Baroness Coffey

The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) intervention and enforcement decisions are independent of government. This question has been passed to the EHRC who will be providing a written response to Baroness Coffey.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) intervention and enforcement decisions are independent of government. This question has been passed to the EHRC who will be providing a written response to Baroness Coffey.

The Child Poverty Taskforce is drawing in evidence and expertise from all relevant departments, as is reflected in the broad membership of the Ministerial Taskforce. The Taskforce is co-chaired by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Secretary of State for Education. The Secretaries of State or their delegates from the following departments are members of the Taskforce: the Cabinet Office; the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government; HM Treasury; the Department for Culture, Media and Sport; the Department for Business and Trade; the Department for Energy and Net Zero; the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; the Department for Health and Social Care; the Wales Office; the Northern Ireland Office; and the Scotland Office.

The Taskforce has consulted external experts from a range of organisations, including local and regional government, charities, think tanks, businesses, and the public sector on a range of topics.

The Child Poverty Taskforce is drawing in evidence and expertise from all relevant departments, as is reflected in the broad membership of the Ministerial Taskforce. The Taskforce is co-chaired by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Secretary of State for Education. The Secretaries of State or their delegates from the following departments are members of the Taskforce: the Cabinet Office; the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government; HM Treasury; the Department for Culture, Media and Sport; the Department for Business and Trade; the Department for Energy and Net Zero; the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; the Department for Health and Social Care; the Wales Office; the Northern Ireland Office; and the Scotland Office.

The Taskforce has consulted external experts from a range of organisations, including local and regional government, charities, think tanks, businesses, and the public sector on a range of topics.

Through the Employment Rights Bill, the Government is creating Fair Pay Agreements in the social care sector, and the Fair Work Agency to upgrade enforcement of employment rights.

The Fair Work Agency will be an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade. This and further information on both the Fair Work Agency and Fair Pay Agreements is set out in the Employment Rights Bill factsheets available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-rights-bill-factsheets.

The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero received 82 responses from across the public realm, including industry and academia. The government will respond in due course.

The Government intends to ensure the long-term security of the nuclear sector including advanced nuclear. We will publish a response to the Alternative Routes to Market Consultation in due course.

The answers are consistent with one another. Whilst the Great British Energy Bill is considered environmental law, it is not proposing any changes to environmental law so there is no basis for the minister to form a view on the need for advice from the Office for Environmental Protection on any matter relating to the natural environment.

Section 30(1) of the Environment Act 2021 states that the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) must give advice to a Minister of the Crown about any proposed changes to environmental law, or any other matter relating to the natural environment, on which the Minister requires it to give advice.

Section 30(3) of the Environment Act 2021 states that the OEP may give advice to a Minister of the Crown about any changes to environmental law proposed by a Minister of the Crown.

The Great British Energy Bill does not propose any change to environmental law. Therefore, as there is no basis for the minister to form a view on the need for advice from the OEP on any matter relating to the natural environment, the OEP is not providing advice.

Section 30(1) of the Environment Act 2021 states that the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) must give advice to a Minister of the Crown about any proposed changes to environmental law, or any other matter relating to the natural environment, on which the Minister requires it to give advice.

Section 30(3) of the Environment Act 2021 states that the OEP may give advice to a Minister of the Crown about any changes to environmental law proposed by a Minister of the Crown.

The Great British Energy Bill does not propose any change to environmental law. Therefore, as there is no basis for the minister to form a view on the need for advice from the OEP on any matter relating to the natural environment, the OEP is not providing advice.

As set out in the Plan for Change, antenatal classes, health visitors, parenting support, baby and toddler groups and access to affordable, high quality early education and childcare are all vital to guiding parents, improving the home learning environment and supporting child development.

A strong and stable family environment is the foundation for better health, education and earnings. It is parenting, alongside the home-learning environment, that has a significant influence on these outcomes. The department knows parents struggle to access services and the support they need. Childcare is also too often unaffordable or not available. This lack of support contributes to too many children not being ready to start school.

That is why the department has set a milestone of 75% of five year-olds reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile assessment by 2028.

To deliver this, we are rolling out expanded government-funded childcare entitlements and creating thousands of school-based nurseries to increase quality childcare, working in partnership with early years providers to drive up standards by reforming training and support for staff and strengthening and joining up family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood.

The government remains committed to working with the early years sector, teachers, health professionals and families to ensure every child has the best start in life.

