Cherilyn Mackrory

Through initiatives like the Rose Review, the Investing in Women Code, the Women in Innovation Awards and the Women in Finance Charter, and through our manifesto commitments on flexible working and carer’s leave, we are committed to supporting and promoting the role of women in the economic recovery.

The Government is committed to finding efficient and effective ways of delivering public services. The Government announced steps to ensure efficient use of taxpayers’ money in the 2020 Spending Review, including strengthening the government’s approach to planning and delivery using the Public Value Framework, changing the way the government invests in places to level up economic opportunity and improving the management of the government’s capital portfolio.

In addition, the 2016 Local Government Finance Settlement offered Local Authorities the certainty of a four-year budget in return for publishing efficiency plans. This offer was overwhelmingly accepted by Councils, 97% of whom took up the offer in return for publishing efficiency plans.

The Energy Prices Act gained Royal Assent on 25 October 2022. The Department has laid a number of statutory instruments to ensure the effective implementation of the energy support schemes brought forward by the Act.

The acceleration in renewable deployment will be supported by the UK's main renewable energy scheme, Contracts for Difference. The latest round delivered almost 11GW of new renewable projects, almost double achieved in the previous round. Future CfD rounds will be run annually to drive further deployment.

The Government is finalising the details for the Energy Bills Support Scheme for park home owners, which will be set up for applications this winter.

The Government supports the development of geothermal projects provided it can be done at an acceptable cost to consumers. The most promising use of geothermal energy in the UK is for heat applications such as in district heating network schemes. The Government is supporting the development of low carbon heat networks and thereby building its capability to harness heat from sources such as geothermal energy. Electricity generated from geothermal heat is able to bid into the Contracts for Difference scheme.

A draft timeline for Allocation 5 is available on the Contracts for Difference microsite.^[1]The Government will publish details of auction parameters, including the final budget, ahead of the round opening in March 2023.

^[1] https://www.cfdallocationround.uk/publications/draft-allocation-round-5-timeline

The Government is currently considering auction parameters for all technologies for Allocation Round 5 of the Contracts for Difference scheme, including any for geothermal, taking into account evidence of the pipeline of available projects. The Government will publish details of these parameters ahead of the round opening in March 2023.

Decisions on student support are taken on an annual basis. The department recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that have impacted students. Many higer education (HE) providers have hardship funds that students can apply to for assistance. There is £261 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support disadvantaged students who need additional help. The department has worked with the Office for Students to ensure universities support students in hardship, using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.

In addition, all households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount. The Energy Prices Bill introduced on 12th October 2022 includes the provision to require landlords to pass benefits they receive from energy price support, as appropriate, onto end users. Further details of the requirements under this legislation will be set out in regulations.

The department has continued to increase living costs support with a 2.3% increase for maximum loans and grants for living and other costs for the 2022/23 academic year. Students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the 2022/23 tax year has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, can apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.

In addition, maximum tuition fees, and the subsidised loans available to pay them, remain at £9,250 for the 2022/23 academic year in respect of standard full-time courses.

The department is also freezing maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years. As well as reducing debt levels for students, the continued fee freeze will help to ensure that the HE system remains sustainable, while also promoting greater efficiency at providers.

The department is reviewing options for uprating maximum loans and grants for the 2023/24 academic year, and an announcement will follow in the autumn. We need to ensure the HE student finance system remains financially sustainable, and the costs of HE are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university. At a time of tight fiscal restrictions we will need to consider spending on student finance alongside other priorities.

Higher education (HE) providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and have a responsibility to ensure students are well supported during their studies, so they can fully participate in their university experience and achieve outcomes to progress to quality employment. HE providers are not only experts in their student population, but are also best placed to identify the needs of their students, including students undertaking placements as part of their studies.

The mental health and wellbeing of young people is a priority for the government. We continue to work closely with the higher education (HE) sector to promote and fund effective practice. Through strategic guidance to the Office for Students (OfS), we asked that it distributes £15 million of funding in FY the 2022/23 financial year to give additional support for transitions from school/college to university, and through targeting funding to support partnership working with NHS services to provide pathways of care for students. The OfS funded Student Space, which provides a dedicated online platform for students providing vital mental health and wellbeing, and resources and is leading work to establish and share ‘what works’ across the sector.

The University Mental Health Charter, led by Student Minds and backed by the government, brings together universities to drive up standards of practice in mental health provision across the HE sector. The Charter identifies support for students on placements as a principle of good practice, encouraging HE providers to ensure targeted support for students on placement and on professional programmes, who may require more in-depth preparation and specific interventions. I have made clear my ambition for all HE providers to sign up to the Charter programme within 5 years.

