Anna McMorrin

The UK remains committed to the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs will play an important role in post-COVID-19 recovery, recognising the connection between healthy lives, healthy societies and a healthy environment. As the Prime Minister affirmed on 28 May, we owe it to future generations to build back better, basing our recovery on a fairer, greener and more resilient global economy, and to get our shared goals back on track, including the Sustainable Development Goals.

Over the last month the International Development Secretary and I have held several calls with our counterparts, including from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, to stress the importance of donors providing funds to the humanitarian response in Yemen.

UK officials have also held similar discussions with their counterparts around the world.

The UK announced our new pledge of £160 million in humanitarian funding for Yemen in the 2020/21 financial year at the Yemen Pledging Conference on 2 June, taking our total commitment since the conflict began to £970 million.

On Thursday 23 April, DFID’s Acting Permanent Secretary discussed the worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen and the urgent need for additional funding with UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock.

The UN has requested over $2.4 billion of funding to be able to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen until the end of this year.

I announced on 2 June that the UK will provide £160 million in response to Yemen’s humanitarian crisis this financial year (2020/21). This brings our overall commitment to Yemen to £970 million since the conflict began in 2015.

My Department is at the forefront of global efforts to ensure that Covid-19 vaccines are available to everyone who needs them, including in low-income and fragile states. On 4 June, the UK will host the Global Vaccines Summit (GVS2020) alongside GAVI who are uniquely placed to ensure safe, effective and affordable COVID-19 vaccines can be rolled out at scale to ensure equitable access. The UK is the leading donor to GAVI and we recently announced the equivalent of £330 million a year for five years, covering the business planning period 2021-2025.

The UK is at the forefront of tackling forced displacement and supporting refugees around the world, including support to Syrian refugees in Turkey and the Middle East, most notably Jordan and Lebanon. We also continue to offer support to the Greek Government to alleviate pressure and deliver sustainable improvements in the Greek migration system.

To date, the UK has committed £744 million in the international fight against COVID-19. We are a key contributor to the UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan which aims to ensure support to the most vulnerable groups including refugees and other forcibly displaced populations. This includes significant support to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to help install hand-washing stations and isolation and treatment centres in refugee camps, and increase access to clean water for displaced people.

We are working closely with the UN, International Financial Institutions, global health multilaterals, and wider international system to push for a strong and coordinated global response to the crisis and to ensure the most vulnerable groups, including refugees, are not left behind. As part of this, there is regular Ministerial and senior official engagement with the G7, G20, World Bank Group and other Multilateral Development Banks, UN agencies, and bilateral partners.

The UK is a long-term supporter of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA). Our funding helps provide education to more than 533,000 children (half of which are girls), health services for around 3.1 million Palestinian refugees, and social safety net assistance for around 255,000 of the most vulnerable.

The services that UNRWA provide play a key role in helping contain and address the spread of COVID-19. We continue to monitor the situation closely and are working closely with UNRWA and the international community to ensure a co-ordinated response to the outbreak.

DFID undertakes reviews of all its programmes, including nutrition programmes, on an annual basis, including whether intended outcomes and impacts are being achieved. We also invest in evaluating our programmes to enable us to learn what works and to adapt our approaches accordingly.

In 2020, we have been looking across DFID’s country portfolio to assess where there is scope to improve how we address malnutrition as part of the government’s commitment to end the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children – and considering current efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact is close to finalising its review of DFID’s work on nutrition. This will provide important insights into how we can further strengthen the work we do, and we look forward to receiving the final report in September.

Across the Middle East, malnutrition rates, as well as food insecurity levels, are very concerning, particularly in Yemen and Syria where rates are among the highest in the world.

In Yemen, last financial year (19/20), UK support helped UNICEF screen over 400,000 children for severe acute malnutrition and enabled 45,000 children to be enrolled in nutrition programmes after screening. The UK is the second-largest donor to the malnutrition response in Yemen and we continue to encourage other donors to provide significant funding to Yemen, including for the malnutrition response.

In Syria, last financial year (19/20), the UK reached over 170,000 children under five, or pregnant or new mothers, with nutrition interventions. The UK is one of the largest bilateral donors to the Syria Crisis since it began in 2011. We are at the forefront of the humanitarian response, driving other donors to help those acutely in need, including on key issues such as malnutrition.

On Friday 17 April, the Secretary of State for International Development spoke with the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, David Beasley. Their discussion covered COVID-19, the need for humanitarian access in Yemen (to enable the delivery of food to vulnerable people) and the current food scarcity risk posed by locusts in the Middle East and Africa.

On Monday 27 April, I spoke with the Government of Yemen’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Hadrami, where we discussed ways of stabilising Yemen’s economy (which will be critical for ensuring food imports and preventing a further deterioration in food scarcity).

On Thursday 23 April, DFID’s Acting Permanent Secretary discussed ways of improving humanitarian funding levels in Yemen, including in response to malnutrition and food scarcity, with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock.

Ministers and UK officials also remain in close contact with other donors on malnutrition and food scarcity across the Middle East.

The FCDO's aid budget has been allocated in line with the UK strategic objectives set out in the Integrated Review, amid the challenging financial climate of COVID. We have prioritised our aid to be more strategic and remain a force for good across the world. Allocation decisions took into account a range of factors, including qualitative and quantitative analyses of draft business plans and sectoral analysis of key trends. Impact on beneficiaries of UK aid, supply partners and equalities were all considered.

In 2018, the UK pledged £250 million as core funding for the Global Environment Facility. This is paid over four years (2018-2022) with annual payments of £62.5 million. We will be making the 2021/22 payment later this financial year. The Government does not intend to make an additional contribution to the Global Environment Facility's Special Climate Change Fund this year.

As set out at the International Development Committee last week, budgets would not normally be set out this early in the year. The normal process is for country allocations to be published by the Statistics for International Development. That process will not take place until 2022.

The FCDO has prioritised our reduced Overseas Development Assistance funding in the Middle East and North Africa so that the UK remains a force for good across the region against the challenging financial climate created by COVID-19. We are prioritising essential humanitarian assistance to those worst affected by conflict and COVID-19, notably in Syria and Yemen. We are continuing to focus on education and getting vulnerable girls into school and will also continue to support conflict resolution and stabilisation, open societies. Alongside our current programmes, we will also begin new programming to tackle climate change.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's aid budget has been allocated in accordance with UK strategic priorities against the challenging financial climate of COVID. UK Aid will continue to prioritise humanitarian support and conflict resolution as part of its core priorities for poverty reduction. Allocation decisions took into account a range of factors, including qualitative and quantitative analyses of draft business plans and sectoral analysis of key trends.

The UK's contribution to the EU's Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRIT) remains unaffected by the decision to reduce UK ODA from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI, in line with Article 155 of the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement. The UK will continue to meet direct contribution commitments to the FRIT for the duration of the programme.

The FCDO's aid budget has been allocated in line with the UK strategic objectives set out in the Integrated Review, amid the challenging financial climate of COVID-19. We have prioritised our aid to be more strategic and remain a force for good across the world. Allocation decisions took into account a range of factors, including qualitative and quantitative analyses of draft business plans and sectoral analysis of key trends. Impact on beneficiaries of UK aid, on supply partners and on equalities were all considered.

The FCDO's aid budget has been allocated in line with the UK strategic objectives set out in the Integrated Review, amid the challenging financial climate of COVID-19. We have prioritised our aid to be more strategic and remain a force for good across the world. Allocation decisions took into account a range of factors, including qualitative and quantitative analyses of draft business plans and sectoral analysis of key trends. Impact on beneficiaries of UK aid, on supply partners and on equalities were all considered.

Despite financial pressures, the UK remains a leading humanitarian donor, having committed over £3.7 billion to the Syria crisis and more than £1 billion to the Yemen responses since the conflicts began. COVID-19 continues to pose a particularly significant threat in Syria. The UK is one of the leading donors supporting UN and International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) partners to deliver vital healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene activities across Syria, all which help to mitigate the threat posed by COVID-19. UK support to the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility has seen the first batch of 203,000 vaccine doses delivered to Damascus and 53,800 doses to north west Syria on 22 April.

In Yemen, in partnership with the World Bank and WHO, the UK will fund roll out costs for nearly 2 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine allocated to Yemen via the COVAX facility. The first batch of 360,000 doses was delivered on the 31 March.

The UK is at the forefront of responding to forced displacement globally and we remain committed to supporting refugees and displaced persons. We continue to champion the principles of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), with its focus on longer term support that enables refugees to find work, access education and other key services, while also benefitting host communities and countries. The UK endorsed the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) in 2018, the first international framework for cooperation on migration. The UK resettled over 20,000 refugees fleeing the brutal conflict in Syria through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS). This included those requiring urgent medical treatment, survivors of violence, torture, and women and children at risk to safely rebuild their lives in the UK.

