Paul Girvan

The Prosperity Fund has a non-aid component to help communicate and generate opportunities for UK businesses in both developed and emerging markets. Activities supported include business roadshows and inward investment visits. Examples of this are a showcase event in Brazil that helped UK energy companies secure contracts worth over £50million, and promotional activities in the USA that contributed to a £56million export win.

Maintaining a resilient and secure energy supply for the UK is a key priority for this Government. The Government continues to work with both the energy and telecommunication industries to understand the implications of the move from the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

The Government is committed to protecting customers, especially the most vulnerable. Despite the rising cost of wholesale energy, the price cap still saves 15 million households up to £100 a year. Low income and fuel poor households will continue to be supported with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, which provides eligible households with a £140 discount. Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments will also ensure that the most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes over the colder months.

Additionally, the Government has announced an extra £500 million for local authorities through the new Household Support Fund to help those most in need over winter.

The payment of redundancy claims to employees who were employed in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter for the Northern Ireland Executive. Redundancy claims are processed by the NI Redundancy Payments Service in Belfast under the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.

This Government recognises the economic benefits that securing a UK gigafactory could bring and made this a manifesto commitment. That is why last autumn we announced up to £1 billion of additional funding to develop UK electric vehicle supply chains, and for further electric vehicles research and development.

This builds on the £274 million Government has already invested in the Faraday Battery Challenge through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Faraday is a cutting-edge programme, helping businesses in the UK to lead the world in the design, development, and manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles. The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre is on course to open for business in spring 2020 with the first industry-led projects to scale-up battery technology fully underway by the summer.

The Faraday Institution commissioned a study which showed that by 2040, an estimated eight gigafactories (of 15GWh per year capacity) will be needed in the UK and consequently employment in the automotive industry and battery supply chain could increase to 246,000 jobs.

No such information is held by the Department.

The Government is clear that information about costs and restrictions must be transparent at the point of purchase, and this is set out in legislation. Enforcement bodies such as the Competition and Markets Authority and the Advertising Standards Authority take action where retailers fail to comply.

The aim of Government in relation to postal services is to secure a sustainable, efficient and affordable universal postal service in the UK.  It is a matter for retailers and any private delivery partners they use to determine whether it is within their commercial interests to deliver to a particular location. Parties must be able to cover their costs in delivering to consumers which may be higher or prohibitive in some areas due to varying factors including volume.

The Government has not made any assessment of introducing a mandatory membership group for car hire companies.

There is strong consumer protection legislation in place that protects consumers when dealing with traders, including car hire companies, namely the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. In addition, the Competition and Markets Authority has considered and carried out enforcement action against certain car hire companies for breaches of consumer protection legislation and has produced guidance for businesses and consumers. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-leads-europe-wide-action-on-car-hire.

For further information on their rights, consumers should contact the Citizens Advice consumer service on 03454 04 05 06 (www.citizensadvice.org.uk/). The helpline offers free advice to consumers on their rights and how to take their complaint forward. The helpline will also refer on complaints to the relevant authority for further enforcement action where appropriate.

We will publish a Post Implementation Review of the removal of the Default Retirement Age in due course.

The Post Implementation Review will assess the extent to which the aims of the policy have been met five years from policy implementation. The Review will also cover the extent to which employers utilise an Employer-Justified Retirement Age and the number of age discrimination complaints raised to Acas and Employment Tribunal.

The Government is supporting the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill introduced by the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton. The Bill provides for a new legal minimum period of two weeks’ leave, which will be a day one right, to enable bereaved parents to take time away from work to grieve if that is what they need. The Bill successfully completed its House of Commons stages on 11 May and was introduced to the House of Lords on 14 May.

Parents who lose their child in circumstances such as these would still remain entitled to their full Maternity and Paternity Leave and Pay.

The UK has one of the most generous maternity leave entitlements in the world. We believe it is able to cater for a variety of circumstances, including situations where there are birth complications or post-natal incidents.

Government would expect employers to treat their employees with compassion and flexibility during these difficult times.

The Met Office is a trading fund and provides weather and climate services under contract to a range of government and commercial customers. Revenue from these services in each of the last five years is shown in the following table.

The majority of the Met Office's Government services relate to the Met Office's public task, its role as the UK's National Meteorological Service and its support of the Ministry of Defence and other Government departments in respect of weather and climate related services.

In addition, the Met Office has received grant funding from Government in the last five years, for capital investment in its underpinning infrastructure covering High Performance Computing, volcanic ash monitoring and space weather forecasting.

• The Government recognises that the pandemic presents a significant challenge to the live entertainment industry.

• The £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund will secure the future of the performing arts and live events, protect jobs in the industry and ensure work continues to flow to other parts of the sector, such as freelancers, the self employed and people who work in production services.

• The Cultural Recovery Fund is devolved. Northern Ireland has received £33 million from the Fund under the Barnett formula.

• To complement the funding for organisations made available by Government, Arts Council England have announced £95m of additional support for individuals in England, including freelancers.

• ACE will also be adding £2m into relevant benevolent funds to support those less well supported by the existing programmes, including stage managers and technicians.

• The Chancellor has announced the Winter Economy Plan to protect jobs and support businesses over the coming months, once the existing Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme come to end.

The Tampon Tax Fund is a UK-wide fund. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport works in consultation with the government of the devolved administrations, including the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland, to deliver the Tampon Tax Fund.

The 2020/21 round of the Tampon Tax Fund was launched on 16th March 2020. The Department for Communities in Northern Ireland will be asked to provide additional feedback on how applications looking to deliver projects in Northern Ireland fit within their priorities, as part of a wider assessment process. The Department for Communities in Northern Ireland also holds the grant agreements for Tampon Tax Fund projects that are delivered predominantly in Northern Ireland and will continue to do so for the 2020/21 round of funding.

