Carla Lockhart

The Universal Service Obligation is set out in the Postal Services Act 2011 and ensures a six-day a week, one price goes anywhere, service for the delivery and collection of letters (and five days a week for parcels) throughout the United Kingdom. Ofcom, as the UK’s designated independent regulator of postal services, monitors the delivery of the universal postal service standards.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, postal operators have continued to provide a valuable service to this country, including in rural communities.

The Government’s objective in relation to postal services continues to be to secure a sustainable service for users throughout the UK, including those in remote and rural areas.

The Government is committed to supporting the UK’s small independent retailers make better use of technology and trading online, expanding their customer base from the local high street to a national and international marketplace.

Retailers are able to access an unprecedented package of support including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme and Bounce Back Loans Scheme. Additionally, businesses in Northern Ireland can access https://www.enterpriseni.com/ for further support.

The Start Up Loans Company, a subsidiary of the British Business Bank, delivers the Government’s Start Up Loans programme providing finance and support for businesses who struggle to access other forms of finance.

Tech Nation, which receives grant funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, provides a range of resources to support the growth of digital businesses in the UK. This includes a Digital Business Academy that provides free online courses on starting and growing a digital business.

Accrediting new lenders for the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) is a priority for the British Business Bank. The Bank is working at pace to accredit more lenders, including lenders operating in Northern Ireland, to further extend the Scheme’s reach and provide more choice for businesses.

The Bank has put substantial additional resources in place to create a streamlined process within the Bank to help onboard new lenders seeking accreditation as quickly as possible. For example, existing lenders accredited under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) may have an expedited accreditation process for the BBLS.

There are currently 16 accredited lenders for the BBLS, with three operating specifically in Northern Ireland.

As of 6 May, in total over £5.5 billion worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to 33,812 businesses.

Lenders have received 62,674 completed applications.

We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and the lenders on regular and transparent data publication going forward and to ensure that companies receive the full benefits from the support being provided.

The Business Secretary continues to work with banks and other finance providers to help SMEs access the finance they need and has discussed with these organisations the alternative forms of support for businesses that they are offering. The Government welcomed the statement by UK Finance on behalf of the financial sector which announced that banks, building societies and credit card providers are committed to supporting their business customers in continuing to trade.

The Government has responded to feedback to ensure that companies feel the full benefits of available support through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) by:

• Extending the scheme so that all viable small businesses affected by Covid-19;
• Removing previous restrictions on the following groups to enable them to access the CBILS, subject to other eligibility criteria being met: Employer, professional, religious or political membership organisations and trade unions;
• Removing the ability for lenders to ask for personal guarantees for loans under £250,000, and reducing the personal guarantee for loans over £250,000 to 20% of the outstanding balance after recoveries;
• Introducing technical changes to ensure that applications will be processed faster;
• Removing the forward-looking viability test; and
• Removing the per lender portfolio cap.

Protecting children is at the heart of our plans to transform the online experience for people in the UK and the strongest protections in the online harms framework will be for children. Under these new laws, Ofcom will have a duty to establish ongoing mechanisms for user advocacy. This is to ensure Ofcom understands the experiences of users, including children, and is able to detect and address issues early on.

The costs incurred by Ofcom in carrying out its functions under the Online Safety Bill, will be met by proportionate fees charged to industry.

The Online Safety Bill, which will give effect to the regulatory framework outlined in the Online Harms White Paper full government response, will be ready this year.

As the designated body for age classification of film content, the government has great trust in the British Board of Film Classification’s best practice age ratings. While adoption of the BBFC’s age ratings by online platforms is currently voluntary, we welcome their usage by Video on Demand platforms.

This includes Netflix who on December 1st announced that they have become the first platform to achieve complete coverage of their content under the BBFC’s ratings.

According to recent BBFC research, nearly nine in ten parents find BBFC age ratings on Netflix useful in helping them to choose content well for their family. To build on this success, we will continue to engage with industry to encourage other platforms to adopt the same ratings, and will keep the evidence for legislation in this area under review.

It is vital that children are protected from accessing age-inappropriate, harmful content online. The government’s Online Harms legislation will establish in law a new ‘duty of care’ on companies towards their users. The ‘duty of care’ will ensure companies have robust systems and processes in place to keep their users safe and will deliver a higher level of protection for children than for the typical adult user. Details of how the online harms legislation will protect children from harmful content will be published later this year in the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation.

Our Online Harms proposals will deliver a higher level of protection for children than for the typical adult user. We expect companies to use a proportionate range of tools, including age assurance and age verification technologies, to prevent children accessing age-inappropriate content, such as online pornography, and to protect them from other harms. The new regulatory framework will cover social media companies, where many children access pornography, and all sites on which there is user-generated functionality, including pornography sites, regardless of where they are based. Further details of how the online harms legislation will protect children from harmful content, including online pornography, will be published later this year in the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation.

The government has committed to review the Gambling Act 2005 to ensure it is fit for the digital age. Further details will be announced in due course.

Operators are required both by law and by the conditions of their licence from the Gambling Commission to prevent underage gambling. In May 2019 the Commission strengthened requirements for age verification so that operators must verify a customer’s age before they are able to deposit money, place a bet, or access free-to-play games. According to the Gambling Commission’s Young People and Gambling Survey 2019, 7% of 11-16 year olds said they had ever gambled online (a category including both National Lottery games and commercial sites), 5% had used a parent’s account with the parent’s permission and 2% had used a parent’s account without permission, showing that parents also have an important role to play in controlling children’s access to gambling. For further detail, the full survey report can be found at: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/Young-People-Gambling-Report-2019.pdf

The government has committed to review the Gambling Act 2005 to ensure it is fit for the digital age. Further details will be announced in due course.

Operators are required both by law and by the conditions of their licence from the Gambling Commission to prevent underage gambling. In May 2019 the Commission strengthened requirements for age verification so that operators must verify a customer’s age before they are able to deposit money, place a bet, or access free-to-play games. According to the Gambling Commission’s Young People and Gambling Survey 2019, 7% of 11-16 year olds said they had ever gambled online (a category including both National Lottery games and commercial sites), 5% had used a parent’s account with the parent’s permission and 2% had used a parent’s account without permission, showing that parents also have an important role to play in controlling children’s access to gambling. For further detail, the full survey report can be found at: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/Young-People-Gambling-Report-2019.pdf

In February this year, the government announced that it was minded to give Ofcom the role of the online harms regulator. We are committed to working closely with Ofcom as we continue to develop the regulatory framework.

The government will set out the final details of the policy in a full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation.

The Government recognises the vital role of newspapers in supporting communities and isolated individuals by ensuring the provision of reliable, high-quality information throughout the current pandemic. Safeguarding the UK’s news media at this time of financial instability is a key priority for Government and we are in constant dialogue with publishers to ensure that our response to the challenges they are facing is as effective as it can be.

With schools closed and the nation confined to their homes during lockdown, millions have been relying on e-publications to help home school their children, keep up to date with the latest news and to pass the time. To support this, the Chancellor has brought forward the zero rating on e-publications. The zero rate of VAT will now apply to all e-publications from the 1st May - seven months ahead of schedule. The Government expects the tax relief to be passed on to consumers in the form of reduced prices for online copies.

The Government will continue to consider all possible options in the interests of promoting and sustaining high-quality news journalism. Never have the activities of journalists been more popular and critical; providing quality news to all, including those self-isolating, and binding communities together, a fundamental function of our modern day democracy.

Every school is required to identify and address the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) of their pupils. Schools also have duties under the Equality Act (2010) towards individual disabled children and young people. They must make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services, to ensure that disabled children are not at a substantial disadvantage compared with their peers.

Local authorities are responsible for meeting the additional support costs for pupils with SEND up to the value of £6,000 per pupil by providing schools with sufficient funds to enable them to do so from the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant.

When the costs of additional support required for a pupil with SEND exceed £6,000, the local authority should also allocate additional top-up funding to cover the excess costs. This top-up funding, and funding for special schools, comes from the local authority’s high needs budget. The department recently announced £780 million in additional high needs funding for the next financial year, bringing total high needs funding to over £7 billion. Every local authority in England will see an increase in high needs funding of at least 8% per head of population aged 2 to 18.

The department have also allocated £365 million special provision capital funding to local authorities in England from 2018 to 2021, to increase the number of places available locally and enhance facilities for children with the most complex SEND. This could include re-purposing areas so that they meet the needs of pupils with SEND.

All new school buildings must have an accessible toilet as required by building regulations. In addition, the Department’s guidance requires a hygiene (sanitary changing) room for pupils who require extra support.

The Equality Act 2010 also places a duty on all schools to support disabled children and young people. Local authorities must prepare an accessibility strategy for disabled children and schools must prepare and act upon an accessibility plan for their premises. Both strategies and plans must include how buildings will be improved over time to enable disabled pupils to have better access to education. They should be regularly revised if necessary, and the local authority or school must consider the need to allocate adequate resources for their implementation.

Local authorities must ensure there is an appropriate school place for all pupils, including those with SEN and disabilities. The Department is investing a total of £365 million through the Special Provision Capital Fund from 2018-19 to 2020-21. This funding will help local authorities create new places and improve facilities for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. We also recognise the importance of providing a safe and effective environment for pupils. Since 2015, we have provided over £7.4 billion in condition funding to schools and those responsible for maintaining and improving school buildings.

?The Department is currently working with subject experts to develop draft subject content for a potential British Sign Language GCSE. We are working with Ofqual, the independent qualifications regulator, to ensure that the subject content can be assessed appropriately and will be working with stakeholders to ensure that a wide range of views is reflected. Subject to being able to develop subject content which meets the rigorous requirements which apply to all GCSEs, we are aiming to consult publicly on draft content later this year.

Once final subject content has been published, individual exam boards can develop a specification if they wish. Ofqual would need to accredit any such specification before it could be taught in schools.

Pet travel is a devolved matter. Pet checking and welfare in transport regulations are undertaken and enforced by the relevant UK administration.

In Great Britain, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) works collaboratively with Border Force and other operational partners at ports, airports and inland, sharing intelligence to enforce the pet travel regulations which apply, disrupt illegal imports and seize non-compliant animals. Any animals found to be non-compliant with the pet travel regulations which apply may be refused entry or detained until compliant.

When animals are transported for a commercial purpose, their transportation must comply fully with legal requirements aimed at protecting their welfare. APHA takes an intelligence-led approach at the GB border towards tackling the illegal trade in dogs. As part of this activity APHA identifies and acts to safeguard the welfare of animals where transport is non-compliant with legal requirements.

Defra takes the illegal importation of pets seriously. We will continue to work closely with Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to tackle this abhorrent trade which causes suffering to animals and puts the health of pets and people in the UK at risk.

Now that the transition period has ended, we have the opportunity to manage our own rules applying to pet travel movements into Great Britain.

The Government is in the process of refining proposals for our manifesto commitment to tackling puppy smuggling and will be publishing further detail in due course.

The UK Government will not compromise on our standards. Our manifesto is clear that in all of our trade negotiations, we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards. We remain firmly committed to upholding our high environmental protection, food safety and animal welfare standards outside the EU. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 retains our standards on environmental protections, animal welfare, animal and plant health and food safety at the end of the transition period. This includes existing import requirements and provides a firm basis for maintaining the same high level of protection for both domestic and imported products.

These import standards include a ban on using artificial growth hormones in domestic and imported products and set out that no products, other than potable water, are approved to decontaminate poultry carcasses. Any changes to existing food safety legislation would require new legislation to be brought before this Parliament.

