Jim McMahon

The invitation to tender for previous franchise competitions sets out the minimum requirements that bidders are to meet, and it is for bidders to provide evidence as to whether existing or new build rolling stock meets those requirements.

The Department’s rail reform team has an excellent level of experience in Rail and other industries.

Guidance on ventilation is included within the Department’s ‘Safer Transport Guidance for Operators’. It suggests operators consider how they can increase ventilation and air flow, and asks that wherever possible operators and businesses should ensure that a fresh air supply is consistently flowing though vehicles, carriages and transport hubs. The guidance sets out a number of ways in which this might be achieved including through the opening of windows, the use of air conditioning systems and through the use of filters. The Department’s public facing communications messaging asks that passengers open windows wherever possible and safe to do so.

The Department is also working with the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operating companies, to continue to develop guidance for operators on train ventilation. Operators are currently trialling the use of new high grade filters which are likely to offer further protection against airborne Covid transmission. Where trains are ventilated using an air conditioning system, the air in the carriage will be completely replaced every 6-9 minutes.

Buses typically rely on opening windows for passenger ventilation. Industry is using a range of methods to ensure that these windows are kept open, including through the use of window stickers, on-board announcement and the placing of small blocks in the windows which prevent them from being fully closed. Coach operators carry out risk assessments, with mitigations including enhanced ventilation and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) filters.

Aviation has high standards of ventilation and uses HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters as standard on passenger aircraft.

The Department is currently working with operators to understand scope for further ventilation improvements and to understand how we can best support industry moving forwards.

The Call Option was exercised by the Department. However, further commercial discussions with the rolling stock leasing companies (ROSCOs) led to a revised improved offer which enabled the Call Option to be withdrawn.

Our latest assessments do not currently predict an impact on Network Rail’s budget for Control Period 6. Network Rail are pro-actively monitoring commodity prices including steel following the recent volatility. They have long term contractual mechanisms in place to ensure that the prices they pay are based on independently compiled indices which protect them from short term spikes in market prices.

Rolling Stock ordered since 2016 was procured by the winner of the relevant franchise competition. The winner would through competition of both the manufacturing and financing deliver the best value bids as part of their bids for the franchise. The detailed specification would have been for the operator to decide taking into account the requirements of the Invitation to Tender for the appropriate franchise at that time.

The Social Distancing Review: Report was published on 5 July. The Review considered a range of evidence related to social distancing, face coverings and 'work from home' guidance: scientific, social, economic and behavioural. The policies of international comparators were also considered.

As outlined in the Prime Minister's speech, the UK has made huge progress this year, the deployment of vaccines by the National Health Service (NHS) has put the UK in a strong position to ease restrictions. The Government has continued to be led by data and will only move to step 4 subject to meeting the four tests.

The Department and its Executive Agencies have risk assessments and policies in place for the usage of CCTV and the secure storage of CCTV footage. All CCTV systems have had a Data Protection Impact Assessment undertaken which includes a review of controls for the usage and secure storage of CCTV footage.

Departmental business is conducted through the official DfT email systems. Any correspondence to external addresses will be directed to our official DfT channels.

All DfT staff and ministers have DfT email accounts and sign up to acceptable use and cyber security operating policies, which state that departmental business must be conducted via DfT email addresses, and not personal email or other web-based mail system.

The following termination sums were agreed with Train Operators (rounded to the nearest 100,000) – (a) Greater Anglia - £30,500,000, (b) TransPennine - £0, (c) West Midland Trains - £90,500,000, (d) South Western Railway - £68,800,000 and (e) c2c - £7,900,000.

In addition to the termination sums, there are further sums due from certain operators as part of their termination obligations. These are to be finalised and a further update will be provided on these amounts in due course.

The Termination Sums were arrived at following a stringent process which took into account value for money as well as a range of other factors.

Further to the previous Answer to Question 13162, Ministers will hold Great British Railways to account through a structured framework underpinned by legislation.

