Callum Anderson

The National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 gives the Government power to scrutinise and intervene in acquisitions that may pose threats to national security, whilst also supporting secure and resilient growth. All sectors are within scope of the NSI Act, with acquisitions of entities related to 17 sensitive areas of the economy having to notify and receive approval from the Government before the acquisition can be completed.

The Government is taking a number of steps to ensure the continued effectiveness of the NSI Act.

• The previous Government published a Call for Evidence in November 2023 and a response in April 2024. The Call for Evidence sought feedback from a wide range of stakeholders on the scope of the regime, the notification process and Government guidance and comms. The Government is currently considering its next steps, drawing on responses received.

• The Government will review and produce a report on the mandatory notification areas under the NSI Act, as required by section 4 of the Notifiable Acquisitions Regulations 2021, before January 2025.

• The Government will complete a Post-Implementation Review, as committed to in the NSI Act Impact Assessment, evaluating the effectiveness of the NSI Act. This is expected to be published in 2026.

• The Government regularly engages with stakeholders on the NSI Act, including speaking events, meetings and feedback exercises.

The Government has published extensive guidance for businesses and investors. The NSI Act Market Guidance sets out what businesses and investors, including small and medium-sized businesses, need to be aware of and is available on GOV.UK. The guidance is kept under review to ensure it remains up to date.

The “National Security & Investment Act 2021: Annual Report 2023-2024” published in September shows that the NSI system is continuing to run well and as intended. It demonstrates that we have the powers to protect sensitive sectors whilst continuing to support investment. Analysis to date has not found evidence of the Act affecting the total volume of investment into the UK.

The UK’s approach to investment screening is in line with many other countries, including our close allies. We continue to work closely with international partners to draw on global best practice.

The National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 gives the Government power to scrutinise and intervene in acquisitions that may pose threats to national security, whilst also supporting secure and resilient growth. All sectors are within scope of the NSI Act, with acquisitions of entities related to 17 sensitive areas of the economy having to notify and receive approval from the Government before the acquisition can be completed.

The Government is taking a number of steps to ensure the continued effectiveness of the NSI Act.

• The previous Government published a Call for Evidence in November 2023 and a response in April 2024. The Call for Evidence sought feedback from a wide range of stakeholders on the scope of the regime, the notification process and Government guidance and comms. The Government is currently considering its next steps, drawing on responses received.

• The Government will review and produce a report on the mandatory notification areas under the NSI Act, as required by section 4 of the Notifiable Acquisitions Regulations 2021, before January 2025.

• The Government will complete a Post-Implementation Review, as committed to in the NSI Act Impact Assessment, evaluating the effectiveness of the NSI Act. This is expected to be published in 2026.

• The Government regularly engages with stakeholders on the NSI Act, including speaking events, meetings and feedback exercises.

The Government has published extensive guidance for businesses and investors. The NSI Act Market Guidance sets out what businesses and investors, including small and medium-sized businesses, need to be aware of and is available on GOV.UK. The guidance is kept under review to ensure it remains up to date.

The “National Security & Investment Act 2021: Annual Report 2023-2024” published in September shows that the NSI system is continuing to run well and as intended. It demonstrates that we have the powers to protect sensitive sectors whilst continuing to support investment. Analysis to date has not found evidence of the Act affecting the total volume of investment into the UK.

The UK’s approach to investment screening is in line with many other countries, including our close allies. We continue to work closely with international partners to draw on global best practice.

The National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 gives the Government power to scrutinise and intervene in acquisitions that may pose threats to national security, whilst also supporting secure and resilient growth. All sectors are within scope of the NSI Act, with acquisitions of entities related to 17 sensitive areas of the economy having to notify and receive approval from the Government before the acquisition can be completed.

The Government is taking a number of steps to ensure the continued effectiveness of the NSI Act.

• The previous Government published a Call for Evidence in November 2023 and a response in April 2024. The Call for Evidence sought feedback from a wide range of stakeholders on the scope of the regime, the notification process and Government guidance and comms. The Government is currently considering its next steps, drawing on responses received.

