Daisy Cooper

In 2019, when civil partnerships were made available for opposite-sex couples in England and Wales, the Government ran a public consultation on the future of conversion rights between marriage and civil partnerships for both opposite and same-sex couples in England and Wales: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/civil-partnerships-next-steps-and-consultation-on-conversion#:~:text=We%20are%20seeking%20views%20on,be%20brought%20to%20an%20end

This Government is considering all options, and we will update the House in due course.

The delivery of compensation is a matter for the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) as an operationally independent arm's-length body. Going forward, IBCA is aiming to contact an average of 100 people to begin their claim every week. At that rate, they expect to have brought in to claim all those infected people who are registered with a support scheme this calendar year. The Government expects IBCA to begin payments to people who are affected by the end of this year.

As of 17 June, IBCA has contacted 1,707 people to start their compensation claim, and 1,346 have started the claim process. 462 offers of compensation have been made, totalling over £395 million, and so far 310 people have accepted their offers with more than £231 million paid in compensation.

In February, IBCA set out their plans to open the compensation service in stages to make sure it is effective and secure for all those claiming. IBCA have provided details of their plans on their website here: https://ibca.org.uk/news/payments-to-be-scaled-up-in-2025

A relative of a deceased infected person may be eligible for compensation on behalf of the estate of the deceased infected person; as an affected person in their own right; or as both.

Out of the 906 miscalculated overpayments in 2024, in respect of the second bite overpayment (742 members) we can confirm that 248 overpayments have been recovered in full; 494 are in recovery by way of monthly deductions to their pension, and 4 members have yet to have their recovery method agreed, and there is ongoing correspondence to finalise this.

In addition, all 160 duplicate pension increase members are in recovery. Where members were unable to return the overpayment in full, monthly deductions from their pension were put in place. There were no part payments or payments written off.

The scheme administrator, Capita, has not compensated or agreed a reduction of payment figures for any of the 906 cases affected by overpayments.

However, the scheme administrator has taken steps to support these members. This includes arranging monthly deductions to be taken from the member’s pension in payment where they were unable to repay their overpayment in full. Affected members are also able to contact Capita to discuss alternative repayment arrangements using the helpline number or dedicated email address.

The total value of the overpayments in relation to the 906 lump sums miscalculated in 2024 is £1,325,340.78.

The Cabinet Office has worked closely with the scheme administrator, Capita, to review all other processes in relation to the administration of the scheme, to ensure that they are documented and accurately reflect the contractual requirements and scheme rules, to deliver the best possible service to members and minimise errors.

Whilst all of the 906 overpayments happened in 2024, the impacted members retired across a number of years.

Of the 906 cases, 163 retired in 2024, 597 in 2023; 5 in 2022), 3 in 2021, 4 in 2020, 2 in 2019, and 8 in 2018. The remaining 124 cases retired before 2018.

The Cabinet Office has worked closely with the scheme administrator, to review all other processes in relation to the administration of the scheme, to ensure that they are documented and accurately reflect the contractual requirements and scheme rules, to deliver the best possible service to members and minimise errors.

Ministers and officials have discussions with Royal Mail on a regular basis in its capacity as the universal service provider. Royal Mail endeavours to respond to all queries about postal services in a timely manner. Specific operational arrangements continue to be an internal matter for Royal Mail as an independent business.

Growth is the number one mission of the government. The UK's food and drink manufacturing sector plays a significant role in the UK economy, contributing £35.1bn to GVA in 2022. The UK presents many opportunities for investment right across the food and drink supply chain stages of product development.

The Industrial Strategy, alongside Sector Plans for the growth-driving sectors, will be published in Spring 2025, aligned with the multi-year Spending Review. These Sector Plans will set out the specific sub-sectors of focus, identify key barriers to growth, and describe how government and industry intend to achieve long-term growth for the sector.

Nigel Railton, the Post Office Chair, has set out his ambitions for the future of the Post Office, which involves a reduction in central costs and other ways to deliver efficiencies, plus steps to improve the commercial future of the business in order to enable real term increases in postmaster pay. No decisions have yet been taken on the future of any individual Directly Managed Branches (DMBs) as part of this plan. The Government will continue to work closely with Post Office as they develop their transformation plan. In the meantime, we expect the Post Office to fully engage and consult with the Unions and postmaster representative bodies about future options for the DMBs.

Decisions about franchising are an operational matter for Post Office Limited. The Government is broadly supportive of POL’s transformation plan, including the aim of increasing postmaster pay, however neither the Department nor UKGI, acting as the Shareholder representative on the Board of Post Office Limited, have made the requests referred to in the question.

The Post Office will continue to deliver on the 11,500 minimum branch requirement set by Government.

