Andrew Selous

DSIT closely engages with all government departments on the adoption of AI, including DHSC.

The Government is committed to ensuring adoption of AI in an ethical, safe and responsible way to improve public services outcomes and productivity.

Ahead of the AI Summit last year, we announced a new AI in Healthcare fund, backed by £100m, to target areas where rapid deployment of AI could create transformational breakthroughs in treatments for previously incurable diseases.

The consultation on improving the energy performance of privately rented homes closed on 8^th January 2021. The Government has carefully analysed the responses received and is considering how best to ensure the cost relating to energy efficiency improvement are fair and proportionate to landlords and tenants. The Government will publish a response in due course.

BEIS analysis indicates that hydronic heat pumps, which use hot water to provide heat using a central heating system, are a more cost-effective means of decarbonising heat in the majority of homes and businesses across the UK. Therefore, the Government anticipates hydronic heat pumps will be the principal means of decarbonising heat in homes.

This information is not compiled centrally, but all councils have a role to play in our transition to Net Zero. We are helping them through funding for Public Sector decarbonisation, Heat decarbonisation and support for Electric Vehicle charging.

Following the publication of the Taylor Review, my Department responded to the Review’s recommendations by working with Historic England to explore a new model of funding and advice through two pilot projects in Manchester and Suffolk. The pilots tested the recommendations of the Review and an evaluation of their impact was published here. My officials continue to work closely with key parties to understand and respond to issues affecting our ecclesiatical heritage.

The Government is dedicated to improving the creative industries, upskilling individuals, and promoting health and safety.

My department recognises the importance of the film industry’s compliance with relevant health and safety legislation and we engage regularly with the sector, including through the British Film Institute.

We published our Online Harms Initial Consultation Response in February this year. Under the new regulatory framework, the duty of care will apply to all companies that provide services which facilitate the sharing of user generated content or user interactions. Where pornography sites have such functionalities (including video and image sharing, commenting and live streaming) they will be subject to the duty of care.

The duty of care will apply to all companies who provide services to UK users. Noting the particularly serious nature of some of the harms in scope and the global nature of many online services, the White Paper proposed that there should be a level playing field between those companies that have a legal presence in the UK, and those that operate from overseas.

Our Online Harms proposals will deliver a higher level of protection for children than for the typical adult user. As we set out in the initial response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation on 12 February, we expect companies to use a proportionate range of tools, including age assurance and age verification technologies, to prevent children accessing age-inappropriate content such as online pornography, and to protect them from other harms.

The Government is firmly committed to making the UK the safest place to be online, and we are working at pace on our proposals. We will publish a full government response later this year.

The current School Food Standards (SFS) provide a robust yet flexible framework to ensure pupils in England continue to receive high quality and nutritious food. The Department continues to keep the SFS under review.

In February 2022, the Levelling Up White Paper outlined a number of things the Department is doing to strengthen adherence with the SFS, including piloting work with the Foods Standards Agency, investing up to £200,000 in a pilot Governor Training Scheme, and encouraging schools to publish a school food policy on their school websites.

The Department will promote accountability and transparency of school food arrangements by encouraging schools to develop and publish a policy that sets out their approach to food. The reporting would be voluntary initially, with the intention that this will become mandatory when schools can do this effectively. The Department is currently working closely with stakeholders to develop this scheme of work.

The department continues to see strong growth in degree-level apprenticeships with over 170,000 starts since 2014. We are making £8 million available to higher education providers to grow their degree apprenticeship provision and are partnering with UCAS, so young people can use their website to search and apply for these apprenticeships, alongside degrees.

There are not currently any designated employer representative bodies for local areas in England. Subject to the Royal Assent of the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, the department intends to launch an open and competitive ‘expressions of interest’ process shortly for eligible employer representative bodies in all areas of England who are interested in being designated to lead the development of Local Skills Improvement Plans. Further details will be announced in due course.

This government firmly believes that every child in the care system deserves to live in a high-quality setting that meets their needs and keeps them safe.

We are clear that semi-independent provision can be the right option for some older children, which includes supported lodgings provision. The government is equally clear that this provision must always be of high quality and the young person must be ready for the level of independence it promotes. That is why, following our recent consultation, through which we received views from over 215 respondents and 45 care experienced young people, we have announced that we will invest over £142 million across the next three years to fund the introduction of new mandatory national standards and Ofsted registration and inspection for providers of this provision. These vital reforms are a landmark change for children’s social care, with all providers that accommodate looked after children and care leavers up to 18 now being regulated by Ofsted. We will lay the regulations and accompanying statutory guidance for these reforms in 2022.

The department has published a full consultation response which provides further details of our plans and associated timescales in this area, which is available here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/children-in-care-and-permanence/introducing-national-standards-for-unregulated-pro/.

These vital reforms will not only increase the quality of provision and ensure we have effective levers for acting where provision is not good enough, but they will also enable us to develop a much better understanding of the different types of provision in this area, and potentially the extent of the role each provision type should play in meeting the needs of children in future. We will continue to work closely with providers, including those who offer supported lodgings, to ensure the sector can provide high quality placements for young people that meet their needs and keep them safe.

The department collects information on where looked after children are placed. This information is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2021.

On 31 March 2021, some 4,180 children were placed in ‘Semi-independent living accommodation not subject to children’s homes regulations’’ which includes lodgings, flats and bedsits where supervisory staff or advice workers are specifically employed and available to provide advice and support to the residents. This information can be found in table A2 of the release here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/673c7602-892f-4b03-5aff-08d98e357d76.

