Martin Wrigley

While publicly owned, Post Office Limited is a commercial business that operates at arm’s length from Government. The Post Office's transformation plan aims to put the Post Office on a more stable financial footing for the future, including by reducing costs, and to increase Postmaster remuneration. The details of the transformation plan are being examined by my Department, and the plan is subject to Government funding. The Post Office will continue to deliver on the 11,500 minimum branch requirement and geographical access criteria set by Government thereby ensuring that essential services remain within local reach of all citizens.

Longer term, Government has set out our plan to publish a Green Paper to consult with the public on the long-term future of the Post Office. This Green Paper will help inform what customers, communities and postmasters would like to see from a modern Post Office network.

The Post Office faces a number of complex challenges. As set out on 13 November, Nigel Railton’s transformation plan aims to reduce Post Office’s central costs and deliver a real-terms increase in postmaster pay. As set out on 5 November, it is also important that Government has a clear vision for the future direction of the Post Office. The Department has appointed external consultants to develop options for the future remit, structure and ownership of the Post Office as well as to assess the options and recommendations made by Nigel Railton. Government plans to publish a Green Paper to seek views on a range of different proposals in the first half of 2025.

Post Office is committed to engaging and supporting its customers and their representatives when it makes changes to the Post Office network. When proposing any branch change in the network, Post Office invites comment on access. Feedback is reviewed before Post Office makes a decision on whether to proceed with the original proposal or if mitigations are needed to any address concerns raised.

National Gas has confirmed on 10 January that “the overall picture across Great Britain’s eight main gas storage sites remains healthy - with average levels at just over 60% across the board." We have diverse sources of gas supply, including from the North Sea, as well as the second largest LNG import capacity in Europe and three gas interconnectors. Only a small proportion of GB gas supply comes from our eight storage facilities, which primarily act as source of system flexibility, with capacity fluctuating throughout the year.

The US is our biggest research partner. We expect this to continue. The UK’s thriving scientific ecosystem make us a natural and leading collaborator for the US research community. The UK and US have a deep scientific partnership which supports the UK's economic growth agenda. The Government looks forward to continuing to build on our strong existing bilateral commitments on research, which advance the frontiers of science, research and innovation to shape the technologies of the future.

As my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister has made clear, the government is focused on delivering the change and justice victims deserve.

On 7 January, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for the Home Department outlined in Parliament commitments to introduce a mandatory duty for those engaging with children to report sexual abuse and exploitation, making grooming an aggravating factor to toughen up sentencing, and introducing a new performance framework for policing.

The government is working at pace to address the recommendations in the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. That is happening now and the government is determined to finally deliver for victims after years of no action being taken.

The government’s Plan for Change set the ambition of a record number of children starting school ready to learn, measured by the number meeting the early learning goals, and accessible, high-quality early education and childcare is a crucial part of this. The government is committed to delivering the expansion of early years entitlements to enable eligible working parents of children aged from nine months to access 30 hours of funded childcare from September 2025, boosting children’s life chances and parents work choices.

Early years early education and childcare entitlements are available for either 15 or 30 hours, over 38 weeks a year, which aligns to school terms. Early years entitlements can be stretched so parents and carers have fewer hours over more weeks, up to 52 weeks a year, but cannot be compressed into fewer than 38 weeks.

Additionally, parents can access Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) and Universal Credit. TFC can save parents up to £2,000 per year on the cost of childcare, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities. The eligibility criteria for TFC are the same as the working parent entitlement. Eligible Universal Credit claimants can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month, regardless of the number of hours they work.

This government had a dire financial inheritance with a £22 billion black hole in the nation’s finances. Our first priority must be to fix the economic foundations of our country, and any policy changes must be affordable.

The government’s Plan for Change set the ambition of a record number of children starting school ready to learn, measured by the number meeting the early learning goals, and accessible, high-quality early education and childcare is a crucial part of this. The government is committed to delivering the expansion of early years entitlements to enable eligible working parents of children aged from nine months to access 30 hours of funded childcare from September 2025, boosting children’s life chances and parents work choices.

Early years early education and childcare entitlements are available for either 15 or 30 hours, over 38 weeks a year, which aligns to school terms. Early years entitlements can be stretched so parents and carers have fewer hours over more weeks, up to 52 weeks a year, but cannot be compressed into fewer than 38 weeks.

