Damien Moore

The impartiality of the BBC, as a publicly-funded broadcaster, goes to the very heart of the contract between the Corporation and all the licence fee payers it serves. This is why the BBC’s Royal Charter enshrines the need for the BBC’s services and output to be impartial.

The Charter guarantees the BBC’s operational and editorial independence, which means that it is for the BBC itself to determine how to deliver impartiality in its output. This would include the BBC’s approach to using externally contracted presenters and what impact that has on the impartiality of its output and content.

The Government stands fully behind the requirements of the Royal Charter, and has been clear that the BBC must place a firm emphasis on impartiality and maintaining the highest editorial standards. It can never be the BBC’s role to judge, or appear to judge, the diverse values of people from across the country it serves. In an era of fake news, public service broadcasting and a free press have never been more important, and the BBC has been, and should be, a beacon that sets standards to which others can aspire.

The Government established Ofcom as the independent regulator of the BBC in 2017, and it remains a priority for the Government to work with Ofcom to deliver an effective and proportionate regulatory framework that holds the BBC to account while maintaining its creative freedom and operational independence. Ofcom is responsible for the regulation of editorial standards, and can consider complaints about BBC content, including accuracy and impartiality.

The Government recognises the important role that the BBC’s local radio services play in terms of the provision of local news and information, and of community engagement in the local area.

The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the Government as set out in its Royal Charter, and decisions on service delivery and how it consults with audiences are a matter for the BBC. However, we are disappointed that the BBC is planning to reduce parts of its local radio output. In the Department’s regular conversations with the BBC, we have been clear that it must make sure it continues to provide distinctive and genuinely local radio services, with content that reflects and represents people and communities from all corners of the UK.

The Government also expects Ofcom, as regulator of the BBC, to ensure the BBC is robustly held to account in delivering its public service duties. Ofcom recently published a new BBC Operating Licence, which sets out that it will hold the BBC to its commitments on local radio in England in relation to news and travel, breaking news and major incidents and its contribution to local democracy.

Under the new Operating Licence, the BBC will be required to monitor the impact of changes on audiences and publish more information about how it delivers high quality, distinctive content and services for audiences across the UK. Ofcom monitor the BBC’s performance in this area closely and step in if they are concerned the BBC is not delivering for audiences. Ofcom also plans to commission new research to better understand what audiences need and value from local services.

The Government recognises the important role that the BBC’s local radio services play in terms of the provision of local news and information, and of community engagement in the local area.

The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the Government as set out in its Royal Charter, and decisions on service delivery and how it consults with audiences are a matter for the BBC. However, we are disappointed that the BBC is planning to reduce parts of its local radio output. In the Department’s regular conversations with the BBC, we have been clear that it must make sure it continues to provide distinctive and genuinely local radio services, with content that reflects and represents people and communities from all corners of the UK.

The Government also expects Ofcom, as regulator of the BBC, to ensure the BBC is robustly held to account in delivering its public service duties. Ofcom recently published a new BBC Operating Licence, which sets out that it will hold the BBC to its commitments on local radio in England in relation to news and travel, breaking news and major incidents and its contribution to local democracy.

Under the new Operating Licence, the BBC will be required to monitor the impact of changes on audiences and publish more information about how it delivers high quality, distinctive content and services for audiences across the UK. Ofcom monitor the BBC’s performance in this area closely and step in if they are concerned the BBC is not delivering for audiences. Ofcom also plans to commission new research to better understand what audiences need and value from local services.

I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS681, made on 15 March.

The Government regularly engages service charities, including the Royal British Legion, who make an enormous contribution to veterans and their families. We are firmly committed to continuing to work with the charity sector through forums including the Covenant Reference Group and the Service Charities Partnership Board to better understand veterans' needs, as well as deliver high-quality mental health support to former service personnel. We welcomed the opportunity to work closely with the Royal British Legion and other service charities last year to ensure support was in place for members of the Armed Forces community who had been impacted by the Afghanistan conflict and subsequent withdrawal.

Sir Robert Francis QC is conducting a study that looks at options for a framework for compensation for people infected and affected by infected blood. The study will report to the Paymaster General with its recommendations before the Infected Blood Inquiry reports. Sir Robert will deliver his study no later than 14 March 2022. The Government will give full consideration to Sir Robert's study - which is separate from the independent public inquiry.

Following my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s intervention, all suppliers have agreed to cease the forced installation of prepayment meters and the remote switching of smart meters to prepayment mode. This pause was due to end on 31 March but was indefinitely extended whilst Ofgem and industry developed a code of practice to improve consumer safeguards.

All energy suppliers have now signed up to an updated Code of Practice and tougher Ofgem oversight of involuntary prepayment meter installations. More information can be found here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/all-energy-suppliers-sign-tougher-ofgem-oversight-and-new-code-practice-involuntary-prepayment-installations.

Ofgem rules, including the Ability to Pay Principle, obligate suppliers to provide appropriate support for those struggling to pay their bills by setting up repayment plans based on a customer’s ability to pay, and providing additional support credit to customers in vulnerable circumstances.

The Government recently launched a 5-point plan to tackle issues around prepayment meters and support for vulnerable customers. This includes coordination with Ofgem to ensure they take a more robust approach to the protection of vulnerable customers, and they conduct a review to make sure suppliers are complying with rules.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero has written to energy suppliers making it clear that providing appropriate remedial action to consumers who have been wrongly forced onto a prepayment meter is critical.

Ofgem has called on all suppliers to proactively check if any prepayment meters have been installed incorrectly and, where rules have been broken, to act now to offer customers a reversal of installations and compensation payments where appropriate. Ofgem also has powers to fine suppliers, if appropriate, to tackle non-compliance.

The Government will continue to engage with Ofgem and suppliers to ensure sufficient action is taken.

As set out in the British Energy Security Strategy, the Government is increasing energy security by reducing our dependence on imported oil and gas. This means more home-grown energy, including the low carbon technologies required to deliver net zero. My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer noted in his Autumn Statement that the Government will set out further plans for energy security and delivering greater energy independence in due course.

The Government has introduced the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which seeks to provide a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic consumers, including Post Offices. It will apply to energy usage from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, running for an initial 6-month period for non-domestic energy users. The savings will be first seen in October bills, which are typically received in November. The Government will publish a review of the scheme in 3 months. This review will consider how best to offer further support to customers who are the most vulnerable to energy price increases.

The Government announced a new six-month scheme – the Energy Price Guarantee for Businesses (EPGB) – to protect all businesses and other non-domestic energy users from soaring energy costs. The scheme will offer comparable support to that being provided for consumers and more details will follow shortly. After this initial six-month scheme, the Government will provide focused support for vulnerable sectors, targeted to make sure those most in need get support.

The Government has successfully supported OneWeb to fully fund its business plan and continues to support OneWeb to become commercially successful. The Government does not intend to make any further investment in OneWeb.

BEIS monitors a range of indicators across the economy, including consumer spending and business health. The most recent ONS data[i] indicate that most businesses, including small businesses, reported that April turnover increased or stayed the same, compared to March. When asked about expectations for turnover in June, most small businesses still expected their revenue to stay the same or increase.

Recognising the challenges facing businesses and consumers, Government measures include £15 billion to support struggling households, bringing total support to help manage the cost of living total to £37billion this year.

[i] ONS BICS Wave 57 – published 1 June 2022

The department has not set targets on this item as Ofgem already has measures in place to require energy suppliers to support disabled customers. This includes protection from disconnection during the winter, and the provision of additional support through a Priority Services Register. Ofgem monitors compliance with their rules protecting vulnerable consumers. Their most recent report is available at:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2021-10/Ofgem%20Consumer%20Protection%20Report%20Autumn%202021_Final.pdf.

Under the Warm Home Discount scheme, Ofgem provides a breakdown in their annual reports of the Industry Initiatives supporting fuel poor and vulnerable households through measures that include benefit entitlement checks and debt write-off. The 2020-2021 report is available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/warm-home-discount-annual-report-scheme-year-10.

Ofgem require energy suppliers to support disabled customers. This includes protection from disconnection during the winter, and the provision of additional support through a Priority Services Register. Ofgem monitors compliance with their rules protecting vulnerable consumers. Their most recent report is available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2021-10/Ofgem%20Consumer%20Protection%20Report%20Autumn%202021_Final.pdf.

Under the Warm Home Discount scheme, Ofgem provides a breakdown in their annual reports of the Industry Initiatives supporting fuel poor and vulnerable households through measures that include benefit entitlement checks and debt write-off. The 2020-2021 report is available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/warm-home-discount-annual-report-scheme-year-10.

The fuel poverty target is to ensure that as many fuel poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of Band C, by 2030. Its aim is to target energy efficiency support to low income households.

The 2030 target does not include estimates of energy costs, including estimates for any specific groups.

Progress against the target is reported on in the annual fuel poverty statistics, which can be found https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics.

Some evidence suggests that households with a disability have higher heating costs than average.

BEIS does not determine the price of gas or electricity as these are set by global market conditions however Ofgem’s price cap ensures that the price of tariffs is fair and that customers do not experience a loyalty penalty.

The Government is aware of the impact that high global wholesale energy prices are having on consumers and has put in place additional support worth £9.1bn on top of existing measures to support vulnerable households.

Small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) are the backbone of our economy and have a key role to play in driving economic growth. The Government has provided an unprecedented and comprehensive package of support to help as many businesses as possible during this challenging period.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Scheme (CLBILS) and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) were instrumental in providing vital cashflow to businesses affected by the pandemic, unlocking almost £80bn of finance and reaching almost a third of SMEs in the UK. This has been supplemented by the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) which ensures they can continue to access loans and other kinds of finance as they grow and recover from the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. The RLS is still open to applications from SMEs until 30 June 2022. We have also implemented business rates relief worth £7 billion over five years.

This government is providing support on access to finance through the British Business Bank and our new ‘Help to Grow’ scheme will help small businesses across the UK learn new skills, reach new customers and boost profits.

The published fuel poverty projections for 2022, show that while most households will need to pay more for their energy bills from April, the financial support offered combined with action on energy efficiency will keep the number of households in fuel poverty on a slight declining trend. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics. These projections are at a national level for England and no projections have been made at the regional level.

We are already taking action to support households with rising energy bills. The government is providing a package of support worth £9.1 billion in 2022-23 which includes a £150 Council Tax rebate for bands A-D, £144 million discretionary funding for local authorities and a £200 energy bill reduction which will help over 28 million households. This is in addition to the support Government will continue to provide through the Warm Home Discount Scheme, which this winter is providing over 2 million households a £140 rebate off their energy bill. We have announced that it would be increasing to £150 and help an extra 780,000 households next winter. Further, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments help ensure the most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes over the colder months.

We are providing a further £1bn for businesses most impacted by Omicron, in addition to the £400bn package already provided which includes grants, loans, business rates relief, VAT discounts and rent moratorium – providing a lifeline for many local high street businesses.

The Government is committed to protecting customers from price spikes, particularly vulnerable customers. The Warm Home discount provides over 2 million households a £140 rebate off their energy bill each winter, and there are plans to increase it to £150 and help an extra 780,000 households. The Energy Company Obligation is being expanded to £1.billion p.a. which will ensure energy suppliers help 133,000 low-income households a year to permanently lower their bills by an average of £290 p.a. via insulation and new heating. From October, households in Great Britain will receive a £200 cash rebate on their energy costs. A £150 non-repayable reduction in Council Tax bills for (English) households in Bands A-D will apply from April with £144 million of discretionary funding for Local Authorities to support households who need support but are not eligible for the Council Tax reduction.

The Government has also provided an extra £500 million for local authorities through the new Household Support Fund to provide help to millions of the most in need. The Energy Price Cap will remain in place at least till the end of 2022 to ensure millions of customers pay a fair price for their energy.

Those who had measures installed between 2009 and 2014, with guarantees, can contact the guaranteed provider for assistance, even in the event the contractor is no longer operational. If no guarantee is in place, then Citizens’ Advice should be contacted for further advice.

The Heat and Buildings Strategy sets out the Government’s actions to reduce emissions from buildings over the forthcoming decades. The package of measures provides £3.9bn of new funding to support the installation of energy efficiency measures and low-carbon heating. This includes a new £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme providing grants of up to £6,000 from Spring 2022 to encourage homeowners to install more efficient, low-carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps.

The Government has also announced £950m in funding for the Home Upgrade Grant between 2022 – 2025. Through the scheme, the Government is providing grants to low-income households to install energy efficiency measures and low-carbon heating to lower-quality, off gas grid homes in England. This includes insulation measures and a heat pump to tackle fuel poverty and reach the UK’s net zero target.

In addition, £800m has been committed to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) to improve the energy performance of social rented homes across England. The SHDF will upgrade a significant amount of the social housing stock currently below EPC Band C up to that standard.

My Noble Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Lord Callanan is the responsible Minister for HM Land Registry. My Noble Friend meets the Chief Executive and Chair on a regular basis to discuss a broad range of operational and strategic matters with the last meeting in September 2021. HM Land Registry is focused on increasing output and reducing completion time for applications by increasing capacity, implementing new processes and accelerating digital services.

The Corporate Transparency and Register Reform consultation, published in May 2019, outlined plans for the reform of Companies House. These far-reaching reforms include identity verification of company directors and those who control companies; an expansion in the powers of Companies House to query and challenge information submitted to the register; and improving the processes for supressing personal information from the register in instances where it is no longer relevant or presents a potential threat to the safety of individuals. This consultation received 1,320 responses and in September 2020, the Government published its response.

Please see the below links to the 2019 Corporate Transparency and Register Reform consultation and to the Department’s response:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/819994/Corporate_transparency_and_register_reform.pdf;

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/925059/corporate-transparency-register-reform-government-response.pdf.

Following this consultation, the Department published, in December 2020, three further consultations, which set out further details of the Government’s reform proposals. These consultations included ‘Corporate transparency and register reform: implementing the ban on corporate directors’; ‘Corporate transparency and register reform: improving the quality and value of financial information on the UK companies register’; and ‘Corporate transparency and register reform: powers of the registrar’.

Please see the links to these consultations below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/corporate-transparency-and-register-reform-implementing-the-ban-on-corporate-directors;

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/corporate-transparency-and-register-reform-powers-of-the-registrar;

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/corporate-transparency-and-register-reform-improving-the-quality-and-value-of-financial-information-on-the-uk-companies-register.

The Government will respond to these consultations in due course and plans to legislate when Parliamentary time allows.

The scheme administrator is working to ensure vouchers are paid as quickly as possible.

Payment to installers is a four-step process. It requires the customer to confirm the work has been completed, the installer to lodge the work and the scheme administrator to undertake scheme checks before they can proceed to payment.

Once it has reached the payment stage, the administrator aims to make payments within five-working days. However, if an inspection is deemed necessary then the process will take longer, especially given the current COVID-19 restrictions.

As of 3 June 2021, 19,122 vouchers had been paid, with a total government contribution of £77 million.

Companies House does not hold information on the number of companies registered at UK addresses without the landowners’ permission.

The £5 billion Restart Grants scheme announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer on 3 March 2021 are one-off grants to businesses in the non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure, personal care and accommodation sectors to support businesses to reopen as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted in the coming months.

Businesses in the non-essential retail sector are able to apply for grants of up to £6,000.  Businesses in the hospitality, leisure, personal care and gym sectors are able to apply for grants of up to £18,000.

We are not able to share a breakdown of the funding distributed by Sefton Borough Council at this stage. We will publish data on Restart Grant payments in due course.

All data on Government allocations and Local Authority payments of grant schemes is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-local-authority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses.

There is a significant package of financial support currently available to pubs to help with the difficulties caused by Covid-19 and the associated social distancing measures the Government has put in place. The wide range of schemes include:

• Grants under the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHGLF) and the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) for eligible businesses;
• Government-backed loans through schemes such as the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS);
• Access to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to furlough workers, which will continue in its current form until 31 July and then in a more flexible form from August until 31 October;
• A business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses for the 2020 to 2021 tax year; and
• The option to defer VAT payments due between 20 March and 30 June until 31 March 2021.

We continue to keep our support for pubs under review and to engage with the sector.

The Department is committed to becoming net zero by 2050 at the latest and work is in progress to meet that target. It is too early to give an estimate of the financial effect on the department.

The Department undertook an energy audit in 2019 and we are currently undertaking a range of works, including installation of LED lighting, to reduce our energy consumption. We have established a sustainability board to oversee our planning on net zero. Since 2010 we have:

- Reduced carbon emissions by 65%

- Reduced waste production by 72%

- Eradicated the majority of single-use plastics, including preventing 120,000 single use coffee cups from going to landfill in 2019.

The Department is committed to becoming net zero by 2050 at the latest and work is in progress to meet that target. It is too early to give an assessment of the non-financial effect on the Department.

The Department undertook an energy audit in 2019 and we are currently undertaking a range of works, including installation of LED lighting, to reduce our energy consumption. We have established a sustainability board to oversee our planning on net zero. Since 2010 we have:

- Reduced carbon emissions by 65%

- Reduced waste production by 72%

- Eradicated the majority of single-use plastics, including preventing 120,000 single use coffee cups from going to landfill in 2019.

Events at UEFA EURO 2020 last year have demonstrated the immense value of access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) and first aid training for anyone involved in sport.

At the grassroots sport level, all capital funding awards for sports venues made by Sport England, the government’s arm’s length body for community sport, must include AED provision if it is not already available.

For football facilities, The Football Association (The FA) and the British Heart Foundation have provided support over recent years to help ensure AEDs are available. I welcome the Premier League’s Defibrillator Fund, which will fund AEDs at thousands of football clubs and facilities across the country. Each grant recipient will be required to have at least one person successfully complete The FA Education Sudden Cardiac Arrest free online course. Sport England is working with the Football Foundation in support of the Premier League initiative to put £3 million into providing AED equipment for grassroots football clubs.

The Defibrillator Fund will see AEDs provided to Football Foundation funded facilities which currently are without a device onsite. The second phase of the project now allows grassroots clubs that own their facilities to apply for funding for a defibrillator, with 1,538 applications to the fund received to date.

Our national tourism agency, VisitBritain, is launching a new international and domestic campaign this month, which will focus on driving visitor recovery in the UK. This is additional to the Tourism Recovery Plan, which was published by DCMS in June 2021.

VisitBritain and The National Lottery’s current ‘Days Out’ campaign supports the domestic tourism industry by stimulating demand for off-season domestic day trips to visitor attractions and experiences for young families. Attraction examples include Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours, Clacton Pier, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, and various locations of SEA LIFE.

Coastal tourism is an important part of the British tourism sector. 10% of all visits to the UK include going to the coast or beaches and 11% of all visits include walking along the coast.

The business advice hub, our business webinars, We’re Good to Go and DMO support all available to the sector, including those in coastal locations.

Coastal destinations were supported via the Discover England Fund as part of the England’s Coast project up to 2021. VisitBritain continues to support their initiatives, through marketing, PR and business support.

Press trips have taken place on coastal destinations and continue to be part of VisitBritain’s ongoing campaigns and activities where the pandemic has allowed international and domestic travel.

I know that the restrictions on singing are frustrating to large numbers of amateur choirs and performance groups across the country and that many people have made sacrifices in order to drive down infections and protect the NHS over the last year. I want to assure you that everyone across the government wants to ease these restrictions as soon as possible.

However, it is important that we take a cautious approach in easing restrictions.

We will continue to keep guidance and restrictions under review, in line with the changing situation. Further detail on step 4 will be set out as soon as possible.

The Government is continuing to work at pace on the review having already appointed the Honourable Member for Chatham and Aylesford as Chair and published the Terms of Reference. We have also announced the advisory panel members to support the Chair and I look forward to receiving an interim report over the Summer, before the full report in the Autumn.

I would not want to pre-judge the recommendations of the review but can confirm that the merits of an independent football regulator will be examined as part of the review.

The government is committed to delivering lightning-fast, reliable broadband to everyone in the UK. ‘Project Gigabit’ is ambitious, challenging and central to how we build back better. Our plan - to stimulate investment, bust barriers and drive competition - is working. We are on track for one of the fastest rollouts in Europe and for 60% of all households to have access to gigabit speeds by the end of the year. It is a huge leap forward from 2019, when it was 9%.

