Owen Thompson

Under the UK’s Presidency, 95% of the largest developed country climate finance providers made new, forward-looking commitments, delivering significant progress towards the $100 billion goal, which will be reached by 2023 at the latest.

Record amounts of adaptation finance were pledged at COP26, both to the Adaptation Fund and the Least Developed Countries Fund, and the doubling of adaptation finance is the first time an adaptation-specific financing goal has ever been agreed globally.

We are working with developed countries and multilateral development banks (MDBs), including through the Champions Group on Adaptation Finance launched at the UN General Assembly in 2021 on the scaling-up of adaptation finance to meet the collective doubling by 2025.

Ministers holding meetings or phone calls on government business are routinely accompanied by a private secretary or other official, in line with the expectations of paragraph 8.14 of the Ministerial Code.

Specific procedures are in place for external meetings involving ministers. These are publicly available and can be found in the Guidance on the management of Private Office Papers.

COP26 needs to deliver for all countries, including the most climate vulnerable. This is why developed countries’ commitment to jointly mobilise $100 billion of climate finance a year is critically important; it helps developing countries raise their climate ambition and supports their transition.

Through the UK’s COP26 and G7 Presidencies, we have been pushing developed countries to meet existing commitments and come forward with ambitious post-2020 climate finance pledges, to achieve the $100 billion a year goal. We have seen progress. I have asked Germany and Canada to lead on the development of a Delivery Plan which sets out how donor countries will meet the goal; the intention is for this to be published ahead of the COP. I urge countries which have yet to commit, or who are looking to increase their existing commitments, to do so now.

The UK is ensuring a large majority of our own international climate finance is grant-based. We are pressing other donor countries for similarly ambitious commitments. Under our G7 Presidency, the G7 committed to scaling up adaptation finance, and we have seen concrete new individual pledges from Canada, Japan, the US, and Denmark in recent months to this effect.

The UK has committed to delivering a balance through our scaled up ICF and has launched - with other bilateral donors Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark - a Champions Group on Adaptation Finance, with a commitment to deliver a balance of adaptation in climate finance, in response to calls from developing countries. Since launching, Finland and Germany have joined.

Finance needs to be accessible, particularly for the most marginalised communities. Locally led adaptation is a central priority for the COP26 Presidency, amplifying the calls for greater support for locally led action, and also addressing the barriers that restrict and prevent finance flowing to the local level. Locally led adaptation means communities are directly involved in the design of the solutions.

The UK and Chile regularly discuss environmental issues. The UK has been pressing all leaders through a programme of regular engagement and events to commit to ambitious climate action to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Since the start of the pandemic, the Government’s priority has been to protect lives and people’s livelihoods. This includes continually supporting individuals and businesses.

The Chancellor announced a temporary six-month extension to the £20 per week uplift at the Budget on 3 March to support households affected by the economic shock of Covid-19.

Universal Credit has provided a vital safety net for six million people during the pandemic, and the temporary uplift was part of a Covid support package worth a total of £407 billion in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

There have been significant positive developments in the public health situation since the uplift was first introduced with the success of the vaccine rollout. Now the economy is reopening and as we continue to progress with our recovery our focus is on helping people back into work.

Any extension to the uplift or further Covid support is a matter for HMT.

I refer the hon. Member to my answer to PQs 95141 and 95143 and my answer to PQ 95142.

As has been the case under successive administrations, details of internal policy discussions are not routinely disclosed.

The Government is determined to do more to ensure pregnant women and new mothers are not disproportionately affected by redundancy. The Government has committed to extend the statutory redundancy protection which a mother currently enjoys while on maternity leave, shared parental leave or adoption leave for a period for six months following a return to work. BEIS will bring these measures forward as soon as there is an appropriate opportunity.

As has been the case under successive administrations, details of internal policy discussions are not routinely disclosed.

The Government is determined to do more to ensure pregnant women and new mothers are not disproportionately affected by redundancy. The Government has committed to extend the statutory redundancy protection which a mother currently enjoys while on maternity leave, shared parental leave or adoption leave for a period for six months following a return to work. BEIS will bring these measures forward as soon as there is an appropriate opportunity.

The Government consultation on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace focussed on ensuring that laws to protect people from harassment at work are operating effectively.

We are considering the responses we received and will publish our response to this consultation in due course.

The Government has welcomed the Law Commissions’ Electoral Law report. The Government will consider the issues raised in the report in conjunction with its wider programme of electoral integrity reforms, and will respond fully in due course.

The Government takes the integrity and security of our democratic processes very seriously and has welcomed the Law Commissions’ Electoral Law report.

As we have previously set out, Defending Democracy brings together work and expertise in this space and to ensure a joined-up cross-Government approach. This is to safeguard against future risks, strengthen our resilience and ensure that the regulatory framework is as effective as possible.

The Government regularly engages with a range of stakeholders as part of this work, including regulators, civil society organisations and others.

Publications and announcements will be made in the usual way.

The Government takes the integrity and security of our democratic processes very seriously and has welcomed the Law Commissions’ Electoral Law report.

As we have previously set out, Defending Democracy brings together work and expertise in this space and to ensure a joined-up cross-Government approach. This is to safeguard against future risks, strengthen our resilience and ensure that the regulatory framework is as effective as possible.

The Government regularly engages with a range of stakeholders as part of this work, including regulators, civil society organisations and others.

Publications and announcements will be made in the usual way.

The Government takes the integrity and security of our democratic processes very seriously and has welcomed the Law Commissions’ Electoral Law report.

As we have previously set out, Defending Democracy brings together work and expertise in this space and to ensure a joined-up cross-Government approach. This is to safeguard against future risks, strengthen our resilience and ensure that the regulatory framework is as effective as possible.

The Government regularly engages with a range of stakeholders as part of this work, including regulators, civil society organisations and others.

Publications and announcements will be made in the usual way.

Ministers holding meetings with external organisations on government business are routinely accompanied by a Private Secretary or other official. Where a Minister finds themselves discussing official business without an official present, any significant content is passed back to the department as soon as possible, in line with the expectations of paragraph 8.14 of the Ministerial Code.

Civil servants will make a judgment on what formal, structured meetings should be minuted, and what meetings should be recorded as having taken place, in light of the Civil Service Code, more specific best practice such as ‘Guidance on the management of Private Office Papers’, and the Cabinet Office guidance on Ministerial quarterly returns.

I note that there has been Parliamentary scrutiny of this issue in relation to the debate in this House on ‘Randox Covid Contracts’ of 17 November 2021. Following that debate, the Government has committed to publishing before Parliament a range of background papers relating to the Randox procurement.

Civil servants will make a judgment on what formal, structured meetings should be minuted, and what meetings should be recorded as having taken place, in light of the Civil Service Code, more specific best practice such as ‘Guidance on the management of Private Office Papers’, and the Cabinet Office guidance on Ministerial quarterly returns.

I note that there has been Parliamentary scrutiny of this issue in relation to the debate in this House on ‘Randox Covid Contracts’ of 17 November 2021. Following that debate, the Government has committed to publishing before Parliament a range of background papers relating to the Randox procurement.

The Civil Service Nationality Rules reflect a long-standing legislative framework and govern eligibility for employment in the Civil Service on the grounds of nationality. Under the rules, there are routes for Commonwealth or EEA nationals who hold indefinite leave to remain to be eligible to work in non-reserved posts in the Civil Service. Existing routes, such as exemption certificates, are available where a role needs to be filled by someone who would not ordinarily meet the standard eligibility requirements.

The Civil Service Nationality Rules reflect a long-standing legislative framework and govern eligibility for employment in the Civil Service on the grounds of nationality. Under the rules, there are routes for Commonwealth or EEA nationals who hold indefinite leave to remain to be eligible to work in non-reserved posts in the Civil Service. Existing routes, such as exemption certificates, are available where a role needs to be filled by someone who would not ordinarily meet the standard eligibility requirements.

The exact structures and decision-making frameworks are still being decided. The Cabinet Office lead on the review and are working closely with departments across Whitehall. They will regularly engage with a range of stakeholders and legal experts to review retained EU law, and seek their input into decision-making.

We have already committed to creating a new standing commission to receive ideas from any British citizen on how to repeal or improve regulation. This standing commission will feed into the relevant committees and decision-making fora.

I refer the Honourable member to the answer to PQ56701.

The Government notes the work of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs and Treasury Committees, as well as the forthcoming Standards Matter 2 report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life. Once these reports have been published, we will consider their work alongside Mr Boardman’s recommendations and set out a substantive Government policy statement to Parliament in due course.

The Cabinet Office will lead this review, working with departments across Whitehall and a range of stakeholders.

The Government is committed to high standards of workers’ rights and environmental protections. The initiative referred to by the hon. Member is about ensuring that we have a regulatory environment which is the right fit for the UK as an independent nation.

The Cabinet Office will lead this review, working with departments across Whitehall and a range of stakeholders.

The Government is committed to high standards of workers’ rights and environmental protections. The initiative referred to by the hon. Member is about ensuring that we have a regulatory environment which is the right fit for the UK as an independent nation.

The Cabinet Office will lead this review, working with departments across Whitehall and a range of stakeholders.

The Government is committed to high standards of workers’ rights and environmental protections. The initiative referred to by the hon. Member is about ensuring that we have a regulatory environment which is the right fit for the UK as an independent nation.

The Cabinet Office will lead this review, working with departments across Whitehall and a range of stakeholders.

The Government is committed to high standards of workers’ rights and environmental protections. The initiative referred to by the hon. Member is about ensuring that we have a regulatory environment which is the right fit for the UK as an independent nation.

The extension of the franchise for UK parliamentary elections will enable greater participation in our democracy. Most British citizens who move overseas retain deep ties to the UK. And it is only British citizens who have been registered to vote or resident in the UK who will be eligible, as this denotes a strong degree of connection to the UK.

​​As is currently the case, individuals will register in respect of only one UK address and will have to demonstrate their connection to that address, as well as prove their identity. Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) who suspect fraud, for whatever reason, will not register an individual if they are not satisfied.

Registered overseas electors are eligible to make political donations, as important participants in our democracy; it is only right that they should be able to donate in the same way as other UK citizens registered on the electoral roll. The changes within this Bill will simply scrap the arbitrary 15 year limit on these rights. UK electoral law already sets out a stringent regime of spending and donations controls to ensure that only those with a legitimate interest in UK elections can donate or campaign. Measures in the Elections Bill go even further to stop ineligible foreign spending on electoral campaigning.

In the Green Paper, we propose embedding transparency by default throughout the commercial lifecycle, which will enable greater scrutiny of public procurement activity. Following the analysis of responses to the Green Paper consultation, the Government will table a Procurement Reform Bill which will be subject to full Parliamentary scrutiny.

Cabinet Office publishes expenditure on government communication spend, including our national campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements at the link below:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data(opens in a new tab).

We work closely across all four nations to ensure that our communication activity reaches the intended audiences effectively.

Cabinet Office publishes expenditure on government communication spend, including our national campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements at the link below:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data.

We work closely across all four nations to ensure that our communication activity reaches the intended audiences effectively.

This is the first free trade agreement the EU has ever reached based on zero tariffs and zero quotas. The Agreement ensures there will be zero tariffs or quotas on trade between the UK and the EU, where goods meet the relevant rules of origin, and includes provisions to facilitate trade and address non-tariff barriers for UK exports to the EU and vice versa. This will benefit businesses across the UK.

On the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the UK-EU Joint Committee agreement on the Northern Ireland Protocol complements the Trade and Cooperation Agreement to ensure trade is as streamlined as possible and minimises burdens for businesses.

Through our work to extend the use of the Social Value Act we will ensure that all major central government procurements will, where appropriate, explicitly evaluate social value.

In terms of the Government's approach to procurement during the Covid-19 pandemic, I refer to the answers I gave in Cabinet Office oral questions on 17 December.

Through our work to extend the use of the Social Value Act we will ensure that all major central government procurements will, where appropriate, explicitly evaluate social value.

In terms of the Government's approach to procurement during the Covid-19 pandemic, I refer to the answers I gave in Cabinet Office oral questions on 17 December.

The Ministerial Code, the Civil Service Code (including the Civil Service Management Code), and the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers set out the requirements on declaring and managing conflicts of interest. The various Codes are published on GOV.UK.

The Government is committed to upholding and protecting the integrity of elections. We are taking forward a programme of work that will strengthen and update the UK’s electoral regulation to ensure it is fit for the modern age; provides a robust framework for campaign finance; and supports public confidence in our processes.

We have already launched a consultation on digital imprints which will require political parties, campaigners and others to clearly show who they are when promoting campaign content online. We continue to work closely with social media companies, and welcome steps they have taken to improve transparency.

Across all of this work the intention is to improve transparency to ensure voters can make informed choices, and to enforce spending rules that ensure an even playing field. Policy or political arguments which can be rebutted by rival campaigners or an independent free press as part of the normal course of political debate are not regulated.The Government does not support creating a regime which would seek to police the accuracy or truthfulness of content.

The Government is committed to upholding and protecting the integrity of elections. We are taking forward a programme of work that will strengthen and update the UK’s electoral regulation to ensure it is fit for the modern age; provides a robust framework for campaign finance; and supports public confidence in our processes.

We have already launched a consultation on digital imprints which will require political parties, campaigners and others to clearly show who they are when promoting campaign content online. We continue to work closely with social media companies, and welcome steps they have taken to improve transparency.

Across all of this work the intention is to improve transparency to ensure voters can make informed choices, and to enforce spending rules that ensure an even playing field. Policy or political arguments which can be rebutted by rival campaigners or an independent free press as part of the normal course of political debate are not regulated.The Government does not support creating a regime which would seek to police the accuracy or truthfulness of content.

The Government is committed to upholding and protecting the integrity of elections. We are taking forward a programme of work that will strengthen and update the UK’s electoral regulation to ensure it is fit for the modern age; provides a robust framework for campaign finance; and supports public confidence in our processes.

We have already launched a consultation on digital imprints which will require political parties, campaigners and others to clearly show who they are when promoting campaign content online. We continue to work closely with social media companies, and welcome steps they have taken to improve transparency.

Across all of this work the intention is to improve transparency to ensure voters can make informed choices, and to enforce spending rules that ensure an even playing field. Policy or political arguments which can be rebutted by rival campaigners or an independent free press as part of the normal course of political debate are not regulated.The Government does not support creating a regime which would seek to police the accuracy or truthfulness of content.

The Government is committed to upholding and protecting the integrity of elections. We are taking forward a programme of work that will strengthen and update the UK’s electoral regulation to ensure it is fit for the modern age; provides a robust framework for campaign finance; and supports public confidence in our processes.

We have already launched a consultation on digital imprints which will require political parties, campaigners and others to clearly show who they are when promoting campaign content online. We continue to work closely with social media companies, and welcome steps they have taken to improve transparency.

Across all of this work the intention is to improve transparency to ensure voters can make informed choices, and to enforce spending rules that ensure an even playing field. Policy or political arguments which can be rebutted by rival campaigners or an independent free press as part of the normal course of political debate are not regulated.The Government does not support creating a regime which would seek to police the accuracy or truthfulness of content.

The Government will not be issuing such guidance. It is important that people travelling to Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland adhere to the laws and guidelines of the relevant devolved administrations at all times.

