Lord Taylor of Warwick

Ukrainian beneficiaries will have full and unrestricted access to healthcare and other support on the same footing as UK nationals. Councils should provide advice and referrals to specialist public health services as appropriate. I refer the Noble Lord to the guidance for local authorities which contains further details and has been published at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils. The Welcome Guide for Ukrainian guests informs Ukrainians how to get vaccinated if they are not already: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/welcome-a-guide-for-ukrainians-arriving-in-the-uk.

Ukrainians arriving under Homes for Ukraine Scheme will have access to education on the same footing as UK nationals and we are providing local authorities with £10,500 per person to help support them to rebuild their lives and fully integrate into our communities.

Councils are required to provide school places for children of school age and will be paid additional funding to support this. Details of the funding has been published online at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils

Ukrainians aged 19 or over will be able to access adult education, including English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). The Welcome Guide for Ukrainian guests provides information on education courses: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1064315/Ukraine_Welcome_Guidance.pdf

The initial phase of the Homes for Ukraine scheme is designed for sponsors with a named Ukrainian beneficiary. The second part of the scheme will provide the opportunity for sponsors without a named beneficiary. We are actively exploring ways in which we can build connections between UK Sponsors and Ukrainians that do not yet know each other, including working with NGOs. We are funding a pilot scheme for a digital matching tool and casework service that the NGO ReSet are testing. If successful, this could be scaled up at pace.

As set out in the National Infrastructure Strategy, the delivery of high-quality national infrastructure, including clean energy projects, is a key priority for this Government. Through Project Speed, the Government has set the ambition that by September 2023, some projects will be able to go through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) process up to 50% faster. Later this year, the Government will consult on reforms to the National Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime which will support the improved delivery of green energy projects.

Underpinning these reforms is the Energy Secretary’s current review of the Energy National Policy Statements, which will reflect the policies and broader strategic approach set out in the Energy White Paper and ensure we continue to have a planning policy framework which can support the infrastructure required for the transition to net zero.

As set out in the Net Zero Strategy, we also intend to review the National Planning Policy Framework to make sure it contributes to climate change mitigation as fully as possible, and help bring greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

We are doing everything we can to support those most in need, but we must act on the wishes of the Ukrainian government who wrote to the UK Government on 7 March 2022, stating that: “any Ukrainian child who is currently outside Ukraine may not be adopted or placed in the care of foreigners without the consent of Ukraine”. The current rules in relation to unaccompanied children therefore respect this position.

I refer the Noble Lord to the Secretary of State's Oral Statement (attached) to Parliament of 14 March 2022.

I refer the noble Lord to the guidance for local authorities available online (attached) at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils

The Charter for Social Housing Residents: the Social Housing White Paper, published in November 2020, set out how the Government will transform the regulation of social housing to deliver a better deal for tenants. The White Paper set out a broad package of reforms to enable the Regulator of Social Housing to introduce robust, proactive regulation of consumer issues such as safety, transparency and tenant engagement, alongside the existing economic regulation regime. These changes will ensure social housing landlords will be held to account for delivery of good quality services to tenants.

The White Paper also included measures to respond to problems that have arisen in certain parts of the social housing sector, Some of which will include where exempt accommodation is provided. These include introducing a “look through power” to better investigate the dealings of registered providers with bodies outside the regulated sector; changing the definition of what a “non-profit” provider really is; and ensuring that the Regulator is notified when control of a registered provider changes.

While not all exempt accommodation is social housing, these powers will support the Regulator of Social Housing to do its job even more effectively for those landlords that are registered with it.

The Regulator has already taken action against 23 lease-based providers of specialised supported housing. The Government fully supports action to ensure landlords are providing safe, secure and decent accommodation.

In addition, the Government is committed to resolving these issues within the sector. My department has provided £5.4 million to five local authorities (Birmingham, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bristol and Hull) to test ways of improving quality and value for money in supported housing in year-long pilots. The pilots in September 2021 and the findings will be published in due course, along with a summary of best practice from the pilots. We are also considering what further action may be needed and I have not ruled out legislative options to regulate the sector.

Supporting the most vulnerable people in our society continues to be a priority for the Government and I’m committed to continue to raising standards in the sector.

The National Planning Policy Framework already sets out that local authorities should assess the types of specialist housing needed for older people, and this should be reflected in their local planning policies. We also continue to review the departmental programmes and engage with key stakeholders, ahead of setting out a proposed way forward for the planning reforms.

Furthermore, we have recently announced a new taskforce on the issue of older people's housing, which will look at ways we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people, and support the growth of the sector in this country. This work will be taken forwards in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care.

My Department works closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions on both the quality and supply of all types of supported housing.

In relation to older people’s housing, as part of the Levelling Up White Paper we have now announced a new taskforce, which the Housing Minister will chair, to look at ways we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people, and support the growth of a thriving older people's housing sector in this country. This work will be taken forward in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care, with the Minister for Care attending the taskforce panel and secretariat provided by officials from both departments.

Funding for housing support services is devolved to local authorities through the Local Government Settlement. Local authorities are best placed to make decisions on what local services they provide, based on local priorities and circumstances.

The Government provides capital grant funding to housing providers to help subsidise the new supply of affordable housing including specialist and supported housing. The new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes programme (2021-26) includes delivery within the programme for new supported housing for disabled, older and other vulnerable people.

We also committed in the adult social care reform white paper (People at the Heart of Care) to continue to incentivise the supply of supported housing, through the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund with £213 million available over the next three years. This is alongside a new £300 million investment to embed the strategic commitment in all local places to connect housing with health and care, to boost the supply of supported housing and to increase local expenditure on services for those in supported housing.

As part of the Levelling Up White Paper, we have also now announced a new taskforce on the issue of older people's housing, which will look at ways we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people, and support the growth of a thriving older people's housing sector in this country.

The planning system is a key enabler of the Government’s wider mission to level-up the country and regenerate left-behind places. We’re committed to making the most of brownfield land, in line with our policies in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which sets out that planning policies and decisions should give substantial weight to the value of using suitable brownfield land.

As set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, the planning reforms will include improvements to compulsory purchase powers to enable more effective land assembly, further support the re-use of brownfield land to deliver the homes and development this country needs, and adopt a more positive approach to employment land in national policy to support the provision of jobs. The NPPF sets out that transport should be considered from the earliest stages of planning to make sure that impacts, existing provision, sustainable transport, environment, and design are recognised and addressed. We are exploring the introduction of a new infrastructure levy which will enable local authorities to capture value from development more efficiently, securing the affordable housing and infrastructure communities need.

The Government is continuing to consider what wider reforms of planning to pursue, and an announcement on next steps will be made shortly.

Through the Towns and Future High Streets Funds, we are giving towns across England the chance to take their future into their own hands. We are helping places recover from the pandemic and fostering long-term growth and prosperity. The projects we are supporting will bring new jobs, help local people develop new skills and make our towns and high streets better places to live, work and shop.

Places like Blyth, Northumberland; Workington, Cleator Moor and Millom in Cumbria; and Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire will benefit from Town Deals, with investment in the Workington Innovation Centre, the Energy Central Campus in Northumberland, and the Campus for Future Living in Mablethorpe.

Future High Streets projects in small rural towns include the regeneration of the Crossways shopping centre in Paignton, as well as a community facility that will be provided at the Old Market place in Sutton-in-Ashfield as part of a new Community Hub, which will include an enhanced Sutton Academy theatre.

We are also providing expert advice to 152 local authorities through the High Streets Taskforce, and all towns can access their online support to help them adapt and thrive.

A Local Development Order (LDO) is a flexible tool a local planning authority can use to promote and permit development, including for housing, without the need for individual planning applications. To encourage their use we have prepared guidance which is set out in our planning practice guidance (attached) at: www.gov.uk/guidance/when-is-permission-required#types-of-area-wide-permission. The Planning Advisory Service has also published guidance for councils

on preparing Local Development Orders which is available (attached) to view at:

www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/LDO%20Guidance%20Document%20March%202019.pdf.

The Government accepted, in principle, all of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s Phase 1 recommendations for central government. I chair the quarterly Grenfell Inquiry Recommendations Board to monitor progress against these recommendations and a tracker is published on gov.uk every 6 months.

The bereaved families and survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy deserve justice, not only through the Inquiry and police investigations, but also through Government creating a legacy of lasting change and reforms to building safety. Our Building Safety Bill will make that a reality.

This Government is firmly committed to delivering its reporting obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). We have noted the Runnymede trust's Civil Society Report to the ICERD Committee. We look forward to submitting the UK's State Report highlighting our work to combat racial disparities and discrimination and the progress we have made since our last report in 2016.

Government will publish a new hate crime strategy in due course, which will include tackling racial hate crime, to help stamp out the abhorrent crimes that harm victims and their communities. We have sought views from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community representatives in the development of this new strategy.

This Government is committed to reducing the need for temporary accommodation by preventing homelessness before it occurs. That is why we are spending £2 billion over the next three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. Time spent in temporary accommodation means people are getting help and it ensures no family is without a roof over their head. Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide temporary accommodation for households owed the main homelessness duty until suitable long-term accommodation can be offered to them. They must ensure temporary accommodation is suitable in relation to the applicant and to all members of their household who normally reside with them, or who might reasonably be expected to reside with them, and there is a right of appeal. Consideration of whether accommodation is suitable will require an assessment of all aspects of the accommodation in the light of the relevant needs, requirements and circumstances of the homeless person and their household, including location of the accommodation.

Levelling up is about addressing inequalities between and within regions. The forthcoming Levelling Up White Paper will build on existing action we are already taking to address regional inequalities and set out a new policy regime to drive change for years to come.

According to the Household Resilience Study (Wave 3, Apr-May 2021), three quarters (76%) of private renters found it easy to afford their rent, and the vast majority (93%) are up to date with their payments. However, we understand that affordability may be an issue for some and that they may require additional support.

The Government has put in place an unprecedented £407 billion financial package to support businesses and families through the pandemic and this includes support for renters to sustain tenancies and to afford their housing costs during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Individuals who are unable to afford their rental payments may be eligible for a range of support through the Universal Credit system. We invested nearly £1 billion in raising Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local rents in April 2020, a change that has benefited 1.5 million households, and maintained them at this increased cash level for 2021/22.

For those who need it most, support is available through Discretionary Housing Payments, as well as £65 million in funding to help renters in arrears, which is in addition to the £310 million already available to councils through the Homelessness Prevention Grant. Vulnerable households are also able to access the £500 million Household Support Fund, of which £421 million will go to help people in England to cover the cost of essentials over the winter.

During the pandemic, the Government worked with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to oversee an unprecedented package of forbearance for homeowners, including the option for mortgage customers to access a mortgage holiday of up to six months as well as a ban on bailiff enforcement of evictions. In total, 2.9 million payment holidays were provided to mortgage borrowers. FCA guidance outlines that firms should continue to provide tailored support for customers experiencing ongoing financial difficulty as a result of Covid-19.

The Government will continue to support mortgage borrowers by offering Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans to homeowners in receipt of an income-related benefit, and helping people avoid repossession through protection under the Mortgage Pre-Action Protocol which makes it clear that repossession must always be the last resort for lenders.

The Government has consulted on raising accessibility standards of new homes recognising the importance of suitable homes for disabled people. The consultation considered whether a change could be made to the existing standards by either mandating a higher standard or reconsidering the way existing optional standards are used. The Government will publish a response as soon as possible.

Since 2010, the Government has invested over £4 billion into the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) to contribute to the cost of home adaptations for eligible people, including disabled children, to help them live independently and safely. While the grant is means tested, children and young people aged 17 and under are exempt from this means test to help them receive the adaptations they need. In addition, local authorities are responsible for allocating social housing through schemes they set locally. These are governed by a framework of rules set by central government which ensure social housing is prioritised for those in housing need, including disabled people.

We’re building more affordable housing. Our new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will provide up to 180,000 new homes across the country, should economic conditions allow. 10% of delivery will be for much needed specialist and supported housing. This builds upon the success of our £9 billion Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme, running to 2023, which will deliver approximately 250,000 new affordable homes.

The Government is committed to increasing housing supply across the country and supporting young people and families on to the housing ladder. We committed to deliver 1 million new homes by the end of this Parliament and continue towards its target to increase building output to 300,000 homes a year.  We are making strong progress: in 2019/20, around 244,000 homes were delivered – the highest level for over 30 years and the seventh consecutive year that net supply has increased.

As a new Department with a renewed emphasis on levelling up, we are currently reviewing departmental programmes, engaging with key stakeholders and will come forward with our proposals for reform of the planning system in as soon as possible.

The Government is committed to bringing in a Better Deal for Renters to deliver a fairer and more effective rental market that works for both tenants and landlords. We will publish a White Paper in 2022 detailing our plans for reform of the private rented sector, and we are working with stakeholders from across the sector to inform this.

The White Paper will provide further detail on repealing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, to improve security for tenants by putting an end to evictions where the landlord doesn’t have to provide a reason. At the same time, we want to ensure landlords have the tools they need to gain possession of their property when they have a valid reason to do so.

We will bring forward legislation in due course and when parliamentary time allows.

The Government has committed over £800 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over 2021/22. We are providing £375 million of Homelessness Prevention Grant funding, which can be used by local authorities to offer financial support for people to find a new home, to work with landlords to prevent evictions, and to ensure families have a roof over their head. This includes an exceptional top up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant for this financial year with an additional £65 million for local authorities to help vulnerable households with rent arrears to reduce the risk of them being evicted and becoming homeless.

This funding supports local authorities to deliver their statutory duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act, the most ambitious reform to homelessness legislation in decades, which came into force in April 2018. The Act placed new duties on local authorities to prevent and relieve a person's homelessness. Acting earlier and for a broader range of people means more people will get the help they need before they face a homelessness crisis. Since the Homelessness Reduction Act came into force, over 400,000 households have had their homelessness successfully prevented or relieved through securing accommodation for more than 6 months.

I welcome the Vodafone report and the work of others to highlight the barriers some carers and parents face when balancing their care and work responsibilities. I met with female employees from Vodafone in May to hear about which initiatives have worked to support them, especially through the pandemic, and what challenges remain.

The Government recognises the vital role unpaid carers and parents play and has put a range of measures in place to help. In our manifesto we committed to extending the entitlement to leave for unpaid carers to one week. The Government has also funded 25 ‘returner programmes’ to support those with caring responsibilities back to work.

As we look to Build Back Better, increasing the take up of remote and flexible working will give more freedom and opportunity to people with caring responsibilities. In April the Government reconvened the Flexible Working Taskforce, tasking them to help employers build on the lessons we have learned through the pandemic to embed more flexible ways of working.

Strong digital connectivity is crucial in supporting more flexible working. This Government’s delivery of national gigabit connectivity means that today, over two in five premises can access gigabit-capable networks, up from just one in ten in November 2019. By the end of the year, 60% will have access, and by 2025 the Government is targeting a minimum of 85% gigabit-capable coverage. In rural areas we are investing £5bn to ensure those living in hard-to-reach areas get the gigabit connectivity they deserve.

The Government recognises the challenges of COVID-19 for all groups in society, including the most vulnerable. That is why we announced an unprecedented package of support – including boosts to Universal Credit, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and the Kick-start Scheme – helping to protect incomes, jobs, and support those most in need.

HM Treasury’s distributional analysis as of the end of May 2020, shows that these interventions, along with the existing tax and welfare system, have helped reduce income losses faced by working households by up to two-thirds, with the poorest working households protected most (as a proportion of income).

The Treasury, along with other relevant departments, carefully considers the impact of its decisions on those sharing protected characteristics, including at Budgets and other fiscal events, in line with both its legal obligations and with its strong commitment to promoting fairness.

This Government is committed to tackling racism and racial prejudice in all its forms. That is why the Prime Minister appointed the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities in July, to examine all aspects of continuing racial and ethnic disparities in Britain. The Commission aims to set out a new, positive agenda for change - balancing the needs of individuals, communities and society, maximising opportunities and ensuring fairness for all. It aims to report by the end of the year.

The Minister for Equalities is working with the Race Disparity Unit and the Department for Health and Social Care to carry forward work to identify and fill the gaps in PHE’s review; and work across government to take appropriate steps to mitigate disparities identified. The terms of reference for this work, which include quarterly updates to the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on progress, were published on GOV.UK on 4 June. The timeframe will be announced in due course.

The nature of our new relationship with the EU - outside the Single Market and Customs Union - does mean that there are practical and procedural changes that businesses need to adjust to.

We continue to work closely with sectors across the economy and all parts of the UK to support businesses in adapting to our new trading relationship with the EU and to continue to successfully compete on the global stage. The Government is providing £20 million to support small and medium businesses in adjusting to new customs, rules of origin, and VAT rules when trading with the EU. Ministers across government have been speaking directly to hundreds of businesses large and small across the country, including through the Business Brexit Task Force to develop a shared vision and plan for the future.

The precise range of activities and documentation that will be needed after the transition period will be subject to negotiations with the EU. But any agreement will be without prejudice to the UK’s future points-based immigration system.

The Government is committed to ensuring that businesses and workers have all the information they need to get ready for 1 January 2021. We will continue to review and update the guidance we have published to help ensure businesses are as prepared as possible for the changes and opportunities the end of the year will bring.

Now is the time for businesses to get ready. They should go to www.GOV.UK/TRANSITION for more details.

This Government is working to support all people through COVID-19, including BAME women. Guided by medical and scientific expertise, we have implemented specific measures to reduce the spread of the virus in all communities for everyone including women from BAME backgrounds.

This Government has taken unprecedented steps to support lives and livelihoods, including increasing the generosity of Universal Credit, introducing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and made changes to ensure women do not miss out on parental leave and childcare support. In addition, Equality Hub officials regularly meet with organisations representing women and BAME communities and continue to do so. We are also working to alert and encourage relevant grassroots charities to apply for funding that has been made available including through the National Lottery Community Fund.

Public Health England has now completed its review into ‘Disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19’, which confirms that COVID-19 has replicated, and in some cases increased, existing health inequalities related to risk factors, including age, gender, ethnicity and geography. The Minister for Equalities is working with the Race Disparity Unit and the Department for Health and Social Care to carry forward work to address the disparities outlined in the Public Health England report.

Throughout the period since the Government imposed restrictions due to Coronavirus, people have been encouraged to exercise outdoors, alone or with members of their households. The Government's advice was to limit this to once a day during the early phases.

The Government has developed specific guidance to mitigate transmission risks and communicated that guidance on 11 May, giving people time to understand and prepare for the changes to the regulations and guidance before the measures were implemented on 13 May. We will keep all of these measures under review, as required by the law.

The Government has no plans to introduce identity cards.

The Government currently has no plans to review the Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Act 2019, which will commence on 8 April 2020.

Given the latest coronavirus developments, Round 2 of negotiations did not formally start on the 18th March.

We remain in regular contact with the European Commission to explore alternative ways to continue discussions, and will be guided by scientific advice.

The Government has an aspiration that all parts of the United Kingdom should feel connected to politics and indeed to politicians.

We are looking at options to further that objective.

In the recently announced Energy Security Strategy, the Government set out plans to boost Britain’s energy security and reduce dependence on power sources, exposed to volatile international prices, that the Government cannot control. This will allow greater self-sufficiency, with cheaper bills.

The UK Government no longer provides support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas as of 31 March 2021, other than in limited circumstances. The policy is set out in this guidance document (also attached).

The continued operation of Sizewell B, or any UK nuclear power station, is a decision for the operator, EdF, and the independent nuclear regulator, the ONR, based on safety and commercial considerations.

Sizewell B is currently scheduled to generate power until 2035 but is widely expected to extend its operation beyond this date. EdF is actively exploring long-term operations for Sizewell B.

There are no plans to introduce a new cap on energy prices. The Energy Price Cap is a temporary measure until competition in the market improves.

The Government announced in July last year that it would seek new legislation to enable future extensions of the price cap beyond 2023, if the conditions for effective competition are not in place.

Ofgem is required to set the energy price cap at a level that reflects the efficient cost of supplying households with gas and electricity.

The Government has a range of existing schemes and mechanisms which support rooftop solar deployment such as the Smart Export Guarantee, ensuring homes with solar panels get payment for the renewable electricity they export to the grid. In addition, the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, and The Home Upgrade Grant and the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery (LAD) Scheme, all include solar panels as an eligible measure.

There are no plans to reintroduce the Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) scheme, which closed to new applications in March 2019.

With residential solar panels now over 50% cheaper than in 2011, and as costs fall, it is right that the Government move on from dependence on generous subsidies, that are ultimately levied onto customers. The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) which came into force in January 2020, follows on from the FIT, and gives small- scale low-carbon electricity generators, such as homes with solar panels, the right to be paid for the renewable electricity they export to the grid.

The SEG is a market-driven mechanism designed to pave the way to projects being deployed without subsidies. It reflects the government’s continued commitment to ensuring that low carbon electricity, whether at household level or national level,  is central to the transition to the smart and flexible energy systems of the future.

The UK is not dependent on Russia for its gas, with no direct pipeline. In 2021, less than 4% of UK demand for gas came from Russian, via liquified natural gas (LNG).

The Government will introduce a climate compatibility checkpoint, which will be used to assess whether any future licensing rounds remain in keeping with the UK’s climate goals.

The Government has invited contributions on the design of the checkpoint with a public consultation which closed at the end of February. The Government is considering the responses to the consultation and will announce the outcome in due course.

The Government has confirmed that the UK will phase out imports of Russian oil by the end of the year. The UK is a significant producer of both crude oil and petroleum products and participates in a global market of alternative suppliers.

The Government will work with companies through a new Taskforce on Oil to support them to make use of the transitory period in finding alternative supplies. Over the course of the year the taskforce will work closely with international partners including the USA, the Netherlands, and the Gulf to ensure alternative supplies of fuel products.

The Government brought forward amendments to the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill to shorten the deadline for overseas companies already owning land in England and Wales, and Scotland, to register their beneficial owners from 18 months to 6 months. This will help crack down on money laundering through UK property, whilst giving people who hold their property in overseas entities for legitimate reasons appropriate time to comply with the new requirements. The Bill has now received Royal Assent.

The vast majority of the beneficial owners of entities holding properties on the register will be entirely law-abiding. A 6-month transition period strikes a balance in allowing for the free enjoyment of property and maintaining the UK’s reputation as a stable investment environment whilst ensuring property owners register their beneficial owners.

We will give owners six months to register, because if they do not comply in time their property rights will be affected. The Government does not interfere with individuals’ rights lightly and this interference could not have reasonably been expected when such rights were acquired. It is important to remember that the majority of properties will be held via overseas entities by entirely law-abiding people.

The new register is a measure designed to inform investigatory work by the National Crime Agency and others, and will help clean up our property market in the long-term. It is not a necessary precondition of taking swift action to sanction individuals now.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister is giving Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (‘SLAPPs’) and libel reform in UK courts urgent consideration in light of reports that Russia and its allies may be funding litigation against free speech in the UK.

Urgent consideration is being given what action can be taken across government to prevent acts by domestic or hostile entities that risk damaging the reputation of our judicial and legal profession. In doing so we are committed to a robust defence of transparency, rule of law and freedom of speech.

An announcement will be made very shortly.

If a foreign company does not comply with the new obligations relating to the Register of Overseas Entities set out in the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill, criminal sanctions are in place. These include fines or a prison sentence of up to 5 years. The company’s rights over its property will also be affected. We have also included a new provision to allow the imposition of financial penalties for non-compliance without the need for criminal prosecution.

On 1 March, the Government introduced the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill. The Bill will legislate for a new Register of Overseas Entities that will require overseas companies owning or buying property in the UK to provide information about their beneficial owners to Companies House.

Beneficial owners and managing officers of overseas entities will be required to verify their information with a UK professional who is supervised for anti-money laundering purposes, otherwise their registration will be refused. As such, information will be verified at the point of registration, annually as part of the updating duty, and at the point of removal from the register.

The Government welcomes the growing number of companies, organisations, and governments joining the international community in isolating Russia, both diplomatically and financially.

The Government has always been clear there would be massive consequences and a severe cost for any Russian military incursion into Ukraine. Russia’s assault on Ukraine is an unprovoked, premeditated and needless attack against a sovereign democratic state. The UK and our international partners stand united in condemning the Russian government’s reprehensible actions.

Decisions about the publishing of action plans are for private companies to make, and not subject to any mandatory Government requirements. However, since 2011 the Government has sponsored and supported a series of independent reviews, aimed at increasing the proportion of women in top FTSE roles. This business led approach to increasing the proportion of women on boards has involved voluntary targets, persuasive and informative information campaigns as well as active tracking of the FTSE performance.