Ministers meet regularly with food manufacturers, and representatives of other parts of the supply chain from across the UK, to discuss preparations for the end of the transition period including for food labelling.

The GOV.UK website provides cross-UK guidance on these matters and is kept under review and updated as appropriate. The EU has set out its position on how food and drink should be labelled where EU rules apply.

We will provide a period of adjustment for labelling changes required at the end of the transition period, wherever this is possible. During this period, the changes that UK businesses need to make when selling between different markets will be minimised. We are working to determine the appropriate time industry needs to make changes and will provide guidance as soon as we can do so, to ensure that businesses have clarity and certainty.

The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.

Defra is working with the Environment Agency, academics and the UK water industry to understand the scale of the microplastic pollution problem and to establish detection methods. The aim is to identify, characterise and quantify the types of microplastics entering wastewater treatment plants, evaluate the efficiency of treatment processes for the removal of microplastics from domestic wastewaters and assess the fate and biological effects of microplastics in receiving rivers.

Although there has been substantive research reporting the presence and impacts of microplastics in the marine environment, little is known about their sources, release and impact on freshwaters or their ultimate transport to the marine environment. Defra recently commissioned three evidence reviews on analysis, prevalence & impact of microplastics in freshwater and estuarine environments to further understand these issues and will use the outcomes from these and other research to develop policy options to help mitigate the impact of microplastics in the aquatic environment. These evidence reviews can be found at the following link: http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=20192&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=WT15112&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10#Description

This is a devolved matter and so will be for the Northern Ireland Executive to decide what support they provide to their sectors. I meet with Minister Poots regularly and we are working closely to share information and intentions to help develop coherent approaches, for example, a UK-wide campaign has recently been launched to encourage consumers to increase dairy purchases.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with supermarkets, retailers and other stakeholders in the food and drink industry covering a wide range of issues.

We are fortunate in the UK that we have the climate, the landscape, and entrepreneurial farmers and food producers that equip us to produce world-class food, and our farmers and growers are doing a fantastic job of feeding the nation during this challenging time.

Half of the food that the UK population consumes is home-grown and is renowned for its quality, and high standards of food safety, traceability, animal welfare and sustainability. We will always champion our farmers and producers; supporting them to grow more of our great British food, and to provide a reliable and sustainable food supply to the British public.

Supermarkets are already taking steps to promote and source British meat products. We are also working closely with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) as they develop consumer-facing marketing campaigns for the meat and dairy sectors. We will continue to engage with and support similar initiatives that highlight the qualities of British meat, dairy, and fruit and vegetable products.

Beef producers, as with other sectors, have been directly impacted by the closure of the food service sector as a result of the lockdown measures taken in response to Covid-19. This has led to problems with carcass imbalance.

The Government has well established ways of working with the food and farming industry supply chain to address temporary disruption. Defra and the devolved administrations are sharing the latest stakeholder information and data to ensure we have an evidence base for what is happening in specific markets, or specific geographical regions during the Covid-19 outbreak. The Secretary of State is also having regular meeting with the NFU and representatives of the beef sector.

Covid-19 impacts are also manifesting in the loss of export markets which would normally give value to parts of the carcass for which there is little demand in the UK and the shift away from the hospitality and food service sector to the retail sector.

Prices for prime cattle are showing signs of stabilising as industry has adapted and evolved to the current climate. Prices are up 3%, which is a positive sign of recovery.

Defra maintains a regular watching brief on the beef price and monitors all UK agricultural markets to provide forewarning of any atypical market movements and have continued to do so throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.

To help overcome the current imbalance in retail sales of beef, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, Quality Meat Scotland and Meat Promotion Wales are launching a £1.2 million ‘Make It Steak’, promotion campaign. The EU funded Private Storage Aid scheme also opened to the UK beef industry on 7 May.

Defra’s Food is GREAT campaign is raising the international profile and reputation of food and drink from across the UK. It builds global demand, drives awareness and increases positive perceptions of UK food and drink products amongst international trade audiences and consumers. The campaign promotes excellent food and drink products from across the four nations of the UK. For instance, most recently the campaign showcased British beef, Northern Irish gin, Scotch Whisky, Welsh lamb, Scottish Salmon and English Sparkling Wine to Japanese consumers, trade and media in events coinciding with the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019. Defra also continues to work in partnership with industry and other Government departments to open new markets for the meat sector. This has included recently opening beef and lamb markets to Japan and progressing towards opening of the beef market to China for the first time in over 20 years.

Under our four year funding agreement with the National Wildlife Crime Unit, Defra has contributed £165,000 a year between 2016-2020 to the Unit’s activities. We have committed to maintaining the Defra contribution in 2020/21.

Furthermore, we provide up to £6.3 million per year to support international action to counter poaching and the illegal wildlife trade.

The mental health of all sections of the population, including farmers and fishermen, is one of this Government’s top priorities. The Government is committed to transforming mental health services and has announced a further expansion in the NHS Long Term Plan funded by an additional £2.3 billion a year in real terms by 2023/24. Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are best placed to decide on how our investment in mental health services should be used locally to meet the needs of their populations living in rural and coastal areas. CCGs are responsible for ensuring adequate access to mental health services locally, including early interventions such as mental health first aid. Funding allocations to CCGs, including those covering rural areas, vary to meet the needs of local populations, including mental health need and the needs of remote or sparsely populated areas.

The Government takes the issue of farmers’ wellbeing very seriously and is committed to supporting the wellbeing of farmers, incorporating wellbeing into future agricultural policy. We recognise this is a time of uncertainty and are designing our farming reforms in collaboration with those who work in agriculture wherever we can, considering personal and business resilience issue. We meet regularly with representatives from the main farming and rural charities. We have launched a £1 million grant funding project to provide resilience support to farmers and land managers in England to help them prepare for the Agricultural Transition period that will take place from 2021-2027. A range of providers will work directly with farmers providing business and personal resilience support and we will learn lessons from this project, using the accumulated evidence and on-going feedback from the industry to help us develop any next steps for any future initiatives and support.

On fisheries, Defra is providing support to SeafarersUK in a research project called ‘The financial health and resilience of small-scale fishers, their families and communities’. Defra’s grant will help SeafarersUK to widen the scope of the research on this important topic in order to understand better the type of financial problems fishers experience, their underlying reasons and what could be done to support fishers become more financially/economically resilient. This will include consideration of the high levels of poor mental health among fishing communities.

The provision and maintenance of safety barriers on carriageways, for the protection of all road users, is a matter for the relevant Highways Authorities within England and Devolved Administrations.

The Department promotes Motorcycle safety awareness more generally through the THINK! Campaign.

On the 12 May, the Government published guidance for passengers and transport operators to help them keep themselves and their staff safe, including how social distancing rules should be interpreted to do this. This guidance will be kept up-to-date as restrictions on travel change.

The Government has made available £330 billion of support through loans and guarantees to support UK businesses. Changes have been made to some of the schemes to ensure that more businesses, particularly those that are SMEs like many road haulage companies, can benefit from them.

The Department is aware of the issues faced by the logistics industry in Northern Ireland. That is why on 24 April we announced a package of funding to support the movement of critical goods on up to 31 RoRo freight routes, including between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Up to £17 million of funding will be available to support up to five routes over the next two months, with the Northern Ireland Executive contributing 40 percent. Officials continue to work closely with the Northern Ireland Executive to gather evidence on the scale of the problem and any further support needed.

Ministers and officials have been meeting frequently with their counterparts in Northern Ireland and the other Devolved Administrations to discuss matters of mutual concern and to develop plans as appropriate.

In line with guidance issued by government to avoid non-essential travel, domestic public transport networks have amended services to reflect lower demand whilst keeping vital services running for those who are unable to work from home.

The current MOT fee in Great Britain for class 4 vehicles was set by The Motor Vehicles (Tests) (Amendment) Regulations 2010, and the rationale for the fee level is set out fully in the relevant published impact assessment. The fee has been set to reflect the time taken to carry out an MOT and the costs of a garage in delivering that MOT. MOT garages often charge less than the set fee.

The table below shows the number of appeals in Great Britain of an MOT test result received by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) in each of the last three years.

Along with the private sector, the Government will invest £1 billion in charging infrastructure, ensuring that everyone is within 30 miles of a rapid charging station. We are already investing nearly £1.5bn? between April 2015 and March 2021 to support the transition to zero emission motoring and have put in place a range of grant schemes to support the installation of charging infrastructure, available in any urban or rural areas of the UK, including Northern Ireland.

Under the Government’s Go Ultra Low City Scheme, £22.9m has been allocated to support the installation of infrastructure in several UK cities and wider surrounding rural areas. Last year work commenced to determine a vision for a core rapid charger network on England’s strategic road network and we aim to report on this in Spring 2020. Our jointly funded £400 million Chargepoint Infrastructure Investment Fund’s first investment round, worth a total of £70 million, will ensure the delivery of a further 3,000 rapid charging devices by 2024, more than doubling the current number of rapid charging devices.

In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, safety-related events which endanger or which, if not corrected or addressed, could endanger an aircraft, its occupants or any other person have to be reported to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The Regulation requires that the reporting, analysis and follow-up to such occurrences remain confidential. However, the Regulation does permit information to be released on request to interested parties that have a genuine safety related need for the information. An application can be made at www.caa.co.uk/srg1605.

The Cabinet Office Disability Unit is currently working with the British Standards Institute to support their development of an Invisible Disability sign, recognising that some disabled people face unfair criticism when trying to access facilities designed for disabled people.

The Government will publish a National Strategy for Disabled People in 2020 focusing on removing barriers to ensure disabled people can lead a life of opportunity and fully participate in British society. The strategy will be developed with disabled people, disability organisations and charities, and will support disabled people in all aspects and phases of their lives, including housing, education, transport and jobs.

Waivers can only be granted by the Secretary of State where the recovery of an overpayment is causing substantial medical and/or financial hardship, and clear evidence of this can be provided. The discretion to waive benefit overpayments can only be exercised in line with Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on ‘Managing Public Money’.

Prior to the start of 2019/20, the reason that the overpayment occurred (fraud, claimant error or Departmental error) was not recorded on waiver requests. Therefore, for the years 2017/18 and 2018/19, I have instead provided the total number of successful waivers. It is important to note that these may not all have been for overpayments arising as a result of Departmental errors.

In 2017/18, there were no waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments. In 2018/19, there were 5 waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments, of these, 4 were granted on medical grounds. In 2019/20 year to date, there were 3 waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments, these were all granted on medical grounds.

*The data in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department.

In the Budget on 11 March, the Chancellor announced new measures to help people who are unable to work as a result of covid-19. The Department is working with colleagues in Northern Ireland to ensure the same arrangements are in place across the UK.

Waivers can only be granted by the Secretary of State where the recovery of an overpayment is causing substantial medical and/or financial hardship, and clear evidence of this can be provided. The discretion to waive benefit overpayments can only be exercised in line with Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on ‘Managing Public Money’.

Prior to the start of 2019/20, the reason that the overpayment occurred (fraud, claimant error or Departmental error) was not recorded on waiver requests. Therefore, for the years 2017/18 and 2018/19, I have instead provided the total number of successful waivers. It is important to note that these may not all have been for overpayments arising as a result of Departmental errors.

In 2017/18, there were no waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments. In 2018/19, there were 5 waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments, of these, 4 were granted on medical grounds. In 2019/20 year to date, there were 3 waivers granted for Universal Credit overpayments, these were all granted on medical grounds.