• The Government will review and produce a report on the mandatory notification areas under the NSI Act, as required by section 4 of the Notifiable Acquisitions Regulations 2021, before January 2025.

• The Government will complete a Post-Implementation Review, as committed to in the NSI Act Impact Assessment, evaluating the effectiveness of the NSI Act. This is expected to be published in 2026.

• The Government regularly engages with stakeholders on the NSI Act, including speaking events, meetings and feedback exercises.

The Government has published extensive guidance for businesses and investors. The NSI Act Market Guidance sets out what businesses and investors, including small and medium-sized businesses, need to be aware of and is available on GOV.UK. The guidance is kept under review to ensure it remains up to date.

The “National Security & Investment Act 2021: Annual Report 2023-2024” published in September shows that the NSI system is continuing to run well and as intended. It demonstrates that we have the powers to protect sensitive sectors whilst continuing to support investment. Analysis to date has not found evidence of the Act affecting the total volume of investment into the UK.

The UK’s approach to investment screening is in line with many other countries, including our close allies. We continue to work closely with international partners to draw on global best practice.

The National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 gives the Government power to scrutinise and intervene in acquisitions that may pose threats to national security, whilst also supporting secure and resilient growth. All sectors are within scope of the NSI Act, with acquisitions of entities related to 17 sensitive areas of the economy having to notify and receive approval from the Government before the acquisition can be completed.

The Government is taking a number of steps to ensure the continued effectiveness of the NSI Act.

• The previous Government published a Call for Evidence in November 2023 and a response in April 2024. The Call for Evidence sought feedback from a wide range of stakeholders on the scope of the regime, the notification process and Government guidance and comms. The Government is currently considering its next steps, drawing on responses received.

• The Government will review and produce a report on the mandatory notification areas under the NSI Act, as required by section 4 of the Notifiable Acquisitions Regulations 2021, before January 2025.

• The Government will complete a Post-Implementation Review, as committed to in the NSI Act Impact Assessment, evaluating the effectiveness of the NSI Act. This is expected to be published in 2026.

• The Government regularly engages with stakeholders on the NSI Act, including speaking events, meetings and feedback exercises.

The Government has published extensive guidance for businesses and investors. The NSI Act Market Guidance sets out what businesses and investors, including small and medium-sized businesses, need to be aware of and is available on GOV.UK. The guidance is kept under review to ensure it remains up to date.

The “National Security & Investment Act 2021: Annual Report 2023-2024” published in September shows that the NSI system is continuing to run well and as intended. It demonstrates that we have the powers to protect sensitive sectors whilst continuing to support investment. Analysis to date has not found evidence of the Act affecting the total volume of investment into the UK.

The UK’s approach to investment screening is in line with many other countries, including our close allies. We continue to work closely with international partners to draw on global best practice.

The National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 gives the Government power to scrutinise and intervene in acquisitions that may pose threats to national security, whilst also supporting secure and resilient growth. All sectors are within scope of the NSI Act, with acquisitions of entities related to 17 sensitive areas of the economy having to notify and receive approval from the Government before the acquisition can be completed.

The Government is taking a number of steps to ensure the continued effectiveness of the NSI Act.

• The previous Government published a Call for Evidence in November 2023 and a response in April 2024. The Call for Evidence sought feedback from a wide range of stakeholders on the scope of the regime, the notification process and Government guidance and comms. The Government is currently considering its next steps, drawing on responses received.

• The Government will review and produce a report on the mandatory notification areas under the NSI Act, as required by section 4 of the Notifiable Acquisitions Regulations 2021, before January 2025.

• The Government will complete a Post-Implementation Review, as committed to in the NSI Act Impact Assessment, evaluating the effectiveness of the NSI Act. This is expected to be published in 2026.

• The Government regularly engages with stakeholders on the NSI Act, including speaking events, meetings and feedback exercises.