Additionally, parents can access Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) and Universal Credit. TFC can save parents up to £2,000 per year on the cost of childcare, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities. The eligibility criteria for TFC are the same as the working parent entitlement. Eligible Universal Credit claimants can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month, regardless of the number of hours they work.

This government had a dire financial inheritance with a £22 billion black hole in the nation’s finances. Our first priority must be to fix the economic foundations of our country, and any policy changes must be affordable.

The government’s Plan for Change set the ambition of a record number of children starting school ready to learn, measured by the number meeting the early learning goals, and accessible, high-quality early education and childcare is a crucial part of this. The government is committed to delivering the expansion of early years entitlements to enable eligible working parents of children aged from nine months to access 30 hours of funded childcare from September 2025, boosting children’s life chances and parents work choices.

Early years early education and childcare entitlements are available for either 15 or 30 hours, over 38 weeks a year, which aligns to school terms. Early years entitlements can be stretched so parents and carers have fewer hours over more weeks, up to 52 weeks a year, but cannot be compressed into fewer than 38 weeks.

Additionally, parents can access Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) and Universal Credit. TFC can save parents up to £2,000 per year on the cost of childcare, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities. The eligibility criteria for TFC are the same as the working parent entitlement. Eligible Universal Credit claimants can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month, regardless of the number of hours they work.

This government had a dire financial inheritance with a £22 billion black hole in the nation’s finances. Our first priority must be to fix the economic foundations of our country, and any policy changes must be affordable.

The future of the Holiday Activities and Food programme beyond 31 March 2025 is subject to the next government Spending Review taking place this autumn. We will communicate the outcome in due course.

We are listening to the sector to ensure their views are heard. Ministers and officials regularly meet with a range of farming stakeholders, including the National Farmers Union (NFU), the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), and the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA). We will continue to meet with stakeholders to ensure their views are heard.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) began making payments to Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreement holders at the start of the December 2024, along with those in Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier and Environmental Stewardship, with around £330 million paid to date. The RPA is working hard to complete processing on remaining claims and issue payments as promptly as possible. The new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme will open in 2025 and will move to quarterly payments to help with cashflow management

We have allocated the largest ever budget for sustainable food production through the farming budget. In the first week of December, we paid £343 million into the rural economy, benefiting more than 31,000 farmers. After unprecedented demand, parts of the Capital Grant have been temporarily closed. Protection and Infrastructure grants, Woodland Tree Health grants, Capital Grants plans, Woodland Management Plan and Higher Tier Capital Grants all remain open. We are reviewing the offer to ensure funding goes further to improve outcomes for food security and nature conservation and will provide an update in early 2025.

Defra does not collect any farming data based on whether farms are owned by a family.

Estimates are produced based on the economic size of farms (based on Standard Outputs*). The latest estimates show that in England in 2022, a small number of economically ‘very high output farms’ produced over half (62%) the agricultural output using just 35% of the total farmed land area. Conversely, 45% of ‘very low output’ farms produced 2% of total output using 8% of the total farmed land area (Slide 8 at

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66e7e0b33f1299ce5d5c3ed9/Farming_evidence_pack_16sept24.pdf)

We understand the importance of all farms, including family farms to food security; in delivering environmental outcomes; and in supporting rural communities. That’s why our farming budget will be maintained at £2.4 billion in 2025/26. Most notably, £1.8 billion of this will be directed towards Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes—which are the key mechanisms supporting sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in the UK.

* Standard Output measures the total value of output across all enterprises on a farm - per head for livestock and per hectare for crops. For crops this will be the main product (e.g. wheat, barley, peas) plus any by-product that is sold, for example straw. For livestock it will be the value of the main product (milk, eggs, lamb, pork) plus the value of any secondary product (wool) minus the cost of replacement.

The Government has committed to support farmers through a farming budget of £5 billion over two years, including £2.4 billion in 2025/26. Accelerating the phase out of Direct Payments will allow us to focus more of this funding on Environmental Land Management schemes, which will boost nature and sustainable food production.

