Lisa Cameron

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

The DWP Rapid Response Service is in ongoing conversations with Debenhams, who have been offered support from the service. The Rapid Response Service offers support including: helping people write CVs and find jobs; providing information about benefits; helping people to find the right training and learn new skills; and helping with costs like travel to work expenses.

We are helping those who have lost jobs in the pandemic through our £238m JETS (Job Entry Targeted Support) programme and have launched a £2bn Kickstart scheme.

Local authorities have been allocated a further £500m in discretionary funding via the Additional Restrictions Grant to support those businesses that are significantly impacted by the restrictions even though they may not be required to close.  This is in addition to £1.1bn already allocated in November 2020.  Local authorities have discretion to use this funding to support businesses in the way they see fit, which could include supporting businesses which supply the retail sector.

Retailers that are required by law to close during the current period of national restrictions can access grants of up to £3,000 per month (Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed).  In addition, each closed business will be eligible for a one-off payment of up to £9,000 to help them through Spring. This is the Closed Business Lockdown Payment.

Local authorities have been allocated a further £500m in discretionary funding via the Additional Restrictions Grant to support those businesses that are significantly impacted by the restrictions even though they may not be required to close.  This is in addition to £1.1bn already allocated in November 2020.  Local authorities have discretion to use this funding to support businesses in the way they see fit.  For example, this could include supporting businesses which supply the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors.

We have extended the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to the end of April 2021.

We have extended the application deadline for the existing loan schemes to 31 March 2021, ensuring there is further support in place for firms who need it during this ongoing period of difficulty. The Government has already announced that more support will be available beyond March, through a successor loan scheme, and more details of the scheme will be announced in due course.

We will continue to work with the retail sector to ensure restrictions can be lifted once the health data allows.

While Government has no role in the strategic direction or management of private retail companies, officials have been in regular contact with the administrators throughout the administration process, who have been exploring all potential options to protect Debenhams and its employees.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has recently taken action to ensure that a number of non-compliant products being sold by overseas 3rd party sellers have been removed from sale and are recalled, including toys and electrical appliances.

The OPSS is also working to ensure that major online marketplaces play their part in protecting UK consumers from unsafe goods. As part of this work, OPSS is developing a new voluntary commitment for online marketplaces to agree actions they will take to reduce the risks from unsafe products being sold online and provide robust data on the effectiveness of these actions.

The OPSS is currently conducting a review of the Product Safety framework to ensure it is fit for purpose, protects consumers, and enables businesses to innovate and grow. It will also consider the impact on product safety of new technologies and new business models, including e-commerce.

The Government has commenced its review of the UK Product Safety framework to ensure it is fit for purpose, protects consumers, and enables businesses to innovate and grow. The review will focus on regulations that cover the majority of consumer products, including electrical equipment, cosmetics, toys and gas appliances. It will also consider the impact on product safety of new technologies and new business models, including e-commerce.

The review is at an early stage and is gathering evidence on current, emerging and anticipated challenges and opportunities for product safety. In the coming months, we will be engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to understand if and how the UK Product Safety framework could be improved to work better for everyone.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has recently taken action to ensure that a number of non-compliant products being sold by overseas 3rd party sellers have been removed from sale and are recalled, including toys and electrical appliances.

The OPSS is also working to ensure that major online marketplaces play their part in protecting UK consumers from unsafe goods. As part of this work, OPSS is developing a new voluntary commitment for online marketplaces to agree actions they will take to reduce the risks from unsafe products being sold online and provide robust data on the effectiveness of these actions.

The OPSS is currently conducting a review of the Product Safety framework to ensure it is fit for purpose, protects consumers, and enables businesses to innovate and grow. It will also consider the impact on product safety of new technologies and new business models, including e-commerce.

The Government continues to offer a comprehensive support package for businesses including loan schemes, grant funding, tax deferrals, the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, all of which have been designed to be accessible to businesses in most sectors and across the UK.

On 5 January, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £594 million discretionary fund to support other impacted businesses outside of the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors, which is in addition to £1.1 billion further discretionary grant funding for Local Authorities and Local Restriction Support Grants worth up to £3,000 a month.

Ministers and officials in the Department and across Government continue to regularly engage with the fashion and textiles industry to explore ways in which Government can support long term recovery in the sector.

The Government has published extensive guidance on employment and safer working throughout the Covid-19 outbreak. This can be found on GOV.UK and through the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Further guidance on employment rights and aspects of good practice has been published by other bodies such as ACAS and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Government has also produced guidance around some new situations which have arisen from the Covid-19 outbreak, for example for those identified as clinically extremely vulnerable and in self-isolation. This suite of guidance covers the employment rights of disabled people alongside other groups in the workforce.

Officials are discussing this employment rights guidance with disability groups to ensure the published material continues to meet the needs of disabled workers and their employers.

The Government continues to support disabled employees to access assistive technology and other forms of support they need to remain in work, including during the Covid-19 outbreak. Through the Disability Confident scheme, we are engaging employers and providing them with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace.? Our new Employer Help site provides advice on recruitment and employment of disabled people, explaining how Disability Confident and Access to Work can help businesses to ensure their practices are fair and inclusive.

BEIS and Home Office officials have had two meetings with representatives from the British Retail Consortium to understand more about their proposal to introduce a fit to trade licensing scheme for garment factories, and what action brands are taking to ensure compliance throughout their supply chain. I also regularly meet with the British Retail Consortium as part of his frequent engagement with the retail sector.

BEIS and the Home Office are also working in partnership with the industry through the Apparel and General Merchandise Public and Private Protocol, a partnership between enforcement bodies and industry partners, including, the British Retail Consortium, UK Fashion and the Textile Association. This is aimed at tackling all forms of labour exploitation in the garment industry.

The Government will continue to work closely with the multi-agency Taskforce, which has been established in Leicester to tackle allegations of exploitation in the sector, to consider the most appropriate measures to tackle labour exploitation.

The UK’s bilateral deals with pharmaceutical companies for Covid-19 vaccines include funding for research and development, investment in manufacturing and vaccine trials. This investment supports the global scale up of vaccine production and therefore the quantity of vaccines available for low and middle-income countries as well as for healthcare workers and vulnerable groups globally. The UK is a strong supporter of the multilateral Covid-19 Global Vaccine Access Facility (COVAX) initiative as a means to both get vaccines for the UK population and ensure equitable global access. The UK has contributed £48 million to COVAX already to help ensure vaccines are available in lower income countries.

The health and wellbeing of our construction workforce is of the utmost importance. The Government welcomes the Chartered Institute of Building's report on mental health in the sector, as well as other initiatives that are being undertaken by the industry to improve mental health among construction workers.

The Government will continue to work with the industry on these issues through the Health and Safety Executive’s Construction Industry Advisory Committee and Construction Industry Advisory Network.

Measuring equipment used for trade in hydrogen is regulated under the Weights and Measures Act 1985. It is an offence to use any measuring equipment for trade purposes which is false or unjust or to commit any fraud using it.

Each Local Authority Trading Standards Department has a legal duty to enforce the Act and to ensure it has the capacity necessary for carrying out its functions in its local area. Where required, trading standards would test fuel dispensers in use for trade using instruments whose calibration or test is traceable to the national measurement standards. The Office for Product Safety and Standards provides central advice and technical support to Local Authority Trading Standards on metrology issues.

Measuring equipment used for trade in hydrogen is regulated under the Weights and Measures Act 1985. It is an offence to use any measuring equipment for trade purposes which is false or unjust or to commit any fraud using it.

Each Local Authority Trading Standards Department has a legal duty to enforce the Act and to ensure it has the capacity necessary for carrying out its functions in its local area. Where required, trading standards would test fuel dispensers in use for trade using instruments whose calibration or test is traceable to the national measurement standards. The Office for Product Safety and Standards provides central advice and technical support to Local Authority Trading Standards on metrology issues.

The Government is committed to the development of hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier for the UK. We are currently developing our strategic approach to hydrogen and its potential to deliver against our net zero goals.

In order to inform our approach, we are undertaking extensive stakeholder engagement, including through the launch of our Hydrogen Advisory Council enabling government to work in partnership with industry, as we develop new policy to help bring forward the technologies and supply chain we will need to grow the UK hydrogen economy. This includes developing business models to support the deployment of, and investment in, low carbon hydrogen production and a £100m Low Carbon Hydrogen Production Fund to stimulate capital investment.

The UK is committed to tackling climate change and achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It is also committed to backing business and unleashing innovation through a doubling of R&D investment. A clean fuels metrology centre, based in Scotland, would provide UK industry with the measurement tools to support decarbonised fuel supply chains, which are themselves critical to achieving these goals. A decision on whether to fund a clean fuels metrology centre will be taken in due course.

The UK Government has provided unprecedented support to retail businesses across the UK, with generous income support schemes, loans and grants, and tax deferrals. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been instrumental in protecting jobs, including 779,500 Scottish employments furloughed.

Additionally, we have extended the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to businesses in deep debt, which will allow small and independent retailers that are not insolvent to access the scheme.

The Scottish Government has put a comprehensive package of measures worth £2.3 billion to help sustain Scottish businesses, including 100% rates relief for properties in the retail, hospitality, leisure and airport sectors, and a local authority-delivered Business Support Fund worth over £1 billion, which includes Small Business Grants to the ratepayers of properties in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.

Public health is a devolved matter and therefore business closures may differ between devolved nations. Details of business restrictions and closures are set out in The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) Regulations 2020.

Ministers and officials in BEIS have maintained regular contact with other departments throughout the pandemic, including DHSC and DCMS, as we develop our response. BEIS and the Department of Health and Social Care have been closely liaising with the Association of Medical Research Charities, as well as individual charities, to understand the impact of the pandemic on this sector and identify how best Government and charities can work together to ensure that patients continue benefiting from charity funded research.

This is in addition to the £750 million package announced by DCMS to ensure Voluntary, Community and social Enterprises can continue their vital work supporting the country during the coronavirus outbreak.

Ministers in BEIS and officials have met regularly with the Association of Medical Research Charities and their members over the last months to discuss how charity-funded research can best be supported and we have sought their input on the Government’s R&D Roadmap.

Ministers in BEIS and officials have met regularly with the Association of Medical Research Charities and their members over the last months to discuss how charity-funded research can best be supported through the Government’s University Research Stabilisation Package.

Universities will?be asked?to demonstrate how these funds?are being utilised to sustain research in areas typically funded by charities and business, for example to protect areas of medical research that have been developed in part with support of charities. We continue to engage with the sector as the details of the package are developed further.

We are committed to ensuring that there is adequate global distribution of vaccines to bring the quickest possible end to the pandemic and the economic damage it inflicts. This includes UK participation in live discussions relating to the COVID-19 Global Vaccine Access Facility (COVAX). The UK have expressed interest in COVAX and are working with international partners to shape the design of the facility.

We have?already committed £48 million of re-programmed funds?to the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment (AMC).

The advice to those who are clinically vulnerable (but not extremely clinically vulnerable) remains that they should take extra care to follow hygiene and social distancing guidelines but they can leave their homes, including to go to work. This includes employees with diabetes.

The Government is clear that in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, anyone who can work from home should still do so. Employers also have a legal duty to make sure the workplace is safe for their employees. Where working from home is not possible, employers should provide the safest onsite roles available to enable clinically vulnerable employees to follow social distancing measures.

In addition, the Government has set out an unprecedented package of financial support to help the country through the coronavirus pandemic, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which has supported 9.2million jobs.

The Government has put forward a package of support for business in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. As part of this, as of 21 June, £10.48 billion has been paid out to over 853,800 business properties under the Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund (RHLGF). We are working closely with all local authorities to deliver remaining funding to eligible businesses. Due to reasons of fairness, those local authorities with unspent funding will not be able to reallocate this beyond these schemes, and all local authorities will need to carry out a reconciliation exercise with government in due course.

On 1 May, the Government announced a further up to £617 million available for local authorities in England to support small businesses with ongoing fixed property-related costs that are not liable for business rates or rates reliefs, and are therefore out of scope of the SBGF and RHLGF. Local authorities are responsible for defining precise eligibility for this scheme in their area, within the government guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-local-authority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses.

We are keeping in close contact with local authorities to understand how the schemes are rolling out and any additional support which could be offered to help businesses and support local economies.

My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced a host of measures to help businesses uphold their contractual obligations to manufacturers and suppliers, with £330 billion worth of government backed and guaranteed loans including:

A Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) which enables SMEs with a turnover of up to £45 million access vital financial support. The Chancellor has extended CBILS so that all viable businesses affected by COVID-19, and not just those unable to secure regular commercial financing, will now be eligible should they need finance to keep operating during this difficult time.

A Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) providing finance to mid-sized and larger UK businesses with a group turnover of more than £45 million. We have increased the maximum amount available through CLBILS to a borrower and its group from £50 million to £200 million.

A Bounce Back Loans Scheme which provides loans of up to £50,000 to benefit small businesses with a 100% government-backed guarantee for lenders.

Additionally we have introduced temporary changes to VAT payments due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 to help businesses manage their cash flow. UK VAT registered business have the option to defer payments without interest or penalties. Businesses must pay the VAT due on or before 31 March 2021.

On 4 June, we announced that the Trade Credit Insurance market will receive up to £10 billion of government guarantees. The guarantees will support supply chains and help businesses to trade with confidence, safe in the knowledge that they will be protected if a customer defaults or delays on payment.

This Government is clear about the benefits of flexible working for employers and for their employees. In our manifesto we said that, subject to consultation, we would introduce measures to make flexible working the default.

We consulted last year on proposals to require large employers to publish flexible working policies and to advertise jobs as suitable for flexible working.

We are considering next steps.

Currently, we are seeing an increase in flexible working with many businesses rapidly adapting to remote working, using new technology and finding new ways of working. As we move beyond the current situation, and the economy begins to reopen, we are very keen to do more to promote flexible working in all its forms.

On 1 May 2020, the Business Secretary announced that up to £617 million is being made available to Local Authorities in England to allow them to provide discretionary grants. This is an additional 5% uplift to the £12.33 billion funding previously announced for the Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund (RHLGF). The additional Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund is aimed at small businesses with ongoing fixed property-related costs but not liable for business rates or rates reliefs.

We are asking local authorities to prioritise businesses in shared spaces, regular market traders, small charity properties that would meet the criteria for Small Business Rates Relief, and bed and breakfasts that pay council tax rather than business rates. Local Authorities are responsible for defining precise eligibility for this fund and may choose to make payments to other businesses based on local economic need, subject to those businesses meeting the specific eligibility criteria. Businesses already in receipt of the Small Business grant, a Retail, Hospitality and Leisure grant or Self-employed Income Support Scheme payment are not eligible.

Eligible small businesses are also encouraged to seek support through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme - support which is available to both tenants and landlords.

Government has also introduced temporary new measures to further safeguard the high street and millions of jobs by helping to protect them from permanent closure through aggressive forms of rent recovery during this time. Statutory demands and winding up petitions issued to commercial tenants will be temporarily voided and changes have been made to the use of Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery, building on measures already introduced in the Coronavirus Act.

In England, the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF) have supported many thousands of small businesses with their ongoing business costs in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. These grants only apply to businesses in England.

Local business support policy is devolved and the Barnett consequentials formula is being applied. Therefore, the Devolved Administrations will receive over £2.3bn additional funding as a result of these English grant schemes, enabling them to provide support to businesses in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

On 1 May 2020, the Business Secretary announced that up to £617 million is being made available to Local Authorities in England to allow them to provide discretionary grants. This is an additional 5% uplift to the £12.33 billion funding previously announced for the Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund (RHLGF).

The additional Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund is aimed at small businesses in England with ongoing fixed property-related costs but not liable for business rates or rates reliefs. We are asking local authorities to prioritise businesses in shared spaces, regular market traders, small charity properties that would meet the criteria for Small Business Rates Relief, and bed and breakfasts that pay council tax rather than business rates.

Local Authorities in England are responsible for defining precise eligibility for this fund and may choose to make payments to other businesses based on local economic need, subject to those businesses meeting the specific eligibility criteria. Businesses already in receipt of the Small Business grant, a Retail, Hospitality and Leisure grant or Self-employed Income Support Scheme payment are not eligible.

The Devolved Administrations will receive additional funding as a result of this announcement through the Barnett formula in the usual way, with up to £116m of additional Barnett consequentials.

Improving the lives of people living with dementia, including their families and carers, is a top priority for the Government. We remain strongly committed to advancing research into dementia and will be setting out our new plans for supporting people with dementia in England for 2020-2025 later this year.

Under the current Challenge on Dementia 2020 strategy, the Government’s commitment to spend over £300 million on dementia research between 2015 and 2020 was met a year early, with £341 million being spent by March 2019 via the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Department of Health and Social Care.

Through the £2.5 billion Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), Government is also supporting the £79 million Accelerating Detection of Disease challenge, a project bringing together the NHS, industry and leading charities to support research into the early diagnosis of disease, including dementia.

In response to Covid-19, my Department has already agreed a package of measures with the UK’s major fixed and mobile providers in order to help and support vulnerable consumers, and those who may be vulnerable, with their connectivity needs.

In recognition of more people working from home, signatory companies have agreed to lift data caps on all their customers’ fixed broadband connections. To assist those relying on mobile networks, companies have also agreed to provide new generous offers, including free voice and data boosts to their mobile customers. All signatories have also committed to working with customers who find it difficult to pay their bill as a result of Covid-19 to ensure that they are treated fairly and appropriately supported.

It is vital that pupils are taught about environmental and sustainability issues and the curriculum already includes much about these issues. From primary onwards, there is coverage of environmental issues in both the science and geography curriculums and, within both, there is scope for a practical focus to support pupils to apply the knowledge they are taught to the real world.

As the National Curriculum is a framework setting out the content of what the Department expects schools to cover in each subject, teachers have the flexibility and freedom to determine how they deliver the content in the way that best meets the needs of their pupils. Teachers can choose to cover particular subjects or topics in greater depth if they wish and, as knowledge of sustainability develops, teachers can adapt their school curriculums for these subjects.

To supplement their teaching, schools will have access to a variety of resources in the teaching of science and geography. The decision about which resources to use is a matter for schools and teachers.

The Department has made £4.84 million available for the Oak National Academy both for the summer term of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years, in order to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects for Reception up to Year 11. These lessons and their accompanying resources include coverage of climate change and the environment.

During the period of national lockdown primary, secondary, alternative provision and special schools remained open to vulnerable children and young people, including those with an education, health and care plan.

