Kirsten Oswald

No one should be refused access to businesses or services because they use a guide or other assistance dog.

Under the Equality Act 2010 (the Act), businesses and public bodies that provide goods and services to the public must not unlawfully discriminate against disabled people, including those with assistance dogs. The Act places a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve access to premises, buildings and services. This could include allowing the use of assistance dogs so that disabled customers have the same access to goods and services and are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled customers.

Parliament intended the Act to guide the policies of service providers, including those exercising public functions, as well as providing legal protection. Failure by a service provider to comply with the Act by making a reasonable adjustment will mean that they have unlawfully discriminated on grounds of disability.

People who feel that they have been discriminated against can use other provisions within the Act to seek redress against a non-compliant service provider, including going to Court if necessary.

This is the case for all the other protected characteristics in the Act and the Government has no plans to amend this process, which is based on the long-established civil law principle that it is for an aggrieved person to enforce the law.

No one should be refused access to businesses or services because they use a guide or other assistance dog.

Under the Equality Act 2010 (the Act), businesses and public bodies that provide goods and services to the public must not unlawfully discriminate against disabled people, including those with assistance dogs. The Act places a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve access to premises, buildings and services. This could include allowing the use of assistance dogs so that disabled customers have the same access to goods and services and are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled customers.

Parliament intended the Act to guide the policies of service providers, including those exercising public functions, as well as providing legal protection. Failure by a service provider to comply with the Act by making a reasonable adjustment will mean that they have unlawfully discriminated on grounds of disability.

People who feel that they have been discriminated against can use other provisions within the Act to seek redress against a non-compliant service provider, including going to Court if necessary.

This is the case for all the other protected characteristics in the Act and the Government has no plans to amend this process, which is based on the long-established civil law principle that it is for an aggrieved person to enforce the law.

The Government is committed to protecting people from these practices.

We are carefully considering the responses to the public consultation on banning conversion practices which closed last year.

We will be publishing a draft bill to ban conversion practices for pre-legislative scrutiny in this parliamentary session. We hope to send it to a Joint Committee for scrutiny and will work with the Liaison Committee accordingly.

In the meantime, we have launched a support service open to all victims and those at risk of conversion practices regardless of their background or circumstances, backed by up to £360,000 over three years.

The Government is committed to protecting people from these practices.

We are carefully considering the responses to the public consultation on banning conversion practices which closed last year.

We will be publishing a draft bill to ban conversion practices for pre-legislative scrutiny in this parliamentary session. We hope to send it to a Joint Committee for scrutiny and will work with the Liaison Committee accordingly.

In the meantime, we have launched a support service open to all victims and those at risk of conversion practices regardless of their background or circumstances, backed by up to £360,000 over three years.

The Government is committed to protecting people from these practices.

We are carefully considering the responses to the public consultation on banning conversion practices which closed last year.

We will be publishing a draft bill to ban conversion practices for pre-legislative scrutiny in this parliamentary session. We hope to send it to a Joint Committee for scrutiny and will work with the Liaison Committee accordingly.

In the meantime, we have launched a support service open to all victims and those at risk of conversion practices regardless of their background or circumstances, backed by up to £360,000 over three years.

The Government is committed to protecting people from these practices.

We are carefully considering the responses to the public consultation on banning conversion practices which closed last year.

We will be publishing a draft bill to ban conversion practices for pre-legislative scrutiny in this parliamentary session. We hope to send it to a Joint Committee for scrutiny and will work with the Liaison Committee accordingly.

In the meantime, we have launched a support service open to all victims and those at risk of conversion practices regardless of their background or circumstances, backed by up to £360,000 over three years.

The Government has engaged with a wide range of international counterparts including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Malta, to understand the approaches they have taken to ban conversion therapy. We will continue to engage with counterparts around the world that are committed to protecting everyone from conversion practices to share insight and develop our approach.

Since May 2022, the Government has launched a support service open to all victims or those at risk of conversion practices regardless of their background or circumstances. The Government has committed up to £360,000 over three years to this service. The service includes a helpline, instant messaging service, and website to enable people to get the support they need.