The department also collects data on care leavers, whose 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th or 21st birthday falls within the collection period, including the type of accommodation that a care leaver is living in. Supported lodgings describes where care leavers receive formal advice and support from a “host family”, usually in a family home. These figures are also published in the annual statistical release.

On 31 March 2021, some 1,450 care leavers aged 19 to 21 were located in this type of accommodation. The equivalent figure for 17 and 18 year olds was 810 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/8706180c-2bdb-481e-20da-08d99c9bf8eb.

As we implement the reforms set out above, we will consider changes to our data collections, including providing a more granular breakdown of this type of provision.

This government firmly believes that every child in the care system deserves to live in a high-quality setting that meets their needs and keeps them safe.

We are clear that semi-independent provision can be the right option for some older children, which includes supported lodgings provision. The government is equally clear that this provision must always be of high quality and the young person must be ready for the level of independence it promotes. That is why, following our recent consultation, through which we received views from over 215 respondents and 45 care experienced young people, we have announced that we will invest over £142 million across the next three years to fund the introduction of new mandatory national standards and Ofsted registration and inspection for providers of this provision. These vital reforms are a landmark change for children’s social care, with all providers that accommodate looked after children and care leavers up to 18 now being regulated by Ofsted. We will lay the regulations and accompanying statutory guidance for these reforms in 2022.

The department has published a full consultation response which provides further details of our plans and associated timescales in this area, which is available here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/children-in-care-and-permanence/introducing-national-standards-for-unregulated-pro/.

These vital reforms will not only increase the quality of provision and ensure we have effective levers for acting where provision is not good enough, but they will also enable us to develop a much better understanding of the different types of provision in this area, and potentially the extent of the role each provision type should play in meeting the needs of children in future. We will continue to work closely with providers, including those who offer supported lodgings, to ensure the sector can provide high quality placements for young people that meet their needs and keep them safe.

The department collects information on where looked after children are placed. This information is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2021.

On 31 March 2021, some 4,180 children were placed in ‘Semi-independent living accommodation not subject to children’s homes regulations’’ which includes lodgings, flats and bedsits where supervisory staff or advice workers are specifically employed and available to provide advice and support to the residents. This information can be found in table A2 of the release here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/673c7602-892f-4b03-5aff-08d98e357d76.

The department also collects data on care leavers, whose 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th or 21st birthday falls within the collection period, including the type of accommodation that a care leaver is living in. Supported lodgings describes where care leavers receive formal advice and support from a “host family”, usually in a family home. These figures are also published in the annual statistical release.

On 31 March 2021, some 1,450 care leavers aged 19 to 21 were located in this type of accommodation. The equivalent figure for 17 and 18 year olds was 810 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/8706180c-2bdb-481e-20da-08d99c9bf8eb.

As we implement the reforms set out above, we will consider changes to our data collections, including providing a more granular breakdown of this type of provision.

In Defra’s Plan for Water, there is a commitment for industry and businesses to develop low cost, effective microfibre filters in washing machines and encourage their use.

Defra commissioned an evidence assessment to understand the efficiencies, costs and benefits of installing filters in washing machines to trap microplastic fibres shredded from clothing during washing cycles. The report showed that filters demonstrated a range of efficiencies and costs associated with them. We recommended that filter manufacturers collaborate with the washing machine industry to develop and implement standardised tests to provide unequivocal performance data for the relevant government departments to consider. We await industry’s proposals.

The Government continues to review the regulatory framework for biosolids spread to land to protect human health and the environment.

The Government has taken a range of steps to stop sources of plastics and microplastics entering sewers and moving into biosolids, including:

• We have already banned microbeads in rinse-off personal care products and the Government has been working at pace with devolved administrations to deliver a ban on wet wipes containing plastic. We recently ran a consultation on this and a government response setting out more information will be published in the spring.

• We have funded research to examine wider sources of microplastics, including tyres and textiles. Defra has also contributed to the design and development of the UK Water Industry Research funded and led Chemicals Investigation Programme (CIP) to improve our understanding of quantity and source of contaminants, including microplastics, in biosolids. This research will help to inform future policy.

• In Defra’s Plan for Water, there is a commitment for industry and businesses to develop low cost, effective microfibre filters in washing machines as a measure to reduce a primary source of microplastic fibres to wastewater treatment and the wider environment and encourage their use. Defra commissioned an evidence assessment to understand the efficiencies, costs and benefits of installing filters in washing machines to trap microplastic fibres shredded from clothing during washing cycles. The report showed that filters demonstrated a range of efficiencies and costs associated with them. We recommended that filter manufacturers collaborate with the washing machine industry to develop and implement standardised tests to provide unequivocal performance data for the relevant government departments to consider. We await industry’s proposals.

Defra is working closely with devolved administrations on the next steps to achieve interoperable schemes that work across the UK. We are aiming to provide further policy detail shortly.

As per new section 45A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the Secretary of State may issue guidance about the duties imposed in sections 45 to 45AZD. We have consulted relevant parties on the proposed statutory guidance and will publish a consultation response in due course.

Simpler Recycling will play a key part in helping us reach our ambition outlined the in the Resources and Waste Strategy 2018 to reach 65% recycling rate for municipal solid waste, with less than 10% ending up in landfill by 2035. We will be publishing our Final Impact Assessment for Simpler Recycling alongside secondary legislation in 2024 which will contain modelled impacts of the Simpler Recycling on recycling rates.