Catherine West

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner had statutory oversight of the Consolidated Guidance and reported on it annually to the Prime Minister. I refer the Honourable Member to section 10.19 of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s 2018 annual report where the (then) Commissioner explained why it was not appropriate to publish these details.

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's 2018 Annual Report can be found at:

https://www.ipco.org.uk/docs/IPCO%20Annual%20Report%202018%20final.pdf

The Government does not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment for any purpose.

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner had statutory oversight of the Consolidated Guidance and reported on it annually to the Prime Minister. I refer the Honourable Member to section 10.19 of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s 2018 annual report where the (then) Commissioner explained why it was not appropriate to publish these details.

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's 2018 Annual Report can be found at:

https://www.ipco.org.uk/docs/IPCO%20Annual%20Report%202018%20final.pdf

The Government does not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment for any purpose.

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner had statutory oversight of the Consolidated Guidance and reported on it annually to the Prime Minister. I refer the Honourable Member to section 10.19 of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s 2018 annual report where the (then) Commissioner explained why it was not appropriate to publish these details.

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's 2018 Annual Report can be found at:

https://www.ipco.org.uk/docs/IPCO%20Annual%20Report%202018%20final.pdf

The Government does not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment for any purpose.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

The final reports of the four Boundary Commissions in the 2018 Boundary Review were submitted to the Government and laid before Parliament in September 2018.

The Government will continue to monitor closely the current legal proceedings in relation to the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland’s final report.

As we set out in our manifesto, the Government will ensure we have updated and equal parliamentary boundaries, making sure every vote counts the same.

This Government recognises the importance of the UK’s thriving cultural industries, and that is why it pushed for ambitious arrangements to make it easier for performers and artists to perform across Europe as part of the negotiations on our future relationship with the EU.

This Government proposed to the EU that musicians, and their technical staff, be added to the list of permitted activities for short-term business visitors in the entry and temporary stay chapter of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. This would have allowed musicians and their staff to travel and perform in the EU more easily, without needing work-permits.

As with legal text shared in confidence with trading partners, publishing correspondence between departments related to the development of legal text for trade agreements would not be appropriate as this correspondence would have been provided in confidence.

The Local Authority Delivery and Vouchers schemes have been designed to work alongside each other whilst reflecting the differences in delivery methods. Both schemes’ primary objective is to provide a short-term economic stimulus.

BEIS has allocated Local Authority Delivery funding to 55 projects totalling £74.3m of expenditure for delivery by March 2021, which can play an important role in sustaining and creating jobs in all regions of England.

BEIS anticipates funding in excess of £124m of LAD scheme projects imminently with a delivery date of September 2021, and a further £300m is allocated to the regional Local Energy Hubs for delivery by December 2021.

These staggered dates intend to balance the aim of the scheme to support economic recovery whilst being pragmatic over delivery timescales.

The UK’s climate change framework enables the Government to determine how best to balance emissions reductions across the economy. Emissions are managed within the Government’s overall strategy for meeting carbon budgets and the 2050 net zero target, as part of an economy-wide transition.

The UK follows the agreed international approach for estimating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, which is for countries to report the emissions produced within their territories.

The Climate Change Act defines UK emissions as being those of greenhouse gases from sources within the UK, i.e. consistent with international reporting practice. Therefore all emissions from UK sources, including those produced in energy production through waste incineration, are accounted for.

Since 2017, the Government has invested approximately £1 billion through two Life Sciences Sector Deals, helping to generate significant levels of industry investment in the UK.

At Budget this year, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the Life Sciences Investment Programme (LSIP), a new dedicated investment programme of up to £600 million of joint Government and industry investment. The LSIP aims to unlock the potential of the UK’s best health and life science innovations, allowing companies to grow in the UK.

This reflects the Government’s manifesto commitment to make the UK the leading global hub for life sciences.

The UK welcomes President-elect Biden’s commitment to re-join the Paris Agreement and to put the US on a path to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

As the incoming Presidency of the G7 and COP26, we look forward to working with the new US administration to address the urgent challenge of climate change and to encourage countries across the world to increase their climate ambition.

Manufacturing key materials and goods is critical for our economy. The Department has been engaging with industry and suppliers throughout the pandemic to understand the impacts on production and what support is needed in order for businesses to remain operational.

We have put in place an unprecedented package of Government support to help manufacturers with business continuity and to enable any businesses that may have had to pause production to get back up and running as soon as they are able. The sector has so far benefitted from £2 billion in Government-backed finance through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme; £2.3 billion through the Bounce Back Loan Scheme; and £4.78 billion to manufacturers through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The current licensing framework, which Ofgem operate and enforce, already allows electricity generators to apply for a licence to sell energy to consumers. A supplier licence allows the licensee to supply electricity to domestic and non-domestic premises, or non-domestic premises only. It also bestows upon them certain obligations towards consumers through standard licence conditions (SLC) and also charges to be passed onto consumers, such as network costs and the cost of Government policies. In addition, the licensee is required to maintain, become party to, or comply with the industry codes that underpin the wholesale and retail markets.

Nonetheless, Ofgem recognises that a one size fits all licensing framework may be too prescriptive for some business models and introduced a Licence Lite which allows aspiring suppliers or distributed energy generators to apply for a supply licence and receive a direction which relieves them from the obligation in SLC 11.2 – compliance with industry codes. In addition, Ofgem have introduced a regulatory sandbox in which innovators can try new products and business models.

Government and Ofgem are reviewing the licensing framework in light of changing business models and our commitment to reach Net Zero. We want to ensure that the regulatory regime continues to protect consumers and is flexible in response to a changing energy system.

We are confident we can reach a deal and will continue to work hard to reach an agreement with the EU, for as long as there is a constructive process ongoing. The Political Declaration sets out our ambition for a zero tariff and zero quota Free Trade Agreement.

Extensive engagement has taken place and continues between the Government and the automotive sector on future trade negotiations. We shall continue to work with companies over the next few months to ensure that they are well prepared for the end of the transition period.

In addition, the Government has a long-standing programme of support to maintain the competitiveness of the UK automotive sector.

We have provided guidance on how to work safely in a number of different working environments, such as offices, factories, and working outdoors – so that employers can use the guidance which is most relevant to them. Ensuring the safety of all workers is at the forefront of this guidance. Our approach is clinically led, based on the expert advice of the UK’s Chief Medical Officer for England, the NHS and Public Health England. We are led by the evolving science in this work and as the scientific and medical advice changes, the guidance will be updated to reflect this.

Where workers already wear PPE for protection against non-COVID risks, such as dust, they should continue to wear this PPE.

The best way to manage the risk of COVID-19 is to implement robust social distancing measures and other physical controls. Outside of a clinical setting there is very little evidence to support the use of PPE and we would anticipate that an employer’s risk assessment and risk management decisions would reflect that the role of PPE in providing additional protection is extremely limited.

We recommend that PPE is not used in working environments where it would not normally be required. Good hygiene and minimising social contact remain the most effective way of managing the risks of COVID-19. However, if an employers’ risk assessment does show that PPE is required, employers must provide this PPE free of charge to employees.

Employers should consult with unions and employees when carrying out their risk assessment to make sure their concerns can be taken into account. If employees continue to have concerns, they can raise them with union safety representatives, or ultimately with the organisation responsibility for enforcement in their workplace, either the Health and Safety Executive or their local authority.

Package travel agencies are required to comply with The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, which protect consumers who have bought package holidays. Consumers are entitled to a refund?if forced to cancel a package holiday due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, which should be issued?within 14 days, depending on the nature of the contract in place. BEIS officials have held regular discussions with travel and tourism sector representatives, travel businesses and consumer advocacy bodies to assess the impact of cancellations made in light of the covid-19 outbreak. Further information on the rights and responsibilities of consumers and businesses was published on 30 April by the Competition and Markets Authority who have also set up a covid-19 taskforce for consumers seeking refunds.

Under Gas Supplier Licence Condition 29 (SLC29) Gas Suppliers are required on request to carry out free annual gas safety checks to certain vulnerable domestic customers living in non-rented premises.

In the current circumstances, Ofgem does not consider it is necessary for it to relax Condition 29 because gas suppliers undertake their free annual gas safety checks only on request by and with the permission of the customer.

This position is held under the current circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic provided that relevant parties follow the Government guidance, public health advice and safety legislation more generally. Ofgem’s Chief Executive Jonathan Brearley wrote to the energy supply companies on 8 April 2020 setting out the expectations of them during the COVID-19 outbreak and reminding them of their primary need to follow this guidance, public health advice and safety legislation.

The Government is closely monitoring developments in relation to potential economic impacts on the UK economy, including on individuals, individual businesses, supply chains and for consumers.

We want to make sure our welfare system works quickly and effectively to provide security for people.

Self-employed individuals who are not eligible to receive sick pay may be able to claim Universal Credit and/or new style Employment and Support Allowance. For the duration of the outbreak, the requirements of the Universal Credit Minimum Income Floor will be temporarily relaxed for those who have COVID-19 or are self-isolating according to government advice. The Government have announced additional financial support which includes £330bn in loans and £20bn in other aid, business rates holiday and grants for retailers and pubs.

A dedicated helpline has been set up to help self-employed individuals in financial distress and with outstanding tax liabilities receive support with their tax affairs through HMRC’s Time To Pay service. These arrangements are agreed on a case-by-case basis and are tailored to individual circumstances and liabilities. HMRC’s new dedicated COVID-19 helpline can be contacted from 11 March 2020 for advice and support. To ensure ongoing support, HMRC have made a further 2,000 experienced call handlers available to support firms and individuals when needed.

At the end of 2019 36% of all prepayment meters were smart meters in pre-payment mode, which enable energy consumers to top up without needing to leave their homes.

There are existing general protections for traditional prepayment meter customers who are unable to access top-up outlets, including emergency credit if credit has been exhausted on the meter. Suppliers also operate a friendly hour’s policy, when supply would not be interrupted, normally during evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays.

For traditional prepayment meters, suppliers can also send pre-loaded keycards to customers to provide additional credit, where consumers need to self-isolate for a longer period of time. The consumer would need to inform their supplier that they need assistance.

The Department is actively engaging with Ofgem and industry to ensure all customers receive the support they need.

HM Land Registry (HMLR) receives 120,000 applications per day, of which 95% are processed within the service standard of 5 days for register updates (to an existing title) and 25 days for more complex applications that require the creation of a new title (for example on the first registration of a property or a new lease). There is a backlog of some complex casework involving the creation of a new title, which account for 5% of applications.

HMLR recognise that this situation needs addressing and are implementing plans to reduce the waiting times for those cases. These applications relate to an already completed property transaction but HMLR will expedite cases where necessary to avoid adverse impacts on customers.

This Government is committed to meeting net zero by 2050, and in 2019, the Government became the first major economy in the world to have legislated for a net zero target to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from across the UK economy by 2050. We agree with the Committee on Climate Change’s view on the importance of a diverse mix of power generation sources to achieve that with renewables providing the majority of our electricity by 2050 alongside firm low carbon power from sources such as nuclear, and gas or biomass generation with carbon capture and storage.

The Government has introduced many initiatives to increase the supply of renewable energy production in the UK and with this support, carbon emissions have reduced by 42%, while the economy has grown by 73% since 1990. We have also seen rapid deployment of solar PV over the last 8 years, with over 99% of the UK’s solar PV capacity deployed since May 2010 and half of the world’s offshore wind deploying in the UK. We have committed up to £557m of annual support for future Contracts for Difference, providing developers with the confidence they need to invest in bringing forward new projects and we are supporting our world-leading offshore wind industry through the 2019 sector deal.

In order to support smaller scale renewable electricity generation, the Government introduced the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) on 1 January, which gives small scale low-carbon electricity generators, such as homes with solar panels, the right to be paid for the renewable electricity they export to the grid. Unlike the previous Feed-in Tariff scheme, the SEG is a market-driven mechanism. It paves the way to projects being deployed without subsidies.

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) supports the transition to low-carbon heating in the UK, helping generate renewable heat for schools, hospitals and more than 12,000 social housing properties. The scheme is designed to bridge the gap between the cost of fossil fuel heat sources and renewable heat alternatives through financial support for owners of participating installations. The RHI helps to sustain and build the supply-chains needed to deliver our aspirations for renewable heat in 2020 and beyond

We are working to develop a new policy framework for the long-term decarbonisation of heat. We have committed to publishing a policy roadmap in summer 2020. This will set out the programme of work required to enable key strategic decisions in the first half of 2020 on how we achieve mass transition to low carbon heating.

The government plans to publish an Energy White Paper in 2020, which will address the transformation of the energy system in line with our net zero commitment and will set out the importance of affordable energy in support of a high productivity economy.

British Gas are introducing a minimum top up of £5 for most of their prepayment customers starting on 1 January. This is a commercial decision of British Gas. Although a £5 minimum top up is not uncommon practice amongst suppliers, there are many that offer a minimum top up of £1.

BEIS officials are liaising with Ofgem to confirm whether they were given prior notification of British Gas’ decision, and also that British Gas has met its obligation to treat customers fairly and ensure that each customer was provided with information about the assistance and advice that is available to them.

Customers are protected through the price caps on standard variable and prepayment meter tariffs. A key challenge now is for suppliers to put the consumer first and improve their customer service.

To protect telecoms consumers the government has strengthened Ofcom’s powers through the Digital Economy Act 2017. As a result, in April 2019, Ofcom introduced a voluntary automatic compensation scheme for customers of broadband and landline services for when things go wrong, such as missed engineer appointments, delayed start of a service or delayed repairs. BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media, Zen Internet, Utility Warehouse and Hyperoptic have all signed up to the scheme.

The scheme is designed to help ensure customers receive appropriate redress when things go wrong and, over time, incentivise companies to improve their service. Following a review of the scheme in August 2020 Ofcom concluded that the scheme was launched successfully, that it now covers around 80% of the broadband market and that it has increased compensation payments to consumers where repairs or installations had been delayed.

Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. It is important that sports clubs remain accessible for people from all backgrounds as we make efforts to return to normality after the Covid lockdown period.