We publish regular statistics on farm income in England, including data earlier this year looking at how farm business income has changed since the start of the agricultural transition (Monitoring the agricultural transition period in England, 2022/23 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). This release will be updated in February 2025 with the 2024/24 data. On 14 November 2024, we published our Farm Business Income statistics (Farm business income - GOV.UK), which looked at how farm business income has changed in 2023/24, including the contribution of Direct Payments and agri-environment payments to farm incomes, including analysis by farm type.

Data relating to farm businesses are regularly published. Agriculture in the UK 2023 was published in June 2024. Farming evidence packs have been recently updated including key statistics and farm performance (Farming statistics evidence packs - GOV.UK). These set out an extensive range of data to provide an overview of agriculture in the UK, and the contribution of farm payments to farm incomes, including analysis by sector, location in England and type of land tenure.

We will continue to carry out appropriate and timely assessments of our interventions to inform policy development.

The Chancellor has been clear about the nation's finances and has launched a multi-year Spending Review. Decisions and timescales about individual projects, including the fifth phase of the South-West Rail Resilience Programme, will be informed by the review process and confirmed in due course.

Decisions in relation to a phase five of the South West Rail Resilience Programme do not impact the cost of phase four, for which all physical works have now been completed.

Phase five is being considered as part of the Spending Review in 2025.

Proposals for a fifth phase of the South West Rail Resilience Programme will be assessed against the criteria described in the document entitled ‘Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline - A New Approach for Rail Enhancements’ published in March 2018.

The Government offers an array of support to ensure pensioners remain comfortable and safe in the winter months. This includes direct financial help to low-income pensioners through Pension Credit, the Warm Home Discount, and (in England & Wales) Cold Weather Payments.

We know there are low-income pensioners who aren’t claiming Pension Credit. We want to ensure as many people as possible have access to this support and urge pensioners to check their eligibility. Pension Credit will passport them to receive Winter Fuel Payments in future, alongside other benefits.

Our Pension Credit campaign has been successful in boosting applications by 145%, and thanks to the Pension Credit backdating rules, anyone who made a successful backdated claim by 21 December will also qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment.

The Warm Home Discount scheme provides eligible low-income households across Great Britain with a £150 rebate on their winter energy bill. This winter, we expect over three million households, including over one million pensioners, to benefit under the scheme.

The Government and industry have worked together to deliver a £500 million Winter Support Commitment for customers, which will help customers most in need by providing credit on bills, enhanced debt write-off schemes, and increased funding for charity partners to target hard to reach customers.

This support is all underpinned by this Government’s commitment to the Triple Lock this Parliament and a 4.1% increase to the basic State Pension and the new State Pension this April. We are also increasing the standard minimum guarantee in Pension Credit by 4.1%. As such, according to the latest OBR projections, the full yearly rate of the new State Pension is forecast to increase by around £1,900 over the course of this parliament whilst the full yearly amount of the basic State Pension is forecast to increase by around £1,500.

Low-income pensioners and others struggling with the cost of living should contact their local council to see what further support may be available to them, as they may be able to receive support from Council Tax Reduction, or through energy support programmes (such as the Homes Upgrade Grant and Energy Company Obligation) – or in England, through the Household Support Fund (a scheme providing discretionary support to those most in need towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water).

The Government is extending the Household Support Fund in England by a further year (until 31 March 2026), with funding of £742 million provided to enable this extension in England, plus additional funding for the devolved Governments to be spent at their discretion. This builds on the previous investment of £421 million to extend the fund from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025.

The Attitudes to Pensions: the 2006 Survey was a large-scale survey commissioned by DWP and carried out by the respected National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and the School of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham. The authors included a mix of academics and research professionals, experienced in survey design and delivery, and the report was quality assured to Government Social Research standards. Almost 2,000 adults took part in the survey, and weightings were applied to ensure results were representative of the population.

The survey report includes the finding that the percentage of women who reported knowing that women’s State Pension age would increase in the future was 90% for women aged 45-54.

The 45-54 female subgroup has a sample size of 203. With a sample of this size, we can get a reliable estimate of the percentage of women among this group who reported knowing that the women’s State Pension age would increase in the future. Using confidence intervals, we can have 95% confidence that this figure would be around 85-95%. The 95% level is a widely accepted standard of confidence. Therefore, even at the lower estimate, the data shows the vast majority of 1950s women were aware.

