Paul Holmes

Heat network customers receive reductions in their heat price through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, between 1 October 2022 and 31 March 2023, and the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS), from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. All eligible heat networks receive the baseline level of support under the EBDS, with a higher level of support available to heat networks with domestic end consumers. This higher level of support aims to ensure that domestic customers on heat networks do not face disproportionately higher bills when compared to customers in equivalent households who are supported by the Energy Price Guarantee.

The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) provides a discount on the wholesale element of gas and electricity bills to ensure that all eligible businesses, including hospices, who receive their energy from licensed suppliers, are protected from high energy costs over the winter period. Following a HMT-led review into the EBRS, the new Energy Bill Discount Scheme will run from April until March 2024 and continue to provide a discount to all eligible non-domestic customers, including hospices.

BEIS does not have any contractual or commercial terms with BGI Group (BGI) or any of its subsidiaries.

Wind-based renewable energy is a key part of the government strategy for the decarbonisation of the UK energy sector. Latest figures indicate we now have 14.2GW installed onshore wind (ONW) capacity and we are already a world leader with the largest Offshore Wind (OFW) capacity of 10.1GW (which will rise to 19.5GW by mid 2020s).

In the Clean Growth Strategy published in October 2017, the Government confirmed that we would be making up to £557m of annual support available for further Contracts for Difference (CfD) - the government’s main scheme for supporting renewable energy projects.

In the last CfD allocation round (AR3) result in September 2019, 10 out of the 12 contracts awarded were wind based renewable energy projects. The next CfD allocation round (AR4) is planned for 2021 and both onshore and offshore wind projects will be able to bid for contracts.

The OFW Sector Deal published in March 2019 set out a strategic approach to deliver increased capacity of OFW and in partnership with the Sector to increase supply chain competitiveness, develop new technologies and boost the UK export potential.

The Department is working closely with the COP26 unit in Cabinet Office and other government departments to bring the world together and commit to urgent action on climate change, supporting in particular work on energy transition, zero emissions vehicles, finance, innovation and nature.

DCMS officials continue to assess how COVID-19 is impacting on young people and youth services. We will keep engaging with the youth sector as plans for the Youth Investment Fund develop, and expect to publish further details in due course.

The Department wants children to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information, whatever the format. Research suggests that reading for pleasure is more important for children’s educational development than their parents’ level of education. We have not undertaken research on the specific effect of e-reading, but the Department is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards – ensuring all children can read fluently and with understanding.

In 2018, we launched the £26.3 million English Hubs Programme. We have appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs. The English Hubs programme is supporting nearly 3,000 schools across England to improve their teaching of reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure. The English Hubs are focused on improving educational outcomes for the most disadvantaged pupils in Reception and Year 1.

The Department is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards – ensuring all children can read fluently and with understanding.

Literacy skills are underpinned by communication and language skills developed in the early years. Our proposed reforms to the Early Years Foundation Stage, including revisions to the curriculum activities and assessment goals under the seven areas of learning, are intended to improve early language and literacy outcomes for all children. We have also launched Hungry Little Minds – a three-year campaign to encourage parents to engage in activities that support their child’s language and literacy. The Hungry Little Minds website gives parents access to video tips, advice and suggested apps and games to help with early learning for their children from age 0 to 5.

Evidence has shown that phonics is a highly effective component in the development of early reading skills, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our phonics performance is improving. In 2019, 82% of pupils in Year 1 met the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012.

Reflecting our commitment to encouraging early reading, in 2018 we launched the £26.3 million English Hubs Programme. We have appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs. The English Hubs programme is supporting nearly 3,000 schools across England to improve their teaching of reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure. The English Hubs are focused on improving educational outcomes for the most disadvantaged pupils in Reception and Year 1. To note, Springhill Catholic Primary School in Southampton is an English Hub, and covers Eastleigh and other constituencies.

Education is a devolved matter and the Department is only responsible for policy in England. The Scottish and Welsh Governments are responsible for education policy in Scotland and Wales.

