Edward Timpson

The government’s £200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme is already supporting rollout of gigabit broadband in rural areas.

The government has also pledged £5bn of funding for Gigabit broadband in the ‘hardest to reach’, predominantly rural, areas of the UK.

The government announced in-principle support in October 2019 for the Mobile Network Operators’ Shared Rural Network proposal. It aims to collectively increase 4G mobile coverage throughout the United Kingdom to 95% by 2025.

Ensuring the adoption system is effective is a top priority for this government, and I am determined to tackle the bureaucracy and inefficiencies that can prevent children who need a stable, loving forever home from finding one quickly.

I want to make sure that enough adopters are recruited for the children who need them, that they are matched swiftly to children and that they are properly supported as they form their new family.

In 2015, we had 180 different adoption agencies, a system which resulted in inefficiencies and delays for children. Our programme to introduce fewer, more efficient regional adoption agencies (RAAs) has now created 28 RAAs and they are starting to drive change.

For example, the first annual RAA evaluation report identified improvements in recruitment, matching and support. The latest evaluation of the RAA programme shows a 14-day reduction time for children waiting for placement. We have also seen a 35-day reduction for placement for our ‘harder to place’ children.

This year we have invested £1 million into adopter recruitment. RAA leaders, working with voluntary adoption agencies and others in the adoption sector, launched the #YouCanAdopt Campaign in September. The campaign aims to dispel myths and encourage more people from all walks of life to come forward to adopt. You do not need to be married or own your home to be a loving, adoptive parent. Agencies are reporting a large increase in enquiries, including from people from black, asian and minority ethnic communities. I would encourage anyone to look into the YouCanAdopt campaign.

The government has invested significantly in the Adoption Support Fund (ASF), which has provided more than £177 million for therapeutic support to over 62,000 families since it launched in 2015. The support provided to families through the ASF means that families have managed to access more timely therapeutic support for their children/family. Through our ASF COVID-19 scheme, launched in April, we provided £6.5 million to support up to 61,000 adoptive and special guardianship families struggling to cope with the challenges arising from the COVID-19 outbreak.

The School Sport and Activity Action Plan set out a range of measures to ensure that all children have access to high quality PE and sport sessions during the school week and opportunities to be physically active throughout the school day, to help them do the 60 minutes a day of physical exercise recommended by the Chief Medical Officer.

The Government remains committed to supporting schools to make good use of their sports facilities and to promote physical literacy and competitive sport. We plan to update the School Sport Activity Action Plan with longer-term proposals to support schools to work with sports clubs, coaches and others to ensure children’s activity levels continue to rise when they return to school.

The Government has already provided £2.4 million in funding to support this activity and has worked with Active Partnerships, helping schools, clubs and others to adapt plans to provide activity while schools have been closed.

Active Partnerships have been working with national and local partners to identify how best to support the sport and physical activity sector during the coronavirus outbreak. The Department has also published online educational resources approved by subject experts for schools and parents to help children to learn at home, including resources for PE.

As schools open more widely, we recognise the importance of children returning to taking part in physical activity and PE as part of the curriculum, with well-established links between physical activity, improved mental wellbeing and educational attainment. The Department’s guidance includes details on the teaching of subject areas including PE and ensuring children have opportunities to increase their physical activity throughout the school day.

The Government is taking forward an ambitious programme of action on behaviour, exclusion and alternative provision (AP). This will respect head teachers’ powers to use exclusion, enable schools to support children at risk of exclusion, and ensure that excluded children continue to receive a good education. The Department will expand AP and improve the quality of the sector so that pupils in AP receive the support and education they need to help them overcome the challenges they are facing, and to prepare them for the next stage of their lives.

Further information on the timeframes for this work will be provided in due course.

The UK’s farming, food and drink products are a source of pride, whether it be Scotch whisky, Welsh lamb, or other iconic products from across the country. Our new trade deals are unlocking new markets and opportunities for this important industry. Our ‘Open Doors’ campaign offers a wide range of support such as exporting masterclasses, a flagship mentoring programme and matching buyers with sellers to ensure more British produce is sold overseas.

Health Education England published its first ever Cancer Workforce Plan in December 2017, which commits to the expansion of capacity and skills. The upcoming NHS People Plan will set out further actions to secure the National Health Service staff and cancer workforce we need for the future.

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.

It can be a difficult time when parents decide to separate but it is important that they are supported to make child-focused decisions in a way that minimise conflict and, importantly, are in the best interest of the child.

The Government believes that, in cases where is it safe and appropriate, there are a range of services, such as mediation or other forms of non-court dispute resolution, that can provide parents with a constructive and less adversarial alternative to court proceedings.

We will continue to consider options to enable parents to receive the services that are right for them and raise awareness of alternatives to court.