The 2006 Attitudes to Pensions Survey report is available online at

https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20100208141655mp_/http:/research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2007-2008/rrep434.pdf

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring separated parents support their children financially, taking robust enforcement action against those who do not.

The CMS has a relatively low percentage of unpaid maintenance. Only 8% of the total maintenance due to be paid since the start of the CMS remains to be collected through the Collect & Pay service.

The CMS has been improving its service to allow Direct Pay arrangements to quickly move to Collect and Pay when the Paying Parent is not paying or when Direct Pay is no longer appropriate.

The CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those who consistently refuse to meet their obligations to provide financial support to their children including deducting directly from earnings, bank accounts and forcing the sale of a property.

The Department plans to streamline the enforcement process further by removing the requirement to obtain a court issued liability order and instead allow the Secretary of State to issue an administrative liability order. Introducing this simpler administrative process will enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities.

There are no plans to have discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on offering givinostat for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The NICE makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS independently, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by the NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance. The NICE is currently evaluating givinostat, and its Appraisal Committee will meet to consider its recommendations in May 2025.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities, collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, which includes increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals. We remain committed to delivering under the framework, and will publish an annual England action plan in 2025, which will report on progress.

The NHS England Genomics Education Programme (GEP) has continued to develop the GeNotes digital educational resource aimed at healthcare professionals, and has launched several specialities, including in neurology. Through the education and training of the workforce, the GEP will support earlier recognition, timely diagnosis, and healthcare professionals’ understanding of the genomic testing available for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, and these include better coordination of care, and improving access to specialist care, treatment, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework, and will publish an annual England action plan in 2025 which will report on progress.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by the NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance. The NICE has recently published guidance recommending vamorolone as an option for treating DMD in people four years old and over, and is currently developing recommendations on the use of givinostat, which was granted a conditional marketing authorisation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for the treatment of DMD in patients aged six years old and over in December 2024.

The United Kingdom’s world-class health research ecosystem makes us a natural and leading partner for the United States’ research community and life sciences. The United States ranks the highest in the number of co-authorships, between UK researchers and researchers in international organisations, of peer reviewed biomedical journal papers. The Government will continue to encourage close working between our respective research funders to support cutting-edge, collaborative research between the UK and the United States.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at end of life and their loved ones.

Individual ICBs oversee palliative care provision by NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each area.

The biggest investment in a generation for hospices has been announced by the Government, ensuring that hospices can continue to deliver the highest quality end of life care possible for their patients, families, and loved ones.

This was through a £100 million boost for adult and children’s hospices to ensure they have the best physical environment for care, and £26 million of revenue to support children and young people’s hospices. Further details of the funding allocation and dissemination will be set out in the new year.

We, alongside key partners NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.

HMT continuously monitors external developments and potential impacts on the UK economy, but it will not comment on hypotheticals.

The US is one of the UK’s closest partners with a trading relationship worth £304 billion and representing 18% of total UK trade. We look forward to working with the new US administration in office, including on their policy priorities and to improve UK-US trading relations to support businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.

It is expected that up to around 2,000 estates will be affected by the changes to APR and BPR in 2026-27, with around half of those being claims that involve AIM shares. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.

In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.

It is for locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to make decisions around appointing, suspending, and removing chief constables.

The College of Policing updated the national Guidance for Appointing Chief Officers in February 2024 to ensure fair and appropriate processes are followed in the appointment of chief officers in England and Wales. The College also offer a range of services to help PCCs with the recruitment and appointment process including help to maximise the pool of potential candidates, support with delivering a process in line with the national guidance and to sit on the appointment panel as a senior police advisor.

Police and Crime Commissioners play a vital local role acting as the voice of the public and victims in policing, holding Chief Constables to account and leading local partnerships to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour.

The government will continue to work with PCCs and Chief Constables to set clear expectations for policing on performance and standards, ensuring that our communities have an effective and efficient police service within their force area.

