Andrew Mitchell

The Corporate Transparency and Register Reform Consultation was launched on the 5th May 2019 and closed on the 5th August 2019. It received a significant number of responses. The Government plans to publish the response in due course.

The Registration of Overseas Entities Bill has undergone Pre-Legislative Scrutiny by a joint parliamentary committee. The final Bill will reflect many of the committee’s recommendations to ensure that the legislation is as effective as possible in tackling the use of UK property for money laundering. The Bill will be introduced when Parliamentary time allows.

We want to make sure that the UK is the best place in the world to work and grow a business. Our long-term plan is to support entrepreneurs, including self-employed individuals who are running or considering starting up a business, not just in the West Midlands, but in all parts of the UK.

That’s why we are backing businesses right across the country, with 381,000 new businesses starting last year, and the government-owned British Business Bank supporting over 91,000 SMEs with £7 billion of finance.

The British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme provides?loans to entrepreneurs seeking to start and grow their own businesses. The British Business Bank delivered more than 69,000 Start-Up Loans?since 2012, providing more than £558m of funding, in every part of the United Kingdom

The West Midlands has received 5,788 loans totalling over £44.8m and your constituency of Sutton Coldfield has received 101 loans totalling over £878,000.

Additionally, self-employed business people can access tailored advice and support through the 38 local Growth Hubs. They can also access support?through our Gov.uk website and the Business Support Helpline (0300 456 3565).

The West Midlands Local Industrial Strategy, published in May 2019, sets out a shared ambition to build on the region’s distinctive strengths to drive growth and ensure that all communities benefit from that growth, including the self-employed.

Self-employed mothers who qualify for Maternity Allowance are also now able to share parental leave and pay with an employed father or partner.

In addition, the Government has increased the personal allowance from £11,500 to £12,500 (benefiting employed and self-employed taxpayers) and self-employed people are now able to build their entitlement to the new State Pension at the same rate as employed people.

The Government recognises the importance of pubs to the economy and to community life in providing a place to socialise and encourage responsible drinking and welcomes recent data from the Office of National Statistics that suggest an increase in the number of pubs and bars in the UK for the first time in a decade. In order to provide support for pubs, the Government announced a freeze on beer duty at Budget 2018 which, together with previous cuts and freezes to alcohol duty, means a typical pint of beer is estimated to cost 14p less than it otherwise would have since ending the beer duty escalator in 2013.

Some 2,000 pubs have been listed as Assets of Community Value across the country in recognition of the positive role they play in their local areas and to allow the community to bid for those pubs should they be put up for sale. The Government has committed to help community groups to take over local community assets which are under threat, including pubs, by establishing a new £150m Community Ownership Fund.

In addition, many pubs will benefit from the business rates retail discount announced at Budget 2018, which cuts bills for eligible businesses by one third for two years from April 2019. The Government has committed to increasing the discount to 50% in 2020/21.

The Department has provided additional funding to schools, on top of existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs incurred between March and July 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak that could not be met from their budgets. We have paid schools £102 million for all claims in the first claims window that were within the published scope of the fund, and we will shortly process claims made in the second window in December 2020.

Last term, the Department announced the COVID-19 workforce fund for schools and colleges, to help those with high staff absences and facing significant financial pressures to stay open. It funded the costs of teacher absences over a threshold from 1 November 2020 until the end of the autumn term. We expect the schools claims form to be launched in spring 2021.

The Department will also fund schools for costs relating to COVID-19 testing. We have published a workforce planning tool which illustrates the levels of funding available. Funding will be paid to schools who have conducted testing in respect of workforce costs and other incidental costs relating to testing, such as waste disposal.

The Government is delivering catch-up funding worth £1 billion, including a ‘Catch-Up Premium’ worth a total of £650 million to support schools to make up for lost teaching time. Alongside this, we have also announced a new £350 million National Tutoring Programme for disadvantaged pupils, including the National Tuition Fund for students age 16-19.

Finally, schools have continued to receive their core funding throughout the outbreak, regardless of any periods of full or partial closure, with this year marking the first year of a three-year increase to core funding - the biggest in a decade. This will ensure schools can continue to pay their staff and meet other regular financial commitments.

The early years sector has benefitted from the continuation of early years entitlement funding during the summer and autumn terms in 2020.

According to the 2019 Provider Finances report, the biggest cost for early education providers is staff, comprising 70% of costs for private nurseries, 75% for voluntary, 81% for school-based nurseries and 79% for Maintained Nursery Schools. The report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providers-finances-survey-of-childcare-and-ey-providers-2019/.

Providers who have seen a drop in either their income from parents or the government, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, can access support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), as long as the staff meet the other criteria for the scheme. An early years provider can access the CJRS to cover up to the proportion of its salary bill which could be considered to have been paid for from that provider’s private income. This would typically be income received from ‘parent-paid’ hours that have not yet returned as a result of COVID-19.

Eligible nurseries can also benefit from a business rates holiday and can access the business loans as set out by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

We continue to work with the early years sector to understand how they can best be supported to ensure that sufficient safe, appropriate and affordable childcare is available to those who need it now, and for all families who need it in the longer term.

On 7 January 2021, we published guidance to schools on the current national lockdown, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.

Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families can be disproportionately impacted by being out of education. We therefore set out in the guidance that schools are expected to allow vulnerable children and young people to attend, including those with an Education, Health and Care plan. We want these children and young people to continue to receive high-quality teaching and specialist professional support. The system of protective measures that schools have in place means that any risks associated with attendance are well managed. If a pupil does not attend, we expect the school to provide remote education.

Specialists, therapists, clinicians, and other support staff for pupils with SEND should provide interventions as usual.

We will update the guidance as needed and, as part of this, we will be providing more detailed advice and support for special schools.

We recognise that extended family members often provide informal childcare. In relevant areas where local restrictions are in place on household mixing, people cannot host others they do not live with, or who are not in their support bubbles, in their homes and gardens. Informal childcare is not exempt from these restrictions.

Nationally, our ‘Rule of Six’ guidance specifies the exceptions where groups can be larger than six people, which includes registered childcare and supervised activities provided for children, including wraparound care, youth groups and activities, and children’s playgroups.

Parents who need support to obtain suitable childcare to meet their circumstances can contact their local authority for information and guidance about what childcare is available in their area.

