James Sunderland

Throughout the UK’s Presidency year, we will work with Egypt as the incoming Presidency, and all countries, to deliver on the agreed outcomes in the Glasgow Climate Pact and keep 1.5 in reach.

In doing so we will continue to champion science, especially the IPCC and its major reports in 2022, and the urgency of action on emissions reductions, adaptation, finance to support developing nations and loss and damage.

At the 2022 Autumn Statement, the Government reaffirmed the 2021 Spending Review pledge to increase public expenditure on R&D to £20 billion per annum by 2024/2025. This represents a cash increase of around a third compared to 21/22 and is the largest ever increase over an SR period.

This Government is supporting the automotive sector’s transition to zero emission vehicles and has committed £2.5bn for vehicle grants and infrastructure. The Net Zero Strategy announced a further £350m for the Automotive Transformation Fund, on top of £500m previously committed. Recent investments by Nissan, Stellantis and Ford show strong business confidence.

Aircraft pilots and crew are not required to complete a PLF as the UK Health Security Agency has introduced separate contact tracing protocols for this cohort of transport workers.

From 31 January 2022, the isolation period for care home residents has been reduced from 14 to 10 days. All residents, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, will be able to reduce their period of self-isolation to five days if testing arrangements are followed and test results are negative. Residents who are unable to be tested should isolate for 10 days.

No assessment has been made. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a duty to assess the care needs of their local populations.

A small proportion of children over 12 years old have or will receive full vaccination following the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s advice. International standards for travel require a full course to be recognised as ‘fully vaccinated’. While there are some countries which require full vaccination for under 16 year olds, others treat under 16 year olds as fully vaccinated, accept testing, or in a small number of cases accept recovery as equivalent to full vaccination. We are exploring ways to provide fully vaccinated 12 to 15 year olds with a travel NHS COVID Pass.

The UK Government is discussing, with the Government of the British Virgin Islands, the development of a draft Tax Information Exchange Arrangement between the British Virgin Islands and Taiwan. It would not be appropriate to comment on this publicly before these discussions have concluded. The UK Government welcomes the ongoing cooperation of the British Virgins Islands in this matter.

The UK is supporting the delivery of vaccines for malaria through our £1.65 billion of core funding to Gavi, with UK funding contributing to Gavi's $156 million malaria vaccine programme which launched in January 2022. Our support to the Liverpool-based Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC) has helped develop technologies that have averted up to 27 million cases of malaria, including the novel dual-action bed nets that kill mosquitoes resistant to traditional insecticides. The UK's pledge of £1 billion to the Global Fund's seventh replenishment will support the transition to and distribution of next-generation insecticide-treated nets to malaria endemic communities.

The announcement by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on 17 April that Iran had started uranium enrichment up to 60% using advanced centrifuges is a serious and deeply worrying development. This is the latest step in Iran's continued and systematic non-compliance with its nuclear commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA). The production of highly enriched uranium is an important step in the production of a nuclear weapon. Iran has no credible civilian need for enrichment at this level.

The UK has made multiple official level representations to the Iranians on this issue, both bilaterally and as the E3 alongside the governments of France and Germany. As the E3 said in a statement on 14 April, this step is contrary to the constructive spirit and good faith of discussions in Vienna that have the objective of finding a rapid diplomatic solution to revitalise and restore the JCPoA.

We continue to work with the parties to the JCPoA and the US Administration to seize the diplomatic opportunity for a full return to the JCPoA. We call upon Iran to avoid any escalatory measures which make a return to mutual compliance harder to achieve.

The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) is calculated on an individual rather than a household basis, in line with other tax policy. Basing HICBC on household incomes would mean having to assess the adjusted net income of everyone in each of the 8 million households registered for Child Benefit, as HMRC does not hold this data. This would effectively introduce a new means test, creating significant administrative costs and placing a disproportionate burden on the majority of families who receive Child Benefit.

The Government is committed to managing the public finances in a disciplined and responsible way by targeting support where it is most needed. The adjusted net income threshold of £50,000 used in the administration of the HICBC only affects a minority of those who receive Child Benefit, with comparatively high incomes. The Government therefore believes that the current threshold for HICBC remains the best option. As with all elements of tax policy, the threshold is kept under review.

The Government recognises the challenge that many are facing with the cost of living. This is why we are providing support worth over £20 billion across this financial year and next that will help families with the cost of living. This includes cutting the Universal Credit taper rate and increasing work allowances to make sure work pays, freezing alcohol and fuel duties to keep costs down, and the £9.1 billion package announced in February 2022 to help households with rising energy bills. In addition, we are increasing the National Living Wage by 6.6 per cent to £9.50 an hour in April 2022, which will benefit more than 2 million workers.

The Government has announced a £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to protect the cultural sectors through the pandemic.

To date, more than £790m of grants and loans have been allocated to over 3,000 cultural organisations in England. In addition, £100 million has been allocated in direct support to our national cultural institutions and the English Heritage Trust.

This unprecedented investment will help to protect jobs and organisations across the country.

