Kevin Hollinrake

The Government has conducted a call for evidence on Insolvency Practitioner regulation, which included seeking evidence and views on possible reforms of the regulatory framework. The Government will publish its response in due course.

The Government remains committed to reviewing the UK whistleblowing framework and will carry this out once sufficient time has passed for there to be the necessary evidence available to assess the impact of the most recent reforms. The scope and timing of such a review will be confirmed in due course.

The most recent change introduced in 2017 was a new legislative requirement for most prescribed persons to produce an annual report on whistleblowing disclosures made to them by workers.

The Government aims to deliver up to double the renewable electricity capacity at the next Contracts for Difference round at end of this year compared to AR3, while spending an estimated £1billion in 2020/21 to encourage the deployment of low carbon heating in homes and businesses through the Renewable Heat Incentive. We have also announced the Clean Heat Grant, the Green Heat Network Fund and will launch the Green Gas Support Scheme later this year.

While the Post Office is publicly owned, it is a commercial business that operates independently of the Government. With a network of over 11,500 branches across the UK, it is inevitable there will be variations in the number of branches open at any one time. Where branches do temporarily close, the Post Office strives to find solutions, like mobile vans and other types of outreach services, before reinstating a bricks-and-mortar service offer.

I am committed to ensuring that everyone in the country can access essential services via the Post Office conveniently and locally. That is why Post Office Limited must ensure Network Access Criteria are met. These ensure that 99% of the population are within three miles of their nearest post office and 90% are within one mile, with additional requirements set for rural, urban and deprived urban customers.

The Government recognises how valuable it is that whistleblowers are prepared to shine a light on wrongdoing and believes that they should be able to do so without fear of recrimination. We have also been clear that there will be no reduction in workers’ rights.

The Government remains committed to reviewing the UK whistleblowing framework and will carry this out once sufficient time has passed for there to be the necessary evidence available to assess the impact of reforms. The most recent change introduced in 2017 was a new legislative requirement for most prescribed persons to produce an annual report on whistleblowing disclosures made to them by workers.

The ‘COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021’ published 22 February advises that indoor entertainment and visitor attractions can resume at Step 3, which will commence no earlier than 17 May. This includes indoor play centres.

The timings outlined in the roadmap are indicative, and the Government will be led by data, rather than fixed dates. Before taking each step, the Government will review the latest data and will only ease restrictions further if it is safe to do so. The indicative, ‘no earlier than’ dates in the roadmap are all contingent on the data and subject to change.

Each full step of the roadmap will be informed by the latest available science and data and will be five weeks apart in order to provide time to assess the data and provide one week’s notice to businesses and individuals.

The Gambling Commission requires operators to monitor play and to intervene where players may be at risk of harm. Its consultation and call for evidence on Remote Customer Interaction is considering whether further requirements are needed for how operators identify and interact with customers who may be at risk.

The Commission will be led by the evidence it receives in deciding its next steps, and its findings may also inform its advice to government on the Review of the Gambling Act 2005. Following a one month extension to allow extra evidence to be submitted, the deadline for submissions was 9 February.

The government launched the Review of the Gambling Act 2005 in December with a Call for Evidence, which runs until 31 March. The Review aims to strike the right balance between preventing harm and respecting consumers’ freedom of choice. More information about the Call for Evidence and how to make a submission is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-gambling-act-2005-terms-of-reference-and-call-for-evidence/review-of-the-gambling-act-2005-terms-of-reference-and-call-for-evidence

Small charities play an invaluable role in this country in providing public services and the government recognises the challenges and uncertainty that some small charities are dealing with, particularly those organisations that rely on trading or fundraised income

which have been hit by the covid-19 national restrictions.

The £750 million package will continue to support charities’ and social enterprises’ vital work in the fight against the coronavirus crisis over the winter period. In addition to this, an unprecedented package of measures across the economy has been set up to support people and businesses through this period of financial uncertainty. For example, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been, and continues to be a lifeline to a multitude of organisations, including charities. The Chancellor has announced that the government is extending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme until 31 March 2021 to support individuals and businesses who are impacted by disruption caused by COVID-19 this winter. More details on all of the business support measures and eligibility details are available on GOV.UK.