The government funds a significant package of free and subsidised childcare. All 3 year olds and 4 year olds in England are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare a week, with 30 hours of free childcare available for eligible working parents. The government has acted to protect families that have faced a reduced income as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Parents who who were eligible for the 30 hours free childcare entitlement prior to the COVID-19 outbreak remain eligible until October even if they have experienced a change in income. Disadvantaged 2 year olds are also eligible for 15 hours of free childcare a week and eligible working parents may also be eligible for tax-free childcare. Parents can find out more about the free and subsidised childcare offers at: www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.

My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a series of policies to support people, jobs and businesses on 20 March 2020, during which he confirmed an increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance for 12 months, in addition to planned uprating of 1.7%. The Universal Credit childcare offer remains the same, and working families can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month. This can be claimed up to a month before starting a job. For families with 2 children, this could be worth up to £13,000 a year.

Help with up-front childcare costs for starting work is available through a non-repayable Flexible Support Fund (FSF) award for eligible Universal Credit claimants. The FSF received an additional £150 million this financial year to help support Universal Credit claimants to move closer to, or into, work. Help with up-front costs for eligible Universal Credit claimants is available through Budgeting Advances.

The Government intends that all pupils, in all year groups, will return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term. On 2 July we published guidance to help schools prepare for this. The guidance can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

Schools have continued to receive their core funding allocations throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. Following last year’s Spending Round, school budgets are rising by £2.6 billion in 2020-21, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20. As stated in our guidance, schools should use their existing resources when making arrangements to welcome all children back for the autumn.

Schools have been able to claim additional funding for exceptional costs incurred due to COVID-19, between March and July 2020, such as additional cleaning required due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases and increased premises costs to keep schools open for priority groups during the Easter and summer half term holidays.

In the financial year 2020-21, Birmingham City Council has been awarded £9,505,036 in capital funding to maintain and improve the condition of the schools for which it is responsible. Local authorities have the flexibility to prioritise capital projects to meet local needs. The responsible bodies for voluntary aided schools and academies are awarded separate capital funding.

In addition, individual schools are allocated Devolved Formula Capital (DFC) to invest in capital projects to meet their own priorities. Allocations are published on GOV.UK.

The government has also committed to providing £560 million of additional condition funding for the school system this year to support essential maintenance projects. This comes on top of over £1.4 billion capital funding already provided for school maintenance in the financial year 2020-21. We will set out details of how the additional capital funding will be allocated shortly.

The National Statistics release, 'Education provision for children under 5 years of age in England', estimates that around 4 out of 5 eligible children were taking up some extended hours in January 2019. It is not possible to reliably produce an equivalent estimate for the number of eligible children at a regional level due to the relatively small sample population within sub-national geographies in the data that the Department holds.

The release shows that 34,764 3 to 4 year olds in the West Midlands benefited from extended hours in January 2019, an increase from 31,610 in January 2018. The national figures show that 328,127 3 to 4 year olds across England benefited from extended hours in January 2019, compared to 296,924 in January 2018.

The release is available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2019.

The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities. The Department provides basic need funding for every place that local authorities forecast is needed. Local authorities can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools, and can work with any school in their local area, including academies and free schools.

The Department does not collect information at Parliamentary constituency level, only at local authority and at sub-local authority planning area level. Birmingham has been allocated £294.7 million to provide new school places from 2011-2021, and there are now 30,872 more places than there were in 2010.

The next set of basic need allocations, for places needed in September 2022, will be announced in spring 2020.

Recycling rates for 2019/20 for local authorities in England are not yet available. Reporting of waste and recycling data for local authorities in England for the year 2019/20 was delayed due to Covid-19.

Recycling rates for 2019/20 will be published on 3 March 2021 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/local-authority-collected-waste-management-for-england-for-201920)

The most recent publication of waste statistics shows that the recycling rate for Birmingham in 2018/19 was 22.0%

The Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. We are making great strides to tackle plastic pollution. In December 2018 we published the Resources and Waste Strategy, which sets out how we want to achieve this and move towards a circular economy. We know more needs to be done, and for the most problematic plastics we are going faster, which is why we have committed to work towards all plastic packaging on the market being recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

We have made significant progress, by introducing one of the world’s toughest bans on microbeads in rinse-off personal care products and have significantly reduced the use of single-use carrier bags by the main supermarket retailers by 95% with our 5p charge. We have announced our plans to increase the minimum charge to 10p and to extend the charge to all retailers later this year. In October 2020, we introduced measures to restrict the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds. We will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/ or materials to take a systematic approach to reducing the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products, including problematic packaging materials.

As the hon. Member will be aware, it is an offence to drop litter (including in public parks), and councils have legal powers to take enforcement action against offenders. Anyone caught littering may be prosecuted in a magistrates’ court, which can lead to a criminal record and a fine of up to £2,500 on conviction.

Instead of prosecuting, councils may decide to issue a fixed penalty (on-the-spot fine) of between £65 and £150.

With regards to improving enforcement, we are seeking powers in the Environment Bill to ensure that enforcement powers are used with a high degree of professionalism, whether by council staff or private contractors, and to place our improved enforcement guidance on a firm statutory footing, giving those to which it applies a clear and explicit duty to have regard to it when exercising their enforcement functions.

We also continue to campaign to raise awareness of littering issues in public spaces. Last summer, in response to Covid-19, Defra developed a ‘Respect the Outdoors’ campaign to encourage people to follow the Countryside Code and to highlight the impacts of littering. This was promoted both online and in locations across the country near to urban parks, beaches and national parks. We also supported, and provided funding for, Keep Britain Tidy’s Love Parks campaign, which encouraged people to treat our parks with respect.

Preliminary evaluation of these campaigns indicated that they had a positive influence on the target audience’s intended disposal of PPE litter, with anecdotal reports from local authorities that the intervention resulted in a markedly beneficial outcome.