Since 2011 the proportion of women on FTSE 350 boards has increased from 9.5% in 2011, to 37.6% at the end of 2021. The independent reviews initially set a target of 25% of board members should be women (under the Davies Review), followed by 33% (under the Hampton-Alexander Review) and, finally, 40% under the FTSE Women Leaders Review, the latest report for which was published on 22^nd February 2022.

The significant progress made in women on FTSE boards has allowed the UK to this year rank in second place, behind France, when compared internationally to other countries working to improve the gender balance on the boards of public listed companies. The UK is now ranked higher than countries who have set a statutory quota for women on boards.

The Government has no plans to reintroduce the Zero Carbon Homes policy. Instead, when it is implemented in 2025, the Future Homes Standard (FHS) will ensure new homes are zero carbon ready, with high energy efficiency and low carbon heat. Under the FHS, New homes will producing at least 75% lower CO₂ emissions compared to current standards and will require no further retrofit to become fully zero carbon as the electricity grid continues to decarbonise.

We have also recently implemented an uplift to the Building Regulations as an important stepping-stone to the FHS. When the uplift comes into force in June 2022, new homes will produce 30% less CO₂ compared to the current standard.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), which is due to launch in April 2022, will provide financial support for the installation of low carbon heat technologies in homes and small non-domestic buildings in England and Wales. The BUS will provide grants of £5,000 towards the installation and capital costs of air source heat pumps and £6,000 for ground source heat pumps.

We are considering the findings of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities independent report, which included recommendations on ethnicity pay reporting, alongside feedback to our consultation on this issue and the recent Women and Equalities Select Committee Report. We will set out our approach in due course.

The Help to Grow Management programme has been designed to support businesses where we expect to see the biggest impact. There are currently no plans to change the criteria relating to the number of employees, but we will continue to keep the programme under review to ensure that it is able to effectively support businesses and deliver the intended boost to productivity.

Help to Grow: Management built on lessons from the successful Small Business Leadership Programme (SBLP), which the programme replaced. The programme is regularly kept under review and as part of this, we will continue to review the eligibility criteria to ensure it effectively supports businesses and delivers its outcomes.

I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my hon Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for International Trade) to Question UIN 20498 (also attached).

There are no plans to introduce an energy price cap for businesses. The price cap on domestic default variable tariffs was put in place to address the loyalty penalty and prevent consumers from being overcharged. There is a greater diversity of supply arrangements for businesses compared to the domestic sector. Businesses are therefore better placed to effectively procure goods and services for their business, including energy supply.

As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 2^nd November 2021, the Government remains committed to establishing a new beneficial ownership register of overseas entities that own UK property. Overseas entities selling property will commit an offence if they sell their property at a time when they are in breach of the registration requirements. This register will help combat money laundering and achieve greater transparency in the UK property market. We will legislate when parliamentary time allows. Overseas entities in scope that already own land in the UK will be given 18 months to comply with the new requirements or dispose of their land.

Decisions on the fund are for Ofgem who have appointed the Energy Saving Trust as the independent Service Provider to manage and allocate funding. Funding is only available to registered charities in England Scotland and Wales, and Housing Associations that are exempted charities. The aim is to deliver energy related projects that meet the scheme’s priorities and benefit people in England, Scotland and Wales.

The Government is, and will continue to be, a champion of the needs of business and industry, including the UK manufacturing sector. This is why the principles of our Plan for Growth, and its supporting strategies will put the UK at the forefront of opportunities, give businesses the confidence to invest, boost productivity across the UK, enable our green industrial revolution, and support our vision for Global Britain.

As part of the Spending Review, my Rt hon Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the Made Smarter Adoption programme award of £24 million for the period covering 2022-25 to help manufacturing SMEs increase productivity, competitiveness and drive-up efficiency by adopting industrial digital technology. This funding is in addition to the £8 million committed to the programme for the period covering 2021-22 and builds on the success of the £20 million North West pilot.

The Government is working closely with local authorities as they are best placed to understand how to deliver home retrofits for the betterment of their local communities.

The Government has committed more than £6.6bn in this Parliament to make energy efficiency updates to homes as well as community buildings such as schools, hospitals and leisure centres. Schemes such as the Home Upgrade Grant, the Local Authority Delivery Scheme and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund are being delivered through local authorities. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has published a list of participating Local Authorities in England.

The Vaccine Task Force is working closely with vaccine suppliers, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and international partners such as COVAX and UNICEF to allocate vaccines according to need, facilitate the rapid delivery of doses and maximise the shelf life available to recipients.

Our approach to the 20m recently announced for donation via COVAX at the G20 in October was also previously laid out in the answer given by my Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State to the Hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon on 9th November 2021 to Question 69687.

Businesses have significant power to drive change towards achieving the UK’s domestic net zero goal. In order to underline the importance of this area, this year the Government led the Race to Zero campaign targeting small and microbusinesses across the UK. 2,362 have joined the Race to Zero to date.

Many businesses across the UK have said they want to tackle climate change, but that they are unsure how to start this process. Through the small business campaign, the Government has taken an important step towards making net zero relevant to SMEs by helping businesses access the support they need. Following COP26, the Government will continue to support UK businesses to meet their net zero commitments, including exploring a government-led digital advice service that consolidates and simplifies advice, funding, and other support on net zero.

The Government will also look to consult stakeholders on the Small Business Energy Efficiency Scheme (SBEES) later this year. The scheme will aim to remove barriers for SMEs in accessing energy efficiency measures, drive forward better buildings performance and help SMEs to meet regulatory standards.

The Government recognises the vital role that the steel sector plays in our economy and across all areas of the UK. We are keen to secure a competitive and viable future for the sector and have already provided it with extensive support, including ​more than £600 million to help with the high cost of electricity.

In order to help UK steel producers to compete internationally, the Government is providing funding for a programme of research and innovation delivered by the Materials Processing Institute, which will help the UK steel and metals sector to improve efficiencies and reduce emissions.

In addition to this, we are also providing up to £66 million in taxpayer support as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to help key foundation industries, such as steel, to develop innovative technology to reduce energy and resource use. We have also established the £315 million Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, which aims to support businesses with high energy use to cut their bills and reduce carbon emissions.

In October 2021, we published the Net Zero Strategy, which committed to provide further support for research and innovation through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which is a £1 billion fund that aims to accelerate the commercialisation of low-carbon technologies, systems, and business models in power, buildings, and industry. Initiatives led by the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre will support the fuel switch to low carbon hydrogen on industrial sites.

Help to Grow: Management built on lessons from the successful Small Business Leadership Programme (SBLP), which the programme replaced. The programme is regularly kept under review and as part of this, we will continue to review the eligibility criteria to ensure it effectively supports businesses and delivers its outcomes.

The Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund (RHLGF), both announced in the 11 March 2020 Budget, have supported many thousands of small businesses through this challenging period.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) provided financial support to smaller businesses affected by coronavirus (COVID-19). This scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2021. Guidance on how to apply for this scheme was published on 23 March 2020. This guidance was withdrawn on 1 April 2021 after the scheme had closed to new applications, but is still available to read

Guidance on the above schemes, a well as guidance from 18 March 2020 on whether a business is eligible for business rates relief, is available on the GOV.UK website.

The Help to Grow Management and Digital schemes have been designed to support business with more than five employees to increase their productivity. There are currently no plans to change the criteria relating to the number of employees, but the schemes will be regularly reviewed to ensure they effectively support businesses and deliver the intended boost to productivity.

Help to Grow: Management is designed to support SMEs, so charities are not eligible.

The Government has announced more than £3.9 billion of new funding for decarbonising heat and buildings. This will fund the next 3 years of investment through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, the Home Upgrade Grant scheme, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and the Heat Networks Transformation Programme, as well as reducing carbon emissions from public buildings through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

The Government has allocated £500 million funding to support energy efficiency upgrades of homes of low-income households across England through Phase 1 and 2 of the Local Authority Delivery Scheme. The Government announced a further £200m to a third phase of this scheme which will be delivered alongside an initial £150m of the Homes Upgrade Grant Scheme from early 2022 to March 2023.

The Energy Company Obligation has installed 3.3 million measures in 2.3 million homes, and we are increasing the amount energy suppliers invest in energy efficiency measures for low-income households until 2026, boosting its value from £640 million to £1 billion a year. This will help an extra 305,000 families with green measures such as insulation, with average energy bill savings of around £300 a year.

Businesses have faced a range of challenges over recent months as they recover from the global pandemic which has impacted supply chains across Europe and around the world.

The Government has acted quickly to introduce a series of measures to relieve pressure on vital supply chains, including by: streamlining the testing process for and creating skills bootcamps to train up HGV drivers, sending nearly one million letters to encourage HGV drivers who have left the industry to return, providing up to £7,000 per person funding for the Large Goods Vehicle Driver apprenticeship scheme, and deploying nearly 200 military tanker personnel to provide temporary support delivering fuel supplies across the country. The Government has also introduced short-term visas for food haulage drivers and poultry workers to ease pressures facing these supply chains.

On 8 October, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister appointed Sir David Lewis, former CEO of Tesco, as the UK Government’s supply chain adviser, bringing with him a wealth of industry knowledge and expertise to the new role. He will advise the Prime Minister and my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on both immediate improvements and any necessary long-term changes to UK supply chains for goods, and will work with government officials to quickly resolve acute, short term issues. Successful resolution of supply chain pressures will be a joint effort between industry and Government and so Sir Dave Lewis will also co-chair the new Supply Chain Advisory Group, consisting of external experts in the field, and the new Industry Taskforce, to ensure those on the ground have the opportunity to voice their concerns and advise on the most efficient resolutions.

The Government is committed to building a fairer Britain and ensuring that equality and opportunity is available for all. That is why my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister established the independent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities which published its independent report on March 31st.

We welcome the opportunity to consider the Commission’s findings, and are looking at them in light of the work that has already taken place within government, including the consultation on ethnicity pay reporting. We will be publishing our response to the Commission’s report later this autumn.

Under UK leadership at the G7, we have put Green Recovery from COVID-19 at the top of the international agenda and secured historic commitments such as the first ever ‘net zero G7’, with all countries committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Last November, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, which brings together £12 billion of government investment to unlock three times as much private sector investment by 2030; and support up to 250,000 jobs across the UK by 2030.

The Government launched the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) to ensure that the UK’s smallest businesses could access loans of up to £50,000 to help businesses through the pandemic. Under BBLS, no repayments are due from the borrower for the first 12 months of the loan. The Government also covers the first 12 months of interest payments charged to the business by the lender.

We have always been clear that businesses are responsible for repaying any finance they take out. However, we recognise that a diverse range of businesses have taken out Bounce Back Loans and some of these will benefit from more flexibility in making their repayments. That is why the Government introduced the “Pay as You Grow” measures, which allow borrowers to tailor their repayments to their individual circumstances. “Pay as You Grow” provides borrowers with the option to:

• Extend the length of their loan from six years ten
• Make interest-only payments for six months, with the option to use this up to three times throughout the loan
• Pause repayments entirely for up to six months

Borrowers can use these options either individually or in combination with each other. In addition, they have the option to fully repay their loan early and will face no early repayment charges for doing so.

The Government is not currently considering proposals to convert outstanding Bounce Back Loans into equity.

The retail sector remains a key part of the high street and thriving high streets will continue to need a strong physical retail offering. In order to help our high streets recover and flourish, we are:

• Providing funding that has real impact for high streets across the whole country.
• Ensuring planning laws help councils to be flexible and make the most of their high streets and take control of vacant property, shops and shopping centres.
• Giving communities the power to repurpose empty shops and spaces.
• Making sure businesses are supported as landlords and tenants of high street properties.

Officials regularly engage with local leaders on a range of net zero issues, for example through the local energy contact group which last met on 8th July 2021.

Future plans for the role of local authorities in meeting net zero will be outlined in the Net Zero Strategy, which is currently under development and due to be published before COP26.

We have always been clear that businesses are responsible for repaying any finance they take out. However, we recognise that some borrowers will benefit from additional flexibility with regards to their repayments. That is why we announced the Pay As You Grow measures last year.

Pay As You Grow is designed to provide Bounce Back Loan borrowers more time and flexibility over their repayments by giving them the option to:

• Extend the length of the loan from six years to ten.
• Make interest-only payments for six months, with the option to use this up to three times throughout the loan.
• Take up a six-month repayment holiday. This option is available once during the term of their loan.

Businesses are able to use these options either individually or in combination with each other. These are only available once a business has started making repayments on the loan. In addition, they have the option to fully repay their loan early and will face no early repayment charges for doing so.

While the Government covers the interest due on Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) facilities for the first twelve months, repayments of capital are required during this period unless the lender chooses to grant additional forbearance measures.

CBILS lenders are able to extend the repayment period for CBILS facilities where this is needed, to a maximum of 10 years. CBILS term extensions are offered at the discretion of lenders, and for forbearance purposes only.

The British Business Bank has a range of guidance and resources available to all businesses, including content on managing cashflow and a list of independent advice services. Details can be found online at the British Business Bank website.

The Government is aware that the increase in remote working during the pandemic has raised issues relating to employee wellbeing. It is in the interest of both employers and employees to support wellbeing at work and prevent burnout.

The Government is working with the Flexible Working Taskforce – a partnership across business groups, trade unions, charities, and government departments – to provide advice and guidance to support employers who are considering adopting more remote or semi-remote (hybrid) working practices going forwards.

In the short-term, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) – in consultation with the Flexible Working Taskforce – has produced advice on hybrid working to help employers consider whether this could be an option for their workplace and how to fairly introduce it. The advice covers the existing legal and practical issues associated with hybrid working – and includes a section on supporting and managing staff.

In the slightly longer-term, the Flexible Working Taskforce is working on developing best practice guidance for employers, which will include supporting the work-life balance of remote workers.

The Department regularly meets with representatives from the hospitality sector to discuss how businesses can recover and build back from the pandemic, including raising the profile of skills and careers in hospitality. We welcome insight from a wide range of sources.

The Government is aware of the TUC research which found that a third (33%) of ethnic minority workers say they have been unfairly turned down for a job compared to one in 5 (19%) of white workers. The Government is clear that no one should be discriminated against because of their ethnicity and the Equality Act 2010 makes such discrimination unlawful.

The Government is committed to building a fairer Britain and ensuring that equality and opportunity is available for all. That is why my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister established the independent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities which published its independent report on March 31st.

The report includes a specific recommendation in relation to ethnicity pay reporting. We welcome the opportunity to consider the Commission’s findings in relation to this issue,
and are looking at them in light of the work that has already taken place within government, including the consultation on ethnicity pay reporting. We will be publishing our response to the Commission’s report later this summer.

The UK has one of the best employment rights records in the world. We have made good progress in bringing forward measures that add flexibility for workers while ensuring the protection of employment rights, such as banning the use of exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts.

Gig economy workers’ employment rights are determined by their employment status - employee, worker or self-employed. Employees are entitled to all rights (subject to qualifying periods) and have responsibilities towards their employer. So-called “limb (b) workers” are only entitled to some rights such as the National Minimum Wage but have increased flexibility and fewer obligations to their employer. The self-employed generally have no employment rights but have complete flexibility in their work. We believe our three-tiered Employment Status structure provides the right balance for the UK Labour Market.

The Government will continue to work closely with businesses, trade unions and other groups to ensure that any options to clarify Employment Status are effective, preserving the flexibility of the labour market while making it easier to understand for individuals.

The North Sea Transition Deal includes a commitment from industry to create an integrated people and skills plan, with measurable objectives, to support its transition and diversification. This will assess the industry’s future skills, training and standards requirements, and how industry will support and enable the transition of the workforce.

Furthermore, the sector has committed to work to ensure that the workforce’s skills and competencies are mutually recognised across energy sectors enabling easier job transferability. This includes promoting the uptake of relevant existing initiatives, such as the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board Connected Competence scheme and expand these as appropriate.

In order to ensure we have the skilled workforce to deliver net zero, we have launched the Green Jobs Taskforce, working in partnership with business, skills providers, and trade unions, to help us develop plans for new long-term, good quality, green jobs by 2030 and advise on what support is needed for people in transitioning industries.

In addition, the offshore wind sector set out a commitment, in the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, to develop an offshore energy passport (recognised outside the UK) to facilitate job mobility between different sectors. Discussions with training providers is ongoing.

We are powering forward with my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan, which will mobilise £12 billion of government investment to support up to 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs in the UK.

In line with the Government’s commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, it is vital to improve the knowledge of small businesses about energy efficiency schemes. There are a range of steps that the Government is taking to do this.

In May we launched the UK Business Climate Hub website, where small businesses can use the hub to find practical tools, resources and advice to understand their emissions and develop a plan to tackle them. The campaign will also provide small businesses with access to some of the UK’s biggest businesses and leading climate experts to support them in taking the simple and practical steps to protect the planet, and the benefits of future-proofing and growing a low carbon business. The campaign also encourages small and micro businesses to commit to cutting their emissions in half by 2030 and to net zero by 2050 or sooner.

Further, BEIS has recently delivered a comprehensive upgrade to the Energy Technology List (ETL) website making it one of the leading sources of truly independent and trustworthy energy efficiency advice available to business. The ETL is a procurement tool that encourages users to specify and procure the most energy-efficient products available on the market. Businesses can have confidence that the energy performance of products are rigorously evaluated before being allowed on the ETL. Using the ETL allows businesses to streamline purchasing decisions, ensuring that efficient options are selected to decrease energy bills and increase green credentials. Going forward, BEIS plans to develop even more SME focused ETL content on the financial and environmental benefits of selecting energy-efficient products. This content will build on the positive feedback that BEIS has received from industry about the new website as demonstrated by the growth in new users that the site is continuing to attract.

In order to increase the uptake of energy efficiency measures, the Government is also developing a new Small Business Energy Efficiency Scheme which will aim to support small and medium sized businesses implement energy efficiency upgrades in their buildings. Following a Call for Evidence on the scheme, a consultation will be published later in 2021.

In order to help SMEs overcome barriers to investing in energy efficiency we launched the Boosting Access for SMEs to Energy Efficiency innovation competition. The competition offered up to £6m to fund the development of new, innovative market solutions that can provide businesses with tailored energy efficiency advice, as well as simplifying the energy efficiency investment processes through the creation of one-stop-shop platforms.

For additional advice, small businesses may choose to access the Business Support Helpline, or may find the then Department for Energy and Climate Change’s SME guide to energy efficiency useful.

As the world starts to recover from the Coronavirus pandemic, businesses have an opportunity to recover cleaner, rebuild greener and emerge better equipped for the future. Businesses of all sizes can access free support and guidance on accessing the right finance from a range of Government-backed sources: the network of 38 Growth Hubs in England – and equivalent support in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – the Business Support Helpline and the business webpages on GOV.UK.

As part of COP26, through a campaign led by our Net Zero Business Champion my Hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs, small businesses from across the UK are invited to join the green business revolution and commit to becoming more sustainable. By November, the aim is for as many UK small businesses as possible to join the ‘Race to Zero’ – a global effort to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we all generate to zero by 2050.

The first step small businesses can take is to visit our new digital platform and sign up to the globally recognised small business climate commitment. Here small and micro businesses can also get help and advice on how to be greener and save money. The new digital platform is embedded on the existing SME Climate Hub, which is part of the global Race to Zero campaign. Signing up allows businesses to publicly commit to becoming greener, plan the steps they will take to get there, show customers they are serious about climate, and help to start a green business movement.

Taking action on climate change will help businesses to grow, seize new opportunities and adapt against the challenges of a changing planet. Reducing emissions can lower businesses’ running costs, save them money, and attract new customers who want to shop sustainably.

Building a fairer economy means ensuring the UK’s organisations reflect the nation’s diversity.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities published its independent report on 31 March 2021. The report is intended to be a roadmap to racial fairness in the UK and sets out 24 recommendations for further action across Government, public bodies and the private sector. This includes recommendations relating to ethnicity pay gap reporting and advancing fairness in the workplace.

We welcome the opportunity to consider the Commission’s findings on this matter, and to consider them in light of the work that has already taken place within government.

The Government is now considering the independent report in detail and assessing the next steps for future government policy.

Building a fairer economy means ensuring the UK’s organisations reflect the nation’s diversity.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities published its independent report on 31 March 2021. The report is intended to be a roadmap to racial fairness in the UK and sets out 24 recommendations for further action across Government, public bodies and the private sector. This includes recommendations relating to ethnicity pay gap reporting and advancing fairness in the workplace.

We welcome the opportunity to consider the Commission’s findings on this matter, and to consider them in light of the work that has already taken place within government.

The Government is now considering the independent report in detail and assessing the next steps for future government policy.

We are aware of the report. ONS data shows fewer people working part time (7.8 million, 24% of all in employment) in the three months to April 2021, than in the three months to February 2020 (8.6 million, 26% of all in employment). Further information on full-time and part-time working can be found on the ONS website.

The Government is keen to do more to support flexible working in all its forms. In 2019 the Government committed to consult on making flexible working the default unless employers have good reasons not to. The consultation will be published in due course.

My Hon. Friend the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets has also reconvened the Flexible Working Taskforce – a partnership across business groups, trade unions, charities, and government departments – to help inform the Government’s thinking and support employers as we navigate the impact of Covid-19 on future ways of working. Timewise is a valued member of the Taskforce.

The Taskforce has been asked to help take forward what we have learned through the pandemic about flexible ways of working. In the immediate phase, the Taskforce will consider the essential practical and legal issues associated with a return to a workplace and an increase in hybrid working. The Taskforce will move on to provide wider advice on best practice, so that employers are better able to support all forms of flexible working – whether the flexibility relates to the amount, timing or location of work.

The Government is considering the business practices, opportunities and risks associated with home and “hybrid” working, as some employers choose to embed these new ways of working into organisational business models more permanently. My Hon. Friend the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets has reconvened the Flexible Working Taskforce – a partnership across business groups, trade unions, charities, and government departments – to help inform the Government’s thinking and support employers as we navigate the impact of Covid-19 on future ways of working.

The Taskforce has been asked to help take forward the best of what we have learned through the pandemic about more flexible ways of working as the economy starts to fully open up.

The Taskforce will provide wider advice on best practice, so that employers are better able to support all forms of flexible working – whether the flexibility relates to the amount, timing or location of work. As part of this advice, the Taskforce will consider the issues associated with an employee’s ability to disconnect from work when working remotely and the related mental health considerations.

The Department regularly meets with representatives from across the sector to discuss how it can recover and build back from the pandemic.

We are doing everything we can to support hospitality on its road to recovery. This includes offering generous incentives to employers to recruit staff, with hundreds of young people starting work every day through the Kickstart Scheme. We are providing employers with a hiring incentive for each new apprentice they hire, helping more people across a broad range of industries. We are also investing £126 million in additional support to help create 40,000 more traineeships in England, funding high-quality work placements and training for 16-24-year olds in 2021-22.

The construction sector will be a key part of the UK’s economic recovery from Covid-19. Construction output has significantly increased since May 2020, with record monthly growth in June 2020, and strong growth continuing into 2021, with £23 billion of large construction contracts awarded for a range of infrastructure, housing and commercial projects. We expect this strong growth to continue during the rest of the year, meaning there is likely to be less of a need for Government support.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is designed to be a temporary measure to support businesses facing severely restricted demand. It has provided significant support to the construction sector, with payments made between 1 November 2020 and 31 March 2021 totalling £1,023m, with 83,000 firms using the CJRS, helping to protect over 200,000 jobs.

The Government continues to work closely with the industry to support its recovery, and to ensure that it can retain and develop the skilled workforce it needs. This includes through an accelerated pipeline of projects worth up to £37 billion, the introduction of a Talent Retention Scheme to help workers move into jobs, and work with the Construction Leadership Council and Construction Industry Training Board to ensure effective support to ensure the construction workforce is equipped with the skills that the industry needs.

The £5 billion Restart Grants scheme announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer on 3 March 2021 are one-off grants to businesses in the non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure, personal care and accommodation sectors to support businesses to reopen as covid-19 restrictions are lifted in the coming months.

Throughout the pandemic, BEIS officials have worked closely with Local Authorities to ensure that grants are delivered as quickly as possible, while safeguarding public funds.   As the range of grants available has increased, officials have continued regular briefings with all 314 Local Authorities. Ministers have also held regular conversations with leaders and chief executives.

