Lord Weir of Ballyholme

The updated GPSR largely formalises the reality of how many businesses are already operating and the measures are therefore likely to have limited impact in practice. However, we understand that for some businesses, the regulation will require changes, and we take any concerns extremely seriously.

We have issued guidance, will keep this under review and continue to engage businesses directly to ensure we are supporting them to trade freely within the UK and with the EU. We have regular discussions with businesses and consumer representatives from across the UK to hear their concerns.

The updated GPSR largely formalises the reality of how many businesses are already operating and the measures are therefore likely to have limited impact in practice. However, we understand that for some businesses, the regulation will require changes, and we take any concerns extremely seriously.

We have issued guidance, will keep this under review and continue to engage businesses directly to ensure we are supporting them to trade freely within the UK and with the EU. We have regular discussions with businesses and consumer representatives from across the UK to hear their concerns.

This Government, and the previous one, has engaged extensively with a wide range of stakeholders as the policy set out in the Football Governance Bill has developed over the last 3 years. This includes engagement with UEFA.

These discussions have been constructive, and we continue to speak to the relevant football authorities on a regular basis.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which will be driven by evidence, from the UK and abroad, and a commitment to high standards for all young people.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The statutory curriculum for health education requires all pupils in state-maintained schools to be taught the facts about legal and illegal harmful substances and the associated risks to physical and mental wellbeing, including smoking, alcohol use and drug taking. This complements content about substances within the national curriculum for science. Schools can teach about the dangers of taking ketamine in these lessons.

In further education (FE) and higher education (HE) the government works through sector bodies and partner organisations.

The government supports activity by universities, sector bodies and other partners to discourage substance abuse by young people in further and higher education and to raise awareness of the harms of illicit drugs.

For HE, Universities UK set up a Drugs Taskforce that published its recommendations in late 2023. The recommendations are attached and available at the following link: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/sites/default/files/field/downloads/2024-06/Enabling-student-health-and-success.pdf. As autonomous institutions, HE providers are responsible for their own policies in relation to illegal drugs as the government has no remit to intervene.

In FE the Association of Colleges ‘Take back our Streets’ mission works to educate FE students by hosting charity talks on the dangers of drugs and addiction and works with organisations to build students’ trust and confidence in the police. The ‘Take back our Streets’ mission is available here: https://www.aoc.co.uk/news-campaigns-parliament/mission-accepted/mission-three-take-back-our-streets.

£350m is currently allocated to the Access for All programme until 2028/29. A further £75m programme of works to install platform edge tactile strips on at stations that did not already have them is approaching its completion. These investments are in addition to accessibility enhancements delivered as part of other major projects or industry renewal activities.

Disabled people should be able to travel easily, confidently and with dignity. Ministers and officials have regular conversations with Transport for London on a variety of issues including accessibility of their network. Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and TfL is responsible for managing the London Underground.

The department estimates that the legislation to means-test Winter Fuel Payments would generate a net saving of £1.3 billion in England and Wales for 2024/25. This reflects an expected increase in Pension Credit take-up, estimated at five percentage points. This assumption reduced the overall saving by £0.3 billion in 2024-25 in England and Wales, but there is significant uncertainty around this element of the costing. For further details, please see Economic and fiscal outlook – CP 1169.

The department estimate that up to 760,000 families who were entitled to receive Pension Credit did not claim the benefit in the financial year ending 2023. Further details can be found at Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK.

The next iteration of Pension Credit caseload statistics will be released on 18^th February, as part of the DWP Benefits Statistics quarterly release. This will contain data for the period from June 2024 to the end of August 2024.

Following release, the data can also be accessed at Stat-Xplore - Home.

The Government is committed to ensuring that older people receive the support to which they are entitled. That’s why we are taking significant steps to maximise the take-up of Pension Credit. The Department’s campaign to promote Pension Credit has been running since September and has included TV, radio, social media such as Facebook and Instagram, on YouTube, on advertising screens, including on GP and Post Office screens as well as in the press.

The latest phase of the campaign ran from 8 November and was aimed at friends and family - especially adult children of eligible pensioners - asking them to tell people they know about Pension Credit, encourage them to check their eligibility, as well as help them make a claim.

In November we also wrote to around 120,000 pensioners who were in receipt of Housing Benefit but not Pension Credit. We invited these pensioners to claim Pension Credit in time to make a successful backdated Pension Credit claim and qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment.

In order to promote Pension Credit through as many channels as possible, we have also engaged with key stakeholders and partners, including other government departments, local councils, housing associations, community groups, local libraries and service providers as well as charities and third sector organisations.

Our campaign has seen DWP receive around 150,000 Pension Credit applications in the 16 weeks since the Winter Fuel Payment announcement. This is compared to around 61,300 Pension Credit applications in the 16 weeks preceding the announcement – a 145% increase in applications since the 29 July.

