Daisy Cooper

I refer the Hon Member to my comments of 27 May 2020 at the Liaison Committee, HC 322. The matter is now closed.

Since 2016, we have invested £4m to support schools in preventing and addressing homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. This programme concluded in March 2020 and continues to be evaluated, in order to increase our evidence base on what works in schools. We plan to publish the evaluation in due course.

The Government remains committed to helping teachers tackle bullying, including homophobic bullying, and are continuing to fund anti-bullying projects. The Department for Education announced £750k of funding in June 2020 for three charitable organisations, including a project for victims of hate-related bullying.

The Department for Education is also rolling out new inclusive statutory Relationships Education in all primary schools and Relationships and Sex Education in all secondary schools, so that children leave school prepared for life in modern, diverse, Britain.

We want to ensure that all children, whoever they are, are kept safe in schools. Since 2016, we have invested £4m to support schools in preventing and addressing homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying, reaching 2,250 schools in England. This programme concluded in March 2020 and we are currently evaluating it.

In our 2019 Manifesto, we made clear our commitment to continuing to help teachers tackle bullying, including homophobic bullying, and the Government is continuing to fund anti-bullying projects. The Department for Education announced £750k of funding in June for three charitable organisations, including a project for victims of hate-related bullying.

We consider the Public Sector Equality Duty in everything we do, including the continuing delivery of our anti-bullying work.

We want to ensure that all children, whoever they are, are kept safe in schools. Since 2016, we have invested £4m to support schools in preventing and addressing homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying, reaching 2,250 schools in England. This programme concluded in March 2020 and we are currently evaluating it.

In our 2019 Manifesto, we made clear our commitment to continuing to help teachers tackle bullying, including homophobic bullying, and the Government is continuing to fund anti-bullying projects. The Department for Education announced £750k of funding in June for three charitable organisations, including a project for victims of hate-related bullying.

We consider the Public Sector Equality Duty in everything we do, including the continuing delivery of our anti-bullying work.

In the COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021, the Government has set out the gradual and cautious approach to reopening different sectors in England, guided by science and the data.

We understand the unique significance that marriages and civil partnerships hold in people’s lives, but we have to take necessary steps to limit transmission of COVID-19. This includes restrictions on wedding and civil partnership ceremonies, as well as other forms of social contact. By their very nature, weddings and civil partnership ceremonies are events that bring families and friends together, making them particularly vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19.

Alternative wedding ceremonies are permitted in line with the regular wedding or civil partnership rules, in the same locations, at each step.

From 29 March, wedding and civil partnership ceremonies have been able to take place indoors or outdoors in COVID-Secure venues that are not expressly closed by the Regulations, or where a broader exemption applies. From 12 April, 15 people are permitted to attend. This approach allows couples to marry in legally binding licensed venues for wedding ceremonies (where outdoor options are limited) while remaining in line with the reopening of sectors and venues as set out in the roadmap. Wedding ceremonies should follow government guidance to reduce the risk of transmission.

Receptions (of up to 15 people) can resume from 12 April. The evidence shows that it is safer for people to meet outdoors rather than indoors. That is why receptions are only permitted outdoors at this Step and should be in a COVID-Secure venue.

From Step 3, no earlier than 17 May 2021, weddings and civil partnership ceremonies are permitted for up to 30 people in COVID-Secure venues that are not required to close, or where a broader exemption applies. Receptions can also proceed with up to 30 people in a COVID-Secure indoor venue, or outdoors, which includes private gardens.

Guidance for wedding and civil partnership receptions and celebrations can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/covid-19-guidance-for-wedding-and-civil-partnership-receptions-and-celebrations

At each step, the limits on the number of attendees includes children of all ages, but not workers.

For further information, please refer to the guidance for small marriages and civil partnerships - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships

In the COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021, the Government has set out the gradual and cautious approach to reopening different sectors in England, guided by science and the data.

We understand the unique significance that marriages and civil partnerships hold in people’s lives, but we have to take necessary steps to limit transmission of COVID-19. This includes restrictions on wedding and civil partnership ceremonies, as well as other forms of social contact. By their very nature, weddings and civil partnership ceremonies are events that bring families and friends together, making them particularly vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19.

Alternative wedding ceremonies are permitted in line with the regular wedding or civil partnership rules, in the same locations, at each step.

From 29 March, wedding and civil partnership ceremonies have been able to take place indoors or outdoors in COVID-Secure venues that are not expressly closed by the Regulations, or where a broader exemption applies. From 12 April, 15 people are permitted to attend. This approach allows couples to marry in legally binding licensed venues for wedding ceremonies (where outdoor options are limited) while remaining in line with the reopening of sectors and venues as set out in the roadmap. Wedding ceremonies should follow government guidance to reduce the risk of transmission.

Receptions (of up to 15 people) can resume from 12 April. The evidence shows that it is safer for people to meet outdoors rather than indoors. That is why receptions are only permitted outdoors at this Step and should be in a COVID-Secure venue.

From Step 3, no earlier than 17 May 2021, weddings and civil partnership ceremonies are permitted for up to 30 people in COVID-Secure venues that are not required to close, or where a broader exemption applies. Receptions can also proceed with up to 30 people in a COVID-Secure indoor venue, or outdoors, which includes private gardens.

Guidance for wedding and civil partnership receptions and celebrations can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/covid-19-guidance-for-wedding-and-civil-partnership-receptions-and-celebrations

At each step, the limits on the number of attendees includes children of all ages, but not workers.

For further information, please refer to the guidance for small marriages and civil partnerships - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships

The data obtained shows a total of 1472, an average of around 114 per year, pensions ceasing on remarriage or cohabitation for the period 2008 to 2020. The split of the data between those whose pension was stopped due to remarriage and cohabitation, and the breakdown between England, Wales and Scotland, and the number of survivor pensions restored on just compassionate grounds, is not available at this point.

The data obtained shows a total of 1472, an average of around 114 per year, pensions ceasing on remarriage or cohabitation for the period 2008 to 2020. The split of the data between those whose pension was stopped due to remarriage and cohabitation, and the breakdown between England, Wales and Scotland, and the number of survivor pensions restored on just compassionate grounds, is not available at this point.

The guidance was issued to schools to offer support for implementation for PPN 02/20 and 04/20 for the provision of supplier relief. These PPNs have now expired and the Cabinet Office has no plans to issue further PPNs for supplier relief. Contracting Authorities can still make their own arrangements for contractual relief.

Primary legislation states that the elections will go ahead in May 2021.

We continue to work closely with the electoral community, including electoral suppliers, and public health bodies to resolve challenges and ensure everyone will be able to cast their vote safely and securely - and in a way of their choosing.

Measures are planned to support absent voting at short notice. Guidance will be published in good time ahead of the polls and this matter will be kept under review. The House will be kept updated.

The Government has also engaged with the Parliamentary Parties Panel to ensure that views from political parties are taken on board.

Nominees’ reasons, if any, for declining an award are given in confidence and the Government does not comment on the reasons given.

It has always been the case that a small number of individuals have chosen to decline to receive honours.

The numbers of refusals for the Order of the British Empire broken down by award and honours round in the last five years for the Prime Minister's Lists can be found below. Figures for the British Empire Medal have been included as the award is closely affiliated with the Order of the British Empire.

As the figures show, refusal rates for honours remain extremely low. Individuals are not required to give reasons for refusing honours.

It has always been the case that a small number of individuals have chosen to decline to receive honours.

The numbers of refusals for the Order of the British Empire broken down by award and honours round in the last five years for the Prime Minister's Lists can be found below. Figures for the British Empire Medal have been included as the award is closely affiliated with the Order of the British Empire.

As the figures show, refusal rates for honours remain extremely low. Individuals are not required to give reasons for refusing honours.

Movements of goods from the EU will be treated the same as movements from the rest of the world after the end of the transition period. This means customs duties, including VAT, will be due, unless any relief or further agreement applies.

Pubs and bars are permitted to sell alcohol through delivery or via click and collect where remote ordering has been utilised.

The Government’s public health advertising is reflective of the UK’s diverse communities. We work with marketing agencies to address barriers by targeting audiences with bespoke communications, including providing translations of core campaign materials. This ensures our public health messaging reaches as many people as possible.

Departments publish details in their Annual Report and Accounts each year.

This information is not held centrally. Each department is responsible for its correspondence.

The Government has developed a strong national campaign to provide information and reassurance to the public about COVID-19. As part of this, we have utilised advertising in over 600 national, regional and local titles across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A list of participating publishers will be placed in the Commons Library.

As with any media planning approach, titles are selected on their ability to engage with audiences at a national, regional and local level.

Cabinet Office publishes expenditure, including on public information campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements.

The Government has developed a strong national campaign to provide information and reassurance to the public about COVID-19. As part of this, we have utilised advertising in over 600 national, regional and local titles across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A list of participating publishers will be placed in the Commons Library.

As with any media planning approach, titles are selected on their ability to engage with audiences at a national, regional and local level.

Cabinet Office publishes expenditure, including on public information campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements.

The Government has developed a strong national campaign to provide information and reassurance to the public about COVID-19. As part of this, we have utilised advertising in over 600 national, regional and local titles across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A list of participating publishers will be placed in the Commons Library.

As with any media planning approach, titles are selected on their ability to engage with audiences at a national, regional and local level.

Cabinet Office publishes expenditure, including on public information campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to PQs 39766 and 41529 on 4 May 2020.

Ministers in the Department for Health and Social Care have overall responsibility for PPE supply. However, other ministers and officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Cabinet Office, the Department for International Trade, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are closely involved in many aspects of the work. The Cabinet Office involvement includes providing a web portal for businesses offering medical and non-medical support and seconding commercial staff to support the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS officials carrying out procurement.

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 requires traders to provide information on the total price of goods or services, inclusive of any applicable or additional taxes or delivery charges, at the point of sale. Where the total price of the goods or services, including any additional taxes or delivery charges cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, such as cross-border transactions, the manner in which the price is to be calculated must instead be communicated. This information must be given to the consumer in a clear and comprehensible manner, along with the right to cancel if this exists.

Any information that the trader gives the consumer as required by these requirements are to be treated as included as a term of the contract. Changes to any of this information, made before entering into the contract or later, are not effective unless expressly agreed between the consumer and the trader.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic the Government has provided a package of financial support to businesses, including those in the hospitality sector and suppliers to the sector. The total financial support package is over £407 billion.

Since March of last year we have provided an unprecedented package of financial support to the economy, including the wedding sector, which we keep under regular review.

The Government recognises the essential role of the insurance industry in providing the cover businesses need to operate. We are working closely with insurers, trade bodies and regulators to understand what more the industry can do to support individuals and businesses.

Employers should treat all job applicants courteously as well as being fair and objective in their selection of successful candidates.

The Government does not impose requirement on employers as to how they carry out recruitment. However, the law is clear that they must not discriminate unlawfully, for example on grounds of race, sex or disability.

The Government is committed to ensuring that only safe consumer products can be sold in the UK. Product safety legislation places obligations on distributors to act with due care to ensure products they are selling are safe. This includes online retailers selling goods via marketplaces. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has recently taken action to ensure that a number of non-compliant products being sold by overseas third-party sellers have been removed from sale and are recalled, including toys.

The OPSS is also engaging proactively with major online marketplaces to ensure that they are playing their part in protecting UK consumers from unsafe products. This includes developing a new voluntary commitment for online marketplaces to agree actions they will take to reduce the risks from unsafe products being sold online, enabling them to publicly demonstrate their commitment to the safety of their consumers in the UK.

In order to ensure that the UK’s Product Safety framework is flexible and fit for the future, the OPSS is conducting a review. The review will ensure we have a framework that delivers safety for consumers while supporting businesses to innovate and grow and will consider the impact on product safety of non-traditional business models, including third-party sales.

The Government is committed to ensuring that only safe consumer products can be sold in the UK. Product safety legislation places obligations on distributors to act with due care to ensure products they are selling are safe. This includes online retailers selling goods via marketplaces. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has recently taken action to ensure that a number of non-compliant products being sold by overseas third-party sellers have been removed from sale and are recalled, including toys.

The OPSS is also engaging proactively with major online marketplaces to ensure that they are playing their part in protecting UK consumers from unsafe products. This includes developing a new voluntary commitment for online marketplaces to agree actions they will take to reduce the risks from unsafe products being sold online, enabling them to publicly demonstrate their commitment to the safety of their consumers in the UK.

In order to ensure that the UK’s Product Safety framework is flexible and fit for the future, the OPSS is conducting a review. The review will ensure we have a framework that delivers safety for consumers while supporting businesses to innovate and grow and will consider the impact on product safety of non-traditional business models, including third-party sales.

If a pub wishes to provide complementary live music for their seated food and/or drink customers, they can do this outdoors at Step 2. However, if a pub charges for admission, or admits an audience in addition to seated food and/or drink customers, this would be considered to be a live music event, which should only take place at Step 3. Any live music should adhere to safer working guidelines for pubs and restaurants, which includes the need to ensure that background music should be kept at a low volume and that customers should not be singing or dancing.

Yes. Businesses that are required by law to close will continue to be able to access grant support via the Local Restrictions Support Grant.

The current payment cycle will be for a 44-day period up to the end of the financial year, covering 16 February – 31 March 2021. It follows on directly from the first payment cycle, which covered 5 January – 15 February 2021.

The introduction of the UKCA mark on 1 January 2021 and the end of the UK's recognition of the CE mark is a consequence of the UK leaving the EU.

In order to help businesses to transition, products with the CE marking will be accepted on the GB market until 1 January 2022 (and longer in some cases). An assessment of the impact of introducing an end date to recognition of the CE marking on the GB market was published as part of recent secondary legislation. This found the change was likely to impose costs of around £36m over a 10-year period. It estimated that between 10,000 and 17,000 UK manufacturers and up to 135,000 UK wholesalers and retailers might be affected.

There are no plans to extend the recognition of CE marking on the GB market, as this would mean recognising EU regulations, even where there is divergence.

The Hon. Member’s letter of 28 September was transferred to HM Treasury and I understand a reply was sent from there on 3 November. I replied to the Hon. Member’s letters of 4 and 30 November on 21 January, outlining the package of support measures that are available to hospitality businesses.

I replied to the Hon. Member on 21 January outlining the package of support measures that are available to hospitality businesses.

Rights of representation, whether before domestic courts in Member States or EU institutions, are the preserve of the Single Market and so do not form part of the UK approach to negotiations with the EU.

The Government is aware that this is an important issue for stake holders, in particular UK-based trade mark attorneys.

Consistent with its overall approach to the UK’s exit from the EU, the government has laid legislation to change the ‘address for service’ requirement at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) from EEA-wide to UK-only. Subject to legislative implementation, following the transition period only a UK address for service will be accepted for new trade mark applications and other IP rights. This change will also apply to registered rights when certain proceedings are brought before the IPO.

Officials are working closely with local authorities to deliver the Christmas Support Payment for ‘wet-led’ pubs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 restrictions.

Guidance for the Christmas Support Payment for ‘wet-led’ pubs is now available on GOV.UK:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/942452/christmas-support-payment-la-guidance.pdf.

The Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open) scheme provides Local Authorities with discretionary funding to support businesses in the hospitality, accommodation and leisure sectors who have been severely affected by local restrictions but are not required to close. Local Authorities will be eligible for this scheme when under Tier 2 and Tier 3 restrictions. The updated guidance for the period from 2^nd December has been published on GOV.UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-restrictions-support-grants-lrsg-and-additional-restrictions-grant-arg-guidance-for-local-authorities.

For those businesses mandated to close on a sector basis, regardless of the local restriction in place, such as nightclubs, the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Sector) will provide grants of up to £3000 per 28-day period. This guidance is also available on GOV.UK.

The Christmas Support Payment for ‘wet-led’ pubs is a one-off £1,000 grant to support the wet-led pubs during the festive period in Tier 2 and Tier 3. This guidance is also available on gov.uk.

Businesses mandated to close under Tier 2 and Tier 3 restrictions will be eligible for Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed) payments of up to £3,000 per 28-day period. This guidance is also available on gov.uk.

From 2 December pubs in Tier 2 areas may only provide alcohol for consumption on their premises with a substantial meal. A wet-led pub may partner with outside caterers or local food businesses to enable them to provide substantial meals, subject to any conditions contained in their licence.

At the UK-Africa Investment Summit in January we announced an end to Government support for thermal coal mining and coal power plants overseas, and we continue to keep our approach to other fossil fuel investments and financing overseas under review.

All investment involving critical infrastructure is subject to thorough scrutiny and needs to satisfy our robust legal, regulatory, and national security requirements.

The Government conducted a comprehensive review of the Hinkley Point C project in 2016. The conclusions of the review were set out in a statement made by the then Secretary of State on 15th September 2016, Official Report, Column 1066. We regularly review our assessments to ensure that they remain accurate.

At the Spending Review in 2015, the Government committed to invest around £460m in nuclear research and innovation between 2016 to 2021.

As part of this commitment BEIS expects to invest around £180 million on the Nuclear Innovation Programme. This includes up to £46m which directly supports “fourth generation” advanced modular reactor R&D and upskilling of the nuclear regulators. The remainder of the funding includes projects and programmes that support both the development of these reactors as well as “third and third+ generation” reactor technologies.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s recent Ten Point Plan included a commitment of £170m for Advanced Modular Reactor R&D under the £385m Advanced Nuclear Fund.

PhD students are funded from a variety of sources, whether that is a research funder, their host institution, or if they are self-funded. Government funds PhD students through UKRI, which funds around 25% of the total PhD population in the UK.

UKRI have already taken steps to support PhD extensions working to ensure that all the students it funds would continue to receive their maintenance stipend during the lockdown and would not have to suspend their studies. UKRI-funded students in receipt of a costed extension will continue to receive this stipend during their extension period. UKRI announced on 11 November £19m of further support, making a total of over £60m of financial support available to students most impacted by the pandemic.

We encourage all PhD students to discuss with their supervisors how projects can be adjusted to complete their doctoral education to a satisfactory standard. Decisions on extensions are the responsibility of individual funders, and we expect research institutions to act flexibly based on what funding is available. We will continue to monitor how the pandemic is affecting PhD students and the wider research system.

Under the new national restrictions, hospitality businesses can remain open for takeaway (before 10pm and excluding alcohol), delivery and click and collect. Non-essential retail businesses can also continue to sell goods online for delivery and through click and collect. If a hospitality business is able to trade goods in a COVID-secure manner while following the new national restrictions and all other trade requirements, they may do so.

During the new national restrictions, hospitality venues may continue to offer food and non-alcoholic drink through delivery, takeaway prior to 10pm, and click and collect. Alcohol should only be sold from these venues via delivery or click and collect.

As part of the broader package of support measures announced on 2 November, we announced that we will change the Bounce Back Loan Scheme rules to allow those businesses who have borrowed less than their maximum to top-up their existing loan.

If a business has already received a Bounce Back Loan of less than 25% of the turnover they stated on their last application form, they will be able to apply to their existing lender to top up their existing loan to 25% of turnover or £50,000, whichever is lower.

The top-up will be on the terms of the original loan, that is, the term for the top-up will finish on the same date as for the original, as will the repayment holiday.

During the new national restrictions in place from 5 November, pubs and bars are permitted to sell alcohol through delivery or via click and collect where remote ordering has been utilised.

The deemed Marine Licence, which was granted by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 28 May 2020 as part of the Cleve Hill Solar Park Order 2020 (SI 2020/547), sets out the measures the developer of the Cleve Hill Solar Park must take to prevent pollution in the marine environment. The monitoring and enforcement of the conditions in the deemed Marine Licence are matters for the Marine Management Organisation.

Under the tiered system of Local Alert Levels, that applies until 5 November, pubs and bars in tier 3 (very high) areas can partner with outside caterers or local food businesses to enable them to provide substantial meals alongside alcohol, subject to any conditions to the contrary contained in their licence.

From 5 November, new national restrictions will replace the tiered system of local restrictions. Under these new national restrictions hospitality venues like restaurants, bars and pubs must close, but can still provide takeaway and delivery services.

No assessment has been made, but we will be working with the sector to understand the impact over the coming weeks.

In his Summer Economic Update, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £2bn Green Home Grant scheme that will support homeowners and landlords in England to improve the energy efficiency of their properties, reducing energy bills and carbon emissions, and supporting a green economic recovery.

The funding will be spent on paying for accredited tradespeople to install a range of measures, for example insulation, to improve the energy performance of their homes.

Further detail on eligibility will be announced in due course, before the full launch.