We are backing Project Gigabit with £5 billion so hard to reach communities are not left out - starting to level up now, not waiting for the end of the commercial rollout, and building on the half a million rural homes and businesses already given coverage through our support.

As part of Project Gigabit we are funding up to £210 million worth of vouchers over the next three years to help with the costs of installing gigabit to people’s doorsteps and up to £110 million to connect up to 7,000 rural public buildings such as GP surgeries, libraries and schools. All premises not covered through these measures or through commercial coverage will be in scope for new Project Gigabit contracts.

According to Thinkbroadband (http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/E14000958) 99.61% of premises in Southport currently has access to superfast broadband - up from 23% in 2011. On top of this, 19% also have access to Gigabit speeds. So far, 9 gigabit connection vouchers have been issued in the Southport area with a value of £19,600. Eligibility of other premises for vouchers can be checked at https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/

Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active and the Government has been committed to reopening facilities as soon as it is safe to do so. On 13 August, the Government announced that indoor play and indoor soft play venues could open from 15 August. Indoor play and indoor soft play venues have been able to access the unprecedented financial support package that the Government has provided businesses across the economy during the pandemic.

Antenatal classes are provided by the NHS. Like all areas of NHS care, maternity services will be affected by the pandemic, but antenatal contact and new baby visits should continue. Maternity units are working to ensure services are provided in a way that is safe, supported by greater use of digital and remote technologies.

Video consultation capability by NHS providers has rapidly been scaled up in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Attend Anywhere is a web-based video consultation platform intended for use on tablets, smartphones, laptops or PC’s with a webcam and is funded by NHS England and NHS Improvement for all maternity providers to use.

On 13 August, the Government announced that indoor play and indoor soft play venues could open from 15 August. We worked with BALPPA, the trade body that represents the industry to develop guidance that lays out detailed measures for indoor play and indoor soft play operators to make venues COVID-secure. These include closing ball pits and sensory areas, reducing capacity of venues and soft play frames, regular deep cleaning, pre-bookable timed sessions, increased sanitation, and a rigorous process to support track and trace. We will continue to engage with the sector and will keep the guidance under regular review.

We have published guidance on how to open guest accommodation businesses safely whilst minimising the risks of COVID-19.

If a guest is displaying signs of COVID-19 while staying in overnight accommodation, they should inform the accommodation provider, immediately self-isolate where they are to minimise any risk of transmission, and request a test. If they are confirmed to have COVID-19, they should return home if they reasonably can. If a guest cannot reasonably return home, their circumstances should be discussed with an appropriate health care professional and, if necessary, the local authority.

Unless otherwise provided for in the contractual terms of the booking, the guest will be expected to pay the costs of an extended stay in all but exceptional circumstances. Exceptional circumstances may include, but are not limited to, where the accommodation provider has failed to follow government guidance to create a COVID-secure environment.

The Government has developed a comprehensive support package to help businesses and workers deal with various COVID-related pressures, which hotel and bed and breakfast businesses can continue to access.

The Department remains committed to raising the attainment of all pupils. The Department is committed to its ambitions that by 2030, 90% of children will achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of primary school. Additionally, in secondary schools, the national GCSE average grade in both English language and in mathematics will increase from 4.5 in 2019 to 5.

In the 2022 Autumn Statement, the Government announced an extra £2 billion of funding for schools over each of the next two financial years (2023/24 and 2024/25), over and above totals announced at the Autumn and Budget Spending Review 2021.The additional funding will enable headteachers to continue to concentrate funding in the areas that encourage educational attainment.

Progress to date on implementing the White Paper includes establishing Oak National Academy as an arm’s length body in September 2022 to provide high quality, adaptable and optional support. Oak reduces workload for teachers and enables pupils to access a high quality curriculum. The Department has introduced a fully funded new suite of National Professional Qualifications to support teacher development, based on the best available research and evidence. The Department is also delivering support to the 55 Education Investment Areas and 24 Priority Education Investment Areas.

The White Paper was clear about delivering a vision for a school system that delivers results for pupils, especially for the most vulnerable young people. The pupil premium helps fund evidence based, targeted interventions, as well as broader improvements that will benefit these pupils and help to raise their attainment. Pupil premium rates will increase by 5% for 2023/24, a £180 million increase from 2022/23, taking total pupil premium funding to £2.9 billion. The Department has made almost £5 billion available to support recovery for children and young people, including nearly £2.5 billion in targeted funding towards the most disadvantaged. This funding includes the Recovery Premium and the creation of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). As of 6 October 2022, nearly 3 million tutoring courses had started through the NTP since November 2020.

High needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will be rising to £10.1 billion in 2023/24, which is an increase of over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations. This extra funding will help Local Authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting them.

Sefton Council’s high needs funding allocation for financial year 2023/24 will be £46 million, which is a 10.9% per head increase compared to the amount of high needs funding allocated in 2022/23. It is not possible to break this funding down to individual constituency level.

The Department does not prescribe in detail how Local Authorities should allocate their high needs funding, but Local Authorities and schools have statutory duties under the Children and Families Act 2014 to support children and young people with SEND.

High needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will be rising to £10.1 billion in 2023/24, which is an increase of over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations. This extra funding will help Local Authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting them.

Sefton Council’s high needs funding allocation for financial year 2023/24 will be £46 million, which is a 10.9% per head increase compared to the amount of high needs funding allocated in 2022/23. It is not possible to break this funding down to individual constituency level.

The Department does not prescribe in detail how Local Authorities should allocate their high needs funding, but Local Authorities and schools have statutory duties under the Children and Families Act 2014 to support children and young people with SEND.

The Department is focused on continuing to improve standards in schools, providing the best education for children, including for those from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special educational needs. The best way for this to happen is for all schools to be in strong families of schools, benefitting from the support of the best in the group, and the resilience that comes from being part of a larger group of schools. That is why, over time, the Department would like all schools to be in a strong multi-academy trust (MAT), due to the positive impact it can have on children’s lives. If we get this right then we will see the vast majority of schools in trusts before 2030. The Department is exploring how to further support the growth of strong multi-academy trusts through the Regulation and Commissioning Review.

The current national academisation rate is 47.4%, which includes 10,254 academies and free schools out of a total of 21,630 state funded schools. This has increased from 45.7% in March 2022 when the Schools White Paper was published. Of those, 9,173 are in a MAT.

There are 94 MATs that serve at least 7,500 pupils. These represent 6.9% of the total of 1,345 MATs, and are comprised of 2,341 Academies (22.8% of the total number) and just over 1.24 million pupils (26.2% of the total).

There are 266 MATs serving 10 or more schools, which is 19.7% of the total. These are comprised of 4,872 Academies (47.5%) and 1.94 million pupils (40.8%).

The Department does not issue guidance specifically on the size of MATs.

The Department is focused on continuing to improve standards in schools, providing the best education for children, including for those from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special educational needs. The best way for this to happen is for all schools to be in strong families of schools, benefitting from the support of the best in the group, and the resilience that comes from being part of a larger group of schools. That is why, over time, the Department would like all schools to be in a strong multi-academy trust (MAT), due to the positive impact it can have on children’s lives. If we get this right then we will see the vast majority of schools in trusts before 2030. The Department is exploring how to further support the growth of strong multi-academy trusts through the Regulation and Commissioning Review.

The current national academisation rate is 47.4%, which includes 10,254 academies and free schools out of a total of 21,630 state funded schools. This has increased from 45.7% in March 2022 when the Schools White Paper was published. Of those, 9,173 are in a MAT.

There are 94 MATs that serve at least 7,500 pupils. These represent 6.9% of the total of 1,345 MATs, and are comprised of 2,341 Academies (22.8% of the total number) and just over 1.24 million pupils (26.2% of the total).

There are 266 MATs serving 10 or more schools, which is 19.7% of the total. These are comprised of 4,872 Academies (47.5%) and 1.94 million pupils (40.8%).

The Department does not issue guidance specifically on the size of MATs.

The Department is focused on continuing to improve standards in schools, providing the best education for children, including for those from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special educational needs. The best way for this to happen is for all schools to be in strong families of schools, benefitting from the support of the best in the group, and the resilience that comes from being part of a larger group of schools. That is why, over time, the Department would like all schools to be in a strong multi-academy trust (MAT), due to the positive impact it can have on children’s lives. If we get this right then we will see the vast majority of schools in trusts before 2030. The Department is exploring how to further support the growth of strong multi-academy trusts through the Regulation and Commissioning Review.

The current national academisation rate is 47.4%, which includes 10,254 academies and free schools out of a total of 21,630 state funded schools. This has increased from 45.7% in March 2022 when the Schools White Paper was published. Of those, 9,173 are in a MAT.

There are 94 MATs that serve at least 7,500 pupils. These represent 6.9% of the total of 1,345 MATs, and are comprised of 2,341 Academies (22.8% of the total number) and just over 1.24 million pupils (26.2% of the total).

There are 266 MATs serving 10 or more schools, which is 19.7% of the total. These are comprised of 4,872 Academies (47.5%) and 1.94 million pupils (40.8%).

The Department does not issue guidance specifically on the size of MATs.

The Department has made a serious offer to the National Education Union (NEU) to discuss pay and conditions. The only precondition the Department set is that the talks occur in a constructive atmosphere without the distraction of ongoing strikes. The Royal College of Nursing was made the same offer, along with the GMB, Unison, Unite, and CSP, who represent nurses, ambulance workers and physiotherapists, all of whom have agreed to pause strike action and are currently engaged in intensive talks with Government.

It is therefore disappointing that the NEU proceeded with national strike action on 1 February, and regional strike action between 28 February and 2 March. Many parents and pupils will have faced disruption. The Department is hugely grateful to headteachers, teachers, and support staff who continued to work, ensuring over 90% of schools remained open to some or all pupils during the national strikes, with similar levels seen during the regional strikes.

Young people have suffered more disruption to their education than any generation before and it is the work of teachers that is helping them to get back on track. The Department does not want to see anything that risks undoing that progress. That is why the Department is looking to find a reasonable way to address unions’ concerns that does not exacerbate the rise in inflation and minimises any potential impact on Departmental policy.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has reiterated the offer to the NEU to pause strike action and engage in serious talks with the Government in all areas of their dispute, including pay.

On 2 March 2023, the department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan in response to the Green Paper published in March last year. The Improvement Plan outlines the government’s mission for the SEND and AP system to fulfil children’s potential, build parent’s trust, and provide financial sustainability. It is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1139561/SEND_and_alternative_provision_improvement_plan.pdf.

The department will improve ordinarily available mainstream provision with new national SEND and AP standards to ensure we deliver consistent experience regardless of the school a child attends, where they live, or their family background.

The department will reduce bureaucracy through new standardised education health and care plans, using digital technology wherever possible, and provide strengthened accountability across the system. To increase specialist provision locally, the department is investing £2.6 billion in special and AP places, including opening 33 new special schools, with a further 49 in the pipeline. We are also building a confident expert workforce, training up to 5,000 new early years special educational needs co-ordinators. Furthermore, an over 50% increase in high needs funding to over £10 billion by 2023/24, compared to £6.1 billion in 2018/19, will help children and young people with SEND in both special schools and mainstream schools to receive the right support.

The department will test our key reforms by creating up to nine Regional Expert Partnerships through our £70 million Change Programme. Oversight of reform will be driven by a new national SEND and AP Implementation Board, jointly chaired by Education and Health Ministers.

The Government has made a serious offer to the leaders of the National Education Union (NEU) to pause the planned strikes and to engage with the Government on talks about pay, conditions and reforms.

This same offer has been accepted by unions representing nurses, ambulance workers and physiotherapists, all of whom have agreed to pause their strike action and meet for talks.

The Department is disappointed the NEU has thus far refused this offer and has not called off strikes.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that it is in the best interests of parents, children and teachers up and down the country for the NEU to take up the offer, like the health unions, and put an end to this dispute.

The Department knows that the best place for pupils to be for their education, physical, and mental health is in schools with their friends and teachers.

The Secretary of State wrote to every school in January setting out the additional funding each school in England would receive following the £2 billion of additional funding announced for schools in the Autumn Statement 2022. This additional funding will support schools with increased costs and was a request from unions, which the Government delivered. The Secretary of State also wrote to union leaders on 27 January, asking the NEU to encourage their members to inform their head teachers if they intended to strike, and on 21 February, requesting the NEU call off future strikes in order to proceed with formal talks on pay, conditions, and reform.

Alongside engaging with unions, the Department has taken steps to mitigate the effects of any disruptive strike action on pupils’ education and wellbeing. In the Department’s updated guidance on handling strike action in schools, the Department confirmed that if a headteacher needed to restrict attendance as a last resort, they should prioritise school places for vulnerable children, children of critical workers and pupils who are due to take public examinations and other formal assessments. Headteachers have also been asked to do all they can to ensure pupils continue to have access to education on strike days, including through online teaching. The Department has also provided advice to schools through bulletins, and to parents through the Department’s Education Hub. To further support pupils not in school due to industrial action, the Department has updated its remote education guidance.

The Department has also made almost £5 billion available to support pupils’ education recovery from the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department is funding what it knows works, such as teacher training and evidence based support, including tutoring and extra education opportunities.

The department is committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare in all areas. We continue to work across government to look at ways to make childcare more affordable and accessible, and to encourage families to use government-funded support they are entitled to.

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England and if a local authority raises concerns about sufficiency issues, we will support them with any specific requirements. At present, all local authorities report that they are fulfilling their duty to ensure sufficient childcare.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow to ensure every child has the best start in life and is prepared for school. In 2021, the EYFS framework was reformed. An objective of these 2021 reforms was to improve early years outcomes for all children, particularly disadvantaged children, in the critical areas that build the foundations for later success, such as language development and literacy. A further objective was to reduce unnecessary assessment paperwork for practitioners and teachers so they can spend more valuable classroom time supporting children through rich curriculum activities.

The government is investing up to £180 million in an early years education recovery package of training, qualifications, expert guidance and targeted support for the early years sector to support the learning and development of the youngest and most disadvantaged children.

​The 2022 Autumn Statement announced an additional £2 billion for schools, in addition to the funding announced as part of the 2021 Spending Review.​

​Taking the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocations and the additional funding announced in the Autumn Statement 2022 together, core schools funding, which includes funding for both mainstream schools and high needs, is increasing by £3.5 billion in 2023/24, compared to 2022/23. The core schools budget will total £57.3 billion in 2023/24 and £58.8 billion in 2024/25.​

​The Institute of Fiscal Studies have said that this additional funding will fully cover expected increases in school costs up to 2024 and will take per pupil spending back to at least 2010 levels in real terms, meaning 2024/25 will be the highest ever level of spending on schools in real terms per pupil.​

​The additional funding will be allocated to mainstream schools through the new Mainstream Schools Additional Grant (MSAG) in 2023/24. This will be on top of schools’ core funding allocations.​

​A typical primary school with 200 pupils will receive approximately £35,000 in additional funding through the MSAG, and a typical secondary school with 900 pupils will receive approximately £200,000.

The Government spends around £1.5 billion per year so children have access to nutritious food during the school day and in the holidays.

Around 1.9 million pupils are claiming free school meals (FSM). This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, over one third of school children are now provided with FSM.

The Department provides an Eligibility Checking System to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible. The Department continues to use and refine a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for FSM.

The Department also provides guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including FSM.

The Department is committed to continuing support for school breakfasts, and in November 2022 the National School Breakfast Programme was extended for an additional year until the end of the 2024 summer term. The Department is funding up to £30 million in this programme and it will support up to 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas. This means that thousands of children from low income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment and wellbeing. Schools are eligible for the programme if they have 40% or more pupils from deprived households, as measured by the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index.

The Department has also significantly expanded the Holiday Activities and Food programme and are contributing over £200 million per year in these free holiday club places for children from low income families. The programme provides enriching activities and a healthy meal for disadvantaged children in the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. Local Authorities reported that over 685,000 children benefited from the programme last summer.

The Government has announced cost of living support worth £26 billion for the next financial year designed to target the most vulnerable households. This is on top of the £37 billion support provided by the Government this year. Much of this, including the £400 energy bills discount, the £150 Council Tax discount and the Energy Price Guarantee, is being applied automatically, ensuring eligible households receive the support they are entitled to. Cost of living payments are also paid automatically to support eligible people on means-tested benefits.

The Department has allocated over £13 billion for improving the condition of school buildings since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed for the current financial year. The Department is also delivering the School Rebuilding Programme to rebuild or significantly refurbish buildings at 500 schools in the poorest condition.

There are now 400 projects in the rebuilding programme, with the most recent set of 239 schools announced in December 2022, including Greenbank High School in Southport. Confirmed projects can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme.

For the 2022/23 financial year, Sefton Local Authority, which covers Southport constituency, received an annual School Condition Allocation (SCA) of £2,426,424 to spend on improving the condition of its maintained schools. Large multi -academy trusts and voluntary-aided school bodies, such as dioceses, also receive SCA. As SCA is allocated to responsible bodies, not individual schools, it is not possible to provide a constituency level breakdown of this funding. Allocations are published here: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F1074690%2FSchool_capital_funding_allocations_for_2022_to_2023.ods&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.

Schools not part of bodies eligible for SCA are instead eligible to bid to the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) each year. In the 2022/23 CIF round, there were five successful CIF applications across three schools in Southport. CIF funding is released in phased payments as work progresses.

The Department recently announced that eligible schools will also receive an allocation from an additional £447 million in capital funding in 2022/23 for capital improvements to buildings and facilities, prioritising works to improve energy efficiency. This includes £588,635 for schools in the Southport constituency.

Schools are free to decide which events to commemorate and what activities to put in place to support pupils’ understanding of significant events and particular months or days dedicated to specific communities. Schools decide how they mark Holocaust Memorial Day, which commemorates the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered by the Nazis, along with all other victims of Nazi persecution and victims of subsequent genocides.

Schools can call on the support of organisations such as the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, the Holocaust Educational Trust and University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education and others to help with their activities for the day.

The department is committed to supporting working families and parents back into employment, by improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare. We have spent over £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on early education entitlements, supporting families with the cost of childcare.

In July 2022, the department announced measures to increase take-up of childcare support and reduce the costs and bureaucracy facing providers. We announced a £1.2 million marketing campaign via the Childcare Choices website to ensure that every parent knows about the government-funded support they are eligible for and encourage providers to take the necessary steps to offer the full range of childcare support to parents using their services. The Childcare Choices website is available at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/. The campaign has driven extensive reach, with adverts being viewed through paid search advertising and digital channels on social media 59 million times. There has also been strong engagement in the campaign, with 77,995 referrals to GOV.UK pages from the Childcare Choices website during the first burst of the campaign.

We also said that we will attract more people to childminding, expand the childminder market by reducing the costs and bureaucracy facing providers and encourage the growth of childminder agencies, enabling greater access to this flexible, affordable form of care. These plans aim to give providers more flexibility and autonomy and ensure families can access government support to save them money on their childcare bills. The full announcement can be found online at at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/drive-to-reduce-the-cost-of-childcare-for-parents.

We continue to work across government, looking at ways to make childcare more affordable and accessible for working families, and to encourage families to use government-funded support they are entitled to.

The Department recognises that education is a key determinant of young people’s life chances and social mobility.

The Schools White Paper, published in March 2022, set out a long-term vision for a school system that helps every child to fulfil their potential by ensuring that they receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time, founded on achieving world-class literacy and numeracy. The Department’s ambition remains that by 2030, 90% of all primary school children will achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, and the percentage of children meeting the expected standard in the worst performing areas will have increased by a third.

The White Paper was clear about the areas the Department needs to drive improvement in to realise this ambition; to ensure an excellent teacher for every child, high standards of curriculum, behaviour and attendance, targeted support for every child who needs it, and a stronger and fairer schools system. The Department will build on plans in the White Paper, delivering real progress that raises educational outcomes. This includes working towards all pupils studying mathematics until the age of 18 and supporting schools with a plan to improve attainment in primary schools, as outlined by my right hon, Friend, the Prime Minister.

