the physical and mental health support they need.

On 24 May, we?also announced?plans for thousands of long-term, safe homes?to support many of the?vulnerable rough sleepers who have been supported during the Covid-19 pandemic.?Here,?vulnerable rough sleepers?taken?off the streets during the pandemic can get the specialist support they need to rebuild their lives.

This?unprecedented?commitment?– the biggest of its kind since the Government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative?began?– will be backed by?£160?million?in 2020 to 2021 to inject 3,300 new units of accommodation?this year, part of?6,000 in total.

This means in 2020-2021, we are providing £606 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. This marks a £238 million, or 65% increase, in funding from the previous year.