The Government has published extensive guidance for businesses and investors. The NSI Act Market Guidance sets out what businesses and investors, including small and medium-sized businesses, need to be aware of and is available on GOV.UK. The guidance is kept under review to ensure it remains up to date.

The “National Security & Investment Act 2021: Annual Report 2023-2024” published in September shows that the NSI system is continuing to run well and as intended. It demonstrates that we have the powers to protect sensitive sectors whilst continuing to support investment. Analysis to date has not found evidence of the Act affecting the total volume of investment into the UK.

The UK’s approach to investment screening is in line with many other countries, including our close allies. We continue to work closely with international partners to draw on global best practice.

We work with local and combined authorities to promote the most significant investment opportunities, by providing compelling products for use by the department’s UK and international teams.

With the expanded Office for Investment, we will build further on this approach, working in partnership, to turn the Industrial Strategy and regional growth plans into a clear, commercially attractive pipeline of investment opportunities. We are piloting an enhanced way of supporting transformational local projects, connecting them with specialist support or expertise from across government to develop opportunities at scale and with commercial credibility to pull in large scale investment.

Official Statistics at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbt-inward-investment-results-2023-to-2024 show 13 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects landed in Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) in 2023-24. This includes single site and multiple site projects. It was not possible to publish the number of new jobs created due to confidentiality issues. Statistics are not published at Local Authority level due to confidentiality concerns, but Milton Keynes is within South East Midlands LEP where 38 FDI projects landed and 3,010 jobs were created in 2023-24. The estimated economic impact of FDI projects is only published at a UK level.

Investment is at the heart of the government’s growth mission, increasing the number of good, well-skilled jobs and improving productivity across the country. Foreign direct investment is one part of this and can support domestic businesses directly through supply chains and indirectly through spillover benefits. The new Office for Investment will work closely with all businesses to increase facilitation of investment from UK and overseas businesses.

Previous research in 2021 by DBT found that on average a £1 million FDI project into Great Britain leads to a net increase in national levels of GVA of around £98,000 and a net increase in employment.

Official Statistics at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbt-inward-investment-results-2023-to-2024 show 13 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects landed in Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) in 2023-24. This includes single site and multiple site projects. It was not possible to publish the number of new jobs created due to confidentiality issues. Statistics are not published at Local Authority level due to confidentiality concerns, but Milton Keynes is within South East Midlands LEP where 38 FDI projects landed and 3,010 jobs were created in 2023-24. The estimated economic impact of FDI projects is only published at a UK level.

This government is working to advance equality of access to start-up opportunities irrespective of gender or race. Everyone who can and wants to set up a small business should have access to support to do so, whether through direct government support or through programmes delivered by mayors and other institutions. Ensuring this support can be accessed by all is key to the government’s mission to secure economic growth and boost productivity throughout the UK. All businesses can access support via, Help to Grow Management, Growth Hubs, and the British Business Bank.

The government’s Start Up Loans programme provides finance and mentoring support to founders, with 40% of loans going to women and 21% to people from ethnic minorities.

The government-backed and industry-led Invest in Women Taskforce is working to make entrepreneurship more accessible to women, so that 30% of all businesses are female-powered by 2030.

The Energy Bills Discount Scheme closed on 31 March 2024, and so no businesses will benefit from the scheme during this time.

The department is continuing to support and challenge Buckinghamshire to improve its delivery of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services.

The last local area SEND inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for Buckinghamshire was in March 2022, during which inspectors identified three areas of significant weakness. These areas were:

i) The lack of a cohesive area strategy to identify and meet the needs of those children and young people requiring speech and language, communication and occupational therapy.

ii) Waiting times for assessments on the autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis pathways, and the system-owned plans in place to address this.

iii) Waiting times to see a community paediatrician.

