Nadia Whittome

This Government’s position is that conversion practices are abuse. Such practices have no place in society and must be stopped.

Through the development of the Conversion Practices Bill, this Government will deliver on our manifesto commitment to bring forward a full, trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices, implementing key safeguards for LGBT people.

We are committed to listening to all viewpoints as this work progresses, and to engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, organisations and all LGBT communities.

It is crucial that all LGBT+ people are safe and protected from discrimination, including those from ethnic minority and/or faith communities.

Work is underway to deliver the Government’s Manifesto commitments that will enhance legislative protections for LGBT+ individuals. In particular, the Government is committed to delivering a trans-inclusive ban on abusive conversion practices and ensuring that all existing strands of hate crime constitute an aggravated offence.

We are committed to continuing to listen to all viewpoints as this work progresses, and engage with a wide range of stakeholders, organisations and all LGBT+ communities.

As a priority, the Government will support Ofgem to review the rules around billing accuracy and supplier billing practices to understand where improvement is needed and whether compliance action is required. Ofgem is also considering new rules to improve and incentivise better billing accuracy and debt support, including default monthly bills for households and reviewing the back billing rules to reduce how far back a supplier can bill a customer where the error was the supplier’s fault.

We believe that when things go wrong, suppliers should successfully resolve issues as quickly as possible. Ofgem will work to review and improve the current complaint handling standards regulations to ensure that suppliers take ownership to manage and resolve complaints effectively and efficiently. It will also ensure there is better automatic customer compensation for failure to deter poor service and drive improvements. Under the guaranteed standards of performance (GSOPs), suppliers are required to make automatic compensation payments to customers if they fail to meet specific customer service standards.

Digital inclusion is a priority for Government. It means ensuring everyone has the access, skills, support and confidence to engage in our modern digital society, whatever their circumstances. Digital exclusion disproportionately impacts certain demographics, creating new inequalities and exacerbating existing ones. As we develop our approach on tackling this issue we will be working closely with local communities, local authorities, businesses and charities to ensure everything we do is well targeted. We hope to announce more on this in the near future.

The government is focused on implementing the Online Safety Act as quickly as possible working with Ofcom. Ofcom has consulted on its draft Children’s Safety codes of practice which set out the steps companies must take to protect children on their platforms under the Online Safety Act. Ofcom will publish the finalised codes and guidance in Spring 2025 and the government will work to ensure these codes are in effect as soon as possible.

Deepfakes and other forms of manipulated media are captured by the Online Safety Act where they constitute user generated content that is illegal content, or content which is harmful to children. Services that are likely to be accessed by children will need to take steps to protect children from harmful content and behaviour on their services, including AI-generated or enabled content.

We are in the early stages of the new Government and we are considering the full range of policy options to support the arts and creative industries, and help the cultural sectors to thrive.

This government is committed to supporting culture, and making sure the arts and cultural activities will no longer be the preserve of a privileged few. Although individual decisions on financial support for arts bodies are rightly subject to the arm’s-length principle and a matter for Arts Council England, we are keen to ensure that funding for the arts is fairly distributed across the country.

We are working with Arts Council England and others to understand what the challenges and opportunities are for our sectors. As part of the Government’s “Creating Growth” plan, DCMS is undertaking a review documenting current and past funding for the arts, culture, and heritage sectors.

The government is committed to delivering on its pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary aged pupils. We have made early progress towards this, including announcing that up to 750 early adopters will be delivering these new breakfast clubs from April 2025.

The government confirmed it will triple its investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million in the 2025/26 financial year to help ensure children are ready to learn at the start of the school day and to help drive improvements to behaviour, attendance and attainment. This will also support parents, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The future of the Holiday Activities and Food programme beyond 31 March 2025 is subject to decisions flowing from this autumn’s government Spending Review. The outcome of this process will be communicated in due course.

Schools and colleges are under a legal duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children and must have regard to ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE), which is the department’s statutory safeguarding guidance. KCSIE contains information about child-on-child sexual violence and sexual harassment, as well as guidance on managing reports of child-on-child sexual violence and sexual harassment.

Every pupil deserves to learn in a safe, calm classroom and the department will always support its hard working and dedicated teachers to make this happen. Schools should be clear in every aspect of their culture that sexism, sexual violence and sexual harassment are never acceptable and will not be tolerated.

The statutory guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) emphasises that schools should be alert to issues such as everyday sexism, misogyny, homophobia and gender stereotypes and take positive action to build a culture where these are not tolerated, with any occurrences identified and tackled. Schools should make clear that sexism, sexual violence and sexual harassment are not acceptable, will never be tolerated and are not an inevitable part of growing up. The full RSHE guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.