The Ministerial Taskforces have been getting scientific input from Public Health England (PHE), who have been directly involved in the taskforce meetings, helping to resolve scientific issues as they draft the guidance. Each individual working group which produced the guidance published on 11 May had active PHE presence, and each set of guidance was produced in collaboration with them, the Health and Safety Executive and other Departments. That model was followed for both the pubs and restaurants, close contact services, and non-essential retail taskforces. The PHE staff who have supported the BEIS taskforces are in regular direct contact with those attending SAGE and have access to the PHE SAGE read-outs. They have endeavoured to reflect closely the SAGE recommendations and have also been responsible for putting some subjects pertinent to BEIS discussions to SAGE, such as persistence of COVID-19 on surfaces, and consideration of social distancing requirements under different scenarios. SAGE information is shared on its website: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/scientific-advisory-group-for-emergencies-sage-coronavirus-covid-19-response.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister, in his speech on 3rd July, stated that a timetable for the reopening of closed sectors would be set out this week. The Prime Minister was clear he can only lift those remaining, national restrictions as and when it is safe to do so.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has now provided close contact services in England, except Leicester, with the certainty they need to reopen from Monday 13 July, subject to them following the COVID-secure guidelines.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has released new guidance to enable competitive grassroots sport to be played – starting with cricket from 11 July. DCMS also stated that outdoor pools can reopen to the public from 11 July followed by indoor gyms, pools and leisure centres on 25 July.

The Government will continue to work with those industries that are still closed to understand how best to reopen them safely, at the right time, guided by science.

The Government’s priority has been to act to reduce the high levels of Covid-19 infection and this is the best way to support businesses. The sooner the spread of the virus is controlled, the sooner businesses and communities can move towards reopening.

The Government has introduced a comprehensive package of support to help businesses during this difficult period. These include the small business grants, the coronavirus loan schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, deferral of VAT and income tax payment, and more.

As of 5 July, 1.1 million employers have taken advantage of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), totalling claims of £27.4 billion and safeguarding 9.4 million jobs. The Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has been accessed by 2.7 million individuals .

Over 867,600 businesses have claimed £10.65 billion through the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF), and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF).

As of 5 July, 1.1 million businesses have accessed over £45 billion worth of coronavirus loans, backed by Government guarantees. These range from loans of £,2000, to £200 million.

There has been significant support to date, and there is still funding to be disbursed. BEIS will continue to work closely with local authorities, businesses, and business representative organisations to understand whether there is additional need. Ultimately it is only by controlling the virus that the lockdown can be lifted, allowing businesses to re-open and operate more normally.

The Government has made no recent assessment. Like other copyright licensing schemes run in the UK, the collection of artist’s resale right is managed by collective management organisations on behalf of artists. These organisations are mandated by artists to collect on their behalf, and are responsible for publishing information on artist income generated from the resale right in annual transparency reports.

Pubs and restaurants will be allowed to have more than 30 people on the premises provided COVID-19 secure guidelines are being followed and other social distancing measures are still in place. This includes limiting those at a table to groups from a maximum of two households. These types of venues are not subject to the 30-person limit because of the way a gathering is defined in law. These types of venues can be thought of as being comprised of many smaller gatherings.

The Government have engaged with hospitality businesses to discuss various issues around reopening, including financial issues. This Department’s ministerial team are in regular contact with the industry. Work is ongoing to develop guidance with the assistance of representatives from the industry in order to get the sector reopened safely, in line with our approach with other businesses and sectors.

Further details on the £750m package of support for R&D intensive small and medium sized firms, to be delivered through Innovate UK, are now available on their website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-coronovirus-business-innovation-support-package

This includes guidelines on eligibility requirements and the full scope of competitions. In building this package Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, worked closely with BEIS and HMT to identify those organisations that it could offer effective support to, that would have struggled to access the wider packages of support my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer had already announced. As part of the exercise Innovate UK will be funding projects that have not previously had Innovate UK funding. This will be subject to a competitive process and will initially aim to fund around 1200 companies.

Innovate UK transparency data is published on a monthly basis on the Gov.uk website and includes information on all funded projects. Additionally information on projects can be found online at Gateway to Research.

Further details on the £750m package of support for R&D intensive small and medium sized firms, to be delivered through Innovate UK, are now available on their website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-coronovirus-business-innovation-support-package

This includes guidelines on eligibility requirements and the full scope of competitions. In building this package Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, worked closely with BEIS and HMT to identify those organisations that it could offer effective support to, that would have struggled to access the wider packages of support my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer had already announced. As part of the exercise Innovate UK will be funding projects that have not previously had Innovate UK funding. This will be subject to a competitive process and will initially aim to fund around 1200 companies.

Innovate UK transparency data is published on a monthly basis on the Gov.uk website and includes information on all funded projects. Additionally information on projects can be found online at Gateway to Research.

Further details on the £750m package of support for R&D intensive small and medium sized firms, to be delivered through Innovate UK, are now available on their website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-coronovirus-business-innovation-support-package

This includes guidelines on eligibility requirements and the full scope of competitions. In building this package Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, worked closely with BEIS and HMT to identify those organisations that it could offer effective support to, that would have struggled to access the wider packages of support my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer had already announced. As part of the exercise Innovate UK will be funding projects that have not previously had Innovate UK funding. This will be subject to a competitive process and will initially aim to fund around 1200 companies.

Innovate UK transparency data is published on a monthly basis on the Gov.uk website and includes information on all funded projects. Additionally information on projects can be found online at Gateway to Research.

Further details on the £750m package of support for R&D intensive small and medium sized firms, to be delivered through Innovate UK, are now available on their website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-coronovirus-business-innovation-support-package

This includes guidelines on eligibility requirements and the full scope of competitions. In building this package Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, worked closely with BEIS and HMT to identify those organisations that it could offer effective support to, that would have struggled to access the wider packages of support my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer had already announced. As part of the exercise Innovate UK will be funding projects that have not previously had Innovate UK funding. This will be subject to a competitive process and will initially aim to fund around 1200 companies.

Innovate UK transparency data is published on a monthly basis on the Gov.uk website and includes information on all funded projects. Additionally information on projects can be found online at Gateway to Research.

It is not the case that limited companies that have been trading for more than three years, whose last annual accounts showed a loss greater than half of their share capital, are necessarily excluded from the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.

The scheme is open to most businesses, regardless of turnover, who meet the eligibility criteria and who were established on or before 1 March 2020.

As part of the application form, borrowers are required to declare either that the business was not a business in difficulty on 31 December 2019; or if it was a business in difficulty [on 31 December 2019], that the business does not breach de minimis State aid restrictions. A business in difficulty is also required to declare it does not meet the temporary framework aid limits.

A business is considered in difficulty if it met any one of the following criteria on 31 December 2019:

• Individuals or companies that have entered into collective insolvency proceedings;
• Limited companies which have accumulated losses greater than half of their share capital in their last annual accounts (this does not apply to SMEs less than 3 years old);
• Partnerships, limited partnerships or unlimited liability companies which have accumulated losses greater than half of their capital in their latest annual accounts (this does not apply to SMEs less than 3 years old);
• Where the undertaking has received rescue aid and has not yet reimbursed the loan or terminated the guarantee, or has received restructuring aid and is still subject to a restructuring plan;
• A company which is not an SME where, for each of the last two accounting years: i) your book debt to equity ratio has been greater than 7.5; and ii) your EBITDA interest coverage ratio has been below 1.0.

The Small Business Grant Fund is targeted support for small and rural businesses that have potentially been hit hardest by the measures taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The scheme has been tied to the existing business rates system to enable Local Authorities to make payments as quickly as possible. Businesses that are eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rates Relief are eligible for support under the Small Business Grants Fund.

We continue to look at the issues of businesses that aren’t in-scope of the existing grants schemes and how best to provide support. Where business operate from premises with a rateable value in excess of £15,000, other schemes including the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant or the recently announced Bounce Back Loan scheme might be more appropriate.

On the 1 May 2020 the Business Secretary announced that a further up to £617 million is being made available to local authorities as a discretionary fund so that they can address cases that are out-of-scope from the Small Business Grants Fund and Retail Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund and this could allow local authorities to make grants to businesses above the rateable value cap of £15,000 subject to them meeting the eligibility criteria of the discretionary fund.

As of 21 April, over £2.8bn worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, to over 16,600 businesses. We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and lenders on regular and transparent data publication going forward.

The recent Feed-in Tariffs (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Order 2020 gives developers of a range of small-scale renewable energy projects an extra six months to complete the accreditation process to benefit from the Feed-in Tariffs scheme, reducing the impact of the Coronavirus on developers and community groups that have invested in low-carbon energy, but who could have been unable complete their construction and commissioning before the final deadline.

This emergency legislation was focussed on the projects most immediately affected by the Coronavirus, with deadlines between March and September 2020. The government is keeping the situation under review, including in relation to projects with deadlines beyond 30 September 2020.

The Government has recently strengthened Ofcom’s telecoms consumer protection powers. In February 2020, Ofcom introduced new rules to ensure that customers receive important information about their communications service when their contract is due to end.

As the contract end date approaches, providers must inform their customers on: the date their contract ends; the services currently provided and the price paid; any changes to the service and price paid at the end of this period; and information about the notice period required to terminate the contract. Providers must also include information on prices available to other customers, such as new customers. This is to ensure that customers do not have to negotiate in order to find out what their provider’s best price is, and means people can see if they are losing out and whether to switch provider.

The audit referred to in the question was a specific audit by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) of the Department for Education (DfE). The DfE has been working closely with the ICO since the audit was undertaken in February 2020 to address all the recommendations and published its formal response in January 2021 in the House Library, paper reference DEP2021-0072.

The work being done by DfE in partnership with the ICO to address the audit recommendations, particularly around data sharing policy and strategy, will support good practice across the public, private and third sectors, in line with the aims of the National Data Strategy.

Officials from my Department are working closely with colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to explore whether there is a solution that can deliver public value and help the Society of Antiquaries and other Learned Societies to remain in situ at New Burlington House.

We do recognise the importance of the Society of Antiquaries, its collections and the historic site it is located in, but equally the government has a duty to maximise return to the public purse so we must explore options which balance the landlord and heritage interests in the situation.

This government is committed to supporting culture and heritage. The Society of Antiquaries recently received Culture Recovery Fund grant funding to support them during the pandemic and have been in receipt of National Heritage Lottery Fund project grants in recent years.

Outdoor funfairs and fairgrounds operated by travelling showpeople can reopen in Step 2 - no earlier than 12 April. These events will be subject to local authority approval. The rules on social contact outdoors will apply in these settings. For Step 2, this means groups must be limited to up to 6 people or 2 households.

Outdoor funfairs and fairgrounds will also need to be organised by a business, charity or similar organisation; comply with COVID-Secure guidance with reasonable steps to limit the risk of transmission and the completion of a risk assessment; and ensure that those attending do not mix beyond what is permitted by the social contact limits (unless another exemption exists, such as for work purposes, or supervised activities for children).

Remaining outdoor entertainment, such as outdoor theatres, cinemas (except drive-in) and circuses, will reopen in Step 3 - no earlier than 17 May, and at least five weeks after Step 2, following a further review of the data and the four tests.

For the first round of the Culture Recovery Fund, in order to deliver the fund in time to support the sector, the Arts Council delegated fixed budgets to regional assessment panels to make decisions on the smallest applications.

When those panels were oversubscribed, and there were more organisations which met the criteria than could be funded, organisations were considered against the published Balancing Criteria and prioritised for funding accordingly. As such, a very small number of organisations (94) that applied to Arts Council England and met the primary criteria were not awarded funding on the basis of over-subscription, and how they compared to the Balancing Criteria. All of these applications were for less than £1m.

In general, success rates across Round 1 of the Fund were high, averaging 67% in the latest data we have.

Any unspent funds across the Arms Length Bodies will be allocated to the second round of the Culture Recovery Fund, which will deliver further support for cultural organisations during Spring and Summer 2021.

For the first round of funding in the Culture Recovery Fund, all organisations applying were asked to detail sources of income and levels of restricted and unrestricted reserves, to help the delivery bodies understand the financial position of each applicant up to 31 March.

Applicants were also asked in their application to detail how Covid-19 had impacted financial viability (including how they had exhausted all other reasonable options such as viable alternative options for commercial, contributed and philanthropic income, and using their reserves/resources), and therefore why a grant was necessary.

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

As set out in the answer to Question 118541, ministers have met with a range of stakeholders ahead of the Gambling Act Review. Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the government’s website at: https://www.gov.uk/search/transparency-and-freedom-of-information-releases?content_store_document_type=transparency&organisations%5B%5D=department-for-digital-culture-media-sport.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport engages regularly with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK’s independent regulator of advertising, including on matters relating to gambling advertising. The ASA is currently consulting on proposed changes to the advertising codes aimed at further restricting the potential for gambling adverts to appeal to children or vulnerable people.

The UK–Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is the UK’s first major trade deal as an independent trading nation.

CEPA seeks to remove unjustified barriers to data flows to strengthen trade between our two countries. It requires both parties to maintain comprehensive legal frameworks that protect personal information.

CEPA does not alter the UK’s existing data protection framework, enshrined in the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR. Under CEPA, the UK may adopt measures restricting data flows to achieve a legitimate public policy objective, including personal data protection and the ability to maintain an independent international data transfers regime. From the end of the transition period, the UK will preserve the effect of the EU's adequacy decision for Japan on a transitional basis, that will continue to provide robust protections for the international transfer of personal data.

Since Thursday 5 November, new national restrictions have been in force in England to control the spread of coronavirus and to limit contacts between households.

The Health Protection Regulation 5(1) states that no person may leave or be outside of the place where they are living without reasonable excuse. The exceptions to the restrictions enables people to leave their homes for the purposes of work where it is not possible for them to work from home.

This exception extends to professionals within the performing arts who are unable to train, rehearse or take part in performances for broadcasting or recording purposes at home. Other than for this purpose, theatres, concert halls and entertainment venues must close.This exemption does not apply to non professional activity within the performing arts in accordance with the wider restrictions.

Sport and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus.

Nobody wanted to be in the position of having to introduce further National Restrictions. However as the Prime Minister said, with the virus spreading faster than expected we cannot allow our health system to be overwhelmed. Therefore, from Thursday 5 November until Wednesday 2 December indoor and outdoor leisure including tennis courts will need to close. The National Restrictions are designed to get the R rate under control through limiting social contact and reducing transmissions.

In order for these measures to have the greatest impact, we will all need to sacrifice doing some things that we would otherwise like to do, for a short period of time. As soon as we're in a position to start lifting restrictions, grassroots sports will be one of the first to return.

People are still allowed to leave their homes for exercise and recreation outdoors, with your household or on your own, or with one person from another household or support bubble.The gravity of the situation has meant that we have been forced to take some tough choices. That meant having to deny extremely worthy candidates exemptions to the rules, including grassroots sport.

Sport and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus.

Nobody wanted to be in the position of having to introduce further National Restrictions. However as the Prime Minister said, with the virus spreading faster than expected we cannot allow our health system to be overwhelmed. Therefore, from Thursday 5 November until Wednesday 2 December indoor and outdoor leisure including tennis courts will need to close. The National Restrictions are designed to get the R rate under control through limiting social contact and reducing transmissions.

In order for these measures to have the greatest impact, we will all need to sacrifice doing some things that we would otherwise like to do, for a short period of time. As soon as we're in a position to start lifting restrictions, grassroots sports will be one of the first to return.

People are still allowed to leave their homes for exercise and recreation outdoors, with your household or on your own, or with one person from another household or support bubble.The gravity of the situation has meant that we have been forced to take some tough choices. That meant having to deny extremely worthy candidates exemptions to the rules, including grassroots sport.

While adoption of the British Board of Film Classification’s (BBFC) best practice age ratings by online platforms is currently voluntary, we welcome Netflix’s commitment to work towards complete coverage of its content under the BBFC’s ratings and support the BBFC’s drive to encourage other Video On Demand platforms to follow suit. By doing so, this will provide consumers, especially parents, with well recognised age ratings and consumer advice.

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

Over the past year we have been working with the BBFC and industry to drive the voluntary adoption of the BBFC’s age rating symbols to Video On Demand platforms. Doing so will provide consumers with well recognised age ratings and consumer advice.

Protecting children is at the heart of our online harms agenda, and wider government priorities. The government has worked hard to ensure content is filtered in public places where children are likely to be, as well as at home. The major providers of public WiFi are committed to providing family friendly public WiFi wherever children are likely to be. A Friendly WiFi Logo was launched in 2014 to help parents identify the safest places to browse the internet.

The BBFC provides an independent framework for mobile network operators and defines content that is unsuitable for customers under the age of 18 based on their Classification Guidelines for film and video. There are no plans to require other internet providers who provide family friendly filters to use the BBFC’s framework.

As we announced on 16 October last year, we will not be commencing Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act (DEA) 2017 and its provisions on age verification for online pornography as originally intended. Instead the online harms regime will include provisions to protect children from age-inappropriate content, including online pornography. Our Online Harms proposals will go further than the DEA’s focus on online pornography on commercial adult sites and provide a higher level of protection for children.

Details of how the online harms legislation will protect children from harmful content, including online pornography, will be published later this year in the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation.

The Online Harms White Paper set out the Government’s intention to publish an online Media Literacy Strategy to ensure a coordinated and strategic approach to media literacy education for all UK citizens. The Strategy is due to be published in spring 2021.

Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with Ofcom on a variety of issues, including online media literacy education. Information about Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the gov.uk website. The forthcoming Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper Consultation will set out more detail about the online harms regulator’s role in promoting media literacy education.

The UK’s negotiating objectives set out that our aim is to promote appropriate protections for consumers online and ensure the Government maintains its ability to protect users from emerging online harms. We will continue to carefully consider any interaction between trade policy and online harms policy.

Ministers and officials are engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, in developing the Online Harms Bill. This includes discussions with experts from the education sector. We will publish a Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation later this year, which will include more detailed proposals on online harms regulation. We will continue to engage with stakeholders from the education sector, as well as industry, academia and civil society, as we develop proposals and move towards legislation.

My Department, working with the events sector and Public Health England, has carried out three pilot business events to ensure that the correct advice and guidance is put in place to help the sector reopen when it is safe to do so. However, we needed to pause the planned 1st October reopening of larger conferences and events as part of our response to the recent rise in Covid-19 cases.

Meetings of up to 30 can still take place in permitted venues, as per the Covid-19 Secure guidance for the visitor economy. Since 11 July, a range of outdoor events have been able to take place.

We continue to engage with stakeholders, including through the Visitor Economy Working Group and the Events Industry Senior Leaders Advisory Panel, to monitor the situation facing companies across the UK.

Decisions on whether to start playing competitive fixtures is a matter for the leagues themselves.

The FA have defined non-elite football as the leagues below the National Leagues North and South. Those leagues continue to be able to admit spectators in line with government’s overall framework on the Return to recreational team sport framework and the FA’s supplementary guidance.

Football clubs, at all levels, form the bedrock of our local communities. There have been countless examples during the pandemic of football clubs across the country demonstrating their importance to their local area, volunteering both time and money during these difficult times.

The Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses throughout the pandemic, including a comprehensive and sizable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support. Many football clubs have benefited from these measures.

Where it can, we will expect the top tiers of professional sport to look at ways in which it can support itself, with government focusing on those most in need. I also welcomed the Premier League announcement to advance funds of £125 million to the EFL and National League to help clubs throughout the football pyramid.

As the Prime Minister said on 22 September, the government recognises the implications of being able to admit spectators on sports clubs and is working urgently on what the government can do to support them.

As of 14 September non-professional performing arts activity, including choirs, orchestras or drama groups can continue to rehearse or perform together where this is planned activity in line with the performing arts guidance and if they can do so in a way that ensures that there is no interaction between groups of more than six at any time. If an amateur group is not able to ensure that no mingling takes place between these sub-groups of no more than six (including when arriving at or leaving activity or in any breaks or socialising) then such non-professional activity should not take place."

We will continue to work with the Performing Arts sector to understand how the new regulations affect those engaging in activity. We have always been clear that the easing of restrictions depends on the prevalence of COVID-19.

On 9 July, the Government published guidance for people who work in performing arts, including arts organisations, venue operators and participants which will help people understand how they can work and take part in the performing arts safely, and keep their audiences safe.

Organisers of all events including open air theatres will always need to go through the relevant approvals. Where required, they will need to be granted licences from local authorities and be set up to be COVID-secure adhering to social distancing guidelines and regulations.

beIN Media Group own the rights to broadcast Premier League football in the Middle East and North Africa. beIN Media is currently unable to operate in Saudi Arabia, so Premier League football cannot be viewed legally in Saudi Arabia at this time.

In order to support the sustainability of the Arts sector, including the National Portfolio, DCMS has worked closely with Arts Council England (ACE) to provide a tailored package of financial support. In March, ACE announced a £160m emergency response package to complement the financial measures already announced by the Government and to ensure immediate resilience of this vital sector.

