Kieran Mullan

We are committed to protecting and restoring our vulnerable peatlands in England, helping us to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and protecting valuable habitats and the biodiversity therein.

We recently published our England Peat Action Plan which sets out further measures to restore, protect and manage England's peatlands. These measures include our commitment to publish a consultation this year on banning the sale of peat and peat containing products in the amateur sector by the end of this parliament. We are addressing the degradation of lowland peat and launched the new Lowland Agricultural Peat Task Force in January 2021, which will develop recommendations to extend the useable life of our agricultural peat soils.

We are also ramping up current levels of peatland restoration through the Nature for Climate Fund, which will provide funding for the restoration of at least 35,000 hectares of peatland by 2025. We will set a target for peatland restoration as part of the forthcoming Net Zero Strategy which will be consistent with our obligations to meet Carbon Budget 6. The Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021 came into force on 1 May 2021, banning the burning, without a licence, of specified vegetation on protected blanket bog habitats.

This Government is seizing the opportunities of our G7 and COP26 Presidencies to drive international action on the environment. We have negotiated a historic 2030 Nature Compact committing to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, agreed by Leaders at the G7 Summit in Carbis Bay, and G7 Climate and Environment Ministers' agreed an ambitious communique with over 120 commitments. The UK is also committed to playing a leading role in developing an ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be adopted at CBD COP15 and to secure ambitious environmental commitments at UNFCCC COP26.

The UK also played a leading role in developing the Leaders' Pledge for Nature which I am pleased to report that 89 world leaders have now signed. Furthermore, 80 countries now support an international target to protect at least 30 per cent of the world’s ocean by 2030 through membership of the UK-led Global Ocean Alliance or the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which the UK co-chairs with Costa Rica and France.

We are leading by example. We have committed to spend at least £3bn of International Climate Finance on nature over the next five years and launched the £500m Blue Planet Fund. Domestically, we are introducing a world-leading legally-binding target for species abundance by 2030 in the Environment Bill, aiming to halt the decline of nature.

We are committed to increasing tree planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this parliament. We published our ambitious England Trees Action Plan on the 18^th May which sets out our plans to at least treble tree planting rates in England as a key contribution to that 30,000ha UK commitment – this represents an unprecedented increase in woodland creation in England, supported by £500 million from the Nature for Climate Fund.

The England Trees Action Plan sets out a framework for a range of new incentive which will be launched through the course of this year, providing significant support for 2021/22 planting season. This includes launching a new £15.9 million England Woodland Creation Offer where Landowners, land managers and public bodies can apply for support to create new woodland to boost more traditional methods of tree establishment as well as natural colonisation, agroforestry, and riparian plating. We’ve also extended our Urban Tree Challenge Fund, delivering trees in areas of low tree cover and social deprivation, and have launched a new £2.7 million Local Authority Treescape Fund, aimed at establishing more trees in non-woodland settings such as riverbanks or hedgerows.

As well as opening new and improved national grants, we are also supporting a number of Woodland Creation Partnerships, bringing local stakeholders together to help deliver sustainably designed woodland which can improve connectivity of priority habitats and provide enhanced natural capital value. This includes delivering a new programme of planting through England’s Community Forests, called Trees for Climate, which will deliver 6,000 hectares of new woodland by 2025. Three newly created Community Forests will join England’s existing ten Community Forests to deliver the Trees for Climate programme from 2021-22 onwards.

For the last planting season (2020/21) we kick-started tree planting efforts through a number of initiatives including, £12.1 million investment in expanding England's ten Community Forests; £1.4 million of planting along rivers through the Environment Agency; Support from the £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund for a range of charity projects to protect and plant trees.

The Government’s Agricultural Transition Plan sets out how we will maintain the same level of investment for farmers in England, which is £2.4 billion a year across this parliament. We will reinvest money saved by reducing Direct Payments into improved and new environment schemes and schemes which will help farmers get their businesses ready for the transition. These will include grants to invest in productivity measures, support to new entrants, supporting farmer-led innovation and improving farm resilience.

The Government's 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. We are making great strides to tackle plastic pollution across the country. In December 2018 we published the Resources and Waste Strategy, which sets out how we want to achieve this and move towards a circular economy and keep resources in the system for as long as possible. In October 2020, we introduced measures to restrict the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds. The single-use carrier bag charge, which has led to a 95% reduction in the use of single-use carrier bags by the main supermarkets, has been increased to 10p and extended to all retailers to encourage customers to bring their own bags to carry shopping and reduce the volumes of single-use plastic being used. At Budget 2020 the Chancellor announced the tax on plastic packaging of £200 per tonne for plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content, effective from April 2022.

