Julian Lewis

The Government has been clear that non-disclosure agreements should not be misused by employers to conceal misconduct in the workplace. There are already legal limitations as to what NDAs can be used for, meaning the relevant clause would be unenforceable if it attempted to prevent a worker from whistleblowing, require a worker to cover up iniquity, or prevent a worker from doing anything that they may be required to do by law. We continue to look at how to make improvements to ensuring the misuse of NDAs is not used to conceal misconduct in the workplace.

British Steel closed its coke ovens in 2023, so is now reliant on imports of coke, a processed coal product. Since the passage of the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act, British Steel has received coking coal from the United States of America, Colombia, and Australia. The company will keep its supply chains under review.

The Department for Business & Trade has not produced an assessment of the carbon footprint from the transportation of the coking coal required for the blast furnaces. However, the carbon footprint associated with transporting the coking coal to the UK can be calculated using publicly available data [such as the CarbonCare CO2 emissions calculator].

The Department works continually with Ofgem and the National Cyber Security Centre to ensure that regulations continue to capture the most critical operators of energy generation systems. Distributed and smaller-scale generation are key components of a smart and resilient energy system.

The Heath and Safety Executive and the North Sea Transition Authority are the relevant regulators for onshore shale gas extraction. They regulate compliance with the criteria set for plugging and abandoning wells at the end of their useful life.

The UK has a secure and diverse energy system. Over the past three years the market has successfully delivered sufficient supplies amidst a period characterised by high energy prices and uncertainties caused by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and conflict in the Middle East. The National Emergency Plan for Downstream Gas and Electricity also sets out the arrangements for the safe and effective management of downstream gas or electricity disruption.

Decisions on whether to abandon wells are ultimately a matter for the company. Hydrocarbon wells must be safely plugged and abandoned when they are no longer in use.

Data on gas import origins (including imports of liquified natural gas (LNG) from the US) is published each month in Energy Trends table 4.4. Further disaggregation of US LNG by method of extraction is not collected or available.

The UK has no active commercial shale gas production and hence no emissions data from production to allow a comparison with emissions from imported gas.

The Department attaches great importance to providing timely responses to Member’s correspondence. Regrettably a processing error has severely delayed our response in this instance, for which the Department sincerely apologises. We are taking steps to correct this system to prevent further errors of this nature. We will provide a full response urgently.

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) already require organisations to process personal data lawfully, fairly, transparently and securely, unless certain limited exemptions apply. Organisations are also required to meet additional conditions and safeguards when processing ‘special category’ data, or data that is more sensitive, such as DNA data.

The UK’s data protection legislation does not automatically prohibit the selling or sharing of personal data with third parties. Instead, it sets out a framework within which data sharing may safely take place.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s Data Protection Regulator, has published a statutory Code of Practice on data sharing which contains practical guidance for organisations on how to share data fairly and lawfully, available at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/data-sharing/data-sharing-a-code-of-practice/.

The ICO has also published guidance to help organisations processing special category data, available at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/lawful-basis/a-guide-to-lawful-basis/special-category-data/.

The Online Safety Act 2023 places duties on social media companies and search services. These include duties to tackle illegal content on their services. These services will need to put systems and processes in place to reduce the risk that users post this illegal content. They will also need to take it down where it does appear. If companies fail to comply with any of these duties, Ofcom has a range of strong enforcement powers, including issuing fines and applying to the court to initiate business disruption measures.

Since 2010, the grant scheme has returned nearly £350 million to listed places of worship across the UK. This has helped protect our listed places of worship and enabled them to continue their work as centres of worship and community assets.

The scheme will now run until the end of March 2026. As was the case with previous Governments, further spending commitments are a matter for the Spending Review.

As a general rule, students are eligible for fee and maintenance loans only if they have settled status in the United Kingdom and have been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland for three years. Students resident overseas are not eligible for loans.

The department and the Office for Students (OfS) have a programme of investigations underway. Where these investigations have found abuse of the student finance system, there will be serious consequences. We have now also asked the Public Sector Fraud Authority to tackle this threat and take forward this work across government. The department will always take steps to recover student loans that have been paid to students who have not been attending their courses. Depending on the precise circumstances, recovery has been and will continue to be pursued either from the institution or the student.

The department is consulting until 4 April on subcontracted provision. The consultation proposes changes to the requirements for courses to attract student finance that will necessitate subcontracted providers with specific numbers of students to be registered and regulated by the OfS. Together with the work of the OfS, which is currently consulting on reforms to its registration requirements, the department’s consultation will ensure subcontracted provision is better protected from poor quality and the risk of the misuse of public funding.

The department will also take immediate action on the use of agents to recruit students. The government can see no legitimate role for domestic agents in the recruitment of UK students. We are taking urgent steps to prevent any further abuse of the system.

