Rosena Allin-Khan

The Government is committed to supporting British businesses, ensuring they have maximum opportunities to win UK public contracts and deliver high-quality goods and services.

The new Procurement Act contains measures that help British businesses and manufacturers by creating a simpler and more transparent system that will deliver better value for money, giving small businesses greater access to nearly £400billion of yearly spend.

Our new National Procurement Policy statement also encourages contracting authorities to consider how procurement can foster economic growth, support small businesses, strengthen UK supply chains and drive delivery of the Government’s Industrial Strategy and missions.

The Government is committed to supporting British businesses and the products they produce, ensuring they have the best opportunities to win UK public contracts and deliver high-quality goods and services.

The new Procurement Act contains measures that help British businesses and manufacturers by creating a simpler and more transparent system that will deliver better value for money, giving small businesses greater access to £385 billion of annual spend.

Our new National Procurement Policy Statement encourages contracting authorities to consider how procurement can foster economic growth, support small businesses, strengthen UK supply chains and drive delivery of the Government’s Industrial Strategy and missions.

We have also recently announced a package of further measures to demonstrate how central government will implement the NPPS, further helping British firms succeed.

Furthermore, our modern Industrial Strategy will set out how public procurement can support growth and investment in key sectors of the economy by encouraging innovation and the development of new technologies.

Ofcom is the independent regulator of postal services, and the Government does not collect or hold information concerning service issues in specific areas.

However, Ministers and officials have discussions with Royal Mail on a regular basis in its capacity as the universal service provider. In November, I met with Royal Mail’s CEO, Emma Gilthorpe, and stressed the importance of a reliable postal service.

The additional consumer rights provided to travellers under The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 (“PTRs”) have played an important role in ensuring consumers are supported through supplier insolvencies. The Department is currently working with stakeholders and consumer representatives to review the framework and identify whether it can be further strengthened. This has taken the form of:

• a Call for Evidence,
• stakeholder engagement sessions and,
• consumer research.

Our conclusions from this evidence gathering will be published in due course. Separately, the Department for Transport is continuing work with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) exploring how the ATOL scheme should operate in the future.

The rights provided under The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangement Regulations 2018 (PTRs) have been key to resolving many consumer issues in recent years- including supplier insolvencies. DBT is looking to expand options for businesses to protect consumer deposits, while working with stakeholders and consumer organisations to identify whether the framework can be further strengthened.

In relation to ATOL, the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Transport. The ATOL Regulations have provided valued protection to consumers for over 50 years. The Department for Transport is continuing work with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) exploring how the ATOL scheme should operate in the future.

DBT is implementing the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act which strengthens consumer law enforcement by giving the CMA new administrative powers, and the CMA and courts the ability to impose significant monetary penalties.

The Act also updates the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, setting out new ‘banned practices’ relating to the buying, selling, and publishing of fake consumer reviews and prohibiting ‘drip pricing’.

The Product Regulation and Metrology Bill was introduced on 4 September and aims to address the gap in consumer protections which allow online marketplaces to facilitate the sale of unsafe and illegal products.

DBT supports broader government efforts to tackle fraud through its funding of Citizens Advice and National Trading Standards to advise on and enforce consumer law, including fraud.

DBT is also implementing the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which strengthens consumer law enforcement powers and introduces significant new monetary penalties to better deter wrongdoers.

Through the Consumer Protection Partnership, Citizens Advice run an annual Scams Awareness campaign to give consumers the skills to identify scams, share their experiences and gain the confidence to report scams. The next campaign, focusing on financial scams launches on 21 October.

Developers of transmission projects and all nationally significant infrastructure projects in England and Wales must assess the impacts of their proposals. This includes conducting assessments of projects’ impacts on the environment through Environmental Impact Assessments. Additionally, developers engage with statutory and non-statutory stakeholders through consultations to ensure their feedback is considered and incorporated into project proposals. These assessments are considered as part of the consenting process by the Secretary of State. Scottish planning requirements are a devolved matter but also require due and proper consideration of environmental and other impacts and the opportunity for public scrutiny within the planning process.