This package includes £90 million of support for National Portfolio Organisations so they can better sustain themselves, and their work, in the coming months. There is no upper limit for the amount of funding National Portfolio Organisations can apply for, and decisions on funding will be made on 30 June 2020.

In keeping with the arms-length principle, Arts Council England will determine whether and to what extent organisations receive funding.

The Secretary of State, myself and officials continue to consult organisations within the Art sector, including National Portfolio Organisations, extensively to ensure we fully understand the impacts of Covid-19 and remain well placed to respond as it develops.

In order to support the sustainability of the Arts sector, including the National Portfolio, DCMS has worked closely with Arts Council England (ACE) to provide a tailored package of financial support. In March, ACE announced a £160m emergency response package to complement the financial measures already announced by the Government and to ensure immediate resilience of this vital sector.

This package includes £90 million of support for National Portfolio Organisations so they can better sustain themselves, and their work, in the coming months. There is no upper limit for the amount of funding National Portfolio Organisations can apply for, and decisions on funding will be made on 30 June 2020.

In keeping with the arms-length principle, Arts Council England will determine whether and to what extent organisations receive funding.

The Secretary of State, myself and officials continue to consult organisations within the Art sector, including National Portfolio Organisations, extensively to ensure we fully understand the impacts of Covid-19 and remain well placed to respond as it develops.

Football clubs are the heart of local communities and have unique social value.

The Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses throughout this period, including a comprehensive and sizable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support. Many football clubs have benefited from these measures.

The Government is in regular dialogue with all the football authorities to understand their financial position - but has been absolutely clear that it expects football to look first at how it can support itself through these difficult times. To this end I welcomed the Premier League announcement to advance funds of £125 million to the EFL and National League to help clubs throughout the football pyramid. The EFL has also announced a £50m relief fund to help their clubs enduring immediate cash flow problems because of the coronavirus crisis.

We have made no such assessment. The local programming and content requirements for holders of local analogue commercial radio licenses are set by Ofcom under the relevant legislative framework – primarily the Broadcasting Act 1990 and the Communications Act 2003. These are matters for Ofcom.

In particular, Ofcom is required under section 314 of the Communications Act 2003 to publish and keep under review guidance for commercial radio licensees setting out the detailed local programming requirements that they consider it to be appropriate for local stations to carry.

The relevant guidelines were updated by Ofcom in 2018 to give local FM licensees greater flexibility in how and where local stations produce their programmes, while ensuring that listeners’ expectations for high quality local news and other content continue to be met. In drawing up the current guidance, Ofcom took account of the changing patterns of radio and audio listening and the views of radio listeners. The revised guidelines are published on Ofcom's website, and it will be for Bauer to make decisions about how to organise their services while still meeting their regulatory requirements - in particular, the requirements to produce local news and news programming.

The Government has long-term plans to legislate to reduce other burdens on commercial radio while maintaining protections for the provision on local news and extending these requirements to digital radio, where there are currently no such protections in place. We consulted on changes in 2017, and will bring forward legislation when Parliamentary time is available.

We have discussed with Arqiva a possible package financial support for commercial radio broadcasters in relation to transmission fees. Discussions are continuing with Arqiva and we hope discussions will conclude shortly. Our priority, in raising these issues directly with Arqiva, is to ensure that the interests of small commercial radio stations are reflected in any agreements.

We have discussed with Arqiva a possible package financial support for commercial radio broadcasters in relation to transmission fees. Discussions are continuing with Arqiva and we hope discussions will conclude shortly. Our priority, in raising these issues directly with Arqiva, is to ensure that the interests of small commercial radio stations are reflected in any agreements.

We hold frequent virtual forums and roundtables with representatives across all creative industries, including the Creative Industries Council, the Creative Industries Federation and many trade bodies, to help identify ways to support them through the crisis - most recently on Wednesday 22 April.

I would happily listen to any suggestions from honourable members across this House on how to support one the UK’s most successful industries.

The government is committed to a free and independent press. This is vital to a strong and fully functioning democracy where the powerful can be held to account without fear. For this reason, the government does not intervene in what the press can and cannot publish, including on their websites.

The Online Harms White Paper does not seek to prohibit press freedom. The regulator will not be responsible for policing truth and accuracy online. Where services are already well regulated, regulation will not be duplicated.

Officials are currently working with stakeholders to ensure online harms proposals protect journalistic content. Further details will be published in the full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper.

The Political Declaration stated that the UK is open to participation in certain EU programmes if it is in our interest to do so. While the Government has made the decision not to seek participation in Creative Europe’s 2021-27 programme, the Government is committed to supporting the UK’s thriving cultural and creative economy, and will continue to invest in the UK's cultural and creative sectors to support their world-class activity on the international stage. Domestic alternatives to Creative Europe will be considered in the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.

The Government is committed to supporting the UK’s thriving cultural and creative economy, and will continue to invest in the UK's cultural and creative sectors to support their world-class activity on the international stage. While the Government has made the decision not to seek participation in Creative Europe’s 2021-27 programme, we will consider domestic alternatives in the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review. It should be noted that current UK beneficiaries will continue to benefit from EU programmes for the lifetime of the project, which in some cases goes beyond 2020.

Respite care services (also known as ‘short breaks’) for disabled children are provided on the basis of an individual assessment of each child and family’s needs. Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have ensured that respite care services for disabled children and their families have been allowed to continue to operate. This applies to services which care for children in and away from home.

To support local areas, the government has given over £6 billion in un-ringfenced funding directly to councils to support them with the immediate and longer-term impacts of COVID-19 spending pressures, including children’s services.

In addition to statutory services, we are providing £27.3 million to the Family Fund in the 2021-22 financial year to support over 60,000 families on low incomes raising children and young people with disabilities or serious illnesses. Grants can be used for a range of purposes, including family breaks.

We are also providing £200 million for all secondary schools, including specialist settings, to deliver face-to-face summer schools. Schools are being encouraged to target provision at pupils who are most likely to benefit from increased support, which may include disabled children and those with special educational needs.

This is alongside wider support funded through our Holiday Activities and Food Programme across the country which provides healthy food and enriching activities to disadvantaged children. This has been expanded to every local authority across England this year – backed by up to £220 million. It builds on previous programmes, including last summer’s, which supported around 50,000 children across 17 local authorities. Our guidance is clear that the provision should be inclusive and accessible.

Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is a priority for this government. We are committed to helping all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in all education settings, make up education lost as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Since June 2020, we have announced more than £3 billion of additional funding to support education recovery in schools, colleges and early years settings – this will have a material impact in closing gaps that have emerged. Schools will continue to be able to access a package of support from September 2021. The package provides support to children aged 2-19 in schools, 16-19 providers and early years. It expands our reforms in two areas where the evidence is clear that our investment will have significant impact: high quality tutoring targeted at those that need it most and high-quality training for teachers. The one-off Recovery Premium for state-funded schools for 2021/22 will further help schools to provide their disadvantaged pupils with a boost to academic and pastoral support. This is in addition to the £650 million catch-up premium shared across state-funded schools over the 2020/21 academic year, to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place. While education settings cannot provide specialist clinical care, the support schools and colleges are providing to their pupils following the return to face-to-face education should include time devoted to supporting mental health and wellbeing, which will play a fundamental part in supporting recovery.

We have consistently prioritised children who attend specialist settings by providing additional uplifts both in the Catch-up Premium this academic year and the Recovery Premium for the next academic year, in recognition of the significantly higher per pupil costs they face. In addition, special schools will receive additional funding to ensure these settings can provide 1:1 tutoring for their pupils. Children will further benefit from additional funding to ensure that teachers in schools and early years settings are able to access high quality training and professional development. We know that high quality teaching is the best way to support all students, including those with SEND.

We are working with education settings, the relevant Royal Colleges and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to ensure that health and wellbeing issues for SEND pupils are prioritised. DHSC have identified provision for children and young people with SEND in their NHS recovery planning. The COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing recovery action plan, published in March 2021, references various areas of support. £31 million will be used to address particular challenges faced by individuals, including £3 million for community respite services.

The Department for Education’s Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides healthy food and enriching activities to disadvantaged children, has been expanded to every local authority across England this year – backed by up to £220 million. Our guidance is clear that the provision should be inclusive and accessible. We will continue to support local authorities to deliver services that meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. Education, health and care plan quality and timeliness is something we have been monitoring through the COVID-19 outbreak and continue to do so, and we provided £40.8 million for the Family Fund in 2020-21 to support over 90,000 families on low incomes raising children with disabilities or serious illnesses. This included £13.5 million to specifically respond to needs arising from the COVID-19 outbreak.

Amended statutory guidance for schools in respect of safeguarding titled ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (KCSIE) was published on 6 July 2021, alongside revised departmental advice on sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in school: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999348/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2021.pdf.

The guidance has been strengthened and updated following the consultation on proposed changes to KCSIE and the departmental advice, as well as findings from the Ofsted review into sexual abuse in schools and colleges. We will continue to consider what further changes are needed for KCSIE 2022, following a further consultation later this year.

The statutory guidance for inter-agency working titled ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ received a technical update in December 2020. We are currently assessing what changes may be needed following the publication of the Ofsted review. Working Together guidance will also need to be consulted upon and we will provide a date for this in due course.

Amended statutory guidance for schools in respect of safeguarding titled ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (KCSIE) was published on 6 July 2021, alongside revised departmental advice on sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in school: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999348/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2021.pdf.

The guidance has been strengthened and updated following the consultation on proposed changes to KCSIE and the departmental advice, as well as findings from the Ofsted review into sexual abuse in schools and colleges. We will continue to consider what further changes are needed for KCSIE 2022, following a further consultation later this year.

The statutory guidance for inter-agency working titled ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ received a technical update in December 2020. We are currently assessing what changes may be needed following the publication of the Ofsted review. Working Together guidance will also need to be consulted upon and we will provide a date for this in due course.

In summer 2020, the Department announced a £1 billion catch-up package to help tackle the effect of lost teaching time as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, including a £350 million National Tutoring Programme (NTP) for disadvantaged pupils.

The NTP for 5 to 16 year olds has two pillars:

• Schools can access high quality, subsidised tuition support from approved Tuition Partners.
• Schools in the most disadvantaged areas have been supported to employ in-house Academic Mentors to provide tuition to their pupils.

Schools have not directly received funding to access the NTP. Through approved Tuition Partners, they will have access to high quality tuition, with the cost to schools subsidised by 75%. The core salary for Academic Mentors employed through the NTP will also be covered by the Department (£19,000 pro-rata). Schools are free to use additional catch-up funding to pay the remaining cost of both NTP Partners and Academic Mentors should they wish to do so.

Since the launch of the programme in November 2020, over 240,000 pupils have been enrolled to receive tutoring across over 5,000 schools. Of those enrolled, over 195,000 have already commenced tutoring.

Schools provide free school meals for eligible pupils during term time. Beyond that, billions of pounds of welfare assistance is in place to support families, young people and children.

The COVID Local Support Grant, established by the Department for Work and Pensions and operated through local authorities in England, is there to support the hardest hit families and individuals with food and essential utility costs. This grant has been extended for a final time, with a further investment of £160 million, to cover the period up to 30 September 2021.

This grant is further to the £269 million invested since the scheme (previously known as the COVID Winter Grant Scheme) launched in December 2020.

The funding remains ring-fenced, with at least 80% targeted to assist with food and bills, and at least 80% for families with children. Local authorities have discretion to decide how to allocate government funding in their areas, recognising that they are best placed to understand local needs.

The Department has recently laid out quality and accreditation standards for tutoring providers to be accredited in delivering tutoring through the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). We will be publishing the quality and accreditation standard as part of the launch of open access, where tutoring organisations will then be able to apply to be accredited. The Department is still finalising the website, and this will be released in due course.

There are currently over 26,000 tutors supporting over 186,000 pupils across England access tutoring provision.

The Department does not hold data on how many tutors we have outside the UK. Ensuring that tutors are suitably qualified, knowledgeable, and trained is key to the delivery of high quality tuition, and it is the responsibility of individual tuition partners to set their own suitability and eligibility criteria for tutors working on the NTP. There is an expectation that stringent suitability criteria are in place across all tuition partners which not only appropriately reflects the provision offered but also meets schools’ expectations.

The Department sets high standards for the NTP. Tuition partners must follow all applicable laws and regulations, pay their tutors fairly, and make sure high minimum standards of tutor qualifications are in place. Ongoing monitoring of all organisations involved in the programme is in place to make sure tutoring is of high quality.

The Department has recently laid out quality and accreditation standards for tutoring providers to be accredited in delivering tutoring through the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). We will be publishing the quality and accreditation standard as part of the launch of open access, where tutoring organisations will then be able to apply to be accredited. The Department is still finalising the website, and this will be released in due course.

There are currently over 26,000 tutors supporting over 186,000 pupils across England access tutoring provision.

The Department does not hold data on how many tutors we have outside the UK. Ensuring that tutors are suitably qualified, knowledgeable, and trained is key to the delivery of high quality tuition, and it is the responsibility of individual tuition partners to set their own suitability and eligibility criteria for tutors working on the NTP. There is an expectation that stringent suitability criteria are in place across all tuition partners which not only appropriately reflects the provision offered but also meets schools’ expectations.

The Department sets high standards for the NTP. Tuition partners must follow all applicable laws and regulations, pay their tutors fairly, and make sure high minimum standards of tutor qualifications are in place. Ongoing monitoring of all organisations involved in the programme is in place to make sure tutoring is of high quality.

The requested information is not available.

The Department collects details of teachers working in state funded schools in England through the annual School Workforce Census. The census does identify those teachers who are employed via a service agreement, but not whether they are a supply teacher.

Teachers not currently working in state funded schools in England are not specifically identified as supply teachers. A teacher who has left a state funded school having been a supply teacher may subsequently return to employment as a permanent contracted teacher, and vice versa.

We have regularly discussed a range of COVID-19 related issues with representatives from the higher education (HE) sector, through the Higher Education Taskforce, which was established in August 2020, and through meetings with representatives of the HE sector, including University Vice Chancellors, the National Union of Students, the Union for Colleges and Universities and the devolved administrations. This has included discussions on the approach to planning for the new academic year in September 2021.

From step 4 of the roadmap, we can confirm there will no longer be restrictions on the approach to teaching and learning in HE settings as a result of COVID-19. There will be no requirement for social distancing or other measures. Providers are, therefore, able to shape their courses without restrictions to face-to-face provision.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, many providers have developed their digital offering and, as autonomous institutions, some might choose to retain elements of this approach. However, they will not have to do this because of COVID-19 restrictions, and our expectations are very clear: universities should maintain the quality and quantity of tuition and ensure it is accessible to all students.

We expect providers to have contingency plans to deal with any identified positive cases of COVID-19 or outbreaks. HE providers should communicate clearly to their students what they can expect from planned teaching and learning under different circumstances and scenarios, so that they are able to make informed choices.

The Office for Students, as the regulator for English HE providers, has made it clear that they must continue to comply with registration conditions relating to quality and academic standards, which set out requirements to ensure that courses are high-quality, that students are supported and achieve good outcomes and that standards are protected.

We have updated our HE guidance to support the return of students for the new academic year, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses.

We will continue to keep these measures under review, informed by the latest scientific evidence and advice.

On 24 June 2021, the Department published the annual pupil premium allocations, which shows how much pupil premium funding each school and local authority will receive in the 2021/22 financial year. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2021-to-2022.

Total pupil premium funding is increasing to more than £2.5 billion in 2021/22 financial year, up by £60 million from the previous financial year. This reflects an increase in funding in approximately two thirds of schools, as more children have become eligible for free school meals (FSM). The increase is spread across the country, with pupil premium funding increasing in 87% of local authorities. For comparison, 77% of local authorities saw an increase in their total pupil premium funding last year.

The pupil premium rates for the 2021/22 financial year will be the same as in the 2020/21 financial year:

1. £1,345 per head for the number of primary aged pupils recorded as claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years (“Ever6-FSM”)
2. £955 per head for the number of eligible secondary-aged pupils (Ever6-FSM)
3. £2,345 per head for ‘Pupil Premium Plus’, which supports the needs of Looked After children (paid to local authorities) and those who left care in England and Wales through adoption or other court orders (paid to schools).

For mainstream and special schools, the Department has based pupil premium funding for the 2021/22 financial year on the October 2020 census data, instead of using the January census. Alongside the annual pupil premium publication, we have also published the financial impact of moving to using the October census which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-effective-use-and-accountability.

The move to using the October census brings the pupil premium in line with how the rest of the core schools’ budget is calculated. The change also provides earlier clarity for schools on their allocations. From next year, the annual pupil premium allocations will be published in March.

The effect of the census change should not be viewed in isolation. We are investing in an ambitious education recovery programme worth £3 billion. This includes £302 million for the Recovery Premium, to further support disadvantaged pupils with their attainment. This is on top of the £14 billion additional school funding we are providing over three years. The additional funding schools will receive through the Recovery Premium alone will far exceed the financial effect of the census change.

The Department published its formal response in January 2021 in the House Library, paper reference DEP2021-0072. This contained an undertaking to publish an update in June.

A further update to the original publication detailing progress and the recommendations that have been successfully met will now be placed in the Libraries of both Houses on or before 22 July 2021.

This government believes it is important that all students, including those with neurodiverse conditions and/or disabilities receive an appropriate level of support wherever and whatever they choose to study, and is committed to ensuring that all students receive the support they need to enable them to study alongside their fellow students on an equal basis.

We do not hold information on whether a further education and skills learner has a registered neurodiverse condition. Adult (19+) further education and skills learner participation (which includes apprenticeships) in the 2019/20 academic year by primary learning difficulty and/or disability and/or health problem as self-declared by the learner can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a87f0184-c377-46df-b8d7-8c73d7aca865.

This government expects all higher education (HE) providers to fulfil their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to be making reasonable adjustments for all students, including students with neurodiverse conditions, and disabled higher education students, not just those in receipt of Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA).

In terms of funding, DSA is available in addition to the standard support package to help students with the additional costs they may face in HE because of their disability, including long-term health conditions, mental health conditions or specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia.

DSA is not means tested and does not have to be repaid. It is available to full-time and part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, alongside support available from HE providers, and in line with the recommendations of the student’s DSA Needs Assessment. There is no list of approved disabilities; to receive DSA, any student must be eligible for the main support package and disabled in line with the definition contained in the Equality Act 2010.

Disabled students and students with neurodiverse conditions should expect to have their needs met through inclusive learning practices and individual reasonable adjustments made by their HE providers. DSA is available in addition to these for the provision of more specialist support (for example, British Sign Language interpretation).

This government believes it is important that all students, including those with neurodiverse conditions and/or disabilities receive an appropriate level of support wherever and whatever they choose to study, and is committed to ensuring that all students receive the support they need to enable them to study alongside their fellow students on an equal basis.

We do not hold information on whether a further education and skills learner has a registered neurodiverse condition. Adult (19+) further education and skills learner participation (which includes apprenticeships) in the 2019/20 academic year by primary learning difficulty and/or disability and/or health problem as self-declared by the learner can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a87f0184-c377-46df-b8d7-8c73d7aca865.

This government expects all higher education (HE) providers to fulfil their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to be making reasonable adjustments for all students, including students with neurodiverse conditions, and disabled higher education students, not just those in receipt of Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA).

In terms of funding, DSA is available in addition to the standard support package to help students with the additional costs they may face in HE because of their disability, including long-term health conditions, mental health conditions or specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia.

DSA is not means tested and does not have to be repaid. It is available to full-time and part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, alongside support available from HE providers, and in line with the recommendations of the student’s DSA Needs Assessment. There is no list of approved disabilities; to receive DSA, any student must be eligible for the main support package and disabled in line with the definition contained in the Equality Act 2010.

Disabled students and students with neurodiverse conditions should expect to have their needs met through inclusive learning practices and individual reasonable adjustments made by their HE providers. DSA is available in addition to these for the provision of more specialist support (for example, British Sign Language interpretation).

This government believes it is important that all students, including those with neurodiverse conditions and/or disabilities receive an appropriate level of support wherever and whatever they choose to study, and is committed to ensuring that all students receive the support they need to enable them to study alongside their fellow students on an equal basis.

We do not hold information on whether a further education and skills learner has a registered neurodiverse condition. Adult (19+) further education and skills learner participation (which includes apprenticeships) in the 2019/20 academic year by primary learning difficulty and/or disability and/or health problem as self-declared by the learner can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a87f0184-c377-46df-b8d7-8c73d7aca865.

This government expects all higher education (HE) providers to fulfil their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to be making reasonable adjustments for all students, including students with neurodiverse conditions, and disabled higher education students, not just those in receipt of Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA).

In terms of funding, DSA is available in addition to the standard support package to help students with the additional costs they may face in HE because of their disability, including long-term health conditions, mental health conditions or specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia.