The Department published guidance regarding the provision of remote education during national lockdown, including guidance for pupils with special educational needs and disability (SEND), which is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/968401/Schools_operational_guidance_-March-2021-update.pdf. Where remote education is needed for pupils with SEND, their teachers are best-placed to know how their pupils’ needs can be most effectively met to ensure they continue to make progress even if they are not able to be in school due to COVID-19. The requirement for schools is to use their best endeavours to secure the special educational provision called for by the pupils’ special educational needs remains in place. Where possible, special schools should follow the age-related remote education guidance for primary schools and secondary schools.

The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. As of Monday 8 March, over 1.2 million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities and further education (FE) colleges.

The Department has also made £4.84 million available for the Oak National Academy both for the summer term of the academic year 2019-20, and then for the 2020-21 academic year, to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects for Reception up to Year 11. Specialist content for pupils with SEND is also available. This covers communication and language, numeracy, creative arts, independent living, physical development and early development learning. Additionally, the Oak National Academy offers therapy-based lessons and resources across occupational, physical, sensory and speech and language therapy.

We are providing £40.8 million for the Family Fund this year to support over 80,000 families on low incomes raising children with disabilities or serious illnesses: https://www.familyfund.org.uk/. £13.5 million of this is to specifically address needs arising from the COVID-19 outbreak, which may include assistive technology to aid remote education.

To ensure pupils with SEND are supported effectively, we have also funded the National Star College to launch their SEND Hub, providing advice and guidance on ways to ensure the curriculum is accessible and inclusive for all. This includes training on ways assistive technology can be used by teachers and Special Educational Needs Coordinators to support all pupils, including those with SEND.

There is a wide range of resources available to support schools and FE colleges to meet the expectations we have set. The Get Help with Remote Education page on gov.uk provides a one-stop-shop for teachers, signposting the support package, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-help-with-remote-education. This includes helping schools and FE colleges to access technology that supports remote education, as well as peer-to-peer training and guidance on how to use technology effectively. It also includes practical tools, a good practice guide and school-led webinars to support effective delivery of the curriculum. Information is also available on issues such as safeguarding, statutory duties and expectations, supporting pupils and students with SEND, and recovery and catch up to stop pupils and students falling behind.

Vulnerable children and young people, including those with an education, health and care plan, have been allowed and encouraged to attend school and college throughout the current national lockdown. Special schools and specialist post-16 providers have continued to offer face-to-face provision for all their pupils and students who wished to attend during this time.

On 22 February, the government set out its plans for the wider return of all pupils and to schools and colleges from 8 March. This included updated guidance, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings.

Sir Kevan Collins has been appointed as the Education Recovery Commissioner and is considering how schools and the system can more effectively target resources and support at pupils in greatest need. This will be supported with a new £700 million recovery package, focusing on an expansion of one-to-one and small group tutoring programmes, as well as supporting summer provision for those pupils who need it the most. This includes pupils with special educational needs and disability (SEND).

Given the additional costs associated with offering provision to pupils in specialist settings, eligible pupils in special schools, special units in mainstream schools and alternative provision settings will attract a higher rate of recovery premium funding and funding for summer schools.

We have also announced a £42 million package of continued support for the 2021-22 academic year, which will help us ensure that children and young people with SEND and their families are supported throughout school and into adulthood during this challenging time.

The Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care jointly published 'Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision: A Green Paper' in 2017, and a subsequent consultation response in 2018, setting out the government’s commitments to improve mental health support in and around schools and colleges. We remain committed to these proposals, including incentivising and supporting all schools and colleges to have an effective senior mental health lead by offering training free of charge to every school and college in England by 2025.

The senior lead role is not a mandatory role; rather, it is about helping schools and colleges to make the best use of existing resources to help improve the wellbeing and mental health of pupils and students. It is up to schools and colleges to decide on the precise nature of the role and salary arrangements the most of their setting’s existing approaches. We know that most schools and colleges have an individual who leads on mental health as part of their role: 82% of schools, including those with a sixth form (81% of primary, 86% of secondary) (school snapshot survey: winter 2018), and 77% of post-16 education settings, including sixth forms (91% of further education colleges) (Post-16 institutions and providers omnibus, summer 2018).

The government has prioritised providing bespoke training and support to meet the immediate challenges that all schools and colleges face in supporting the wellbeing of children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak through our £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme, delaying delivery of senior lead training.

We have recently assessed the impact of the COVID-19 otubreak on the training needs of senior mental health leads and examined the feasibility of a range of delivery options. We are now engaging the training provider market to understand how it may be able to support this commitment to help schools and colleges access quality training, with a view to providing schools and colleges with a grant to pay directly for quality training courses from appropriate providers. This training will equip senior mental health leads with the skills and knowledge to introduce or develop their whole-school/college approach to positive mental health and implement effective processes for ensuring pupils and students with mental health problems receive appropriate support.

We want local partners to have a key role in supporting delivery as good local partnerships make a huge difference in supporting schools and colleges with their role in children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. We remain keen to encourage and reinforce ongoing improvements to partnership working at the local level. We are also engaging representative groups to explore how best we can support partnership working on this, including the role of local authorities in the delivery of the training.

We remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams for all schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.

To expand access to mental health support for children and young people with emerging mental health issues, we have committed to establishing new Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) in 20% to 25% of the country by 2023, as part of the additional support for children and young people’s mental health in the NHS Long Term Plan. MHSTs are intended to provide early intervention on mild to moderate issues, as well as helping staff within a school or college setting to provide a ‘whole-school approach’ to mental health and wellbeing. Where already established, MHSTs are adapting their services to continue supporting children and young people remotely during the COVID-19 outbreak. The first 25 trailblazer sites, delivering 59 MHSTs (covering approximately 4% of the country) were announced in December 2018. A further 57 sites were confirmed in July 2019 and started developing 123 MHSTs during 2020. More teams have been commissioned to begin training in the academic year 2020/21. These teams will become operational once the training of new Education Mental Health Practitioners completes. Training will be completed as soon as circumstances allow, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The department is also committed to provide training for senior mental health leads in all state-funded schools and colleges in England. The training will equip senior mental health leads with the knowledge to introduce or develop their whole school/college approach to positive mental health are identified and implement effective processes for ensuring that they receive appropriate support, both to treat specific issues and appropriate pastoral support to keep them engaged in education where they are receiving or have had specialist treatment. MHSTs will be able to support leads with whole school approaches.

The COVID-19 outbreak has delayed the delivery of specific training for senior leads, as we decided to prioritise providing bespoke training and support to meet the immediate challenges that all schools and colleges will face in supporting the wellbeing of children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak. We are reviewing how to provide training for senior leads, building on the wider recovery offer. In the interim, we know that mental health leads will want to consider their whole school/college approach to supporting students as they return to settings. The Wellbeing for Education Return training, which has been available during the COVID-19 outbreak, will support this by giving staff increased confidence to support their colleagues, children and young people, and local knowledge so that they know how and where to access appropriate specialist support where needed. Schools can also draw on existing guidance and evidence that we have already made available to support effective whole school approaches. This includes Public Health England guidance on whole school approaches and wellbeing measurement (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-children-and-young-peoples-emotional-health-and-wellbeing) and our Mental Health and Behaviour Guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2) and this advice aims to help schools to support pupils whose mental health problems manifest themselves in behaviour.

In addition, in September 2020, the department made health education compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools. In health education, there is a strong focus on mental wellbeing; pupils will be taught how to recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns and where and how to seek support, amongst many other mental health-related topics. We published the mental wellbeing module ahead of the other Relationships, Health and Sex Education modules to make sure that teachers felt confident to address the mental wellbeing needs of their pupils.

We remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams for all schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.

To expand access to mental health support for children and young people with emerging mental health issues, we have committed to establishing new Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) in 20% to 25% of the country by 2023, as part of the additional support for children and young people’s mental health in the NHS Long Term Plan. MHSTs are intended to provide early intervention on mild to moderate issues, as well as helping staff within a school or college setting to provide a ‘whole-school approach’ to mental health and wellbeing. Where already established, MHSTs are adapting their services to continue supporting children and young people remotely during the COVID-19 outbreak. The first 25 trailblazer sites, delivering 59 MHSTs (covering approximately 4% of the country) were announced in December 2018. A further 57 sites were confirmed in July 2019 and started developing 123 MHSTs during 2020. More teams have been commissioned to begin training in the academic year 2020/21. These teams will become operational once the training of new Education Mental Health Practitioners completes. Training will be completed as soon as circumstances allow, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The department is also committed to provide training for senior mental health leads in all state-funded schools and colleges in England. The training will equip senior mental health leads with the knowledge to introduce or develop their whole school/college approach to positive mental health are identified and implement effective processes for ensuring that they receive appropriate support, both to treat specific issues and appropriate pastoral support to keep them engaged in education where they are receiving or have had specialist treatment. MHSTs will be able to support leads with whole school approaches.

The COVID-19 outbreak has delayed the delivery of specific training for senior leads, as we decided to prioritise providing bespoke training and support to meet the immediate challenges that all schools and colleges will face in supporting the wellbeing of children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak. We are reviewing how to provide training for senior leads, building on the wider recovery offer. In the interim, we know that mental health leads will want to consider their whole school/college approach to supporting students as they return to settings. The Wellbeing for Education Return training, which has been available during the COVID-19 outbreak, will support this by giving staff increased confidence to support their colleagues, children and young people, and local knowledge so that they know how and where to access appropriate specialist support where needed. Schools can also draw on existing guidance and evidence that we have already made available to support effective whole school approaches. This includes Public Health England guidance on whole school approaches and wellbeing measurement (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-children-and-young-peoples-emotional-health-and-wellbeing) and our Mental Health and Behaviour Guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2) and this advice aims to help schools to support pupils whose mental health problems manifest themselves in behaviour.

In addition, in September 2020, the department made health education compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools. In health education, there is a strong focus on mental wellbeing; pupils will be taught how to recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns and where and how to seek support, amongst many other mental health-related topics. We published the mental wellbeing module ahead of the other Relationships, Health and Sex Education modules to make sure that teachers felt confident to address the mental wellbeing needs of their pupils.

We remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams for all schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.

To expand access to mental health support for children and young people with emerging mental health issues, we have committed to establishing new Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) in 20% to 25% of the country by 2023, as part of the additional support for children and young people’s mental health in the NHS Long Term Plan. MHSTs are intended to provide early intervention on mild to moderate issues, as well as helping staff within a school or college setting to provide a ‘whole-school approach’ to mental health and wellbeing. Where already established, MHSTs are adapting their services to continue supporting children and young people remotely during the COVID-19 outbreak. The first 25 trailblazer sites, delivering 59 MHSTs (covering approximately 4% of the country) were announced in December 2018. A further 57 sites were confirmed in July 2019 and started developing 123 MHSTs during 2020. More teams have been commissioned to begin training in the academic year 2020/21. These teams will become operational once the training of new Education Mental Health Practitioners completes. Training will be completed as soon as circumstances allow, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The department is also committed to provide training for senior mental health leads in all state-funded schools and colleges in England. The training will equip senior mental health leads with the knowledge to introduce or develop their whole school/college approach to positive mental health are identified and implement effective processes for ensuring that they receive appropriate support, both to treat specific issues and appropriate pastoral support to keep them engaged in education where they are receiving or have had specialist treatment. MHSTs will be able to support leads with whole school approaches.

The COVID-19 outbreak has delayed the delivery of specific training for senior leads, as we decided to prioritise providing bespoke training and support to meet the immediate challenges that all schools and colleges will face in supporting the wellbeing of children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak. We are reviewing how to provide training for senior leads, building on the wider recovery offer. In the interim, we know that mental health leads will want to consider their whole school/college approach to supporting students as they return to settings. The Wellbeing for Education Return training, which has been available during the COVID-19 outbreak, will support this by giving staff increased confidence to support their colleagues, children and young people, and local knowledge so that they know how and where to access appropriate specialist support where needed. Schools can also draw on existing guidance and evidence that we have already made available to support effective whole school approaches. This includes Public Health England guidance on whole school approaches and wellbeing measurement (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-children-and-young-peoples-emotional-health-and-wellbeing) and our Mental Health and Behaviour Guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2) and this advice aims to help schools to support pupils whose mental health problems manifest themselves in behaviour.

In addition, in September 2020, the department made health education compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools. In health education, there is a strong focus on mental wellbeing; pupils will be taught how to recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns and where and how to seek support, amongst many other mental health-related topics. We published the mental wellbeing module ahead of the other Relationships, Health and Sex Education modules to make sure that teachers felt confident to address the mental wellbeing needs of their pupils.

We remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams for all schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.

To expand access to mental health support for children and young people with emerging mental health issues, we have committed to establishing new Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) in 20% to 25% of the country by 2023, as part of the additional support for children and young people’s mental health in the NHS Long Term Plan. MHSTs are intended to provide early intervention on mild to moderate issues, as well as helping staff within a school or college setting to provide a ‘whole-school approach’ to mental health and wellbeing. Where already established, MHSTs are adapting their services to continue supporting children and young people remotely during the COVID-19 outbreak. The first 25 trailblazer sites, delivering 59 MHSTs (covering approximately 4% of the country) were announced in December 2018. A further 57 sites were confirmed in July 2019 and started developing 123 MHSTs during 2020. More teams have been commissioned to begin training in the academic year 2020/21. These teams will become operational once the training of new Education Mental Health Practitioners completes. Training will be completed as soon as circumstances allow, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The department is also committed to provide training for senior mental health leads in all state-funded schools and colleges in England. The training will equip senior mental health leads with the knowledge to introduce or develop their whole school/college approach to positive mental health are identified and implement effective processes for ensuring that they receive appropriate support, both to treat specific issues and appropriate pastoral support to keep them engaged in education where they are receiving or have had specialist treatment. MHSTs will be able to support leads with whole school approaches.

The COVID-19 outbreak has delayed the delivery of specific training for senior leads, as we decided to prioritise providing bespoke training and support to meet the immediate challenges that all schools and colleges will face in supporting the wellbeing of children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak. We are reviewing how to provide training for senior leads, building on the wider recovery offer. In the interim, we know that mental health leads will want to consider their whole school/college approach to supporting students as they return to settings. The Wellbeing for Education Return training, which has been available during the COVID-19 outbreak, will support this by giving staff increased confidence to support their colleagues, children and young people, and local knowledge so that they know how and where to access appropriate specialist support where needed. Schools can also draw on existing guidance and evidence that we have already made available to support effective whole school approaches. This includes Public Health England guidance on whole school approaches and wellbeing measurement (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-children-and-young-peoples-emotional-health-and-wellbeing) and our Mental Health and Behaviour Guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2) and this advice aims to help schools to support pupils whose mental health problems manifest themselves in behaviour.

In addition, in September 2020, the department made health education compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools. In health education, there is a strong focus on mental wellbeing; pupils will be taught how to recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns and where and how to seek support, amongst many other mental health-related topics. We published the mental wellbeing module ahead of the other Relationships, Health and Sex Education modules to make sure that teachers felt confident to address the mental wellbeing needs of their pupils.

We remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams for all schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.

To expand access to mental health support for children and young people with emerging mental health issues, we have committed to establishing new Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) in 20% to 25% of the country by 2023, as part of the additional support for children and young people’s mental health in the NHS Long Term Plan. MHSTs are intended to provide early intervention on mild to moderate issues, as well as helping staff within a school or college setting to provide a ‘whole-school approach’ to mental health and wellbeing. Where already established, MHSTs are adapting their services to continue supporting children and young people remotely during the COVID-19 outbreak. The first 25 trailblazer sites, delivering 59 MHSTs (covering approximately 4% of the country) were announced in December 2018. A further 57 sites were confirmed in July 2019 and started developing 123 MHSTs during 2020. More teams have been commissioned to begin training in the academic year 2020/21. These teams will become operational once the training of new Education Mental Health Practitioners completes. Training will be completed as soon as circumstances allow, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The department is also committed to provide training for senior mental health leads in all state-funded schools and colleges in England. The training will equip senior mental health leads with the knowledge to introduce or develop their whole school/college approach to positive mental health are identified and implement effective processes for ensuring that they receive appropriate support, both to treat specific issues and appropriate pastoral support to keep them engaged in education where they are receiving or have had specialist treatment. MHSTs will be able to support leads with whole school approaches.

The COVID-19 outbreak has delayed the delivery of specific training for senior leads, as we decided to prioritise providing bespoke training and support to meet the immediate challenges that all schools and colleges will face in supporting the wellbeing of children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak. We are reviewing how to provide training for senior leads, building on the wider recovery offer. In the interim, we know that mental health leads will want to consider their whole school/college approach to supporting students as they return to settings. The Wellbeing for Education Return training, which has been available during the COVID-19 outbreak, will support this by giving staff increased confidence to support their colleagues, children and young people, and local knowledge so that they know how and where to access appropriate specialist support where needed. Schools can also draw on existing guidance and evidence that we have already made available to support effective whole school approaches. This includes Public Health England guidance on whole school approaches and wellbeing measurement (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-children-and-young-peoples-emotional-health-and-wellbeing) and our Mental Health and Behaviour Guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2) and this advice aims to help schools to support pupils whose mental health problems manifest themselves in behaviour.

In addition, in September 2020, the department made health education compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools. In health education, there is a strong focus on mental wellbeing; pupils will be taught how to recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns and where and how to seek support, amongst many other mental health-related topics. We published the mental wellbeing module ahead of the other Relationships, Health and Sex Education modules to make sure that teachers felt confident to address the mental wellbeing needs of their pupils.

Education on financial matters helps to ensure that young people are prepared to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions, and know where to seek further information when needed. In 2014, for the first time, financial literacy was made statutory within the National Curriculum as part of the citizenship curriculum for 11 to 16 year olds. This can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study.

The Department has also introduced a rigorous mathematics curriculum, which provides young people with the knowledge and financial skills to make important financial decisions. The Government has published statutory programmes of study for mathematics and citizenship that outline what pupils should learn about financial education from Key Stages 1 to 4: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-mathematics-programmes-of-study.

In the primary Mathematics curriculum, there is a strong emphasis on essential arithmetic that pupils should have. This knowledge is vital, as a strong understanding of numeracy and numbers will underpin the pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, percentages. There is also some specific content about financial education such as calculations with money.

The Department trusts schools to use their professional judgement and understanding of their pupils to develop the right teaching approach for their particular school, drawing on the expertise of subject associations and organisations such as Young Money.

