Bobby Dean

The National Security (Economic Security) committee existed under the previous administration. The Cabinet Committee list and membership is decided by the Prime Minister. GOV.UK is updated regularly with the list of Cabinet Committees, their terms of reference, and membership.

Since July 2024 the National Security Council itself considers economic security, as part of its broader strategic approach to national security including foreign policy, resilience, international relations, economic security, trade, development, defence and global issues.

Economic security is a priority for this Government, and we have taken a number of steps to coordinate economic security policy through the NSC and by embedding economic security into the Government’s Industrial Strategy to support long-term stability. Economic Security is a core concern of the Growth Mission Board and our work with international partners.

A secure supply of critical minerals is vital for the UK’s economic growth and security, industrial strategy, and clean energy transition. The Government will work hand in hand with industry to publish a new Critical Minerals Strategy this year. The Critical Minerals Strategy will help secure our supply chains for the long term and drive forward the green industries of the future.

DBT regularly engages with industry and academia to inform policy development, including through the Critical Minerals Expert Committee. DBT also plans to reconvene the independent Task and Finish Group members following their 2023 report, informing development of the new Strategy.

The Critical Imports and Supply Chains Strategy was a product of the previous government.

As part of our Growth Mission, this government is committed to assessing where supply chains critical to the UK's economic security and growth could be vulnerable to disruption and is working to build resilience. Our upcoming Industrial and Trade Strategies will set out further detail on the steps we are taking to ensure the UK’s growth is secure and resilient.

The 2023 International Technology Strategy set out an international approach guided by four principles: Open; Responsible; Secure; and Resilient. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology remains supportive of such principles and continues to prioritise the five critical technologies first outlined in the UK Science and Technology Framework. Collaborating with international partners on technology allows us to access global expertise, accelerate innovation and drive economic growth. For example, Oracle, the US based tech firm, recently announced £3.8 billion of investment in the UK to create jobs, grow the economy, and spur on cloud/ AI development. The forthcoming Industrial Strategy will include more detail on how we are leveraging international partnerships and trade to support this growth driving sector.

The Science and Technology Framework is the integrated, systems-level approach to science and technology (S&T) with a holistic set of ten critical levers that the government can use to drive growth and improve the lives of citizens.

The government is committed to the Framework and to applying these levers to ensure S&T is at the heart of delivering our core priorities including the Plan for Change, the Five National Missions and the Industrial Strategy.

The 2023 International Technology Strategy set out an international approach guided by four principles: Open; Responsible; Secure; and Resilient. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology remains supportive of such principles and continues to prioritise the five critical technologies first outlined in the UK Science and Technology Framework. Collaborating with international partners on technology allows us to access global expertise, accelerate innovation and drive economic growth. For example, Oracle, the US based tech firm, recently announced £3.8 billion of investment in the UK to create jobs, grow the economy, and spur on cloud/ AI development. The forthcoming Industrial Strategy will include more detail on how we are leveraging international partnerships and trade to support this growth driving sector.

The duties related to fraudulent advertising apply to Category 1 and 2A services. Category 1 services will need to tackle paid-for fraudulent advertising on their platforms, and Category 2A search services will need to address paid-for fraudulent advertising in search results.

Ofcom is responsible for developing codes of practice. It expects to consult on the codes for these duties by early 2026. The codes will recommend how companies can comply with these duties. These duties will not come into force until the register of categorised services has been published by Ofcom and the final code has been approved by Parliament.

The department is committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes.

Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. High needs funding helps local authorities with the ongoing costs of post-16 education provision for students with education, health and care (EHC) plans.

Local authorities must publish a local offer of services and provision for children and young people with SEND and keep it under review, including the sufficiency of provision. This must be co-produced with parents, young people and a wide range of education providers, both within and beyond the local authority area. The local offer must include provision within the local authority’s area alongside provision outside the local area that the local authority expects is likely to be used by children and young people with SEND for whom they are responsible.

Local authorities’ duties include securing enough suitable education and training provision to meet the reasonable needs of all young people in their area who are over compulsory school age but under 19, or aged 19 or over and for whom an EHC plan is maintained. This is a duty under section 15ZA of the Education Act 1996. To fulfil this, local authorities should have a strategic overview of the provision available in their area and identify and resolve gaps in provision.