We recognise this has been an extremely tough time for the sector and would like to assure zoos that we remain committed to ensuring the sector can deliver the best possible care for its animals. We have extended the application deadline for the Zoo Animals Fund from 29 January 2021 to 26 February 2021, and the fund provides support up until the end of March 2021. The Zoo Animals Fund is an envelope of funding which to provides for zoos which, due to a coronavirus-related drop in income are experiencing severe financial difficulties and need support in caring for their animals. The focus of the fund is on the welfare of zoo animals and if zoos are downsizing or rehoming their collections, including if they are closing, then the fund can also provide support for this to ensure the animals' welfare. The fund has been a lifeline for many zoos and has been accessible to all zoos which need funds to care for their animals, as evidenced by the success of small, medium and large zoos in securing grant funding. We stand ready to process applications and encourage any zoo in need to apply.

Beyond the Zoo Animals Fund, the Government has provided a package of temporary, timely and targeted measures to support businesses, including zoos, through this period of disruption caused by COVID-19 and we encourage zoos to explore these. Zoos are eligible to apply for a range of support schemes including the Job Retention Scheme, VAT deferral, Business Rates Relief, the Business Interruption Loan, the option to reclaim the costs of Statutory Sick Pay and grant funding.

Our strict regulation applies to both chemical and non-chemical pesticides, as it cannot be assumed that non-chemical pesticide are inherently safer.

Defra and the Devolved Administrations are currently consulting on the revised National Action Plan for Sustainable Use of Pesticides (the NAP). The NAP lays out how we intend to support the uptake of integrated pest management (IPM) to reduce the risks associated with pesticides use, including those to pollinators.

The NAP supports the development of alternatives to chemical pesticides, with the aim of reducing impact on non-target species. Our proposed plan will increase uptake of non-chemical approaches by improving advice and skills sharing, and providing financial support through the new Environmental Land Management Scheme.

In England, we are working to ensure that these actions support and align with our wider priorities for protecting pollinators through the National Pollinator Strategy.

The Government takes the conservation of endangered species seriously and is committed to doing all we can to support wildlife and the environment, both in the UK and internationally.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is internationally recognised for its work in identifying the conservation status of species, known as the “Red List”. The IUCN currently classifies lions as ‘Vulnerable’. For the extinction risk of lions to be increased to ‘Endangered’ the species must meet several additional classification criteria.

The Government works with other countries, and through international conventions, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, to further the conservation of vulnerable species such as lions based on the latest available evidence.

The Government also supported the establishment of the Big Cats Task Force at the 18^th CITES Conference of the Parties last year, which aims to bolster international cooperation against illegal trade in big cat specimens.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow on 19 May 2020, PQ UIN 46697, which remains the current situation.

[www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-05-13/46697]

The Government is committed to doing all we can to support wildlife and the environment, both in the UK and internationally, including by delivering on our manifesto commitment to ban the import of hunting trophies from endangered species.

Our consultation on controls on the import and export of hunting trophies, which closed in February 2020, provided an opportunity for respondents to provide views on which species they considered needed further restrictions. No decisions have been made yet as the pace of this work was impacted by the Government’s need to focus on addressing the urgent issue of COVID 19. We will publish the summary of responses to the consultation and call for evidence in due course. The outcome will inform our next steps.

The Government is committed to doing all we can to support wildlife and the environment, both in the UK and internationally, including by delivering on our manifesto commitment to ban the import of hunting trophies from endangered species.

Our consultation on controls on the import and export of hunting trophies, which closed in February 2020, provided an opportunity for respondents to provide views on which species they considered needed further restrictions. No decisions have been made yet as the pace of this work was impacted by the Government’s need to focus on addressing the urgent issue of COVID 19. We will publish the summary of responses to the consultation and call for evidence in due course. The outcome will inform our next steps.

To drive an unprecedented step-change in planting and reach net zero, the Government is investing in tree planting in England through the recently announced £640 million Nature for Climate Fund. This supports our commitment to increase planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares of trees per year by 2025.

The Government supports woodland creation through grants and incentives. These include the recently launched Woodland Carbon Guarantee, in addition to the existing Countryside Stewardship, Woodland Carbon Fund, Woodland Creation Planning Grant and the Urban Tree Challenge Fund. These grants are available to local authorities, land managers and community-led organisations across England, including those in the West Midlands.

While we do not set specific targets for individual constituencies, we are working hard to increase the uptake of grant schemes across England, and strongly encourage eligible organisations to take advantage of this support.

The Government continues to consider ways to further incentivise land managers and owners to plant more trees. Later this spring we will be consulting on the English Tree Strategy, to gather information to help us design policy to best increase planting.

Across England, the Government is investing in protected sites, restoring wildlife-rich habitats and supporting species recovery.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) provide legal protection for our most important wildlife and natural features in England. There are over 4000 SSSIs in England, covering around 7% of the land area in England. The East and West Midlands are home to some of the finest, with 848 of these sites covering an area of 190,205 hectares.

The Government also provides substantial public funding for managing protected sites and restoring wildlife habitats, spending £2.9 biilion on agri-environment schemes in England through our seven-year Rural Development Programme. Schemes are tailored to the specific biodiversity interests in the Midlands through our local targeting statements[1].

The Government supports species recovery through its agri-environment schemes and partnership projects. Natural England is working with conservation organisations and landowners on the Back from the Brink programme, a £7.7 million partnership funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and others to put over 100 priority species on the road to recovery. Two Back from the Brink projects are in the Midlands, both led by Butterfly Conservation. The Limestone’s Living Legacies project is restoring a network of limestone grassland sites across the Cotswolds. A second project in Rockingham Forest, Northamptonshire, is restoring and managing woodland to aid the local recovery of vulnerable species and the reintroduction of the Chequered Skipper, which last year become the first previously extinct butterfly to have bred successfully in an English woodland for more than 40 years.

Our Bees’ Needs Champions Awards has recognised a number of councils and community groups from across the Midlands for their own exemplary work to support pollinators.

Our 25 Year Environment Plan marked a step-change in ambition for the natural environment and we are determined to build on these successes.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/countryside-stewardship-statements-of-priorities

The Government works closely with the full spectrum of food and drink businesses across the country to promote growth, jobs, productivity and exports. As elsewhere, we engage with businesses in the West Midlands, both directly and through trade associations and other businesses groups, to support them in their efforts to: address economic challenges; understand and mitigate regulatory and compliance issues and; prepare successfully for EU exit. This includes recent collaboration with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) such as the Marches LEP, with which the Government has run a number of successful industry events.