We will continue to confront the virus as one United Kingdom, but as the virus may be spreading at different speeds across the UK, measures may need to change in different ways and on different timetables.

On 24 May, the Prime Minister explained that Dominic Cummings had given him a full account of his actions and the reasons for his decisions.

The Prime Minister asked Mr Cummings to repeat his account to the public on 25 May.

This was in the context of allegations surrounding Mr Cummings’ conduct in his role as special adviser to the Prime Minister.

I refer the Hon Member to the statement of 8 June by my Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister, published on GOV.UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/prime-minister-message-on-black-lives-matter

The Prime Minister authorised Mr Cummings’ statement to the media of 25 May, in accordance with paragraph 13 of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.

The Cabinet Secretary has set out that as the event related to his conduct in his official role, it was considered appropriate for the No 10 Press Office to facilitate it on Government premises.

The Prime Minister authorised Mr Cummings’ statement to the media of 25 May, in accordance with paragraph 13 of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.

The Cabinet Secretary has set out that as the event related to his conduct in his official role, it was considered appropriate for the No 10 Press Office to facilitate it on Government premises.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is the Department responsible for co-ordinating civil space policy and strategy across government and co-authored the National Space Strategy with the Ministry of Defence. It is also the sponsoring department of the UK Space Agency and UK Research and Innovation, which are key agencies for the delivery of the National Space Strategy.

BEIS jointly co-chairs the newly established Director-level National Space Board with the Ministry of Defence to oversee and drive delivery of the National Space Strategy’s ambitions and commitments across government. The strategy will be delivered jointly by several government departments and with the support of our thriving space sector: businesses, innovators, entrepreneurs, and space scientists.

Good progress is being made since the Hydrogen Strategy was published in August 2021. In November, the Government’s Net Zero Strategy announced the Industrial Decarbonisation Hydrogen Revenue Support scheme, worth £100 million and in December, the Government published a call for evidence on ‘hydrogen-ready’ industrial boiler equipment which will remain open until 14 March. Later this month the Regulators’ Forum will have its first meeting to advise on the identification and prioritisation of regulatory roles, barriers and standards in the H2 value chain.

The Government has also published consultations on the proposed design of the £240m Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, a hydrogen business model and a UK standard for low carbon hydrogen. The Government will respond to these consultations, which closed in late October 2021, in the first quarter of this year alongside indicative Heads of Terms for the business model. The Government will then launch the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and Standard.

The Heat Networks Investment Project has made two awards totalling £9.7 million for the construction of projects which use geothermal heat from minewater. The first of these is the Gateshead District Energy Scheme, which was awarded a grant of £5.9m for the expansion of the Gateshead District Energy Scheme and will deliver significant decarbonisation through the installation of a 6MW mine water source heat pump. The second is the Seaham Garden Village district heat network, which was awarded a grant of £3.8m to supply low-carbon geothermal heat from former coalmines to the new garden village in south Seaham.

The Coal Authority has an ongoing programme to review opportunities for the use of geothermal energy from abandoned coal mines with both Local Authorities and private entities across the former coalfields. At present, there are 15 schemes being assessed.

Ministers holding meetings or phone calls on government business are routinely accompanied by a private secretary or other official, in line with the expectations of paragraph 8.14 of the Ministerial Code.

Any information concerning the core business of the Department or which has a continuing value should be retained as a record. Typically records will be submissions, contract documents, minutes and agendas of important meetings, letters, emails, working papers, discussion documents and reports that contribute to decision making and activity in pursuit of the Department’s business objectives. It is the responsibility of anyone that creates such information to ensure it is retained as part of the official record, by saving it in our shared system.

The information requested is currently being updated as part of the Department’s 2020-21 Annual Report and Accounts, which will be published in due course.

The BEIS 2019-20 Annual Report and Accounts published on 30 September 2020 contained initial estimates of expected credit losses across the Covid-19 loan schemes. These initial indicative loss ranges were based on historic losses observed in prior programmes which most closely resemble the current Covid-19 interventions.

Since these estimates were reported, the Department has been working with the British Business Bank to develop analytical and forward-looking expected credit loss models that are compliant with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS 9) and will provide a more sophisticated approach to forecasting future expected credit losses.

Revised estimates of expected credit losses will be included in the Department’s 2020-21 Annual Report and Accounts, to be published in due course.

Accounting provision for losses and potential future losses for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme will be made in the Department’s 2020-21 Accounts, which will be published in due course.

The Government recognises that a diverse range of businesses took out loans under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) and some of those will benefit from more flexibility in making their repayments. That is why the Government introduced the “Pay as You Grow” (PAYG) measures, which allow borrowers to tailor their repayments to their individual circumstances. PAYG provides borrowers with the option to:

• Extend the length of their loan from six years ten
• Make interest-only payments for six months, with the option to use this up to three times throughout the loan
• Pause repayments entirely for up to six months

Borrowers can use these options either individually or in combination with each other. If borrowers want to take advantage of these options, they should notify their lender when they are contacted about their repayments.

For those who borrowed under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), the Government has taken action to allow lenders to extend the term of CBILS loans up to a maximum of ten years where they assess that borrowers are in difficulty and will benefit from the extension. Given loans under CBILS are more varied than the standardised BBLS and resemble more traditional commercial lending, CBILS borrowers are likely to benefit from engagement with their lender if they have concerns about repayments. Lenders have an ongoing relationship with CBILS borrowers and will be best placed to provide support tailored to the circumstances of each individual business.

There is already robust legislation in place that protects consumers when purchasing goods and services online. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 sets out the rights consumers enjoy while shopping online and instore.

The Department recently consulted on advancing online consumer rights in its “Reforming Competition and Consumer Policy” consultation. A copy of the consultation can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-competition-and-consumer-policy. The consultation closed on 1 October and the department will publish a response in due course.

The Government has taken action to allow lenders to extend the term of Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) facilities up to a maximum of ten years where they assess that borrowers are in difficulty and will benefit from the extension.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, plans to publish its annual report and accounts for 2020-21 in due course.

The British Business Bank has commissioned a multi-year evaluation of the Covid-19 loan schemes, comprising process, impact and economic evaluations.

Reports will be published in due course in line with usual government guidelines. The exact timings will depend on how the evaluation progresses. It is expected that results will be published early in each year from 2022 to 2024.

Provisions for guarantee claims by lenders under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and Bounce Back Loan Scheme are made in the accounts of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. This is because the guarantees are issued in the name of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Potential losses arising from these two schemes are referenced in the Department’s 2019/20 Annual Report and Accounts as items arising after the reporting period. Accounting provision for potential future losses will be made in the Department’s 2020/21 Annual Report and Accounts, which will be published in due course.

Estimates of potential guarantee claims by lenders under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) were provided in the Department’s 2019/20 Annual Report and Accounts.

Estimates of potential guarantee claims by lenders under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) were provided in the accounts of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for 2019/20. These estimates were in the range of 10-25% for CBILS and 35-60% for BBLS. Accounting provision for losses and potential future losses will be made in the Department’s 2020/21 accounts, which will be published in due course.

The Energy Company Obligation has already installed 3.3 million measures in 2.3 million homes. Government is increasing the amount energy suppliers invest in energy efficiency measures for low-income households and recently consulted on a successor scheme ECO until 2026, boosting its value from £640 million to £1 billion a year. This will help an extra 305,000 families with green measures such as insulation, with average energy bill savings of around £300 a year.

The Government is also working to catalyse attractive and affordable green home finance to support homeowners to improve the energy performance of their homes. Government has consulted on proposals for mortgage lenders to improve the energy performance of homes they lend to and will publish a Government Response in due course.

The Government is also expanding its funding commitment for both the Home Upgrade Grant scheme and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund with up to £950m and £800m respectively over the next three years.

The Heat Networks Investment Project has made 2 awards totalling £9.7 million for the construction of projects which use geothermal heat from minewater.

The Government supports the development of geothermal projects provided it can be done at an acceptable cost to consumers. The most promising use of geothermal energy in the UK is for heat applications such as in district heating network schemes. The Government is supporting the development of low carbon heat networks and thereby building the UK’s capability to harness heat from sources such as geothermal energy. Electricity generated from geothermal heat is able to be included in the Contracts for Difference scheme.

On 27^th September 2021, the Government published the Severe Space Weather Preparedness Strategy. This sets out a 5-year roadmap to enhance our understanding of severe space weather, its impacts and the UK’s ability to forecast events and recover from them quickly.

There were no reported impacts to UK infrastructure caused by the solar flare and subsequent Geomagnetic Storm on the 11 October 2021.

The Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre had forecast the event and issued accurate warnings. The impacts of this event were as expected, which helps strengthen the existing assessment, that this type of event would have negligible impacts on the UK.

There were no reported impacts to UK infrastructure caused by the solar flare and subsequent Geomagnetic Storm on the 11 October 2021.

The Government supports the development of geothermal projects provided it can be done at an acceptable cost to consumers. The most promising use of geothermal energy in the UK is for heat applications such as in district heating network schemes. The Government are supporting the development of low carbon heat networks and thereby building a capability to harness heat from sources such as geothermal energy. Electricity generated from geothermal heat is able to bid into the Contracts for Difference scheme.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme lenders are not specifically required to notify the British Business Bank of loan repayments. This is because, at the time the scheme was launched, a decision was taken to streamline administrative burdens on lenders to allow them to concentrate resources on processing the large number of applications from businesses.

However, lenders do have an overarching duty to ensure that accurate records are kept, and loans that have reached maturity are automatically removed from the Bank’s web based reporting tool.

Further information related to loan repayments for the Government’s Covid-19 loan schemes will be included in the Department’s 2020-21 Annual Report and Accounts, to be published in due course

The Government’s Covid-19 loan schemes have provided a lifeline to millions of businesses across the UK – helping them survive the pandemic and protecting millions of jobs. As of 31 May 2021, over £26 billion has been lent through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan scheme, and over £47 billion has been lent through the Bounce Back Loan scheme, for a total of nearly £74 billion.

Age is classed as personal data which is not held by the British Business Bank. Where loans have been taken out by companies, it is those companies that are responsible and any liability remains with the company entity, not individuals.

The Government works closely with infrastructure operators to ensure that the impacts of a severe space weather event are well understood, and the appropriate steps are taken to ensure the sector’s preparedness for major space weather events.

The Government is committed to supporting UK manufacturing businesses and recognises the vital role they play in the UK economy, by driving innovation, exports, job creation and productivity growth. Successful resolution of supply chain pressures will be a joint effort between industry and Government, and we will continue to engage with other departments to find practical solutions to these challenges, which are not unique to the UK.

The Government continues to progress its evaluation of the Covid-19 loan guarantee schemes, which will include an assessment of delivery processes, impacts and value for money.

The full results of the evaluation will be finalised after 3 years when we will have enough data and experience to measure the impact of the loan schemes on business outcomes. Within that there will be annual reports to share emerging findings, although the exact timings of these dependent on how the evaluation progresses operationally. We intend to have published results no later than Q1 of each year up until 2024.

Bounce Back Loan Scheme lenders are required to notify the British Business Bank of any prepayment or repayment of a Scheme Facility via the Bank’s dedicated online portal. This reporting includes data such as the number of borrowers who have repaid their loan in full, and the number of borrowers who have taken up ‘Pay as you Grow’ measures.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme lenders may, but are not required to, notify the British Business Bank of repayment of loans through this same portal.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) operates as a delegated scheme and lenders are expected to follow their commercial process when assessing restructure/refinance requests. It is also up to the lender to determine how this would impact a customer’s credit rating in line with their own standard policies.

Following a Government announcement last year, CBILS lenders are able to extend the repayment period for CBILS facilities where this is needed, to a maximum of 10 years. CBILS term extensions are offered at the discretion of lenders, and for forbearance purposes only.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme are delegated schemes, so it is for lenders to manage relationships with their borrowers. Lenders are expected to follow their normal commercial process when assessing restructure/refinance requests.

Many businesses have already begun paying off their Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) facility. While the Government covers the interest due on CBILS loans for the first twelve months of the loan, repayments of capital are required during this period unless the lender chooses to grant additional forbearance measures.

The Government have amended the CBILS rules to allow lenders to extend loan terms from six to a maximum of ten years where the borrower is in difficulty and where the lender judges that an extension would help their situation. CBILS term extensions are offered at the discretion of lenders, and any business concerned about their ability to repay their finance should discuss this with their lender in the first instance.

The British Business Bank is participating in the Government’s evaluation of the Covid-19 loan guarantee schemes, which will include an assessment of delivery processes, impacts and value for money.

My meeting with Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme Trustees on 21 June was helpful in enabling me to understand their views of the future of the Scheme.

I responded to the Select Committee’s report on 28 June and the Committee has now published that response.

The Government believes that geothermal energy has an important role in the United Kingdom’s transition towards net-zero, particularly in the decarbonisation of heat. The most promising use of geothermal energy in the UK is in district heating schemes, also known as heat networks.

The Government has been supporting the deployment of heat networks powered by geothermal energy. Geothermal projects can seek capital funding from the Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP) (2018-2022) and as part of the project we have funded a £3.5m to an innovative Colchester shallow geothermal network. In terms of future support, we are currently considering geothermal energy as a low carbon technology to be within scope of our new £270m Green Heat Network Fund (2022-2025). The eligibility criteria for the fund were the subject of our consultation which closed on 29th January this year, and the response will be published in due course.

Finally, to encourage investment and drive costs down, the Government has funded £31m to the UK Geoenergy Observatories which will provide world-class infrastructure for a wide range of geoenergy related research. This research facility aims to attract leading geothermal scientists and engineers from all over the world, and the knowledge, expertise and technology generated from this research will propel the UK to becoming a leader in this field.

I can confirm that we are in close contact with the Coal Authority and that we see working with them to develop energy from mine water as essential to decarbonising the UK’s heating systems.

Heating and hot water make up around 40% of the UK’s energy consumption and nearly a third of the UK greenhouse gas emissions. Around 25% of UK homes are situated in the former coalfields and since the water in the now flooded mines is geothermally heated Around 25% of UK homes are situated in the former coalfields, the Coal Authority estimates there is sufficient energy in the geothermal water found in former coal mines to heat all of the homes on the coalfields.

Depending on the depth from which the water is extracted, the temperature varies from 21 degrees Celsius to 40 degrees Celsius. Where mine water reaches the surface, the heat can be extracted through a heat pump and transmitted through heat networks to both industrial and domestic customers. Using naturally warmed water, rather than already chilled water, for these systems reduces the energy requirement involved in these systems.

The Seaham Gardens heat network in County Durham is a great example of the merits of this. Working with the Coal Authority and Durham County Council we have recently awarded £3.8m for commercialisation and construction of a mine-water heat network scheme through our Heat Network Investment Project. When finished the scheme will use 6MW of heat to supply 1,500 homes.

This Government is committed to making the UK a global science and technology superpower. This will be achieved through the UK’s first comprehensive national space strategy that unleashes growth and innovation in the UK space sector. The strategy will be published in due course.

The UK Space Agency is working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Ministry of Defence to publish a cross-government National Space Strategy this summer. The strategy will unleash growth and innovation in the UK space sector and ensure that the UK has access to the technology needed to address our needs from space. The UK Space Agency sets its strategic objectives and priorities to deliver Government’s space ambitions annually in its corporate plan.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answers given by my Hon. Friend the Minister of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to the Hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife on 22nd December 2020 to Questions 129026 and 130123.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answers given by my Hon. Friend the Minister of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to the Hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife on 22nd December 2020 to Questions 129026 and 130123.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answers given by my Hon. Friend the Minister of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to the Hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife on 22nd December 2020 to Questions 129026 and 130123.