Sport England have announced a £210 million package of support to help community clubs through this crisis.

Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. It is important that sports clubs remain accessible for people from all backgrounds as we make efforts to return to normality after the Covid lockdown period.

Government guidance on team sports is available: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-phased-return-of-sport-and-recreation/return-to-recreational-team-sport-framework#team-sport-guidance

Guidance on indoor sports is available: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/providers-of-grassroots-sport-and-gym-leisure-facilities

General guidance is available on line at :www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus

This guidance includes advice on existing rules on social distancing and hygiene, and updates on those rules when they change with the evolving situation.

On 13 August, the Government announced that indoor play and indoor soft play venues can open from 15 August. We have also been working with BALPPA, the trade body that represents the industry to develop guidance that lays out detailed measures that should be taken by indoor play and indoor soft play operators to make venues COVID-secure. These include closing ball pits and sensory areas, reducing capacity of venues and soft play frames, regular deep cleaning, pre-bookable timed sessions, increased sanitation, and a rigorous process to support track and trace. Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active and the Government is committed to reopening facilities as soon as it is safe to do so. Since 4 July other indoor facilities, including some indoor games, recreation and entertainment venues have reopened.

As with all aspects of the Government’s response to COVID-19, we continue to be guided by public health considerations to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.

The consideration of different venues and the activities involved are underpinned by understanding the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 associated with particular activities.

We recognise the importance of re-opening our indoor and outdoor pools and we agree that swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. There are concerns about transmission around points of contact within such facilities, like changing rooms due to the high volume of contacts. As such, we need to provide reassurance that these facilities will be safe, and are working hard to achieve this in the coming weeks.

We are holding regular discussions with representatives from the leisure sector and national sports organisations including swimming to develop guidance that will support them to open their facilities in a timely and safe manner once lockdown measures are eased.

The Government is actively working towards a safe way to re-open these facilities, with supporting guidance.

We recognise the importance of re-opening our indoor and outdoor pools and agree that swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy both mentally and physically. We are holding regular discussions with representatives from the leisure sector and national sports organisations including swimming to develop guidance that will support them to open their facilities in a timely and safe manner once lockdown measures are eased.

The consideration of different venues and the activities involved are underpinned by understanding the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 associated with particular activities. There are concerns about transmission around points of contact within such facilities, like changing rooms due to the high volume of contacts. As such, we need to provide reassurance that these facilities will be safe, and are working hard to achieve this in the coming weeks.

We recognise the importance of re-opening our indoor and outdoor pools and agree that swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy both mentally and physically. We are holding regular discussions with representatives from the leisure sector and national sports organisations including swimming to develop guidance that will support them to open their facilities in a timely and safe manner once lockdown measures are eased.

The consideration of different venues and the activities involved are underpinned by understanding the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 associated with particular activities. There are concerns about transmission around points of contact within such facilities, like changing rooms due to the high volume of contacts. As such, we need to provide reassurance that these facilities will be safe, and are working hard to achieve this in the coming weeks.

The consideration of different venues and the activities involved are underpinned by understanding the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 associated with particular activities.

We recognise the importance of re-opening our indoor and outdoor pools and we agree that swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. There are concerns about transmission around points of contact within such facilities, like changing rooms due to the high volume of contacts. As such, we need to provide reassurance that these facilities will be safe, and are working hard to achieve this in the coming weeks.

The Government is actively working towards a safe way to re-open these facilities, with supporting guidance.

BAME charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises play a vital role in supporting communities throughout the country. Their work has become even more critical in the response to this unprecedented crisis.

Government recognises that organisations require extra support in order to continue their vital work while experiencing significant pressures due to Covid-19, through either, or both, a loss of income and increasing demand for services increases.

This is why the government has made an unprecedented £750 million package of support available, specifically for charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. The Coronavirus Community Support Fund (CCSF) forms a central part of this package, and is being administered through the National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF). £200 million has now been made available for TNLCF to distribute and they are engaging extensively with BAME organisations to improve the reach of the Fund.

A diverse advisory panel has been set up to assist in the distribution process for the Fund. DCMS will continue to work closely to assess how we can support BAME charities and social enterprises in doing their important work. The Minister for Civil Society holds a fortnightly roundtable to hear directly from BAME civil society organisations to highlight concerns and responses to Covid-19. DCMS will continue to work closely to assess how we can support BAME charities and social enterprises in doing their important work.

Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active and the Government is committed to reopening facilities, including outside gyms and sport pitches as soon as it is safe to do so.

We are holding regular discussions with representatives from across the sport sector to develop guidance that will support them to open their facilities in a timely and safe manner once lockdown measures are eased.

As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, we will be guided by the science to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.

We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to many of DCMS’ sectors including the creative industries, which is why the Government has announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency.

DCMS is engaging with a range of departments to support the economic response, and ensuring that the needs of its sectors, and those who work in them, are fully understood. DCMS will continue to work with these valuable sectors to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.

To ensure we are assisting all our sectors as effectively as possible, regular ministerially-chaired roundtables are held with business representative organisations as well as trade associations from across the Creative Industries. In addition, officials are in regular contact with stakeholders from these sectors, and we continue to speak with HM Treasury colleagues to ensure that the full spectrum of government support reaches the UK's world-leading media and Creative Industries.

As set out on 1 May, the Government is making a further £617m available through a Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund to support small businesses previously outside the scope of existing business grant funding schemes. Grants up to a maximum of £25,000 will be available and the allocation of funding will be at the discretion of local authorities.

On 11 May, the government published updated guidance on lockdown measures, including updates on how people can be active in outdoor spaces and on outdoor sports courts as long as they participate by themselves, or with members from their same household, or two metres apart from one member of another household.

The government has made it clear that it will adopt a phased approach based on scientific and medical advice, and that the primary goal is to protect public health. The government is in discussions with representatives from the sport and physical activity sector about the steps required to restart grassroots sport and will update the public when it is deemed safe to open up indoor facilities such as swimming pools, leisure centres and gyms.

It is vital that people continue to be active throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to support their physical and mental wellbeing. It is also important that those people who have to overcome specific barriers to getting active are supported as far as possible to continue to engage in activity.

The Government has not undertaken a specific assessment of the effect of swimming pool closure on this group of people. However, Sport England is gathering data on the impact of lockdown restrictions on different demographic groups via a weekly survey. It has also launched its ‘Join the Movement’ campaign which provides resources and tips via its #stayinworkout hub on how people can access activities that best meet their needs whilst maintaining social distancing.

Football clubs are the heart of local communities, they have unique social value and many with a great history.

We will continue to liaise closely with the sector as the situation develops.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport does not hold any information on the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) plans to reduce funding for championship clubs. The stewardship of rugby union in England is the responsibility of the RFU, as the National Governing Body for the sport. The Government expects good governance from all our sports bodies, as set out in the sports governance code.

Through Sport England, government has invested £11.53m into grassroots rugby union in the three years to 2018/19. This includes investment in both the RFU as the national governing body for the sport, together with investment in specific community rugby union projects. Over this time period, Sport England has invested a further £12.61m in multi-sport projects where rugby union is one of the sports benefitting.

We are committed to cracking down on unacceptable behaviour in the ticketing market and improving fans’ chances of buying tickets at a reasonable price. We have strengthened the existing ticketing information requirement in the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and have introduced a new criminal offence of using automated software to buy more tickets online than that allowed.

We support the work of enforcement agencies in this area, such as the Competition and Markets Authority, National Trading Standards, and the advertising industry's own regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority.

Recent announcements of enforcement action by these agencies demonstrate that we are prepared to go after those who flout the law or abuse the ticketing market.

Between April 2010 and March 2019, The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has provided over £870m in Exchequer funding to Sport England, the arms-length body of government responsible for investing in and supporting grassroots sport in England. The table below provides a year-by-year breakdown.

Details of DCMS's Exchequer funding to other policy areas can be found in the department's annual reports which are available online.

At 31 December 2019 DCMS employed 1,264 Civil Servants, 50 of whom worked directly on projects relating to sport. A significant number of staff cannot be directly linked to digital, culture, media or sport as they are either part of the corporate centre (e.g Finance and HR), part of cross-cutting teams working across multiple policy areas (e.g the department’s Central Analytical Team) or part of teams which aren’t directly linked to any of these areas (e.g. the Office for Civil Society and the Gambling team).

This information relates to Civil Servants on DCMS’ payroll. This includes permanent staff, those on fixed-term contracts, those on paid loan/secondment in/out of DCMS and those on paid maternity leave. DCMS also sponsors a number of Arms Length Bodies (ALBs) which work on projects related to sport, including Sport England, the Birmingham Organising Committee for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Sports Grounds Safety Authority, UK Anti-Doping, and UK Sport. Their total staff numbers are as follows:

As set out in our manifesto, the government is already committed to work with fans and clubs towards introducing safe standing. To deliver this we will be relying upon the expertise of the Sports Grounds Safety Authority to ensure existing levels of safety are maintained, and I welcome the latest findings from research they have commissioned in this area.

Over a million people watch live football at a ground every week, and this an issue many feel passionately about, but it is imperative that watching football continues to be safe. The SGSA will continue to gather evidence over the remainder of this season and work with the relevant authorities, clubs and fans to deliver our commitments.

Government commissioned an independent consortium to carry out a meta-evaluation of the benefits of London 2012. These reports are published on GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/london-2012-meta-evaluation) and cover a broad range of research areas such as grassroots sport participation economic benefits, sustainability standards and the impact on volunteering.

Government, in conjunction with the Mayor of London, published four annual reports on legacy between 2013 and 2016. These described legacy benefits in the areas of sport and physical activity, economic impact, communities, East London regeneration and the impact from the Paralympics. Again, these reports are available on GOV.UK via https://www.gov.uk/society-and-culture/2012-olympic-and-paralympic-legacy.

Government is committed to making sure that everyone regardless of ability or background feels able to take part in sport and physical activity. Government’s Sporting Future strategy committed to increasing levels of physical activity regardless of the type of sport or activity.

Over 2017-21, through Sport England, government is investing over £17m in British Cycling to support the growth of grassroots cycling and cycling talent.

Since 2017, Sport England has separately invested more than £4.5m directly in grassroots cycling projects to support the growth of cycling at local level.

Government is also investing up to £15m in off-road cycling facilities to help drive a legacy from the 2019 UCI Road World Cycling Championships held in Yorkshire.

Almost £2 billion is projected to be invested in cycling and walking infrastructure over the 5 years from 2016/17 to 2020/21, and spending in England has doubled from £3.50 per head to around £7 per head over the current Spending Review period.

The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government; therefore, the government has no role in deciding whether BBC services, such as the BBC Red Button teletext service, should be continued.

It is the BBC’s responsibility to assess the potential effect of the closure of the BBC Red Button service on older people. The Government welcomes the BBC's decision to pause the closure of the Red Button service, ahead of its review of the impact of the closure on the most vulnerable including the elderly, and deaf and blind licence fee payers.

Government is committed to helping elderly people acquire basic digital skills.

Through the £400,000 Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund, the Government is supporting projects aimed at addressing the digital exclusion of older and disabled people. One pilot, led by Uttlesford Council for Voluntary Service, is developing “smart homes” for elderly people to improve their digital skills, supported by their peers and younger ‘digital buddies’.

Government funds the Future Digital Inclusion programme delivered through Online Centres based in libraries and other community spaces. This supports some of the hardest to reach groups in society, including older people. Over the last five years, the programme has supported over 1.3 million adult learners to engage with digital technology and develop their basic digital skills in community settings.

Libraries are a vital source of advice and support on digital skills. Government invested £2.6m to enable 99% of libraries in England to offer free wifi to users; and older people can also gain access and support in using computers and other technology.

Government ensures its services are accessible by design and for the services it provides, has committed to ensuring that assistance is always available for those who are not online. Government departments are mandated to provide assisted digital (offline) support for their services where it is required.

The National Living Wage is the statutory minimum wage for those aged 25 and over, and the Government is committed to ensuring that everyone entitled to the National Living Wage receives it.

It is up to individual businesses to decide whether they would like to pay employees under the age of 25, the National Living Wage.

Homophobia or any form of discrimination has no place in football or society, and we want sport to be at the forefront of promoting equality.

On 15 January, I met with the Football Association and discussed their progress on combatting discrimination in football, including their work improving reporting mechanisms at grassroots levels. Whilst progress has been made, there is still more to do and we will be calling in all the footballing authorities for a further update about their work on this important issue.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport supports the work of Sport England (our national sport council) with the national governing bodies of individual sports and sport organisations on anti-homophobia initiatives aimed at encouraging inclusion, for example Stonewall's Rainbow Laces Campaign. Government is determined to show support for LGBT+ equality and inclusivity in sport, on and off the pitch.

The Gambling Commission has broad and flexible powers to set licence conditions and take action where there is evidence of harm, including the power to suspend or revoke a licence, impose financial penalties or prosecute criminal offences.

The Government has committed to review the Gambling Act 2005 to make sure it is fit for the digital age. We will announce further details in due course.

Government recognises the great importance of sport and physical activity for disabled people who take part, at both the grassroots and elite levels. Government’s strategy for sport and physical activity, ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for An Active Nation’, aims to create a more physically active nation, where people of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy the benefits that sport and physical activity can provide. The strategy focuses on people in groups that are currently less likely to take part in sport and physical activity, which includes disabled people.

Sport England, our national sport council, invests in programmes that help disabled people get active and make sport more inclusive of their needs. They also ensure that programmes for disabled people are included across each of their investment programmes. Since 2016 they have invested almost £40m to support disabled people to get more active.

On 27 January I made a statement announcing our decision to add all future Paralympic Games to Ofcom’s list of “protected” sport events, meaning the Games will remain free to watch, rather than be subject to a subscription service or be paid for. This will enable the Games to reach the widest possible audience, and aims to increase visibility of para-sports globally. The full statement is available to read here: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2020-01-27/HCWS66/.

