Julian Smith

The Government conducts litigation in accordance with the relevant court rules and considers the individual circumstances of a dispute before deciding on an appropriate course of action, which may include mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

It is a long-standing convention that we do not disclose publicly specific details on the processes of Cabinet collective decision-making, to protect the safe space for collective decisions. This Government is taking a missions-led approach to governing, bringing departments together to deliver the Plan for Change.

In the case of individual employees the Government is committed to offering mediation as a form of dispute resolution. This is already widely offered to Civil Servants by Departments across the Civil Service as a means to resolve workplace conflict promptly and effectively.

Departments have their own policies and guidance on handling disputes in line with the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures. Mediation is a recommended method of dispute resolution within the ACAS guidance.

The Cabinet Office has published three standard contracts for use by government departments, and many other public sector organisations, as part of their commercial activity. Mediation clauses are included in these contract templates as part of dispute resolution, but this provides for mediation where both parties agree to it. The Cabinet Office has not had any recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on the introduction of mandatory mediation clauses in Government contracts in case of disputes.

It would not be appropriate to comment on a live police investigation.

In our consultation, Make Work Pay: trade union right of access, we sought views on the operational details of the new statutory access framework, including any further matters the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) must have regard to when making determinations on access.

Officials are carefully reviewing all responses and the government will publish a response, which will include next steps on safeguarding considerations, before finalising these details in secondary legislation.

The Government has published a comprehensive assessment on the impact of the Act, which includes analysis of the potential sectoral impacts.

The Government recognises the vital contribution of the hospitality sector to the UK, supporting local employment, sustaining high streets and communities, and playing an important role in our cultural and social fabric.

We are delivering long overdue reform to rebalance business rates system. Over 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties will benefit from permanently lower tax rates. This is a permanent tax cut worth nearly £900 million with no cash cap, benefitting all qualifying properties on high streets across England.

The Government has published a comprehensive assessment on the impact of the Act. As per our Better Regulation requirements, each Impact Assessment includes a small, medium and micro business assessment.

The Small Business Plan also outlines how we will support small and medium sized businesses to grow and thrive across the UK through the most significant package of legislative reforms in 25 years to tackle late payments; unlock billions of pounds in finance to support start-ups and scale ups; remove unnecessary red tape; revitalise the High Street as a place to do business; and deliver growth boosting support for Digital and AI Adoption.

My department has published a robust set of Impact Assessments that provide a comprehensive analysis on the potential impact of the Employment Rights Act 2025, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments.

The Employment Rights Act is intended to improve security of income and work, while maintaining flexibility. Workers will be able to decline an offer of guaranteed hours if they wish. Employers with seasonal working patterns will continue to have a range of options, including the use of fixed term contracts where appropriate. The government will consult further before making regulations, including on how the right could apply in relation to annualised hours arrangements.

Great British Energy will provide dedicated capacity and capability, and financial support to help local government and community energy groups deliver local clean energy projects.

Clean energy projects owned by local government and community energy groups can lower energy bills and bring in money for the people who own them, which can then be reinvested back into the community.

By generating electricity closer to where people use it, community and local projects help to reduce pressure on the national grid and reduce the need for expensive upgrades, when they are strategically placed and paired with flexible technology.

The Department continues to work closely with Ofgem, NESO and DNOs to ensure wider grid connections reforms benefit community and local energy projects, including: Ofgem starting to implement proposals in the End‑to‑End Review, a systematic review of Transmission Impact Assessment thresholds in Scotland, and ongoing work to explore remaining policy and regulatory issues.

Projects connecting to distribution networks in England and Wales (including the majority of community projects) have benefited from a Transmission Impact Assessment (TIA) threshold increase from 1MW to 5MW in May 2025, meaning more projects can now avoid the more complex, lengthy and costly transmission connection process.

The Department is committed to improving the grid connection experience for all connecting customers, including community and local energy projects.

Local ownership keeps economic benefits local, supporting local labour markets directly and indirectly. Community-led projects tend to create more local jobs due to local ownership and reinvestment of revenue.

More broadly, our Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan set out Government’s approach to creating investment, growth and jobs in clean energy industries, including supply chains.

This year Government will consult on detailed plans for a possible mandatory shared ownership scheme and Great British Energy (GBE) will develop a Local Energy Platform to provide an end-to-end business solution for onsite renewable generation. This will be available to small and medium sized enterprises.

Great British Energy will set out further funding options in summer 2026. Projects are encouraged to engage early through the EOI form available at https://www.gbe.gov.uk/express-your-interest

Great British Energy will provide dedicated capacity and capability, and financial support to help local government and community energy groups deliver local clean energy projects.

Clean energy projects owned by local government and community energy groups can lower energy bills and bring in money for the people who own them, which can then be reinvested back into the community.

By generating electricity closer to where people use it, community and local projects help to reduce pressure on the national grid and reduce the need for expensive upgrades, when they are strategically placed and paired with flexible technology.

The Online Safety Act 2023 requires platforms to put in place reporting and complaints processes to resolve disputes. In the first instance, service providers are best placed to respond to individual complaints on online safety. However, the Act 2023 requires Ofcom to review the efficacy of platforms’ complaint processes and publish a report within two years of the relevant duties taking effect. We expect this in early 2028.

Following this report, the Secretary of State has a power to require Category 1 services to put in place, or engage with, an ‘alternative dispute resolution’ process.

Skipton and Ripon has already benefited from the industry-funded part of the Shared Rural Network (SRN) which has now been completed. 4G coverage from all four mobile network operators has increased to 67% up from 60% and up from 87% to 90% from at least one mobile network operator since the programme was agreed in 2020. There are further improvements to come via the government funded element of the SRN which will see us upgrade six Home Office masts that will deliver new 4G coverage across Skipton and Ripon for the first time.

The Data Communications Company is required by licence conditions to assess opportunities to increase the overall level of smart meter Wide Area Network coverage and are examining a number of options to reach homes not currently able to get coverage as part of its Future Connectivity strategy, which includes consideration of a full range of technical solutions.

We expect most UK premises to be able to access a gigabit-capable connection through commercial rollout or Project Gigabit by 2030. Due to value for money constraints, very hard to reach premises are not within the scope of Project Gigabit.

As Project Gigabit progresses, we are building a more accurate picture of premises likely to be classed as very hard to reach. This is an iterative process with potential very hard to reach premises present across the UK.

For these premises, we continue to explore alternative connectivity options to ensure people living and working in these communities have the connectivity they require to access online services.

The Autumn Budget set out the government’s funding plans and departmental allocations for R&D in 2025/26, with an overall R&D budget of £20.4 billion. Of this, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was allocated £13.9 billion for 2025/26. Further details on how this funding will be allocated across DSIT priorities and partner organisations will be announced in due course, before the start of the financial year.

As of February 2024, over 1 million premises had been upgraded to gigabit-capable broadband through government-funded programmes. Between April 2022 and March 2023, 90% of premises benefiting from government broadband schemes were in rural areas.

To improve coverage further, we currently have 36 Project Gigabit contracts in place to bring fast, reliable broadband to over 1 million more homes and businesses, and further contracts are scheduled to be awarded in the coming months.