Guidance on Gov.uk in relation to pre-departure testing to travel to the UK states that, if people have recently recovered from COVID but are no longer infectious, they should use a lateral flow device (LFD) that meets the minimum performance standards. LFD tests have a lower sensitivity than PCR or LAMP tests, so are less likely to return a positive result from a historic infection. All passengers are currently required to take a PCR test on arrival in the UK, so that positive results can be genomically sequenced.

We continue to work across Government to review testing measures in place, with the next checkpoint review taking place shortly.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) aims to answer 95 per cent of hon. Members correspondence within eight working days days. Given the impact of the pandemic and industrial action taking place at DVLA 90% correspondence is being answered within ten working days. The DVLA also offers hon. Members a dedicated phone line for their use. Relevant information is taken during the call and hon. Members receive a call back from a specialist team within three working days.

Additional resource is being utilised in the relevant teams and every effort is being made to direct resource to the most critical work to ensure that customers in the greatest need are dealt with as a priority.

Passengers in the West Midlands will see the introduction of two new fleets of electric and diesel trains on local services commencing later this year. Cross Country is also adding carriages to some of its local services into Birmingham in 2021.

The West Midlands network also plans to grow by adding new stations on existing lines to serve communities that lost their rail services during the 20th century. These include three stations on the Camp Hill Line in south Birmingham, and two in the Black Country to serve the towns of Willenhall and Darlaston.

On infrastructure, the Department is working with Network Rail and Midlands Connect to develop an Outline Business Case for the Midlands Rail Hub. This work will further develop infrastructure proposals to enable up to ten additional trains per hour to serve central Birmingham.

Birmingham City Council, as the local highway authority, is responsible for the maintenance of its local road network. Birmingham City Council has a Highways Maintenance Private Finance Initiative project for the comprehensive upgrade and maintenance, over 25 years, of their highway network.

The project commenced operation on 7 June 2010; the Department is providing over £1.2 billion towards the £2.7 billion total cost.

On 12 May, the Government published guidance for passengers and transport operators to help them keep themselves and their staff safe, including how social distancing rules should be interpreted to do this. The Department is working with transport providers, their representative groups, and local authorities across England as they seek to implement this guidance. This guidance will be kept?up-to-date?as restrictions on travel change.

As the Prime Minister announced on 10 June, the Government will be expanding targeted testing of occupations and groups at higher risk, including those individuals working in front line jobs, which bring them regularly into close contact with the public. This will help us learn more about who is at higher risk and how the virus is spread.

Funding for cycling and walking comes from a variety of Government and non-Government sources. Government funding includes ringfenced and non-ringfenced funds. Over the last three years, local authorities in the West Midlands have received a total of approximately £56 million from ringfenced funds including the Cycle City Ambition fund, Bikeability and the Access Fund, and approximately £63 million from non-ringfenced funds including the Local Growth Fund, Transforming Cities Fund and National Productivity Investment Fund. The Department intends to publish further details of the funding that has been made available to local authorities for cycling and walking when it reports to Parliament later in 2020 on the progress that has been made in delivering the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

There are currently no plans to do so. However, the Department is currently reviewing the guidance ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): advice for pregnant employees’.

The Department has made no such assessment.

We will publish the delivery plan for tackling the electives backlog later this year.

We have no plans to do so. HM Treasury and the Department will continue to scrutinise spending to ensure good value outcomes. Health and social care spending will also continue to be subject to scrutiny by the National Audit Office and through the Health and Social Care Select Committee and Public Accounts Committee.

In 2020 the Department received 31,509 cases from hon. Members compared to 10,467 in 2019; the increase was overwhelmingly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have taken steps to improve efficiency through the end-to-end correspondence process and have doubled the number of staff in the Department’s correspondence unit temporarily to cope with the extra demand.

Menopause clinics are operated by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and implemented as local services. CCGs have a statutory responsibility to commission healthcare services that meet the needs of their whole population, including the provision of menopause clinics.

Each medical school in the England sets its own undergraduate curriculum which must meet the standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC) in its Outcomes for Graduates. The GMC updated the Outcomes for Graduates in 2018, following extensive engagement and consultation with medical education experts. The GMC would expect that, in fulfilling these standards, newly qualified doctors are able to identify, treat and manage any care needs a person has, including the menopause and perimenopause.

The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the relevant Royal College and must also meet the standards set by the GMC. The perimenopause and menopause are included in the curriculum set by the Royal College of General Practitioners and emphasised in the College’s clinical topic guides, which supplement the curriculum.

In the West Midlands, the Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has received additional funding for mental health services during 2021/22. National planning guidance sets out the deliverables which are expected will be achieved with this funding and some of these relate to further improving access and reducing waiting times for patients.

Birmingham and Solihull CCG have undertaken modelling work to help understand and plan for an increase in demand for services to ensure that waiting times are maintained or improved.

Cancer treatments in the West Midlands have continued throughout the pandemic with little reduction in capacity for chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments. Work is now ongoing to prioritise surgery and diagnostic procedures, including additional endoscopy resource, further development of rapid diagnostic centres and implementation of community diagnostic hubs. The implementation of breast pain pathways should reduce demand on cancer services and help focus capacity on where it is needed. The elective recovery programme is underway and is focussing on the reduction of backlogs in the highest priority categories of patients, which includes cancer patients.

In Sutton Coldfield the bowel screening programme has increased colonoscopy capacity and the provider is currently sending invitations at 150% of weekly rates compared with before the pandemic. The cervical screening programme has also increased its invitation rate, with normal service expected to be resumed by May 2021. For breast screening a new mobile screening unit will be available within the next month, allowing an additional 720 women to be screened per month.

In January 2019, we published the first Cross-Government Suicide Prevention Workplan. It will see every local authority, mental health trust and prison in the country implementing suicide prevention policies. Every local authority now has a multi-agency suicide prevention plan in place and we are working with local government to assure the effectiveness of those plans.

Coventry and Warwickshire sustainability and transformation partnership (STP), which includes Sutton Coldfield, has received £352,000 in 2018/19, £352,000 in 2019/20 and £185,304 in 2020/21 for suicide prevention.

In 2020/21, Birmingham and Solihull STP received £252,595 for suicide prevention, Black Country and West Birmingham STP received £280,078, Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent STP received £300,000 and Herefordshire and Worcestershire STP received £152,187.

