Lord Moylan

The Government is committed to extending mandatory pay gap reporting to ethnicity and disability pay gaps for employers with at least 250 employees. It is also committed to ensuring the Public Sector Equality Duty covers all parties exercising public functions.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the Director General for Office for Statistics Regulation.

Ed Humpherson, Director General for Office for Statistics Regulation

The Lord Moylan
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW

19 December 2024

Dear Lord Moylan,

As Director General for Office for Statistics Regulation, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking when His Majesty's Government plan to update the assessment of abortion statistics by the UK Statistics Authority in order to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics (HL3549).

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) was established in 2016 and is the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority (the Authority). OSR provides independent regulation of all official statistics produced in the UK. Before 2016, the Authority's Monitoring and Assessment team handled regulatory functions.

Accredited Official Statistics are official statistics that have been independently assessed by OSR to comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited Official Statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Abortions Statistics for England and Wales produced by the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID, was previously Department of Health) were assessed as complying with the Code of Practice for Statistics in February 2012, and National Statistics designation was awarded[1].

It is a requirement of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 that the Code of Practice must continue to be complied with by the statistics producer in relation to the statistics. OSR regularly engages with the Head of Profession for Statistics for the Department of Health and Social Care to obtain general assurance on the Department’s compliance with the Code of Practice, but the OSR team has not discussed the abortion statistics specifically in these conversations.

Once a set of statistics has been assessed, OSR can re-assess them at any time. Reassessments can be initiated as a result of concerns raised with us by users, including citizens, academic experts and policy stakeholders. While we do not currently have any plans to re-assess the abortion statistics in this financial year, we are always open to hearing the concerns of people with an interest in the topic area.

To that end, if you have any concerns regarding the trustworthiness, quality and value of these abortion statistics not complying with the Code of Practice for Statistics, please do contact me through our general contact email regulation@statistics.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely

Ed Humpherson
Director General for OSR

[1]Statistics on Abortion: Letter of Confirmation as National Statistics, https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/statistics-on-abortion-letter-of-confirmation-as-national-statistics/

Departmental settlements have been set following the Budget announcement on October 30. Individual programmes will now be assessed during the departmental Business Planning process.

The way funding has been allocated to local authorities represents a change from previous methodologies to a fairer and simpler system, moving away from a competitive process. This funding for local authorities to deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans has been allocated based on local needs, considering three factors, equally weighted. These are:

• The level of population, the greater the population of the local transport authority the more money they will receive;
• The distance covered by buses in the authority, the greater the tendered bus mileage, the more money they will receive; and
• The index of multiple deprivation, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This is the official measure of relative deprivation in England.

The Secretary of State announced on 4 December that, under the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, South Western Railway’s services will transfer into public ownership on 25 May 2025, followed by c2c’s on 20 July 2025 and Greater Anglia’s in autumn 2025.

Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and TfL. Thanks to constructive dialogue between TfL and the unions the strikes planned by both RMT and ASLEF for early November have now been called off.

The Government is currently reviewing the position it has inherited on rail infrastructure and will consider how to address capacity needs and support economic growth in and between the North and the Midlands, whilst maintaining fiscal discipline.

We will set out next steps in due course.

In accordance with the Abortion Act 1967, all abortions in England must be notified to the Chief Medical Officer within 14 days of the procedure. This information is used by the Department to monitor compliance with the act. The Department also publishes this data in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, to ensure it is available to commissioners and providers of abortion services and others with an interest in abortion in England and Wales. There is no legal duty placed on the Department to publish data collected through abortion notification forms.

The Department regularly consults the Office for Statistics Regulation, which is the independent regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority, and provides independent regulation of all official statistics produced in the United Kingdom.

Following reports of extremely rare adverse events of concurrent thrombosis and thrombocytopenia following vaccination with the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that adults aged under 30 years old and without underlying health conditions should be offered an alternative vaccine, if available. This advice was published on 7 April 2021. In parallel, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency updated its information for healthcare professionals on the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine. On 7 May 2021, the JCVI published updated advice which extended the group who should be offered an alternative to include all unvaccinated adults aged 30 to 39 years old who were not in a clinical priority group at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease. This advice is published online, and is available in an online only format.

Following reports of extremely rare adverse events of concurrent thrombosis and thrombocytopenia following vaccination with the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that adults aged under 30 years old and without underlying health conditions should be offered an alternative vaccine, if available. This advice was published on 7 April 2021. In parallel, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency updated its information for healthcare professionals on the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine. On 7 May 2021, the JCVI published updated advice which extended the group who should be offered an alternative to include all unvaccinated adults aged 30 to 39 years old who were not in a clinical priority group at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease. This advice is published online, and is available in an online only format.

As of 30 September 2024, the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) has processed 3,825 claims relating to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. A further 207 claims relating to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are undergoing medical assessment. As of 30 September 2024, there were 7,335 live VDPS claims, of which 1,024 have been awaiting resolution for longer than 12 months, and 316 claims for longer than 18 months.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) provided advice to the Government between 1 April and 6 May 2021 regarding age restrictions for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. This advice was published on the GOV.UK website, and states that the JCVI currently advises that it is preferable for adults aged less than 30 years old, without underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease, to be offered an alternative COVID-19 vaccine, if available.