The School Sport and Activity Action Plan sets out our commitment to ensuring that all children and young people have access to at least 60 minutes of high quality PE and physical activity every day. We are working closely with the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care and will publish more detail on our ambitious plans later this year.

I regularly meet with Sport England who are investing over £190m into physical activity for children and young people over 2017-2021. This includes programmes such as the £40m Families Fund, which encourages low-income families with children to do sport and physical activity together. Sport England is also investing up to £125m to improve sports facilities across England.

The Government is aware of concerns that entertainment products, such as some video games, could encourage gambling-like behaviour. We have committed to review the Gambling Act 2005 to make sure it is fit for the digital age, and to consider concerns about loot boxes. We will announce further details in due course.

The government recognises that there is no place for homophobia or any other kind of discrimination in sport. The government’s sport strategy ‘Sporting Future’ set out our intention to encourage as many people and groups to enjoy sport as participants, spectators and in the workforce, including the LGBT community.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport supports the work of Sport England (our national sport council) with the national governing bodies of individual sports and LGBT-focused sport organisations on anti-homophobia initiatives aimed at encouraging inclusion, for example Stonewall's Rainbow Laces Campaign.

Sport England have also commissioned Pride Sports to produce an in-depth report looking at barriers to LGBT participation including volunteering, provision, and attitudes and behaviours. This will also include a comprehensive look at LGBT participation, and a report on LGBT sport infrastructure across the country. Following this Sport England will consider what further steps could be taken to support LGBT participation.

The government is clear that racism has no place in sport or society at large. The sport and physical activity strategy ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’ has diversity and inclusion at its heart. Government remains supportive of a number of anti-racism initiatives that work with sports bodies from grassroots to the elite, including Show Racism the Red Card and Kick it Out.

Over the past year the government has led debates in the House of Commons on tackling racism in sport (on 22nd May 2019 and 12th July 2019), and hosted an Anti-Racism Summit in February 2019. This led to the three main English football organisations making clear commitments to tackle racism in football stadia from July 2019. The Sports Minister met with the FA last week and discussed their progress in delivering against these commitments, and will be calling in all the footballing authorities for a further update about their work on this important issue. Further to these commitments, ministers and officials continue to speak to the FA and relevant football bodies to explore what more can be done.

Grassroots sport clubs receive support in tackling racism from our national sport council, Sport England, who provide free support and learning in running a club through its "Club Matters" programme.

We are working with the football authorities and supporters’ groups to deliver the government’s commitment to move towards introducing areas of standing in football stadia currently subject to the all-seater policy. I will be setting out the government’s next steps once I have considered the findings of the independent research commissioned by the Sports Grounds Safety Authority into the management of standing at football, the associated safety risks, and how these can be mitigated.

Football clubs are the heart of local communities, they have unique social value and many with a great history. It is vital they are protected and fans should have their voices heard.

We have committed to a fan led review of football governance, which will include consideration of the Owners’ and Directors’ test. I recently met with the EFL to discuss the progress of their own review into club governance and we will take this into account as we decide the scope and structure of a government review.

The Department for Education does not collect data on local authority allocation of training.

The government provides a range of guidance on safeguarding children and for foster parents and agencies, including:

• ‘Working together to safeguard children’, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2;
• ‘Keeping children safe in education’, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/912592/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_Sep_2020.pdf#:~:text=Safeguarding%20and%20promoting%20the%20welfare%20of%20children%20is,enable%20all%20children%20to%20have%20the%20best%20outcomes;
• ‘Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards’, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/192705/NMS_Fostering_Services.pdf;
• and ‘Fostering’, available here: https://www.gov.uk/childcare-parenting/fostering.

The Department for Education will do whatever it can to make sure no child – whatever their background or location – falls behind as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. We know that young carers may be particularly vulnerable during this time, and ensuring that vulnerable children and young people remain protected is our top priority

Educational settings remain open and safe for vulnerable children and young people. The definition of vulnerable children and young people includes those who have been assessed as otherwise vulnerable by educational providers or local authorities (including children’s social care services), and who are therefore in need of continued education provision – including young carers amongst others. Local authority duties to assess the needs of young carers, under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, remain unchanged.

The government has provided over £11 million to the See, Hear, Respond programme, to support vulnerable children and young people whose usual support networks have been impacted by the outbreak, including young carers as a target group. The programme provides a range of support, including online counselling and helping children and young people stay connected with school.

The government announced £1 billion of catch-up funding to support children and young people. This includes a £650 million catch-up premium for the 2020/2021 academic year to ensure that schools have the support they need to help all pupils make up for lost teaching time and a £350 million National Tutoring Programme to support those children and young people who need it the most.

Additionally, the ongoing £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return training programme, offered to every school and college in England, is helping support pupil wellbeing, resilience and recovery in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. The training supports staff working in schools and colleges to respond to the additional pressures some children and young people may be feeling as a direct result of the COVID-19 outbreak. This is in addition to requirements set out in statutory guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ for school designated safeguarding leads to undergo training to provide them with the knowledge and skills to carry out their role, including a good understanding and alertness to the needs of young carers. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.

The government has continued to support unpaid carers by providing funding to Carers UK to: extend their support phoneline; provide funding to the Carers Trust to make onward grants to provide support to unpaid carers experiencing loneliness during the COVID-19 outbreak; work with the Social Care Institute for Excellence to publish guidance on reopening day services which we know provide important respite to carers; ensure unpaid carers can continue to claim Carer’s Allowance if they need to self-isolate and recognised time providing emotional support as part of the 35 hours a week Carer’s Allowance care threshold.

The government has published guidance for both schools and local authorities on how best to support families and protect vulnerable children during the COVID-19 outbreak, alongside guidance for young people with caring responsibilities. The guidance includes information on how and where they can get help and support, including encouraging them to speak to someone they trust at their school or college, like a teacher or school nurse, about their caring responsibilities and how this might affect them.

The government assessed the merits of a sharia-compliant alternative finance product, including the views of students and other stakeholders, as part of the response to the consultation published in September 2014. The consultation response is at the link below:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/349899/bis-14-984-government-response-to-a-consultation-on-a-sharia-compliant-alternative-finance-product.pdf.

The new Green Jobs Taskforce, which was launched on 12 November 2020, has been set up to help the UK build back greener and deliver the skilled workforce needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050. This is a joint initiative between the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Education. Working with employers and relevant stakeholders, the Taskforce will develop an action plan to support 2 million good-quality, green jobs and the skills needed by 2030, supporting the UK to transition to a net zero economy and deliver a green recovery.

The Taskforce, which also includes members from the construction and retrofit sectors such as the Construction Industry Training Board and Retrofit Works, will represent views of businesses, employees and the skills sector. Involvement in this work will not be limited only to Taskforce members, and there will be opportunities for a wider set of stakeholders, including the private sector, to contribute.

Investment from the National Skills Fund will support the government’s commitment to green jobs. Starting this year, the government is investing £2.5 billion (£3 billion, when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations) in the National Skills Fund. This is a significant investment and has the potential to deliver new opportunities to generations of adults who may have been previously left behind.

From the National Skills Fund, we are investing £95 million over the current spending review period to support any adult aged 24 and over who want to achieve their first full level 3 qualification – equivalent to 2 A levels, or a technical certificate or diploma – to access nearly 400 fully funded courses. The offer includes a range of qualifications that are valuable across the economy in multiple sectors (for example, digital skills, accountancy and engineering skills).

There are specific qualifications included on the course list which will contribute to developing retrofitting skills (for example, a diploma in Installing Electrotechnical Systems and Equipment or a diploma in Engineering Construction Lifting, Positioning and Installing Structures, Plant and Equipment).

Through the National Skills Fund we have also introduced the Skills Bootcamps, which are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving adults aged 19 and over the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer.

From April 2021 we are investing a further £43 million through the National Skills Fund to support this expansion of Skills Bootcamps in England. This will enable us to assist employers across England to fill their in-demand vacancies and we anticipate training upwards of 25,000 individuals. The Bootcamps were initially focused on digital skills but are now being expanded to also cover technical skills training, including engineering and construction.

The training undertaken by adults completing relevant Skills Bootcamps courses can help adults gain the skills required to work towards further training and employment in retrofitting. Furthermore, education providers and employers can put forward bids as part of our technical skills bootcamps to establish a bootcamp with the aim of training people in retrofit skills.

These level 3 and Skills Bootcamps offers will be followed by other investments from the National Skills Fund over the course of this Parliament. The government plans to consult on the National Skills Fund in spring 2021 to ensure that we develop a fund that helps adults learn valuable skills and prepares them for the economy of the future.

The Government has announced a catch-up package worth £1 billion, including a Catch up Premium worth a total of £650 million, to support schools to make up for lost teaching time. Head teachers have discretion over how to use this funding to best support the needs of their pupils, but we expect them to prioritise those who need the most catch up support. The Catch up Premium guidance is clear that schools should ensure that they provide appropriate transparency for parents in terms of how the premium is spent. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-catch-up-premium.

Schools are held accountable for the outcomes they achieve with all their funding, including through Ofsted inspections and by governors and trustees, and this will be no exception.

A new national lockdown has come into effect and schools should only allow vulnerable children and the children of critical workers to attend face to face education. All other pupils will be taught remotely.

We know that receiving face to face education is best for children’s mental health and for their educational achievement, and we will review the restrictions on schools to ensure that children and young people return to face to face education as soon as the pressures on the NHS are easing. Limiting attendance at this time is about reducing the number of contacts that people have with other households, given the rapidly rising numbers of cases across the country and the intense pressure on the NHS.

For those pupils and staff still attending school, the system of protective measures that we have asked schools to implement continues to mean that any risks are well managed and controlled.

Fostering can be hugely rewarding, but also challenging, demanding skills and dedication. The statutory framework and National Minimum Standards (NMS) clearly set out that all foster carers must receive the training and development they need to carry out their role effectively. The NMS are available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/192705/NMS_Fostering_Services.pdf.

Under NMS 6, there is an expectation that fostering services will promote the physical, emotional, and psychological health of children in foster care and NMS 20 covers the requirements around training and development of foster carers. These are essential for placement stability, and foster carers should receive the right training to meet the needs of the children in their care. They should have access to different or new training to develop their skills as need arises before and during placement. The Training, Support and Development Standards for Foster Care (TSD) sets out the minimum expectations of training for foster carers, and is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/287957/TSD_standards_guidance_for_supervisors.pdf. It is up to local fostering services to determine what training they offer, to whom and when, but information about that offer should be available to all foster carers.

As outlined in the guidance for education and childcare settings on new national restrictions from 5 November, out-of-school activities such as private tuition may continue to operate during the period of national restrictions. However, providers of these activities who are operating out of their own homes or private studios, should ensure they are only being accessed for face-to-face provision by parents if their primary purpose is registered childcare, or where they are providing other activities for children, where it is reasonably necessary to enable parents to work or search for work, or to undertake training or education; or for the purposes of respite care. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-and-childcare-settings-new-national-restrictions-from-5-november-2020#ooss.

Out-of-school activities that are primarily used by home educating parents as part of their arrangements for their child to receive a suitable full-time education, which could include private tutors, may also continue to operate for face-to-face provision for the duration of the national restrictions.

Tutors that continue to operate face-to-face provision during this period should continue to undertake risk assessments and implement the system of controls set out in the protective measures for holiday clubs and after-school clubs and other out-of-school clubs for children during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak guidance, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

Providers operating out of other people’s homes should also implement the guidance on working safely in other people’s homes, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/homes.

All other out of school activities, not being primarily used by parents for these purposes and that can offer remote education, should close for face-to-face provision for the duration of the national restrictions. This will minimise the amount of mixing between different groups of people and therefore reduce the risk of infection and transmission of the virus.

Local authorities are required, through the School Admissions Code and the School Information (England) Regulations 2008, to provide parents with information about all schools in their area ahead of application deadlines, through publishing a composite prospectus.

Traditionally, schools have also held open events and arranged visits for prospective parents in the autumn term. This year, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, schools have also had to consider how to minimise the risk of transmission of the virus.

On 2 July, we published guidance to help schools prepare for all pupils to return to school full time from the beginning of the autumn term. This guidance can be viewed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

This sets out a framework for school leaders to put in place a range of proportionate protective measures for children, staff and visitors. These include minimising contacts between groups and maintaining safe distance where possible; encouraging regular handwashing; and enhanced cleaning. As a result, face to face open events and visits are unlikely to be possible and schools are considering alternatives.

The provision of information to parents remains an important part of enabling them to make an informed choice about the schools they wish their children to attend.

The Department is aware that many schools have worked creatively to do this, but if a school does decide to hold a face to face event it is essential that a risk assessment is carried out and appropriate control measures are put in place, in line with the guidance.

The Department for Education aims to respond to all ministerial correspondence within 18 days of receipt. Due to the increase in correspondence received since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the average reply time (in working days) for ministerial letters due during each month from April to August this year exceeds the 18-day target, as set out in the table below:

It is important that children continue to remain fit and active and take part in the 60 minutes of daily physical activity recommended by the Chief Medical Officers wherever possible.

Schools have the flexibility to decide how physical education, sport and physical activity will be provided for their own students, following the measures in their system of controls. The Department’s guidance includes information on how schools can provide PE and opportunities for pupils to be active, including links to detailed advice from subject organisations. Schools are able to offer curricular and extra-curricular team sport, including contact sport, where there is approved guidance from national governing bodies. Guidance can be found via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

Schools are also able to open up their facilities for use by external sports clubs at evenings and weekends. In doing so, they should ensure they are considering carefully how such arrangements can operate within their wider protective measures and should also have regard to any other relevant government guidance. For example, when opening up sports facilities for external use, the guidance issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on working safely during the COVID-19 outbreak for providers of grassroots sport and gym or leisure facilities should be followed: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/providers-of-grassroots-sport-and-gym-leisure-facilities.