We have introduced national restrictions to reduce social contact to suppress the spread of the virus across England. It is therefore necessary for sports facilities, such as golf clubs, tennis clubs, to close. Whilst these facilities are closed, it remains important for wellbeing to be able to exercise and enjoy outdoor recreation safely, therefore individuals can continue to do this in public outdoor places under the new restrictions.

NHS England and NHS Improvement publishes weekly data on vaccination totals, including by constituency, at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-vaccinations/

Work has taken place to ensure we have the logistical expertise, transport and workforce to roll out a vaccine according to clinical priority, at the speed at which it can be manufactured. The phased vaccination programme, which began on 8 December 2020, will be expanded over the coming weeks and months so that by the end of January, everyone will live within 10 miles of a vaccination centre. In a small number of highly rural areas, the vaccination centre will be a mobile unit.

We are working with the Care Quality Commission and the National Health Service to ensure anyone who is likely to be infectious with COVID-19 is discharged to a designated care setting to complete a period of isolation before moving to a care home. These settings must meet a set of agreed standards to provide safe care for COVID-19 positive residents. This is to further support safe and timely discharge and protect care home residents and staff from COVID-19.

There are two Regional Test Sites within 15 miles of Sutton Coldfield: Birmingham Airport and Kelvin Way as well as six Local Test Sites: 60 Villa Street, Mountford Lane Car Park, South Parade Car Park, Birmingham University South Gate Car Park, Saltley Wellbeing Centre Car Park and Summerfield Community Sports Centre Car Park. These sites form part of the extending national network, a total of over 500 by the end of October.

All National Health Service staff are eligible for priority testing for COVID-19. For NHS staff access to testing is provided through pillar 1 testing and there is capacity within trusts to ensure staff can get tested. A number of tests are reserved for essential workers, including NHS workers, and they can book a visit to a test site, or order a home test kit if they cannot get to a site, through GOV.UK at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/apply-coronavirus-test-essential-workers

Essential workers can order five test kits for themselves and other symptomatic members of their households. However, for households of more than five the 119 contact centre raise on order on their behalf. A list of essential workers and those who are prioritised for COVID-19 tests is available at GOV.UK at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested

Since the launch of whole care home testing, we have provided over 8 million test kits to over 17,000 care homes in the United Kingdom. We started rolling out regular retesting for residents and staff of care homes for over 65s and dementia from 6 July. This included weekly testing for staff, and every 28 days for residents. Each care home received enough test kits for a month. We are continuing to prioritise care home testing and we are issuing more than 100,000 tests a day to care homes across the country. We have met our 7 September target of providing testing kits to all care homes for older people and people with dementia who have registered for regular retesting kits. In addition, all other care homes have been able to place orders for test kits from 31 August. Since they were eligible to apply for regular repeat testing on 31 August, 4,576 specialist homes in England have applied for tests. Where an outbreak has been identified, we test all staff and residents as a priority, with all those who test negative being tested again four to seven days later.

We have continued to look for options that can reduce delays, such as encouraging care homes to carry out testing throughout the whole week, especially on weekends where this is possible. This will enable us to increase the amount of testing we can do and make full use of the available lab capacity.

The Government is aware of the sacrifices that people in local lockdown are making and the important role key workers are making for our economy. We introduced childcare bubbles in areas where local COVID-19 restrictions are in place, to allow families to share caring responsibilities with another household for children under 14.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with NHS Employers and Department for Education colleagues to publish guidance for National Health Service organisations during COVID-19 in respect to childcare. This guidance encourages employers to be as flexible as possible to support staff with childcare (and caring) responsibilities, utilising their existing local policies. The guidance is available on NHS Employers website at the following link:

www.nhsemployers.org/covid19/health-safety-and-wellbeing/supporting-staff-with-childcare-responsibilities

Data on tests, cases, healthcare and deaths are published daily at 4pm. Positive cases and deaths are at upper tier local authority level.

Record level test and case data (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) is available to all upper tier local authorities who sign data sharing agreements. All now have access.

We are continuing to improve our regular publishing of localised COVID-19 data.

We have committed at least a further £2.3 billion a year to mental health services by 2023/24, which will see spending for mental health services growing faster than the overall National Health Service budget.

For the first time, in 2018/19, all clinical commissioning groups increased the amount spent on mental health by at least as much as their overall budget increases.

Advancing mental health equalities, is a priority outlined in the Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20 to 2023/24. All local health systems are expected to set out how they will specifically reduce health inequalities by 2023/24.

Local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for commissioning health services which meet the needs of their communities. The majority of CCGs in the West Midlands are part of the Rainbow Badge initiative and actively encourage partners to engage as non-judgemental and inclusive places for people that identify as LGBTQ+. The CCGs are working with general practitioner practices and other partners, to ensure that people who identify as LGBTQ+ feel safe and supported when seeking out general medical care, including mental health support.

All providers and commissioners in the West Midlands are committed to undertaking Equality Impact Assessments as part of the service redesign and planning process. CCGs make decisions within a formal commissioning cycle that includes population needs analysis and public engagement.

Advancing mental health equalities is a priority outlined in the Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20 to 2023/24. All local health systems are expected to set out how they will specifically reduce health inequalities by 2023/24.

To support local Sustainability and Transformation Partnership and Integrated Care System areas in addressing inequalities in access and outcomes for groups with protected characteristics, including LGBTQ+ communities, within their plans, NHS England and NHS Improvement commissioned the Advancing Mental Health Equalities Resource. The resource is a guide for local commissioners and providers to identify and address inequalities in mental health care and is available at the following link:

https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/improving-care/nccmh/amhe/amhe-resource.pdf

The NHS Long Term Plan also set out a commitment that local Mental Health Support Teams which will be working with children and young people in schools and colleges will be trained to support the mental health needs of LGBTQ+ people.

Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which covers the Sutton Coldfield area, reports that waiting times for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services remain above the national target for access. In quarter four of 2019/20 (the most recent published figures), across the CCG’s area, 94% of people received support within six weeks, against a national standard of 75%.

Our NHS Long Term Plan ambitions for service transformation and expansion include that, by 2023/24, an additional 345,000 more children and young people should have access to National Health Service funded mental health support. This includes for young people who identify as transgender.