Preventing suicide and self-harm in our student population continues to be a key concern, including through supporting the suicide safer universities framework led by Universities UK (UUK) and Papyrus. UUK have worked with stakeholders to develop a checklist which ensures better coordination of support between HE providers and placement providers, including mental health quality assurance of placements. This is due to be published in late July.

The OfS will allocate up to £3 million of funding towards developing stronger partnership working with NHS services. Alongside my hon Friend, the member for Chichester, I chaired a summit in June to launch this work and ensure that the department and the Department of Health and Social Care work together to achieve this common goal.

A second consultation on introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was held last year. Government is analysing the responses to that consultation, with a view to publishing a government response soon.

A secure supply of critical minerals is vital to achieving our net zero ambitions. We work with our international partners to strengthen all critical supply chains as we seek to improve our national security and economic resilience. We have committed to publishing a Critical Minerals Strategy in 2022, which will set out how we can work internationally to secure the sustainability of Britain’s supply. In advance of that strategy, we are engaging with our international partners, and in multilateral fora, to build resilient and sustainable critical mineral supply chains.

There is a growing interest in critical mineral projects across the United Kingdom, and the Department continues to support such investment opportunities. Most critical mineral projects in the United Kingdom are operated by companies that are registered here.

HM Government is working to support and enable more British investment in extraction, processing and refining. We work with our international partners to strengthen critical supply chains too, as we seek to improve our national security and economic resilience.

We have committed to publishing a Critical Minerals Strategy in 2022, which will set out how we will establish an enabling environment for growing the sector domestically, and how we can work internationally to secure the sustainability of Britain’s supply.

There is a growing interest in critical mineral projects across the United Kingdom, and the Department continues to support such investment opportunities. Most critical mineral projects in the United Kingdom are operated by companies that are registered here.

HM Government is working to support and enable more British investment in extraction, processing and refining. We work with our international partners to strengthen critical supply chains too, as we seek to improve our national security and economic resilience.

We have committed to publishing a Critical Minerals Strategy in 2022, which will set out how we will establish an enabling environment for growing the sector domestically, and how we can work internationally to secure the sustainability of Britain’s supply.

Following a number of serious accidents at the A3075 Cubert Crossroads junction, Cornwall Council is seeking funding to improve it. In August 2020, Cornwall Council submitted an Expression of Interest for the scheme through the Department’s Local Pinch Point Fund. The Fund has been superseded by the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund (LUF) so I would encourage Cornwall to consider submitting a bid for the second round of LUF later this year. In addition, we are providing Cornwall Council with £32.46 million in Highways Maintenance funding in each of the next three years. This is an un-ringfenced grant which may be used for local road improvements.

The Child Maintenance Group has the following powers which can be applied immediately if payment compliance cannot be re-established and are subject to fixed charges:

• deduction of earnings order. £50.00 charge
• deduction from earnings request. £50.00 charge

If the paying parent is self-employed or not employed, we can apply:

• regular deduction order. £50.00 charge.
• lump sum deduction order. £200.00 charge

If a bank account is not identified or there are no or insufficient funds available to permit any deduction order, the case will be referred for consideration and instigation of Legal Enforcement action to secure what is owed, and always to strive for long term payment compliance. The following Enforcement powers available are:

• lump sum deduction order
• regular deduction order
• freezing order
• set aside disposition order
• liability order £300 charge
• registering liability order at county court (England and Wales)
• registering liability with the Register of Judgements, Orders and Fines
• registering liability with the Enforcement of Judgments Office (Northern Ireland)
• charging order (England and Wales)
• order for sale
• enforcement agent action (England and Wales)
• third party debt order (England and Wales)

• disqualification from holding or obtaining a driving license
• commitment to prison
• disqualification from holding or obtaining a passport (England and Wales only)

Throughout the Enforcement process, the case will continuously be reviewed to determine whether previously unsuccessful action may now be successful.

CMG regularly reviews Enforcement procedures and policies to continuously improve efficiency and effectiveness. Legislation and policy are similarly reviewed with policy colleagues to consider whether other actions should be introduced. In December 2018 new legislation was introduced in England, Scotland and Wales to request a non-compliant paying parent is disqualified from holding or obtaining a UK passport. The Curfew sanction will be introduced in December 2022 to be available for implementation in early 2023.

We have undertaken a range of actions to raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up across the whole of the country. On 21 March I wrote to the editors of all regional newspapers across England, Scotland and Wales calling on readers to check if they could be eligible and make a claim.