Following a thorough review, the FCDO's aid budget has been allocated in accordance with UK strategic priorities against a challenging financial climate of COVID. The portfolio agreed by the Foreign Secretary will focus our investment and expertise on issues where the UK can make the most difference and achieve maximum strategic coherence, impact, and value for money. FCDO will now work through what this means for individual programmes, in line with the priorities we have outlined.

The FCDO's aid budget has been allocated in line with the UK strategic objectives set out in the Integrated Review, amid the challenging financial climate of COVID. We have prioritised our aid to be more strategic and remain a force for good across the world. Allocation decisions took into account a range of factors, including qualitative and quantitative analyses of draft business plans and sectoral analysis of key trends. Impact on beneficiaries of UK aid, supply partners and equalities were all considered.

The FCDO's aid budget has been allocated in line with the UK strategic objectives set out in the Integrated Review, amid the challenging financial climate of COVID. We have prioritised our aid to be more strategic and remain a force for good across the world. Allocation decisions took into account a range of factors, including qualitative and quantitative analyses of draft business plans and sectoral analysis of key trends. Impact on beneficiaries of UK aid, supply partners and equalities were all considered.

The FCDO has prioritised our reduced Overseas Development Assistance funding in the Middle East and North Africa so that the UK remains a force for good across the region against the challenging financial climate created by COVID-19. We are prioritising essential humanitarian assistance to those worst affected by conflict and COVID-19, notably in Syria and Yemen. We are continuing to focus on education and getting vulnerable girls into school and will also continue to support conflict resolution and stabilisation, open societies. Alongside our current programmes, we will also begin new programming to tackle climate change.

The impact of the pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take tough decisions, including temporarily reducing the overall amount we spend on aid. For Yemen, we have pledged at least £87 million for this financial year. This will feed 240,000 of the most vulnerable Yemenis every month, support 400 healthcare clinics and provide clean water for 1.6 million people. We will also provide one-off cash support to 1.5 million of Yemen's poorest households to help them buy food and basic supplies.

We fully support the peace process led by the UN Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths, and urge the parties to engage constructively with this process. On 1 March 2021 I [Minister Cleverly] spoke to UN Special Envoy Griffiths about how best the UK can help him end the war.

The FCDO's aid budget has been allocated in14714 accordance with UK strategic priorities against the challenging financial climate of COVID. Officials considered any impact on women and girls, the most marginalised and vulnerable, people with disabilities and people from other protected groups, when developing advice to Ministers.

Following a thorough review, the FCDO's aid budget has been allocated in accordance with UK strategic priorities against the challenging financial climate of COVID. UK Aid will continue to prioritise humanitarian response and conflict resolution as part of its core priorities for poverty reduction.

The Syria crisis remains one of the UK's top priorities. The ongoing humanitarian crisis, deteriorating economic conditions, and growing food insecurity in Syria, means we must seek more sustainable, long-term solutions to increase the resilience of millions living in conflict. Last month the UK pledged at least £205 million in 2021 to continue providing life-saving and life-sustaining assistance in Syria and across neighbouring countries. This brings our total support to over £3.7 billion since 2012. The FCDO will now work through what this means for individual programmes, in line with the priorities we have outlined.

The Foreign Secretary has outlined via Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament the thematic and regional allocations for FCDO ODA spend. Official Development Assistance budgets for 2021/22, along with final audited spend for 2020/21, will be published in the Annual Report and Accounts in due course.

The Government is committed to doubling UK International Climate Finance (ICF) to £11.6 billion over the next five years. In 2021/22 the UK Government (through the FCDO, BEIS and DEFRA) will spend at least £1.4 billion of ICF.

The allocations for future years will be settled in subsequent Spending Reviews.

The Integrated Review reaffirmed our commitment to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Following a thorough review, the FCDO's aid budget has been allocated in accordance with UK strategic priorities, which are closely aligned with the SDGs, against a challenging financial climate of COVID. Officials considered any impact on women and girls, the most marginalised and vulnerable, people with disabilities and people from other protected groups, when developing advice to Ministers.

COVID makes the challenge of achieving the SDGs even harder. Aid cannot do it alone. Mobilisation of domestic resources and private finance is critical, as has always been the case. The UK is demonstrating leadership on the SDGs, as one of the largest donors to the international response tackling COVID-19. And we will use our COP26 and G7 Presidencies this year to reinforce the importance of the SDGs on the global stage.

The Government is committed to doubling UK International Climate Finance to £11.6 billion over the next five years. No final decisions have yet been made on budget allocations.

The Prime Minister announced at the Climate Ambition Summit on 12 December 2020 that the Government will no longer provide any new direct financial or promotional support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas, with very limited exemptions. On the same day, CDC Group announced its fossil fuel policy which is fully aligned with HMG's fossil fuel policy.

The UK is firmly committed to Sustainable Development Goal 7 aimed at helping developing countries establish a secure and sustainable energy supply, economic growth and poverty reduction. We do this in a way that supports the UK's climate and environment objectives. Since 2011, the UK International Climate Finance (ICF) has provided 33 million people with improved access to clean energy.

HMG's fossil fuels policy demonstrates the UK's global climate leadership ahead of the UK's COP 26 Presidency. In developing this policy, HMG consulted with civil society, oil and gas majors, SMEs and industry bodies to gather views and evidence which reinforced the importance of the UK taking ambitious and decisive action on climate. However, in doing so, HMG would also ensure that the skilled and dynamic UK energy industry is effectively supported to transition successfully to clean energy export markets. And, in support of SDG 7, there would be few limited exemptions allowed for activities that support health and safety improvements, form part of wider clean energy transitions, decommissioning and humanitarian responses.

CDC has published its complete portfolio of energy investments as held at 31 December 2019 on its website, with details including the start date of each investment and the total amount committed.

For future investments, CDC has published its fossil fuel policy to align with the Government's new approach. The policy excludes the vast majority of fossil fuel sub-sectors including coal, oil and upstream gas exploration and production. Limited exceptions, such as selective gas power investments, are required to demonstrate alignment with a country's pathway to net zero emissions by 2050, amongst other criteria. The stringent criteria applied to such investments is also available on CDC's website.

CDC has invested over $1 billion of climate finance in the past three years, and has set a target for 30% of all new commitments in 2021 to be to climate finance. CDC does not set sector specific investment targets for its future investments. Specific pipeline information is not disclosed as this is commercially sensitive.

While CDC Group (CDC), Private Infrastructure Investment Group (PIDG), International Finance Corporation (IFC), African Development Bank (AfDB) are funded by UK ODA, their investments are not solely funded by the UK. Details of CDC, PIDG, IFC and African Development Bank investments in Indorama are available from their websites. Investment into Indorama has helped Nigeria meet its domestic needs for urea fertiliser and plastics as well as shifting the country to be a net exporter.

Further details can be accessed on the respective data portals at www.cdcgroup.com/en/our-impact/search-results/, http://data.pidg.org/, https://disclosures.ifc.org/ and https://mapafrica.afdb.org/en/.

Every investment CDC makes is assessed for its positive development impact using an internationally recognised methodology. In addition to this, through its Code of Responsible Investing, CDC applies rigorous environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards to each investment.

As part of its commitment to Helios Investors IV, CDC has in place legal agreements to ensure that the fund cannot invest in a range of fossil fuel activities, including coal-fired power plants, coal mining, processing and trading, upstream oil and gas exploration and production, midstream oil, oil refineries and HFO only-fired power plants and mini-grids.

The UK invests in the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) to improve access to critical infrastructure services for people in the poorest regions of Africa and Asia. Before approving any investment, PIDG gives due consideration to the environmental impact of projects. This is done through an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment of every project. Each investment must comply with PIDG's Environmental, Social, Health and Safety standards, which are based on the internationally recognised International Finance Corporation Environment and Social Performance Standards.

With regards to a project's climate impacts specifically, PIDG only invests in projects which satisfy stringent tests. In 2020, PIDG updated its climate change approach to adopt a new 'Climate Change Standard'. This is in line with the UK Government's policy that it will no longer provide any new direct financial or promotional support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas, with the exception of gas in limited circumstances where it is aligned with climate goals. The Tema Energy investment in Ghana is a legacy transaction which pre-dates the PIDG Climate Change Standard. PIDG undertook detailed assessments of the transaction to determine the impact of the project on Ghana's renewable energy targets, decarbonisation of the energy mix and transition risks. This assessment concluded that the project will play an important role in Ghana's transition from oil dependency and improve security of fuel supply to the poorest, with positive economic and net Green House Gas emissions benefits.

The UK is not a member of the Saudi-led coalition. We have an ongoing relationship with Saudi Arabia which includes sharing advice and guidance to support the Saudi military's compliance with International Humanitarian Law and efforts to protect their national security. The UK continues to use all our diplomatic and humanitarian expertise to support UN-led peace efforts to end the conflict and alleviate the humanitarian situation in Yemen.