Our Environment Bill will enable us to significantly change the way that we manage our waste and take forward a number of the proposals from the Resources and Waste Strategy. The Bill will include powers to create Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes; introduce Deposit Return Schemes (DRS); establish greater consistency in the recycling system; better control the export of plastic waste; and give us the power to set new charges for other single-use plastic items. Our consultations on an EPR scheme for packaging and a DRS for drinks containers closed on 4 June and our consultation on our proposals for consistency in the recycling system in England is open for responses until July. More details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/environment/waste-and-recycling

The Government has put together a package of over £100 million for research and innovation to tackle the issues that arise from plastic waste. £38 million was set aside through the Plastics Research and Innovation Fund, the last funding competition of which opened in June 2020. The Resource Action Fund included £10 million specifically to pioneer innovative approaches to boosting recycling and reducing litter. The Government has also announced £60 million of funding through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, alongside a £150 million investment from industry, towards the development of smart, sustainable plastic packaging (SSPP), which will aim to make the UK a world leader in sustainable packaging for consumer products. Two SSPP funding opportunities have been open for bids in 2021: the SSPP Demonstrator Round 2 and the SSPP business-led research and development competition.

Science estimates that the annual plastic flow into the ocean will triple between 2016 and 2040. Due to the scale of the marine litter challenge the UK believes it is time to negotiate a new global agreement on marine litter and microplastics at the United Nations Environment Assembly. A new global agreement would build upon the important work we are doing to tackle marine litter both domestically and internationally and support our commitments to eliminate plastic entering the ocean.

The Prime Minister has been clear that tackling climate change is a priority for this Government. Since 1990, emissions from agriculture have reduced by 13%. Today, agriculture accounts for around 10% of the UK's total GHG emissions. Achieving the net zero target is key for the Government, and we are developing a range of measures to address it through the Agriculture Act, our future farming policy, the 25 Year Environment Plan, and our response to Henry Dimbleby's Independent Review of the food system and national food strategy review. All of these are aimed at enabling farmers to optimise sustainable food production, reduce emissions from agriculture and allow consumer choices to drive those changes.

We are also introducing three schemes that reward environmental benefits: The Sustainable Farming Incentive, Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery. Together, these schemes are intended to provide a powerful vehicle for achieving the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and our commitment to Net Zero emissions by 2050, while supporting our rural economy. Through these schemes, farmers and other land managers may enter into agreements to be paid for delivering public goods, including adaptation to and mitigation of climate change.

The Clean Growth Strategy and 25 Year Environment Plan both set out a range of specific commitments to further reduce emissions from agriculture, including through environmental land management, strengthening biosecurity and control of endemic diseases in livestock, and encouraging use of low emissions fertilisers.

The Government is committed to supporting the fishing industry and ensuring a prosperous and sustainable seafood sector. Now that we have left the EU we will use our Fisheries Act to deliver bespoke fisheries management for the benefit of the whole of the UK.

Earlier this year we delivered a funding package of up to £23 million, which was used to deliver temporary support schemes to seafood businesses affected by COVID-19 and new trading conditions. This was used to deliver the Seafood Disruption Support Scheme, which paid seafood businesses a proportion of export losses experienced in January, and the Seafood Response Fund, which paid three months of average fixed costs to fishing and shellfish aquaculture businesses.

£32.7 million has been made available to support the seafood sector this financial year, which meets the Government’s manifesto commitment to maintain funding for the sector. Part of this funding will be used to deliver funding schemes in each of the four administrations of the UK. In England, the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme will support the long-term sustainable growth of the seafood sector and will initially focus on helping businesses adapt to new conditions and opportunities arising from leaving the EU, as well as supporting the on-going recovery from the impacts of COVID-19.

The Government has gone even further than its manifesto commitment with the Prime Minister’s announcement that an additional £100 million will be made available across the UK for transformative seafood projects that will rejuvenate the industry and our coastal communities. It will be used to invest in: modernising and expanding infrastructure; the science and data needed to ensure a sustainable sector; and the training required to ensure the workforce has the capacity, skills and expertise required for a thriving and prosperous industry. More detail on this funding will be made available in due course.