Government is continuing to work closely with the civil society sector to understand the ongoing impact of the crisis on small charities, and to consider what additional policy measures might be appropriate in the months ahead. This includes working with the Institute of Fundraising to publish guidance on how to fundraise safely as an important source of income for small charities. To support this work we have set up a cross government network to share intelligence on challenges facing critical organisations and sub-sectors.

Defra took the decision to delay the introduction of fees for import checks of high-priority plants from the EU for 5 months to give businesses more time to prepare and adjust to the new charging arrangements. This has enabled an accurate calculation of the fees and allowed businesses more time to successfully implement the change. During this time, Defra communicated extensively with industry and stakeholder groups to ensure they were prepared for the new fees coming in.

The methodology used to calculate fees for plant health services was agreed with trade following a fees review and consultation in 2017.

It has long been UK Government policy to charge for many publicly provided goods and services. The standard approach is to set fees to recover the full costs of service delivery. This relieves the general taxpayer of costs, so that they are properly borne by users who benefit from a service. This allows for a more equitable distribution of public resources and enables lower public expenditure and borrowing. Defra plant health services operate in line with that principle and have done for many years. Plant health fees are reviewed regularly and adjusted to ensure no under, or over, recovery of costs and amended as necessary.

Defra officials have been looking at a wide range or measures to make the import of plants and trees as efficient as possible, without compromising our high biosecurity standards. There is regular dialogue between our plant health services and those of our key trading partners in the EU, including on e-certification most recently, which will streamline the exchange of phytosanitary certificates for the benefit of businesses and regulators alike.

As to checks at point of embarkation, there are legal limitations with locating GB officials in a different jurisdiction to perform statutory functions, and whilst internationally there are precedents for locating inspectors in other countries, these staff typically perform an audit and assurance role rather than performing pre-import checks. Consequently, we are not actively pursuing this option with trading partners now, but Defra officials will continue to work with stakeholder organisations and those that import regulated plants and plant products from the EU to ensure GB plant health controls work as effectively and efficiently as possible.

We have not made any assessment of the potential merits of permitting driven shoots on moorland in North Yorkshire on specified days during the current Covid-19 restrictions. Organised events are not permitted during the National Lockdown.

We have made great progress in negotiations and are in an excellent position to strengthen the economic partnership between our two countries through a Free Trade Agreement. We congratulate Katherine Tai on her nomination to be appointed United States Trade Representative by the incoming administration and look forward to working with her.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) is engaging with UK suppliers from the hydrogen industry, sector specific research centres and trade associations to understand the UK’s capability across hydrogen technologies. Officials have been raising awareness of the UK’s capability to our domestic and overseas networks, to enable the promotion of the hydrogen sector and support discussions with potential buyers.

DIT undertakes a range of activities to support exports from the renewable energy sector, including in hydrogen. For example, earlier this year the Department participated in HyVolution in Paris, with a departmental representative giving a speech to attendees on UK capabilities in Hydrogen.

Total exports to Saudi Arabia from the United Kingdom last year were up £1.0bn from 2018 and we want this growth to continue. My Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade recently engaged with her counterpart to remove trade barriers during this difficult period, and we continue to identify ways of opening up more opportunities in the country to businesses in the United Kingdom.

My Hon. Friend for Thirsk and Malton will also be aware that we are carefully considering the implications of the Court of Appeal Judgement for export licence decision-making and are working to enable the re-taking of decisions on the correct legal basis, which I understand is a process which will have a bearing on businesses in his constituency.

The Department’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation Guidance version 2020, Part One and Part Two, still provides that “derogation c.” applies. The Department has no current plans to remove the derogation, but it is now in Part One, paragraph 3.43, of the guidance.

Non-fossil fuels, including renewable hydrogen, are incentivised under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), a certificate trading scheme. Renewable hydrogen is categorised as a development fuel, which potentially benefits from a higher tradeable certificate value.

At the end of March, we published a document “Decarbonising Transport: Setting the Challenge”, kicking off our work on preparing a Transport Decarbonisation Plan. This holistic and cross-modal approach to decarbonising the entire transport system, including public transport, will set out a credible and ambitious pathway to delivering transport’s contribution to carbon budgets and meet net zero by 2050.

In February, the Government announced a £5 billion funding package for buses and cycling, which includes support for the purchase of at least 4,000 zero-emission buses. The details of these programmes will be announced in due course.