DSA is not means tested and does not have to be repaid. It is available to full-time and part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, alongside support available from HE providers, and in line with the recommendations of the student’s DSA Needs Assessment. There is no list of approved disabilities; to receive DSA, any student must be eligible for the main support package and disabled in line with the definition contained in the Equality Act 2010.

Disabled students and students with neurodiverse conditions should expect to have their needs met through inclusive learning practices and individual reasonable adjustments made by their HE providers. DSA is available in addition to these for the provision of more specialist support (for example, British Sign Language interpretation).

This government believes it is important that all students, including those with neurodiverse conditions and/or disabilities receive an appropriate level of support wherever and whatever they choose to study, and is committed to ensuring that all students receive the support they need to enable them to study alongside their fellow students on an equal basis.

We do not hold information on whether a further education and skills learner has a registered neurodiverse condition. Adult (19+) further education and skills learner participation (which includes apprenticeships) in the 2019/20 academic year by primary learning difficulty and/or disability and/or health problem as self-declared by the learner can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a87f0184-c377-46df-b8d7-8c73d7aca865.

This government expects all higher education (HE) providers to fulfil their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to be making reasonable adjustments for all students, including students with neurodiverse conditions, and disabled higher education students, not just those in receipt of Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA).

In terms of funding, DSA is available in addition to the standard support package to help students with the additional costs they may face in HE because of their disability, including long-term health conditions, mental health conditions or specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia.

DSA is not means tested and does not have to be repaid. It is available to full-time and part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, alongside support available from HE providers, and in line with the recommendations of the student’s DSA Needs Assessment. There is no list of approved disabilities; to receive DSA, any student must be eligible for the main support package and disabled in line with the definition contained in the Equality Act 2010.

Disabled students and students with neurodiverse conditions should expect to have their needs met through inclusive learning practices and individual reasonable adjustments made by their HE providers. DSA is available in addition to these for the provision of more specialist support (for example, British Sign Language interpretation).

The government’s guidance to schools is clear that, whilst anyone can be a victim of abuse, schools and colleges should recognise that some groups of children, including LGBTQ+, are potentially more at risk than others from child-on-child sexual violence and sexual harassment. Therefore, when we developed the relationships, sex, and health education (RSHE) curriculum, we worked with a wide range of stakeholders and representative groups. We made sure that care and attention were taken when developing the support and guidance for LGBTQ+ pupils and their teachers. The RSHE curriculum teaches pupils how to recognise and report abuse, including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Pupils are taught how to report concerns and seek advice when they suspect or know that something is wrong.

Part 1 of the ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ guidance provides advice on peer-on-peer abuse, including the indicators and signs to look for, how to identify it, and how to respond to reports. Part 5 of ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ provides detailed guidance on managing reports of child-on-child sexual violence and sexual harassment. The Department for Education’s ‘Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Between Children’ advice includes more detailed information on what sexual violence and sexual harassment look like, important context, legal duties, and advice on a whole-school approach to preventing abuse.

We have asked schools to dedicate time from INSET days to focus on training and preparations for delivering the RSHE curriculum and safeguarding. We are also extending our designated safeguarding lead support and supervision programme, with a specific focus on sexual harassment and abuse, and will share the learning from that work with all schools. We have also set up a specific National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children ‘Reporting Abuse in Education’ helpline to offer advice and make referrals when necessary. The number is 0800 136 663.

International students are a vital and valued part of our higher education sector. I speak regularly with my counterparts across the government about how various COVID-19 policies may affect students, with a view to minimising burdens for students while maintaining public health. I remain in close contact with Department for Health and Social Care Ministers responsible for the Managed Quarantine Service.

Quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel is a necessary measure taken in order to stop the spread of potentially harmful variants of COVID-19 into the UK. International students on the ‘red list’ are still able to enter the UK if they have been in or transited through a 'red list’ country in the last 10 days, but they are required to quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel on arrival for ten days as set out in the guidance.

The government recently published an update to the International Education Strategy, stressing the UK’s commitment to international students. The strategy contains a number of specific commitments to improve the international student journey, prioritising international student experience.

The Department has encouraged examination boards to set their fees appropriately based on the costs involved with alternative arrangements in 2021. The Department worked at pace with Ofqual to provide clarity to examination boards, and the wider sector, on how alternative arrangements to examinations in 2021 would work.

Examination boards are responsible for setting their examination fees. Although examinations did not take place this summer, examination boards are incurring a range of costs as part of their processes that will lead to the awarding of qualifications. Examination boards need to cover these costs, and they will make commercial decisions on fees and refunds on that basis.

Examination boards have stated that they do not intend to profit from any reduction in their costs this year. Statements from individual examination boards can be accessed on their websites. Given the unusual circumstances this year, it is not possible for them to have certainty about their 2021 costs in advance. It is for individual examination boards to publish any details on costings and rebate arrangements.

The Department has encouraged examination boards to set their fees appropriately based on the costs involved with alternative arrangements in 2021. The Department worked at pace with Ofqual to provide clarity to examination boards, and the wider sector, on how alternative arrangements to examinations in 2021 would work.

Examination boards are responsible for setting their examination fees. Although examinations did not take place this summer, examination boards are incurring a range of costs as part of their processes that will lead to the awarding of qualifications. Examination boards need to cover these costs, and they will make commercial decisions on fees and refunds on that basis.

Examination boards have stated that they do not intend to profit from any reduction in their costs this year. Statements from individual examination boards can be accessed on their websites. Given the unusual circumstances this year, it is not possible for them to have certainty about their 2021 costs in advance. It is for individual examination boards to publish any details on costings and rebate arrangements.

When a variant of COVID-19 is classed as a variant of concern, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) will increase targeted testing in that area to help suppress and control any possible new cases and better understand the new variants.

The reintroduction of face coverings for pupils, students or staff, may be advised for a temporary period in response to particular localised outbreaks, including variants of concern. In all cases, any educational drawbacks should be balanced with the benefits of managing transmission.

In Enhanced Response Areas, Directors of Public Health have discretion to recommend supervised in-school testing, or that secondary schools reintroduce face coverings in indoor communal areas including classrooms, subject to an assessment of the educational impact against public health benefit.

The Strengthened Support Packages are now the process for escalating any education-based interventions. NHS Test and Trace has set up Regional Partnership Teams (RPTs) made up of Public Health England (PHE) Regional Directors; Contain Regional Convenors; and Joint Biosecurity Centre Regional Leads to support local areas in managing outbreaks. Local Authorities or Directors of Public Health who are concerned about the impact of variants of concern on nurseries, schools and colleges should first and foremost engage with their RPTs. We continue to work closely with other government departments throughout the response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including PHE and DHSC, as well as stakeholders across the sector.

Our policy on the system of controls is kept under review and based on the latest scientific and medical advice including in the context of prevalence, new variants and progress of the vaccination programme. We will continue to develop comprehensive guidance and to understand the impact and effectiveness of these measures on staff, pupils, students and parents.

We have asked the Office for Students (OfS) to reform the Strategic Priorities Grant for the 2021-22 financial year. These reforms include the re-allocation of high-cost subject funding towards the provision of high-cost subjects that support the NHS and wider healthcare policy, high-cost science, technology, mathematics and engineering subjects, and subjects meeting specific labour market needs, as well as the removal of the London Weighting element of the Strategic Priorities Grant.

The OfS has publicly consulted on these proposals, and responses from universities, students and others will be taken into account before any final decisions on allocations are made.

The OfS is analysing the responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.

We have asked the Office for Students (OfS) to reform the Strategic Priorities Grant for the 2021-22 financial year. These reforms include the re-allocation of high-cost subject funding towards the provision of high-cost subjects that support the NHS and wider healthcare policy, high-cost science, technology, mathematics and engineering subjects, and subjects meeting specific labour market needs, as well as the removal of the London Weighting element of the Strategic Priorities Grant.

The OfS has publicly consulted on these proposals, and responses from universities, students and others will be taken into account before any final decisions on allocations are made.

The OfS is analysing the responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.

We have asked the Office for Students (OfS) to reform the Strategic Priorities Grant for the 2021-22 financial year. These reforms include the re-allocation of high-cost subject funding towards the provision of high-cost subjects that support the NHS and wider healthcare policy, high-cost science, technology, mathematics and engineering subjects, and subjects meeting specific labour market needs, as well as the removal of the London Weighting element of the Strategic Priorities Grant.

The OfS has publicly consulted on these proposals, and responses from universities, students and others will be taken into account before any final decisions on allocations are made.

The OfS is analysing the responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.

Hotel quarantine is in place to prevent the spread of potentially harmful COVID-19 variants in the UK. There is a need to have strict rules in place to prevent the vaccine effort from being undermined. As is the case for any international arrival, the costs of quarantine are borne by the traveller, and the costs are the same for any individual arriving in the UK from (or via) a red list country.

However, the department’s officials have worked closely with the higher education (HE) sector and colleagues across the government to ensure that UK residents who are facing significant financial hardship (including international students, due to their visa status) will have the opportunity to apply for a deferred repayment plan when booking their managed quarantine hotel room. Travellers who are eligible will be referred to a government debt collection agency (“Qualco”), who will perform an independent financial assessment and determine an appropriate payment plan. Information on the deferred repayment plan can be found on GOV.UK.

In addition, students experiencing financial hardship should speak to their HE provider about the support available. The government has made an additional £85 million of student hardship funding available to HE providers in the 2020/21 academic year. This is in addition to the £256 million of government-funded student premium funding already available to HE providers to draw on for the 2021/21 academic year. This support can be used to help all students, including postgraduates and international students, who can be confident in expressing concerns about hardship to their provider without any impact on their immigration status.

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

The Joint Council for Qualifications has published clear guidance for centres to support them to determine teacher assessed grades. The guidance provides detailed information to schools and colleges on the grading process and the different factors that need to be accounted for. Teachers have the flexibility to use a range of evidence to determine students’ grades, including the use of optional questions provided by exam boards.

The sets of questions with mark schemes were provided to centres on 31 March 2021. Exemplar responses were provided to centres on 12 April, to assist teachers with marking these questions and making fair, objective, and consistent judgements of the standard of a student’s performance. The sets of questions were made openly available on 19 April.

In addition to the guidance and the assessment materials, exam boards have provided grade descriptors and exemplification materials to support teachers in making an evidence-based judgement of the grade at which each student is performing. This will ensure that there is a common basis to all teacher assessed grades.

To ensure qualifications are fair, students will be assessed only on what they have been taught. Centres can draw on a range of evidence to make their assessment. This range and flexibility in the assessment approach means that qualifications cannot be moderated in the way, for example, that non-examined assessments can be in normal years. We trust teachers to make judgements of the grades reflected by their students’ evidence. They are best placed to understand their students’ performance. To support teachers, exam boards will check centres’ approaches to assessment and provide external quality assurance, including the review of a sample of grades. Head teachers will also have to sign a head of centre declaration form to confirm they support the grades submitted. Parents and pupils can have confidence in the grades awarded this summer. As set out in the guidance, this year’s quality assurance process is not designed to moderate grades but will support teachers to do what is needed and ensure centres adhere to the exam boards’ requirements, in order to ensure outcomes are as consistent as possible.

All schools should be calm and orderly environments. The Government is pursuing an ambitious programme of work to improve behaviour in schools. Earlier this month we commenced the Behaviour Hubs programme, investing £10 million to help schools develop and sustain a culture where good behaviour is the norm. We are reforming training as part of the Early Career Framework, so that all new teachers will be shown how to effectively manage behaviour in their first two years in the profession from September 2021. We will be consulting on how we can help head teachers remove phones from the school day and other revisions to the Department’s behaviour and discipline and expulsions guidance later in the year.

The Department’s programme of work to improve behaviour is in response to Ofsted judgements, Department for Education teacher surveys and wider research conducted prior to the COVID-19 outbreak which consistently show that managing pupil behaviour has been a longstanding and serious challenge for some schools, and particularly so in a secondary context.

The Department has been working closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office since the audit was undertaken in February 2020 to address all the recommendations and published its formal response in January 2021 in the House Library, paper reference DEP2021-0072.

The Department has undertaken to publish an update to the audit in June 2021 and further details regarding the release mechanism of the full audit report will be contained in this update.

The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards, ensuring all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can read fluently and with understanding. By ensuring high quality phonics teaching, the Government wants to improve literacy levels to give all children a solid base upon which to build as they progress through school and help children to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.

Turn on the Subtitles (TOTS) is a campaign to persuade broadcasters to turn on same language subtitles by default for children’s television (Key Stage 2 and 3). The Department has recently made an assessment of the evidence behind the TOTS campaign and the current evidence is inconclusive over whether turning on the subtitles improves children’s reading.

It is the choice of parents and guardians whether their child watches television with subtitles on.

Schools are advised against all educational visits at this time. The Department has updated its advice to schools on the planning and booking of educational day and residential visits: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#educational-visits.

It is in line with the Government’s roadmap to recovery, as set out in: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021.

We recognise that outdoor activity and access to nature is a fundamental part of childhood which supports children’s mental health and wellbeing and understanding of the importance of the natural world. We also know that some children have good access to natural spaces whilst others do not, such as those living in areas of high urban disadvantage.

The national curriculum includes content in different subjects which promotes understanding of the natural world. Primary science and geography give pupils a firm foundation for the further study of the natural environment in secondary school, through teaching about climate, the habitats of plants and animals and how environments can change, which can include positive and negative impacts of human actions. In secondary school, pupils continue to study ecosystems, including positive and negative human interactions with ecosystems and their impact on biodiversity, and are taught about how human and physical processes interact to influence and change landscapes, environments, and the climate. The teaching of this content can be supported by direct contact with the natural environments.

We want headteachers to have as much discretion as possible over how they use their funding. It is for schools to decide how to teach the curriculum and what wider pastoral and extra-curricular activity to put in place, based on the needs of their pupils and drawing on evidence of effective practice. Schools’ core funding is rising per financial year by £2.6 billion in 2020-21, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20 funding levels.

To support children from disadvantaged backgrounds to have better access to natural environments, the department has provided funding for the ‘Children and Nature Programme’, working alongside Natural England and the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs. The programme is supporting three delivery projects which aim to demonstrate and improve understanding of the effectiveness of interventions in nature, particularly for schools with the highest proportions of disadvantaged pupils in England.

We also recognise the important role wraparound childcare and other out-of-school activities, such as outdoor education, can play in providing enriching activities which support children’s physical and mental health and wellbeing. That is why we have ensured, for the duration of the national lockdown, that these activities have been able to stay open for all children eligible to attend school on site, where it is to support certain essential purposes, and for vulnerable children and young people under any circumstance.

As of 8 March 2021, in line with the wider return of pupils to school, these settings are now able to open for all children. Vulnerable children and young people can continue to attend under any circumstance, with parents of other children able to access this provision for their children where it is:

• Reasonably necessary to support them work, seek work, undertake education or training, address a medical need or to attend a support group.
• Being used as part of their child’s efforts to obtain a regulated qualification, meet the entry requirements for an education institution, or to undertake exams and assessments.
• Being used by electively home educating parents as part of their arrangements for their child to receive a suitable full-time education.

As set out in the ‘COVID-19 Response – Spring 2021’ guidance, we have also committed to ensure all children will be able to access outdoor education and activity provision under any circumstance, from 29 March, in line with when schools close for the Easter holidays. This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021.

We are also exploring the option of introducing a new GCSE in Natural History after receiving a proposal from the exam board OCR. We have had an initial discussion on the proposal with OCR. We have made no commitment to introduce the GCSE at this stage. We, and the independent qualifications regulator Ofqual, will determine whether the proposal meets all the necessary conditions to sit alongside our rigorous suite of reformed GCSE qualifications.

The bursaries offered by the Department for initial teacher training (ITT) are intended to incentivise applications to ITT courses. The Department does not use a fixed methodology to decide bursaries but does take account of a number of factors when considering the bursary offer in each subject, including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need. The Department also prioritises English Baccalaureate subjects to provide young people with a strong academic foundation that keeps options open for work and further study.

The bursaries offered for initial teacher training (ITT) are reviewed before the start of the annual recruitment cycle. In doing this, the Department considers factors such as historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need. Being able to change bursary amounts gives flexibility in responding to the need to attract new teachers and ensures money is spent where it is needed most.

It remains the case that all trainee teachers on tuition fee-funded ITT routes can apply for a tuition fee loan, so they do not have to pay the fee up-front. They can also apply for a means-tested maintenance loan of up to £12,382 to support their living costs. Additional means-tested funding is available from Student Finance England for trainees in particular circumstances, including those with children, adult dependants or those who have a disability.

Rapid testing is a vital part of the Government’s plan to supress COVID-19. Since January 2021, we have been delivering the programme of rapid asymptomatic testing for the primary school, secondary school and further education college workforce, and this includes supply teachers and support staff.

The school workforce includes all staff who are school based, including those in maintained nursery schools and schools-based nurseries.

Schools and colleges should offer testing to teaching and non-teaching staff members, such as support staff, clinical practitioners and therapists. Non-permanent members of staff should also be offered testing, such as trainee teachers on placement in school and the supply workforce.

In addition to testing in schools, employment agencies who employ over 50 staff and are registered in England can also register to order tests for employees who cannot work from home: https://www.gov.uk/get-workplace-coronavirus-tests.

Lateral flow testing may also be available through local councils. Rapid lateral flow test sites can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/find-covid-19-lateral-flow-test-site.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/966866/210224_Schools_guidance.pdf.

There is a clear and accessible route for private candidates to receive a grade this year, at the same time as other candidates. Private candidates will be expected to work with a centre to be assessed on a range of evidence, as other candidates will be. Ofqual and the exam boards will issue guidance to support centres assessing private candidates. This evidence could include evidence created with another established education provider.

Regarding evidence gathered externally, subject to consultation, Ofqual’s head of centre guidance states: “Centres should bear in mind when making judgements… authentic evidence from other centres or established educational providers where a student might have studied during the course or such evidence from where a student has studied with the support of a specialist teacher or tutor. Exam boards will provide further guidance to support centres in how they can determine whether evidence is likely to be authentic, including where they may normally rely on evidence that has been produced with certain types of provider without the need for detailed checks.” Further guidance will be provided by exam boards shortly. Further information regarding Ofqual’s head of centre guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/965648/6749-3_Summer_2021_GQs_-_Info_for_Heads_of_Centre.pdf.

Centres will be expected to provide to private candidates a description of the main elements of their approach to assessment before they register with them. This means that private candidates have the opportunity to choose a centre and approach that is suitable for the evidence they are able to provide.

The Department conducted a two week consultation with Ofqual, starting on 15 January 2021, which sought the views of students, parents, schools and colleges and employers on the proposals for examinations and assessments for vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) and other general qualifications such as the International Baccalaureate, and the alternative arrangements that would be used where examinations do not take place.

As part of the consultation, the Department engaged with a number of stakeholders including awarding organisations, such as the International Baccalaureate, to discuss their views on the proposals.

On 25 February 2021, the Department announced that, to achieve fairness for students, other general qualifications that are not GCSEs, AS or A levels, such as the International Baccalaureate, should not be subject to examinations and will be awarded in a similar way to GCSE, AS and A levels. Alongside this, the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) has also confirmed to its UK schools that examinations will not take place this summer.

Ofqual are currently undertaking a consultation on the regulatory framework that will allow awarding organisations including the IBO to award VTQs and other general qualifications this year. The response to this consultation will be published as soon as possible to allow final arrangements to be communicated to students, schools, and colleges.

The Department conducted a two week consultation with Ofqual, starting on 15 January 2021, which sought the views of students, parents, schools and colleges and employers on the proposals for examinations and assessments for vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) and other general qualifications such as the International Baccalaureate, and the alternative arrangements that would be used where examinations do not take place.

As part of the consultation, the Department engaged with a number of stakeholders including awarding organisations, such as the International Baccalaureate, to discuss their views on the proposals.

On 25 February 2021, the Department announced that, to achieve fairness for students, other general qualifications that are not GCSEs, AS or A levels, such as the International Baccalaureate, should not be subject to examinations and will be awarded in a similar way to GCSE, AS and A levels. Alongside this, the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) has also confirmed to its UK schools that examinations will not take place this summer.

Ofqual are currently undertaking a consultation on the regulatory framework that will allow awarding organisations including the IBO to award VTQs and other general qualifications this year. The response to this consultation will be published as soon as possible to allow final arrangements to be communicated to students, schools, and colleges.

The Department conducted a two week consultation with Ofqual, starting on 15 January 2021, which sought the views of students, parents, schools and colleges and employers on the proposals for examinations and assessments for vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) and other general qualifications such as the International Baccalaureate, and the alternative arrangements that would be used where examinations do not take place.

As part of the consultation, the Department engaged with a number of stakeholders including awarding organisations, such as the International Baccalaureate, to discuss their views on the proposals.