The Office of Road and Rail (ORR) publish annual estimates of the number of entries/exits and interchanges for Hedge End, and all other stations in Great Britain.

This information is openly available on the ORR data portal https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/usage/estimates-of-station-usage.

The Department works closely with the General Dental Council (GDC) to support the efficient delivery of the Overseas Registration Exam (ORE). The Department welcomed the GDC’s announcements on increasing the number of places available to sit the ORE. The GDC tripled the number of places available to sit the ORE Part 1, for all sittings from August 2023 to the end of 2024. The GDC also added an additional sitting of the ORE Part 2 in 2024, bringing the total number of sittings up to four. Together, these steps have created more than 1300 additional places across the two parts. These increases to capacity will enable individuals with overseas qualifications to more quickly have the opportunity to become registered dentists in the United Kingdom.

In March 2024, the GDC implemented new rules relating to the ORE which will allow it to introduce new exam fees, with a view to making the ORE self-funding. The GDC’s procurement process for new ORE providers is also underway. We anticipate that these combined measures will allow the GDC to further increase ORE exam capacity in due course.

The Department works with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) as it continues to focus on saving the lives of those on the waiting list, and supporting safe organ transplantation from living and deceased donors. NHSBT has made changes to organ offering and allocation to maximise liver transplant opportunities for waiting list patients. They have also developed a United Kingdom wide living donor liver transplant programme to increase opportunities for patients on the waiting list to receive a living donor option. Additionally, NHSBT supports the use of liver perfusion devices across all transplant units to allow livers to be kept alive outside the body, to allow more patients to benefit. NHSBT’s marketing strategy also focuses on increasing transplantation through increased organ donor registrations. The strategy works to change the public’s perception and awareness of organ donation and inform how to register a donation preference.

Pharmacies provide vital and easily accessible healthcare in the heart of our communities. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion annually to community pharmacy and in September we announced a further one-off investment in the sector of £100 million.

Access remains good with 80% of the population living within 20 minutes walking from a pharmacy and the Pharmacy Access Scheme financially supports pharmacies in areas where there are fewer pharmacies. `

The United Kingdom has an established policy to manage modern slavery risks and we continue to take action to limit exposure to human rights and modern slavery abuses in supply chains. Governmental commercial teams are required to undertake due diligence to ensure risks in supply chains are mitigated. Managing risks within existing contracts is the responsibility of those who are party to the contract and decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.

There is no specified procurement evaluation criteria in UK legislation or policy related to entities of Chinese origin and to take account of the national origin of companies would be against the principles in UK law related to equal treatment. The Department evaluates bids and if there is sufficient evidence of human rights or modern slavery abuses in any of the supply chains, we take appropriate steps to exclude them from that procurement. Procurement rules include ‘exclusion grounds’ of mandatory grounds, where contracting authorities must exclude and discretionary criteria, where they may exclude. If a bidder is convicted of an offence under section 1, 2 or 4 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, there is a mandatory exclusion. However, even if there is no conviction, strong evidence of breaches is likely to be grounds for discretionary exclusion.

BGI Genomics is a supplier on the National Microbiology Framework contract, launched in 2021. The mandatory and discretionary exclusion criteria was requested from all suppliers at the time the Framework was tendered. BGI Genomics was awarded a call-off contract from the Framework contract by the UK Health Security Agency in August 2021 which also involved compliance with mandatory and discretionary selection requirements. This call-off contract lapsed on 14 November 2021 and no further contract with BGI has been let.

The United Kingdom has an established policy to manage modern slavery risks and we continue to take action to limit exposure to human rights and modern slavery abuses in supply chains. Governmental commercial teams are required to undertake due diligence to ensure risks in supply chains are mitigated. Managing risks within existing contracts is the responsibility of those who are party to the contract and decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.