Schools and external providers should also consult the guidance produced for those who run community activities, holiday clubs, after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school provision for children: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

We have been working across Government to build a package of support measures to boost skills among those who will be hardest hit by the labour market impacts of COVID-19. On 8 July, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced measures across a range of targeted work-based training offers to support people to build the skills they need to get into work in all communities across the country. This amounts to investment of £1.6 billion in employment support schemes, which will substantially expand existing provision. This includes:

• £111 million to triple the number of traineeships;
• £17 million to triple the number of sector-based work academy placements;
• Paying businesses to take on new apprentices – an extra £2000 for each apprentice under 25 and £1,500 for apprentices over 25;
• £32m to help 269,000 more people receive advice from the National Careers Service;
• £101 million for school/college leavers to study high value courses when there are not employment opportunities available to them.

Over the course of this Parliament, we are also providing £2.5 billion (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations) for a new National Skills Fund to help people learn new skills and prepare for the economy of the future.

We are continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) (£1.34bn in 2019/20 and 2020/21). We will continue to explore options within adult education and will be making decisions on where we may be able to introduce flexibilities to aid the Post-Covid recovery.

In areas where we have devolved the AEB, it is for Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) / Greater London Authority (GLA) to determine funding arrangements for adult education for their residents. We do, however, appreciate the importance of sharing, and where appropriate, co-ordinating, responses to attempt to ensure that providers, of all types, do not have their funding disrupted as a result of COVID-19. We are continuing to keep MCAs and the GLA updated on our skills response to COVID-19 through weekly conversations.

Devolving the AEB enables MCAs to directly support adults in developing the skills that local employers need, reducing skills shortages, boosting productivity and economic prosperity, and improving wellbeing in communities.

Within the AEB funding formula we pay a disadvantage uplift to provide extra funding to support the most disadvantaged learners, recognising that they are sometimes more costly to recruit and retain. The uplift is based on the learner’s post code and results in a funding increase for learners living in the most deprived areas of the country, as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2015. There is also an area cost uplift within the AEB funding formula which reflects the higher cost of delivering training provision in some parts of the country, such as London and the South East.

We fund education and training for 16 to 19 year olds through the National Funding Formula which includes extra funding for disadvantaged students. This funding is provided to institutions specifically for students with low prior attainment, or who live in the most disadvantaged areas. We also provide an area cost uplift to reflect the higher costs of delivering education in some parts of the country such as London and the South East.

We have been working across Government to build a package of support measures to boost skills among those who will be hardest hit by the labour market impacts of COVID-19. On 8 July, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced measures across a range of targeted work-based training offers to support people to build the skills they need to get into work in all communities across the country. This amounts to investment of £1.6 billion in employment support schemes, which will substantially expand existing provision. This includes:

• £111 million to triple the number of traineeships;
• £17 million to triple the number of sector-based work academy placements;
• Paying businesses to take on new apprentices – an extra £2000 for each apprentice under 25 and £1,500 for apprentices over 25;
• £32m to help 269,000 more people receive advice from the National Careers Service;
• £101 million for school/college leavers to study high value courses when there are not employment opportunities available to them.

Over the course of this Parliament, we are also providing £2.5 billion (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations) for a new National Skills Fund to help people learn new skills and prepare for the economy of the future.

We are continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) (£1.34bn in 2019/20 and 2020/21). We will continue to explore options within adult education and will be making decisions on where we may be able to introduce flexibilities to aid the Post-Covid recovery.

In areas where we have devolved the AEB, it is for Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) / Greater London Authority (GLA) to determine funding arrangements for adult education for their residents. We do, however, appreciate the importance of sharing, and where appropriate, co-ordinating, responses to attempt to ensure that providers, of all types, do not have their funding disrupted as a result of COVID-19. We are continuing to keep MCAs and the GLA updated on our skills response to COVID-19 through weekly conversations.

Devolving the AEB enables MCAs to directly support adults in developing the skills that local employers need, reducing skills shortages, boosting productivity and economic prosperity, and improving wellbeing in communities.

Within the AEB funding formula we pay a disadvantage uplift to provide extra funding to support the most disadvantaged learners, recognising that they are sometimes more costly to recruit and retain. The uplift is based on the learner’s post code and results in a funding increase for learners living in the most deprived areas of the country, as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2015. There is also an area cost uplift within the AEB funding formula which reflects the higher cost of delivering training provision in some parts of the country, such as London and the South East.

We fund education and training for 16 to 19 year olds through the National Funding Formula which includes extra funding for disadvantaged students. This funding is provided to institutions specifically for students with low prior attainment, or who live in the most disadvantaged areas. We also provide an area cost uplift to reflect the higher costs of delivering education in some parts of the country such as London and the South East.

Ensuring that vulnerable children remain protected is a top priority for the government. From the outset, we asked schools to remain open for children who are vulnerable, as well as children of critical workers. This remains the case as some year groups return to school.

The government has provided an unprecedented package of support for vulnerable children, including:

• Over £3.2 billion so far, with a further £500 million announced on 2 July, bringing the total to £3.7 billion of additional funding to support local authorities in meeting COVID-19 related pressures, including on children’s services.
• £1.6 million of funding for the NSPCC to help promote and expand their national UK helpline which provides advice and guidance and support to adults reporting safeguarding concerns. Since the start of the campaign on 4 May, the NSPCC helpline has seen the number of calls and emails grow by 66% and has made over 9,000 referrals, with one out of every 9 referrals going to emergency services such as the police and children’s social care.
• The Adoption Support Fund – £8 million to help families under pressure as a result of the outbreak.
• The Innovation Programme – more than £12 million for 14 projects tackling increased risk, for example from domestic violence and supporting teenagers at risk of exploitation.
• See, Hear, Respond – £7 million partnership of national children’s charities and local organisations to provide targeted support to vulnerable children, young people and their families who are affected by COVID-19.
• Laptops and tablets for children with social workers and care leavers to help them keep in touch with the services they need, as well as 4G internet devices for connecting to the internet. As of 30 June, over 200,000 laptops and tablets and over 47,000 4G wireless routers had been dispatched or delivered to local authorities and academy trusts.

Our Regional Education and Care Teams are working with local authorities directly to ensure the systems and processes for maintaining contact with vulnerable children are robust in every local authority in England.

We have also made temporary legislative changes to help reduce pressure on the system and enable children's services to continue to support vulnerable children during these unprecedented times.

Our latest guidance on supporting vulnerable children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak was updated on 1 July and is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-childrens-social-care-services.

The department has issued a suite of guidance to help and support schools and colleges. This includes interim safeguarding guidance, which is clear that schools and colleges should revise their child protection policies to reflect new arrangements. The guidance sets out that it is important that all staff who interact with children, including online, continue to look out for signs a child may be at risk. The safeguarding guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/safeguarding-and-remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

Schools and colleges should continue to have regard to statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education, as per their legislative duty or funding agreement requirements, or both.

We are providing £560 million of additional condition funding for the school system this year to support essential maintenance projects. This comes on top of over £1.4 billion capital funding already provided for school maintenance in the financial year 2020-21. We will set out details of how the additional capital funding will be allocated shortly.

As part of the condition funding already allocated this year, Highgate Wood Secondary School received £29,239 in Devolved Formula Capital funding to spend on its own capital priorities. Haringey local authority has also been allocated a School Condition Allocation of £2,959,147 to invest in condition priorities across its maintained schools, including Highgate Wood Secondary School. The school should discuss its needs with Haringey Council, so that they can be considered as part of local investment decisions.

The table below presents the latest weekly national figures for vulnerable children with an education, health and care (EHC) plan or social worker in attendance in England during May and June 2020.

The data is available at:
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

Please note that the department has not produced separate figures for the primary and secondary phases.

We have also been monitoring contact between social workers and children in need and can confirm that the vast majority of those vulnerable children on a child protection plan have been seen or contacted by a social worker in the past four weeks.

Full guidance on the definition of vulnerable children and options for continued attendance is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-vulnerable-children-and-young-people/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-vulnerable-children-and-young-people.

[1] We estimate that the total number of vulnerable children with an EHC plan or social worker in England is 508,255.

Nurseries in maintained primary schools and maintained nursery schools are able to access the national voucher scheme where they have registered pupils who meet the benefits-related criteria, and who would usually receive education both before and after lunch. Private settings are not covered. Eligible children should receive vouchers at the same rate as school pupils. Newly eligible children will also be supported if they meet the above criteria and maintained nurseries and nursery schools should continue to accept free school meal applications.

As my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have both made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by Covid-19.

We expect universities to communicate clearly with residential students on rents for this period and to administer accommodation provision in a fair manner. A number of universities and large accommodation providers have waived rents for the summer term or released students early from their contracts.

Students will continue to receive scheduled payments of loans towards their living costs for the remainder of the current 2019/20 academic year.

Students who are tenants with individual private landlords can discuss with them the possibility of an early release from their tenancy agreement. Tenants without an agreed release are still liable for their rent and should pay this as usual.

If students face financial hardship and struggle to pay rent, support is available. In the first instance, they should speak to their landlord if they think they will have difficulty meeting a rental payment. In this unique context, tenants and landlords are encouraged to work together to put in place a rent payment scheme.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published guidance on consumer contracts, cancellation and refunds affected by the Covid-19 outbreak: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cma-to-investigate-concerns-about-cancellation-policies-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic/the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-consumer-contracts-cancellation-and-refunds. This sets out the CMA’s view on how the law operates to help consumers understand their rights and help businesses treat their customers fairly. Students may be entitled to refunds from accommodation providers, depending on the terms of their contract and their particular circumstances. If students need help, organisations such as Citizens Advice offer a free service, providing information and support.

If a student thinks that their accommodation provider is treating them unfairly, they can raise a complaint under the accommodation codes of practice as long as their provider is a code member. The codes can be found at: https://www.thesac.org.uk/; https://www.unipol.org.uk/the-code/how-to-complain and: https://www.rla.org.uk/about/nrla-code-of-practice.shtml.

We expect universities to communicate clearly with residential students on rents for this period and administer accommodation provision in a fair manner. Department officials, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and I are in regular contact with universities and their representative bodies to learn about what they are doing to support students at this time and to guide as appropriate.

We are aware that a number of universities have waived rents for their students who were due to be staying in university halls for the summer term but will now not be doing so.

It is important to stress that accommodation providers should not have instructed any student to return home. If any accommodation provider did formally instruct a student to leave the property then it would be unacceptable to continue to charge student rents.

Students will continue to receive scheduled payments of loans towards their living costs for the remainder of the current, 2019/20, academic year. I have asked institutions to pay particular attention to the additional financial hardships that are being faced by student staff who have been reliant on income from campus-based jobs at this time. Students with a part-time employment contract should speak to their employer about the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which has been set up to help pay staff wages and keep people in employment.

To ensure universities can support students who need it most, the Office for Students has relaxed rules on the student premium to top up hardship funds.

On 16 March, the Government announced that all exams due to take place in schools and colleges in England this summer would be cancelled as part of the fight to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The Department’s priority is to ensure that students can move on as planned to the next stage of their lives, including starting university, college or sixth form courses or apprenticeships in the autumn. For GCSE, A and AS level students, we will make sure they are awarded a grade which reflects their work. Our intention is that a grade will be awarded this summer based on the best available evidence, including any non-exam assessment that students have already completed. The qualifications regulator Ofqual is working urgently with the exam boards to set out proposals for how this process will work and more information will be provided as soon as possible. Given that exams will not be taking place, the normal special consideration arrangements will not apply to the awarding of grades this summer.

We recognise that some students may nevertheless feel disappointed that they haven’t been able to sit their exams. If they do not believe the correct process has been followed in their case, they will be able to appeal on that basis. In addition, if they do not feel their calculated grade reflects their performance, they will have the opportunity to sit an exam, once schools and colleges are open again. The existing special consideration arrangements will apply to any students who experience exceptional circumstances when sitting those exams: as we expect that many fewer students will be sitting the exams than in a normal exam series we are confident that the exam boards’ existing systems will be able to cope with the likely volume of such requests.

The latest Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) position advises against all but essential travel to Italy due to the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19. The advice is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy.

As school trips to Italy would not be deemed essential travel, affected schools should check with their travel providers regarding securing refunds in the first instance. With the current FCO position, all schools signed up to the Risk Protection Arrangement for schools will be covered for any amounts they cannot recoup on trips to Italy, and other affected schools should contact their individual insurance providers.

No decision has been made to allocate Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) directly to Higher Education Providers.

The government always keeps the DSAs system under review, to ensure that it is fit for purpose and provides good value for money. We are considering the recommendations made on DSAs in the Tailored Review of the Student Loans Company.

The Government takes data privacy, especially the privacy of more vulnerable citizens such as children, extremely seriously. The ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ statutory guidance reflects the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation, which makes clear that schools and colleges must have sufficient policies and procedures in place to meet their legal obligations, and secure pupils data protection and privacy.

The value of apprenticeship levy funds that expired from employers’ accounts in each month from May 2019 to January 2020 is set out in the table below:

Notes:

1. There was no expiry in September 2019 as this was cancelled due to an issue affecting apprenticeship payments. Cancelling expiry ensured employers and providers were not unfairly impacted as a result of this issue. All September 2019 expiry was therefore rolled forward into the process for October 2019.
2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest million.
3. Information is available at the end of each calendar month.

The funds in employers’ accounts reflect the ‘English percentage’ of an employer’s levy contribution and include a 10% top-up from government. Employers’ levy funds are available for them to use for 24 months before they begin to expire on a rolling, month-by-month basis. We do not anticipate that all employers who pay the levy will need or want to use all the funds in their accounts, though they are able to do so. Funds that expire are no longer available for the employer to spend on apprenticeship training.

The funds available to levy-paying employers through their apprenticeship service accounts are not the same as the Department for Education’s annual apprenticeship budget. The expiry of these levy funds does not, therefore, result in additional funds becoming available to the department or to HM Treasury.

The department’s ring-fenced apprenticeship budget was set in advance by HM Treasury for the current Spending Review period and is independent of the funds in levy payers’ accounts. In 2019-20, over £2.5 billion is available for investment in apprenticeships in England, which is double what was spent in 2010.

