Charlotte Cane

Following confirmation of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Germany on the 10 January 2025, the Government took decisive action to protect the UK by suspending the commercial import of susceptible animals from Germany and restricting personal imports of animal products from across the EU.

The UK has contingency plans in place to manage the risk of this disease as set out in the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England. This includes a comprehensive veterinary surveillance system to detect new and emerging disease threats. All exotic disease control and prevention measures are kept under regular review as part of the Government’s work to monitor and manage the risks of exotic disease.

Livestock keepers are reminded of the importance of maintaining strict on-farm biosecurity and reporting of all suspicions of notifiable disease promptly.

Cleaning up England’s rivers, lakes and seas is a priority for the Government. The Government has taken immediate and substantial action to address the performance of water companies who are not delivering for the environment or their customers.

For example, we are placing water companies under special measures through the Water (Special Measures) Bill. This includes giving Ofwat the power to ban bonuses for executives when companies fail to meet standards on environmental performance, financial resilience, customer outcomes or criminal liability, and enabling severe and automatic fines for wrongdoing. The Bill will also introduce new, statutory reporting requirements for emergency overflows and pollution incidents.

In addition, for Price Review 2024, which runs from 2025 – 2030, water companies will be delivering record levels of investment: £104 billion over the next five years. This gives the sector the opportunity for transformation, delivering better outcomes for customers and the environment

In October 2024, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Welsh Government, also launched an Independent Commission on the water sector regulatory system. This is a wide-ranging review to fundamentally transform how our water system works and clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.

We are investing a record £2.65 billion over two years in building, maintaining and repairing our flood and coastal defences, protecting 66,500 properties and funding around 1,000 projects. This includes £108 million we are shifting towards maintenance to shore up creaking defences.

Farmers and rural communities across the country will see their resilience to flooding improved thanks to the £50 million funding for Internal Drainage Boards. In addition, £57 million has been paid out to support 12,700 farm businesses through the Farming Recovery Fund.

Defra’s Environmental Land Management schemes provide payments for managing land and water in a way that reduces flood risk. The Sustainable Farming Incentive provides payments for several actions to improve soil health, including herbal leys and multi-species cover crops. Healthy soils have improved resilience to extreme weather and will recover faster from flood events. Sustainable Farming Incentive actions can also be used to slow down the flow of water within catchments, helping to mitigate wider catchment flood risk. We have also recently announced a significant expansion of the flood and drought resilience offer within Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier with new actions to store water, which can be used to protect agricultural land from flooding.

Tree planting along rivers can help slow water flow and temporarily store water as part of natural flood management. The England Woodland Creation Offer provides financial support for tree planting and incentivises woodland creation that reduces flood risk through supplementary payments.

In addition, the floods investment programme delivers a range of schemes, including natural flood management. The Government inherited an outdated funding formula for allocating money to proposed flood defences. Established in 2011, the existing formula slows down the delivery of new flood schemes through a complex application process, and neglects more innovative approaches to flood management such as natural flood management. A consultation will be launched in the coming months which will include a review of the existing formula.

Protecting communities around the country from flooding and coastal erosion is one of the new Secretary of State’s five core priorities.

This Government will improve resilience and preparation across central government, local authorities, local communities and emergency services to better protect communities across the UK. We will launch a new Flood Resilience Taskforce to turbocharge the delivery of new flood defences, drainage systems and natural flood management schemes.

In the short-term, the Environment Agency are working hard to sustain the current standard of service in the Fenland area. £172m in capital investment has been committed between 2021/22 - 2026/27 across the area, with £23.93m of this in the East Cambridgeshire area.

In parallel, work is progressing to develop a long-term adaptive plan for flood infrastructure in the Fens. The 'Fens 2100+’ is a £9.8m programme to develop a Fens-wide flood resilience investment strategy that achieves long-term value for money and generates regional and national benefits. It’s being developed with, and for, Flood Risk Management Authorities so they can plan for the next 20-25 years of flood risk management. This investment strategy will be completed in 2025.