The UK is a global leader on marine protection. Leading the Global Ocean Alliance and as Ocean Co-Chair of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, the UK is championing a target under the Convention on Biological Diversity to protect at least 30% of the global ocean as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures by 2030 ('the 30by30 target'). Under UK leadership, 80 countries have now committed to support the adoption of this target at CBD COP15.

Domestically, we have built a comprehensive network of MPAs and are focusing on making sure they are protected properly. 98 MPAs in inshore waters already have management measures in place to protect sensitive features from bottom towed fishing gears and the Marine Management Organisation has embarked on a three-year programme of work to manage impacts from fishing activity in all English offshore MPAs. The Government has also launched plans to increase protections for England's waters through a pilot scheme to designate marine sites in England as Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs). HPMAs will take a 'whole site approach', conserving all species and habitats within their boundary to maximize protection of marine habitats and species. The Government recognises that the strict protections implied by HPMAs will cause some concerns with other sea users and intends to liaise closely with them throughout the process, including the fishing industry.

The UK also supports the conclusion of negotiations on an ambitious new implementing Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction ('BBNJ Agreement') as soon as possible. Areas beyond national jurisdiction cover more than 60% of the global ocean, and so this Agreement includes provisions that allow for the establishment of MPAs in these areas, a key mechanism to deliver the '30by30' target.

We are committed to increasing tree planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this parliament. We published our ambitious England Trees Action Plan on 18 May which sets out our plans to at least treble tree planting rates in England as a key contribution to that 30,000ha UK commitment – this represents an unprecedented increase in woodland creation in England, supported by £500 million from the Nature for Climate Fund.

The England Trees Action Plan sets out a framework for a range of new incentive which will be launched through the course of this year, providing significant support for 2021/22 planting season. This includes launching a new £15.9 million England Woodland Creation Offer where landowners, land managers and public bodies can apply for support to create new woodland to boost more traditional methods of tree establishment as well as natural colonisation, agroforestry, and riparian plating. We’ve also extended our Urban Tree Challenge Fund, delivering trees in areas of low tree cover and social deprivation, and have launched a new £2.7 million Local Authority Treescape Fund, aimed at establishing more trees in non-woodland settings such as riverbanks or hedgerows.

For the last planting season (2020/21) we kick-started tree planting efforts through a number of initiatives including, £12.1 million investment in expanding England's ten Community Forests; £1.4 million of planting along rivers through the Environment Agency; Support from the £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund for a range of charity projects to protect and plant trees.

Sir Peter Hendy is carrying out the independent Union Connectivity Review, which will report later this year.

Since 2010, over £29 billion has been invested in transport infrastructure in the North to unlock the economic potential of the Northern Powerhouse.

In addition, we are committing over £22bn to fund HS2 Phases One, 2a and 2b Western Leg to deliver North-South connectivity, of great benefit to the Hon. Member’s constituency, and £75m for developing Northern Powerhouse Rail in 2021/22. This comes on top of the billions we expect to spend on improving the Transpennine route between Manchester, Leeds and York, and the £12bn invested in roads in the North over the last 5 years.

The Government recognises the importance of transport for rural areas and is committed to improving access to services that provide vital connectivity. To improve current bus services, or restore lost services where needed, the Government has paid an extra £30 million to local authorities in 2020/21, local authorities have been able to use this to retain or restore services affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Additionally, in March 2021 we awarded funding to 17 pilot projects through the £20m Rural Mobility Fund scheme to trial innovative, demand-responsive solutions to transport challenges that rural and suburban areas often face. Demand responsive transport has the potential to transform the local transport offer in areas where demand is more dispersed, and the distances involved make it more challenging to maintain or provide services which meet residents’ diverse needs.

The Government wants to ensure that the needs of rural transport users are given equal consideration to those in urban areas. We are committed to improving the connectivity of isolated rural communities and those with infrequent and unreliable services.

In 2019, we published the ‘Future of Mobility: Urban Strategy’, setting out our approach to maximising the benefits and managing the risks of new technology in urban areas. We now want to explore the challenges and opportunities for rural areas. Transport innovation has the potential to revolutionise travel within our towns, villages and more remote areas; making it easier for people to access jobs, education or healthcare. It could also provide a boost to rural communities, where people without cars often miss out on opportunities. We are determined to seize these benefits as we begin to explore how future transport solutions and interventions can tackle rural mobility issues, improve connectivity and accessibility, increase low carbon travel options and deliver more integrated transport services.