The ORR will focus on monitoring and reporting, scrutinising Great British Railways’ delivery of its objectives and providing expert advice to Ministers. It will be a core part of the system that will hold Great British Railways to account.

We will make an announcement on next steps in relation to the legislative framework that underpins the relationship between Ministers and Great British Railways in due course.

TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU) - is the key East-West artery across the Northern economy. It forms the most direct existing rail link between several major cities. The passenger-related benefits of delivering TRU are formed from a combination of journey time and performance improvements, where passengers will benefit from arriving at their destinations sooner with a faster, more reliable and punctual service; furthermore, the service enhancements will benefit commuters - who can realise the potential of being more productive during the journey due to more frequent, less crowded service. The route upgrade spanning a large section of the northern economy will enhance connectivity and play an important role in improving peoples access to jobs. Major rail infrastructure programmes such as TRU will deliver significant economic benefits to passengers, but not direct savings.

As reported in their Annual Report and Accounts 2020, Network Rail has £54.6bn of historical debt, which is an increase on the previous year’s level (of £54.1bn) due to increases in the valuation of RPI-linked bonds.

Network Rail have been restricted from raising any further commercial debt since they were reclassified to the public sector in 2014. Since the start of Railway Control Period 6 in April 2019, the Department has chosen to provide funding for operating, maintaining and enhancing the railway through grant rather than loan funding. The level of debt is therefore not expected to rise from its current level.

Strong measures and structures will be put in place to ensure Great British Railways is accountable, transparent and reflective of its need to serve passengers, freight customers and taxpayers.

Funding streams will be conditional on meeting Great British Railways' mandate for delivering customer needs and making efficiency improvements.

Great British Railways will be subject to a series of mandates, including to operate in the interests of passengers, freight customers and local communities.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will scrutinise Great British Railways’ delivery of its objectives across the business, and will provide expert advice to the Secretary of State and devolved administrations. ORR will have powers to require improvement plans, encourage best practice and support problem solving across the sector. They will also act as an appeals body for operators, able to direct Great British Rail to change its decision where it has not applied its track access and charging policies fairly.

The government will consult with partners across the rail industry on the development and implementation of the new rules-based track access system. We will make an announcement on next steps in due course.

The Secretary of State for Transport will be accountable to Parliament for how the railways deliver for passengers, communities, the economy, the environment and taxpayers. Ministers will hold Great British Railways to account through a structured framework underpinned by legislation.

Ministers will take key funding decisions and have strong levers to set direction and pursue government policy. Ministers will also have statutory powers to set long-term strategy and have powers to issue guidance and mandatory directions to Great British Railways on any matter at any time.

These statutory and administrative controls will be vital to ensuring that Great British Railways will be focussed on delivering value for taxpayers, passengers and freight customers. Parliament, including through Select Committees, will continue to hold Ministers to account for these key strategic functions. Parliament will also be able to hold Great British Railways leadership team to account for rail planning and operations.

The Transpennine Route Upgrade is a multi-billion pound programme, expected to be the largest investment in the existing rail network over the next 5 years. At this stage it is not possible to be specific about the total cost as we continue to work through design and development phases for the project. Funding of £589m was announced in July 2020, and an extra £317m in May 2021 to improve connectivity between Leeds, Manchester and York and commence early works, including electrification between York and Church Fenton. An update to the Business Case will be presented this Summer.

Rolling stock is procured by the private sector to meet the needs of train operators as part of their bids in respect of the former franchise process and value-for-money will have been taken into account overall.

The costs of leasing rolling stock over its life is a matter for the owners and will take into account potential factors such as market competition, maintenance, refurbishment and other such costs. All factors will be considered when awarding contracts to make sure that the value-for-money is achieved for the taxpayer.

The Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements (ERMA) allow the Department to assess operator performance through either a qualitative based scorecard assessment or through the use of quantified targets.