Officials continue to engage with Local Authorities to ensure compliance to both the scheme rules and wider reporting requirements. We will be releasing data on Restart Grant payments in due course.

The Government and regulators have concluded that to accelerate progress on climate risk disclosures, the UK will become the first country in the world to make Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)-aligned disclosures fully mandatory across the economy by 2025, with most requirements coming into force by 2023.

The UK Government recently published a consultation on Mandatory Climate-related Financial Disclosures, which closed on 5 May. The proposal covers larger companies and is consistent with the roadmap towards mandatory and climate related disclosures, and the interim report that was published in November 2020, which noted that the benefits of mandatory disclosures are likely to increase with an organisation’s size.

We will now carefully consider all of the responses to the consultation and a response will be published by the end of the year. BEIS has committed to review the case for expanding the scope of the regulations in 2023.

The ONS’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is the most detailed and comprehensive source of earnings information available in the UK. ASHE provides a proxy measure of both the scale and nature of non-compliance with the relevant statutory minimum wage. In April 2020, we estimate that there were around 38,000 jobs paid below the applicable minimum wage rate and non-compliant with minimum wage legislation in the hospitality sector, and 3,000 in the leisure sector. This excludes individuals who were furloughed, as they would not have been working at that time.

The Government is committed to cracking down on employers who fail to pay the NMW. We are clear that everyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it. As well as investigating every worker complaint, HMRC also undertake proactive investigations (referred to as targeted enforcement) based on the identification of the risk of non-compliance, and deliver a programme of upstream ‘Promote’ work designed to promote understanding and encourage employer compliance.

We have more than doubled the budget for minimum wage enforcement and compliance, which is now over £27 million annually, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16. There are now over 400 HMRC staff involved in the enforcement of the minimum wage. In 2020/21 HMRC concluded over 2,700 minimum wage investigations, returning more than £16.7m in arrears to over 155,000 workers. Since 2015, the Government has ordered employers to repay £100 million to 1 million workers.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy continues to deliver a rolling plan of engagement with UK SMEs, webinars and other events across the spectrum of our sectors to discuss the impact of COVID-19 and the continued support Government is providing to small businesses.

Moreover, through the Growth Hubs, led and governed by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP), business advisers can highlight potential sources of support available and increase awareness of government support for small businesses. Demand for Growth Hub services doubled in the first 6 months of COVID-19 impact. LEP’s have self-reported that in the first six months of the financial year 2020-2021 (1/4/20 to 31/10/20) alone, their Growth Hubs have engaged with over 1.63m businesses and individuals; provided direct support to over 147,000 businesses (of which an estimated 6,400 received over 12 hours of high level support); and helped an estimated 3,900 individuals start a business.

The Government’s business advice pages on GOV.UK also provide information and guidance relevant to starting, growing and maintaining a business, as well as their statutory rights and obligations. More detail on the support provided by devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland can also be found online: www.gov.uk/browse/business.

We have always been clear that businesses are responsible for repaying any finance they take out. However, we recognise that some borrowers will benefit from additional flexibility with regards to their repayments. That is why we announced the Pay As You Grow measures last year.

Pay As You Grow is designed to provide Bounce Back Loan borrowers more time and flexibility over their repayments by giving them the option to:

• Extend the length of the loan from six years to ten.
• Make interest-only payments for six months, with the option to use this up to three times throughout the loan.
• Take up a six-month repayment holiday. This option is available once during the term of their loan.

Businesses will be able to use these options either individually or in combination with each other. In addition, they have the option to fully repay their loan early and will face no early repayment charges for doing so.

While the Government covers the interest due on Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) loans for the first twelve months of the loan, repayments of capital are required during this period unless the lender chooses to grant additional forbearance measures.

CBILS lenders can extend the repayment period for CBILS facilities where this is needed, to a maximum of 10 years. CBILS term extensions are offered at the discretion of lenders, and for forbearance purposes only.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities recently published its independent report which included recommendations in relation to ethnicity pay gap reporting.

We welcome the opportunity to consider the Commission’s findings on this matter, and to consider them in light of the work that has already taken place within government. As well as consulting on ethnicity pay gap reporting, we have met with businesses and representative organisations to understand the barriers towards reporting and what information should be published. We have also run a methodology testing exercise with a broad range of businesses to better understand the complexities outlined in the consultation.

The Government will respond to the Commission’s report in due course.

We are in regular dialogue with the hospitality sector to understand how business operating models are affected by both leaving the EU and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to mitigate against a rise in the number of vacant units, the Government has introduced a range of measures to protect businesses that are struggling to pay their rent due to Covid-19. The moratorium on commercial landlord’s right to forfeiture for the non-payment of rent (Section 82 Coronavirus Act 2020) is extended to the end of June 2021. Landlords are also prevented from using winding up petitions and statutory demands to pursue rent debt and the use of Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) has also been suspended, both extended until 30 June 2021.

In order to help inform the Government’s strategy to exit these protections, and to gather evidence on the progress of negotiations regarding rent debt between landlords and tenants, a Call for Evidence was launched on 6 April. This closed on 4 May and the Government will make an announcement on future policy ahead of 30 June 2021.

We continue to reduce the financial burden on retailers by providing eligible retail, hospitality, and leisure properties in England with 100% business rates relief until 30 June 2021. This will be followed by 66% business rates relief for the period from 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022, capped at £2 million per business for properties that were required to be closed on 5 January 2021, or £105,000 per business for other eligible properties.

We have introduced reforms to the use classes to enable more flexible use of existing buildings. These came into force on 1 September 2020. The use class reform creates a new ‘commercial, business and service’ use class which encompasses a wide range of uses which will attract people to high streets and town centres. This includes offices and other business uses, shops, cafes, gyms and any other uses which are suitable in a town centre. The new class also allows for mixed uses to reflect changing retail and business models. These reforms will help support high streets and town centres as they seek to recover from the economic impact of Covid-19 Businesses will have greater flexibility to change use without planning permission, allowing them to adapt and diversify more quickly to meet changing circumstances.

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. I will correspond directly with the noble Lord.

Achieving our net zero goal requires all businesses to take action. In order to drive this forward, my Hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs has been appointed by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister to be the UK’s Net Zero Business Champion ahead of COP26. My Hon. Friend’s role is to encourage UK business to sign up to climate action via the Race to Zero science-based targets initiative, to champion the actions that UK businesses are already taking and to help UK businesses exploit the many opportunities of the transition to a low carbon economy.

By November, the aim is for as many UK small businesses as possible to join the Race to Zero – a global effort to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we all generate to zero by 2050.

Taking action on climate change will help businesses to grow, seize new opportunities and adapt against the challenges of a changing planet. Reducing emissions can lower businesses’ running costs, save them money, and attract new customers who want to shop sustainably.

In 2019, the Government held a consultation inviting views on policies which aim to tackle some of the challenges associated with non-guaranteed hours. These included proposals on providing reasonable notice of shifts and providing compensation for shifts cancelled at short notice.

We are analysing the results of this consultation, especially in light of the impacts of Covid-19 on the labour market and will respond in due course.

The Government recognises the significant impact that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had on both employers and employees, and their mental wellbeing.

In order to highlight available support around mental health for business figures including entrepreneurs, the Government is signposting to resources for businesses and employers, including Mind’s website and the Mental Health at Work toolkit, through GOV.UK. We also continue to work with the Thriving at Work Leadership Council to encourage employers to sign up to the Mental Health at Work (MHAW) commitments and to engage leading Mental Health charities and organisations to better understand issues around SME mental health, financial insecurity for small business owners and the self-employed, and continue to explore what further support may be offered.

We also know how worried people are and we are taking many steps to protect both jobs and the long-term financial future of businesses during the current economic emergency. Throughout this crisis, our priority has been clear: to protect lives and livelihoods. We have introduced an unprecedented and comprehensive package of business support measures to help as many individuals and businesses as possible, which has mitigated some of the worst immediate impacts of COVID-19 on risk factors for poor mental health. This includes measures such as the small business grants, the Coronavirus loan guarantee schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the deferral of VAT and income tax payments, and more. Businesses can also access tailored advice through our Freephone Business Support Helpline, online via the Business Support website or through their local Growth Hubs in England. The Business Support Helpline continues to support business owners with tailored advice and information, and also signposts individuals to mental health support services where appropriate.

The Government aims to make the United Kingdom the best place to start, grow and run a business. Support for small businesses to grow and invest comes on top of the Government’s existing plans to support growth through significant investment in infrastructure, skills and innovation – as set out in ‘Build Back Better – our plan for growth’, published alongside the Budget.

From April 2021 until the end of March 2023, companies can claim 130% capital allowances on qualifying plant and machinery investments. The super-deduction is the biggest two-year business tax cut in Modern British history - supporting British enterprise in leading us to the post-pandemic economic recovery. Under the super-deduction, for every pound a company invests, their taxes are cut by up to 25p. The super-deduction cuts the tax bills of companies that invest and the more they invest the less tax they will pay.

In order to help smaller firms improve business practices and productivity we are developing a new world-leading SME management training offer, Help to Grow: Management, aiming to directly upskill 30,000 business leaders helping them realise their potential. The Government will also launch a new online platform where businesses can access impartial advice on software, and a voucher to reduce the costs of buying that software through the Help to Grow: Digital scheme.

Our new Recovery Loan Scheme launched on 6 April, provides additional finance and further support to protect businesses and jobs, ensuring businesses continue to benefit from Government guaranteed finance throughout 2021. The new scheme will enable businesses of any size to continue accessing loans and other kinds of finance from £25,001 up to a maximum of £10 million per business as they grow and recover from Covid-19 related disruption. Invoice and asset finance from £1,000 is also available.

For those starting a new business or for businesses which have been trading for up to 24 months, the Start Up Loans Company provides loans of between £500 to £25,000 at a competitive rate of 6%. In addition to finance, every loan recipient is offered a dedicated mentoring service and access to a free expert business mentor for 12 months to help them with every aspect of setting up a business. The Start Up Loans programme, operated by the British Business Bank, has issued loans to businesses in every Local Authority and UK parliamentary constituency since 2012.

The Government continues to provide a range of support and information for small businesses, including on starting and running a business, through our online services on GOV.UK. Support and advice is also available via the Business Support Helpline on FREEPHONE 0800 998 1098, and via the network of 38 local Growth Hubs in England.

We have extended opening hours for retail from 7am to 10pm until the 21^st of June 2021, giving people greater flexibility to avoid peak times and easing transport pressures.

In order to support hospitality businesses, the temporary pavement licence provisions introduced in the Business and Planning Act 2020 create a quicker and cheaper process for businesses to obtain a licence to place outdoor furniture, including tables, chairs, and stalls outside their premise. The Government intends to extend the temporary pavement licence provisions for 12 months until September 2022, subject to Parliamentary approval.

In order to make sure that businesses can make the most of the summer, businesses such as pubs and restaurants, including where these premises are in listed buildings, will be allowed to use their land more flexibly to set up marquees and provide more outdoor space for diners as restrictions ease, allowing them to serve more customers and recover from the effects of the pandemic. They can be kept up for the whole summer rather than the 28 days currently permitted.

We are also providing a £56 million Welcome Back Fund which will help councils boost tourism, improve green spaces, and provide more outdoor seating areas, markets, and food stall pop-ups – giving people more safer options to reunite with friends and relatives.

Late payments damage the cashflow of small businesses, which can hold back investment or job creation and, in the worst cases, lead to job losses and business closures.

Action to stop the damaging practice of late payments remains a key priority for Government.

On 16 March, we announced the appointment of Liz Barclay as Small Business Commissioner, who will continue the excellent work of interim Commissioner Philip King in helping small businesses secure the payments owed to them and to galvanise UK businesses behind a new culture of prompt payment.

In October last year, we consulted on new powers for the Commissioner, including the power to order payments, levy fines and open investigations based on third-party information. The responses to the consultation and further proposals will be published in due course.

In January this year, we also announced reforms to the Prompt Payment Code to help build a culture of prompt payment between companies and challenge UK businesses to change their practices and stand by small partners at a critical time for the UK’s economic recovery.

The Government has committed to consult on making flexible working the default unless employers have good reasons not to. The consultation will consider flexible working in all its forms – it is not just about where people work, but also about when they work and the associated number of hours. The consultation will be launched in due course.

In March 2018, the Flexible Working Taskforce – a partnership across business groups, trade unions, charities, and government departments – was set up and ran for a period of 18 months to advise the Government on policies and proposals around flexible working.

Earlier this year, my Hon. Friend the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets wrote to the co-chair of the Taskforce, Peter Cheese, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), to commission a further 18 months’ work from the Taskforce to help inform the Government’s thinking as we develop the detail of new policies and navigate the impact of Covid-19 on future ways of working.

The Taskforce has been asked to produce advice for employers on “hybrid” and other ways of working within the next six months, which will aim to support businesses in addressing the challenges, issues, and opportunities associated with these new ways of working.

Retailers have been able to benefit through an unprecedented support package including loan schemes, grant funding, tax deferrals, the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The Government will continue to provide eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties in England with 100% business rates relief from 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021. This will be followed by 66% business rates relief for the period from 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022, capped at £2 million per business for properties that were required to be closed on 5 January 2021, or £105,000 per business for other eligible properties.

We have provided one-off ‘Restart Grants’ of up to £6,000 for non-essential retail premises, expected to benefit over 450,000 non-essential retail businesses.

My Rt hon Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced a new ‘Help to Grow’ initiative, providing £520 million to help SMEs recover from the COVID-19 pandemic by adopting digital technologies and providing management training to boost productivity.

The initiative contains two schemes:

• Help to Grow: Digital – this scheme will be available from the Autumn with small businesses able to access free impartial advice on how technology can boost their performance. Eligible businesses will also be able to get a discount of up to 50% on the costs of approved software, worth up to £5,000. Vouchers are initially expected to be available for software that helps businesses:
  • Build customer relationships and increase sales.
  • Make the most of selling online.
  • Manage their accounts and finances digitally.
• Help to Grow: Management – this scheme will offer MBA-style management training to SMEs with the aim of increasing innovation and boosting growth.

Through regular engagement with small and medium-sized businesses, the Government is aware of the issues highlighted by the results of the takepayments survey and recognises the individual impact on those that have lost jobs or had their livelihood affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Plan for Jobs measures announced last year provides significantly expanded employment support, (including extra Work Coaches) to help people who have become newly unemployed, and individuals who have fallen into longer term unemployment, whoever they are and wherever they live.

Further support will be announced shortly. DWP Train and Progress (TaP), a new DWP initiative aimed at increasing access to training opportunities for claimants, will see an extension to the length of time people can receive Universal Credit while undertaking work-focused study.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the government has sought to protect people’s jobs and livelihoods across the UK, spending £352 billion on its package of support for affected businesses. This package includes grants, loans, and business rates relief, as well as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) which has been used by 1.3 million employers to support 11.2 million jobs at a value of £53.8 billion. The CJRS has been extended to September 2021.

The Budget announced on 3 March 2021 also sets out how it will support a plan for recovery that focusses on backing business, improving skills, and creating jobs. As part of this support, businesses of any size will still be able to access loans and other forms of finance worth up to £10m via the new Recovery Loan Scheme which launched on 6 April, replacing the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans scheme. The Restart Grant supports businesses in the non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure, personal care and accommodation sectors with a one-off grant, to reopen safely as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

The Government recognises the significant impact that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had on both employers and employees.

In order to highlight available support around mental health, the Government is signposting to resources for businesses and employers, including Mind’s website and the Mental Health at Work toolkit, through GOV.UK. We also continue to work with the Thriving at Work Leadership Council to encourage employers to sign up to the Mental Health at Work (MHAW) commitments. We also engage leading Mental Health charities and organisations to better understand issues around SME mental health, financial insecurity for small business owners and the self-employed, and we continue to explore what further support may be offered.

We also know how worried people are, and we are taking many steps to protect both jobs and the long-term financial future of businesses during the current economic emergency. Throughout this crisis, our priority has been clear: to protect lives and livelihoods. We have introduced an unprecedented and comprehensive package of business support measures to help as many individuals and businesses as possible, which has mitigated some of the worst immediate impacts of COVID-19 on risk factors for poor mental health. This includes measures such as the small business grants, the Coronavirus loan guarantee schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the deferral of VAT and income tax payments, and more. Businesses can also access tailored advice through our Freephone Business Support Helpline, online via the Business Support website or through their local Growth Hubs in England. The Business Support Helpline continues to support business owners with tailored advice and information, and also signposts individuals to mental health support services where appropriate.

Further measures were also announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget that build on the significant support already available as well as set out how current support will evolve and adapt. This includes the extension of the CJRS until September 2021, and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will continue with a fourth and a fifth grant. The Chancellor announced that a further 600,000 people, many of whom became self-employed in 2019-20, may now be able to claim direct cash grants under SEISS. The Chancellor also announced in the Budget that from 1^st April one-off Restart Grants of up to £6,000 for non-essential retail and up to £18,000 for hospitality, leisure, personal care, and accommodation businesses will be available to support them to reopen as Covid-19 restrictions are relaxed.

Businesses and individuals can use our checker tool on GOV.UK to quickly and easily determine whether they are eligible for any further financial support at this time. We will continue to work with colleagues across Government, businesses and other organisations, to ensure the right support is available for employers and employees.

The impacts on the UK economy of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement and our global trade deals will not be fully understood until the new processes and procedures are fully embedded. We have secured a Trade Deal that we believe will sustain the success of the UK manufacturing sector with 100% tariff liberalisation, and modern and appropriate rules of origin. This includes Product-Specific Rules of Origin tailored to the needs of UK businesses in manufacturing sectors such as automotive, aluminium, chemicals, machinery and food and drink.

The government engages with a range of stakeholders to understand the reach and scope of the grant support that has been made available. All small business premises that have been mandated in legislation to close are able to access grant support including up to £4,500 per six weeks of closure.

For those small businesses that have not been mandated to close, £2bn of funding via the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) has been made available to Local Authorities to develop business support, including grants, that suits their local area. Local Authorities provide regular data reports on the number and value of grants they are making across all grant schemes available, and this is available on the GOV.UK website.

The British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Markets Report makes clear how difficult the last year has been for many small businesses, which is why the Government continues to provide an extensive and generous package of support.

This package of support includes the extended furlough scheme, VAT and business rates relief, loan guarantees and direct cash grants so small businesses are able to keep afloat, protect jobs, and build back better from the pandemic.

The Government is working closely with Local Authorities in England to support the implementation of business grants during the Covid-19 pandemic and monitor the distribution of grant funds. This has included the publication of guidance, webinars and one to one engagement to support Local Authorities in delivering this vital support to businesses. In addition, Ministers from the department have met with Local Authority Leaders and senior officers to discuss grant delivery.

Officials also continue to engage with Local Authorities to ensure compliance to both the scheme rules and wider reporting requirements.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan will support up to 90,000 highly-skilled green jobs across the UK within this Parliament, and up to 250,000 by 2030.

In order to ensure we have the skilled workforce to deliver net zero and our Ten Point Plan, we have launched the Green Jobs Taskforce, working in partnership with business, skills providers, and unions, to help us develop plans for new long-term good quality, green jobs and advise what support is needed for people in transitioning industries.

The Government is investing £2 billion in the Kickstart Scheme, which will create paid, quality 6-month work placements for hundreds of thousands of young people aged 16-24 on Universal Credit. The Kickstart Scheme is aimed specifically at young people deemed to be at risk of long-term unemployment. The Scheme provides the opportunity for young people to develop their employability and experience as well as providing a potential route into longer-term employment.

Later this year, the UK’s Net Zero Business Champion, my Hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith MP), will lead the Together for Our Planet (TFOP) Small Business campaign. The campaign, aimed at the UK’s 1.4 million small businesses, will enhance awareness of climate change and net zero, while encouraging them to pledge to take specific actions to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. Examples of the latter might include pledging to switch a commercial van to an electric vehicle, supporting employees to cycle to work or moving to a more local supplier.

The Government is in regular discussions with businesses and business representative organisations over a range of issues affecting small and medium-sized businesses, including Covid-19. Through this engagement we will continue to monitor the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on SMEs.

In addition, the Government monitors a number of data sources, including ONS business resilience data, and will continue to do so.

As of 21 February 2021, the Government’s lending schemes have approved over 1.5 million Government-guaranteed loans worth over £72 billion to support cashflow for businesses across the UK affected by Covid-19.

We recognise that some borrowers will benefit from repayment flexibility, and that is why we announced the Pay As You Grow measures, which give Bounce Back Loan borrowers more time and greater flexibility to repay their loans.

We have also enabled lenders to extend the repayment period for Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) facilities beyond 6 years (up to a maximum of 10 years) where this is needed in connection with the provision of forbearance. CBILS term extensions are offered at the discretion of lenders. This measure is designed to help businesses that would struggle to repay their CBILS facility on their existing terms, by reducing monthly repayments.

The Government continues to enhance its engagement with a broad range of trade and representative bodies, in particular SME networks, to continue to understand the impact of Covid-19 on businesses and the concerns they have.

This Government is clear that everyone deserves to be treated fairly at work and rewarded for their contribution to the economy, both in terms of fair pay and fair working conditions. An individual’s entitlement to the minimum wage depends on their employment status and whether they are classed as a worker. We are clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it.

We have more than doubled the budget for minimum wage enforcement and compliance, rising to £27.5 million for 20/21, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16. In 2019/20 HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) identified £20.8 million in arrears for over 263,000 workers and issued over just under 1,000 penalties totalling £18.5 million to non-compliant employers.

We would encourage anyone who thinks they are being underpaid to report this. Workers can call the Acas helpline (0300 123 1100) for free, impartial and confidential advice about their rights and entitlements and Acas will pass cases onto HMRC where appropriate. HMRC follows up on every worker complaint it receives, even those which are anonymous.

Over the course of the pandemic, the Government has provided an unprecedented package of financial support to businesses, including those in the wedding industry, which we keep under regular review.

My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his Budget a raft of new measures to further support businesses, including those in the wedding industry. These include:

• Extension of the Coronavirus Job Support Scheme to the end of September 2021.

• £5 billion for new Restart Grants.

• The Government is also providing all Local Authorities in England with an additional £425 million of discretionary business grant funding, on top of the £1.6 billion already allocated.

• Eligible businesses in hospitality sector will benefit from business rates relief worth over £6 billion in 2021 to 2022.

The Government continues to engage with UK Finance, the Bank of England, and the wider banking sector, to encourage the flow of finance to UK businesses.

The Government continues to publish free information and advice on business finance outside the business interruption loans – including finance available from a variety of sources such as private funds and investors, and not only those guaranteed by Government. This can be found online on GOV.UK, through the business finance finder, through the network of Growth Hubs in England, and through the free Business Support Helpline.

The Government has provided an unprecedented level of support to protect the UK economy through the COVID-19 pandemic, including through the business interruption loan schemes. The business interruption loans will close on 31 March and the new Recovery Loan Scheme will launch on 6 April and run until 31 December 2021, subject to review.

We have noted the Hiscox report and recognise the concerns it highlights that are faced by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), including access to finance, employee retention, and access to mental health support for employees.

The Government has implemented a range of measures to mitigate the immediate economic impacts of the covid-19 pandemic, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme. Additionally, as of the end of January 2021, over 12 million people and jobs have been protected to a sum of around £65 billion.

The loan schemes were launched at the beginning of the pandemic, and will close on 31 March 2021. A Successor Loan Scheme will be launched soon after to support additional lending.

We continue to engage with SMEs across the UK both directly and through the Business Representative Organisations such as the FSB, the CBI and Make UK.

Through GOV.UK’s Coronavirus support for business webpages, we are signposting mental health resources for businesses and employers, including Mind’s website and the Mental Health at Work toolkit.

In terms of wider support for businesses as restrictions ease, we continue to encourage businesses to access the free and tailored support available through our core services including GOV.UK, the FREEPHONE Business Support Helpline, and the network of 38 Growth Hubs operating in England.

Achieving our net zero goal requires all businesses to take action to reduce their emissions, while helping to grow the economy. We are working with our stakeholders to drive the ambitious action needed from UK businesses to help tackle climate change and reduce their impact on the environment.

We are working across government, and with our regulators to drive progress on UK companies disclosing their climate risks in line with the framework provided by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. TCFD can deliver high-quality disclosure on how organisations will manage the material financial risks and opportunities arising from climate change and will improve transparency and encourage better informed pricing and capital allocation.