NHS England has provided £10 million to fund over 40 pioneering ‘long COVID-19’ specialist clinics including seven in the North East and Yorkshire region. The plans for these clinics were published on 15 November and commissioning guidance was made available on 6 November.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have committed to ensuring clinics will be available from early December 2020. In response, each integrated care system is working towards the provision of at least one such service, although the exact location for each is yet to be provided.

A number of these clinics are already established, and new clinics will start to accept patients at the end of November. More details will be made available shortly.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have no plans to replace the National Health Service safety thermometer. The data generated from the thermometer has been shown to be not fit for current purposes and is available from other existing sources.

NHS England and NHS Improvement discussed discontinuing the NHS safety thermometer with the Department during 2018/19 and 2019/20, due to emerging evidence that the data collected was incomplete and not being used as intended to support safety improvement. The specific decision to stop data collection in March 2020, in part to support the COVID-19 response by freeing up nursing time, was discussed with Departmental officials during March 2020.

Public Health England’s (PHE’s) continuous routine laboratory surveillance does not include device use or procedures associated with urinary infections, such as urinary catheters. Therefore, no estimate has been made of the number of catheter-acquired urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) which develop into a gram-negative bloodstream infection.

No assessment has been made on the effect of CAUTIs on antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic over-prescription.

However, PHE’s English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and resistance (ESPAUR) is working with the National Health Service and across sectors, to develop and maintain surveillance systems for monitoring trends in antimicrobial use and resistance in England. Further details are available in the ESPAUR report 2018-19 at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-surveillance-programme-antimicrobial-utilisation-and-resistance-espaur-report

Public Health England’s (PHE’s) continuous routine laboratory surveillance does not include device use or procedures associated with urinary infections, such as urinary catheters. Therefore, no estimate has been made of the number of catheter-acquired urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) which develop into a gram-negative bloodstream infection.

No assessment has been made on the effect of CAUTIs on antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic over-prescription.

However, PHE’s English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and resistance (ESPAUR) is working with the National Health Service and across sectors, to develop and maintain surveillance systems for monitoring trends in antimicrobial use and resistance in England. Further details are available in the ESPAUR report 2018-19 at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-surveillance-programme-antimicrobial-utilisation-and-resistance-espaur-report

Public Health England’s (PHE’s) continuous routine laboratory surveillance does not include device use or procedures associated with urinary infections, such as urinary catheters. Therefore, no estimate has been made of the number of catheter-acquired urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) which develop into a gram-negative bloodstream infection.

No assessment has been made on the effect of CAUTIs on antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic over-prescription.

However, PHE’s English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and resistance (ESPAUR) is working with the National Health Service and across sectors, to develop and maintain surveillance systems for monitoring trends in antimicrobial use and resistance in England. Further details are available in the ESPAUR report 2018-19 at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-surveillance-programme-antimicrobial-utilisation-and-resistance-espaur-report

I spoke to the Monegasque Foreign Minister and the Croatian Secretary of State for European Affairs on 13 November 2020 and sought assurances that both authorities would treat Mr Taylor fairly and give full consideration to the whistle-blowing activities Mr Taylor has reported. Both Croatia and Monaco have provided those assurances. On 12 and 13 April, our Ambassador in Croatia spoke to the Croatian authorities to reiterate the importance of fair treatment. I have continued to raise Mr Taylor's case with the Croatian Secretary of State for European Affairs, so that they are aware of our concerns, most recently during my visit to Zagreb on 8 June. Consular officials in Croatia are in regular contact with Mr Taylor. Mr Taylor's welfare and fair treatment is our priority.

It is for Croatia to determine whether Mr Taylor should be extradited to Monaco, and for Monaco to investigate allegations of attempted extortion. In accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, we are compelled both to exercise our consular functions in foreign States in accordance with local laws and regulations and to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of foreign States.

On 12 and 13 April, our Ambassador in Croatia spoke to the Croatian authorities to understand the latest timelines for court action and to reiterate the importance of fair treatment.

I have raised Mr Taylor's case with the Croatian Secretary of State for European Affairs, multiple times, most recently during my visit to Zagreb on 8 June.

Consular officials are in regular contact with the Croatian courts to ensure that we understand the process being followed.