Our annual apprenticeship budget supports new apprenticeship starts both in levy-paying employers and non-levy paying employers as well as existing apprenticeships learners. Details of actual spend against the apprenticeships budget are published in the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s annual report and accounts.

There is a wide range of support services which children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their parents and carers can access.

Local authorities are required to make available local services which provide impartial information, advice and support to these families. The government has invested £20 million between June 2018 and March 2020 to improve the quality of these services and their accessibility. The funding also supports a national helpline and online service for families who have children and young people with SEND.

More broadly, it is the responsibility of schools and other educational establishments to ensure children and young people with SEND are identified and assessed, and that support is put in place to meet their needs. Some children and young people with SEND will need extra help and may require an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. Local authorities are responsible for putting EHC plans in place and for ensuring that the support identified to meet the needs identified in plans is available.

The government has increased local authorities’ high needs funding by £780 million in 2020/21, boosting the budget by 12% and bringing the total spent on supporting those with the most complex needs to over £7 billion for 2020-21.

However, we recognise that there is work to be done to improve the SEND system, including access to support services and that is why we are conducting a review of the SEND system.

Increasing the number of young people who study science is important if we are to address the science technology engineering and maths (STEM) skills shortage and support the UK economy and its growth. Pupils’ experience of science in primary school can impact on their ambitions to pursue a STEM career.

This is why the Department has kept sciences a core subject from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4. All state-maintained schools must teach the National Curriculum science programmes of study in full, with other state-funded schools such as academies required to teach science as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. In 2014 we introduced a new programme of study for primary science, providing sequenced year-by-year content to ensure appropriate introduction to key scientific concepts and clear articulation of subject knowledge required. The breadth of content ensures that the curriculum provides a strong foundation for further study at secondary school.

To support teachers in delivering excellent teaching in science, the Department funds a programme of high quality continuous professional development (CPD) for teachers. This includes our national network of over 40 Science Learning Partnerships, which deliver locally-led training to both primary and secondary teachers. Primary teachers are also eligible for Project Enthuse bursaries to attend residential CPD at the National STEM Learning Centre in York. The bursaries are targeted at schools most in need, including those with poor levels of progress or primary science leads who do not have post-16 science qualifications. Both programmes aim to improve teachers’ subject knowledge and the quality of science teaching.

The Department does not conduct a yearly designation of school land in this manner. The Department considers the circumstances of individual school sites as necessary, and in accordance with the statutory protections and requirements, should any movement, disposal, or change of use of that land occur.

The head count number of physical education (PE) teachers in service in state funded secondary schools in November 2010 to November 2018 is provided in the table attached.

While there is no formal register for PE teachers; for context, information is also shown on the percentage of hours spent teaching PE in each year and the percentage of hours of PE which are taught by a teacher with a relevant post A-Level qualification. A relevant post A-Level qualification is a Level 4 qualification or above in PE, sports science, sports physiology, sports psychology or dance (including ballet).

Information for teachers in primary schools is not available.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance is clear that schools and colleges should have in place robust systems for the safeguarding and protection of children. Staff should be alert to changes in children’s behaviour, which could indicate there is a safeguarding risk and they may be in need of help or protection. If staff have concerns about a child’s welfare, they should act immediately, following their own organisation’s child protection policy and taking advice from the designated safeguarding lead.

All schools must offer a broad and balanced curriculum, which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils and prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. Citizenship in the curriculum teaches pupils how to explore political and social issues critically, to weigh evidence, debate and to make reasoned arguments.

From September 2020, relationships education for all primary aged pupils and relationships and sex education for all secondary aged pupils will be compulsory. Health education will also be compulsory for all state funded pupils. The subjects are designed to equip young people for adult life and focus, for example, on building positive relationships, developing physical and mental health, identifying risks and knowing how to seek help when needed.

The information requested is not held centrally. We do not collect data on speech and language therapists, as specialist speech, language and communication support is not funded directly by the Department for Education. Speech and Language Therapists working with children are employed by local authorities, the health service or directly by schools.

Nevertheless, we are committed to supporting children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) and recognise the importance of identifying SLCN early to enable the right support to be put in place and reduce the impact that SLCN may have in the longer term. For example, the department has funded a range of condition specific organisations to develop resources and training to equip the workforce, including specialist resources in relation to speech, language and communication skills.

Specific decisions on how many Speech and Language Therapists are employed by any local authority are a matter for the specific local authority. However, this government has increased local authorities’ high needs funding by £780 million in 2020/21, boosting the budget by 12% and bringing the total spent on supporting those with the most complex needs to over £7 billion for 2020/21.

The information requested is not held centrally. We do not collect data on speech and language therapists, as specialist speech, language and communication support is not funded directly by the Department for Education. Speech and Language Therapists working with children are employed by local authorities, the health service or directly by schools.

Nevertheless, we are committed to supporting children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) and recognise the importance of identifying SLCN early to enable the right support to be put in place and reduce the impact that SLCN may have in the longer term. For example, the department has funded a range of condition specific organisations to develop resources and training to equip the workforce, including specialist resources in relation to speech, language and communication skills.

Specific decisions on how many Speech and Language Therapists are employed by any local authority are a matter for the specific local authority. However, this government has increased local authorities’ high needs funding by £780 million in 2020/21, boosting the budget by 12% and bringing the total spent on supporting those with the most complex needs to over £7 billion for 2020/21.

The recent use of the Learning Records Service (LRS) by a data broker was unauthorised and not sanctioned by the department. There was no data released about individual learners, only a confirmation or denial that a record existed.

Learning Record Service is designed to help learning providers verify their potential student’s previous educational achievements and their eligibility for additional funding.

Education Providers who wish to use the service must register with the UK Register of Learning Providers (UKRLP). Once they are registered with UKRLP, Education Providers fill out an LRS registration form where their UKRLP data is verified, and sign the LRS provider agreement that states their data protection and security responsibilities.

We have temporarily disabled the service whilst our investigations are ongoing.

The government wants the public and higher education sectors to lead by example through reducing energy use and driving decarbonisation across the UK economy. Last year I published an article calling on Universities to lead the climate change debate:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/climate-change-carbon-neutral_uk_5d08a9cae4b0ea7c4a4f220b.

It is an important issue for universities to consider and we will continue to engage with them on this.

On 3 December 2020 the EU voted in favour of giving the UK Part 2 listed status for the purposes of non-commercial pet travel after the transition period. This listed status has now been formally adopted by the EU. Part 2 listed status means similar health requirements to travel to the EU as before the end of the transition period, but new documentation is required for pets and recognised assistance dogs. We are disappointed not to have been awarded Part 1 listed status for pet travel, as we are clear we meet all the requirements for this and have one of the most rigorous pet checking regimes in Europe to protect our biosecurity. We will continue to press the EU commission on this matter, recognising that achieving this would alleviate some of these new requirements.

In order to travel to the EU and Northern Ireland, users of recognised assistance dogs must ensure that the dog meets the following requirements:

• It has been implanted with a microchip
• It has received a valid rabies vaccination
• It is accompanied by an animal health certificate unless the dog has been issued with a pet passport in an EU country or Northern Ireland
• It is accompanied by a written declaration regarding the non-commercial nature of the movement.
• It has received tapeworm treatment if travelling directly to Finland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Norway or Malta
• The pet will need to enter an EU country or Northern Ireland through a Travellers’ Point of Entry (TPE) where the owner must contact the competent authority present for the purposes of the documentary and identity checks.

Passengers are also advised to contact the competent authority in the country they are travelling to for any additional restrictions or requirements before travel.

Defra has been proactively and positively engaging with the assistance dog community and relevant stakeholders on the impacts on dog movements to the EU after the end of the transition period. We will continue to closely work with assistance dog organisations to share the latest advice and guidance (in accessible formats) with their members on pet travel requirements.

The Government has not recently assessed the potential merits of adopting a 70% recycling target for 2030. In 2019 we consulted on proposals to improve recycling for households and businesses and published an impact assessment alongside this which set out the benefits of achieving a 65% recycling rate by 2035. This impact assessment concluded that our proposals to ensure a consistent set of materials were collected for recycling from households and non-domestic premises together with other proposals to reform producer responsibility for recycling of packaging and to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers would achieve a 65% recycling rate by 2035.

The Environment Bill sets out the powers and duties necessary to achieve 65% recycling rate by 2035. We will consult on more detailed provisions and an updated impact assessment in 2021.

The Government's Resources and Waste Strategy sets out our intention to move away from the linear 'make, take, use, throw' economic model to a more circular economy, keeping resources in use as long as possible so we extract maximum value from them.

We are investing some £3 billion of grant funding in 24 Private Finance Initiative waste infrastructure projects. Along with disposal of residual waste facilities (such as energy from waste plants), these grants support infrastructure including material recovery, mechanical biological treatment and anaerobic digestion facilities, as well as implementation and expanding kerbside recycling services, which help facilitate improvements in recycling levels.

In addition, £4.7 million of grant funding was announced on 12 June 2019 and made available through WRAP's Resource Action Fund to support new capital infrastructure projects that will help to recycle difficult plastic packaging and textile materials. A further £1 million of grant funding was also announced to provide capital support to increase recycling infrastructure for non-household municipal waste from businesses.

Infrastructure is central to our economic strategy, and the government will shortly publish a National Infrastructure Strategy (NIS) setting out further details on its long-term ambitions, including decarbonisation and levelling up.

The NIS will also formally respond to recommendations, including recommendations on waste, made by the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) in its National Infrastructure Assessment, which is based on detailed consideration of the UK's long-term infrastructure needs.

The NIC's impartial, expert advice is central to the Government's infrastructure decision-making process. The NIC's work was the catalyst for many of the important spending decisions taken at previous fiscal events. The Government will build on this further when we publish the NIS.

The Government’s general policy is that individuals should be free to manage wildlife within the law. The fox is not a protected species so the decision to control them lies with the owner or occupier of the property where the problem occurs. Where urban foxes cause problems professional pest controllers with relevant specialist skills are likely to be the most suited people for the task of removing foxes.

Natural England, on Defra’s behalf, has a team dedicated to providing wildlife management advice to the public, both through online material and directly by telephone.

The Government has no plans to control the number of urban foxes in England.

We will recognise the validity of any animal tests on products that have already been undertaken and so avoid the need for further testing.

The grandfathering of all existing UK-held REACH registrations into the UK system will further avoid the need to duplicate animal testing associated with re-registration.

The UK has been at the forefront of opposing animal tests where alternative approaches could be used. This is known as the "last-resort principle", which we will retain and enshrine in legislation through our landmark Environment Bill.

Responsibility for trees growing on private property lies with the property owner unless, for example the tree is endangering the public or subject to a Tree Preservation Order.

In our consultation on the England Tree Strategy, we welcome feedback on what changes need to be made to plant and protect more street trees.

In line with the waste hierarchy, the Government encourages the use of reusable cups and containers where possible to avoid waste and increase resource efficiency.

However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important to follow the latest safety guidelines and only allow them where it is safe to do so. It is up to individual businesses to decide whether to allow the use of reusable cups or containers during this period. If reusable cups or containers are used, they should be washed thoroughly in hot, soapy water, or in a dishwasher, if suitable. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) provides further guidance in its business portal:

www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/reopening-and-adapting-your-food-business-during-covid-19.

The FSA advises making sure staff do not touch the customer’s equipment. Businesses can ask customers to leave their cups on the counter and then pour the drink into the cup from their own containers or ask staff to wash the container and their hands in hot soapy water.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Portsmouth South on 10 June 2020, PQ UIN 52409.

[www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-06-03/52409]

The Mayor of London is responsible for air quality in the capital and has reserve powers under the Environment Act 1995 to reflect this.

The Government’s Clean Air Strategy sets out an ambitious programme of action to reduce air pollution from a wide range of sources. We have also put in place a £3.8 billion plan to tackle roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations. Our Environment Bill makes a clear commitment to set a legally binding target to reduce fine particulate matter and enables local authorities to take more effective action to tackle air pollution in their areas.

We are in regular contact with the food industry to support them as they respond to COVID-19. This includes providing them with the guidance they need to keep their staff and customers safe, and Public Health England have recently published advice for retailers on social distancing measures in stores.

Representatives of our leading supermarkets have asked customers to shop considerately and we echo their call. We are grateful for the extensive support and positive collaboration that supermarkets have shown. We should be proud of all those across the country who are working round the clock to make sure people have the food they need.

The Government has well-established ways of working with the food industry during disruption to supply situations. Our retailers already have highly resilient supply chains and they are working around the clock to ensure people have the food and products they need. Industry has adapted quickly to these changes in demands, and we welcome the actions they are taking to support groups including NHS staff and the elderly.

To help supermarkets, the Government has already introduced new measures to keep food supply flowing. We have temporarily relaxed elements of competition law to enable supermarkets to work more closely together to ensure people can access the products they need. Food retailers will now be able to share data on their stock levels, cooperate to keep stores open and share staff, distribution depots and delivery vehicles. This will help keep shops open and staffed and better able to meet high demand. Guidance has been issued to local authorities to show flexibility to allow extended delivery hours to supermarkets to ensure shelves can be replenished more quickly. The Transport Secretary has also announced a temporary and limited relaxation of the drivers’ hours rules so that more goods can be delivered to every store every day.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston on 3 March, PQ UIN 20490.

The Forestry Commission produces statistics on new planting of woodland by area in the UK. These are Official Statistics produced to meet the standards of the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Woodland area statistics can be found on the Forest Research website together with background information at: www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics.

The area of new planting (woodland creation) for the UK in each of the last five years, taken from the published statistics, which are reported in hectares, is shown below. The total area of woodland in the UK was 3,187 thousand hectares in 2019, covering 13.1% of the land area.

New planting of woodland (thousands of hectares)

Source: Forestry Commission, Forestry England, Scottish Forestry, Forestry and Land Scotland, Natural Resources Wales, Forest Service grant schemes.

To reach net zero we must protect and enhance the capacity of our natural environment to capture carbon. Our manifesto committed to invest in nature-based solutions to climate change through a Nature for Climate Fund, to increase tree planting, peatland restoration and nature recovery.