The mental health support teams in and around schools, which we introduced through our children and young people’s mental health Green Paper, are part of this service expansion and transformation. As set out in the Plan, mental health support teams will receive information and training to help them support young people more likely to face mental health issues – such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender individuals.

We remain committed to investing at least £2.3 billion of extra funding a year into mental health services by 2023-24 through the NHS Long Term Plan. This will see an additional 345,000 children and young people able to access support through National Health Service-funded services or school- and college-based mental health support teams.

Mental health support teams, which we are introducing in line with our children and young people’s mental health Green Paper, are part of this service expansion and transformation. We remain committed to delivering the other core proposals of the Green Paper, which will pilot a four-week waiting time for specialist NHS services, so that there is swifter access to specialist NHS services.

The Minister for Equalities is working with the Race Disparity Unit and the Department for Health and Social Care to carry forward work to better understand the key drivers of the disparities outlined in the Public Health England report and the relationship between the risk factors. The terms of reference for this work were announced by the Minister on 4 June.

The terms of reference for this work can be accessed from the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-steps-for-work-on-covid-19-disparities-announced

All National Health Service organisations will continue to make appropriate arrangements to support their black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff. NHS Employers updated its guidance on risk assessments on 28 May, advising organisations to consider issues such as pregnancy, disability, age and ethnicity.

NHS England and NHS Improvement Midlands are also linking with BAME networks to ensure that BAME staff have a voice and can raise their concerns. These concerns have been fed back to Human Resources Directors across the Midlands.

The Department is working with Skills for Care, and partners across the sector to understand the recent research findings, including that published by Public Health England, which have identified a range of characteristics, including ethnicity, which have been associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes due to COVID-19. We are working with partners to respond to these findings, considering the most helpful approach for the sector.

An operating framework has been published on NHS England’s website which advises on management of urgent and planned services within hospital. In the case of day interventions, testing and isolation is determined locally, based on patient and procedural risk. The framework is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/05/Operating-framework-for-urgent-and-planned-services-within-hospitals.pdf

We have committed at least a further £2.3 billion a year to mental health services by 2023/24, and, through the NHS Long Term Plan, the National Health Service commits to testing and rolling out waiting time standards for adults in selected areas.

In line with the aims of the Plan, Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group is:

- Putting in place specialist perinatal mental health teams;

- Increasing access to psychological therapies for depression and anxiety;

- Placing mental health professionals in general practitioner (GP) practices; and

- Opening crisis cafes to support people in a mental health crisis.

There is an ongoing improvement programme focussing on the main cancer waiting time standards and pathways across Birmingham and Solihull. This, along with a number of initiatives funded by the West Midlands Cancer Alliance and transformation funding, aims to improve waiting times and patient experience and includes:

- introduction of the Faecal Immunochemical Test for bowel cancer screening; and

- implementation of a vague symptom pathway through a Rapid Diagnostic Centre.

Weekly oversight and assurance meetings are led by the Chief Operating Officer of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust with all specialities attending. NHS Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group continues to meet with the Trust each month to explore all avenues, including developing a trajectory for improving performance and waiting times.

The Government will deliver 50,000 more nurses in the National Health Service in England. The Government has not set targets specific areas of the country. It is for individual employers to determine their workforce recruitment plans based on their local service needs.

The Government has already taken steps to deliver this national nursing commitment through providing a new financial support package. Eligible pre-registration nursing students will benefit from at least £5,000 per academic year which they will not need to pay back. This new grant will mean students have access to more money than under previous education funding systems and will encourage more people to apply, accept places and complete their courses.

A significant part of securing the future workforce, including nurses, will be through ensuring the NHS is the best place to work. A ‘new offer’ for all NHS staff will be released alongside the final NHS People Plan, which will detail the support that they can expect to receive from their employer.

In 2017, Public Health England (PHE) ran a pilot campaign in the East and West Midlands. The pilot focused on a range of abdominal symptoms, such as diarrhoea, bloating and discomfort that can be indicative of a number of cancers, including pancreatic cancer. Further information on the pilot is available at the following link:

https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/16-be-clear-on-cancer/Abdominal%20Symptoms%20Regional%20Pilot

PHE has run a number of ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns to help improve early detection of cancer. A number of factors are taken into account when deciding which campaigns to develop and run, with one of the main criteria being the scope to save lives through earlier diagnosis. This can only be effective through broad awareness campaigns if the cancer has a clear sign or symptom that the general public can act upon should it arise.

PHE is currently undertaking new data analysis and research to determine the future direction of Be Clear on Cancer activity.

National Health Service providers have worked hard to implement National Institute for Health and Care Excellence CE Quality Standard (QS164), published in February 2018, which recognises the importance of patients getting Parkinson’s disease medicines on time to prevent harmful effects on their health whether they are in a hospital or a care home.

Many hospitals have worked closely with Parkinson’s UK as part of its ‘Get it on time’ campaign, which aims to ensure that clinical staff in both hospitals and care homes understand the importance of timely availability of these medicines.

NHS England and NHS Improvement published further guidance in August 2019, in partnership with charities such as Parkinson’s UK, to help local NHS staff take practical steps to improve the care for patients with progressive neurological conditions. A copy of the guidance can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/rightcare/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2019/08/progressive-neuro-toolkit.pdf

We recognise that patients with Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions are among the most vulnerable in our society, and all parts of the NHS strive to provide them with the best care possible.

The UK Government is deeply concerned about the grave humanitarian situation in Ethiopia and shares the concerns outlined in the report on 24 June by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Ensuring assistance gets to those who need it most remains our priority in Tigray. We continue to explore all options with partners to expand humanitarian access by both air and land. During his visit to Sudan the Foreign Secretary commended Sudan's leaders for their efforts to press for a peaceful resolution to the situation in Tigray and for their support for refugees entering Sudan from Ethiopia. There is currently no viable land route from Sudan into Tigray due to ongoing fighting in Western Tigray although we continue to monitor the logistical and political viability of this route and are engaging the Government of Sudan to support any route that becomes available.