This information is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Ministers and officials regularly discuss a wide range of issues relating to Coronavirus and employment rights. Existing legislation and public health guidance covering the health and safety of pregnant women in the workplace puts in place protections to cover the risks pregnant women may face during the Coronavirus outbreak. The Department of Health and Social Care is also working with the Health and Safety Executive, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Midwives and health departments in the devolved nations on developing guidance on occupational health advice for pregnant women in the workplace. The Department plans to publish the guidance shortly.

Under current public health guidance, pregnant women are in the clinically vulnerable group. This means that they are advised to work from home where it is possible to do so. Where working from home is not possible, pregnant women can attend a place of work provided this is supported by the employer's health and safety risk assessment and particular attention is paid to social distancing guidelines. Guidance on working safely can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

A small number of pregnant women are considered to be clinically extremely vulnerable. Current guidance strongly advises that clinically extremely vulnerable individuals work from home. Where this is not possible they are advised not to attend work for this period of restrictions. The guidance makes clear that pregnant women who are clinically extremely vulnerable and cannot work from home should be suspended on full pay. This is in line with normal requirements under regulation 16(3) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. This guidance can be found here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/working-safely/protect-people.htm?utm_source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=coronavirus&utm_term=more-2&utm_content=digest-10-jul-20#pregnant_workers.

Ministers and officials regularly discuss a wide range of issues relating to Coronavirus and employment rights. Existing legislation and public health guidance covering the health and safety of pregnant women in the workplace puts in place protections to cover the risks pregnant women may face during the Coronavirus outbreak. The Department of Health and Social Care is also working with the Health and Safety Executive, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Midwives and health departments in the devolved nations on developing guidance on occupational health advice for pregnant women in the workplace. The Department plans to publish the guidance shortly.

Under current public health guidance, pregnant women are in the clinically vulnerable group. This means that they are advised to work from home where it is possible to do so. Where working from home is not possible, pregnant women can attend a place of work provided this is supported by the employer's health and safety risk assessment and particular attention is paid to social distancing guidelines. Guidance on working safely can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

A small number of pregnant women are considered to be clinically extremely vulnerable. Current guidance strongly advises that clinically extremely vulnerable individuals work from home. Where this is not possible they are advised not to attend work for this period of restrictions. The guidance makes clear that pregnant women who are clinically extremely vulnerable and cannot work from home should be suspended on full pay. This is in line with normal requirements under regulation 16(3) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. This guidance can be found here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/working-safely/protect-people.htm?utm_source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=coronavirus&utm_term=more-2&utm_content=digest-10-jul-20#pregnant_workers.

Assessments are made on a case-by-case basis by the relevant UK Government departments and agencies.

The Government and its regulatory authorities already work closely with UK companies, and in the future will work with UK based launch operators, to understand the nature and degree of any inputs of equipment, technology, manpower, or funds from countries, in this area especially by those which are not partner members of the Missile Technology Control Regime.

This is in line with the UK’s existing international commitments under the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Hague Code of Conduct and other international non-proliferation instruments.

The Government plans to realise its obligations under the Agreement through the Space Industry Regulations, published for consultation on 29 July 2020 and licence conditions for operators. Regulations 180-181 of the Draft Space Industry Regulations address segregated areas and highlight that the area remains designated as segregated only if there is US technology in that area.

Proceeds from those launches will be limited to any charges for licensing (although the Government is not proposing to cost recover for three years) which will be used to cover costs of licensing, and associated taxes.

The Agreement creates no limitation on the Government continuing to provide funding for the development of domestic space launch companies through other means.

The Government will follow the definition contained in the Agreement.

The definitions in the Agreement are designed to capture all possible business and operational models for UK based launch operators and were drafted to enable maximum flexibility for UK companies.

The Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) is a legally binding bilateral treaty with the United States of America and is subject to 21 sitting days scrutiny under section 20 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRaG).

The Command Paper along with the Exchange of Notes for the TSA and Explanatory Memorandum was published and E-laid before Parliament on 16 October 2020.

The TSA will not enter into force until the enabling legislation (the Space Industry Regulations, published for public consultation on 29 June 2020) is in force, the CRaG scrutiny procedure has completed and following an exchange of notifications between the Parties confirming that all domestic procedures and requirements necessary for the Agreement’s entry into force have been fulfilled.

The government response to the Future Support for Low Carbon Heat consultation will be published in due course.

There are over 100 companies and research institutions in the LaunchUK Industry Group.

The US-UK Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) is a legally binding bilateral treaty with the United States of America and is subject to 21 sitting days scrutiny under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaG). The Command Paper along with the Exchange of Notes for the TSA and Explanatory Memorandum was published and E-laid before Parliament on 16 October 2020.

Companies which are likely to be affected by the provisions in the TSA were consulted prior to and throughout its negotiation, both through the LaunchUK Industry Group and in direct consultations. The Agreement will not place any undue limitations on UK-based companies; indeed, it is expected to open new opportunities for them while meeting the UK’s counter-proliferation obligations.

The UK and the EU discussed the Galileo programme during the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations. The EU’s offer on Galileo did not meet the UK’s security and industrial requirements.

The UK does not have a level of access to Galileo that would enable us to assure the system and use it for purposes such as defence and security. Our position remains unchanged and as such, the UK is not seeking to continue participation in Galileo.

The UK Space Agency is exploring alternative ways to deliver vital satellite navigation services to the UK through the new Space-Based Positioning Navigation and Timing Programme.

The UK and the EU discussed the Galileo programme during the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations. The EU’s offer on Galileo did not meet the UK’s security and industrial requirements.

Our position remains unchanged and as such, the UK is not seeking to continue participation in Galileo.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy had made significant progress in evaluating the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme. Work has included commissioning and interrogating information collected through large scale, representative, surveys of employers and parents and a consultation on high-level options for reforming parental leave and pay. We also commissioned a qualitative study of parents who have used the scheme. The various data sources will help us to better understand the barriers and enablers to parents taking Shared Parental Leave.

The evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme remains important for Government and we will publish our findings in due course.

Time limits for bringing claims in the Employment Tribunals are set out in legislation and in most employment cases, claims must be brought within three months. However in most types of employment claim, the legislation also provides that tribunals have the discretion to extend the time limit if it is satisfied (i) in discrimination claims that it is just and equitable to do so; or (ii) in unfair dismissal and most other employment claims that it was not reasonably practicable to bring the claim within the time limit.

The senior employment tribunal judiciary have published an FAQ to help users understand changes to the current employment tribunal processes during the pandemic, including details on how claims and responses will be handled, and consideration of time limits. If a claim is presented late, a judge may still allow it to proceed. Employment judges will decide based on the individual circumstances of the case and applying the relevant law. The guidance is available on GOV.UK.

The UK will not seek to access Galileo as we will not be able to assure its services for use in defence and critical national infrastructure.

Dedicated work is ongoing across Government to determine the UK’s positioning, navigation, and timing requirements, and to assess options for meeting them.

The Government is committed to the development of hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier for the UK. As set out at the Environmental Audit Committee on 10 September 2020, we plan to publish a Hydrogen Strategy in early 2021. The Strategy will include discussion around the costs associated with expansion of the UK hydrogen economy, and how these might be met.

As recently set out in the Research and Development Roadmap, the Government will be examining the mechanisms which we use to support university research in England and the incentives that these create within the R&D system, and we will work with the higher education sector in England to agree a set of reforms to support university research and knowledge exchange to become more resilient, more efficient and ensure better outcomes from public funding.

Research England, working with the HE Funding Bodies from the Devolved Nations, are conducting a thorough evaluation of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, including on the costs of the exercise and its incentive effects on research practice. The results of that evaluation will inform the design of future exercises, which will also be subject to detailed consultation with the university research sector.

Through this assessment and any subsequent recommended reforms, we aspire to implement a REF which helps progress to a system which is fair, unbureaucratic and rewards improvement.

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) has made an important contribution to global efforts to defeat poverty. With its focus on international research and innovation partnerships, GCRF is tackling some of the most intractable development challenges, which is why the Government has committed £1.5bn to the Fund since 2016.

The Department’s future spending proposals are subject to the Comprehensive Spending Review, which was launched by the Chancellor in July. This will consider all areas of BEIS Research and Innovation, including activity such as GCRF which is funded by Official Development Assistance.

OneWeb’s technology has the potential for providing broadband access to millions of people in remote and rural locations currently without access.

In advance of the Government’s investment, expert advice was provided on the commercial, financial and technical aspects of the investment. The investment will support the UK focus on research and innovation and will put Britain at the cutting edge of the latest advances in space technology.

This is game-changing technology that could provide broadband to vast areas currently without connectivity, for example over entire oceans. This coverage in connectivity could provide valuable commercial services to sectors such as maritime and aviation, providing new ways to connect ships and planes. The current negotiations are commercially sensitive, so it would not be appropriate to comment further.

The UK Space Agency is continuing to develop options for a UK space-based positioning, navigation and timing system (PNT). Galileo’s secure service is still under development and is only expected to be operational in the mid to late 2020s. Beyond January 1st 2021, the UK public and businesses will still have access to open services provided by various international GNSS systems such as GPS and Galileo, and the UK armed forces will still retain access to the US GPS secure service.

This investment is likely to make an economic return, with due diligence showing a strong commercial basis for investment. The deal contributes to the government’s plan to join the first rank of space nations, and signals the government’s ambition for the UK to be a pioneer in the research, development, manufacturing, and exploitation of novel satellite technologies enabling enhanced broadband through the ownership of a fleet of Low Earth orbit satellites.

We expect revenue streams from 2022 in several areas including aerospace, maritime, government & military and Enterprise/business broadband.

Under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), the Government provides lenders with an 80 per cent guarantee on each facility approved. Lenders are required to pass the economic benefit of the existence of this guarantee to the borrower through lower pricing than it may otherwise have had. As part of the accreditation process, lenders must evidence how they will pass the economic benefit on to borrowers.

Lenders also undergo periodic audits (including an audit prior to moving from a probationary to a full Lender under the Scheme) to check that scheme eligibility rules and processes have been followed. If it is determined that a lender is not passing on the economic benefits of the CBILS Guarantee to borrowers, the lender will be required to take such action as is required by the British Business Bank to rectify this. This could include compensating the borrower and / or remediating their existing book. Ultimately, the Bank could suspend the lender from new lending or remove its accreditation. Any action will take into account the impact on the underlying SMEs.

Heat pumps will play an important role in decarbonising heat in the UK. The Clean Heat Grants scheme is focussed on supporting the installer base that will be required to implement regulations to phase out the installation of high-carbon fossil fuel heating off the gas grid. The Government is committed to doing this during the 2020s, as set out in the Clean Growth Strategy. In order to target taxpayer funding most effectively, we propose to introduce a 45kW capacity limit to focus this scheme on smaller installations. This reflects evidence that the majority of heat pump installations supported under the Renewable Heat Incentive have a capacity less than or equal to 45kW.

The Clean Heat Grant has been designed as part of a broader package of measures to support the decarbonisation of heat. Alongside the Clean Heat Grant scheme, the Budget announced future support for large heat pump installations in heat networks through the Green Heat Network Scheme. BEIS will consult on this scheme later in the year. The Industrial Energy Transformation Fund will also be open to large heat pumps providing process heat. In addition, as part of the Summer Economic Update made on 8 July, the government committed £1 billion of funding for the new Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to upgrade public sector buildings, including schools and hospitals. This forms part of the wider manifesto commitments to invest in low-carbon heat and energy efficiency in buildings over the next decade.

OneWeb holds a position as a global leader in Low Earth Orbit technology. This investment secures that leading position and signals the Government’s ambition for the UK to be a pioneer in high-tech satellite technology.

Due diligence has shown that the investment is going to be commercially sound and is likely to make an economic return. Our investment provides a stable platform for OneWeb’s development and unlocks a range of future commercial and strategic opportunities for the UK.

The UK will not seek to access Galileo as we will not be able to assure its services for use in defence and critical national infrastructure.

The current OneWeb satellites are used to deliver satellite communications services, and we are actively considering what other capabilities OneWeb could provide.

Dedicated work is ongoing across Government to determine the UK’s positioning, navigation, and timing requirements, and to assess options for meeting them.

OneWeb holds a position since 2012 in the UK and U.S. of developing cutting-edge satellite technology from its bases both here in the UK and in the United States. It holds a global leadership position in Low Earth Orbit technology.

The move of acquiring Oneweb signals the government’s ambition for the UK to be a pioneer in the research, development, manufacturing, and exploitation of novel satellite technologies through the ownership of a fleet of Low Earth orbit satellites.

The UK’s space sector can strengthen our national capabilities, create high-skilled jobs and drive future economic growth across the UK. In order to support this, the Queen’s Speech on 19 December set out the Government’s intent to establish a new National Space Council and launch a comprehensive UK Space Strategy. The Council, chaired by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, will consider its strategy in due course.

The accreditation agreement for CBILS lenders makes clear that the interest rate at which the?lender is prepared to lend at, and any associated fees, should be based on a?lender’s normal pricing framework throughout the duration of the facility, taking into account the benefits and costs of the guarantee.

As of 28 June, a total of 52,257 loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), with a value of £10.53 billion.

We are currently unable to provide a breakdown of lending by interest rate. We are considering what more detailed data on CBILS and other schemes can be published going forward.

The interest rate charged on a CBILS facility varies in line with the lender’s own policies, as would be the case with any commercial facility. However, under the terms of the State aid framework, the Government fully expects that the benefit of the guarantee under the CBILS will be passed through to the borrower.

On 7 May, the Government issued guidance on responsible contractual behaviours, which was then updated on 30 June. This guidance applies to all organisations in the public and private sectors that operate under any form of contract, including the New Engineering Contract (NEC) and Joint Contracts Tribunal contracts, which are used in relation to construction projects. The guidance urges all parties to contracts to work collaboratively to avoid disputes, or if this is not possible, to seek to resolve these as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible. This guidance has been endorsed by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and forms the basis of further advice on contractual issues provided to small businesses.

The Government welcomes the recovery plan produced by the CLC’s Coronavirus Task Force, which sets out a plan to ensure that all parts of the sector can increase activity, work safely, and maximise their contribution to our economic recovery. We will continue to work with the Task Force, which includes firms, business representative organisations, and representatives of the professional institutions, to support the recovery of the construction sector.

On 7 May, the Government issued guidance on responsible contractual behaviours, which was then updated on 30 June. This guidance applies to all organisations in the public and private sectors that operate under any form of contract, including the New Engineering Contract (NEC) and Joint Contracts Tribunal contracts, which are used in relation to construction projects. The guidance urges all parties to contracts to work collaboratively to avoid disputes, or if this is not possible, to seek to resolve these as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible. This guidance has been endorsed by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and forms the basis of further advice on contractual issues provided to small businesses.

The Government welcomes the recovery plan produced by the CLC’s Coronavirus Task Force, which sets out a plan to ensure that all parts of the sector can increase activity, work safely, and maximise their contribution to our economic recovery. We will continue to work with the Task Force, which includes firms, business representative organisations, and representatives of the professional institutions, to support the recovery of the construction sector.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), accreditation agreement makes clear that the interest rate at which the Lender is prepared to lend at, and any associated fees, should be based on a Lender’s normal pricing framework. The agreement also makes clear that lenders must pass the economic benefit of the Government guarantee to the borrower.