Schools should have resumed teaching an ambitious and broad curriculum in all subjects from the start of the autumn term. This means that all pupils will be taught a wide range of subjects so they can maintain their choices for further study and employment. Our latest guidance on teaching to support children is set out here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

For the longer term, the Department will continue to work closely with The Money and Pension Service and HM Treasury, to consider how to provide further support for the teaching of financial education in schools.

Education on financial matters helps to ensure that young people are prepared to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions, and know where to seek further information when needed. In 2014, for the first time, financial literacy was made statutory within the National Curriculum as part of the citizenship curriculum for 11 to 16 year olds. This can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study.

The Department has also introduced a rigorous mathematics curriculum, which provides young people with the knowledge and financial skills to make important financial decisions. The Government has published statutory programmes of study for mathematics and citizenship that outline what pupils should learn about financial education from Key Stages 1 to 4: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-mathematics-programmes-of-study.

In the primary Mathematics curriculum, there is a strong emphasis on essential arithmetic that pupils should have. This knowledge is vital, as a strong understanding of numeracy and numbers will underpin the pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, percentages. There is also some specific content about financial education such as calculations with money.

The Department trusts schools to use their professional judgement and understanding of their pupils to develop the right teaching approach for their particular school, drawing on the expertise of subject associations and organisations such as Young Money.

Schools should have resumed teaching an ambitious and broad curriculum in all subjects from the start of the autumn term. This means that all pupils will be taught a wide range of subjects so they can maintain their choices for further study and employment. Our latest guidance on teaching to support children is set out here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

For the longer term, the Department will continue to work closely with The Money and Pension Service and HM Treasury, to consider how to provide further support for the teaching of financial education in schools.

The Department published expectations of the quality of remote education for schools on 2 July as part of the schools guidance for full opening and for further education (FE) providers in August as part of the autumn term guidance, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-further-education-provision/what-fe-colleges-and-providers-will-need-to-do-from-the-start-of-the-2020-autumn-term.

Where a pupil is unable to attend school because they are complying with clinical or public health advice, we expect schools to be able to immediately offer them access to remote education in line with previous guidance and the Temporary Continuity Direction which has been in effect since 22 October 2020.

On the 1 October, the Department announced a further remote education support package, to help schools and FE colleges meet the remote education expectations set out in guidance and Direction. Many elements of the support package are already in place and more will be available over the coming months to schools and FE providers, these can be accessed through the remote education service on GOV.UK, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

The support package includes access to the right technology to deliver remote education, peer to peer training on how to use this effectively, and practical tools, good practice guidance and school-led webinars. This adds to existing support including the resources available from Oak National Academy, which provides video lessons across a broad range of subjects for every year group from Reception to Year 11. Oak National Academy will remain a free optional resource for 2020-21. This is available here: https://www.thenational.academy/.

As part of over £195 million invested to support remote education and access to online social care, the Department is making over 340,000 laptops and tablets available this term to support disadvantaged children whose face-to-face education may be disrupted.

Schools can order devices for clinically extremely vulnerable children who have been advised to shield by contacting covid.technology@education.gov.uk.

A call for evidence on music education was launched on 9 February 2020 and closed on 13 March 2020, the findings from which will inform the refreshed National Plan for Music Education. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the refresh of the plan is currently on hold but will be published in due course.

As I set out in my letter of 2 September to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, their families and carers and those who work to support them, we know that it is critical that all pupils and students can once again benefit from a full-time on-site education 5 days a week. There are a small number of children with complex needs that require aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) to be undertaken where risks need to be carefully managed in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Schools, health, and local authority partners need to work together on how the current guidance applies in their setting and to the specific children they are working with to enable them to return to school safely. We have heard examples of good practice locally and are working with Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England to establish whether any changes to the guidance or further information about practice principles are needed.

It is important that schools communicate clearly with parents on progress towards supporting children who need AGPs to return to school safely, and provide remote education and support if they are unable to do so.

As part of their risk assessment, schools will need to consider measures so that specialists, therapists, clinicians, and other support staff for their pupils can continue to provide support that is needed. Schools should refer to the guidance for special schools, specialist colleges, local authorities and any other settings in managing the needs of children and young people with complex needs, such as AGPs. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings.

The government’s guidance on safe working in education, childcare and children's social care settings, including the use of personal protective equipment, provides further support on preventing and controlling infection and contains a section on caring for children who need AGPs at Annex A. This guidance reflects advice from PHE and is updated as necessary to reflect current advice. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safe-working-in-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care/safe-working-in-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings-including-the-use-of-personal-protective-equipment-ppe.

The department is currently working hard with HM Treasury as a part of the Spending Review to understand what resources the education and children’s social care sectors in England need over the coming years. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will set out the department’s settlement when the Spending Review concludes.

In advance of the Spending Review, we have introduced a COVID-19 catch-up premium worth £650 million to support mainstream and special schools to make up for lost teaching time. There is additional weighting for specialist settings, in recognition of the significantly higher per pupil costs they face. Headteachers will decide how this premium is spent, according to the needs of their pupils. Our expectation is that this funding will be spent on additional activities required to support children to catch up. We have also introduced a £350 million National Tutoring Programme for disadvantaged pupils. This will increase access to high-quality tuition for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people, helping to accelerate their academic progress and tackling the attainment gap between them and their peers. This includes a £96 million tuition fund for students aged between 16 and 19 years.

The £650 million ‘catch-up premium’ is to support schools to make up for lost teaching time. Our expectation is that this funding will be spent on the additional activities required to support children and young people to catch up after a period of disruption to their education.

To support settings to make best use of this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation have published a COVID-19 Support Guide for Schools with evidence-based approaches to catch-up for all students. Schools should use this document to help them direct their additional funding in the most effective way, which is available here:
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/national-tutoring-programme/covid-19-support-guide-for-schools/#nav-covid-19-support-guide-for-schools1.

The guide is clear that evidence-based interventions, including those focused on tackling pupils’ behaviour or social and emotional needs in order to support them with re-engaging with school, will support pupils to catch up as they return to school.

The Education Endowment Foundation have also published a further School Planning Guide for the new academic year, which is available here:
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/guide-to-supporting-schools-planning/.

The guidance for secondary school provision from 15 June 2020 was issued to support schools in England to welcome back pupils from eligible year groups. This can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-the-wider-opening-of-schools-from-1-june/planning-guide-for-secondary-schools.

From 15 June, secondary schools in England have been able to invite year 10 and 12 pupils (years 10 and 11 for alternative provision schools) back into school for some face-to-face support with their teachers, to supplement their remote education. This is alongside vulnerable children and the children of critical workers who have been able to attend school throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. Whilst secondary schools have been unable to welcome back additional year groups, they have had the flexibility to invite pupils in other year groups in for a face-to-face meeting before the end of this term, where it would be beneficial. We have asked schools to ensure this happens in line with wider protective measures guidance, and guidance on the numbers of pupils permitted on-site at any one time.

Schools have the flexibility to implement this support in the way that best suits their circumstances, including considerations around staff availability, expertise and workload. It is up to schools to decide how they want to use face-to-face support in the best interests of their pupils (e.g. additional pastoral support, academic support, practical support, or a combination of these) and which staff are best placed to provide it.

Ofsted’s routine school inspections are suspended at this time to enable schools to focus entirely on the immediate challenge of supporting pupils for the remainder of this term and preparing for a full return of pupils from September. Ofsted will not therefore be assessing the face-to-face support being provided by schools during this period. As set out in the Government’s guidance on the full opening of schools, published on 2 July, Ofsted will conduct a programme of non-graded visits to a sample of schools in the autumn to discuss how they are managing the return to education of all their pupils. This guidance can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

It is intended that routine Ofsted inspections will restart from January 2021, with the exact timing being kept under review.

The return to school is a vital factor in supporting the mental wellbeing of pupils, in addition to providing more opportunities for physical activity, attendance at school allows social interaction with peers, carers and teachers, which benefits wellbeing. To support this, we have encouraged schools to focus on mental wellbeing as pupils return.

The department has now published detailed plans for all children and young people to return to full-time education from September. The guidance highlights the particular need to focus on pastoral support and mental wellbeing as a central part of what schools provide, in order to re-engage them and rebuild social interaction with their friends and teachers. This will involve curriculum provision as well as extra-curricular and pastoral support. Our recently published mental wellbeing module, part of the relationships, sex and health education curriculum, will support teachers to prepare to deliver content on mental health and wellbeing. The guidance for schools is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

The mental wellbeing teacher training module as part of the relationships, sex and health education curriculum is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing.

Schools already support the mental wellbeing of their pupils as part of their curriculum provision and pastoral support. This is paid for from schools’ core funding, which is rising by £2.6 billion in 2020-21, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20 funding levels. To support the return to school, the government has also announced an additional £650 million ‘catch-up’ premium, as part of our wider £1 billion Covid catch-up package, to be shared across all state-funded schools over the 2020-21 academic year. School leaders will have the discretion on how to use this funding to best support their pupils to catch up for lost time, which in some cases, will include support to parents, carers and children to help them re-engage with learning. Pastoral support is a core job for schools, we do not place restrictions on spend because it is important that schools are free to decide how best to use the core funding they receive.

Access to mental health support is more important than ever during the COVID-19 outbreak. NHS services remain open, and leading mental health charities are being supported to deliver additional services through the £5 million Coronavirus Mental Health Response Fund. During Mental Health Awareness Week, the government also announced that a further £4.2 million will be awarded to mental health charities, including the Samaritans, Young Minds and Bipolar UK. All NHS mental health trusts have been asked to ensure that there are 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of all ages.

We will do whatever we can to ensure no child, whatever their background or location, falls behind as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. So far, we have committed over £100 million to support remote education. We are providing laptops and tablets to vulnerable and disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for exams in year 10, to those receiving support from a social worker, including pre-school children, and care leavers. Where care leavers, children with a social worker at secondary school and disadvantaged children in year 10 do not have internet connections, we will be providing 4G wireless routers to them so that they can learn at home.

As well as announcing the biggest funding increase for schools in a decade, raising current levels by £14.4 billion over the next three years, we continue to pay schools quarterly additional funding worth £2.4 billion each year through the pupil premium to help them support their disadvantaged pupils. Since April 2020, pupil premium rates per pupil are at their highest ever.

We are working with partners to explore how schools can use their resources, including pupil premium, to most effectively support pupils to make up for time spent out of school.

Schools and colleges continue to be best placed to make decisions about how to support and educate all their pupils during this period, based on the local context and staff capacity.

Where year groups are returning to school, we would expect school leaders and teachers to consider their pupils’ mental health and wellbeing and identify any pupil who may need additional support so they are ready to learn. They should also assess the stage pupils have reached in the school curriculum and the adjustments that may need to be made.

No school will be penalised if they are unable to offer a broad and balanced curriculum to their pupils during this period.

Our planning framework for schools advises them to prepare wellbeing support, and the primary planning guide sets out further guidance on managing pupil and staff wellbeing and mental health as schools open more widely:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-the-wider-opening-of-schools-from-1-june/planning-guide-for-primary-schools#managing-pupil-and-staff-wellbeing-and-mental-health.

The Department has signposted resources on supporting and promoting mental wellbeing among a list of resources to help children to use at home: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-online-education-resources.

BBC Bitesize have worked with the Department to provide content with substantial focus on mental health, wellbeing and pastoral care.

Public Health England and Health Education England have also developed advice and guidance for parents and professionals on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, including bereavement support. This advice is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing.

These are rapidly developing circumstances; we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.

Ministers and officials in the Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care are meeting regularly to discuss how to provide support for mental health and wellbeing of pupils and their teachers in England. Access to mental health support is more important than ever during the COVID-19 outbreak. NHS services remain open and leading mental health charities are being supported to deliver additional services through the £5 million Coronavirus Mental Health Response Fund. The NHS is also setting up 24/7 open access telephone lines for urgent mental health support for people of all ages.

We want to get all children and young people back into education as soon as the scientific advice allows because it is the best place for them to learn, and we know how important it is for their mental wellbeing to have social interactions with their peers, carers and teachers. From week commencing 1 June 2020, primary schools have welcomed back children in nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6, alongside priority groups (vulnerable children and children of critical workers). From 15 June 2020, secondary schools will provide some face-to-face support for young people in Year 10 and Year 12.

The department issued guidance regarding the wider opening of schools from 1 June, first published 11 May, making clear that schools are best placed to make decisions about supporting and educating all their pupils during this period, based on local context and staff capacity. As set out in the guidance, where year groups are returning to school, we would expect school leaders and teachers to consider their pupils’ mental health and wellbeing and identify any pupils who may need additional support, so they are ready to learn; assess where pupils are in their learning and agree what adjustments are needed to the school curriculum over the coming weeks; identify and plan how best to support the education of high needs groups, including disadvantaged pupils, SEND and vulnerable pupils.

Mental wellbeing is also included as specific a theme in the planning framework issued by the department, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-educational-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020/opening-schools-for-more-children-and-young-people-initial-planning-framework-for-schools-in-england.

Further guidance is provided in the planning guide for primary schools, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-the-wider-opening-of-schools-from-1-june/planning-guide-for-primary-schools.

To help schools implement this, we are putting in place further support for children and teachers on mental health and wellbeing. This includes training for teachers, such as a new module developed with clinical experts on how to teach about mental health in health education and more details are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing.

The support also includes advice seminars, £750,000 to three organisations extend support and advice to schools on tackling bullying, and grants to the Education Support Partnership and Timewise to support teachers’ mental health and flexible working. The Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care will continue to work together on what further support we might provide as more children and young people return to school.

Ministers and officials in the Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care are meeting regularly to discuss how to provide support for mental health and wellbeing of pupils and their teachers in England. Access to mental health support is more important than ever during the COVID-19 outbreak. NHS services remain open and leading mental health charities are being supported to deliver additional services through the £5 million Coronavirus Mental Health Response Fund. The NHS is also setting up 24/7 open access telephone lines for urgent mental health support for people of all ages.

We want to get all children and young people back into education as soon as the scientific advice allows because it is the best place for them to learn, and we know how important it is for their mental wellbeing to have social interactions with their peers, carers and teachers. From week commencing 1 June 2020, primary schools have welcomed back children in nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6, alongside priority groups (vulnerable children and children of critical workers). From 15 June 2020, secondary schools will provide some face-to-face support for young people in Year 10 and Year 12.

The department issued guidance regarding the wider opening of schools from 1 June, first published 11 May, making clear that schools are best placed to make decisions about supporting and educating all their pupils during this period, based on local context and staff capacity. As set out in the guidance, where year groups are returning to school, we would expect school leaders and teachers to consider their pupils’ mental health and wellbeing and identify any pupils who may need additional support, so they are ready to learn; assess where pupils are in their learning and agree what adjustments are needed to the school curriculum over the coming weeks; identify and plan how best to support the education of high needs groups, including disadvantaged pupils, SEND and vulnerable pupils.

Mental wellbeing is also included as specific a theme in the planning framework issued by the department, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-educational-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020/opening-schools-for-more-children-and-young-people-initial-planning-framework-for-schools-in-england.

Further guidance is provided in the planning guide for primary schools, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-the-wider-opening-of-schools-from-1-june/planning-guide-for-primary-schools.

To help schools implement this, we are putting in place further support for children and teachers on mental health and wellbeing. This includes training for teachers, such as a new module developed with clinical experts on how to teach about mental health in health education and more details are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing.

The support also includes advice seminars, £750,000 to three organisations extend support and advice to schools on tackling bullying, and grants to the Education Support Partnership and Timewise to support teachers’ mental health and flexible working. The Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care will continue to work together on what further support we might provide as more children and young people return to school.

The Department is communicating with parents, carers and children to reassure them about the measures that are in place to reduce the risk to children, staff and their families and inform them about the benefits of eligible children being in school. In addition to direct communications with parents, the Department has been working closely with schools, local authorities and education leaders to ensure our guidance on the phased wider opening of schools in England is clear and to encourage them to support parents and children returning to school.

The Department has produced a range of communications content to help inform parents about the carefully managed plan to widen the opening of schools as well as the social, wellbeing and educational benefits to children. We are working with key partners and other Government Departments to reach a wide audience and coordinate with other communications activity such as the Department for Transport’s safer transport campaign. We are working closely with the Cabinet Office who coordinate the national COVID-19 public information campaign to ensure key messages on education are communicated through the Stay Alert campaign. Additionally, we are working with the Cabinet Office on sharing our messaging to reassure parents and children through a media partnership with around 600 national, regional and community media titles.

It should be noted that that education is a devolved matter and it is right that individual jurisdictions take decisions in line with their circumstances. It is for the Scottish Government to take the decisions that are right for them to address concerns and reassure parents and children who are learning in the Scottish education system, be this through a national communications campaign or other means.

The government is committed to supporting young carers so that they are properly protected from excessive or inappropriate caring responsibilities and supported to achieve their full potential. Consistent identification remains challenging, with many being ‘hidden’ and therefore unrecognised and/or unsupported.

Changes through the Children and Families Act 2014 simplified the legislation relating to young adult carers’ assessments, making rights and duties clearer to both young people and practitioners. This included promoting whole family approaches which triggers children and adults’ support services into action – assessing why a child is caring, what needs to change and what would help the family to prevent children or young people from taking on this responsibility in the first place.

Schools also monitor attendance and if a child’s absence reaches a level of concern, the school will wish to raise this in the best interest of the child’s education. Schools have a duty to inform the local authority of any child who fails to attend school regularly. Schools and local authorities should consider the individual circumstances of each case and take the appropriate course of action to ensure the child receives consistent education.

The Department for Education provides schools with £2.4 billion each year in additional funding through the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils. We expect schools to make effective use of their pupil premium budgets; schools know their pupils best and will spend the grant according to meet pupil needs, which includes where needs are based on a parent’s health issues or disability.

We published the Children in Need Review conclusion in 2019. This sets out our approach to helping schools and children’s social care improve the educational outcomes of children in need, including those young carers assessed as being in need of help and protection.

The government is committed to supporting young carers so that they are properly protected from excessive or inappropriate caring responsibilities and supported to achieve their full potential. Consistent identification remains challenging, with many being ‘hidden’ and therefore unrecognised and/or unsupported.

Changes through the Children and Families Act 2014 simplified the legislation relating to young adult carers’ assessments, making rights and duties clearer to both young people and practitioners. This included promoting whole family approaches which triggers children and adults’ support services into action – assessing why a child is caring, what needs to change and what would help the family to prevent children or young people from taking on this responsibility in the first place.