In 2019, the banks and other financial institutions supported by CDC lent $34 billion to businesses across Africa and South Asia. This economic activity supported the jobs of an estimated 1.88 million workers.

CDC has trade finance facilities with Afrexim Bank ($100 million) and the Trade and Development Bank ($75 million). In addition, CDC has provided three loans to the Trade and Development Bank ($200 million in total). CDC's capital, through both Afrexim and Trade and Development Bank, is enabling trade in critical goods as well as supporting broad economic growth across Africa. In 2010, CDC made an investment commitment to European Financing Partners IV ($32.6 million) which has a small exposure to the Africa Finance Corporation.

CDC was not a party in any funding provided by the listed institutions to the Gisagara power plant.

Information on CDC's portfolio, including new commitments made in 2020, will be made available following publication of its 2020 Annual Review and Annual Accounts in July 2021. CDC's latest Annual Review and Accounts, published in 2020, are available on its website - https://www.cdcgroup.com/en/annual-review-2019/.

The impact of the global pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take the tough but necessary decision to temporarily reduce how much we spend on Official Development Assistance (ODA). We are currently working through the implications of these changes for individual programmes, including for Small Charities Challenge Fund. No decisions have yet been made.

The UK remains fully committed to the Sustainable Development Goals. Everyone has a role to play to achieve them including communities, local government, the private sector, and civil society.

Official Development Assistance (ODA) is reported on a calendar year basis. The FCDO National Statistics publication, 'Statistics on International Development', which is due to be published on 8 April, will provide a breakdown of high-level UK ODA spend for 2020, including the estimate of ODA eligible Gift Aid claimed by international development charities.

ODA eligible Gift Aid is determined by the estimated amount of Gift Aid claimed and then spent by charities on ODA eligible activities. As such, it does not have an allocated budget. ODA eligible Gift Aid spend for 2021 will be published in 'Statistics on International Development' in Spring 2022.

Civil society organisations have a significant role to play in delivering the seven core priorities. We recognise the unique role played by small UK-based international development charities in understanding and connecting with local communities and delivering support to the most marginalised and vulnerable, including during the latest COVID-19 crisis.

We will share further information with civil society organisations to start working through implications of decisions once they are taken, and we intend to work closely with our partners to implement any changes.

The reduction of UN-mandated cross-border aid has made access to essential healthcare services even more difficult for millions across Northern Syria. Only 6% of public hospitals in the north-east are assessed to be fully functioning. In the North West, widespread food insecurity has led to stunted growth for one-third of children, one in nine pregnant women are malnourished, and COVID-19 is further exacerbating ongoing healthcare issues. The current UN cross-border aid mechanism is critical to ensure the successful delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to hard-to-reach populations such as north-west Syria, with other 330,000 vaccines to be distributed via Turkey.

The UK is clear that no other mechanism can replace the scale and scope of the UN operations in northern Syria, and strongly supports the renewal of UNSCR 2533, so that UN operations can continue to meet the needs in North West Syria, avoiding further humanitarian disaster.

To date the UK has committed £548 million to COVAX, to ensure global access to vaccines, and has consistently called other donors to step up their support. Alongside this, the UK is clear that humanitarian partners must have unfettered access to distribute COVID-19 vaccines across the whole of Syria. Cross-border aid mechanisms are critical to ensuring the successful delivery of vaccines to hard-to-reach populations such as north-west Syria where over 2.7 million people remain displaced. Operations from Turkey will distribute over 330,000 vaccines to those most vulnerable.

The UK regularly raises the issue of UN-mandated cross-border access, including most recently on 02 March with Russian authorities, who have twice used their veto to unfairly reduce humanitarian aid access into Syria. The UK also continues to use its position at the UN Security Council and in bilateral discussions to push for greater aid access into Syria and to urge renewal of Resolution 2533. This approach is informed by regular Ministerial and Official consultation with International partners, UN agencies, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock, human rights and non-governmental organisations and others, We strongly support the renewal of UNSCR 2533 and are urging members of the UN Security Council to vote in favour of renewing the resolution to avoid further humanitarian disaster.

The Syria Crisis remains one of the UK's top priorities and we will continue to stand by the Syrian people by delivering to those in need, both inside Syria and to refugee hosting countries. The UK is one of the largest bilateral donors to the Syria Crisis, having spent over £3.5 billion to date, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.

We continue to use our position at the UN Security Council, relationships with International Partners, UN agencies, human rights and non-governmental organisations and others, to push for greater aid access into Syria and more sustainable, long-term solutions, to increase the resilience of millions living in conflict. The UK's Special Representative for Syria plays an essential role in engaging the international community, to improve the lives of over 13 million people who are currently in need of humanitarian assistance. The UK's Special Representative is also committed to driving support for a genuine political process to reach a lasting settlement. The UK will continue to engage with and lead the wider international humanitarian response to do the same, including at the fifth Brussels Conference for Syria and the Region.

The FCDO is in the process of rigorous internal prioritisation process in response to the spending review announcement, and we will provide an update on any implications as soon as possible. We are still working through what this means for individual programmes and no decisions have yet been made.

The Syria Crisis remains one of the UK's top priorities and we will continue to stand by the Syrian people by delivering to those in need, both inside Syria and to refugee hosting countries. The UK is one of the largest bilateral donors to the Syria Crisis, having spent over £3.5 billion to date, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.

We continue to use our position at the UN Security Council, relationships with International Partners, UN agencies, human rights and non-governmental organisations and others, to push for greater aid access into Syria and more sustainable, long-term solutions, to increase the resilience of millions living in conflict. The UK's Special Representative for Syria plays an essential role in engaging the international community, to improve the lives of over 13 million people who are currently in need of humanitarian assistance. The UK's Special Representative is also committed to driving support for a genuine political process to reach a lasting settlement. The UK will continue to engage with and lead the wider international humanitarian response to do the same, including at the fifth Brussels Conference for Syria and the Region.

The FCDO is in the process of rigorous internal prioritisation process in response to the spending review announcement, and we will provide an update on any implications as soon as possible. We are still working through what this means for individual programmes and no decisions have yet been made.

As announced last year, the impact of the global pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take the tough but necessary decision to temporarily reduce how much we spend on Official Development Assistance (ODA).We are now working through the implications of these changes for individual programmes. No decisions have yet been made on individual budget allocations.

Ministers and officials regularly engage with international actors, including the UN and other donors, to ensure life-saving humanitarian aid reaches the millions of Yemenis in need. The only sustainable way to protect civilians and bring long-term stability to Yemen is an inclusive political settlement and an end to the conflict.

On 25 February, the Foreign Secretary spoke to Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan about the Yemen peace process and he has also recently discussed this with US Secretary of State. I discussed Yemen with the Omani Ambassador to the UK on 4 February, and spoke to Yemeni Foreign Minister on 20 January regarding the attack on Aden and the formation of the new cabinet. We fully support the efforts of the UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths to secure a lasting political settlement to the Yemen conflict. I spoke with Martin Griffiths on 1 March to discuss how the UK can best support the UN-led peace process.

The Foreign Secretary has set out seven core priorities which will inform FCDO ODA budgets for 2021/22. These are: climate and biodiversity; Covid and global health security; girls' education; science and research; defending open societies and resolving conflict; humanitarian assistance; and promoting trade and economic growth. FCDO does not apply conditionality to our aid, except where those conditions are linked to the purpose of the funding at hand (for example in results-based aid funding).

The UK's minimum commitment of £87 million to Yemen for financial year 2021/22 was decided and approved by the Foreign Secretary ahead of the UN Pledging Event on 1 March. This is a floor, not a ceiling. Despite the financial pressures at home, the UK remains a leading donor to Yemen and made the 5th highest pledge at the UN pledging conference. In previous years, the UK has exceeded its announced annual commitment to Yemen in response to developments on the ground.

The Foreign Secretary has set out seven core priorities which will inform FCDO ODA budgets for 2021/22. These are: climate and biodiversity; Covid and global health security; girls' education; science and research; defending open societies and resolving conflict; humanitarian assistance; and promoting trade and economic growth. FCDO does not apply conditionality to our aid, except where those conditions are linked to the purpose of the funding at hand (for example in results-based aid funding).

The UK's minimum commitment of £87 million to Yemen for financial year 2021/22 was decided and approved by the Foreign Secretary ahead of the UN Pledging Event on 1 March. This is a floor, not a ceiling. Despite the financial pressures at home, the UK remains a leading donor to Yemen and made the 5th highest pledge at the UN pledging conference. In previous years, the UK has exceeded its announced annual commitment to Yemen in response to developments on the ground.

CDC's fossil fuel policy was published in December 2020. The policy excludes new investment in the vast majority of fossil fuel subsectors, with very limited exceptions. CDC will only consider investments in gas power and related infrastructure if they are aligned with the Paris Agreement and aligned with a country's pathway to net zero emissions by 2050.