Over the coming weeks, as part of the annual State Pension uprating exercise, around 11 million pensioners will receive a leaflet promoting Pension Credit along with their State Pension uprating letter.

The Department takes the threat of ketamine and other drugs seriously, and is working with partners across Government to respond to existing and new drug threats, and to reduce and prevent the health harms. We are committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug problem can access the help and support they need. We know that drug treatment is protective, and the number of places in treatment for people who use drugs, other than opiates, is being increased by 30,000.

The Government has a drug information and advice service called Talk to FRANK, which aims to reduce drug misuse and its harms by increasing awareness, particularly for young people and parents. FRANK offers easy to read information on the risks of using ketamine and mixing it with other substances, and basic harm reduction advice.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has developed a briefing on ketamine for local areas, many of which are already mobilising in response to local need. The OHID also commissions drug education materials to be used by schools in personal, social, health, and economic education.

The UK has now announced £112 million for the Occupied Palestinian Territories this financial year, including £41 million for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), providing vital services to civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Palestinian refugees across the region delivered through partner agencies. This includes healthcare delivery. As part of this total, since July 2024 we have announced £5.5 million for UK-Med to operate field hospitals in Gaza, £6 million for UNICEF to support vulnerable families in Gaza by restoring water supply and sanitation systems, in addition to £1 million to support the Egyptian Ministry of Health to care for medically evacuated Palestinians, and £6 million to both United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Food Programme to support lifesaving health, food, water, sanitation and protection services for Palestinians. Our funding to UK-Med has allowed them to treat over 300,000 people since the start of the conflict.

The UK has now announced £112 million for the Occupied Palestinian Territories this financial year, including £41 million for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), providing vital services to civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Palestinian refugees across the region delivered through partner agencies. This includes healthcare delivery. As part of this total, since July 2024 we have announced £5.5 million for UK-Med to operate field hospitals in Gaza, £6 million for UNICEF to support vulnerable families in Gaza by restoring water supply and sanitation systems, in addition to £1 million to support the Egyptian Ministry of Health to care for medically evacuated Palestinians, and £6 million to both United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Food Programme to support lifesaving health, food, water, sanitation and protection services for Palestinians. Our funding to UK-Med has allowed them to treat over 300,000 people since the start of the conflict.

Since the start of the conflict, we have provided £5.5 million in funding to UK-Med, enabling it to provide vital care to over 300,000 Gazans, including critical limb and life-saving surgeries, physiotherapy, and rehabilitation. The UK also supported delivery of the Polio vaccination campaign, both through advocacy and our core funding to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), protecting thousands of vulnerable children across Gaza. We have pressed Israel at senior levels to urgently improve healthcare provision, including significantly increasing medical supplies, and to establish sustained, safe and timely passage for patients who need medical or surgical interventions not available in Gaza.

The UK Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) costs. This funding will be allocated to UK Government departments, with the Barnett formula applying in the usual way for the devolved governments.

Funding resulting from the employer NICs policy change will be in addition to the devolved governments’ 2025-26 settlements announced at Autumn Budget 2024, which include £47.7 billion for the Scottish Government, £21.0 billion for the Welsh Government, and £18.2 billion for the Northern Ireland Executive. These settlements are the largest in real terms since devolution and ensure that each devolved government receives at least 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in other parts of the UK.

Decisions on devolved priorities – including the size and pay levels of the public sector – are a matter for the devolved governments, and it is for them to determine how to allocate their budgets across devolved areas.

The Government wrote to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) on 14 January to commission updated advice on ketamine, including whether it should be reclassified to become a Class A drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

This letter is published on GOV.UK. Updated harms assessment of ketamine: commissioning letter - GOV.UK

We will carefully consider the ACMD’s recommendations before making any decision.

The Carltona principle is an extremely important one which should continue to be upheld, and the Government remains committed to bringing forward legislation in relation to the legacy of the Troubles that is lawful and human rights compliant.

On 4 December 2024, the Secretary of State laid a proposal for a draft remedial order, which represents the first step towards fulfilling the Government’s commitment to repeal and replace the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023. The remedial order, if adopted by Parliament, will remedy all of the human rights deficiencies in the Act identified by the Northern Ireland High Court in February 2024 in the case of Dillon and Others and one further deficiency - the prohibition on civil proceedings - identified by the Court of Appeal in September 2024.

The Government will also introduce primary legislation when parliamentary time allows, to implement other measures to ensure that the Government fulfils the commitments it has made, including to reform the independent Commission and further strengthen its independence and its powers.

The Government continues to have detailed discussions with the Irish Government on our commitment to repeal and replace the Legacy Act. The Irish Government is an essential partner in this process and we are seeking to agree a way forward, underpinned by the principles set out in the Stormont House Agreement. The full participation of both the UK and Irish governments in all legacy mechanisms is important if we are to provide as much information as possible for as many families as possible across the UK and Ireland who lost loved ones in the Troubles.