Schools also monitor attendance and if a child’s absence reaches a level of concern, the school will wish to raise this in the best interest of the child’s education. Schools have a duty to inform the local authority of any child who fails to attend school regularly. Schools and local authorities should consider the individual circumstances of each case and take the appropriate course of action to ensure the child receives consistent education.

The Department for Education provides schools with £2.4 billion each year in additional funding through the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils. We expect schools to make effective use of their pupil premium budgets; schools know their pupils best and will spend the grant according to meet pupil needs, which includes where needs are based on a parent’s health issues or disability.

We published the Children in Need Review conclusion in 2019. This sets out our approach to helping schools and children’s social care improve the educational outcomes of children in need, including those young carers assessed as being in need of help and protection.

The apprenticeship levy underpins our reforms to raise apprenticeship quality and support employers to make a long-term, sustainable investment in the skills that they need to grow. Income from the levy is used to fund apprenticeships in all employers (both in employers who pay the levy and employers who do not).

In response to employers, we have already introduced the flexibility for levy-payers to transfer up to 25% of their funds, enabling them to support apprenticeship starts in their supply chains or to meet local skills needs. In January, we extended the use of transfers to cover the full cost of training for 16 to 18 year olds and eligible 19 to 24 year olds in employers with fewer than 50 employees.

We are committed to improving the working of the apprenticeship levy to ensure it continues to deliver the skilled workforce that employers need.

The government has announced a £780 million increase to local authorities’ high needs funding, boosting the budget by 12% and bringing the total spent on supporting those with the most complex needs to over £7 billion for 2020-21. In addition, we have launched a cross-government Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) review to improve how children and young people with SEND are supported in the current system.

We have also invested a total of £365 million through the special provision capital fund from 2018-19 to 2020-21. This funding can be used to create more places in special educational needs units and resourced provision in mainstream schools or colleges, in special schools, or in any of the other types of provision used by local authorities for pupils and students with education, health and care plans.

This government is also committed to expanding AP schools as well as delivering more school places for children with complex SEND including through the free schools programme. Currently there are 43 open special free schools and 47 open alternative provision free schools. These schools have helped to provide innovation, choice and higher standards for parents. There are a further 48 special free schools and 7 AP free schools due to open in the future.

Waste is a devolved area of policy.

Government’s ambition for the future of waste management in England, as set out in the Resources and Waste Strategy, is to ensure that we preserve material resources through a reduction in the generation of waste and by moving towards a circular economy. We also want to manage any residual waste in a way that maximises its value as a resource whilst minimising environmental impacts.

Our view is that waste incineration with energy recovery should not compete with greater waste prevention, re-use or recycling, however, it does play and should continue to play an important role in diverting waste from landfill and is generally the best management option for most residual waste.

The Resources and Waste Strategy also set out an ambition to increase the efficiency of energy from waste (EfW) plants, by encouraging use of the heat the plants produce and working with industry to increase the number of EfW plants that are formally recognised as achieving recovery status.

Waste is a devolved area of policy.

There are no plans to announce a moratorium on the incineration of waste in England.

Through the Resources and Waste Strategy we committed to monitoring residual waste treatment capacity. The Government intends to revisit waste projections to help understand future residual waste infrastructure capacity needs, taking account of waste prevention measures, our high recycling ambitions and municipal waste landfill reduction goals. This capacity analysis will also help us to further develop our preferred options for residual waste treatment as we move towards a circular economy and focus on delivering our net zero ambitions.

The Government is examining the future use of cages for all laying hens and I welcome the commitment from our major retailers, with positive support from our egg producers, to stop retailing eggs from enriched colony cage production systems by 2025. I am pleased to state that the UK already has a much larger free-range sector by far than any EU country, with over 50% of our hens kept in free range systems.

The UK is rightly proud of the high animal welfare standards we expect of our farmers. In examining the future use of cages, we will consider the most appropriate tools available to ensure our animal welfare objectives are achieved.

Defra officials have engaged with a range of stakeholders to inform our policy on hunting trophy imports, including officials from other governments. As part of this work we have spoken to officials from the Government of the Netherlands. As we develop our policy, we are looking at how other countries have approached this issue, alongside the wide range of views and evidence we have received through our consultation and call for evidence.

Defra recognises the impact that underwater noise from clearing unexploded ordnance can have on vulnerable marine species. We are working closely with other government departments, the Marine Management Organisation, statutory nature conservation bodies and marine industries to reduce underwater noise but must ensure any clearance method for the removal of unexploded ordnance is both safe and effective.

Defra is investigating deflagration as an alternative to detonation in the removal of unexploded ordnance from the seabed. This involves the controlled burning of explosive material in a manner that does not result in full detonation. We welcome the research commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy into the impact of using low order deflagration techniques for unexploded ordnance removal which is ongoing.

The Marine Management Organisation already includes the use of deflagration as an advisory voluntary request within marine deemed licences requesting that developers investigate deflagration as an initial method of mitigation.

The Biodiverse Landscapes Fund will deliver poverty reduction, conservation and climate outcomes across biologically diverse, transboundary landscapes worldwide. It will create sustainable economic development for local communities which supports the protection, restoration and sustainable management of these critical landscapes, rather than deriving short-term gains from their unsustainable use.

The Biodiverse Landscapes Fund is currently in development. Funding will be allocated, however, to a range of delivery partners who have demonstrated that they can deliver interventions that will meet the Fund's objectives in a landscape via an open, competitive process. Full details of this process, its timelines and the Fund's objectives will be published in due course.

The Blue Planet Fund aims to help countries eligible for Official Development Assistance (ODA) to reduce poverty through the protection and sustainable management of their marine resources. It will focus on addressing human-generated threats across four key themes: biodiversity, climate change, marine pollution, and sustainable seafood. The Fund is currently being designed by Defra and FCDO, based on available evidence and drawing on information from across HMG's international network, and will be launched later this year.

Both programmes are ODA funded, and so are subject to the Government’s guidelines and rules for designing and implementing ODA programmes. As such, once operational, progress will regularly be assessed against pre-agreed criteria and through a robust monitoring, evaluation and learning cycle to ensure projects achieve economic development and conservation objectives. Defra publishes information on ODA funded programmes to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) registry and adheres to the transparency standards set out in the UK Aid Strategy.

The UK Government is committed to working with partners around the world to implement the ten commitments under the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature, which the UK co-created. To demonstrate our dedication to delivering on the Pledge commitments, in January 2021, the Prime Minister committed to spending at least £3 billion of the UK’s International Climate Finance over the next five years, on climate change solutions that protect and restore nature and biodiversity.

As you will be aware, Lord Goldsmith wrote to the devolved administrations prior to the Pledge’s launch to seek their support. I am grateful for the support of the Scottish Government, as signalled in their recently published ‘Statement of Intent’ on post-2020 biodiversity, and I am also grateful to the Welsh Government for their support.

In line with Pledge commitments, the UK Government is taking strong action on nature domestically as well as internationally. The environment is a devolved policy area and, in England, we are maintaining and extending key protections; introducing new legislation and new funding streams; we are supporting partnerships and we are working across Government to secure broad action. We have, for example, brought forward the first Environment Bill for more than 20 years which, alongside our strengthened Agriculture and Fisheries Acts, sets a new legal foundation for government action to improve the environment.

In the Resources and Waste Strategy the Government committed to providing consumers with better information on the sustainability of their purchases, including through better product labelling. In the Environment Bill, currently being taken through Parliament, we are seeking powers that will enable us to introduce labelling and information requirements for clothing, as well as eco-design requirements and producer responsibility schemes.

We have also worked closely with WRAP to develop the new voluntary agreement on textiles to succeed the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP 2020) from next year. Textiles 2030 was announced on 10 November and has ambitious targets, aligning with global goals on carbon, water and circularity and aims to drive the shift to a more resource-efficient textiles sector in the UK. Signatories will take action to improve the sustainability of their products in line with the ambitions of the new agreement.

We plan to publish our draft Waste Prevention Programme for consultation in the new year which will set out this Government’s approach to improving resource efficiency and reduce waste in a number of key sectors including textiles.

The UK Government has not published a 2019 Food Waste Strategy. The hon. Member’s question may refer to the Scottish Government’s Food Waste Reduction Action Plan from 2019. The following answer describes other strategic documents which are relevant to the question.

In 2019, Defra commissioned Henry Dimbleby, its lead Non-Executive Director, to lead an independent review of the food system to develop recommendations to shape a National Food Strategy. Part One was published in July 2020, with Part Two due in Spring 2021.

To help tackle food waste, Defra and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) launched the UK Food Waste Reduction Roadmap (FWRR) in September 2018. The roadmap sets out a clear direction for what all large businesses in the UK need to achieve in order for us to achieve our international targets for food waste reduction and provides a basis to track progress. It also allows a wider population of food businesses to show their commitment to implementing the Target, Measure, Act (TMA) approach.

The Resources and Waste Strategy (published in December 2018) sets out the Government's approach to tackling food waste, building on the direction set out in the FWRR. The 2020 annual progress report for the FWRR, published by WRAP and industry experts IGD, shows growing adoption of the TMA approach to food waste prevention with more than 70 new organisations committing to the Roadmap in the last twelve months.

Following support from respondents to our public consultation on increasing consistency in recycling, we are legislating through the Environment Bill to ensure that businesses and other organisations in England will be required to arrange for the collection of a core set of materials for recycling, including a separate food waste collection where this material is produced. We will be consulting further on this in 2021. We also committed in the Resources and Waste Strategy to consult to introduce mandatory reporting of food waste by businesses. We are currently engaging with industry and related stakeholders to inform the development of this consultation.

In the Resources and Waste Strategy the Government committed to consult on introducing mandatory reporting by businesses. We are engaging with industry and related stakeholders to inform the development of this consultation.

Due to the ongoing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on food and drink businesses, we have postponed the launch of this consultation until 2021.

Through the WRAP-administered Resources Action Fund we made £1.5 million available for small scale capital grants of between £20,000 to £170,000 to encourage innovation and support the development of textile reuse and recycling. Funds have been allocated to organisations in England to invest in facilities to improve the reprocessing of textiles waste, including recycling of waste textiles to create recycled fibres for manufacturers.

With backing from Defra, £30 million of research funding (of which £22.5 million is Government investment) has been allocated through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to establish five circular economy research centres. £4.5 million has been allocated to a centre focused on sustainable textiles. The Interdisciplinary Textiles Circularity Centre, led by the Royal College of Art, aims to reduce our reliance on imported clothing materials by leading research to turn post-consumer textiles and household waste into renewable materials for use in textiles products. This programme will harness academic excellence and industry expertise to deliver for the UK.

While this department has received representations about the treatment of dogs in China, we have not received any representations about the proposed ban on the human consumption of dog meat in Shenzhen or Zhuhai, China.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given to her on 19 May 2020, PQ UIN 46697, which remains the current situation.

[www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-05-13/46697]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be a delay in publication of the Government response to the consultation and call for evidence on controls on the import and export of hunting trophies. We are, however, continuing to work on this important area and will publish the Government response as soon as it is practical to do so. The outcome of the consultation, and the accompanying call for evidence, will inform our next steps.

The Secretary of State meets regularly with his Cabinet colleagues to discuss a range of topics, including the future trade deal with the EU. As the PM has made clear in his speech of 3 February, animal welfare is a priority for the UK in trade negotiations. The UK is proud of its world-leading food, health and animal welfare standards. We will not lower our standards as we negotiate the new trade deal.

At the end of 2020 the UK will leave the EU’s customs area and the EU’s single market. We will maintain our own Sanitary Phytosanitary (SPS) system so that we can set our own rules and standards. The UK has been clear that the UK-EU future relationship will be based on friendly relations and free trade, not on the EU’s treaties or principles - there will be no regulatory alignment.

The UK and the EU may agree equivalence in certain areas to reduce practical barriers to trade at the border. However, this will only be done if the UK’s regulatory autonomy is respected and there is no role for the ECJ.

Animal sanctuaries and rescue and rehoming centres carry out important work to ensure that unwanted and abandoned animals are offered the opportunity of finding a permanent home. This includes those organisations caring for equines. Concerns have been raised by the sector about variations in welfare standards across the sector, and that some individuals prioritise commercial gain over the welfare needs of animals.

In England, Defra has been working closely with organisations such as World Horse Welfare and the National Equine Welfare Council and its members, to better understand the benefits and impacts, particularly on smaller rescue centres, if licensing or other regulation was introduced on the sector.

We continue to engage with the sector on these questions. Any proposal to bring forward such regulation will be subject to a full public consultation.

We have a manifesto commitment to end excessively long journeys for live animals going for slaughter and fattening, which is an opportunity we have gained through leaving the EU. We intend to issue a consultation on how we deliver on that commitment shortly.

In the Resources and Waste Strategy for England (2018), the Government committed to develop policy measures to promote sustainable practices in the clothing and textiles industry. We are currently working with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and industry to develop an ambitious new phase of the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan, which has to date delivered significant reductions in signatories’ carbon and water footprints. The recently introduced Environment Bill also seeks powers to develop ecodesign and consumer information requirements subject to consultation to support durable, repairable, and recyclable textiles. We have also identified textiles as a priority area in which to consult on an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme. We are seeking to support closed loop recycling through the WRAP-administered Resource Action Fund. Our plans to promote sustainable practices in the textiles sector will be developed and enhanced in a new Waste Prevention Programme on which we will consult this year.

In the Resources and Waste Strategy for England (2018), the Government committed to develop policy measures to support a circular economy for clothing and textiles. We are currently working with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and industry to develop an ambitious new phase of the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan. We are seeking enabling powers in the forthcoming Environment Bill to develop ecodesign and consumer information requirements subject to consultation to support durable, repairable, and recyclable textiles. We have also identified textiles as a priority area in which to consult on an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme. We are seeking to support closed loop recycling through the WRAP-administered Resource Action Fund. Our plans for shifting towards greater circularity in the textiles sector will be developed and enhanced in a new Waste Prevention Programme on which we will consult this year.

The merger of the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will enable us to bring together our international efforts; will strengthen our ability to contribute to the global recovery from COVID-19; and allow us to seize opportunities which arise as we prepare to take on the G7 presidency and host COP26 next year. The UK will continue to play a leading role on global health and is committed to achieving the health-related global goals, including ending the preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns and children by 2030.

The UK is proud of its strong record on inclusive development and protecting the most vulnerable, and this Government remains steadfast in its commitment to this agenda.

In co-hosting the Global Disability Summit two years ago, the UK demonstrated its leadership on disability inclusion and the principle of Leave No One Behind.

The vital work of UK aid to reduce poverty and protect vulnerable groups will remain central to the new FCDO’s mission. The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy is expected to conclude later in the year, which will define the Government’s ambition for the UK’s role in the world and its outcomes will shape the objectives of the FCDO. Both the review and the merger are evidence of the Prime Minister’s commitment to a unified British foreign and development policy that will maximise our influence around the world.

The UK is globally recognised for its expertise and transparency in aid spending. We are committed to improving transparency of aid globally and maintaining our high standards for overseas spending. We will continue to be accountable to parliament and to taxpayers for how we spend UK aid.

DFID is working closely with the FCO and other ODA-spending departments to consider how best to manage the 0.7% commitment in the coming year. A cross-HMG process is underway, and no decision has been taken but we are considering the full range of our work. As the Prime Minister has stated, the government will remain committed to the 0.7% target through the creation of the new FCDO.

DFID’s work in fragile and conflict affected states (FCAS) is vital. DFID has consistently spent at least 50% of its Official Development Assistance in fragile and conflict affected states from 2015 to 2017. Figures for 2018 will be published in due course.

The Government’s 0.7% GNI commitment is directly linked to the size of our economy and in light of the impact of COVID-19, we are reviewing our programmes to make our response as effective as possible.

The UK remains committed to the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs will play an important role in post-COVID-19 recovery, recognising the connection between healthy lives, healthy societies and a healthy environment. As the Prime Minister affirmed on 28 May, we owe it to future generations to build back better, basing our recovery on a fairer, greener and more resilient global economy, and to get our shared goals back on track, including the Sustainable Development Goals.

DFID’s existing office in East Kilbride will become part of the new Department’s estate. Some roles in East Kilbride may change due to business needs and any changes will be handled in accordance with relevant civil service policy and guidance. It is too early to be able to say precisely what effect those changes will have. We can confirm that there will be no compulsory redundancies for DFID employees as a result of the decision to create the new Department and any changes will be handled in accordance with relevant civil service policy and guidance.

Merging the departments will bring together the best of what we do in aid and diplomacy, and create new opportunities for staff. The ambition, vision and expertise of DFID staff will be at the heart of the new department – taking forward the work of UK aid, which will remain central to our mission. There will be no compulsory redundancies and we will work closely with staff throughout the process of implementing the merger. Any changes to team structures or to roles and responsibilities will be fair, open and transparent.

The Prime Minister is determined that the Integrated Review later this year will set an ambitious vision for the future of the UK as an active, internationalist, problem-solving and burden-sharing nation. The new Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office will be central to the delivery of that vision, so it needs to prepare now to be ready by the Autumn.

This reform will create a department that for the first time for many years has the combination of size, reach and expertise to project us effectively internationally and make sure that we spend our development money in the best possible way.

The National Audit Office, the UK’s independent public spending watchdog, supports Parliament in holding government to account and helping to improve public services through independent audits. The Comptroller and Auditor General certifies the accounts of all government departments and has statutory authority to examine whether departments have used their resources efficiently, effectively and with economy. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) will be accountable to parliament for how it spends UK aid. The form this takes is a matter for Parliament. We remain committed to full transparency in our aid spending and there will continue to be parliamentary and independent scrutiny of the aid budget.

I recognise both the important place that religious belief has for many people around the world affected by COVID-19 and the role that faith-based actors are playing in the response, particularly in communicating public health messages. Faith-based actors are key policy and delivery partners for DFID. We are committed to working with and alongside faith-based actors to meet the challenges posed to both the UK and internationally by COVID-19.

DFID is taking forward a structured approach to engagement with UK and international civil society, including faith-based actors. This is incorporating strategic and technical discussions to help inform the sector’s response to the pandemic. Specifically, Baroness Sugg has chaired two round table discussions with the Chief Executive Officers from key civil society organisations including faith-based organisations on 3 April and the 1 May to update the sector on DFID’s COVID-19 response to date, engage with concerns across the sector, and explore how to mitigate the threats posed by COVID-19 to sector resilience. Lord Ahmad is also planning to host a round table with faith leaders and faith-based development organisations to discuss how we can work together more effectively.