Crewe is a vital railway asset and a strategically important location on the rail network, but as the existing infrastructure is complex, the solution has to be right for the arrival of HS2. In March 2018, the Secretary of State confirmed the Government’s support for the Crewe Hub vision, and announced that plans for HS2 Phase 2a will include 400m platforms at Crewe station to allow for the splitting and joining of HS2 services. In addition, a more efficient design is proposed for the platform on the Manchester independent lines and a change to the design of the southern connection to the HS2 lines.

Crewe is already a hub on the existing rail network and following a consultation in 2016, the Government confirmed its vision for a ‘Crewe Hub’, with up to 5 to 7 HS2 trains stopping per hour.​ Fully realising the Crewe Hub vision will require a junction north of Crewe back to the HS2 Phase 2b mainline and the design is being developed as part of the Northern Powerhouse Rail Strategic Outline Business Case.

Crewe is a vital railway asset and a strategically important location on the rail network, but as the existing infrastructure is complex, the solution has to be right for the arrival of HS2. In March 2018, the Secretary of State confirmed the Government’s support for the Crewe Hub vision, and announced that plans for HS2 Phase 2a will include 400m platforms at Crewe station to allow for the splitting and joining of HS2 services. In addition, a more efficient design is proposed for the platform on the Manchester independent lines and a change to the design of the southern connection to the HS2 lines.

There were 499 responses received to the consultation on Phase 2a that closed on 26 February, 2021. For three recent consultations on HS2, there were 326 (Phase 2b Western Leg Design Refinement Consultation 2 2020), 1,307 (Phase 2b Design Refinement Consultation 2019) and 27 responses (Phase 2a Additional Provision 2 Environmental Statement and Supplementary Environmental Statement 2019). This information is made available online once the consultation responses are published.

In response to Covid-19, the Department for Transport established its Aviation Restart, Recovery, and Engagement Unit at the beginning of the pandemic. The objectives of the unit are to support the restart of the sector, enable its safe recovery post Covid-19, and the Unit has engaged with industry throughout this process.

As part of the Aviation Restart, Recovery, and Engagement Unit, the Department established the Expert Steering Group to engage and consult with the sector regularly. This Group has supported work done to date including the development of the aviation sector health measures guidance and implementation of the International Travel Corridors. In addition, Ministers and officials continue to meet with Airlines, Airports, Ground Handling companies and industry bodies frequently throughout the crisis.

The Government has now also launched the Global Travel Taskforce, which is considering:

• How a domestic testing regime for international arrivals could be implemented to boost safe travel to and from the UK and allow UK residents to travel with confidence;
• What steps we can take to facilitate global business and tourist travel, including through bilateral agreements and multilateral forums by exploring with key international partners issues such as global common standards, testing models, “bubbles”, measures around enforcement, exemptions and other border management measures;
• What steps we can take to increase consumer confidence, ensure existing measures are being properly adhered to and restart international travel safely.

The Global Travel Taskforce is also engaging with the sector on these points.

The Phase 2a Bill is currently in the House of Lords with petition hearings restarting before the Lords Select Committee next week. Parliamentary time allowing, we hope it will receive Royal Assent before the end of the year. Royal Assent of the Bill will allow construction of Phase 2a to begin. We expect the construction of Phase 2a to align with the timing of Phase One.

229 sites out of a possible 244 sites are open, meaning that 94% of sites that could be open are open. All Construction sites for Main Works Civils on the Phase One route are open. A small number of enabling works construction sites remain closed/paused, primarily due to work requiring access to residents’ homes.

High Speed Two Ltd continue to monitor the impacts of Covid-19 on construction. 94% of sites are open on Phase One and work is continuing in line with Public Health England Guidelines. As part of our twice-yearly reports to Parliament on the status of the project, we will consider the impacts of COVID-19 once the pandemic’s wider effect on the economy becomes clearer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) quality standard on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) sets out that those with IBD, and their family members and carers if appropriate, should have access to multi-disciplinary teams, including dietitians. Clinicians are advised to take NICE quality standards into account when planning patient care. The quality standard is available at the following link:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs81

The number of allied health professionals working in a dietetics care setting in National Health Service trusts and clinical commissioning groups has increased by 5.3% between February 2020 and February 2021.

We are working with a number of United Kingdom suppliers to increase production capability for lateral flow devices (LFDs). We expect to increase the proportion of UK-produced self-test LFDs by the summer, while saliva tests remain at a trial stage.