*The data in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department.

In Great Britain, MOT test centres are predominantly located within motor vehicle repair premises, and regulation of health and safety compliance falls to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Such premises are not a current priority for HSE’s inspection activity and HSE only inspect these businesses where there is evidence that significant risk is not being managed, for example where concerns have been raised or following an incident. HSE promotes health and safety compliance via a number of industry stakeholders and provides specific relevant information to the industry through a range of communications channels. Further information on the sector plan for health and safety in the manufacturing industry can be found here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/strategiesandplans/sector-plans/manufacturing.pdf.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS England and NHS Improvement launched the ‘Tuberculosis (TB): action plan for England’ in July 2021, which aims to improve its prevention, detection and control. The UKHSA and NHS England and NHS Improvement are continuing to work with partners to raise awareness of TB among vulnerable communities and healthcare professionals, to ensure timely diagnoses and access to treatment. This includes professional training resources and webinars and updating the available public information.

On World TB Day on 24 March, we highlighted to the public that a long-lasting cough and a fever may not solely be symptoms of COVID-19. With this national media coverage, resources were shared with partners and stakeholders for use at local and regional level.

NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics. These include staff working in National Health Service hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups in England, but not staff working in primary care or in general practice surgeries, local authorities or other providers.

As data is only collected for the last day of each month, the following table shows the headcount number of HCHS doctors, nurses and health visitors who have left active service from 31 March 2020 to 31 December 2021.

Notes:

1. This analysis excludes Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as they did not use the Electronic Staff Record prior to March 2021.
2. The data includes staff leaving to work for other health or social care providers as well as staff leaving active service, for example, to go on maternity leave or a career break.

I wrote to the Minister of Health in Northern Ireland on 2 March 2022, to request a joint meeting with the hon. Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson MP), to discuss endometriosis provision.

The information is not held in the format requested.

Since reports emerged in 2014 on concerns about sex ratios at birth in the United Kingdom, the Department has published an annual analysis. The latest analysis was published in October 2021 and found no evidence for sex selective abortions occurring in the UK between 2015 and 2019. In this period, there were 105.5 male to 100 female births, which is below the accepted upper limit of 107. Whilst this data shows that sex selection abortions are having no impact on birth ratios, we will continue to work with abortion providers to monitor this issue.

Since reports emerged in 2014 on concerns about sex ratios at birth in the United Kingdom, the Department has published an annual analysis. The latest analysis was published in October 2021 and found no evidence for sex selective abortions occurring in the UK between 2015 and 2019. In this period, there were 105.5 male to 100 female births, which is below the accepted upper limit of 107. Whilst this data shows that sex selection abortions are having no impact on birth ratios, we will continue to work with abortion providers to monitor this issue.

Officials have regular meetings with Scottish counterparts to discuss abortion policy.

The Department continues to work with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to monitor the temporary approval of home use of both early medical abortion pills up to 10 weeks gestation. This includes sharing information between the CQC and Department where serious incidents related to the temporary approval take place. Concerns relating to a potential breach of abortion legislation should be reported to the police. Decisions to bring a prosecution in relation to the law on abortion are for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

The Department continues to work with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to monitor the temporary approval of home use of both early medical abortion pills up to 10 weeks gestation. This includes sharing information between the CQC and Department where serious incidents related to the temporary approval take place. Concerns relating to a potential breach of abortion legislation should be reported to the police. Decisions to bring a prosecution in relation to the law on abortion are for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

There are no plans to bring forward legislative proposals to reduce the abortion time limit. It would be for Parliament to decide whether to make any changes to the law on abortion. As with other matters of conscience, abortion is an issue on which the Government adopts a neutral stance and allows hon. Members to vote according to their moral, ethical or religious beliefs.

There is no legal requirement for consultations for abortion to take place face to face. Guidance published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists states that a woman must be given enough information and time, including the opportunity to ask any questions, to give informed consent. Safeguarding is an essential part of the assessment for abortion care. Where a more detailed assessment is required, judgement should be used to determine whether remote consultation is suitable for the individual. Where English is not the first language, care should be taken to establish that the woman has understood the process, via telephone interpreter if necessary and has had the opportunity to ask questions.

To 26 November 2021, 19,472,441 lateral flow devices have been dispatched to addresses in Northern Ireland.

The infection prevention and control guidance sets out the appropriate personal protective equipment for frontline health workers. An expert group of clinicians regularly review the available evidence to ensure that the guidance and recommendations continue to be effective and reflect current understanding on how to prevent and control COVID-19 infection.

The clinic will supply medicines obtained through the regulated supply chain, appropriately labelled for individual patients to be safely used only by those patients. The pills are only supplied following the patient’s consultation. Abuse of the temporary measures by the passing on or selling of abortion pills remains unlawful and subject to criminal sanctions.

The Government’s consultation response published in March 2020 ‘A new legal framework for abortion services in Northern Ireland. Implementation of the legal duty under section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019’ set out that the intention that the regulatory framework would allow access to abortion services up to 24 weeks gestation in cases where the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or girl, greater than the risk of terminating the pregnancy in line with the position in England and Wales. This followed consideration and assessment of all the consultation responses received. Parliament voted to enact this legislation in a free vote in June 2020.

The Department works with the devolved administrations and other Government departments, ensuring that information is shared amongst the relevant bodies as appropriate.

The Abortion and Abortion Care Fact Sheet for schools was produced and published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, therefore no assessment has been made.

In 2018, the most recent data available, there were 25,312 children and young people living with a cancer diagnosis in England. This data is available by cancer type, sex and other demographic factors and is available at the following link:

https://www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/prevalence

Public Health England (PHE) contributed to the sun safety message published on the National Health Service website which is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/sunscreen-and-sun-safety/

PHE also publishes near real-time solar ultraviolet radiation index values from its measurement sites across the United Kingdom to inform people of the current levels in addition to guidance on when protection is needed. PHE discourages the use of sunbeds and has published guidance on the dangers from the use of sunbeds which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sunbeds-safety-advice/sunbeds-safety-advice

Later this year, we will publish a new tobacco control plan which will outline further plans to protect young people from smoking and to support our ambition to become smoke-free by 2030.

The Children and Young People Mental Health Survey dataset for 2017 reports an estimated autism prevalence rate of 1.5% amongst children aged five to 10 years old and 1.2% amongst children aged 11 to 16 years old.

The number of completed admitted pathways since January 2020 is shown in the following table.

On 9 January 2021, the Government published the United Kingdom Rare Diseases Framework, outlining four key priorities to improve the lives of those living with rare diseases such as fragile X syndrome. These include helping patients get a final diagnosis, increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals, better coordination of care and improving access to specialist care, treatment and drugs. The Framework will be followed by nation-specific action plans, detailing how each nation of the UK will meet the shared priorities of the Framework. In addition, the NHS Long Term Plan sets out commitments for improving the health of people with a learning disability, including people with fragile X syndrome. Genomic testing for fragile X syndrome is included in the National Genomic Test Directory and is available in England via the NHS Genomic Medicine Service.

The Department published a UK-wide consultation on the proposed mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid which ran from 13 June to 9 September 2019. A post consultation update was published on GOV.UK. Publication of the consultation response has been delayed due to the pandemic. We will publish the response as soon as possible.

Ministers and officials regularly meet with stakeholders on issues related to general practice.

On 25 March 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement published its 2021/22 priorities and operational planning guidance which sets the priorities for the year ahead. This included, as part of restoring and increasing access to primary care services, that all practices should offer face to face consultations, alongside continuing to increase the use of online consultations as part of embedding total triage.

In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million over five years for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Brain tumours is a difficult research area with a relatively small research community. We are taking actions to grow the field, such as workshops for researchers and research training for clinicians.

The NIHR released a public announcement to the research community in April 2018, making clear our desire to receive brain tumour research funding applications. We are relying on researchers to submit high-quality research proposals. All applications that were fundable in open competition have been funded. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including brain tumours.

The information requested is not collected centrally. The Department acknowledges that there are limitations with the data currently collected on serious incidents and complications that occur after an abortion. We are planning to examine, with partner organisations, how well these systems are working in relation to recording incidents and complications arising from abortions and whether improvements can be made.

In accordance with the Abortion Act and the Abortion Regulations 1991, all abortions performed in England must be notified to the Chief Medical Officer within 14 days of the procedure. There is no requirement for the practitioner to wait until day 14 to notify the abortion.

Any complication known to the practitioner terminating the pregnancy, at the time the notification is submitted, should be recorded on the Abortion Notification (HSA4) form. All serious incidents should be reported by the provider to their commissioner, the Care Quality Commission and other relevant organisations in line with the serious incident framework published by NHS England and NHS Improvement which is available at the following link:

https://improvement.nhs.uk/resources/serious-incident-framework/

We acknowledge that there are limitations with the data provided on HSA4 forms as complications that occur after treatment may not be known to the registered medical practitioner and may not be reported. We are planning to examine, with partner organisations, how well these systems are working in relation to recording complications arising from abortions and whether improvement is required.

In accordance with the Abortion Act and the Abortion Regulations 1991, all abortions performed in England must be notified to the Chief Medical Officer within 14 days of the procedure. There is no requirement for the practitioner to wait until day 14 to notify the abortion.

Any complication known to the practitioner terminating the pregnancy, at the time the notification is submitted, should be recorded on the Abortion Notification (HSA4) form. All serious incidents should be reported by the provider to their commissioner, the Care Quality Commission and other relevant organisations in line with the serious incident framework published by NHS England and NHS Improvement which is available at the following link:

https://improvement.nhs.uk/resources/serious-incident-framework/

We acknowledge that there are limitations with the data provided on HSA4 forms as complications that occur after treatment may not be known to the registered medical practitioner and may not be reported. We are planning to examine, with partner organisations, how well these systems are working in relation to recording complications arising from abortions and whether improvement is required.

The Abortion Act 1967 permits termination of a pregnancy by a registered medical practitioner subject to certain conditions. Decisions to bring a prosecution in relation to the law on abortion are for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, not the Government.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before prorogation.

The United Kingdom National Screening Committee UK NSC) reviewed the evidence during the consultation of prostate cancer screening in men over the age of 50 years old in 2020 and recommended that a population screening programme should not be introduced.

The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is not accurate enough to detect the aggressive prostate cancers that need treatment. It can identify men as having prostate cancer when in fact they do not and miss some aggressive cancers. Many men may then undergo unnecessary tests and treatments and risk long term health problems. It is still not clear whether other tests such as a magnetic resonance imaging scan, with or without the PSA, are accurate enough.

The Department has two Vulnerability Disclosure Policies (VDPs) - the NHS COVID-19 App VDP, specifically for the NHS Test and Trace App and its supporting infrastructure and the NHSX VDP supporting the COVID-19 'Test, Track and Trace' programme of work.

The intention behind the reference to 'in good faith' is to support a mechanism for cooperation with security researchers with the aim to identify and quickly remediate reported vulnerabilities. As such, the research/ vulnerability disclosure must be carried out in an honest and sincere way with the intention of improving security and without affecting the safety, security and continuity of any data or service in accordance with the disclosure policy and consistent with the law.

Data on how many infants have been born after a failed abortion is not held centrally.

As set out in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ guideline on Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality, a fetus born alive after termination for a fetal abnormality is deemed to be a child and must be treated in his or her best interests and managed within published guidance for neonatal practice. A fetus born alive with abnormalities incompatible with long-term survival should be managed to maintain comfort and dignity during terminal care.