In her Written Ministerial Statement of 19 November 2024 (HCWS232), the Home Secretary announced her intention to present a White Paper to Parliament next year on reforms to deliver more effective and efficient policing, to rebuild public confidence and to deliver the Government’s Safer Streets mission. This reform programme will be a collaborative endeavor with policing. Proposals will also consider how the PCC role can be strengthened, including an enhanced role to prevent crime.

The US is our closest security ally. The Government looks forward to working with the incoming US Administration in the months and years ahead. The Senate confirmation process is ongoing for members of President-elect Trump’s cabinet.

The Prime Minister had a warm introductory call with President-Elect Trump on 6 November and spoke again with the President-elect on 18 December. The Prime Minister offered his congratulations and said he looked forward to working closely with President-elect Trump across all areas of the special relationship and our shared priorities, including international security.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my noble Friend, the Minister for the Armed Forces (Luke Pollard), on 27 November 2024 to Question 15649 to the hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts).

The Department's spend on research and development for financial year (FY) 2023-24 was £2.6 billion. Spend for the period in FY 2024-25 will be published in the Departmental Annual Report and Accounts after the end of this financial year.

Defence research and development remains critical to maximising the operational advantage of our Armed Forces in an increasingly volatile and technology-driven world. The Department is committed to investing in cutting edge science, technology and innovation.

Following the recent Autumn Budget announcement, the allocation of funding for the next 12 months is ongoing.

The government’s starting point is for all elections to go ahead in May 2025, unless there is strong justification for postponement. It is a matter for councils themselves to work together to develop plans and reach agreements that are in the interests of their communities.

On 16 December, I wrote to leaders of all councils in two-tier areas and neighbouring small unitary authorities to set out further detail on our plans for a joint programme of devolution and local government reorganisation. I acknowledged that for some areas, the timing of elections affects their planning for devolution, particularly alongside reorganisation, and to help manage these demands, we will consider requests to postpone local elections. I will only consider these requests where it is clear that postponement will help the area to deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe. I am currently considering such a request from Devon County Council and a decision will be made in due course, recognising the need to give confirmation as soon as practically possible.

My 16 December letter is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-government-reorganisation-letter-to-two-tier-areas.

The government’s starting point is for all elections to go ahead in May 2025, unless there is strong justification for postponement. It is a matter for councils themselves to work together to develop plans and reach agreements that are in the interests of their communities.

On 16 December, I wrote to leaders of all councils in two-tier areas and neighbouring small unitary authorities to set out further detail on our plans for a joint programme of devolution and local government reorganisation. I acknowledged that for some areas, the timing of elections affects their planning for devolution, particularly alongside reorganisation, and to help manage these demands, we will consider requests to postpone local elections. I will only consider these requests where it is clear that postponement will help the area to deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe. I am currently considering such a request from Devon County Council and a decision will be made in due course, recognising the need to give confirmation as soon as practically possible.

My 16 December letter is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-government-reorganisation-letter-to-two-tier-areas.

Mayors and Combined and Combined County Authority board members will vote on the areas set out in their governance arrangements. The new statutory framework will make these consistent across the country.

In Mayoral Combined and Combined County Authorities, a majority vote which includes the Mayor will be required to approve decisions on the use of most functions. Specific functions set out in the Devolution Framework will be exercisable only by the Mayor. We will confirm the final arrangements when we lay the English Devolution Bill.

The assumed population threshold for all levels of Strategic Authority is 1.5 million or above, but we accept that in some places, smaller authorities may be necessary.

As set out in the English Devolution White Paper, new unitary councils must be the right size to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks. For most areas, this will mean creating councils with a population of 500,000 or more, but there may be exceptions to ensure new structures makes sense for an area, including for devolution, and decisions will be on a case-by-case-basis.

As individual councils, London boroughs will not be designated as Strategic Authorities. The Greater London Authority will be designated as the Strategic Authority for London.

In September last year, this Government confirmed the establishment of a non-mayoral Combined County Authority with Devon and Torbay, in line with the devolution deal agreed with that area under the previous government. This was an important first step as we continue to consider options to deepen and widen devolution in the area.

As set out in the White Paper, we want to see all areas, including Devon, access the strongest powers set out in new Devolution Framework.

We will work with local leaders, both before and after local elections, to deliver on these ambitions. This government would consider postponing elections only where the relevant local authorities explicitly request it, and where this will help the area to deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe.