David Johnston

The CPS successfully enabled almost its entire workforce to move to remote working at the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, without business interruption. Working with partners, the CPS has helped the criminal justice system to continue to function throughout the pandemic.

The CPS Inspectorate published a report on the performance of the CPS at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. It commended the organisation’s digital capability and strategic planning and its foresight in upgrading its digital capabilities.

My Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution will turbo-charge our path to net zero with £12 billion of government investment. Yesterday, we published our ambitious Energy White Paper, and will publish further plans to decarbonise key sectors of the economy ahead of COP26, including our Net Zero Strategy.

The National Curriculum already includes topics related to agriculture such as food production, the environment, and types of land use in subjects such as geography, design and technology and science.

In the geography curriculum schools must teach pupils to describe and understand key aspects of human geography, including types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water. This is built upon in secondary schools where pupils are taught to understand how human and physical processes interact to influence and change landscapes, environments and the climate.

In science, pupils are taught to explore the requirements of plants for life and growth and how they vary from plant to plant. Guidance advises schools to support their teaching through the use the local environment throughout the year to observe how plants grow. Pupils should be introduced to the requirements of plants for germination, growth and survival, as well as the processes of reproduction and growth in plants.

The design and technology curriculum states that as part of their work with food, pupils should be taught to understand where food comes from, understand seasonality and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.

The National Curriculum is a framework setting out the content of what the Department expects schools to cover in each subject and teachers have the flexibility and freedom to determine how they deliver the content in the way that best meets the needs of their pupils. If teachers wish, they can choose to cover particular topics in greater depth, for example food and farming.

Domestic abuse is a top priority across Government, and we are determined to transform the response to this abhorrent crime.

We passed our landmark Domestic Abuse Bill on 29 April and our forthcoming Victims’ Bill will further transform victims’ experience of the criminal justice system and we have provided unprecedented funding for domestic abuse since the pandemic began, including £51m boost for specialist support services to support victims through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Problem-solving courts, which strengthen the judicial involvement in the oversight of sentences being served in the community, will provide a way to closely manage and rehabilitate those offenders who are frequently both prolific and vulnerable. The MoJ are committed to piloting Problem Solving Courts in up to five locations in the Sentencing White Paper, published 16 September. We will be taking forward the necessary legislative provisions to enable these pilots when Parliamentary time allows.

Pilots, based on international best-practice, will focus on offenders with substance misuse issues, domestic violence offences and female offenders.

The Court Service and Probation Service are closely involved in the design of the pilots, taking into consideration operational resources and the location of the necessary treatment services.