Following the inspection, Buckinghamshire produced a Written Statement of Action (WSoA) to address these areas of weakness, which was accepted by Ofsted and CQC. The department’s regional team has put in place systems to track outcomes against these areas of weakness and the progress made by children and young people with SEND, including regular review meetings. At the most recent WSoA review meeting in July 2024, the local area demonstrated progress against the range of actions in place to secure clear and sustained improvement across all the areas of significant weakness. Buckinghamshire is also taking part in the Delivering Better Value (DBV) in SEND Programme.

Nationally, the government is providing schools with extra funding of almost £1.1 billion in this 2024/25 financial year through the new Core Schools Budget Grant (CSBG) to support them with overall costs, including the costs of supporting their pupils SEND. Of this total, special schools and alternative provision settings will be receiving over £140 million through the CSBG.

The additional funding through the CSBG comes alongside high needs funding for services and support for children and young people with complex SEND. Buckinghamshire County Council is receiving a high needs funding allocation of £127.5 million through their 2024/25 dedicated schools grant. Decisions on future funding levels beyond this financial year will be for the forthcoming Spending Review.

Financial education currently forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum for mathematics (at key stages 1 to 4) and citizenship (at key stages 3 and 4). The primary mathematics curriculum includes arithmetic knowledge that supports pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, calculations with money and percentages. In secondary mathematics, pupils are taught topics such as how to calculate compound interest, which is relevant for personal finance. In citizenship, pupils are taught the function and uses of money, how to budget and manage credit and debt, as well as concepts like insurance, savings and pensions.

High and rising school standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. The government‘s ambition is for a broad, rich and cutting-edge curriculum that equips children and young people with the essential knowledge and skills required to thrive as citizens, in work and throughout life. This is why the government announced a Curriculum and Assessment Review on 19 July 2024, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.

The review will be undertaken in close consultation with education professionals and other experts, parents, children and young people, and stakeholders. A call for evidence will be launched in the coming weeks, to direct the focus of engagement with the sector and stakeholders over the autumn term.

Following the independent review, the government will legislate to require all state schools teach the reformed national curriculum. This will give parents certainty over the core of their children’s education.

The department is engaging with Buckinghamshire Council to discuss the current provision of and future demand for specialist school places, with a view to supporting them in delivering places where needed and improving outcomes for children with special educational needs.

This includes working with Buckinghamshire on the authority’s successful application to be part of the national free school competition, and on the provision of new specialist units within mainstream schools.

The department publishes official statistics on education, health and care (EHC) plans annually, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans. This includes data at local authority level on the rate of EHC plans issued within the deadline of 20 weeks.

The table below contains details of assessments in 2023 in Buckinghamshire, by the duration, in days, between the date of the request for assessment and the date of the assessment outcome. This includes those for whom a plan was issued and those with the decision not to issue a plan, but excludes cases where the assessment was withdrawn.

Number of assessments completed by time between date received and assessment completion date in Buckinghamshire for the 2023 calendar year:

To note:

• Source: SEN2 Data collection
• "Duration not available" includes cases where the date of request is not available or was recorded after the outcome date
• ​In this table, “less than six months” refers to 180 days or less, “six months to a year” refers to between 181 days and 365 days, “1 to 2 years” refers to between 366 days and 730 days, and "more than 2 years" refers to over 730 days.

The person-level data collection on EHC plans is in its second year. As a result, the department expects the quality of data returns to improve over time, as the collection becomes established. In particular, the recording of the dates of the assessment request and the assessment outcome is subject to data quality issues, which become especially prominent when looking at a low level of granularity. For this reason, cases over two years have been aggregated, and where the date of request is missing or was recorded after the outcome date, this is marked in the table as ‘not available’. The department continues to work with local authorities in understanding and improving the data collection.

The department will continue to maintain close oversight of services in Buckinghamshire to ensure every child and young person with special educational needs and disabilities has access to high quality services.

The department is continuing to support and challenge Buckinghamshire to improve its delivery of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services.