Data on how many infants have been born after a failed abortion is not held centrally.

As set out in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ guideline on Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality, a fetus born alive after termination for a fetal abnormality is deemed to be a child and must be treated in his or her best interests and managed within published guidance for neonatal practice. A fetus born alive with abnormalities incompatible with long-term survival should be managed to maintain comfort and dignity during terminal care.

Data on how many infants have been born after a failed abortion is not held centrally.

As set out in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ guideline on Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality, a fetus born alive after termination for a fetal abnormality is deemed to be a child and must be treated in his or her best interests and managed within published guidance for neonatal practice. A fetus born alive with abnormalities incompatible with long-term survival should be managed to maintain comfort and dignity during terminal care.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines entitled ‘Autism spectrum disorder in under 19s: support and management’ describes the support, treatment and help that health and care professional can provide to autistic children and young people. We advise commissioners to follow these guidelines. The guidelines do not currently advise on food aversion although guidelines are updated periodically.

The NHS Long Term Plan aims to tackle the causes of morbidity and preventable deaths in people with a learning disability and for autistic people. As part of this, NHS England will pilot the introduction of a specific health check for autistic people aimed at improving health outcomes.

National Health Service dental practices are continuing to provide face to face care. The Department is working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Chief Dental Officer for England to increase levels of service, as fast as is safely possible, taking into account Public Health England’s guidance and continued infection risks. Over 600 urgent dental centres remain open to support the provision of urgent and emergency face to face care.

Public Health England’s Child Oral Health Improvement Programme Board and the Adult Oral Health Oversight Group have continued to meet and provide strategic oversight for oral health improvement during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The information is not available in the format requested.

There is no official definition of seriously handicapped. In 1990, when the grounds for abortion were amended, Parliament decided that doctors were best placed to make these decisions with the woman and her family. It is for Parliament to decide the circumstances under which abortions should take place. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists issued guidance to doctors ‘Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality in England, Scotland and Wales’ in May 2010. The guidance is intended to assist doctors and other health professionals to support women and their families when a fetal abnormality is diagnosed and to help women to decide, within the constraints of the law, whether or not to have the pregnancy terminated. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/terminationpregnancyreport18may2010.pdf

There is clinical input to the coding of the named medical conditions for abortions under Ground E of the statutory grounds for abortion provided in the annual abortion statistical release.

This information is not held in the format requested.

There is no official definition of seriously handicapped. In 1990, when the grounds for abortion were amended, Parliament agreed that doctors were best placed to make these decisions with the woman and her family. It is for Parliament to decide the circumstances under which abortions should take place.

As laid out in ‘Fourth progress report of the cross-government outcomes strategy to save lives’, the Department asked Public Health England (PHE) to lead a project to analyse and publish data on student suicides in England. PHE worked with the Office for National Statistics to link higher education data to suicide mortality data, for the period 2000/01 to 2016/17. The report ‘Estimating suicide among Higher Education students, England and Wales’ was published in June 2018.

In January 2019, we published the first Cross-Government Suicide Prevention Workplan, setting out an ambitious programme across national and local government and the National Health Service. It includes a commitment to analyse the suicide rates of people at university to explore any lessons to be learned and increase awareness of suicide risk and mental wellbeing in universities.

The Department is carefully monitoring the impact of and compliance with the temporary approval of home administration of both sets of abortion medication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials have regular meetings with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Care Quality Commission and abortion service providers.

The Government has committed to undertake a public consultation on making permanent the COVID-19 measure allowing for home use of both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation for all eligible women. The current COVID-19 measure will be kept in place until the public consultation concludes and a decision has been made.

No such assessment has been made by the Department. However, the Government wants all children to lead happy and healthy lives to reach their full potential and is committed to improving everyone’s health. The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.

No such assessment has been made by the Department. However, the Government wants all children to lead happy and healthy lives to reach their full potential and is committed to improving everyone’s health. The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.

The Government recognises that social distancing and self-isolation are likely to increase the risk of loneliness and mental health issues for everyone, including for autistic people and their families and carers.

We have provided funding to and are working with a range of charities to boost their online and helpline capacity so that they are able to provide advice, support and signposting to services to a greater number of autistic people and their parents and family carers.

We have commissioned research to improve our understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 on autistic people and their families as a result of the pandemic and we are identifying any new actions that could be included in the refreshed autism strategy in response to the pandemic.

Officials in the Department have regular discussions with their counterparts in the devolved administrations on improving the health and wellbeing of the nation, including on reducing obesity. Discussions include domestic strategies and the delivery of United Kingdom-wide measures in our obesity strategy, such as front of pack nutrition labelling on food and drink.

There are no plans to change the current funding arrangements.

The Government is working to develop solutions for at-home testing (lateral flow tests) as well as lab-based testing (lab-based serology / immunoassay testing) to assess whether a person has had the virus which causes COVID-19. The desired ‘profile’ or characteristics of these tests including their intended use, target populations and safety and performance-related characteristics can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-tests-and-testing-kits-for-coronavirus-covid-19-work/target-product-profile-antibody-tests-to-help-determine-if-people-have-recent-infection-to-sars-cov-2-version-2

Since the end of May, lab-based antibody tests have been available to all National Health Service staff that want one using assays provided by several commercial providers. The results of Public Health England’s assessment of these assays can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-laboratory-evaluations-of-serological-assays

The Government wants all children to lead happy and healthy lives to reach their full potential and is committed to improving everyone’s health. The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.

The Secretary of State and the Northern Ireland health minister Robin Swann agreed to replace the Northern Ireland dedicated helpline with the well-known NHS 111 advice line to ensure that people in Northern Ireland have access to the same level of advice as citizens in England.

Our action plan published on 15 April 2020, www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-adult-social-care-action-plan supports care providers, the care workforce, unpaid carers, local authorities and the NHS for their ongoing hard work to maintain services and continue to provide high quality and safe social care to people throughout the pandemic

Where possible, the public (including older people, although we recognise internet usage is lower amongst this age group), are urged to seek guidance and advice on the COVID-19 outbreak via the government website www.gov.uk/coronavirus.

Employers across the National Health Service are responsible for helping their staff maintain and improve their physical and mental health and wellbeing and the NHS’s ambition is to be a beacon of good practice, leading the way in how this can be achieved. The final NHS People Plan, places strong emphasis on ensuring an improved health and wellbeing offer for all NHS staff. NHS England also has an Employee Assistance Programme provider, offering a confidential health and wellbeing service to staff that offer the following services counselling – immediate access to 24-hour telephone counselling, legal information services, financial information services, medical support team and online health and wellbeing support.

The Government is committed to supporting autistic people to live healthy, independent lives and to participate in their local communities.

We are currently considering our plans to mark and support World Autism Awareness Week 2020.

The Government continues to work with The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, who provide expert medical scientific advice, as well as other medical professionals to actively review the situation as there is currently no vaccine to prevent COVID-19. The best way to prevent infection is to avoid being exposed to the virus.

Flights are currently allowed to continue between the United Kingdom and Italy as there are many UK citizens in that area who may want to come home. Also, crucially, the evidence shows that banning flights from affected areas does very little to protect us.

Currently British Airways and Ryanair have made the decision to cancel all flights to and from Italy; these decisions were made by the companies themselves. The UK Government has not currently taken steps to restrict flights between the UK and Italy, but this remains under constant review.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office advise against all but essential travel to Italy, due to the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 and in line with various controls and restrictions imposed by the Italian authorities on 9 March. The Foreign Office advice is available at the following link:

www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy

People returning from some areas of the world are being told to self-isolate depending on the location they have visited and their symptoms. People who have been in close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 are also being advised by their local Health Protection Team to self-isolate. People who are self-isolating and have no symptoms do not pose a risk to others. They are self-isolating to allow closer monitoring in order to identify early symptoms, and to enable prompt medical action if required.

Social, community and residential care staff should ascertain if a person is in self-isolation and if they are asymptomatic or symptomatic prior to their visit. If they are self -isolating and a visit is deemed necessary, then a full risk assessment should be undertaken with managers and infection control specialist to decide the best course of action.

If during a telephone consultation with a patient or their representative to assess their suitability for a domiciliary visit, it is thought that COVID-19 is possible (based on the Public Health England criteria for a possible case), then a face-to-face assessment must be avoided. Instead, call NHS 111 and arrange for a clinical assessment to be made before proceeding.

In recognition of the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the United Kingdom Government published its vision to contain and control AMR by 2040 in January 2019. The vision was supported by a five-year national action plan.

The national action plan takes a fully integrated and comprehensive One-Health approach to tackling AMR, with challenging five-year commitments across the spectrum of human and animal health, agriculture, the environment and food, both in the UK and internationally. It includes ambitions to reduce infections and our use of antimicrobials and to support further research to better help target interventions.

A UK cross-Government delivery board drives and oversees implementation of the national action plan. The NHS Long Term Plan includes the commitment to implement the human health aspects of the AMR national action plan.

The Government is committed to levelling up the whole country. Every single person deserves to lead a long and healthy life, no matter who they are, where they live or their social circumstances.

The Prevention Green Paper reflected the need to reduce inequalities and to level up and we are considering how best this can be delivered.

The information is not held in the format requested.

Public Health England (PHE) advises it is possible that there may be a small increase in overall exposure to radio waves when 5G is added to an existing network or in a new area. However, the overall exposure is expected to remain low relative to international exposure guidelines and, as such, there should be no consequences for public health.

Information about these guidelines and the evidence reviews supporting PHE’s position are provided at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/5g-technologies-radio-waves-and-health/5g-technologies-radio-waves-and-health

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mobile-phone-base-stations-radio-waves-and-health/mobile-phone-base-stations-radio-waves-and-health

PHE is committed to monitoring the evidence applicable to 5G and other radio technologies, and to revising its advice, should that be necessary.

The Department has worked closely at Ministerial and official level with our partners in the devolved administrations since the beginning of the outbreak to formulate an effective response. Alongside this, Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, is working with his counterparts in the devolved administrations to ensure the response is effective across the whole United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has commenced work to review the evidence to offer population screening for prostate cancer as per its three-yearly cycle. A three-month public consultation will take place in summer 2020 where a recommendation will be made.

Further information and how to participate in the consultation will be available at the following link:

https://legacyscreening.phe.org.uk/screening-recommendations.php

Departmental officials have been in regular discussions with their counterparts in each of the devolved administrations regarding the proposal to fortify flour with folic acid to help prevent neural tube defects in foetuses. The public consultation was a joint one with the devolved administrations who were equally involved in the formation of it. During the pre-election period in Westminster, preparation of the Government response was put on hold, but discussions are now continuing with the devolved administrations and further information will be announced in due course.

The Department recognises the importance of timely and effective diagnosis processes and that is why we have introduced the first ever collection and reporting of autism waiting times data.

On 14 November 2019, NHS Digital published statistics that present the number of new referrals to mental health services for which the referral reason was suspected autism, as well as their waiting times to first appointment. These are experimental statistics and have been published by NHS Digital to involve users and stakeholders in the future development of the data, including work to improve the quality of the data. The data is intended to give average time to diagnosis, but it will take some time before that information is ready for publication. The data is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/autism-statistics/autism-statistics

In addition, the NHS Long Term Plan has set out that over the next three years, autism diagnosis will be included alongside work with children and young people’s mental health services to test and implement the most effective ways to reduce waiting times for specialist services.