On 14 June I [Minister Duddridge] announced that the UK will allocate a further £16.7 million to the crisis in Tigray. This will support civil-military coordination to help aid get to those in need and address famine risk through the provision of healthcare, sanitation, and nutritional support. This allocation is on top of the existing £27 million in 2020-21 already directed to the response, and an additional £4 million allocated to support nutrition and vaccinations in Tigray. This brings UK total funding to support response to the crisis to £47.7 million. We continue to urge all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law.

The UK Government is deeply concerned about the grave humanitarian situation in Ethiopia and shares the concerns outlined in the report on 24 June by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Ensuring assistance gets to those who need it most remains our priority in Tigray. We continue to explore all options with partners to expand humanitarian access by both air and land including the possibility of air bridges into Tigray. At this point the FCDO assess that airdrops would not be a viable response to the current situation.

On 14 June I [Minister Duddridge] announced that the UK will allocate a further £16.7 million to the crisis in Tigray. This will support civil-military coordination to help aid get to those in need and address famine risk through the provision of healthcare, sanitation, and nutritional support. This allocation is on top of the existing £27 million in 2020-21 already directed to the response, and an additional £4 million allocated to support nutrition and vaccinations in Tigray. This brings UK total funding to support response to the crisis to £47.7 million. We continue to urge all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law.

The UK Government is deeply concerned about the grave humanitarian situation in Ethiopia and shares the concerns outlined in the report on 24 June by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report in June reported high levels of food insecurity in Tigray. It concluded more than 3 million people are in 'crisis', nearly 2.1 million in 'emergency' and 353,000 in 'catastrophe' states, per the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) levels.

On 14 June, I [Minister Duddridge] announced that the UK will reallocate a further £16.7 million to the crisis in Tigray. This will support civil-military coordination to help aid get to those in need and address famine risk through the provision of healthcare, sanitation, and nutritional support. This allocation is on top of the existing £27 million in 2020-21 already directed to the response, and an additional £4 million allocated to support nutrition and vaccinations in Tigray. This brings UK total funding to support response to the crisis to £47.7 million. We continue to urge all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law.

Voluntary family planning and girls' education have wide-ranging benefits for individuals and societies, including supporting their adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change. The UK is fulfilling our pledge to provide £5.8 billion in international climate finance (ICF) to developing countries, and we are committed to doubling our ICF to £11.6 billion over the next five years. Our recently published COP Presidency paper 'Priorities for Public Climate Finance' sets out gender-responsive climate finance as a UK priority, which we are championing as COP26 Presidency and through the G7.

As set out in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, we cannot interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, or bypass their laws, just as we would not accept similar interference here. The FCDO cannot seek to interfere in Monegasque court processes. Any concerns about the way in which Mr Taylor might be able to give evidence are a matter for the Monegasque legal system and Mr Taylor's lawyers. As part of our consular assistance to British nationals overseas we can raise concerns about individuals on diplomatic channels. I raised Mr Taylor's case with the Monegasque Foreign Secretary on 13 November 2020 to seek assurances that he would be treated fairly. Monaco provided direct assurances to Croatia in January.

As set out in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, we cannot interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, or bypass their laws, just as we would not accept similar interference here. The FCDO cannot seek to interfere in Monegasque court processes. Any concerns about the way in which Mr Taylor might be able to give evidence are a matter for the Monegasque legal system and Mr Taylor's lawyers. As part of our consular assistance to British nationals overseas we can raise concerns about individuals on diplomatic channels. I raised Mr Taylor's case with the Monegasque Foreign Secretary on 13 November 2020 to seek assurances that he would be treated fairly. Monaco provided direct assurances to Croatia in January.

I raised Mr Taylor's case with the Monegasque Foreign Secretary and the Croatian State Secretary for European Affairs on 13 November 2020 and sought assurances that both authorities would treat Mr Taylor fairly. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) officials are providing ongoing consular support to Mr Taylor. Consular officials continue to seek updates from the Croatian courts. In December 2020, the British Ambassador in Zagreb met Mr Taylor to discuss his concerns and explain how the FCDO could assist him, and the Acting Deputy Head of Mission spoke to Mr Taylor on 10 March.

An estimated 218 million women of reproductive age (15-49) in low and middle income countries want to avoid or delay pregnancy but for a range of reasons are not currently using modern contraception. That is why the UK is a major stakeholder in the FP2020 global partnership and its follow-on partnership, FP2030.

The UK is proud to advance universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights, including access to modern family planning methods in the world's poorest countries. Between 2019-2020 alone, UK aid helped over 25 million women and girls use modern methods of contraception. We are working through the implications of the ODA reductions for individual programmes and activities. No decisions on individual country or sectoral budgets have been made yet.

An estimated 218 million women of reproductive age (15-49) in low and middle income countries want to avoid or delay pregnancy but for a range of reasons are not currently using modern contraception. That is why the UK is a major stakeholder in the FP2020 global partnership and its follow-on partnership, FP2030.

The UK is proud to advance universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights, including access to modern family planning methods in the world's poorest countries. Between 2019-2020 alone, UK aid helped over 25 million women and girls use modern methods of contraception. We are working through the implications of the ODA reductions for individual programmes and activities. No decisions on individual country or sectoral budgets have been made yet.

The table below provides total bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend by former Department for International Development in Africa on family planning and reproductive health between 2015 and 2019.

Source: Statistics on International Development: Final UK Aid spend 2019

In the Autumn, FCDO will publish "Statistics on International Development: Final UK Aid Spend 2020". This publication will contain detailed breakdowns including finalised UK bilateral ODA by sector.

The Prime Minister has confirmed that the UK will share the majority of any surplus COVID-19 vaccines with the COVAX international vaccine procurement pool. As the multilateral facility responsible for ensuring global equitable access to vaccines, COVAX is best able to distribute vaccines where they are needed most.

Our current priorities are ensuring the safety of the UK population, and supporting COVAX as it starts distributing vaccines to the most vulnerable populations around the world. We will set out more details on funding mechanisms in due course.

The UK deposited an instrument of accession to the Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Commission Tuna Commission (IOTC) with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on 14 December 2020. The Agreement entered into force for the United Kingdom on 22 December 2020 as confirmed by IOTC Circular 2021-02 on 7 January (https://tinyurl.com/vvthj86k) and by the FAO on 14 January (https://tinyurl.com/vp3vrbad).

