Lee Pitcher

The Government has committed to review the parental leave and pay system.

In 2022, the department ran a survey to understand from members’ perspectives the impact that signing up to the Disability Confident scheme has had on their organisations. Metrics in the survey included members’ recruitment and retention attitudes and practices towards disabled people, awareness of the benefits of Disability Confident membership, plans for membership renewal, and perceived impact of Disability Confident on the organisation. The findings of the survey can be accessed from: Disability Confident: survey of participating employers, May 2022 - GOV.UK.

DWP is working with stakeholders, including disabled people, the Devolved Governments, local authorities, disability organisations, employers and sector experts to strengthen the scheme. This includes reviewing the current offer of an interview commitment and exploring how we can work with employers to improve transparency and accountability against scheme criteria.

The Government has announced ambitious plans to reform the CMS.

Moving all cases to a single service, where payments are collected and transferred will provide an improved service, quickly identifying and tackling missed payments and lifting more children out of poverty.

The Government has also been undertaking a review of the child maintenance calculation and announced its intention to publish a consultation.

The Department continues to optimise digital channels, delivering services more efficiently and effectively.

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR is not currently funding any specific research into long-term health effects of Poly Implant Prothèse breast (PIP) implants but welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of women’s health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

The Department does not hold information related to breast implant safety research funded by other sources.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring that medicines and healthcare products meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, and effectiveness and are supported by detailed product information, via the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) and the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC). The PIL and SmPC are designed to support safe use of the medicine by providing essential information. It is the responsibility of the healthcare professional prescribing medicines to consider the risk of the medicine and the suitability of that medicine for their patient, and to relay any safety information on the side-effects of the medicine to their patient.

The association between impulse control disorders with dopamine agonists is recognised and it’s recommended that patients should be regularly monitored and also made aware of the risk of impulse control disorders. These risks are outlined in the product information for all dopamine agonists.

The MHRA is considering whether further regulatory action is needed to improve awareness and understanding of the established risks of impulse control disorders among patients and healthcare professionals. This work does not reassess the safety of these medicines, but focuses on whether additional regulatory measures could strengthen communication of these risks.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for producing guidance for the National Health Service and wider health and care system. The NICE guideline, reference code NG71, covers diagnosing and managing Parkinson's disease in people aged 18 years old and over and includes advice about discussing the risks of impulse control disorders. The NICE guideline is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng71/chapter/Recommendations

The Government recognises the challenges in securing suitable care placements for people with complex needs including dementia. National Health Service bodies and local authorities are expected to work together to plan discharge early and ensure that care arrangements, including one-to-one support, are reflective to individual needs following discharge from hospital.

Through reforms to the Better Care Fund, integrated care boards and local authorities are expected to strengthen joint planning and work with providers to develop more integrated and effective care services to meet demand, including for people with complex dementia needs.

Additionally, the Government will deliver the first ever Modern Service framework for Frailty and Dementia, setting national standards for dementia and frailty care and redirecting NHS and adult social care priorities to provide the best possible care and support. Those with dementia and/or frailty will also benefit from more joined up care through co-created care plans, and by 2027, 95% of those with complex needs will have an agreed care plan.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are expected to commission services for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) across all levels of severity, including those with severe and very severe ME/CFS, in line with national standards, service specifications and clinical access policies set by NHS England. Prioritisation and funding remain at the discretion of ICBs.

Officials have begun work to develop a template service specification for mild and moderate ME/CFS. This template will provide best practice examples to guide the commissioning of services for ME/CFS and will now include reference to severe ME/CFS as an interim support measure.

To help support healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and management of ME/CFS, the Department has worked with NHS England to develop an e-learning programme for healthcare professionals. All four sessions of the e‑learning programme are now available, with sessions one, two and three having universal access, while the fourth session, which focuses on the management of severe ME/CFS, is only available to healthcare professionals. The e-learning is available at the following link: https://learninghub.nhs.uk/catalogue/mecfselearning?nodeId=7288

The majority of services for people with neurological conditions, including functional neurological disorder (FND), are commissioned locally. Integrated care board (ICB) commissioners are best placed to configure services for their populations and are supported by clinical guidance.