There is no specified procurement evaluation criteria in UK legislation or policy related to entities of Chinese origin and to take account of the national origin of companies would be against the principles in UK law related to equal treatment. The Department evaluates bids and if there is sufficient evidence of human rights or modern slavery abuses in any of the supply chains, we take appropriate steps to exclude them from that procurement. Procurement rules include ‘exclusion grounds’ of mandatory grounds, where contracting authorities must exclude and discretionary criteria, where they may exclude. If a bidder is convicted of an offence under section 1, 2 or 4 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, there is a mandatory exclusion. However, even if there is no conviction, strong evidence of breaches is likely to be grounds for discretionary exclusion.

BGI Genomics is a supplier on the National Microbiology Framework contract, launched in 2021. The mandatory and discretionary exclusion criteria was requested from all suppliers at the time the Framework was tendered. BGI Genomics was awarded a call-off contract from the Framework contract by the UK Health Security Agency in August 2021 which also involved compliance with mandatory and discretionary selection requirements. This call-off contract lapsed on 14 November 2021 and no further contract with BGI has been let.

The Foreign Secretary regularly engages with NATO Allies, including most recently at the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on 3-4 April, where Finland acceded to NATO and Allies demonstrated our continued solidarity with Ukraine. The Foreign Secretary and I [Minister Docherty] will continue engaging extensively with Turkey, Hungary and Allies to ensure swift ratification of Sweden so we can meet at the Vilnius Summit at 32.

Human Rights is a crucial element underpinning the UK's foreign policy. We continue to urge the Palestinian Authority (PA) to respect human rights, to ensure complaints of mistreatment or arbitrary detention are properly investigated and to continue to improve the performance of the security sector. The UK remains committed to a two state-solution, as Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Minister of State for the Middle East, made clear on his visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories from 11-13 January. And an essential aspect of our efforts to prepare the ground for a two state-solution is to support a stable PA that can deliver services to its people and act as an effective partner for peace with Israel. The UK will continue to monitor these areas closely and raise with the highest levels of the PA.

Throughout the pandemic, the Government has sought to protect people’s jobs and livelihoods while also supporting businesses of all sizes across the UK. We put in place an economic support package totaling £352 billion through the furlough and self-employed income support schemes, as well as support for businesses of all sizes through grants and loans, business rates and VAT relief, and a commercial rents moratorium.

We want to help small businesses across the UK to scale and grow as they recover from the pandemic. At Budget, we announced Help to Grow: Digital and Management. Help to Grow: Digital provides a new online platform and voucher to support SMEs to adopt software which could help them save time and money and grow faster. Help to Grow: Management offers a new, world-leading management skills training programme to upskill 30,000 small businesses across the UK over three years, to help boost their business’s performance, resilience, and long-term growth through practical leadership and management training.

The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime, including those perpetrated by organised criminals.

We will shortly publish a new strategy to address the threat of fraud.

The UK has a strong reputation for tackling terrorist financing and we work very closely with international partners and financial institutions to exchange and analyse information. This ensures we are better able to detect, prevent and disrupt the movement of global terrorist funds. Our EU cooperation is part of a wider landscape of international counter terrorism work, which includes cooperation through relationships such as Interpol, the Five Eyes, and bilateral work with individual countries.

The entirety of Hizballah is proscribed and designated under the UK’s domestic counter terrorism sanctions regime (the Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc. Act 2010 (TAFA)). Hizballah’s Military Wing is also designated along with two named individuals associated with the group under the EU CP931 regime. The investigation and prosecution of offences relating to proscribed organisations is a matter for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

The UK is committed to promoting the ethical development and deployment of AI and other new technologies, in the UK and overseas, and we closely monitor related threats. The Ministry of Defence is supporting the National Science and Technology Council to develop our strategic understanding of the opportunities, threats and implications posed by new and emerging technologies. This includes close working with allies, partners, academia and civil society. We will shortly publish the first Defence AI Strategy setting out our approach to exploiting these critical technologies, as well as our intent to influence and shape global AI developments to promote security, stability, and democratic values.

The Renters (Reform) Bill, introduced into Parliament on 17 May 2023, will deliver a fairer, more secure, and higher quality private rented sector for both tenants and landlords.