The UK is aware of the judgment delivered on 28 January by the Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. This judgement was formed to deal with the dispute concerning delimitation of a maritime boundary claimed by Mauritius to exist between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean. The UK is not a party to these proceedings, which can have no effect for the UK or for maritime delimitation between the UK (in respect of the British Indian Ocean Territory) and the Republic of the Maldives. The International Court of Justice's opinion on the Chagos Archipelago is advisory and not legally binding. The UK voted against General Assembly resolution 73/295 and we remain firmly of the view that the International Court of Justice and General Assembly are not the appropriate fora for resolving what is fundamentally a bilateral matter of disputed sovereignty between two UN member states. The resolution is non-binding.

The United Kingdom is fully committed to upholding the rules of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and securing the implementation of its rights and obligations. This commitment was reaffirmed in our statement to the UN General Assembly on the adoption of the UNGA Resolution (A/RES/75/239) on the oceans and law of the sea on 8 December 2020. The Government has placed a paper setting out our legal position on the issues in the South China Sea in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament and we reaffirmed our position in a Note Verbale (UK NV No 162/20) to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on 16 September 2020.

On 14 December the Government published a draft Order in Council which has been prepared under Section 51 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-territories-adopting-publicly-accessible-registers-of-beneficial-ownership

The draft Order sets minimum requirements for what the UK Government expects of publicly accessible registers of company beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories. This includes the form that the register must take and that the information that must be made available such that it would be broadly equivalent to that available in accordance with the provisions of Part 21 A of the UK Companies Act 2006.

All of the inhabited Overseas Territories have now committed to adopt public accessible registers, and as such are showing that they are responsible jurisdictions and a collaborative partner to the UK. This is also evident from the cooperation the UK gets from the Overseas Territories via the Exchange of Notes Arrangements, where confidential information on company beneficial ownership and tax information is shared with UK law enforcement bodies in real time.

The draft Order has been published on Gov.uk with an accompanying note, and a Written Ministerial Statement was laid on 14 December. The Government is now helping the Overseas Territories to implement the policy; on the technical aspects we already held workshops and have secured the support of Open Ownership, and we are helping others with the procurement of their registers.

According to independent analysis, the department spent £667 million in 2015, £629 million in 2016, £693 million in 2017 and £699 million in 2018 on programmes to address the direct and underlying causes of malnutrition. Analysis of our 2019 spend will be published in June 2021 when data is available publicly through the OECD DAC Creditor Reporting System.

The department spent £308 million in 2015, £338 million in 2016, £365 million in 2017, £349 million in 2018 and £395 million in 2019 specifically on food assistance and food security programming.

In September 2020, the Foreign Secretary announced a £119 million package of support to combat famine and acute hunger. This includes a new 5-year partnership with UNICEF to improve prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition.

Addressing malnutrition and acute food insecurity remain important for our objectives on global health and humanitarian preparedness and response. The Department is beginning a rigorous internal prioritisation process in response to the spending review announcement and we will update on this in due course.

On 6 July the UK Government established the Global Human Rights ('Magnitsky') sanctions regime by laying regulations in Parliament under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018. This sanctions regime enables the UK to hold to account those involved in serious human rights violations or abuses.

As the Foreign Secretary announced to the House, work is underway to consider how a corruption regime could be added to our armoury. Sanctions are powerful tools, capable of having a significant impact, and complex to design. We are taking the time to ensure we get them right.

The UK Government remains committed to supporting Rwanda's recovery from the genocide in 1994, including holding perpetrators to account. We recognise the genocide was committed against the Tutsi and condemn any genocide denial. However we believe it is also important to recognise all victims during the period of the genocide in 1994, during which tens of thousands of Hutus and others were also killed.

​The United Kingdom has made very clear its condemnation of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and that all those responsible must be held to account. We remain closely engaged with the Maltese authorities and our international partners concerning this murder.

A covert human intelligence source (CHIS) will never be given authority to commit any and all crime. All authorisations must be necessary and proportionate to the criminality they are seeking to prevent and the Authorising Officer must ensure that the level of criminality authorised must be at the lowest level of intrusion possible to achieve the aims of the operation.

There are limits to the activity that can be authorised under this Bill and these are contained in the Human Rights Act. This includes the right to life, and prohibition of torture or subjecting someone to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The Bill does not list specific crimes which may be authorised, or prohibited, as to do so would place into the hands of criminals, terrorists and hostile states a means of creating a checklist for suspected CHIS to be tested against. This would threaten the future of the CHIS capability, and result in an increased threat to the public.

With regards to international comparisons, different countries have different legal systems, threat pictures and operational practices which means that simply comparing respective legislation gives only a very partial picture. In the course of developing this Bill, officials have engaged with a variety of stakeholders, including US counterparts.

I can advise that discussions are still ongoing and an announcement will be made in due course.

Revenue from the Victim Surcharge forms only one part of the Ministry of Justice’s Victim and Witness budget. This budget is used to fund support services that help victims to cope with and, as far as possible, recover from the effects of crime. The budget also funds services to help witnesses to give their best evidence in court. In 2018/19 the Victim and Witnesses budget was about £96m, of which £30.5m was revenue raised from the Victim Surcharge. Most of this money went to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to commission/deliver local services for victims of crime. The rest of the budget is used to nationally commission support services, including the National Homicide Service, the Court Based Witness Service and support for victims of rape and sexual violence. It is not possible to identify which services receive funding directly from the Victim Surcharge revenue. However, the table below sets out the value of grants covering the Midlands in 2018/19.

* The Government is funding rape support centres in this area from 2019/20

The Government is considering the case for reforming the law on corporate criminal liability for economic crime and will publish a response to the Call for Evidence in due course.

The Government is clear that there are sufficient solicitors to undertake criminal legal aid-funded cases and will make sure this continues to be the case in the West Midlands. The Government commenced a review of all criminal legal aid fee schemes in December 2018, including the criminal duty solicitor fee scheme.

In June 2019 the Government took the decision to accelerate certain key areas of the Criminal Legal Aid Review that were highlighted to be of immediate concern to defence practitioners

In addition to monitoring duty solicitor coverage on an ongoing basis where issues are identified, the Government continues to take action to ensure there is ongoing availability of criminal legal advice for the public.