On 25 February 2021, the Department announced that, to achieve fairness for students, other general qualifications that are not GCSEs, AS or A levels, such as the International Baccalaureate, should not be subject to examinations and will be awarded in a similar way to GCSE, AS and A levels. Alongside this, the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) has also confirmed to its UK schools that examinations will not take place this summer.

Ofqual are currently undertaking a consultation on the regulatory framework that will allow awarding organisations including the IBO to award VTQs and other general qualifications this year. The response to this consultation will be published as soon as possible to allow final arrangements to be communicated to students, schools, and colleges.

In October 2020, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) invited local areas to submit proposals for reorganising local government in Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Somerset. In December 2020, MHCLG received four proposals for Cumbria, two for North Yorkshire and two for Somerset. These proposals are currently being consulted on, and MHCLG are planning for a decision on the final outcome of the proposals received to be made by summer 2021.

The government will assess each proposal on its respective merits and the Department for Education will be contributing its assessment of the impact on children’s services and education to MHCLG’s overall assessment. Each proposal will be assessed against three criteria, which are: whether the proposal would improve local government and service delivery across the area of the proposal; how much local support it commands across the area of the proposal; and whether the area of any new unitary council would cover a credible geography. All of these proposals will be considered after the consultation and before a decision is made on which option, if any, to implement. The eventual decision would also be subject to Parliamentary approval.

The Department has published guidance on transport to schools and other places of education to help those responsible for the provision of dedicated transport to put in place proportionate safeguards to minimise the risk of transmission of COVID-19. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transport-to-school-and-other-places-of-education-autumn-term-2020/transport-to-school-and-other-places-of-education-autumn-term-2020.

Dedicated transport to schools and other places of education often carries the same group of children or young people on a regular basis. They do not mix with the general public on those journeys which helps to limit the number of other people with whom they come into contact.

Those involved in the provision of home to school transport must do all that is reasonably practicable to maximise social distancing where possible and minimise the risk of transmission. What is practicable is likely to vary according to local circumstances.

Wherever possible it is recommended that children and young people from different schools do not travel at the same time or, if they do, the children from each school should sit together as group. However, the Department acknowledges that distancing and grouping may sometimes not be possible. Where this is the case, other measures become even more important such as increased cleaning of vehicles, washing of hands and opening windows for ventilation.

At each stage of the Department's response to the COVID-19 outbreak, we have listened to the latest medical and scientific advice. The Department has worked closely with other Government departments, including Public Health England (PHE) and the Department of Health and Social Care, as well as stakeholders across the sector, to ensure that our policy is based on the latest scientific and medical advice, and to continue to develop comprehensive guidance based on the PHE-endorsed ‘system of controls’ and to understand the impact and effectiveness of these measures on staff, pupils and parents.

The Department also works closely with the NHS Track and Trace and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and following their research the Department issued guidance on keeping spaces well ventilated. There are a number of tools, beyond ventilation, to reduce airborne transmission of COVID-19 (including engineering interventions), and research on these technologies is ongoing.

The findings from all this developing work will, in due course, inform our guidance and standards for school buildings.

Current evidence recommends that the way to control COVID-19 is the same, even with the current new variants. The PHE-endorsed ‘system of controls’ which have been in use throughout the COVID-19 outbreak set out in our published guidance, which includes ventilation, continue to be the right measures to take. These measures create an inherently safer environment for children, young people, and staff where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. PHE keeps all these controls under review, based on the latest evidence. Schools therefore need to continue to implement these controls to the fullest extent. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.

Our guidance signposts to further advice from the health and safety executive on air conditioning and ventilation during the COVID-19 outbreak. The guidance can be found here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/equipment-and-machinery/air-conditioning-and-ventilation.htm.

The government does not impose a limit on the number of university places available to international students.

The government remains clear that our world-leading universities, which thrive on being global institutions, are, and will always be open to international students. On 6 February 2021, the government published an update to the International Education Strategy. At the heart of this update, we reaffirmed our commitment to the ambitions of the 2019 strategy to increase the number of international students hosted in the UK to at least 600,000 per year by 2030. These ambitions will be supported through the efforts of our International Education Champion, Sir Steve Smith.

Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the department has worked closely with partners across the education sector, and with higher education (HE) providers, to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and the disruption it has caused to students’ education, including for those who will be applying to university for the 2021 admissions cycle. This has included introducing a number of flexibilities to assist visa holders in the UK who have been impacted by global travel and health restrictions, including: the ability to engage via distance/blended learning for the duration of the 2020/21 academic year; offering extensions of visas for those whose leave expired; relaxing the rules on visa switching in the UK; and confirming that existing international students who have been studying by distance/blended learning will remain eligible to apply for the new Graduate route, provided they meet the other requirements of the route.

We encourage universities to be flexible when making offers to students whose education has been disproportionally and adversely impacted from the COVID-19 outbreak, to ensure they are able to receive fair offers for 2021. The department will continue to work closely with universities to ensure that places are available for everyone with the talent and ability to succeed in higher education.

As a result of flexibility shown so far, the UK remains an attractive study destination with the number of international students at UK HE providers reaching a record high of 560,000 in the 2019/20 academic year, an increase of 12% from the previous year. While these recent figures are encouraging, we are not complacent and will continue to do our utmost to continue to attract and support international students.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccines the UK should use and who should be offered them. JCVI advises that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems. As the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age.

For phase 1, this will capture all those over 50 years of age, and all those 16 years of age and over who are clinically extremely vulnerable or have certain underlying health conditions. This captures almost all preventable deaths from COVID-19 and will include thousands of staff in the education, childcare and children’s social care workforce.

For phase 2, the JCVI have advised that prioritisation should continue to be based on age. They advise that an age-based approach remains the most effective way of reducing death and hospitalisation from COVID-19 and will ensure more people are protected more quickly. The second phase of the vaccine rollout will begin from mid-April and will aim to offer every adult aged 18 and over a first dose of the vaccine by 31 July.

The government is working closely with partners across the education sector to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and the disruption it has caused to young people’s education, including for those who will be applying to university for the 2021 admissions cycle.

Higher education providers in England, as autonomous bodies, independent from government, are responsible for their own recruitment decisions. We have discussed this year’s arrangements with the devolved administrations, where different approaches are always taken to exams, for example in Scotland where students take Scottish Highers rather than A levels.

On 25 February, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced that students in England will receive grades determined by teachers, with pupils only assessed on what they have been taught. There have been frequent and ongoing discussions with devolved administrations to discuss various matters relating to aligning processes where possible. This has included discussion affecting transition to university for students.

At every stage since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, decisions have been informed by the scientific and medical evidence, both on the risks of COVID-19 infection, transmission, and illness, and on the known risks to children and young people not attending school and college, balancing public health and education considerations.

The overwhelming evidence is that the risk to children and young people from SARSCoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) is low, but the risks to children and young people of being out of school and college are high and increase the longer restrictions on education are in force. Whilst schools and colleges can be places where transmission occurs, there is no strong evidence of them driving largescale community transmission. Rather, case rates within schools and colleges have been shown to reflect those in the local community, and risks are reduced further in such a controlled environment by having appropriate mitigations and systems of control in place. Based on the recent data from the Office for National Statistics, the risks to education staff are similar to those for most other occupations.

That is why the Government’s priority has been keeping education and nurseries fully open, with a consistent message that schools, colleges and nurseries should be considered last when implementing restrictions, and first when restrictions can be lifted. As such the Government has taken, and continues to take, other steps across society and the economy to manage the spread of the virus, to allow restrictions on education to be lifted.

The Government’s Roadmap is a step-by-step plan to ease restrictions in England cautiously, starting with schools and colleges, taking into consideration the scientific evidence, now published by Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-covid-19-scientific-evidence-supporting-the-uk-government-response. The Roadmap sets out indicative, “no earlier than” dates for the steps which are five weeks apart. These dates are wholly contingent on the data; before taking each further step, the Government will review the latest data on the impact of the previous step against four tests. This is a cautious approach to easing lockdown, which is guided by the data, in order to avoid a surge in cases which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS and claim more lives before people have the chance to receive a vaccine. This approach maximises the value in breaks in the easing of measures to allow this assessment and help maintain control, including around school holidays, which the Chief Medical Officer has said is a natural firebreak at Easter. Even as restrictions are lifted, adherence to the nonpharmaceutical interventions that are still in place to reduce transmission remains essential.

Schools are able to choose to use a proportion of their catch up premium to support catch up in the next academic year.

The Department recognises that it may be challenging for schools to deliver effective catch up measures during school closures. We have asked for schools to strategically plan the catch up support required for their pupils when schools reopen fully. The Education Endowment Foundation has published resources to help schools implement a catch up strategy using evidence based approaches. These resources are available here: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/guide-to-supporting-schools-planning/.

In January 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, committed to working with parents, teachers and pupils to develop a long term plan to help pupils make up their learning over the course of this Parliament. As an immediate step to support early years, schools, and colleges, on 24 February 2021 the Department committed an additional £700 million to support summer schools, tutoring, early language interventions, and a new one-off recovery premium. Further detail on this support and funding will be shared in due course.

Based on the Government’s assessment of the current data against its four tests for relaxing COVID-19 restrictions, the Department will no longer be asking schools to limit attendance and from 8 March all year groups should be allowed to attend school. The latest data suggests that infection rates have fallen across all ages, including in children and young people.

From 8 March, all primary pupils should attend school. All secondary pupils will be offered testing and those who consent to testing should return to face-to-face education following their first negative test result. Testing is voluntary but strongly encouraged. Pupils not undergoing testing should attend school in line with the phased return arrangements in their school. Head teachers in secondary schools can phase the return of their pupils during the first week as they carry out on-site asymptomatic testing. Where secondary schools are operating a phased return to allow for testing, the Department expects schools to provide remote education.

School attendance will be mandatory for all pupils and the usual rules on school attendance will apply again from 8 March, including parents’ duty to secure their child’s regular attendance at school.

The Department has published updated guidance which outlines the actions school leaders should take to minimise the risk of transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19) in their school from 8 March. The guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/963541/Schools_coronavirus_operational_guidance.pdf.

30 hours free childcare is an entitlement for working parents of three and four-year-olds. It aims to help working parents with the costs of childcare so they can take up paid work if they want to or can work additional hours.

The Childcare Bill policy statement, published in December 2015, is clear that students will not qualify for 30 hours free childcare. However, students who undertake paid work in addition to their studies and meet the income requirements will be eligible for the additional hours. This means they do not have to physically work 16 hours a week but need to earn the equivalent of a week of 16 hours at national minimum wage or national living wage (currently just over £7,250 a year).

Students with children aged three and four will qualify for the universal 15 hours free childcare entitlement in England, regardless of the income or employment status of the parent, allowing them to access 15 hours per week of high-quality early education for their child.

Those undertaking a master’s degree are able to apply for a postgraduate master’s loan of up to £11,222 for help with course fees and living costs, which may include childcare.

Students starting a doctoral degree on or after 1 August 2020, can apply for a postgraduate doctoral loan of up to £26,445 which can also help with course fees and living costs, including childcare.

In cases where full-time students have additional needs that are not met through the student support system, support already available to them from their education institutions, they may be able to apply for help through Universal Credit. It remains the case that to be eligible for 85% reimbursement of childcare costs through Universal Credit Childcare a claimant must be in employment.

Further details on claiming Universal Credit, and Universal Credit Childcare, as a student can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-and-students.

The Government is keen to minimise disruption and has put in place specific measures for allied health profession students, like paramedicine, that includes ensuring that students on placement have access to broadly equitable support as for NHS staff, such as being classed as essential workers for the purpose of testing and access to travel, school and childcare places, and having access to appropriate Personal Protective Equipment for placement duties.

Health Education England (HEE) is working with system partners to ensure any impact on training and placements is minimised; including supporting universities to rearrange interrupted clinical placements and finding alternatives such as using simulation where that is appropriate.

We know that the health and wellbeing needs of students must be prioritised and NHS England & Improvement and HEE have been working closely with universities and placement providers to ensure students have the support they need, including access to NHS mental health support.

Ministers and officials from the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care have regular discussions on these issues.

The Department updated part three, the safer recruitment section, of our statutory safeguarding guidance ‘keeping children safe in education 2020’ on 18 January 2021 to reflect legal changes following the UK’s exit from the European Union, including guidance on checking the past conduct of individuals who have lived or worked overseas. Further details on this statutory safeguarding guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.

Selection tests are part of the admission arrangements of individual grammar and partially selective schools, and it is for the admission authorities of those schools to decide the content of the test, in line with the School Admissions Code. Different tests are therefore used by different schools or within different local authority areas. Selection tests are administered locally, and the Department does not routinely collect information on individual test results. The Department does not intend to undertake such a data collection exercise at this time.

There are protections within the system to ensure admission arrangements are fair, including consultation duties and rights of objection to the independent school’s adjudicator.

It is a key priority of the government to ensure that as many students graduate on time this year and we are working closely with other government departments including the Department of Health and Social Care, to ensure this.

We also recognise that this is a difficult and uncertain time for students, but we are working with the higher education (HE) sector to make sure all reasonable efforts are being made to enable students to continue their studies. If providers are unable to facilitate good online or in-person tuition, they should seek to avoid charging students for any additional terms they may need to undergo as a consequence – avoiding effectively charging them twice.

Eligible full-time undergraduate students whose universities require them to extend their studies in the current 2020/21 academic year up until 31 August 2021 will qualify for means-tested long courses loans for the additional period of study to help them with their living costs.

Eligible full-time students who will need to retake either all or part of a year of study in the academic year 2021/22 from September 2021 onwards, may qualify for additional tuition fee loan support for their repeat study in the academic year 2021/22. Full-time undergraduate students qualify for fee loan support for the length of the course, plus one extra year if needed, less any years of previous study. A further year of fee loan support in addition to the standard entitlement can be paid in certain circumstances where students need to repeat a year of their current course for compelling personal reasons (which may include reasons associated with the COVID-19 outbreak). In addition, eligible students will qualify for partially-means tested loans for living costs for a repeat year or part-year of study.

Universities and other HE providers are autonomous and responsible for setting their own fees within maximum fee limits set by regulations. In deciding to keep charging full fees, HE providers will of course want to ensure that they can continue to deliver courses which are fit for purpose and help students progress their qualifications.

It is a registration condition of the Office for Students (OfS) that HE providers must deliver well-designed courses that provide a high-quality academic experience for all students and enable a student’s achievement to be reliably assessed. If HE providers are unable to facilitate good online or in-person tuition, they should seek to avoid charging students for any additional terms they may need to undergo as a consequence, avoiding effectively charging them twice. Whether or not an individual student is entitled to a refund of fees will depend on the specific contractual arrangements between the HE provider and student.

The government has been clear that universities are expected to maintain quality and academic standards and the quantity of tuition should not drop. Universities should seek to ensure all students, regardless of their background, can access their studies remotely. The OfS monitors online teaching to ensure standards are met, and there is an established process in place for students with concerns about their education.

In the spring of 2019, a consultation was held on proposals for a mandatory register of children not attending state or registered independent schools to help local authorities carry out their responsibilities in relation to children not in school.

The consultation sought views on a range of questions linked to the implementation of a system of registration, including what data it would be appropriate to collect. The consultation closed in June of 2019. Responses to the consultation have been considered and further details will be set out in a formal Government response document, expected later this year.

The wider significant restrictions in place as part of the national lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the community enable us to continue prioritising keeping nurseries and childminders open, supporting parents and delivering the crucial care and education needed for our youngest children.

We continue to prioritise keeping early years settings open in full because of the clear benefits to children’s education and wellbeing and to support families. Caring for the youngest age group is not something that can be done remotely.

Early years settings remain low risk environments for children and staff. Current evidence suggests that pre-school children (0 to 5 years) are less susceptible to infection and are unlikely to be playing a driving role in transmission.

There is no evidence that the new variant of COVID-19 disproportionately affects young children. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has recently made clear that the overwhelming majority of children still have no symptoms or very mild illness only.

Modelling carried out by the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling last spring in the context of relaxing school closures following the initial lockdown period suggested that resuming early years provision has a smaller relative impact than primary school, which in turn has a smaller relative impact than resuming secondary schooling. Further information can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/886994/s0257-sage-sub-group-modelling-behavioural-science-relaxing-school-closures-sage30.pdf.

Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the department has made decisions informed by data, analysis and advice from a number of different sources including the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), Public Health England, the Office for National Statistics, and the Joint Biosecurity Centre to ensure our policies are guided by the most up to date scientific evidence.

The scientific evidence papers from SAGE meetings are published in tranches and are available by following the link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/scientific-evidence-supporting-the-government-response-to-coronavirus-covid-19.

Schools will close as usual over February half term and are not expected to remain open to vulnerable children and the children of critical workers during that week.

Early years provision should remain open and continue to allow all children to attend full time or their usual hours.

Ensuring continued access to childcare for parents and carers remains a priority for the government. We have ensured that all before and after-school clubs, holiday clubs, and other out-of-school settings have been able to continue to stay open for vulnerable children and children of critical workers, during the national lockdown, including the February half term, in line with the protective measures guidance for the sector.

People can also continue existing arrangements for childcare bubbles, and for contact between parents and children where they live apart.

Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure. Schools have autonomy over these budgets and their employment arrangements and decisions on staffing are made at the local level.

Schools can continue to engage supply teachers and other supply staff during this lockdown period and schools may want to consider how supply teachers, and other temporary staff, can assist in delivering face to face education to pupils who continue to attend school, and to deliver remote education for those who are not attending.

If supply staff employed via employment agencies are unable to work due to COVID-19, their employment agency can place them on furlough and use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to claim for 80% of their wages, including during school holiday periods, provided that the eligibility criteria are met. Information on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme. Information on eligibility criteria is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-which-employees-you-can-put-on-furlough-to-use-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.

Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure. Schools have autonomy over these budgets and their employment arrangements and decisions on staffing are made at the local level.

If supply staff employed via employment agencies are unable to work due to COVID-19, their employment agency can place them on furlough and use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to claim for 80% of their wages, including during school holiday periods, provided that the eligibility criteria are met. Further information on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme. The eligibility criteria is available to view her: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-which-employees-you-can-put-on-furlough-to-use-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.

Employers can now flexibly furlough their employees for the hours the employee would usually have worked in that period, whilst also being able to work outside of the hours they are furloughed. Employees can work for any amount of time, and any work pattern but they cannot do any work for their employer during hours that employers record them as being on furlough. Information on this is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#flexible-furlough-agreements.

The decision to furlough an employee, fully or flexibly, is entirely at the employer's discretion as it is dependent on a range of factors that the employer is best placed to determine, for example, the amount of work available for employees.

Further guidance on workforce planning can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950510/School_national_restrictions_guidance.pdf.

A key principle behind the Government's education reforms is to give teachers and school leaders the freedom to use their professional judgement to decide the structure of their workforce to best meet the needs of their pupils. This autonomy extends to employment arrangements with temporary staff, including supply teachers.

Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure and they can continue to engage supply teachers to assist with the delivery of face-to-face and remote education during the period of national lockdown.

Where schools choose to use employment agencies to source supply staff, we recommend that schools consider using the agency supply deal, operated by the Department in conjunction with Crown Commercial Services, as this offers a list of preferred suppliers that must be transparent about the rates they charge. Further information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/deal-for-schools-hiring-supply-teachers-and-agency-workers.

Schools can access further guidance on other workforce planning options within our guidance on restricting attendance within the national lockdown here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/952443/210114_School_national_restrictions_guidance_FINAL_14012021.pdf.

Whilst we recognise childcare attendance has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, we saw attendance rise over the autumn term from 482,000 on 10 September to 759,000 on 17 December 2020. On 17 December the government therefore announced a return to funding early years settings for the spring term on the basis on attendance, as measured by the January 2021 census.

The early years census count has gone ahead as expected with the census guidance unchanged. To support local authorities, we issued some technical advice on how that guidance can be applied this year. In summary, children who are ill or self-isolating can be counted, as can those whose parents have temporarily withdrawn their children from open nurseries and childminders out of caution, and so long as the parent/guardian has not altered their parental declaration relating to expected hours with the provider. Children should not be counted in the census where a setting has closed or restricted attendance, unless as a result of situations as set out in the supporting technical advice, for example staff sickness, COVID-19 isolation and staff shielding.

We will fund local authorities in the 2021 spring term based on their January 2021 census. If attendance rises after the census is taken, we will top-up councils to up to 85% of their January 2020 census level, where a local authority can provide evidence for increased attendance during the spring term. This will give local authorities additional financial confidence to pay providers for increasing attendance later in the spring term.