Under the Online Safety Act all in scope services, including Meta, will be required to have systems and processes to enable users and other affected persons to report instances of the types of content the services have responsibility for. This includes illegal content, and, where relevant, content that is harmful to children (where services are likely to be accessed by children).

The Act also requires Ofcom to review the efficacy of content reporting and complaints mechanisms once the above duties have been implemented.

The Government wants all areas of the UK, including London, to benefit from reliable and good quality mobile coverage. Our ambition is for all populated areas to have higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030, and to increase 4G coverage to 95% of the UK landmass by the end of 2025.

Vodafone, Virgin Media O2 and BT/EE have all launched standalone 5G services in London.

We work closely with the mobile industry and are committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework to support investment and competition in the market.

The Online Safety Act requires all in-scope services to swiftly remove illegal content as soon as they become aware of it. This includes content that intentionally encourages or assists suicide and self-harm, including eating disorder behaviours. User-to-user services which are likely to be accessed by children must use highly effective age assurance to prevent children encountering this material.

Search services also have targeted duties that focus on minimising the risk of all users encountering illegal suicide and self-harm search content, and children from harmful but legal suicide and self-harm content.

The Online Safety Act requires all in-scope services to swiftly remove illegal content as soon as they become aware of it. This includes content that intentionally encourages or assists suicide and self-harm, including eating disorder behaviours. User-to-user services which are likely to be accessed by children must use highly effective age assurance to prevent children encountering this material.

Search services also have targeted duties that focus on minimising the risk of all users encountering illegal suicide and self-harm search content, and children from harmful but legal suicide and self-harm content.

The government recognises the importance of the UKs copyright regime to the economic success of the cultural and creative industries, one of eight growth-driving sectors as identified in our Industrial Strategy. We also recognise the basic principle that rights holders should have control over and seek payment for their work, including when thinking about the role of AI. The current UK Copyright Framework enables creative right holders to prevent the use of protected works, but we are aware that this can be very difficult to implement in the context of AI, especially for individual firms and creators.

Responses to our consultation on the impact of AI on the copyright regime, which was published on 17 December and closed on 25 February, will inform our approach to the design and delivery of a solution to these issues. Our aim is to clarify the copyright framework for AI – delivering certainty through a copyright regime that provides creators with real control and transparency, and helps them licence their content, while supporting AI developers' access to high-quality material.

The consultation was published alongside an accompanying options assessment. The consultation sought to gather further evidence on the potential impact on the creative industries of both AI and any change to the copyright regime. We will now consider the full range of responses we have received through our consultation and if legislative changes are needed, a full economic impact assessment will be undertaken.

On 1 April, the department announced that the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) would continue into 2025/26, with a budget of £50 million. A further announcement about arrangements for applications will be made as soon as possible. We remain committed to supporting families, who play an essential role in providing stable and loving homes for children in need. This funding will enable eligible families to apply for support in the coming year.

The ASGSF provides support for adopted children and those under special guardianship or child arrangement orders. The only group of foster carers and foster children who can access the ASGSF are those on the ‘foster to adopt’ pathway, where the plan is for the foster carer to adopt the child they are caring for if the court makes a placement order. Foster carers who obtain a special guardianship order can also ask that an application be made to the fund for a child they previously fostered.

Since 2021, the end-to-end process for becoming a teacher has been managed through the department’s digital services. This means that we have access to real-time recruitment data which allows us to identify the challenges that candidates are facing. From this data, we know that the longer it takes for an initial teacher training (ITT) provider to respond to a candidate, the more likely they are to drop-out.

To alleviate this, the department has set out the need for timely responses to candidate applications in the ITT criteria and we encourage providers to respond to candidates within 30 working days. The department’s digital services have also made it quicker and easier for ITT providers to manage and process their applications.