The eyes of the world will be on the UK as we host the G7 and COP26 in 2021. Business action on climate is vitally important to achieving a successful summit and presidency, and is an excellent opportunity to showcase businesses as global leaders in tackling climate change in the year leading up to COP26.

Our main ask ahead of COP26 in November is for businesses to set ambitious targets and take action to reduce emissions and build resilience, joining the Race to Zero. This sends the strongest signal to markets, supply chains, governments and consumers that businesses are committed to the transition.

There are laws in place to ensure fair procedure in redundancy and dismissal matters and to protect against discrimination. Employees who consider that their dismissal was unfair can complain to an employment tribunal, generally subject to a qualifying period of two years of continuous service. If an employee has been unlawfully discriminated against, there is no such qualifying period.

The Government collects data on claims to employment tribunals, but this is not disaggregated by the specific characteristics of the claimant.

The Government recognises the significant impact that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had on both employers and employees, and their mental wellbeing.

In order to highlight available support around mental health, the Government is signposting to resources for businesses and employers, including Mind’s website and the Mental Health at Work toolkit, through GOV.UK. We also continue to work with the Thriving at Work Leadership Council to encourage employers to sign up to the Mental Health at Work (MHAW) commitments and to engage leading Mental Health charities and organisations to better understand issues around SME mental health, financial insecurity for small business owners and the self-employed, and continue to explore what further support may be offered.

We also know how worried people are and we are taking many steps to protect both jobs and the long-term financial future of businesses during the current economic emergency. Throughout this crisis, our priority has been clear: to protect lives and livelihoods. We have introduced an unprecedented and comprehensive package of business support measures to help as many individuals and businesses as possible, which has mitigated some of the worst immediate impacts of COVID-19 on risk factors for poor mental health. This includes measures such as the small business grants, the Coronavirus loan guarantee schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the deferral of VAT and income tax payments, and more. Businesses can also access tailored advice through our Freephone Business Support Helpline, online via the Business Support website or through their local Growth Hubs in England. The Business Support Helpline continues to support business owners with tailored advice and information, and also signposts individuals to mental health support services where appropriate.

Further measures were also announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer that build on the significant support already available as well as set out how current support will evolve and adapt. This includes the extension of the CJRS until the end of April 2021, the extension of the Coronavirus loan guarantee schemes until 31 March 2021, and the introduction of Pay As You Grow measures, meaning businesses now have the option to repay their Bounce Back Loans over a period of up to ten years. Businesses who also deferred VAT due from 20 March to 30 June 2020 will now have the option to opt-in to a scheme to allow them to pay in smaller instalments up to the end of March 2022, interest free. Businesses and individuals can use our checker tool on GOV.UK to quickly and easily determine whether they are eligible for any further financial support at this time. We will continue to work with colleagues across Government, businesses and other organisations, to ensure the right support is available for employers and employees.

BEIS and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government are working closely with businesses and Local Authorities for a safe and successful reopening when the health data allows.

We will keep all options under review, exploring all avenues to support local businesses as they recover from the impacts of COVID-19.

The Government’s commitment to promoting digital adoption and facilitating digital upskilling includes several initiatives, including:

- Local Digital Skills Partnerships, which currently operate in seven regions across England, working to advance digital inclusion, support small businesses and build regional digital skills capability.

- the Digital Boost platform, which is building a community of digital experts providing one-to-one support to small businesses and charities free of charge to help them improve their digital capability and build an online presence.

The Government engages continually with business groups and local leaders in London to understand the situation faced by businesses as we take action to tackle Covid-19. Small businesses are clearly vital to the success and draw of London and we are committed to supporting them over the coming months.

More than £1.6bn in grants was paid out to over 111,000 businesses in London in respect of the Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund between March and September 2020.

We have also provided additional funding for national and local SME advice and support, with an additional £4m provided to Growth Hubs on top of £2.4m previously announced, this includes the London Growth Hub, which has provided advice on funding and EU Transition to London SMEs.

The Government has offered an unprecedented package of support throughout the pandemic to businesses that have been required by law to close and those which are severely affected by the Covid-19 restrictions.

London business premises that are currently required to be closed may access grants of up to £4,500 per six week period of closure as well as one-off grants of up to £9,000 to help them during this difficult period.

Local Authorities have also been allocated a total of £1.6bn in Additional Restrictions Grant funding which enables them to put in place discretionary support schemes that best suit their local area allowing them to support their wider business community over and above those that are legally required to close.

We are clear that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage should receive it and we will take action where employers have been found to be in breach of the law. In 2019/20, HM Revenue & Customs identified £20.8 million in arrears for over 263,000 workers and issued just under 1,000 penalties totalling £18.5 million to non-compliant employers. In addition, on 31^st December 2020 the Government named 139 employers, including 18 retailers, who had failed to pay the minimum wage and owed over £5 million to more than 80,000 workers. This demonstrates our continued commitment to our clear and consistent message that it is never acceptable for employers to short-change their employees.

Individuals and businesses can access tailored advice through our Freephone Business Support Helpline, online via the Business Support website or through the network of 38 local Growth Hubs in England. Further initiatives include the BEIS-led Small Business Leadership Programme and Peer-to-Peer networks, to help businesses build resilience and grow.

In summer 2018, the British Business Bank also launched a website that offers independent and impartial information on different finance options for scale-up, high growth and potential high growth businesses. The site features infographics and checklists to help businesses get ‘investor ready’ as well as articles and guides from finance providers on how smaller businesses can identify and access finance suited to their growth ambitions. At its heart is the Finance Hub’s Finance Finder, a simple six-step tool that enables smaller business to explore and identify finance options suited to their needs. In light of the coronavirus pandemic, the Finance Hub has been updated to clearly signpost the financial support options available for businesses during this period of economic uncertainty.

The Government also recognises the significant impact that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had on both employers and employees, and their mental wellbeing. In order to highlight available support around mental health, the Government is signposting to resources for businesses and employers, including Mind’s website and the Mental Health at Work toolkit, through GOV.UK. We also continue to work with the Thriving at Work Leadership Council to encourage employers to sign up to the Mental Health at Work (MHAW) commitments and to engage leading Mental Health charities and organisations to better understand issues around SME mental health, financial insecurity for small business owners and the self-employed, and continue to explore what further support may be offered.

We are also taking many steps to protect both jobs and the long-term financial future of businesses during the current economic emergency. We have introduced an unprecedented and comprehensive package of business support measures to help as many individuals and businesses as possible, which has mitigated some of the worst immediate impacts of COVID-19 on risk factors for poor mental health. This includes measures such as the small business grants, the Coronavirus loan guarantee schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), the deferral of VAT and income tax payments, and more. These measures were designed to be accessible to businesses in most sectors and across the UK.

Further measures were also announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer that build on the significant support already available as well as set out how current support will evolve and adapt. Businesses and individuals can use our checker tool on GOV.UK to quickly and easily determine whether they are eligible for any further financial support at this time.

We made sure workers’ rights were protected as the U.K. left the EU and are committed to protecting and enhancing workers’ rights going forward. As an independent, sovereign nation we are now ideally placed to capitalise on the wealth of opportunities available to us. We want to go further than ever before to uphold workers’ rights, support UK businesses and ultimately boost productivity in the UK.

Our high standards have never been dependent on EU membership, and the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation agreement recognises the importance of these employment standards, whilst retaining flexibility for us to tailor our approach to what works for the UK and maintaining our strong levels of protection.

Gig economy workers’ employment rights are determined by their employment status - employee, worker or self-employed.

We want to make it easier for individuals and businesses to understand which employment rights apply to them. The Government is currently considering options to improve clarity around employment status.

We recognise that a diverse range of businesses have taken out Bounce Back Loans. No repayments are due during the first 12 months of the loan term, giving businesses the space they need to get through this difficult period without needing to worry about repaying these loans in the coming months.

Our ‘Pay as you Grow’ options will allow individual businesses to tailor their repayments to their individual circumstances, to help them repay their loans.

In addition, lenders may offer a term extension to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) borrowers in difficulty, as a forbearance tool, up to a maximum of 10 years, if the lender judges that it would help the borrower to repay their loan.

The Government recognises the significant impact that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had on both employers and employees, and their mental wellbeing. Throughout this crisis, our priority has been clear: to protect lives and livelihoods and we have taken many steps to protect both jobs and the long-term financial future of businesses during the current economic emergency.

The Government has set out a plan for recovery that focusses on backing business, improving skills, and creating jobs. For example, the Plan for Jobs provides new funding to ensure more people will get tailored support to help them find work. This includes launching the £2 billion Kickstart Scheme fund and investing £2.9 billion in the Restart programme over 3 years to support the UK’s labour market. DWP are also doubling the number of jobcentre Work Coaches to provide intensive support for both young people and the newly unemployed.

Further measures include committing £8 million for digital skills boot camps, increasing apprenticeship opportunities, expanding sector-based work academies programme (SWAPs), launching the Job Finding Support Service, and increasing the funding for the Flexible Support Fund by £150 million in Great Britain.

In order to highlight available support around mental health, the Government is also signposting to resources for businesses and employers, including Mind’s website and the Mental Health at Work toolkit, through GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-support-for-business-from-outside-government. We also continue to work with the Thriving at Work Leadership Council to encourage employers to sign up to the Mental Health at Work (MHAW) commitments and to engage leading Mental Health charities and organisations to better understand issues around SME mental health, financial insecurity for small business owners and the self-employed, and continue to explore what further support may be offered.

Skills and training are vital to our long-term economic growth and recovery from Covid-19 as we build back better across the UK. We are working closely with the Department for Education to ensure that Government support for skills and training is an integral part of our plan for growth.

The Department for Work and Pension’s Kickstart schemeis a £2 billion fund to create hundreds of thousands of high quality roles for 16 to 24 year olds that are receiving Universal Credit. The scheme will include wider employability support for participants to gain experience that will improve their chances of progressing to find long-term, sustainable work.

Skills and training are vital to our long-term economic growth and recovery from Covid-19 as we build back better across the UK. We are working closely with the Department for Education to ensure that Government support for skills and training is an integral part of our plan for growth.

The Department for Work and Pension’s Kickstart schemeis a £2 billion fund to create hundreds of thousands of high quality roles for 16 to 24 year olds that are receiving Universal Credit. The scheme will include wider employability support for participants to gain experience that will improve their chances of progressing to find long-term, sustainable work.

As part of the ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with the EU, it is our intention to agree reciprocal measures on permitted activities for short-term business visitors. We want to build on the EU’s precedents with Japan and Canada, where possible and to our mutual benefit. The purpose would be to ‘lock in’ a list of permitted activities that both Parties must allow, without requiring a work permit.

As is normal in EU trade agreements, some Member States may choose to table exceptions to this list, known as ‘reservations.’ Both Parties can, in practice, allow short-term business visitors to carry out more activities than those committed to in an FTA – and this is at the discretion of each of the immigration systems in question. Whether these activities are permitted visa-free is a matter for each individual Member State and the UK respectively.

The EU has not previously agreed with any of its trade partners a route for short-term business visitors to carry out paid or unpaid activities specific to legal professionals, preferring instead to adhere to its precedents on short-term business visitors.

After the transition period ends, for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, the EU has legislated so that UK nationals will not need a visa when travelling to and within the Schengen Area to undertake a limited range of activities, such as attending business meetings. The types of activities allowed will differ by Member State, and UK nationals should check with their host state before travelling whether the activity they are travelling for requires a visa and/or work permit.

In the UK, EU legal professionals will be able to perform some activities as visitors without the need for a visa. These activities are detailed further on the GOV.UK website.

The Government is committed to supporting apprentices and their employers to continue to build the skills capabilities the UK will need in the long term. On 8 July, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that employers taking on new apprentices will receive an extra £2,000 for every new apprentice they hire under 25, or £1500 for new apprentices above that age. This is in addition to the existing £1,000 grants for each 16 to 18-year-old apprentice taken on.

On 1 June, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) published its Industry Recovery Plan. Employment and skills in the construction sector are identified as a priority, and a focus of the ‘Restart’ phase of the Plan is to maximise employment opportunities. Apprenticeships, and how the construction sector maintains and takes on future apprentices, is a crucial part of this, and it is at the forefront of the CLC’s agenda.

The Government has welcomed the Plan and is collaborating with the CLC and industry to ensure that the proposals are implemented.

This Government is determined to tackle unfair working practices. As announced in the Queens’ Speech, we will bring forward an Employment Bill in due course, to make workplaces fairer, and provide new protections for those in low-paid work and the gig economy.

An individual’s employment rights – such as the right to the National Minimum Wage - are determined by their employment status (employee, worker or self-employed). Employment law doesn’t cover self-employed people in most cases because they are their own boss and are responsible for the success of their own business.

We recently announced an extension of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme to continue to support self-employed individuals who are experiencing reduced demand or cannot trade due to the effect of coronavirus.

We are increasing the overall level of the grant to 80% of trading profits covering November to January for all parts of the UK. This provides equivalent support to the self-employed as we are providing to employees through the government contribution in the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

This is £7.3 billion of support to the self-employed through November to January alone, with a further grant to follow covering February to April. This comes on top of £13.7 billion of support for self-employed people so far, one of the most comprehensive and generous support packages for the self-employed anywhere in the world.

As part of the ongoing Fee Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with the EU, it is our intention to agree reciprocal measures on short-term business visitors. The purpose would be to ‘lock in’ a list of permitted activities for short-term business visitors that both Parties must allow, without requiring a work permit. As is normal in EU trade agreements, some Member States may choose to table exceptions to this list, known as ‘reservations’. Note that both Parties may in practice allow more activities than those committed to in the FTA. Whether these activities are permitted visa-free is be a matter for Member States.

The EU has never previously agreed with any of its trade partners a route for short-term business visits specific to legal professionals and barristers. The UK’s overarching approach to temporary entry and stay issues with the EU is to explore building on the EU’s precedents with Canada and Japan. This includes for short-term visitors, where it is mutually beneficial to do so.

After the Transition Period ends, for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, the EU has legislated so that UK nationals will not need a visa when travelling to and within the Schengen Area to undertake a limited range of activities, such as attending business meetings. The types of activities allowed will differ by Member State, and UK nationals should check with their host state before travelling whether the activity they are travelling for requires a visa and/or work permit.

The Government is working closely with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and London Councils to support the London Recovery Plan, mapping employment and skills support to provide a coordinated skills and employment support package across the capital. DWP is also working with the Mayor’s Construction Academy to promote the opportunities in this sector as well as supporting GLA initiatives in the creative sector.

The Flexible Support Fund is available to support the unemployed to get back into work and DWP are working with individual London Boroughs using partnership grants to support initiatives to get people back into work.

We will review the report from the Learning and Work Institute and consider its findings.

Further to this through this Government’s Plan for Jobs, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer set out a plan to support jobs focussing on skills and young people. This includes:

• A new £2bn Kickstart Scheme to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people aged 16 to 24 claiming Universal Credit across England. Funding is available for six-month job placements will cover 100% of the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week – and employers will be able to top this wage up. There is no cap on the number of places available.
• Recruiting 13,500 work coaches to more than double the number of work coaches across the country - as well as putting in place a package of support to ensure young people have the skills and training to go on to high quality, secure and fulfilling employment.

• A new payment of £2,000 to employers in London and across England for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and a £1,500 payment for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over, from 1 August 2020 to 31 January 2021. Employers can start claiming for payments from 1 September.
• £111m is being invested to triple the scale of traineeships: with three times more funding available to providers in 2020-21 to support 30,000 new places. We have also introduced – for the first time - payments of £1,000 per trainee for employers who offer new or additional work placements (up to 10 trainees).
• Apprenticeship opportunities will also be increased, with more funding for SMEs taking on apprentices, and greater flexibility in how their training is structured – especially in sectors such as construction and creative industries where there are more varied employment patterns.
• Through the Government’s Local Growth Fund, the London Local Enterprise Action Partnership will deliver approximately 11,649 jobs and apprenticeships in London through the lifetime of the programme (15-21). The Fund will also help upskill 27,106 learners in London.

The Government is committed to ensuring workers across all regions are supported through this difficult time. Since the initial estimates were published by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) on 21 October, the Government has announced further revisions to the Job Support Scheme. The Job Support Scheme Open is at the heart of the Government’s efforts to protect viable jobs in businesses experiencing reduced demand, which was the focus of the New Economics Foundation’s research. The Government has increased the generosity of the scheme, ensuring that more jobs are protected.

Since the 21 October NEF publication, the Government has reduced the minimum hours that must be worked by employees to 20% from 33% and increased the wage subsidy provided by the Government from 33% to 61.67% of unworked time, up to a maximum monthly contribution of £1541.75. Employers must now pay for 5% of unworked time, down from 33%, up to a monthly cap of £125. This will ensure workers receive at least 73% of their salary while on the scheme, up to a salary limit of £3,125.

The New Economics Foundation itself has since said that they “welcome the improvements” the Government have made to the scheme.

A diverse and inclusive ecosystem is good for entrepreneurs, companies, investors, and society as a whole and HMG are committed to ensuring people from all backgrounds and regions benefit from the Government’s access to business finance schemes.

All the Government’s finance schemes, including the Future Fund, that were launched to provide support for those affected by Covid-19 are open to eligible businesses run by entrepreneurs from all regions and backgrounds, including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) businesses. Government will continue to monitor the implementation and take up of the schemes, working with lenders, the British Business Bank (BBB) and across industry.

The BBB published diversity data for the Future Fund on 22 September 2020, which showed that £427.1m worth of Convertible Loan Agreements have been approved to companies with BAME-only and mixed ethnicity management teams.

The Start Up Loans programme, also operated by the BBB, delivered nearly 77,000 loans overall in the UK, supporting nearly £650m of funding since the programme’s launch in 2012 to the end of September this year. 25% of the total number of these loans was made to BAME-led businesses in the UK.

The Department’s Ministerial team is actively engaging with entrepreneurs from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic business communities and has undertaken 10 engagements since March 2020.

This Government has a proud history of protecting and enhancing workers’ rights.

As announced in the Queens’ Speech, we will be bringing forward an Employment Bill to implement a range of Manifesto commitments.

This legislation will make workplaces fairer, by providing better support for working families, new protections for those in low-paid work and the gig economy, and by encouraging flexible working.

In 2018/19, the Government consulted on options for exploring possibilities for employer-level ethnicity pay reporting. Following the consultation, Government met with businesses and representative organisations to understand the barriers to reporting and explore what information could be published to allow for meaningful action to be taken. It is essential that any reporting is reliable and robust, and that is why last year we also ran a voluntary methodology testing exercise with a broad range of businesses to better understand the complexities outlined in the consultation using real payroll data. The Greater London Authority and Local Government Association were both invited and took part in the methodology testing.

The Government is currently considering the report and continues to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on the UK labour market.

The £30bn Plan for Jobs announced by my Rt. Hon friend the Chancellor of the Exhequer in July will protect, support and create jobs as part of our response to coronavirus. Among the measures included, we have committed at least £2 billion for a Kickstart Scheme that will directly pay employers to create new jobs for any 16 to 24-year old at risk of long-term unemployment, a further £3bn to support 140,000 green jobs, and trebling the number of sector-based work academy placements in England, in order to provide vocational training and guaranteed interviews for more people, helping them gain the skills needed for the jobs available in their local area.

As announced in the Queens’ Speech, we will be bringing forward an Employment Bill to implement a range of Manifesto commitments. This legislation will ensure that we have an employment framework that keeps pace with the changes in our labour market by providing new protections for those in low-paid work and the gig economy, and by encouraging flexible working. It will balance the needs of both employers and workers, ensuring everyone benefits from flexibility.

My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Winter Economy Plan outlines the additional support the Government is providing to help businesses, including those in the hospitality sector. Measures in the Winter Economy Pan include the Job Support Scheme, extending the VAT cut until 31 March 2021, the New Payment Scheme to allow deferred VAT payments to be spread through the year, extending the application period for government-backed loans and introducing ‘Pay as You Grow’ repayment options. There are also specific measures to support the self-employed, such as the SEISS Grant Extension. Also the Government have introduced measures to support businesses required to close their premises due to tier 3 restrictions. The Job Support Scheme is being expanded and the Government is also increasing the amounts payable under the Local Restrictions Support Grant scheme and changing this scheme so that businesses will be eligible for payments through it after two weeks of being closed due to local restrictions instead of three.

The Government is committed to promoting business leadership diversity and inclusion. Companies should embrace diversity throughout their workforce, including at board level and throughout senior leadership and the talent pipeline.

We work with businesses and business representative bodies to promote diverse boardrooms for FTSE 350 companies, and we support the independent business-led Parker Review which recommends that FTSE 100 companies should have at least one director of colour by the end of 2021 and that FTSE 250 companies also meet this target by the end of 2024.

We welcome the CBI campaign’s reinforcement of the Parker Review’s recommendations.

The number of people earning below two-thirds of median hourly pay fell for the sixth consecutive year, falling from 17% or employees in 2018 to 15.5% in 2019, the lowest rate since 1978.

The introduction of the National Living Wage has contributed significantly to this and the Government remains committed to eradicate low pay through the National Living Wage’s target, to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, provided economic conditions allow.

In addition to this, we are aware of the potential impacts that Covid-19 may have on low paid workers. Analysis by HM Treasury shows that Government’s interventions, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, helped reduce the scale of losses for working households by up to two-thirds.

From the 1 November the Job Support Scheme will open and run for 6 months. It is designed to protect viable jobs in businesses who are facing lower demand over the winter months due to covid 19, to help their employees attached to the workforce.

Vaccine developers that the Government are working with decide on which specific groups to include in their trials. For instance, the University of Oxford / Astra Zeneca Phase 3 trial includes arms that specifically looks at safety and efficacy of the vaccine in those aged between 56 – 69 and over 70. For the groups that are investigated, researchers are assessing the immune response to the vaccine to find out if there is variation in how well the immune system responds in older people.

In addition to the work that vaccine developers are undertaking, the Government has funded the NHS Registry, developed by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). This national registry is encouraging people who may be disproportionately affected by COVID19, such as older people, older people with underlying health conditions and people from different ethnic groups, to volunteer for clinical trials. This includes supporting the development of communications materials to provide information on taking part in COVID19 vaccine trials via the NIHR website (Be Part of Research).

In his Summer Economic Update, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £1.6bn plan to support jobs focussing on skills and young people whose employment prospects are expected to be disproportionately affected by the economic fallout of Coronavirus.

We have aligned our skills and training offers to priority areas for economic recovery, including the services sector, and we are investing over £500m in a package of support to ensure young people have the skills and training to go on to high quality, secure and fulfilling employment. This includes:

• A new payment to support organisations that take on new apprentices between 1 August 2020 and 31 January 2021 - £2,000 for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and £1,500 for each newly recruited apprentice aged 25 and over.
• £111m to triple the scale of traineeships: with three times more funding available to providers in 2020-21 to support 30,000 new places.
• £101m for a brand new offer to give 18 and 19-year-old school and college leavers the opportunity to study high value Level 2 and 3 courses when there are not employment opportunities available to them.
• £32m over two years to help 269,000 more people receive advice from the National Careers Service.
• £17m to triple the number of sector-based work academy programme placements in 2020/21, enough funding to support an extra 40,000 job seekers with additional training opportunities and the chance of a job.

We have also launched a new £2 billion Kickstart Scheme to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people across the country. Those aged 16-24, claiming Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment, will be eligible. Funding available for each six-month job placement will cover 100% of the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week and employers will be able to top this wage up.

Remote working is more appropriate for some roles and sectors than others, which is why we have been consistent in making the distinction between those who can and those who cannot work from home as part of our COVID-19 guidance. We also appreciate that the appropriateness of remote working depends on an individual’s personal circumstances and remote working environment.

The Government has committed to consulting on making flexible working the default and we will use this consultation to consider the lessons learned from COVID-19. The consultation will consider flexible working in all its forms – it is not just about where people work, but also when they work and their associated working patterns.

On the report’s wider observations around problematic behaviour in the workplace, the government is already seeking to address these issues. Last year we held a consultation to ensure that laws to protect people from sexual harassment at work are operating effectively – and at the start of this year we ran a nationally-representative survey that will further develop our understanding of the problem and its extent.

We are also supporting the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s work to develop a statutory Code of Practice on sexual harassment and harassment in the workplace, which will be based on the technical guidance they published in January.

The UK has over 460,000 jobs in low carbon businesses and their supply chains. By 2030, the UK’s low carbon economy has the potential to grow at up to four times the rate of GDP growth and support up to 2 million jobs.

