Euan Stainbank

Access to Work grants provide funding for workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer through their duty to provide reasonable adjustments as outlined in the Equality Act 2010. The Access to Work scheme is highly personalised and each grant that is awarded is tailored to the individual, taking into account their specific circumstances.

When awarding Access to Work grants, the Scheme aims to balance the level of funding required to ensure individuals are able to purchase support needed to help them get into, and stay in, sustainable paid employment alongside the need to safeguard public money and provide a value for money service. The customer can always ask for a change of circumstance if their needs increase, or their support worker or travel costs increase. This support is based on current market value.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It is an independent regulator and it acts in the public interest to reduce work-related death and serious injury across Great Britain’s workplaces. HSE uses a number of intervention techniques to utilise its resources in the most effective way using a variety of enforcement tools to drive improvements in health and safety.

The Department obtains assurance as to the adequacy of workplace health and safety enforcement through a range of measures including its Quarterly Assurance Review process.

At the start of each financial year HSE publishes its Business Plan which details what it will deliver during the year, which this year included a strong focus on performance, further improving the effectiveness of its investigations and changing its ways of working to deliver it objectives. Each year I approve HSE’s business plan on behalf of the Government.

Then at the end of each financial year HSE produces its Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) that are laid in Parliament. The ARA is a report to Parliament that sets out information on HSE’s financial position and activity which includes risks to the achievement of its objectives and how it has performed during the year.

The Government’s Make Work Pay agenda sets out an ambition to review health and safety guidance and regulations with a view to modernising legislation and guidance where it does not fully reflect the modern workplace, which will help to strengthen health and safety protections for workers. HSE is working on three areas of legislative change: chemicals, energy and health but reviewing the Approved Code of Practice and guidance on temperature and welfare in the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations.

Under the heading of Safer Workplaces, Make Work Pay sets four key areas of focus that are within HSE’s remit: work related stress and mental health; workplace violence and aggression; menopause in the workplace and review of health and safety legislation.

Whilst the impact of changes to the Skilled Worker Salary threshold are affecting a very small proportion of staff within the Department, visa expiry and potential options for obtaining a future work visa are specific to individuals’ circumstances and the Home Office legislation which applies at the time that their current visa expires.

As current employees’ Visa expiry dates span several years and not all will be impacted by the changes to the skilled worker salary thresholds, the department does not expect changes to the Skilled Worker salary threshold to negatively impact on service levels.

DWP does not hold this information centrally as this is information pertinent to individual circumstances and held by individuals.

Pension Credit was introduced specifically to help address pensioner poverty. It provides a vital safety net for low-income pensioners by guaranteeing a minimum level of income. For a single pensioner this Standard Minimum Guarantee (SMG) is currently set at £218.15 per week; for pensioner couples it is £332.95. The Government is absolutely committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement. Subject to Parliamentary approval, in April 2025 the SMG will increase by 4.1% and mean that the SMG for a single pensioner will be £227.10 per week and for a pensioner couple it will be £346.60 - an increase in both cash and real terms.

Receipt of Pension Credit also opens the door to a whole range of other financial support, including help with rent, council tax, fuel bills and a free TV licence for those over 75. That’s why the Government is taking significant steps to raise awareness and maximise the take-up of Pension Credit.

Our campaign to promote Pension Credit has been running since September and is aimed at all eligible pensioners, including of course, women born in the 1950s. It has been running on TV, radio, social media such as Facebook and Instagram, on YouTube, on advertising screens, including on GP and Post Office screens as well as in the press. The latest phase of the campaign ran from 8 November and was aimed at friends and family - especially adult children of eligible pensioners - asking them to tell people they know about Pension Credit, encourage them to check their eligibility, as well as help them make a claim.

In November we also wrote to around 120,000 pensioners who were in receipt of Housing Benefit but not Pension Credit. We invited these pensioners to claim Pension Credit in time to make a successful backdated Pension Credit claim and qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment.

In order to promote Pension Credit through as many channels as possible, we have also engaged with key stakeholders and partners, including other government departments, local councils, housing associations, community groups, local libraries and service providers as well as charities and third sector organisations.

Over the coming weeks, as part of the annual State Pension uprating exercise, around 11 million pensioners will receive a leaflet promoting Pension Credit along with their State Pension uprating letter.