Lenders undergo periodic audits. Samples of transactions will be analysed during the audit to check that scheme eligibility rules and processes have been followed, including whether the economic benefits of the CBILS Guarantee has been passed on to borrowers in the form of lower borrowing costs.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), accreditation agreement makes clear that the interest rate at which the Lender is prepared to lend at, and any associated fees, should be based on a Lender’s normal pricing framework. The agreement also makes clear that lenders must pass the economic benefit of the Government guarantee to the borrower.

Lenders undergo periodic audits. Samples of transactions will be analysed during the audit to check that scheme eligibility rules and processes have been followed, including whether the economic benefits of the CBILS Guarantee has been passed on to borrowers in the form of lower borrowing costs.

The Chapter 11 bidding process for OneWeb is commercially sensitive, so it would not be appropriate to comment.

This Government has made clear its ambitions in space through a new ministerial level National Space Council and by developing a Space Strategy to bring long term strategic and commercial benefits for the UK. The Government recognises the contribution the space sector makes to our economy, national security, global influence and in helping the nation to tackle the COVID crisis.

A project led by the Cabinet Office is developing the UK's positioning navigation and timing (PNT) requirements, bringing together expertise from across Whitehall, industry and the PNT community to consider requirements across military, civil and Critical National Infrastructure sectors. In addition to other technologies, a UK GNSS capability could form part of the mix of solutions needed.

We have made clear our ambitions for space and are developing a new National Space Strategy to bring long-term strategic and commercial benefits to the UK.

We are in regular discussions with the space industry as part of this work.

This Government has made clear its ambitions in space through a new ministerial level National Space Council and by developing a Space Strategy to bring long term strategic and commercial benefits for the UK. The Government recognises the contribution the space sector makes to our economy, national security, global influence and in helping the nation to tackle the COVID crisis.

The GNSS programme is currently in its Engineering Design and Development Phase to research and understand what would best suit the UK's requirements. The programme is taking the appropriate time to investigate the requirements, design specifications and costs as fully as possible. This work is ongoing, and we envisage that the majority of this will be complete this year.

Interest rates are one of a range of factors taken into consideration when the British Business Bank reviews a lender’s application to become a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) delivery partner.

The accreditation agreement makes clear that the interest rate at which the lender is prepared to lend at, and any associated fees, should be based on a lender’s normal pricing framework.

The Government expects that the benefit of the CBILS guarantee is passed through to the borrower. This should be reflected in the interest rate and lender-levied fees that are charged on each CBILS facility, both during the period of the Business Interruption Payment and for the remainder of the facility.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is being delivered by more than 90 accredited lenders operating across the market. Lenders of the CBILS are permitted to set interest rates above 10%.

The interest rate charged on a CBILS facility is at the discretion of the Lender, in line with their own policies, as would be the case with any commercial facility. Under the CBILS scheme, SMEs do however benefit from lower initial costs, as the government provides a 'Business Interruption Payment' to cover any interest and Lender-levied fees within the first 12 months. Therefore, the interest rate, and any associated fees, should be determined based on lenders' normal pricing framework and take into account the benefits and costs of the guarantee.

The Government also guarantees 80% of a CBILS facility and lenders must pass the economic benefit of the existence of this guarantee to the borrower through lower pricing than it may otherwise have had.

For further information about interest rates after the initial 12-month period, businesses should speak to their lender on what interest rates they will charge after this time.

The Government is committed to developing hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier. We are currently developing our strategic approach to hydrogen and its potential to deliver against our net zero goals.

We are undertaking extensive stakeholder engagement as we develop new policy to help bring forward the technologies and supply chain we will need to grow the UK hydrogen economy. This includes business models to support the deployment of, and investment in, low carbon hydrogen production and a £100m Low Carbon Hydrogen Production Fund to stimulate capital investment. We will be further engaging with industry on both schemes throughout the year.

BEIS ministers have held no formal discussions with my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer or other Cabinet colleagues on establishing a UK-wide hydrogen strategy.

The draft Agreement was signed by the US and UK governments on 16 June 2020 and will be subject to scrutiny and ratification by Parliament. It will be laid in Parliament after enabling legislation is in force, and the Agreement will be published as soon as practically possible thereafter.

Regular engagement with UK based commercial space industry was undertaken over a three-year period prior to the signing of the US-UK Technology Safeguards Agreement. This included direct consultations with companies and presentations to industry groups. Companies provided valuable advice which informed the negotiations.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is being delivered by a network of more than 90 accredited lenders operating across the market. Individual lending decisions are at the discretion of these lenders.

The Government pays the interest and any lender-levied fees in the first 12 months of any CBILS facility. Interest rates after 12 months will vary between lenders and will depend on the specific lending proposal. The Government also guarantees 80% of a CBILS facility and lenders must pass the economic benefit of the existence of this guarantee to the borrower through lower pricing than it may otherwise have had.

For further information about interest rates after the initial 12 month period, businesses should speak to their lender on what interest rates they will charge after this time.

Interest rates are one of a range of factors taken into consideration when the British Business Bank reviews a lender’s application to become a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) delivery partner.

The accreditation agreement makes clear that the interest rate at which the lender is prepared to lend at, and any associated fees, should be based on a lender’s normal pricing framework.

The Government expects that the benefit of the CBILS guarantee is passed through to the borrower. This should be reflected in the interest rate and lender-levied fees that are charged on each CBILS facility, both during the period of the Business Interruption Payment and for the remainder of the facility.

The Government welcomes the recovery plan produced by the Construction Leadership Council’s Coronavirus Task Force, which sets out a plan to ensure the sector can increase activity, work safely, and maximise its contribution to our economic recovery.

We will continue to work with the Task Force, which includes firms, business representative organisations, and representatives of the professional institutions, to support the recovery of the construction sector.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) is designed to help employers severely affected by Coronavirus, including construction companies, so they can retain their employees and protect the UK economy. All employers can claim under the CJRS for eligible employees. The forms of contract that a construction company enter into do not impact their eligibility to claim.

The construction sector will be a key part of our economic recovery. The Government continues to work closely with the sector to ensure that it is in a position to support.

The Government has also worked with construction firms to develop guidance on safer working on construction sites, to enable them to reopen safely as soon as possible. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

As of 10 May, over £6 billion worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to almost 36,000 businesses.

Since the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme was launched, Government has listened to feedback from stakeholders and made changes to ensure that loans are processed as quickly as possible to allow businesses to get the support they need. These changes include:

• Extending the scheme so that all viable small businesses affected by Covid-19 are eligible;
• Removing previous restrictions on the following groups to enable them to access the CBILS, subject to other eligibility criteria being met: Employer, professional, religious or political membership organisations and trade unions;
• Removing the ability for lenders to ask for personal guarantees for loans under £250,000, and reducing the personal guarantee for loans over £250,000 to 20% of the outstanding balance after recoveries;
• Introducing technical changes to ensure that applications will be processed faster;
• Removing the forward-looking viability test; and
• Removing the per lender portfolio cap.

Responding to concerns from larger businesses that were not eligible for the existing Government-backed loans, on 3 April, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the launch of the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLIBS) to support viable businesses with a turnover of above £45 million. Following feedback from businesses, banks and industry groups, the turnover cap was removed from the CLBILS.

We have also responded to feedback from smaller businesses that were struggling to access funding as quickly as they needed by introducing the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. This allows businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000. To apply for the scheme businesses complete a short, simple, online application form, meaning that applications are submitted and processed rapidly, and businesses can access loans within a matter of days.

In May, the Government will launch the Future Fund which will provide between £125,000 and £5 million to businesses that might be reliant on equity investment and are therefore unable to access the current loan schemes.

The Government continues to work with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and lenders to assess how effectively these schemes are working.

In order to minimise administrative burden and therefore facilitate the issuing of as many loans as possible, the British Business Bank’s system only gathers data from lenders when loans are offered and drawn. Decisions on whether to capture information relating to rejected loans are at the discretion of the lender.

The Government continues to work with the British Business Bank, and the lenders on providing transparent and regular data publication going forward.

The British Business Bank has issued guidance to all accredited lenders on assessing eligibility for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

You are eligible for the scheme if:

• Your business’s activity is UK-based, with turnover of no more than £45 million per year;
• You have a borrowing proposal which, were it not for the current pandemic, would be considered viable by the lender; and
• You can self-certify that your business has been adversely impacted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

For facilities above £30k, lenders are required to gain comfort that a SME is not an ‘Undertaking in Difficulty’, but this includes the option for lenders to rely on self-certification.

Decision-making on whether a business is eligible to access the CBILS is fully delegated to accredited lenders, using the guidance above, and individual lending decisions remain at the discretion of these lenders.

The Secretary of State continues to hold a regular dialogue with each of the biggest CBILS lenders to monitor its implementation and ensure that companies receive the full benefits of the support being provided.

The new Bounce Back Loans Scheme launched on May 4 to help the smallest SMEs to access loans from £2000 up to 25% of a business’ turnover, with maximum loan amount of £50,000. To apply for the scheme businesses will be able to complete a short, simple, online application form, meaning that applications can be submitted and processed rapidly and businesses can access loans within a matter of days. The Government will provide lenders with a 100% guarantee on each loan to give them the confidence they need to support the smallest businesses in the country.

A business is eligible for a loan under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme if:

• Its business’s activity is UK-based, with turnover of no more than £45 million per year;
• It has a borrowing proposal which, were it not for the current pandemic, would be considered viable by the lender;
• It can self-certify that the business has been adversely impacted by the Coronavirus (Covid-19).

Government has removed the forward-looking viability test that required an assessment of whether the business can trade out of the crisis. The only test that remains is whether a business was viable before Covid-19.

As of 29 April, in total over £4.1 billion worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to over 25,262 businesses.

Lenders have received 52,807 completed applications.

We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and the lenders on regular and transparent data publication going forward.

Accredited lenders are responsible for providing loans under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). Decision-making on whether a business is eligible to access the CBILS are fully delegated to the accredited lenders, and individual lending decisions remain at the discretion of these lenders.

Since launch, the Government has received a lot of feedback on how the scheme has been working. The Business Secretary continues to hold a regular dialogue with each of the biggest CBILS lenders to address feedback on how the scheme has been working and closely monitor its implementation to ensure that companies feel the full benefits of this support.

To date, the Government has responded rapidly by:

• Extending the scheme so that all viable small businesses affected by Covid-19, and not just those unable to secure regular commercial financing;
• Removing previous restrictions on the following groups to enable them to access the CBILS, subject to other eligibility criteria being met: Employer, professional, religious or political membership organisations and trade unions are now eligible for the CBILS;
• Removing ability for lenders to ask for personal guarantees for loans under £250,000, and reducing the personal guarantee for loans over £250,000 to 20% of the outstanding balance after recoveries;
• Removing the forward-looking viability test; and
• Removing the per lender portfolio cap.

The Government will continue to monitor the scheme as a whole.

Accredited lenders are responsible for providing loans under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). Decision-making on whether a business is eligible to access the CBILS are fully delegated to the accredited lenders, and individual lending decisions remain at the discretion of these lenders.

The Government has responded rapidly to feedback to ensure that companies feel the full benefits of available support through the CBILS by:

• Extending the scheme so that all viable small businesses affected by Covid-19;
• Removing previous restrictions on the following groups to enable them to access the CBILS, subject to other eligibility criteria being met: Employer, professional, religious or political membership organisations and trade unions are now eligible for the CBILS;
• Removing ability for lenders to ask for personal guarantees for loans under £250,000, and reducing the personal guarantee for loans over £250,000 to 20% of the outstanding balance after recoveries;
• Removing the forward-looking viability test; and
• Removing the per lender portfolio cap.

In addition to the above, the Government:

• Launched the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) on 20 April to help businesses with an annual turnover of over £45m to access the finance they need.
• Announced the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, which will ensure that the smallest businesses can access loans of up to £50,000 in a matter of days. This Scheme launched on 4 May.

The Government will continue to monitor the schemes.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme is for businesses with turnover of up to £45m. For start-ups, or SMEs which have traded for less than 12 months, the lender should estimate turnover based upon the SME’s forecasted turnover for the first 12 months of trading. Turnover need not be generated with the intention of making a profit – charities and non-profit entities are potentially eligible for support.

Government has removed the forward-looking viability test that required an assessment of whether the business can trade out of the crisis. The only test that remains is whether a business was viable before Covid-19.

On Monday 20 April we announced a new £1.25 billion support package to protect start-ups and businesses driving research and development, which are one of our great economic strengths and will help power our growth out of the coronavirus crisis.

This package includes a £500 million investment fund for high-growth companies impacted by the crisis, made up of funding from government and the private sector, and £750 million of grants and loans for SMEs focusing on research and development.

As of 6 May, in total over £5.5 billion worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to 33,812 businesses. Lenders have received 62,674 completed applications.

Since launch, the Government has received feedback on how the scheme has been working. We are closely monitoring the implementation and working with the financial services sector to ensure that companies receive the full benefits from the support being provided.

In order to assess how effectively the scheme is working, we are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and lenders on regular and transparent data publication going forward.

Individual lending decisions under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) are delegated to over 60 lenders accredited under the Scheme. These banks and other financial institutions are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and are required to comply with a number of regulations, including anti-money laundering and ‘know your customer’ rules, designed to combat fraud and other forms of financial crime.

The majority of lenders also subscribe to voluntary Standards of Lending Practice overseen by the independent Lending Standards Board.

These regulations and standards are compatible with ensuring that small businesses receive CBILS loans, as shown by the fact that as of 6 May, in total over £5.5 billion worth of loans have been issued under the scheme to 33,812 businesses.

The new Bounce Back Loan Scheme launched on 4 May to help the smallest SMEs to access loans from £2,000 up to 25% of a business’ turnover, with maximum loan amount of £50,000. To apply for the scheme businesses will be able to complete a short, simple, online application form, meaning that applications can be submitted and processed rapidly and businesses can access loans within a matter of days.

The Competition and Markets Authority have created a COVID-19 taskforce to investigate consumer concerns in light of COVID-19.

The CMA is writing to firms suspected of profiteering to challenge unjustifiable price increases and stands ready to take enforcement action where there is evidence that competition or consumer protection law has been broken.

The Government continues to monitor the situation and is keeping all options under review to tackle these issues.

As of 29 April, in total over £4.1 billion worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to over 25,262 businesses.

We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and the lenders on providing transparent and regular data publication going forward.

As of 29 April, in total over £4.1 billion worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to over 25,262 businesses. Lenders have received 52,807 completed applications.

We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and the lenders on providing transparent and regular data publication going forward.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State met with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), business, trade and consumer organisations on Thursday 9 April to review the prevalence and impact of profiteering.

The CMA has written to firms suspected of profiteering to challenge unjustifiable price increases. The CMA stand ready to take enforcement action where there is evidence that competition or consumer protection law has been broken.

The Government continues to monitor profiteering and is keeping all options under review.

The Competition and Markets Authority have created a COVID-19 taskforce to investigate consumer concerns in light of COVID-19.

They have written to warn firms suspected of profiteering and stand ready to take enforcement action where there is evidence that competition or consumer protection law has been broken.