If a local authority places students at a special post-16 institution (SPI) and would like the SPI to be considered for Education and Skills Funding Agency funding, the department will take the SPI through the due diligence process and award a funding agreement if successful.

The department is committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes.

Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. High needs funding helps local authorities with the ongoing costs of post-16 education provision for students with education, health and care (EHC) plans.

Local authorities must publish a local offer of services and provision for children and young people with SEND and keep it under review, including the sufficiency of provision. This must be co-produced with parents, young people and a wide range of education providers, both within and beyond the local authority area. The local offer must include provision within the local authority’s area alongside provision outside the local area that the local authority expects is likely to be used by children and young people with SEND for whom they are responsible.

Local authorities’ duties include securing enough suitable education and training provision to meet the reasonable needs of all young people in their area who are over compulsory school age but under 19, or aged 19 or over and for whom an EHC plan is maintained. This is a duty under section 15ZA of the Education Act 1996. To fulfil this, local authorities should have a strategic overview of the provision available in their area and identify and resolve gaps in provision.

If a local authority places students at a special post-16 institution (SPI) and would like the SPI to be considered for Education and Skills Funding Agency funding, the department will take the SPI through the due diligence process and award a funding agreement if successful.

The department is committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes.

Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. High needs funding helps local authorities with the ongoing costs of post-16 education provision for students with education, health and care (EHC) plans.

Local authorities must publish a local offer of services and provision for children and young people with SEND and keep it under review, including the sufficiency of provision. This must be co-produced with parents, young people and a wide range of education providers, both within and beyond the local authority area. The local offer must include provision within the local authority’s area alongside provision outside the local area that the local authority expects is likely to be used by children and young people with SEND for whom they are responsible.

Local authorities’ duties include securing enough suitable education and training provision to meet the reasonable needs of all young people in their area who are over compulsory school age but under 19, or aged 19 or over and for whom an EHC plan is maintained. This is a duty under section 15ZA of the Education Act 1996. To fulfil this, local authorities should have a strategic overview of the provision available in their area and identify and resolve gaps in provision.

If a local authority places students at a special post-16 institution (SPI) and would like the SPI to be considered for Education and Skills Funding Agency funding, the department will take the SPI through the due diligence process and award a funding agreement if successful.

The department is committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes.

We want to ensure that impartial, lifelong careers guidance is available to everyone when they need it, regardless of age, circumstance or background. This will allow everyone to develop skills, progress into work or the next stage of their career, and boost long term economic prosperity.

The department has published statutory guidance on careers guidance to set out what is expected of schools and colleges, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-guidance-provision-for-young-people-in-schools.

The National Careers Service offers free, up-to-date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the labour market in England. It helps people to achieve and thrive and supports social mobility by working with individuals to motivate them and develop their understanding of the full range of options open to them, whatever their background or circumstances. More information is available on the National Careers Service website, which can be found here: https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/.

Preparing all children and young people with SEND for adulthood is a key part of the SEND system and should begin from the earliest point.

A wide range of training programmes are available to suit the needs of the individual and their aspirations. This includes academic or vocational courses such as supported internships and apprenticeships which provide experience of workplace activities. For those with an education, health and care (EHC) plan, there must be a focus from year 9 onwards on preparing the young person for adulthood as part of their plan’s annual review. This focus must continue until the young person’s EHC plan ceases. Planning for the transition to adulthood should result in clear outcomes being agreed that are ambitious and stretching, and which are tailored to the needs and interests of the young person.

The department knows that with the right preparation and support, the overwhelming majority of young people with SEND are capable of sustained, paid employment. All professionals working with them should share that presumption and should provide the career advice and support that helps young people develop the skills and experience, and achieve the qualifications, that they need to succeed in their careers.

The government’s is committed to a Young Futures programme made up of Young Futures prevention partnerships and Young Futures Hubs.

Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.

To roll out Young Futures Hubs, the department will first establish early adopter hubs. These, and work with local areas, will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs. Young Futures Hubs will build upon the successes of existing infrastructure and provision. We will set out more details in due course.

Young Futures Hubs are one part of delivering this within a much wider youth landscape. They will be designed to complement core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing.

The Department for Work and Pensions has not had a recruitment freeze on any roles in the last 12 months. There are no current plans in place to implement a recruitment freeze in the next 12 months, and the Department will continue to manage overall resourcing and meeting priorities through workforce plans.

The information requested is published within the DWP Annual Reports and Accounts. Data for April 2024 to March 2025 will be published in the 2024/25 DWP Annual Reports and Accounts in or around July 2025.

The latest published data is for the period April 2023 to March 2024. In the period April 2023 to March 2024, DWP made 10,567 ex-gratia payments totalling £1.3 million for maladministration.

Please note that the total amount of ex-gratia payments for maladministration presented in the DWP Annual Reports and Accounts excludes financial redress paid for loss of statutory entitlement because it is not an extra cost arising from maladministration, but payment of benefit that should have been made anyway.

The average value of maladministration payments in the period April 2023 to March 2024 was £120. This value has been calculated based on the unrounded total payments and unrounded number of payments, rounded to the nearest £10.

The information requested is published within the DWP Annual Reports and Accounts. Data for April 2024 to March 2025 will be published in the 2024/25 DWP Annual Reports and Accounts in or around July 2025.

The latest published data is for the period April 2023 to March 2024. In the period April 2023 to March 2024, DWP made 10,567 ex-gratia payments totalling £1.3 million for maladministration.

Please note that the total amount of ex-gratia payments for maladministration presented in the DWP Annual Reports and Accounts excludes financial redress paid for loss of statutory entitlement because it is not an extra cost arising from maladministration, but payment of benefit that should have been made anyway.

The average value of maladministration payments in the period April 2023 to March 2024 was £120. This value has been calculated based on the unrounded total payments and unrounded number of payments, rounded to the nearest £10.

The information requested is published within the DWP Annual Reports and Accounts. Data for April 2024 to March 2025 will be published in the 2024/25 DWP Annual Reports and Accounts in or around July 2025.

The latest published data is for the period April 2023 to March 2024. In the period April 2023 to March 2024, DWP made 10,567 ex-gratia payments totalling £1.3 million for maladministration.

Please note that the total amount of ex-gratia payments for maladministration presented in the DWP Annual Reports and Accounts excludes financial redress paid for loss of statutory entitlement because it is not an extra cost arising from maladministration, but payment of benefit that should have been made anyway.

The average value of maladministration payments in the period April 2023 to March 2024 was £120. This value has been calculated based on the unrounded total payments and unrounded number of payments, rounded to the nearest £10.

There are currently no plans to pay the higher rate of Universal Credit to those aged under 25.  The lower rate of Universal Credit for those aged under 25 reflects the fact that the majority of young people live in someone else’s household and are therefore likely to have lower living costs.

Younger workers also typically earn less as they are earlier in their careers, with the lower rate maintaining the incentive for younger people to find and progress in work.

Support is available to help those who live independently or have additional living costs. Depending on their circumstances, they may also be eligible for additional Universal Credit elements, including for housing, children, and disability.

NHS England published a range of documents to support the commissioning of sight testing in special educational settings on 25 March 2025, and integrated care boards will now be in the process of planning to procure local services. The scale of the roll out will be dependent on educational establishments choosing to host a service.

There are currently 22 proof-of-concept contractors continuing to deliver the sight testing and dispensing service in 83 day and residential special schools. Data on the number of practitioners delivering the National Health Service special schools eye care service within those contracts is not held centrally.

NHS England published a range of documents to support the commissioning of sight testing in special educational settings on 25 March 2025, and integrated care boards will now be in the process of planning to procure local services. The scale of the roll out will be dependent on educational establishments choosing to host a service.

There are currently 22 proof-of-concept contractors continuing to deliver the sight testing and dispensing service in 83 day and residential special schools. Data on the number of practitioners delivering the National Health Service special schools eye care service within those contracts is not held centrally.

We know that too many people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and that waits for mental health services across England are too long.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to cut wait times and provide faster treatment.

Despite the challenging fiscal environment, the Government has chosen to prioritise funding to deliver expansions of NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support schemes, demonstrating our commitment to addressing the root cause of mental health issues, and providing support for people with severe mental illness to contribute to the economy by remaining in or returning to work.

We have also committed £26 million in capital investment to open new mental health crisis centres, reducing pressure on busy emergency mental health and accident and emergency services, and ensuring that people have the support they need when they need it.

People of all ages in England who are experiencing a mental health crisis can now speak to a trained NHS professional at any time of the day through the mental health option on NHS 111. Trained NHS staff assess patients over the phone and guide them through next steps, such organising face-to-face community support, or facilitating access to alternative services, such as crisis cafés or safe havens.

It is unacceptable that too many people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. We are determined to change that. Our mission is to improve mental health care across the spectrum. We are focusing on ensuring the National Health Service is providing the right support to the right people, at the right time.

We are working to address the impacts of mental ill health on economic inactivity and are committed to supporting people into work, recognising that good work is good for mental health. Despite the challenging fiscal environment, we have chosen to prioritise funding to deliver expansions of NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support schemes, demonstrating our commitment to addressing the root cause of mental health issues, and providing support for people to contribute to the economy by remaining in or returning to work.

As part of our mission to build an NHS that is fit for the future, we will recruit 8,500 more mental health workers to cut wait times and provide faster treatment.

The Government is determined to make it easier for everyone to see a general practitioner (GP) when they need to, by improving access to appointments. We will bring back the family doctor, train thousands more GPs, guarantee a face-to-face appointment for all those who want one, and end the 8:00am scramble for appointments by delivering a modern booking system.

We have invested £82 million into ARRS (Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme) which has enabled the recruitment of over 1,500 recently qualified GPs across England since October 2024 which will increase the number of appointments available, benefitting thousands of patients that are struggling to access care.

We’ve also just delivered the biggest boost to GP funding in years, with an £889 million uplift to the GP Contract for 2025/26, with GPs now receiving a growing share of National Health Service resources. For the first time in four years, the General Practitioners Committee England backed the new contract, which includes key reforms to improve access, for instance by making sure patients can request appointments online throughout core hours.

The Government has already taken action to strengthen UK-Japan economic cooperation. In early March 2025, the Foreign Secretary and Secretary of State for Business and Trade travelled to Japan, meeting their Japanese counterparts for the UK's first 'Economic 2+2'. As likeminded nations, we agreed new areas of collaboration in support of rules-based international trade, economic security, energy security, and engagement with Global South countries. The Government is taking forward work on a new Industrial Strategy Partnership and furthering our economic security partnership with Japan in support of growth, jobs and access to essential goods and services needed for the UK's future prosperity. The Government also plans to work closely with Japan to shape the future of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and ensure it remains a modern, high-standards agreement.

The UK and Canada are the closest of allies. We have shared values and are committed to ensuring critical mineral markets are diverse, ethical, fair and transparent. We continue to engage with Canada including through the Critical Minerals Dialogue, the Minerals Security Partnership, the International Energy Agency, and the G7.

Phase 2 of the Spending Review launched on the 10^th December 2024. At launch, I asked each department to carry out a line-by-line review of existing day-to-day budgets to identify where spending is no longer aligned with this government’s priorities or is poor value for money.

Departments are working with HM Treasury on an ongoing basis to define and agree their zero-based reviews. The findings of these reviews will inform Departments’ Spending Review submissions and the allocation of departmental budgets in Phase 2 of the Spending Review, which will conclude later this year.

The Government is supportive of police carriage and administration of naloxone - a lifesaving medicine that reverses the effects of opioid overdose. As of February 2025, police officers in forces across the country are now trained to carry and administer naloxone. Through the cross-Government Synthetic Opioids Taskforce, we are continuing to work closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to support rollout of naloxone to police officers.

Ultimately, the provision of naloxone for police officers is an operational decision for Chief Constables and the Government expects individual police Chiefs’ to allocate resources appropriately with regard to the local area and need.