The UK has raised Mr Taylor's case. I spoke to the Monegasque Foreign Minister and the Croatian Secretary of State for European Affairs on 13 November and sought assurances that both authorities would treat Mr Taylor fairly and give full consideration to the whistle-blowing activities Mr Taylor has reported. Monaco provided direct assurances to Croatia in January. On 12 and 13 April, our Ambassador in Croatia spoke to the Croatian authorities to understand the latest timelines for court action and to reiterate the importance of fair treatment.

On 22 April, I spoke again to the Croatian State Secretary for European Affairs and reiterated the assurances made in November.

Consular officials are in regular contact with the Croatian courts to ensure that we understand the process being followed.

We are providing ongoing support to Mr Taylor. Consular staff are in regular contact with him and continue to seek updates on his case from the Croatian courts. As set out in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, we cannot interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, or bypass their laws, just as we would not accept similar interference here. As part of our consular assistance to British nationals overseas we can raise concerns about individuals on diplomatic channels. I spoke to the Monegasque Foreign Secretary and the Croatian State Secretary for European Affairs on 13 November 2020 and sought assurances that both authorities would treat Mr Taylor fairly. On 22 April, I spoke again to the Croatian State Secretary for European Affairs who reiterated those assurances and noted the significant level of ministerial and parliamentary interest in Mr Taylor's case.

We are providing ongoing support to Mr Taylor. Consular staff are in regular contact with him and continue to seek updates on his case from the Croatian courts.

Our priority is Mr Taylor’s welfare and fair treatment, including the assurances of fair treatment which we have received from the Croatian and Monegasque authorities.

The FCDO cannot interfere to secure Mr Taylor’s release. In accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, we must exercise our consular functions in foreign States in accordance with local laws and regulations and refrain from interfering in their internal affairs, which includes their judicial processes.

In December 2020 the British Ambassador in Zagreb met Mr Taylor to discuss his concerns and explain how the FCDO could assist him. The Acting Deputy Head of Mission spoke to Mr Taylor on 10 March, and the Ambassador spoke to him again on 16 April. The FCDO’s Consular Director spoke to Mrs Taylor on 14 April.

The FCDO can, and does, raise concerns about individuals with other countries. I spoke to the Monegasque Foreign Secretary and the Croatian Secretary of State for European Affairs on 13 November 2020 and sought assurances that both authorities would treat Mr Taylor fairly.

I specifically asked for Mr Taylor to be treated in accordance with Croatia’s obligations as a State Party to the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption.

Monaco has provided assurances directly to Croatia since I raised Mr Taylor’s case.

On 12 and 13 April, our Ambassador spoke to the Croatian authorities to understand the latest timelines for court action and to reiterate the importance of fair treatment.

The Government has consulted widely with industry representatives in considering whether to lay secondary legislation to enable mutual insurers to raise equity by issuing Mutual Deferred Shares. Mutual insurers and their representatives made clear that Mutual Deferred Shares would only be issued if they both qualified as Tier 1 regulatory capital and would not alter the tax treatment of the issuing mutual. The Government’s decision in 2018 not to lay secondary legislation was taken based on an assessment that it was not possible to design Mutual Deferred Shares to meet both these conditions. The Government is committed to supporting the mutuals sector, but continues to have no plans to bring forward such legislation.

The Government welcomes the efforts to establish regional mutual banks and recognises the importance of diversity in the banking system. Officials have been engaging with prospective mutual banks over their efforts to raise capital and look forward to further discussions.

Banking Competition Remedies Ltd (BCR) was established in 2018 as the independent body to implement and oversee the NatWest (previously RBS)-funded Alternative Remedies Package (the Package), including the £425m Capability and Innovation Fund (CIF). This consists of 23 pre-determined grants divided into five pools (A – E). Each pool has a distinct pro-competition purpose based on criteria agreed between HM Treasury (HMT) and the European Commission.

Eligible financial services providers competed for these grants to improve their financial products and services available to SMEs, and to improve their capability to compete with NatWest in the provision of banking services to SMEs. Most of the grants have now been allocated, except £5m worth of funds returned to BCR in January 2021. BCR intend to run a ‘Pool F’ consultation process for the returned funds in August 2021 and bodies eligible for pools A, B or C will be able to apply.

BCR is independent from government and has sole responsibility for evaluating applications and allocating grants to eligible bodies under the CIF. HMT plays no role in the ongoing delivery of the Package and does not have any influence over the decision-making process.

BCR has responsibility for communicating information regarding the Package to the market. Further information on the Package, including eligibility criteria and timelines for implementation is available on BCR’s website.