We are keeping all options under review to tackle profiteering.

The Government has been clear that it does not want to see profiteering of any kind. Although only a small minority of businesses or individuals engage in profiteering, we are concerned about the harm it could cause, particularly to the vulnerable.

The Competition and Markets Authority has written to firms suspected of profiteering, and the Secretary of State recently met business, trade and consumer representatives to discuss the scale of profiteering and actions to address it. We are keeping all options under review to tackle profiteering.

The Government is engaging regularly with the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) to assess how the independent brewing sector can return to normal operations following the current COVID-19 outbreak.

As of 21 April, over £2.8bn worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to over 16,600 businesses.

In order to minimise administrative burden and therefore facilitate the issuing of as many loans as possible, the British Business Bank’s system only gathers data from these lenders when loans are offered and drawn. The system does not capture information on rejected loans. We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and the lenders on providing transparent and regular data publication going forward.

The Government recognises the important contribution the live events sector makes to the UK’s culture and economy, and the significant challenges the sector has faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Live Events Reinsurance Scheme provides live events across the country with the confidence to plan ahead, and as such will support the UK’s post-Covid economic recovery.

Since the Scheme’s launch in September 2021, a wide variety of events, including business events, concerts and theatre performances, have purchased cover. The Scheme will be reviewed in the Spring to assess its effectiveness, including the extent to which it has benefitted the live events sector while also delivering value for money for UK taxpayers.

All Ministers holding meetings or phone calls on government business are routinely accompanied by a private secretary, in line with the expectations of paragraph 8.14 of the Ministerial Code. If a private secretary is not available, another official will accompany this Minister. All meetings to discuss official government business are arranged through the department to ensure an official can be present. If any discussion of government business takes place unexpectedly without an official present e.g. at a social event, the content of the discussion is fed back to the department promptly and recorded.

Formal, structured meetings are usually minuted, however, not all meetings need to be minuted. For example all DCMS internal decision making Board and Committee meetings, within its formal governance framework, are minuted. In regards to other meetings, the general guidance that DCMS provides officials within the department supports them to make judgements as to what meetings need to be minuted, noting their Civil Service Code obligation to ‘keep accurate official records’.

Specific procedures are in place for external meetings involving ministers. These are publicly available and can be found in the Guidance on the management of Private Office Papers.

Minutes are stored electronically within the department’s storage solution, with access granted to appropriate officials as this is required.

The government is working tirelessly with industry, regulators and consumer groups to tackle fraud. We are also considering additional legislative and non-legislative solutions to effectively address the harms posed by all elements of online fraud in a cohesive and robust way.

My Department is considering how online advertising is regulated through its Online Advertising Programme. This work will look at ensuring that standards about the placement and content of advertising are effectively applied and enforced online to reduce consumers’ exposure to harmful or misleading advertising. This work will look at the role advertising can play in enabling online fraud and help inform our future efforts to tackle it. We will be consulting on this issue later this year.

Although paid-for advertising is exempt in the current draft of the Online Safety Bill, some types of advertising will be in scope. This includes posts by influencers and posts by companies on their social media feeds. Companies will therefore need to ensure that these posts do not host illegal content. The Bill is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny and we will consider all recommendations from the Joint Committee when they report.

The government is working tirelessly with industry, regulators and consumer groups to tackle fraud. We are also considering additional legislative and non-legislative solutions to effectively address the harms posed by all elements of online fraud in a cohesive and robust way.

My Department is considering how online advertising is regulated through its Online Advertising Programme. This work will look at ensuring that standards about the placement and content of advertising are effectively applied and enforced online to reduce consumers’ exposure to harmful or misleading advertising. This work will look at the role advertising can play in enabling online fraud and help inform our future efforts to tackle it. We will be consulting on this issue later this year.

Although paid-for advertising is exempt in the current draft of the Online Safety Bill, some types of advertising will be in scope. This includes posts by influencers and posts by companies on their social media feeds. Companies will therefore need to ensure that these posts do not host illegal content. The Bill is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny and we will consider all recommendations from the Joint Committee when they report.

International data transfers are vitally important to global economies, societies, and individuals’ lives. Securing data adequacy arrangements with our priority partners will be a significant step in the UK’s ongoing plans to unlock the power of data to drive UK growth and innovation.

Given our strong security, economic, and trade relationships, the US is one of the UK’s most important partners. On 26th August, DCMS announced the US as a priority partner to assess for a data adequacy arrangement.

We are engaging positively with our US counterparts and progressing the technical assessment to ensure that high standards of data protection would be maintained under an adequacy arrangement. We will provide updates in due course.

Yes. The internet is essential to modern life and the government takes its security and resilience very seriously. DCMS works across government on a programme to ensure we understand the risks to, and the impacts of, disruption to our internet infrastructure. This work includes the assessment of the impacts on essential services, life, the economy and the functioning of the state.

International opportunities for the youth sector and young people outside of formal education settings, such as the types of activities funded under the Erasmus+ programme, are being considered as part of the DCMS-led Youth Review, which was commissioned by the Treasury at the 2020 Spending Review. DCMS recognises the value of international opportunities and has been discussing this issue with the devolved administrations, as well as with young people and stakeholders as part of the Review. Future funding is subject to decisions at the next Spending Review.

DCMS and the Department for Education have worked closely together on the delivery of the Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps programmes in the UK. Officials in both departments have also discussed potential future international opportunities. While the Department for Education is responsible for the Turing scheme and international exchange in formal education settings, DCMS is responsible for international opportunities for young people outside of formal education settings.

International opportunities for the youth sector and young people outside of formal education settings are being considered as part of the DCMS-led Youth Review, which was commissioned by the Treasury at the 2020 Spending Review. DCMS recognises the value of international opportunities and has been discussing this issue with other Government departments and the devolved administrations, as well as with young people and stakeholders as part of the Review. Future funding is subject to decisions at the next Spending Review.

The Government recognises that the events industry and its supply chain has been severely impacted by COVID-19. We continue to meet with stakeholders, including through the Visitor Economy Working Group and the Tourism Industry Council, to discuss the specific issues facing the industry.

The £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund has benefited the sector by providing support to venues and many other cultural organisations, allowing them to stay open and continue operating where COVID restrictions permit. Over £1.2 billion has now been allocated to over 5000 arts and culture organisations across the country. Examples of production service companies that have received CRF funds so far include Adlib Audio Limited (Knowsley), GLS Light and Sound Production Ltd (Southampton) and Lights Control Rigging Productions Ltd (Blackburn).

The Culture Recovery Fund as a whole also included £188 million for the devolved administrations via the Barnett formula, with Scotland receiving £97 million. We know that Scotland are also deeply committed to their arts, culture, and heritage sectors and have provided a range of support funding, building on and including the CRF allocation.

The furlough and loan schemes are part of the government’s wider plan to support, create and protect jobs through its Plan for Jobs. This includes the Kickstart Scheme, more investment in training and skills as well as the Self Employment Income Support Scheme grant, with a fourth grant.

The Government keeps all support and policies under review, and is in close contact with the production services industry to understand what support it needs.

This Government recognises the importance of the UK’s live events sector and has provided significant financial support including an additional £300M to the Culture Recovery Fund. The Culture Recovery Fund as a whole also included £188 million for the devolved administrations via the Barnett formula including £97 million for Scotland.

We are aware of the wider concerns about securing indemnity for live events and we continue to assess all available options to provide further support to the sector within the public health context. We also need to be confident that any investment or intervention would lead to an increase in activity: for instance we understand the constraints imposed by social distancing remain a further barrier for many live events restarting.

The Government takes this issue very seriously and is committed to ensuring that there is an appropriate response to misinformation and disinformation in the periods between democratic events. This includes responding to Covid-19, for which the Counter Disinformation Unit was stood up on 5 March 2020, bringing together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities to provide a comprehensive picture of the extent, scope and the reach of disinformation and misinformation linked to Covid-19, and to work with partners to stamp it out.

The Government takes the issue of disinformation and misinformation very seriously. Disinformation and misinformation threaten our democratic freedoms, and can cause harm to individuals and to our society.

We welcome the valuable analysis and insights from academia and other experts who have a huge amount of expertise in this space. We take their findings and recommendations very seriously and engage widely with academia and civil society to ensure we are able to benefit from this work.

The Government takes the issues of disinformation, online manipulation and abuse very seriously and remains committed to strengthening the integrity of our electoral system and giving the public confidence that our elections are modern, fair and secure.

The Defending Democracy programme is working to ensure a joined-up cross-Government approach to safeguarding UK democracy. The programme’s objectives are to protect democratic processes; strengthen the integrity of elections; encourage respect for open and safe democratic participation; and promote open, fact-based discourse.

The Government is committed to ensuring that democratic events are delivered safely and securely. During major democratic events the Government stands up an Election Cell. This is a coordination structure that works with stakeholders to identify and respond to emerging issues.

Online abuse of any kind is unacceptable.To ensure the law is fit for purpose to tackle abuses online, we have asked the Law Commission to review our laws on harmful and abusive online communications and highlight any gaps in the criminal law that cause problems in tackling this abuse. The Law Commission has consulted on provisional reforms and will issue final recommendations by summer 2021, which the government will carefully consider.

In addition, the Government has established a dedicated Counter Disinformation Unit. The Unit stands up during periods of heightened vulnerability such as democratic events, and supports the Election Cell by providing a picture of the extent, scope and the reach disinformation and working with partners to identify and respond to it in line with platform terms and conditions. The Unit was previously stood up during the European Parliamentary Election and UK General Election in 2019. It stood up in March 2020 in support of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and remains operational.

The Government is also preparing legislation to address some of these issues. Last year we published the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation, which sets out the new expectations on companies to keep their users safe online.

The Online Safety Bill will establish a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. Under the new framework, companies will be held to account for tackling illegal activity and content, such as illegal online abuse and illegal hate crime. Some companies will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults, including some forms of online abuse.

We are also developing a package of electoral integrity measures which we will bring forward when Parliamentary time allows.

The Government takes the issues of disinformation, online manipulation and abuse very seriously and remains committed to strengthening the integrity of our electoral system and giving the public confidence that our elections are modern, fair and secure.

The Defending Democracy programme is working to ensure a joined-up cross-Government approach to safeguarding UK democracy. The programme’s objectives are to protect democratic processes; strengthen the integrity of elections; encourage respect for open and safe democratic participation; and promote open, fact-based discourse.

The Government is committed to ensuring that democratic events are delivered safely and securely. During major democratic events the Government stands up an Election Cell. This is a coordination structure that works with stakeholders to identify and respond to emerging issues.

Online abuse of any kind is unacceptable.To ensure the law is fit for purpose to tackle abuses online, we have asked the Law Commission to review our laws on harmful and abusive online communications and highlight any gaps in the criminal law that cause problems in tackling this abuse. The Law Commission has consulted on provisional reforms and will issue final recommendations by summer 2021, which the government will carefully consider.

In addition, the Government has established a dedicated Counter Disinformation Unit. The Unit stands up during periods of heightened vulnerability such as democratic events, and supports the Election Cell by providing a picture of the extent, scope and the reach disinformation and working with partners to identify and respond to it in line with platform terms and conditions. The Unit was previously stood up during the European Parliamentary Election and UK General Election in 2019. It stood up in March 2020 in support of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and remains operational.

The Government is also preparing legislation to address some of these issues. Last year we published the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation, which sets out the new expectations on companies to keep their users safe online.

The Online Safety Bill will establish a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. Under the new framework, companies will be held to account for tackling illegal activity and content, such as illegal online abuse and illegal hate crime. Some companies will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults, including some forms of online abuse.

We are also developing a package of electoral integrity measures which we will bring forward when Parliamentary time allows.

The Government takes the issues of disinformation, online manipulation and abuse very seriously and remains committed to strengthening the integrity of our electoral system and giving the public confidence that our elections are modern, fair and secure.

The Defending Democracy programme is working to ensure a joined-up cross-Government approach to safeguarding UK democracy. The programme’s objectives are to protect democratic processes; strengthen the integrity of elections; encourage respect for open and safe democratic participation; and promote open, fact-based discourse.

The Government is committed to ensuring that democratic events are delivered safely and securely. During major democratic events the Government stands up an Election Cell. This is a coordination structure that works with stakeholders to identify and respond to emerging issues.

Online abuse of any kind is unacceptable.To ensure the law is fit for purpose to tackle abuses online, we have asked the Law Commission to review our laws on harmful and abusive online communications and highlight any gaps in the criminal law that cause problems in tackling this abuse. The Law Commission has consulted on provisional reforms and will issue final recommendations by summer 2021, which the government will carefully consider.

In addition, the Government has established a dedicated Counter Disinformation Unit. The Unit stands up during periods of heightened vulnerability such as democratic events, and supports the Election Cell by providing a picture of the extent, scope and the reach disinformation and working with partners to identify and respond to it in line with platform terms and conditions. The Unit was previously stood up during the European Parliamentary Election and UK General Election in 2019. It stood up in March 2020 in support of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and remains operational.

The Government is also preparing legislation to address some of these issues. Last year we published the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation, which sets out the new expectations on companies to keep their users safe online.

The Online Safety Bill will establish a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. Under the new framework, companies will be held to account for tackling illegal activity and content, such as illegal online abuse and illegal hate crime. Some companies will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults, including some forms of online abuse.

We are also developing a package of electoral integrity measures which we will bring forward when Parliamentary time allows.

The Government takes the issue of disinformation and misinformation very seriously. Disinformation and misinformation threaten our democratic freedoms, and can cause harm to individuals and to our society.

We welcome the valuable analysis and insights from academia and other experts who have a huge amount of expertise in this space. We take their findings and recommendations very seriously and engage widely with academia and civil society to ensure we are able to benefit from this work.

The Government takes the issue of disinformation and misinformation very seriously. Disinformation and misinformation threaten our democratic freedoms, and can cause harm to individuals and to our society.

We welcome the valuable analysis and insights from academia and other experts who have a huge amount of expertise in this space. We take their findings and recommendations very seriously and engage widely with academia and civil society to ensure we are able to benefit from this work.

DCMS spent the following on on communications, advertising and marketing:

August 2020:

Marketing and advertising:

England:

• £48,773

Wales:

• £28,328

UK:

• £80,528

Communications:

• UK: £800

September 2020:

Communications:

• UK: £1,368

October 2020:

Communications:

• UK: £2,155

November 2020:

Communications:

• UK: £222

December 2020:

Marketing and advertising:

• UK: £15,291

Communications:

• UK: £761

There are generous measures available for the whole voluntary and community sector which include more than £1.3 billion a year in respect of Gift Aid on donations. Charities play an invaluable role in this country, which is why we have committed £750 million in targeted funding so that they can continue their vital work through the coronavirus outbreak. £360m was allocated by central government departments to help charities in England based on service need, and £310m was allocated to support smaller, local charities working with vulnerable people in England on the frontline of the coronavirus response. £60 million from the wider package has been distributed via the Barnett formula to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support all types of charities on the frontline of the response.

In addition to this support, the Charity Commission for England and Wales has published guidance on gov.uk, which sets out how charities can get support for their staff, advice on use of reserves, and other potential issues.

We are providing an unprecedented multi-billion-pound package of government support for charities. We are absolutely committed to ensuring taxpayers' money is spent effectively and are working flat out to ensure help reaches those who need it most.

