Gregory Campbell

This Government is committed to transforming the lives of working women, and that includes going further and faster to close the gender pay gap.

The landmark Employment Rights Bill includes measures to change our workplaces to better support women, including improving access to flexible working; strengthening protections for pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave; and giving employees basic rights from their first day in a new job.

The Bill also includes a requirement for large employers to publish action plans outlining the steps they are taking to tackle the gender pay gap in their own organisations.

The letter from Mr Campbell has been responded to. A letter was sent in reply to him on 10 October.

The Government recognises the invaluable contribution of emergency service workers to the people of the United Kingdom, and that the nature of that role means those workers will often find themselves in situations that may present a danger to their personal safety.

The Elizabeth Emblem is awarded to the next-of-kin of public servants who have died as a result of their public service. Full details on how to apply for this award, and detailed eligibility criteria, are available on GOV.UK.

While there are no current plans to review the criteria for the Emblem along the lines suggested, the Government is happy to consider the case for any new medal or award, subject to comprehensive assessment across relevant departments.

The Low Pay Commission (LPC) estimate that 2.9% of full-time employee jobs and 12.0% of part-time employee jobs were covered by the relevant National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rate in 2023. The LPC will publish updated analysis in early 2025.

The current National Living Wage (NLW) is set at £11.44 per hour. This means for a full-time worker on the NLW working 35 hours each week, their gross annual earnings are £20,821. This will increase to £22,222 after the new NLW rate of £12.21 is applied from 1st April 2025.

Each worker's take home salary will vary as this will depend on a range of factors, including total hours worked, taxes and other lawful deductions, and additional benefits.

(a) The number of active employees attached to the Trade and Investment Hub in Northern Ireland during the previous 12 months is shown on Table 1. This is representative of active employees who are based in Norther Ireland and work for the Trade and Investment Hub, Northern Ireland. There are also employees in other teams and locations that indirectly support Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland.

DBT defines “staff employed” as Civil Servants on payroll with an active payroll assignment.

(b) All active employee records attached to the Trade and Investment Hub in Northern Ireland recorded the same job type, International Trade. This was not amended throughout the reporting period 1^st December 2023 – 1^st November 2024.

Table 1

No decisions to close any or all of the remaining Directly Managed Branches have been taken.

The Post Office will continue to deliver on the 11,500 minimum branch requirement set by Government. Longer term, Government has set out our plan to publish a Green Paper to consult with the public on the long-term future of the Post Office. This Green Paper will help inform what customers, communities and postmasters would like to see from a modern Post Office network.

We estimate that over 3 million workers will receive a pay rise due to the increase in the National Living Wage in April 2025. The number of workers paid at the National Living Wage in April 2025 is expected to be lower as some of these workers will receive a further indirect pay rise as employers decide to pay above the minimum.

We will publish an Impact Assessment alongside the legislation that implements the increase to the National Living Wage.

Energy policy in Northern Ireland is devolved. However, Ministers meet regularly with energy suppliers and we expect them to do everything they can to support their consumers, especially the most vulnerable.

The Smart Metering Implementation Programme collects data from energy suppliers on an annual basis pertaining to the costs and benefits of the smart meter rollout. This includes device and installation costs for smart metering equipment, as well as a range of metrics capturing the cost savings of smart meters compared to traditional meters. We do not provide average supplier costs due to commercial sensitivity.

The Semiconductor Advisory Panel is representative of the UK’s semiconductor industry, and the ecosystem that supports it. In selecting the panel, consideration was given to representation across UK specialisms in design, compound semiconductors and R&D, company size and geographic location.

We continue to speak with the full spectrum of the UK’s semiconductor industry, including regular engagement with companies and representatives from across the UK.

The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the Government and decisions about its coverage of US Presidential elections are therefore a matter for the BBC.

The BBC has a duty to deliver impartial and accurate news coverage and content under its Royal Charter. The Charter also specifically sets out that the BBC must observe high standards of openness and seek to maximise transparency and accountability.