The last local area SEND inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for Buckinghamshire was in March 2022, during which inspectors identified three areas of significant weakness. These areas were:

i) The lack of a cohesive area strategy to identify and meet the needs of those children and young people requiring speech and language, communication and occupational therapy.

ii) Waiting times for assessments on the autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis pathways, and the system-owned plans in place to address this.

iii) Waiting times to see a community paediatrician.

Following the inspection, Buckinghamshire produced a Written Statement of Action (WSoA) to address these areas of weakness, which was accepted by Ofsted and CQC. The department’s regional team has put in place systems to track outcomes against these areas of weakness and the progress made by children and young people with SEND, including regular review meetings. At the most recent WSoA review meeting in July 2024, the local area demonstrated progress against the range of actions in place to secure clear and sustained improvement across all the areas of significant weakness. Buckinghamshire is also taking part in the Delivering Better Value (DBV) in SEND Programme.

Nationally, the government is providing schools with extra funding of almost £1.1 billion in this 2024/25 financial year through the new Core Schools Budget Grant (CSBG) to support them with overall costs, including the costs of supporting their pupils SEND. Of this total, special schools and alternative provision settings will be receiving over £140 million through the CSBG.

The additional funding through the CSBG comes alongside high needs funding for services and support for children and young people with complex SEND. Buckinghamshire County Council is receiving a high needs funding allocation of £127.5 million through their 2024/25 dedicated schools grant. Decisions on future funding levels beyond this financial year will be for the forthcoming Spending Review.

Along with East West Rail Company and Network Rail, the Department for Transport is considering the merits of providing an East West Rail link to Aylesbury, and shared both cost information and the results of business case analysis with the local authority. A final decision will be made in due course.

The following table shows information on the agreed mental health waiting time standards relating to the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, broken down by the services provided, and compared to their actual performance:

Source: NHS England.

The data below shows the proportion of patients who were discharged via pathways 1, 2, and 3. These pathways include both National Health Service and local authority funded services, with each pathway being defined as follows:

• pathway 1 involves discharge at home, or to a usual place of residence, with new or additional health or social care needs, or both;
• pathway 2 involves discharge to a community bed-based setting which has dedicated recovery support, with new or additional health or social care support, or both, required in the short-term to help the person recover in a community bed-based setting, before they are ready to either live independently at home or receive longer-term or ongoing care and support; and
• pathway 3 involves discharge to a new residential or nursing home setting, for people who are considered likely to need long-term residential or nursing home care, and should be used only in exceptional circumstances.

We do not collect hospital level data on discharge pathways, therefore this data is not available for Stoke Mandeville Hospital. However, we do collect data by trust. For the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which includes Stoke Mandeville Hospital, in September 2024, 4% of patients were discharged on pathway 1, 0.4% on pathway 2, and 0.4% on pathway 3.

For the Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in September 2024, 7.3% of patients were discharged on pathway 1, 1.3% of patients on pathway 2, and 1.3% on pathway 3.

It is unacceptable that too many children and young people, including in Buckinghamshire, are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long.

The Department is working across Government to consider how to deliver our commitment of access to a specialist mental health professional in every school. We need to ensure that any support meets the needs of young people, teachers, parents, and carers. This includes considering the role of existing programmes of support with evidence of a positive impact, such as Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges.

Alongside this we are working towards rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community and working with colleagues at NHS England to consider options to deliver our commitment to recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across both adult, and children and young people’s mental health services.

It will be important that these commitments can provide appropriate support for children and young people with a range of mental health needs.

We recognise that too many people in places like Buckinghamshire are not receiving the mental health care they need.

The Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire West Integrated Care Board is responsible for providing health and care services, including community mental health services, to meet the needs of the people of Buckinghamshire.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment which will also help ease pressure on busy mental health services.

There are currently approximately 65 locally-funded early support hubs across England, offering early easy access mental health interventions to thousands of children and young people. The Department is running an £8 million Shared Outcomes Fund project throughout 2024/25 to boost and evaluate the impact of 24 of these existing early support hubs, which includes one based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, run by the Youth Enquiry Service.