More widely, the Government remains committed to protecting everyone from these practices. We are carefully considering the responses to the public consultation which closed earlier this year and will respond in due course.

The Government has been liaising with territorial offices and the devolved administrations including the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive on this important issue.

Officials will continue to work with their counterparts across the devolved administrations to discuss the UK Government’s approach to protecting everyone in England and Wales from conversion therapy practices.

Equality Hub communications is managed by the Government Equalities Office (GEO), and as such staff and budget sit within the GEO. The headcount and outturn expenditure is as follows:

a) Full-time equivalent headcount

b) Outturn expenditure on communications for her Department in each of the last three financial years

On 23 February, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced that employers will have until 5 October 2021 to report their gender pay gap information. The EHRC enforces the regulations, contacting any late reporters and follows up on potentially inaccurate data. For the 2020/21 reporting year, enforcement activity will commence after the additional time period ends on 5 October 2021.

The government is fully committed to women’s economic empowerment but, given the impact of the pandemic on businesses, extending the deadline by six months is the correct decision.

Lots of positive work has been done by employers to encourage equality in the workplace, and although ONS figures show that the gender pay gap stands at a record low, we need to continue making progress, including making sure that we are tackling the causes of the gender pay gap.

The House of Commons Commission has previously committed to publish any mitigations identified as part of the equality impact assessment, alongside any other steps taken in the Covid-19 risk assessment. Following the publication of Public Health England advice, the House authorities are currently reviewing the mitigations and will be providing an updated version of the risk assessment ahead of the House rising for summer recess.

Where companies enter formal insolvency, there are powers under the Company Director’s Disqualification Act for the Secretary of State to apply to the court for the disqualification of directors who are found to be responsible for misconduct. Disqualification is a civil restriction which bars an individual from being appointed as a director, or being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company for a period of between 2 and 15 years. Contravention of a disqualification is a criminal offence which may lead to prosecution and civil penalty.

That Act provides other grounds for disqualification of up to 15 years following misconduct in relation to companies not necessarily subject to insolvency proceedings, including disqualification on conviction of an indictable offence, for repeated breaches of company legislation and following investigations under the Companies Act.

In addition to disqualification, there are a number of criminal offences in the Insolvency Act for misconduct related to Insolvency, and other offences particularly in the Companies Act and Fraud Act.

Section 166 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 gives the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) the power to commission reports by “skilled persons” in order to obtain an independent view of any aspect of a firm’s activities. It has appointed Mazars and Promontory Financial Group to carry out a skilled person’s review of the treatment by RBS of business customers in financial difficulty. This review is ongoing. The FCA expects that the skilled person will be reporting review outcomes by the end of 2015 and intends to publish the outcomes of the review after the skilled person has reported.

We understand that the US does not currently have a direct equivalent to the EU Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which covers hazards to people in the workplace, has adopted the United Nations Globally Harmonised System for classification and labelling of chemicals (GHS), which the CLP is modelled on. However, US Administrations that cover environment and consumer issues have not yet adopted the GHS. During the EU-US Free-Trade Agreement negotiations (TTIP), we will continue to support the EU’s objective to promote alignment in classification and labelling of chemicals in accordance with the GHS and will continue to press for an ambitious EU-US Free-Trade Agreement.

No specific assessment has been made of the effect of the directly-acting EU Single Market regulation 1272/2008 (CLP) on small scale manufacturers of candles and other scented goods or on the competitive position of EU-based scented oil manufacturers. However, in 2007, the Health and Safety Executive carried out an initial regulatory impact assessment of the overall costs and benefits from the implementation of CLP.

No specific assessment has been made of the effect of the directly-acting EU Single Market regulation 1272/2008 (CLP) on small scale manufacturers of candles and other scented goods or on the competitive position of EU-based scented oil manufacturers. However, in 2007, the Health and Safety Executive carried out an initial regulatory impact assessment of the overall costs and benefits from the implementation of CLP.