DFID has pledged new funding for civil society organisations including faith-based organisations to support the response. This includes £20 million through the Rapid Response Facility which includes funding for Christian Aid; up to £30 million of new grants through the next round of the UK Aid Direct programme, and significant funding through the DFID Unilever COVID-19 Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition. Faith-based organisations can receive funding through multilateral organisations as downstream partners as part of the UK’s response and through our country office network. We have been reviewing our programme portfolio in light of the COVID-19 response, enabling us to identify existing activities which can already support the response and others which can be adapted or scaled up, such as our support to health systems and humanitarian crises.

Good communications are critical for all aspects of the COVID-19 preparedness and response in the camps. Human rights organisations are working to provide legal guidance, monitor and advocate for the safety and wellbeing of refugees in line with international standards, and support the efforts of the protection sector overall, particularly to respond to violence against women and girls.

The internet and access restrictions limit the ability of agencies to share information with the refugees and with each other; and of the Rohingya to communicate among themselves. However, despite the decreased presence of humanitarian personnel in the camps, and internet and sim card restrictions, Rohingya are still able to communicate on a limited scale with human rights organisations. Protection services are among the critical services continuing in the camps and information sharing structures between organisations are functional. We continue to emphasise the importance of telecommunication access in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in our senior meetings with the Government of Bangladesh. We have requested the lifting of restrictions and allowing full communication access in the camps.

DFID is paying close attention to ensure that all COVID-19 assistance is inclusive and does not discriminate on religious grounds.

DFID is actively engaged with the Government of Pakistan to shape their COVID-19 response so that those most at risk of being left behind, including religious and other minority groups, can receive assistance. We are currently looking at how we can best support vulnerable groups through the crisis.

We are concerned by media reports of incidents where minorities in Sindh were refused assistance. We therefore welcome the establishment of initiatives like the government’s Ehsaas Rashan Portal, which seeks to prevent some of these inequities by connecting the private sector and civil society organisations with those most in need of assistance.

The UK Government works to ensure that all aid reaches the most vulnerable including those from religious minorities. Vulnerable populations will experience COVID-19 outbreaks differently. COVID-19 is likely to reinforce their marginalised position in society, their experience of discrimination, violence and stigma, and further limit their access to essential support and services. For this reason, on 9 April, guidance was circulated across DFID highlighting that inclusion must be central to our response and the specific contexts and needs of all religious minorities should be taken into account when developing practical programmes to tackle COVID-19.

Through DFID’s 2018 education policy and disability strategy, the UK committed to show leadership in disability inclusion.

We are making good progress. We support the ‘Inclusive Education Initiative’ with the World Bank and Government of Norway to get children with disabilities into school and learning. Our Disability Inclusive Development programme tests what works at scale in education for children with disabilities. UK Aid supports the development and publication of the annual Global Education Monitoring report. This year’s focus is inclusive education.

DFID is also scaling up support to children with disabilities through our country education programmes. In Rwanda, UK Aid will support inclusion training of one teacher in every school, and in Ethiopia, we supported establishment of inclusive education resource centres to support teachers with inclusive practice.

We are monitoring our progress through tracking of DFID’s Disability Strategy and Education Policy.

Aviation is an important sector for the UK’s economy and businesses across the industry will be able to draw on the unprecedented package of economic measures we have put in place during this time. This includes a Bank of England scheme for firms to raise capital, two business interruption loan guarantee schemes for different sizes of business, Time to Pay flexibilities with tax bills, financial support for employees and VAT deferrals.

If businesses across the sector find themselves in severe and urgent financial difficulties as a result of coronavirus, even following the government’s cross-economy wage and financial interventions, then we remain open to discussions about bespoke financial support but only as a last resort. Any such support must represent value to the tax payer.

The Government is working closely with industry partners and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to ensure the focus on accessibility continues to deliver on the ambition of equal access to aviation for all. In particular, the accessibility performance framework, introduced by the CAA, has been key to incentivising airports to improve accessibility through targeted investment.

The Government wants to ensure equal access to air travel for all. As part of Aviation 2050 green paper the government consulted on delivering a long-term aim, which will enable disabled passengers to travel in their own wheelchair in the cabin. The Government is working closely with key industry groups like The Safe Transportation of Wheelchairs (STOW) Group, Flying Disabled and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to deliver on this ambition.

There are no circumstances in which an appeal outcome would be sent back to the Tribunals Service with a request that it should be re-heard. The Secretary of State would refer a tribunal decision back to the Tribunals Service, where for example the tribunal’s decision was for some reason unimplementable and clarification was needed so that payment could be made – this is not a request for the case to be re-heard. The Secretary of State can also ask for a decision to be set aside and can seek permission to appeal a decision to the Upper Tribunal – both could result in a re-hearing but the grounds for applying are strictly limited. And ultimately it is of course for the tribunal to decide how such requests should be handled.

Access to Work has not made an assessment of the merits of suspending the cap for disabled entrepreneurs as there are alternative options of support they can explore with their Access to Work adviser whilst retaining the cap. If the honourable member has any examples she could share where this has not worked, we will explore what more can be done.

In November 2018, the DWP introduced the Voluntary Reporting Framework (VRF) to encourage employers to actively report on disability employment and mental health. DWP is promoting the use of the VRF to employers across the UK; thereby encouraging employers to be more transparent and to start having open conversations about disability and health at work. We continue to work with employers and expert partners to promote its usage, including requiring new and renewing Disability Confident Leaders (Level 3) to use it. However, there is no requirement for companies to notify Government if they have signed up to the framework and are publishing this data.

Government has worked with a large number of employers and expert partners to develop a Voluntary Reporting Framework (VRF) to support organisations to record and voluntarily report information on disability, mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. The aim of the VRF is to encourage employers to be more transparent and to start having open conversations about disability and health at work. There is no mandatory requirement for companies to notify Government if they have signed up to the framework and are publishing this data.

DWP does not collate information about which employers have a disability leave policy and does not collate information on employers that allow homeworking as a reasonable adjustment. Through the Voluntary Reporting Framework, we are encouraging employers to become more transparent and to have open conversations about disability and health at work. The Access to Work scheme supports employers to provide workplace adjustments.

The Government is committed to transforming the lives of disabled people, and will publish the National Strategy for Disabled People this year.

It will be informed by insights from the lived experience of disabled people, and will focus on the issues that disabled people say are most important across all aspects of life, from transport to education, and housing to employment. On Friday 15th January, we launched the online UK Disability Survey, which complements the range of engagement already undertaken and ongoing, including lived experience research with disabled people, discussions with the Disabled Charities Consortium, the Regional Stakeholder Networks and others. Contributions to the survey will feed not only into the development of the strategy but also its delivery.

The Department looks to promote at every opportunity the message that even a small amount of Pension Credit can act as a passport to a wide range of other benefits and services, as we did in the February 2020 nationwide raising awareness campaign. We are currently sending letters to over 11 million pensioners in Great Britain informing them about the increase in their State Pension from April. In order to better promote Pension Credit and encourage eligible pensioners to make a claim, an accompanying leaflet includes specific information about Pension Credit, highlighting that an award of Pension Credit can mean being eligible for other benefits such as Housing Benefit or a free over-75 TV licence.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 03 February to question number 145803.

Legacy benefits were increased by 1.7% in April 2020 following the Government’s announcement to end the benefit freeze and 0.5% this coming year.

We increased the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants, so they now cover the lowest 30% of local rents. This increase, costing almost £1 billion, will mean that 1.5 million households see an increase, on average, of £600 this year. We also increased the additional earnings disregard in Housing Benefit to ensure increases in the maximum rate of the basic element of Working Tax Credit did not impact on a claimant’s Housing Benefit award.

We legislated to allow access to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) from day one of a claim for Covid-19 related cases and we have made it easier to access ESA by launching a portal for new style ESA online claims.

It has always been the case that claimants on legacy benefits can make a claim for UC if they believe that they will be better off. There are special arrangements for those in receipt of the Severe Disability Premium, who are now able to make a new claim to UC. Claimants should check their eligibility before applying to UC as legacy benefits will end when they submit their claim and they will not be able to return to them in the future.

From 22nd July 2020, a two-week run on of Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance (IR) and Jobseeker’s Allowance (IB) is available for all claimants whose claim to UC ends entitlement to these benefits to provide additional support for claimants moving to UC.

During Covid-19, Access to Work has continued to provide funding for people with a disability or health condition whether they have been working in the workplace or working from home. The changing working environment has meant some disabled people have adapted their support, for example switching from face-to-face British Sign Language Interpreting to Video Remote Interpreting services or making greater use of assistive technology and software. Access to Work has actively worked with employers during the pandemic. For example, Access to Work worked with employers to transport assistive technology from the workplace to the home to enable home working. And where the support cannot be removed from the workplace, Access to Work has put in place alternative adjustments or supported adaptations to standard equipment.

Covid-19 has impacted the way we work and where we work. Recognising the additional challenges the Covid-19 lockdown has produced for disabled people, Access to Work has put in place a series of measures to ensure disabled people were not adversely affected and were able to continue to receive support. The measures included:

• Accepting email claim forms from customers who request this as a reasonable adjustment;
• Accepting employer and support worker signatures via email;
• Extending Support Worker awards that are coming to an end by 6 months;
• Extending the timeframe customers have to submit payment claim forms to 9 months;
• Adapting the way assessments are undertaken to support customers who don’t know what support they need; and
• Prioritising new applications from key workers and those with jobs starting within the next 4 weeks.

As Covid-19 has continued to change working environments, employers have asked employees to work flexibly and work from home where possible. To enable disabled people to have the flexibility to adapt to new working arrangements Access to Work has introduced a new flexible offer to address concerns raised by Stakeholders. The new offer complements support provided by employers and contains a flexible mix of support that can be adapted to meet the needs of new Covid-19 working arrangements. The offer includes:

• support to work from more than one location;
• a package of home working support which can be blended with workplace support;
• mental health wellbeing support for people returning to work after a period of furlough or shielding;
• travel-to-work support for those who may no longer be able to safely travel by public transport due to the nature of their disability; and
• prioritising Access to Work applications from disabled people in the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Group.

Background

Access to Work (ATW) is a demand-led, discretionary grant to de-risk the recruitment and retention of disabled people for employers. The grant contributes to the disability related extra costs of working faced by disabled people and those with a health condition that are beyond reasonable adjustment, but it does not replace an employer’s duty under the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments. The grant provides personalised support and can provide workplace assessments, travel to/in work, support workers, specialist aids and equipment for individuals to enable disabled people and those with a health condition to move into or retain employment. And can fund up to £60,700 worth of flexible, personalised support per person per year.

Access to Work provides assurance for disabled people that they can access the support they need to overcome their barriers to employment. Knowing that support is available empowers disabled people, it provides confidence for both the disabled person and potential employers and works to remove any disadvantage in the labour market.

Access to Work has put in place measures to support disabled people who are working from home or are continuing to work during the Covid-19 outbreak. These measures include disabled people who are self-employed and have seen impacts on their business, meaning that for the tax year 2020/2021 the lower earnings limit will be waived due to the impacts of Covid-19.

Background

Access to Work (ATW) is a demand-led, discretionary grant to de-risk the recruitment and retention of disabled people for employers. The grant contributes to the disability related extra costs of working faced by disabled people and those with a health condition that are beyond reasonable adjustment, but it does not replace an employer’s duty under the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments. The grant provides personalised support and can provide workplace assessments, travel to/in work, support workers, specialist aids and equipment for individuals to enable disabled people and those with a health condition to move into or retain employment. And can fund up to £60,700 worth of flexible, personalised support per person per year.

Access to Work provides assurance for disabled people that they can access the support they need to overcome their barriers to employment. Knowing that support is available empowers disabled people, it provides confidence for both the disabled person and potential employers and works to remove any disadvantage in the labour market.

A range of research and evaluations have been commissioned to explore the commitments made in Improving Lives. This includes:

• Investigating the acceptability of different healthcare professionals issuing fit notes amongst different audiences
• Understanding the provision of occupational health and work-related musculoskeletal services
• Employment Advisers in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies: Evaluation
• Self-employment for people with disabilities and health conditions
• Private providers of occupational health services
• Employers’ motivations and practices: A study of the use of Occupational Health Services
• Sickness absence and health in the workplace: understanding employer behaviour and practice
• Innovation and knowledge development amongst providers of occupational health
• International comparison of occupational health systems and provisions
• Group Work/JOBS II: Process Evaluation
• Group Work/JOBS II: Cost Benefit Analysis
• Health-led Employment Trial Evaluation
• The work aspirations and support needs of claimants in the ESA Support Group and Universal Credit equivalent

The following reports have been published on gov.uk:

• Exploring perceptions and attitudes towards the extension of fit note certification (August 2020)
• Understanding the provision of occupational health and work-related musculoskeletal services (May 2020)
• Employment Advisers in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies: process evaluation report (July 2019)
• The work aspirations and support needs of claimants in the ESA Support Group and Universal Credit equivalent (February 2020)
• Sickness absence and health in the workplace: employer behaviour and practice. An interim summary report (June 2019)
• Self-employment for people with disabilities and health conditions (May 2019)
• Private providers of occupational health services: interim report (April 2019)
• Employers’ motivations and practices: A study of the use of Occupational Health Services (April 2019)

Publication dates are not confirmed for the remainder of commissioned projects.

The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost to the department.

The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost to the department.

I refer the hon. Member to my previous response to question 53549.

The number of Pension Credit Claims Received in the last 12 months is shown in table below.

We do not hold the information requested in part (b) of your question.

Source: DWP internal data

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. The data should therefore be treated with caution.

Recognising the challenges Covid-19 may present, DWP has introduced a number of measures to support disabled people whether they are working from home, or returning to work at their workplaces.

The Access to Work offers disabled people practical in-work support above the level of statutory reasonable adjustments, including a discretionary grant of up to £60,700 per year. The scheme’s new Blended Offer complements support provided by employers and contains a flexible mix of support, including support to work from more than one location, a package of home working support which can be blended with workplace support, mental health support for people returning to work after a period of furlough or shielding, travel-to-work support where the individual’s disability means social distancing on public transport is too risky and the prioritisation of applications from disabled people in the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Group.

During the pandemic Access to Work introduced a number of measures to enable disabled people to move into or retain employment, the measures included:

• Transporting assistive technology from the workplace to the home environment to support home working and, where this is not possible, AtW will work with the disabled person and their employer to consider new adjustments to support adaptations to standard equipment.
• Extending timeframes for receiving claims for payments
• Accepting email claim forms and employer/support signatures via email so customers can shield.
• Delivering assessments through virtual means to further protect customers.
• Accepting email claim forms from customers who request this as a reasonable adjustment;
• Extending Support Worker awards that are coming to an end by 6 months;
• Prioritising new applications from key workers and those with jobs starting within the next 4 weeks.

Disabled people who have lost their job and require more intensive employment support still have access to both the Work and Health Programme and Intensive Personalised Employment Support. Providers are making use of digital channels to provide one to one support, including regular health and wellbeing conversations with our most vulnerable claimants.

In addition, Disability Confident provides employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace

Due to Covid 19 impacts, a slower timetable for publication of the National Strategy for Disabled People is inevitable. This is to ensure that we are able to meaningfully engage with stakeholders and strengthen our evidence base to deliver the ambitious strategy that the Prime Minister has called for. We are aiming to publish in Spring 2021.

The Government remains committed to providing dignity and security in retirement to all pensioners. In April 2020, full amounts of the basic and new State Pensions increased by 3.9%, in line with average earnings growth. This was the highest increase since 2012.

The full yearly amount of the basic State Pension is worth around £700 more in 2020/21 than if it had been uprated by earnings since 2010. That is over £1,900 in cash terms.

Pension Credit provides a safety net for people of State Pension age most in need. It provides a top up for people with a weekly income below £173.75 (for single people) or £265.20 (for couples). On 6^th May we introduced an online claim process for Pension Credit in addition to the existing ways of claiming by telephone and by post, making it quicker and easier for people to apply.

The child element of universal credit and child tax credit have recently increased as part of the annual uprating of benefits.

Between March 16^th and March 29^th, 180,000 open claims (26% of open claims) received the Child Element in their first assessment period.

This Government committed to supporting everyone through this emergency and has announced an unprecedented programme of support to mitigate the strain that Covid-19 is putting on households, livelihoods, businesses and our nation’s economy. This includes the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, both of which are helping to protect people’s livelihoods.

We have also taken steps to strengthen our safety net welfare system, which will provide over £6.5bn of additional support. Measures include:

• Increasing Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by over £1,000 a year for this financial year, benefiting over 4 million households.
• Increasing Local Housing Allowance rates - putting an average of £600 into people’s pockets.

The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap and seeing one million more disabled people in work between 2017 and 2027. We continue to monitor employment of disabled people using the quarterly Labour Force Survey along with other relevant sources. Collection of this information is happening now but there will be a period until data needed to robustly assess the effects of the covid-19 outbreak on disabled people’s employment is available.

Labour Force Survey statistics for the first quarter of 2020, will be reported by the Office for National Statistics on 19 May 2020, covering the very start of the covid-19 outbreak in March. Statistics for the second quarter of 2020 will be available in August.

The Office for National Statistics is producing a range of wider information about the social and economic impacts of covid-19 such as the Business Impact of Coronavirus (BIC) survey. Statistics from the ONS Omnibus survey for 3 April 2020 to 13 April 2020 show that a lower proportion of disabled people than non-disabled people were worried about aspects of work and household finances.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on a range of issues.

The Government has already introduced a number of measures to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and is committed to providing financial support for people at every stage of their life, including when they near or reach retirement. It is important to stress that the welfare system will continue to provide support to men and women who unable to work or those who are on a low income but who are not eligible to pensioner benefits because of their age.

A key principle of UC is that it supports people who do not have assets available to meet their basic needs. While it is important to protect the incentive to save for claimants on low earnings, people with substantial capital can take responsibility for their own support. This is to ensure that we can maintain our focus on getting money to citizens who need it and safeguarding the most vulnerable.

If capital exceeds £16,000 there will be no entitlement to UC, unless the capital can be disregarded, for example personal injury compensation payments. Capital above £6,000 will reduce the amount of UC paid by £4.35 per month for every £250 of capital or part thereof.

If someone has money in their account that is to be used for business purposes, for example for paying tax, it will not be counted towards their capital, but they may be asked to prove that the money is for business purposes. People should make clear in their application the savings that are business assets, and note it in their online journal.

The Department has not made an assessment of the effect of upfront childcare costs on maternal employment rates and it would require disproportionate costs to do so.