Significant support is also being provided for 55 Education Investment Areas (EIA), including the Sefton Local Authority. Over the next 3 years, up to £86 million in trust capacity funding and £150 million for extending the Connect the Classroom programme are being prioritised in EIAs. In EIAs, the Department is also offering delivering the Levelling Up premium, worth up to £3,000 tax free, to eligible teachers.

24 of these areas are Priority Education Investment Areas, including the coastal areas of Blackpool, Hastings and Scarborough, where the Department will offer further funding, in addition to the significant support available to all EIAs, to address local needs and drive improvement.

The department recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year, which have impacted students. Many higher education (HE) providers have hardship funds that students can apply to for assistance.

There is £261 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support disadvantaged students who need additional help. The department has worked with the Office for Students (OfS) to ensure universities support students in hardship, using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.

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

Students whose bills are included in their rent, including energy charges, will typically have agreed their accommodation costs upfront when signing their contract for the current academic year. Businesses, including those that provide student accommodation, are covered by the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which provides energy bill relief for non-domestic customers in the UK. A Treasury-led review will be launched to consider how to support households and businesses with energy bills after April 2023.

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

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

Many schools already undertake activities to mark Remembrance Day, but they are free to decide which events to commemorate and what activities to put in place.

Schools have the opportunity to promote Remembrance Day through subjects such as history and citizenship, which seek to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of military conflict, the role of the Armed Forces and the impact on civilians. This content can be incorporated into other lessons, themed activities, projects and assemblies.

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Southport, to the answer I gave on 21 September 2022 to Question’s 45108 and 45126 in respect of children’s social care provision in Sefton. The Commissioner appointed in Sefton by the former Secretary of State for Education is currently finalising the report for submission to the department by 30 September 2022 to be published in October 2022. This report will help determine the best next steps to ensure improvements are made for vulnerable children and families.

Provision is already available for both those under 16 in a school setting seeking to understand more about the industry, and for post-16 students studying at level 2 and 3, who may be seeking to undertake a qualification to progress into an apprenticeship or into employment and wish to take a qualification which will involve a work-based setting.

There are around 40 qualifications focusing on aspects of maritime studies approved for funding for young people and adults, some of which are available only to adults. Others are available to those of school age or in further education. There are 12 apprenticeship standards in this sector approved for delivery, including Maritime Mechanical and Electrical Mechanic, Marine Surveyor, and Seafarer.

The Careers & Enterprise Company is supporting schools and colleges to embed best practice in the delivery of careers information, advice, and guidance, so young people are aware of the full range of training and careers available to them and have access to a broad range of employers and workplaces, including those in the maritime sector. This will be delivered through the national roll-out of Career Hubs, Careers Leaders training, and the Enterprise Adviser Network.

The department has established the UK Shipbuilding Skills Taskforce (UKSST). This group is made up of representatives from across industry, trade unions, and training providers. It will look to address skills barriers in the sector by utilising and catalysing existing skills provisions. As part of this, existing provision will be reviewed to see how it can best meet the present skills demand and future needs. UKSST’s work will be driven by the needs of stakeholders from across the sector.

Ofqual have previously announced a planned and managed transition back to pre-COVID-19 pandemic grading arrangements, in recognition of the disruption that students experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, 2022 has been described as a transition year and overall, the results have reflected the policy intention for outcomes this year to be between 2019 and 2021. This year’s results are higher than in 2019 and lower than 2021, when teacher assessed grades were used as the method of assessment.

The Joint Council for Qualifications and Ofqual have published further breakdowns of results for GCSE and A levels according to gender, centre type and by region. At a regional level, the trends are broadly stable compared to previous years, with London and the South East having the highest proportion of entries for A level and GCSEs and achieving the highest grades. In 2022, girls continue to outperform boys at all grades overall for GCSEs and A levels.

Results by other pupil characteristics, including disadvantage, are not yet available for GCSEs or A levels. The department publishes this data in as timely a way as possible. This year, improvements to processing mean it is possible bring forward the publishing of this data from January 2023 to October 2022 for GCSEs, and to November 2022 for A levels.

Schools will benefit from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which will run until at least 31 March 2023. This will reduce how much schools need to spend on their energy and give schools greater certainty over their budgets during the winter months.

Any school which has signed a fixed energy contract since April 2022 will be eligible for support if, at the time they signed their contact, wholesale prices for the next 6 months were expected to be higher than the Government supported price of £211/MWh for electricity, and £75/MWh for gas.

For example, a school which uses 10 MWh of electricity and 22 MWh of gas a month and signed a fixed contract giving them a current monthly energy bill of about £10,000, would receive support based on the difference between expected wholesale prices when they signed their contract and the Government supported price. For a contract signed in July 2022, this could be worth £240/MWh for electricity and £70/MWh for gas, meaning the school receives a discount of £4,000 per month, reducing their original bill by 40%.

Support will also be available to schools on variable, deemed and other contracts.

There will be a review in 3 months time to determine how the scheme should best be targeted beyond this period to focus support on vulnerable sectors.

The details of the scheme can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-bill-relief-scheme-help-for-businesses-and-other-non-domestic-customers.

The Government is also providing schools with the largest cash boost in a decade. Following the 2021 Spending Review, core schools funding (including funding for both mainstream schools and high needs) is increasing by £4 billion in 2022/23 compared to the previous year.

The Department knows that schools are facing higher costs and that these costs impact schools differently depending on their circumstance. The Department will continue to monitor these pressures and support schools in managing them, through our range of school resource management tools. Where schools are in serious financial difficulty, they should contact their local authority or the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

The information requested is not held by the department. However, data is collected on the number of school place applications and offers made for children from outside of the UK, including children from Ukraine. More information can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-placements-for-children-from-outside-of-the-uk.

Between 1 September 2021 and 26 July 2022, there were an estimated 7,000 applications in England for secondary school places for children from Ukraine. Of these 7,000 applications, 6,200 offers of secondary school places have been made. These figures are adjusted for non-response.

In the North West, there were an estimated 500 applications for secondary school places for children from Ukraine, with 400 offers made. These figures have been adjusted for non-response.

The data is not collected by constituency, however, for Sefton Council, there were 11 applications for secondary school places, with 11 offers made. These figures are as reported by the local authority.

The government is committed to doing all we can to prevent suicides. We continue to work with experts and to review our plans to ensure they are fit for the future. The mental health and wellbeing of students in schools and universities, including suicide prevention, is a government priority. The department has been working closely with higher education (HE) providers, schools and health colleagues to ensure students are supported.

As part of a coordinated, whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing, the department is committed to ensuring schools provide safe, calm, and supportive environments, with access to early, targeted support. This is vital in preventing the onset, progression, and escalation of ill mental health. We are enabling schools to introduce effective, whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing by committing to offer all state schools and colleges a grant to train a senior mental health lead by 2025. This is backed by £10 million in 2022/23. Over 8,000 schools and colleges, including half of state-funded secondary schools in England, have signed up so far.

The department is also expanding access to early, targeted mental health support by increasing the number of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) in schools and colleges to 400 by 2023, covering around 35% of pupils in England, with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.

Alongside these initiatives, we are promoting good mental health amongst children and young people through the school curriculum. Health education is compulsory in all schools and has a strong focus on mental wellbeing. Pupils are taught where and how to seek support for themselves as well as others. At secondary level, teachers may choose to discuss issues such as self-harm, addiction, and suicide when teaching these topics.

In addition to this, the department is funding a large-scale randomised control trial of approaches to improve pupil mental health and wellbeing in schools. The ‘Aware’ arm of the trial is testing approaches to mental health awareness teaching, including Youth Aware of Mental Health, which has good international evidence of reducing suicidal ideation. Moreover, colleges funded through the £5.4 million college collaboration fund have developed new ways to support student and staff mental health and wellbeing, with resources available to all further education providers online.

We also expect all universities to engage actively with suicide prevention, intervene to support students at risk, and act sensitively when a tragedy occurs.

The department supports the Suicide-Safer Universities framework, led by Universities UK (UUK) and Papyrus. This framework supports university leaders to prevent student suicides, and support students and families after the death of a student. Its approach has been widely adopted and is a key component of the University Mental Health Charter, led by Student Minds, which aims to raise standards in mental health provision across the sector.

Local skills improvement plans (LSIPs) will place employers at the heart of local skills systems and facilitate direct and more dynamic working arrangements between employers, colleges, and other skills providers.

Building on the experience from last year’s trailblazers, the department is making good progress on rolling out LSIPs. On 1 September, we announced the designation of employer representative bodies to lead on the development of LSIPs in 37 of the 38 areas across the country. Once developed, LSIPs will set out the priorities for a local area to make technical education and skills training more responsive to employers’ needs, and to help people develop the skills they need to get good jobs.

LSIPs will build on the excellent provider-employer collaboration that has already been developed through apprenticeships, T Levels, and our wider skills reforms.

A Statutory Direction was issued to Sefton on 24 May 2022 following the 9 May 2022 Ofsted report that judged children’s services to be inadequate. The direction requires the Council to work with a commissioner appointed by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. In addition, the commissioner is conducting an assessment of the Council’s capacity and capability to improve itself and is in the process of finalising the report for submission to the department on the 30 September and later publication in October 2022. This report will help determine the best next steps to ensure improvements are made for vulnerable children and families.

A Statutory Direction was issued to Sefton on 24 May 2022 following the 9 May 2022 Ofsted report that judged children’s services to be inadequate. The direction requires the Council to work with a commissioner appointed by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. In addition, the commissioner is conducting an assessment of the Council’s capacity and capability to improve itself and is in the process of finalising the report for submission to the department on the 30 September and later publication in October 2022. This report will help determine the best next steps to ensure improvements are made for vulnerable children and families.

The department is now considering the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care carefully with those with care experience and all interested stakeholders. This also includes recommendations relating to legislation.

The department will publish an implementation strategy later this year, which will set out how we will improve children’s social care.

The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care published its final report on 23 May 2022. The Review heard from many families raising disabled children and has made a number of recommendations for disabled children, including around family help and the need to destigmatise support. The government will publish a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy for children’s social care.

The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper sets out proposals, including the creation of a single SEND and AP system in England with nationally agreed standards about the support that will be provided. The consultation closed on 22 July 2022, and the department will set out its plan for delivering improvements to the SEND and AP system later this year.

The government wants the best outcomes for children and families, with an approach that aligns the response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care with the reforms to the SEND system, to meet the needs of disabled children and their families. Our plans for children’s social care and SEND reform are being drawn up in parallel and we will continue to work closely so that reforms resulting from these reviews lead to a coherent system that works for all vulnerable children.

The department accepted the findings of Ofsted’s review in full and immediately began working on delivering a multi-agency, cross-departmental response, tackling the issues identified.

Local statutory safeguarding partners should support schools to address harmful sexual behaviours and sexual abuse. The department’s immediate response involved asking all 135 safeguarding partners to review working arrangements with schools and colleges in their area. We ran several events with safeguarding partners, educational establishments and sector experts, ascertaining emerging practice and barriers to effective working. This information will be shared across all safeguarding partners.

The department has published strengthened statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education Guidance in 2021, ensuring schools have clearer guidance on dealing with sexual abuse. We are further strengthening this guidance and a draft version was published in May and will take effect in September 2022. Additionally, the Child-on-Child Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment guidance have been revised.

The department has worked with the Home Office on development of the Harmful Sexual Behaviour Support Service, assisting professionals, such as teachers and designated safeguarding leads (DSLs), to tackle harmful sexual behaviours.

DSLs have a pivotal role in supporting and protecting children in school which is why we have provided more support to DSLs, enabling them to identify and address issues more confidently. We have extended our pilot of supervision and training for DSLs working alongside the Child Sexual Abuse Centre of Expertise and What Works Children’s Social Care. Later this year an online hub for DSLs will be launched, in conjunction with professionals and the sector, delivering further advice and guidance.

To address safeguarding issues online and on social media platforms, alongside the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, we asked the Children’s Commissioner to immediately explore how children’s access to pornography and harmful content can be reduced. We have worked with the Children’s Commissioner’s Office to develop and publish a Parent’s Guide: Talking to your child about online sexual harassment. Additionally, Ministers and the Children’s Commissioner have sought reassurance from technology companies that they will identify further information which they can share, and continue to make available resources to parents, teachers, and children.

To ensure children and young people are educated about these issues, the department is supporting teachers to implement the compulsory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum, including through producing non-statutory guidance to strengthen content and clarity on when relevant topics should be taught and asking schools to prioritise delivery of the full RSHE curriculum this academic year.

Where children and young people are affected by these issues, they continue to be supported by NSPCC’s Report Abuse in Education helpline (0800 136663). The helpline is open to anyone who has suffered sexual abuse or harassment in educational settings, and those concerned for someone else.

Work on safeguarding and child protection continues across government, including the Home Office’s Violence Against Women and Girls and Tackling Child Sexual Abuse strategies, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Online Safety Act, the National Crime Agency’s response to abuse and exploitation, and Cabinet Office’s Stop Abuse Together campaign.

The department accepted the findings of Ofsted’s review in full and immediately began working on delivering a multi-agency, cross-departmental response, tackling the issues identified.

Local statutory safeguarding partners should support schools to address harmful sexual behaviours and sexual abuse. The department’s immediate response involved asking all 135 safeguarding partners to review working arrangements with schools and colleges in their area. We ran several events with safeguarding partners, educational establishments and sector experts, ascertaining emerging practice and barriers to effective working. This information will be shared across all safeguarding partners.

The department has published strengthened statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education Guidance in 2021, ensuring schools have clearer guidance on dealing with sexual abuse. We are further strengthening this guidance and a draft version was published in May and will take effect in September 2022. Additionally, the Child-on-Child Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment guidance have been revised.

The department has worked with the Home Office on development of the Harmful Sexual Behaviour Support Service, assisting professionals, such as teachers and designated safeguarding leads (DSLs), to tackle harmful sexual behaviours.

DSLs have a pivotal role in supporting and protecting children in school which is why we have provided more support to DSLs, enabling them to identify and address issues more confidently. We have extended our pilot of supervision and training for DSLs working alongside the Child Sexual Abuse Centre of Expertise and What Works Children’s Social Care. Later this year an online hub for DSLs will be launched, in conjunction with professionals and the sector, delivering further advice and guidance.

To address safeguarding issues online and on social media platforms, alongside the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, we asked the Children’s Commissioner to immediately explore how children’s access to pornography and harmful content can be reduced. We have worked with the Children’s Commissioner’s Office to develop and publish a Parent’s Guide: Talking to your child about online sexual harassment. Additionally, Ministers and the Children’s Commissioner have sought reassurance from technology companies that they will identify further information which they can share, and continue to make available resources to parents, teachers, and children.

To ensure children and young people are educated about these issues, the department is supporting teachers to implement the compulsory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum, including through producing non-statutory guidance to strengthen content and clarity on when relevant topics should be taught and asking schools to prioritise delivery of the full RSHE curriculum this academic year.

Where children and young people are affected by these issues, they continue to be supported by NSPCC’s Report Abuse in Education helpline (0800 136663). The helpline is open to anyone who has suffered sexual abuse or harassment in educational settings, and those concerned for someone else.

Work on safeguarding and child protection continues across government, including the Home Office’s Violence Against Women and Girls and Tackling Child Sexual Abuse strategies, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Online Safety Act, the National Crime Agency’s response to abuse and exploitation, and Cabinet Office’s Stop Abuse Together campaign.

The government works closely with schools, colleges, awarding organisations and the higher education (HE) sector to ensure that students’ interests are at the centre of decision-making, and to ensure that students have the time to carefully consider their options and make the best choices for their future.

As set out in the International Education Strategy, the government is committed to enhancing the international student experience, from application to employment. We work closely across government and the HE sector to achieve this.

Higher education (HE) providers are autonomous and independent institutions and are therefore responsible for their own admissions decisions. As such, HE providers are used to assessing a wide range of qualifications from domestic and international applicants to make fair admissions decisions.

UCAS is a charity, operating independently of the government. Prospective international and domestic applicants can find a range of information, advice and guidance on their website, and on the websites of their preferred providers.

The department is continuing to work with UCAS and sector bodies to improve transparency, reduce the use of unconditional offers, and reform the personal statement to improve fairness for domestic and international applicants of all backgrounds.

The government works closely with schools, colleges, awarding organisations and the higher education (HE) sector to ensure that students’ interests are at the centre of decision-making, and to ensure that students have the time to carefully consider their options and make the best choices for their future.

As set out in the International Education Strategy, the government is committed to enhancing the international student experience, from application to employment. We work closely across government and the HE sector to achieve this.

Higher education (HE) providers are autonomous and independent institutions and are therefore responsible for their own admissions decisions. As such, HE providers are used to assessing a wide range of qualifications from domestic and international applicants to make fair admissions decisions.

UCAS is a charity, operating independently of the government. Prospective international and domestic applicants can find a range of information, advice and guidance on their website, and on the websites of their preferred providers.

The department is continuing to work with UCAS and sector bodies to improve transparency, reduce the use of unconditional offers, and reform the personal statement to improve fairness for domestic and international applicants of all backgrounds.

On 23 May 2022, the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care published its final recommendations. On the same day, the government set out the actions it is taking to improve children’s social care and committed to publishing a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy later this year.

The National Implementation Board will include people with experience of leading transformational change and those with their own experience of the care system. The department will set out more details about the board in due course.

We are now carefully assessing the Review’s recommendations with all relevant government departments, including HM Treasury. Once we have agreed the broad shape of our reform programme, we will need to consider any cost implications.

On 23 May 2022, the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care published its final recommendations. On the same day, the government set out the actions it is taking to improve children’s social care and committed to publishing a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy later this year.

We are now carefully assessing the review’s recommendations with all relevant government departments, including HM Treasury. Once we have agreed the broad shape of our reform programme, we will need to consider any cost implications.

The department is committed to aligning our implementation strategy for children’s social care following the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care with the reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities system that we are currently consulting on through the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper.

Ultimately, the department wants to build a coherent system that has the best interests of families and vulnerable children at its heart. We therefore recognise the importance of the National Implementation Board for children’s social care working closely with the proposed National SEND Delivery Board. We will set out more detail on plans for both boards in due course.

To ensure families receive support for school attendance, the department recently published new guidance setting out expectations for schools, trusts and local authorities to work together to improve pupil attendance.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has established an alliance of national leaders from education, children’s social care, and other relevant services to work together to raise school attendance and reduce persistent absence. The Attendance Alliance Group has pledged to take action to remove barriers preventing children attending school. The department has also run a number of webinars for schools, multi-academy trusts (MATs) and local authorities to share effective practice in relation to attendance.

The department’s team of attendance advisers play an important role, by working closely with local authorities and MATs with higher levels of persistent absence to review their current practice and support them to develop plans to improve.

The department has been working to establish a better and more timely flow of pupil level attendance data across schools, trusts, and local authorities. Most state-funded schools across the country have now signed up to this project. This will help those involved to identify pupils who need most support with their attendance.

High levels of student engagement and a sense of belonging are associated with students performing well at university and of reducing the chance of them dropping out. A recent joint study by Pearson and higher education outlet Wonkhe showed students with the sense of belonging associated with high engagement are likely to enjoy more academic success.

To support learners in higher education, Student Support Champion duties will include encouraging universities to use technologies such as customer relationship management systems. These can flag the early warning signs of those who are struggling or becoming less engaged, by monitoring data such as attendance and library collections.

It is important that learners feel supported to make informed post-16 decisions on the appropriate route for them. The department’s reforms in the post-16 area, and on support for careers advice in all schools, seek to achieve this.

The department has committed to publishing a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy later this year which will detail the steps we are taking to improve children’s social care. As the strategy is developed, the department will consider the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care carefully, including cost implications and where legislation might be required.

The department is committed to keeping the views and interests of those with lived experience at the heart of our work as we develop the implementation strategy. The new National Implementation Board will include people with their own experience of the care system, alongside those with experience of leading transformational change.