There is no specific funding available to assist companies to meet their legal obligations in complying with this regulation.

My Department has held no discussions with small business representatives about support for meeting the costs of complying with this regulation.

The Cabinet Office does not issue guidance to service providers on establishing routes where MPs can raise issues on behalf of constituents. However, MPs are able to raise any issues with government suppliers through existing channels - by writing to the Secretary of State, writing to the Department through MP correspondence, or through Parliamentary questions.

Those dissatisfied with government services can also raise issues directly with the responsible government department. Departments provide details on their complaints procedure on their GOV.UK pages. If, having followed the stages of the complaints procedure the complainant remains dissatisfied, our published guidance recommends that members of the public contact their MP and ask for your complaint to be referred to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman can carry out independent investigations into complaints about government departments, agencies and some public bodies.

Policy development in these areas is ongoing. These are complex policy matters and the Government is giving them careful and thorough consideration. It remains the Government's intention to lay a report before Parliament in due course.

Civil Service employers are responsible for following and embedding government guidance across all of the four nations.

On 12 May, the Prime Minister confirmed that a public inquiry into COVID-19 will be established on a statutory basis, with full formal powers and that it will begin its work in spring 2022. A chair will be appointed by the end of the year. More details, including the terms of reference for the inquiry, will be set out in due course.

On 12 May, the Prime Minister confirmed that a public inquiry into COVID-19 will be established on a statutory basis, with full formal powers and that it will begin its work in spring 2022. A chair will be appointed by the end of the year. More details, including the terms of reference for the inquiry, will be set out in due course.

On 12 May, the Prime Minister confirmed that a public inquiry into COVID-19 will be established on a statutory basis, with full formal powers and that it will begin its work in spring 2022. A chair will be appointed by the end of the year. More details, including the terms of reference for the inquiry, will be set out in due course.

I refer the honourable member to the Written Ministerial Statement made by my honourable friend, the Member for Norwich North (Chloe Smith), on 15 July 2021.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

Barclays entered into a contract with the Cabinet Office in April 2017 to provide an identity verification service to support GOV.UK Verify. As scheduled, this contract expires on 23rd March 2021. Cabinet Office officials have been in regular contact with Barclays to ensure a good level of service is maintained until the end of their contract.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office have not met Barclays to discuss this contract expiry.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made a statement under section 19(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1998 regarding the provisions of the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill. This Bill, now Act, implements the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Further to this, relevant requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and other relevant legislation have been followed.

The 2018 Strategy for our Veterans is the UK’s commitment to those who have served in the Armed Forces. Each nation in the Union is responsible for delivering the outcomes for veterans contained in the Strategy.

Officials regularly engage with counterparts in the Devolved Administrations to discuss progress made on the delivery of their respective Strategy action plans and wider veterans matters. I have also met ministerial counterparts from the Scottish and Welsh Government this year to discuss veterans issues including the Strategy.

An appointment will be announced in the usual way.

All Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Ministers raise concerns about human rights violations and abuses, including on Freedom of Religion or Belief, where appropriate. As the UK Minister for Human Rights, my Hon Friend Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon also champions and leads on Freedom of Religion or Belief as part of his wider responsibilities and through multilateral fora including the United Nations.

GOV.UK Verify and Government Gateway provide millions of citizens with access to essential government services. The number of users can be accessed publicly at any time through the GOV.UK Verify performance dashboard, and is updated weekly. Currently, 7.2 million users use their GOV.UK Verify identity accounts to access 22 government services across 9 departments. HMRC has 25.1 million unique individual users who have confirmed their identity and who have accessed their personal tax account, with a total of 96 million authentication credentials. For Government Gateway these include individual, business and agent users.

GOV.UK Verify keeps its accessibility under review and has consistently reduced barriers to make access to services simpler, focusing on the customer's end-to-end experience, and ensuring members of the public can access online government services simply and securely.