Schools should consider what they can do to foster healthy and respectful peer-to-peer communication and behaviour between boys and girls and provide an environment which challenges perceived limits on pupils based on their gender or any other characteristic.

The department is currently reviewing the RSHE statutory guidance. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance for schools and, as such, the government will look carefully at the consultation responses, discuss with stakeholders and consider the relevant evidence, including the Cass Review which has since been published, before setting out next steps.

Further Education (FE) plays a critical role in delivering the Government’s Missions and ensuring that everyone has access to the opportunities they need, breaking down the barriers to their success and boosting economic growth.

FE funding, including its adequacy, will be considered as part of the upcoming Spending Review.

The department is committed to supporting further education (FE) providers to recruit, retain and develop the high-quality teachers they need to deliver the best possible outcomes for their learners, including as a key part of our commitment to recruit an additional 6,500 teachers across colleges and schools.

To improve retention, the department is delivering Targeted Retention Incentive payments to eligible new and early career FE teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and priority technical subjects.

The FE Workforce Data Collection, first published in 2023, will provide valuable year-on-year information on the FE Workforce, including demographic and pay data. In the long term, this valuable insight will allow the department to monitor trends in recruitment and retention and ensure that we are providing the best support to FE teachers and providers.

This Government is committed to accelerating the roll out of charge points for electric vehicles. Guidance for local authorities to develop policies on the safe use of cross-pavement solutions will be published in due course.

The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age, currently sixty-six. Local authorities in England have the power to go beyond their statutory obligations under the ENCTS and offer additional discretionary concessions, such as extending the times at which concessionary passes can be used.

The Government is committed to making EV charging infrastructure more affordable and accessible, particularly for those without off-street parking. The Local EV Infrastructure Fund is supporting local authorities in England to install tens of thousands of EV chargepoints. In addition, the Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant is supporting flat owners, renters, and those with on-street parking to install chargepoints on domestic premises.

No assessment has been made as to the standardisation of training, as the training that an individual receives is dependent upon which licence they are seeking - such as a Private Pilots Licence (PPL) or Commercial Pilots Licence (CPL). The competencies required to be demonstrated may differ depending on the licence type being issued but are standardised within each licence type.

The decision on whether to unilaterally allow UK licenced pilots to operate EU registered aircraft is entirely a decision for the European Union (EU) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Article 445(1) in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement outlines the areas in which both the UK and EU may cooperate in aviation safety. Under these terms, any future mutual recognition of personnel licencing would require an expansion to the TCA.

The Department has not recently assessed the potential merits of supporting leaseholders in receipt of Universal Credit (UC) to pay service charge costs when they take up a) part time, b) short-term and c) seasonal work.

The Administrative Earnings Threshold determines the level of work coach support that Universal Credit customers receive. Customers on low incomes are able to access regular work coach advice and support to help them to increase their earnings, this can include advice on childcare or help to address skills gaps to aid career progression.

Work Coaches take each of our customers’ personal circumstances into account when agreeing reasonable actions to look for or progress in work, including any childcare responsibilities. Alongside this, we have committed to reviewing Universal Credit by listening to the full range of views on potential changes, so that our social security system is fit for purpose. And we will also be exploring how we can better support parents, as we develop our child poverty and labour market strategy objectives.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is intended as a contribution towards the extra costs faced by people with a long-term health condition or disability. It is assessed on the basis of needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself, and can be paid at one of eight different rates to reflect those needs.

Participation in sport is not necessarily an indication of needs reducing. We would hope that disabled people will take every opportunity to participate in sport, as we know that can improve health, wellbeing and overall independence. However, where needs change, it is right that the level of support in PIP should change to match those needs.

The principle of having a State Pension age that is the same for everybody has the merit of simplicity and clarity and provides an important trigger moment for planning purposes. Unlike some Private Pensions, it has always been the case that nobody can claim their State Pension before they reach State Pension age.

For those nearing the end of their life, the Government’s priority is providing people with financial support quickly and compassionately. Special benefit rules enable people who are nearing the end of their lives and have 12-months or less to live to get faster and easier access to certain benefits.

If you have a private or workplace pension, you may be able to begin taking an income and/or lump sums from your pension at any age due to ill health. This provision is dependent on the rules of the scheme and is a matter for individual schemes and may vary. Scheme members should contact their scheme administrators in the event of ill health to ascertain any benefits that they may be entitled to under the rules of the scheme.