In line with the existing and unchanged statutory guidance local authorities should ensure that providers are not penalised for short-term absences of children, for example sickness, arriving late or leaving early, or a family emergency through withdrawing funding, but use their discretion where absence is recurring or for extended periods, taking into account the reason for the absence and the impact on the provider. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-of-free-early-education-entitlements-funding-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/use-of-free-early-education-entitlements-funding-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

We continue to work with the early years sector to understand how they can best be supported to ensure that sufficient safe, appropriate and affordable childcare is available to those who need it now, and for all families who need it in the longer term.

We recognise that childcare attendance has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. However, we saw attendance rise over the autumn term from 482,000 on 10 September to 759,000 on 17 December. On 17 December, the government therefore announced a return to funding early years settings on the basis of attendance. Under these arrangements, local authorities should ensure that providers are not penalised for short-term absences of children (for example sickness, arriving late or leaving early, or a family emergency through withdrawing funding), but use their discretion where absence is recurring or for extended periods, taking into account the reason for the absence and the impact on the provider.

While early years settings remain open for all children, we know that attendance was lower in the first week of January than it was before Christmas. We are looking at the attendance data and will continue to keep the funding position under review.

The early years census count will go ahead this week as expected and the census guidance is unchanged. We have issued some technical advice on how that guidance can be applied this year.

In summary, we have taken the view that where a child is reasonably expected to attend early years provision, and that provision is made available to them by the provider, their expected hours should be recorded in the early years census. This means children who, were it not for the impact of COVID-19 on either their own personal circumstances or on the operation of their early years setting, would be attending early years provision. This includes children who have previously attended the provision and children who were expected to start attending the provision in January.

Where the provider is temporarily closed due to circumstances such as staff infections or isolation periods, they should return their expected levels of provision for census week. Where the provider chooses not to offer the entitlements – i.e., to close, or only offer a limited provision to children of key workers - then then they should not make a return for a child who is not being offered a place.

We stay in regular contact with the early years sector and have heard from them already on this subject. We publish regular official statistics on attendance in early years settings, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak-23-march-2020-to-14-january-2021. We will be closely monitoring both parental take-up of places and the capacity and responses of providers and will keep under constant review whether further action is needed.

All primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in England are now expected to provide remote education for the majority of their pupils and students, with the exception of vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers, who can attend school or college in person. Where vulnerable children and young people and children of critical workers do not attend school, we expect schools to provide them with remote education.

Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure. Schools have autonomy over these budgets and their employment arrangements and decisions on staffing are made at the local level.

Schools can continue to engage supply teachers and other supply staff during this lockdown period and schools may want to consider how supply teachers, and other temporary staff, can assist in delivering face to face education to pupils who continue to attend school and to deliver remote education for those who are not attending.

The Department is considering what further guidance may be helpful to schools with their workforce planning. Schools should continue to check updates to our guidance on restricting attendance in the national lockdown, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950510/School_national_restrictions_guidance.pdf.

My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced on 4 January 2021 that early years settings remain open for all children during the national lockdown.

Details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.

Schools have been restricted because additional measures are needed to contain the spread of the virus. The wider significant restrictions in place as part of the national lockdown to contain the spread of the virus in the community enable us to continue prioritising keeping nurseries and childminders open, supporting parents and delivering the crucial care and education needed for our youngest children.

Early years settings remain low risk environments for children and staff. Current evidence suggests that pre-school children (0 to 5 years) are less susceptible to infection and are unlikely to be playing a driving role in transmission. There is no evidence the new strain of the virus causes more serious illness in either children or adults and there is no evidence that the new variant of COVID-19 disproportionately affects young children.

PHE advice remains that the risk of transmission and infection is low if early years settings follow the system of controls, which reduce risks and create inherently safer environments. This report from PHE shows that, at present under 5s have the lowest confirmed case rate of all age groups: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports.

Early years settings have been open to all children since 1 June and there is no evidence that the early years sector has contributed to a rise in virus cases within the community. Early modelling evidence from SAGE evidenced in the report: Modelling and behavioural science responses to scenarios for relaxing school closures showed that early years provision had a smaller relative impact on transmission rate when modelled with both primary schools and secondary schools. The report is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/886994/s0257-sage-sub-group-modelling-behavioural-science-relaxing-school-closures-sage30.pdf.

Early years childcare providers were one of the first sectors to have restrictions lifted last summer, in recognition of the key role they play in society. Childminders and nursery staff across the country have worked hard to keep settings open through the COVID-19 outbreak so that young children can be educated, and parents can work. The earliest years are the most crucial point of child development and attending early education lays the foundation for lifelong learning and supports children’s social and emotional development. We continue to prioritise keeping early years settings open in full because of the clear benefits to children’s education and wellbeing and to support working parents. Caring for the youngest age group is not something that can be done remotely.

These plans are being kept under review in the light of emerging scientific evidence. We are working with the scientific community to understand the properties and dynamics of the new variant VUI-202012/01 in relation to children and young people.

We have no plans to extend the deadline of 15 January for primary school applications.

Applications for school places are made online or by post. The restrictions on attendance at schools do not prevent parents from submitting applications for school places.

We have made guidance available on “Children of critical workers and vulnerable children who can access schools or educational settings”. The document sets out the high level role-types for which the children of critical workers would be considered eligible to continue to attend school. The list in the guidance is not exhaustive, but it should offer sufficient information to help parents and carers to identify if their work falls under one of the umbrella groups. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision.

Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 and EU transition response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors. Children with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker can go to school if required. Schools should speak to parents and carers to identify who needs to go to school, and parents and carers who are critical workers should keep their children at home if they can.

The Department knows that every school will have a different number of children of critical workers who need to attend. It is important that on-site provision is provided for these pupils. There is no limit to the numbers of these pupils who may attend, and schools should not limit attendance of these groups. We expect schools to work with critical worker parents to ensure their child is given access to a place if it is required, so that parents can continue providing vital services.

We recognise the challenges faced by schools, teachers, and students, and know that disruption has been felt differently across the country and between schools and colleges in the same area and between students within individual institutions.

In addition to a package of measures announced to ensure exams are delivered fairly next summer, the Department confirmed the launch of an expert group to consider the differential impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on students and recommend mitigations for these impacts. The expert advisory group will ensure that any further policies recommended to my right hon. friend, the Secretary of State for Education support the measures already announced and are developed with the education sector. We are working to finalise the terms of reference and membership of the group and additional details will be provided shortly.

The Department is aware of the disruption which many students are experiencing because of the COVID-19 outbreak. In recognition of these challenges, students will be supported with the provision of advance notice of topic areas and with examination support materials such as formulae sheets.

Advance notice of topic areas and details of the examination support materials to be provided will not be made available until the new year, when it is likely that much of the curriculum will already have been covered. This will ensure that students acquire a breadth of knowledge, whilst also giving students support with focusing their revision. Ofqual and the examination boards are undertaking work to determine how this will look for different qualifications, ensuring that it is applied fairly across subjects.

The unprecedented package of changes that the Department, Ofqual and the examination boards are making will ensure that young people can demonstrate their knowledge and understanding and move on to their next stage of education, training or employment.

The package of measures to ensure the fair delivery of examinations can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-support-the-summer-2021-exams.

Only selective schools can take ability into account for the purposes of admissions. They are not required to inform the Department of the measures they use to assess ability. We are not aware of any schools which routinely use SATs to assess a child’s eligibility for admission.

We are aware that teachers and staff have worked tirelessly over the last term. This has included their important role in contact tracing, to help in the national effort to limit the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, which we know has led to additional work over weekends and holidays.

We want to limit the impact of this over the Christmas holidays, and are clear that from 6 days after the final day of teaching, schools are not asked to play a role in any contact tracing.

During these 6 days, schools are not asked be on-call at all times. Staff responsible for contact tracing might designate a limited period in the day to receive notification of positive cases, contact the DfE helpline and advise close contacts to self-isolate (this can be done by text or e-mail). If a pupil or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, having developed symptoms within 48 hours of being in school, the school is asked to assist in identifying close contacts and advising that they self-isolate. This is as the individual may have been infectious whilst in school. To note, where a pupil or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, having developed symptoms more than 48 hours since being in school, the school should not be contacted. Parents and carers should follow contact tracing instructions provided by NHS Test and Trace.

To ensure this means staff get the time off they need and deserve, schools may wish to use an INSET day, to make Friday 18 December a non-teaching day. Where a school’s last teaching day is on Thursday 17 December, there should be no pupil contact tracing asks beyond Wednesday 23 December.

Where a pupil or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, having developed symptoms more than 48 hours since being in school, the school should not be contacted. Parents and carers should follow contact tracing instructions provided by NHS Test & Trace who will send a text, email alert, or call with instructions on how to share details of people who have had close, recent contact.

Where pupils are required to self-isolate due to contacts during the holidays schools do not need to be informed about their absence until the first day of the new term.

The DfE helpline will remain open as normal, but close from 16:00 24 December to 28 December and on 1 January. Urgent public health advice can still be sought at these times via out of hours routes for local health protection teams.

The Department recognises the challenges currently faced by schools, teachers, and students, and knows that the disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has been felt differently across the country, between schools and colleges in the same area, and between students within individual institutions. In addition to the package of measures announced to ensure exams are delivered fairly next summer, the Department has also confirmed the launch of an expert advisory group to monitor and advise on lost and differential learning due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department is working to finalise the membership of this group, and will ensure that membership is representative of the sector, and geographically diverse.

The package of measures to ensure the fair delivery of exams can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-support-the-summer-2021-exams.

Children are at the centre of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system, with person-centred planning and co-production a key part of the Children and Families Act (2014). Local authorities in England are already under a duty to present the child’s views to the tribunal.

The Children and Families Act (2014) included powers to pilot a right for children under 16 to bring an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) in England.

A written ministerial statement on 20 December 2017 confirmed that, after careful consideration, the decision had been taken not to pilot these powers, which were automatically repealed in March 2019 as per the provisions of the Children and Families Act (2014). The written ministerial statement can be found at the following link: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2017-12- 20/debates/17122029000015/SpecialEducationalNeedsAndDisability?highlight=special%20educational%20needs#contribution-D73DDB22-DC0A-4A07-94F8-BA43908D6585.

The universal catch up premium funding, worth £650 million overall, will be delivered in 3 payments across the 2020/21 academic year. The first payment, 25% of the total, has been made to schools already, totalling to £159,011,640. The second payment of catch up premium funding will be made early in the new year and the third payment in the summer term.

The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) will provide additional, targeted support to disadvantaged pupils who need the most help to catch up. Through the programme, schools will be able to access high-quality, subsidised tuition from approved Tuition Partners and our most disadvantaged schools will be supported to employ in-house Academic Mentors to provide tuition to their pupils.

The NTP went live on 2 November 2020 and schools are now able to access tuition to support disadvantaged pupils that need the most help to catch up. Our delivery partner for the Tuition Partners pillar, the Education Endowment Foundation, has approved 33 Tuition Partners who will offer high-quality, subsidised tuition to schools. For this academic year, it is estimated that, through the Tuition Partners, approximately 15,000 tutors will support the scheme offering tuition to around 250,000 pupils.

In addition to this, the first 188 Academic Mentors have now been placed in schools from November. In total we will place 1,000 Academic Mentors, with the further cohorts starting in schools in January and February 2021.

We are working with departments across government to evaluate access to free school meals for families with no recourse to public funds. In the meantime, the extension of eligibility will continue with the current income threshold until a decision on long-term eligibility is made.

Once the review is complete, we will update our guidance accordingly. Our current guidance regarding the extension can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/guidance-for-the-temporary-extension-of-free-school-meals-eligibility-to-nrpf-groups.

At present, data is not available regarding the take up of free school meals by no recourse to public funds groups during the temporary extension.

We are working with departments across government to evaluate access to free school meals for families with no recourse to public funds. In the meantime, the extension of eligibility will continue with the current income threshold until a decision on long-term eligibility is made.

Once the review is complete, we will update our guidance accordingly. Our current guidance regarding the extension can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/guidance-for-the-temporary-extension-of-free-school-meals-eligibility-to-nrpf-groups.

At present, data is not available regarding the take up of free school meals by no recourse to public funds groups during the temporary extension.

The Early Years National Funding Formula has been designed to allocate our record investment in early years entitlement funding fairly and transparently across the country.

We will continue to keep under review the data underpinning the formula.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 December 2020 to Questions 122774 and 122775.

As maintained schools, maintained nursery schools (MNS) have statutory requirements placed on them, such as the need to have a head teacher, a special educational needs coordinator, and a governing body. They are also subject to administrative requirements such as the need to publish a range of policies on their websites. The cost of these are not experienced by non-school early years providers, and MNS do not have the economies of scale that many primary schools have.

The government has secured a continuation of around £60 million of supplementary funding for MNS in the 2021-22 financial year, as part of the 2020 Spending Review: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2020-documents. The Department for Education is considering what is required to ensure a clear, long-term picture of funding for MNS, and will say more about this soon.

The government has already confirmed that up to £23 million of supplementary funding will be provided to local authorities, to enable them to continue protecting the funding of MNS during the summer term in 2021: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/early-years-support-package-to-help-close-covid-language-gap. This provides MNS with certainty about funding for the 2020/21 academic year.

This government remains committed to the long-term funding of MNS, and any reform to the way they are funded will be accompanied by appropriate funding protections.

We are working with departments across government to evaluate access to free school meals for families with no recourse to public funds. In the meantime, the extension of eligibility will continue with the current income threshold until a decision on long-term eligibility is made.

Once the review is complete, we will update our guidance accordingly. Our current guidance regarding the extension can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/guidance-for-the-temporary-extension-of-free-school-meals-eligibility-to-nrpf-groups.

At present, data is not available regarding the take up of free school meals by no recourse to public funds groups during the temporary extension.

We are working with departments across government to evaluate access to free school meals for families with no recourse to public funds. In the meantime, the extension of eligibility will continue with the current income threshold until a decision on long-term eligibility is made.

Once the review is complete, we will update our guidance accordingly. Our current guidance regarding the extension can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/guidance-for-the-temporary-extension-of-free-school-meals-eligibility-to-nrpf-groups.

At present, data is not available regarding the take up of free school meals by no recourse to public funds groups during the temporary extension.

We are working with departments across government to evaluate access to free school meals for families with no recourse to public funds. In the meantime, the extension of eligibility will continue with the current income threshold until a decision on long-term eligibility is made.

Once the review is complete, we will update our guidance accordingly. Our current guidance regarding the extension can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/guidance-for-the-temporary-extension-of-free-school-meals-eligibility-to-nrpf-groups.

At present, data is not available regarding the take up of free school meals by no recourse to public funds groups during the temporary extension.

This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Dame Glenys Stacey, to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

The Department intends to publish local authority level data on 15 December. This data will be included as part of the publication ‘Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak’.

The frequency of the publication ‘Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak’ will be reviewed in the new year.

The Department is constantly reviewing the content of its publications. Announcements about future content will be made through the official statistics release page which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/statistics.

The Department intends to publish local authority level data on 15 December. This data will be included as part of the publication ‘Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak’.

The frequency of the publication ‘Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak’ will be reviewed in the new year.

The Department is constantly reviewing the content of its publications. Announcements about future content will be made through the official statistics release page which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/statistics.

The Department does not collect data on the number of staff hours spent on contact tracing in schools.

Schools can contact the dedicated advice service as soon as they become aware that someone who has attended school has tested positive for COVID-19. If, following triage, further expert advice is required, the adviser will escalate the school’s call to the Public Health England (PHE) local health protection team.

The advice service (or PHE local health protection team if escalated) will provide advice on who must be sent home. To support them in doing so, the Department recommends schools keep a record of pupils and staff in each group, and any close contact that takes places between children and staff in different groups.

The Department does not collect data on the number of staff hours spent on contact tracing in schools.

Schools can contact the dedicated advice service as soon as they become aware that someone who has attended school has tested positive for COVID-19. If, following triage, further expert advice is required, the adviser will escalate the school’s call to the Public Health England (PHE) local health protection team.

The advice service (or PHE local health protection team if escalated) will provide advice on who must be sent home. To support them in doing so, the Department recommends schools keep a record of pupils and staff in each group, and any close contact that takes places between children and staff in different groups.

Following the end of term break, our top priority for January will be the welfare of students, staff and the communities around higher education (HE) providers. Department for Education officials are working with Department of Health and Social Care regarding January testing plans and will provide further guidance in due course, considering future developments and the relevant scientific advice.

If students are symptomatic or have tested positive, they should follow the standard government guidance, including self-isolating immediately and booking a test through the .GOV.UK website, available here: https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test.

Getting all children and young people back into school for the new academic year has been a national priority. Schools have continued to receive their core funding allocations throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. Following last year’s Spending Round, school budgets are rising by £2.6 billion in the 2020-21 financial year, £4.8 billion in 2021-22, and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20. On average, schools are attracting 4.2% more per pupil in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20. As stated in our guidance, schools should use these existing resources when making arrangements for the autumn term. The full guidance on the reopening of schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

Schools have also been able to claim additional funding for exceptional costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak between March to July 2020, such as additional cleaning required due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, and increased premises costs to keep schools open for priority groups during the Easter and summer half-term holidays. The guidance about claiming additional funding for exceptional costs associated with COVID-19 is available through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools/school-funding-exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19-for-the-period-march-to-july-2020.

On Thursday 5 November 2020, the New National Restrictions replaced the Local COVID-19 Alert Level measures: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-and-childcare-settings-new-national-restrictions-from-5-november-2020. At the end of the new restrictions period, we will return to a regional approach, based on the latest data. At all local alert levels, the expectation is that education and childcare provision should continue as normal.

UK nationals living in the European Economic Area or Switzerland at the end of the transition period, and who wish to study in England, will continue to be eligible for home fee status and student support from Student Finance England for courses starting up to 7 years after the end of the transition period.

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 in making up for lost teaching time. To help schools make the best use of this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has published a support guide for schools, with evidence based approaches to catch-up for all students: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/national-tutoring-programme/covid-19-support-guide-for-schools/#nav-covid-19-support-guide-for-schools1. It has also published a further school planning guide for the academic year 2020/21: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/guide-to-supporting-schools-planning/. Alongside this, the Government has also announced a new £350 million National Tutoring Programme, to increase access to high-quality tuition for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Government realises that every school will have different needs as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, and we advise schools to tailor the catch-up funding to their specific contexts, and towards the pupils who need it most. As part of their catch-up strategy, schools can spend their premium on contingency planning for remote education: for example, purchasing additional devices or more textbooks. The EEF COVID-19 Support Guide includes advice for schools in how to support effective remote education and access to technology. The Department for Education is also delivering a remote education support package, which includes access to the right technology to deliver remote education, peer to peer training on how to use this technology effectively, and practical tools, guidance and webinars. Additionally, over 340,000 laptops and tablets are being made available by the Department this term to support disadvantaged children in Years 3 to 11, whose face-to-face education may be disrupted.

Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 disruption on the attainment and progress of all pupils is a key research priority for the Government, and we have commissioned an independent research and assessment agency to consider catch-up needs and monitor progress over the course of the academic year.

The Government has provided £4.6 billion of un-ringfenced funding to local authorities to support them with the pressures they are facing as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Department has also allocated more than £70 million to local transport authorities, enabling them to increase dedicated home to school and college transport capacity over the autumn term. We are reviewing funding arrangements for the spring term.

A Ministerial Directive to encourage and support people having to self-isolate due to COVID-19, now means that if someone has been told to self-isolate on or after 28 September 2020, they are under a legal obligation to do so, and could be eligible for a £500 Test and Trace Support Payment if they live in England and meet all the criteria. The guidance on eligibility is available through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/test-and-trace-support-payment-scheme-claiming-financial-support/claiming-financial-support-under-the-test-and-trace-support-payment-scheme.

If a person tests positive for COVID-19, they will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace and receive an NHS Test and Trace account ID. This means they can apply for the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme through their local authority, if they meet the eligibility criteria set out in the guidance.

The Test and Trace Support Payment is paid in addition to any other benefits and Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) that a person currently receives.

The Government has provided guidance on SSP for all employers, which includes specific information on when an employee is off work because of COVID-19. Employees in self-isolation are entitled to SSP for every day they are in isolation, if they meet the eligibility conditions. The guidance on SSP is available through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/employers-sick-pay.

The National Careers Service is available to everyone in England over the age of 13. People can access professional careers advice via the National Careers Service website, web chat or telephone-based advisers.

The National Careers Service works closely with the Department for Work and Pension’s rapid response redundancy services, to provide co-ordinated comprehensive support including skills assessments, careers workshops and mapping existing skills to new job opportunities.

In July, as part of our Plan for Jobs, the government announced an additional £32 million investment in the community based National Careers Service. This investment supports all adults affected by COVID-19, and prioritises from day one of their unemployment:

• 18-24 year olds not in education, employment or training (NEETs).
• Low-skilled adults without a level 2 qualification.
• Single parents with at least one dependent child living in the same household.
• Adults with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Adults aged 50 years and over who are unemployed or at demonstrable risk of unemployment.