At my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer’s economic update, the government announced £3 billion of green investment to create thousands of green jobs and upgrade the energy efficiency of domestic and public buildings. The Green Homes Grant could support more than 100,000 green jobs, upgrade more than 600,000 homes across the country, and save households hundreds of pounds a year on their energy bills. The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme will fund shovel-ready projects that could support up to 33,000 green jobs in sectors that will be key to delivering our net zero ambitions.

On 30 June, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister made further announcements in support of green jobs, including a £40 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund to boost local conservation projects and create 3,000 new jobs, and safeguard a further 2,000.

As at 16^th August 2020, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has helped 74,800 manufacturing employers across the UK to furlough just over 1 million jobs, protecting people’s livelihoods. As we re-open the economy, it is right that our focus shifts to getting furloughed employees back to work.

Throughout the Covid-19 outbreak, we have engaged closely with the UK’s manufacturing sectors and their input has helped to shape the Government’s response. This engagement includes a series of recovery roundtables, chaired by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, bringing together businesses, business representative groups (including Make UK), and leading academics. Participants discussed the potential measures needed to support economic recovery and to ensure we have the right skills in place to meet the needs of the manufacturing industry over the next 18 months.

This builds on the Government’s commitment to invest in manufacturing research and developmetn and innovation. For example, we are investing up to £1 billion of additional funding to develop and embed the next generation of cutting-edge automotive technologies through the Automotive Transformation Fund, as well as £1.9 billion up to 2026 for the Aerospace Technology Research programme, helping to secure future jobs in these strategically important sectors.

We are continuing to work across Government and with a wide array of stakeholders including the Royal Institute of British Architects, to ensure that diverse voices are heard in the policy making process, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are supporting the construction sector by helping it drive increased investment in skills development, adopt a more strategic and co-ordinated approach to recruitment, and equip workers with the skills they need for the future.

Additionally, the Professional and Business Services Council’s Skills and Inclusion Working Group is engaged on access to skills to support business growth in the industry, as well as considering how to increase social mobility within the sector. The group have convened a sub-group to consider immediate emerging skills issues that have arisen as a result of COVID-19.

The Government’s access to finance schemes are open to all businesses and BAME-led businesses benefit from them. The Department’s ministerial team is actively engaging with the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) business community on a regular basis to cover multiple issues, including access to finance.

The Future Fund provides government co-investment to innovative businesses. As of 21 June, the Future Fund had approved 252 applications for investment worth £236 million. Companies with BAME only and mixed ethnicity management teams accounted for over 55% of these applications, valued at £118.5m.

The British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme had delivered more than 71,500 loans to entrepreneurs by the end of March 2020, providing more than £586 million of funding. Of these, 20 per cent of the total were to applicants from a BAME background, compared to approximately 15 per cent of the UK’s population who are from a BAME background (2011 census).

The Government has taken significant steps to protect jobs for all people, whilst minimising the risk of spreading the virus – by encouraging flexible work practices and home working, and through implementing our unprecedented Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employment Support Scheme.

We have provided clear Health and Safety guidance to employers, to minimise risk in the workplace. This includes identifying what work activity or situations might cause transmission of the virus and thinking about who could be at risk (e.g. pregnant women).

As always, equalities legislation requires that employers must not discriminate based on gender or pregnancy and maternity in the workplace – this includes discrimination in regard to decisions around access to furlough and working from home. The same applies to decisions around redundancy. It is breaking the law to discriminate, directly or indirectly, against anyone because of a protected characteristic such as age, sex or disability.

Government is actively monitoring the impact of Covid-19 on the labour market, including the impact on those with disabilities and on other groups. Employers must comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that they do not unlawfully discriminate.

The Public Health advice is clear and we expect employers to act accordingly.

Clinically extremely vulnerable individuals have been strongly advised not to work outside the home. They have been asked to take extra care in observing social distancing and should be helped to work from home, either in their current role or in an alternative role.

If clinically vulnerable (but not extremely clinically vulnerable) individuals cannot work from home, they should be offered the option of the safest available on site roles, enabling them to stay 2m away from others. If they have to spend time within 2m of others, the employer should carefully assess whether this involves an acceptable level of risk.

Those living with clinically extremely vulnerable individuals do not need to start shielding themselves, but they should do what they can to carefully follow guidance on staying alert and safe (social distancing).

Expert participation varies depending on the subjects being discussed. The Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Chief Medical Officer will decide who or what expertise is needed for each meeting, typically drawing from leading experts from within government and relevant fields of academia and industry.

Since the 21 April the House of Lords has conducted virtual sittings of the House, and the broadcasting unit have been developing the necessary infrastructure to enable high quality live broadcast of these proceedings. In the interim period, all virtual sittings were made available online as video or audio files as soon as possible after the proceedings concluded. The Hansard record of proceedings for each virtual sitting has also been made available online from approximately three hours after each sitting. On Tuesday 28 April and Thursday 30 April the virtual sittings of the House were broadcast live on parliamentlive.tv.

As of this week, the House of Lords has begun to use the same system as the House of Commons to enable high-quality live broadcast output via parliamentlive.tv. As well as virtual sittings of the House, House of Lords committees have been continuing to meet remotely, and last week the first virtual evidence sessions with witnesses were broadcast live on parliamentlive.tv. Throughout this period the House Administration has used social media channels to promote democratic engagement and publicise the channels through which members of the public can continue to follow virtual House of Lords proceedings.

Supermarkets have developed a range of approaches to accommodate key workers and address overcrowding, within the existing statutory framework. The Government is also temporarily relaxing competition law to allow the retailers to share information and collaborate over the management of supplies and opening hours. The Government is speaking to retailers regularly to ensure supply to key workers and others is maintained.

The Clean Growth Strategy set out the aspiration that as many homes as possible will be EPC Band C by 2035 where practical, cost-effective and affordable.

The current iteration of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO3) will upgrade around a million homes for low income and vulnerable households by March 2022. ECO3 and its successor will drive £6 billion of investment between 2018 and 2028 to support energy efficiency improvements. Furthermore, the Manifesto committed to an additional £6.3 billion of public investment to upgrade the energy performance of fuel poor homes and social housing.

In April 2018, we introduced for the first time a minimum energy efficiency standard of EPC Band E for private rented sector properties, with all private rented properties required to meet, or exceed, this standard by 1 April 2020. We will be consulting in due course on options to increase this minimum standard to EPC Band C.

Last year, we launched Simple Energy Advice, a new digital and phoneline service to provide homeowners with impartial and tailored advice on how to cut their energy bills and make their homes greener, as well as information on any available financial support.

We also launched two energy efficiency innovation competitions in summer 2019, both aimed at investigating ways to make energy efficiency cheaper and more accessible for householders. The Whole House Retrofit cost reduction trajectory competition made available £9.4 million of funding for projects which demonstrate the potential to reduce costs for Whole House Retrofit. The Green Home Finance Innovation Fund is making nearly £2 million of funding available for a series of projects to develop innovative green mortgage and other lending products, to improve householder access to green finance to support energy efficiency retrofit.

We have also committed to consult later this year on requirements for lenders to support homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

For BAME individuals in the UK, employment rates are at a near record high at 66.8%, and the unemployment rate is at its lowest level since 1974 at 5.8%. However, we know that employment rates are still lower than for White individuals and that BAME individuals are more likely to have less stable working patterns. The Government is bringing forward the Employment Bill, legislating for a wide range of reforms to employment law that will improve working conditions in the UK, but particularly for the most vulnerable workers.

Under the Enterprise Act 2002, consideration of the competition aspects of mergers and takeovers in the UK is handled by the independent Competition and Markets Authority or, in some cases during the Transition Period, the European Commission.

In March last year, the Digital Competition Expert Panel, led by Professor Jason Furman, made a series of recommendations for how the UK’s competition framework can face the challenges posed by digital markets. The Government welcomed this report and is carefully considering the Panel’s recommendations. The Government will respond in due course.

In March last year, the Digital Competition Expert Panel, led by Professor Jason Furman, made a series of recommendations for how the UK’s competition framework can face the challenges posed by digital markets. The Government welcomed this report and is carefully considering the Panel’s recommendations. The Government will respond in due course.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have made no such assessment.

The Government is closely monitoring developments in relation to potential economic impacts on the UK economy and individual businesses and supply chains.

The Government is committed to working with the business community to create more inclusive workplaces from the shop floor to the boardroom.

The Government commissioned and supports the business-led, independent Hampton-Alexander Review which has a 33% target for women on boards and in senior leadership positions across the FTSE350 by close 2020.

Women hold a higher percentage of senior leadership positions than ever before and I am pleased that the FTSE100 have achieved their 33% target ahead of schedule.

Government also fully supports the Parker Review, published in October 2017, which looks at ethnic minority representation on FTSE100 and FTSE250 boards. The review recommends that FTSE100 and 250 boards should have at least one director of colour by 2021 and 2024, respectively. The Government also supports the recently launched Leaders As Change Agents board which is working to increase diversity in critical decision-making roles.

The Government is in no doubt that climate change is one of the greatest global challenges we face, and that action is urgently needed in the UK and across the world. It is clear that we are already seeing the impacts of climate change, with the Arctic among those regions being particularly affected.

We are at the forefront of global action on climate change and we are determined to build on the leadership we have shown to date, notably through our world-leading net zero target set in UK legislation in June last year. We are hosting the crucial COP26 climate negotiations this year, and we are determined to use this conference to promote ambitious action to deliver the transformational change required by the Paris Agreement.

The Government is committed to ensuring employers correctly pay the National Minimum Wage (NMW). We recognise that as the minimum wage increases, so too does the risk of non-compliance. This is why we have doubled the compliance and enforcement budget to £27.4 million for 2019/20, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16. Last year was a record year for NMW enforcement, HMRC identified £24.4 million in minimum wage underpayment for over 220,000 workers.

Our enforcement approach is designed to strike a balance between promoting compliance with the NMW whilst deterring future cases of underpayment. HMRC uses a variety of methods to achieve this, working with employers and workers to raise awareness of NMW rules and, in instances of underpayment, using sanctions to deter future non-compliance.

We regularly review and adapt our approach to address particular issues around non-compliance and will continue to do so.

The Online Safety Bill will give Ofcom a range of powers to understand how and to what extent companies are operating their algorithms in ways that comply with their duties in the Bill. Ofcom will have the power to request information from providers which could, for instance, be used to require from a provider information about its assessment of the risks associated with its algorithms or about how its algorithms operate.

Ofcom will have the power to require a company to undergo, and pay for, a skilled person’s report which could be used to assess potential non-compliance, and/or to build an understanding of the risks associated with the operation of a service’s algorithms.

Ofcom will also have the power to enter and inspect premises, documentation, and equipment. Where there are reasonable grounds to suspect non-compliance, Ofcom will be able to seek a warrant which would allow it to inspect and seize information and equipment. These powers could also be used in relation to the operation of companies’ algorithms.

Under the Online Safety Bill, services in scope will need to have effective systems in place to minimise and remove illegal content and protect children from harmful abuse. Major platforms will also need to address content which is legal but harmful for adults. Priority categories of legal but harmful content will be set out in legislation, and are likely to include racist abuse and some types of harassment.

If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.

The draft Bill has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee which reported its recommendations on 14 December. We are considering the Committee’s report and will introduce the Bill as soon as possible.

The Government has also published an Online Media Literacy Strategy which supports the empowerment of users with skills and knowledge they need to make safe and informed choices online. This has an amplified focus on supporting users who are most vulnerable online, such as those who experience disproportionate amounts of online abuse.

The UK supports the responsible use of strong encryption, as the safety and security of digital technologies is essential. However, if end-to-end encryption is implemented in a way which intentionally blinds tech companies to content on their platforms it can have a disastrous impact on public safety.

All parts of regulated platforms, including instant messaging services and closed social media groups, are in scope of the Online Safety Bill. Companies cannot use encryption as an excuse to avoid protecting their users, particularly children, and those companies who implement end-to-end encryption will need to demonstrate how they are managing risk to their users, or face big fines. Ofcom will set out the measures platforms need to implement in codes of practice, and could include making these channels safer by design, for example by limiting the ability for anonymous adults to contact children.

More widely, the Government has launched a £555,000 Safety Tech Challenge Fund, which is focused on developing innovative technologies to detect child sexual abuse content in end-to-end encrypted environments, whilst respecting user privacy.

Under the Online Intermediation Services for Business Users (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, business users are able directly to assert their rights through cases in the UK courts.

The Government has committed to maintain the current licence fee funding model for the duration of this 11-year Charter period, i.e. until 2027.

As the Secretary of State has made clear, we will be reviewing the licence fee funding model well in advance of the next Charter period.

The Government is reviewing the Gambling Act to make sure it is fit for the digital age. As part of the broad scope of this review, we called for evidence on the potential benefits or harms caused by allowing licensed gambling operators to advertise and to make promotional offers. The call for evidence received approximately 16,000 submissions from a broad range of interested organisations and individuals. We are considering the evidence carefully and will publish a White Paper outlining conclusions and any proposals for reform in the coming months.

The Online Safety Bill will enable Ofcom to pursue criminal action against a named senior manager who fails to ensure that his or her company complies with Ofcom’s information requirements. As the Secretary of State made clear to the Joint Committee in December 2021, we are considering how we can bring this forward to commence as quickly as possible after Royal Assent. This will help to encourage strong compliance in the sector, and ensure that technology executives are held to account.

The draft Online Safety Bill includes tough powers for Ofcom to take action against companies breaching their online safety duties, including substantial fines and even blocking services in the most serious cases.

The Bill will also provide for Ofcom to pursue criminal action against a named senior manager who fails to ensure that their company complies with Ofcom’s information requirements. This will encourage strong senior engagement and ensure Ofcom has the information it needs to regulate the tech sector effectively and improve user safety.

The Government has committed to maintain the current licence fee funding model for the duration of this 11 year Charter period, until 2027.

We will be reviewing the licence fee funding model well in advance of the next Charter period.

The Online Safety Bill requires companies to manage effectively the risk of online anonymous abuse on services in scope. Companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content and prevent children from experiencing harmful abuse. Major platforms will also need to set out clearly what legal content is acceptable for adult users on their services and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently. This applies whether a user is anonymous or not.

Ofcom will have enforcement powers available to use against companies which fail their duties. These powers include fines for companies of up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying annual global turnover, and business disruption measures.

The draft Bill has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee which reported its recommendations on 14 December. We are considering the Committee’s recommendations and are committed to introducing the Bill as soon as possible after that.

In May 2021 HM Government published the draft Online Safety Bill. The strongest protections in this legislation are for children. Companies in scope whose sites are likely to be accessed by children will have to ensure that only users who are old enough are able to access services which have age restrictions or which risk causing them harm. The regulator, Ofcom, will be able to take enforcement action against companies that fail to comply.

The largest and most high-risk companies will also be required to publish annual transparency reports about the steps they are taking to tackle online harms. This will include steps they are taking to fulfil their safety duties and provide a higher level of protection for children. Ofcom can take robust enforcement action where companies do not provide the required information.

In addition, the Secretaries of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, and for Education, alongside the Children’s Commissioner for England, hosted a roundtable with social media companies on 1 December 2021 at which the companies pledged to identify further information regarding children on their platforms and the nature of harms children may face.

The strongest protections in the draft Online Safety Bill are for children. Companies in scope of the legislation will need to take steps to prevent children from accessing content which poses the highest risk of harm, including online pornography. Ofcom will set out in its codes of practice the steps companies need to take to comply with their duties under the Bill which we expect will include recommending the use of age verification technologies.

The Government recognises the concerns that have been raised about protecting children from online pornography on services which do not currently fall within the scope of the Bill. The Government is exploring ways to provide wider protections for children from online pornography.

The Joint Committee scrutinising the Bill reported with their recommendations on 14 December. We will consider the Committee’s recommendations and are committed to introducing the Bill as soon as possible.

The Government welcomes the Independent Fan-Led Review of Football Governance and has endorsed in principle the primary recommendation of the review: that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game.

The Government will work quickly to review the report in full, including the recommendations made on equality, diversity and inclusion.

The Government will continue to engage with interested parties as we work towards issuing a full response to the report in Spring 2022.

The draft Online Safety Bill requires the highest risk, highest reach in-scope service providers (‘Category 1’ services) to safeguard journalistic content. This is defined as UK-linked content that is generated for the purposes of journalism. As part of this duty, Category 1 services must specify in their terms of service the method by which they identify content as being created for the purposes of journalism. In doing so, companies will be expected to consider the ordinary English meaning of journalism, the underlying purpose of protecting freedom of expression and information, and relevant case law. Ofcom, the online safety regulator, will produce codes of practice to assist companies in complying with their duties to protect journalism.

Under the new Online Safety Bill, companies will need to mitigate the risks of harm associated with their algorithms, for example by preventing them from recommending particular types of content, or by giving users additional control over the content with which they interact.

Major platforms will have to publish annual transparency reports, setting out what they are doing to tackle online harms, including information about algorithms.

Ofcom will have further powers available to help it assess whether companies are fulfilling their duties, including in relation to algorithms. This will include powers to require information from companies, to require an expert report on a platform, and to access premises, data and equipment.

Everybody should be able to be safe online. Under the Online Safety Bill, which was published in draft in May 2021 for pre-legislative scrutiny, companies in scope will need to minimise and remove illegal content including criminal online abuse targeted at public figures and illegal anonymous abuse.

Major platforms will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults. These companies will have to set out clearly what content is acceptable on their platforms and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently.

The Bill also places new requirements on tech companies in relation to anonymity online. It requires companies to identify, mitigate and effectively manage the risk of online anonymous abuse. Ofcom will set out the steps that companies must take to address online abuse in codes of practice.

If companies do not comply with their legal duties, they could face tough enforcement penalties of up to £18 million or ten percent of annual global qualifying turnover.

The provision of public library services in England is a matter for local authorities to determine. The responsibility for libraries in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales rests with the respective devolved administration.

Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. They are responsible for determining the delivery of a modern and efficient library service that meets the requirements of their communities. In considering how best to deliver this statutory duty, each local authority can, if they wish, consider the provision of loaning out electronic devices.

Whilst this is not a matter for the department to require, we understand that the provision of portable devices to lend is something library services are increasingly delivering. We know that at least a quarter of library services in England already provide portable electronic devices for loan, generally targeted to those more likely to be digitally disadvantaged. ​​I learned about an example of this at Manchester Central Library in my visit during Libraries Week.

There is no place for racism in football, whether in the stands or on social media, or society more widely.

The Government therefore welcomed the Premier League’s “No Room for Racism” Action plan, and the announcement of new enhanced anti-discrimination measures to be implemented in the 2021/22 season, such as league-wide bans for offenders.

The Government’s pioneering Online Safety Bill will make it even tougher for offenders to abuse others, with social media firms facing huge fines if they fail to clamp down on abuse.

There is still more to do though, and we will continue to work with the football authorities to combat racism in the game.

First aid skills, including how to administer CPR, are important life skills for everyone. Recent events at UEFA EURO 2020 have demonstrated the immense value of first aid training and access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) for anyone involved in professional sport.

Sports have a responsibility to make the safety and welfare of players their top priority, including through access to life-saving first aid equipment and relevant training and education. It is for the relevant national governing body or professional league to determine what education programmes may be appropriate for participants and support staff in their sport.

A number of sports do provide relevant education, including football. The Minister for Sport and Tourism welcomed the Premier League’s announcement in June 2021 of their new Defibrillator Fund, which will fund AEDs at thousands of football clubs and facilities across the country. Each grant recipient will be required to have at least one person successfully complete The FA Education’s free online Sudden Cardiac Arrest course.

The draft Online Safety Bill, published in May 2021, will ensure companies design their platforms to be safer for users, and particularly for children. The new laws will apply to companies that allow users to post content online or to interact with each other, which includes social media companies. The draft bill will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny in this session. The Joint Committee that will scrutinise the draft Bill has now been set up, and members from both Houses have now been appointed.

The strongest protections in the legislation are for children. Unless social media companies are able to prove that children are not accessing their service, they will need to conduct a child safety risk assessment and provide safety measures for child users, keeping these under regular review. As part of the risk assessment, companies will need to assess how the design and operation of the service may increase or reduce the risks identified.

The government has also published voluntary Safety by Design guidance in June 2021 that will help companies design safer online services. In addition, the Information Commissioner’s Age Appropriate Design Code, which will come into force in September 2021, will set out specific protections for children’s personal data that companies will need to build in when designing online services likely to be accessed by children.

This government recognises the importance of our world leading creative and cultural industries. That is why the UK took an ambitious approach during negotiations with the EU that would have ensured that touring musicians, performers and their support staff did not need work-permits to perform in the EU. Regrettably, our proposals were rejected by the EU, but our door remains open if the EU wants to reconsider its position.

A bespoke visa waiver agreement with the EU would require the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) to be renegotiated. The TCA is the basis of our trading relations with the EU, and this is not going to be renegotiated. Furthermore, the Commission would be likely to argue that any EU-wide visa waiver agreement can only be part of a wider package with a binding non-discrimination clause and a reciprocal visa waiver agreement covering all current and future Member States. This was what the Commission proposed in the negotiations and would be incompatible with our manifesto commitment to retain control of our borders.

Our focus is now on engaging with Member States, who are principally responsible for deciding the rules governing what work UK visitors can undertake in the EU. We have spoken to every Member State, involving British Embassies and DCMS ministers. We have established that musicians and performers do not require visas or work permits for short-term tours in at least 19 out of 27 Member States, including France and Germany.

We are now working closely with individual Member States that do require visas or permits for short-term touring to encourage them to adopt a more flexible approach, in line with the UK’s own rules which allow creative professionals to tour easily here. These countries are Spain, Portugal, Greece, Croatia, Malta, Bulgaria, and Romania. We are also still confirming the details of requirements with Cyprus.

Where tech companies fail to fulfil their new duty of care, the Online Safety Bill provides a suite of enforcement powers for the regulator, Ofcom. Ofcom’s powers will include fines for companies of up to £18m or 10% of qualifying annual global turnover (whichever is higher), and business disruption measures (including applying to court to block access to services that cause serious harm).

Her Majesty’s Government welcomes the findings of the report and its contribution to our understanding of civil society during the pandemic. As documented, the scale and breadth of the volunteer response over the last year has been remarkable; as the study estimated, 12.4 million people volunteered during the pandemic, 4.6 million of them volunteering for the first time. Government would like to express its gratitude to all those who volunteered for their contributions, whether through continuing or taking up a formal role with an organisation, or national schemes such as the NHS Volunteer Responders programme, or the extraordinary 2.5 million people who undertook local acts of neighbourliness as coordinated through over 4,000 mutual aid groups. Undoubtedly our experience of the pandemic would have been very different without them.

As outlined by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, our approach to the government's role in volunteering is as a steward, enabling further unlocking of the potential within the volunteering sector as we seek to build a volunteering legacy from this challenging time.

To meet this ambition, DCMS is developing policy with a focus on simplifying the routes into volunteering, how volunteering supply and demand can be best matched and leveraging government’s links with the voluntary and community sector for strategic collaboration. Developing solutions to address the barriers facing those who wish to volunteer in their local community will be an integral element of our work.

Beyond this, the Government continues to celebrate and champion extraordinary individuals who volunteer across the United Kingdom through the Prime Minister’s daily Points of Light Awards, and remains committed to promoting the benefits of volunteering both to personal wellbeing and community cohesion.

The Government recognises the severe impact the pandemic has had on the night-time entertainment industry.

The Chancellor announced in the 2021 Budget an additional £300 million to support cultural organisations, including businesses in the night industry such as theatres, music venues and nightclubs in England through the Culture Recovery Fund. Nightclubs were eligible for the first and second rounds of Culture Recovery Funding and many organisations were funded, for example, the Ministry of Sound received a grant of almost £1m. To date, over £1.2 billion has been allocated from the Culture Recovery Fund, reaching over 5000 individual organisations and sites.This extra funding means that our total support package for culture during the pandemic is now approaching £2bn.

More generally, the Government will spend over £33 billion supporting those in self-employment during this crisis, among the most generous anywhere in the world. The Government has also provided economic wide support packages which the sector has been able to access including extensions to the furlough scheme, SEISS, and additional business support.

In 2020 the Government committed to creating a framework of standards, governance, and legislation to enable a UK Digital Identity market. DCMS published a draft Trust Framework in February this year setting out the government’s vision for the rules governing the future use of digital identities. A next iteration is expected to be published this summer. We continue to work on proposals for legislation that will underpin the digital identity market and will consult on these later this year.