The department has committed to publishing a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy later this year which will detail the steps we are taking to improve children’s social care. As the strategy is developed, the department will consider the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care carefully, including cost implications and where legislation might be required.

The department is committed to keeping the views and interests of those with lived experience at the heart of our work as we develop the implementation strategy. The new National Implementation Board will include people with their own experience of the care system, alongside those with experience of leading transformational change.

The department has committed to publishing a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy later this year which will detail the steps we are taking to improve children’s social care. As the strategy is developed, the department will consider the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care carefully, including cost implications and where legislation might be required.

The department is committed to keeping the views and interests of those with lived experience at the heart of our work as we develop the implementation strategy. The new National Implementation Board will include people with their own experience of the care system, alongside those with experience of leading transformational change.

The department has committed to publishing a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy later this year which will detail the steps we are taking to improve children’s social care. As the strategy is developed, the department will consider the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care carefully, including cost implications and where legislation might be required.

The department is committed to keeping the views and interests of those with lived experience at the heart of our work as we develop the implementation strategy. The new National Implementation Board will include people with their own experience of the care system, alongside those with experience of leading transformational change.

The government’s Levelling Up White Paper includes a specific education mission which states that by 2030, the number of primary school children achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and maths will have significantly increased. In England, this means 90% of children will achieve the expected standard, and the percentage of children meeting the expected standard in the worst performing areas will have increased by over a third. The Levelling Up White Paper can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/levelling-up-the-united-kingdom.

The department is committed to levelling up education standards. The recent Schools White Paper sets out our long-term vision for a school system that helps every child to fulfil their potential, by ensuring that they receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time founded on achieving world-class literacy and numeracy. The Schools White Paper can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/opportunity-for-all-strong-schools-with-great-teachers-for-your-child.

This is why the government is building capacity in the places that need this most. We are offering significant support for our 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs) so that we can improve outcomes for pupils in these areas where attainment is weakest. The government will also be offering additional intensive investment in a subset of 24 Priority EIAs.

In all 55 EIAs, we will be taking steps to support underperforming schools to make the necessary improvements, build trust capacity, support improved digital connectivity in the schools that need this most and offer the Levelling Up premium, worth up to £3,000 tax-free, to eligible teachers.

In the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, the government announced £82 million to create a network of family hubs in 75 areas. This is part of a wider £302 million package to transform services for parents, carers, babies, and children in half of council areas across England. The 75 local authorities eligible to receive the funding were announced on 2 April 2022. Information on support for vulnerable families can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/infants-children-and-families-to-benefit-from-boost-in-support.

Keeping children safe is vital, and the government takes tough measures when councils are failing them.

A Statutory Direction was issued to Sefton Council on 24 May 2022, following the 9 May 2022 Ofsted report that judged children’s services to be inadequate. The direction requires the Council to work with a commissioner appointed by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, who will issue any necessary instructions to the local authority for the purpose of securing immediate improvement. In addition, the commissioner will conduct a three-month assessment of the Council’s capacity and capability to improve itself. This report will help determine the best next steps to ensure improvements are made for vulnerable children and families.

Keeping children safe is vital, and the government takes tough measures when councils are failing them.

A Statutory Direction was issued to Sefton Council on 24 May 2022, following the 9 May 2022 Ofsted report that judged children’s services to be inadequate. The direction requires the Council to work with a commissioner appointed by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, who will issue any necessary instructions to the local authority for the purpose of securing immediate improvement. In addition, the commissioner will conduct a three-month assessment of the Council’s capacity and capability to improve itself. This report will help determine the best next steps to ensure improvements are made for vulnerable children and families.

On 2 April the department announced the 75 local authorities eligible to receive funding under the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. This announcement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/infants-children-and-families-to-benefit-from-boost-in-support.

This programme, jointly overseen by the Department for Education and Department for Health and Social Care, includes the £50 million allocated for parenting programmes at the Spending Review. Officials are currently engaging with the nominated local authorities on programme design and further details will be announced in due course.

The department is committed to ensuring that all pupils can reach their potential and receive excellent support from their teachers. Our reformed initial teacher training (ITT) Core Content Framework (CCF) and the new Early Career Framework (ECF), both developed with sector experts, will equip teachers with a clear understanding of the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

All teachers are teachers of SEND. ITT courses must be designed so that trainee teachers can demonstrate that they meet the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level which includes the requirement that all teachers must have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND.

Consideration of SEND underpins both the ITT CCF and ECF which were both produced with the support of sector experts. The ECF is designed to support all pupils to succeed and seeks to widen access for all.

The department is determined that all children and young people receive the support they need to succeed in their education. It is a legal requirement for qualified teachers of classes of pupils with sensory impairments to hold the relevant mandatory qualification. Our aim is to ensure a steady supply of teachers for children with visual, hearing, and multi-sensory impairment, in both specialist and mainstream schools and colleges.

The government has reformed the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to help give children the best start in life. The reforms aim to improve outcomes for children at age five, particularly disadvantaged children, in the critical areas that build the foundations for later success, such as language development, literacy and numeracy. We are investing up to £180 million in early years education recovery.

Through investing in our English hubs and maths hubs programmes, we will improve the teaching of English and mathematics in schools, including for children in Reception. English hubs are currently delivering intensive support to over 1,000 partner schools, reaching approximately 50,000 pupils in Reception and year 1. Maths hubs programme includes our £100 million Teaching for Mastery programme, which is bringing mastery teaching to 11,000 schools across England by 2023.

To support schools to meet existing expectations on early reading, we published ‘The reading framework: teaching the foundations of literacy’. The guidance is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-reading-framework-teaching-the-foundations-of-literacy.

Initial teacher training (ITT) is predominantly funded by tuition fees (with a small proportion of trainees completing a programme on a salaried route). It is for ITT providers to determine how they allocate the income they receive from tuition fees to training provision.

The government does not prescribe the curriculum of ITT courses. It remains for individual providers to design courses that are appropriate to the needs of trainees and for the subject, phase and context that the trainees will be teaching.

Since September 2020, all courses offered by ITT providers have been aligned to a mandatory core content framework (CCF), which was published in November 2019. The framework sets out a minimum entitlement for all trainee teachers and is underpinned by the best available evidence about what works in teaching. The ITT CCF has been designed around how to support all pupils to succeed and seeks to widen access for all, including those pupils identified within the four areas of need set out in the special educational needs and disabilities code of practice.

The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) review is developing at pace and remains a high priority for this government. The department recognises that the current SEND system does not consistently deliver the outcomes we want and expect for children and young people with SEND, their families, and the people and services who support them.

A key priority for the review is to ensure that children and young people with SEND get the right support, in the right place, at the right time. As part of the review, the department will look at what is needed to improve early intervention, make clearer the support and services expected by its users, and have funding and accountability systems in place that support these aims.

The government has done considerable work to engage people and organisations throughout the review, including meeting representatives from Let Us Learn Too and the Disabled Children’s Partnership. The department is committed to testing its proposals publicly through full public consultation in the first quarter of 2022. This consultation will enable it to gather feedback and expertise from a wide range of perspectives, including sector professionals, children, young people and parents, before final decisions are made.

The department’s ambition for all children and young people, no matter their special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), is that they receive the right support to succeed in their education. Under the Children and Families Act 2014, every mainstream school is required to identify and address the SEND of the pupils they support and use their best endeavours to make sure that they get the support they need.

The SEND Code of Practice explains that education, health and care (EHC) plans should be focused on education, training, health and care outcomes that will enable children and young people to progress in their learning and, as they get older, to be well prepared for adulthood. It is the responsibility of the local authority to ensure that the support specified in an EHC plan is delivered by the named school.

Through our contract with the National Association for Special Educational Needs, we have funded the Whole School SEND Consortium to equip staff in mainstream and special schools to deliver high quality teaching to all children and young people with SEND.

In addition, the SEND Review is seeking to improve the outcomes and experience of all children and young people with SEND, within a sustainable system. The Review will publish as a green paper for full public consultation in the first three months of this year.

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, all schools are required to identify and address the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) of the pupils they support, including those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), and to endeavour to make sure that a child or young person gets the support they need.

Schools, along with the local authority and health partners, should work with families to co-produce arrangements for delivering speech and language therapy. Spending on speech and language therapy is determined at a local level.

The department recognises the impact that the COVID-19 outbreak has had on children and young people with SLCN. In the recent spending review, we announced £1.8 billion of additional funding for those who need it most, bringing total investment in education recovery to almost £5 billion. Within this, in June 2020 we announced a £1 billion catch-up package including a catch-up premium for the 2020/21 academic year. Schools were able to decide how this catch-up premium was spent, for example, on speech and language therapy.

As part of our catch-up package, we have invested £17 million to deliver the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme, which supports children in reception with their language skills. Over two thirds of eligible mainstream primary schools are taking part in this proven, evidence-based programme, benefitting around 90,000 children most in need of language support. This is in addition to £10 million for pre-school early language development training announced February 2021.

The government recognises that the current SEND system does not deliver the outcomes we want and expect for all children and young people with SEND, their families or the people and services who support them. The SEND Review is seeking to improve the outcomes for children, with high expectations and ambitions, and is looking at ways to support mainstream settings to identify and get support to children and young people more quickly, through making best use of precious expertise such as speech and language therapists. These issues are long-standing and complex, but the government is determined to deliver real, lasting change. We intend to publish the SEND Review in the first 3 months of 2022.

Our priority is to maintain high quality face-to-face education for all children and young people.

There are measures in place to help break the chains of COVID-19 transmission, minimise disruption to education and limit absences. These include regular testing, improving ventilation in classrooms and continuing the booster rollout for adults and vaccinations for secondary age pupils.

The department has reintroduced the COVID-19 workforce fund to provide financial support to eligible schools and colleges for additional staff absence costs incurred from 22 November until the February spring half term in 2022. The fund is available to support schools and colleges facing the greatest staffing and funding pressures to continue to deliver high quality face-to-face education to all pupils.

The department has also called for ex-teachers to return to the classroom and, on 12 January, it published initial data from a sample of supply agencies gathered between 20 December 2021 and 7 January 2022. This showed that 485 former teachers have signed up with supply agencies, and over 100 Teach First alumni have also expressed interest in returning to the classroom.

Given the size of the sample, the true number of sign-ups since the call was launched will be larger. Full details of the data release can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/number-of-ex-teachers-joining-the-school-workforce-2021-to-2022.

We have also published sector-led case studies that illustrate practical ways in which schools can work to remain open in the face of staff shortage. Our priority is that all schools offer in-person learning for all pupils. This might involve hybrid lessons, remote teaching, streaming teaching to more than one class at a time, combining face-to-face classes, timetable solutions and using recorded teaching.

The government is committed to pupils with medical conditions and long-term illnesses being properly supported at school so that they have full access to education.

In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions and has published statutory guidance on this for schools and others. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.

Schools also have duties under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments and not to discriminate against disabled children, which may include some children with long-term medical conditions, in relation to their access to education and associated services. Schools must make reasonable adjustments to their practices, procedures and policies to ensure that they are not putting those with a disability at a substantial disadvantage compared with their peers.

We are committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia.

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, every mainstream school is required to identify and address the special educational needs of the pupils they support and endeavour to make sure that every child or young person gets the support they need to succeed in their education.

Our SEND code of practice is clear that meeting the needs of a child with dyslexia does not require a diagnostic label or test. Instead, we expect teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed.

Further to the interim conclusion to the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding published in January 2021, we continue to carefully consider the recommendations made by the independent panel that reported to the Review. We plan to provide a full response in due course.

Respite care services, including short breaks, for disabled children and their families are provided based on an individual assessment of each child and family’s needs.

The department believes it is right for local authorities, who know their areas’ needs best, to determine what services are required locally, including early help.

This year, councils have access to £51.3 billion to deliver their core services, including a £1.7 billion grant for social care. The government has also given over £6 billion in funding directly to councils to support them with the immediate and longer-term impacts of COVID-19 spending pressures, including children’s services.

The department will continue to work with other government departments, including the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to ensure the needs of children’s services are reflected.

Where a child has complex health needs or is in receipt of palliative or end-of-life care, respite provision may be appropriately delivered by health providers, including children’s hospices. Local authorities have a statutory duty to assess the social care needs of disabled children and young people, and to provide respite care where necessary. Where it is appropriate, local authorities can fund respite care provided by hospices, either as a short-term stay or as a service provided to the child or young person in the family home by the hospice team. Local authorities and health commissioners regularly liaise to plan and commission the most appropriate package of respite care for the children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening condition in their area.

In addition to statutory services, the department is providing £27.3 million to the Family Fund in financial year 2021-22 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.

From the 2021/22 academic year, migrant workers from the European Economic Area and their family members who are covered by the Withdrawal Agreements, and meet the ordinary residence requirement, can access tuition fee loans, loans for living costs and targeted grants. This arrangement is set out in the department’s guidance which was published in August: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1009789/EU_Exit_Student_Finance_Policy_-_Aug_21.pdf. The information is also contained in the following Student Finance England publication: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-finance-how-youre-assessed-and-paid.

Education funding is a priority for the Government. In the 2019 Spending Round, we committed to significant additional investment in schools of £2.6 billion in financial year 2020/21, £4.8 billion in 2021/22 and £7.1 billion in 2022/23, compared to 2019/20.

The Department has recently announced schools funding for the final year of this three year settlement. In financial year 2022/23, the schools national funding formula (NFF) is increasing by 3.2 per cent overall, and by 2.8 per cent per pupil. The NFF will distribute this funding based on schools’ and pupils’ needs and characteristics. Schools in the North-West will see a higher than average increase of 3.4 per cent in funding overall next year, and per pupil funding will increase by 2.8 per cent.

Within the North-West, Blackpool and Oldham are also benefitting from additional funding through the Opportunity Areas programme, which is working to improve education outcomes and social mobility in 12 of the most deprived areas of England. The Department has recently been able to extend this programme for another year, through to the end of August 2022, and will be providing an additional £18 million across all 12 areas.

Amended statutory guidance for schools in respect of safeguarding, ‘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, and will come into force from 1 September 2021.

The guidance has been strengthened and updated following the consultation on proposed changes to KCSIE and departmental advice, as well as findings from the Ofsted review into sexual abuse in schools and colleges. KCSIE now provides schools with even clearer guidance on how to deal with reports of sexual abuse, and to support teachers and other school staff to spot the signs of abuse and respond quickly, sensitively, and appropriately. The ‘Reporting Abuse in Education’ helpline has been extended until October to allow anyone to report a concern over sexual abuse in schools, make a referral, or receive advice. The Department will continue to consider what further changes are needed for KCSIE 2022, to ensure all schools and colleges have the guidance to meet their statutory duties to safeguard children, following a further consultation later this year.

The Department will also be extending the pilot support and supervision programme for designated safeguarding leads (DSLs) in up to 500 further schools, and 10 further local authorities. The supervision pilot will test the impact and effectiveness of providing supervision to DSLs through these trials. The programme aims to strengthen support for DSLs and will help build the evidence base on what works. The Department is also committed to sharing lessons learned and good practice from these trials. Alongside creating an online DSL hub and considering how we give greater status to DSLs, my right hon. Friends, the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, have asked the Children’s Commissioner to immediately start looking at how we reduce children’s access to pornography and other harmful content.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has powers to intervene in both maintained schools and academies on safeguarding grounds, which are summarised in ‘Schools Causing Concern: Guidance for Local Authorities and Regional Schools Commissioners’.

Where a maintained school is judged to be ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted because safeguarding is ineffective, the Secretary of State must make an order so that it can be converted into a sponsored academy. Where an academy is judged to be ‘inadequate’, the Secretary of State may terminate the academy’s funding agreement and transfer it to a new trust. Ofsted will always judge a school to be ‘inadequate’ where safeguarding is ineffective.

The ‘Schools Causing Concern: Guidance for Local Authorities and Regional Schools Commissioners’ guidance also makes it clear that, where there are specific concerns about safeguarding in a maintained school, the local authority is expected to use its powers to address them in the first instance. Where there are specific concerns about safeguarding in an academy, the department will work closely with the trust to ensure that they take the necessary action.

The department’s statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE) applies to all schools, including independent schools, through the Independent School Standards, which require that independent schools should have regard to KCSIE. All independent schools are expected to comply with the Independent School Standards at all times. The standards include requirements to protect the welfare, health, and safety of pupils.

Where schools do not meet the strict safeguarding standards that are in place, we will always take action. If it becomes clear that there are current failings in any school’s safeguarding practice, we will commission Ofsted or the Independent Schools Inspectorate to conduct an inspection. If a school is found to not be meeting the required safeguarding standard, we will make sure that it either improves or closes.

Ofsted was commissioned to undertake a review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges, with the report published on 10 June 2021. The department has accepted the findings of the review in full and has committed to go further. The statutory guidance for KCSIE for this September has already been updated, ensuring that schools have even clearer guidance on how to deal with reports of sexual abuse. The ‘Report Abuse in Education’ helpline has been extended until October to allow anyone to report a concern over sexual abuse in schools, make a referral or receive advice.

The department will also extend the pilot support and supervision programme for Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL) in up to 500 further schools, and 10 further local authorities. Alongside creating an online DSL hub and considering how we give greater status to DSLs, my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have asked the Children’s Commissioner to immediately start looking at how we reduce children’s access to pornography and other harmful content.

The new compulsory Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum will be implemented in full, from next term. Pupils need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal, and social lives in a positive way. As such, we have made Health Education compulsory in all state-funded schools in England alongside making Relationships Education (in primary schools) and Relationships and Sex Education (in secondary schools) compulsory from September 2020. The knowledge that pupils gain will help support their own wellbeing and others’ wellbeing and help them to become successful and happy adults.

The aim of teaching pupils about physical health and mental wellbeing is to give them the information that they need to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing, to recognise issues in themselves and in others and, when issues arise, to seek support as early as possible from appropriate sources.

Physical health and mental wellbeing are interlinked, and it is important that pupils understand that good physical health contributes to good mental wellbeing. Through the School Sport and Activity Action Plan, the department aims to ensure that sport and physical activity are an integral part of both the school day and after-school activities and to provide children with greater opportunities to do 60 minutes of sport and physical activity every day.

The government recently confirmed the continuation of the £320 million Physical Education (PE) and sport premium for the 2021/22 academic year, and further permitted schools to carry forward any unspent PE and sport premium funding remaining at the end of this academic year. Primary schools can use this funding to develop or add to their PE, sport and physical activity provision including engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity.

Mental health and wellbeing are a priority for the government. As the country came out of lockdown, we prioritised reopening schools above all else because it is so vital for children and young people’s wellbeing, as well as their education.

In May, as part of Mental Health Awareness week, we announced more than £17 million to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges, building on our commitment to make mental health and wellbeing a central part of the education recovery work.

The department does not hold data on waiting times for a needs assessment for an education, health and care plan (EHCP), but does hold data on the number and percentage of EHCPs that are issued within the statutory 20 week timescale in the publication ‘Education, health and care plans’ available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.

In the 2020 calendar year, 58% of EHCPs were issued within the 20 week timescale, excluding cases where exceptions apply.

We support the right of parents to educate their children at home, most will educate their children well, sometimes in challenging circumstances. However, we cannot overlook the rising numbers of home-educated children. For some, home education can mean children are not provided a suitable education or are invisible to the services and professionals there to keep them safe and supported.

The Department does not collect data on numbers of home educated children. Parents are not required to register if they are home educating their children and, therefore, there is not a robust basis on which the Department can reliably collect statistics on home education.

We remain committed to a registration system for children not in school, which would improve local authorities’ ability to undertake their existing duties and help safeguard children who are in scope.

A consultation was held in the spring of 2019 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; a duty on parents to register their child with the local authority if not registered at specified types of schools; a duty on proprietors of certain education settings to respond to enquiries from local authorities, and a duty on local authorities to provide support to parents who educate children at home.

The consultation closed on 24 June 2019, with nearly 5000 responses. Further details on a proposed registration system will be in the Government response to the consultation, which we intend to publish in the coming months.

The department does not hold data on waiting times to receive support.