In addition, work is ongoing across Government to deliver our commitment to set up Young Futures hubs in every community, offering open access mental health services for young people.

Cutting waiting lists, including for diagnostic tests, is a key priority for the Government. We will provide the number of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and other tests that are needed to increase capacity and reduce elective and cancer waits. It is unacceptable that, as of August 2024, 23.9% of patients are waiting over six weeks for a test, against an objective in the 2024/25 Operational Planning Guidance for no more than 5% to wait six weeks.

The Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has implemented several initiatives to improve access to diagnostic services and to meet the needs of its growing community. This includes the opening of the Lloyds Court Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) in Milton Keynes and the Whitehouse Health Centre CDC in Whitehouse, as part of national efforts to bring essential diagnostic services into the local community.

Construction has also commenced for a new three-storey imaging centre at the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital through the New Hospital Programme. This facility will provide a modern central location for several imaging diagnostic services, and will include two MRI scanners, two CT scanners, and a new Ultrasound Department. Locating imaging services in one place will improve efficiency and enhance patient’s experience of the service.

Alongside the Chancellor and Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, I attended World Bank Group Annual Meetings. As my Governor's statement set out, the UK will continue to be a leading contributor to international climate finance, including support for nature and forests and the Bank is a key partner for us. Alongside the Secretary of State, I called on the Bank to play a leading role in setting a new collective MDB climate finance target ahead of COP29. I discussed this with President Banga when he visited today.

The previous government consulted on a power to block listings on national security grounds and published a summary of responses to this consultation in December 2021. The government keeps all policy under review.

This government has been clear: our number one mission is driving economic growth to improve the lives of the British people. To grow our economy, we need more high quality, long-term investment. This means creating a new partnership with businesses and making sure Britain is the best place in the world to invest.

The government is strengthening the British Business Bank’s ability to support the UK’s fastest growing, most innovative companies by establishing the British Growth Partnership.

The British Growth Partnership is a new, pathfinder approach to the partnership between the British Business Bank and institutional investors that will further the government's goal, as set out in the Pensions Investment Review, of encouraging more UK pension fund investment into UK growth assets. The British Business Bank, the UK's largest domestic venture capital investor, will launch a new fund to attract pension and institutional investment into venture capital and innovative businesses, with the aim of making investments by the end of 2025.

The government expect both successful bidders of the Long-Term Investment for Technology and Science (LIFTS) competition, Schroders and ICG, to begin making investments via their new funds in late 2024, supported by pensions capital from Phoenix Group, with the aim of generating over a billion pounds of investment into UK science and technology companies.

To provide greater certainty for investors and businesses, we have extended the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Venture Capital Trust (VCT) schemes by ten years to 5 April 2035. This will ensure the schemes continue to be available to support scale-up companies.

Finally, in April 2024, the British Business Bank and Innovate UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding to help create new pathways for private investment into scale-ups, to better scale firms and address regional disparities.

The Government is committed to reinvigorating our capital markets to deliver growth across the UK and is pursuing ambitious reforms to make our markets even more competitive.

This is why we supported the implementation of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) listing reforms, and are supportive of the reform to overhaul the Prospectus rules to improve access for retail investors in the capital raising process.

The Government is also taking forward work to improve the information and support available to retail investors to help with their decision-making. This includes reforms to the UK’s retail disclosure regime and exploring options to expand the availability of investment support through the joint Government and FCA review of the boundary between financial advice and guidance.

Additionally, individuals can also save up to £20,000 into an Individual Savings Account (ISA) each year, including Stocks and Shares ISAs, and any savings income received within an ISA is tax free.

The work of the Digitisation Taskforce is ongoing and it has not yet made any recommendations to government. The government looks forward to the taskforce providing its final report and will set out its response after that.

The government is committed to reinvigorating our capital markets to deliver growth across the UK and is pursuing ambitious reforms to make our markets even more competitive. The Chancellor will announce any fiscal decisions at the Budget in the usual way.