Prior to 2021, CDC made investment commitments to two gas power generation projects which are expected to reach financial close in 2021. Both of these projects are in Africa. A small number of the investment funds to which CDC committed prior to the adoption of its fossil fuel policy, in December 2020, may make investments to fossil fuel projects under their existing legal mandates.

Specific pipeline information is not disclosed as this is commercially sensitive.

CDC has invested over $1 billion of climate finance in the past three years and has set a target for 30% of all new commitments in 2021 to be to climate finance.

CDC's policy is aligned with the HMG fossil fuel policy which excludes fossil fuel investments, except under certain circumstances. Any time line for completely stopping gas investments would be dependent on HMG fossil fuel policy.

CDC published a new fossil fuel policy in December 2020, which will be applied to all new commitments. This policy excludes future investment in the vast majority of fossil fuel subsectors including coal, oil and upstream gas exploration and production, with very limited exceptions.

Prior to 2021, CDC made investment commitments to two gas power generation projects which are expected to reach financial close in 2021. Both of these projects are in Africa. A small number of the investment funds to which CDC committed prior to the adoption of its new fossil fuel policy, in December 2020, may make commitments to fossil fuel projects under their existing legal mandates.

Specific pipeline information is not disclosed as this is commercially sensitive.

CDC's policy is aligned with the HMG fossil fuel policy which excludes fossil fuel investments, except under certain circumstances. Any time line for completely stopping gas investments would be dependent on HMG fossil fuel policy.

The Prime Minister announced at the Climate Ambition Summit on 12 December 2020 that the Government will no longer provide any new direct financial or promotional support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas, with very limited exemptions. Immediately following the announcement, CDC published its updated fossil fuel policy, which is fully aligned with the Government's approach, and is effective. The policy excludes future investment in the vast majority of fossil fuel subsectors with very limited exceptions. CDC's approach is consistent with the Paris Agreement and requires investments to demonstrate alignment with a country's pathway to net zero emissions by 2050.

Further details on CDC's updated fossil fuel policy are available at: www.cdcgroup.com/en/news-insight/news/announcing-our-new-fossil-fuel-policy-and-guidance-on-natural-gas-power-plants/?fl=true.

Since 2014, the UK has supported replenishments of the African Development Fund (AfDF) as follows:

13th replenishment (2014-16) £604 million of the £4.8 billion total;

14th replenishment (2017-19) £447 million of the £4.3 billion total;

15th replenishment (2020-22) £620 million of the £6.0 billion total.

The 16th replenishment is expected to be agreed in 2022.

Between 2014 and 2020 two AfDF projects with fossil fuel components have been approved by the Bank's Board, with a total value of £71 million. One relates to the installation of a generator for a diesel-powered power plant and the other to improving transmission from an existing gas power plant. No AfDF support has been provided for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project. Future AfDF projects have yet to be agreed with country governments and the Bank's Board. The Bank is preparing a new climate change and green growth policy, due to be published in late 2021. We are engaging with this process with the aim of further limiting the Bank's support for fossil fuel projects, in line with the UK's recently announced policy.

Since 2014, the UK has supported replenishments of the African Development Fund (AfDF) as follows:

13th replenishment (2014-16) £604 million of the £4.8 billion total;

14th replenishment (2017-19) £447 million of the £4.3 billion total;

15th replenishment (2020-22) £620 million of the £6.0 billion total.

The 16th replenishment is expected to be agreed in 2022.

Between 2014 and 2020 two AfDF projects with fossil fuel components have been approved by the Bank's Board, with a total value of £71 million. One relates to the installation of a generator for a diesel-powered power plant and the other to improving transmission from an existing gas power plant. No AfDF support has been provided for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project. Future AfDF projects have yet to be agreed with country governments and the Bank's Board. The Bank is preparing a new climate change and green growth policy, due to be published in late 2021. We are engaging with this process with the aim of further limiting the Bank's support for fossil fuel projects, in line with the UK's recently announced policy.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's Syria's budget allocation for financial year 2021/22 will be confirmed when the details of the Government's Spending Review are finalised.

The UK has been one of the largest bilateral donors to the Syria Crisis since 2011. To date, we have committed over £3.3 billion in response to the Syria Crisis, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. We will continue to support the Syrian people affected by the brutality of the Assad regime and we will continue to honour our commitment to support the Syrian people through humanitarian aid and pursuing accountability for the most serious crimes committed in Syria.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's Syria's budget allocation for financial year 2021/22 will be confirmed when the details of the Government's Spending Review are finalised.

The UK has been one of the largest bilateral donors to the Syria Crisis since 2011. To date, we have committed over £3.3 billion in response to the Syria Crisis, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. We will continue to support the Syrian people affected by the brutality of the Assad regime and we will continue to honour our commitment to support the Syrian people through humanitarian aid and pursuing accountability for the most serious crimes committed in Syria.

The Government has discussed arrangements with the EU for UK nationals travelling to the Schengen Area. Regrettably, the EU has consistently maintained that UK nationals will be treated as Third Country Nationals under the Schengen Borders Code from 1 January 2021. UK nationals will only be able to travel visa-free for short stays for up to 90 days in a rolling 180-day period. This is the standard length of stay that the EU offers to nationals of eligible third countries that offer visa-free travel for EU citizens, in line with existing EU legislation.

UK nationals planning to stay longer will need permission from the relevant Member State. This may require applying for a visa and/or permit. Information about travel to Europe after the transition period is available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/visit-europe-1-january-2021

The G20 Leaders' Summit agenda has yet to be finalised. It is likely to focus on health, the global economic recovery and climate change. The UK continues to raise the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen in multiple multilateral fora.

The UK is concerned by the continued demolitions of Palestinian structures by Israeli authorities. In all but the most exceptional of circumstances demolitions are contrary to International Humanitarian Law. We have made clear to the Israeli authorities our serious concern at the increase in demolitions of Palestinian properties in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. Between 2015 and 2019, around eight per cent of West Bank Protection Consortium (WBPC) structures were demolished or seized by the Israeli authorities. The UK continues to fund the WBPC, and has provided a total of £1.9 million to the WBPC and its activities since 2018. Our legal aid programme supports Bedouin communities and Palestinians facing demolition or home eviction in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The UK is seriously concerned by the possible demolition of a Palestinian school in Ras Al-Tin by Israeli authorities. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv raised our concern with the Government of Israel on 13 October, alongside European partners. Officials also visited the school on 16 October. In all but the most exceptional of circumstances demolitions are contrary to International Humanitarian Law. We recognise that Palestinians face severe difficulty in securing building permissions for homes and infrastructure in East Jerusalem and Area C. We continue to urge the Government of Israel to develop improved mechanisms for zoning, planning and permitting in Area C for the benefit of the Palestinian population, including by facilitating local Palestinian participation in such processes.

The UK is concerned by the continued demolition of Palestinian property, including schools, by Israeli authorities. In a joint statement on 16 October, the UK, alongside France, Germany, Spain and Italy, urged Israel to halt its policy of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian structures in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv also raised this issue with the Government of Israel on 13 October, alongside European partners. We keep the case for compensation under review but the UK is focused on preventing demolitions from happening in the first place. In all but the most exceptional of circumstances demolitions are contrary to International Humanitarian Law. The right to education is a basic right, and it is essential to have a strong and thriving Palestinian education system in order to provide opportunities for the next generation. This is why the UK is committed to providing support to education workers in the West Bank, and UNRWA education in the West Bank and Gaza.

The UK is concerned by the continued demolitions of Palestinian structures by Israeli authorities. In all but the most exceptional of circumstances demolitions are contrary to International Humanitarian Law. We have made clear to the Israeli authorities our serious concern at the increase in demolitions of Palestinian properties in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. The UK is focused on preventing demolitions from happening in the first place through our legal aid programme, which supports Bedouin communities and Palestinians facing demolition or home eviction in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The UK and international partners will continue to call bilaterally, and in international fora, for Israel to cease demolitions and provide a clear, transparent route to construction for Palestinians in Area C. No funds have been deducted from EU-Israel bilateral support. We have consulted a number of EU and West Bank Protection Consortium partners on the issue of compensation. They share our concerns. We are keeping the case for compensation under review.

We remain deeply concerned by the deteriorating state of the FSO SAFER oil tanker. The Foreign Secretary raised the tanker's dire condition, which poses an environmental, economic and humanitarian threat to Yemen and the region, during the P5+ High Level Ministerial meeting on 17 September. The Houthis urgently need to grant access to the tanker so that the UN can inspect the vessel and carry out any much needed repair work. The UK is working with the UN and other donors to ensure the mission proceeds and that comprehensive UN contingency plans are in place should a leak occur.