Since 2019, we have made available £340m to tackle serious violence. This investment includes the creation of 20 Violence Reduction Units and a Young Women and Girls Fund. These programmes are tackling gang activity and supporting young people who have been affected by it.

The Home Office continues to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to ensure the response to crime affecting retailers is as robust as it can be.

Katy Bourne, Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners Business Crime lead, has established a working group, Pegasus, to tackle serious organised retail crime. Pegasus will bring together policing and the retail sector to share intelligence and analyse serious organised retail crime, to assist police forces to respond to this crime.

Police recorded offences in England and Wales (excluding Devon and Cornwall) for shoplifting and all theft offences for year ending December 2022 are showing a fall of 12% and 13% respectively compared with the pre-pandemic period of March 2020.

The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates for year ending March 2023 showed a 20% decrease in theft offences compared with estimates from the year ending March 2020 survey.

HM Passport Office staffing numbers have been increased over 1200 since April 2021. This has delivered the operational capacity needed to process applications in record numbers, at approximately one million each month.

Across the first 6 months of 2022, HM Passport Office processed 97.7% of UK standard applications within 10 weeks.

HM Passport Office staffing numbers have been increased over 1200 since April 2021. This has delivered the operational capacity needed to process applications in record numbers, at approximately one million each month.

Across the first 6 months of 2022, HM Passport Office processed 97.7% of UK standard applications within 10 weeks.

The entry requirement for the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) is a pass at the Army Officer Selection Board Main Board. The standard required to commission from RMAS into the British Army has not changed.

AOSB recently reviewed its assessment methodology following a study which identified that RMAS was able to improve the practical performance of Officer Cadets to a greater extent than had previously been assumed. This has resulted in a number of candidates who would previously have narrowly missed the mark being given the opportunity to commence training. These candidates are categorised as 'President's Risks'.

Those who do not meet the required standard after 12 months training at RMAS will not commission. A trainability study will assess the correlation of President's Risk Candidates and their performance at RMAS to inform future selection criteria.

The Defence Medical Services (DMS) provide an occupationally focused primary healthcare service for Armed Forces personnel. Secondary healthcare is provided by the NHS: the DMS has influence on NHS commissioning policy and delivery, to ensure that specific Defence requirements are met.

Armed Forces personnel can, by exception, access urgent NHS primary care near their home residence while off-duty, as a temporary registered patient, if they are unfit to travel to a DMS facility to make sure they get the healthcare support they need.

Personnel should contact their registered DMS medical facility in the first instance to discuss their care needs, and to inform of the intention to access NHS services. Their DMS GP will continue to be their main registered GP and it is important that personnel return to using DMS services as soon as possible.

Personnel can also access NHS out of hours services such as going to A&E in a medical emergency, using the 111 service or going to an urgent care service such as a walk-in centre or minor injuries unit.

Armed Forces personnel should contact their DMS medical facility, as their care co-ordinator, about any declined access to UK healthcare services to which they are entitled.

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) have directed the Future Defence Infrastructure Services, accommodation suppliers in the South East region (Pinnacle and VIVO) to provide Rectification Plans, as performance has been significantly below acceptable levels.

DIO Officials are working with Vivo and Pinnacle to accelerate responses to the heating outages for families at the Royal Military Academy. Families will be contacted by a qualified engineer to support the swift diagnosis of faults and to enable remote fixes, if possible, and VIVO are increasing the number of engineers available to undertake urgent works.

I am pleased to announce that the £5 million Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund launched on 4 July and will close on 31 August.

We are working with the Defence and Security Accelerator on the Fund’s open competition, to explore how the marketplace can offer to help advance better health outcomes for veterans.

The Government recognises the value of precious community assets. That is why we created legal protections for Assets of Community Value. And why we have launched the Community Ownership Fund, which will invest £150 million to support community groups to protect assets at risk.

The Fund is already supporting 21 groups, and over 4 years will help many more communities take ownership of local assets.

Yesterday the Government announced the launch of the Independent Human Rights Act Review, which is a key manifesto commitment of Government.

The Review will be a technical examination of the operation of the Human Rights Act, chaired by Sir Peter Gross. It will focus on the relationship between domestic courts and the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the relationship between the judiciary, the executive and the legislature.

The Panel have been requested to provide a detailed, independent piece of advice outlining options for reform by Summer 2021. A government response will subsequently be published.

Last year, the Legal Aid Agency spent around £1.7bn on legal aid for those who need it – this government is committed to maintaining access to justice. Wider than legal aid, we are enhancing the support on offer to litigants in person by providing a further £3m of funding and investing up to £5m in a Legal Support Innovation Fund.

In addition, we are making a number of changes to legal aid. This includes undertaking a comprehensive review of the means test, improving and simplifying the exceptional case funding scheme, making face-to-face advice more readily available in a number of civil matters, and undertaking an awareness campaign for legal aid and legal support.

We are working closely together on the veterans railcard. My officials continue to work with both the Department for Transport and Welsh Government to ensure that the Veterans’ Railcard is accepted on services for which they are responsible.