Nigel Mills

The UK’s fifth National Action Plan was published in January 2022. Owing to the necessary implications of Covid-safe working practices, engagement between government and civil society has taken place exclusively via online platforms. This has enabled the involvement of a greater number of stakeholders from across the UK.

The Government will amend and develop the Plan with civil society over the course of 2022, with a multi-stakeholder forum due to meet in May to reflect on the commitment areas and discuss next steps. A timeline for amendments will then be published.

I refer the Hon Member to HCWS500.

The Government has set out that a policy statement in response to the Upholding Standards in Public Life Report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the review into the development and use of Supply Chain Finance in government by Nigel Boardman will be published in due course.

Ministers and Permanent Secretaries are responsible for ensuring compliance with internal and external requirements in their departments in line with legislation, the relevant Codes of Conduct and requirements of Managing Public Money. They are supported by legal, HR and finance professionals in discharging these obligations. The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury provide a coordination role across such functions and can provide advice and guidance in specific cases.

Direct Ministerial appointments reflect the successive practice of administrations in engaging eminent individuals to provide independent views and advice to Government on specific areas. Such appointments should, by nature, be flexible to the circumstances of the situation and in line with wider public law duties. Appointments are made by Ministers. Appointees must abide by the Seven Principles of Public Life and the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies, and should ensure that any relevant interests are declared to the Senior Civil Servant sponsoring their work to ensure that no actual or reasonably perceived conflicts arise.

Departments are responsible for their own transparency releases as they hold the information required to generate them and must take steps to ensure the accuracy of the information. The Cabinet Office provides central guidance to ensure consistency of information.

I refer the Hon Member to HCWS500.

The Government has set out that a policy statement in response to the Upholding Standards in Public Life Report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the review into the development and use of Supply Chain Finance in government by Nigel Boardman will be published in due course.

Ministers and Permanent Secretaries are responsible for ensuring compliance with internal and external requirements in their departments in line with legislation, the relevant Codes of Conduct and requirements of Managing Public Money. They are supported by legal, HR and finance professionals in discharging these obligations. The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury provide a coordination role across such functions and can provide advice and guidance in specific cases.

Direct Ministerial appointments reflect the successive practice of administrations in engaging eminent individuals to provide independent views and advice to Government on specific areas. Such appointments should, by nature, be flexible to the circumstances of the situation and in line with wider public law duties. Appointments are made by Ministers. Appointees must abide by the Seven Principles of Public Life and the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies, and should ensure that any relevant interests are declared to the Senior Civil Servant sponsoring their work to ensure that no actual or reasonably perceived conflicts arise.

Departments are responsible for their own transparency releases as they hold the information required to generate them and must take steps to ensure the accuracy of the information. The Cabinet Office provides central guidance to ensure consistency of information.

I refer the Hon Member to HCWS500.

The Government has set out that a policy statement in response to the Upholding Standards in Public Life Report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the review into the development and use of Supply Chain Finance in government by Nigel Boardman will be published in due course.

Ministers and Permanent Secretaries are responsible for ensuring compliance with internal and external requirements in their departments in line with legislation, the relevant Codes of Conduct and requirements of Managing Public Money. They are supported by legal, HR and finance professionals in discharging these obligations. The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury provide a coordination role across such functions and can provide advice and guidance in specific cases.

Direct Ministerial appointments reflect the successive practice of administrations in engaging eminent individuals to provide independent views and advice to Government on specific areas. Such appointments should, by nature, be flexible to the circumstances of the situation and in line with wider public law duties. Appointments are made by Ministers. Appointees must abide by the Seven Principles of Public Life and the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies, and should ensure that any relevant interests are declared to the Senior Civil Servant sponsoring their work to ensure that no actual or reasonably perceived conflicts arise.

Departments are responsible for their own transparency releases as they hold the information required to generate them and must take steps to ensure the accuracy of the information. The Cabinet Office provides central guidance to ensure consistency of information.

I refer the Hon Member to HCWS500.

The Government has set out that a policy statement in response to the Upholding Standards in Public Life Report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the review into the development and use of Supply Chain Finance in government by Nigel Boardman will be published in due course.

Ministers and Permanent Secretaries are responsible for ensuring compliance with internal and external requirements in their departments in line with legislation, the relevant Codes of Conduct and requirements of Managing Public Money. They are supported by legal, HR and finance professionals in discharging these obligations. The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury provide a coordination role across such functions and can provide advice and guidance in specific cases.

Direct Ministerial appointments reflect the successive practice of administrations in engaging eminent individuals to provide independent views and advice to Government on specific areas. Such appointments should, by nature, be flexible to the circumstances of the situation and in line with wider public law duties. Appointments are made by Ministers. Appointees must abide by the Seven Principles of Public Life and the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies, and should ensure that any relevant interests are declared to the Senior Civil Servant sponsoring their work to ensure that no actual or reasonably perceived conflicts arise.

Departments are responsible for their own transparency releases as they hold the information required to generate them and must take steps to ensure the accuracy of the information. The Cabinet Office provides central guidance to ensure consistency of information.

The Government response to the 2021 consultation on the introduction of EPR was approved by the Domestic and Economic Implementation Committee. While the publication of the response was conditional upon several requirements being met, there were no substantive changes to our proposals requested at this stage.

As part of the development of our proposals for introducing EPR in the UK, we looked at many of the EPR schemes operating across the EU, with a particular focus on the systems in Belgium, France and Germany. This experience was reflected in many of the proposals put forward in our 2021 consultation and 2022 Government response, including scheme governance, the payment mechanism for local authorities, producer contributions to costs of public communications campaigns on recycling, and our decision to move to a single point of producer compliance.

We have considered the approach of many international Extended Producer Responsibility schemes for packaging and drawn on this experience in developing our proposals for the UK. We will continue to engage with obligated businesses as we prepare for implementation and as we develop the next phases of EPR. In doing so we will continue to keep abreast of international best practice and learn from industries experience of schemes in other countries.

I have not engaged directly in cabinet discussions in relation to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging, however the Government Response to the consultation on packaging EPR was subject to Cabinet write round approval prior to publication in March 2022 and my officials continue to engage with officials in other government departments on policy implementation. Alongside the Government Response we published an Impact Assessment setting out the costs and benefits of the policy. We have published new guidance on ‘How to collect your packaging data for EPR’ for all UK organisations that will be affected by EPR for packaging and have also conducted several webinars to provide information to producers. The guidance will continue to be updated and we continue to work closely with industry to ensure they will be ready for EPR.

On 13 January DWP published its review of the default fund charge cap. This included a commitment to end flat fees on pension pots of £100 and under.

At present, price comparison of the costs of automatic enrolled pensions is not possible – and this needs to change.

Protecting savers and giving them value for their money is my priority. I will be looking into standardisation of charges so savers can better assess the value for money of their investment.

The Department is working with the NHS Business Services Authority, which has administered the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme since November 2021, to reduce the backlog of claims.

The NHS Business Services Authority has increased the scheme’s capacity with 40 named caseworkers, additional supporting staff and the appointment of an independent third-party supplier to provide additional medical assessments. The NHS Business Services Authority has also introduced time limits for the provision of records and a call back process to improve the return rate of medical records required for assessments.

The information requested at county level is not currently available. In addition, constituency level vaccination and eligibility data is not available in the format requested as of 7 January 2021.

Data on the number of vaccinations delivered is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-vaccinations/

The information requested at county level is not currently available. In addition, constituency level vaccination and eligibility data is not available in the format requested as of 7 January 2021.

Data on the number of vaccinations delivered is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-vaccinations/