The FSO SAFER oil tanker remains is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. The Foreign Secretary raised the tanker's dire condition, which poses an environmental, economic and humanitarian threat to Yemen and the region, during the P5+ High Level Ministerial meeting on 17 September that he co-hosted with his Swedish, German and Kuwaiti counterparts. The Group agreed a Joint Communique - https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/joint-communique-on-the-conflict-in-yemen - which called on the Houthis to urgently facilitate unconditional and safe access for UN experts to conduct an assessment and repair mission. The UK is also working with the UN and other donors to ensure there is enough funding in place for that mission to proceed and that comprehensive UN contingency plans are in place should a leak occur.

Following an internal review and prioritisation exercise of all Overseas Development Aid spending, we have not planned cuts to proposed total spend in the OPTs for financial year 2020/2021. This is £71.4m as per the DFID annual report published in July 2020.

The UK committed £160 million in new aid for Yemen for the current financial year (2020/21) at the 2020 Yemen Humanitarian Pledging Conference on 2 June.

We have every intention of meeting our commitment and have already disbursed 60 per cent of our £160 million funding for this year. We will continue to disburse funding quickly to ensure our partners have the resources to continue delivering assistance.

Support to the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC) will be maintained by FCDO Ethiopia via the 'Programme Addressing Irregular, Unsafe Migration through and from Ethiopia' until April 2023, and by FCDO Sudan via the 'Routes Based Migration Response Programme' until October 2021. Funding under the centrally-managed 'Safety, Support and Solutions Phase 2' programme, which ends in March 2021, has been reduced by approximately 10 per cent. This cut was discussed and agreed with MMC and their partners.

This financial year (2020/21) the Government budgeted £137 million for delivery of aid in Syria as a part of the UK's Syria Crisis Response. Difficult decisions have been necessary around the ODA budget to make sure we meet the 0.7 per cent commitment, however the UK continues to play a leading role in mobilising the international community.

At the Brussels Conference on "Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region" in June, the UK pledged at least £300 million to the Syria Crisis for 2020, bringing our total commitment to over £3.3 billion since 2012. This support will continue the essential life-saving and life-sustaining assistance in Syria and provide vital support in neighbouring countries.

In the financial year 2020/21 the UK has contributed £41.9 million through the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRIT), to support Turkey help meet the needs of refugees and their host communities. This forms part of the UK's Syria Crisis Response. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will continue to meet direct contribution commitments to the FRIT for the duration of the programme with no cuts to the programme's proposed spend.

Programme plans for the delivery of £639.2 million ODA funding in the Middle East and North Africa were published in financial year 2020/21. This figure excludes Conflict, Stability and Security Funds.

Revised ODA allocations for 2020/21 will be published by HM Treasury at Autumn Budget. The Statistics for International Development published in 2021 will provide a full breakdown of the UK's ODA spend for 2020.

We welcome US statements that these new sanctions are targeted and humanitarian exemptions continue to apply. As such, we do not believe that they should impact current negotiations regarding UN Security Council Resolution 2504. The renewal is a matter for the UN Security Council and the UK continues to be vocal on the need for cross-border aid into both north-west and north-east Syria.

The UK strongly supports the re-authorisation of the Al Yaroubiyah border crossing to allow humanitarian aid into north-east Syria. As outlined in the UN Secretary General's report of February 2020, this remains the best route through which to deliver aid cross-border into north-east Syria. We have set out our position repeatedly at the UN Security Council, mostly recently on 19 May. The Foreign Secretary has raised this with his Russian, German and French counterparts and senior officials have discussed this with the other Security Council members including Belgium and China.

The UK strongly supports the re-authorisation of the Al Yaroubiyah border crossing to allow humanitarian aid into north-east Syria. As outlined in the UN Secretary General's report of February 2020, this remains the best route through which to deliver aid cross-border into north-east Syria. We have set out our position repeatedly at the UN Security Council, mostly recently on 19 May. The Foreign Secretary has raised this with his Russian, German and French counterparts and senior officials have discussed this with the other Security Council members including Belgium and China.

The UK is strongly committed to the renewal of UNSCR 2504 to enable continued cross-border humanitarian access into Syria. We have expressed this position repeatedly at the UN Security Council, mostly recently at the Syria Humanitarian session on 19 May, and have also engaged bilaterally with other Security Council members on this issue. Negotiations remain ongoing ahead of the expiry of the current resolution in July.

Environmental charities make a valuable contribution to the Government’s environmental agenda, through conservation of the natural environment; engaging people in the natural world; and providing access to our beautiful landscapes and coastlines. The Government will continue to work with these organisations on shared objectives during and after the Covid-19 outbreak.

There is no specific financial support available solely to environmental charities. However, environmental charities may benefit from a number of the business support schemes the Government has launched. These include VAT deferrals, Small Business Grant Funding, business rates holidays for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, and the Job Retention Scheme. Full details of the unprecedented support the Government has made available are available at https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support.

All forms of sexual violence against children are terrible crimes, which have devastating consequences on young lives. The Government is determined to protect and support those who are targeted, exploited and harmed by criminals. We are working to improve our understanding of the scale and nature of child sexual abuse, to enable us to better prevent and disrupt offending. We use data gathered through the Office of National Statistics England and Wales Crime Survey to understand the number of victims and their ages. We also draw on the research and insight produced by the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which we established in 2017, and the insight of other experts including the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse.

The Home Office does not receive data on cases referred to the police, but instead collects data on offences recorded by police.

In 2021, the Office for National Statistics published data on the gender and age of victims of all sexual offences between March 2019 and March 2020, excluding image offences, in the records of 24 police forces. This data shows that 24.1% of female victims of sexual offences were aged 10 to 14 and 21.0% of female victims of sexual offences were aged 15 to 19.

The Government is determined to tackle domestic abuse.

Following the landmark Domestic Abuse Act, the Government will be publishing a first-ever, national Domestic Abuse Strategy, as well as a complementary Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, this year.

Meetings of the National Retail Crime Steering Group were held on 20 January and 28 April 2021.

The List of Travellers is an EU scheme and the EU announced in July last year the UK would no longer be part of it from 1 January 2021.

The UK Government decided to continue to accept travel to the UK on the List of Travellers until 1 October to allow this change to be made at the same time as the change on the acceptance of EU/EEA and Swiss identity cards.

It is for the EU to decide on what documents it requires for travel to the EU, just as the UK can now determine our own requirements now we have left.

A number of countries have declined to continue accepting UK issued Collective Passports this year, but many will continue to accept them. Given that, we have not made an assessment of the effect this change will have on educational and recreational school visits from the UK to Europe.

As the requested information is held at establishment level, rather than centrally, it is not possible to provide it without incurring disproportionate cost.

There are some occasions when it is necessary to remove young people from association because their behaviour is likely to be so disruptive that keeping them on ordinary location would be unsafe, or because their own safety and wellbeing cannot reasonably be assured by other means. Removal from association cannot be used as a punishment, and there are careful limits placed on the length of time for which young people can be separated.

Information for the 12 months ending 31 March 2022 is not yet available. In the 12 months ending 28 February 2022, which is the latest period available for reporting, there were 767 removals of children from association in Youth Offender Institutions where that removal had ended on or by 28 February 2022, broken down as follows:

There are some occasions when it is necessary to remove young people from association because their behaviour is likely to be so disruptive that keeping them on ordinary location would be unsafe, or because their own safety and wellbeing cannot reasonably be assured by other means. Removal from association cannot be used as a punishment, and there are careful limits placed on the length of time for which young people can be separated.

Information to the 12 months ending 31 March 2022 is not yet available. In the 12 months ending 28 February 2022, which is the latest period for which information is available, there were 311 removals of children from association at Oakhill Secure Training Centre, broken down as follows:

Source: Bespoke returns from establishments collated centrally on a monthly basis

# indicates a value of 5 or fewer

The data are generated from internal management information. The entire period reported on is from a time of regime restrictions to counter the spread of Covid 19. Separations owing to Covid 19 are not included in the numbers presented.

At the 2021 Budget, the Government announced that it was significantly increasing support for victim support services to £185m by 2024/25, which is an uplift of 85% from core funding in 2020/21.

On Friday 25 March, the Deputy Prime Minister announced that as part of this increased budget, £147m per year will be committed over a multi-year period, from 1 April 2022 until the end of 2024/25. The move to a long-term funding model will enable charities and service providers to recruit and retain essential specialist staff, building capacity and strengthening their services so they can provide consistent and high-quality support for victims.

The money will fund emotional, practical and therapeutic support for victims of crime such as women and girls affected by domestic abuse. This includes helping fund more specialist Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs).

At the 2021 Budget, the Government announced that it was significantly increasing support for victim support services to £185m by 2024/25, which is an uplift of 85% from core funding in 2020/21.

On Friday 25 March, the Deputy Prime Minister announced that as part of this increased budget, £147m per year will be committed over a multi-year period, from 1 April 2022 until the end of 2024/25. The move to a long-term funding model will enable charities and service providers to recruit and retain essential specialist staff, building the capacity and strengthening their services so they can provide consistent and high-quality support for victims.

The money will fund emotional, practical and therapeutic support for victims of crime such as women and girls affected by domestic abuse. This includes helping fund more specialist Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs).

Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. By 2024-5, we will invest £200m per year to transform our approach to rehabilitation. We have issued the Community Accommodation Service-Tier 3 (CAS3) prior information notice which is available via the following link: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/000136-2022.

HMPPS defines homelessness, in accordance with the legal definition, as being where the individual does not have any accommodation available and reasonable for them to occupy, including where they may be rough sleeping, squatting or in a night shelter, emergency hostel, or campsite.

Information regarding the number of women leaving prison who make use of housing specialists is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Between July and December 2021, 659 women accessed accommodation support through the Commissioned Rehabilitation Services (CRS), either before or after being released from custody. All offenders who leave prison are provided support through Community Probation Practitioners.

Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. By 2024-5, we will invest £200m per year to transform our approach to rehabilitation. We have issued the Community Accommodation Service-Tier 3 (CAS3) prior information notice which is available via the following link: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/000136-2022.

HMPPS defines homelessness, in accordance with the legal definition, as being where the individual does not have any accommodation available and reasonable for them to occupy, including where they may be rough sleeping, squatting or in a night shelter, emergency hostel, or campsite.

Information regarding the number of women leaving prison who make use of housing specialists is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Between July and December 2021, 659 women accessed accommodation support through the Commissioned Rehabilitation Services (CRS), either before or after being released from custody. All offenders who leave prison are provided support through Community Probation Practitioners.

Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. By 2024-5, we will invest £200m per year to transform our approach to rehabilitation. We have issued the Community Accommodation Service-Tier 3 (CAS3) prior information notice which is available via the following link: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/000136-2022.

HMPPS defines homelessness, in accordance with the legal definition, as being where the individual does not have any accommodation available and reasonable for them to occupy, including where they may be rough sleeping, squatting or in a night shelter, emergency hostel, or campsite.

Information regarding the number of women leaving prison who make use of housing specialists is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Between July and December 2021, 659 women accessed accommodation support through the Commissioned Rehabilitation Services (CRS), either before or after being released from custody. All offenders who leave prison are provided support through Community Probation Practitioners.

The Government recently launched a recruitment process for the Victims’ Commissioner role as the current incumbent, Dame Vera Baird, reaches the end of her appointment on 23 June 2022. This is in line with the standard public appointments process. It comes as the Government delivers landmark reforms for victims, including new legislation to ensure they are better heard, served, and supported across the criminal justice system.

Given the importance of this public appointment, which entails significant responsibility and a wide-ranging portfolio, we believe advertising the role and opening it up to fair and open competition at the earliest opportunity will ensure we have the best possible candidate in post. The competition will run until 4 April, with the successful candidate taking up the role in due course. Dame Vera Baird has been invited to reapply and has been offered a short extension until 31 July, to ensure her continued role in informing the development of the landmark Victims’ Bill ahead of its introduction in Parliament.

The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.

The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.

The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.

The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.

The Government considered the case for reform of bereavement damages when responding, in February 2020, to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

That response document set out the Government’s position, and we have no plans to publish any additional material.

The statutory Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the Scheme) requires that awards are withheld where the applicant has an unspent conviction of a specified type, including custodial sentences and community orders. Where the applicant has a different type of unspent conviction, the Scheme requires that any award is withheld or reduced unless there are exceptional reasons not to do so.

In the 3-year period between 12 March 2019 and 11 March 2022:

• 383 applications from victims of childhood sexual abuse were refused due to unspent convictions; and
• 111 awards made to victims of childhood sexual abuse were reduced due to unspent convictions.

The above figures relate to finalised claims which were submitted on or after 1 February 2015. The data is not available in connection with claims submitted prior to that date. While the incident happened during childhood, many applications are submitted in adulthood. Applications may have more than one refusal reason.

We recognise the challenges facing women seeking accommodation on release. As part of our commitment to eliminate rough sleeping, we are working across Government, with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the Welsh Government and other Government Departments, to address the barriers offenders face in securing suitable accommodation.

Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. By 2024-25 we will spend £200 million a year to reduce reoffending, including improving prison leavers’ access to accommodation. This includes expanding our new Community Accommodation Service-Tier 3 (CAS3) provision, which currently provides up to 12 weeks temporary housing in five probation regions, to all prison leavers in England and Wales at risk of homelessness who are subject to probation supervision.

We understand that women face specific challenges in securing suitable accommodation because of their particular needs. For example, many require accommodation in women-only spaces as a result of their experiences of domestic abuse, or require additional space for their children.

The temporary accommodation we are providing takes account of the needs of women, including those with complex needs, with accommodation provision dedicated to single gender usage. Community Probation Practitioners (CPPs), working together with local partners, are responsible for ensuring that vulnerable female prison leavers receive appropriate support and have access to additional support through the Women’s Commissioned Rehabilitation Service (CRS). This provision is a holistic service offer, delivered by expert and experienced women’s services, that covers a broad range of interventions including accommodation support.

We will also increase the number of Housing Specialists from 20 to 48 across England and Wales. This will support prisons to be more strategic in their response to reducing homelessness and partnership working. Of the original 20 Housing Specialists, four were located in women’s prisons. This ratio will continue to apply to the additional 28 Housing Specialists.

We remain committed to the vision in the 2018 Female Offender Strategy, which set out the long-term framework to achieve better outcomes for women at all points of the system, and make society safer by tackling the underlying causes of offending and reoffending. The Strategy set out three main objectives: fewer women offending and reoffending; fewer women in custody, especially on short sentences, with more managed effectively in the community; and better conditions for women in custody that support effective rehabilitation.

To ensure consistent and accurate data recording, HMPPS, in collaboration with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government, has recently updated the Accommodation Recording Guidance to ensure Probation regions have a clear and consistent understanding of the accommodation status definitions, and how to record accurately. The Guidance defines homelessness as where an individual is rough sleeping, squatting, residing in night shelters, emergency hostels or campsites. Individuals with other forms of temporary, short-term or otherwise unstable accommodation is encompassed by the ‘unsettled accommodation’ category in published statistics.

As part of our commitment to eliminate rough sleeping, we are working across Government, with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the Welsh Government and other Government Departments, to address the barriers offenders face in securing suitable accommodation.

Our Prisons White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. We will invest £200 million a year by 2024-25 to improve prison leavers’ access to accommodation, employment support, and substance misuse treatment. We are also delivering on our manifesto commitment to launch a new Prisoner Education Service, so that prisoners can gain the qualifications and skills they need to gain employment on release. By focusing on the factors we know reduce reoffending – employability, maintaining ties with family, accommodation, support through the gates and tackling substance misuse – we can help prison leavers resettle successfully in the community and turn their backs on crime.

Accommodation circumstances for offenders are reported annually as official statistics. Data for the period 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 will be published in July 2022 in the Community Performance Annual report.

We have listened to concerns from the victim sector and key stakeholders about their ability to respond to the consultation. The department is willing to consider individual extension requests of up to 14 days on the grounds of accessibility and exceptional pressure on organisations as a result of COVID-19.

To request an extension, individuals and organisations must contact the official consultation mailbox (victimsbillconsultation@justice.gov.uk) clearly setting out the reason for, and length of the extension, as it will be considered against the application of these criteria to the specific individual/organisation. Officials will consider and respond to requests as soon as possible.

In order to ensure that all responses receive equal consideration, requests should be submitted before the consultation deadline passes. Our extension policy does not apply to outstanding requests submitted after the consultation deadline, which will necessarily be treated differently and considered on a case-by-case basis.

The department regularly publishes data on outstanding caseloads, which can be found here for the criminal courts (Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly: July to September 2021) and here for Civil and Family courts (Family Court Statistics Quarterly: July to September 2021 and Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly: July to September 2021).

We have allocated over a quarter of a billion pounds on recovery in the last financial year (20/21), making court buildings safe, rolling out new technology for remote hearings, recruiting additional staff and opening Nightingale courtrooms, including London’s fifth Nightingale courtroom at Monument in September. 32 Crown Court Nightingales have been extended to the end of March 2022.

We have undertaken one of our most ambitious programmes of judicial recruitment ever, so that we can hear as many cases as possible. We have also made greater use of part-time judges by lifting the number of days fee-paid judges can sit from 30 days to 80 for the second year in a row. The Spending Review will provide additional funding to recover performance following the pandemic.

We are now focused both on increasing capacity of the criminal courts and using the capacity we have in high-demand areas to its maximum. The Department continues to work with the judiciary to enable movement of additional judicial capacity into the London Crown Courts from other Regions, and where appropriate and agreed by all parties to move some Crown Court cases out of London into the South East and South West Crown Courts.

We are assessing the need for the continued use of the Nightingale courts including at Monument and Aldersgate past March 2022. The decisions regarding Nightingale courts at Monument and Aldersgate will be made in due course. HMCTS will be provided with the funding needed to operate the Nightingale courts required to support recovery from the pandemic during 2022-23.