The Government recognises that high childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours. Working families claiming Universal Credit can therefore reclaim up to 85 per cent of their eligible childcare costs each month up to £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children. Eligible claimants can also get help from the Flexible Support Fund with initial up-front fees and advance costs as they move into work. Alternatively, help with upfront costs may also be available through Budgeting Advances.

The available information on the number of households with a carer entitlement on Universal Credit is published and can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.

In response to the WPSC inquiry on childcare in June 2019 we committed to publish a breakdown of flexible support funds spent on upfront childcare costs at the end of the financial year once accounts audited.

From September 2019 to December 2019, there were 2,200 new claims to Universal Credit where one member of the couple was above State Pension age and the other below.

This change in the way support is provided to couples where one partner is below State Pension age will ensure that the same incentives to work and save for retirement apply to the younger partner as apply to other people of the same age. Unlike Pension Credit, which in most cases allows couple to retain only £10 a week of earned income, Universal Credit provides clear incentives for people to find and progress in work.

The younger partner in a mixed-age couple claiming Universal Credit will get the personalised support provided by Work Coaches to help them find and progress in work where appropriate. If the younger partner is unable to work because of disability or caring requirements, additional amounts may be payable and conditionality requirements adjusted. No work-related requirements will be applied to the older partner.

As both the Prime Minister and Chancellor have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID 19 and we have been clear in our intention that no one should be penalised for doing the right thing. These are rapidly developing circumstances, we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.

Training and guidance is provided for working with different vulnerable groups, including customers with Autistic Spectrum Conditions. Support is also provided by Disability Employment Advisers and Work Psychologists. Work Coaches can refer individuals to personalised provision and support such as the Work and Health Programme (available in England and Wales) or Fair Start Scotland (devolved programme available Scotland).

We are continuing to build on local initiatives in Jobcentre Plus, to ensure that we deliver a consistently supportive service across the country. For example:

• As part of Autism Awareness Week in April 2019, we introduced short ‘Bitesize’ Autism Awareness Learning for work coaches and promoted Calm and Quiet Sessions across the network

• North London District developed and organised Calm and Quiet sessions, including a toolkit for organising these elsewhere. This is being promoted across the Jobcentre network. The extension of service hours, from March 2020, will give more opportunities to run calm and quiet sessions and to schedule appointments at less busy times.

Through a contract with Autism Alliance DWP has:

• Developed the Disability Confident Autism and Neurodiversity Toolkit to help staff from all Government Departments to understand how to support people with Autism and associated Neuro-Diverse conditions. The toolkit was launched in April 2017.

• Developed the Disability Passport ‘About Me’, to encourage disabled claimants, including individuals with Autism, to disclose their disability/ health conditions at the earliest stage to their Adviser, to improve communication and ensure reasonable adjustments are put in place. The passport was launched in March 2017.

Through the Disability Confident scheme, DWP is engaging with employers and helping to promote the skills, talents and abilities of people with disabilities, including people with autism. Through the scheme, DWP is providing advice and support to help employers feel more confident about employing disabled people, by signposting them to appropriate advice guidance and support. As of 31 December 2019, 15,832 employers have signed up. A Disability Confident Toolkit has been developed to provide employers with comprehensive information on autism and hidden impairments, as well as guidance on employment and local authority services. This Toolkit is hosted on the Autism Alliance website:

https://www.autismandneurodiversitytoolkit.org/

Access to Work has staff with a specialist knowledge of autism and offers customers and employers tailored packages of support and advice.

Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches provide personalised support to people to find jobs and move towards work, including individuals with Autistic Spectrum Conditions.

Training and guidance is provided for working with different vulnerable groups, including customers with Autistic Spectrum Conditions. Support is also provided by Disability Employment Advisers and Work Psychologists. Work Coaches can refer individuals to personalised provision and support such as the Work and Health Programme (available in England and Wales) or Fair Start Scotland (devolved programme available Scotland).

The government is exploring a range of policy options aiming to reduce ill-health related job loss. The consultation ‘Health is Everyone’s Business: Proposals to Reduce Ill Health-related Job Loss’ closed in October 2019.

It set out proposals to boost Government support available to employers to support employees who are managing health conditions in work and to manage sickness absence more effectively. It included proposals to encourage employers to take early, sustained and proportionate steps to support a sick employee to return to work, reform Statutory Sick Pay, improve occupational health availability and improve the provision of advice and support for employers. We have received a good response from a range of stakeholders, which we are reviewing.

We know that being in the right work is good for health and that being out of work can have a detrimental effect on health. In addition to working with employers to help individuals get the support they need, at the right time, to return to work, Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) provides a minimum level of income for up to 28 weeks to employees needing to take time off to recover from short-term illness.

There is limited evidence to suggest that making the tax treatment more generous is the most effective way of incentivising more employers to offer occupational health provision, if the initial cost of provision is the main barrier for them.

The government is exploring a range of policy options aiming to reduce ill-health related job loss. The consultation ‘Health is Everyone’s Business: Proposals to Reduce Ill Health-related Job Loss’ closed in October 2019.

It set out proposals to boost Government support available to employers to support employees who are managing health conditions in work and to manage sickness absence more effectively. It included proposals to encourage employers to take early, sustained and proportionate steps to support a sick employee to return to work, reform Statutory Sick Pay, improve occupational health availability and improve the provision of advice and support for employers. We have received a good response from a range of stakeholders, which we are reviewing.

We know that being in the right work is good for health and that being out of work can have a detrimental effect on health. In addition to working with employers to help individuals get the support they need, at the right time, to return to work, Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) provides a minimum level of income for up to 28 weeks to employees needing to take time off to recover from short-term illness.

There is limited evidence to suggest that making the tax treatment more generous is the most effective way of incentivising more employers to offer occupational health provision, if the initial cost of provision is the main barrier for them.

Following testing in late 2019, the Office for National Statistics has added a measure of autism to the Labour Force Survey questionnaire for interviews carried out from January 2020 onwards and I welcome this development. In time, this will give us a better understanding of the employment status for many people with autism as a long standing health condition. It is anticipated that early data will be available from May 2020, however, numbers are likely to be low to start with and it may be longer before numbers are high enough to support further analysis of the data.

While we have made no specific financial provision for this group of patients, on 5 March we announced an additional £79 million funding that will be used to significantly expand children’s mental health services in this financial year. This will allow around 22,500 more children and young people, including those with disabilities, to access community health services and 2,000 more to access eating disorder services. It will also allow a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges.

We also remain committed to the ambitions of the NHS Long Term Plan to invest at least an additional £2.3 billion a year into mental health services by 2023/24. This will enable an extra two million people in England, including 345,000 more children and young people, to access National Health Service-funded mental health support.

NHS England NHS Improvement has commissioned the Centre for Mental Health to conduct a mental health needs analysis in all English prisons. This is expected to provide a greater understanding of the mental health and neurodiverse needs of people in prison, including those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

NHS England and NHS Improvement is also working with Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service in the identification and roll out of a common screening tool, which will assist in identifying people with neurodiverse needs. Many of these will benefit from non-medical adjustments, while, for some, a diagnostic and treatment pathway will be indicated.

A scoping exercise to understand current treatment pathways is planned as part of the review and refresh of the prison mental health service specification, which will be evidence-based, informed by current best practice and reflect developments in the wider health system.

The National Health Service Long Term Plan states that where appropriate every person diagnosed with cancer should receive a Personalised Care and Support Plan. All patients, including young cancer patients, will have access to the right expertise and support.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, all personalised care and support has continued by telephone, video, online or by post if face-to-face appointments and group sessions have not been possible.

NHS England and Improvement established a Task and Finish group chaired by Prof Peter Johnson, the National Clinical Director for Cancer, to look at COVID-19 recovery of psychosocial support for people affected by cancer, including psycho-oncology provision. The group included representation from teenage/young adult cancer charities.

The revised Cancer Care Review requirements for GP practices mean patients’ psychosocial support needs will be assessed twice in their first year after diagnosis. This requirement encourages GP practices to have early and supportive conversations with cancer patients about their needs and ensure patients are aware of what help is available.

The transfer of the voluntary reduction and reformulation programme from Public Health England to the Office of Health Promotion and Disparities means the expected publication date of the fourth progress report for the sugar reduction programme will be early in 2022.

Mental health research is a strategic priority for the Departmental-funded National Institute for Health Research. We are increasing year on year spend in mental health research and invested £93 million in 2019/2020. We also fund the Eating Disorders Genetic Initiative, one of the largest eating disorders studies in England. In partnership with Beat, it aims to better understand what may lead to an eating disorder and how to improve treatments, both prevention and intervention.

We have no plans to do so.

We expect National Health Service trusts to have due regard to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s Quality Standard ‘Ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage’, which sets out that women with a suspected miscarriage should be referred to an early pregnancy assessment service for diagnosis and management based on an initial clinical assessment.

The Office for Health Promotion will be fully established in autumn 2021.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have made guidance available to address the rehabilitation needs of people living with dementia, including the ‘Dementia wellbeing in the COVID-10 pandemic’ resource which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/dementia-wellbeing-in-the-covid-19-pandemic/

We have also commissioned research through the National Institute for Health Research on how to manage or mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on people with dementia and their carers living in the community. Summary leaflets were produced for people with dementia and their carers which are available at the following link:

http://www.idealproject.org.uk/covid/

There are currently no plans to introduce a specific rehabilitation strategy for people with dementia and long-term conditions.

Guidance is provided to clinical commissioning groups to support them in commissioning rehabilitation services for their local population. The guidance covers the scope and components of good quality rehabilitation and how to compare rehabilitation services locally, regionally and nationally. NHS England and NHS Improvement’s resource ‘Dementia wellbeing in the COVID-19 pandemic’ which includes specific considerations for rehabilitation.

The Government welcomes the Alzheimer’s Society paper Moving forward stronger, and will consider the findings and recommendations carefully.

This data is not available in the format requested.

The Department is working with the Department for Education and other Government departments on the development of Family Hubs as part of the Growing Up Well project. We will present more detail on our plans and ambitions for the Office for Health Promotion in due course.

This information is not collected centrally.

The Government recognises the importance of palliative and end of life care services, including hospices. The hospice sector has played a vital role in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic and received up to £280 million of additional funding from March 2020 to March 2021.

The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement proactively engage with the whole sector to understand the issues they face. Most hospices are independent, charitable organisations that receive some statutory funding, mainly from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for providing local services. CCGs will have an understanding of future demand and associated funding requirements. There are seven regional Palliative and End of Life Care Strategic Clinical Networks working closely with CCGs and integrated care systems to understand the needs, sustainability and future commissioning of palliative and end of life care services.

As of the end of April 2021, there were 2,040 people with a learning disability and autistic people in specialist-in patient settings. This is a net reduction of 30% on the inpatient number in March 2015. The Building the right support Delivery Board has been established to drive further progress in reducing the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in specialist in patient settings. The Board is monitoring progress and can commission any work considered necessary to ensure the target is met.

No such assessment has been made.

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Regulation 14 is in place to ensure that people who use care services have adequate nutrition and hydration. Registered care providers must assess people’s nutritional needs and food, including prescribed nutritional supplements and/or parenteral nutrition, must be provided to meet those needs.

The information requested about the number of autism services providing post-diagnostic services is not held centrally.

Comprehensive data is not currently available on how many people have an autism diagnosis in their medical records.

In May 2019, the Government announced that the fluorescent dye 5-AminoLevulinic Acid (5-ALA) was being used in all 27 neurological units in the National Health Service in England, in accordance with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines. Each of England’s neurosurgical units is expected to have an average of around 55 patients requiring 5-ALA per year.

The Government recognises the importance of palliative and end of life care services, including hospices. The hospice sector has played a vital role in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic and received up to £280 million of additional funding from March 2020 to March 2021.

The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement proactively engage with the whole sector to understand the issues they face. Most hospices are independent, charitable organisations that receive some statutory funding, mainly from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for providing local services. CCGs will have an understanding of future demand and associated funding requirements. There are seven regional Palliative and End of Life Care Strategic Clinical Networks working closely with CCGs and integrated care systems to understand the needs, sustainability and future commissioning of palliative and end of life care services.

No specific funding has been allocated by the Government to support brain tumour research following the outbreak of COVID-19.

The Government has provided an additional £3 billion to support the National Health Service’s recovery from the impact of COVID-19, including treatment for cancer.

The Office for Health Promotion will work to promote and improve health, including a particular focus on improving the health of children across the Department, the health system, national and local government and wider partners to drive and support action on mental and physical wellbeing. We will present more detail on our plans for the Office for Health Promotion in due course.

The Office for Health Promotion (OHP) will bring health improvement focused expert advice, analysis and evidence together with policy development and delivery from across Public Health England and the Department, including a particular focus on improving the health of children. We will provide more detail on plans for the OHP in due course.

There are currently no specific plans to do so. The Department is currently funding research projects into functional neurological disorder through the National Institute for Health Research, which will improve understanding of the condition.

The Personal Child Health Record is constantly under review, overseen by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. NHS England has advised that there are currently no plans to establish a national register of children with cerebral palsy. NHS England and NHS Improvement will be meeting in due course to consider the recommendations to improve early detection and treatment pathways for cerebral palsy set out in the report, ‘Early identification, intervention and pathways of care of infants and young children with cerebral palsy: The case for reform and investment’, published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cerebral Palsy in March 2021.

NHS England and NHS Improvement will be meeting in due course to consider the recommendations to improve early detection and treatment pathways for cerebral palsy set out in the report.

The Personal Child Health Record is constantly under review, overseen by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. NHS England has advised that there are currently no plans to establish a national register of children with cerebral palsy. NHS England and NHS Improvement will be meeting in due course to consider the recommendations to improve early detection and treatment pathways for cerebral palsy set out in the report, ‘Early identification, intervention and pathways of care of infants and young children with cerebral palsy: The case for reform and investment’, published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cerebral Palsy in March 2021.

People with functional neurological disorder (FND) are likely to be diagnosed under a local clinical commissioning group care pathway and therefore any data would only be collected a local level. There are presently no specific plans to further ensure the collection of data on the number of patients with FND.

The implementation of thrombectomy is part of a multi-year development programme to establish thrombectomy services across England. Thrombectomy is available in 22 centres, with another two non-neuroscience centres currently under development. There additional plans to increase the number of operators able to perform thrombectomy. Due to training requirements this is currently restricted to Interventional Neuroradiologists in England. Over the past two years there has been work undertaken with the General Medical Council to develop a credentialing programme which would enable acceleration of training to a wider cohort of medical professions such as radiologists, interventional cardiologists and neurosurgeons.

The Department does not currently work directly with providers of discount schemes. However, individual employers are free to develop their local reward offer through discount schemes with providers of their choice.

In 2021/22 the National Health Service will receive an additional £500 million to help to address the impacts of COVID-19, which will support people with a variety of mental health conditions, including eating disorders. This includes programmes to address waiting times for mental health services. As part of this funding, £58 million will be allocated to bring forward the expansion of integrated primary and secondary care for adults with severe mental illness, including eating disorders. As part of this, a four-week waiting time standard for adult community mental health services, including eating disorder services, is being piloted and considered as part of the clinically led review of NHS access standards.

In addition, NHS England has announced additional early intervention services for young people aged 16-25 years old with eating disorders in 18 areas across the country, so young adults seeking support could be contacted within 48 hours and begin treatment within two weeks.

No funding has been specifically allocated to support the mental health needs of disabled children and their families.

On 23 November 2020 we published a Wellbeing and Mental Health Support Plan for COVID-19, setting out the steps we have taken to strengthen the support available during the pandemic, including for disabled children. On 5 March 2021, we announced that £79 million, will be used to significantly expand mental health services for children, including disabled children. This additional funding will allow around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services and enable a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges over the next financial year. Additionally, NHS England and NHS Improvement have been clear that services for disabled children with an Education, Health and Care plan should be fully restored.

The National Health Service in England is continuing to increase the Cancer Nurse Specialist (CNS) workforce. Health Education England is offering training grants for 350 nurses to become CNS and chemotherapy nurses. The NHS People Plan also commits to extending cancer support-worker training which will further increase the capacity of CNS already in post.

The Spending Review 2020 will also provide £260 million to continue to increase the NHS workforce and support commitments made in the NHS Long Term Plan. Full details on funding allocations in 2021-22, including for the NHS cancer workforce and cancer diagnostics, will be subject to a detailed financial planning exercise and finalised in due course.

No specific assessment has been made. However, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline ‘Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management’, which was last updated in September 2019, does identify the risk of co-occurring conditions in adults with ADHD. This includes substance misuse and mental health issues. The guidance highlights the recognition of co-occurring conditions as an important factor in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. We expect clinical commissioning groups to take account of clinical guidelines published by NICE when commissioning services for their local populations.

We are taking steps to protect the mental health of parents during the perinatal period, including ensuring parents are able to visit and be involved in their child’s care as much as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NHS Long Term Plan includes new measures to improve safety, quality and continuity of care and a commitment for a further 24,000 women to be able to access specialist perinatal mental health care by 2023/24. This care will also be available from preconception to 24 months after birth, which will provide an extra year of support. Partners of women accessing specialist care will be able to access an assessment for their mental health and signposting to support as required.

We recognise the important link between money and mental health and we are working to improve the financial security of those living with mental illness. A cross-Government group of Ministers was convened to consider the impact of the pandemic on mental health and wellbeing and we will be bringing our plans forward in due course.

Public Health England, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published a rapid guideline on vitamin D and COVID-19 in December 2020. The guideline development process included consultation with key stakeholder groups such as the Royal Colleges, the Nutrition Society and the British Dietetic Association. The rapid guideline on vitamin D and COVID-19, which considers both prevention and treatment, is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng187

In June 2020, the SACN published a scoping exercise on nutrition and immune function in relation to COVID-19. This scoping exercise may be updated or a more formal assessment undertaken, if robust evidence becomes available. The scoping paper is available at the following link:

https://app.box.com/s/ivrivaemf7fgeo9a17xdmv167c4uvteu/file/683666967452

There are no plans to do so.

Based on current evidence, complex disabilities are not considered by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to mean an automatically increased risk for serious outcomes from COVID-19. However, many people with complex disabilities will have other conditions which mean they do meet the criteria for either priority group four for those who are clinically extremely vulnerable or priority group six for those who have underlying conditions which create a heightened risk. Anyone in either of those groups or who are aged 50 years old or over have now been offered vaccination.

Adult carers, defined as those aged 16 years old or over, are being prioritised for vaccination alongside priority group six. This includes unpaid and family carers. Criteria include eligibility for a carer’s allowance, being the sole or primary carer for an elderly person or person who is at increased risk of COVID-19 mortality and therefore clinically vulnerable.