The UK’s trees and woodlands currently capture 4% of our annual greenhouse gas emissions. We must protect the trees we already have, and plant more so that they can capture more carbon. That is why we committed to increase tree planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares of trees per year by 2025. Forestry regulations also ensure that when trees are felled, for example for timber, they should be replanted and the land restocked.

Our peatlands are a natural carbon sink, but they have been drained and degraded, releasing emissions. We have therefore allocated £10 million to restore approximately 6,500 hectares of degraded peatland, reducing emissions, and will fund further restoration in this Parliament.

Coastal wetland habitats such as saltmarsh and seagrass provide carbon sinks. In the UK, these habitats are protected in some Marine Protected Areas and we are looking at whether their protection could be expanded further. There are also wider measures under the 25 Year Environment Plan to secure clean, healthy, productive and biologically diverse seas.

Air quality is a key policy area for this Government and a great deal of work is being done to tackle air pollution. Implementing the commitments set out in the Clean Air Strategy, which was published last year, will help to clean up our air faster and more effectively in towns and cities.

The upcoming Environment Bill, which will shortly be reintroduced to Parliament, will deliver some key commitments in the Strategy. This includes introducing a duty to set a legally binding target for fine particulate matter concentrations, the pollutant of most harm to health. The Bill will also ensure that local authorities have a clear framework for tackling air pollution, and are better able to tackle a key source of fine particulate matter emissions – domestic solid fuel burning. It will also provide the Government with new powers to enforce environmental standards for vehicles and machinery.

The Government’s Joint Air Quality Unit is also working with a number of local authorities to deliver compliance with legal limits for nitrogen dioxide in the shortest possible time. The unit provides these local authorities with guidance and support to develop local plans to identify and implement suitable measures to achieve this objective, supported by £572 million dedicated funding. In some instances local authorities will be implementing charging clean air zones to deliver these reductions, and the Government is working closely with these authorities to ensure the necessary IT systems are in place and ready to use.

Further, Defra’s Air Quality Grant Programme provides funding to local authorities, funding projects in local communities to tackle air pollution and reduce emissions affecting schools, businesses and residents. Defra has awarded over £60 million in funding to local authorities since the grant started in 1997.

These measures will improve air quality across the country, including in inner-city areas.

Bovine TB is one of the greatest animal health threats to the UK and is a major source of distress for hard-working farmers and rural communities. The most recent badger control policy value for money analysis, carried out in 2019, estimates the Net Present Value of Badger Control over eleven years at £1.08 million per area.

Further information can be found on Gov.uk at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-badger-control-policy-value-for-money-analysis

The Government will not amend the Hunting Act 2004.

In the last three years, we have completed almost 700 single track miles of rail electrification in England and Wales, and we will continue to electrify more of the rail network in the years ahead. We are also supporting the development of new low-carbon technologies in rail, like battery and hydrogen trains, through innovation funding and research.

The Network Rail-led Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy (TDNS) provides advice about which decarbonising technologies (electrification, hydrogen, or battery) could best suit each part of the network. TDNS will inform the Department’s forthcoming Transport Decarbonisation Plan and Government decisions about the scale and pace of rail decarbonisation between now and 2050.

Emissions from diesel trains can contribute to air pollution hotspots, with stations being an area of particular concern. The Government is funding a new £4.5 million air quality monitoring network, which will measure air pollution in up to 100 stations across the GB railway. Once established, the network will help to identify priority locations where air quality improvement measures are most needed.

Last summer the Prime Minister launched ambitious plans to boost cycling and walking in England, so that half of all journeys in towns and cities are cycled or walked by 2030. This includes a £2 billion package of funding for active travel over the next 5 years.

Over £200 million has been made available to authorities during the current financial year, via the Active Travel Fund, to support an active and green recovery from Covid-19. This will enable them to deliver safe and direct cycling and walking measures in their areas, such as protected cycle lanes, widened pavements, safer junctions and cycle and bus-only corridors. The Spending Review in November confirmed that a further £257 million of dedicated funding would be made available next financial year to support cycling and walking schemes.

MOT due dates for cars, motorcycles and light vans were automatically extended by six months from 30 March 2020 to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. These extensions ceased from 1 August 2020 and there are no current plans to reintroduce extensions to MOT due dates.

Most garages remain open and are carrying out MOTs. MOT garages have received guidance on how to carry out MOT tests in a COVID-19 secure way and many MOT providers have also been able to introduce contact-free testing services, including pick-up and drop-off of vehicles.

The responsibility for transport in London is devolved to the Mayor of London and Transport for London.

Ministers and officials in the Department for Transport hold regular discussions with the Mayor, Deputy Mayor for Transport and Transport for London on a range of transport matters.

The Government is committed to rail decarbonisation to meet our target of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Network Rail’s work to develop a Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy will inform our decisions about the scale and pace of rail decarbonisation, the deployment of different decarbonisation technologies on each part of the network to replace diesel trains, and the delivery of our ambition to remove all diesel-only trains from the railway by 2040.

The attached table sets out both the number of suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported among driving examiners and the driving test centres in which they have been reported in each month since June 2020.

The attached table sets out both the number of suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported among driving examiners and the driving test centres in which they have been reported in each month since June 2020.

The Government takes the impact of road noise on health, wellbeing and the natural environment seriously. Vehicles are required to meet strict noise limits before being placed on the market and should not be altered to increase their noise level.

The Department’s initial trials of a prototype noise camera have now concluded and the results will be published shortly.

We now understand the epidemiology of the virus better and can control it through targeted, local action. Our priority remains the safety of staff and passengers. We are working with rail operators to ensure passengers have the confidence to return to the railway, and continue to take all necessary measures to make rail travel safe. These include the installation of clear floor markings, the provision of extra staff to manage passenger flows and provide guidance, and the mandating of face coverings on public transport.

We have also asked the rail industry to increase the number of services they run. Rail operators continue to assess local demand regularly and deliver the services passengers need. From 7 September, the railway has been operating 91% of its pre-pandemic capacity, providing frequent and reliable trains for passengers.

To support a safe, green recovery and new working patterns we are also considering proposals to try to ensure better value and convenience for part-time and flexible commuters.

The Government led review into Transport for London’s future financial sustainability is ongoing.

The Department’s guidance issued on 12 May refers to “Private cars and other vehicles” as an alternative to using public transport, and encourages the public to “consider all other forms of transport before using public transport”. This would include private vehicles such as motorcycles and mopeds where the journey to be made is appropriate.

In response to COVID-19, we are accelerating and expanding planned trials of rental e-scooters, allowing all areas that want to host trials to do so. We will introduce legislation in June to allow trials to begin.

On the 9^th May the Government announced a £2bn package of funding for cycling and walking over the next five years. This includes £250m for the provision of pop-up bike lanes with protected space for cycling as well as vouchers for cycle repairs and greater provision for bike fixing facilities.

An updated Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy will be launched by the Prime Minister in the summer which will outline the process for the development of the second statutory Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

In responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government is working to a scientifically-led, step-by-step action plan, focusing on taking the right measures at the right time.

Targeted screening measures were carried out at UK airports for inbound passengers during the containment phase of the pandemic when the aim was to prevent the virus coming in to the UK.

Whilst there is community transmission within the UK, the role played by imported cases is less significant and so our focus in the current delay phase has not been on screening measures at the border. Additionally, it is vital that flights are still able to land in the UK in order to allow Britons who have been stranded abroad as a result of the pandemic to return home, and to allow key supplies to continue moving into and around the UK.

Airlines and airports have already implemented additional measures in response to COVID-19 in line with advice from PHE, SAGE and the Chief Medical Officer. Airports are displaying posters and digital signage relaying Government information about COVID-19. Passengers arriving into UK airports are being given a leaflet with information about the measures in place in the UK, and announcements are made on aircraft an hour before landing.

As you would expect our approach is being kept under review as the pandemic develops. This may mean that measures and procedures change as we control the spread of, and understand more about, the virus. Any changes to our approach will be led by advice from SAGE and the Chief Medical Officer. Protecting the health of the UK public will always come first.

The Government recognises the importance of the UK aviation industry, which is why the Chancellor has announced an unprecedented package of economic measures to support both the sector’s businesses and its employees

These measures include the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which helps firms to retain employees. This Scheme allows businesses to put employees on temporary leave, with the Government paying cash grants of 80% of their wages up to a cap of £2,500 per month, providing the business keeps the staff employed. The Government has also issued guidance on accessing Statutory Sick Pay and Universal Credit.

The Department for Transport continues to engage closely with key industry stakeholders to understand their position and the support they need. This includes a weekly call with key unions in the aviation sector.

The Government Car Service (GCS) is a division of the central Department for Transport (DfT). With the support of DfT, GCS is replacing its fleet with Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEVs) as vehicles become due for replacement. Currently 48% of the GCS fleet is now either battery electric, petrol/electric hybrid or hydrogen, and we are actively looking at options to accelerate this transition.

The independent Committee on Climate Change has advised Government to phase out the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035 or ideally 2030, bringing forward the current 2040 commitment. In the recent manifesto, Government committed to consulting on the earliest possible date for doing so, while minimising the impact on drivers and businesses.

The Government is ensuring the railway plays its part in delivering our ambitions to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to reduce air pollution created by transport.

We continue to expand the electrified rail network where it delivers passenger and environmental benefits and value for money. This allows removal of diesel trains. For example from this month electric trains can run between London and Cardiff.

Network Rail is developing a Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy to inform Government decisions on the scale and pace of further rail decarbonisation, and the reduced use of diesel trains that this will require.

The department is working with employers and organisations of all sizes and sectors, encouraging them to participate in Kickstart and provide opportunities for young people. We know employers, large and small, are considering applying to the Scheme and are keen to find out more. Our 637 Jobcentres are securing local employer and intermediary commitment, bringing forward bids across the country.

Guidance has been published through the gov.uk site on the requirements of Kickstart, and officials will continue to update this as the scheme evolves.

Our Plan for Jobs builds on and bolsters the existing support offered by our Jobcentre Plus network.

For young people the package includes a new Kickstart Scheme offering opportunities for high quality 6-month work placements, a new youth offer, and an expansion of sector based work academies. This package builds on our Job Help website that promotes guidance on areas such as identifying transferrable skills as well as extra information about jobs and other opportunities in different parts of the country, including local recruitments, jobsfairs and skills training.

We also plan to introduce a new, large-scale employment offer for people who have spent longer out of work, giving them the help they need to get into sustained, fulfilling employment.

The whole country has experienced the economic effect of Covid-19 but we know that some areas and some sectors of the economy have been more badly affected. DWP, along with other government departments, will continue to work in partnership with mayors, local government, businesses and charities, through forums such as local employment and skills advisory panels, to level up our economy and to make sure national programmes, such as the Kickstart Scheme, meet their economic needs. As part of our first response, we are working with local areas to invest £250 million from the European Social Fund’s reserve to help people, including young people and the long term unemployed, find jobs and learn new skills in England.

To be eligible for SSP, earnings over the 8 week qualifying period must be at or above the National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit (LEL), currently £120 per week. The consultation “Health is Everyone’s Business” stated that widening eligibility for SSP would extend SSP protection to an estimated 2 million more employees.

The consultation “Health is Everyone’s Business” (CP 134, published July 2019) sought views on the recommendation of the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices to extend Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to include those earning below the lower earnings limit. On its own, such a measure would present no direct cost to the exchequer as SSP is paid by employers. There may be an indirect cost to the government as an employer but this cannot be robustly estimated.

A high level of compliance with the restrictions introduced to combat covid-19 has led to the outbreak being brought under control. This Government has a strong safety net that helps people who are facing hardship and are unable to support themselves financially. We have taken steps to strengthen that safety net so that people are supported to do the right thing. We have extended eligibility for SSP, and made sure it is payable from day 1 – rather than day 4 – for employees affected by covid-19. Employers can choose to pay more than SSP and many do - 60% of employees receive more than the statutory minimum. SSP is just part of our welfare safety net and our wider government offer to support people in times of need. Where an individual’s income is reduced while off work sick and they require further financial support they may be able to claim Universal Credit and new style Employment and Support Allowance, depending on individual circumstances. We have ensured that benefits are easily accessible and more supportive for those who need to make a claim.

The requested information concerning the number of employees with children who earn less than the lower earnings limit is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The Government is committed to supporting all workers at this time, including working parents.

Where a woman satisfies the Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) Employment Test of 26 weeks of continuous employment into the 15th week before expected birth, her employer must pay it to her even if she subsequently leaves their employment or is made redundant. This test reflects the relationship between employer and employee and is designed to ensure that a woman has made a reasonable contribution towards her employer's business before that employer is required to fund and administer maternity payments.

Maternity Allowance (MA) is intended to support those who do not qualify for SMP. To qualify for MA a woman must have been employed and/or self-employed in at least 26 of the 66 weeks before the week she expects her baby (the test period) and earn on average at least £30 a week. Part-weeks of employment or self-employment count as full weeks. That work does not have to be for the same employer, nor continuous, nor undertaken on the same basis (i.e. a claim can be made where there is a mixture of employment and self-employment or where the claimant has recently become unemployed).

The Government is committed to supporting all workers at this time, including working parents.

Where a woman satisfies the Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) Employment Test of 26 weeks of continuous employment into the 15th week before expected birth, her employer must pay it to her even if she subsequently leaves their employment or is made redundant. This test reflects the relationship between employer and employee and is designed to ensure that a woman has made a reasonable contribution towards her employer's business before that employer is required to fund and administer maternity payments.

Maternity Allowance (MA) is intended to support those who do not qualify for SMP. To qualify for MA a woman must have been employed and/or self-employed in at least 26 of the 66 weeks before the week she expects her baby (the test period) and earn on average at least £30 a week. Part-weeks of employment or self-employment count as full weeks. That work does not have to be for the same employer, nor continuous, nor undertaken on the same basis (i.e. a claim can be made where there is a mixture of employment and self-employment or where the claimant has recently become unemployed).

The Government has made no such assessment.

