Maureen Burke

The Government will publish an Impact Assessment alongside the legislation that implements the increase to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage in 2025. This will include analysis of the number of workers affected by region and country. More granular estimates by constituency are subject to greater data reliability issues due to survey response rates.

We are currently focused on making Great British Energy’s Aberdeen Headquarters a reality. Once Great British Energy is set-up in Aberdeen, we will work towards opening sites in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and we will provide further detail on this in due course. We are committed to delivering these additional sites, that will enable Great British Energy to tap into a wider labour market, maximising skills and expertise across Scotland.

We are fully committed to multi-year funding for our elite sport system and enabling our athletes to excel on the world stage.

This means supporting them financially to match and build on their success in Paris, helping them to deliver at LA 2028. We will set out further details at the Spending Review.

The Department for Transport has not made a recent assessment, of the merits of amending the national speed limits for rural roads.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) publishes data annually showing car driving test pass rates by age (17 to 25 year olds), at all driving test centres (DTCs). This data table can be found online at drt122d-car-driving-test-by-age-by-test-centre.ods. This data was last updated on 2 September 2024 with data to March 2024.

The DVSA publishes data quarterly showing car driving test pass rates by gender per month at all DTCs. This data table can be found via: drt122a-car-driving-test-by-test-centre.ods. This data was last updated on 20 December 2024 with data to September 2024.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.

On the 18 December, DVSA set out further plans to reduce driving test waiting times. These steps include recruiting 450 driving examiners (DE) and improving rules for booking driving tests. Full details of these steps can be found on GOV.UK.

DVSA continues to aim to recruit new DEs into the driving test centres that serve the Glasgow North East constituency, and is currently working through the recruitment process from recent campaigns. From this, DVSA hopes to make offers to successful candidates in the new year.

The Department for Work and Pensions deploys a variety of methods for monitoring enforcement of rules of conduct that underpin but are not exclusively about the Civil Service Code.

For example, the Departmental Audit and Risk Assurance Committee monitors the effect of measures to prevent and detect dishonesty that takes the form of internal fraud and security breaches, and employees are appointed to roles in areas such as security, data management and fraud detection to assess risks, monitor compliance, implement improvements and undertake investigations.

Other employees, such as human resources experts, support enforcement of the Civil Service Code by monitoring take up of mandatory training and ensure that concerns identified by misconduct, grievances and annual ‘People Survey’ are acted upon.

It is not possible to state all of the ways of monitoring enforcement of rules that ensure compliance with the Civil Service Code’s wide-ranging standards for integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.

The Department for Work and Pensions makes it a contractual term of employment that its employees comply with the Civil Service Code and report if ever they are required to act in any way which may be illegal, improper or unethical. Failure to meet this contractual duty could result in disciplinary action, for which the most severe penalty could be dismissal.

The Department uses mandatory induction training and periodic communications to ensure its employees are aware of the standards prescribed by the Code and through its annual ‘People Survey’, employees are asked if they are aware of the Code and know how to report alleged breaches. Undertaking annual training in security and anti-fraud measures, relevant to the Code’s requirement for honesty, is also mandatory and monitored for compliance. Employees are required to declare apparent conflicts of interest and declarations are mandatory for the Senior Civil Service and for employees in particular circumstances.

Day to day, line managers are responsible for ensuring the employees they manage comply with the Code, and for dealing promptly with alleged breaches. All employees can use either the grievance or whistleblowing procedures to request investigation of alleged breaches by colleagues and in the case of whistleblowing, they may also report concerns about breaches of the Code to the Civil Service Commission or National Audit Office.

Confirmed breaches of the Code are recorded for whistleblowing but are also registered in disciplinary data according to the nature of the proven breach, e.g. fraud, theft, data misuse.

No assessment has been made. This would be a matter for the Scottish Government and National Records of Scotland: Life Expectancy in Scotland 2021-2023 - National Records of Scotland (NRS)

While health is predominantly devolved, the Department holds some reserved functions, and working together across the United Kingdom on health and social care is ingrained in the values of our National Health Service and social care sector.

The Department works collaboratively with the devolved administrations to drive forward our objective of supporting people to lead more independent, healthier lives for longer, and to simplify health treatments between the nations of the UK.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and I met with health ministers from the devolved administrations on 11 December at the Interministerial Group for Health and Social Care, where we discussed a range of issues and approaches to drive reform and tackle the common challenges in our healthcare systems.

While health is a devolved matter, to reduce bureaucracy the Government and NHS England have launched a Red Tape Challenge, to address bureaucracy between primary and secondary care, to give our health professionals time back to do what they do best.

We are working to improve access by increasing the number of appointments delivered in general practice (GP), and taking the pressure off those currently working in the system, by investing £82 million in England to recruit over 1,000 newly qualified GPs through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. We are also training thousands more GPs and ending the 8:00am scramble for appointments by introducing a modern booking system.

Last January, Pharmacy First was launched, which enables patients to receive treatment for seven common health conditions from a pharmacy without the need to visit a GP. In dentistry, we are working to ensure patients can start to access 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments as soon as possible, targeting the areas that need them most.

Additionally, funding announced in the Autumn Budget will support the delivery of an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments during our first year in Government, which is the equivalent to 40,000 per week, as a first step in our commitment to ensuring that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.

As part of the Government’s five long-term missions, we have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS and make it fit for the future. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed to move healthcare from hospital to the community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention. The online portal is available for engagement at the following link:

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/

This is a Government of service that will always stand up for those who serve our country. I am working across government and with civil society to ensure veterans get access to the support they need.

This Government has already taken swift action to demonstrate our commitment to renew this nation’s contract with those who have served. In November the Prime Minister announced an additional £3.5 million of funding for the continuation of the cross-UK Reducing Veterans Homelessness Programme, including Op FORTITUDE. This is in addition to the reforms he announced earlier in the year which mean that veterans are now exempt from local connection and residency tests when applying for social housing in England.

Housing support is available across the United Kingdom through Op FORTITUDE, a single referral pathway for veterans. This system provides housing guidance and assistance to veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness. As of 5 January 2025, 2,993 referrals have been made and 854 veterans have been supported into housing.

A range of support is in place for veterans. In England Op RESTORE provides specialist care to veterans who have physical health problems, and Op COURAGE, a specialist mental health service that helps service leavers, veterans and reservists. Healthcare is devolved across the UK, and as such systems that can be accessed by veterans differ in the Devolved Governments. As of 3 January 2025, over 35,000 referrals have been made to Op COURAGE and Op RESTORE has over 1,000 service users.

Veterans can also access a range of tailored employment support, including the Career Transition Partnership, which is the initial point of provision for those leaving military service in search of new job opportunities.

The Government’s manifesto commitment to include the Veteran Card in the list of voter identification has already been delivered with the legislation coming into effect in December 2024..

In December 2024 the MoD launched an LGBT financial recognition scheme, with a total budget of £75 million, which was 50% higher than the level recommended in the Etherton review and the cap set by the last Government. This will mean that almost all of the 49 recommendations made by Lord Etherton will have been delivered.

We will continue to stand up for those who served and have served and are currently reviewing how we can make veterans’ support more institutionally resilient.

This Government is committed to ensuring families have the best start in life.

Through the Employment Rights Bill, we will strengthen the protections for pregnant women, and new mothers returning to work.

These legislative measures aim to tackle maternity and pregnancy discrimination and avoid women leaving the workforce.