NHS England and NHS Improvement’s guidance ‘COVID-19 restoration of community health services for children and young people: second phase of NHS response in the community health restoration’ makes clear that community services, such as speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, must be prioritised for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities aged up to 25 years and who have an Education Health and Care Plan in place or who are going through an assessment for one. With respect to access to respite care, we have encouraged local authorities to adopt a flexible approach where possible, to ensure that as many families as possible can continue to access these services.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets a clear ambition that where appropriate every person diagnosed with cancer, including those with secondary cancers, should have access to personalised care by 2021, which is based on a holistic needs assessment.

The latest available data from December 2019 show that 94% of trusts offered personalised care and support planning for breast cancer patients.

Data for referral numbers and those starting treatment for cancer in January 2021 will be published shortly.

The Government has taken a number of steps to ensure people can continue to access high-quality cancer care throughout the pandemic. For example, there are 53 live regional diagnostic centre pathways across hospitals in England, compared to 12 in March 2020. In October, NHS England and NHS Improvement and Public Health England launched the latest Help Us Help You campaign to urge people with potential symptoms of cancer to see their general practitioner.

Additionally, COVID-19 protected hubs for cancer surgery have been established to keep vulnerable cancer patients safe. This particularly protects cancer patients from immunocompromised infection. All 21 Cancer Alliances across England have arrangements in place for surgical cancer hubs.

Workers in the justice sector who are eligible for a vaccine, because of their age or other clinical factors such as underlying health conditions, will have access to a vaccine in the first phase.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has now published their interim advice for phase two, their advice states that the best way to achieve this objective is to continue prioritising people for vaccinations by age based on risk but also as this will enable the most rapid deployment across the population.

Access to annual health checks for people with a learning disability remains a key priority for the National Health Service in England during and beyond COVID-19.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have co-produced a range of accessible resources relating to COVID-19 for people with a learning disability, autistic people and their families. Resources include easy read documents, information leaflets and films.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked to support the use of reasonable adjustments in the vaccination programme. This has included providing a range of training resources for vaccination teams on communicating with people with a learning disability and autistic people and making reasonable adjustments to the way vaccines are delivered.

The latest NHS Digital Assuring Transformation data, there has been a 29% reduction in the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in specialist in-patient settings in England since March 2015.

We have established a new Building the right support Delivery Board to oversee implementation of the Building the right support national plan. The Board brings together representatives from Government departments, local government and other organisations with responsibilities for elements of the plan.

Guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists sets out that healthcare staff caring for women requesting abortion should identify those who require more support in the decision-making process and pathways to additional support, including counselling and social services.

Abortions provided by independent sector abortion providers must meet the Required Standard Operating Procedures (RSOPs) set out in the Department’s Procedures for the Approval of Independent Sector Places for the Termination of Pregnancy (Abortion).

The Department expects clinicians to take note of the consensus statement published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Midwives and the Society of Radiographers on pregnancy screening.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists are currently reviewing their clinical guidelines on non-invasive prenatal testing and guidance for the care of women through antenatal screening and further diagnostic testing.

No assessment has yet been made. The full extent of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the outcomes of patients will not be known until the data is fully available.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets a clear ambition that where appropriate every person diagnosed with cancer, including those with secondary breast cancer, should have access to personalised care to ensure people’s social, emotional, physical and practical needs are identified and addressed at the earliest opportunity. Over the next five years, Cancer Alliances will be embedding personalised care interventions, which will identify and address the changing needs of cancer patients from diagnosis onwards.

Many Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services have strong links with a range of health and care settings and the patient groups within them. These IAPT services will share informational materials with patient groups to educate and signpost towards IAPT.

In December 2020 we published our response to the 2019 consultation on restricting promotions of products that are high fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) by location and price. The response confirmed the categories in scope of the restrictions and that the 2004/05 Nutrient Profiling Model will be used to define whether a product in these categories is HFSS.

The Nutrient Profiling Model uses a simple scoring system where points allocated for ‘C’ nutrients (fruit, vegetables and nut content, fibre and protein) are subtracted from ‘A’ nutrients (energy, saturated fat, total sugar and sodium). Foods scoring four or more points, and drinks scoring one or more points, are classified as ‘less healthy’ and will be subject to the restrictions.

Significant work has gone into encouraging people to come forward with the aim of restoring demand to at least pre-pandemic levels through running major public awareness campaigns, ensuring efficient routes into the National Health Service for people at risk of cancer, including through supporting restoration of screening programmes and by improving referral management practice in primary and secondary care.

After March, local systems will be expected to carry out local plans formed as part of the Cancer Services Recovery Plan and carry on with the progress that has already been made. The NHS Long Term Plan ambitions and actions for cancer remain the ultimate goal – to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 and for 55,000 more people to survive five years or more by 2028.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including brain tumours. As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas. The level of research spend in a particular area, is driven by factors including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications.

In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million over five years for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission through the NIHR. The NIHR released a public announcement to the research community in April 2018, making clear our desire to receive brain tumour research funding applications. We are relying on researchers to submit high-quality research proposals in this very difficult area.

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database indicates that there were 701 finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary diagnosis of malnutrition and 7,966 FAEs with a secondary diagnosis between December 2019 and October 2020 which is the latest data available.

However, it should be noted that HES data is based on a count of hospital episodes rather than numbers of patients, one patient may account for more than one hospital episode. Additionally, data from April 2020 onwards is provisional at this time.

In 2020, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) conducted a rapid scoping exercise on nutrition and immune function in relation to COVID-19 and found a lack of robust evidence at this current time to suggest that specific nutrients or supplements can prevent individuals from catching COVID-19 or mitigate its effects. Their report is available at the following link:

https://app.box.com/s/36j0gn01npxfjigjmzogyomysd17l3hq

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Public Health England and the SACN are continuing to monitor evidence as it is published.

Public Health England has been sharing provider-level data on the completeness of recurrence reporting with individual National Health Service trusts since July 2016. This is accepted as being significantly below the estimated number of secondary breast cancers. The latest data with figures covering 2014 to 2018 was published in November 2020 and are available at the following link:

http://www.ncin.org.uk/cancer_type_and_topic_specific_work/topic_specific_work/recurrence

Since 2019, the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) has discussed recording of recurrence data with Breast Cancer Now, formerly Breast Cancer Care, Cancer52, Pancreatic Cancer UK, National Audit of Breast Cancer in Older People National Bowel Cancer Audit Macmillan, Cancer Research UK and the developers of the NHS England Cancer Waits Dataset.

NCRAS works closely with cancer service managers at hospital trusts to determine sources of data which can be used to complete the Cancer Services and Outcomes Dataset (COSD) items. The NCRAS Data Liaison team provide direct support to hospital providers to improve their ability to collect data. This includes system procurement support, review of COSD data, clinical engagement and data reporting and validation.

Public Health England has been sharing provider-level data on the completeness of recurrence reporting with individual National Health Service trusts since July 2016. This is accepted as being significantly below the estimated number of secondary breast cancers. The latest data with figures covering 2014 to 2018 was published in November 2020 and are available at the following link:

http://www.ncin.org.uk/cancer_type_and_topic_specific_work/topic_specific_work/recurrence

Since 2019, the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) has discussed recording of recurrence data with Breast Cancer Now, formerly Breast Cancer Care, Cancer52, Pancreatic Cancer UK, National Audit of Breast Cancer in Older People National Bowel Cancer Audit Macmillan, Cancer Research UK and the developers of the NHS England Cancer Waits Dataset.

NCRAS works closely with cancer service managers at hospital trusts to determine sources of data which can be used to complete the Cancer Services and Outcomes Dataset (COSD) items. The NCRAS Data Liaison team provide direct support to hospital providers to improve their ability to collect data. This includes system procurement support, review of COSD data, clinical engagement and data reporting and validation.

Public Health England has been sharing provider-level data on the completeness of recurrence reporting with individual National Health Service trusts since July 2016. This is accepted as being significantly below the estimated number of secondary breast cancers. The latest data with figures covering 2014 to 2018 was published in November 2020 and are available at the following link:

http://www.ncin.org.uk/cancer_type_and_topic_specific_work/topic_specific_work/recurrence

Since 2019, the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) has discussed recording of recurrence data with Breast Cancer Now, formerly Breast Cancer Care, Cancer52, Pancreatic Cancer UK, National Audit of Breast Cancer in Older People National Bowel Cancer Audit Macmillan, Cancer Research UK and the developers of the NHS England Cancer Waits Dataset.

NCRAS works closely with cancer service managers at hospital trusts to determine sources of data which can be used to complete the Cancer Services and Outcomes Dataset (COSD) items. The NCRAS Data Liaison team provide direct support to hospital providers to improve their ability to collect data. This includes system procurement support, review of COSD data, clinical engagement and data reporting and validation.

We have no such plans at present. The Department for Work and Pensions will continue to work with the ‘Thriving at Work Leadership Council’ and Mind to promote resources supporting mental health of employees, including resources to reduce the risk of suicide.

The Department of Health and Social Care also funds the Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA), which aims to achieve zero suicides across the NHS and in local communities by improved suicide awareness and prevention training. Part of the ZSA’s work includes an online training module to raise awareness of suicide prevention amongst individuals and the workforce of member organisations.

In England, training programmes for anaesthetics had over two applicants per place this year, at both core and specialty training level. There are over 63% more anaesthetic trainees in core programmes since 2010. The anaesthetic workforce overall has increased by almost 23% since 2010, with a 30% increase in the number of consultants.

Health Education England are also supporting the Royal College of Anaesthetists to develop their new anaesthetics curriculum, due to launch in 2021 pending General Medical Council approval. This would see the length of the programme reduced from eight years to seven years, which would more quickly generate a supply of consultant-level anaesthetists.

The new COVID Winter Grant Scheme provides an additional £170 million for local authorities in England, to support families with children and other vulnerable people with the cost of food and essential utilities this winter.

Nutrition assessment tools like the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool are used in hospitals and in the community to assess a person’s individual needs and can be used to develop a care plan.

There are no specific nutritional assessment or nutritional management tools for patients with COVID-19 either in hospital or in the community.

On 7 October, NHS England announced £10 million of investment to establish a network of specialist clinics in England to support people suffering from the persistent effects of COVID-19 or ‘long COVID’.

These specialist clinics will support patients suffering from various symptoms of long covid. Every patient experiencing symptoms will undergo a physical and psychological assessment to help address the problems being faced. Further details on the location of these clinics will be announced shortly.

The National Health Service has also launched ‘Your Covid Recovery’, an online rehabilitation service that provides personalised support to patients for both their physical and mental health. The support offered by this service includes nutritional advice about eating well and the potential benefits of supplements such as vitamin D.

No such assessment has been made.

As part of the Spending Review, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Chancellor of the Exchequer have discussed a range of matters. Decisions on future investment in the cancer workforce in England will be subject to the outcome of the current Spending Review which will be announced in due course.

National Health Service mental health services have remained open throughout the pandemic and services have deployed digital tools to connect with people and provide ongoing support. NHS England has also asked all mental health trusts to ensure there are 24 hours a day, seven days a week open access telephone lines for urgent NHS mental health support, advice and triage for all ages through a single point of access.

Our £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme is providing schools and colleges with the knowledge and access to resources to support children and young people, teachers and parents. On 8 September, Public Health England (PHE) launched a mental wellbeing campaign for children and young people. It expands PHE’s Better Health-Every Mind Matters website with content specifically for children and young people and their parents and carers.

We remain committed to continuing our investment in expanding and transforming mental health services in England. That will amount to an additional £2.3 billion of funding a year in mental health services by 2023/24.

We recognise just how important it is that all people, including children and young people, get the support they need with their mental health and have the tools to protect their mental wellbeing. Our £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme will provide schools and colleges all over England with the knowledge and access to resources they need to support children and young people, teachers and parents.

Every part of the country has perinatal mental health services in place and we remain committed to improving and expanding these services. By 2023/24, at least 66,000 women in total with moderate to severe perinatal mental health difficulties will have access to specialist perinatal mental health services. The new services will integrate maternity, reproductive health and psychological therapy for women experiencing moderate-severe or complex mental health difficulties directly arising from, or related to, the maternity experience, including perinatal loss.

The national bereavement care pathway brings together information, tools and resources to support the provision of high quality care for women and their families who experience pregnancy or baby loss, as well as linking to online learning for all healthcare professionals and staff who are involved in the care of a woman who experiences perinatal loss. This is available at the following link:

https://nbcpathway.org.uk/

NHS England and NHS Improvement have now agreed with the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee in England that the general practice COVID-19 vaccination service will be commissioned in line with agreed national terms and conditions as an enhanced service.

The Item of Service fee will be £12.58 per vaccination. This is 25% more than the current fee for service for an influenza vaccination; recognising the extended requirements around the COVID-19 vaccination. In addition, a £150 million fund is being made available to support expanding general practitioner capacity in England up to the end of March 2021.

Digital services do not replace face-to-face care but are an essential additional tool that primary care can use alongside other access routes, such as by telephone and in person, to help ensure patients are receiving the right care as quickly and easily as possible. Patients are still able to book general practitioner appointments via the telephone and through NHS 111, and the service has the same features as available online. In addition, we have developed alternative ways for people to access digital services, such as booking appointments by proxy where a family member or carer has access to the internet.

Supporting the mental health of all National Health Service staff is a priority for the Government. In response to COVID-19, NHS England and NHS Improvement, in collaboration with the Royal College of General Practitioners, launched the #LookingAfterYouToo: Coaching Support for Primary Care Staff service. The service provides access to mental health services to all primary care workers employed or contracted to deliver work on behalf of the NHS. A national health and wellbeing support package is also available for NHS staff, including a helpline and text service. The NHS People Plan, published in July, is focused on ensuring staff have the health and wellbeing support they need as we look ahead to winter 2020/21. As part of this offer, the NHS is setting up a first wave of staff mental health hubs providing outreach and assessment services to help frontline staff receive rapid access to mental health services.

The Office for National Statistics found that the rate of mortality for deaths involving COVID-19 was 2.2 times higher in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived areas in England over the months of March to July.

In an earlier analysis, Public Health England stated that people in deprived areas are more likely to be diagnosed and to have poor outcomes following diagnosis than those in less deprived areas. Poor outcomes remained after adjusting for ethnicity, however further investigation would be needed.

No assessments of the full effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on NHS services can be made until the pandemic is over and the data is available in full.

One of the key priorities for cancer services is to restore the number of people coming forward and being referred with suspected cancer, and therefore having diagnostic tests, to at least pre-pandemic levels. By September 2020, the latest data published, urgent referrals were at the same levels in 2019. We are continuing to monitor this and are further encouraging anyone with symptoms to come forward to their general practitioners through our ‘Help Us Help You’ public awareness campaign.

To support this, systems are ensuring sufficient diagnostic capacity in COVID-19 secure environments. Endoscopy capacity is being increased, and the capacity of surgical hubs expanded to meet demand. Specific actions are being put in place to support any groups of patients who might have unequal access to diagnostics and/or treatment, and all cancer screening programmes have restarted routine invitations.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits to investing at least £2.3 billion of extra funding a year in mental health services by 2023/24 to support adults and children, including autistic people. This includes a focus on improving access to community mental health services.

We are currently developing a new cross-government all-age autism strategy, which will consider autistic people’s mental health needs. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism’s report informed the strategy’s development, as did the National Autistic Society’s Left Stranded report, which highlighted the impact of COVID-19 on autistic people.

We continue to review all available evidence and have commissioned new research to gain a greater understanding of the specific impact of COVID-19 for disabled people.

The Department has also commissioned research to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the wellbeing and lives of people with learning disabilities. This project is being led by researchers at the University of Warwick and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Transforming care is a programme of work to reduce the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people who are inpatients in mental health settings.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets the targets on inpatient rates for 2023/24 and Building the Right Support is the national plan to reduce the reliance on inpatient services by developing suitable community alternatives.

We are committed to improving all aspects of care and support for people with a learning disability and autistic people. We are developing a new action plan. The plan brings together work planned or currently underway to deliver the objectives of Building the Right Support in full. This plan, which we intend to publish, will complement the actions in the NHS Long Term Plan.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the issues facing social care. We are working closely with the Cabinet Office Disability Unit on the development of a National Strategy for Disabled People. The Strategy will take into account the impacts of the pandemic on disabled people and will be aimed at improving the lives of disabled people, removing barriers and extending opportunities. The Strategy is expected to be published in spring 2021.

Where someone is living in supported accommodation and is responsible for their own housing costs, they may be eligible to receive benefits, including those to provide a contribution towards the additional costs of disability.

The Government has provided councils with access to over £1 billion of additional funding social care next year. In the longer term, the Government is committed to sustainable improvement of the adult social care system and will bring forward proposals this year.

In with line the wider National Health Service, the Cardiovascular Disease and Respiratory programme has focused its work in 2020/21 on the response to COVID-19 and has spent £5.5 million to support the response to the disease including work on ‘long-COVID’. This included bringing forward the implementation of Respiratory Clinical Networks by one year. The networks are vital in promoting an integrated approach to respiratory care during COVID-19 and are in parallel supporting delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan’s priorities.

Cancer services have continued throughout the pandemic. The strategy for maintaining services through the second wave of COVID-19 is concentrating on maintaining or stepping up hubs for cancer surgery and maximising independent sector use, along with further rolling out of Rapid Diagnostic Centres. This work is being overseen by the Cancer Recovery Taskforce, who will publish a recovery plan shortly.

Throughout the summer and autumn of 2020, the NHS has run an ongoing media campaign ‘Help us to help you’, encouraging patients to seek urgent medical help when they are unwell, including clear messaging for patients with heart attack symptoms to call 999.

With a rise in COVID-19 activity, we’ve been clear that non-COVID-19 services will be maintained as far as possible. Essential care should only be postponed if a clinician and patient agree it is in the patient’s best interests. Doctors will always have the safety of patients at the centre of any decisions they make.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has taken steps to recognise, for two years, future European Medicines Agency decisions for medicine licences including for rare diseases approved through the centralised authorisation procedure from January 2021 and provide United Kingdom licences with no additional assessment.

The Government has also established the Early Access to Medicines Scheme, which will continue to give patients with seriously debilitating conditions prompt access to medicines that do not yet have a marketing authorisation, when there is a clear unmet medical need.

The National Health Service has worked hard to keep mental health services going during the COVID-19 pandemic, using technology where needed but also face to face appointments where appropriate.