Higher education (HE) providers are independent and therefore responsible for decisions around pay, including for Vice-Chancellors and other senior staff. The government does not have a role in intervening in pay and staffing matters.

The department acknowledges that Vice-Chancellors manage large and complex organisations, and therefore, deserve a salary that reflects the responsibilities and challenges of their roles.

However, Vice-Chancellors' salaries should not be excessive or disproportionate. Where providers are facing financial challenges, we expect them to work with staff and unions to help identify how best to reduce unnecessary spend. All efficiency measures taken by the sector should provide better long-term value both for students and for the country.

In addition, transparency is crucial for students, staff, and the public. Therefore, the Office for Students, the independent regulator in England, requires HE providers to provide and publish justifications for Vice-Chancellors' remuneration. If concerns arise regarding senior staff pay, the Office for Students has the authority to conduct independent reviews to ensure that a provider’s governance arrangements are appropriate and effective.

The UK Government consistently monitors UK waters to uphold the safety of mariners, the marine environment and the UK’s national security, which includes monitoring of tankers that are suspected of being associated with the movement of Russian oil.

As a signatory of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the UK Government adheres to international maritime law and protects the innocent passage of vessels transiting through UK waters.

The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age. The ENCTS costs around £700 million annually and any changes to the statutory obligations, such as including companion passes, would therefore need to be carefully considered for its impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability.

The Department for Transport conducted a review of the ENCTS and is currently considering next steps. The review did not consider adding companion passes to the statutory criteria for the scheme.

Currently, local authorities in England have the power to go beyond their statutory obligations under the ENCTS and offer additional discretionary concessions, such as extending the travel time criteria for the ENCTS.

The government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country. Hampshire County Council has been allocated £14 million of this funding. Funding allocated to local authorities to improve services for passengers can be used in whichever way they wish. This could include extending the discretionary concessions available in the local area to include companion passes.

The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age, currently sixty-six. The ENCTS costs around £700 million annually and any changes to the statutory obligations, such as extending the eligibility criteria, would therefore need to be carefully considered for its impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability.

Local authorities in England have the power to go beyond their statutory obligations under the ENCTS and offer additional discretionary concessions, such as offering companion passes for those travelling with someone eligible for the ENCTS.

• No assessment has been made.
• Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill legislates for the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. This increase will be for new and existing customers and will benefit millions of households.
• This will build on the Fair Repayment Rate for Universal Credit, introduced on 30 April 2025, reducing the overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s standard allowance. This will help approximately 1.2 million of the poorest households retain more of their benefit award by an average of £420 a year.
• We also uprated benefit rates for 2025/26 in line with inflation, with 5.7 million Universal Credit households forecast to gain by an average of £150 annually.

In its response to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the AEA Technology case, the department agreed to consider the PAC recommendation to ‘ensure that people have an adequate route of appeal when considering complaints about their occupational and personal pensions, through a review of the Ombudsman’. Progress on the PAC and subsequent WPC recommendations were paused due to the General Election. The department remains committed to providing the PAC with an update once the Cabinet Office has considered how it would like departments to scope and schedule a new series of reviews for public bodies.

People claiming Employment Support Allowance are being migrated to Universal Credit, but anyone on Personal Independence Payment will remain on it. Customers who move to UC following the receipt of a migration notice from ESA have their LCW or LCWRA moved with them to UC.

So, for the vast majority of cases there is no need for a new WCA.

The Work Capability Assessment is a functional assessment that applies to both UC & Employment and Support Allowance. Receipt of other benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) do not provide an automatic passport to LCW or LCWRA as the assessment criteria are different. Therefore, customers in receipt of PIP only, may be referred for a WCA if they declare a health condition when making their claim to Universal Credit.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women’s Health and Mental Health, Baroness Merron, is the Minister with responsibility for life sciences and innovation, and cell and gene therapies are included in this remit.

In September 2024, the Department stood up an advanced therapies co-ordination group which aims to create a joined-up ecosystem that will support the development, regulation, and delivery of advanced therapy medicinal products in the United Kingdom. This group is chaired at the Senior Civil Service Grade 1 level. We note the recent report from the Cell and Gene Collective, titled Tomorrow’s Science, Today’s NHS, including the ask for a Minister to chair the group, and we will consider the report’s recommendations in due course.

Improving the early diagnosis of cancer, including lobular breast cancer, is a priority for NHS England. The National Health Service will improve cancer survival rates and hit all NHS cancer waiting time targets, so that no patient waits longer than they should.

To increase awareness of lobular breast cancer, NHS England and other NHS organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of breast cancer. Further information can be found on the NHS.UK website, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/

The NHS Breast Screening Programme offers all women in England between the ages of 50 and 71 years old the opportunity to be screened every three years for breast cancer, to help detect abnormalities and intervene early to reduce the number of lives lost to breast cancer. However, lobular breast cancer is difficult to detect using imaging scans, such as mammogram.