As set out in the Queen’s Speech, the Online Harms Bill is a key legislative priority for this Government. Last month we published our initial government response to the White Paper consultation and we are working at pace on our legislative proposals, which will be brought forward when Parliamentary time allows.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Fake news' conflates a variety of types of false information. DCMS instead focuses on terms such as 'disinformation' and 'misinformation'.

In our work we have defined disinformation as the deliberate creation and sharing of false and/or manipulated information that is intended to deceive and mislead audiences, either for the purposes of causing harm, or for political, personal or financial gain. 'Misinformation' refers to the inadvertent sharing of false information.

There are strict controls on the content of all gambling advertisements, including broadcast adverts and online. Gambling operators who advertise in the UK must comply with the advertising codes, which aim to ensure gambling advertising does not exploit vulnerable people, or target or appeal particularly to children or young people. TV adverts must be pre-cleared by Clearcast and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) acts on complaints and proactively checks the media to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements. The Gambling Commission also has a range of powers, including issuing fines, if operators break the rules.

The government's Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility Measures, published last May, looked at protections around gambling advertising and concluded it would remain under review. It set out a package of measures to strengthen existing protections further, including tough new guidance from the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) on protecting vulnerable people and children and a multi-million pound safer gambling advertising campaign. This launched in February and is aimed at reducing risky and impulsive gambling. GambleAware has commissioned major new research on the impact of gambling advertising on children, young people and vulnerable groups, which will be published later this year.

The gambling industry also recently announced that it will introduce a whistle-to-whistle ban on adverts during sporting events in response to public concerns. This is expected to come into force this summer. We will monitor this implementation closely.

According to Sport England's most recent Active Lives Survey, around 77,500 people regularly play volleyball.

Sport England will be investing exchequer and lottery funding of almost £1.7m into Volleyball England to support its participation and talent programmes for the five-year period from 2017.

Grassroots sports clubs can achieve status comparable to charitable status through the existing Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) scheme.

If a sports club is eligible, and achieves CASC status it would receive tax relief on income, gains and profits from some activities, Gift Aid repayments on donations and business rates relief. For more information on CASCs, grass-roots sports clubs can visit the Sport England website.

I refer the Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement entitled "Universal Broadband" made on 20th December. Once the broadband USO has been implemented, consumers across the UK will have a legal right to request from a designated provider, who has a legal obligation to supply, a broadband connection of at least 10Mbps, up to a reasonable cost threshold.

Currently over 85% of premises in Northern Ireland have access to superfast broadband and this is expected to increase to 87% by the end of March 2018 as a result of the Government’s Superfast Broadband Programme. The Government has allocated a further £150 million to support ultrafast broadband roll-out as part of the June 2017 funding support package for Northern Ireland. For any premises that do not have access to superfast broadband the government will give everyone in the UK a legal right to request a connection of at least 10Mbps by 2020. The Better Broadband Scheme is also available now to enable all premises to have access to a connection speed of at least 2Mbps today.

As the UK's designated National Anti-Doping Organisation, UK Anti-Doping, an Arm's Length Body of DCMS, works extensively with UK Athletics to prevent doping by its athletes through its education and testing programmes.

The UK Government remains fully committed to combating doping in sport and protecting the integrity of sport.

Citizenship forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4. Within citizenship, pupils in secondary maintained schools in England will be taught the workings of Parliament, voting and elections; the role of police, courts and justice; free press, human rights and international law; and the governments of other countries. Citizenship teaching should equip pupils to explore political and social issues, to debate, and to make reasoned arguments. Economic and financial education within citizenship prepares pupils to manage their money well and make sound financial decisions.

The Department does not prescribe how the National Curriculum should be taught, but schools are expected to develop a curriculum that meets the needs of their pupils.

The Department has published Political Impartiality in Schools guidance to support teachers in tackling sensitive issues in the classroom in a politically impartial way. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools.

The content of textbooks is a matter for individual publishers. The department does not play a role in prescribing or authorising the books that schools can use. It is a matter for schools themselves to determine what curriculum resources they use, and we trust them to use their judgement in assessing their quality.

We understand from the publisher that Palestine was included on the map to signify the origin of one of the women in the book, born in the 19th century. The publisher has made clear no offence was intended, and if a new edition is published, they would omit or update the map to address the criticisms. Additionally, the publisher has stated that only a selection of countries from the area are included on the map.

The government is committed to a sustainable higher education funding model which supports high quality provision, meets the skills needs of the country, and maintains the world-class reputation of UK higher education. We also recognise that tuition fees must represent value for money for students and taxpayers.

The government has already announced that the maximum tuition fee cap will remain at £9,250 for the 2021/22 academic year in respect of standard full-time courses, meaning maximum fees have been frozen for 4 consecutive years. We continue to consider the recommendations in the Augar report, including those pertaining to higher education fees and funding, very carefully.

Universities and other higher education providers are autonomous and responsible for setting their own fees under the maximum cap defined by government. In deciding to keep charging full fees, providers will want to ensure that they can continue to deliver courses which are fit for purpose and help students progress their qualifications. The Office for Students, as regulator for higher education providers in England, has made it clear that providers must continue to comply with registration conditions relating to quality and academic standards, which set out requirements to ensure that courses are high-quality, that students are supported and achieve good outcomes and that standards are protected, regardless of whether a provider is delivering its courses through face-to-face teaching, remote online learning, or a combination of both.