Further information can be found here: Fens2100+ - Environment Agency - Citizen Space (environment-agency.gov.uk).

The department requires its operators to plan services and rail timetables that are designed to meet expected passenger demand. These should be resilient and provide value for money for the taxpayer. Timetables are kept under review and, where appropriate, adjusted to reflect fluctuations in demand.

Individual infrastructure enhancement schemes that may increase capacity will be assessed on their alignment with Government Missions and Transport Priorities, the strength of their business case, and their affordability.

Great British Railways will provide the opportunity to take joined up, whole system decisions that make the best use of the network for passengers and taxpayers.

On 1 January, the government introduced a £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London until 31 December 2025. The government is investing over £150 million to deliver the £3 cap, which replaced the £2 cap, and will ensure millions of people, including vulnerable people, can continue to access affordable bus fares and better opportunities all over the country.

If the government had not taken action, the bus fare cap would have ended and fares would have jumped back up to their previous levels on 1 January which could have meant fares soaring above £10 on the most expensive routes.

Whilst it is our ambition through public ownership to deliver a more affordable railway, any long-term changes or concessions made to rail fares policy require balancing against the potential impacts on passengers, taxpayers and the railway. Most regulated rail fares will increase by 4.6 per cent on 2 March 2025. This will be the lowest absolute increase in three years and will support the Government’s long-term plans to achieve financial sustainability of the railway.

Ministers have been clear that rail services have been failing passengers. Cancellations are at a ten-year high and punctuality is inconsistent across the network. We need to improve services for passengers and deliver better value for money for the taxpayer.

Publicly-owned Great British Railways will end years of fragmentation – bringing together track and train to deliver for passengers with more reliable, better-quality services and simpler ticketing and fares. Shadow Great British Railways (SGBR) will start to provide the opportunity to take joined up, whole system decisions that improve performance for the benefit of passengers and taxpayers.

Rail has an important role in connecting rural communities as part of the wider transport system. The department requires its train operators to plan services and rail timetables that are designed to meet expected passenger demand. These should be resilient and provide value for money for the taxpayer. These timetables are kept under review and, where appropriate, adjusted to reflect fluctuations in demand.

Winter Fuel Payments continue to be paid to pensioner households with someone receiving Pension Credit or certain other income-related benefits. They continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone aged over 80.

The Government also offers an array of support with energy costs for low-income groups in the winter months. This includes direct financial help to low-income pensioners through Pension Credit, the Warm Home Discount, and (in England & Wales) Cold Weather Payments.

The Warm Home Discount scheme provides eligible low-income households across Great Britain with a £150 rebate on their winter energy bill. This winter, we expect over one million pensioners to benefit under the scheme.

The Government and energy industry have also worked together to deliver a £500 million Winter Support Commitment for customers, which will help customers most in need by providing credit on bills, enhanced debt write-off schemes, and increased funding for charity partners to target hard to reach customers.

Low-income pensioners and others struggling with the cost of living should contact their local council to see what further support may be available to them, as they may be able to receive support from Council Tax Reduction, or through energy support programmes (such as the Homes Upgrade Grant and Energy Company Obligation) – or through the Household Support Fund (a scheme providing discretionary support to those most in need towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water).

This support is all underpinned by this Government’s commitment to the Triple Lock which will see a 4.1% increase to the basic State Pension and the new State Pension in April 2025. According to the latest OBR projections, the full yearly rate of the new State Pension is forecast to increase by around £1,900 over the course of this parliament whilst the full yearly amount of the basic State Pension is forecast to increase by around £1,500.

Customers are currently able to register for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) by telephone or in writing. Those who are eligible are then required to complete a health information questionnaire which is used to support the health assessment, undertaken by our contracted Health Professionals.

The health information form (PIP2) is generally completed and returned by post, but a proportion of customers are able to submit their information online.

We understand that the PIP application process can be challenging for some, in part due to the quantity of information that customers need to provide, but the process has been developed and improved over a number of years to be as straightforward and inclusive as possible.