I refer the Noble Lord to my answer to the Oral Question on Tuesday 27th April 2021 on this issue. A copy of the Hansard record can be found here.

The Government is committed to developing the innovative and impactful work of social enterprises across the UK. For example:

• Through the pandemic, the Government provided an unprecedented package of support, including furlough payments, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, Bounce Back Loans, and direct funding through the £750 million charities and social enterprise support package.

• The new social value model presents a significant opportunity to support social enterprises and invest in our people and communities. Developed with stakeholders, including the federation of Small Businesses and Social Enterprise UK, the model ensures social value is explicitly evaluated in all major central government contracts from January 1st 2021.

All individuals and organisations, including social enterprises, have a part to play in helping us to protect the environment. We welcome small businesses from across the UK to join the green business revolution and commit to becoming greener and more sustainable as we work towards our goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

The Government has been vocal in its opposition to the European Super League. The Secretary of State was therefore glad to see the withdrawal of all English teams from the project, which came after the Government had met with multiple stakeholders on the proposals, including The Football Association and Premier League.

The football authorities are best placed to take action on such proposals in the first instance, but the Government continues to stand ready to act if needed.

This is the right result for football fans, clubs and communities across the country. However, these events have demonstrated that now is the right time to launch the fan-led review of football governance which will have fan interests at its heart.

The Government has been vocal in its opposition to the European Super League. The Secretary of State was therefore glad to see the withdrawal of all English teams from the project, which came after the Government had met with multiple stakeholders on the proposals, including The Football Association and Premier League.

The football authorities are best placed to take action on such proposals in the first instance, but the Government continues to stand ready to act if needed.

This is the right result for football fans, clubs and communities across the country. However, these events have demonstrated that now is the right time to launch the fan-led review of football governance which will have fan interests at its heart.

The Government has been vocal in its opposition to the European Super League. The Secretary of State was therefore glad to see the withdrawal of all English teams from the project, which came after the Government had met with multiple stakeholders on the proposals, including The Football Association and Premier League.

The football authorities are best placed to take action on such proposals in the first instance, but the Government continues to stand ready to act if needed.

This is the right result for football fans, clubs and communities across the country. However, these events have demonstrated that now is the right time to launch the fan-led review of football governance which will have fan interests at its heart.

The government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2020 found almost half (46%) of micro and small businesses reported cyber security breaches or attacks in the past 12 months. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) 2020 Annual Review identified an increase in ransomware and phishing attacks over the past year.

The National Cyber Security Strategy sets out the government’s work to protect the UK online and help ensure all organisations, large and small, are effectively managing their cyber risk. The NCSC, working closely with trade bodies, local initiatives, banks and industry partners, provides a range of actionable guidance, training and easy to implement tools to help small businesses improve their cyber security. Last month, the NCSC launched a state-of-the-art tool which creates a personalised ‘Cyber Action Plan’ for small businesses as part of the cross-government Cyber Aware campaign.

DCMS is carrying out a review of business resilience and cyber security to identify what more can be done to build cyber resilience across the economy and increase security in supply chains.

The Government has provided an unprecedented multi billion pound package of support, allowing social enterprises and other civil society organisations, including those at risk of financial hardship, to continue their vital work during the Covid-19 outbreak

The funding includes furlough payments, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and direct funding to the charity and social enterprise sector through the £750m sector support package, £150m release of dormant assets. The impact of the funding will continue beyond the life of the grants with equipment purchased still being used and service adaptations still benefiting people across the country.

In areas not covered by commercial delivery, support to provide full-fibre broadband to premises is currently being provided through schemes including the Superfast Broadband programme, Local Full Fibre Network (LFFN) and Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) schemes. LFFN is a challenge funded scheme designed to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks across the UK. This programme will be ending in December 2021. RGC will be ending in March 2021, after which any new projects can be developed as part of the public sector hubs element of the new UK Gigabit programme.

The Government’s ambition for digital infrastructure presents opportunities for growth and security in the UK economy. The National Infrastructure Strategy outlines how the Government is working with industry to target a minimum of 85% gigabit-capable coverage by 2025 and to go as far as possible beyond this as part of our £5 billion UK Gigabit programme. The 2020 Spending Review set out the timeline for how the first tranche of the £5 billion we have promised will be made available to industry.

Furthermore, as announced on 8 August 2020, to develop an evidence-based strategy to encourage take up of gigabit broadband services by consumers and small businesses, the government asked Which?, CBI and the FSB to convene a Gigabit Take-up Advisory Group. The group has been engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to develop its evidence and solutions. An interim report with the group’s initial findings was published in December 2020, and is expected to publish a final report by Spring 2021 with its recommendations.

Racism online is completely unacceptable in an open and tolerant society. We must do all we can to tackle it.

The Government is committed to tackling racism, including the spread of racist content online. In December 2020, we published the full government response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation, which sets out new expectations on companies to keep their users safe online. Under a new legal duty of care, in-scope companies, including social media, will need to tackle illegal content and activity on their services and take swift and effective action against such material.

Companies providing high-risk, high-reach services will also need to undertake regular assessments of the risk posed to adults by legal but harmful material on their services. These companies will need to set clear terms and conditions which explicitly state what categories of legal but harmful material they accept (and do not accept) on their service. Companies will need to enforce these terms and conditions consistently and transparently and could face enforcement action if they do not. The Online Safety Bill, which will give effect to the regulatory framework, will be ready this year.

The full government response also set out plans to publish an Online Media Literacy Strategy. The Strategy will explore the existing media literacy landscape, and set out the Government’s plans to ensure a coordinated and strategic approach to media literacy education for all citizens. This will support users to make informed and safer decisions online, including taking action against online hate such as racism.

Her Majesty’s Government has not made a specific assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality within the performing arts sector. However, the Department for Culture, Digital, Media and Sport is committed to working closely with the Governments Equalities Office to improve equality across our sectors, promoting gender equality in the performing arts sector.

All guidance related to the performing arts sector during the COVID-19 pandemic undergoes a PSED (Public Sector Equality Duty) review each time it is updated. We are also duty bound to ensure that we consider impacts of new legislation on people of protected characteristics.

Additionally, we have been working to ensure that diversity is embedded in the Culture Recovery Fund. In the first round of funding, the ALBs making funding decisions looked for a track record of delivering social benefit and welcoming diverse audiences. For the second round of funding, we asked applicants to inform us of their plans to open up access and participation in culture. Organisations in receipt of funding are expected to demonstrate progress in diversity and outreach over the coming years in return for this investment into their futures.

We know that reports, such as that published by Women in Theatre, which brings together some of the major recent research on women in theatre, is looking into gender inequality in the theatre sector. The report can be found here: https://sphinxtheatre.co.uk/new-women-in-theatre-forum-report/

Ministers and officials meet regularly with social media companies to discuss online harms. The Culture Secretary and Sports Minister recently led a roundtable discussion with current and former players from the Premier League, English Football League (EFL), Women’s Super League (WSL) and Women’s Championship, which discussed online racist abuse and players’ perspectives on tackling discrimination in the game.

We are clear that the online racist abuse of Premier League football players is unacceptable. We must do all we can to tackle it. We are taking steps through the online harms regulatory framework to ensure that online abuse, whether anonymous or not, is addressed. Under a new legal duty of care, companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content, including illegal online abuse. All companies will need to take swift and effective action against such content.

Companies providing high-risk, high-reach services will also need to undertake regular risk assessments to identify legal but harmful material on their services. These companies will need to set clear terms and conditions which explicitly state what categories of legal but harmful material they accept (and do not accept) on their service. Companies will need to enforce these terms and conditions consistently and transparently and could face enforcement action if they do not. The Online Safety Bill, which will give effect to the regulatory framework, will be ready this year.

The government is glad that elite sport can currently continue safely behind closed doors during this period of national restrictions due to the strict health and safety protocols it can uphold.

Ministers recently met with the Football Association, Premier League and English Football League to discuss the latest health situation in light of the new COVID strain and national restrictions.

Ministers have made the football authorities fully aware of their responsibility to ensure that players and staff act in accordance with government rules and guidance.

The Minister for Sport recently met with the Football Association to discuss the Women’s FA Cup and we continue to liaise closely with them to understand this issue.

However, it is up to the respective governing bodies to determine what constitutes the boundary between elite and non-elite within their sports and the classification of such competitions.

The Government welcomed the launch of the Football Association’s ‘Football Leadership Diversity Code’ and believe it will help improve diversity within the game, from the coaching setup to the boardroom, with over 40 clubs signed up so far.

The Government is in regular contact with the Football Association (FA) across a range of matters, however, the responsibility for developing the Code was for the FA.

The Government is in regular contact with the English Football League on a range of issues, including diversity.

Whilst the ‘Rooney Rule’ was not explicitly discussed, actions aimed at improving diversity, and their impact, were discussed in a roundtable with key football stakeholders led by Ministers in November 2020.

Sports and physical activity providers and facilities are at the heart of our communities, and play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active.

Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support, which many non-professional clubs have benefited from. This includes the Government’s £100m support fund for local authority leisure centres; Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund which provided £210m directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic; and the £300m Sports Winter Survival Package which aims to protect the immediate futures of major spectator sports in England over the winter period.

Furthermore, non-professional clubs will be able to access £4.6 billion in new lockdown grants to support businesses and protect jobs which the Chancellor announced on Tuesday 5 January. Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors are to receive a one-off grant worth up to £9,000.

We are continuing to work with sports and physical activity providers, including non-professional football clubs, to understand what they need and how we may be able to support them.

The Government is in regular dialogue with the Football Association (FA) across a range of matters, including diversity. We welcomed the launch of the FA’s ‘Football Leadership Diversity Code’ which is a step in the right direction to ensure English football better represents our modern and diverse society, on and off the pitch. The Code commits clubs to tackling inequality, including hiring targets, across senior leadership positions, broader team operations and coaching roles. The FA has also committed to following this with a version adapted for the National League System and grassroots clubs in Spring 2021.

Ministers discussed the Code with the FA, as well as other matters including tackling discrimination, in a roundtable with key football stakeholders in November 2020.

The Government is also committed to working with all sports to ensure opportunities to progress are open to all, from athletes to administrators, to board members. As an example of this, in July 2020 Sport England and UK Sport announced a joint review of the Code for Sports Governance. The Code sets out the levels of transparency, accountability and financial integrity required from those who ask for government and National Lottery funding. It currently says that organisations must show a "strong and public commitment" to progressing ethnic diversity. However, it is right to review this to ensure that opportunities to progress are open to all. The Government will be working with UK Sport and Sport England to set new expectations and ensure the sport sector leads by example.

However, there is still progress to be made and the Government will continue to liaise closely with the football authorities on their efforts to improve diversity in the sport.

The Government is in regular dialogue with the Football Association (FA) across a range of matters, including diversity. We welcomed the launch of the FA’s ‘Football Leadership Diversity Code’ which is a step in the right direction to ensure English football better represents our modern and diverse society, on and off the pitch. The Code commits clubs to tackling inequality, including hiring targets, across senior leadership positions, broader team operations and coaching roles. The FA has also committed to following this with a version adapted for the National League System and grassroots clubs in Spring 2021.

Ministers discussed the Code with the FA, as well as other matters including tackling discrimination, in a roundtable with key football stakeholders in November 2020.

The Government is also committed to working with all sports to ensure opportunities to progress are open to all, from athletes to administrators, to board members. As an example of this, in July 2020 Sport England and UK Sport announced a joint review of the Code for Sports Governance. The Code sets out the levels of transparency, accountability and financial integrity required from those who ask for government and National Lottery funding. It currently says that organisations must show a "strong and public commitment" to progressing ethnic diversity. However, it is right to review this to ensure that opportunities to progress are open to all. The Government will be working with UK Sport and Sport England to set new expectations and ensure the sport sector leads by example.

However, there is still progress to be made and the Government will continue to liaise closely with the football authorities on their efforts to improve diversity in the sport.

The Government is in regular dialogue with the Football Association (FA) across a range of matters, including diversity. We welcomed the launch of the FA’s ‘Football Leadership Diversity Code’ which is a step in the right direction to ensure English football better represents our modern and diverse society, on and off the pitch. The Code commits clubs to tackling inequality, including hiring targets, across senior leadership positions, broader team operations and coaching roles. The FA has also committed to following this with a version adapted for the National League System and grassroots clubs in Spring 2021.

Ministers discussed the Code with the FA, as well as other matters including tackling discrimination, in a roundtable with key football stakeholders in November 2020.

The Government is also committed to working with all sports to ensure opportunities to progress are open to all, from athletes to administrators, to board members. As an example of this, in July 2020 Sport England and UK Sport announced a joint review of the Code for Sports Governance. The Code sets out the levels of transparency, accountability and financial integrity required from those who ask for government and National Lottery funding. It currently says that organisations must show a "strong and public commitment" to progressing ethnic diversity. However, it is right to review this to ensure that opportunities to progress are open to all. The Government will be working with UK Sport and Sport England to set new expectations and ensure the sport sector leads by example.

However, there is still progress to be made and the Government will continue to liaise closely with the football authorities on their efforts to improve diversity in the sport.

The Government welcomed the launch of the Football Association’s (FA) ‘Football Leadership Diversity Code’ to ensure English football better represents our modern and diverse society.

Ministers discussed the Code with the FA, as well as other matters including tackling discrimination, in a football roundtable on 17th November 2020.

There is still more to do, however, and the Government will continue to liaise closely with the football authorities to improve diversity in the sport.

We are aware that the events and exhibition industry, as well as other sectors, have been severely impacted by Government measures to control the spread of Covid-19.

My Department regularly engages with events stakeholders to assess the issues being faced and to develop means of offering support, including on the issue of insurance provision. The Government is also in continual dialogue with the insurance sector on its response to COVID-19.

We encourage events businesses and suppliers, including those ineligible for schemes related to business rates relief, to explore the Government’s full support package.

Events businesses can access support such as the various government-backed loans, as well as the extended furlough and self-employed support schemes. We are also giving £1.1bn of discretionary funding to Local Authorities to help businesses through the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG).

We are continuing to engage with stakeholders, including through the Tourism Industry Council and the Events Industry Senior Leaders Advisory Panel, to monitor the situation facing the events industry.

Our world-beating live music industry would be nothing without the people who work in it, and we are working hard to help provide financial support to freelancers in this sector.

Over two thirds of eligible people in the cultural sectors have benefitted from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). We’ve supported the self-employed with over £13 billion in grants and the Chancellor has increased the generosity of the scheme from 40% to 80% of people’s profits for November, in order to reflect recent changes to the furlough scheme. This also increases the total level of the grant from 40% to 55% of trading profits for 1 November 2020 to 31 January 2020.

In addition, more businesses will be able to access additional support as deadlines for applications for government-backed loan schemes and the Future Fund have been further extended until 31 January 2021.

The Arts Council England has made £119 million available to individuals, with £23.1 million already distributed and £95.9 million currently available to apply for via open funds.

The £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund will benefit freelancers, because it will invest in organisations and help them to reopen, and restart performances. So far, over £500m has been announced from the Culture Recovery Fund to protect cultural organisations across England, almost a fifth of which has gone to the music sector.

The Government is committed to the delivery of world-class digital infrastructure, including 5G, across the UK. Our ambition is for the majority of the population to have access to a 5G signal by 2027.

All four mobile network operators have now launched 5G networks, with 5G services now available in over 100 towns and cities across the UK. Whilst the vast majority of investment in 5G will be made by industry, the Government is funding the research and trials of 5G networks through the £200 million 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme which invests in targeted projects across the UK to build the commercial case for 5G.

The Government is committed to reducing the barriers to the deployment of mobile infrastructure to help speed up rollout. As part of this, the Government has announced that, subject to a technical consultation, it intends to take forward reforms to the planning system to support the deployment of 5G and extend mobile coverage. The Government also intends to consult on whether changes to the Electronic Communications Code are needed to support these aims.

The government is clear that the BBC should be leading the way on both on and off-screen diversity, and the BBC Charter specifically requires the BBC to ensure its organisation and management reflects the diversity of the UK.

The government looks forward to the BBC’s new Diversity and Inclusion Strategy which will be published later this year, and to see how the BBC will work to better serve all diverse audiences across the UK nations and regions in future.

However, the BBC is independent of the government and responsible for decisions on its editorial and operational matters, including those on recruitment and staffing. As the independent regulator of the BBC, it is for Ofcom to hold the BBC to account.

Racism or any form of discrimination has no place in football or society.

The Government continues to liaise closely with the football authorities and the Police to combat discrimination and promote collaboration wherever possible.

We are in regular dialogue with the Football Association (FA) across a range of matters, including diversity. I welcomed the FA’s announcement of a new voluntary code for Equality in Football Leadership, which aims to champion equality in football and tackle all forms of discrimination in the game.

The Government is committed to working with sports to ensure opportunities to progress are open to all, from athletes to administrators, to board members. As an example of this, on 13 July 2020 Sport England and UK Sport announced a joint review of the Code for Sports Governance. The Code sets out the levels of transparency, accountability and financial integrity required from those who ask for government and National Lottery funding. It currently says that organisations must show a "strong and public commitment" to progressing ethnic diversity. However, it is right to review this to ensure that opportunities to progress are open to all. Government will be working with UK Sport and Sport England to set new expectations and ensure the sport sector leads by example.

It is also important that referees feel safe and supported. That is why I was pleased to see the football authorities commit to improving reporting systems and providing better training and support for referees and stewards last year - including improved CCTV.

Racism or any form of discrimination has no place in the media or society.

The media plays a vital role in British society and it has an important responsibility to reflect modern Britain. This can only be achieved through a representative, and diverse workforce.

The government is committed to working together with industry to support greater diversity, and to ensure that everyone regardless of their background should have the same opportunity to go as far as their talents and hard work take them.

In broadcast journalism, Ofcom, who are the independent communications regulator, publish an annual diversity report which provides diversity monitoring data for the main broadcasters and includes information on the diversity initiatives of their news teams. In the print media a number of national newspapers are running diversity schemes. These include the Daily Mail’s Stephen Lawrence Scholarship and BAME internships at the Guardian. The National Council for the Training of Journalists also runs a diversity fund.

The Government does not wish to interfere in any way with editorial freedoms, operations or decision making in news organisations, but we encourage industry to do more to increase diversity in journalism.

DCMS ministers and officials regularly meet with a range of stakeholders to discuss a range of issues and the Government is committed to ensuring that equality and diversity are a key feature in all of our interactions with industry.

Racism or any form of discrimination has no place in the media or society.

The media plays a vital role in British society and it has an important responsibility to reflect modern Britain. This can only be achieved through a representative, and diverse workforce.

The government is committed to working together with industry to support greater diversity, and to ensure that everyone regardless of their background should have the same opportunity to go as far as their talents and hard work take them.

In broadcast journalism, Ofcom, who are the independent communications regulator, publish an annual diversity report which provides diversity monitoring data for the main broadcasters and includes information on the diversity initiatives of their news teams. In the print media a number of national newspapers are running diversity schemes. These include the Daily Mail’s Stephen Lawrence Scholarship and BAME internships at the Guardian. The National Council for the Training of Journalists also runs a diversity fund.

The Government does not wish to interfere in any way with editorial freedoms, operations or decision making in news organisations, but we encourage industry to do more to increase diversity in journalism.

DCMS ministers and officials regularly meet with a range of stakeholders to discuss a range of issues and the Government is committed to ensuring that equality and diversity are a key feature in all of our interactions with industry.

The government is in regular discussions with the Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee about equality, inclusivity and the diversity of its workforce. Birmingham 2022 is committed to living up to the Games Partners’ common purpose of being a ‘games for everyone’ and recognises it has work to do to ensure its workforce reflects the rich diversity of the West Midlands. It is developing an initial roadmap to move forward positively on the issue and recently set this out in an open letter which can be found on its website. It is also committed to openness and transparency. More details of its action plan will be made public in due course.

The Government’s aim is to see a UK cultural and creative sector that is strong, vibrant and inclusive, which can only be achieved through a diverse and representative workforce. We recognise there is still much to be done to improve diversity and inclusion across both the film and wider creative industries workforce and are working with industry - including the BFI and Creative Industries Council - on a range of measures to ensure the sector better reflects the diversity of the UK.

Whilst DCMS has made no assessment of Dr Nwonka’s report, the Diversity Standards are an important part of the BFI’s work, and as an arm’s-length body of DCMS, the department works closely with them to ensure that they are as effective as possible in driving change.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport talks regularly to both Sport England and UK Sport about all aspects of diversity, including ethnic diversity. It welcomes the joint announcement made by both organisations on 13 July 2020 announcing a review of the Code for Sports Governance. This will include a substantive review of the elements of the Code that support equality, diversity and inclusion, particularly those that focus on the boards of sporting organisations. The aim will be to ensure the greater representation of people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, disabled people or people with a long-term health condition, as well as female representation.

The government is committed to supporting our fantastic screen industries, which include BAME-led television organisations, and to working together with industry to support greater diversity. We welcome the work Ofcom has undertaken through their annual diversity reports on broadcasting and we are working with the British Film Institute (BFI), in their role as the Government’s arm’s length body, to improve representation both on and off screen, including through supporting the wider adoption of the BFI’s Diversity Standards which apply to films, online and broadcast television content.

To date, as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic the Government has not provided bespoke support to any one group within the television industry. However, the Government has provided support to the sector as a whole, including the recently announced UK-wide £500 million Film and TV Production Restart Scheme. This will help to get TV and film productions across the country that have been halted or delayed by a lack of insurance to get back up and running, by giving productions the confidence they need that they will be supported if future losses are incurred due to Covid-19. The scheme will directly support up to 40,000 - 50,000 jobs in the film and TV production industry.

Ministers have engaged with the broadcasting sector at regular roundtables to take into account challenges created by the pandemic, including impacts on diversity in broadcasting. We will continue these discussions to assess where Government can further support organisations as we move further into the recovery stage.

More broadly, the Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most generous and comprehensive in the world, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the Bounceback Loan Scheme and business rates reliefs. In addition, the Government has adapted the welfare system so that the self-employed can access Universal Credit in full, to help people get quicker and more generous support when they need it most.

Government is fully committed to supporting the heritage sector through the coronavirus crisis. BAME community organisations are able to take advantage of the unprecedented support made available by the Government, including the Job Retention Scheme and a years' business rates holiday. In addition to Government support, Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have made emergency response packages available, totalling over £50 million, for those organisations most in need.

The Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage has frequent discussions with football authorities covering a range of issues, including BAME representation in the sport.

The government welcomes steps being taken by the Premier League, English Football League and Professional Footballers’ Association to improve BAME coaching representation, including the recent announcement of a new coach placement scheme aimed at increasing the number of BAME players moving into full-time coaching roles in the professional game.

Encouraging greater diversity in UK film and TV is a priority for government, and from our engagement with the cultural and creative sectors - including a roundtable hosted by my colleague Caroline Dineage on the impact of Covid-19 on diversity in these areas - we recognise that this issue has been under greater scrutiny in recent weeks.

We are working with the British Film Institute (BFI), in their role as the Government’s arm’s length body with responsibility for the sector, to improve representation both on and off screen, including through supporting the wider adoption of the BFI’s world-leading Diversity Standards. In addition, we are seeking to identify and promote best practice; through our sponsorship of the National Film and TV School, we have recently provided an additional £65,000 to support students from diverse backgrounds and we are also engaging with industry to drive change on the ground. In January this year, DCMS launched the ScreenSkills Apprenticeship Pilot with industry partners Netflix and Warner Media. Recruitment will focus on underrepresented groups within the sector and will not consider previous qualifications as a key recruitment criteria - thereby providing opportunities to people from all backgrounds.

We welcome the work Ofcom has undertaken through their annual diversity reports and the work of Project Diamond, an initiative supported by the broadcasters, which captures diversity data and the Creative Industries Council’s recent Diversity Charter. The Government continues to encourage employers to publish diversity data not because they have to but because it is the right thing to do.

We are in regular dialogue with the Football Association (FA) across a range of matters, including diversity. I welcome the FA’s recent announcement of a new voluntary code for Equality in Football Leadership, which aims to champion equality in football and tackle all forms of discrimination in the game.

