Kirsteen Sullivan

I am proud that progress is being made, with 40% of MPs now women, but we want to see this replicated at all levels of Government. Last summer my Ministerial colleague Bridget Philipson met with members of 50:50 Parliament, where they discussed the importance of gender equality in parliament and the barriers that women can face.

The government is committed to commencing the Equality Act 2010’s provision requiring registered political parties to publish anonymised data relating to the diversity of their candidate selections. We are currently exploring when to commence the section 106 provisions. We believe that every party has a duty to demonstrate greater progress towards better representation of the population that they seek to serve.

The government is working with regulators to ensure that the future telecommunications requirements of the energy, water and transport sectors are understood. And the government will draw on the National Infrastructure Commission’s analysis for the forthcoming 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy.

We are working with stakeholders, including local authorities, on how GBE could support local and community energy.

The UK will work closely with Scottish Government on this matter as part of the Vision Statement signed in October which committed to exploring joint working on community energy.

The government is considering how it can support the development of telecommunications infrastructure for a decarbonised energy system, and whether spectrum access would be appropriate. As part of this, my officials are in regular discussion with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ofgem and Ofcom on energy system telecommunications needs.

Following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan later this year, we will develop a new national cancer plan. The cancer plan will include more details about how to improve outcomes for all tumour types, including lobular breast cancer. We plan to engage with a wide range of cancer partners on the national cancer plan, including charities and patient representative bodies.

National Policy Statements set out the need for the development of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects and the Government's policy for meeting that need. NPSs provide clarity, certainty and transparency on Government policy for scheme promoters, the planning inspectorate, decision makers and the wider public.

As part of this government’s growth agenda, we will publish a cross-cutting 10-year infrastructure strategy, which will communicate to the public our approach to housing, economic and social infrastructure. The government has committed to delivering an infrastructure pipeline to provide a clear sense of the government’s long-term infrastructure priorities.

The Government fully understands the importance of enabling employees to share in the fruits of a company’s success, and for businesses to reward and retain employees effectively. The UK share schemes are popular, generous and internationally competitive.

A call for evidence on Save As You Earn (SAYE) and the Share Incentive Plan (SIP) ran from June to August 2023. It sought views on whether the schemes are meeting their policy objectives and opportunities to improve and simplify them. The Government is considering the responses to the call for evidence, and is grateful to those who took the time to respond.

The Government keeps all tax reliefs under review, to ensure they continue to meet their policy objectives in a way that is fair and effective.