There are generous measures available for the whole charity sector which include more than £1.3 billion a year in respect of Gift Aid on donations. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the government has made available a support package to all charities and businesses, including deferring their VAT bills, paying no business rates for their shops next year, and furloughing staff where possible.

In addition, the Government has made available an unprecedented £750 million package of support, specifically for charities, social enterprises and the voluntary sector. This will ensure charities and other civil society organisations, including those at risk of financial hardship, can continue their vital work during the Covid-19 outbreak. £60 million from this package has been distributed via the Barnett formula to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support all types of charities on the frontline of the response.

Due to the sharp upward trajectory of Covid-19 cases, we took the decision to pause the planned 1st October reopening of business events in England. We recognise that this means that many companies who cater for affected large events cannot fully return to their roles.

We are aware that the events industry and its supply chain has been severely impacted by Covid-19. We continue to engage with the stakeholders, including through the Visitor Economy Working Group and the Events Industry Senior Leaders Advisory Panel, to monitor the situation.

As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, our decisions have been and will continue to be based on scientific evidence and public health assessments.

Events businesses can continue to make use of the broader support package available to them. This includes the Bounce Back Loans scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Meetings of up to 30 can still take place in permitted venues, as per the Covid-19 Secure guidance for the visitor economy. Since 11 July, a range of outdoor events have been able to take place.

We are aware that the events industry and its supply chain has been severely impacted by Covid-19. Businesses can continue to access the government’s UK wide support package. This includes the Bounce Back Loans scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

As the Chancellor announced on 24 September, we are also offering affected businesses generous terms for the repayment of deferred taxes and government-backed loans, as well as extending the application window of the government-backed loan schemes.

We continue to engage with stakeholders, including through the Visitor Economy Working Group and the Events Industry Senior Leaders Advisory Panel, to monitor the situation facing companies across the UK.

I remain in regular contact with my devolved counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We will continue to work together with the Devolved Administrations to assess how we can most effectively support hospitality and events companies.

It is our intention to secure positive adequacy decisions from the EU to allow personal data to continue to flow freely from the EU/EEA to the UK. We see the EU’s assessment process on data adequacy as technical and confirmatory of the reality that the UK is operating the same regulatory frameworks as the EU, and we consider that it is self-evidently in the interest of both sides to have adequacy decisions in place by the end of the year. No other third country's standards have ever been closer to the EU's.

Adequacy assesses whether UK data protection standards are ‘essentially equivalent’ to the EU’s, not identical.

However, we will take sensible steps to prepare for a situation where decisions are not in place by the end of the transition period. In such a scenario businesses and other organisations would be able to use alternative legal mechanisms to continue to transfer personal data. Guidance is available on the Information Commissioner's Office website.

The UK is a global leader in strong data protection standards and protecting the privacy of individuals will continue to be a priority.

On Thursday 16 July the Court of Justice of the European Union handed down its judgment in the case known as “Schrems II”. The Court invalidated the EU’s “Privacy Shield” adequacy decision and it is therefore no longer a valid basis for the transfer of personal data from the EU and the UK to the US. The UK Government intervened in the case, alongside the Commission, to support the validity of the Privacy Shield and is disappointed in the outcome of the judgment.

During the Transition Period, judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union apply to the UK. After the transition period, the UK will repatriate the powers to conclude its own adequacy decisions, on the basis of future independent UK assessments of other countries’ data protection laws. The UK cannot do such assessments until after the end of the transition period.

We propose to work with US and other stakeholders to support initiatives that reduce the burdens and barriers on organisations transferring personal data, unlocking the value of data within the modern digital economy, while providing trust and confidence that personal data is protected.

On Thursday 16 July the Court of Justice of the European Union handed down its judgment in the case known as “Schrems II”. The Court invalidated the EU’s “Privacy Shield” adequacy decision and it is therefore no longer a valid basis for the transfer of personal data from the EU and the UK to the US. The UK Government intervened in the case, alongside the Commission, to support the validity of the Privacy Shield and is disappointed in the outcome of the judgment.

During the Transition Period, judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union apply to the UK. After the transition period, the UK will repatriate the powers to conclude its own adequacy decisions, on the basis of future independent UK assessments of other countries’ data protection laws. The UK cannot do such assessments until after the end of the transition period.

We propose to work with US and other stakeholders to support initiatives that reduce the burdens and barriers on organisations transferring personal data, unlocking the value of data within the modern digital economy, while providing trust and confidence that personal data is protected.

On Thursday 16 July the Court of Justice of the European Union handed down its judgment in the case known as “Schrems II”. The Court invalidated the EU’s “Privacy Shield” adequacy decision and it is therefore no longer a valid basis for the transfer of personal data from the EU and the UK to the US. The UK Government intervened in the case, alongside the Commission, to support the validity of the Privacy Shield and is disappointed in the outcome of the judgment.

During the Transition Period, judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union apply to the UK. After the transition period, the UK will repatriate the powers to conclude its own adequacy decisions, on the basis of future independent UK assessments of other countries’ data protection laws. The UK cannot do such assessments until after the end of the transition period.

We propose to work with US and other stakeholders to support initiatives that reduce the burdens and barriers on organisations transferring personal data, unlocking the value of data within the modern digital economy, while providing trust and confidence that personal data is protected.

It is vitally important that the public has access to credible and verified information about COVID-19. As part of our counter disinformation campaign, “Don’t Feed the Beast”, we are increasing audience resilience by educating and empowering users who see or inadvertently share false and misleading information. The campaign promotes the SHARE checklist, providing the public with five easy steps to identify false information and actions to consider prior to sharing content online. It is currently running on Facebook and Instagram. Alongside publicly promoting the campaign, we continue to raise awareness of Don’t Feed the Beast with wider stakeholders, including social media platforms, civil society and academia.

The campaign was previously targeted at 18-34 year olds, as this audience is considered vulnerable to disinformation. In March 2020 the campaign was relaunched to tackle misinformation and disinformation related to the coronavirus pandemic. It now targets all UK adults.

I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to his question number 48542 on 2 June, which captures the wider actions we have taken to counter misinformation and disinformation related to COVID-19. This includes working closely with social media platforms to help them identify and remove incorrect claims about the virus, as well as promoting authoritative sources of information.

The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. It is vitally important, at this time of national emergency, that the public has accurate information and DCMS is leading work across Government to tackle disinformation. The Government has seen positive steps taken by social media platforms to curtail the spread of harmful and misleading narratives related to COVID-19. We are working closely with platforms to help them identify and remove dangerous and incorrect claims about the virus, in line with their terms and conditions, as well as promote authoritative sources of information.

To help drive awareness of the Government’s national campaign to provide information and reassurance to the public about COVID-19, we have created new and innovative partnerships to drive awareness, engagement and compliance. This includes a significant public information campaign across the local and national press which is providing information and reassurance to the public and is ensuring that authoritative, up-to-date information about the Government’s response to Covid-19 is distributed through reliable channels. The government does not intervene in what the press can and cannot publish. Newspapers are subject to independent self-regulation.

The Government is running a counter disinformation campaign, “Don’t feed the Beast” which aims to increase audience resilience by educating and empowering those who see, inadvertently share and are affected by false and misleading information. The campaign promotes the SHARE checklist, providing the public with five easy steps to identify false content, encouraging users to stop and think before they share content online.

The government has no evidence of a causative link between in-games purchases and problem gambling, and we have no evidence that this has changed during the covid-19 outbreak. However, we continue to monitor the situation closely.

The government takes concerns around gambling-like behaviour in video games very seriously. We have committed to a review of the Gambling Act, with a particular focus on tackling issues around loot boxes. Further details will be set out in the government response to the DCMS Select Committee’s report on Immersive and Addictive Technologies which will be published shortly.

We also continue to work with industry and the age ratings bodies to encourage the use of parental controls that can disable or limit spending on devices, and welcomed the launch in January 2020 of the games industry’s Get Smart About P.L.A.Y. campaign encouraging parents to use parental controls and take an active role in their children’s gaming. We also welcome PEGI’s decision to introduce a new ‘paid random items’ content label.

The government response setting out further details and our planned next steps across a range of areas will be published shortly.

Gambling advertising is subject to strict controls set out in the advertising codes of practice issued by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) and the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP). Rules on content mean that these adverts must never seek to exploit or appeal to children or vulnerable people, and rules on placement mean that they must never be targeted at these groups. Both the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) – as the independent advertising regulator – and the Gambling Commission can take action where gambling advertising is found to be in breach of these rules.

The Advertising Standards Authority received 82 complaints about gambling advertising in March this year, and a further 97 complaints between 1 and 28 April. This is compared to 79 complaints received in January, and 71 received in February. Of the 179 complaints received between 1 March and 28 April, 109 related to TV advertising, 8 to radio advertising and the rest to online and non-broadcast media. The ASA does not record what proportion of these adverts were promoting online gambling sites. It did not find any of the adverts complained about to be in breach of the codes for gambling advertising but did take enforcement action where a gambling advert was found to be misleading and therefore in breach of the wider advertising codes.

Between 23 March and 28 April, the Gambling Commission identified a total of 11 online adverts for online gambling products that were in breach of the rules on advertising that relate to the protection of vulnerable adults. Gambling Commission intervention with the operators involved ensured that these adverts were removed or altered. During that period it did not find any adverts to be in breach of rules requiring adverts not to be targeted at children or of particular appeal to them.

The government, Gambling Commission and the ASA do not hold information about the volume of broadcast advertising promoting online gambling. The Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage has written to operators to urge them to increase the prominence of safer gambling messaging adverts across all channels during the current period. In addition, the ASA has warned operators that they must continue to abide by existing rules and must not look to exploit the current situation. Industry group the Betting and Gaming Council announced on 27 April that in response to public concern its members would replace adverts for online slot, casino and bingo products on TV and radio with safer gambling adverts, or donate the slots to charity, for an initial period of six weeks.

The government, Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), and Gambling Commission do not hold data on the frequency at which targeted advertising is shown to or seen by social media users. The nature of targeted advertising makes it difficult to generate accurate figures as the number of targeted gambling advertisements varies considerably between users.

Targeted gambling advertising on social media platforms, like all forms of gambling advertising, is subject to strict controls. Rules on content mean that these adverts must never seek to exploit or appeal to children or vulnerable people, and rules on placement mean that they must never be targeted at these groups. In October 2019 the Gambling Commission issued a challenge to industry to make better use of advertising technology to target away from vulnerable people. Following this, it was announced in April that industry has committed to make better and more consistent use of customer data to ensure paid-for advertising is targeted away from vulnerable people on social media platforms.

The government is aware of concerns that the anxiety and isolation experienced as a result of measures in place to curb the spread of covid 19 may increase the risk of gambling-related harms for some people. In recognition of this, the Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage has written to operators to urge them to increase the prominence of safer gambling messaging in all adverts during the current period, including online. In addition, the ASA has written to operators warning them that they must continue to abide by existing rules and must not look to exploit the current situation.

Gambling advertising is subject to strict controls set out in the advertising codes of practice issued by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) and the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP). Rules on content mean that these adverts must never seek to exploit or appeal to children or vulnerable people, and rules on placement mean that they must never be targeted at these groups. Both the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) – as the independent advertising regulator – and the Gambling Commission can take action where gambling advertising is found to be in breach of these rules.

The Advertising Standards Authority received 82 complaints about gambling advertising in March this year, and a further 97 complaints between 1 and 28 April. This is compared to 79 complaints received in January, and 71 received in February. Of the 179 complaints received between 1 March and 28 April, 109 related to TV advertising, 8 to radio advertising and the rest to online and non-broadcast media. The ASA does not record what proportion of these adverts were promoting online gambling sites. It did not find any of the adverts complained about to be in breach of the codes for gambling advertising but did take enforcement action where a gambling advert was found to be misleading and therefore in breach of the wider advertising codes.

Between 23 March and 28 April, the Gambling Commission identified a total of 11 online adverts for online gambling products that were in breach of the rules on advertising that relate to the protection of vulnerable adults. Gambling Commission intervention with the operators involved ensured that these adverts were removed or altered. During that period it did not find any adverts to be in breach of rules requiring adverts not to be targeted at children or of particular appeal to them.

The government, Gambling Commission and the ASA do not hold information about the volume of broadcast advertising promoting online gambling. The Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage has written to operators to urge them to increase the prominence of safer gambling messaging adverts across all channels during the current period. In addition, the ASA has warned operators that they must continue to abide by existing rules and must not look to exploit the current situation. Industry group the Betting and Gaming Council announced on 27 April that in response to public concern its members would replace adverts for online slot, casino and bingo products on TV and radio with safer gambling adverts, or donate the slots to charity, for an initial period of six weeks.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ guidance (updated 26 January 2021) regarding the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme states: ‘Organisations can use the scheme if they are not fully funded by public grants and they should contact their sponsor department or respective administration for further guidance.’

The construction levy is regarded as public funding by Her Majesty’s Treasury. However, the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) also raises other income via commercial activity. Therefore, in some cases, it may be deemed appropriate for the CITB to request specific staff be ‘furloughed’. Any requests are referred to the CITB’s sponsor team in the Department for Education in the first instance.

The Construction Industry Training Board Northern Ireland is a matter for the Department for Economy (Northern Ireland).

From 1 August to 31 December 2020, the Department for Education spent £7.46 million on paid-for communications and campaigns activity, including spend on creative, production, agency fees and paid-for media. Of this, a total of £5.37 million was spent specifically on advertising media buying. It is not possible to break down spend separately by a) communications or c) marketing as these definitions include several areas of overlapping activity. These figures are for spend in England only. The Department does not spend any money on communications, advertising or marketing activity in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Broken down monthly, the spend was:

This activity includes vital work to recruit 30,000 teachers a year and drive the uptake of the new T Level qualification. All our paid-for campaigns are approved and regularly assessed by the Cabinet Office to ensure effectiveness.

In deciding to launch the Turing scheme as an alternative to Erasmus+, the Government carefully considered the benefits of Erasmus+ and a domestic alternative scheme including cost and our ambitions for a global scheme that supports social mobility. On cost, Erasmus+ participation would have entailed a net cost in the region of £2 billion more than we received from the programme in funding over the seven-year period and an annual gross contribution of £600 million. As such we do not consider Erasmus+ participation to be value-for-money and in the interests of the UK taxpayer.

The design of the Turing scheme will be driven by our ambition for a truly global UK-wide scheme that promotes social mobility and provides excellent value for money for the taxpayer. These principles underpin the decision-making on the design of the scheme, including the decision not to fund inward mobility.

The Government has carefully considered whether to fund inward mobility as part of the scheme design, including through discussions with the sector, and is confident that students will continue to want to study in the UK. The UK is a world-leading destination for study and research, with four universities in the world’s top 10 and 18 in the top 100. The UK is currently second only to the USA as a destination for international HE students with approximately 486,000 students from abroad and has been one of the most popular destinations within Erasmus+.

It is clear that we have considerable appeal as a destination and partner in international mobilities and exchanges. We will harness this to deliver an international education exchange programme that has a genuinely global reach, establishing new relationships with academic institutions across Europe and the rest of the world.

In terms of direct income to higher education providers, we expect tuition fees to be waived for Turing scheme participants consistent with the arrangements for Erasmus+.