The department does publish data on the number and percentage of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans that are issued within the statutory 20 week timescale, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans. In the 2020 calendar year, 58.0% of EHC plans were issued within the 20-week timescale, excluding cases where exceptions apply.

I have noted the findings of the recent Ofsted focus visit to Sefton Borough Council’s children’s services department, including the two areas for priority action identified in their report.

My officials have been working with Sefton Borough Council on their response and met again with the Chief Executive and the new Interim Director of Children’s Social Services on 19 May 2021 to discuss how the findings will be addressed.

I am minded to issue an Improvement Notice and appoint an advisor for 12 months. This will require Sefton to establish an improvement board and draw up an improvement plan to ensure that the two areas identified are addressed within that 12 month period.

We will continue to work closely with colleagues at Sefton Borough Council as they take forward their improvement plan.

Due to the ongoing disruption to education caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, it was announced on 6 January that GCSE, AS and A level exams will not go ahead as planned this summer. This year, pupils will be awarded grades determined by their teachers and based on a range of evidence, only being assessed on the content they have been taught and not what they have missed. Whilst we recognise that teachers will need to assess their pupils this year on a range of evidence, in many ways, assessing pupils and determining their standard of performance is an important part of teachers’ roles in a typical year.

The Department continues to work closely with Ofqual and the exam boards to ensure that teachers feel supported. As part of this process, we are regularly engaging with the teacher unions and other sector representatives to ensure the processes developed and guidance which supports them reflects their feedback. The Joint Council for Qualifications and the exam boards have published extensive guidance and materials for schools and colleges to support teachers with their assessment, marking, and making their judgements of pupils’ performance.

Exam boards are responsible for setting their exam fees, taking into account the costs involved with alternative arrangements in 2021. Exam boards will need to cover their costs, and the Department expects they will make commercial decisions on fees and refunds on that basis. Given the unusual circumstances this year, it is not possible for them to have certainty about their 2021 costs in advance.

Apprenticeships provide people with the opportunity to earn and learn the skills needed to start an exciting career in a wide range of industries, everything from artificial intelligence, archaeology, data science, business management, and banking. We want more people to benefit from high quality apprenticeships. Since May 2010, there have been 8,940 apprenticeship starts in Southport (constituency) and 30,760 in Sefton (local authority).

We are supporting employers to offer new apprenticeship opportunities by increasing the incentive payment to £3,000 for every new apprentice hired between 1 April and 30 September 2021 as part of the government's Plan for Jobs. We continue to work with the Department for Work and Pensions to enable Kickstart placements to turn into apprenticeships where that is the right thing for the employer and the young person.

In addition, we are supporting the largest ever expansion of traineeships and working with employers to develop new occupational traineeships in rail, construction and engineering which will create a pathway for young people to progress into apprenticeships or other employment. The government confirmed an additional £126 million in the latest budget to fund a further 43,000 traineeship places in the 2021/22 academic year, and we have extended the £1,000 incentive payments for employers who offer traineeship work placement opportunities to July 2022.

To encourage more young people to consider apprenticeships, we are promoting apprenticeships in schools across the country through our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme. This free service provides schools and teachers with resources and interventions to help better educate young people about apprenticeships. In the Skills for Jobs white paper, published in January, we announced that we will be introducing a 3 point plan to enforce the Baker Clause, our requirement that all maintained schools and academies provide opportunities for providers of technical education and apprenticeships to visit schools to talk to all year 8 to 13 pupils. This includes creating clear minimum legal requirements, specifying who is to be given access to which pupils and when. This is an important step towards real choice for every pupil.

The information requested is not held centrally in the form requested. There is no official definition for the term “working class” and it is not used by the Department for Education in formal statistics.

Young people can leave a school setting at age 16 or age 18. National statistics are published on the proportion of young people achieving level 2 qualifications (level 2 is 5 (or more) GCSEs at grades 9-4/A*-C or equivalent) by ages 16 to 19. Figures are published by pupil characteristics including free school meal (FSM) eligibility which can be used as an indicative measure for low income. Information provided is for those not achieving level 2 but that does not mean they left school with no qualifications.

In the Sefton local authority, the total proportion of 16 year olds not achieving level 2 is 37% in the 2019/20 academic year compared with 30% five years ago. Looking at those who were eligible for FSM, 65% had not achieved level 2 compared with 50% five years ago.

At age 18 in Sefton, the total proportion not achieving level 2 was 22% in 2019/20 compared with 15% five years ago. Looking at those who were eligible for FSM, 47% had not achieved level 2 compared with 30% five years ago.

The accompanying table shows a five year time series for both ages and includes gender and those not eligible for FSM. Comparable figures are not available for Southport or by ethnicity.

National estimates which show level 2 attainment by gender, FSM status and ethnicity are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/level-2-and-3-attainment-by-young-people-aged-19/2019-20. These detailed breakdowns are not published by local authority.

The Department remains committed to providing world class education, training and care for everyone, whatever their background, and taking the action needed to address disparities.

Keeping children safe is our utmost priority.

From 20 July, early years settings (including nurseries and childminders) have been allowed to return to normal group sizes. This is because there is moderate to high scientific confidence in evidence suggesting younger children are less likely to become ill with COVID-19, and high scientific confidence that children of all ages have less severe symptoms than adults if they do get ill. Furthermore, early years settings are already required to operate within strict staff-child ratio and space requirements.

We continue to expect that early years settings will consider how they can minimise mixing within settings, for example where they use different rooms for different age groups, keeping those groups apart as much as possible.

Settings are also required to follow a Public Health England endorsed ‘system of controls’ to minimise risks. For example, enhanced cleaning, thorough hand cleaning, and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) where applicable. Detailed guidance has been issued and is available here:
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; and here:

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

Activities for families and their young children, for example baby and toddler groups, can operate provided they, and the premises they operate from, follow relevant government guidance.

Guidance on which premises and businesses are legally able to open is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close-guidance.

Providers should also have regard to and, where relevant, ensure that they are following guidance on the safe use of multi-purpose community facilities, which is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-the-safe-use-of-multi-purpose-community-facilities.

Ofsted registered early years providers should ensure they are following guidance for early years and childcare providers, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures.

Our guidance for early years providers details the package of support the government has put in place for workers and businesses which will benefit childcare settings, including:

• confirmation that the government will continue to pay local authorities for free early years entitlement places for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds

• the Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced would be extended from 29 May. Those eligible under the SEISS will be able to claim a second and final grant in August, which will be capped at £6,570 in total

• for the self-employed (including childminders), the minimum income floor has been temporarily relaxed, meaning Universal Credit can be accessed at a rate to match statutory sick pay

The guidance can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures#funding.

Further information about the Chancellor’s announcement is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-extends-self-employment-support-scheme-and-confirms-furlough-next-steps.

Following my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister’s announcement on 28 May that the government’s five tests have been met, the decision was made, based on all the evidence, to ask childcare providers to welcome back all children below statutory school age from the week commencing 1 June. This includes childminders who will additionally be able to care for school aged children, up to the statutory maximum and in line with their current Ofsted registration. The department has published a planning guide to help childcare providers prepare to open their settings for all children, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-the-wider-opening-of-early-years-and-childcare-settings-from-1-june.

As my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced to the House on 18 March, the Government has taken the difficult decision to cancel all examinations due to take place in schools and colleges in England this summer, as part of the fight to prevent the spread of coronavirus. This includes all GCSE examinations.

The Department’s priority for GCSE students is to ensure they can move on as planned to the next stage of their education, including starting college, sixth form courses or apprenticeships, in the autumn. We will ensure they are awarded a grade which reflects their work. Our intention is that a grade will be awarded this summer based on the best available evidence, including any non-examination assessment that students have already completed. The qualifications regulator Ofqual is working urgently with examination boards to set out proposals for how this process will work and more information will be provided as soon as possible.

The Department recognises that some students may nevertheless feel disappointed that they have not been able to sit their examinations. If they do not believe the correct process has been followed in their case, they will be able to appeal on that basis. In addition, if they do not feel their calculated grade reflects their performance, they will have the opportunity to sit an examination, as soon as is reasonably possible after the beginning of the new academic year. Students will also have the option to sit their examinations in summer 2021.

Childcare providers are making a vital contribution in our fight against Covid-19. The Department for Education has confirmed that it will not claw back funding from local authorities for any periods of closures where settings are closed on medical advice or if children are not able to attend due to Covid-19. The government expects local authorities to follow the department’s position, and continue early years entitlements funding for childminders, pre-schools and nurseries. This should also apply to those infant and primary schools that deliver the early years entitlements. This will minimise short-term disruptions to early years providers’ finances and allow the system to recover more quickly.

My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has also announced a package of support for businesses that will include many early years and childcare providers. This includes business rates relief, a range of loans and grants and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme means that for employees who are not working but kept on payroll, the government will contribute 80% of each worker’s wages of up to £2,500, backdated to 1 March 2020. Providers can access this scheme while continuing to be paid the early entitlements funding via local authorities.

The department continues to work alongside Public Health England and with early years sector representatives to ensure that measures taken are in the best interests of the health of our nation whilst minimising the impact on individual childcare settings.

The latest guidance for schools and other educational settings can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-schools-and-other-educational-settings.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities manages Building Regulations and Approved Documents for provision of toilets in publicly accessible buildings, but powers in the Building Act 1984 and the Building Regulations 2010 cannot require sanitary bins in men’s toilets. Defra oversees policy and legislation with respect to the safe management of waste and of litter. However, Defra has no powers to compel the provision of sanitary bins as the maintenance of public toilets is usually a matter for the relevant local authority, and I would encourage the hon. Member to raise the issue locally. Councils have a duty to make arrangements for the regular emptying and cleansing of any litter bins that they provide or maintain. They also have the power to clean and empty litter bins provided in any street or public place. The emptying of litter bins must be sufficiently frequent to ensure that no such litter bin or its contents becomes a nuisance or gives reasonable grounds for complaint.

Where public sanitary bins are provided in local authority provided toilets, the relevant local authority must ensure that bins are managed in accordance with the relevant waste legislation, including the Waste Duty of Care, and are responsible for the maintenance and repair of public toilets. Sewer blockages can lead to flooding inside homes and businesses and are expensive to clear.  There are measures in current water industry legislation to protect drains and sewers from damage due to misuse including pouring damaging substances down drains and sewers. Damaging these infrastructures is an offence punishable by a fine or, in more serious cases, imprisonment for a maximum of two years.

Provision of healthcare services and how they should be managed is the policy responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Care.

The Environment Agency (EA) flood mapping provides a national picture of flood risk for England. The EA provides all its flood risk mapping as open data, as well as it being available to view on gov.uk services, such as check your long term flood risk and flood map for planning. This combines both local and national modelling, and uses industry best practice in terms of modelling software and approaches.

The EA always seeks to improve modelling to reflect the latest climate science, including a major investment in producing a new national assessment of flood risk by 2024. This will be used to update its Long Term Investment Scenarios (LTIS) last published in 2019. LTIS are an economic assessment showing what future flood and coastal erosion risk management could look like over the next 50 years in England.

The Government published a flood and coastal erosion risk management policy statement in July 2020, setting out the long-term ambition to create a nation more resilient to flood and coastal erosion risk. The Environment Agency (EA) also published the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Strategy for England in July 2020.

In June 2022 the EA published the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy Roadmap to 2026, outlining the practical actions the EA and other organisations will take to implement the FCERM Strategy by 2026.

The EA continues to build and repair flood and coastal defences to make the nation more resilient to flooding, delivering on the Government’s record £5.2 billion investment in flood and coastal risk management announced in March 2020. This has already resulted in more than 35,000 properties being better protected from flooding and coastal erosion since April 2021. A list of capital schemes protecting properties, completed between April 2021 and March 2022 is available on data.gov.uk .

I recognise the impact high food prices are having on household budgets. High food prices are the result of many different factors, including agri-food commodity import prices, domestic agricultural prices, domestic labour and other manufacturing costs such as fuel and energy, as well as Sterling exchange rates. Of these factors, farmgate prices are seen to be the most influential driver of food prices.

The Government has already committed £37 billion to support households with the current exceptionally high cost of living. £1 billion of this has gone towards help with the cost of household essentials.

The most recent food inflation statistics published by the Office for National Statistics, showed that in January 2023, food inflation was 16.8%. Food inflation is higher than overall inflation given the multiple pressures across the food chain.

The Government has little influence on consumer food prices. The UK has a very competitive food retail sector which helps to keep some downward pressure on food prices. We continue to work with food retailers and producers to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food. To help with increased cost of living, retailers have introduced incentives for customers such as new reward cards offering discounts or “cashback” on future purchases. A number of stores are also offering meal deals either in store or within their cafes to help vulnerable groups.

The Government has taken action to help alleviate inflationary pressure across the food chain by expanding the number of seasonal workers visas for horticulture to 45,000 this year and initiated an Independent Labour Review to provide recommendations on how labour pressures could be addressed. The Government has also provided energy bill support via the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, cut tariffs to reduce feed costs, improved avian influenza compensation schemes and taken a range of measures on fertilisers.

We have been repeatedly clear to water companies that they must tackle sewage overflows urgently, and the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan will deliver the largest infrastructure investment in water company history to clean up our rivers. Under the Environment Act we have improved monitoring and the transparency of data related to sewage overflows. Event Duration Monitors will be fully rolled out by 2023. This will help monitor sewage impacts and hold water companies to account to deliver rapid improvements.

The Government recognises the importance of food security, which is why we published the Food Strategy earlier this year. The Food Strategy puts food security at the heart of the Government's vision for the food sector. It aims to broadly maintain the current level of food that we produce domestically and boost production in sectors where there are the biggest opportunities.

We announced in the Food Strategy that we will publish a Land Use Framework for England in 2023, which will set out land-use change principles to ensure food security is balanced alongside climate and environment outcomes. These principles will guide local authorities, land managers, and others across England to move towards a more strategic use of land. We are seeking to deliver as much as we can on our limited supply of land, to meet the full range of Government commitments through multifunctional landscapes.

The Government is committed to encouraging a thriving, innovative, and globally competitive farming sector where farms can be profitable and environmentally sustainable without subsidy.

In addition, the Government is supporting investment in productivity-boosting equipment, technology, and infrastructure. The Farming Investment Fund opened in November 2021 and provides grants to farmers, foresters, and growers (including contractors to these sectors) that will help their businesses to prosper.

Innovation also ensures British farmers remain globally competitive. Through our £270 million Farming Innovation Programme, farmers and growers in England can apply for funding to develop new, innovative methods and technologies. Amongst others, we are funding projects to develop robots that can pick fruit, vertical farms, and new ways to process slurry to convert it into fertiliser.

Local councils are responsible for keeping public land clear of litter and Defra is committed to supporting them in doing so. We published the Litter Strategy for England in April 2017, setting out our aim to deliver a substantial reduction in litter. We have almost doubled the maximum fixed penalty fine for littering to £150. Through a recent grant scheme administered by the environmental charity WRAP, we have also awarded almost £1m to local councils to provide new litter bins. We have been proud to support national clean-up days such as the Great British Spring Clean and the Great British Beach Clean, and we will continue do so in future. Measures in the Environment Bill, including the Deposit Return Scheme and restrictions on single-use plastic items, will also provide significant additional support to local councils in tackling this issue.

The impact assessment for the ZEV mandate demonstrated that, over time, running cost savings of electric vehicles outweigh capital costs over a reasonable ownership period. Just as many households don’t buy new petrol cars today, there is no expectation that anyone will be forced to buy a new ZEV car, with the expectation that many consumers, as now, will prefer to buy second-hand.

Avanti West Coast has put in place a recovery plan which has already seen positive results, with more trains running for passengers and fewer Avanti West Coast caused cancellations. Weekday services have risen from 180 to 264 trains per day, the highest level in over two years. Cancellation rates have fallen from around 25% to 4.2%, the lowest level in 12 months. In addition, over 100 additional drivers have been recruited to reduce reliance on union-controlled overtime working.

Avanti West Coast is expected to continue to adhere to the plan and drive further improvement following the decision to grant a short-term contract extension. Officials will continue to use all contractual levers to drive the best outcomes for passengers. Performance will be closely monitored ahead of any decision on the longer-term operation of the contract.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the deployment of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure happens across all areas of the country.

Over the last six years, 189 different local authorities have been awarded over £55 million of funding through the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, which will see more than 14,000 chargepoints installed across the UK.

To accelerate this roll-out, the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund Pilot was launched in August 2022, and expanded further in February 2023. The pilot provides almost £60 million in public and private investment to 25 different local authorities across England and will deliver over 3,400 chargepoints and 600 gullies for drivers without off-street parking.

The LEVI Pilot is supporting the development of the full LEVI Fund. One aim of the fund is to address regional charging inequality and ensure no part of the country is left behind. The Department has developed a data-led allocation model to award the funding, which considers factors such as the level of rurality and the number of vehicles without off-street parking within the local authority.

At present the Department does not have any plans to electrify the Southport to Wigan line. In the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, the Government committed to delivering a net zero rail network by 2050, with sustained carbon reductions in rail along the way. To help deliver this, we will electrify additional lines and deploy battery and hydrogen trains on some lines, where it makes economic and operational sense. The Great British Railways Transition Team will bring forward costed options for the Government to carefully consider in terms of overall deliverability and affordability.

Priority seating is important in enabling many disabled people to travel confidently and, as set out in the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000, it must be provided onboard buses.

It is for operators to determine how drivers assist passengers who require a priority seat, but they are subject to the Equality Act 2010, and must also ensure staff receive suitable training. The Government’s REAL training package can support operators to ensure staff understand the needs and rights of disabled passengers.

Ministers, the Department, and Rail North Partnership Officials regularly meet with the senior management of Network Rail and operators to review performance. We are holding them to account for matters within their control and will continue to use all contractual levers to drive the best outcomes for passengers.

Effective operation of the West Coast Main Line requires Network Rail, as the infrastructure manager, and the train operating companies including West Midlands Trains, Avanti West Coast, and TransPennine Express to work collaboratively. Where train operating companies, including Avanti West Coast, perform poorly, the Department will continue to hold them to account for the things within their control using the mechanisms within the contract.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s online services are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their driving licence within a few days. There are also no delays in straightforward paper driving licence applications which are being processed within normal turnaround times.

Driving licence applications where a medical condition must be investigated before a licence can be issued can take longer. The length of time taken depends on the condition(s) involved and whether further information is required from third parties, for example doctors or other healthcare professionals, before a decision on whether to issue a licence can be made.

It is important to note that the majority of applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing they have not been told not to drive by a doctor or optician.

For schemes to be able to enter the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) promoters will need to present a business case of the appropriate level (Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC), Outline Business Case (OBC) or Full Business Case (FBC)- with an SOBC as a minimum. Due to the challenging fiscal environment Government funding is not available to assist with funding these business cases.

Overall, in terms of serious or fatal casualties, smart motorways are the safest roads on the Strategic Road Network. We want all drivers to feel safe and we have paused the rollout of smart motorways not already in construction while we collect more data. During the pause, we have committed £900m for safety improvements across the network including building more emergency areas.

The proposed Burscough Curves project was assessed as part of the Restoring Your Railway programme after a bid was made under the third round of the programme’s Ideas Fund. The assessment concluded that the project was not appropriate for funding through the Restoring Your Railway programme, however may be a strong candidate for future development. The feedback recommended that the Promoter, Lancashire County Council, re-submit a proposal through the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline (RNEP) process.

The Bus Services Act 2017 does not contain any time constraints on the introduction of Enhanced Partnerships (EPs) or franchising. However, since publication of the National Bus Strategy, all local authorities in England are pursuing either an EP or developing a franchising business case.

We know that the provision of audible and visible information onboard local services can support a range of passengers to travel confidently. The 2021 National Bus Strategy included a commitment to use powers in the Bus Services Act 2017 to make Accessible Information Regulations, subject to final analysis, and we continue to work towards this goal.

We have now delivered the core components of the Bus Open Data digital service, data standards and the majority of the bus industry is compliant with the regulations. The current focus is working with non-compliant bus operators to support publication, enabling app developers and technologists to use the service.