The National Strategy for Disabled People will focus on removing barriers to ensure disabled people are able to achieve their potential, can lead a life of opportunity and fully participate in British society. Working across Government, with disability organisations and charities, the strategy will be developed with the lived experience of disabled people at its heart and will focus on the issues that affect disabled people the most, including housing, education, transport and jobs.

Through the Regional Stakeholder Network we are establishing a channel for disabled people and disability organisations from across England to engage with Government and share their views on policies and services. This will facilitate ongoing regular discussions both during the development of the National Strategy for Disabled People and beyond.

Throughout the pandemic, NHS England and NHS Improvement have been guiding maternity services to prioritise maintaining safe and personalised maternity care by making adjustments to service provision only where necessitated by the local impact of COVID-19.

Wherever possible, services have been asked to reinstate a fully personalised approach to meeting the needs of individual women and their families across the maternity pathway.

Talking therapies are being made available remotely so people can access help safely from home and the National Health Service is working to ensure the option of face to face support is provided to people with serious mental health illnesses across all ages where it is clinically safe to do so.

Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust has recently received £773,000 as part of the critical infrastructure risk fund. The capital settlement has now been confirmed with HM Treasury and we will consider carefully how the next round of projects are prioritised.

Local health systems, including North Central London Partners in Health and Care, will shortly be receiving confirmation of their capital funding for 2021/22, which will enable them to progress priority investments agreed with local health partners.

Personal protective equipment (PPE), including FFP3 masks, must be fit for purpose, meeting the necessary safety standards to ensure it provides the required level of protection.

Certification of PPE is supplied by the manufacturer having the product independently tested. Assurance is checked by the regulators, the Health and Safety Executive and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Evidence of certification is requested for products as part of the due diligence process. Contracts that involve the manufacture of PPE have the appropriate clauses to ensure that testing and certification is undertaken before the goods are accepted.

We now have over twelve models of FFP3s masks available to the National Health Service. In December we established a four-month stockpile of COVID-19 critical PPE, including FFP3s. We are confident that we have secured enough FFP3s for the winter period and that we have the processes and logistics in place to distribute them to where they are required.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is monitoring the emerging evidence on ‘long’ COVID-19 and will review this as part of its considerations for the vaccination programme.

On 8 March the Government launched a call for evidence and is seeking to collect views on women’s health. It will run for a period of 12 weeks until 30 May 2021 and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/womens-health-strategy-call-for-evidence

With the Maternity Transformation programme there is greater service user participation in the design and delivery of maternity services through Maternity Voices Partnerships which is making efforts that diverse voices are heard. The NHS Long Term Plan committed to implementation of an enhanced and targeted continuity of carer model for black, Asian and minority ethnic women, as well as for women living in the most deprived areas.

The National Health Service is providing additional support for pregnant women from ethnic minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic, as research shows heightened risks.

The Department’s policy research programme is funding the National Institute for Health Research’s Policy Research Unit in Maternal and Neonatal Health and Care to conduct research to identify the factors associated with the excess risk of maternal death experienced by black and South Asian women.

There is no legal requirement for either staff or members of the public to wear face coverings outdoors, including at outdoor markets. This is because there is strong scientific evidence that the risk of transmission of COVID-19 is higher in enclosed spaces compared to outdoors - it is this risk of transmission that wearing a face covering will help reduce. The most effective actions members of the public can take to protect themselves and others are to avoid leaving home unless absolutely necessary, and to practice social distancing indoors and outdoors together with good hand hygiene.

The Government is guided by the advice of its scientific and medical experts and is keeping the evidence on face coverings under constant review. Further action will be taken if needed.

NHS England and NHS Improvement publish weekly data for vaccinations in England by local authority including London boroughs. This is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-vaccinations/

From 28 January 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement have published the total number of vaccinations administered by recorded ethnicity at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-vaccinations/

Ministers routinely meet local authorities and the M9 Mayors - the group of directly elected regional Mayors in England - including the Mayor of London, to discuss a range of issues concerning the pandemic response, including COVID-19 vaccination programme data.

NHS England and NHS Improvement provide a weekly vaccination data, including the number of people vaccinated, by both constituency and lower local authority. includes the proportion of people vaccinated for COVID-19 across a range of cohorts and geographies and population estimates are provided for most of the data. The data is available at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-vaccinations/

No specific discussions with clinical commissioning groups have taken place. However, Ministers and officials meet frequently to discuss all aspects of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, including data and reporting.

COVID-19 vaccination data is being shared at both a Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) level and a lower tier local authority level. Additionally, NHS England and NHS Improvement’s weekly publication on COVID-19 can be found on the NHS England website. This publication currently includes data on:

- All National Health Service COVID-19 vaccinations administered in the reporting period;

- Vaccinations by age band, defined as 80 years old and over, 75 to 79, 70 to 74 and under 70 years old;

- Vaccinations by dose;

- Vaccinations by NHS region;

- Vaccinations by integrated care systems and sustainability and transformation partnerships;

- Vaccinations by clinical commissioning groups;

- Vaccinations by ethnicity; and

- Vaccinations of residents and staff in older adult care homes.

No specific discussions with clinical commissioning groups have taken place. However, Ministers and officials meet frequently to discuss all aspects of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, including data and reporting.

COVID-19 vaccination data is being shared at both a Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) level and a lower tier local authority level. Additionally, NHS England and NHS Improvement’s weekly publication on COVID-19 can be found on the NHS England website. This publication currently includes data on:

- All National Health Service COVID-19 vaccinations administered in the reporting period;

- Vaccinations by age band, defined as 80 years old and over, 75 to 79, 70 to 74 and under 70 years old;

- Vaccinations by dose;

- Vaccinations by NHS region;

- Vaccinations by integrated care systems and sustainability and transformation partnerships;

- Vaccinations by clinical commissioning groups;

- Vaccinations by ethnicity; and

- Vaccinations of residents and staff in older adult care homes.

The Department, supported by the British Embassy to The Hague, has reached an agreement with the Dutch Government to allow the continued supply of Bedrocan oils, a form of unlicensed medicinal cannabis, against United Kingdom prescriptions for existing patients until 1 July 2021. The medicines supply chain has ensured that there continues to be good supply of licensed and unlicensed cannabis-based medicines after the transition period.

My Written Ministerial Statement of 26 January (HCWS734) provided an update on action taken by the Government on supply from the Netherlands and next steps to establish a more permanent solution.

Whittington Health NHS Trust is committed to supporting both staff and patients throughout the period of increased COVID-19 related admissions and beyond.

The Trust has invested in staff wellbeing to ensure everyone has the practical and emotional support they need to do their jobs. This includes support for staff to get to work with free car parking and access to free food and drink during the pandemic, creating safe spaces for staff to rest, recuperate and switch off from work and support to work flexibly

In addition, the Trust’s staff have a range of services that are available, including a mental health hotline, practical support, financial advice and specialist bereavement and psychological support. The Trust has put a series of measures in place such as changes to the Trust’s visitors policy and to non-urgent patient transport services, to ensure that patients who require treatment will be kept safe during the period of increased COVID-19 related admissions.

The Government is committed to supporting National Health Service capacity to protect it during surges in COVID-19 cases alongside the increased pressures on the system during winter. At the end of August, this included a retrospective top up payment to the Trust of £5.3 million to offset the additional costs incurred due to the pandemic. The Trust has also received £375,000 to expand and upgrade its accident and emergency departments to reduce overcrowding and improve infection control during winter

People who live in a household with someone that is considered clinically extremely vulnerable do not have to shield themselves. Shielding advice is only for the individual considered clinically extremely vulnerable.

Current Government advice is that everyone should work from home where possible. Where this is not possible, those not considered clinically extremely vulnerable can continue to attend the workplace. All employers, including the National Health Service, are required to take steps to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace and employers should be able to explain to employees the measures they have put in place to keep them safe at work.

Under the Care Act 2014 an individual who appears to have care and support needs is entitled to ask their local authority for a needs assessment to establish whether they are eligible for care and support. If the individual’s needs meet the criteria set out in the eligibility regulations, the local authority has a duty to meet those needs, subject to a financial assessment.

The Care Act Statutory Guidance states that “the local authority should base their judgment on the assessment of the adult and a formal diagnosis of the condition should not be required.”

We have issued guidance on how to be supported by others outside your home in a way which limits the spread of COVID-19. This is available as part of the guidance at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-people-outside-of-their-home/supporting-people-outside-of-their-home

The guidance has been developed to permit support, including guiding, to be given whilst mitigating the risk of transmission as far as possible. The evidence considered by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and used to support the government response to COVID-19 is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/scientific-evidence-supporting-the-government-response-to-coronavirus-covid-19

NHS England and NHS Improvement are committed to working with regions and networks to increase access to the B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) blood test and echocardiography, to improve the early detection and optimum management of heart failure.

Heart failure is a key priority in the NHS Long Term Plan which aims to raise awareness of the symptoms of heart failure and to ensure early and rapid access to diagnostic tests and treatment. This remains a priority during the COVID-19 pandemic and NHS England and NHS Improvement have a programme of work to support this.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is the independent medical and scientific expert body which advises the Government on prioritisation for all vaccines.

The JCVI has advised that the priority for the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of mortality. The JCVI has advised that teachers will be considered for prioritisation in the second phase of the programme. Teachers and school staff aged 50 years and older, or in an at-risk group are eligible for vaccination in the first phase of the programme.

During the COVID-19 pandemic the National Health Service has continued to treat people with and without COVID-19.

The recovery of non-COVID-19 services, including cardiac services, is a continued priority for 2021/22. Local teams are working hard to restore services, including for patients with heart conditions, and to provide diagnostic tests and treatments to as many people as possible this winter.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have advised that phase one of the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be targeted at reducing mortality, as well as protecting health and social care staff and systems. As a result, vaccines have first been prioritised to care home residents and staff, followed by people aged 80 years old and above and health and social care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors.

Entitlement to free National Health Service treatment is generally based on ordinary residence in the United Kingdom. A person who can show they have taken up ordinary residence in the UK can access all NHS services immediately, including COVID-19 vaccinations in line with the guidelines on prioritisation. This will be on a free of charge basis. It is recommended those who have not done so already should apply to register with a general practitioner practice near where they now live.

All Care Quality Commission registered care homes in England are eligible for a combination of polymerase chain reaction tests (PCR) and rapid lateral flow devices (LFDs). Staff have provision for two rapid LFD and one PCR test per week. Residents have provision for one PCR test per month. In addition, all staff and residents have access to ‘rapid response’ testing if a positive case is detected in the home.

This additional funding will be used to address waiting times for mental health services, give more people the mental health support they need and invest in the National Health Service workforce. Further detail will be set out in due course.

Healthcare and adult social care services are out of scope of the services framework rules in the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020. This means there will be no disruption to the commissioning or procurement of health and care services, or supply chains.

The COVID-19 vaccination programme is based on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI is an independent expert advisory committee to the Government.

The JCVI has advised that the priority for the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of mortality. The JCVI has advised that teachers will be considered for prioritisation in the second phase of the programme. Teachers aged 50 years and older, or in an at-risk group are eligible for vaccination in the first phase of the programme.

Due to its limited use and the arrangements which have been put in place by a number of local areas, the central arrangement for providing hotel accommodation for National Health Service and care workers was stood down in October 2020. However, the position is being kept under continual review and should the need arise, the central arrangement would be resumed.

The health, safety and wellbeing of patients, communities, individuals and teams remain our absolute priority.

NHS England and NHS Improvement’s guidance ‘Visiting healthcare inpatient settings during the COVID-19 pandemic’ has consistently been that there should be reasonable adjustments to allow certain groups of people, including people with dementia, to have a family member or friend visit them if not being present would cause the patient to be distressed. This applies to all inpatient settings.

In addition, to support the provision of person-centred care for older people, including those with dementia, local National Health Service trusts provide hospital passport templates that can be completed before attending hospital as an inpatient or outpatient. The hospital passport outlines, from the patient's perspective, what they would like staff to know about them and their care to help personalise their admission.

The level of provision of local health services available to patients, including fertility treatment, is, and has been since the 1990s, a matter for local healthcare commissioners. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have a statutory responsibility to commission healthcare services including fertility services that meet the needs of their whole population. In respect of National Health Service fertility services, the Government have been consistently clear that we expect CCGs to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, so that there is equal access across England.

The Government expects CCGs to give fair consideration to all patients who have had fertility treatment delayed so that no one misses out on treatment due to COVID-19.

Dental practices are particularly impacted by the risks associated with aerosol generating procedures and therefore National Health Service dental practices are required to adhere to infection prevention and control guidance published by Public Health England (PHE). This is impacting the numbers of patients NHS dental practices are able to safely see. As a result, practices have been asked to prioritise urgent care, care for vulnerable groups and delayed planned treatment.

From January 2021, those people protected under the Withdrawal Agreement will continue to be entitled to a United Kingdom issued European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). For those not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, their EHIC may not be valid from January 2021.

For people not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, the future of reciprocal healthcare arrangements between the UK and European Union are subject to negotiations.

The UK has set out that it is ready to work to establish practical, reciprocal healthcare provisions with the EU for the future. The UK is open to arrangements that provide healthcare cover for tourists, short-term business visitors and service providers. These arrangements could benefit UK nationals and EU citizens travelling or moving between the UK.

The Department will be continuing to monitor the impact of future reciprocal healthcare arrangements including on the groups which may be most affected.

For each change in local restrictions, formal assessments are made through a Public Sector Equality Duty analysis, under section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010, and a National Health Service Act Duty and Family Test Assessment under the National Health Service Act 2006. These assessments respectively consider the potential equalities impacts on groups with protected characteristics as a result of restrictions and how proposed measures and changes in regulations impact on families. Both of these assessments include consideration of the needs and rights of babies and young children.

The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence. Departments are seeing a significant increase in correspondence during the pandemic but are required to provide a substantial response to all correspondence from Parliamentarians in 20 days. Government departments are not required to keep a record of the average response time but the Department has responded to 21.6% of correspondence from hon. Members in 18 days since 1 April 2020.