The distribution of dormant accounts money is governed by the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008. Following the government's commitment to expanding the Dormant Assets Scheme, the Dormant Assets Bill was introduced to the House of Lords on Wednesday 12 May.

The government recognises the public interest in how this funding is spent in England and has concluded that some increased flexibility in determining this would be beneficial. The Bill therefore amends the approach to restrictions in England in the 2008 Act to mirror the model used for the devolved administrations. This is intended to allow the Government to respond to public feedback and evolving social and environmental needs in England over time by setting the causes through secondary legislation, which is subject to due consultation and parliamentary approval. Should the measure pass, the Government intends to launch a public consultation on the causes to which future funding can be distributed in England.

The Government welcomes the efforts to establish regional mutual banks and recognises the importance of diversity in the banking system. Officials have been engaging with prospective mutual banks over their efforts to raise capital and look forward to further discussions.

Banking Competition Remedies Ltd (BCR) was established in 2018 as the independent body to implement and oversee the NatWest (previously RBS)-funded Alternative Remedies Package (the Package), including the £425m Capability and Innovation Fund (CIF). This consists of 23 pre-determined grants divided into five pools (A – E). Each pool has a distinct pro-competition purpose based on criteria agreed between HM Treasury (HMT) and the European Commission.

Eligible financial services providers competed for these grants to improve their financial products and services available to SMEs, and to improve their capability to compete with NatWest in the provision of banking services to SMEs. Most of the grants have now been allocated, except £5m worth of funds returned to BCR in January 2021. BCR intend to run a ‘Pool F’ consultation process for the returned funds in August 2021 and bodies eligible for pools A, B or C will be able to apply.

BCR is independent from government and has sole responsibility for evaluating applications and allocating grants to eligible bodies under the CIF. HMT plays no role in the ongoing delivery of the Package and does not have any influence over the decision-making process.

BCR has responsibility for communicating information regarding the Package to the market. Further information on the Package, including eligibility criteria and timelines for implementation is available on BCR’s website.

The distribution of dormant accounts money is governed by the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008. Following the government's commitment to expanding the Dormant Assets Scheme, the Dormant Assets Bill was introduced to the House of Lords on Wednesday 12 May.

The government recognises the public interest in how this funding is spent in England and has concluded that some increased flexibility in determining this would be beneficial. The Bill therefore amends the approach to restrictions in England in the 2008 Act to mirror the model used for the devolved administrations. This is intended to allow the Government to respond to public feedback and evolving social and environmental needs in England over time by setting the causes through secondary legislation, which is subject to due consultation and parliamentary approval. Should the measure pass, the Government intends to launch a public consultation on the causes to which future funding can be distributed in England.

The Digital Services Tax is a tax that ensures search engines, social media platforms, and online marketplaces pay UK tax that reflects the value they derive from UK users.

The Government is unable to discuss tax in relation to specific businesses. The DST is a temporary measure and will be removed once an appropriate global solution is in place.

Throughout this crisis, the Government has sought to protect people’s jobs and livelihoods, while also supporting businesses and public services across the UK. To do this, the Government has spent over £280 billion to put in place an economic package of support which will provide businesses and individuals with certainty over the coming months.

In order to ensure that any decisions continue to meet the evolving challenges presented by Covid-19, the Government is working intensively with employers, delivery partners, industry groups and other Government departments to understand the impacts of COVID-19 and specific challenges facing UK businesses – including SMEs. That is why, in response to the latest national lockdown in January, the Chancellor announced £4.6 billion of further support to businesses on top of the measures adopted at our previous economic responses.

The Treasury remains committed to ensuring we take the right action at the right time to support individuals and businesses in every region and nation of the United Kingdom. We will continue to take a flexible approach and keep all restrictions and policies under review.

The National Crime Agency (NCA)’s overall budget is distributed across the agency according to need and operational priority. As serious and organised crime threats change, the agency retains the ability to flex its resources to react. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of budget allocated to tackling economic crime as there are a number of agency wide capabilities and functions that all commands have access to. We are, however, able to provide the total expenditure by the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) which provides a partial figure of expenditure for our overall response to tackling economic crime.