The Government has a statutory obligation to conduct Post Implementation Reviews to assess the impact of tobacco regulations on both the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 and the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 by May 2021. The Department will also review the United Kingdom tobacco and e-cigarette regulatory framework so it continues to protect the nation’s health and support the prevention Green Paper ambition to make England smoke-free by 2030.

The test that is used currently to detect strep B during pregnancy is the Asymptomatic Bacteriuria test, which is generally used to detect more common bacterial infections such as E. Coli and Klebsiella. The data on the number of women who undertake an Asymptomatic Bacteriuria test to identify strep B specifically is not collected.

The UK National Screening Committees last reviewed the evidence to introduce screening for Group B Strep (GBS) at 35 to 37 weeks of pregnancy in 2017 and concluded that there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the benefits of screening would outweigh the harms.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has commissioned a clinical trial to compare universal screening for GBS against usual risk-based care. This £2.8 million trial (GBS3 trial) was launched in April 2019 and is due to report after four years. The UK NSC will review its recommendation in light of the evidence from the trial, after it reports in 2023.

We do not currently hold average waiting times for an autism diagnosis.

We are aware of reports concerning the removal of Bible and Quran apps from the Apple App Store in China. We remain deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of religion or belief in China, including the persecution of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners and others on the grounds of their religion or belief. The freedom to practise, change or share ones faith or belief without discrimination or violent opposition is a human right that all people should enjoy. The Foreign Secretary personally raised our concerns about the human rights situation in China with her Chinese counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on 22 October.

We strongly condemn the actions of the Sudanese military on 25 October, including the continued detention of Prime Minister Hamdok and members of the civilian government and the unilateral appointment of a new Sovereign Council on 11 November. Over the past two years, the UK has taken a leading role to support Sudan on their delicate path from oppressive autocratic rule to freedom and democracy. We welcome the progress made by the civilian-led government on the freedom of religion or belief since 2019, which included decriminalising apostasy declaring Christmas a national holiday and lifting public order laws that disproportionately affected Christian women. The acts of the military puts this progress at risk.

I condemned the military's actions in the strongest terms in the House of Commons on 25 October and called for Sudanese people of all faiths to be able to meet to protest and to pray without fear of violence. The Foreign Secretary then made a statement on 5 November with a clear call for the release of all those unlawfully detained and the restoration of the civilian-led transitional government. We also secured unanimous support for a resolution on the situation in Sudan at a Special Session at the UN Human Rights Council on 5 November, which made clear that Sudan's civilian-led government must be restored, detainees freed, and human rights respected. We continue to maintain public international pressure on the military to return to the democratic transition in order to deliver the freedom, peace and justice called for by the Sudanese people and ensure that the gains of the last two years are not lost.

The UK Government condemns all incidents of intercommunal violence in Nigeria. The underlying drivers of intercommunal violence are complex, the perpetrators do not come from any one ethnic group, and the devastating effects are felt by communities of different faiths and ethnicities. It is inaccurate to attribute sole responsibility to one ethnic group, the Fulani, and terms like militia risk fuelling tensions between communities. We continue to encourage the Nigerian Government to take urgent action to protect all those at risk of violence, bring perpetrators to justice and address the root causes of the violence.

During my visit to Nigeria in April, I [Minister Duddridge] discussed insecurity with the Foreign Minister and the President's Chief of Staff, and raised the importance of protecting all communities. I [Minister Duddridge] met the Foreign Minister again in July, along with Nigeria's Minister of State Education, where we discussed the impact of insecurity on education. In addition, our High Commissioner and her team regularly visit states affected by violence to engage with state governments, civil society, faith and community leaders and affected communities.

We are aware of reports of the sentencing of four Christians in China for selling audio bibles. We remain deeply concerned about the persecution of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners and others on the grounds of their religion or belief in China. The freedom to practise, change or share ones faith or belief without discrimination or violent opposition is a human right that all people should enjoy. The former Foreign Secretary personally raised our serious concerns about the human rights situation in China with his Chinese counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on a number of occasions, most recently on 27 May.

The UK is a longstanding supporter of sanctions on the Myanmar military. Since the start of the coup, under the UK autonomous Myanmar and Global Human Rights regimes we have sanctioned nine individuals and three entities relating to the military. Additionally the Myanmar regulations prohibit the provision of military related services, including the provision of technical assistance, to or for the benefit of the Tatmadaw. We work closely with partners to pressure those who have not implemented such systems. Our approach to sanctions is to pursue targeted sanctions, this ensures that we are designating high impact targets whilst remaining committed to the principle of 'do no harm' with sanctions, to ensure that any measures balance the risk of disproportionately affecting innocent people. By working with partners such as the EU, US and Canada to sanction military officers and military owned conglomerates we have been able to put pressure on economic interests and also send a signal to the international community that we oppose the actions of the military. We are exploring all options to put further pressure on their economic interests.

The UK admires Indonesia's multi-faith, multi-ethnic democracy and supports the government's efforts to combat violent extremism, including the terrorist group that carried out these attacks in central Sulawesi. My thoughts are with the families of the victims. The Foreign Secretary signed a Memorandum of Understanding during his visit to Jakarta on 7 April to further strengthen our cooperation in countering regional and international terrorist threats.

Promoting Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB) is a core aspect of the British Embassy Jakarta's work. In February our Ambassador met the Minister of Religious Affairs to discuss our collaboration in support of Indonesia's strong tradition of religious diversity and tolerance.

The UK continues to have strong concerns about the lack of freedom of religion or belief in North Korea. We continue to urge North Korea to uphold its human rights obligations and engage substantively with the international community on this issue. We regularly raise our concerns directly with the North Korean authorities and at the UN, including through the Human Rights Council and, most recently, in the Security Council in December 2020.

Defending the right to freedom of religion or belief for all is a priority for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. For example, the UK Government remains committed to implementing the recommendations from the Bishop of Truro's independent Review on persecuted Christians in full. One of those recommendations related to the establishment of the UK's Global Human Rights sanctions regime. This regime came into effect on 6 July 2020 and allows us to designate those who commit serious human rights abuses or violations, including those who target individuals on the grounds of their religion or belief. We take decisions about whether particular individuals or entities could be subject to measures under the regime on a case-by-case basis. We have already designated two entities involved in administering the North Korean penal system.

The British High Commission in New Delhi maintain a continuous assessment of the human rights situation in India, and are monitoring developments regarding new inter-faith marriage laws in some Indian states, including the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance legislation in Uttar Pradesh. India has a proud history of religious tolerance and we trust the Government of India to address the concerns of any people that may be affected by this legislation. Where we have concerns, we will continue to raise them directly with the Government of India.

The UK Government was deeply concerned about the abduction of Nigerian schoolboys from their school in Kankara, Katsina State on 11 December. Abductions of Nigerian schoolchildren are abhorrent and must stop. We welcome the news that they were released on 17 December. Following the attack, I publicly stressed that schoolchildren need to be protected and that all children should be able to access education without fear.

The UK provides a comprehensive package of stabilisation, development and humanitarian assistance to support communities in Northern Nigeria. Through the Education in Emergencies programme, we help fund the education of children affected by conflict. This includes supporting schools and communities to create conflict risk reduction plans to help protect children in schools. Since 2018, we have supported over 200,000 children in the North East to receive an education. We continue to advocate for the protection of children and schools across Nigeria. For example, we encourage the Nigerian Government to follow the Safe Schools Declaration, which sets out international guidelines to protect students, teachers and their schools during armed conflict.

The Turkish constitution provides for freedom of conscience and religion, regardless of an individual's citizenship. We regularly discuss these issues and will continue to engage the Turkish Government at all levels to urge respect for Freedom of Religion or Belief, which are essential to the long-term health of Turkish democracy. Defending persecuted Christians, and persecuted individuals of all faiths or beliefs, remains a long-standing priority for the British Government. We will continue to monitor this important issue.

We are aware of reports that a Christian bookseller has been arrested. The UK is deeply concerned about the persecution of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and other religious groups on the grounds of their religion or belief in China. The freedom to practise, change or share one's faith or belief without discrimination or violent opposition is a human right that all people should enjoy. We regularly raise our concerns about freedom of religion or belief in China, including at the most recent session of the UN Human Rights Council on 25 September.

FCDO has robust monitoring and evaluation procedures to ensure UK taxpayers' money is achieving the results we expect, and that funds are spent in compliance with FCDO guidance and local law. FCDO funds cannot be used to fund any illegal activities and we treat allegations of any improper use of funds extremely seriously.

All of our reviews demonstrate confidence in the quality of MSI's services in developing countries. We have no plans to reduce approved funding to MSI.

The majority of our investment in reproductive health is in programmes that aim to increase access to quality voluntary family planning information, services and supplies, so women and girls can avoid unwanted pregnancy in the first place. Only in countries where abortion is permitted, do we support programmes that make safe abortion more accessible. FCDO programmes in Kenya have not been supporting the provision of safe abortion service delivery.

The UK is dedicated to supporting women to fully exercise their sexual and reproductive health and rights in order to lead healthy, fulfilling and prosperous lives.

FCDO has robust monitoring and evaluation procedures to ensure UK taxpayers' money is achieving the results we expect, and that funds are spent in compliance with FCDO guidance and local law. FCDO funds cannot be used to fund any illegal activities and we treat allegations of any improper use of funds extremely seriously.

All of our reviews demonstrate confidence in the quality of MSI's services in developing countries. We have no plans to reduce approved funding to MSI.

The majority of our investment in reproductive health is in programmes that aim to increase access to quality voluntary family planning information, services and supplies, so women and girls can avoid unwanted pregnancy in the first place. Only in countries where abortion is permitted, do we support programmes that make safe abortion more accessible. FCDO programmes in Kenya have not been supporting the provision of safe abortion service delivery.

The UK is dedicated to supporting women to fully exercise their sexual and reproductive health and rights in order to lead healthy, fulfilling and prosperous lives.

The UK strongly opposes sex-selective abortion, a practice resulting from deep-rooted discrimination against women and girls. The UK supports partner governments' efforts to prevent this discrimination through our programmes and international leadership on gender equality. This includes, for example, ensuring clear policies and effective training are in place.

Ending sex-selective abortion also requires promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Through our Strategic Vision for Gender Equality, we are working to ensure every girl has access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, is protected from violence, receives 12 years of quality education and is supported to be economically and politically empowered.

We regularly raise at a senior level our concerns regarding blasphemy laws with the authorities in Pakistan. We remain deeply concerned about reports of discrimination against the Christian community and other religious minorities in Pakistan. Our position on the death penalty is well known - we are firmly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.

We will continue to urge the Government of Pakistan to guarantee the fundamental rights of all its citizens, in accordance with international standards. Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon last raised our human rights concerns, including Freedom of Religion or Belief and the protection of minority religious communities, with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, on 27 August. Lord Ahmad also discussed our concerns about the use of the death penalty with Dr Mazari on 15 July. The British High Commissioner to Pakistan raised our concerns about the use of the death penalty with the Ministry of Interior on 29 July.

The Government condemns all incidents of intercommunal violence in Nigeria, including recently reported attacks in Kaduna State. Intercommunal violence continues to have a devastating effect on local communities. The causes of intercommunal violence are complex, and include disputes over natural resources, competition over land, and population growth.

We are working with Nigeria to respond to the drivers of conflict. We have provided technical support to the Nigerian Government for the development of the National Livestock Transformation Plan. The plan aims to promote cattle-rearing in one place, rather than the traditional nomadic practice, to limit competition over land and resources leading to violence. The plan is currently being implemented in eight Middle Belt states in Nigeria, including Kaduna. We are also funding Christian Aid and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development to support communities who have recently been displaced due to the violence in Kaduna State. "We are also developing a new conflict, security and justice programme, which aims to reduce levels of inter-communal violence through the development of more effective conflict-management systems."

The British High Commissioner and her team are increasing their engagement with state governments in areas affected by the violence, including through visits to Kaduna, Plateau and Benue states. The High Commission team have met with Governors; Christian and Muslim faith leaders; Fulani communities; NGOs active in reconciliation, and affected communities including displaced persons. I [the Minister for Africa] also discussed intercommunal violence with President Buhari's Chief of Staff in June. We will continue to encourage the Government of Nigeria to take urgent action to protect those at risk of intercommunal violence, to bring perpetrators to justice and to implement long-term solutions that address the root causes of violence and meet the needs of all communities.

As stated in PQ 6147 of 28 January, the UK and Kenya are close partners in the fight against global terrorism, and strengthening our counterterrorism cooperation is a priority under the UK-Kenya Strategic Partnership. To tackle the threat posed by Al Shabaab, the UK Government provides the Kenyan authorities with a range of support to develop their counter terrorism capabilities. This includes partnering in the development of counter-IED capability with a regional Centre of Excellence based in Nairobi that benefits the whole region. The Centre's main objective is to strengthen the counter-IED capability of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Since 2016, and with £13 million of Conflict Security and Stability Fund (CSSF) funding to date, the UK and Kenya have together delivered training at the Centre to more than 1,700 military and police personnel from 22 Troop Contributing Countries. The programme in Kenya transitioned to 100% African-led instruction this year, and achieved a major milestone in January with the IED Search course led by Kenya Defence Force instructors for the first time. Counter-IED training was paused from March to July due to COVID-19, but has since resumed.

We engage India on the full range of human rights matters. We work with Union and State Governments, as well as NGOs, to build capacity and share expertise to promote human rights for all. Where we have concerns we raise them directly with the Government of India. Most recently, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon discussed the situation for India's minorities with the Acting Indian High Commissioner on 22 May, and has previously raised our concerns about the impact of recent legislative and judicial measures on minorities with Indian Government Ministers.

The UK Government condemns all incidents of intercommunal violence in Nigeria; these incidents have had devastating effects on communities of all faiths, including Christians. We have made clear to the Nigerian authorities at the highest levels the importance of protecting civilians, including ethnic and religious minorities, and human rights for all.

In February, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Wilton Park co-hosted a conference on 'Fostering Social Cohesion in Nigeria', exploring the complex causes of conflict and possible solutions to help ease tensions and reduce violence. A report has issued with recommendations, link here: https://tinyurl.com/y38l9xrc.

In June, I discussed intercommunal violence in Nigeria with President Buhari's Chief of Staff. The British High Commissioner and her team are increasing their diplomatic engagement with states affected by intercommunal violence and met with NGOs working on reconciliation to discuss the situation and the efforts they are taking to address it.

The UK Government will continue to work with Nigeria to address the drivers of intercommunal violence in many states and find solutions that meet the needs of all communities.

We will continue to work with our international partners to stand up for the people of Hong Kong, whatever their religion or belief, to call out the violation of their rights and freedoms, and to hold China to their international obligations freely assumed under international law.

We remain deeply concerned at the scale of Freedom of Religion of Belief (FoRB) violations in many parts of the world. We recognise that people's religion and gender can increase their vulnerabilities, particularly those from minority groups.

The Department for International Development's programme on FoRB is supporting NGOs to work with minority religious communities. The programme will build the capacity of international development actors to mainstream FoRB into their programmes and develop ways to give voice to religiously marginalised groups. In addition to this, the programme will investigate existing evidence gathering tools on FoRB. The lessons will be openly shared through both reports and guidance.

We remain deeply concerned at the severity and scale of violations of Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) in many parts of the world. We recognise that people's religion and gender can increase their vulnerabilities, particularly those from minority groups.

The government is committed to improving the protection of women in volatile situations. In the context of UN Peacekeeping, the UK provides British Peace Support Team training (for Troop Contributing Counties), which includes training on prevention of sexual and gender based violence. The training also includes gender awareness and training.

We remain deeply concerned at the scale of Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) violations in many parts of the world. We recognise that people's religion and gender can increase their vulnerabilities, particularly those from minority groups.

The Department for International Development's programme on FoRB is supporting NGOs to work with minority religious communities. The programme will build the capacity of international development actors to mainstream FoRB into their programmes and develop ways to give voice to religiously marginalised groups. In addition to this, the programme will investigate existing evidence gathering tools on FoRB. The lessons will be openly shared through both reports and guidance.

I discussed the recent escalation in Gaza with the Israeli Ambassador to the UK on 26 February. Indiscriminate attacks against civilians are unacceptable and unjustifiable. The perpetual cycle of violence does not serve anyone's interests, and must end. The UK fully supports Israel's right to self-defence and to defend its citizens from such acts of terror. In doing so, it is vital that all actions are proportionate, in line with International Humanitarian Law, and are calibrated to avoid civilian casualties. We call upon Hamas and other terrorist groups to permanently end their incitement and rocket fire against Israel and urge all parties to adhere to the ceasefire arrangement.

​The UK and Kenya are close partners in the fight against global terrorism. To tackle the threat posed by Al Shabaab, the British Government provides the Kenyan authorities with a range of support. The British military is working with the Kenyan security forces to develop their counter terrorism capabilities. This includes partnering in the development of a counter-IED capability with a regional Centre of Excellence based in Nairobi. The UK is also engaging with regional partners to address the threat posed by Al Shabaab beyond North-East Kenya, including by providing pre-deployment training to troops deploying to the African Union Mission in Somalia. These efforts are complemented by UK-funded programmes addressing the root causes of radicalisation and violent extremism along Kenya's coast and the counties bordering Somalia.

We recognise Kenya's sacrifices leading the fight against Al Shabaab. Further strengthening our counterterrorism cooperation is a priority under the UK-Kenya Strategic Partnership agreed on by the Prime Minister and President Kenyatta in their meeting on 21 January.

The Government can neither confirm nor deny whether HMRC has been the target of any cyber-attacks.

HMRC is responsible for the collection of around £700 billion in tax annually and undertakes a range of actions to monitor and maintain the security of their systems and services from cyber-attacks. To disclose the number is likely to attract additional questions which may include specific threats or incidents identified and dealt with, aiding criminals to determine weaknesses in HMRC’s defences or the methods used to identify and respond to such threats.

To provide the information requested would reveal the extent to which HMRC had been subject to such attacks, revealing where cyber intrusion had been successful.

The National Cyber Security Centre advice continues to be that Government departments should withhold detailed and specific information which may provide insight into the likelihood of success of specific techniques. In some cases, the successful application of such insight may still pose a security risk with the potential to prejudice the prevention of crime and/or national security. A successful attack could lead to the loss of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of Government information.

HMRC publish details about security breaches reported to the Information Commissioner in their annual reports: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrcs-annual-report-and-accounts

Budget 2021 announced that private pleasure craft users in Northern Ireland will no longer be allowed to use red diesel to propel their craft and that the Government will introduce a new relief scheme on non-propulsion fuel in Northern Ireland. These changes will take effect from 1 October 2021. The average private pleasure craft user in Northern Ireland will pay the same rate of duty on their diesel use as they do now.

More information on these changes, including on the expected impacts, is set out in the tax information and impact note published on 1 July 2021, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fuel-duty-changes-for-diesel-used-in-private-pleasure-craft/fuel-duty-changes-for-diesel-used-in-private-pleasure-craft.

Budget 2021 announced that private pleasure craft users in Northern Ireland will no longer be allowed to use red diesel to propel their craft and that the Government will introduce a new relief scheme on non-propulsion fuel in Northern Ireland. These changes will take effect from 1 October 2021. The average private pleasure craft user in Northern Ireland will pay the same rate of duty on their diesel use as they do now.

More information on these changes, including on the expected impacts, is set out in the tax information and impact note published on 1 July 2021, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fuel-duty-changes-for-diesel-used-in-private-pleasure-craft/fuel-duty-changes-for-diesel-used-in-private-pleasure-craft.

The Trader Support Service (TSS) currently has 41,446 Traders registered to use the service. The total spend on the Trader Support Service, since the service was launched to August 2021, is £164 million (including VAT).

On 6 September, Fair4All Finance announced they had been appointed to deliver the pilot and further details of their plans. This included that the pilot will run in up to six locations one of which is expected to be in Northern Ireland. Further information on the pilot can be found at: https://fair4allfinance.org.uk/news/plans-announced-for-new-uk-wide-no-interest-loan-scheme-pilot/.

Under the current VAT rules, all children’s clothing and footwear designed for young people less than 14 years of age, including school uniforms, attract a zero-rate of VAT, meaning that no VAT is charged on the sale of these items.

Extending these reliefs would impose additional pressure on the public finances, to which VAT makes a significant contribution. VAT raised around £130 billion in 2019/20, and helps to fund key spending priorities. Any reduction in tax paid is a reduction in the money available to support important public services, including the NHS and policing.

There are no current plans to change the VAT treatment of children’s clothing and school uniforms. However, the Government keeps all taxes under review.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was designed as a temporary, economy-wide measure to support businesses while widespread restrictions were in place. Closing the scheme at the end of September is designed to strike  the right balance between supporting the economy as it opens up, continuing to provide support and protect incomes, and ensuring that incentives are in place to get people back to work as demand returns.  This approach has worked; the OBR have estimated that without the short-term fiscal easing announced in the Budget, and in particular the CJRS extension, unemployment would have been about 300,000 higher in the fourth quarter of this year than the 2.2 million in the central forecast.

The Government recognises the particular challenges that the travel industry has faced as a result of COVID-19. In England travel agents have recently benefited from Restart Grants worth up to £6,000, and can continue to benefit from the £2 billion of discretionary grant funding that has been made available to local authorities in England through the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG). Furthermore, the aviation and aerospace sectors are being supported with over £12 billion that has been made available through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) and grants for research and development. In addition, airports continue to benefit from the renewed Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme announced at Budget.

The Global Travel Taskforce (GTT) report sets out a clear framework for the Government’s objective of establishing a safe and sustainable return to international travel, which is key to enabling the sector’s recovery. It has been created following extensive engagement with the international travel and tourism industries, and changes following the recent checkpoint review of the GTT are a vital step in enabling the recovery of travel operators and those whose jobs rely on the travel industry.

The Government has shown throughout the pandemic that it is prepared to adapt support if the path of the virus changes. It continues to engage closely with sectors across the economy, including the travel industry, in order to understand their recovery horizons as the vaccine is rolled out and restrictions ease.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was designed as a temporary, economy-wide measure to support businesses while widespread restrictions were in place. Closing the scheme at the end of September is designed to strike  the right balance between supporting the economy as it opens up, continuing to provide support and protect incomes, and ensuring that incentives are in place to get people back to work as demand returns.  This approach has worked; the OBR have estimated that without the short-term fiscal easing announced in the Budget, and in particular the CJRS extension, unemployment would have been about 300,000 higher in the fourth quarter of this year than the 2.2 million in the central forecast.

The Government recognises the particular challenges that the travel industry has faced as a result of COVID-19. In England travel agents have recently benefited from Restart Grants worth up to £6,000, and can continue to benefit from the £2 billion of discretionary grant funding that has been made available to local authorities in England through the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG). Furthermore, the aviation and aerospace sectors are being supported with over £12 billion that has been made available through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) and grants for research and development. In addition, airports continue to benefit from the renewed Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme announced at Budget.