We are working with a number of United Kingdom suppliers to increase production capability for lateral flow devices (LFDs). We expect to increase the proportion of UK-produced self-test LFDs by the summer, while saliva tests remain at a trial stage.

We published ‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’ in July 2020. The strategy demonstrates an overarching campaign to reduce obesity, takes forward actions from previous chapters of the childhood obesity plan and sets out measures to get the nation fit and healthy, protect against COVID-19 and protect the National Health Service.

In July 2020, Public Health England launched the Better Health Campaign which promotes evidence-based tools and advice to help people look after their mental and physical health. The campaign shows adults the simple steps they can take to eat more healthily, increase their physical activity, care for their mental wellbeing and quit smoking. Change4Life and Start4Life programmes support families to eat well and move more with resources to motivate and encourage behaviour change including simple healthy eating messages, recipes and more.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before prorogation.

We remain committed to providing treatment based on an evidence-based model and to delivering the waiting time standard of 95% of children with an eating disorder to receive treatment within one week for urgent cases and within four weeks for routine cases. Since 2016, extra funding is being provided for children and young people's community eating disorder services every year, to continue to enhance the development of more than 70 new or improved community eating disorder teams covering the whole of the country

In addition, under the NHS Long Term Plan, by 2023/24, we will invest almost £1 billion extra per year in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness, such as eating disorders. A four-week waiting standard for adult community mental health services, including eating disorder services, is being piloted and considered as part of the clinically led review of National Health Service access standards. Further information on the definition of a potential standard will be shared in 2021/22

We have also announced that in 2021/22 the NHS will receive around an additional £500 million, which will support people with a variety of mental health conditions, including eating disorders. As part of this £79 million of this extra funding will be used to significantly expand children’s mental health services, including allowing 2,000 more children and young people to access eating disorder services and £58 million will be invested to bring forward the expansion of integrated primary and secondary care for adults with severe mental illness, including eating disorders.

Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for the commissioning of continence services.

Individuals who have bladder or bowel continence problems should seek help from their general practitioner and a referral to specialist bladder and bowel continence services for assessment and treatment. These specialist services aim to help patients regain continence, improve quality of life and to reduce reliance on products. Incontinence appliances such as catheters and stoma items are provided by prescription, although absorbent incontinence products are not. For those people who require incontinence products, eligibility and numbers of products which are provided free of charge are decisions for individual trusts.

Individuals who apply for Personal Independent Payments (PIPs) or Attendance Allowance should list bladder and bowel continence problems as this will be taken into consideration when allocating payments to help with the cost of products.

Information contained in the patient information leaflets for flu vaccines suggests none of the vaccines for the 2020/21 flu vaccination programme include latex as an ingredient in the vaccine.

The Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19, which began to be deployed on 8 December has no latex within the vaccine product. Its packaging is also free of latex. The vaccine comes in a clear vial (type I glass) with a synthetic rubber (bromobutyl) stopper and a flip-off plastic cap with aluminium seal. Information about the product specifications of future vaccines, should others be deployed, will be available on the Medicines Healthcare products and Regulatory Authority website.

General practitioners (GPs) are responsible for ordering flu vaccine from suppliers which are used to deliver the national flu programme to adults, with deliveries phased through the season. The Department has procured additional doses of seasonal flu vaccine, including stocks of egg-free cell-based quadrivalent influenza vaccine, to ensure more flu vaccines are available this winter. GPs who have exhausted their own supply are now able to order more flu vaccines from this central stock and is already being delivered across the country.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise Government on which vaccine(s) the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The committee, in their interim advice, have advised that the vaccine first be given to care home residents and staff, followed by people over 80 years old and health and social workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors in the initial phase. The prioritisation could change substantially if the first available vaccines were not considered suitable for, or effective in, older adults.

The JCVI and the JCVI sub-committee are currently reviewing evidence on clinical risk factors associated with serious disease and mortality from COVID-19. Following a review of the evidence, the Committee will develop advice on risk groups for any future COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Throughout the pandemic, patients have been encouraged to come forward for the treatment that they require. National Health Service providers are working hard to continue the recovery of services alongside preparations for winter and dealing with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic by making full use of available capacity both in the NHS and in contracted independent hospitals.