Children’s earliest years are crucial to their health, development and life chances. That is why the department has set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn in the classroom. We will measure our progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Profile assessment by 2028.

The statutory EYFS framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow to ensure all children have the best start in life and are prepared for school. It requires that children be assessed against the EYFS Profile in the summer term of the academic year in which they turn five.

The EYFS Profile seeks to measure children’s level of development to support their successful transitions into year 1 and to support parents, carers and early years educators to recognise children’s progress and understand their needs. It comprises an assessment of the child’s outcomes in relation to 17 early learning goals (ELGs) across seven areas of learning.

Children are defined as having a good level of development at the end of the EYFS if they are at the expected level for the 12 ELGs within the five areas of learning. These relate to communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, physical development, literacy and mathematics. This is the definition that will be used to measure progress on school readiness, as set out in the Plan for Change.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.  No local authorities are reporting that they are unable to meet their sufficiency duty. Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ’Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents. The full guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare.

Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.

The government has agreed that public sector employers will receive compensation in recognition of their increased National Insurance contributions from April 2025. For early years, public sector employers are school-based nurseries and maintained nursery schools. For the early years sector, the department is providing £25 million of additional funding. This does not include support for the private sector, including private sector firms contracted by public sector entities.

All providers will benefit from the £75 million expansion grant to support the early years sector to deliver the final phase of the expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025. This funding is being provided in recognition of the significant level of expansion required to support early years settings provide sufficient places for the new childcare entitlements.

This additional funding is on top of the over £8 billion the government expects to spend on early years entitlements in the 2025/26 financial year and the additional £25 million being provided to the sector as a result of the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium. The early years pupil premium rate will increase by over 45% in the 2025/26 financial year.

The department does not hold the data for public sector providers of childcare places in the format requested. The 2024 childcare and early years providers survey estimated there to be 54,700 Early Years providers in total, made up of 21,200 group-based providers, 9,700 school-based providers and 23,800 childminders. The survey estimated there to be 1,602,500 registered places, made up of 1,100,100 group-based provider places, 359,200 school-based provider places and 143,200 childminder places. The survey can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/childcare-and-early-years-provider-survey/2024.

For private providers, Ofsted publishes information in ‘Childcare providers and inspections: management information’, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/childcare-providers-and-inspections-management-information, with reference to Table 2, column J which provides a detailed breakdown of places by private providers in each local authority. Table 2 is also provided in the attached excel document.

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract. We do not currently have any reports of sufficiency issues in any local authority.

Publicly launched in May 2024 the "Recovering the Deben - From Source to Sea" action plan developed by The East Suffolk Catchment Partnership (ESCP) continues to secure action in the catchment. Since the plan’s launch, the East Suffolk Catchment Partnership has been working with landowners to develop natural flood management schemes in the upper catchment, with the Forestry Commission to improve woodland connectivity, and with a wide range of stakeholders to improve riparian habitats. In addition, the partners have come together to share monitoring and evidence and are developing a State of the Deben Report. A successful bid on behalf of the partnership by the Rivers Trust into the Water Restoration Fund marks a major milestone in supporting the action plan ambitions. With funding in place, the Rivers Trust is recruiting a Programme Manager to work with partners, stakeholders, and local communities to secure further improvements such as addressing fish passage, installing buffer strips alongside the watercourse throughout the catchment, the use of nutrient attenuation ponds, and increasing the understanding of catchment water quality impacts on the Deben Estuary, a Site of Special Scientific Interest in need of recovery.

We have paused the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) ahead of reforming it. This is the third time SFI has been paused. We will confirm plans for the reformed SFI in the summer and we expect that scheme to contribute to these outcomes. There are also tens of thousands of farmers in SFI for three years, supporting those outcomes.

The Government is continuing to make progress on the King Charles III England Coast Path (KCIIIECP), with over 51% of the path completed and now open for public use.

Of the remaining 1,270 miles, establishment works are underway on 976 miles, with less than 300 miles still to be approved. The entire project is set to be completed by Spring 2026, and when finished, the KCIIIECP will become the longest waymarked and managed coastal walking route in the world.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs budgets are published as Supplementary Estimates each year.

The table provided below shows the Departmental Expenditure Limits following Supplementary Estimates for the Resource and Capital Budgets, excluding Annually Managed Expenditure and Non-Budget Expenditure.

Further details can be found by searching for the published Central Government Supply Estimates for the relevant years on GOV.UK.

The King Charles III England Coast Path is expected to be completed by Spring 2026. This government has inherited a delivery programme that has been delayed by several factors such as rising costs of materials and constrained capacity in local authorities.