All ERMA operators are currently assessed using a scorecard assessment. The scorecard criteria for the ERMA is more exacting than the EMA it replaces setting a higher bar for the level of performance an operator must achieve to earn a management fee. The scorecard criteria has already been published on the .gov.uk website.

The Department is currently evaluating the case for transitioning the remaining ERMA operators onto quantitative based targets from September of this year.

To develop proposals in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, the Department was supported by the following consultancies:

Ashurst; PWC; Rail Delivery Group; Eversheds Sutherland; Britain Thinks; Steer Davies Gleave; Jacobs; and Deloitte.

Transformation on the scale set out in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail cannot happen overnight. Government is setting up a Rail Transformation Programme within the Department for Transport and working with the rail sector to ensure a common understanding of the vision, establish the phases of delivery, and work collectively with the sector to design and implement this major project.

We expect to launch initial competitions for Passenger Service Contracts by the time the emergency recovery agreements end in 2022. Further detail will be announced in due course.

We will replace franchising with a more commercially sustainable model. New Passenger Service Contracts will ensure that private sector innovation is targeted where is it is most needed, with private sector operators strongly incentivised to run high quality punctual services, manage costs and attract more passengers.

Transformation on this scale cannot happen overnight. Government is setting up a Rail Transformation Programme within the Department for Transport and working with the rail sector to ensure a common understanding of the vision, establish the phases of delivery, and work collectively with the sector to design and implement this major project.

An announcement on next steps will be made in due course.

We will publish an update to the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline in the coming months.

The budget for Rail Enhancements for England and Wales during Control Period 6 (CP6, 2019/20-23/24) is £9.4 Billion.

The actual spend in years requested was:

(a) one (2019/20) = £1,475 Million

(b) two (2020/21) = £1,477 Million

The latest forecast spend (Network Rail Period 1, 2021/22) for years requested is:

(i) Three (2021/22) = £1,952 Million

(ii) Four (2022/23) = £2,185 Million

(iii) Five (2023/24) = £2,320 Million

The STATS19 reporting system provides data on fatalities from road traffic accidents in Great Britain. Other than accidents which occur on a hard shoulder, STATS19 does not provide accurate and specific lane data information to be able to make this comparison.

The Secretary of State has asked the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to examine the evidence base for the relative safety of All Lane Running (ALR) motorways. That work will include looking at whether there any other data that could be used to enhance our understanding of the relative safety of ALR motorways.

As referenced in the latest 6 monthly parliamentary report published on 23 March 2021, HS2 Ltd is finalising the procurement of the new HS2 rolling stock for Phases One and 2a, with the contract award anticipated later this spring.

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/hs2-6-monthly-report-to-parliament-march-2021

Between 2010/11 and 2019/20 the average funding provided to Bikeability grant recipients per training place delivered has varied between £29 and £38. The figures vary because the grant provided for delivering different Bikeability modules range from £5 per pupil for the basic level 1 Bikeability training, to £40 per pupil for the more comprehensive level 3 Bikeability training. Some children do more than one type of training or module. The figures refer to Bikeability training delivered in England, but not including London. More detailed figures are available on the Bikeability website at https://bikeability.org.uk/support/publications/

More widely, by way of context, from 2006 (when Bikeability started) to 2010, on average 65,360 children were trained every year; since 2010, on average 328,472 children have been trained every year.

In deciding whether to transfer an operator to the Department for Transport’s Operator of Last Resort (DOHL) in order to maintain the continuity of passenger services, the Secretary of State has regard to the Statement of policy on the exercise of the Secretary of State's power under section 26(1) of the Railways Act 1993.

It is entirely appropriate that DOHL identifies all and any potential risks to passenger services, including the management of potential further franchise operations or its ability to deliver timetable changes. The company works closely with the Department to ensure it has the capacity and expertise to ensure these risks are managed and that it has both the capacity and capability to address those risks should they manifest. This is good management practise in any business.