In addition, the National Careers Service prioritises all adults who have been unemployed over 12 months.

We will continue to monitor performance of the National Careers Service and the support it provides, as we better understand the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

On 1 October 2020, the Department announced a further remote education support package to help schools and further education (FE) colleges meet the remote education expectations set out in the schools’ guidance for full opening published in July 2020, and the FE colleges’ autumn term guidance published in August 2020. Alongside this, the Department published a Temporary Continuity Direction which makes it clear that schools have a duty to provide remote education for all state funded, school age children who are unable to attend school because of COVID-19, in line with guidance and the law. This has been in effect since 22 October 2020.

The remote education support package includes access to the right technology to deliver remote education, peer to peer training on how to use this effectively, and practical tools, guidance, and webinars.

The Government has also 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. School leaders have discretion over how to use this funding to best support the needs of their pupils.

The Department has invested over £195 million to support remote education and access to online social care, delivering over 220,000 laptops and tablets during the summer term for disadvantaged children who would not otherwise have had access to a digital device. The Department is adding to this support by making over 340,000 additional laptops and tablets available to support disadvantaged children that might face disruption to their education. The support package also includes £1.5 million of additional funding to expand the EdTech Demonstrator programme, which provides peer-to-peer support for schools and colleges.

Alongside this, the Department has made £4.84 million available for Oak National Academy both for the summer term of last academic year, and for the 2020-21 academic year, to provide video lessons for a broad range of subjects for Reception up to Year 11. Oak will remain a free optional resource for 2020-21.

Schools have continued to receive their core funding allocations throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. Following last year’s spending round, school budgets are rising by £2.6 billion in the 2020-21 financial year, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20.

On 31 October, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced that a national lockdown will start on 5 November and that childcare settings would be able to remain open for the duration. The Prime Minister also confirmed that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will be extended for the duration of the national lockdown. Workers can retain their job and receive 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500.

Wider business support schemes are also available. For information on the new national restrictions including the financial support available please see: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november.

We want to provide security to nurseries and childminders who are open for the children who need them. For the autumn term we are continuing to pay local authorities for the childcare places they usually fund. This means that even if providers are open but caring for fewer children, as a result of low demand from parents or due to public health reasons, they can continue to be funded for the autumn term at broadly the levels they would have expected to see in the 2020 autumn term had there been no COVID-19 outbreak. This gives another term of secure income to nurseries and childminders who are open for the children who need them.

A spending review is currently underway and this will be the opportunity to examine the overall funding for early years. We are presenting the clearest and fullest case that we can for early years.

Specific Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) disapplications are in place for any provider who cannot deliver the EYFS requirements in full due to restrictions imposed through the national lockdown. Further information about the EYFS disapplications is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures.

Where a child is no longer eligible for 30 hours free childcare when the parent reconfirms (for example, if the parent has a change in employment status), they will enter a grace period where they can retain their childcare for a short period of time. The grace period is intended to ensure children do not need to immediately leave childcare provision should their parents drop out of eligibility, as well as offering stability for the child and childcare provider. Whilst in a grace period, if parents regain eligibility they can reconfirm through the childcare service and the 30 hours free entitlement would continue without a break for their child. If, after the grace period, a parent has not reconfirmed their eligibility, they can still access the 15 hours universal entitlement for 3- and 4-year olds.

Sprinklers must be fitted in schools where they are deemed necessary to keep pupils and staff safe. All new school building projects must also comply with building regulations, including on fire safety, and this must be independently checked by Building Control or an Approved Inspector before buildings are occupied.

We are currently updating Building Bulletin 100 (BB100), the department’s guidance on fire safety design in schools. A revised version of BB100 will be the subject of a full public consultation in due course. This will give full consideration to the implementation of various fire safety measures, including the use of sprinkler systems.

All schools have to follow strict fire safety regulations, including having a fire risk assessment designed to ensure they are as safe as possible and well prepared in the event of a fire.

We are planning to spend more than £3.6 billion on early education entitlements in the 2020-21 financial year. Over one million children every year are now benefitting from the government's record investment in early years entitlements.

In October 2019 we announced additional funding for our early education entitlements for the 2020-21 financial year. For the 2020-21 financial year, all local authorities have seen an increase of 8p an hour to the hourly funding rates for the 2-year-old entitlement and an increase of 8p an hour, in the vast majority of areas, for the 3- and 4-year-old entitlement. The increase in funding rates for the 3- and 4-year-old entitlements meant that more than half of authorities have seen an increase in line with inflation (GDP deflators) of their hourly funding rate in the 2020-21 financial year.

The department carries out its own regular research on the cost of delivering childcare. The 2018 provider finances report is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/provider-finances-evidence-from-early-years-providers.

The department is due to publish a 2019 provider finances report in the Autumn.

The provider finances reports include data on the following:

• Total cost and total income of delivering childcare.
• Variation in unit costs (an approximate measure of the average cost per child per hour for all children in the setting) and staff hourly pay.
• Patterns in parent-paid hourly fees and additional charges for parents.

The 2019 Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers also includes information on the costs of providing childcare and is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/845080/SCEYP_2019_Main_Report_Nov19.pdf.

Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including the proposed legislation on online safety.

I and many of my ministerial colleagues and representatives from expert organisations attended the virtual summit on hidden harms, which my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, hosted on 21 May. More details are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prime-ministers-virtual-summit-on-hidden-harms.

Following the summit, the government reiterated its commitment to introducing a world-leading regulatory framework to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online.

I will be meeting with my hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Digital and Culture, to discuss our approach to online harms.

The Government published guidance for full opening of schools this academic year, and makes it clear that the curriculum should remain broad so that the majority of pupils are taught a full range of subjects over the year, including the arts. In Key Stage 4 and 5, the majority of pupils are expected to continue to study their examination subjects, including those who are due to take exams in music.

There may be an additional risk of infection in environments where singing, and playing of wind or brass instruments, takes place. The guidance also sets out detailed advice on how schools can teach music safely. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#A.

The Government has announced the biggest funding boost for schools in a decade which will give every school more money for every child. We are investing a total of £14.4 billion more in schools over the next three financial years, with a cash increase of £2.6 billion in 2020-21, and increases of £4.8 billion and £7.1 billion in 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively, compared to the financial year 2019-20. Schools have the autonomy to use these resources as they see best, to ensure that they teach a broad and balanced curriculum.

In terms of wider support for music in schools, the Government provided £300 million for a network of Music Education Hubs between 2016 and 2020. In January, the Government announced a further £80 million investment in Music Education Hubs for the financial year 2020-21 to ensure all children, whatever their background, have access to a high-quality music education. The hubs continue to provide a range of opportunities for young people, including whole class instrumental teaching, individual lessons, ensembles, choirs and more. Schools should work with their hubs to ensure a quality music education for all pupils this year.

The Government published guidance for full opening of schools this academic year, and makes it clear that the curriculum should remain broad so that the majority of pupils are taught a full range of subjects over the year, including the arts. In Key Stage 4 and 5, the majority of pupils are expected to continue to study their examination subjects, including those who are due to take exams in music.

There may be an additional risk of infection in environments where singing, and playing of wind or brass instruments, takes place. The guidance also sets out detailed advice on how schools can teach music safely. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#A.

The Government has announced the biggest funding boost for schools in a decade which will give every school more money for every child. We are investing a total of £14.4 billion more in schools over the next three financial years, with a cash increase of £2.6 billion in 2020-21, and increases of £4.8 billion and £7.1 billion in 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively, compared to the financial year 2019-20. Schools have the autonomy to use these resources as they see best, to ensure that they teach a broad and balanced curriculum.

In terms of wider support for music in schools, the Government provided £300 million for a network of Music Education Hubs between 2016 and 2020. In January, the Government announced a further £80 million investment in Music Education Hubs for the financial year 2020-21 to ensure all children, whatever their background, have access to a high-quality music education. The hubs continue to provide a range of opportunities for young people, including whole class instrumental teaching, individual lessons, ensembles, choirs and more. Schools should work with their hubs to ensure a quality music education for all pupils this year.

The Department’s educational visits advice is in line with guidance from Public Health England, the Cabinet Office and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and will be reviewed again in November 2020. It can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

The Department continues to work with representatives of the tour industry, devolved administrations, trade unions and other government departments as it works towards the November review.

We have temporarily extended free school meal eligibility to include some children of groups of people who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF). This extension includes children of families receiving support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and is subject to a maximum income threshold of £28,500 for families outside of London and £31,200 for families inside of London.

We have temporarily extended free school meal eligibility to include some children of groups of people who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF). This extension includes children of families receiving support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and is subject to a maximum income threshold of £28,500 for families outside of London and £31,200 for families inside of London.

We have temporarily extended free school meal eligibility to include some children of groups of people who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF). This extension includes children of families receiving support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and is subject to a maximum income threshold of £28,500 for families outside of London and £31,200 for families inside of London.

A parent of a compulsory school-aged child who is registered at a school has a legal duty to secure that child’s regular attendance. The law recognises that there are certain circumstances in which a parent cannot be guilty of not securing their child’s regular attendance at school, and religious observance is one of those circumstances.

The law also specifies how attendance should be recorded. Where a pupil of compulsory school age is unable to attend school on a day exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupil’s parents belong, the pupil’s absence must be recorded as an authorised absence.

We now expect the vast majority of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to be back in their education setting and receiving the right support and provision they need.

In a circumstance where a child cannot attend school, including if they need to self-isolate, their teachers are best-placed to know how the pupil’s needs can be most effectively met to ensure they continue to make progress even if they are not able to be in school. The requirement for all schools to use their best endeavours to secure the special educational provision called for by the pupils’ SEND remains in place.

Where a pupil has provision specified within their education, health and care plan, it remains the duty of the local authority and any health bodies to secure the delivery of this in the setting that the plan names. However, in a situation where this is difficult to do so, including where a child or young person is self-isolating, the decisions on how provision can be delivered should be informed by relevant considerations. These considerations include the types of services that the pupil can access remotely, such as online teaching and remote sessions with different types of therapists. These decisions should be considered on a case by case basis, avoiding a one size fits all approach.

Additionally, the department published a temporary continuity direction on 1 October, which makes it clear that schools have a legal duty to provide remote education for all state-funded, school-aged children who are unable to attend school due to COVID-19 in line with guidance and the law. This will come into effect from 22 October and more details are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/remote-education-temporary-continuity-direction-explanatory-note.

Alongside the Direction, we also published a further remote education support package which is designed to help schools and colleges build on and deliver their existing plans in the event that individuals or groups of pupils, including those with SEND, are unable to attend school because of COVID-19, in line with guidance and the law. This adds to existing support, including resources available from Oak National Academy which includes specialist content for pupils with SEND.

State funded schools continued to receive their budgets last academic year, as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure. This ensured that they were able to continue to pay their staff and meet their other regular financial commitments. During the period of full or partial school closures, the Department’s guidance advised schools to continue to pay any directly hired staff, including supply staff, as normal.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) COVID-19 Job Retention Scheme guidance outlines that organisations with staff costs that are publicly funded, including schools, should use that money to continue to pay staff, and not furlough their staff. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.

HMRC's Job Support Scheme will open on 1 November 2020 and run for 6 months, until April 2021. Further guidance will be published shortly and will be available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/job-support-scheme.

In September, schools fully reopened for all pupils and the Department anticipates that the demand for supply teachers will return to normal in this academic year.

A broad range of specific COVID-19 financial support for all educational settings including early years, schools, further education colleges and universities is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care.

We are aware of the changes to the Universal Credit thresholds in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, in October 2020, we will be updating the criteria by which learners benefit from full funding in the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s adult education budget funding rules 2020 to 2021 to reflect this.

The Department’s priority has been to get pupils and staff back to schools and colleges safely, which is why at each stage of our response to the COVID-19 outbreak we have listened to the latest medical and scientific advice. Staff who are clinically vulnerable whilst in schools and colleges should follow the sector specific measures in the Department’s guidance to minimise the risks of transmission. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools and here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-further-education-provision/what-fe-colleges-and-providers-will-need-to-do-from-the-start-of-the-2020-autumn-term.

If staff with significant cumulative risk factors are concerned, we recommend that schools and colleges discuss their concerns and provide reassurance of the measures they are putting in place to reduce the risk in their school or college. School and college leaders should try as far as practically possible to accommodate additional measures where appropriate.

The majority of staff in education settings will not require personal protective equipment (PPE) beyond what they would normally need for their work. PPE is only needed in a very small number of cases, which are set out clearly in the Department’s guidance on safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care settings: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safe-working-in-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care/safe-working-in-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings-including-the-use-of-personal-protective-equipment-ppe.

The COVID-19 outbreak has brought unprecedented challenges to some foster families. That is why we launched a new FosterlinePlus service in June, which provides free access to a range of specialist one-to-one support and advice services for foster families experiencing difficulties.

The government issued over £3.7 billion of additional funding to support local authorities in meeting COVID-19 related pressures, including within children’s social care. Fostering services have been working proactively to ensure that foster families remain together, and to maximise existing capacity, by providing additional resources and funding to families locally, where necessary. The department delegates the responsibility of allocating allowance according to local fostering services.

I remain committed to taking the necessary action to ensure that foster parents receive the respect and support that they need and deserve. I want to drive forward change to empower foster carers and to ensure that they can continue with their invaluable role in protecting our most vulnerable children.

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

Our latest guidance for fostering services can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-childrens-social-care-services/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-local-authorities-on-childrens-social-care.

Last year, we commissioned Ecorys to carry out an independent evaluation of our 2019 Holiday Activities and Food Programme.

The completion and publication of the final report has been delayed, due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. We continue to work with Ecorys on this and their report will be published at the earliest opportunity.

The government is currently providing the biggest increase to schools funding in a decade, with total additional investment of £14 billion across the next 3 years. This includes significant investment in high needs. There has already been a £2.6 billion increase in 2020-21, including £780 million for high needs, and in 2021-22 there will be a further year-on-year increase of £2.2 billion overall, including an additional £730 million for high needs. High needs funding will therefore have increased by £1.5 billion in 2 years. The additional investment in high needs will go directly to local authorities to support children and young people with the most complex special educational needs and disabilities, including those with education, health and care plans.

Conversations about the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review are currently ongoing, and the department will set out the importance of providing sufficient funding to ensure high quality high needs provision for all children who needs it, as part of these. The results from these discussions will be announced in due course.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 September 2020 to Question 87715.

Where a child has an education, health and care (EHC) plan this will name the specific school the child should attend. This will have been decided in consultation with the parents, the local authority, the school and any other interested parties. The specific school named on the EHC plan is required to admit the child. Therefore, the parents do not submit a list of preferred schools for where the EHC plan would apply, as they would for a place at a mainstream school.

The number of pupils with an EHC plan in elective home education at January 2020 has been published at:
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/4427630d-3082-4144-bc73-39d989ad98ee.

Figures relating to January 2021 are scheduled to be published in May 2021.

Where a child has an education, health and care (EHC) plan this will name the specific school the child should attend. This will have been decided in consultation with the parents, the local authority, the school and any other interested parties. The specific school named on the EHC plan is required to admit the child. Therefore, the parents do not submit a list of preferred schools for where the EHC plan would apply, as they would for a place at a mainstream school.

The number of pupils with an EHC plan in elective home education at January 2020 has been published at:
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/4427630d-3082-4144-bc73-39d989ad98ee.

Figures relating to January 2021 are scheduled to be published in May 2021.

The government has taken unprecedented and substantial action to ensure that children do not go hungry as we take measures to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak, including in relation to free school meals.

In the first instance, we asked schools to support eligible pupils by providing meals or food parcels through their existing food providers wherever possible. For circumstances where this was not possible, we also established a national voucher scheme. In addition, the COVID-19 Summer Food Fund supported eligible families during the summer holidays.

This summer, our £9 million Holiday Activities and Food Programme also worked across 17 local authorities, providing thousands of children with access to healthy meals and enriching activities and building on the success of the 2018 and 2019 programmes. We are currently assessing the scheme to ascertain the best way to provide children with activities as well as food during the holiday period. Our 2020 programme will help to show how free provision can be coordinated in different local areas and it will provide valuable information about what works in supporting this sector in future.

From 2021, the government has a manifesto commitment to invest up to £1 billion to help create more high-quality wraparound and holiday childcare places. We will announce further details on this new investment in due course.

The government has taken unprecedented and substantial action to ensure that children do not go hungry as we take measures to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak, including in relation to free school meals.

In the first instance, we asked schools to support eligible pupils by providing meals or food parcels through their existing food providers wherever possible. For circumstances where this was not possible, we also established a national voucher scheme. In addition, the COVID-19 Summer Food Fund supported eligible families during the summer holidays.

This summer, our £9 million Holiday Activities and Food Programme also worked across 17 local authorities, providing thousands of children with access to healthy meals and enriching activities and building on the success of the 2018 and 2019 programmes. We are currently assessing the scheme to ascertain the best way to provide children with activities as well as food during the holiday period. Our 2020 programme will help to show how free provision can be coordinated in different local areas and it will provide valuable information about what works in supporting this sector in future.

From 2021, the government has a manifesto commitment to invest up to £1 billion to help create more high-quality wraparound and holiday childcare places. We will announce further details on this new investment in due course.

The guidance for full school opening advises against overnight educational visits at this time. We continue to review this position and should the situation change, the Department will update related guidance accordingly. The guidance can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

Local authorities employ staff to manage their attendance services and fulfil their statutory responsibilities, but the Government does not collect data on the number of such officers.

Attendance officers are also employed directly by schools and academy trusts to help improve pupil attendance. In November 2019, the Department recorded the total number of attendance officers directly employed by state-funded schools in England as 2,982. A breakdown of this figure by local authority area is attached, for reference. This figure does not include attendance support through contracted services, those not directly employed by the school or those employed by local authorities. Schools also employ other professionals to improve attendance including pastoral managers, education welfare officers and home-school liaison officers, which are also not counted in this figure.

The Government has been clear that our plan is for all pupils, in all year groups, to return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term and on 2 July we published guidance to help schools prepare for this. The guidance can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

Schools have continued to receive their core funding allocations throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. Following last year’s Spending Round, school budgets are rising by £2.6 billion in 2020-21, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20.

Schools have also been able to claim additional funding for specific exceptional costs incurred due to COVID-19 between March and July 2020, such as additional cleaning required due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases and increased premises costs to keep schools open for priority groups during the Easter and summer half term holidays.

We do not consider it necessary for schools to make significant adaptations to their site to enable them to welcome all children back to school in the autumn. Following a risk assessment, some schools may determine that small adaptations to their site are required. This will be at the discretion of individual schools, based on their particular circumstances. As such, schools should use their existing resources when making arrangements to welcome all children back.

Testing for COVID-19 is most effective for those who are experiencing symptoms. The test is less likely to pick up a positive case in someone who is not displaying symptoms, meaning that there is a risk of providing false reassurance. Routine asymptomatic testing is in place in environments where the risk of transmission is higher, such as hospitals and adult care homes. There are no plans to extend this to schools. As essential workers, teachers and all staff working in education or childcare have priority access to a test if they display symptoms of COVID-19.

In order to determine the role that antibody tests could play in the response to the outbreak, we need a greater understanding of how the immune system responds to the virus. For example, it is not currently known how long an antibody response to the virus lasts, nor whether having antibodies means a person cannot be re-infected or transmit the virus to others. The Government will make decisions about any expansion of antibody testing based on the science as it becomes clear.

The Government has provided laptops and tablets to disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for examinations in year 10, receiving support from a social worker, or are a care leaver. Where care leavers, children with a social worker at secondary school and children in year 10 do not have internet connections, the Government has also provided 4G wireless routers.

The Department has delivered laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers to local authorities and academy trusts based on the Department’s estimates of the number of eligible children that do not have access to a device. Local authorities and academy trusts are best placed to identify children and young people who need devices and prioritise their needs.

The Department has published information about how many laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers have been delivered to local authorities and academy trusts in total, which can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data.

As of the end of June, over 202,000 laptops and tablets and over 47,000 4G wireless routers had been delivered to local authorities and academy trusts.

The Department will be publishing data on devices delivered to each local authority and academy trust shortly.

We recognise the significant impact that this period has had on state boarding schools, many of which have been coming to terms with the additional challenge of reductions in boarding fee income over this period.

The Government’s guidance for the full opening of schools provides advice for the range of school settings, including boarding schools. As stated in the guidance, schools should use their existing resources when making arrangements to welcome all children back for the autumn. There are no plans at present to reimburse additional costs incurred as part of that process.