During this time, the Government has provided £10.2 million of additional funding for mental health charities to support adults and children struggling with their mental wellbeing. We have also provided a further £6 million to support various charities, including those working with people with a learning disability, autistic people and people with complex needs.

Under the NHS Long Term Plan the Government is also investing at least £2.3 billion of extra funding a year in mental health services by 2023/24 to support adults and children, including autistic people.

Updated visiting guidance, published 12 January, clearly outlines how visits to care homes can continue to take place during the national lockdown with arrangements such as substantial screens, visiting pods, outdoors or through windows. Close-contact indoor visits are not currently allowed. Visits in exceptional circumstances including end of life should always be supported and enabled.

We recognise that in supported living settings, the accommodation is the person’s own home.

In this period of national lockdown, visits within support bubbles are still allowed for people in supported living settings. Supported living managers, care and support workers, individuals in supported living environments and their families and friends should follow national guidance on support bubbles and meeting others.

We recognise that COVID-19 presents serious risks and challenges for people with a learning disability and their carers. We have worked closely with the social care sector and public health experts to put in place appropriate guidance and support.

Public Health England has produced easy-read and accessible versions of guidance issued to the public. We strive to release accessible versions of guidance and information as quickly as possible. We have provided approximately £1.2 million to charities supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people to boost their online and helpline capacity. We have supported carers by provided funding to extend the Carers UK support phoneline and publishing guidance for carers of adults and children with a learning disability, covering wellbeing, communication, social distancing and signposting to further resources.

The Department, alongside NHS England, is considering the impact of COVID-19 on patients with rare diseases. NHS England has had discussions with some services and patients/patient groups to understand the impact of COVID-19 including what has worked well; what has not worked so well; and opportunities for transformation. NHS England has worked with commissioned providers, patient groups and charities throughout the pandemic to ensure that patients, carers and their families have been supported during the COVID-19 outbreak and ensuring those discussions inform planning for autumn and winter.

We have no plans to review the language the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) uses. NICE is an independent body and is responsible for its own methods and processes. NICE has a public involvement programme team that develops and supports patient, service user, carer and public involvement.

The Government remains strongly committed to supporting research into dementia and the United Kingdom research community is playing a significant role in the global effort to find a cure or a major disease-modifying treatment by 2025.

The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) published a framework in May to support the restarting of research paused due to COVID-19 which is available at the following link:

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/documents/restart-framework/24886

The NIHR is supporting the research community to amend study protocols for COVID-19 security. Last week the NIHR published guidance that NIHR-funded research staff should not be deployed to frontline duties except in exceptional circumstances.

Between January and June 2020 there were 339 mentions of Down’s Syndrome on HSA4 Abortion Notification Forms. This figure includes all legal abortions performed in England and Wales. This data should be treated as provisional, meaning that it may be subject to revision if the Department receives further information from hospitals and clinics on missing information from HSA4 forms, or more forms are received.

We are committed through our NHS Long Term Plan to investing at least £2.3 billion of extra funding a year into mental health services by 2023-24. This will see an additional 345,000 children and young people able to access support through National Health Service-funded services or school- and college-based mental health support teams.

In 2018 we announced the first 25 trailblazer sites delivering 59 mental health support teams in and near schools and colleges with the first becoming operational earlier this year. In July 2019, NHS England confirmed a further 57 areas would develop 123 new mental health support teams and a number of these have been commissioned and training has begun.

As part of the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset, the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) is supporting the direct reporting of cancer recurrence data by hospital trusts. Recurrence data collection is also mandated as part of the Cancer Waiting Times Standards.

NCRAS is working closely with cancer charities to improve data collection in this area, looking at how they can help improve completion rates and thus gain a better picture of the burden of recurrence and metastatic disease across the health service. To further support this work NCRAS has been sharing provider-level data on the completeness of recurrence reporting with individual National Health Service trusts since July 2016. The data was last updated in October 2019 and is available on the NCRAS website at the following link:

http://www.ncin.org.uk/cancer_type_and_topic_specific_work/topic_specific_work/recurrence

The Government recognises the importance of respite provision. The ‘Admission and care of residents in care homes during COVID-19’ guidance is aimed at care homes. There are different respite care provisions to suit different needs, including short stays in care homes. Where care homes provide respite services, they should continue to follow the advice set out in the ‘Admission and care of residents in care homes during COVID-19’ guidance.

In some patients, there may be additional long-term effects from COVID-19.

Because of this wide range of possible problems, the National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation launched an 18-month research study in July that aims to understand the long term medical, psychological and rehabilitation needs of hospitalised patients.

This is expected to recruit 10,000 patients and aims to develop trials of new strategies for clinical care, including personalised treatments for groups of patients based on the disease characteristics they show as a result of having COVID-19 to improve their long-term health.

Information on this study can be found at the following link:

https://www.leicesterbrc.nihr.ac.uk/themes/respiratory/research/phosp-covid/

We have committed to publishing a White Paper which will set out the Government’s response to Sir Simon Wessely’s Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983 and pave the way for reform of the Act.

We will publish our White Paper as soon as it is possible to do so. We will consult publicly on our proposals and will bring forward a Bill to amend the Act when parliamentary time allows.

The Independent Review made a number of recommendations around how the law works for children and young people. The Government will respond to these in the White Paper.

We recognise the crucial role that employers play in ensuring individuals are supported to take positive actions to improve their wellbeing at work.

The Health and Safety Executive’s ‘talking toolkit’ is a resource to help employers to have effective conversations with employees on how to prevent work-related stress to inform tangible actions in the workplace, for example, completion of a stress risk assessment.

As we move into winter, guidance and best practice will be available to employers on the Mental Health at Work website at the following link:

www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk

Local authorities and service providers should have maintained contact with carers and those receiving services throughout the lockdown. They will now be discussing arrangements to reintroduce care packages where these had been limited due to lockdown restrictions.

Understanding and mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people was a focus of the Social Sector COVID-19 Support Taskforce. The Taskforce was supported by several advisory groups, one of which was the learning disability and autism advisory group. The group included members with lived experience.

The recommendations of the Taskforce will shape our approach to COVID-19 in the adult social care sector and, in particular, the plans we put in place for winter which we will set out in the Adult Social Care Winter Plan, being published later this month.

A number of different studies are considering the durability of the COVID-19 immune response, by assessing antibody waning over time and whether previous infection protects against future infection. This includes UK Biobank, REACT-2 and the Public Health England SIREN study.

The National Health Service and the wider scientific community are currently working to better understand the disease course of COVID-19 infection, including the prevalence, severity and duration of symptoms, and how best to support recovery. The National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation have invested £8.4 million in the Post-HOSPitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID), led by Christopher Brightling at the University of Leicester. This study is one of the world’s largest comprehensive research studies into the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 on hospitalised patients.

The National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation have invested £8.4million in the Post-HOSPitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID), led by Christopher Brightling at the University of Leicester. The study is multi-disciplinary and is one of the world’s largest comprehensive research studies into the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 on hospitalised patients.

This study will create a research platform embedded within clinical care to understand the long-term outcomes for survivors following hospitalisation with COVID-19. Expert groups from across the United Kingdom will use standardised assessments of patients, including advanced imaging, recording of information and collection of samples, and will also cover the study of novel interventions in the rehabilitation pathway, including mental health interventions.

The Government’s number one priority for adult social care is for everyone who relies on care to get the care they need throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are committed to bringing forward a plan for social care to ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect and to find long term solutions for one of the biggest challenges we face as a society. There are complex questions to address and it is important that we give these issues our full consideration in the light of current circumstances.

Monitoring and tracking the impact of COVID-19 on children’s and adults’ mental health is a key part of the national response to the pandemic. We are working with the National Health Service, Public Health England and others to gather evidence and assess the potential longer-term impacts and plan for how to support mental health and wellbeing throughout the ‘recovery’ phase.

NHS mental health services have remained open for business throughout this time. Our community, talking therapies and children and young people’s services have deployed innovative digital tools to connect with people and provide ongoing support. We have published guidance to parents and carers on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

We have also provided £9.2 million for mental health charities, including charities like Young Minds and Place 2 Be, which specifically support the mental health of children and young people.

National Health Service mental health services for children and young people have remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, delivering support digitally, over the phone and face to face where possible.

Since 29 June 2020, no local authorities in England have been operating under Care Act 2014 easements.

The Prevention Green Paper, ‘Advancing our health: Prevention in the 2020s’ outlined commitments with varying timelines, regarding the services we receive, the choices we make and the conditions in which we live. The Green Paper consultation closed on 14 October 2019 and attracted over 1,600 responses. The Government response to the consultation, with more detail on progress against the Green Paper commitments, has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government intends to publish the response in due course.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave for Question 41067 on 13 July.

We take parliamentary scrutiny incredibly seriously and it is fundamentally important that hon. Members are provided with accurate and timely information to enable them to hold the Government to account. We are working rapidly to provide all Members with accurate answers to their questions, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hon. Member’s questions will be answered as soon as possible.

We have seen important successes since publication of the first chapter of the childhood obesity plan in 2016 including the average sugar content of drinks subject to the soft drinks industry levy decreasing by 28.8% between 2015 and 2018, and significant investment being made in schools to promote physical activity and healthy eating.

As part of delivering key measures outlined in chapter two of the plan, published in 2018, we have held consultations on ending the sale of energy drinks to children, calorie labelling in the out-of-home sector, restricting promotions of high fat, sugar and salt foods by location and by price, further advertising restrictions on television and similar protection online, and updating the nutrition standards in the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services. We will be setting out our responses as soon as we can.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 21 July to Question 37887.

On 8 June 2020, the National Cancer Director and the National Clinical Director for Cancer issued a further letter of guidance to National Health Service cancer services on ‘Second phase of NHS response to COVID-19 for cancer services’. The letter notes that the work for local systems and Cancer Alliances to identify ring-fenced diagnostic and surgical capacity for cancer should now be well advanced, so that referrals, diagnostics and treatment can be brought back to pre-pandemic levels at the earliest opportunity to minimise potential harm, and to reduce the scale of the post-pandemic surge in demand.

The NHS is now working on the restoration and recovery of all cancer services. We are encouraging anybody with symptoms that could be indicative of cancer to contact their general practitioner (GP). GPs will continue to refer on to cancer pathways in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance so that patients can be managed appropriately

NHS England and NHS Improvement have launched a public information campaign, ‘Help us to help you’, which urges the public to contact NHS services if they have a worrying symptom. The NHS will continue to repeat this message in the coming weeks.

On 8 June 2020, the National Cancer Director and the National Clinical Director for Cancer issued a further letter of guidance to National Health Service cancer services on ‘Second phase of NHS response to COVID-19 for cancer services’. The letter notes that the work for local systems and Cancer Alliances to identify ring-fenced diagnostic and surgical capacity for cancer should now be well advanced, so that referrals, diagnostics and treatment can be brought back to pre-pandemic levels at the earliest opportunity to minimise potential harm, and to reduce the scale of the post-pandemic surge in demand. The new guidance is based on three key principles: capacity, fairness and confidence. Cancer Alliances should work with their regional teams to provide such services.

Support and information for all cancer patients in England is provided through four key personalised care interventions:

- Personalised care and support planning based on holistic needs assessments;

- Health and wellbeing information and support (including nutritional advice and psychological support);

- End of treatment summaries, that provide symptom management information; and

- A Cancer Care Review with their general practitioner.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, all personalised care and support should continue by telephone, video, online or by post if face-to-face appointments and group sessions have not been possible. As set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, these interventions will be implemented where appropriate for every person diagnosed with cancer by 2021.

The Department has not made an assessment of the effect of remote health appointments on people with autistic spectrum disorder.

We are urgently considering research in to the impact of COVID-19, including of social distancing, on autistic people.

The Department, Public Health England, the Care Quality Commission and the National Health Service have published guidance on the care of residents in care homes, including those with dementia. It asks care homes to consider alternatives to in-person visiting, including use of telephones or video, or the use of plastic or glass barriers between residents and visitors. Care homes are responding with innovative solutions which are allowing residents to stay in touch with their family and friends.

While we have recommended that family and friends should be advised not to visit care homes, we are clear that there may be exceptional situations where this is appropriate. This includes visits at the end of life.

Work is ongoing with the National Clinical Director for dementia, service providers, and user groups to develop additional resources on dementia to support those in care homes and the community.

We will continue to review our policies in line with the latest scientific advice.

We do not currently have reproduction (R) rates for care homes. The Government Office for Science published the latest R number range for the United Kingdom on 15 May. The range of 0.7-1.0 is an estimate based on latest data available to determine infection and transmission rates.

The Government is committed to publishing the scientific evidence that has informed the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies’ advice. These papers are being published in batches. The latest batches were released on 20 March 2020 and 5 May 2020 and the next batch will published in the coming weeks. The full list of papers released to date is available at the following link. This list will be updated to reflect papers considered at recent and future meetings:

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/scientific-advisory-group-for-emergencies-sage-coronavirus-covid-19-response

The Government recognises that social distancing and self-isolation are likely to increase the risk of loneliness and mental health issues, particularly for disabled people. We continue to monitor the evidence here in the United Kingdom and internationally.

The Government and NHS England are working closely with mental health trusts to ensure those who need them have access to mental health services, maximising the use of digital and virtual channels to keep delivering support to patients. Numerous community volunteering efforts are now operating nationally and we have also set up NHS Volunteer Responders to help support the 1.5 million people in England who are at most risk from the virus.

Public Heath England has published guidance on self-isolation and staying at home for everyone in the UK, including for those with mobility issues.

The Government recognises that the effect of long-term social distancing is likely to impact different groups in a variety of ways, including disabled people and their families. These impacts have been carefully considered as part of the process for determining what measures to include in the Coronavirus Regulations and at each review point, in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirement for public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities. We appreciate this is an ongoing concern which is why we are engaging closely with a wide range of charities and representative organisations.

The safety of staff and patients remains paramount during the COVID-19 pandemic. NHS England and NHS Improvement regularly publish updated COVID-19 guidance to support clinicians and National Health Service managers, which is available on the NHS website at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/

The Government has been clear throughout the pandemic that it is vital to take the right steps at the right time. Decisions on when to adjust lockdown measures are guided by scientific advice and based on the following five tests that need to be met:

- The NHS is able to provide sufficient care, facilities and treatment across the United Kingdom to meet demand;

- A fall in the death rate;

- The rate of infection has decreased across all settings;

- Confidence that operational challenges, such as increasing our testing capacity and having enough personal protective equipment, are in hand; and

- Confidence that any changes will not lead to a significant second peak of infections.

National Health Service local systems and organisations have been asked to work with regional colleagues to step up non-COVID-19 urgent services as soon as possible. This needs to be a safe restart with full attention to infection prevention and control as the guiding principle.

In addition, service providers have been asked to work across local systems and with regional teams to begin to reset routine non-urgent elective care. These plans factor in the availability of staff, associated medicines, personal protective equipment, blood, consumables, equipment and other needed supplies.

A range of guidance has been published to ensure that public health and care services remain aware of their legal obligations to make reasonable adjustments during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, NHS England and NHS Improvement have produced the ‘Grab and Go’ hospital passport and related guidance to support organisations to make reasonable adjustments for people with learning disabilities and/or autism.

We expect organisations to continue to comply with the requirements of the Accessible Information Standard which National Health Service organisations must follow to support effective communication. NHS England and NHS Improvement have also published a range of easy read documents to support the communication needs of people with a learning disability, autism or both during COVID-19.

The principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and the safeguards provided by the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards still apply during the COVID-19 outbreak. On 9 April we published guidance to help decision makers make decisions regarding capacity quickly and safely, whilst also keeping the person at the centre of the process.

The suspension of non-urgent elective operations did not apply to emergency admissions, urgent cancer treatment and other clinically urgent care.

As a result of the measures put in place to tackle COVID-19, we now appear to be passing the peak of new cases and it has been decided to release and redeploy some of the treatment capacity that could have been needed while the number of COVID-19 patients was rising sharply.

All National Health Service organisations have therefore been asked to step-up non-COVID-19 services as soon as possible, starting with the most urgent.

The NHS is running an ‘Open for Business’ media campaign, encouraging all patients in need of urgent or emergency medical care to seek appropriate treatment including, where appropriate, attendance at accident and emergency.

This media campaign specifically targets heart attack patients, as well as anyone else with a potentially serious health condition.

The suspension of non-urgent elective operations did not apply to emergency admissions, urgent cancer treatment and other clinically urgent care.

As a result of the measures put in place to tackle COVID-19, we now appear to be passing the peak of new cases and it has been decided to release and redeploy some of the treatment capacity that could have been needed while the number of COVID-19 patients was rising sharply.

All National Health Service organisations have therefore been asked to step-up non-COVID-19 services as soon as possible, starting with the most urgent.

The NHS is running an ‘Open for Business’ media campaign, encouraging all patients in need of urgent or emergency medical care to seek appropriate treatment including, where appropriate, attendance at accident and emergency.

This media campaign specifically targets heart attack patients, as well as anyone else with a potentially serious health condition.

We recognise the challenges that autistic people and neurodivergent people and their families face as a result of the response to COVID-19, and it is clear that we need to understand how the response will affect these groups of people in the longer term.

The Department is currently exploring research opportunities to assess the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic response to vulnerable people such as those with learning disabilities and/or autism.

Testing is a vital part of the United Kingdom’s response and millions of people from across the UK are now eligible to receive a test if they need one.

The Government’s overall ambition is to ensure that everyone who needs a test can get one. We will continue to be guided by the science and regularly review eligibility for testing.

To date over 26,000 offers have been received by the central support from business triage point and survey. All offers are automatically acknowledged by email upon receipt and by a call.

To date, the Crown Commercial Service has made phone contact with most suppliers (around 99.5%) that have made non-medical offers of support and as a result has published a catalogue of offers which is designed to make it as easy as possible for offers of non-medical goods and services to be taken up by anyone across the United Kingdom public sector. To date 9,145 offers are published on the catalogue. Offers relevant to specific Departments or sectors are shared in some cases directly with the appropriate Department.

In March we began swab testing National Health Service patients and staff for COVID-19. Since then we have continuously expanded testing capacity, in line with our national testing strategy to control the virus and save lives.

We are now testing people who need elective surgery before being admitted, on top of testing patients already in hospital.

NHS staff are prioritised for testing should they exhibit symptoms. In line with Chief Medical Officer guidance, asymptomatic staff are tested in situations where there was an untoward incident, outbreak, or high prevalence of the virus. Asymptomatic staff are also being periodically tested as part of Public Health England’s SIREN study.