ICE does not accept every case that it receives, for example, ICE cannot accept a case until it has exhausted DWP’s complaints process (premature referrals), nor can it accept those outside its jurisdiction.

ICE only considers complaints about maladministration or service failures and cannot deal with complaints about matters of law, that are, or have been, subject to legal proceedings, about how any of the businesses fulfil their responsibilities as an employer or any that involve the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman or the Northern Ireland Ombudsman.

Once a case has been accepted, if appropriate, ICE will attempt to broker a resolution with the customer before gathering all of the evidence relating to the case. Where resolution cannot be reached, evidence is collated, and an investigation is conducted. On the basis of findings made, the case may be upheld/partially upheld in favour of the customer or not upheld. The number of cases received, accepted, and upheld/partially upheld, is in the table below.

*ICE reviews complaints made by customers of the Department for Work and Pensions (which includes the Child Maintenance Service), Northern Ireland Department for Communities – benefits, pensions and child maintenance only, contracted DWP services and Pension Protection Fund.

The Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 proposed regulations to support the introduction of administrative liability orders (ALOs), removing the requirement to obtain a court issued liability order. Introducing this process should enable the Child Maintenance Service to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and get money to children more quickly. We are working with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to establish a process for implementing ALOs and plan to introduce regulations to Parliament by the end of this year.

The table below shows the number of claimants aged 16-24 receiving the different award types for both daily living and mobility components of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and for those aged 16-24 whose primary condition was Anxiety or Depression.

Table 1: Number of claimants aged 16-24 years receiving PIP in England and Wales by award rate for Daily Living and Mobility, split by all medical conditions and Anxiety and Depression only.

Notes:

• Data source: Stat-Xplore.
• Data is for England and Wales only.
• Data is for March of each financial year apart from the 2024_25 financial year which is for October 2024, the latest published data.
• A&D refers to Anxiety and Depression.
• In line with previously published analysis, to calculate cases with primary condition Anxiety and Depression we included the Stat-Xplore categories: ‘Stress reactions’, ‘Anxiety disorders’, ‘Obsessive compulsive disorder’, ‘Mixed anxiety and depressive disorders’ and ‘Mood disorders’.
• Data has been rounded to the nearest 100.
• DL refers to Daily Living component of PIP.
• Mob refers to the Mobility component of PIP.
• Enh refers to the Enhanced award rate which is the highest Daily Living or Mobility award.
• Std refers to the Standard award rate which is the lowest Daily Living or Mobility award.
• Nil refers to when a claimant does not receive that award for Daily Living or Mobility award.

No such estimate has been made. Whether an individual should or should not make voluntary National Insurance contributions will depend upon their circumstances. It is entirely a decision for the individual to make but it may not always be beneficial.

Before buying voluntary contributions, people under State Pension age can use the online Check your State Pension forecast service to get a forecast and see whether paying gaps will increase their entitlement.

Pension credit statistics are collated on a weekly (Monday – Sunday) cycle. This means we cannot provide a response aligned to 5 July 2024. However, we can provide a count of claims and awards from week commencing 8 July 2024, as follows:

• Between week commencing 8 July 2024 and the end of week commencing 11 November 2024 we received 160,900 claims for Pensions Credit.
• Between week commencing 8 July 2024 and the end of week commencing 11 November 2024, 49,000 claims for Pension Credit were awarded.

DWP currently works to a planned timescale of 50 working days to clear Pension Credit claims.

Please note, the awarded volumes since 8 July 2024 will include some claims that were made before 5 July 2024. This is because the Department currently reports clearance times by the week the claim was cleared, rather than the week the claim was made.

Statistics on Pension Credit award volumes were published on 28 November 2024. This publication includes weekly numbers of applications that were received, awarded and not awarded, up to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK.

The next publication of Pension Credit application statistics is due around the end of February 2025 and will cover the data up to week commencing 10 February 2025.

The information requested is not held centrally in the format requested, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

NHS England publishes a monthly report on diagnostic activity for the 15 modalities that make up the Diagnostics Waiting Times and Activity collection. This includes details of activity undertaken in CDCs for those 15 modalities. This is published on the NHS.UK website, in an online only format. It is not, however, a complete record of all CDC activity.

NHS England also publishes a quarterly dataset of all CDC activity at a national level. This is also published on the NHS.UK website, in an online only format. The latest published CDC management information details that CDCs have delivered over 13.9 million additional tests since July 2021.