The government is committed to working with sports to ensure opportunities to progress are open to all, from athletes to administrators, to board members. As an example of this, on 11 June 2020 the Minister for Sport announced a review of the Code for Sports Governance. The Code sets out the levels of transparency, accountability and financial integrity required from those who ask for government and National Lottery funding. It currently says that organisations must show a "strong and public commitment" to progressing ethnic diversity. However, it is right to review this to ensure that opportunities to progress are open to all. Government will be working with UK Sport and Sport England to set new expectations and ensure the sport sector leads by example.

Uses of facial recognition technology in the UK, both private and public, are regulated by the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 that set standards for protecting personal data. Organisations have an obligation to ensure that any personal data they hold is accurate and processed in a manner that is lawful, fair and transparent.

Facial images, which constitute 'special category' data for the purposes of the legislation are subject to heightened safeguards and can only be processed if specific conditions in the legislation are met. Processing must be necessary, proportionate and justified. The legislation is enforced by the Information Commissioner's Office, which has shown a willingness to take action against commercial organisations that are acting unlawfully.

To ensure a safe use of facial recognition technology (FRT) in all sectors, the government tasked the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) to produce a Snapshot briefing paper looking at the uses and potential implications of facial recognition technology’s deployment in the UK. The paper was published on 28 May and we are considering its findings. The CDEI are currently working on a review into bias in algorithmic decision-making and will continue to examine the impacts of FRT and algorithms on society and provide recommendations on how to minimise bias.

Uses of facial recognition technology in the UK, both private and public, are regulated by the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 that set standards for protecting personal data. Organisations have an obligation to ensure that any personal data they hold is accurate and processed in a manner that is lawful, fair and transparent.

Facial images, which constitute 'special category' data for the purposes of the legislation are subject to heightened safeguards and can only be processed if specific conditions in the legislation are met. Processing must be necessary, proportionate and justified. The legislation is enforced by the Information Commissioner's Office, which has shown a willingness to take action against commercial organisations that are acting unlawfully.

To ensure a safe use of facial recognition technology (FRT) in all sectors, the government tasked the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) to produce a Snapshot briefing paper looking at the uses and potential implications of facial recognition technology’s deployment in the UK. The paper was published on 28 May and we are considering its findings. The CDEI are currently working on a review into bias in algorithmic decision-making and will continue to examine the impacts of FRT and algorithms on society and provide recommendations on how to minimise bias.

It is vital that diversity is promoted in all levels of sport and the Government is committed to doing so.

The Government, through Sport England, is investing £2 million per year into the FA to support their work in ensuring the coaching workforce in football is more representative of wider society. This includes providing bursaries to develop coaching abilities from the grassroots to the elite levels of the game.

Government's sport and physical activity strategy ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’ has diversity and inclusion at its heart. The Government remains supportive of a number of anti-racism initiatives that work with English football from grassroots to the elite, which include Show Racism the Red Card and Kick it Out.

The Government also supports the steps the football authorities (the FA, the Premier League and the English Football League) have taken during the current season to combat discrimination. This included actions targeted at and around football grounds such as, improving reporting systems, providing better training and support for referees and stewards; and improving the quality of CCTV around stadia.

Ministers held a productive meeting with the Football Association, alongside the Premier League and English Football League, on 14th May to discuss the latest on their plans for the safe resumption of professional football in June.

The Premier League will only return when it is safe to do so - the health and welfare of players, coaches and staff comes first.

We are working closely with accommodation providers to explore ways in which they can support key workers. My Department is in regular contact with the sector and other Departments to try and help match supply with the demand. We have been proud to see accommodation providers uniting to play their part in COVID-19 response efforts.

The Government conducted a comprehensive, evidence-based review into the telecoms supply chain, which was published in July 2019. The final conclusions of the Government’s Telecoms Supply Chain Review in relation to high risk vendors were announced on 28 January and provided the details of the additional steps it will be necessary to take to mitigate the risk from high risk vendors. This announcement made clear the Government’s intention to, over time, reduce our reliance on high risk vendors as market diversification takes place. We want to get to a position where we do not have to use a high risk vendor in our telecoms networks at all.

The conclusions of the Review were based on security analysis from our world-leading cybersecurity experts, and took into account the full range of issues and risks.

It is important that women and men are recognised and paid equally for doing the same work. I welcome the positive step that has been taken to ensure that all companies in Great Britain with more than 250 employees are required to report their gender pay gap to the Government Equalities Office.

We know there is some work to do to narrow the gender pay gap across the sport sector. If this is to happen progress must continue to be made in the wider culture of sport to ensure women are treated equally to men at all levels. I am pleased to see Lewes FC paving the way by paying their women’s team the same wages as their men’s team and we hope others can look at how they can reduce gender pay gaps.

In order to close the gender pay gap it is also crucial that we provide greater exposure and commercial opportunities. As part of a broader aim to support greater equality of coverage, in September 2019 the government consulted on whether to add women’s equivalents of men’s events currently on the list to both group A and group B categories. The consultation closed on 11 December 2019. The government is now carefully considering the responses in detail and we will respond in due course.

The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator.

We are also ensuring the criminal law is fit for purpose. The Law Commission is conducting the second phase of its review of abusive and offensive online communications. We expect the Law Commission to produce its final report in early 2021.

The word ‘ownership’ usually implies certain rights over a property such as being able to use it, sell it or give it away, but this is unlikely to be a workable concept in the wide range of circumstances that processing of personal data occurs. Data protection legislation in the UK does, however, impose obligations on data controllers to process personal data lawfully and transparently in a way that individuals would expect. It also gives individuals specific rights in relation to their data. These include rights to seek access to, rectify or erase their data or to object to its continued processing.

Guidance on training and coaching for grassroots sport is a matter for the sport’s National Governing Body. However, we are encouraged to see the Football Associations of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland putting children’s health and wellbeing at the heart of their provision.

It is important that all schools and sports clubs follow guidance on age-appropriate sport participation, and have appropriate measures in place to protect young people from harm, including serious injuries such as concussion.

Google has announced that it is updating its Terms of Service for UK customers so that Google US, rather than Google Ireland, will now be the service provider and the data controller responsible for UK users’ information.

Data rights laws in the UK will continue to apply to Google's treatment of personal data of UK users, whether UK users are served from Ireland or the US. Google has confirmed that it will continue to apply the GDPR standard of protection for UK users, with no change in its approach to privacy, including how it collects and processes UK users’ information. The UK is committed to high data protection standards and we are confident that data protection laws in the UK provide appropriate protection for users in the UK.

As outlined in the Government’s ‘The Online Harms White Paper - Initial consultation response’, published on 12 February 2020, “The White Paper makes clear that in order to recoup both the implementation costs and running costs of the regulator, the government is considering fees, charges or a levy on companies whose services are in scope. This could fund the full range of the regulator’s activity. The government intends the new regulator to become cost neutral to the public sector.” The Government is carrying out extensive analysis on potential funding options taking Ofcom’s existing funding structure into consideration. Full details on the funding mechanism for the Online Harms regulatory regime will be set out in due course.

All organisations that process data that contains personal or identifying information about individuals in the UK must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. The Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations 2003 also imposes certain restrictions on the processing of personal data for direct marketing purposes.

These rules impose strict obligations on organisations to process people’s data fairly and lawfully and to ensure that any data collected is held securely. Organisations must also ensure they have a legal basis for processing data, are clear and transparent about how personal data will be handled, and ensure that the data is processed in a way which individuals would expect. Organisations that fail to comply may be subject to enforcement action by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The ICO are consulting on a draft code of practice on Direct Marking, which is available on the ICO's website.

Last year the government announced its intention to consider how online advertising is regulated in the UK. One of the key aims of this work is to drive transparent and ethical targeting practices for advertising online so that consumers are informed, empowered and can have trust in online advertising. The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation published a Review of online targeting on the 4th February 2020, which explicitly considers the impact of targeting on vulnerable people. This included a number of recommendations which the Government is considering; we will respond to the report by October. In addition, the ICO is currently investigating real time bidding practices within online advertising to ensure they are GDPR compliant.

The Government published the initial response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation on 12 February 2020. This response confirmed that the Government is developing legislation on online harms to introduce a statutory duty of care, overseen and enforced by an independent regulator. This will require social media companies to have appropriate systems and processes in place to deal with harmful content on their services to keep their users safe. As set out in the White Paper, the regulator will have the power to request explanations about the way algorithms operate, where necessary to establish that a company is fulfilling its duty of care. The Government will publish full details of the final policy position in the Spring, ahead of legislation.

On a related topic, the Government noted the Committee for Standards in Public Life's recent report on Artificial Intelligence, and will respond to its recommendations in due course.

The Data Protection Act 2018 and the GDPR is in place to ensure that organisations, including social media companies, who collect and use personal data do so lawfully and transparently. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regulates data protection legislation in the UK. Organisations which fail to comply with the legislation may be the subject of enforcement action.

The application of consumer law to specific cases is ultimately a matter for the courts and it is not for Government to take a view on specific cases. However, the Government expects companies to behave fairly towards consumers and they are not allowed to use unfair terms in their standard contracts with consumers. Terms which allow a trader to alter goods or digital content may be potentially unfair when the terms are not sufficiently transparent for the consumer to understand.

On 5 February, the Government announced an 8 week consultation on whether to proceed with the decriminalisation of TV licence evasion by replacing the criminal sanction with an alternative civil enforcement scheme. The Government believes that it is right to look again at whether the criminal sanction remains appropriate for TV licence fee evasion, given ongoing concerns about whether the criminal sanction is unfair and disproportionate. Following careful consideration of the responses, the Government expects to publish a response by summer 2020.

The government recognises the critical importance of diversity in the video games industry, and the Creative Industries as a whole. We welcome the games industry’s Raise The Game diversity pledge launched on 4 February 2020. The pledge is backed by companies such as Microsoft XBox, Facebook, EA, Jagex and King and the aim is to sign up at least 200 employers by 2021.

This builds on the Creative Industries Council’s Diversity Charter, announced in July 2019, which commits to engaging leaders across the creative industries to champion diversity and inclusion.

The UK supports freedom of expression, both as a fundamental right and as an essential enabler of the full range of other human rights protected by UK and international law. The Online Harms White Paper, published in April 2019, outlines our proposals for a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. The regulator will have a responsibility to protect freedom of expression. Our approach will support more people to access their right to freedom of expression, by reducing the risk of being attacked on the basis of their identity. The counter-disinformation measures proposed in the White Paper are focused on protecting users from harm, not judging what is true or false.

UK Telecoms operators have been advised by the National Cyber Security Centre - in its guidance published on 29 January - on the steps they need to take in relation to high risk vendors. The guidance also sets out the steps necessary for Huawei, including the important continuing role for the world class Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre and Oversight Board.

In addition, new telecoms security requirements proposed in the Government’s Telecoms Supply Chain Review will raise the height of the security bar and require telecoms operators to design and manage their networks to meet new requirements. They will provide clarity to industry on what is expected in terms of network security and, in turn, improve security across vendors.

Ministers and officials have regular meetings with social media companies on a range of issues, including support provided to workers who moderate content on their platforms. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.

The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. This will make companies more responsible for their users’ safety online, especially children and other vulnerable groups, and will help to build trust in digital markets. The Government will will bring forward legislation to improve internet safety for all, as set out in the Queen’s speech.

The new regulatory framework will place a duty of care on online operators. To fulfil the duty of care, where relevant, companies will be required to take robust action to address harmful content that provides graphic details of suicide methods and self-harming.

The new Online Harms framework will be overseen by an independent regulator which will have effective enforcement powers, including the power to fine operators who do not comply with the new duty of care.

Ministers and officials have regular meetings with social media platforms such as Instagram on a range of issues, including the use of algorithms to target specific groups. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website.

The government is committed to harnessing the potential of emerging technology, including artificial intelligence. We recognise the importance of strong ethical frameworks and guidance to ensure the appropriate use of data-driven technologies.

That is why the UK launched the Data Ethics Framework in 2016, a practical guide for the public sector to the appropriate use of data to deliver high quality evidence for policy making and service design, and the first guidance of its kind. The Framework was developed through open collaboration across the government data science community, academia and civil society and is currently being updated to ensure that it remains a world-leading guide on the ethical use of data in the public sector.

The government also established the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation in 2018, to provide independent, expert advice on the measures needed to enable and ensure safe, ethical and innovative uses of artificial intelligence and data-driven technologies. This includes advising on how we address potential gaps in our regulatory landscape, and identifying best practice for the responsible use of data and artificial intelligence through engagement with industry bodies, public service providers and consumers to coordinate world-leading standards and codes of conduct.

The UK already benefits from a world-class regulatory regime, and the Centre will build on this by making sure we understand and respond to the rapidly evolving way in which data is impacting our lives.

The government takes fraud very seriously and continues to work closely with industry to close down the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit, and ensure members of the public have the information they need to spot a scam and stand up to fraudsters. We set up the Joint Fraud Taskforce to help build a collaborative law enforcement, government and industry response to tackling fraud. Scams can also be reported to Action Fraud and Citizens Advice.

Last year the government announced its intention to review how online advertising is regulated in the UK, looking at how well the current regime is equipped to tackle the challenges posed by developments in online advertising. The announcement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/jeremy-wrights-statement-on-the-cairncross-review

Currently, advertising in the UK is overseen by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the industry’s independent regulator, which for online advertising enforces the Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) through a system of self-regulation. The CAP Code incorporates all relevant legislation and sets standards for accuracy and honesty to which advertisers must adhere. This system operates independently of government.

With specific regard to online scam advertising, the ASA works with online platforms to have problem advertising taken down, and with other partners, including National Trading Standards, to take action against those who are engaged in fraud. The ASA also works closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to regulate the advertising of legitimate financial products.

We are aware of the recent report on the online advertising industry published by the Norwegian Consumer Council. The Data Protection Act 2018 and the GDPR is in place to ensure that organisations, including advertising companies, who collect and use personal data do so lawfully and transparently. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regulates data protection legislation in the UK. It is working with the advertising industry to improve compliance with the law and has published the following blogs which urge organisations to review their processes and systems. Organisations which fail to comply with the legislation may be the subject of enforcement action.

https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/blog-advancing-the-adtech-debate-from-a-data-protection-perspective/ 12 February 2019

https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/blog-adtech-fact-finding-forum-shows-consensus-on-need-for-change/ 07 March 2019
Last year the government announced its intention to review how online advertising is regulated in the UK, looking at how well the current regime is equipped to tackle the challenges posed by developments in online advertising.

Google’s “privacy sandbox” initiative is at an early stage, and the impact of its proposals on consumer outcomes is yet to be seen. The Government is committed to ensuring that the internet and new technologies are safe and secure, and that businesses can compete on a level playing field. We are currently considering how to boost competition and innovation in digital markets, and will continue to assess all external proposals for supporting these aims.

The security of the UK’s telecoms networks is of paramount importance. The Government has undertaken a comprehensive review of the telecoms supply chain to ensure the security and resilience of 5G and fibre in the UK. The Review, published in July, set out the Government’s priorities for the future of telecommunications and proposed the introduction of a new, strengthened security framework for telecoms

The Review also considered the use of high risk vendors in UK telecoms networks. High risk vendors never have been and never will be in the UK’s most sensitive networks. A decision on the use of high risk vendors in the UK telecoms networks will be made in due course following a robust assessment of the risks

The UK is not considering options that would put at risk the UK’s national security or intelligence sharing. The Government continues to work closely with the US and other international partners on the issue of telecoms security.

The security of the UK’s telecoms networks is of paramount importance. The Government has undertaken a comprehensive review of the telecoms supply chain to ensure the security and resilience of 5G and fibre in the UK. The Review, published in July, set out the Government’s priorities for the future of telecommunications and proposed the introduction of a new, strengthened security framework for telecoms

The Review also considered the use of high risk vendors in UK telecoms networks. High risk vendors never have been and never will be in the UK’s most sensitive networks. A decision on the use of high risk vendors in the UK telecoms networks will be made in due course following a robust assessment of the risks

The UK is not considering options that would put at risk the UK’s national security or intelligence sharing. The Government continues to work closely with the US and other international partners on the issue of telecoms security.

Racism or any form of discrimination has no place in football or society, and we must confront this vile behaviour.

Together with the Minister for Sport, I met with the FA last week and discussed their action on discrimination. Whilst progress has been made, there is still more to do and we will be calling in all the footballing authorities for a further update about their work on this important issue.

The Government regularly engages with social media platforms, including Facebook, on a number of issues. Whilst we welcome existing steps taken by platforms to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms, we are clear that these steps do not go far enough to protect users online.

The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. This will make companies more responsible for their users’ safety online, especially children and other vulnerable groups, and will help to build trust in digital markets.

The Online Harms White Paper proposes that under the new regulatory framework for online safety, companies could be required to improve transparency of political advertising, in line with requirements in electoral law. The Cabinet Office is also considering this issue as part of the Defending Democracy programme, which has been set up to protect and secure UK democratic processes and strengthen the integrity of UK elections. Last year, the Government announced a review into online advertising, which will consider the extent to which the current regulatory regime is equipped to tackle the challenges posed by rapid technological developments in advertising. Further details will be set out in due course.

Last year the government announced its intention to review how online advertising is regulated in the UK, looking at how well the current regime is equipped to tackle the challenges posed by developments in online advertising. The announcement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/jeremy-wrights-statement-on-the-cairncross-review

Currently, advertising in the UK is overseen by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the industry’s independent regulator, which for online advertising enforces the Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) through a system of self-regulation. The CAP Code incorporates all relevant legislation, including consumer protection legislation, and sets standards for accuracy and honesty to which advertisers must adhere. This system operates independently of government.

The remit of the ASA extends to the online promotion of products by celebrities, if the celebrity has been paid (including payment in kind) by an advertiser, and the advertiser exerts some form of editorial control over the resulting content. To guarantee compliance with the CAP Code in such cases, advertisers must ensure that endorsements are genuine, claims are accurate and advertising is clearly identified as such. The products themselves must also adhere to relevant regulation and standards.

If the advertiser does not exert some form of editorial control over the resulting content, consumer protection legislation still applies and is enforced instead by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA works closely with the ASA in this area, and expects such content to clearly identify any commercial relationship and to have regard to the CAP Code.

The Competition and Markets Authority recently investigated social media endorsements by influencers / celebrities to ensure that they were being clear to their followers, resulting in influencers / celebrities changing their practices. They also published a guide to help influencers and those working with them to understand how to comply with UK consumer protection law. Separately to this work, but complementary to the government's review of online advertising, the CMA is conducting a market study of online platforms and digital advertising, and published an interim report in December which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-lifts-the-lid-on-digital-giants

We published the Online Harms White Paper in April last year, setting out plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online.

Our proposals would establish a new statutory duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. The duty of care will ensure companies have appropriate systems and processes in place to deal with harmful content on their services to keep their users safe.

As outlined in our Digital Strategy, the Government’s ambition is to ensure the UK is the best place in the world to start and grow a digital business.

To support access to finance, the Government has introduced a new £2.5 billion British Patient Capital programme, which is expected to attract a further £5 billion in private investment. This will support UK companies with high growth potential to access the long-term investment they need to grow and internationalise.

To continue to attract international talent, the Government has: doubled the number of Tier 1 Exceptional Talent visas to 2,000; taken doctors and nurses out of the Tier 2 visa cap, increasing the number of skilled worker visas available to other sectors, including tech; and launched the new Start-Up and Innovator visa routes for entrepreneurs. In addition, the Government has committed to introducing a new 2 year visa route for individuals who graduate from UK higher education providers.

The Government continues to fund Tech Nation, supporting their work to accelerate the growth of the digital tech sector across the country. Tech Nation deliver growth programmes for the sector aimed at stages across the business lifecycle, with programme alumni including Monzo, Deliveroo and Funding Circle. In the past year, Tech Nation have started sector-specific growth programmes in AI and Cyber, in addition to their FinTech programme. In 2019, Tech Nation's growth programmes supported 649 tech companies. Tech Nation have a regional network of 11 Entrepreneur Engagement Managers (EEMs) working across the UK to support entrepreneurs, startups and scaleups to access their programmes and networks.

Finally, at London Tech Week 2019, the PM launched a study into the competitiveness of the UK Tech Sector. Reporting later this year, the study will identify key opportunities and support mechanisms to further accelerate business growth in the digital tech sector.

The Government recognises the potential challenges artificial intelligence and digitally manipulated content such as deepfakes may pose and we are considering these issues carefully as part of work to tackle online manipulation and disinformation.

The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. We intend to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. Ahead of the implementation of the new regulatory framework, we continue to work closely with companies to encourage them to take early action to address disinformation and online manipulation on their platforms. Platforms continue to make progress in this area and we welcome these efforts.

Digital services are an important part of everyday life. It is vital that we ensure they work for everyone and can harness the incredible benefits of digital technologies, protect consumers while encouraging trust, and foster innovation across the economy. The government is currently considering how to boost competition and innovation in digital markets, including those funded through online advertising. Last year the government announced its intention to review how online advertising is regulated in the UK, which will assess the extent to which the current regulatory regime is equipped to tackle the challenges posed by rapid technological developments seen in online advertising.

The government is grateful to the CMA for their work to date on the interim report from their market study into Online Platforms and Digital Advertising. The CMA’s final market study report will set out findings and may make recommendations to the government. We look forward to these recommendations.

The Government has made no formal assessment of this report. I thank the Noble Lord, however, for bringing this to our attention. I agree there is a need for government to work closely with civil society in many areas, including age inequality. These issues are cross-cutting and require input from many parts of government. DCMS is playing its part in this work, as set out in the government’s Civil Society Strategy and ‘A Connected Society: A strategy for tackling loneliness’.

Last year the government announced its intention to review how online advertising is regulated in the UK, looking at how well the current regime is equipped to tackle the challenges posed by developments in online advertising. The announcement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/jeremy-wrights-statement-on-the-cairncross-review.

Currently, advertising in the UK is overseen by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the industry’s independent regulator, which for online advertising enforces the Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) through a system of self-regulation. The CAP Code incorporates all relevant legislation, including consumer protection legislation, and sets standards for accuracy and honesty to which advertisers must adhere. This system operates independently of government.

The remit of the ASA extends to the online promotion of products by celebrities, if the celebrity has been paid (including payment in kind) by an advertiser, and the advertiser exerts some form of editorial control over the resulting content. To guarantee compliance with the CAP Code in such cases, advertisers must ensure that endorsements are genuine, claims are accurate and advertising is clearly identified as such. The products themselves must also adhere to relevant regulation and standards.

If the advertiser does not exert some form of editorial control over the resulting content, consumer protection legislation still applies and is enforced instead by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA works closely with the ASA in this area, and expects such content to clearly identify any commercial relationship and to have regard to the CAP Code.

The Competition and Markets Authority recently investigated social media endorsements by influencers / celebrities to ensure that they were being clear to their followers, resulting in influencers / celebrities changing their practices. They also published a guide to help influencers and those working with them to understand how to comply with UK consumer protection law. Separately to this work, but complementary to the government's review of online advertising, the CMA is conducting a market study of online platforms and digital advertising, and published an interim report in December which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-lifts-the-lid-on-digital-giants.

The department is working across government, and with charities and local authorities to ensure refugees from Ukraine are properly supported so they can rebuild their lives. The department is preparing to make sure school-aged children who resettle from Ukraine can get into schools and will set out more details when available.

To support schools’ efforts, Oak National Academy have rolled out an auto-translate function across all 10,000 of its online lessons, meaning Ukrainian children can access education in their native language.

All Ukrainian 16 to 19 year olds given right to reside in UK are automatically eligible for 16-19 funding. Those with right to reside may also be able to access bursary support via a provider if they meet the other criteria and can be assessed by the provider as having direct participation costs they need help with.

The history curriculum gives teachers and schools the freedom to use specific examples to teach pupils about the history of Britain and the wider world.

Gypsy, Roma and Travellers’ history can already be taught as part of schools offering a broad and balanced curriculum. Resources are available from experts in the communities themselves and bodies such as the Historical Association.

In recognition of its importance, the Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the national curriculum for history at key stage 3. The curriculum gives teachers and schools the freedom to decide how to teach the subject and what resources to use to support an understanding of the Holocaust, and the experiences of non-Jewish victims of Nazi persecution.

The department is providing over £1.1 million of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2022, to five anti-bullying organisations, to support schools to tackle bullying. We are working with all five organisations to ensure any training and resources produced as part of these projects are in line with our requirements.

Our preventing and tackling bullying guidance sets out that schools should develop a consistent approach to monitoring bullying incidents and evaluating the effectiveness of their approaches.