The Global Travel Taskforce (GTT) report sets out a clear framework for the Government’s objective of establishing a safe and sustainable return to international travel, which is key to enabling the sector’s recovery. It has been created following extensive engagement with the international travel and tourism industries, and changes following the recent checkpoint review of the GTT are a vital step in enabling the recovery of travel operators and those whose jobs rely on the travel industry.

The Government has shown throughout the pandemic that it is prepared to adapt support if the path of the virus changes. It continues to engage closely with sectors across the economy, including the travel industry, in order to understand their recovery horizons as the vaccine is rolled out and restrictions ease.

The Trader Support Service has been open to registrations since November 2020. Since then over 38,400 businesses have registered in total.

The registrations by month are as follows:

November 2020 – 16,809

December 2020 – 8,180

January 2021 – 7,011

February 2021 – 2,789

March 2021 – 2,094

April 2021 – 1,063

May 2021 – 503 (to date)

At Budget 2021, the Government announced up to £3.8 million of funding to support a pilot No-Interest Loans Scheme. The Government has been working closely with stakeholders, including with Devolved Administrations, to facilitate the pilot. An independent organisation will deliver the pilot. Further details, including the territorial extent of the pilot, will be announced in due course.

While the total amount of outstanding lending to individuals has increased by 0.9% since February 2020. The growth rate was below pre-pandemic levels and has mostly been driven by an increase in lending for house purchases. Since February 2020, the amount of outstanding consumer credit has fallen by 13.2%.

To support households that have been affected by Covid-19, we have put in place unprecedented support – including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and a package of welfare measures on which we spent an additional £7.4 billion in the 2020-21 financial year.

We have also taken specific action to support those in debt or in need of affordable credit as a result of Covid-19. For those facing temporary payment difficulties as a result of the pandemic, we worked with the FCA to introduce mortgage and consumer credit payment holidays. The Government has also agreed to maintain record levels of debt advice funding for the Money and Pension Service in 2021-22. To support access to affordable credit, since 2019, the Government has allocated £96 million of dormant assets funding to Fair4All Finance. Fair4All Finance was founded to improve the financial wellbeing of those who are financially vulnerable through fair and affordable financial products and services.

With respect to setting up a loan scheme, at Budget, HM Treasury announced it would provide up to £3.8 million of funding to deliver a pilot No-Interest Loans Scheme. The scheme will support vulnerable consumers who would benefit from affordable rather than high-cost credit to meet unexpected costs.

I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given on 23 March 2021 to UIN 171650.

I am responding to this PQ as the Minister responsible for leading the Treasury’s interests in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

I regularly engage with my counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive on a wide range of issues as part of the ongoing collaboration between our Governments.

I am aware of the issues surrounding the Victims Payment Scheme. It is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive to provide funding for victims of the Troubles and they are funded to do so. The UK Government will continue to engage with the Executive on its delivery of schemes designed to support victims of the Troubles.

By 31 July 2020, 78,000 individuals from Northern Ireland had claimed the first SEISS grant and the total claim amount was £223,000,000.

By 31 October 2020, 70,000 individuals from Northern Ireland had claimed the second SEISS grant and the total claim amount was £175,000,000.

By 31 October 2020, 81,000 individuals from Northern Ireland had claimed either the first or second SEISS grant or both and the total claim amount was £398,000,000.

These figures were taken from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme statistics published on 21 August and 25 November respectively.

As set out at the Spending Review, the new Levelling Up Fund will be worth £4 billion for England, and will attract up to £0.8 billion for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the usual way. It will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities and will support economic recovery. More broadly, the Government is committed to levelling up all parts of the UK, with the Spending Review setting out both new UK-wide interventions and an additional £900 million Barnett funding for the Northern Ireland Executive.

As of 3 November 2020, Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) grants to the value of £382 million have been recorded as returned. This figure consists of £198 million in payments being repaid and £184 million in adjustments to existing claims.

HMRC do not hold information by the geographic breakdown requested.

The temporary reduced rate of VAT (five per cent) was introduced in order to support the cash flow and viability of over 150,000 businesses and protect 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors. This relief comes at an estimated cost of £2.54 billion and is therefore expected to have benefited the sector by reducing its VAT liabilities by this amount.

SDLT transactions in Northern Ireland have reached similar levels to this time last year and, in August, average house prices had risen over the year by 3%.

The temporary increase in the Stamp Duty Land Tax nil rate band was designed to create immediate momentum within the property market, where property transactions fell by as much as 50 per cent during the first COVID-19 lockdown. The downturn in the market meant that the future was uncertain for many people whose jobs relied on custom from the property industry. There are already early signs that demand and transactions have increased, and are continuing to rise, since the increase to the SDLT nil rate band was announced in July.

As the relief was designed to provide an immediate stimulus to the property market, the Government does not plan to extend this relief and will continue to monitor the property market.

An estimation of income tax receipts in 2020-21 would be a forecast as the financial year has not yet concluded. The Treasury does not publish forecasts for the economy or the public finances. Forecasts of future receipts, including income tax receipts, are produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on a regular basis as part of their Economic and fiscal outlook series (EFO). The Chancellor will deliver an updated OBR forecast on 25 November alongside the 2020 Spending Review.

In March, the Government announced the unprecedented Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), designed to help firms to keep millions of people in employment. The CJRS has helped 1.2 million employers across the UK to furlough 9.6 million jobs (as at midnight 18 October 2020), protecting people's livelihoods. The Chancellor has recently extended the CJRS until the end of March 2021, beyond the national lockdown restrictions.

On 20 March, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published guidance on what it expects mortgage lenders to do for consumers facing financial difficulties as a result of COVID-19.

As part of this guidance, the FCA set out that the consumer’s credit score should remain unaffected by taking out a payment holiday. This has been achieved through the masking of the arrears status on the borrower’s credit file.

Where a borrower who has not taken a payment holiday misses a payment, this will be recorded on their credit file in the usual manner. Information held by credit reference agencies (CRAs) is purely factual, and it is for individual lenders to decide how they use that data as part of their lending decisions.

It is important to note that the scores that individual CRAs provide are proprietary and may have a limited bearing on how lenders assess the data on a customer’s overall credit file. Whilst some lenders use a CRA score, others will use the entirety of information contained on a credit file and compare this with their own individual lending criteria. Lenders may also use information beyond the borrower’s credit file when deciding whether to accept a credit application. This could include asking the borrower questions directly about their finances, as well as assessing income, expenditure and future ability to make repayments, any of which may have been affected by COVID-19.

HM Treasury and the FCA have been working closely with lenders and the CRAs on this matter throughout the crisis and will continue to do so to ensure the best outcome for consumers.

The Government recognises that cash remains important to millions of people across the UK, which is why it has committed to legislate to protect access to cash and to ensure that the UK’s cash infrastructure is sustainable in the long term. The Government is working at pace, engaging with industry and the regulators – the Financial Conduct Authority, Payment Systems Regulator, and Bank of England – whilst designing legislation.

To inform the development of this legislation, the Government published a Call for Evidence on 15 October seeking views on the key considerations associated with cash access, including deposit and withdrawal facilities, cash acceptance, and regulatory oversight of the cash system.

The Government continues to engage closely with the financial services regulators to monitor developments relating to COVID-19, including through the Joint Authorities Cash Strategy Group, which is chaired by the Treasury and aims to ensure comprehensive oversight of the overall cash infrastructure across the UK.

LINK, the scheme that runs the UK’s largest ATM network, has existing arrangements in place to protect free-to-use ATMs that do not have another free-to-use ATM or Post Office within 1 kilometre. LINK’s members have also made £5 million available to fund ATMs at the request of communities with poor access to cash.

Furthermore, banks, building societies, credit unions and Post Offices are working with the Treasury and the financial regulators to maintain access to their services, including access to cash, while balancing the needs of their customers with the safety and welfare of staff. The vast majority of branches are open, though many are open for reduced hours. The Financial Conduct Authority has issued guidance to regulated firms, including on a provision to allow a trusted third party to make payments on behalf of vulnerable customers who may be self-isolating.

The Government recognises that widespread access to cash remains extremely important to millions of people across the UK. That is why, at the March 2020 Budget, the Chancellor announced that the Government will bring forward legislation to protect access to cash. This will ensure continued access to cash for those who rely on it and that the UK’s cash infrastructure is sustainable in the longer term.

HMRC were not legally allowed to carry out investigations into suspected CJRS fraud until the Finance Bill was granted Royal Assent. Before then, HMRC carried out more than 5,000 targeted calls to high-risk cases, in order to reduce the chance of further error and make clear that HMRC would be investigating excessive claims.

The Finance Act was granted Royal Assent on 22 July. The Finance Act gives employers a 90-day window to correct claims. HMRC are writing to every employer where HMRC have clear evidence that they may have overclaimed from the data HMRC hold. By the end of November, HMRC will have written to about 27,000 people prompting them to use the opportunity to self-correct. Starting this month, HMRC will also conduct up to 10,000 one-to-one interventions. This will include cases where HMRC have received information through their fraud hotlines. HMRC’s priorities are to support those correcting a genuine error, while taking action against those who have deliberately sought to abuse the scheme

To date, HMRC have received about 8,000 reports via their online and telephone fraud reporting services.

On 24 July we made an unprecedented upfront guarantee to the devolved administrations. We guaranteed that they will receive at least £12.7bn in additional funding for this year, £2.2bn of which is for the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Government is clear that everyone must pay their fair share of tax. Since 2010, the Government has introduced over 100 new measures to tackle tax avoidance, evasion and other forms of non-compliance, and has secured and protected over £220 billion in tax revenues that would have otherwise gone unpaid.?These efforts have helped to reduce the tax gap to a record low of 4.7% for the year 2018-19.

At Spring Budget 2020, the Government announced a further 24 measures to tackle tax non-compliance, forecast to raise £4.7 billion over the next five years. The Government remains committed to reducing the tax gap and will bring forward further measures in the autumn.

The Bounce Back Loans Scheme (BBLS), launched on 4 May, helps the smallest businesses access loans of up to £50,000 within days.

HM Treasury carefully monitors the progress of the scheme, including by collecting data on applications and loans directly from accredited lenders. However, this data is commercially sensitive and provided in confidence by each lender, so cannot be disclosed publicly.

Since its launch, the scheme has seen over 464,000 loans worth a total value of over £14bn approved. HM Treasury is now regularly publishing the total number and value of loans approved under the scheme.

Employees on any type of employment contract, including full-time, part-time, agency, flexible and zero-hour contracts are eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme providing they were employed on 19 March 2020 and were on their employer’s PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020. Fixed term employees can also be claimed for, and if their contract has not already expired it can be extended or renewed.

The scheme is designed to protect jobs and support as many people as possible quickly while mitigating the risk of fraud.

The Government is supporting people on low incomes who may need to rely on the welfare system through a significant package of temporary measures. This includes a £20 per week increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance and Working Tax Credit basic element, and a nearly £1bn increase in support for renters through increases to the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants. These changes will benefit all new and existing claimants.

Furloughed employees must have been on their employer’s PAYE payroll and HMRC must have received an RTI (Real Time Information) submission notifying payment in respect of that employee on or before 19 March 2020. The use of RTI allows HMRC to verify claims in the most efficient and timely way, ensuring payments can be made quickly while reducing the risk of fraud. Without the use of RTI returns it would be difficult to verify claims without significant additional checks, which would delay payment for genuine claims. It is possible for individuals who were on their employer’s PAYE payroll on or before 28 February 2020, but not 19 March 2020, to be rehired and furloughed. Further guidance on this can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-could-be-covered-by-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.