For those who may find it difficult to complete the form we signpost to organisations that can help, and we can also provide more time for customers to complete and return their form if this is requested.

DWP offer bespoke services for those who find it difficult to navigate the process, for example those who are vision or hearing impaired.

To prepare customers for what they can expect when they claim PIP we also introduced a series of videos on YouTube (links below). These videos help to explain the different parts of the process including the application and the assessment.

PIP video 1 - An overview. PIP video 1 - An overview

PIP video 2 - How you can claim PIP PIP video 2 - How you can claim PIP

PIP video 3 - What you can expect at a PIP assessment PIP video 3 - What you can expect at a PIP assessment

Over the longer-term, the Health Transformation Programme is modernising the entire PIP service to improve customer experience and efficiency, building trust in our services and decisions. This year, we are expanding the availability of the digital health information gather, so that this option is available to everyone who calls to begin their claim. Once fully developed, the new service will include an option to apply and track the application wholly online.

In England, the Household Support Fund (HSF) is a scheme providing discretionary support towards the cost of essentials, such as food and energy to those most in need, including disabled people. The current HSF is running from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025. Funding of £742 million will be provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026, plus funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual.

This winter, we are continuing to deliver the £150 Warm Home Discount to eligible low-income households and we expect it again to support well over three million households.

The extra costs disability benefits are a contribution to meeting the extra costs that arise from a disability or long-term health condition. The benefits can be used by the recipient according to their own needs and priorities. These benefits were not subject to the benefits freeze, were most recently uprated by 6.7 per cent from 8 April 2024 and, subject to Parliamentary approval, are due to be uprated by 1.7% from April this year. They are also tax-free and worth up to £184.30 a week, or over £9,580 a year.

The extra costs disability benefits can be paid in addition to other financial support that those with a health condition or disability may be eligible for, such as Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit and can attract additional support such as premiums and additional amounts paid within the income-related benefits, access to Carer’s Allowance, the Motability scheme and the Blue Badge scheme.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child. The Child Poverty Taskforce is exploring how we can harness all available levers to reduce child poverty, including social security reforms, before publishing a strategy.

People with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they need, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.

Nationally, we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England to reduce delays and provide faster treatment. We will also provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school and roll out Young Futures hubs in every community.

The Government recognises that pharmacies are an integral part of the fabric of our communities, as an easily accessible front door to the National Health Service, staffed by highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals.

The Government is committed to expanding the role of pharmacies and better utilising the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. That includes making prescribing part of the services delivered by community pharmacists. To support these private contractors, NHS England is providing fully funded national training opportunities to help them deliver quality NHS services.

We have now recommenced our consultation with Community Pharmacy England regarding funding arrangements for 2024/25 and 2025/26.

We have made necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. Resource spending for the Department will be £22.6 billion more in 2025/26 than in 2023/24, as part of the Spending Review settlement. The employers’ National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025.

We recently announced a proposed funding uplift for general practices (GPs) for 2025/26 of £889 million, representing a 7.2% cash growth, estimated at approximately 4.8% in real terms growth. This is the largest uplift to GP funding since the beginning of the five-year framework, and means that we are reversing the recent trend, with a rising share of total National Health Service resources going to GPs. We are currently consulting the profession on corresponding reforms to the GP Contract that would improve access, increase continuity of care, enhance GP recruitment, and reduce bureaucracy.

Pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system. We are committed to expanding the role of pharmacies and to better using the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. That includes making prescribing part of the services delivered by community pharmacists as part of the shift from hospital to community and from treatment to prevention.

Now that the budget for Government has been set, we will shortly be resuming our consultation with Community Pharmacy England regarding the funding arrangements for community pharmacy.

We know that patients are waiting too long for cancer treatment, and we will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer on time or earlier, treating it faster, and we will improve patients’ experience across the system.

As we set out in our new plan for reforming elective care, we are committed to improving performance on cancer waiting times. Further details will be set out in a dedicated national cancer plan and the NHS’s annual operational planning guidance.