We have taken steps to ensure boarding schools can receive as much support as possible to meet the financial challenges they may be facing. This includes the potential to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, accessed through guidance on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care.

A temporary measure has also been agreed that enables academy trusts to apply to the Education & Skills Funding Agency to use their general unrestricted reserves to support boarding provision in response to these unprecedented circumstances. In the case of maintained schools, schools should discuss with their local authority to make sure their use of unrestricted reserves complies with the local authority’s accounting requirements.

Guidance on opening schools can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

Data on pupil attendance in educational establishments since 23 March was published on Tuesday 9 June at the following link and covers data up to Thursday 4 June:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings.

The attendance breakdown at a national level for year groups, which was published on 10 June, can be found in table 3 in the underlying data. The data is collected from individual education establishments and the published figures include estimates for non-response.

This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The Department understands the challenging circumstances schools and early years settings are facing and is working closely with our delivery partner, the National Foundation for Educational Research, to keep progress towards the reception baseline assessment under regular review.

This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

NHS staff, emergency workers and all other critical workers are central to our efforts in battling the COVID-19 outbreak. That is why our objective is to ensure that critical workers have the childcare that they need to do their jobs during this crisis. We expect early years and childcare settings, schools and local authorities to work together to ensure sufficient provision for children.

We have committed to continue providing free early education entitlement funding to local authorities throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as ensuring early years providers have access to other government support schemes for businesses whose operations have been severely affected by COVID-19. Local authorities can use their free entitlement funding differently, redistributing it – in exceptional cases and in a clearly focussed and targeted way – in order to secure childcare for the children of critical workers, where their usual arrangements are no longer possible.

Further information is available in the guidance published at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-yearsand-childcare-closures.

The Natural England report reviewed 53 case studies and found evidence that, in the majority of cases, green bridges were used by wildlife, although further studies were needed. Guidance on the design of green bridges, based on this review, was published in December 2015 by the Landscape Institute.

Green bridges are increasingly being used as part of transport infrastructure projects to help connect habitats. For example, a green bridge was built as part of the A556 Knutsford to Bowdon improvement scheme, and the A303 Stonehenge and Lower Thames Crossing schemes both include plans for several green bridges.

HS2 has been designed with a view to avoiding or reducing impacts on habitats and species, and to create a green corridor for wildlife along its length. Between London and the West Midlands, 16 green bridges are currently planned, as well as underpasses to provide safe crossing points for bats and other wildlife.

My department has not undertaken such an assessment. National planning policy expects local plans to identify and map Local Wildlife Sites and to include policies that not only secure their protection from harm or loss but also help to enhance them and their connection to wider ecological networks.

Defra requires local authorities to report annually on the proportion of Local Wildlife Sites where positive conservation management has been or is being implemented. In 2018/19, 47% of Local Wildlife Sites across England were in positive conservation management.

The Environment Bill contains important new measures for reversing nature’s decline. These include strengthening the existing biodiversity duty, to require all public authorities to take action to conserve and enhance biodiversity. Local Authorities will also be required to produce 5-yearly Biodiversity Reports setting out the action they have taken and its impact as part of this duty.

Additionally, the Environment Bill introduces a new biodiversity net gain requirement for development. This includes measures that allow planning authorities to recognise any habitat degradation since January 2020 and to take the earlier habitat state as the baseline for the purposes of biodiversity net gain.

Pesticides may be used in the UK if the active substance has been approved and the product has been authorised. Assessments for approval and authorisation cover potential risks to health and to the environment.

The export from the UK of pesticides is regulated under the Great Britain Prior Informed Consent (PIC) regulatory regime for the export and import of certain hazardous chemicals. Companies intending to export any of these chemicals from the UK must notify the importing country via the exporter’s Designated National Authority. For Great Britain, the Designated National Authority is the Health and Safety Executive.

The exchange of information that PIC provides allows the importing countries to make informed decisions on the import of those chemicals for their specific circumstances and on how to handle and use them safely.

In the 25 Year Environment Plan, we committed to publishing an England Peat Strategy to create and deliver a new ambitious framework for peat restoration in England, setting out our plan for the management, protection and restoration of our upland and lowland peatlands, so that they deliver benefits for climate and nature.

We will be setting out a package of measures to protect England’s landscapes and deliver nature-based solutions this year.

All veterinary medicines (including pesticides and antibiotics) used in aquaculture require a Marketing Authorisation, or an import certificate for use of products authorised in other countries, from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD); in addition, they all require a prescription from a Veterinary Surgeon.

The VMD is an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) that seeks to protect public health, animal health, and the environment and promotes animal welfare by assuring the safety, quality and efficacy of veterinary medicines in the United Kingdom.

The VMD is responsible for the assessment, issue, and maintenance of all national Marketing Authorisations for veterinary medicines, in accordance with UK legislation. The potential effect of medicines (including antibiotics and pesticides) used on farmed fish in UK waters, on marine life and human health, are evaluated as part of the authorisation process for the medicine. If any risks are identified as part of this process, risk mitigation measures (e.g. withdrawal periods, user safety warnings and environmental mitigations) are employed to reduce the risk to acceptable levels. The conclusions of the human and environmental impact assessments are always factored into the benefit: risk assessment, which is used to decide whether or not a product can be authorised.

Even after a veterinary medicine is authorised for use in aquaculture, systems are in place to monitor any unexpected problems for either humans or the environment. The VMD continues to evaluate the safety of the products through the surveillance of suspected adverse reactions (SARs), via the Suspected Adverse Reaction Surveillance Scheme (SARSS).

Following the authorisation of veterinary medicines used in aquaculture, the Environment Agency (EA) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) are responsible for the regulation of discharges of medicines used in fish farms into the water environment in UK waters.

In terms of the UK, the majority of fish farming occurs in Scottish waters. It is widely accepted that SEPA implements one of the strongest regulatory regimes for the aquaculture industry anywhere in the world, designed to strengthen the protection of the marine environment.

The number of medicines that fish farmers can use in the UK is in line with other salmon producing nations in Europe. Unlike some major salmon producing countries, the UK’s approach has the added control of requiring those medicines discharged in significant quantities to meet environmental standards set to protect marine life. EA and SEPA only licence discharges to the limit of what the local environment can accommodate sustainably.

Animal rescue organisations do excellent work, often on a voluntary basis, protecting animals against cruelty and ensuring that unwanted and abandoned animals in the UK are offered the opportunity of a forever home. I am acutely aware that the coronavirus pandemic, and specifically the measures put in place to control the spread of the virus, continue to affect individuals, businesses and charities caring for animals. Protecting the welfare of animals remains a priority for Defra throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

The sector has kept us regularly updated of the developing situation, sharing their surveys particularly with respect to the rescue and rehoming of companion animals, and sharing information on cruelty investigations. It has been encouraging to see the sector working collaboratively and successfully to support itself and to safeguard the welfare of equines in their care in the face of financial hardship and uncertainty.

The latest figures from a survey by the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes (ADCH) show that although the animal rescue sector has seen a drop in income during the pandemic the financial sustainability in the sector appears to be improving. This suggests that rescues have adapted to the new situation either through fundraising in different ways or taking advantage of grants made available by the ADCH and other sources. More rescues are now taking in dogs and cats and more are rehoming. In Quarter 4 of 2020 there was a 24% Year on Year reduction of cat intake and a 32% reduction in dogs entering rescues. 68% of rescues have reported more people wish to foster dogs or cats and 58% wish to rehome a dog or cat.

National equine welfare charities have also kept us closely informed of the status of the Covid-19 Equine Rescues Emergency Fund established by the Pet Plan Charitable Trust together with World Horse Welfare and the National Equine Welfare Council. The current picture of equine welfare is better than feared, but we continue to keep things under review.

We have worked closely with sector groups to update guidance to animal rescue and rehoming organisations, and other animal charities and businesses. This has enabled them to undertake core operations as far as possible, whilst maintaining compliance with the social distancing rules and need for hygiene precautions to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. Throughout this period, we have ensured that rescue and rehoming organisations are permitted to stay open, that staff and volunteers can continue to work and tend to the animals in their care, and that rehoming, fostering and adoption services can continue in accordance with Covid-19 secure guidance.

We take the concerns of the sector very seriously and are keeping a close watch on in-take levels and trends in animal relinquishments. Defra remains committed to continued engagement with the sector to understand the longer-term impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, monitor the animal welfare implications of this and offer appropriate advice.

In line with our Resources and Waste Strategy, we are seeking powers, through the Environment Bill that will enable us to, where appropriate and subject to consultation, to introduce ecodesign standards and consumer information requirements for products. We will decide on priority products taking on board relevant evidence.

We have commissioned an updated Life Cycle Analysis of the impacts of disposable versus washable nappies to help inform any future policy interventions on nappies.

The Withdrawal Act 2018 retained the requirement for third country wines to be accompanied by a VI1 certificate as a means of maintaining the level of assurance they offer on wine standards. We have not conducted an analysis of the potential benefits of suspending VI1s. However, as VI1s already exist for wine imports from locations including Australia, USA and Chile, and these wines remain extremely competitive in our and the EU's marketplaces, we believe the new requirement to be appropriate and affordable.

Nevertheless, we did recognise that the rules underpinning detailed VI1 requirements, which are new to EU wine exporters, are contained in legislation that had to be made late in the transition period. As that did not provide much time for the EU industry to adjust, we have provided an easement to the requirement until 1 July 2021 in the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020. This allows EU wine to continue to be imported to GB using EU commercial documentation, as it did when the UK was subject to EU rules.

Although this easement will apply to all EU wine imports until 1 July 2021, the new UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement has established a system whereby producers can self-certify the certificates used to cover the movement of wine products made in the UK or the EU and moving to the other territory. This will not apply to imports of wine from other origins that are traded between the UK and the EU which will have to continue to meet the basic VI1 requirements or simplified variants of that subsequently agreed in trade deals concluded by the UK.

Provision already exists for all wine certification forms to be transmitted electronically, for which we secured confirmation in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and we will be looking at the feasibility of enabling this option in future.

I am pleased to announce that the UK has now rejoined the International Organisation of Vine and Wine after an absence of approximately 16 years. This will give the UK influence over international decisions on wine practices, processes and maintained credibility in the international trade in wine. We have not made any assessment of the potential benefits of also seeking membership of the World Wine Trade Group, but we are keeping the matter under review.

The Withdrawal Act 2018 retained the requirement for third country wines to be accompanied by a VI1 certificate as a means of maintaining the level of assurance they offer on wine standards. We have not conducted an analysis of the potential benefits of suspending VI1s. However, as VI1s already exist for wine imports from locations including Australia, USA and Chile, and these wines remain extremely competitive in our and the EU's marketplaces, we believe the new requirement to be appropriate and affordable.

Nevertheless, we did recognise that the rules underpinning detailed VI1 requirements, which are new to EU wine exporters, are contained in legislation that had to be made late in the transition period. As that did not provide much time for the EU industry to adjust, we have provided an easement to the requirement until 1 July 2021 in the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020. This allows EU wine to continue to be imported to GB using EU commercial documentation, as it did when the UK was subject to EU rules.

Although this easement will apply to all EU wine imports until 1 July 2021, the new UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement has established a system whereby producers can self-certify the certificates used to cover the movement of wine products made in the UK or the EU and moving to the other territory. This will not apply to imports of wine from other origins that are traded between the UK and the EU which will have to continue to meet the basic VI1 requirements or simplified variants of that subsequently agreed in trade deals concluded by the UK.

Provision already exists for all wine certification forms to be transmitted electronically, for which we secured confirmation in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and we will be looking at the feasibility of enabling this option in future.

I am pleased to announce that the UK has now rejoined the International Organisation of Vine and Wine after an absence of approximately 16 years. This will give the UK influence over international decisions on wine practices, processes and maintained credibility in the international trade in wine. We have not made any assessment of the potential benefits of also seeking membership of the World Wine Trade Group, but we are keeping the matter under review.

The Withdrawal Act 2018 retained the requirement for third country wines to be accompanied by a VI1 certificate as a means of maintaining the level of assurance they offer on wine standards. We have not conducted an analysis of the potential benefits of suspending VI1s. However, as VI1s already exist for wine imports from locations including Australia, USA and Chile, and these wines remain extremely competitive in our and the EU's marketplaces, we believe the new requirement to be appropriate and affordable.

Nevertheless, we did recognise that the rules underpinning detailed VI1 requirements, which are new to EU wine exporters, are contained in legislation that had to be made late in the transition period. As that did not provide much time for the EU industry to adjust, we have provided an easement to the requirement until 1 July 2021 in the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020. This allows EU wine to continue to be imported to GB using EU commercial documentation, as it did when the UK was subject to EU rules.

Although this easement will apply to all EU wine imports until 1 July 2021, the new UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement has established a system whereby producers can self-certify the certificates used to cover the movement of wine products made in the UK or the EU and moving to the other territory. This will not apply to imports of wine from other origins that are traded between the UK and the EU which will have to continue to meet the basic VI1 requirements or simplified variants of that subsequently agreed in trade deals concluded by the UK.

Provision already exists for all wine certification forms to be transmitted electronically, for which we secured confirmation in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and we will be looking at the feasibility of enabling this option in future.

I am pleased to announce that the UK has now rejoined the International Organisation of Vine and Wine after an absence of approximately 16 years. This will give the UK influence over international decisions on wine practices, processes and maintained credibility in the international trade in wine. We have not made any assessment of the potential benefits of also seeking membership of the World Wine Trade Group, but we are keeping the matter under review.

We have not made a comprehensive assessment of the merits of requiring all cleaning product and food containers to be reusable. However, we do see merit in more packaging being reusable. An increase in the use of reusable packaging will help us to achieve our ambitions of doubling resource productivity and eliminating avoidable waste by 2050, as stated in our Resources and Waste Strategy (2018).

We are currently developing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging. Through this, we want to encourage producers to move to reusable packaging, where this is appropriate and practicable. EPR for packaging will see producers paying for the waste management costs associated with the packaging that they place on the market. In using reusable packaging, producers will pay less because they will only pay fees for the first time the reusable packaging is placed on the market. In addition to this, EPR for packaging will see those costs modulated (varied) to account for various criteria. This could see producers who use reusable or recyclable packaging paying less than those who do not. We will be consulting in early 2021 on our proposals for introducing EPR for packaging.

The Government recognises the importance of making drinking water more readily available in public places, as a means of reducing single-use plastic bottles. As laid out in the 25 Year Environment Plan, and our Resource and Waste Strategy we are already taking action in this area.

The Government is committed to supporting water companies, high street retailers, coffee shops and transport hubs to offer new refill points for people to top-up water bottles for free in every major city and town in England. The water industry is developing a network of refill points through its Refill app, managed by City to Sea. The app signposts to over 30,000 free refill points and was estimated to have saved over 100 million single use bottles from entering our waste stream in 2019.

There are examples of water companies working with cities and communities across the country: the Mayor of London has partnered with Thames Water to install a network of more than 100 drinking water fountains in London, Yorkshire Water has installed fountains in Hull and Wessex Water is installing fountains in Wiltshire, United Utilities have helped install fountains in Manchester, and South West Water have also supported the installation of drinking water fountains on beaches.

While Covid-19 has held up some of this work more recently given the complexities of having open drinking water fountains in the midst of a pandemic, the investment in water fountains fits with Water UK’s wider commitment to prevent the equivalent of 4 billion plastic water bottles ending up as waste by 2030.

We do not collect data on the specific packaging used for certain product types.

We estimate that in total roughly 2.3m tonnes of plastic packaging was placed on the market in 2019.

We are currently developing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging. Through this, we want to encourage producers to move to more recyclable packaging, where this is appropriate and practicable. EPR for packaging will see producers paying for the waste management costs associated with the packaging that they place on the market. In using more easily recyclable packaging, producers will pay less. Costs will be modulated (varied) to take account of various criteria, such as recyclability.

The Government has not conducted a specific assessment of the effect of the provision of drinking water fountains on reducing the use of single-use plastic water bottles.

The Government recognises the importance of making drinking water more readily available in public places, as a means of reducing single-use plastic bottles. The Resources and Waste Strategy for England, published in December 2018, sets out the Government’s plans to reduce, reuse, and recycle more plastic than we do now. Our target is to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste throughout the life of the 25 Year Environment Plan, but for the most problematic plastics we are going faster - which is why we commit to work towards all plastic packaging placed on the market being recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

To help combat the improper disposal and littering of drinks containers, including single-use plastic water bottles, the Government committed, in its 2019 manifesto, to introduce a deposit return scheme for drinks containers subject to further evidence and analysis. The aim of a DRS for drinks containers is to increase recycling and reduce the littering of such containers.

The Government is committed to supporting water companies, high street retailers, coffee shops and transport hubs to offer new refill points for people to top-up water bottles for free in every major city and town in England. The water industry is developing a network of refill points through its Refill app, managed by City to Sea. The app signposts to over 30,000 free refill points and is estimated to have saved over 100 million single use bottles from entering our waste stream in 2019.

We have already introduced a restriction on the supply of plastic straws, drinks stirrers and cotton buds from October this year. In addition, we are scoping out additional items for which a ban would be a suitable and proportionate measure. The Environment Bill will also allow us to tackle problematic plastics through a variety of policy measures, including measures to impose charges on single-use plastic items; introduce a deposit return scheme for drinks containers; and make producers cover the costs of collecting and managing plastic packaging waste.

Generally, we prefer to help people and businesses make more sustainable choices, for example through better product labelling, rather than resorting to a charge or a ban. Plastic may be the best available material for some products and banning them may cause more harm than good. We expect the initiatives by industry, such as the UK Plastics Pact, combined with our reforms to work together to eliminate the most problematic plastics from use.

We will introduce a new world-leading tax on plastic packaging which will apply to businesses producing or importing plastic packaging which does not meet a minimum threshold of at least 30% recycled content, subject to further consultation, from April 2022. Together with the Government’s reform of the Packaging Producer Responsibility system, this will transform the economic incentives of producers by encouraging more use of recycled plastic and driving up recycling rates.

Defra has made no specific assessment of the prevalence of pollution from littering of nitrous oxide cannisters, plastics balloons, or other paraphernalia from the use of nitrous oxide gas for recreational purposes.

Keep Britain Tidy has, however, recently undertaken a national survey, on behalf of Defra, to understand litter composition across the UK. Nitrous oxide cannisters did not feature in its findings, and balloon-related litter was only found in very small quantities. The report did not distinguish between balloon-related litter as a result of the use of nitrous oxide gas for recreational purposes and other uses for balloons. The report is available at:

www.keepbritaintidy.org/sites/default/files/resources/20200330%20KBT%20Litter%20Composition%20Report%20-%20FINAL.pdf

It is an offence to drop litter of any kind, and councils have legal powers to take enforcement action against offenders. Anyone caught littering may be prosecuted in a magistrates’ court, which can lead to a criminal record and a fine of up to £2,500 on conviction. Instead of prosecuting, councils may decide to issue a fixed penalty (on-the-spot fine) of between £65 and £150.

The Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 introduced powers, such as Public Space Protection Orders, which the police and local councils can use to prevent people from taking intoxicating substances, including psychoactive substances such as nitrous oxide, in specified areas.

The Government recently tabled amendments to the Environment Bill to introduce new legislation to tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. The amendments passed in the Commons Committee Stage earlier this week.

Our approach would make it illegal for larger businesses to use commodities produced on land illegally occupied or used, and make it mandatory for businesses to conduct due diligence on their supply chains. To ensure transparency, information about businesses’ due diligence exercises will be published. Businesses that do not comply with any one of these requirements may be subject to fines and other civil sanctions.

The Secretary of State will be responsible for issuing fines, supported by a regulator (for example, a departmental agency) who will be responsible for investigating business’ compliance. Details on enforcement, including the level of fines, will be set out in secondary legislation. We will consult businesses and other stakeholders further to gather views as we develop secondary legislation.

Fines are just one tool the Government will be able to use to enforce and deter breaches of the law. The amendments set out a comprehensive suite of modern civil sanctions, including stop notices and enforcement undertakings, which we intend to use to full effect.

Fire prevention is a matter for the Home Office, whilst Defra is responsible for measures relating to wildfire mitigation across our natural landscapes. I can confirm that the Government has not issued advice to local authorities on the use of disposable barbeques.

The current byelaw legislation allows for local authorities to restrict and enforce the use of disposable barbeques in parks and public spaces. There are existing powers in legislation which can be used by authorities to regulate and prohibit the lighting of fires on Access Land and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and National Parks.

The Government is working with AONBs, National Park Authorities; and other Government departments to educate users about travelling to and spending time outdoors safely in green spaces and in the wider countryside. This includes an updated Countryside Code which advises against barbeques or fires. This guidance is available at the following links:

Green space access: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-on-accessing-green-spaces-safely

The Countryside Code: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-countryside-code/the-countryside-code