On 3 April DWP launched a comprehensive Pension Credit take-up campaign. We have been promoting Pension Credit in a variety of ways – including print advertising and promotion in the national press, across social media, via internet search engines and on screens in Post Offices and GP surgeries across Great Britain. I also wrote to all MPs, urging them to support the campaign at a constituency level as MPs are well placed to promote Pension Credit locally. Our digital toolkit has been updated with information and resources, as well as leaflets and posters which advice organisations, charities and other stakeholders working across local communities can use to help promote Pension Credit.

Most recently, on 15 June DWP held another Pension Credit day of action with broadcasters, regional and national newspapers and other partners encouraged to reach out to pensioners, as well their family and friends, through their channels.

As of the 15th March 2022, over 152,000 Kickstart jobs have been started by young people. The last date a young person can start a Kickstart job is 31^st March 2022.

We have previously published the number of jobs approved and advertised as of 31^st January, here. At that point, over 235,000 jobs had been advertised and over 305,000 had been approved. Kickstart has now closed to employer applications and as of March, all approved jobs proceeding to the advertisement stage, have been advertised. As such, these totals will not increase but may decline as a result of vacancies being withdrawn or removed by the employer.

Below are tables listing the number of Kickstart jobs which have been made available and started by young people to date by geographical area of Great Britain and work sector. The figures used are correct as of the 15^th March 2022 and these figures have been rounded according to departmental standards.

Jobs made available (advertised) and job starts quoted here include some unfunded Kickstart jobs. Also included in the Great Britain total are a small number of jobs made available (less than 100 in total) that have an unrecorded job location.

The number of approved jobs is defined as the number of jobs associated with approved applications recorded on the Kickstart application system on the date above. This total excludes approved jobs that have been withdrawn from the Kickstart Scheme by agreement with employers and gateways. This is generally because, over time, some previously approved jobs were removed where the employer chose not to follow up the application.

Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly.

The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.

Table 1: Number of Kickstart total available jobs and job starts, Great Britain, by nation and region (figures rounded to nearest 1000*)

Table 2: Number of Kickstart total available jobs and job starts, Great Britain, by Sector (figures rounded to the nearest 10*)

* Due to rounding, sum of figures may not match declared total

As of the 26^th October, almost 94,000 young people have started a Kickstart job.

With the current pace of starts, we are confident that in early November over 100,000 young people will have started in a Kickstart job. This is an amazing achievement with the first jobs having started only a year ago. We will continue to offer Kickstart jobs to many thousands more.

As of the 26^th of October, over 213,000 jobs have been made available for young people to apply to through the scheme and over 304,000 jobs have been approved for funding.

From 28/09/2021 to 25/10/2021, on average over 6,700 Kickstart jobs were made available each week, and on average over 3,400 young people started a Kickstart job each week.

Below are tables listing the number of Kickstart jobs which have been made available and started by young people to date by geographical area of Great Britain and work sector. The figures used are correct as of the 25^th of October and these figures have been rounded according to departmental standards.

Jobs made available and starts quoted here include some unfunded Kickstart jobs. Over time, some previously approved jobs have been removed where the employer chose not to follow up the application.

Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly.

The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.

Table 1- Kickstart jobs made available and started by location.

Table 2- Kickstart jobs made available and started by sector.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, the Charity Commission provides guidance for charities on managing finances, including potential insolvency, which is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/managing-financial-difficulties-insolvency-in-charities-cc12/managing-financial-difficulties-insolvency-in-charities#dealing-with-potential-insolvency

NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board is supporting Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to optimise the use of current bed capacity and re-open those beds which are not operational.

Local commissioners work in collaboration with service providers to expand and enhance community and crisis alternatives to reduce the number of people requiring an inpatient treatment and provide earlier intervention and prevention locally.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence issues guidance for healthcare professionals and commissioners and the NHS RightCare Epilepsy Toolkit provides expert advice on improving support for people living with epilepsy. The New Medicine Service allows an expanded role for pharmacies in supporting those with epilepsy and other conditions, including potential harms caused by non-adherence to medicines.

As announced on 16 November 2022, the Adult Social Care Discharge Fund will be distributed to integrated care boards and local authorities in two tranches. The first will be distributed in December 2022 and the second in January 2023. Details of these allocations is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adult-social-care-discharge-fund-local-authority-and-integrated-care-board-icb-allocations.

In order to ensure patients are given appropriate advice and support, the NHS 111 service uses a nationally agreed clinical algorithm which can refer patients to the most appropriate service to meet their needs, for example, a dental practice or urgent treatment centre.

Additional urgent care provision is commissioned locally and NHS England works across each region to ensure these local services are accessible via NHS 111. This allows patients to be directed to a wider range of services in their area where these are available.