The Government is also supporting people on low incomes who need to rely on the welfare system, through a significant package of temporary measures. This includes a £20 per week increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance and Working Tax Credit basic element, and a nearly £1bn increase in support for renters through increases to the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants. These changes will benefit all new and existing claimants. Anyone can check their eligibility and apply for Universal Credit by visiting https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit.

Business rates policy is devolved and the Northern Ireland Executive is receiving Barnett consequentials on business rate reliefs provided in England as part of the response to COVID-19.

HM Treasury ministers and officials are in regular contact with their counterparts in the devolved administrations as part of the response to COVID-19, including most recently a meeting between the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the Finance Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on 30 April.

Regulatory responsibility for the consumer credit market, including credit cards, was transferred to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2014.

On 14 April, the FCA published guidance that sets out its expectation that firms provide, for a temporary period, exceptional and immediate support to customers facing payment difficulties due to circumstances arising from COVID-19. This includes granting the customer a payment deferral for 3 months.

Where a customer was in pre-existing financial difficulty, the FCA’s guidance makes clear that its existing forbearance rules would continue to apply. These would include, for example, the firm considering suspending, reducing, waiving, or cancelling any further interest or charges, deferring payment of arrears, or accepting token payments for a reasonable period of time.

The Government is committed to doing whatever it takes to get our nation through the impacts of COVID-19 and will continue to work closely with the FCA and industry on these matters.

With regards to personal credit ratings, payment holidays can be a feature of lending products or can be offered by lenders in exceptional circumstances outside of the customer’s control. This covers a multitude of potential scenarios, illness being one of them. Where payment holidays as a result of COVID-19 are agreed with a lender, we would expect lenders to ensure that taking a payment holiday should not impact credit scores. Ministers and officials are working closely with industry to protect consumers from harm during these unprecedented times.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with many organisations in the public and private sectors on a variety of issues, including mortgage prisoners.

A mortgage prisoner is defined by the FCA as an existing customer that may be experiencing harm because they are unable to switch to a better deal. The Government is aware that these borrowers have been in a difficult and stressful situation. That is why we have worked closely with the FCA to implement their rule change to remove the regulatory barrier that has prevented some customers from switching.

Lenders are currently making the necessary adjustments and system changes to enable them to use the modified affordability assessment for borrowers looking to re-mortgage. We expect lenders to start offering these borrowers products using the new rules in Q2 2020.

I have written to Stephen Jones, Chief Executive Officer of UK Finance to outline my expectation that as many of its members as possible should move quickly to offer new deals to borrowers that are eligible to switch under the new FCA rules.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimate the difference between expected revenues and the tax that is actually paid in the annual publication, Measuring Tax Gaps: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps. These estimates cannot be disaggregated by type of fraud, for example laundering.

HMRC have estimated the oils (fuel duty) tax gap (including VAT) in Northern Ireland as follows:

• £40 million in 2017-18
• £40 million in 2016-17
• £50 million in 2015-16
• £50 million in 2014-15
• £50 million in 2013-14

The estimates for 2015-16 and earlier years were calculated using a different methodology and therefore cannot be compared to the estimates for subsequent years.

Statistics relating to Tax-Free Childcare account usage are published quarterly in “Tax-Free Childcare Statistics” on the gov.uk website. The latest publication, containing information up to September 2019 is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-free-childcare-quarterly-statistics

Table 5 of the publication shows the number of families, by Government Office Region, that have a Tax-Free Childcare account. The table below shows the number of accounts that are open, regardless of whether or not they have been used.

In September 2019 15% of families with an open Tax-Free Childcare account had at least one self-employed parent.

Statistics relating to Tax-Free Childcare account usage are published quarterly in “Tax-Free Childcare Statistics” on the gov.uk website. The latest publication, containing information up to September 2019 is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-free-childcare-quarterly-statistics

Table 5 of the publication shows the number of families, by Government Office Region, that have a Tax-Free Childcare account. The table below shows the number of accounts that are open, regardless of whether or not they have been used.

In September 2019 15% of families with an open Tax-Free Childcare account had at least one self-employed parent.

Tax-Free Childcare is accessible UK-wide. It provides the same level of support to parents - 20% of childcare costs up to a cap of £2000 per child per year - regardless of the region in which they live. Therefore, the spending in Northern Ireland is not pre-allocated and will depend on the uptake of the service in Northern Ireland.

The government established a technical working group to explore the operational and legal challenges to changing APD in Northern Ireland.

Members include representatives from industry, experts, and civil servants from both the UK government and Northern Ireland.

Additionally, HM Treasury is currently reviewing Air Passenger Duty to ensure regional connectivity is strengthened while meeting the UK’s commitment to meet net zero emissions by 2050.

Ministers and officials have regular contact with technology companies, including Facebook and Google, about the safety of their platforms.

The UK supports strong encryption, but we are clear that the implementation of end-to-end encryption which wholly precludes tech companies’ access to content will have a disastrous impact on public safety.

As well as preventing law enforcement from securing lawfully authorised access to vital content as part of their investigations, it severely erodes tech companies’ ability to tackle the most serious illegal content on their platforms, including online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

All communication service providers must ensure that there will be no reduction to public safety when they implement new technology or other design choices.

Facebook’s proposals are of particular concern due to the risk profile of the platform. In 2020 Facebook provided 20.3 million child sexual abuse referrals to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC, the US body which processes industry reports of child sexual abuse). NCMEC’s previous assessment is that 70% of Facebook’s total referrals relate to Messenger and are therefore likely to be lost once that service is end-to-end encrypted.

The UK is leading work across the world urging all tech companies to collaborate with governments on mutually agreeable solutions that ensure user privacy is protected.

The Government is firmly committed to making the UK the safest place to be online and taking action against online material that may not be illegal, but is linked to abuse and grooming.

We are working across Government and engaging industry to prevent all forms of online child sexual exploitation and abuse. The interim code of practice on online CSEA made clear that we expect companies to already start taking voluntary action against such content, including material that doesn’t meet a criminal threshold.

The Online Safety Bill will require companies to ensure the safety of children on their services. They will need to seriously consider the risks their services may pose to children using their services and take action to mitigate this. This will include taking measures against all content that facilitates abuse or grooming of children on their services.

The Government is also continuing to engage with technology companies around the Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, a framework of principles launched by the Five Country Ministerial partners in March 2020. These are a set of 11 actions tech firms should take to ensure children are not sexually exploited on their platforms, , including taking steps to stop the livestreaming of abuse and stop grooming and predatory behaviour.

The Home Office keeps the Computer Misuse Act (CMA) under regular re-view. The Home Office have been engaged in ongoing discussions with relevant partners in law enforcement, government and private sector to ensure that the legislation continues to remain effective.

The Home Office and its operational partners continue to monitor and respond to the cybercrime threat during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also have a gov.uk page on coronavirus-related fraud and cybercrime. The page includes easy-to-follow steps for people to better protect themselves and signposts other relevant advice and tips.

The Government is committed to reducing serious violence and putting an end to the tragedies afflicting our communities. It is important that we work across government, statutory, private, and voluntary sectors to deliver change, including with the devolved administrations.

We are, for example, working closely with the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland, the Police Service for Northern Ireland and the Scottish Government to deliver the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 surrender and compensation scheme across the United Kingdom. We also work closely with the devolved administrations on other aspects of our firearms controls.

Crime prevention and policing are devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland but we maintain regular dialogue on our shared interests. On Monday 8 February, the Minister for Crime and Policing addressed the ‘Four Nations’ conference on the subject of public health approaches in policing and serious violence across the UK. This week-long conference was match funded by the Home Office.

Crime prevention and policing are reserved in Wales, however, other areas of focus in reducing and preventing serious violence such as health and education are devolved and we continue to work closely with the Welsh Government on these matters. The Home Office has invested a total of £176.5 million over two years into the 18 police force areas worst affected by serious violence – the Serious Violence Fund (SVF). South Wales is one of these 18 areas. From the SVF, South Wales Police have been allocated £1.98m to Surge their police operational capacity. Additionally, £1.76m of the SVF has been invested into the South Wales PCC to develop their Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), which brings together key partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them. On the 8 February 2021 we announced a further £880,000 investment into the South Wales area to further develop their VRU for 2021-2022.

In addition to the Serious Violence Fund, we have invested £200 million in early intervention and prevention support initiatives over 10 years to support children and young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF). In total, 12 grantees in Wales are in receipt of funding from all grant rounds. The YEF will reform the way this government responds to serious violence by identifying what works in diverting children and young people away from involvement in serious violent crime. That is why this government has awarded an extra £5 million towards the expedited development of a national Centre of Excellence (CofE) to help guide government investment and national policies. The CofE will develop a robust evidence base and share best practice across local and national partners to facilitate learning.

As part of the joint DfT and Home Office Roads Policing Review, the Home Office is reviewing the type approval system used to provide enforcement agencies with the equipment they need to prosecute speeding, drink or drug driving and other offences.

The aim is to modernise and streamline the current process whilst delivering new technologies quickly.

Over the last four years of the Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme, 807 eligible applications have been received. For the 2020/2021 round of the scheme, which closed on 9 August, we have received 243 eligible applications.

In the 2016/2017 round we awarded £435,446, in 2017/2018 we awarded £440,203, in 2018/2019 we awarded £806,281, and in the 2019/2020 we awarded £1,718,763. For the 2020/2021 round, the available funding is £3.2 million.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the ethnicity of police officers, in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.

As at 31 March 2019, 7% of police officers in England and Wales were from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. Up from 4% a decade earlier.

The MAC advised against regional variations in these thresholds. We will deliver a future immigration system which works for the whole of the UK.

The Government published “The UK’s Points-Based System: Policy Statement” on 19 February.

Aligned with the independent Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) recommendation, the Government will reduce both the general salary and skills thresholds for those who wish to come to the UK under the new skilled work route.

In delivering on its manifesto commitments for a new points-based system, the Government has considered relevant views, evidence, and analysis. We will also keep labour market data under careful scrutiny.

The Home Office will publish further detail on the points-based system in due course and continue to engage with stakeholders across Northern Ireland on our future migration system.

Data on football banning orders issued by courts in England and Wales under the Football Spectators Act 1989 is shown in the table below.

Note: the dates used for football seasons are from 1^st August to 31^st July

Our Defence People Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy launched in 2017 and it delivers education and training at appropriate points throughout Service life. Personnel and their families can access a 24hr helpline and Service Leavers are supported via the Veterans Gateway initiative. The incidence of mental health issues in Service Personnel and Veterans is comparable to the general population, a testament to the effectiveness of the support provided.

Recruitment advertising and promotion costs are not held on a regional basis. The total spend for the current and two previous financial years (FY) are set out below. Figures have been rounded to one decimal place.

The application figures for the last five recruiting years, broken down by Nation, can be found below.

Notes/Caveats:

• Application figures are based on single Service estimates; official statistics have not been produced by Defence Statistics.
• The table includes applications received for both the Regular Army and Reserves.
• If a candidate has made more than one application, each application will be counted separately.
• Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10, though numbers ending in a “5” have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent the systematic bias caused by always rounding numbers upwards.
• Applications made to join the Military Provost Guard Service have not been included.
• These figures do not break down the total applications received to join the Army. Applications will have also been received from the Channel Islands, Republic of Ireland, Commonwealth countries and British Overseas Territories.