The Government has introduced a range of Transport Sanctions in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. These measures are intended to ratchet up the economic pressure on Russia, signal our support to Ukraine, and to degrade the Russian shipping sector. We also recognise the importance of protecting seafarers and their welfare whilst achieving this goal.

The Government continually seeks to ensure sanctions measures are carefully targeted and avoid unintended consequences. Economic sanctions come under the remit and responsibility of HM Treasury and its Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI). If a person or organisation is subject to financial sanctions and requires access to frozen funds in order to pay for goods and services, it is incumbent on them to seek a licence from OFSI. This includes the release of funds for the purpose of paying seafarers.

OFSI prioritises cases where there are issues of personal basic needs and/or wider humanitarian issues at stake which are of material impact or urgency, or which are deemed to be of particular strategic, economic or administrative importance. My Department has engaged regularly with OFSI on this matter to ensure cases of seafarer remuneration are considered and prioritised where possible.

The Government has acted to improve smart motorway safety, ordering a stocktake in 2020 and investing £900 million to equip them with stopped vehicle detection, enforcement cameras, additional signs and emergency areas, while pausing the rollout of new smart motorways to collect more data.

The Government has acted to improve smart motorway safety, ordering a stocktake in 2020 and investing £900 million to equip them with stopped vehicle detection, enforcement cameras, additional signs and emergency areas, while pausing the rollout of new smart motorways to collect more data.

The Government set up the Manchester Recovery Task Force in January 2020 to address the unacceptable levels of train performance in the north west of England following the late change to the May 2018 timetable.

The task force, which includes Transport for the North and Transport for Greater Manchester, consulted on a number of options and took account of the more than 800 responses to identify the optimal service for users and the Northern economy.

Northern Trains and TransPennine Express, working with Network Rail and other train operators, used this assessment to develop the timetable which will come into force in December 2022 and which will improve performance significantly while still meeting the journey needs of the vast majority of regular travellers on lines into Manchester.

There is already a framework of legislation in place to protect consumer’s rights when travelling by air, including when and what compensation is due in the event of cancellations. It is of vital importance that passengers know their rights. Airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority already provide to passengers on what to do if something goes wrong with their flight. To further support this, we are developing an Aviation Passenger Charter, alongside industry and consumer groups, to further support passengers to understand their rights, responsibilities and reasonable expectations when travelling by air, from booking to if something goes wrong, including flight cancellations.

We also recently consulted on a range of consumer policy reforms, including additional powers for the Civil Aviation Authority to enforce consumer rights, mandatory alternative dispute resolution for all airlines operating in the UK, to enable individuals to seek redress. We are currently reviewing all responses and will set out next steps in due course.

Air passenger rights remains a key priority for Government, which we recently reaffirmed in the Flightpath to the Future publication, which commits to ensuring consumers are protected and have the confidence to fly. We will continue to work with the Civil Aviation Authority to ensure consumer laws are being adhered to and consumers protected.

Government has committed over £1.6 billion to support charging infrastructure at homes, on the street, in workplaces, destinations and along major roads. We have published a landmark electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure strategy setting out our plans to accelerate the rollout of a world-class charging network across the UK. Our strategy sets out our vision and commitments to make EV charging cheaper and more convenient than refuelling at a petrol station.

In addition, we have announced new regulations for public chargepoints to improve confidence in the charging network and make the user experience truly seamless. Drivers will benefit from simplified payment methods as well as the ability to compare prices and access real-time information about chargepoints. We will ensure there is a 99% reliability rate at rapid chargepoints. We will be introducing payment roaming to support the electrification of fleets. Chargepoints will need to have open data so that they are easy to find using maps and apps. We will lay legislation later this year.

To ensure that the transition to electric vehicles takes place in every part of the country, we are pledging at least £500m to support local chargepoint provision. As part of this, the Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) fund will provide approximately £400m of capital and £50m of resource funding to support local authorities to work with industry and transform the availability of charging for drivers without off-street parking. We have launched a £10 million pilot as a springboard for the development of the full fund.

This year, £20 million is available through the on-street residential chargepoint scheme to all UK local authorities to provide public chargepoints to their residents without access to private parking.

Local authorities have a key role to play as they are best placed to consider local needs. We encourage local authorities to apply for funding to provide chargers for their residents.

The Government regrets that the trade unions have chosen to go ahead with the strikes. These strikes are impacting local businesses and the ability of the general public to get to school, hospital and work.

The Government and rail industry, including Network Rail, have worked together and continue to work together to ensure plans are in place to minimise disruption allowing for freight and passenger services to remain operational where possible. The Civil Contingencies Secretariat is also convening ministers daily during the strike period to assess operational response and impact.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has estimated the cost to the economy of the three days of strike action to be at least £91 million: Rail and tube strikes to cause hit of at least £91m to the UK economy (cebr.com)

The Department consulted on measures to address pavement parking in 2020 and received over 15,000 responses. These responses have been analysed and Ministers are carefully considering the options in the light of the consultation findings. We will publish the formal consultation response and announce next steps as soon as possible.

From 4am on Friday 18 March, COVID-19 border restrictions will be lifted for all passengers entering the UK. This means that passengers arriving in the UK, regardless of their vaccination status, will no longer be required to complete a Passenger Locator Form or take any COVID-19 travel tests. That means we are the first major economy to get back to the kind of restriction-free travel we all enjoyed before COVID.

The waiting time is calculated for all vocational tests as a whole. As of 28 February 2022, the national average waiting time was 5.2 weeks for the module 3b (on-road) test.

(a) The Government recognises the need to ensure hauliers have access to appropriate services and facilities.

We are aware of the concerns expressed by many HGV drivers about the provision, quality and value of lorry parking in the UK. We have announced £32.5 million in new funding to improve roadside facilities for hauliers and are undertaking a new National Lorry Parking Survey supported by direct industry engagement to help identify where improvements are most needed. We continue to engage with key stakeholders to encourage the development of safe, secure and high-quality lorry parking.

(b) Safety remains our top priority and our motorways are the safest type of road in the country.

On motorways where the hard shoulder has been converted to a traffic lane, there is a whole system of inter-related features, working together to help drivers. They include clearly signed and orange-coloured emergency areas set back from the road to provide greater protection than a hard shoulder and with telephones linking directly to our control rooms.

Emergency areas are available for when a driver has no alternative but to stop and it has not been possible to leave the motorway or reach a motorway service area. They are approximately 100 meters long (the average length of a football pitch) by 4.6 meters wide and set back from the left-hand edge of the motorway.

A Smart Motorway Driver Education Course was designed and developed jointly between National Highways and Logistics UK specifically for the freight sector. Its core objective is to help improve drivers’ understanding of smart motorways and how to use them. It is available free of charge and is recognised by JAUPT (the Joint Approvals Unit for Periodic Training) as part of professional drivers’ formal accreditation. Since its launch in 2018 it has been supplied to more than 150 organisations with almost 400 courses delivered to more than 2,800 delegates.

The Government has not made an assessment of aligning the UK’s mobility scooter speed rules with those in the EU. The safety of all road users is a key priority for the Government. The current speed limit for mobility scooters is based on both safety and mobility considerations, balancing the interests of all road users.

On 24 January the Secretary of State for Transport announced that, thanks to the success of the UK’s vaccine and booster rollout, the government will reduce travel restrictions ensuring a more proportionate system is in place for passengers.

Therefore, from 4am on 11 February eligible fully vaccinated arrivals will no longer have to undertake a post-arrival Lateral Flow test. Self-isolation and day 8 tests will also be removed for arrivals who are not recognised as fully vaccinated. Although the PLF will still be required for all travellers, it will also be simplified to reflect our more streamlined system.

The changes mean that the UK has one of the most free-flowing borders across Europe and the simplification of travel rules comes just before half term, providing welcome news for families looking to travel abroad during the school holidays, as well as an extra boost for the tourism industry.

The Department ran a public consultation from 28 September to 22 November 2021 seeking views on proposals to tackle tampering. As part of the consultation, the Department sought views and evidence on the potential effect of proposals, which are not intended to prevent activities such as restoration, repairs and legitimate improvements to vehicles.

The Government will consider all responses received and undertake an assessment of the impact of any proposals that are taken forward.

No such assessment has been made because the timetable operated by Merseyrail and the fares charged are the subject to the agreement of Merseytravel to whom responsibility for these matters has been fully devolved since 2003.

The quickest and easiest way to apply for a driving licence is by using the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online service. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their licence within a few days.

However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application and the DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day. The DVLA understands the impact of delays on those who make paper applications and is working hard to process them as quickly as possible. To help reduce waiting times for paper applications, including where a medical condition must be investigated, the DVLA has introduced additional online services, recruited more staff, increased overtime working and has secured extra office space in Swansea and Birmingham.

The majority of applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing the driver can meet specific criteria. More information can be found online here.

The DVLA recognises the impact on drivers who have to renew their licence more regularly and is working hard to improve the process. Drivers with diabetes, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, a visual impairment, a sleep condition or a heart condition can now renew their licence online.

The DVLA has also recently introduced a simplified licence renewal process for drivers with epilepsy and multiple sclerosis and is piloting this for some mental health conditions. This new renewal process has significantly reduced the need for the DVLA to seek further information from medical professionals and enabled more licensing decisions to be made based on the information provided by the driver. The DVLA is looking at adding more medical conditions to this new process.

None. It is for local authorities to manage their road networks appropriately, including by ensuring that changes to their road layouts are not having unintended impacts. As a condition of funding active travel schemes, the Department requires all local authorities to monitor and evaluate their impacts. The Government recently updated its Network Management Duty Guidance for local authorities, which includes advice to authorities on monitoring the traffic impacts of active travel schemes. The guidance is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reallocating-road-space-in-response-to-covid-19-statutory-guidance-for-local-authorities/traffic-management-act-2004-network-management-in-response-to-covid-19

It is for local authorities to manage their roads and to ensure that the active travel schemes they install are designed in such a way as to take into account the needs of all road users. The Department requires all local authorities to monitor and evaluate the impacts of their active travel schemes. It takes time, however, to understand the long-term impacts of new cycling infrastructure, both on rates of cycling and on the flow of other traffic. The Department has commissioned a formal national evaluation of the Active Travel Fund (ATF) which will consider this matter in some detail. A baseline report of schemes selected for evaluation is scheduled to be received by the Department in December 2022. This will be followed by a final report in late 2024.

The Department has no plans to change current legislation relating to the specifications of photographs for use as identification on the UK Blue Badge.

Ministers engage regularly with bus industry representatives on a range of issues. Currently, 99% of local buses^[1] comply with the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000 (PSVAR), which require the provision of a wheelchair space and ramp or lift.

^[1] Source: Annual Bus Statistics 2019, referenced in the National Disability Strategy

As of 22 November, people vaccinated with vaccines listed on the WHO Emergency Use Listing, in addition to those already recognised, can travel to the UK without having to quarantine. In practice, this means that Sinovac, Sinopharm Beijing and Covaxin are now accepted at the border as well as Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen.

The Government will continue to work with international partners to expand the policy to more countries and territories where it is safe to do so.

In collaboration with Network Rail and Transport for the North, The Department has developed the core of a new timetable for rail services in and around Manchester. It will provide more punctual, reliable journeys for passengers from December 2022, and includes services from Southport to both the North and South sides of Manchester city centre.

Ambitious infrastructure enhancements are then targeted to follow over the decade, and £26 million has been granted to Network Rail to develop and design improvements aimed at accommodating service demands.

In addition, all English Local Transport Authorities outside London – including the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority - have published Bus Service Improvement Plans, setting out local visions for transformed bus services. The Government will invest £1.2 billion of dedicated funding in bus transformation deals to deliver improvements in services, fares, and infrastructure.

Liverpool City Region will also benefit from £710 million allocated at Spending Review from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.

The Department is in regular contact with authorities across the country to discuss their active travel plans. The most recent meeting with Liverpool City Region, including officials from Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, took place on 5^th November, shortly before the consultation results from the Southport Walking and Cycling survey were due to be considered by the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting. Following that meeting on 9 November, the Department understands that the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Locality Services has offered to meet with those ward councillors affected by the issue before taking a final decision on this matter.

During this Parliament the Government will invest £1.2 billion of new funding to deliver improvements in bus services, fares and infrastructure in England outside London.

We have also developed the core of a new timetable for rail services in and around Manchester, in collaboration with Network Rail and Transport for the North, to provide more punctual, reliable journeys for passengers from December 2022. This includes services from Southport to both the north and south sides of Manchester City Centre.

There are a number of railcards available that offer discounts against most rail fares, including the 16-17 and 26-30 Millennial Railcard, and the new Veterans Railcard.

The Department has consistently made clear that local authorities should seek the views of a representative sample of the local population as a whole on their proposals and provided guidance on how best to do this, including via polling and public opinion surveys, which can help provide a more accurate understanding of public views than a traditional consultation exercise. Local authorities do not need to show that schemes are universally popular at the time of introduction, but should be prepared to make changes if there is strong evidence that their original proposals are unsuitable. The views of the local Member of Parliament should also be taken into account.

We have revised our Network Management Duty guidance to state that measures should be "taken as swiftly as possible, but not at the expense of consulting local communities" and that "local residents and businesses should... be given an opportunity to comment on proposed changes" to schemes. Please note these requirements also apply as much to the removal or modification of existing schemes as to the installation of new ones.

We are assessing the bids and currently expect to announce the outcomes later this year.

On Friday 17 September, the Government announced a number of significant changes to the international travel system to take advantage of the world leading vaccination programme.

From Monday 4 October the traffic light system will be replaced by a single red list of countries and territories and simplified travel measures for arrivals from the rest of the world. The rules for travel from countries and territories not on the red list will depend on an individual's vaccination status.

We are committed to improving accessibility across the rail network, and I shall be bidding for further rounds of funding for the Access for All programme at the upcoming Spending Review and for the next rail Control Period (2024-29).

Furthermore, Network Rail has received an initial £10 million to install tactile paving at priority stations not already funded. I will make further announcements on future rounds of funding in due course.

I am committed to improving accessibility across the rail network. The Department expects the industry to meet current accessibility requirements whenever it installs, renews or replaces station infrastructure. Failure to do so can lead to enforcement action by the Office of Rail and Roads.

Furthermore, I shall be bidding for further rounds of funding for Access for All schemes in the forthcoming Spending Review.

We have assessed the bids to round three of the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund and expect to announce the outcomes this summer.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is doing it all it can to increase the number of vocational tests available and has put in place a number of measures to do this. These include offering overtime and annual leave buy back to examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays and weekends).

The DVSA has also started a recruitment campaign to increase the number of examiners. It will also continue its training programme to enable more examiners to conduct vocational tests.

The DVSA has held initial discussions with representatives from the heavy goods vehicle (HGV) training industry to develop plans for training schools to take on the responsibility of signing-off the manoeuvre elements of the practical test. Adopting this approach would allow the DVSA to focus on the on-road element and to increase practical test throughput.

The DVSA is also reviewing the way it delivers car and trailer testing to enable the agency to prioritise HGV testing.

The Department carried out a public consultation on possible solutions to the complex pavement parking problem. This closed on 22 November 2020 and received over 15,000 responses. The Department is now carefully analysing the responses and the results will inform decisions on the next steps.

The Government recognises the challenging circumstances businesses in the travel industry face as a result of Covid-19. Firms, across the economy, that are experiencing difficulties have been able to draw upon the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor. This includes support through loan guarantees, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. We estimate that the air transport sector (airlines, airports and related services) will have benefitted from around £7bn of government support since the start of the pandemic.

The extension of Government-backed loans and furlough payments announced at the Budget build on the support package available and will help ensure this vital and vibrant part of the UK economy is ready to bounce back in the wake of the pandemic.

We continue to take a flexible approach and keep all impacts and policies under review.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online services have been available and unaffected throughout the pandemic and are the quickest and easiest way to renew a registration certificate or a driving licence. Motorists are strongly advised to use these channels where possible. However, many people still choose or have to apply using a paper application. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day which must be dealt with in person.

The number of applications awaiting processing fluctuates on a daily basis as registration certificates and driving licences are issued and new applications received. The DVLA is currently processing paper applications for registration certificates and driving licences within around six weeks of receipt. However, drivers with a medical condition may experience further delays because the DVLA is often reliant on receiving information or test results from medical professionals before a licence can be issued, to ensure drivers can meet the required medical standards.

The DVLA has had a reduced number of operational staff on site to allow for social distancing, in line with Welsh Government requirements. The DVLA has leased an additional building to accommodate more operational staff and has extended the opening hours of its contact centre. During the pandemic to help streamline processes and improve work flow the DVLA has accelerated the development of additional online services to reduce paper applications and supported their take up through a publicity campaign. Further digital service enhancements are underway.

I have asked Network Rail to develop a programme to aim to install platform edge tactile strips on every platform in Great Britain.

I will make a further announcement in due course.

The Department has made no such assessment. Local authorities are responsible for developing and implementing schemes such as Liveable Neighbourhoods.

The Department has consistently made clear in its guidance to local authorities that effective engagement with communities is key to delivering schemes that work for everyone. It is for local authorities to determine what consultation and engagement is appropriate.

Government has published safer transport guidance for operators which sets out measures to assess and address the risks of coronavirus for passengers and staff. In line with this, all train operators are expected to carry out their own risk assessments on the most appropriate action to take.

Risk assessments are expected, where possible, to enable social distancing of 2 metres or 1 metre with risk mitigations, taking account of factors such as the design of different types of rolling stock. Some operators of long-distance services have limited ridership by selling only a set number of seats and requiring reservations. In addition, train operators have increased services levels as we move through the roadmap to provide additional capacity as demand increases. Operators are also providing information on how busy services are likely to be so that passengers can plan ahead and use quieter services where possible.

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) has provided the Department for Transport with a completed monitoring and evaluation form for schemes funded in Tranche 1 of the Active Travel Fund and has submitted the first monitoring and evaluation form for the packages being delivered in Tranche 2 of the Fund. In addition, officials from the Department and LCRCA have held regular meetings to discuss scheme progress. The scheme in Southport town centre experienced delays with the provision of materials which have recently been made available, and the scheduled completion date is now March 2022.

The Department wants to see a high quality rail retailing service which allows passengers to buy their tickets quickly and conveniently. Ticket Vending Machines are one part of the overall retail service, alongside other ways to buy tickets including online purchase and pay-as-you-go. As ticket buying is modernised we will look to the rail industry, including in future Great British Railways, to ensure that the overall retail offer is appropriate to the needs of passengers, including those without access to the internet.

The Department has worked with the rail industry to enhance ticket buying facilities, including ensuring that smart tickets are accepted at stations across almost all of the network. Passengers have the choice of travelling without a paper ticket, such as by receiving barcode tickets straight to their phones. The Williams Shapps Plan for Rail also commits the Government to introducing far more convenient ways to pay using a contactless bank card, mobile or online.

The Department’s statutory guidance to local authorities on the management of their road networks in response to COVID-19 strongly encourages them to introduce measures to support more cycling and walking in their areas, but it does not require them to do so. All combined authorities and local transport authorities were allocated funding from the Emergency Active Travel Fund in 2020/21, but there was no obligation on any authority to accept the funding or to introduce active travel schemes: these are decisions for local authorities. The Department plans to write to the same authorities shortly inviting bids for capital funding for active travel schemes to be delivered in 2021/22.

The Department has commissioned a formal national evaluation of the Active Travel Fund (ATF) which will consider this matter in some detail. A baseline report of schemes selected for evaluation is scheduled to be received by the Department in December 2022 as we know it takes time to understand the long-term impacts of new cycling infrastructure. This will be followed by a final report in late 2024. Local authorities have also been required to submit regular monitoring reports to the Department on their use of active travel funding. In the meantime, the Department’s 2020 Road Traffic Estimates for Great Britain, published on 28 April 2021, suggest that the amount of cycling in 2020 was 46% higher than it was in 2019, and the highest level of cycling on the public highway since the 1960s.