As part of the Spending Review we announced that we will be investing £477 million in the Criminal Justice System over the next three years. This will help to reduce the backlog and deliver the swift access to justice that victims deserve.

Our decisive action in the courts has kept justice moving during the pandemic.

Funding has been allocated to support additional court rooms in London to aid recovery from the pandemic. Plans for specific venues are being actioned and these will include both extensions of existing venues and new venues.

We recognise the importance of engaging and hearing from victims, frontline staff, and experts on this important topic and this consultation is the result of engagement the department has undertaken over the past six months. This includes fortnightly calls with the sector, which involve at least twenty-seven organisations involved in supporting victims.

As part of the consultation, we are working with partners in the victim sector to deliver a series of engagement events to hear directly from victims on the issues which are most important to them. As of 18th January, the first of these events has been delivered, with a further thirteen events confirmed to take place before 3rd February and plans for six further events being finalised. These events are being delivered in partnership with specialist organisations to ensure a diverse range of voices are heard, including those who work with victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse, victims who are women and girls, victims with disabilities, ethnic minority victims and victims who are children and young people.

We are also hosting a series of roundtables with staff of the frontline services which support victims. As of 18th January, we have ten events planned to be delivered before 3rd February, involving four inspectorates, sixteen policing related groups, three court-based organisations, thirty-five commissioning organisations, eighteen advocate organisations and ten community-based services.

These events will provide further opportunities to canvass views, and to speak to groups directly affected by the consultation. We will publish a full list of organisations we have engaged with as part of the consultation response.

The Government's Service Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard) guides government teams as to how they should design and produce content providing information regarding public services. Departments are required to make sure that all information is accessible across all channels, including online, phone, paper and face to face.

For all consultations, the department gives due consideration to the needs of the audience group and we take whatever action we can to improve reach and accessibility, including by following best practice through provision of accessible formats for consultation documents.

For the Victims Bill consultation, a large print version of the consultation document was available from publication on request; we also distributed it to key partners in the Victims sector in December. A British Sign Language version has also been developed and will be available shortly. A HTML version has gone live this week.

The number of large print versions requested for all published documents is not held centrally.

The standard accessible consultation format that Ministry of Justice uses for publications online is an ‘accessible PDF’. Accessible PDFs are readable by people using screen readers. This is made available alongside the online version on our consultation hub which meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 AA standard.

The Deputy Prime Minister and I have been and are committed to visiting establishments across the youth estate in the coming months, subject to the “National Framework” which controls measures for preventing Covid transmission.

We recognise the importance of engaging and hearing from a range of interested groups on this important topic and this consultation is the result of engagement the department has undertaken over the past six months. This includes virtual roundtable events in August, fortnightly calls with the sector, frequent discussions with the Victims’ Commissioner and other key voices in this space.

We want to deliver improvements for victims through legislation as soon as possible, which is why we are consulting for eight weeks. There will be further opportunity for engagement on developed proposals, as we plan to introduce a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny.

During this time, we plan to hold engagement sessions with victims, and organisations that support them, such as frontline practitioners, and those who commission and provide support services. We will also be meeting parliamentarians with an interest. These events will provide further opportunity to canvass views, and to speak to groups directly affected by the consultation. We will continue to engage with the wider sector through the existing fortnightly calls.

We aim to publish consultation responses three months after a consultation has closed. It will be published at: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/.

We recognise the importance of engaging and hearing from a range of interested groups on this important topic and this consultation is the result of engagement the department has undertaken over the past six months. This includes virtual roundtable events in August, fortnightly calls with the sector, frequent discussions with the Victims’ Commissioner and other key voices in this space.

We want to deliver improvements for victims through legislation as soon as possible, which is why we are consulting for eight weeks. There will be further opportunity for engagement on developed proposals, as we plan to introduce a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny.

During this time, we plan to hold engagement sessions with victims, and organisations that support them, such as frontline practitioners, and those who commission and provide support services. We will also be meeting parliamentarians with an interest. These events will provide further opportunity to canvass views, and to speak to groups directly affected by the consultation. We will continue to engage with the wider sector through the existing fortnightly calls.

We aim to publish consultation responses three months after a consultation has closed. It will be published at: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/.

We recognise the importance of engaging and hearing from a range of interested groups on this important topic and this consultation is the result of engagement the department has undertaken over the past six months. This includes virtual roundtable events in August, fortnightly calls with the sector, frequent discussions with the Victims’ Commissioner and other key voices in this space.

We want to deliver improvements for victims through legislation as soon as possible, which is why we are consulting for eight weeks. There will be further opportunity for engagement on developed proposals, as we plan to introduce a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny.

During this time, we plan to hold engagement sessions with victims, and organisations that support them, such as frontline practitioners, and those who commission and provide support services. We will also be meeting parliamentarians with an interest. These events will provide further opportunity to canvass views, and to speak to groups directly affected by the consultation. We will continue to engage with the wider sector through the existing fortnightly calls.

We aim to publish consultation responses three months after a consultation has closed. It will be published at: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/.

For all consultations, the Department gives due consideration to the needs of the audience group and we take whatever action we can to improve reach and accessibility, including by following best practice through provision of accessible formats for consultation documents.

We have worked to ensure that the recently published Victims' Bill Consultation is as accessible as possible and that we enable the voices of stakeholders and victims to be heard. This has included making a large print version of the document available from launch (upon request), which we also shared with our key partners in the victims sector in December to strengthen availability further. We are also directly engaging with victims and specialist victim support organisations during the consultation period to overcome any issues of accessibility and maximize the opportunity for engagement.

The first stage of the review, an analysis of data and relevant sentencing remarks for cases of domestic homicide tried between 2018-2020, has already been completed. Clare Wade QC, the independent expert who is conducting the second and final stage of the review, is expected to produce her report, including potential options for reform, for the Secretary of State before the end of the year.

Her report, together with the findings of the initial case review, will be published shortly thereafter.

The Terms of Reference for the Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review have now been published and can be accessed here: Guidance overview: Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review: Terms of Reference - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

This government is determined to protect and support the victims of domestic abuse and their children better. We recognise the additional pressures that the family justice system has faced since the Covid-19 pandemic, and the impact this has had on children and families who use the family courts. Cases with the most significant safeguarding issues remain our priority, and where suitable, cases are being heard remotely to continue maximising our use of our estate.

HMCTS has been prioritising certain cases for processing. The ‘highest priority’ category in private law includes urgent applications in children cases, domestic abuse injunctions and urgent applications in financial remedy cases and decrees absolute. When an application for a domestic abuse injunction is received, there is a requirement for court staff to refer the application to a judge within three hours of receipt and inform the applicant or their legal representative of the next steps.

This year, the government will be providing around £300m for victim and witness support services. This includes £800k funding per year to the FLOWS project, run by RCJ Advice, to provide free legal support to victims of domestic abuse who wish to apply for an emergency protective order from the courts.

Where there are divorce proceedings, either party may apply for a financial order at any time and do not need to wait until the divorce is finalised to seek financial freedom. A respondent to the divorce proceedings can ask the court to delay the divorce until the court is satisfied with their financial situation.

This government is determined to protect and support the victims of domestic abuse and their children better. We recognise the additional pressures that the family justice system has faced since the Covid-19 pandemic, and the impact this has had on children and families who use the family courts. Cases with the most significant safeguarding issues remain our priority, and where suitable, cases are being heard remotely to continue maximising our use of our estate.

HMCTS has been prioritising certain cases for processing. The ‘highest priority’ category in private law includes urgent applications in children cases, domestic abuse injunctions and urgent applications in financial remedy cases and decrees absolute. When an application for a domestic abuse injunction is received, there is a requirement for court staff to refer the application to a judge within three hours of receipt and inform the applicant or their legal representative of the next steps.

This year, the government will be providing around £300m for victim and witness support services. This includes £800k funding per year to the FLOWS project, run by RCJ Advice, to provide free legal support to victims of domestic abuse who wish to apply for an emergency protective order from the courts.

Where there are divorce proceedings, either party may apply for a financial order at any time and do not need to wait until the divorce is finalised to seek financial freedom. A respondent to the divorce proceedings can ask the court to delay the divorce until the court is satisfied with their financial situation.

Children’s experiences in custody should be rehabilitative, aiming to prevent and reduce future offending and crime. They should spend as long as possible out of their rooms engaged in purposeful activities, such as education, training and physical activity for this reason. This must be balanced with managing the risks to safety and good order and, most recently, the significant challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Youth Custody Service (YCS) has bespoke recruitment material that aligns with our vision of delivering outstanding children’s services in secure settings and further professionalising the workforce. Over 150 new entrant youth justice workers (YJW) in a young adult setting have commenced employment in the YCS so far this year, with a further 70 to start prior to April 2022.