We know children and young people often face long waits for mental health support and too many are not receiving the care they need. That is why we are providing £7 million of funding to extend support for 24 early support hubs that have a track record of helping thousands of young people in their community.

We will also provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England and roll out Young Futures Hubs to provide open access mental health support for children and young people.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across children and adult mental health services in England to reduce delays and provide faster treatment.

By long-standing convention, observed by successive Governments, the fact of, and substance of advice from, the law officers of the Crown is not disclosed outside government. This convention is referred to in paragraph [5.14] of the Ministerial Code [updated on 6 November 2024]. The purpose of this convention is to enable the Government to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence.

Our military activities at the Sovereign Base Areas are central to the UK's humanitarian and hostage rescue efforts, support the UK's efforts with international partners to de-escalate conflict and reinforce stability. The use of the military bases is in line with international humanitarian law and with our humanitarian objectives.

We have continued to review export licences for items to Israel and assess that there are no extant licences for items that might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law. This is subject to the specific measures set out to Parliament excluding exports to the global F-35 programme from the scope of the suspension. There are a number of export licences which we have assessed are not for use by the Israeli Defense Forces in military operations in Gaza and therefore do not require suspension. These include military items such as components for trainer aircraft or components for air defence systems, and other, non-military, items such as food-testing chemicals, telecoms, and data equipment.

We support a Syrian-led political transition process leading to an inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government that includes representative figures from across Syria, including Kurds. We emphasise this in our diplomatic engagement with the interim Syrian authorities, through Ministers as well as our Syria Envoy. We will judge them by their actions.

More broadly, the UK supports Kurdish communities in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, as well as diaspora groups, promoting their rights and integration within their home countries. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office maintains engagement with a range of Syrian groups and individuals, including Kurds, in the UK.

The Government published information about the reforms to business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.

The Government will publish a technical consultation in early 2025. This will focus on the detailed application of the allowance to lifetime transfers into trusts and charges on trust property. This will inform the legislation to be included in a future Finance Bill.

The UK has a proud history of providing protection for those who need it through a number of safe and legal routes. However, there is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge. Whilst we sympathise with people in many difficult situations around the world, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from the considerable number of people overseas who might like to come here. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.

Nonetheless, there are options available for individuals who wish to come to the UK. Our global resettlement schemes include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement Scheme. Alongside these schemes, we operate specific schemes for those fleeing Ukraine and Afghanistan, and an immigration route for British National (overseas) status holders from Hong Kong. Our refugee family reunion policy also allows immediate family members of those granted protection in the UK to stay with them or join them here, if they formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country.

Campaign, as well as long-service and gallantry medals were all issued to eligible Service personnel during and immediately after the First World War. The Ministry of Defence does not usually review decisions on medallic recognition when more than five years have elapsed since the event. This is because it is viewed that those making the required judgements at the time, were better placed to do so, than now. This principle has been examined by the Cabinet Office Honours and Decorations Committee a number of times and on each occasion has been found to be sound.

Campaign medals, which are awarded in circumstances meeting certain thresholds or risk and rigour, any carry with them strict eligibility criteria, differ considerably from commemorative medallions which purely memorialise an event at a later date and have a wider distribution.

Whilst we recognise and are indebted to the significant bravery and sacrifice of those British troops who served alongside their Anzac counterparts during the Gallipoli Campaign in the First World War, no commemorative medal is currently planned.

The Elections Act 2022 requires Returning Officers to consider and provide support for electors with all forms of disability, including varying degrees of sight loss. The Tactile Voting Device, introduced in 2001, has proven effective for some voters with sight loss but we are aware that other options, such as magnifiers, digital reading applications and lighting aids, are also used to support individual elector’s preferences.

For local elections, costs incurred by Returning Officers to support voters with sight loss are typically met by local authorities, with new burdens funding made available where new burdens are imposed by legislation.

For UK Parliamentary and Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections, costs are met by the Consolidated Fund and Returning Officers can claim reimbursement for necessary and reasonable expenses incurred in delivering these polls, including expenditure incurred in the provision of accessible voting equipment. For equipment that will be used at both local and UK Parliamentary/PCC elections, costs can be shared between the funding sources.