We are looking at a range of measures to increase rail performance across Manchester including the route between Southport to Manchester Piccadilly. This is part of the consultation on Manchester timetable changes which was held earlier this year and the responses are still being considered.

The government committed to bringing forward vital sector-wide reforms and commissioned Keith Williams to carry out the first root and branch review of the rail industry in a generation. I am delighted to confirm that we published the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail on 20 May, which sets out how the Government will transform the railway. These reforms will create a more accountable, efficient and truly-passenger focused railway.

Link to the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/great-british-railways-williams-shapps-plan-for-rail

We received numerous representations about the potential changes to Southport to Manchester Piccadilly train service as part of the consultation on Manchester timetable changes that was held earlier this year, including from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. These responses are still being considered.

The Government has announced plans to increase the rates of both the basic State Pension and the new State Pension by 10.1% in April 2023. Subject to Parliamentary approval, this will mean that the full yearly basic State Pension will be over £3,000 higher than in 2010.

It is important that all our claimants can access our services and that they do not face obstacles in applying and communicating with the department and its providers. The feasibility of a paper-based assessment will always be considered in the first instance for all cases. Where this is not possible the claimant will be invited to a telephone, video or face-to-face assessment. Before an invite to assessment is sent, consideration will be given to claimants who need a specific assessment channel due to their health condition or circumstances. In addition, before attending a face-to-face or telephone consultation, claimants are given the opportunity to alert their assessment provider of any additional requirements they may have, and the providers will meet any such reasonable requests.

Claimants identified as being vulnerable (e.g. having mental health or learning disabilities) can access additional support at any point in the claim or assessment process.

An audit criteria was introduced from 1 July 22 for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which will ensure claimants are allocated to the most appropriate assessment channel for their needs and circumstances.

The child maintenance calculation was designed to be fair for the paying parent, while ensuring they contribute a significant proportion of their income to support their children.

The calculation represents an amount of money that is broadly similar with the amount that a non-resident parent would spend on supporting the child if they were still living with them.

In response to the increase in energy bills and the cost of living, around six million people who receive a non-means-tested disability benefit will receive a one-off Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150. This is only one part of the government’s £15bn package of support and sits alongside Cost of Living Payments of up to £650 for means-tested benefits recipients, payments to those eligible for Winter Fuel Payments and the extension of the Household Support Fund. This is on top of the £22bn the government has already announced to support households with the cost of living.

In addition to specific targeted support, disabled people may also benefit from previously announced measures to help people tackle the cost of living, including:

• £150 council tax rebate
• £400 discount from energy bills
• cuts to the Universal Credit taper rate
• frozen alcohol duty and fuel duty and
• the further rise in the National Living Wage to £9.50 an hour from Apri2022.

The success of the recent Pension Credit campaign together with the Cost of Living Crisis is driving the volume of Pension Credit claims being submitted to an all time high.

Additional resources are being deployed to ensure we deal with the increase as quickly as possible. We are also working closely with stakeholders and service providers to identify

potential process enhancements that will drive efficiency and reduce processing times.

Successful claims and arrears are backdated and paid accordingly, to ensure those who are entitled do not miss out.

The Secretary of State undertakes an annual review of benefits and pensions, and CPI in the year to September is the latest figure that the Secretary of State can use to allow sufficient time for the required operational changes before new rates can be introduced at the start of the new financial year in April. Both Carer’s Allowance and Attendance Allowance were uprated in April 2022 by 3.1%

As per convention, the Secretary of State will undertake a review of benefit rates for the 2023/24 tax year this autumn.

Once someone has been awarded Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which can be paid at one of eight rates, that award will usually be reviewed. Regular reviews are a key feature of the benefit and ensure that payments accurately match the current needs of claimants. The length of an award is based on an individual’s circumstances and can vary from nine months to an on-going award, with a light touch review after ten years.

In 2018 we introduced updated guidance for case managers which ensures that those people who receive the highest level of support under PIP, and where their needs are unlikely to change or may get worse, will receive an ongoing award with a light touch review at the ten-year point. We also announced in the Shaping Future Support: Health and Disability Green Paper that we will test a new Severe Disability Group (SDG) so that those with severe and lifelong conditions can benefit from a simplified process to access PIP, Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit without needing to go through a face-to-face assessment or frequent reviews.

Financial statements issued at any point within the lifecycle of a child maintenance case reflect the amount of child maintenance due and paid at that point in time. The account balances will only be updated once any change of circumstances have been accepted and processed. It is important to note that most change of circumstances have evidential requirements and we cannot assume that requests for review will be accepted whilst they are outstanding.

The Department is committed to ensuring claimants receive high quality, objective and accurate assessments, as part of the suite of evidence the department uses to decide entitlement. There are a range of regular governance and monthly performance meetings to support delivery of the contracts to ensure that where action is required, it can be focused and targeted.

We have a strong and collaborative relationship with Capita and Independent Assessment Services (IAS) and work closely with them to further improve the quality of assessments, including clinical coaching, feedback, and support available to Health Professionals. Providers share training materials between themselves to encourage best practice, standardise processes and improve the claimant experience. They also regularly engage with medical experts, charities, and relevant stakeholders to strengthen, maintain, and update their training programmes.

The Department is also bringing forward a Green Paper on health and disability support, focusing on the welfare system. The Green Paper will explore how the welfare system can better meet the needs of disabled people and people with health conditions now and in the future, to build a system that enables people to live independently and move into work where possible.

The government is providing £9 billion of financial support to most households, including those on Universal Credit, as the global gas price spike causes rising energy bills. The Energy Bills Rebate will provide around 28 million households support with their energy bills worth £200 which will be applied from October. Households in England, which are in council tax bands A-D, will also receive a £150 rebate on their council tax. The rebate to council tax bills will be made directly by Local Authorities from April and will not need to be repaid.

In addition, we are providing support worth around £12bn this financial year and next, to help families with the cost of living, cutting the Universal Credit taper and increasing work allowances to make sure work pays, freezing fuel duties to keep costs down, and providing our existing targeted support to help households with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount scheme, Cold Weather Payments and Winter Fuel Payments.

We recognise that some people require extra support over the winter, which is why vulnerable households across the country can access a £500 million Household Support Fund to help them with essentials.

Budgeting Advances are also available to those who are eligible and in receipt of Universal Credit to help finance intermittent/unforeseen expenses (for example, essential household items) or expenses related to maternity, obtaining, or retaining employment.

Access to Work is committed to improving customer experience and transforming the service disabled people receive. This will introduce a new digital customer journey and explores how we can streamline the current processes, including reviewing the frequency of applications.

In addition, we are developing the Adjustments Passport which aims to reduce the need for holistic assessments where the customer’s needs remain the same. The Adjustments Passport is currently being piloted with freelancers, contractors and universities. In 2022, it will include the Armed Forces service leavers and various Department for Education programmes supporting young disabled people.

The Universal Credit payment structure is a fundamental part of its design. It mirrors the world of work, where people are paid money directly which they may then put towards housing costs. Ensuring similarities between paid employment and receiving benefits removes an important barrier which could prevent claimants from moving into paid employment. For those who cannot manage their single monthly payment, Alternative Payment Arrangements, and more specifically a Managed Payment to Landlord, is available at the start, or at any point during a Universal Credit claim. Such arrangements can be requested by either the claimant or the landlord and are considered on a case by case basis.

The vast majority of managed payments to landlords are paid on the same date as the claimant is paid their Universal Credit monthly award. Payment timeliness is usually dependent on claimants completing their commitments within the set time frame as instructed by DWP. Claimants are notified to complete any outstanding action via their preferred choice of communication, i.e. journal message/text, to ensure there are no delays in payment. If claimants have any further concerns, they may phone the Universal Credit helpline or speak to their work coach.

All Universal Credit claimants have the opportunity to discuss any concerns about how to budget their monthly payments with their work coach and/or via their Universal Credit Journal. Work coaches will identify any financial issues the claimant has and signpost claimants to any relevant local face-to-face provision or support that is available, as appropriate.

Last year despite negative earnings growth and low inflation of 0.5% the Government took action to provide vital peace of mind to pensioners regarding their financial security. Consequently, the basic and new State Pension rates were increased in April 2021 by 2.5% meaning the full yearly basic State Pension is over £2,050 a year higher than in 2010, in cash terms. In addition, the Pension Credit Standard Minimum Guarantee was also increased to match the cash equivalent in the basic State Pension. Pension Credit remains a vital support to pensioners on a low income.

We recognise that some people may require extra support over the winter as we enter the final stages of recovery, which is why vulnerable households across the country will now be able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund will provide £421 million to help vulnerable people in England. The Barnett Formula will apply in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.

Councils have the discretion and flexibility to develop a local delivery approach that best fits the scheme’s objectives, with support primarily used to support households in the most need with food, energy, fuel, digital and water bills. Up to 50% of the fund is available for councils to use on households without children, including those of state pension age.

In addition, we will continue to support pensioners by making winter fuel payments of £200 to those households with someone of state pension age and under 80 and £300 to those households with someone aged 80 or over. Cold weather payments are also available to those in receipt of Pension Credit.

The Warm Home Discount Scheme operated by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ensures that those in receipt of Pension Credit Guarantee Credit receive a rebate of £140 on their energy bill.

Through our Plan for Jobs, we are targeting tailored support schemes of people of all ages to help them prepare for, get into and progress in work. These include: Kickstart, delivering tens of thousands of six-month work placements for UC claimants aged 16-24 at risk of unemployment; Restart, which provides 12 months’ intensive employment support to UC claimants who are unemployed for a year; and JETS, which provides light touch employment support for people who are claiming either Universal Credit or New Style Jobseekers Allowance, for up to 6 months, helping participants effectively re-engage with the labour market and focus their job search. We have also recruited an additional 13,500 Work Coaches to provide more intensive support to find a job. In total, our Plan for Jobs interventions will support more than two million people.

Supporting people into work and progressing in-work is at the heart of our approach to tackling poverty. We have recruited an additional 13,500 Work Coaches in our Jobcentres to help support people of all ages to find a job, retrain, or gain vital practical experience to move into better paid jobs or those that have opportunities for progression.

Last year DWP launched the In-Work Progression Commission led by Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith. The Commission published their independent report on 1 July 2021. It makes 26 recommendations to help people to progress at work and move out of low paid employment. The Government welcomed the report, we are carefully considering the recommendations and we will respond in the coming months.

In the meantime, DWP continues to build evidence of how we can support working claimants to progress in work. We are trialling a voluntary in-work support offer with claimants in South Yorkshire.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to making its services accessible for all its customers together with those who may have additional communication needs including hearing loss.

Deaf and hard of hearing customers visiting Jobcentres are able to access different support based on how hearing loss affects their communication needs. Job Centres are equipped and currently provide mainly portable, but also some fixed hearing loops across the network, for those customers with hearing loss. There is a new initiative to improve our environments for disabled customers and those with health conditions which will include people with hearing loss. This work is due to start in October.

For those customers who are deaf or hard of hearing and attending a prearranged appointment with DWP, staff will already be aware of the customer’s communication needs from DWP’s computer systems and have access to a language services contract to pre-book an interpreter to support face to face contact. The interpreter will be skilled in providing non-spoken language support including British Sign Language (BSL).

Furthermore, a Disability Employment Adviser (DEA) is assigned to each Jobcentre site. The DEA is skilled in understanding the needs of disabled customers, including those who with hearing loss. The DEA provides support to Work Coaches to ensure that Work Coaches are able to increase their awareness and empathy when dealing with customers who have hearing loss.

The Employer and Partnerships role within DWP forms effective networks with a variety of local stakeholders, including organisations and charities that support customers with hearing loss. These relationships are vital to ensure that DWP is able to provide consistent and effective support to its customers.

On a national level, DWP has established a range of networks with its stakeholders to provide a voice for the customer. The Taskforce for Accessible Information, the Reasonable Adjustments Forum and the Operational Stakeholder Engagement Forum all regularly meet with a cross section of groups representing disabilities including those with hearing loss. The purpose of these forums are to ensure that DWP elicits feedback and insight into how its services are being used by those with additional communication needs and to seek continuous improvement.

Following the expansion of Video Relay Service last year, whereby deaf customers are now able to make an inbound telephone call to DWP via a British Sign Language interpreter using a video connection, DWP is currently exploring how this technology can be adapted to support video remote interpreting. This will increase the flexibility for DWP to conduct face to face and telephony based contact with deaf and hard of hearing customers.

From August 2020 to July 2021, a total of *89,000 Universal Credit Official Error Overpayments in excess of £1,000 were recorded on Debt Manager. There are currently approximately 6 million Universal Credit claimants.

The Department is unable to provide information on how many waiver requests for Universal Credit Official Error overpayments exceeding £1,000 were made (and were successful) in the last 12 months, as to do so would incur disproportionate costs.

When the Department informs claimants of a benefit overpayment (either by letter, or via the journal in Universal Credit), they are advised to contact the Department’s Debt Management Team to discuss repayment. During this discussion, if a claimant expresses concern about repayment, Debt Management staff will inform them that they can request that a waiver be considered.

It should be noted that a waiver can only be granted where the recovery of the overpayment is causing substantial medical and/or financial hardship, and where clear evidence of this can be provided.

DWP pays welfare benefits to around 23 million people and is committed to ensuring that the right people are paid the right amount of Universal Credit. The vast majority of benefit expenditure (more than £200bn across all benefits) was paid correctly in the last financial year, with front line staff working hard to prevent overpayments from occurring.

*Please note that this data is taken from operational data systems, and is not intended for publication. Therefore, the data itself is not quality assured to the standard of published Official Statistics and National Statistics.

From August 2020 to July 2021, a total of *89,000 Universal Credit Official Error Overpayments in excess of £1,000 were recorded on Debt Manager. There are currently approximately 6 million Universal Credit claimants.

The Department is unable to provide information on how many waiver requests for Universal Credit Official Error overpayments exceeding £1,000 were made (and were successful) in the last 12 months, as to do so would incur disproportionate costs.

When the Department informs claimants of a benefit overpayment (either by letter, or via the journal in Universal Credit), they are advised to contact the Department’s Debt Management Team to discuss repayment. During this discussion, if a claimant expresses concern about repayment, Debt Management staff will inform them that they can request that a waiver be considered.

It should be noted that a waiver can only be granted where the recovery of the overpayment is causing substantial medical and/or financial hardship, and where clear evidence of this can be provided.

DWP pays welfare benefits to around 23 million people and is committed to ensuring that the right people are paid the right amount of Universal Credit. The vast majority of benefit expenditure (more than £200bn across all benefits) was paid correctly in the last financial year, with front line staff working hard to prevent overpayments from occurring.

*Please note that this data is taken from operational data systems, and is not intended for publication. Therefore, the data itself is not quality assured to the standard of published Official Statistics and National Statistics.

From August 2020 to July 2021, a total of *89,000 Universal Credit Official Error Overpayments in excess of £1,000 were recorded on Debt Manager. There are currently approximately 6 million Universal Credit claimants.

The Department is unable to provide information on how many waiver requests for Universal Credit Official Error overpayments exceeding £1,000 were made (and were successful) in the last 12 months, as to do so would incur disproportionate costs.

When the Department informs claimants of a benefit overpayment (either by letter, or via the journal in Universal Credit), they are advised to contact the Department’s Debt Management Team to discuss repayment. During this discussion, if a claimant expresses concern about repayment, Debt Management staff will inform them that they can request that a waiver be considered.

It should be noted that a waiver can only be granted where the recovery of the overpayment is causing substantial medical and/or financial hardship, and where clear evidence of this can be provided.

DWP pays welfare benefits to around 23 million people and is committed to ensuring that the right people are paid the right amount of Universal Credit. The vast majority of benefit expenditure (more than £200bn across all benefits) was paid correctly in the last financial year, with front line staff working hard to prevent overpayments from occurring.

*Please note that this data is taken from operational data systems, and is not intended for publication. Therefore, the data itself is not quality assured to the standard of published Official Statistics and National Statistics.

DWP takes fraud and error very seriously and it should be noted that, during a period when we have faced the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19, fraud and error in the benefits system remains low, with 95% of benefits, worth more than £200bn. paid correctly in 2020/21.

We recognise that a small percentage of Universal Credit claims made during COVID-19 are in payment incorrectly and we are now re-visiting those cases which have the highest residual risk of incorrectness. Any overpayments will be pursued and where fraud is a factor, we will consider formal action.

We continue to invest in fraud and error prevention, with the Chancellor announcing £44m at the Spring Budget to support the expansion of both our Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service and our new Enhanced Checking Service and the development of Transaction Risking as a means of identifying high risk claims.

Our work with other Government departments and law enforcement agencies, both nationally and across borders, helps ensure appropriate intelligence and resources are shared,

enabling the totality of any criminality to be identified and investigated.

Our Annual Report and Accounts published on 15 July 2021 provides more information on what we are doing to prevent fraud from occurring: DWP annual report and accounts 2020 to 2021

There are currently around 4.2 million households in receipt of a temporarily higher level of UC. It is not possible to produce a robust estimate of how many people will be affected by the removal of the £20 uplift due to uncertainty around the speed of the economic recovery and the resulting effect on the caseload.

The Chancellor announced a temporary six-month extension to the £20 per week uplift at the Budget on 3 March to support households affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. Universal Credit has provided a vital safety net for six million people during the pandemic, and the temporary uplift was part of a COVID support package worth a total of £407billion in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

There have been significant positive developments in the public health situation since the uplift was first introduced with the success of the vaccine rollout. Now the economy is reopening and as we continue to progress with our recovery our focus is on helping people back into work.

Through our Plan for Jobs, we are targeting tailored support schemes of people of all ages to help them prepare for, get into and progress in work. These include: Kickstart, delivering tens of thousands of six-month work placements for UC claimants aged 16-24 at risk of unemployment; we have also recruited an additional 13,500 work coaches to provide more intensive support to find a job; and introduced Restart which provides 12 months’ intensive employment support to UC claimants who are unemployed for a year. Our Plan for Jobs interventions will support more than two million people.

DWP is committed to ensuring that the Access to Work (AtW) scheme is accessible to visually impaired people. We work closely with stakeholders (including organisations who support blind and visually impaired people) to identify and deliver improvements to the scheme to broaden its accessibility and reach.

Recent accessibility improvements include:

• completing work to ensure our online application journey is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidance (v 2.1); ensuring the service works with all major screen readers, screen magnifiers and other assistive software
• creating accessible versions of four Access to Work claim forms. These products are compatible with popular assistive software such as JAWS, Windows NVDA and Zoomtext. Customers can also request versions in a format of their choice if these do not meet their needs.

In addition, we are currently developing an online journey to enable citizens to claim the grant; this will be fully accessible and allow users to submit claims, check the status of claims and view their remaining grant. We have done extensive user research and prototype testing with users who have visual impairments to ensure the future service meets their needs. We are also discussing ways of reducing the amount of invoices and other evidence users might need to upload or supply; ensuring a more inclusive service across all channels.

To raise awareness of the scheme, Access to Work was supported with paid campaign activity that ran between 24 February and 31 March, and the Department continues to assess how the scheme can be promoted to support both those with visual impairment and people with other disabilities and health conditions. The campaign ran across a broad channel mix to reach a wide but targeted audience. To coincide with the Access to Work campaign launch, we also produced a new Access to Work toolkit. This was shared with a wide range of stakeholders, including Business Disability Forum, Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC), Disability Rights UK and the RNIB.

As a result of the Triple Lock, the full yearly basic State Pension is now over £2,050 higher than in 2010 in cash terms.

Decisions on the rates for State Pensions are made each Autumn as part of the Up-rating review by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

We are committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve; the State Pension is the foundation of support for older people

The Department aims to respond to correspondence from hon. Members and their constituents within 20 working days wherever possible. Where the matters raised are complex it may take longer, but we aim to keep any delay to a minimum.

The Cabinet Office publishes information about individual Department’s performance in responding to hon. Members; the most recent information will be published in due course.

The income information for a child maintenance calculation is obtained directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). This method is consistent for all of our paying parents including earnings from self-employment.