Good landlords play a vital role in providing homes for millions of people across the country. While we will deliver the manifesto commitment to end Section 21 'no fault' evictions, we will introduce comprehensive, fair and efficient grounds for possession to ensure landlords have confidence they can regain possession when it is reasonable.

We will reform possession grounds to expedite landlords' ability to evict those who disrupt neighbourhoods through anti-social behaviour and introduce a new ground for persistent rent arrears. We will also ensure landlords are able to sell or move back into their property if needed.

These improvements strike the right balance between ensuring landlords can gain possession of their property when it is right for them to do so, and improving security for tenants.

Further to the Secretary of State’s statement, UIN HCWS415, of 06 December 2022, our reforms to the planning system will enhance the opportunities for community involvement, ensuring development is brought forward in a way that works best for local people. We will improve the process for producing plans so that it is simpler, faster and easier for communities to engage with. There will be clear opportunities to get involved at key stages in the process, made easier by plans themselves being shorter with more accessible documents.

In addition, we are seeking new powers to introduce 'neighbourhood priorities statements'. These will provide communities with a way to determine priorities for their area and formally input into the local plan. We are also seeking new powers to introduce a new 'street votes' system. This will allow residents to propose development, such as extensions to existing homes, on their street and vote on whether it should be given planning permission.

The Government announced that it is legislating to provide appropriate powers to address instances of excessive risk from local authority borrowing and investment. The Department regularly engages with local authorities about their financial management and related policies. As part of engagement with the sector on the new capital measures, we are engaging with a small number of local authorities, including Eastleigh Borough Council, who may be most affected. My department will continue to work with them to understand their plans for reducing their levels of risk ahead of the legislative measures coming into effect, and we expect Eastleigh Borough Council and similar local authorities to engage with us throughout this process.

The outstanding Crown Court caseload has been falling since October. We have invested a significant amount of funding for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime and reduce the outstanding Crown Court caseload.

We are recruiting up to 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions in 2023/24, last year removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for the second financial year in a row, and recently announced the continued use of 24 Nightingale courtrooms into the 2023/24 financial year.

We have also significantly increased funding to improve waiting times in the civil and family courts and tribunals. This includes increasing funding to Cafcass by £8.4 million last financial year to deal with more open active cases.

To help maximise our available judicial capacity, we also introduced a virtual region pilot scheme in July to support civil and family courts in London and the South East. This allows deputy district judges from outside these regions to sit virtually in London and the South East so we can hear as many cases as possible.

The Justice system has operated throughout the pandemic.
o Jury trials, the part of the system we did have to suspend, restarted in May

o By Monday 14 September 2020, jury trials will have resumed in 72 Crown Courts

Our buildings are ‘Covid secure’ and social distancing measures are in place

o By rolling out plexiglass and other measures, we are on track to open 250 Crown courtrooms by the end of October.
o 110 jury trial rooms are currently in use.

We have swiftly expanded our use of technology so that we can hold more video and audio hearings across all jurisdictions, subject to judicial discretion.

We are rolling out Nightingale Courts across the country, undertaking Saturday sittings, and piloting Covid operating hours in further efforts to support access to justice.

The progress made to introduce online access to services through reform has made a substantial difference in maintaining the operation of the courts and tribunals, enabling more work to continue where reform is more advanced, and underlining the wider value of reform in supporting a more resilient and adaptable service.

Those services which have already been reformed, notably divorce, probate, SSCS, IAC, and jurisdictions using CE-File have proved more resilient to the impact of the pandemic and still been able to process thousands of applications.

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) understands that experiences of violence, abuse and trauma are common in the lives of offenders and that this can impact on reoffending and rehabilitation. Recognising there is a greater prevalence of trauma amongst women, staff working with female offenders across Prison and Probation services have adopted trauma-informed approaches following the rollout of briefing materials and toolkits, and consideration will be given to wider rollout following the evaluation of such approaches.