Additionally, the department has implemented changes to encourage providers to make more timely decisions. Now, if a candidate does not receive a response to their application within 30 days, they will be allowed to apply to a different ITT provider. We have also developed weekly performance reports, which allow providers to compare their recruitment performance to national averages.

The department is aware that large volumes of applications can impact a provider’s ability to respond to applications quickly. That is why we implemented functionality last cycle, to prevent candidates from applying to courses that they are ineligible for.

The department will act to address the persistent gaps for different student groups and to break down the barriers to opportunity.

The government introduced postgraduate loans which, alongside other sources of funding, are a contribution to the cost of postgraduate level study to stimulate take-up.

Decisions on student finance have had to be taken to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and that the costs of higher education (HE) are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.

The department will set out this government’s longer term plan for HE reform by summer 2025.

From 1 October 2025, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is increasing the minimum stipend they pay to PhD students by 8% to £20,780. This is the largest real terms increase in the stipend for UKRI funded students since 2003.

Skills England will reset the government’s approach to skills in England, making sure skills are prioritised in government decision making. Shadow Skills England is currently bringing together up-to-date analysis and engagement with key partners to identify and fill skills gaps at all levels of education, including at postgraduate level, particularly for under-represented groups, with the aim of breaking down the barriers to opportunity and driving growth.

Ensuring that parents are able to access affordable and high quality childcare is a priority for this government. Our focus in reforming the system will be to ensure that there are greater and more equal opportunities to access early education for every family, and that there are greater opportunities for children to thrive and develop. As an initial step, we are progressing work to deliver new places in 3,000 nurseries through upgrading space in primary schools.

Families that are not eligible for the childcare entitlements for working parents may be entitled to other forms of support, including the 15 hours entitlement for disadvantaged two year olds and the 15 hours universal entitlement for three and four year olds. The universal entitlement is available to all parents of three and four year olds, regardless of income or immigration status. In terms of the disadvantaged two year olds entitlement, parents do not need to work to claim this entitlement. However, they will need to be claiming certain benefits and have a household net income of less than £15,400 per year. All two year olds with an education, health and care (EHC) plan, those in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and looked after children are eligible regardless of household income. Some two year olds with ‘no recourse to public funds’ immigration status may also be eligible subject to different income thresholds.

Working families claiming universal credit can also claim up to 84% of the childcare costs back through Universal Credit Childcare. This offer can be used alongside the entitlements set out above.

We will be undertaking a comprehensive evaluation programme of the expansion of childcare entitlements for working parents which will explore how families not eligible for the new entitlements experience finding and accessing childcare, including the associated costs. Further, the impact evaluation will assess how the expansion has impacted upon the quality of childcare provision and children’s development, for all children, and wider family outcomes. As per Government Social Research guidelines, evaluation findings will be available within 12 weeks of the projects being finalised. We expect the first to be available from spring 2026.

Maintained nursery schools (MNS) are a valuable part of early years provision. There are 381 MNS as at January 2024. They are predominantly located in disadvantaged areas.

Additional supplementary funding is provided to local authorities for MNS in their areas. In the 2024/25 financial year, the initial budget for MNS supplementary funding is £82.6 million, subject to final budget update. The national average hourly rate for MNS supplementary funding is £5.27, the minimum supplementary funding rate is £4.64 and the cap on the hourly rate is £10.

Ensuring that parents are able to access affordable and high-quality childcare is a priority for the department. This includes delivering new nursery provision in primary schools to help deliver the expansion in childcare entitlements and ensuring that a variety of different types of provision are available that suit the needs of different parents. The department is continuing to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places.

The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children. The department’s Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey shows that the number of places available has remained broadly stable since 2019. Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department will discuss what action they are taking to address those issues, and where needed, the department will support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.

Where a MNS does close, or is merged with a school, what replaces it must be of equal quantity, preserve expertise and specialisms, and it must be more accessible and convenient for local parents. The department has not received any reports on sufficiency challenges in Wandsworth.