Highways England (HE) is delivering all the actions set out in Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan over the RIS2 period, confirmed in HE’s Strategic Business Plan 2020-25, along with implementation dates.

The safety improvements in the 2020 Action Plan consisted of a package of 18 measures, costing £500 million, and included; committing to a new standard for spacing of places to stop in an emergency and considering a national programme to install more emergency areas on existing smart motorways; the rollout of a radar-based stopped vehicle detection (SVD) system across the All Lane Running (ALR) motorway network; faster attendance by more HE traffic officer patrols; and upgrading cameras across the ALR motorway network to enable automatic detection of Red X violations, which can then be enforced by the police.

Earlier this year, the Secretary of State asked for a first-year progress from Highways England detailing its progress in delivering the 18-point Action Plan and identifying actions that can be delivered ahead of schedule. He asked for this by 12 March 2021. Highways England has provided the Department with the report, and work is rapidly being completed to assess it so it can be published shortly, once the Secretary of State is assured that the proposals are sufficiently robust.

The management for delivery of the Bikeability grant was last competed in 2016 under the Highways England Specialist Professional and Technical Services (SPATS) framework. The contract was awarded to Pell Frischmann with a start date of 8 September 2016 and an end date of 31 August 2018, with the option to extend for a further two years. The proposal included the establishing of an independent charity with a view to the management of the programme being transferred to this charity, and the management functions were duly transferred to the new charity, the Bikeability Trust, on 1 September 2018.

Highways England invested approximately £28 million in developing the Oxford to Cambridge expressway project. The analysis undertaken as part of that project is now supporting the consideration of where alternative future road investment may be needed in this area.

The latest information will be included in Highways England’s report on progress with the actions set out in Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan. This will be published shortly.

The Department’s strategy for growing its presence in Birmingham and Leeds is focussed on relocating roles, not individuals, recruiting local talent in and around Birmingham and Leeds. Additionally, existing staff will be able to relocate to Birmingham and Leeds on a voluntary basis, continuing in their current role from a new location.

The cost of doing so is dependent on a number of factors including the proportionate mix of new starters and the relocation of existing staff, and the required changes in estate.

We are working with Government Property colleagues to source office solutions in both locations which may require different short and medium-term options. Separately we have actively consolidated our London estate as flexible ways of working lead us to having less reliance on traditional office space.

Better use of technology and innovative working practices will enable us to continue working effectively from multiple locations and minimise travel costs between offices.

The relocation of 650 roles to Birmingham and Leeds will support the local economies, creating jobs and supporting inward investment, as part of Levelling Up.

The latest complete figures available for motorway road classes are shown in the table below. These figures have been compiled using the different data sources which have been outlined in the footnotes for the table:

Source: Highways England scheme information and DfT

1. 
   Road Length Statistics on the Strategic Road Network in England

2. DfT Road Length Statistics on the Strategic Road Network in England

The Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan, published by the Department in March 2020, provides a table in Annex D, page 76, showing the number of reported fatal casualties between 2015 and 2018. This is reproduced here:

Sources: 1 - STATS19, Highways England Statistics on motorway fatal casualties in England from 2015-18. 2 - STATS19, DfT Statistics on fatal casualties on the Strategic Road Network in England from 2015-18

The latest strategic safety evidence, which includes data for 2019, will be published as part of the one-year stocktake progress update report.

Highways England install and maintain speed cameras and Red X compliance technology to allow the police to issue fines. Information on enforcement and prosecutions is not held by Highways England or the Department, but by the individual police authorities who act as the enforcement authority.

The table below provides an annual breakdown of Full Time Equivalent (FTE), on-road Highways England Traffic Officers as of 31 March, each year. The current data is the number of FTE Traffic Officers as of 31 January 2021:

Pursuant to the Answer to Question 154650, the figure of 1091 provided included Traffic officers and their supervisors, on a headcount basis.