The existing Charter is due to expire on 31 December 2027. We are in the early stages of preparation for the upcoming Charter Review which we expect to launch in 2025. We will ensure we take all relevant views into account as part of the review.

The Secretary of State has had no discussions with Ofcom regarding Channel One Russia Worldwide or the imposition of statutory sanctions on GB News.

Ofcom is the UK’s regulator for broadcasting and by law carries out its duties independently of the Government. Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code contains rules to ensure that due impartiality must be preserved on matters of major political or industrial controversy and major matters relating to current public policy​. It is for Ofcom, as the independent regulator, to determine whether there has been a breach of their rules and whether to apply sanctions.

Although Channel One Russia Worldwide holds an Ofcom TLCS licence, it is not available on any regulated service in the UK.

The next Charter Review has to ensure the BBC doesn’t just survive but thrives for decades to come. The existing Charter is due to expire on 31 December 2027. DCMS is in the early stages of preparation for the upcoming Charter Review, which we expect to launch in 2025.

The Youth participation pilot survey findings are due to be published in October 2024.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is committed to drawing upon the wealth of talent and experience across the whole of the United Kingdom when making appointments to the Boards of its Public Bodies. The Secretary of State has made clear her commitment to appointing more people from outside of London and the South East; this includes increasing the number of appointments made to people in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The Department has made no recent assessment of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 target of a 50% reduction of food waste by 2030.

Latest data from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) showed that between 2007, the baseline used for reporting food waste progress, and 2021, UK per capita food waste fell by 26kg per person per year, representing an 18.3% reduction. To meet the Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 target of a 50% reduction by 2030, a further 45kg per person reduction or 32% of the baseline will be required.

The Department for Transport (The Department) doesn’t hold an estimate of the number of people who will own an electric vehicle in each year between 2024 and 2030. The Department does hold an estimate of the number of Battery Electric cars and vans (BEVs) that will be in the vehicle fleet in each year. This has been provided as a proxy for the number of people who will own one. These projections were developed in late 2023 / early 2024.

There is inherent uncertainty in these estimates. These figures assume ‘firm and funded’ policies only, covering existing legislation, confirmed subsidy schemes and current taxation policy. The Government may bring forward other measures that could change this projection.

No discussions have taken place with the Minister for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland on the graduated driving licence pilot scheme.

Whilst we are not considering Graduated Driving Licences, we absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads, and we are considering other measures to tackle this problem and protect young drivers.

Public Service Obligation (PSO) Regulations enable protection of existing domestic routes that are in danger of being lost. DfT currently joint-funds three PSO routes into London from Newquay, Dundee and Derry/Londonderry.

Airports invest in their infrastructure to attract passengers and airlines, while airlines deliver services to their customers by responding to demand for routes. My officials are actively engaging with regional airports to understand their route networks and how Government can support their future ambitions.

The Future Transport Zones (FTZ) programme is scheduled to conclude by the end of 2025. Monitoring and evaluation work has been ongoing alongside the programme since it began in 2020. We have recently published the first two waves of evaluation at a national level, delivered by the National Centre for Social Research on behalf of the Department for Transport, with a third wave to follow in 2025. The individual FTZ areas are also undertaking their own local evaluations.

Data on how many pension credit applications have been made between 1 April 2024 and 22 September 2024 was recently published on gov.uk, Weekly Pension Credit claims received from 1 April 2024 to 22 September 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This shows that between 9 September and 22 September 2024, 25,200 Pension Credit application were received by the Department.

On 28 October 2024, the department announced that updated Pension Credit applications and award statistics will be published on 28 November 2024. This publication will provide application volumes after 22 September 2024.

Pension Credit data for April 2024 is not currently available.

The latest data is from February 2024, when the average weekly Pension Credit payment was £76.20.

The next iteration of Pension Credit statistics containing data to May 2024 will be available on Stat Xplore from 28^th November 2024.