All recommendations of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review are being considered carefully.

While this report was published on 8 July, it took over two years to compile and we therefore consider it vitally important that each recommendation, including recommendation nine and plans for further patient engagement are given full consideration.

From 14 September, social gatherings, both indoors and outdoors, must be limited to six people. There are several exemptions including where a household or support bubble is larger than six and for support groups which meet qualifying conditions.

The majority but not all support groups are not subject to the six person social gathering limit if they are in COVID-secure settings or public outdoor spaces, and are organised by a business, a charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institution or a public body to provide mutual aid, therapy or any other form of support to its members or those who attend its meetings. This includes, but is not limited to, providing support:

- to victims of crime (including domestic abuse);

- to those with, or recovering from, addictions (including alcohol, narcotics or other substance addictions) or addictive patterns of behaviour;

- to new and expectant parents;

- to those with, or caring for persons with, any long-term illness, disability or terminal condition or who are vulnerable;

- to those facing issues related to their sexuality or identity including those living as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender; and

- to those who have suffered bereavement.

The level of provision of local health services available to patients, including fertility treatment, is a matter for local healthcare commissioners. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have a statutory responsibility to commission healthcare services including fertility services that meet the needs of their whole population. In respect of increasing National Health Service fertility services, the Government has been consistently clear that we expect CCGs to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, so that there is equal access across England.

Ministers have written to CCGs about variations in access to fertility services twice in the last 18 months, most recently in December 2019.

Discussions are continuing with NHS England about how access to fertility services can best be addressed.

We have provided a range of ways for people to be tested. For those without access to a car this has included satellite deliveries to centres at places like hospitals that have a particularly urgent or significant need, delivering test kits to people’s homes and offering walk-up appointments at mobile testing units. As our capacity has increased, we are able to expand the range of options for people. We have also made changes to home testing to allow people to drop their tests at Royal Mail priority post boxes.

Local testing centres are being set up across the country. We have increased the number of local/walk-in test sites to over 100 with more opening each week. We are planning to open additional sites to bring the total number of testing sites to 500 by the end of October.

Local authorities in England are mandated to provide comprehensive open access sexual health services including access to the full range of contraception and sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment. The Government provides funding to local authorities for their public health responsibilities, including sexual health services, through the public health grant. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, including the need for sexual health services taking account of their statutory duties. The number of consultations at sexual health services increased by 7% between 2018 and 2019 (from 3,613,447 to 3,852,121).

Work on the development of a new national sexual and reproductive health strategy is underway with the Department working with Public Health England, NHS England and NHS Improvement, local government and other partners. Details of the strategy’s scope and objectives will be announced in due course.

Public Health England and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with regional commissioners to ensure routine childhood immunisations continue to be delivered in primary care settings.

Programmes delivered through schools have been rescheduled as schools re-open. School-age vaccination programmes are delivered at different times by different providers throughout the academic year, and so local variation will be seen in restoration. Some of the outstanding vaccinations have already been delivered before the beginning of this academic year (2020/21), and the remainder are expected to be completed by the end of the academic year.

The Government’s COVID-19 Action Plan has stated that everyone should ensure that they and their family’s vaccinations are up-to-date. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan/coronavirus-action-plan-a-guide-to-what-you-can-expect-across-the-uk

Public Health England (PHE) monitors vaccine trends and coverage levels and acts jointly with the NHS England and NHS Improvement to increase uptake when it is required for public health reasons. Vaccination uptake data can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#cover-of-vaccination-evaluated-rapidly-programme

The time to recovery for somebody with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 depends on the severity of illness and varies from relatively quickly through to extremely prolonged. Typically, time to recovery is within 10-14 days for mild and moderate cases. If a person feels unwell for longer than this, they should contact their general practitioner.

Research into the long-term health symptoms and impacts of COVID-19 is ongoing and on 4 July, the Government announced a research study into the long-term health impacts of COVID-19, which is being led by UK Research and Innovation and the National Institute for Health Research. However, it is clear that for some of those who have survived, the virus and the treatment they have received to combat it will have a lasting impact on their health.

There is broad consensus that there is the potential for an increase in demand for mental health services as a result of COVID-19 and we are working with the National Health Service, Public Health England and others to gather evidence and assess the potential longer-term impacts and plan for how to support mental health and wellbeing throughout the ‘recovery’ phase.

Our NHS Long Term Plan commitment to investing at least £2.3 billion of extra funding a year to mental health services by 2023-24 remains. We have provided £5 million of additional funding for mental health charities to support adults and children struggling with their mental wellbeing during this time.

NHS England and NHS Improvement published guidance for general practitioners on the after-care needs of in-patients recovering from COVID-19 on 25 June 2020 at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/06/C0388-after-care-needs-of-inpatients-recovering-from-covid-19-5-june-2020-1.pdf

On 5 July the new ‘Your COVID Recovery’ service was announced. This forms part of National Health Service plans to expand access to COVID-19 rehabilitation treatments for those who have survived the virus but still have problems with breathing, mental health problems or other complications.

By guaranteeing financial support and temporarily reducing the current Quality Outcome Framework requirements, NHS England and NHS Improvement are also releasing capacity in general practice to focus on COVID-19 recovery, and so supporting those patients most in need of long-term condition management support.

We recognise the particular challenges autistic people and their families are facing at this time, due to the impact of social distancing measures and disruption to their usual activities.

Throughout this pandemic it has been our priority to protect care home staff and residents. All our guidance is designed with care users in mind, to ensure that individuals are treated with dignity and respect and that their particular needs are addressed.

On 19 June, we published our updated guidance for care homes, which includes information on testing for residents and staff, and isolation procedures. On 22 July 2020 the Government published updated guidance on visiting arrangements for care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This guidance is applicable to all nursing and care homes and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visiting-care-homes-during-coronavirus.

We keep our policies under continuous review based on the emerging international and domestic evidence.

The National Health Service is making arrangements to ensure that women are supported and cared for safely through pregnancy, birth and the period afterwards during this pandemic.

Decisions on partners attending scans and appointments is subject to local discretion by trusts and other NHS bodies. Local maternity teams will be able to advise women on their policy on partners attending antenatal appointments including scans.

The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme will resume in September when all children will return to school. As before, all children in Key Stage 1 in state-funded primary schools will receive a free piece of fruit or vegetable every school day.

Under the NHS Long Term Plan, we are committed to increasing access and improving experience of care for 18-25 year olds. All sustainability and transformation partnerships have been asked to cross-validate data on baseline access for 18-25 year olds from the mental health services and Improving Access to Psychological Therapies datasets, against locally held data sources.

The validation and analysis is ongoing and a baseline access rate has not yet been published.

Public Health England (PHE) has published a study on the early impact of COVID-19 on routine childhood vaccinations in England, which suggests that there has not been a significant impact on the number of primary immunisation doses administered compared to the previous year. Whilst there is some indication of a decrease in the first dose of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccination, this appears to be recovering. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.19.2000848

School immunisation programmes were paused as a result of school closures and PHE and NHS England and NHS Improvement are now working with regional commissioners to restore school-age vaccination programmes as quickly as possible.

The Government’s Coronavirus Action Plan stated that everyone should ensure that they and their family’s vaccinations were up-to-date. The Action Plan is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan/coronavirus-action-plan-a-guide-to-what-you-can-expect-across-the-uk

Public Health England and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with regional commissioners to ensure routine childhood immunisations continued to be delivered in primary care settings during the COVID-19 outbreak. Programmes delivered through schools were paused as a result of school closures, but plans are in operation for their recovery, for example by vaccinating during the school holidays, to ensure that all children who missed a routine immunisation are caught up as quickly as possible.

The fourth progress report of the cross-Government suicide prevention strategy recognises autistic people as a high-risk group, and the NHS Long Term Plan reaffirms the National Health Service’s commitment to make suicide prevention a priority over the next decade. This Plan will see investment in all areas of the country by 2023/24 to support local suicide prevention plans and establish suicide bereavement support services.

We are also revisiting the work to refresh the autism strategy, working closely with the Department for Education and other Government departments. As part of this work and as a key priority, we will consider what further action can be taken to support autistic children and young people to maintain good mental health and to prevent instances of suicide.

The General Dental Council (GDC) is the body responsible for the regulation of dentists and dental care practitioners in the United Kingdom and is independent of Government.

The GDC’s Council sets the organisation’s strategy and monitors its effectiveness and efficiency on an ongoing basis. The GDC published its Annual Report and Accounts for 2019 on 18 June 2020. Alongside the retrospective view of the GDC’s performance, in light of the impact of COVID-19, updated information was provided where appropriate.

The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) carries out annual reviews of all the healthcare statutory regulators. The PSA will shortly be undertaking the next review of the GDC for the period 2019-20 with a view to publishing its report later this year. The review will take account of the GDC’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Health visitors have continued to partially deliver the healthy child programme offer throughout the pandemic, providing continued support to families with known vulnerabilities and facilitate the identification of families with new or previously unidentified vulnerabilities during lockdown. Contacts with families have been virtual unless there was a compelling clinical or safeguarding need, ensuring children remain safe and protected.

National data is not yet available to provide insight into the reach of health visiting services during lockdown.

NHS England and NHS Improvement published the restoration framework for community health services for children and young people on 3 June 2020. The framework recommends that community health services move to restore health visiting services, following their prioritisation during the containment phase of the pandemic. The guidance recommends continuation of essential services, including antenatal, new birth and six to eight-week contacts, and the need for face to face support for vulnerable families.

The Restoration framework for community health services – children and young people can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/covid-19-prioritisation-within-community-health-services-with-annex_19-march-2020/

Health visitors have continued to partially deliver the healthy child programme offer throughout the pandemic, providing continued support to families with known vulnerabilities and facilitate the identification of families with new or previously unidentified vulnerabilities during lockdown. Contacts with families have been virtual unless there was a compelling clinical or safeguarding need, ensuring children remain safe and protected.

National data is not yet available to provide insight into the reach of health visiting services during lockdown.

NHS England and NHS Improvement published the restoration framework for community health services for children and young people on 3 June 2020. The framework recommends that community health services move to restore health visiting services, following their prioritisation during the containment phase of the pandemic. The guidance recommends continuation of essential services, including antenatal, new birth and six to eight-week contacts, and the need for face to face support for vulnerable families.

The Restoration framework for community health services – children and young people can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/covid-19-prioritisation-within-community-health-services-with-annex_19-march-2020/

The time to recovery for somebody with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 depends on the severity of illness and varies from relatively quickly through to extremely prolonged. Typically, time to recovery is within 10-14 days for mild and moderate cases.

It is clear that for some of those who have recovered from the initial virus, may experience lasting impacts on their health. On 4 July the Government announced a research study into the long-term health impacts of COVID-19, which is being led by UK Research and Innovation and the National Institute for Health Research.

In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement announced the launch of an online, on-demand, rehabilitation service called ‘My COVID Recovery’. The service forms part of National Health Service plans to expand access to COVID-19 rehabilitation treatments for those who have survived the virus but still have problems with breathing, mental health problems or other complications.

The Government has taken unprecedented action to support the health and care system to respond to COVID-19 and help to ensure that services were not overwhelmed.

The Government will continue to support health and care services and is working with the National Health Service, Public Health England, local government and other key stakeholders on planning, to take account of the risk this winter of seasonal influenza cocirculating with COVID-19.

The flu vaccination programme will be a critical part of preparing the United Kingdom for winter, and to manage pressures on the NHS should we have co-circulation of seasonal flu and COVID-19 this winter.

On 14 May we published the Annual Flu letter 2020/21, available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/885281/The_national_flu_immunisation_programme_2020_to_2021.pdf

This indicated the main groups who are most at risk of flu and its complications, who are eligible for free flu vaccination so they are protected over the winter months.

We are planning for the flu season well in advance and further details will be published soon.

From Monday 15 June passengers must wear a face covering when travelling on public transport in England by bus, coach, tram, ferry, hovercraft, cable car, aircraft and domestic and international train.

Guidance remains to work from home if you can and avoid public transport where possible, but face coverings can help people protect one another in environments when social distancing is more difficult.

The Government has considered the potential merits of making face coverings mandatory in public places, such as shops. However, as the Secretary of State for Transport set out last week, the difference is that in a shop you may pass somebody but for a short period of time. However, on public transport you could be next to somebody for a long period of time. The guidance for shops is to not let the shop become overcrowded and to put measures in place to help maintain social distancing, but we do not have the same environment for public transport. Our guidance remains that we advise people to wear face coverings in enclosed spaces where social distancing is not possible, this could include indoor crowded areas such as some shops.

With the onset of COVID-19 some public health nurses were redeployed into hospitals where their expertise was most needed to care for acutely ill patients. It is important that these nurses return to help mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic on families with young children.

The ‘Restoration of community health services for children and young people: second phase of NHS response’ is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/covid-19-prioritisation-within-community-health-services-with-annex_19-march-2020/

Public Health England will also work with local authority commissioners and service providers to support the return of health visiting teams.

Mental health services remain open and are working to support people with mental health problems through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The Government and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working closely with mental health trusts to ensure those who need them continue to have access to mental health services, including 18-25 year olds. For those with severe needs or in crisis, NHS England has instructed all National Health Service mental health trusts to establish 24 hours a day, seven days a week mental health crisis lines, clearly accessible from trust websites as an urgent priority. Mental health providers are using digital and virtual channels such as helplines and video consultations, to keep delivering support and manage the impact of self-isolation on staff and patients. In addition, we have published official guidance on mental health and wellbeing on GOV.UK and promoting this through Every Mind Matters.

The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement are compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation, and always undertake an appropriate Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for all new products, systems and processing activities.

The DPIA would identify the requirement for any data processing or data sharing agreement, and they would be put in place accordingly.

Our guidance is developed and updated in line with the latest scientific advice, and in conjunction with the care sector and public health experts to ensure that residents receive the right care and support for their individual needs.

The Department, National Health Service, Public Health England, and the Care Quality Commission have published guidance on the care of residents in care homes, including those with dementia. This covers information on visiting care home residents.