More widely, NHS England’s Neuroscience Transformation Programme is supporting ICBs to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, which includes providing care closer to home.

NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and RightCare Toolkits, including the Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, the Headache and Migraine Toolkit, and the Epilepsy Toolkit, aim to improve care for patients with neurological conditions by reducing variation.

On 15 October 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published new guidance, titled Rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders including acquired brain injury. The guideline covers rehabilitation in all settings for children, young people, and adults with a chronic neurological disorder, neurological impairment, or disabling neurological symptoms resulting from acquired brain injury, spinal cord injury, peripheral nerve disorder, progressive neurological disease, or FND. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-ng10181

From 25 June to 1 September the Government is introducing a temporary reduced rate of VAT on children's menu meals and eligible family attractions.

This is a targeted and temporary scheme to reduce the costs of children’s meals in restaurants, children’s tickets for theatres and cinemas and tickets for everyone for attractions like soft play, adventure centres, and theme parks, helping families enjoy a day out for less. Individual businesses should consult HMRC’s guidance to determine how the rules apply in their circumstances.

Sport, including swimming pools, is not in scope of the relief. This is in line with the decision to focus on a narrower set of eligible activities to ensure the scheme is targeted and financially sustainable.

Many sports facilities which families use already enjoy some form of VAT relief, including many leisure centres and local swimming pools that are operated by local authorities and are out of scope of VAT already. Local authorities are able to reclaim their input VAT when providing sports facilities in leisure centres.

The Government recognises that cheques remain an important payment method for some people, including those with protected characteristics. UK’s largest retail banks continue to accept cheques through a range of channels, including at bank branches, in banking hubs and the Post Office, by post, and digitally through cheque imaging.

The Treasury has not made a formal assessment of the impact of individual banks’ decisions on specific groups. Where banks have taken commercial decisions to change how they accept cheque deposits, they are expected to consider the needs of customers in vulnerable circumstances and to ensure alternative routes remain available.

The treatment of customers by UK banks is governed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which requires firms to provide a prompt, efficient, and fair service to all of their customers. This includes special considerations for vulnerable customers. In addition, like all service providers, banks and building societies are bound under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments, where necessary, in the way they deliver their services. Treasury Ministers and officials engage regularly with the FCA, the Payment Systems Regulator and UK Finance on matters relating to retail banking and payments.

Ensuring everyone has access to the appropriate financial products and services they need is a priority for the Government. That is why we have published the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy which sets out a package of ambitious measures to improve financial inclusion and resilience across the UK. Access to banking is a key area of focus in the Strategy, alongside digital inclusion, including an intervention to make financial products more accessible through an industry-led inclusive design working group. Action to improve financial inclusion requires a joined-up approach, and the Government is committed to continuing to work collaboratively across the UK on this important agenda going forward.

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, fixing the public finances, and funding public services. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. Where inheritance tax is due, those liable for a charge can pay any liability on the relevant assets over 10 annual instalments, interest-free.

As announced at Budget 2025, any unused £1 million allowance for the 100% rate of agricultural property relief and business property relief will be transferable between spouses and civil partners, including if the first death was before 6 April 2026.

The report by the independent Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax) sets out its other potential amendments to the policy are not, in its own words, a “silver bullet”. For example, CenTax acknowledge the proposal for a minimum share test is less effective than the Government’s reforms in raising revenue from the wealthiest estates, could be exposed to tax planning opportunities, would not necessarily prevent wealthy individuals buying land for inheritance tax purposes, and would mean double the number of estates being affected by the reforms (and largely estates below £2 million).

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. Where inheritance tax is due, those liable for a charge can pay any liability on the relevant assets over 10 annual instalments, interest-free.