To support the NHS, the Prime Minister announced £3 billion of extra funding, ensuring the retention of Nightingale hospital surge capacity and continued access to independent hospitals capacity to help meet patient demand. Should a patient’s planned care be disrupted by COVID-19, trusts, working with general practitioner practices, have been asked to ensure that they provide clear communication to patients about how they will be looked after, and who to contact in the event that their clinical circumstances change.

It is the responsibility of general practitioners and community pharmacists to order the seasonal flu vaccine for the adult programme directly from suppliers.

Public Health England have provided guidance for healthcare practitioners: Inactivated influenza vaccine 2020 to 2021, which is available at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/inactivated-influenza-vaccine-information-for-healthcare-practitioners

This provides advice on when the egg-free cell-based quadrivalent influenza vaccine should be offered.

If an individual has concerns about egg allergies, they should speak to a health professional.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned a national specialised service to address the healthcare needs of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) patients with rare complications that cause major health problems, called complex-NF1. There are two centres responsible for the diagnosis and long-term care of patients with complex NF1, which are based at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.

These centres also provide education with the National Health Service to raise and maintain awareness of NF1 and are expected to form a relationship with local health and social care providers to help optimise any care for complex NF1 patients provided locally.

The Government is committed to ending unfair hospital car parking charges by making parking free for those in greatest need, including disabled people, with rollout having commenced in some trusts from April and in others on a rolling basis throughout the course of this year, subject to the constraints imposed by the pandemic.

These new requirements are being mandated through the NHS Standard Contract, to make car parking more consistent across England. The 2020/21 contract asked the National Health Service in England to do all it can to implement them from April 2020 and requires it to do so from January 2021.

Poverty reduction is the central purpose of the UK's development assistance, which is set out in law through the International Development Act 2002. The UK is committed to the global fight against poverty and to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The Integrated Review renews our commitment to the UK as a force for good in the world. We outline that we will maintain a liberal approach to economic development, creating greater opportunities for all.

To achieve the FCDO's goal of reaching the poorest our development assistance is prioritising getting more girls into school, providing urgent humanitarian support to those who need it most, supporting sustainable and inclusive social protection and tackling global threats like climate change, COVID recovery and other international health priorities. In alignment with the UK Equality Act (2010) and the Gender Equality Act (2014), the FCDO will continue to champion equality to create a fairer, safer and more prosperous world.

Standing up for the right of every girl to 12 years of quality education is a priority for the UK Government. Between 2015 and 2020, the UK supported over 15 million children in gaining a decent education, of which 8 million were girls. 2021 is a year of UK leadership on the world stage. We have used our Presidency of the G7 to press for coordinated action on girls' education. In May, we secured G7 support for two, new ambitious global targets of getting 40 million more girls in school, and 20 million more girls reading by age 10 by 2026. We also agreed a declaration that prioritised girls' education in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and outlined the collective action that the G7 will take in helping achieve these global targets.

On 28-29 July, along with Kenya, the UK will host the Global Education Summit to raise vital funds for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). At the G7 Leaders' Summit, the Prime Minister secured a landmark commitment from the G7 to provide at least $2.7 billion to the Global Partnership for Education. This includes £430 million from the UK, which is an uplift of 15% from our current position as top bilateral donor, and our largest ever pledge to the GPE.

We are taking four key goals to governments across the world in order to secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach. For our mitigation goal, countries are being asked to come forward with ambitious 2030 emissions reduction targets. For our adaptation goal, we are helping countries to adapt to protect communities and natural habitats. To increase climate finance, we are urging developed countries to deliver on their promise to raise at least $100 billion in climate finance per year, and we have committed to doubling our International Climate Finance to £11.6 billion over the next 5 years. Collaboration is our fourth goal, for which reaching agreement in the negotiations is our formal responsibility as the Presidency of COP26. Doing so will help deliver on our other three goals and demonstrate that the world is moving to a resilient, net zero economy.

In April, the UK hosted the first Ministerial meeting of the Forest, Agricultural Commodity and Trade Dialogue, under which 24 countries endorsed a joint statement of principles to work together to secure sustainable agricultural commodity production and protection of forests. The UK is also working to accelerate a transition to more sustainable land use practices through the COP26 Sustainable Agriculture Campaign, supporting action to align agricultural policies and support with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement targets.

The Government has increased financial support to civil society organisations and independent media to support the environment for inclusive political dialogue in Belarus.

The UK's support for opposition groups in Belarus is focused on supporting the democratic rights of the people of Belarus, including through an inclusive national dialogue to end the current crisis. The Foreign Secretary discussed the political situation in Belarus with the opposition leader in exile, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, on 2 June. Mrs Tikhanovskaya has praised the UK's actions on Belarus to date and discussed what further measures the UK might take. The Foreign Secretary looked forward to meeting Mrs Tikhanovskaya in the UK as soon as it was possible for her to visit.

We have seen three clear breaches of the Joint Declaration in the last year, and therefore now consider China to be in a state of ongoing non-compliance with the Joint Declaration. As the Foreign Secretary wrote in the foreword of the most recent Six-monthly Report on Hong Kong covering the period of July - December 2020, the National Security Law has been used to drastically curtail the space for the expression of alternative political views and deter freedom of expression and legitimate political debate.

We remain concerned by the political situation in Ethiopia due to the impact of the continued fighting in the Tigray region and ethnic and political tensions and violence elsewhere in Ethiopia. I have a long-standing concern about the deterioration of political freedoms in Ethiopia, and I raised the delay to elections with President Sahle-Work during the 17 May Sudan Conference in Paris. On 14 April, the British Ambassador met, alongside Ambassadors and representatives from other Embassies in Addis Ababa, the Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney General and pressed concerns about the narrow political and civic space and arrests of candidates. This builds on discussions the Foreign Secretary had with Prime Minister Abiy during his visit to Ethiopia on 22 January this year, which also included the situation in Tigray.

I joined a meeting of development ministers from key donor nations, including USAid Administrator Samantha Power, on 9 June to further discuss the situation in Tigray. We agreed that the humanitarian situation is of grave concern, and that enhanced support is needed. The UK will allocate a further £16.7 million to respond to the crisis, bringing our total spend on Tigray to £47.7 million since November 2020. Whilst we scale-up our response, it is clear that the humanitarian crisis will not end whilst the conflict continues. We must see an end to fighting and the withdrawal of Eritrean forces.

The Government is committed to helping people own their own home and has introduced a range of measures to help first time buyers, including those announced at Budget 2021.

The mortgage guarantee scheme announced at Budget 2021 and launched on 19 April 2021 is increasing the availability of mortgages for credit-worthy households who only have a 5 percent deposit, helping them realise their dream of homeownership. The scheme follows on from the successful 2013 Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, and as of 8 June there are 192 mortgage products available for buyers with a 5% deposit, compared to only 5 in February 2021.

At Budget 2015, the Government announced the Help to Buy: ISA to support people saving up for their first home. Savers who opened an account before December 2019 are eligible to claim for a government bonus of up to £3000 towards the purchase of their first home. Since it launched in 2015, 508,492 bonuses have been paid through the scheme supporting 386,728 property completions across the UK.

Similarly, the Lifetime ISA (LISA) allows those under 40 to save either towards buying a home or for the long term. Like the Help to Buy: ISA, the Government provides a 25% bonus month on month, meaning that people who save the maximum will receive a £1,000 bonus each year. First-time buyers saving into a LISA can use their tax-free savings, including the government bonus, to buy a home up to the value of £450,000 anywhere in the UK, at any point after the account has been open for 12 months.

The nil rate band for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) has been temporarily increased to £500,000 and will reduce to £250,000 from 1 July 2021. However, from 1 July 2021, first time buyers purchasing properties up to £500,000 in value will get an additional relief, meaning they will pay no Stamp Duty on the first £300,000 and then only pay Stamp Duty at a rate of 5% on the remaining amount.

Stimulating business investment will be key for our economic recovery.

Under the super-deduction we announced at Budget 2021, for every pound a company invests in qualifying plant and machinery, their taxes are cut by up to 25p.

We have also just launched the new UK Infrastructure Bank, which will partner with the private sector and local government, supporting more than £40bn of infrastructure investment overall.

This year the Government has provided an unprecedented business rates holiday for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties, and nurseries, due to the direct adverse effects of COVID-19, worth over £10 billion. In the 2020 Spending Review, the Government committed further support to businesses by freezing the business rates multiplier for 2021-22.

The Government recognises the important contribution that nurseries and childminders are making to the national response to COVID-19. In the Spending Review we announced that we’re providing £44 million next year to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers. This is on top of the additional £66m increase confirmed in Spending Round 2019.

In order to ensure that any decisions best meet the evolving challenges presented by COVID-19, the government will outline plans for 2021-22 reliefs in early 2021.