The table below provides an annual breakdown of FTE control room staff as of 31 March each year. Control room staff roles comprise control room operators of the regional operations and control centres.

Highways England’s traffic officers patrol the entire SRN to respond to incidents, including collisions and breakdowns. There are 1091 Traffic Officers and 340 control room staff across Highways England’s regional operations that have responsibility for manging the SRN, including the All Lane Running (ALR) sections.

Highways England has worked closely with the recovery industry to ensure that its working practices are aligned when working on the SRN. In relation to the ALR sections of the SRN, it has implemented its plans to improve relationships with the recovery industry, and in line with Action 16 of the Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan, has established the Recovery Industry Executive Committee, which has strengthened regional working groups and refreshed guidance on the joint working protocols for breakdown recovery in ALR environments.

We estimate that around fifth of our 2,500 stations have step free access that meets current accessibility standards. The Rail Delivery Group remain responsible for ensuring the accessibility data on the National Rail Enquiries website remains accurate and up to date. More than 75% of journeys are through step free stations compared with less than 50% in 2005. Train Operators must have policies in place to help those who need an accessible station get to their nearest one.

Staff in the Department for Transport and its agencies, in line with Government policy, are instructed to work from home where possible.

Any member of staff who tests positive for COVID19 is not required to share this information with their employer unless they are unable to work due to illness or a requirement to self-isolate.

The Department and its Executive Agencies record the total number of staff who are unable to work due to having symptoms of COVID19. This number might include those with symptoms but who have not received the outcome of a test. Similarly, it might exclude those in isolation at home who are continuing to work as they are asymptomatic.

The system is set up to record current absences. On 25/01/2021 these numbers were as follows:

Given the expectation that staff will work from home where they can, where staff are required to self-isolate this should not impact their ability to carry out their job.

In line with our published guidance on how to assess costs and benefits of government schemes and policies, DfT do take into account a whole life asset approach for estimating environmental and economic impacts including for rail infrastructure and rolling stock appraisals where appropriate. We are unaware of any recent assessment of the whole life asset approach itself, it is industry best practice.

The Department for Transport, on behalf of the Government, has secured additional capacity for the transportation of Category 1 goods. The Government Secured Freight Capacity has been procured through four Ferry Operators: Brittany Ferries, P&O, DFDS, and Stena Line. These freight operators will provide capacity equivalent to over 3000 HGVs per week, across nine routes, operating from eight ports in England: Teesport, Hull, Felixstowe, Harwich, Tilbury, Portsmouth, Newhaven, and Poole. The current contracts provide capacity until 30 June 2021.

The Secretary of State must review the need for the requirements imposed by the “Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (England) Regulations 2020 (“the Regulations”) at least every 28 days. This means determining whether each of the requirements remain necessary to achieving the public health aims of the Regulations. The statutory review includes consideration of both the requirement for international arrivals to complete a Passenger Locator Form and the requirement to self-isolate for 10 days, as well as consideration of the package of the measures as a whole including exemptions. Each restriction is judged by reference to its continuing necessity as the pandemic develops; and based on the available information at each stage about the effectiveness and impact of the measures in reducing the domestic transmission from imported cases of COVID-19.

The last review of the Regulations was completed on 11th January 2021. The next review of the Regulations must be completed by 8th February 2021.

Operators, working alongside manufacturers, owners and other industry partners, remain the key players in the procurement and introduction of new trains as they have the practical implementation knowledge of what is required. The Rail Delivery Group published a guide in March 2020 which describes good practice that organisations should consider when commissioning and introducing new trains. The guide can be found here:

https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/files/Publications/RDG-ENG-GN-008-NewTrains-AGoodPracticeGuide2.0.pdf

During the Covid-19 response, Government has provided unprecedented financial support that has been made available to all sectors of the economy.

On 24 November, the Department announced a financial support scheme to support eligible commercial airport and ground handling businesses by reducing cash burn, enabling businesses to unlock shareholder and lender support. Eligible businesses will be able to apply to the scheme from early 2021. Further details will be published shortly.