The Department invests £1.5 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £133 million in 2023/24 reflecting its high priority.

The Department has invested £29 million into the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NIHR Biological Research Centre in 2022, supporting their efforts to strengthen research into cancer, including lobular breast cancer. Wider investments into breast cancer research include a £1.3 million project to determine whether an abbreviated form of breast magnetic resonance imaging can detect breast cancers missed by screening through mammography, including lobular breast cancer.

The Department continues to work closely with NHS England on the development of the National Cancer Plan to achieve the overall goal of fewer lives lost to cancer, including to lobular breast cancer. The plan will be published later this year.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent, expert body that develops evidence-based guidelines for the National Health Service on best practice. While the NICE currently has no plans to issue guidance on paediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) and paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus (PANDAS), should the evidence base develop further, we would look to the NICE to update clinical policy.

In the meantime, integrated care systems are responsible for planning care for their populations’ conditions, and clinicians will want to take account of any new research and developments in guidance, such as those being overseen by the PANS PANDAS Steering Group, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to their patients.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, including for children and young people, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each ICB in respect of each financial year, and to publish a summary of its findings. This assessment must include how well the ICB has discharged its functions.

The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is currently funding research to develop a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) for prolapse, incontinence, and mesh complication surgery. This will enable women to self-report the ways in which any surgical treatment for these conditions, mesh and non-mesh related, has affected their quality of life. Once testing of the PROM is completed, women will be able to complete it as part of their care. It will also be suitable for use by national registries and with women taking part in clinical trials. The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of women’s health, including pelvic mesh.

NHS England has established nine specialist mesh centres across England, ensuring that women in every region with complications of mesh inserted for urinary incontinence and vaginal prolapse get the right support. Each mesh centre is led by a multi-disciplinary team to ensure patients get access to the specialist care and treatment that they need, including pain management and psychological support.

The National Health Service’s service specification sets out the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care. The specification for complications of mesh inserted for urinary incontinence, vaginal or internal, and external rectal prolapse states that specialised mesh centres must use trust appraisal systems to ensure that surgeons are appropriately trained, current in their practice, that they adhere to clinical and NICE guidance, comply with Pelvic Floor Registry data requirements, and report complications. The service specification is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/specialised-services-for-women-with-complications-of-mesh-inserted-for-urinary-incontinence-and-vaginal-prolapse-16-years-and-above/

We are aware that the US has announced significant changes to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), with impacts on media outlets including Voice of America. This is a matter for the US. On the future, I can't get ahead of the allocations process, but Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office staff are in close touch with the BBC on a range of issues. We have regular discussions at both senior and official level, including on World Service impact and reach, because it is right that the World Service innovates and remains nimble to meet the global challenges and needs of the day. Changes would be a decision for the BBC, in line with its operational and editorial independence, although if this were to involve the creation or closing of a full language service, the Foreign Secretary would need to approve that, in line with our Framework Agreement.

We share the US administration's desire to bring this war to an end. As the Prime Minister has said, we warmly welcome the agreement reached between the US and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia on 11 March.

We are regularly engaging with the US, together with other international partners, to drive progress towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. The Foreign Secretary has been discussing this further with G7 partners at the Foreign Ministers' meeting.

In September 2024, the Government announced a new joint Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Ministry of Defence Ukraine Unit, led by the Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary. This Unit integrates expertise across the two departments and helps ensure a joined-up approach to international engagement, in support of the Government's efforts to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position. The two departments are working seamlessly together to maximise the impact of UK defence support, ensure that Ukraine gets the military equipment it needs to resist Russian aggression; to deny the Kremlin the resources it needs to sustain its illegal war; and to build a coalition of countries willing and able to help ensure Ukraine's future security.

It is for Ukraine to decide when and how to hold elections. On 19 February, the Prime Minister spoke to President Zelenskyy and reiterated his ongoing support and recognition of him as Ukraine's democratically elected leader. Ukraine's laws are clear that it cannot hold elections during martial law. Martial law continues to be in place due to Russia's ongoing war of aggression. Ukraine has a strong record of free and fair elections, and we are supporting Ukraine to hold them when it is appropriate to do so. We have been clear about the threat of Russian interference in the region and have been a long-standing partner in countering the threat from Russian disinformation.

The Government provides approximately one-third of the funding for the BBC World Service, with the remainder funded from the BBC Licence Fee. The BBC are operationally and editorially independent and set the budget for the World Service. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) provided £104.4 million of grant funding to the World Service in 2023/24, the most recent year for which there are published audited accounts.

FCDO Ministers engage routinely with the BBC on the World Service. The BBC discussed their plans for the World Service in 2025/26 with the FCDO, as part of the Spending Review process.

HMG does not provide any funding for BBC Monitoring.