Discussions on the AstraZeneca vaccine also took place and are noted within the minutes of the JCVI’s COVID-19 sub-committee meetings held on 13, 22, and 29 April 2021. The outcome of the discussions held within these meetings was reflected in the updated JCVI advice on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, published on the 7 May 2021, which extended the preferential use of alternative vaccines to unvaccinated adults aged 30 to 39 years old, who are not in a clinical priority group at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is engaging in ongoing discussions with relevant departments regarding this issue. The BIOT is not a suitable long-term location for the migrants, which is why we are working to find a lasting solution. The BIOT Administration have put in place a process for considering claims for protection, which is thorough and comprehensive, but do not comment publicly on individual claims for protection. We are not aware of any involvement of LTTE in trafficking the migrants, and continue to cooperate with international partners to try and prevent criminal groups exploiting individuals and sending them on dangerous journeys across the sea.

By the end of January 2024, over 11.5m tax returns had been submitted for the 2022/23 financial year. Around 97 percent of returns received were online and the majority were processed automatically.

HMRC carries out additional processing work on a small percentage of tax returns. This includes checks, addressing amends made by customers and manually working through returns which are made on paper. This year HMRC is on track to meet targets for processing paper Self Assessment returns which is consistent with previous years.

To ensure taxpayers get support to meet their obligations for filing 23/24 returns, HMRC has recently recruited and trained additional customer service advisors.

Tobacco duty aims to raise revenue and reduce harm to public health by discouraging smoking and raised £10bn in 2022/23. High duty rates, making tobacco less affordable, have helped reduce smoking prevalence with the percentage of adult smokers in the UK reducing from 26% in 2000 to 12% in 2023.

Strong enforcement is essential in tackling the illicit tobacco market and minimising the tax gap. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Border Force published a new illicit tobacco strategy in January 2024, ‘Stubbing Out the Problem)’. This set out the Government’s continued commitment to reduce the trade in illicit tobacco with a focus on reducing demand, and the disruption of organised crime groups behind the illicit tobacco trade.

The strategy is supported by £100 million of new ‘smokefree’ funding over the next 5 years which will boost existing HMRC and Border Force enforcement capability.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publish official statistics relating to measuring tax gaps, which include the estimated annual tax revenue loss from Illicit and non-duty paid tobacco.

The statistics are published annually and the latest figures are set out in Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023.

The duty gap for tobacco is estimated at 14.5% of the theoretical tobacco duty liability, or £2.2 billion (£1.7 billion in Excise Duty and £0.5 billion in VAT), in tax year 2022 to 2023.

Under the assumptions used in tobacco costings certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) at Spring Budget 2024, increasing overall tobacco duty rates increases tobacco duty receipts.

Under the assumptions used in tobacco costings certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) at Spring Budget 2024, increasing overall tobacco duty rates increases tobacco duty receipts.

The Government’s number one priority is to keep the UK safe. By closing the current gap in advance permissions, the ETA scheme will, for the first time, give us a comprehensive understanding of those intending to travel to the UK and the ability to prevent the travel of those who pose a threat, including those in transit. A blanket exemption to the ETA requirement for passengers transiting UK airside would risk creating a permission-free route of travel into the UK, which we believe could be open to abuse in future. We will however keep this and other aspects of the scheme under review, including looking at other ways these risks might be mitigated.

People who have a vignette or stamp in their passport that shows they have indefinite leave to remain in the UK can also access an eVisa. They do this by making a No Time Limit application which helps us to re-establish their identity so that they can create a UKVI account to access digital evidence of their status. All No Time Limit applicants whose applications are decided before the end of this month will get a BRP which they can use to create a UKVI account and access their eVisa. If their applications are decided after the end of this month, they will not receive a BRP. Instead, applicants will either have an account created for them automatically, or will be advised on steps they need to take to create their UKVI account. Further information on the new process will be available at www.gov.uk/evisa.

Whilst we encourage people who have a vignette or stamp in their passport to transition to an eVisa, they will still be able to prove their rights as they do today, using their physical documents where these are permitted. That will not change at the end of 2024.

However, making the switch to an eVisa and creating a UKVI account will bring a range of benefits. This includes the fact that an eVisa cannot be lost or damaged, like a vignette, and there is no need for a potentially costly replacement.

HMCTS has worked with the judiciary since the disorder in the summer to bring the rioters to justice. As of 3 October, a total of 819 defendants have been received by the courts in connection with public disorder, 493 have had a final outcome, of which 388 received an immediate custodial sentence. Data relating to the cases started in connection with public disorder comes from a bespoke data feed which does not include information on defendant home address and location of the offence. To obtain this information would involve a disproportionate cost as it would involve checking individual case files.

The Ministry of Justice’s response to the Regulation 28 Prevention of Future Deaths report issued on 12 April by the Senior Coroner for Milton Keynes was sent by the Director General of Operations for HM Prison and Probation Service on 15 May 2024.

Section 2 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 (the 1997 Act) introduced a mandatory life sentence for a second serious offence, meaning judges had to impose a life sentence on anyone convicted of a second specified serious offence, unless there were exceptional circumstances.

Although the ‘two-strike’ life sentence and the IPP sentence can be imposed for similar specified offences, unlike the IPP sentence, the ‘two-strike’ life sentence is a life sentence, and offenders will therefore be subject to licence conditions for life if they are released by the Parole Board. The recent changes to the IPP licence, which can be terminated pursuant to section 31A of the 1997 Act, would therefore not align with this life licence.

We will be launching a review of the sentencing framework. The details of this review will be announced in due course.