The NCA Annual Report and Accounts provide the following Gross Expenditure over the past three years:

2018/19 - Gross expenditure for the Prosperity Command - £22.0m (Note the NECC was formally launched on 31 October 2018, before which the NCA’s Prosperity Command fulfilled some of the same functions. In the 2019/20 Annual Report, an apportionment of £6.7m in 2018/19 was made for the NECC.)

2019/20 - Gross expenditure for the NECC - £30.0m

2020/21 – Gross expenditure for the NECC - £35.5m

An important element of tackling economic crime and illicit finance is by denying criminals the benefit of their crimes. This disrupts organised crime groups and illicit finance flows and on this we have achieved some significant successes. The NCA’s success in denying criminal assets over the same three years totals £646.5m, which could have derived from any serious and organised crime threat. This demonstrates one element of our impact across all illicit finance for which we have readily available data.

In terms of the operational response, the Agency has a wide range of capabilities and functions that operate across different threat areas including economic crime. We are unable to provide a figure for the number of full-time equivalent staff who have been employed by the National Crime Agency (NCA) to tackle economic crime for the past three years as many units contribute to the efforts in different and varying amounts.

However, we are able to report on the number of staff within the Economic Crime Command which includes the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) and the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU).

The following table contains the approximate number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff for the Economic Crime Command, UK Financial Intelligence Unit and NECC since 2018. This is therefore a partial figure that does not reflect, for example, officers in Intelligence and Investigations Commands who conduct work in this threat area.

An important element of tackling economic crime and illicit finance is by denying criminals the benefit of their crimes. This disrupts organised crime groups and illicit finance flows and on this we have achieved some significant successes. The NCA’s success in denying criminal assets over the same three years totals £646.5m, which could have derived from any serious and organised crime threat. This demonstrates one element of our impact across all illicit finance for which we have readily available data.

My department published the key findings of Sir Craig Mackey’s Review on 16 March 2021. The recent Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy set out the Government’s priorities for tackling serious and organised crime in response to Sir Craig’s Review, including strengthening the NCA and increasing regional and local policing capacity. We will assess future funding needed as part of the next spending review.

This Government cares deeply about helping even more people to achieve the dream of owning their own home, and turning Generation Rent into Generation Buy.

And today we see many of the country’s largest lenders launch the new 95% mortgages – backed by the Government’s new mortgage guarantee announced by the Chancellor at last month’s Budget.

This comes on top of our Shared Ownership reforms, our new Help to Buy scheme, and our First Homes scheme – all of which will help more people get onto the housing ladder and have a home they can call their own.

We have developed a range of funding initiatives to help tackle the housing crisis and deliver new housing. Those schemes include the Housing Infrastructure Fund, which has allocated around £4 billion to support the delivery of new and improved infrastructure which will unlock up to 320,000 homes.

However, to achieve our ambitions we need to go further. That is why we announced in the Queen’s speech and as part of Budget 2020, that we will launch a new £10 billion Single Housing Infrastructure Fund (SHIF) to provide the roads, schools and GP surgeries needed to support new homes by funding the provision of strategic infrastructure and assembling land for development.

As we made clear at Budget, we will make further statements at the Spending Review.

This government is committed to unlocking potential right across the country, and whilst some funds have been primarily targeted towards those places where homes are too expensive or in too short supply, they have been utilised in all regions. It is important in some respects to direct funding to areas where there is the greatest affordability challenge, but any government that wants to level up must also direct infrastructure investment for housing to other parts of the country as well, and we will be bearing this in mind going forward.

As we respond to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, I agree we need to take a fresh look at how all corners of the country can prosper and benefit from the funding they need, building on the action we've already taken through the £3.6 billion Towns Fund, £400 million Brownfield Fund, and £900 million Getting Building Fund.

In August 2019, a joint consultation by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was launched to consider amending permitted development rights to support increased mobile coverage and 5G deployment.

The consultation closed on 04 November 2019. The Government is considering the replies and will issue a response in due course. Subject to the outcome of this consultation, if the proposals are taken forward, we anticipate undertaking a further consultation on the detail of those proposals.

Continuing to build the homes the country needs is a priority for the Government and we recognise the important role that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play in delivering new homes. We have been supporting the sector through various measures to boost confidence and retain capacity. £2.5 billion of the £4.5 billion Home Building Fund is targeted at SME builders and innovators and helps viable development schemes progress. The Home Building Fund encourages greater innovation, improves market resilience and diversifies housing delivery by enabling SMEs to increase their output.