Since introducing the youth justice specialist role, we have provided funding for every prison officer in the youth secure estate to take up a qualification in youth justice. As of August, there were 249 youth justice specialist officers already in post, having completed the qualification. A further 260 staff are signed up or undertaking the learning, with the next cohort due to start in October 2022, with up to 110 more frontline staff participating. We have continuously reviewed this development offer and have recently introduced a new apprenticeship for our newly recruited YJW officers.

We have reviewed staff turnover in public sites in the youth secure estate, focussing on frontline positions from entry grade YJWs to custodial managers, with an emphasis on resignations. Improvements to inductions and support for new entrants is now in place to help ensure a supported, resilient, and effective workforce.

The Youth Custody Service (YCS) placement team is responsible for placing children under the age of 18 that have been remanded or sentenced into youth secure accommodation. This includes Secure Children’s Homes (SCHs), which are operated by local authorities, and accommodate boys and girls aged 10-17. The YCS contract 107 beds for children sentenced or remanded into custody at eight SCHs, however, children held on secure welfare orders are also present at SCHs.

A decision on the most appropriate accommodation to place a child is made following an assessment by a local authority led Youth Offending Team (YOT). The YCS will then make a decision about the most appropriate placement after consideration of each child’s individual needs and their YOT’s placement recommendation, against a view of the available accommodation. Decisions will be made with the child’s best interests as a primary consideration, with areas of consideration including age and gender; previous history; risk of harm (to self and others); family and resettlement; and maturity. Some particular considerations may make a child more suited to a particular type of accommodation. For an SCH placement, these might be a young age; particular vulnerabilities; better suited to living in smaller groups: and/or a requirement for high levels of support.

From 4 October 2021 the default position is that advice is provided to suspects by legal representatives in person during police interviews. The Joint Interim Interview Protocol now only allows for remote advice in limited circumstances, such as when the detainee is confirmed or believed to be Covid positive.

The Government is committed to consulting on a Victims’ Bill to deliver a step-change in the support victims receive and how it is coordinated.

The Deputy Prime Minister is developing the consultation as one of his top priorities and is carefully considering the evidence to determine where legislation could be used most effectively. He is looking forward to discussing this with stakeholders in the coming weeks.

The Ministry of Justice committed to look into the use of custodial remand for youth following a recommendation by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

My officials have concluded the engagement and data collection stages of the review; its conclusions and our next steps will be published in due course.

The Government is already taking action to improve the remand framework and process. The proposals in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will strengthen the tests applied by the courts to ensure children are only remanded to custody as a last resort and will require courts to record their reasons for any custodial remand.

When Covid-19 related restrictions have allowed, the Secretary of State has visited a number of our prisons, courts, and probation premises, and continues to do so in addition to his departmental meetings, constituency work, and time in Parliament. He last visited a Young Offender Institution on Thursday 19 August 2021. The Secretary of State for Justice has not visited a Secure Training Centre or a Secure Children’s Home but has been closely engaged in issues relating to them and regularly meets with the Chief Executive of HMPPS to discuss performance across the adult and youth estates.

Data on the length of custodial episodes for children and young persons is contained in the Youth Justice Annual Statistics which can be found at the following link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/youth-justice-statistics

A custodial episode is defined as the total length of time the child or young person spent in custody, from the date they were admitted from the community to the date the custodial episode ended (either because they were released to the community, transitioned to the over 18 estate, transferred to a mental health unit or they turned 18). It should be noted that a custodial episode may contain nights spent on remand as well as those spent serving a sentence.

Supplementary table 7.30 contains a table by sector type.

If the child or young person has multiple custodial sentences of the same type, only the sentence with the most serious offence group will be included in the snapshot reports contained in the report. Analysis of all of the custodial sentences to which an individual has been sentenced would require examination of each offender’s own records and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Juvenile proven reoffending data, by custody release for England and Wales, broken down into three-monthly periods can be found in the attached table. Reoffending data more generally is contained in the Proven Reoffending Statistics, which can be found at this link:

Proven reoffending statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Data on the length of custodial episodes for children and young persons is contained in the Youth Justice Annual Statistics which can be found at the following link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/youth-justice-statistics

A custodial episode is defined as the total length of time the child or young person spent in custody, from the date they were admitted from the community to the date the custodial episode ended (either because they were released to the community, transitioned to the over 18 estate, transferred to a mental health unit or they turned 18). It should be noted that a custodial episode may contain nights spent on remand as well as those spent serving a sentence.

Supplementary table 7.30 contains a table by sector type.

If the child or young person has multiple custodial sentences of the same type, only the sentence with the most serious offence group will be included in the snapshot reports contained in the report. Analysis of all of the custodial sentences to which an individual has been sentenced would require examination of each offender’s own records and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Juvenile proven reoffending data, by custody release for England and Wales, broken down into three-monthly periods can be found in the attached table. Reoffending data more generally is contained in the Proven Reoffending Statistics, which can be found at this link:

Proven reoffending statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The average cost per place per year for a child placed in youth custody is:

£271,000 at a Secure Children’s Home

£201,000 at a Secure Training Centre

£119,000 at a Young Offender Institution

There is no difference in average cost if the child is placed on remand or for other reasons. These costs are inclusive of education services.

The Government considered the case for reform when responding to a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights in February 2020.

The Government believes that the existing system involving a fixed level of award and clear eligibility criteria represents a reasonable, proportionate and practical approach, and the Government does not currently have any plans for wider consultation on the bereavement damages regime or the Fatal Accidents Act more generally.

The Government has provided £6 billion in unringfenced grant funding to local authorities to support the costs of Covid-19 pressures, which can be used to help offset any extra costs incurred in the administration of coroner services, including coroner inquest backlogs, for example.

Following ongoing concerns relating to staffing, safety and on-site operational grip, we have taken the decision to transfer all children at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre (STC) to alternative secure accommodation as soon as possible. We have taken this action to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the children at Rainsbrook STC, which remains our priority.

Work is underway to transfer all children in the coming weeks. All placement decisions will be based on the individual needs and requirements of the children. YCS staff have spoken to all children at Rainsbrook STC, to ensure that they and their families are aware of the current situation, and will work closely with the relevant Youth Offending Teams to ensure that children are appropriately placed into suitable accommodation in a smooth and organised manner.

This Government is committed to ensuring that victims are supported at every stage of the criminal justice system, so that justice can be secured, victims and the public protected, and offenders punished. This is why we committed to legislation for victims in the Queen’s Speech and will be consulting on a Victims’ Bill later this year. The public consultation will ensure that a truly bipartisan approach can be taken and will allow a wide range of stakeholders and interested parties to input into our careful deliberations.

The new Victims’ Code, which came into force in April, is the culmination of two years of extensive work, including hearing from victims and victims’ groups, to ensure that we have a clear and comprehensive framework for victims’ rights. This vital work has laid the foundations for effective legislation in this area, and it is our intention to proceed without delay.

We will consult on how we will enshrine the 12 key rights in the new Victims’ Code in law and ensure that those rights of victims are upheld. We will consult too on the provision of community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services to set the expectations for the availability of support, as well as a statutory underpinning for the roles of independent sexual and domestic violence advisers to ensure that victims receive a high standard of care.

Ahead of the consultation, we are working across government and with victims and those who support them to understand the key issues that need to be addressed by the Victims’ Bill. This work is vital to ensure that the Victims’ Bill is as comprehensive and impactful as intended.

This builds on the huge amount of work already underway from the Government in this area. We will publish new Violence Against Women and Girls and Domestic Abuse strategies this year to help drive a step-change in the response to these crimes, building on the existing landmark legislation in this area, the Domestic Abuse Act and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, and we are investing record amounts in support for victims, more than £300 million this year.

This Government fully recognises the devastation that domestic homicides cause and is committed to improving outcomes for victims of domestic abuse in all its forms and, crucially, preventing more victims in the future.

A number of concerns have been raised over the way in which sentencing outcomes are reached in cases of domestic homicide, and therefore we have committed to undertake a review of sentencing practice in domestic homicide cases. We have already worked with the Crown Prosecution Service to identify relevant cases, in order that sentencing outcomes and remarks can be analysed. We will provide further detail on the review in due course.

Under section 244 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 most prisoners sentenced to a standard determinate sentence are required to be released at the half-way point, with the remainder served on licence.

Most prisoners serve standard determinate sentences (SDS). Until recently, this meant that they were released automatically at the half-way point of the sentence, regardless of the nature of the offence. We believe that serious violent and sexual offenders should serve sentences that truly reflect the severity of the crime, which will help to protect the public and give victims confidence that justice has been served. Since 1 April 2020, and the implementation of the Release of Prisoners (Alteration of Relevant Proportion of Sentence) Order 2020, anyone given an SDS of 7 years or more for serious sexual or violent offences where the maximum penalty is a life sentence is required to spend two-thirds – rather than half – of that sentence in prison before being released on licence. In the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, we are seeking to extend this to those sentenced to an SDS of between 4 – 7 years for certain serious sexual and violent offences.

Table 1 (attached) gives the relevant information.