Nigel Railton, the Post Office Chair, has set out his ambitions for the future of the Post Office, which involves a reduction in central costs and other ways to deliver efficiencies, plus steps to improve the commercial future of the business in order to enable real term increases in postmaster pay. No decisions have yet been taken on the future of any individual Directly Managed Branches (DMBs) as part of this plan. The Government will continue to work closely with Post Office as they develop their transformation plan. In the meantime, we expect the Post Office to fully engage and consult with the Unions and postmaster representative bodies about future options for the DMBs.

Decisions about franchising are an operational matter for Post Office Limited. The Government is broadly supportive of POL’s transformation plan, including the aim of increasing postmaster pay, however neither the Department nor UKGI, acting as the Shareholder representative on the Board of Post Office Limited, have made the requests referred to in the question.

The Post Office will continue to deliver on the 11,500 minimum branch requirement set by Government.

A Statutory Instrument to update the permitted development right for air source heat pump installations in England was laid in parliament on 8 May and will come into force on 29 May 2025. These changes will enable more households to install an air source heat pump without needing to submit a planning application. The Statutory Instrument can be found at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/560/made.

Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

Great British Energy’s branding and logo were developed in-house with government resources.

The Government has pledged to take action to stand with tenants and deliver the safety and security of warmer, cheaper homes, and has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency, with £1bn of this allocated to 2025/2026. We have published our consultation on improving energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector in England and Wales, containing proposals that could lift up to half a million households in England out of fuel poverty by 2030. Further details on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out in due course.

The Department has invested over £25 million to establish three Skills Training Competitions and the Heat Training Grant, which subsidise 33,000 retrofit training opportunities. The Heat Training Grant is on track to train 10,000 trained heat pump and heat network installers by April this year. These initiatives support the delivery of the Department’s retrofit schemes. The Government will continue to work with industry to facilitate a competent and robust retrofit supply chain in which businesses can grow. Further detail will be set out in our Warm Homes Plan later this year.

The Government is committed to ensuring a fair and balanced IP system and the protection of IP rights. The UK has a robust framework in place to protect IP rights, which includes both civil and criminal enforcement measures.

Right owners can report IP crime by contacting Trading Standards. They may also consider alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, like mediation, or taking legal action before courts.

With respect to online databases, the Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002 requires platforms to disable or remove IP infringing content that they become aware of or risk legal action.

The Independent Pornography Review assessed the effectiveness of current pornography legislation, regulation and enforcement. This included considering the difference in regulation for pornography online versus ‘offline’.

The Review has now concluded, and the report has been published. It is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/creating-a-safer-world-the-challenge-of-regulating-online-pornography.

The Government wants local authorities to feel empowered to make decisions that are in their communities’ best interests. Local authorities have a range of powers to manage gambling in their areas, both under the planning system and as licensing authorities under the Gambling Act 2005.

As set out in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s English Devolution White Paper, the Government will look to complement local authorities’ existing powers in relation to gambling outlets to refuse or place conditions on premises licences, in line with measures outlined in the 2023 Gambling White Paper, when parliamentary time allows.

The UK Copyright regime is clear about the rights holders’ intellectual property rights. Works can only be used where permission is granted or where there is an existing exception in copyright law. It is possible for rights holders to license the use of their copyright protected works for AI training at the moment, or to protect their works from being used, but we are aware that this can be difficult in practice for individual firms and creators. Responses to our consultation on the impact of AI on the copyright regime, which was published on Tuesday 17 December and closed on 25 February, will inform our approach to the design and delivery of a solution to this issue.

We will now consider the full range of responses we have received through our consultation. Addressing this is an urgent priority for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, but no decisions will be taken until we are absolutely confident we have a practical plan that delivers each of our objectives.

The Gambling Minister has met with the Betting and Gaming Council since her speech at the GambleAware conference on 4 December 2024 and the Department continues to work with the BGC on the issue of advertising. We have set the gambling industry a clear task to raise standards in this area to ensure that levels of gambling advertising does not exacerbate harm and this work will be monitored closely.

National guidelines for concussion in grassroots sport were developed by international experts on concussion and acquired brain injury to better identify, manage and prevent the issue. We continue to encourage National Governing Bodies to adapt the guidance to their own sport where appropriate.

The concussion guidelines’ impact is in the process of being evaluated by the Department for Health and Social Care, with DCMS involvement, and the evaluation is expected to be published in 2025.

The Government will continue to discuss athlete safety with relevant stakeholders and the sports sector in the coming months to ensure that everyone can take part in sport as safely as possible.

Public notices are important for ensuring that the public is kept informed of decisions made by their council which may affect their quality of life, local services or amenities, or their property. The independent 2019 Cairncross Review into sustainable journalism found that public notices are also an important source of revenue for local newspapers. However, the Government is aware of feedback from some sectors about the audience reach of these notices and the desire for greater digitalisation. In this context, the sector’s Public Notice Portal is a welcome innovation, intended to take advantage of print publishers’ growing digital audiences and provide a centralised resource for all types of public notice. We are monitoring the progress of the Portal, and the effect that it has on the audience reach of public notices.