The Government has been engaging closely with international rail operators since the outbreak of Covid-19 earlier this year to monitor its ongoing impact and support operators to access available support to address their particular needs, where appropriate, and will continue to do so.

A number of train companies are planning to relax peak travel restrictions over the Christmas period, including Avanti West Coast, London North Eastern Railway, Cross-country and East Midlands Railways, while others are planning to lift restrictions on some services or on particular days such as Christmas Eve.

Network Rail’s operations, maintenance and renewals budgets have not been changed as a result of Spending Review 2020 and workbanks will continue to be based on the five-year regulatory funding settlement for 2019-2024. The Spending Review settlement means that the comparable figure for the enhancements budget over the same period would now be £9.4bn. As part of SR2020 over £2 billion of funding has been confirmed in 2021-22 for rail services and builds on the estimated £12.8 billion of support for transport services that the government has already committed to provide in 2020-21

The Spending Review Settlement includes over £58 billion of investment confirmed for road and rail transport between 2021-22 and 2024-25, delivering some of government’s largest capital portfolios and levelling up across the country. This includes record investment in strategic roads and rail.

The table below provides an annual regional breakdown of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Traffic Officers as of 31 March each year. Records pre- dating the creation of Highways England in 2015 are not held.

(Total FTE numbers may differ slightly to the sum of the regional sections due to rounding of partial FTEs)

The Emergency Measures Agreements and Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements do not contain a contractual requirement for train operating companies to be members of the Rail Delivery Group. However, train operating companies are required to hold an ORR licence as a condition of entry into and to retain the franchise agreement.

Condition 28 of the ORR Statement of National Regulatory Provisions (SNRP) that the SNRP holder ORR ‘shall: (a) become and thereafter remain a Licensed Member of RDG; (b) comply with its obligations under the RDG Articles; and (c) procure that any member of its Group that is entitled under the RDG Articles to become a Member of RDG: (i) becomes and thereafter remains a Member of RDG; and (ii) complies with its obligations under the RDG Articles.’

Network Rail and Rail Delivery Group have been working together extremely effectively, particularly as we navigate our way through the pandemic. However, the extraordinary challenge facing the railway and its fragmented nature makes it more vital than ever that we simplify the system together under an accountable guiding mind. The Government will publish a White Paper with its plans for rail reform once the course of the pandemic becomes clearer.

The department uses data extensively to underpin all decisions it makes on rail operations and infrastructure, and keeps the quality of its data sources and analysis under continual review.

We are working closely with the rail industry to deliver improvements to data sharing, as set out in the Joint Rail Data Action Plan 2018 and Rail Sector Deal 2018. This will help to identify the value of industry rail data assets across a wide set of use cases and unlock access to data across the industry, for government and for external stakeholders, improving transparency and stimulating innovation.

Under Emergency Measures Agreements (EMAs), Train Operating Companies could receive small performance related fees based on whether they have acted efficiently, including managing costs appropriately and protecting and generating revenue.

Following the expiry of the EMAs, operators have moved onto Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements (ERMAs), where a far higher proportion of the fee is based on performance than under the EMAs. Under ERMAs, operators are measured against a range of performance criteria, including financial efficiency. Further financial performance targets may be set by my Department within the ERMAs, which will be appropriately calibrated to ensure they promote financial efficiency and minimise the net cost to the taxpayer.

Government is considering plans for regulated rail fares in January. Taxpayers have been very generous in their support to keep trains running throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, and it is only fair that passengers also contribute to maintaining and improving the services they use. Any fares rise will help fund crucial investment in maintaining railway services to enable social distancing and support our economic recovery.

We do not hold data in the format requested.

The Contain Framework sets out how each local authority will respond and work to deliver their Local Outbreak Control Plans. The Framework and local plans will continue to evolve and reflect the changing scenario and learning. This includes currently undertaking a review of the sharing of information and consultation process for areas of concern including how local hon. Members are engaged and involved.