Increasing the NHS 111 call handling provision ahead of winter continues, with recruitment and training of staff to meet the growing demands on the service as a whole.

The Government is considering the possible implications of highly concentrated supply of some critical materials in certain geographies, whether in terms of mining or downstream processing. Resilience comes from diversity of supply, and diversity relies on an effective trading system. We have committed to publishing a UK Critical Minerals strategy in 2022, which will set out how we will work internationally to ensure sustainability of the UK’s supply, along with establishing an enabling environment for growing the sector in the UK.

The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors, which were severely affected by COVID-19. The relief, which ended on 31 March 2022, cost over £8 billion.

All taxes are kept under review, but the Government has been clear that this was a temporary measure in response to COVID-19. It was appropriate that as restrictions were lifted and demand for goods and services in these sectors increased, the temporary VAT relief was first reduced and then removed in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.

Following consultation in 2020, the Chancellor confirmed at Spring Budget 2021 that the Government will remove the entitlement to use red diesel from most sectors from April 2022. This will more fairly reflect the negative environmental impact of the emissions they produce and help to ensure that the tax system incentivises the development and adoption of greener alternatives.

The Government did not believe that the cases made by sectors that will not retain their red diesel entitlement outweighed its environmental objectives. The Government recently announced the £40 million Red Diesel Replacement Competition to support the development and demonstration of low carbon alternatives to red diesel for the construction, and mining and quarrying sectors.

Going forward, the Government will publish a UK Critical Minerals strategy in 2022, setting out its approach to securing technology-critical minerals and metals.

Sections 1 and 2 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 included a strengthened definition of domestic abuse which recognises abuse can take place post separation.

Section 1 sets out that the relationship between an individual being abused and the perpetrator is one where they are ‘personally connected’. Section 2 expands what is meant by ‘personally connected’ and is explicit this includes instances where to people “are, or have been” in various forms of relationship, including marriage, civil partnerships, and intimate personal relationships.

The Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance, issued by the Home Secretary under Section 84 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, includes specific references to post-separation abuse, acknowledging “abuse can continue or intensify when a relationship has ended.”

The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme commenced on 6 January 2022, providing up to 20,000 women, children and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK.

Eligible individuals can be referred onto the Scheme in one of three ways, as set out in the policy statement. In line with this statement, the Home Office remains committed to achieving the objectives set out for the ACRS.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement

We started to resettle families under Pathway One of the ACRS at the start of the year. In light of the success of our evacuation efforts, we expect to exceed our initial aim of resettling 5,000 through the Scheme in the first year.

We are working at pace to prepare to receive the first referrals under Pathways 2 and 3 as soon as we can, so individuals affected by the events in Afghanistan can safely arrive in the UK and start to rebuild their lives.

We will publish ACRS resettlement figures in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, allowing transparent progress-monitoring.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is committed to reducing its carbon emissions and fully contributing to the UK achieving its legal Commitment to be Net Zero by 2050. Indeed, MOD has halved its carbon emissions since 2010.

We are seeking to further drive down direct emissions, invest in renewables and embed energy efficiency measures but we must also ensure we preserve our Operational Capabilities.

The Department's current progress on reducing emissions has been published in Annex D of MOD's Annual Report and Accounts published on Gov.uk.

MOD's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategic Approach sets our wider climate adaptation and resilience ambitions. Recent progress against the ambitions can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement (HLWS120) which I released to the House on 21 June 2022.

The refreshed National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSbS) sets out the 30-year cross-Government shipbuilding pipeline. The National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) will seek to maximise the opportunity for UK industry in this pipeline, in accordance with our international obligations, including by championing UK shipbuilding and ensuring that our procurements deliver on the policy objectives set out in the NSbS. The NSbS also recognises that the value of the shipbuilding sector goes well beyond building hulls and is spread throughout the entire supporting supply chain. The NSO will therefore work to encourage UK content for all parts of the shipbuilding enterprise.

Lastly, for all cross-Government shipbuilding competitions, the Government has set out a clear commitments to delivering on social value. This could include the extent to which they support skills development or supply chain resilience.

The Infrastructure Act 2015 established that a person has a right to use deep-level land for the purposes of exploiting geothermal energy. These provisions were limited to deep-level land exceeding 300m.

In limiting this unrestricted right to depths below 300m, the Government sought to ensure that the right of use applied only at depths where it would not affect landowners' use of their land, but that would be shallow enough to enable the industries to develop in a responsible way.

Following Royal Assent of the Infrastructure Act 2015, no further assessment has been made of establishing an equivalent right for land between the surface and 300m.