We are constantly looking to balance the need of inclusion and demographic coverage of government services with the need for strong digital identity assurance to reduce the risk of fraud. Both GOV.UK Verify and Government Gateway use ongoing user research, user testing and service monitoring to improve, simplify and reduce friction in users’ experience of these services. Offline channels and support are offered to users unable to use either GOV.UK Verify or Government Gateway identity verification services.

Government Gateway is currently used to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). CJRS claimants (employers or their authorised agent) can log into the claims service and see the claims made and the date they were sent for payment, and SEISS claimants (employers or their authorised agent) can log into the claims service and see the claims made and the date they were sent for payment.

GOV.UK Verify can be adapted to reflect requirements relating to name changes to support departmental service requirements, provided there is suitable evidence of their change in name. Government Gateway Identity Verification allows online service access where sufficient confidence can be gained on a user’s identity and the ownership of the name in question.

The National Audit Office (NAO) report recognised that the Verify programme has delivered on three of its four original objectives. The Verify programme has successfully developed world-leading standards that are used by governments across the world. It has also developed a secure technical platform and a procurement framework for identity services.

GOV.UK Verify and Government Gateway provide millions of citizens with access to essential government services. The number of users can be accessed publicly at any time through the GOV.UK Verify performance dashboard, and is updated weekly. Currently, 7.2 million users use their GOV.UK Verify identity accounts to access 22 government services across 9 departments. HMRC has 25.1 million unique individual users who have confirmed their identity and who have accessed their personal tax account, with a total of 96 million authentication credentials. For Government Gateway these include individual, business and agent users.

GOV.UK Verify keeps its accessibility under review and has consistently reduced barriers to make access to services simpler, focusing on the customer's end-to-end experience, and ensuring members of the public can access online government services simply and securely.

We are constantly looking to balance the need of inclusion and demographic coverage of government services with the need for strong digital identity assurance to reduce the risk of fraud. Both GOV.UK Verify and Government Gateway use ongoing user research, user testing and service monitoring to improve, simplify and reduce friction in users’ experience of these services. Offline channels and support are offered to users unable to use either GOV.UK Verify or Government Gateway identity verification services.

Government Gateway is currently used to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). CJRS claimants (employers or their authorised agent) can log into the claims service and see the claims made and the date they were sent for payment, and SEISS claimants (employers or their authorised agent) can log into the claims service and see the claims made and the date they were sent for payment.

GOV.UK Verify can be adapted to reflect requirements relating to name changes to support departmental service requirements, provided there is suitable evidence of their change in name. Government Gateway Identity Verification allows online service access where sufficient confidence can be gained on a user’s identity and the ownership of the name in question.

The National Audit Office (NAO) report recognised that the Verify programme has delivered on three of its four original objectives. The Verify programme has successfully developed world-leading standards that are used by governments across the world. It has also developed a secure technical platform and a procurement framework for identity services.

GOV.UK Verify and Government Gateway provide millions of citizens with access to essential government services. The number of users can be accessed publicly at any time through the GOV.UK Verify performance dashboard, and is updated weekly. Currently, 7.2 million users use their GOV.UK Verify identity accounts to access 22 government services across 9 departments. HMRC has 25.1 million unique individual users who have confirmed their identity and who have accessed their personal tax account, with a total of 96 million authentication credentials. For Government Gateway these include individual, business and agent users.

GOV.UK Verify keeps its accessibility under review and has consistently reduced barriers to make access to services simpler, focusing on the customer's end-to-end experience, and ensuring members of the public can access online government services simply and securely.

We are constantly looking to balance the need of inclusion and demographic coverage of government services with the need for strong digital identity assurance to reduce the risk of fraud. Both GOV.UK Verify and Government Gateway use ongoing user research, user testing and service monitoring to improve, simplify and reduce friction in users’ experience of these services. Offline channels and support are offered to users unable to use either GOV.UK Verify or Government Gateway identity verification services.

Government Gateway is currently used to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). CJRS claimants (employers or their authorised agent) can log into the claims service and see the claims made and the date they were sent for payment, and SEISS claimants (employers or their authorised agent) can log into the claims service and see the claims made and the date they were sent for payment.