Record level test and case data (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) is available to all upper tier local authorities who sign data sharing agreements. All now have access. The data are the latest that Public Health England will have received at the point of extraction.

We do not publish data in the format requested.

Public Health England does not publish data of the occupation of those who test positive for COVID-19. There is currently no planned publication date for this information as the dataset requires careful assessment to ensure that the data is accurate and representative.

The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government, local authorities and providers themselves to make sure the adult social care sector has the support it needs to plan for and respond to COVID-19.

New guidance for the adult social care sector is now available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-residential-care-supported-living-and-home-care-guidance

We have created a senior leaders’ group to oversee the adult social care response to COVID-19. This group is supported by our national partners, including the Association of Directors of Adult Social Care, the Local Government Association, NHS England, Public Health England, the Care Quality Commission and adult social care provider representatives.

In addition, we are providing £2.9 billion of funding to protect and support the most vulnerable in society. The funding package will support hospitals, councils and adult social care providers to help cope with COVID-19.

Currently, the allocation of funding for food safety and public protection at a local level is ultimately for decision by local authorities as there is no ring fencing.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA), as the Government department with responsibility for food safety, sets the standards that local authorities should meet and monitors delivery against these. FSA monitoring data provides evidence that resources for food safety are reducing but that the available resources are being targeted to where there is greatest risk.

Where performance issues are identified within individual local authorities, the FSA takes action to secure improvements including highlighting where resources are not sufficient to ensure public health protection.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Food businesses covered by the scheme are provided with stickers showing their rating. Those in Wales and Northern Ireland are already required by law to display the stickers at their premises, while those in England are encouraged to do so.

The FSA has put together an evidence-based case for the necessary legislation to mandate display which is expected to be submitted for ministerial consideration in the near future.

No such discussions have taken place.

Apprenticeships are an important entry route into the social care sector, offer an excellent opportunity for employers to upskill existing staff and train new staff as part of high-quality training programmes, and provide clear career progression routes through the sector.

Apprenticeship standards are allocated funding bands based on recommendations made to the Department for Education by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), which is an employer led Non-Departmental Body. The funding bands for Adult Care Worker and Lead Adult Care Worker apprenticeships were reviewed by IfATE in January 2019. Following discussions with the social care trailblazer group (a group of employers involved in developing apprenticeship standards for their industry) and looking at available evidence, both were retained at the same funding rate.

IfATE continue to keep the funding of all standards under review to ensure that funding bands remain appropriate.

The number of full time equivalent doctors (FTE) in general practice (excluding locums) per 1,000 patients in Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) since 2015 has been provided in the table below. General practitioner (GP) locums are excluded as improvements have been made to GP locum recording methodology and figures are not comparable across the time series. Data is not included prior to 2015 as improvements were made to the methodology for recording all staff working in general practice in September 2015 and data prior to this is not comparable.

Number of doctors in general practice per 1,000 patients in NHS Oldham CCG

Source: NHS Digital

Notes

1. Data as at 30 September.

2. Figures shown do not include GPs working in prisons, army bases, educational establishments, specialist care centres including drug rehabilitation centres, walk-in centres and other alternative settings.

3. Each period, figures contain estimates, for practices that did not provide fully valid General Medical Practice GP records.

4. FTE refers to the proportion of full time contracted hours that the post holder is contracted to work. One would indicate they work a full set of hours (37.5), 0.5 that they worked half time. In Registrars' contracts one FTE = 40 hours. To ensure consistency, these FTEs have been converted to the standard wMDS measure of 1 FTE = 37.5 hours in the table.

No such estimate is available. The deal agreed with the EU will enable the Government to ensure that no tariffs are payable for goods moving from Northern Ireland to the rest of the United Kingdom and that there is no hard border on the island of Ireland. The deal also ensures that unfettered access for goods moving from Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK can be maintained.