Alongside guidance, the department’s Educate Against Hate website provides teachers, school leaders and parents with advice and trusted resources to safeguard young people from radicalisation, build resilience to all types of extremism and promote shared values. We have also published the Respectful School Communities: Self-review and Signposting Tool to support schools to develop a whole-school approach which promotes respect and discipline. This can help education settings combat bullying, harassment, and prejudice of any kind, including hate-based bullying.

The national curriculum is a framework setting out the content of what the department expects schools to cover in each subject and is just one element in the education of every child. There is time and space in the school day and in each week, term and year to go beyond these specifications. The national curriculum does not set out how curriculum subjects, or topics within the subjects, should be taught. The department believes teachers should be able to use their own knowledge and expertise to determine how they teach their pupils, and to make choices about what they teach.

The department is committed to an inclusive education system which recognises and embraces cultural diversity. As part of the broad and balanced curriculum, pupils should be taught about different societies, and how different groups have contributed to the development of Britain. Diversity issues are covered in several subjects within the curriculum, including but not limited to history, English, citizenship and religious studies. Furthermore, there is a model curriculum being developed for history, which will offer high quality support for knowledge-rich teaching on diversity in this subject.

In autumn 2021, the department launched the National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) to support teachers and leaders who want to develop their knowledge and skills in specialist areas of teaching practice. The Leading Behaviour and Culture NPQ supports teachers to set clear expectations and communicate shared values that improve classroom and school culture. It encourages teachers to create environments where all pupils and colleagues feel welcome, safe, and able to learn from their mistakes, empowering teachers to explore a range of topics, such as diversity, and support others to do the same. More information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-professional-qualifications-npqs-reforms/national-professional-qualifications-npqs-reforms.

The department is determined that all children and young people, including those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment, receive the support they need to succeed in their education. Those teaching classes of children with sensory impairment must hold an appropriate qualification approved by the Secretary of State for Education. Teachers working in an advisory role to support such pupils should also hold the appropriate qualification.

Wider decisions relating to teachers’ professional development rest with schools, headteachers, and teachers themselves, as they are in the best position to judge their own requirements. This may include further training and development relating to British Sign Language.

All teachers in local authority-maintained schools or non-maintained special schools in England are required to hold qualified teacher status, which is awarded upon successful completion of an initial teacher training (ITT) course.

All ITT courses must be designed to allow trainees to meet the teachers' standards, including standard 5, which states that teachers should “adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils”. Standard 5 is clear that all teachers must have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. The teachers’ standards are available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards.

The government plans to designate employer representative bodies to lead the development of the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) through new powers in the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill. This will put employers firmly at the centre of local skills systems, working closely with colleges and other providers. They will be informed by key stakeholders to shape technical skills provision so that it better supports the local economy and boosts this country’s productivity.

The Skills and Post-16 Education Bill also places a duty on colleges and other relevant providers to co-operate with employer representative bodies for the purposes of assisting them to develop LSIPs. This will ensure that colleges and other relevant providers share their knowledge and experience to directly inform the development of these plans and help ensure they are evidence-based, credible, and actionable.

Eligibility for free school meals (FSM) has been extended several times. Under the benefits-based criteria, 1.7 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming FSM, which saves families around £400 per year. The government spends around £600 million per year ensuring an additional 1.3 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the Universal Infant FSM policy in 2014.

We think it is important that FSM support is targeted at those that need it most, and FSM is an integral part of our provision for families on low incomes, and our wider actions to promote social mobility.

In 2018, the government introduced new eligibility criteria for families on Universal Credit, following a consultation in 2017. It is estimated that this will be more generous in its reach by 2022, in comparison to the legacy benefit system. Further to this we included generous protections, which mean any family eligible for FSM transitioning to Universal Credit from a legacy benefit will continue to have access to FSM even if they move above the earnings threshold.

The government will publish a Food Strategy in early 2022. This will consider the evidence of Henry Dimbleby’s review of the food system and build on existing work across government to identify new opportunities to make the food system healthier, more sustainable, more resilient, and more accessible for those across the UK.

To ensure that young people consider technical options alongside the academic pathway, the government introduced a provider access law in January 2018. This requires all maintained schools and academies to publish a policy statement setting out opportunities for providers of technical education, including apprenticeships, to access year 8-13 pupils, and to make sure that the statement is followed. Through the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, we are aiming to strengthen the law and create a clear minimum legal requirement for provider encounters.

The government’s careers statutory guidance sets out that all schools and colleges should use the internationally recognised Gatsby Benchmarks to help meet their legal duties and improve their careers provision. In addition to encounters with further and higher education, the Gatsby Benchmarks define other elements of an excellent careers programme, including encounters with employers, experiences of workplaces and personal guidance.

To support this, we are investing £29.6 million to help schools and colleges to improve their careers programmes for young people. This includes £28 million for The Careers and Enterprise Company to deliver support to schools and colleges to implement the Gatsby Benchmarks, including Careers Hubs and Careers Leader training. Young people aged 13 to 18 are able to access ongoing in-depth information, advice and guidance from the National Careers Service via local telephone-based advisers or the National Careers Service website.

Increasing exposure to technical options is vital so that young people can make fully informed choices about their future. New analysis found that uptake of apprenticeships was 16% higher in the schools that provided information on apprenticeships to most or all of their students compared with the schools that provided information to a small minority.

Higher education (HE) providers are independent and autonomous institutions. The government does not compel participation in equality charters.

However, it is essential that HE providers address disparities in pay or opportunity, where they may be based on race, disability, gender, or other protected characteristics. We want HE providers to address inequality with confidence, using their own judgement to address the real issues which restrict opportunity.

The department expects HE providers, like all employers, to comply with their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and give due consideration to the way their employment practices affect different people from different communities and at different stages of their careers.

The government does not play a role in providing or running student residential accommodation. Universities and private accommodation providers are autonomous and responsible for setting their own rent agreements.

We encourage accommodation providers to review their policies to ensure they are fair, clear and have the interests of students at heart. There should be no tolerance of any form of racism.

If a student thinks their accommodation provider is treating them unfairly, they can raise a complaint under the accommodation codes of practice if the provider is a code member. The codes can be found here: https://www.thesac.org.uk/, https://www.unipol.org.uk/the-code/how-to-complain and https://www.nrla.org.uk/about-us/code-of-practice.

We announced on 28 January that the repayment thresholds for post-2012 (Plan 2) and postgraduate (Plan 3) student loans will be maintained at their current levels of £27,295 and £21,000 per year respectively, for financial year 2022-23.

It is more crucial than ever that higher education is underpinned by just and sustainable finance and funding arrangements, and that the system provides value for money for all at a time of rising costs. Maintaining the repayment thresholds at current levels, alongside the ongoing freeze in fees, will help to ensure the sustainability of the student loan system, while keeping higher education open to everyone who has the ability and ambition to benefit from it, including the most disadvantaged.

We will confirm repayment thresholds for future years at the appropriate time.

The department will consider the Education Policy Institute methodology discussion paper in due course.

School performance tables are designed specifically to generate meaningful data from which the public and relevant parties can hold schools and colleges to account. The department keeps all its school performance measures under review and welcomes feedback on how we can refine and improve our suite of measures and the way they are used.

Governing boards are expected to carefully consider the level and characteristics of pupils who are leaving the school. They should also deploy maximum challenge to the school and academy trust management teams on any permanent exclusions to ensure it is only used, when necessary, as a last resort. This also includes looking at suspensions, pupils taken off roll and those directed to be educated off site in alternative provision and whether there are any patterns to the reasons or timing of such moves.

The government is clear that off-rolling (the practice of removing a pupil from the school roll without using a permanent exclusion, when the removal is primarily in the best interests of the school, rather than the best interests of the pupil) is unlawful and unacceptable in any form and we continue to work with Ofsted to tackle it. Ofsted already considers records of children taken off roll and their characteristics and strengthened the focus on this in the revised framework in September 2019. Where inspectors find off-rolling, this will always be addressed in the inspection report and, where appropriate, could lead to a school’s leadership being judged inadequate.

The government has recognised British Sign Language (BSL) as a language since 2003. Teaching BSL is not a compulsory part of the national curriculum nor the early years foundation stage learning and development requirements. However, schools and nurseries are free to offer BSL and accredited BSL qualifications as part of their wider curriculum, or as a varied programme of extra-curricular activities, to meet the needs of their pupils and children if they wish. There are currently no plans to add BSL to mainstream curriculum classes for nursery, primary school or secondary school.

The department is aiming to introduce a GCSE in BSL as soon as possible, provided it meets the rigorous requirements that apply to all GCSEs. The department is working closely with subject experts and Ofqual to develop draft subject content and will aim to consult publicly later this year. The department is also engaging with Ofqual to ensure the subject content can be assessed appropriately and will be working with relevant parties to ensure that a wide range of views are reflected.

The department is streamlining and improving the quality of the post-16 qualifications system at level 3 and below.

We are reforming technical education to ensure that all post-16 students have access to vocational and technical options that support progression and meet employer needs. This includes the introduction of new T Levels which have been designed with employers and will increase the options for learners to take post-16. We are also reviewing all other technical qualifications at level 3 and below and introducing new higher technical qualifications which will improve the quality of the future technical landscape.

​​We welcome the Green Alliance’s report on closing the UK’s skills gap. The government is committed to supporting green skills across the country and a number of measures are in place to ensure we are supporting the labour market transition to net zero.

At the recent Spending Review, we set out investment of £3.8 billion in further education and skills over the course of the parliament as a whole, to ensure people can access high-quality training and education that leads to good jobs, addresses skills gaps, boosts productivity and supports levelling up. This includes funding for programmes to support green skills crucial to the net zero transition.

In November 2020, we launched the Green Jobs Taskforce, working in partnership with business, local areas, skills providers, and unions, to ensure we have the skilled workforce to deliver net zero and our Ten Point Plan. Following that, and building on the Skills for Jobs White Paper, the Net Zero Strategy was published in October 2021 and set out how the government’s skills reforms will support teachers understanding of sustainability, strengthen links between employers and providers, support workers in high carbon sectors with the transition, and help to build a pipeline of future talent.

Through the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, we are supporting workers to gain the skills they need to transition to the green economy, including through targeted support for retraining. As part of this and through the National Skills Fund investment, we are delivering Skills Bootcamps, which are short, flexible courses covering digital, technical and green skills. Green Skills Bootcamps are available in areas such as housing retrofit, solar, nuclear energy and vehicle electrification.

The Free Courses for Jobs offer has, since April 2021, been supporting adults who do not have a qualification at Level 3 or higher to access over 400 Level 3 courses for free. The offer currently includes qualifications linked to green sectors such as Agriculture, Building and Construction, Engineering, Environmental Conservation, Horticulture and Forestry and Science. This offer replaces loan funding with grant funding for any adult over the age of 23 looking to achieve their first level 3 qualification. In addition, we have recently announced that, from April this year, any adult in England who is earning under the National Living Wage annually (£18,525) or unemployed will also be able to access these qualifications for free, regardless of their prior qualification level.

At post-16 level, we will continue to build on our apprenticeship reforms, to align the majority of post-16 technical education and training with employer-led standards by 2030. A strengthened system of employer-led standards, underpinning apprenticeships, T Levels and new higher technical qualifications will ensure employers, including in low carbon sectors, have a central role in designing and developing qualifications and training.

We are also introducing Local Skills Improvement Plans, which will be developed by employer representative bodies working closely with employers, post-16 education and training providers and key local stakeholders. These Plans will articulate unmet and future skills needs and key changes needed to ensure technical skills provision is responsive to local labour market skills needs. Through the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, we are legislating to put the employer leadership of these plans on a statutory footing and ensure they consider skills needed to help deliver on our net zero target, adaptation to climate change, and other environmental goals.

Going forward, a new Green Jobs Delivery Group will be the central forum through which government, industry and other key stakeholders work together to ensure that the UK has the workforce needed to deliver a green industrial revolution.

The Group will include ministerial representation from the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Education, the Department for Work and Pensions, and other departments as required. It will also importantly be co-chaired by an industry representative to ensure an inclusive view of the action on green jobs needed for net zero and wider environmental goals.

The Group will be active for the duration of this parliament and will aim to drive forward industry and government action across a range of topics, which might include: ensuring we have the skilled workforce to deliver net zero and wider environmental goals in line with the UK’s levelling up agenda; ensuring workers and communities in high carbon sectors are supported with the transition in the wider context of the UK’s levelling up agenda; better understanding and addressing barriers to recruitment, retention and progression in green jobs (including quality of work, pay, conditions, image, etc); ensuring green jobs are open to all; building on the work of the Green Jobs Taskforce to develop a clearer understanding of the green economy and how to define and measure it.

Taken together, and alongside the wider suite of reforms to the skills system being implemented by government in partnership with industry, these measures will help to ensure more people can get the skills they need to enter and progress within green jobs.

The department remains committed to a form of local authority register for children not in school. We will set out further details on this in the government response to the ‘Children Not in School’ consultation, which we will publish in the coming weeks.

The existing definition of full-time education does not capture providers which offer only a narrow curriculum even if this teaching takes place throughout all, or most, of the school day.

In 2020, the department’s consultation on regulating independent educational institutions contained a number of related proposals for legislation which would affect independent schools and also some education providers which are neither state-funded nor currently registered with the department as independent schools, although they are attended full-time by children of compulsory school age. This includes some religious education and several other providers.

The consultation included proposals to consider how to expand on the categories of full-time institutions that will be regulated in the same way that independent schools are currently regulated, and to change the definition of independent schools in primary legislation to incorporate such institutions. Taking forward the proposals would bring a range of currently unregistered institutions under the independent education regulatory regime and help ensure requirements are consistent for all providers that children of compulsory school age attend full-time during the school day, which prevents them securing an education elsewhere.

The government remains committed to changing the law on the registration of independent educational providers.

Publication of the response to the consultation on regulating independent educational institutions is expected in early 2022.

Face-to-face teaching is a vital part of getting a high-quality student experience. With the removal of the Plan B measures, there are no COVID restrictions that apply to higher education (HE) and providers should ensure that they are delivering the full programme of face-to-face teaching and learning that they were providing before the COVID-19 outbreak.

We know that in response to the COVID-19 outbreak HE providers delivered new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning and that some providers continue to use some of these approaches alongside in-person provision. However, online learning should only be offered to enhance the student experience, not to detract from it, and it should not be used as a cost-cutting measure. The Office for Students (OfS) will be monitoring to ensure this is the case, and that universities are being open about what students can expect.

The government expects all universities to continue to deliver excellent learning, in line with guidance from the OfS. On 29 October, my right hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Higher and Further Education, wrote to all English HE providers to make clear that we expect them to be offering a high quality face-to-face student experience. On 17 January, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote an open letter to students about face-to-face teaching, setting out what they can do if they feel they are not getting the teaching they signed up for. This letter can be found here: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/01/17/face-to-face-teaching-is-a-vital-part-of-getting-a-high-quality-student-experience-education-secretary-nadhim-zahawi-writes-to-students/. In addition, the Minister of State for Higher and Further Education has been speaking with some university Vice Chancellors to ensure they are offering students the amount of in-person teaching they should expect.

If students have concerns, they should first raise them with their HE provider. If their concerns remain unresolved, students at HE providers in England or Wales can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education to consider their complaint.

The department’s priority is for schools to deliver face-to-face, high-quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health.

School attendance is mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age and it is the department’s priority to ensure that as many children as possible regularly attend school. The department’s current guidance for remote education states that schools affected by the remote education temporary continuity direction must provide remote education for state-funded, school-aged pupils whose attendance would be contrary to public health advice or government guidance or law relating to COVID-19 during the 2021/22 academic year. This means that schools should be offering remote education to pupils who test positive for COVID-19 or present with COVID-19 symptoms, where they are well enough to learn from home. Schools must also have regard to the expectations for remote education published here: https://get-help-with-remote-education.education.gov.uk/statutory-obligations.

The government has committed to an ambitious and long-term education recovery plan, including an investment to date of nearly £5 billion to support the tutoring programme, deliver world class training for teachers, provide additional direct recovery funding to schools, and to extend time in colleges by 40 hours a year. This support will help children and young people make up for education lost and get back on track.

The department’s overall direct investment in education recovery includes funding for up to 100 million tutoring hours for 5-19 year olds, the multi-year recovery premium so schools can deliver evidence-based interventions based on pupil needs, summer schools, extra time in 16-19 education and 500,000 training opportunities for school teachers and early years practitioners.

Recovery programmes have been designed to allow early years, school, and college leaders the flexibility to support those pupils most in need, including the most disadvantaged.

Alongside overall investment in education recovery, the department has delivered over 1.7 million laptops and tablets to schools, trusts, local authorities and further education colleges for disadvantaged children and young people as part of a £520 million government investment to support access to remote education and online social care services.

The department has previously announced funding to support schools and colleges in providing internet access for disadvantaged pupils whose face-to-face education is disrupted due to the COVID-19 outbreak and has enabled ordering of 4G routers for schools and colleges.

The department has provided CO2 monitors to state-funded nurseries, schools and further education colleges, backed by £25 million in government funding. Over 99% of eligible maintained schools, further education colleges, and the majority of nurseries have now received a CO2 monitor with over 300,000 now delivered. Final deliveries will be made before the end of term. Feedback suggests that the monitors are acting as a helpful tool to manage ventilation, sitting alongside the other protective measures in place to manage transmission, such as regular testing, vaccinations and increased hygiene.

While CO₂ measurements are a useful proxy for ventilation, they do not give direct information about infection risk. For these reasons, the values given in guidance should not be seen as absolute safe versus unsafe thresholds, but as a broad guide to the quality of ventilation in a space. This approach is recommended by both the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in their guidance. As stated in our guidance, it is the responsibility of schools, colleges and nurseries to decide on the use of poorly ventilated rooms in accordance with their own risk assessment procedures and obligations under health and safety law. 1,500 parts per million (ppm) is well below the workplace exposure limit set by HSE, set at 5,000ppm (averaged over the course of 8 hours).

If used properly, air cleaning units can help reduce airborne contaminants in a poorly ventilated space while remedial work is undertaken to permanently improve ventilation. It is important to note that air cleaning units cannot improve ventilation, and they should never be used as a reason to reduce ventilation or not to remediate poor ventilation in a space.

The department is providing additional, exceptional funding for air cleaning units for poorly ventilated spaces in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) providers, including SEND units in mainstream schools, where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible. These institutions are being prioritised given the higher-than-average number of vulnerable pupils in attendance. The purchase of 1,000 air cleaning units reflects our assessment of need in the sector based on recent feedback from SEND and AP providers.

Institutions which are not eligible for a department funded unit have access to an online ‘marketplace’, which provides a route to purchasing air cleaning units of a suitable specification and competitive price. We expect that in most classrooms existing ventilation will be sufficient.

Maintaining adequate ventilation ultimately remains the responsibility of individual schools, colleges and nurseries. It is for institutions to decide on the use of affected rooms in accordance with their risk assessment procedures and obligations under health and safety law.

The case for additional support for institutions to maintain good ventilation will be kept under review as the programme continues and schools, colleges and nurseries use the monitors to further assess their ventilation needs.

The government is committed to its mission to provide a world-class education for all children, irrespective of their backgrounds. The pupil premium provides schools with additional money to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils, with £2.5 billion being distributed in the current financial year. The government has also announced an additional £1 billion for a recovery premium over the next two academic years (2022/23 and 2023/24), which will help schools deliver evidence-based approaches to support the most disadvantaged pupils.

There is no right number of suspensions or permanent exclusions. The department supports headteachers in using suspension and permanent exclusions as a sanction where it is warranted. We are clear that permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort, and this should not mean exclusion from education.

The quality of higher education and the learning and opportunities it offers for students are priorities for this government.

The government believes that students should be at the heart of the higher education system. Therefore, we set up the Office for Students (OfS) to regulate the higher education sector in England, protect student rights and ensure the sector is delivering real value for money.

The OfS expects providers to do all they can to avoid disruption for students. Prior to these strikes starting, the OfS wrote to universities outlining how they will uphold standards and protect student interests. They have made clear that they expect universities to abide by the conditions of registration, maintain the delivery of higher education and minimise disruption to students in the event of any industrial action. The OfS also highlighted providers’ obligations under consumer protection law in relation to the impact of industrial action. The OfS published a statement about its expectations of providers during industrial action, available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/press-and-media/ofs-responds-to-industrial-action/

Higher education providers are independent, autonomous institutions responsible for their own decisions about the terms and conditions of employment and pensions. The Pensions Regulator is currently working with the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), Universities UK and a range of other stakeholders as they work to find a long-term solution to the funding challenges faced by the USS.

We expect higher education providers to consider their obligations under consumer law and students’ consumer rights carefully, including during industrial action. This includes ensuring that a range of appropriate remedies and mitigations are available, which may include financial compensation, to prevent and minimise the effects of any strike action upon their students.

If students have concerns, they can complain through their provider’s complaints process. If they are unhappy with the outcome, students have the right to make a complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA). The OIA has published a briefing note about its approach to complaints by students affected by the industrial action, available here: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/resources-and-publications/briefing-notes/oia-briefing-note-complaints-arising-from-strike-action/. The OIA has also published case summaries relating to industrial action complaints they have handled, available here: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/resources-and-publications/case-summaries/.

On 19 April 2021, the OIA announced the introduction of new rules to streamline the Large Groups Complaints process. This should help the OIA to manage similar complaints from large groups of students from a single higher education provider, allowing complaints to be considered collectively and for individual complaints to be added to a larger group.

The number of teachers remains high, with over 461,000 (FTE) working in schools across the country, 20,000 more than in 2010. The department aims to continue to attract and then retain the highly skilled teachers that every child needs. We are taking action to improve teacher recruitment and retention by transforming the training and support we provide to not only attract more people into teaching, but to help teachers stay and thrive in the profession.

The department is creating an entitlement to at least three years of structured training, support and professional development for all new teachers to bring teaching in line with other prestigious professions such as law, accountancy and medicine. Underpinning this is the new Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework and the Early Career Framework (ECF). Together, these ensure that new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence-based training, across ITT and into their induction.

To support recruitment and retention of specialist secondary teachers in subjects that are harder to recruit, we have put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £24,000 tax-free and prestigious scholarships worth £26,000 tax-free. This will encourage talented trainees into key subjects, such as chemistry, computing, mathematics and physics. Additionally, we have announced a levelling up premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for teachers in these subjects in years 1 to 5 of their careers.

Furthermore, the department offers bespoke programmes to attract people who may not otherwise have considered teaching. These include the High Potential Initial Teacher Training and Leadership Development Programme and a dedicated programme to attract, support and retain those with career and industry experience into teaching.

The department recognises the importance of increasing the consideration of teaching as a career of choice amongst undergraduates, and therefore we continue to support schools to deliver our teaching internship programme in mathematics, physics and computing. Our expert teacher training advisers offer bespoke, personalised support for candidates across all subjects who are looking to apply for ITT.

We also remain committed to increasing teacher starting salaries to £30,000 to make teaching an attractive graduate option. We are continuing our efforts to support teacher wellbeing, including by launching the education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter, and by driving down unnecessary burdens and reducing teacher workload though the use of our Workload Reduction Toolkit, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit.

It is a central principle of the apprenticeship programme that people can access apprenticeships throughout their lifetimes to help them upskill and re-train, as well as start out in their careers. Employers take the decisions about who they recruit as an apprentice, and which type and level of apprenticeship they offer.

To set an employer a requirement to spend two-thirds of funding for apprenticeships on those aged under 25 would restrict employers’ recruitment choice and reduce opportunities for older employees to retrain or progress.

We recognise the value of apprenticeships in helping young people starting out in their careers, and we are delivering a range of measures to support them and employers. To promote apprenticeships to students and parents our Apprentice Support and Knowledge is working with 56 schools to raise awareness and demonstrate the range of opportunities. We are also creating clearer progression routes for young people completing T Levels and traineeships so that more can move into an apprenticeship, with their training being accelerated to reflect their prior learning and qualifications.

To encourage employers to offer more apprenticeship opportunities to young people we offer them, and training providers, an additional £1,000 so they can deliver effective support to each 16-18 year old apprentice they take on. We also make it more attractive for the smallest employers across the country to employ an apprentice by paying 100% of their training and assessment costs. Alongside this we are encouraging all employers to create new apprenticeship opportunities through the £3,000 employer incentive for hiring any new apprentices. This incentive payment has been extended until the end of January 2022, and has so far supported over 127,000 apprentice starts, of which 77% were aged 16 to 24.