More generally, the International Education Strategy update, will respond to the COVID-19 context, challenges, and opportunities setting out how the Government will support the whole of the UK’s education sector in the recovery of its international activity in pursuit of the original IES ambitions to increase the value of our education exports to £35 billion per year, and to increase the number of international higher education students hosted in the UK to 600,000 per year, both by 2030.​

In deciding to launch the Turing scheme as an alternative to Erasmus+, the Government carefully considered the benefits of Erasmus+ and a domestic alternative scheme including cost and our ambitions for a global scheme that supports social mobility. On cost, Erasmus+ participation would have entailed a net cost in the region of £2 billion more than we received from the programme in funding over the seven-year period and an annual gross contribution of £600 million. As such we do not consider Erasmus+ participation to be value-for-money and in the interests of the UK taxpayer.

The design of the Turing scheme will be driven by our ambition for a truly global UK-wide scheme that promotes social mobility and provides excellent value for money for the taxpayer. These principles underpin the decision-making on the design of the scheme, including the decision not to fund inward mobility.

The Government has carefully considered whether to fund inward mobility as part of the scheme design, including through discussions with the sector, and is confident that students will continue to want to study in the UK. The UK is a world-leading destination for study and research, with four universities in the world’s top 10 and 18 in the top 100. The UK is currently second only to the USA as a destination for international HE students with approximately 486,000 students from abroad and has been one of the most popular destinations within Erasmus+.

It is clear that we have considerable appeal as a destination and partner in international mobilities and exchanges. We will harness this to deliver an international education exchange programme that has a genuinely global reach, establishing new relationships with academic institutions across Europe and the rest of the world.

In terms of direct income to higher education providers, we expect tuition fees to be waived for Turing scheme participants consistent with the arrangements for Erasmus+.

More generally, the International Education Strategy update, will respond to the COVID-19 context, challenges, and opportunities setting out how the Government will support the whole of the UK’s education sector in the recovery of its international activity in pursuit of the original IES ambitions to increase the value of our education exports to £35 billion per year, and to increase the number of international higher education students hosted in the UK to 600,000 per year, both by 2030.​

The government recognises that the COVID-19 outbreak is bringing significant financial challenges to the higher education (HE) sector and we have been working closely with the sector in England to monitor the likely impacts. Financial sustainability of providers in the devolved administrations is the responsibility of the relevant devolved government.

On 4 May 2020, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced a package of measures to ensure sustainability in HE at a time of unprecedented uncertainty.

We are pulling forward tuition fee payments, expected to be worth £2.6 billion, for providers so that they receive more cash in the first term of the 2020/21 academic year. This will have no impact on students but will allow providers to better manage financial risks over the autumn. This will be available to all providers across the UK. In reprofiling these payments, we are clear in our expectation that providers should use the cashflow benefits appropriately, taking significant steps to improve efficiencies and manage their finances in order to avoid cashflow problems in the future. Reprofiling in this way is a one-off intervention for the autumn term only, to help providers take all necessary steps now to prepare for the future.

In England, we will also be bringing forward £100 million of quality-related research funding for providers to the current academic year to help to address some of the immediate pressures faced by university research activities.

The department will consider purchasing land and buildings where they can be used for new or expanding schools and colleges in England. This will take place as part of existing programmes and using established procedures. This financial year (across purchases from all suitable vendors, including but not limited to HE providers), we have budgeted up to £100 million to acquire sites for planned projects in England. Details are available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-support-package-for-universities-and-students.

The government has also confirmed that HE providers in England are eligible to apply for its support packages, including business loan support schemes, which the Office for Students (OfS) the regulator in England, estimates could be worth at least £700m to the sector.

We will only intervene further where we believe there is a case to do so and where we believe intervention is possible and appropriate and as a last resort.

In such instances, we will work with providers to review their circumstances and assess the need for restructuring and any attached conditions. The department will be working with HM Treasury and other government departments to develop this restructuring regime, and with the devolved administrations.

The Cabinet Office publishes expenditure on COVID-19 and other national campaigns on a rolling monthly basis on GOV.UK as part of routine government transparency arrangements.

Most sanitary products and many toilet products are not flushable. If disposed of by being flushed down a toilet, they can cause sewer blockages and harm to the environment. The water industry has conducted research into blockages, which suggests baby wipes are one of the main items causing them.

In November 2016, a Defra Ministerial roundtable meeting with the water industry and the wipe manufacturers’ representative body was held to address sewer blockages. It resulted in improved industry labelling to indicate more clearly those wipe products, particularly baby wipes, that should not be flushed.

Since then the water industry has also devised a new ‘fine to flush’ standard for wipe products, covering largely moist toilet tissue. If products pass strict industry standards, manufacturers of wipes can feature an official water industry ‘Fine to Flush’ symbol on their packaging. This symbol is starting to be seen on an increasing number of products.

This standard requires that these products do not contain plastic and break up upon entering a sewer, therefore entering the sewage system without causing blockages or harming the environment.

After the transition period we will establish our own independent chemical regime. Although both the UK and EU will operate REACH frameworks, the two systems will not be linked in any way. This means that companies wishing to retain access to the UK market will be required to notify and submit registration data to the Health and Safety Executive within given submission deadlines to confirm the registrations and ensure compliance with UK REACH.

The data that supports each substance’s registration in EU REACH is not owned by individual companies or the European Chemicals Agency, but by a commercial consortium of companies. Although there will be some UK companies that already own that data, others will need to negotiate access to fulfil the UK requirements.

That is why, in our published approach to negotiations, the Government has set out that to enable businesses to meet the separate requirements of the two markets, the UK and EU could, as part of a Chemicals Annex, agree data and information sharing mechanisms. We continue to pursue a negotiated deal on data sharing with the EU which we believe could mitigate the need for industry to provide full data packages and offer benefits to both UK and EU businesses. We believe that our proposal for a Chemicals Annex would be in the interests of UK and EU business.

We have also sought to minimise both the cost and burden to businesses through measures such as the grace period provisions relating to ‘Grandfathering’ and ‘Downstream User Import Notifications’ to minimise the disruption to industry. The aim of the transitional provisions we have put in place is to strike a balance which provides for a database to underpin robust, evidence-based regulation while placing achievable duties on business.

We said we would keep those provisions under review and have listened to concerns raised by a broad range of stakeholders about the current timelines for supplying data to the UK regulator. Therefore, we have recently announced our intention to extend the existing registration deadlines set in legislation (subject to parliamentary and devolved administration scrutiny). This will allow industry more time to reach agreement with commercial partners to access the registration data that they need and therefore reduce the risks of disruption to supply chains.

Information on these new deadlines can be found on the GOV.UK website at: www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-comply-with-reach-chemical-regulations.

The preparations the Government made for the possibility of a no deal exit mean that we are well placed to be ready with our own independent regulatory regime for 1 January 2021. Our focus is now to build on what we have delivered already, taking the opportunity to develop and refine the systems and processes we are putting in place in preparation for UK REACH coming into force. This includes the Comply with UK REACH IT system for registrations that we have built, which will replicate key functions of the European Chemicals Agency’s REACH registration database to provide continuity for UK business.

The Government is increasing resource in the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency and Defra to enable delivery of UK REACH. Once we have staffed up to full operating capability, we expect to spend about £13 million per year on the UK’s new REACH regulatory system. This figure covers the costs of operation and maintenance of the REACH IT system and staff resource in the three organisations, for example to ensure technical specialist input into risk and socio-economic assessment of chemicals for the UK.

There are EU sanctions against Belarus already, including an arms embargo and a ban on the export of equipment that might be used for internal repression. Britain cannot issue export licences for items prohibited by these sanctions.

More generally, information about export licences issued, granted and refused is publicly available at: gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.

The review contains confidential and sensitive information so, for national security reasons, HM Government has no plans to publish it.

The right to regulate is recognised in international law. Further, investment protection and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions do not affect HM Government’s ability to regulate in the public interest.

ISDS tribunals cannot overrule the sovereignty of Parliament, overturn or force any changes to law. Indeed, they can only award compensation if a foreign investor’s rights under the treaty have been breached – for example, if the investor is found to have been treated in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner – though there has never been a successful ISDS claim against the United Kingdom.

HM Government is able to review licences – and suspend or revoke as necessary – when circumstances require, and this is done in line with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria.

Specifically, Criterion 2c makes sure that we do not grant licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

My Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade set out in her Written Ministerial Statement of 7th July how she has fully considered Criterion 2c in relation to the re-taking of the licensing decisions, in accordance with the Court of Appeal’s judgment.

HM Government have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang, with credible reports of the use of forced labour. It has always been the case that, where we have concerns, we raise them, as we did on this issue at the UN Human Rights Council in March. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.

HM Government is committed to eliminating modern slavery. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 made Britain the first country in the world to require businesses to report on how they are tackling modern slavery, including forced labour, in their operations and supply chains. Section 54 of the Act was designed to empower consumers, investors, civil society and others to scrutinise the action that businesses are taking to identify and address modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.

The precise details of any future Free Trade Agreement (FTAs) are a matter for formal negotiations, and HM Government would not seek to pre-empt these discussions.

The United Kingdom has investment agreements with Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions with over 90 trading partners. HM Government recognises the importance of strengthening international investment in response to COVID-19, and the continuingly important role played by both investment protection and ISDS provisions in safeguarding British investors overseas, including pensioners across the country through their pension funds and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Where ISDS is included in future agreements, we will seek to ensure fair outcomes of claims and high ethical standards for arbitrators. We are clear that HM Government and our treaty partners retain the right to regulate in the public interest, including for public health purposes, and this is already recognised under international law. There has never been a successful ISDS claim against the United Kingdom, nor has the threat of potential claims affected our legislation.

The precise details of any future Free Trade Agreement (FTAs) are a matter for formal negotiations, and HM Government would not seek to pre-empt these discussions.

The United Kingdom has investment agreements with Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions with over 90 trading partners. HM Government recognises the importance of strengthening international investment in response to COVID-19, and the continuingly important role played by both investment protection and ISDS provisions in safeguarding British investors overseas, including pensioners across the country through their pension funds and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Where ISDS is included in future agreements, we will seek to ensure fair outcomes of claims and high ethical standards for arbitrators. We are clear that HM Government and our treaty partners retain the right to regulate in the public interest, including for public health purposes, and this is already recognised under international law. There has never been a successful ISDS claim against the United Kingdom, nor has the threat of potential claims affected our legislation.

I have been sorry to see the unrest on the streets of Santiago and I can assure the Hon. Gentleman that all export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria (the ‘Consolidated Criteria’).

In reaching a decision, the Department for International Trade (DIT) receives advice from a number of Departments including the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). Together, we draw on all available information, including reports from Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and our diplomatic missions. The Consolidated Criteria provides a thorough risk assessment framework and requires us to think hard about the impact of exporting any items.

Assessments under Criterion 2 in particular, include the respect of rights and freedoms in the country of final destination. A licence will not be issued if, to do so, would be inconsistent with the Consolidated Criteria, including where there is a clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression.

We continue to monitor global developments closely and are able to review licences – and suspend or revoke as necessary – when circumstances require, in line with the Consolidated Criteria.

Representatives of the Republic of Chile were invited to the Home Office Security and Policing 2020 event, at Farnborough in March 2020, by the Department for International Trade’s Defence and Security Organisation. They did not attend.

The Government has no plans to allow drivers with a Category D licence for buses and coaches to drive large goods vehicles without obtaining a Category C licence. While these vehicles are similar in size, it is important to recognise that they are very different in their weight and their manoeuvrability.

Ensuring drivers have the right licence, and skills, needed to drive different types of vehicles is key to maintaining road safety.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) launched the new theory test booking service on 19 July 2021.

To allow the prompt deployment of critical fixes, the DVSA introduced a maintenance window of 8pm to 8am running until 29 July 2021 to resolve issues faced by customers and to improve system stability. Whilst the system performed below expectations on its first two days of operation it stabilised quickly and has performed in line with expectations since.

To ensure technical issues are resolved quickly and effectively mitigated, further overnight maintenance is being carried out during August and may continue during September. To minimise disruption to customers, the service will be unavailable overnight only when absolutely necessary with customers notified in advance.

The DVSA uses a queuing system to protect the new service from being overloaded. As at 23 July 2021, no customers using the booking system had to queue.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) launched the new theory test booking service on 19 July 2021.

To allow the prompt deployment of critical fixes, the DVSA introduced a maintenance window of 8pm to 8am running until 29 July 2021 to resolve issues faced by customers and to improve system stability. Whilst the system performed below expectations on its first two days of operation it stabilised quickly and has performed in line with expectations since.

To ensure technical issues are resolved quickly and effectively mitigated, further overnight maintenance is being carried out during August and may continue during September. To minimise disruption to customers, the service will be unavailable overnight only when absolutely necessary with customers notified in advance.

The DVSA uses a queuing system to protect the new service from being overloaded. As at 23 July 2021, no customers using the booking system had to queue.

Please see below estimates of spend by month and territory for the Department for Transport, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. There is no recorded spend for the Vehicle Certification Agency or for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency during this period.

Department for Transport

England Only

England and Wales Only

UK – England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency

UK – England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

England, Wales and Scotland only

UK – England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

To note:

• Not all costs for activity in the period stated have been processed yet.
• Where possible advertising costs have been split out. Additional detail can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The Pedal Bicycles (Safety) Regulations 2010 protects consumers by regulating the supply of bicycles. It requires a retro reflector or lamp to be fitted to the front, and a retro reflector to the rear.

All lamps fitted to bicycles are also covered by the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989, and the Road Traffic Act 1988 makes it an offence to fit a part which would contravene those regulations.

Enforcement of consumer protection requirements for products being placed on the market is generally the responsibility of local authority trading standards officers and enforcement of road traffic law for cyclists is a matter for the Police.

The lighting of road vehicles, including bicycles, is regulated by the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 (as amended). To control light output bicycle lamps emitting a steady light must comply with British Standard 6102: Part 3 or an equivalent European standard. The standard includes maximum and minimum luminous intensity requirements, and defines the beam pattern to ensure the road surface is adequately lit whilst minimising glare to other road users. Flashing lamps may also be used provided they comply with the mandatory minimum luminous intensity requirement.

It is an offence to dazzle other road users with bicycle lamps. There are no current plans to change these provisions.

The letter copied to the Secretary of State has been received. However due to the high number of correspondence the Department has received we have been unable to respond. However, I would like to assure the honourable member for Midlothian, that a response will be sent shortly.

The Department for Transport is in regular contact with the travel industry regarding the challenges facing the sector as a result of COVID-19. The sector is crucial to the UK’s economy and businesses across the industry are able to draw on the unprecedented package of economic measures we have put in place during this time.

This includes a Bank of England scheme for firms to raise capital, two business interruption loan guarantee schemes for different sizes of business, Time to Pay flexibilities with tax bills, financial support for employees and VAT deferrals.

In 2018, the Department for Transport published the outputs of the Transport Energy Model. The model provides a clear assessment of the relative environmental impacts of a range of fuel and powertrain options for road vehicles over the period to 2050, including hydrogen fuel cell heavy goods vehicles. Transport Ministers and officials regularly meet with sector representatives on a range of issues, including the use of hydrogen in the freight industry. During July and August officials engaged with over 700 key stakeholders to support the development of our Transport Decarbonisation Plan which will be published later this year and set out options and support for green hydrogen across road, rail, maritime and aviation.