GOV.UK Verify can be adapted to reflect requirements relating to name changes to support departmental service requirements, provided there is suitable evidence of their change in name. Government Gateway Identity Verification allows online service access where sufficient confidence can be gained on a user’s identity and the ownership of the name in question.

The National Audit Office (NAO) report recognised that the Verify programme has delivered on three of its four original objectives. The Verify programme has successfully developed world-leading standards that are used by governments across the world. It has also developed a secure technical platform and a procurement framework for identity services.

GOV.UK Verify and Government Gateway provide millions of citizens with access to essential government services. The number of users can be accessed publicly at any time through the GOV.UK Verify performance dashboard, and is updated weekly. Currently, 7.2 million users use their GOV.UK Verify identity accounts to access 22 government services across 9 departments. HMRC has 25.1 million unique individual users who have confirmed their identity and who have accessed their personal tax account, with a total of 96 million authentication credentials. For Government Gateway these include individual, business and agent users.

GOV.UK Verify keeps its accessibility under review and has consistently reduced barriers to make access to services simpler, focusing on the customer's end-to-end experience, and ensuring members of the public can access online government services simply and securely.

We are constantly looking to balance the need of inclusion and demographic coverage of government services with the need for strong digital identity assurance to reduce the risk of fraud. Both GOV.UK Verify and Government Gateway use ongoing user research, user testing and service monitoring to improve, simplify and reduce friction in users’ experience of these services. Offline channels and support are offered to users unable to use either GOV.UK Verify or Government Gateway identity verification services.

Government Gateway is currently used to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). CJRS claimants (employers or their authorised agent) can log into the claims service and see the claims made and the date they were sent for payment, and SEISS claimants (employers or their authorised agent) can log into the claims service and see the claims made and the date they were sent for payment.

GOV.UK Verify can be adapted to reflect requirements relating to name changes to support departmental service requirements, provided there is suitable evidence of their change in name. Government Gateway Identity Verification allows online service access where sufficient confidence can be gained on a user’s identity and the ownership of the name in question.

The National Audit Office (NAO) report recognised that the Verify programme has delivered on three of its four original objectives. The Verify programme has successfully developed world-leading standards that are used by governments across the world. It has also developed a secure technical platform and a procurement framework for identity services.

GOV.UK Verify and Government Gateway provide millions of citizens with access to essential government services. The number of users can be accessed publicly at any time through the GOV.UK Verify performance dashboard, and is updated weekly. Currently, 7.2 million users use their GOV.UK Verify identity accounts to access 22 government services across 9 departments. HMRC has 25.1 million unique individual users who have confirmed their identity and who have accessed their personal tax account, with a total of 96 million authentication credentials. For Government Gateway these include individual, business and agent users.

GOV.UK Verify keeps its accessibility under review and has consistently reduced barriers to make access to services simpler, focusing on the customer's end-to-end experience, and ensuring members of the public can access online government services simply and securely.

We are constantly looking to balance the need of inclusion and demographic coverage of government services with the need for strong digital identity assurance to reduce the risk of fraud. Both GOV.UK Verify and Government Gateway use ongoing user research, user testing and service monitoring to improve, simplify and reduce friction in users’ experience of these services. Offline channels and support are offered to users unable to use either GOV.UK Verify or Government Gateway identity verification services.

Government Gateway is currently used to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). CJRS claimants (employers or their authorised agent) can log into the claims service and see the claims made and the date they were sent for payment, and SEISS claimants (employers or their authorised agent) can log into the claims service and see the claims made and the date they were sent for payment.

GOV.UK Verify can be adapted to reflect requirements relating to name changes to support departmental service requirements, provided there is suitable evidence of their change in name. Government Gateway Identity Verification allows online service access where sufficient confidence can be gained on a user’s identity and the ownership of the name in question.

The National Audit Office (NAO) report recognised that the Verify programme has delivered on three of its four original objectives. The Verify programme has successfully developed world-leading standards that are used by governments across the world. It has also developed a secure technical platform and a procurement framework for identity services.