Either parent may request a variation to a maintenance calculation to allow the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to consider some circumstances which are not covered by the basic calculation. This includes unearned income such as rental income from property or land, or dividends and interest from savings and investments. If a variation succeeds, the maintenance liability may be adjusted.

Cases involving complex income or suspected fraud can be referred to the CMS’s Financial Investigation Unit (FIU), a specialist team who can request information from financial institutions to check the maintenance calculation accurately reflects financial circumstances. If an investigation finds evidence of criminality the FIU may seek to prosecute or forward to HMRC for fraud action.

When a payment has not been received from an employer through a Deduction from Earnings Order (DEO), the Child Maintenance Service receive an alert and takes prompt action to investigate.

Account Managers and enforcement colleagues engage with employers to ensure they understand the DEO process and legal implications of not implementing the order, which could result in prosecutions or fines.

We have also introduced a new on-line service specifically for employers to ensure money deducted through DEOs is promptly allocated and paid to customers.

The Chancellor has announced the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help firms continue to keep people in employment. Employers can put workers on temporary leave and the government will pay them cash grants of 80% of their wages up to a cap of £2,500, providing they keep the worker employed.

The Chancellor has also confirmed that, depending on their status, workers on zero hours contracts may be eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and we would urge people to explore this avenue too.

The Chancellor has announced a Self-Employed Income Support Scheme that will help millions of people across the UK, with those eligible receiving a cash grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profit over the last three years. This covers 95% of people who receive the majority of their income from self-employment.

The scheme brings parity with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, whereby the Government committed to pay up to £2,500 each month in wages of employed workers who are furloughed during the outbreak.

We have not made a specific assessment. On the National Health Service, transcranial magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy is only recommended for the treatment of medication-refractory essential tremor in patients that are not eligible for deep brain stimulation and within the criteria set out in the NHS’ guidance, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/transcranial-magnetic-resonance-guided-focused-ultrasound-thalamotomy-for-treatment-of-medication-refractory-essential-tremor/

No such formal assessment has been made. The demand on National Health Service mental health services has risen significantly as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in the cost of living on people’s mental health continue to be felt. The NHS is working to ensure that help is available for people as early as possible.

We are investing at least £2.3 billion of additional funding a year by March 2024 compared to 2018/19, to expand and transform mental health services in England so that two million more people can get the mental health support that they need. The Plan also commits to growing the mental health workforce by an additional 27,000 staff in the same period.

NHS England is working towards implementing five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services as part of its clinical review of NHS Access Standards.

The Department is carefully considering the recommendations of the Health and Social Care Committee’s Ninth Report of Session 2022–23 on NHS dentistry, published on 14 July 2023. The Government’s response will be submitted in due course.

As we announced following the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review, which covered Primodos, our priority is to make medicines and devices safer, and the Government is pursuing a wide range of activity to further this aim.

Our 2021 response to the IMMDS Review and December 2022 update explains the changes that have been put in place since the Review’s report publication, and the further action we will take to implement the recommendations accepted and to improve patient safety. This includes appointing Dr Henrietta Hughes as the first ever Patient Safety Commissioner in England to champion patients’ voices in relation to the safety of medicines and medical devices.

The NHS Long Term Plan committed to delivering 100% coverage across the country of age-appropriate mental health crisis-care 24 hours a day, seven days a week via NHS 111 by April 2024. The Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan reiterated this commitment and timescale. Delivering this commitment will enable anyone experiencing mental health crisis to access assessment and, if appropriate, onward referral and treatment at any time of the day by calling NHS 111. Mental health crisis lines are already available 24 hours a day, seven days a week in all areas of the country.

The Department is investing £150 million in mental health urgent and emergency care infrastructure, including £7 million to fund up to 100 new mental health ambulances. The remaining £143 million is funding a range of new and improved facilities, including crisis cafes, crisis houses, urgent mental health assessment and care centres, health-based places of safety and the redesign and refurbishment of some existing suites and facilities including in emergency departments.

The NHS Long Term Plan committed to delivering 100% coverage across the country of age-appropriate mental health crisis-care 24 hours a day, seven days a week via NHS 111 by April 2024. The Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan reiterated this commitment and timescale. Delivering this commitment will enable anyone experiencing mental health crisis to access assessment and, if appropriate, onward referral and treatment at any time of the day by calling NHS 111. Mental health crisis lines are already available 24 hours a day, seven days a week in all areas of the country.

The Department is investing £150 million in mental health urgent and emergency care infrastructure, including £7 million to fund up to 100 new mental health ambulances. The remaining £143 million is funding a range of new and improved facilities, including crisis cafes, crisis houses, urgent mental health assessment and care centres, health-based places of safety and the redesign and refurbishment of some existing suites and facilities including in emergency departments.

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including research into treatments such as low-dose interleukin 2. The NIHR does not ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

The Government is determined to accelerate research to find a cure and develop innovative treatments which will slow or stop motor neurone disease (MND) and improve people’s lives. The Government has committed to make at least £50 million available for MND research over the next five years, ending in March 2027. In 2021/22, NIHR spent £3.8 million on MND research, and UK Research and Innovation, through the Medical Research Council, spent around £10.8 million.

The Government has committed to make at least £50 million available for motor neurone disease (MND) research over the next five years, ending in March 2027. In June 2023, the Government set out how £36.5 million of the £50 million pledged to MND research is now allocated to cutting-edge researchers. Research activities funded by the Department via the National Institute for Health and Care Research do not include research on interleukin 2 therapies for MND.

For the remainder of the £50 million, the Government is encouraging all researchers to apply for this funding via open call. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including research into therapies such as interleukin 2. NIHR does not ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

The Student Loans Company provides the primary funding support package for students in further education. Student loan repayments are unlike commercial loans, with built-in protections, including repayments linked to income and not based on interest rates or the amount borrowed, and with outstanding loan amounts written off after 30 years. Student loans are subsidised by the taxpayer, this is a conscious investment in the skills and people of this country.

In addition to this, eligible nursing students have access to supplementary funding support via the NHS Learning Support Fund, which offers a non-repayable grant of £5,000 per academic year plus additional grants and supports depending on their circumstances.

Funding for motor neurone disease research has always been available via open competition. In 2021/22, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) spent £3.8 million on MND research, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through the Medical Research Council (MRC), spent around £10.8 million.

The Government has committed to make at least £50 million available for MND research over the next five years, ending in March 2027. In June 2023, we set out how £36.5 million of the £50 million pledged to MND research is now allocated to cutting-edge researchers.

The £36.5 million package includes, £7m of new research grants allocated by the MRC, including three fellowships and four research grants. £8 million for early phase clinical research for MND, speeding up innovative new treatments for patients through the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres. This is made up of a £4.7 million investment in a collaboration of UK researchers who will take forward an early phase platform trial to screen for drugs which have the potential to be successful in clinical trials. It also includes a further £3.25 million investment to train a new group of MND researchers to support future research and £12.5 million to support the best discovery science at the UK Dementia Research Institute.

In June 2022, a £4.25 million MND collaborative partnership was launched to bring the MND research community together, for leading researchers to collaborate on accelerating delivery of new treatments, with £1 million contribution from Government. NIHR is contributing a further £2 million to the MND Collaborative Partnership led by LifeArc to focus on gathering and analysing existing data on the condition to explore the underlying causes of MND and help develop breakthrough new treatments.

£6 million fund, £3 million from MRC and £3 million from NIHR, for a translational accelerator investment which will connect the UK Dementia Research Institute, the MND collaborative partnership, and the UK Dementias Platform.

To support this work, the Government published a joint NIHR MRC Highlight Notice inviting outstanding researchers across the academic and life science sector to submit applications to an open call. For the remainder of the £50 million, we are encouraging all researchers to apply for this funding via open call.

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including research into treatments for motor neurone disease (MND). NIHR does not ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

The Department, via the NIHR is not providing funding to the Brighton and Sussex Medical School to develop a treatment for MND.

Patients with motor neurone disease (MND) require access to a range of NHS services. Riluzole is the only drug licensed in the UK to slow the progression of MND. Riluzole was recommended by the National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) in 2001 for the treatment of individuals with the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) form of MND within its licensed indications, which are to extend life or the time to mechanical ventilation for individuals with ALS. NICE is currently evaluating a potential new treatment, Tofersen, for ALS caused by SOD1 gene mutations and, subject to licensing, expects to publish guidance in July 2024.

NHS England commissions the specialised care and treatment that patients with MND may receive from the specialised neurological treatment centres across England. Integrated Care Boards are responsible for the commissioning of the non-specialised elements of treatment and care patients with MND may require. Funding decisions for both the specialised and non-specialised elements of patients’ care are made in line with local needs and priorities.

The Government published the ‘Child Death Review Statutory and Operational Guidance for England’ in October 2019.

The guidance sets out the different stages that encompass the Child Death Review Process, but does not give a set timescale within which the Child Death Review process must take place and acknowledges that timescales may vary greatly.

The length of time it takes to complete the whole process is dependent on a number of external factors, such as waiting for the final post-mortem report or coroner's inquest to take place.

Whilst there is no further working being undertaken at the moment to help reduce the average time families wait to undergo the Child Death Review process, the guidance advises National Health Service trusts on how they should support, communicate and engage with families following the death of someone in their care.

The National Child Mortality Database publishes data on the length of time between date of death and date of Child Death Overview Panel Review in its annual data release, which is available at the following link:

https://www.ncmd.info/publications/child-death-review-data-release-2022/

The Department has not had a specific discussion on this topic, however, patients have the legal right to choose a general practitioner (GP) practice that best suits their needs and can change their GP surgery should they be dissatisfied with their care. When moving practices, a patient has to formally register with the new practice by submitting a registration form to them, available at the practice or from GOV.UK. This is provided they are operating an open list and taking new patients.

If a practice does refuse registration, they must explain to the patient the reason for doing so. A GP practice cannot refuse registering a patient based on the race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, disability, or medical conditions of the patient.

If this process has not been followed, patients should raise this with their practice who will provide details of the complaints process. If a patient is not comfortable raising a complaint directly or do not feel they have had a satisfactory response, they can raise their concern with their integrated care systems, with NHS England by emailing england.contactus@nhs.net or with Healthwatch England.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits an additional £2.3 billion a year for the expansion and transformation of mental health services in England by March 2024 so that an additional two million people, including people with Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), can get the National Health Service funded mental health support that they need.

We expect services for people with OCD to be commissioned in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence‘s clinical guideline on OCD and body dysmorphic disorder: treatment [CG31]. The guidance includes advice on recognising, assessing, diagnosing and treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. It also aims to improve the diagnosis and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

People with obsessive compulsive disorder may also be referred to NHS Talking Therapies services or a specialist mental health service for treatment. We are expanding access to NHS Talking Therapies.

Data on waiting times for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with Exposure Response Prevention for the treatment of OCD within secondary care are not available.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits an additional £2.3 billion a year for the expansion and transformation of mental health services in England by March 2024 so that an additional two million people, including people with Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), can get the National Health Service funded mental health support that they need.

We expect services for people with OCD to be commissioned in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence‘s clinical guideline on OCD and body dysmorphic disorder: treatment [CG31]. The guidance includes advice on recognising, assessing, diagnosing and treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. It also aims to improve the diagnosis and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

People with obsessive compulsive disorder may also be referred to NHS Talking Therapies services or a specialist mental health service for treatment. We are expanding access to NHS Talking Therapies.

Data on waiting times for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with Exposure Response Prevention for the treatment of OCD within secondary care are not available.

No assessment has been made. Convalescent homes are an early example of a facility providing intermediate care. NHS England’s Delivery Plan for Recovering Urgent and Emergency Care Services sets out scaling up intermediate care as one of three priorities to improve discharge and therefore free up hospital beds, alongside improving joint discharge processes and scaling up social care services.

NHS England has begun a programme of work to develop and pilot a new approach to intermediate care, working with local authorities and voluntary and community partners.

As part of the 2020/21 GP contract, to help maximise the time available for clinical tasks, the Government committed to a thorough review of levels of bureaucracy in general practice. As part of this work, in August 2022, a cross-Government concordat was published agreeing to seven co-designed principles to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy in general practice. Additionally, the Government has also worked to reduce administrative burdens on general practitioners by reforming who can provide medical evidence and certificates such as fit notes and Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency medical checks, freeing up time for more appointments. The Department is continuing to work across Government and with the National Health Service to implement the solutions that emerge.

The Department is exploring incentives for dental professionals to work in areas experiencing a shortage of dentists.

NHS England, regional teams and integrated care boards across England are working together to ensure that patients continue to have access to National Health Service dental care. This includes an assessment to identify potential gaps in NHS dental service provision and to consider what actions may be required.

In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’ which sets out how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to NHS dental care, whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices. These changes are an important first step in improving the system. We know we need to do more and will announce further changes later this year.

NHS England, regional teams and integrated care boards across England are working together to ensure that patients continue to have access to National Health Service dental care. This includes an assessment to identify potential gaps in NHS dental service provision and to consider what actions may be required.

NHS dentists are required to keep their NHS.UK profiles up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients.

We are taking measures to increase access to NHS dentistry. We are working with Health Education England and NHS England to understand how Centres for Dental Development could be delivered to improve access in areas where there is currently a shortage in provision.

In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’ which sets out how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to NHS dental care, including in the North West and Southport, whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices. These changes were an important first step, but we know we need to do more. We are working on further changes which will be announced later this year. NHS England is responsible for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population. Many of the dentistry commissioning functions undertaken by NHS England will transfer to integrated care boards from April 2023, supported by an Assurance Framework to provide assurances on commissioning.

The Government is also committed to publishing a long-term workforce plan shortly which will cover dentists and other dental healthcare professionals.

NHS England, regional teams and integrated care boards across England are working together to ensure that patients continue to have access to National Health Service dental care. This includes an assessment to identify potential gaps in NHS dental service provision and to consider what actions may be required.

NHS dentists are required to keep their NHS.UK profiles up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients.

We are taking measures to increase access to NHS dentistry. We are working with Health Education England and NHS England to understand how Centres for Dental Development could be delivered to improve access in areas where there is currently a shortage in provision.

In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’ which sets out how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to NHS dental care, including in the North West and Southport, whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices. These changes were an important first step, but we know we need to do more. We are working on further changes which will be announced later this year. NHS England is responsible for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population. Many of the dentistry commissioning functions undertaken by NHS England will transfer to integrated care boards from April 2023, supported by an Assurance Framework to provide assurances on commissioning.

The Government is also committed to publishing a long-term workforce plan shortly which will cover dentists and other dental healthcare professionals.

Retention within the National Health Service is a complex issue and decisions to leave are taken for a multitude of reasons. The NHS People Plan and the People Promise focus on improving the retention of NHS staff by prioritising staff health and wellbeing. We have set out a comprehensive range of actions to improve staff retention which focus on creating a more modern, compassionate and inclusive NHS culture by strengthening health and wellbeing, equality and diversity, culture and leadership and flexible working.

Building on this work, the NHS Retention Programme seeks to understand why staff leave, resulting in targeted interventions to support staff to stay whilst keeping them well. To bolster current support, each NHS organisation is prioritising the delivery of five high impact actions that will impact on early-career, experienced and late-career staff, improving the experience and retention of nursing and midwifery staff.

In the Autumn Statement we committed to publish a full recovery plan for primary care systems. This plan will set out detailed ambitions for recovery to deliver improved access to general practices (GPs), so that everyone who needs an appointment with their GP can get one within two weeks, and those who need an urgent appointment can get one on the same day. Our primary care recovery plan is being drafted and will be published in the coming weeks.

Information campaigns in this area will be explored following publication of the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care, as part of a wider assessment of the role of communications in supporting the plan.

It is important that early evidence kits are readily available for instances where it is appropriate to offer them. The purpose of the kits is for gathering early forensic evidence and as such, responsibility for their provision sits with policing. Their use is assessed on a case-by-case basis to secure and preserve evidence. The Department is working with the Home Office to consider the availability of early evidence kits in hospitals.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has not identified any deaths in patients in the United Kingdom known to have taken pholcodine or pholcodine-containing medicines, either from reporting to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme, from published literature studies or from any other sources.

The Major Conditions Strategy will look at the treatment and prevention of cancer, covering the patient pathway. The strategy will look at a wide range of interventions and enablers to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients. This Strategy will draw on previous work on cancer, including over 5,000 submissions provided to the Department as part of our Call for Evidence last year.  We will continue to work closely with stakeholders, citizens, and the National Health Service in coming weeks to identify actions for the Strategy that will have the most impact.

The Major Conditions Strategy will set out our approach to tackling the different causes of mortality and ill health. It will include six conditions, one of which is cancer.

This Strategy will draw on previous work on cancer, including over 5,000 submissions provided to the Department as part of our Call for Evidence last year.

Opzelura (ruxolitinib), is currently not approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA has noted that the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use issued a positive opinion for this on the 23 of February 2023 and is currently pending European Commission (EC) approval.

Should an application for Opzelura be received by the MHRA, we have processes in place to review this and, if appropriate, issue a licence in line with an EC decision.

We are committed to improving access to mental health services. Through the National Health Service Long Term Plan, we are investing at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 so that an additional two million people can access NHS-funded mental health support.

We also provided an additional £500 million for 2021/22, to accelerate our NHS mental health expansion plans and to target groups whose mental health have been most affected by the pandemic including those with severe mental illness, young people, and frontline staff.

We have made no estimate. The joint NHS England and NHS Clinical Commissioners guidance ‘Conditions for which over the counter items should not routinely be prescribed in primary care: guidance for CCGs’ was published in 2018. It recommends that over the counter items should not be prescribed for 35 conditions that are either minor or will resolve without treatment, and that probiotics and vitamins and minerals, which are not clinically effective, should also not be prescribed.

The guidance is currently being updated and is expected to be published this spring. This will include estimates of potential financial savings for the National Health Service of not prescribing over-the-counter items, taking account of the changes in prescribing volumes since publication of the guidance.

The Department does not plan to make in person consultations the default format because general practitioners (GP) practices should be determining the most appropriate appointment mode for their patients based on clinical needs and patients’ preferences and access needs.

NHS England guidance is clear that GP practices must provide face-to-face appointments, alongside remote consultations and should respect preferences for face-to-face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary. Alongside face-to-face appointments, remote consultations can provide additional choice, flexibility and convenience for patients. Practices should offer a range of access routes, and patients unable to access remote general practice consultations for any reason should be offered an alternative appointment mode. We expect patients to experience the same high quality of care regardless of how they access their GP surgery.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Rt hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford on 19 December 2022 to Question 109450.

A range of measures are in place to reduce accident and emergency waiting times, including in Lancashire and Merseyside. The National Health Service winter resilience plan will increase NHS bed capacity by the equivalent of at least 7,000 general and acute beds, helping reduce crowding and long waits for admission from accident and emergency. Our plan for patients announced a £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund, helping people get out of hospitals quickly, freeing up beds and reducing long accident and emergency waits. We are now investing a further £200 million to speed up patient discharge, through direct support to local areas buying thousands of extra beds in care homes and other settings.

The Autumn Statement provides an additional £3.3 billion of NHS funding in both 2023/24 and 2024/25 to enable rapid action to improve urgent and emergency, elective, and primary care performance towards pre-pandemic levels. In the coming weeks the NHS will set out detailed recovery plans to deliver year-on-year improvements in accident and emergency waiting times.

No assessment has been made. Patients are only registered with a dental practice for the course of their treatment. National Health Service dentists are required to update their NHS.UK profiles regularly to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care. In circumstances where a person is unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice, or where parents are unable to access an urgent dental appointment for their child, they are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance.

NHS England will work with providers, professional bodies and trade unions to agree the safe level of staffing during any industrial action. The Royal College of Nursing has announced that chemotherapy treatments will be exempt from strike action. Hospitals will ensure that emergency and urgent treatments will be prioritised and appointments and operations should continue unless there is a reason to reschedule for patient safety.

A new community diagnostic centre in the Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust area is due to open in January 2023. In 2022/23, capital funding has been provided for additional endoscopy equipment and an additional acute computerised tomography scanner at the Trust. This will increase capacity, reduce waiting times and the proportion of patients waiting more than six weeks.