NHS England’s CDC programme has been supported by a capital budget of £1.48 billion across 2022/23 to 2024/25.

The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, committed to expanding existing CDCs, as well as building up to five new ones in 2025/26, to support the National Health Service to return to meeting the elective waiting time constitutional standard. The plan also commits to CDCs opening 12 hours per day, seven days a week, and delivering more same-day tests and consultations, with an expanded range of tests.

The 2025/25 capital guidance confirmed that £1.65 billion of capital funding will be allocated to support NHS performance across secondary and emergency care, across 2025/26 more broadly. This includes £450 million which has been provisionally allocated for diagnostics, which includes CDCs, partly to expand existing and build new CDCs. £20 million has also been allocated directly to relevant trusts via a separate processes for CDC pathway productivity.

The information requested is not held centrally in the format requested, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

NHS England publishes a monthly report on diagnostic activity for the 15 modalities that make up the Diagnostics Waiting Times and Activity collection. This includes details of activity undertaken in CDCs for those 15 modalities. This is published on the NHS.UK website, in an online only format. It is not, however, a complete record of all CDC activity.

NHS England also publishes a quarterly dataset of all CDC activity at a national level. This is also published on the NHS.UK website, in an online only format. The latest published CDC management information details that CDCs have delivered over 13.9 million additional tests since July 2021.

NHS England’s CDC programme has been supported by a capital budget of £1.48 billion across 2022/23 to 2024/25.

The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, committed to expanding existing CDCs, as well as building up to five new ones in 2025/26, to support the National Health Service to return to meeting the elective waiting time constitutional standard. The plan also commits to CDCs opening 12 hours per day, seven days a week, and delivering more same-day tests and consultations, with an expanded range of tests.

The 2025/26 capital guidance confirmed that £1.65 billion of capital funding will be allocated to support NHS performance across secondary and emergency care, across 2025/26 more broadly. This includes £450 million which has been provisionally allocated for diagnostics, which includes CDCs, partly to expand existing and build new CDCs. £20 million has also been allocated directly to relevant trusts via a separate processes for CDC pathway productivity.

The Minister for the Indo-Pacific has overall responsibility for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) Legal Directorate, which includes Ocean Policy Unit, but some ocean policy issues have previously been covered by other Ministers. Ministerial leads on legislation are allocated on a case-by-case basis. The allocation of Ministerial portfolios within the FCDO is currently under review and will be updated in due course.

The Government is completely committed to ratification of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement, also known as the "High Seas Treaty" or "Global Ocean Treaty"), which is in line with our determination to reinvigorate the UK's wider international leadership on climate and nature. Legislation to implement the BBNJ Agreement will be introduced as soon as the legislative timetable allows.

With regards to how many individuals are eligible to make voluntary contributions for gaps in their National Insurance records for 2006-2018 before the 5 April deadline, HMRC is not able to provide this information as it is not centrally held and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

HMRC are confident that all voluntary payments are accurately recorded on customers’ accounts and these are visible to the customer in the ‘Check your National Insurance record’ available via GOV.UK.

HMRC does not record how many people have made partial contributions between 2006 and 2018. Since the enhanced online Check your State Pension forecast service launched on 29 April 2024, it has enabled 60,000 people to top up £62 million.

With regards to how many individuals are eligible to make voluntary contributions for gaps in their National Insurance records for 2006-2018 before the 5 April deadline, HMRC is not able to provide this information as it is not centrally held and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

HMRC are confident that all voluntary payments are accurately recorded on customers’ accounts and these are visible to the customer in the ‘Check your National Insurance record’ available via GOV.UK.

HMRC does not record how many people have made partial contributions between 2006 and 2018. Since the enhanced online Check your State Pension forecast service launched on 29 April 2024, it has enabled 60,000 people to top up £62 million.

The number of individuals who could be eligible to make voluntary contributions for gaps in their National Insurance record for 2006-2018 is not centrally held.

The government welcomes continued collaboration with the Office for Environmental Protection as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill progresses. As an independent body, it is for the Office for Environmental Protection to decide whether to advise on proposed changes to environmental law within the Bill.

The government welcomes continued collaboration with the Office for Environmental Protection as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill progresses. As an independent body, it is for the Office for Environmental Protection to decide whether to advise on proposed changes to environmental law within the Bill.

The Government has not started preparing a shadow body of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Commissioner. This is a provision of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, on which the Government remains neutral and which is still under consideration by Parliament.