This data is available on Stat-Xplore at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk in the ‘Pension Credit - Data from May 2018’ dataset. More information on the data included in the ‘Pension Credit’ dataset can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistical-summaries. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.

Information relating to Pension Credit eligibility is only available via take-up statistics. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2021 to 2022 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The next release of statistics for Financial Year Ending 2023 will be published on Thursday 10 October 2024. The below table shows the number of eligible people receiving Pension Credit and the estimated take up of Pension Credit.

Please note that Financial Year Ending 2021 proportion of take-up is not available due to the pandemic restricting the number of face-to-face interviews required to collect the data. Also, the take-up figures shown below are central estimates.

No targets have been set, the Government wants everyone eligible for Pension Credit but not currently claiming it to receive the benefits they are entitled to.

DWP launched the Pension Credit Week of Action on 2 September, joining forces with national charities, broadcasters and local authorities to encourage pensioners to check their eligibility and make a claim.

From 16 September we will be running a national marketing campaign on a range of channels. The campaign will target potential pension-age customers, as well as friends and family who can encourage and support them to apply.

Our future campaign messaging will also focus on encouraging pensioners to apply for Pension Credit before the 21 December 2024, which is the last date for making a successful backdated claim for Pension Credit in order to receive a Winter Fuel Payment.

We will also work with external partners, local authorities and the Devolved Governments to boost the take-up of Pension Credit.

Research is crucial in tackling cancer. The Department spends £1.5 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), with cancer being the largest area of spend at over £121.8 million in 2022/23. The NIHR spends more on cancer than any other disease group, reflecting its high priority.

Brain cancer remains one of the hardest to treat cancers in both adults and children and we urgently need more research to inform our efforts, which is why in September, the NIHR announced new research funding opportunities for brain cancer research, spanning both adult and paediatric populations. This includes a national NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium, to ensure that the most promising research opportunities are made available to adult and child patients, and a new funding call to generate high quality evidence in brain tumour care, support, and rehabilitation. Further information on the new research funding opportunities is available at the following link:

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/new-funding-opportunities-novel-brain-tumour-research-launched

The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome applications for research into any aspect of human health, including brain tumours. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.

The plans to publish a final major conditions strategy were paused following the announcement of the general election. We are developing a 10-year plan to radically reform the National Health Service and build a health service that is fit for the future. As part of this work, we will consider how best to meet the needs of people with dementia.

The National Health Service in England has been gradually reducing the age for bowel screening from 60 years old down to 50 years old, since 2021/22. The extension to 50 years old is expected to be completed by 2025.

The Department has a number of existing partnerships to help promote awareness of urology conditions. NHS England is partnering with P-Wave on a campaign targeted at men, specifically focussing on blood in urine as a possible symptom of cancer. The partnership has seen more than 430,000 P-Wave urinal mats distributed around the United Kingdom since its launch, with the awareness message appearing in pubs, workplaces, and sporting and music venues. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.p-wave.co.uk/pages/nhs-partnership?srsltid=AfmBOooUskgp-sQbOb1cEBiXn8eYh73_kU1LJ5jDABF2ZTBvL2nC8WWr

NHS England is also partnering with major supermarkets to increase awareness of various health conditions, including urological conditions, via messaging on products like toilet paper. There is a specific focus on lower cost products reaching members of the public from lower socio-economic groups, supporting the National Health Service drive to reduce health inequalities.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded the GBS3 trial. It is looking at whether testing all pregnant women for Group B Streptococcus and giving them antibiotics reduces the risk of infection in newborn babies, compared to the current strategy in place in the United Kingdom. The current strategy in the UK is to offer antibiotics during labour to women who are considered at raised risk of their baby developing a Group B Streptococcus infection.

Recruitment to the trial ended in May 2024. The researchers are analysing the data, and a report is expected in Summer 2025. The UK National Screening Committee Secretariat is in close and regular contact with the researchers. The committee will review its recommendation considering the evidence from the trial, after the report is presented.