The Government shared the list of the countries it intended to exempt from the requirement for passengers to self-isolate with the Devolved Administrations at regular intervals as the policy developed. An updated country list was shared with the Devolved Administrations on 3 July, ahead of the public announcement.

The Government will keep the conditions in these countries and territories under review. If they worsen we will not hesitate to reintroduce self-isolation requirements. The Government will continue to work closely alongside the Devolved Administrations on this policy.

UK citizens returning to the UK will not face mandatory testing for COVID-19. All passengers flying into the UK are provided with the latest public health advice at various stages in their journey and we expect them to follow the latest guidance, including around social distancing and the wearing of face coverings.

In relation to UK citizens leaving the UK, it is the responsibility for all countries to set their own entry and public health requirements. Each country will have its own approach depending on their individual circumstances.

These measures will be subject to regular review and we will continue to explore further measures at airports in line with the latest scientific evidence and data.

The Government expects other countries to follow best practice in relation to aviation guidance and Covid-19, such as our own UK guidance or ICAO and EASA guidance.

Provisional driving entitlement is usually valid until a driver reaches the age of 70 and the photocard must be renewed every ten years. There are no plans to extend these dates.

Customers can renew their photocard licence online or by post. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online services have continued to operate as normal throughout the pandemic. However, paper applications are taking longer to process as they must be dealt with in person and the DVLA currently has a reduced number of staff on-site to comply with social distancing requirements and ensure staff safety.

Applications for provisional driving licences can be made online at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-first-provisional-driving-licence. Customers can also make postal applications for a provisional driving licence. However, paper applications are likely to take significantly longer to process in the current circumstances.

The Chancellor announced a temporary six-month extension to Universal Credit uplift at the Budget on 3 March to support households affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. Universal Credit has provided a vital safety net for six million people during the pandemic, and the temporary uplift was part of a COVID support package worth a total of £407 billion in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Separately to the Universal Credit Uplift, the Secretary of State completes an annual review of most benefit rates for people below State Pension age to determine whether they have retained their value in relation to the general level of prices. Where prices have increased relative to the value of those benefits, the Secretary of State will increase certain disability and carers’ benefits – such as Personal Independence Payments and Carer’s Allowance – at least in line with that increase. She may also decide to increase other benefits, such as the Universal Credit Standard Allowance. That decision is discretionary, but it is conventional that these rates are also increased in line with the increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index. The up-rating review is conducted in the Autumn of each year, with the outcome announced in November and the new rates implemented the following April.

This Government is wholly committed to tackling poverty. Throughout the pandemic, our priority has been to support the most vulnerable including through spending an additional £7.4 billion to strengthen the welfare system, taking our total expenditure on welfare support for people of working age to an estimated £111 billion in 2020/21.

We are spending over £57 billion during 2021/22 on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions, including but not limited to new style Employment and Support Allowance, Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment. Benefits to meet the additional costs of disability were excluded from the benefit freeze which was in place from 2016 to 2020 and during that period were uprated in line with prices.

There is clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. The Government recognises the important economic contribution of disabled people in the labour market and in 2017 we set a goal to see one million more disabled people in work by 2027. DWP delivers a range of programmes to support disabled people, to stay in or move into work. These include the Work and Health Programme, Intensive Personalised Employment Support, Access to Work, Disability Confident and initiatives in partnership with the health system, including Employment Advice in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services and Individual Placement and Support.

The Cabinet Office publishes expenditure on COVID-19 and other national campaigns on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements.

This government has a strong safety net that helps people who are facing hardship and are unable to support themselves financially and we have taken steps to strengthen that safety net as part of the government’s response to the pandemic.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) provides a minimum level of income for employees when they are sick or incapable of work. For those who are sick, self-isolating or shielding due to coronavirus, SSP is now payable from the first day of work missed, rather than the fourth. Some employers may also decide to pay more, and for longer, through Occupational Sick Pay.

SSP is just one part of our welfare safety net and our wider government offer to support people in times of need. Where an individual’s income is reduced while off work sick and they require further financial support, for example where they are not eligible for SSP, they may be able to claim Universal Credit and new style Employment and Support Allowance, depending on their personal circumstances.

Working people on low incomes who are required to remain at home by NHS Test and Trace to help stop the spread of the virus and cannot work from home could be eligible for a £500 payment to financially support them while self-isolating.

Background

• Individuals are eligible for SSP, from day one – rather than day 4, where they are unable to work because they are:

o Sick, displaying symptoms or have tested positive for coronavirus

o self-isolating because they, or someone in their household (including an extended or linked household), is displaying symptoms or has tested positive for coronavirus

o self-isolating because they have been notified by the NHS or public health authority that they have come into contact with someone who has coronavirus.

o Self-isolating because they have been advised to do so by their doctor or health clinician before being admitted to hospital for planned or elective surgery

o shielding because they live or work in an area where shielding is reintroduced and they have been advised to do so by their doctor or health authority

Other SSP eligibility criteria will apply.

The £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit was announced by the Chancellor as a temporary measure in March 2020 to support those facing the most financial disruption as a result of the public health emergency. This measure remains in place until April 2021. As the Government has done throughout this pandemic, it will continue to assess how best to support low-income families, which is why we will look at the economic and health context before making any decisions.

(a) Employers are required to carry out risk assessments for all pregnant workers and protect them from harm. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website has guidance on managing the risks of COVID-19 and specific information on protecting vulnerable workers, which includes the health and safety responsibilities for pregnant workers.

(b) Employers have a legal duty to act in accordance with the results of their risk assessment for pregnant workers. Where employers are not doing so, workers can contact the HSE to raise their concerns which will be followed up.

These easement regulations are due to expire on 12/11/20. We are monitoring the situation and carefully considering next steps. Universal credit claimants will be informed before the Minimum Income Floor is reinstated.

The government announced an unprecedented package of measures to protect millions of people’s jobs and incomes, including the temporary relaxation of the Minimum Income Floor (MIF) for all self-employed UC claimants affected by the COVID-19, for the duration of the outbreak.

This means a drop in earnings due to sickness or self-isolation or as a result of the economic impact of the outbreak is reflected in claimants’ awards. It ensures that the self-employed are supported by the benefit system so that they can follow Public Health England guidance on social distancing and self-isolation.

The Office for Budget Responsibility will be publishing its assessment of this in due course as part of its Autumn forecast.

From 6 April 2020 we temporarily removed the application of the Minimum Income Floor (MIF) for all self-employed Universal Credit claimants. This ensures that the self-employed are supported by the benefit system so that they can follow Public Health England guidance on social distancing and self-isolation. In addition to the temporary removal of the MIF we have also delayed the Gainful Self-Employment Test, and dis-applied work search and work availability conditionality requirements. This means self-employed Universal Credit claimants can follow public health England guidance, and the Universal Credit award will be assessed on any actual earnings.

The adjustment to self-employment policy is a part of a wider government package to support those on low incomes through the outbreak. Taken together, these measures provide over £9.3bn of additional support through the welfare system for people affected by COVID-19. Further information about UC and self-employment can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/self-employment-and-universal-credit

Some small business owners may also receive a grant through the Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund, as well as various business loan schemes. There is a lot of ongoing support that can be accessed, including the Bounce Back Loan Scheme for small businesses, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the deferral of tax payments.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

No such estimate has been made as Statutory Maternity Pay is paid by an employer and is considered to be earned income, which can be taxed, and is therefore a form of earnings subject to Universal Credit’s Work Allowance (where a claimant is eligible) and tapering, in the same way as other earned income.

Maternity Allowance is paid by the Department to people who are not eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay but who do meet the eligibility criteria for the allowance. The rate varies according to the criteria fulfilled which principally covers employed people who have worked less than the time before they become eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay, self-employed people and people out of work.

It is a longstanding principle of the welfare system that benefits are not paid to claimants with income available from other sources to support themselves. Unearned income, which is provided to meet everyday living costs, is taken into account in the calculation of Universal Credit and benefit entitlement may be adjusted accordingly.

HSE does not record specific regulations against all investigations, including the investigation of concerns raised by workers and others, except when formal enforcement action in the form of prosecutions and notices is taken. Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health of Work Regulations 1999 places a duty on employers to assess the risks to their employees including women of child bearing age and new or expectant mothers. From 16th March 2020 to 24th September 2020 no formal enforcement action has yet been recorded against employers for failing to meet the requirements of Regulation 3(1) in relation to women of child bearing age or new or expectant mothers. Similarly, where other forms of action including letters and Notification of Contravention letters are taken details are not specifically recorded on HSE’s database.

Companies looking to recruit fewer than 30 Kickstart applicants are free to create their own consortiums or can find out who their local intermediaries are by speaking to their local jobcentre or by getting in touch with the employer team in their area. Guidance is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-can-apply-for-a-grant-as-a-representative-of-a-group-of-employers-through-the-kickstart-scheme

This guidance will continue to be updated as the Kickstart Scheme evolves, setting out how an employer or organisation can take advantage of the scheme.

Companies looking to offer roles to fewer than 30 Kickstart applicants are able to benefit from Kickstart by bidding for placements via an intermediary organisation. Intermediaries can gather employers keen to offer Kickstart jobs to make a collective bid of 30 or more vacancies. Smaller employers will have support from the intermediary to create quality roles and additional support so that young people get the most out of their placement, including training, this also reduces the administrative burden falling on the small employer. The department has received significant interest from a wide range of bodies including local authorities, charities and trade/industry bodies looking to become intermediaries.

The Department for Work and Pensions have no plans to make an assessment.

There are currently no plans to change the benefit cap. The Benefit Cap restores fairness between those receiving out-of-work benefits and taxpayers.

There are currently no plans to change the benefit cap. The Benefit Cap restores fairness between those receiving out-of-work benefits and taxpayers.

Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income Support were increased by 1.7% in April 2020following the Government’s announcement to end the benefit freeze. .

It has always been the case that claimants on legacy benefits can make a claim for UC if they believe that they will be better off. There are special arrangements for those in receipt of the Severe Disability Premium, who will be able to make a new claim to Universal Credit from January 2021.

Claimants should check their eligibility before applying to Universal Credit as legacy benefits will end when they submit their claim and they will not be able to return to them in the future. For this reason, prospective claimants are signposted to independent benefits calculators on GOV.UK. Neither DWP nor HMRC can advise individual claimants whether they would be better off moving to UC or remaining on legacy benefits.

From 22 July 2020, a two-week run on of Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance (IR) and Jobseeker’s Allowance (IB) will be available for all claimants whose claim to UC ends entitlement to these benefits to provide additional support for claimants moving to UC.

There are no plans to relax means testing for Universal Credit.

The amount of Universal Credit paid to claimants reflects, as closely as possible, the actual circumstances of a household during each monthly assessment period. Monthly assessment periods align to the way the majority of employees are paid and allows Universal Credit to be adjusted each month. This means that if a claimant’s income falls, they will not not have to wait several months for a rise in the Universal Credit. Equally, as people’s pay increases, their Universal Credit payments reduce gradually, and the taper rate ensures that people are always better off in a job.

Yes - Where a claimant has capital over £16,000 we will contact them to understand their circumstances and determine eligibility. If this money is to be used for business or tax purposes, it will not be counted towards their capital, but they may be asked to prove that the money is for these purposes.

DWP cannot provide a preliminary indication of entitlement because this cannot be calculated until the end of the first Universal Credit Assessment Period.

The Department has published information on the Government website for prospective claimants, including signposts to independent benefit calculators.

The Universal Credit Assessment period and payment structure are fundamental parts of the Universal Credit design. The assessment period runs for a full calendar month from the date of entitlement, and the subsequent Universal Credit pay date will be within seven calendar days after the end of the initial assessment period. It is not possible to award a Universal Credit payment as soon as a claim is made, as the assessment period must run its course before the award of Universal Credit can be calculated. This monthly calculation has been hard-wired throughout the system, and cannot now be changed without significant re-build. At present, all resources are rightly focused on processing new claims.

New Claim Advances are available urgently if a claimant needs support during their first assessment period, and budgeting support is available for anyone who needs extra help.

A condition of entitlement for Universal Credit is that the claimant must not be in education, which excludes most students. Financial support for students comes from the system of educational loans, grants and bursaries designed for their needs. To safeguard fairness Universal Credit does not duplicate the support provided by the student support system. Exceptions are made where students have additional needs that are not met through the student support system.

Students will continue to receive scheduled payments of loans towards their living costs for the remainder of the 2019/20 academic year, which covers the summer period.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Our priority as a Department is ensuring people get their benefit payments and that we can continue to support those who need us the most. On 23 March we announced that we are automatically extending all awards and reassessments for health and disability benefits. This temporary measure is being taken to ensure the Department’s resources are focused on enabling access to financial support for new claimants and reassure claimants about continuity of their benefit during the coronavirus outbreak. We therefore, have around 100 people, dealing with the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessments for those claimants that had started the DLA to PIP process prior to 23 March.

Effective from 24 March, a decision was taken to suspend all review and reassessment activity unless an individual reports a change in their needs, including existing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claimants who have been invited to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Activity has been suspended on the majority of cases and work is ongoing to suspend activity on any remaining cases identified. Recipients of DLA who have already been invited to claim PIP, and have not yet been invited to an assessment, will continue to be paid their DLA and will be contacted in the future about their PIP claim. Recipients of DLA who have been invited to claim PIP and have already been invited to an assessment, will be required to take part in a telephone assessment where possible as this will help us process their claim.

We are unable to extract data for calls from claimants in Scotland from national data.

As of 24 April 2020 the Department has around 7.5 thousand full time equivalent (FTE) staff taking calls from claimants in Great Britain, this includes contracted supplier resource and DWP colleagues who also case manage claims. For week commencing 20 April 2020 the combined average waiting time for all Universal Credit service options on the national Freephone Universal Credit helpline was 22 minutes and 58 seconds, for the Department’s supplier (Serco) who handle inbound calls for new claims this was under one minute.

People making new claims for Universal Credit in fact no longer need to call the Department as part of the process and we have communicated that widely. Once they have completed their online application we will call them if we need to check any of the information they have given us. We have also introduced new processes to ease pressure on waiting times for identity verification over the phone and other processes.

The Department’s priority is to continue to ensure those who are entitled to benefit receive the support they need at a time when new claims for Universal Credit are at an unprecedented level.

A.

1. i) Claimants may have their claim disallowed if they fail to attend or participate in their telephony assessment, however we are taking a number of steps to ensure that no individuals are unfairly penalised. Claimants who fail to attend or participate in a telephony assessment will therefore be contacted in the first instance to establish the reason and rearrange the appointment where possible. This recognises that there may be situations where, due to circumstances outside their control (e.g. health conditions or disability) claimants may be unable to attend or participate.

1. ii) Healthcare Professionals will continue to make recommendations based on paper-based evidence where possible for those claimants who have already returned their PIP2 and have a scheduled assessment. Where this is not possible a telephony assessment may occur. They will be of a similar structure to that of face-to-face assessments and provide the Healthcare Professionals with an opportunity to gain further evidence from the claimant about how their health condition or disability affects their daily life and mobility needs. DLA to PIP reassessment claimants will not need to return a PIP2 at this time, form unless their needs have changed.

B. Where appropriate, it is possible for an appointee and/or companion to join a telephony assessment even if they are based in different locations.