The report by the independent Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax) supports the Government’s analysis of these reforms, including the number of estates affected in 2026-27, and concludes that half of these estates will see an increase in their effective inheritance tax rate of less than 5 percentage points, and almost 90 per cent of these estates could pay their entire inheritance tax bill out of non-farm assets. In CenTax’s opinion, the Government’s proposed reforms improve on the current position and are expected largely to meet the Government’s objectives.

CenTax did suggest the Government could consider amending the policy to introduce a “minimum share rule” or an upper limit on relief. However, as the report acknowledges, there are challenges with those approaches too and they are not a “silver bullet”, in CenTax’s own words.

The Government will invest more than £2.7 billion a year in sustainable farming and nature recovery from 2026-27 until 2028-29. This includes the largest financial investment into nature-friendly farming ever.

The Licensing Act 2003 provides the legal framework for the sale and supply of alcohol in England and Wales. The regulatory regime provided by the Act is underpinned by four core licensing objectives, one of which is the protection of children from harm. License holders are expected to uphold the licensing objectives and Licensing Authorities have substantial powers available to them to address irresponsible or illegal alcohol sales. This includes reviewing a premises licence, imposing license conditions, suspending a licence or, in the most serious cases, revoking it.

It is also an offence under section 141 of the Act for a person to knowingly sell or attempt to sell alcohol to a person who is underage, or to allow alcohol to be sold to such a person. As such, the Government considers that the existing framework provides a robust set of tools to deal with irresponsible retailers.

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. Our Crime and Policing Bill will give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles, including e-scooters, involved in anti-social behaviour, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles.

On 28 May, the Government launched a six-week consultation on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles such as e-scooters which have been used anti-socially. The consultation closed on 8 July and the Government response will be published in due course. Combined, these proposals will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially by sending a clear message to would be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

There are various offences relating to e-scooter use that the police can enforce with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). Riding an e-scooter on the pavement can result in a FPN of £50.

The Government has made no decisions on micromobility regulation, however, resolving the longstanding problems and missed opportunities of micromobility, including e-scooters, is a priority for the Government.

the Retail Crime Forum to ensure we understand the needs of retailers and to promote collaboration between the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement. This is an opportunity to share best practice and awareness of different initiatives to tackle the range of drivers of shop theft, including technology.

The Government is committed to getting to the truth of both historical and current group-based child sexual exploitation or grooming gangs offending, to ensure that perpetrators are punished and to deliver justice and accountability for victims and survivors. That is why the Home Secretary commissioned Baroness Louise Casey to undertake a national audit into the nature, scale and characteristics of this type of offending.

The Home Secretary wrote to the Home Affairs Committee on 28 May 2025 to explain that Baroness Casey has requested a short extension to complete her audit, as she continues to speak directly to victims, fully assess the scale of the issue and submit meaningful recommendations to further tackle this vile crime.

We expect to receive Baroness Casey's report in the coming weeks, and the Home Secretary has already committed to publishing it at that point. It is important that the government has all the information available so we can set out a comprehensive response to this horrific crime, taking into account Baroness Casey's findings, including next steps on local inquiries.

The use and deployment of drones by policing is an operational matter made independently by police forces, who are best placed to assess their own operational needs while ensuring they have the tools necessary to protect the public.

However, in the use and deployment of drones, police forces must have due regard to Data Protection legislation and the Air Navigation Order (ANO) 2016, which specifies the requirements and conduct drone operators must abide by to use drones in a manner which is both safe and does not unduly endanger or negatively impact members of the public.

To support development of a national drone capability for policing which is effective and safe, in FY24/25, the Home Office allocated over £4m to national police-led programmes of work to drive standardisation and improve coordination in police drone operations to support public safety outcomes.

Furthermore, to support development of these programmes and improve the safe and legal use of drones by policing, police forces work closely with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Drone activities conducted by members of the public is a matter for the CAA, who are responsible for regulating the activities of civilian drone operators.