Andrew Selous

On 14 October we published a comprehensive new plan to support general practitioners (GPs) and to make it easier for patients to see or speak to GPs and their teams.

Our plan is supported by a new £250 million Winter Access Fund to assist patients with urgent care needs to be seen by their practitioner on the same day, taking account of their preferences.

We have no plans to do so.

The inclusion of family-focused interventions are for local commissioning and clinical determination. There is no single ‘specification’ for children and young people’s mental health services or child and adolescent mental health services. It is not a single service or pathway and the term refers to the range of services that offer support based on different needs. In response to a National Health Service benchmarking project on children and young people’s mental health services, 99% of providers that responded confirmed that they offer family therapy in joint and group work.

We have no plans to do so.

The inclusion of family-focused interventions are for local commissioning and clinical determination. There is no single ‘specification’ for children and young people’s mental health services or child and adolescent mental health services. It is not a single service or pathway and the term refers to the range of services that offer support based on different needs. In response to a National Health Service benchmarking project on children and young people’s mental health services, 99% of providers that responded confirmed that they offer family therapy in joint and group work.

In the United Kingdom population screening is offered across 11 screening programmes which cover over 30 conditions, as recommended by the UK National Screening Committee. These screening programmes do not report on the false positive rates but do include information where further testing is required.

The best way to reduce National Health Service costs and improve health is by tackling the sources of air pollution, so that less pollution is emitted in the first place. The actions set out in our Clean Air Strategy are targeted at a range of sources and pollutants and will result in the number of people who live in areas where particulate matter is above the World Health Organization’s guidelines being halved by 2025.

British businesses were given the opportunity to bid for the St Helena Airport contract. On three separate occasions the St Helena Government sought expressions of interest through Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), this was in line with UK Government procurement regulations for large infrastructure projects at the time.

The Government is very concerned at the high numbers of Palestinians killed by Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank and Gaza. We have repeatedly made clear to Israel our longstanding concerns about the manner in which the Israel Defense Forces police the border areas, including the use of live ammunition. We call on Israel to adhere to the principles of necessity and proportionality when defending its legitimate security interest. We also encourage them to carry out transparent investigations into whether the use of live fire had been appropriate. We did so most recently at the UN Security Council on 21 January.

The Government works closely with the Money and Pensions Service to understand the need for debt advice and monitor financial difficulty through an annual survey and notes the Financial Conduct Authority’s biennial Financial Lives Survey.

The Government recognises that some people are struggling with their finances at this challenging time. To help people in problem debt get their finances back on track, an extra £37.8 million support package has been made available to debt advice providers this financial year, bringing this year's budget for free debt advice in England to over £100 million.

In May 2020, the Government announced the immediate release of £65 million of dormant assets funding to Fair4All Finance, an independent organisation that has been founded to support the financial wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances. The funding is used to increase access to fair, affordable and appropriate financial products and services for those in financial difficulties.

From May 2021, the Breathing Space scheme will offer people in problem debt a pause of up to 60 days on most enforcement action, interest, fees and charges, and will encourage them to seek professional debt advice.

The Government has delivered unprecedented support for living standards during this challenging time, protecting livelihoods with the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and temporary welfare measures.

The Government has extended the CJRS until 31 March 2021. Eligible employees will continue to receive 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.

The Government has increased the overall level of the third grant under the SEISS to 80% of average trading profits, meaning that the maximum grant available has now increased to £7,500.

The Government has provided local authorities with £500 million to support people who may struggle to meet their council tax payments this year. The Government expects that this will provide all recipients of working age local council tax support with a further reduction in their annual council tax bill of £150 this financial year.

These measures are in addition to the changes this Government has made to make the welfare system more generous, worth over £7 billion according to recent estimates by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

The Government has worked with mortgage lenders, credit providers and the Financial Conduct Authority to ensure the financial sector provides support for people across the UK to manage their finances by providing payment holidays on mortgages and consumer credit products.

The Government has also delivered protections for renters, including an extension to the ban on bailiff evictions for all but the most egregious cases until at least 21 February 2021, with measures kept under review.

The Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF) was announced at Autumn Budget 2017 and aims to catalyse the rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The CIIF is managed and invested on a commercial basis by private sector partners, and Government will invest up to £200m to be matched by private investors. The location of investments will depend on the business plans of the chargepoint companies the fund invests in. As a result, the Government does not hold the requested information.

As at 30^th April 2021, the IOPC workforce totalled 1,004 people.

As at 18 May 2021, the IOPC has 29 cases that have been open for longer than 12 months.

For context, in 2020/21 the IOPC started 465 independent investigations.

Of the investigations it completed in 2020/21, it completed 86% within 12 months. When major investigations are excluded, the IOPC completed 91% of investigations in 12 months or less (against a target of 85%).

The IOPC’s budget for 2021/22 is £69.65 million.

The Government will be publishing interim codes of practice on terrorist use of the internet and child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) as part of the full government response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation. This will ensure that companies are provided with the necessary context to understand the expectations around what companies should do to address CSEA and terrorist content and activity online.

We are currently working swiftly to prepare the interim codes of practice and the full government response to the Online Harms White Paper, which we will publish in the autumn.

We will follow this publication with legislation, when Parliamentary time allow.

The Government response to the Living in Our Shoes report included a commitment to publish an ambitious new strategy for Armed Forces families.

The new strategy will provide a framework for measuring progress against the Living in Our Shoes recommendations, many of which are already being actioned.

Progress will be reported publicly through the Armed Forces Covenant annual report. The strategy will be published this autumn.

Regular analysis conducted by the Army has confirmed the requirement for a range of armoured vehicles. This analysis includes a review of current and future threats and the environment in which vehicles are required to operate; work continues to focus on these areas to inform the Integrated Review.

Regular analysis conducted by the Army has confirmed the requirement for a range of armoured vehicles. This analysis includes a review of current and future threats and the environment in which vehicles are required to operate; work continues to focus on these areas to inform the Integrated Review.

The UK is firmly committed to the core NATO principles of collective deterrence and defence. Fifth Battalion The Rifles currently lead an Armoured Infantry Battlegroup in Estonia, as a Framework Nation for Enhanced Forward Presence. We currently provide Challenger 2, the Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicle, and a suite of Armoured capabilities from the UK's Third Division to the multinational presence there. In addition, the UK contributes a Light Cavalry Squadron to the US led Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup in Poland, currently provided by the Queen's Dragoon Guards and reservists from the Royal Yeomanry.

The UK also makes one of the largest commitments to NATO's high-readiness forces, including the NATO Response Force, the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, and we host the headquarters of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. NATO's conventional deterrence extends to the enhanced air policing mission and standing maritime groups as well - to which the UK is also a major contributor.

EWS1 is not a Government form or regulatory requirement, and it is not a safety certificate. EWS1 was created by industry to help with mortgage valuations for flats in blocks with cladding. It is designed to identify whether a block is likely to need value-affecting remediation work.

On the 8 March, RICS published its updated EWS1 guidance to allow for a more proportionate approach to be taken. It outlines clearly when the EWS1 process is required.

Most major lenders, representing roughly 80% of the whole mortgage market have adopted the approach in the RICS guidance or already take a significantly less risk averse approach. This makes clear the process is for financial valuation and not building safety.

We estimate nearly 500,000 homeowners should no longer need to produce an EWS1 to sell or re-mortgage.

The Inspector’s role is to examine whether a submitted plan meets the Tests of Soundness set out in paragraph 35 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and legislative requirements.

The Inspector’s conclusions will be based on a consideration of all the evidence and on the application of professional expertise and judgement.

With regard to traveller sites, as part of this consideration an Inspector will consider plan proposals against policy in the Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (PPTS) and NPPF. The PPTS encourages authorities to identify a 5-year supply of specific, deliverable sites and other developable sites to accommodate growth for years 6-10 and, where possible, years 11-15.

The Government recognises and values the important work which churches carry out for their communities. We would encourage local authorities and churches to work together closely to consider the wishes and priorities of local people, as well as how to make the best use of public resources. It is important to ensure that any additional public funding given to local churches, and any consequences for council tax or precepts are considered carefully given the current financial pressures on local council taxpayers.