Grahame Morris

The Government recognises the sacrifices made by so many veterans and the huge debt of gratitude owed to those who have served their country.

The current pattern of UK bank holidays is well established and accepted. Whilst an additional bank holiday may benefit some sectors, the cost to the economy of an additional bank holiday remains considerable. The latest analysis estimates the cost to the UK economy for a one-off bank holiday to be around £2bn.

No such estimates have been made. The planning and delivery of decommissioning is often integrated into the organisational capabilities of upstream oil and gas operators and supply chain companies. It is therefore difficult to determine how many of this workforce are, or have been, focused on decommissioning activities over the last 10 years.

The decommissioning cost estimates referred to, which are published by the North Sea Transition Authority, are pre-tax. Any annual relief on corporation tax granted for decommissioning expenditure in the oil and gas sector has not been applied.

The Secretary of State continues to have ongoing discussions with Cabinet colleagues concerning Departmental business.

Safety procedures for offshore wind farms is a matter for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). HSE recently served a prohibition notice to the Seagreen offshore wind farm developer under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.

The Secretary of State continues to have ongoing discussions with Cabinet colleagues, the offshore wind industry and trade unions concerning Departmental business.

The collision involving the Wind of Hope vessel was reported to the appropriate authorities. It will be a matter for the Marine Accidents Investigation Branch.

No such payments have been made.

The safety and wellbeing of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. National Governing Bodies are responsible for the regulation of their sports and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) worked with relevant stakeholders to develop the first ever set of shared concussion guidelines for grassroots sport across the UK, which were published in April 2023, marking a significant step forward for safety in sport.

DCMS also provides funding to Sport England, its Arm's-Length Body for grassroots sport. Sport England provides support to the sport and physical activity sector around safeguarding, including funding the Ann Craft Trust and the NSPCC’s Child Protection in Sport Unit. This totalled £330,917 and £527,525 respectively in 2024/25.

The department recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children, and the role local authorities have in supporting them.

The government has recently announced a £40 million package to trial a new Kinship Allowance in up to ten local authorities, to test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of supporting the child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends.

The department will share further details on the process for selecting local authorities in due course.

Latest figures for the 2023/24 academic year show that there have been 50 starts on the Level 2 Seafarer (deck rating) apprenticeship standard.

This government has not made a formal assessment of the cost of providing free school meals to all primary school children.

The department is separately committed to introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school to ensure children are set-up for the day and ready to learn.

The department is committed to working in partnership with local government to support children in care, whether they are being looked after by their community of wider kinship care, foster carers and adoptive parents, or being cared for in children’s homes, if this is the best place for them to be. The department recognises many challenges kinship cares experience, including the financial challenges that many kinship carers face. The government is considering how to most effectively transform the children’s social care system so that it can deliver better support and outcomes for children and families. This will include considering how best to support kinship carers and children in kinship care.

The department is committed to working in partnership with local government to support children in care, whether they are being looked after by their community of wider kinship care, foster carers and adoptive parents, or being cared for in children’s homes, if this is the best place for them to be. The department recognises many challenges kinship cares experience, including the financial challenges that many kinship carers face. The government is considering how to most effectively transform the children’s social care system so that it can deliver better support and outcomes for children and families. This will include considering how best to support kinship carers and children in kinship care.

We will make further announcements on plans to develop policy on access to nature in due course.

On the 30 July the Government announced a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan to revise our plan for significantly improving the environment and enjoyment of it.

The Government is committed to enhancing public access to nature, as evidenced by our manifesto commitment to create nine new national river walks and three new national forests. We are currently considering how best to continue to drive forward our goals in this area and will be engaging with stakeholders as we do so.

Inland waterways such as canals and rivers are categorised as regulated (mostly canals and some larger rivers, owned by a navigation authority) and unregulated (mostly smaller rivers and no canals, owned/managed by riparian landowners along their length).

If the waterway is owned or managed by a navigation authority, access can be obtained through the navigation authority’s licensing regime. If the waterway is unregulated then access should be negotiated with the relevant landowners through local voluntary access agreements, to ensure the interests of all parties concerned are considered. Legislating on this issue is not (currently) Government policy.

To formally designate a site as a bathing water, an application must be submitted to Defra. Defra welcomes applications for both coastal and inland waters such as lakes and rivers. Local authorities, groups and individuals can apply for sites to be designated. Defra encourages this by writing to local authority Chief Executives, and stakeholders like Swimming Associations.

The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing.

We are actively working on initiatives that enhance access to nature in other areas. We will create nine new National River Walks, plant three new National Forests and empower communities to create new parks and green spaces in their communities with a new Community Right to Buy.

Our countryside and green spaces are a source of great national pride, but too many across the country are left without access to the great outdoors. That is why the last Labour Government expanded public access by introducing the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which provides the public with access to large areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, registered common land, and coastal margin in England.

The Department will continue to enhance public access by creating nine new National River Walks, planting three new National Forests, and empowering communities to develop new parks and green spaces through a new Community Right to Buy. Further details on our plans will be announced in due course

The UK aviation sector operates predominantly within the private market, and decisions regarding asset financing are at the discretion of individual airports and their owners.

Heathrow Airport is unique amongst UK airports in maintaining an active Regulatory Asset Base as part of its economic regulation by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Since this regulation is independent from Government, the Department does not conduct routine analysis of debt and gearing levels in relation to Heathrow.

Subject to the Project Reach business case going through DfT approval, Network Rail plans to announce the parties involved in any contract signature.

Neos Networks has, however, separately made an announcement on their website stating they are in exclusive talks with Network Rail.

Network Rail is responsible for the frameworks governing train signalling systems. In April 2024, Network Rail announced a £4bn, 10-year signalling framework - the Train Control Systems Framework (TCSF). The framework runs from 2024 until 2034 of which £3bn will be spent on digital signalling (ETCS) and £1bn on conventional signalling. The framework is one of the remedies published by Network Rail in response to the market study conducted by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to provide value for money through cost, quality and innovation.

ORR holds Network Rail to account for the delivery of its operations, support, maintenance, and renewals programmes. As the Digital Signalling Portfolio is included in the ORR’s final determination of Network Rail’s renewals funding, ORR will carry out monitoring of this portfolio of works during Control Period 7 (CP7).

More details about the frameworks can be found on the Network Rail website.

Network Rail’s £4bn train control systems framework to revolutionise signalling across Britain.

Rail enhancements in England and Wales have been delivered through the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline since Control Period six (CP6), prior to that they were delivered directly through Network Rail. The following has been spent on enhancements in each financial year in Control Periods five (CP5) and CP6. Figures for Control Period seven are not yet available as no years have yet concluded. All figures are presented in £millions nominal and exclude third party contributions.

• CP5 year 1 – 2014/15: £2,597

• CP5 year 2 – 2015/16: £2,950

• CP5 year 3 – 2016/17: £3,123

• CP5 year 4 – 2017/18: £2,951

• CP5 year 5 – 2018/19: £2,680

• CP6 year 1 – 2019/20: £1,620

• CP6 year 2 – 2020/21: £1,459

• CP6 year 3 – 2021/22: £1,626

• CP6 year 4 – 2022/23: £1,832

• CP6 year 5 – 2023/24: £2,112

Before the National Insurance increase announcement in the budget, Network Rail’s estimated National Insurance payment was £1.26bn for the remaining four years of Control Period 7 (2025/26 – 2028/29). Following the budget, it’s now anticipated to increase by £213m over this timeframe.