Rupa Huq

On 23 February, the Equality and Human Rights Commission announced that employers will have an additional six months, until 5 October 2021, to report their gender pay gap information.

Employers can continue to report their gender pay gap information via the government website: https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/.

The Government is fully committed to women’s economic empowerment but, given the impact on the pandemic on businesses, extending the period employers have to report by six months is the correct decision.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparity is supported by a secretariat based in the Cabinet Office, who handle correspondence in line with the published departmental guidance and requirements as set out in relevant legislation. Those wishing to submit evidence to the Commission are encouraged to send contributions via email, noting that it may take longer to process items sent by post. Further details of the Commission, its work and how to contact them are published on www.gov.uk/government/organisations/commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities

As outlined on the Commission website, the Commission will focus on areas including poverty, education, employment, health and the criminal justice system, and will look at outcomes for the whole population.

The Commissioners were appointed by the Prime Minister after a thorough process, and we are pleased to have such a diverse range of Commissioners that can bring a wealth of talent to their roles. The Commissioners are not remunerated for their roles and are not required to undertake unconscious bias training under their terms of appointment.

The secretariat to the Commission is made up of Cabinet Office staff, who were recruited in line with the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

Any activities associated with the Commission will be handled in line with the relevant Cabinet Office policies ensuring effective use of public money and transparency in line with departmental annual reporting.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparity is supported by a secretariat based in the Cabinet Office, who handle correspondence in line with the published departmental guidance and requirements as set out in relevant legislation. Those wishing to submit evidence to the Commission are encouraged to send contributions via email, noting that it may take longer to process items sent by post. Further details of the Commission, its work and how to contact them are published on www.gov.uk/government/organisations/commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities

As outlined on the Commission website, the Commission will focus on areas including poverty, education, employment, health and the criminal justice system, and will look at outcomes for the whole population.

The Commissioners were appointed by the Prime Minister after a thorough process, and we are pleased to have such a diverse range of Commissioners that can bring a wealth of talent to their roles. The Commissioners are not remunerated for their roles and are not required to undertake unconscious bias training under their terms of appointment.

The secretariat to the Commission is made up of Cabinet Office staff, who were recruited in line with the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

Any activities associated with the Commission will be handled in line with the relevant Cabinet Office policies ensuring effective use of public money and transparency in line with departmental annual reporting.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparity is supported by a secretariat based in the Cabinet Office, who handle correspondence in line with the published departmental guidance and requirements as set out in relevant legislation. Those wishing to submit evidence to the Commission are encouraged to send contributions via email, noting that it may take longer to process items sent by post. Further details of the Commission, its work and how to contact them are published on www.gov.uk/government/organisations/commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities

As outlined on the Commission website, the Commission will focus on areas including poverty, education, employment, health and the criminal justice system, and will look at outcomes for the whole population.

The Commissioners were appointed by the Prime Minister after a thorough process, and we are pleased to have such a diverse range of Commissioners that can bring a wealth of talent to their roles. The Commissioners are not remunerated for their roles and are not required to undertake unconscious bias training under their terms of appointment.

The secretariat to the Commission is made up of Cabinet Office staff, who were recruited in line with the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

Any activities associated with the Commission will be handled in line with the relevant Cabinet Office policies ensuring effective use of public money and transparency in line with departmental annual reporting.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparity is supported by a secretariat based in the Cabinet Office, who handle correspondence in line with the published departmental guidance and requirements as set out in relevant legislation. Those wishing to submit evidence to the Commission are encouraged to send contributions via email, noting that it may take longer to process items sent by post. Further details of the Commission, its work and how to contact them are published on www.gov.uk/government/organisations/commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities

As outlined on the Commission website, the Commission will focus on areas including poverty, education, employment, health and the criminal justice system, and will look at outcomes for the whole population.

The Commissioners were appointed by the Prime Minister after a thorough process, and we are pleased to have such a diverse range of Commissioners that can bring a wealth of talent to their roles. The Commissioners are not remunerated for their roles and are not required to undertake unconscious bias training under their terms of appointment.

The secretariat to the Commission is made up of Cabinet Office staff, who were recruited in line with the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

Any activities associated with the Commission will be handled in line with the relevant Cabinet Office policies ensuring effective use of public money and transparency in line with departmental annual reporting.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparity is supported by a secretariat based in the Cabinet Office, who handle correspondence in line with the published departmental guidance and requirements as set out in relevant legislation. Those wishing to submit evidence to the Commission are encouraged to send contributions via email, noting that it may take longer to process items sent by post. Further details of the Commission, its work and how to contact them are published on www.gov.uk/government/organisations/commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities

As outlined on the Commission website, the Commission will focus on areas including poverty, education, employment, health and the criminal justice system, and will look at outcomes for the whole population.

The Commissioners were appointed by the Prime Minister after a thorough process, and we are pleased to have such a diverse range of Commissioners that can bring a wealth of talent to their roles. The Commissioners are not remunerated for their roles and are not required to undertake unconscious bias training under their terms of appointment.

The secretariat to the Commission is made up of Cabinet Office staff, who were recruited in line with the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

Any activities associated with the Commission will be handled in line with the relevant Cabinet Office policies ensuring effective use of public money and transparency in line with departmental annual reporting.

We acknowledge the public’s interest in the publication of the report, however the report itself is the property of the independent ISC. As such it is not for the Government to publish ISC reports; it is for the ISC to lay them before Parliament. Once a new Committee has been established, it will be up to them to choose when they wish to publish it.

Members are appointed by the Houses of Parliament (having been nominated by the Prime Minister in consultation with the Leader of the Opposition). The Committee is being formed in the normal way and as quickly as current circumstances allow.

Four ministerial implementation committees focusing on health, public sector preparedness, economy, and our international response, have been established to coordinate, prioritise, and respond to the pandemic.

Shielding of the extremely vulnerable - those who suffer from the most serious underlying health conditions - is one of the Government’s top priorities. This work is being led by the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Communities Secretary outlined some of this support recently and details are available here (https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/communities-secretarys-statement-on-coronavirus-covid-19-2-may-2020--2)

In terms of our work to support other vulnerable people, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster outlined some of this work to the House of Commons last week, details of which are available here https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2020-04-28/debates/6B80ADC6-5AE0-404A-BF91-3924FAD111CE/PublicServices.

No one will be disenfranchised by confirming who they are. These are sensible plans to make our elections more secure. Everyone registered to vote will have the opportunity to do so. Any voter who does not have an approved form of ID will be able to apply, free of charge, for an electoral ID from their local authority.

Both the pilots and the Northern Irish experience demonstrate that showing ID does not reduce participation.

There is currently no provision to transfer proxy votes between people. Emergency proxy votes are granted in limited circumstances, to maintain the integrity of the electoral process. The Government has announced it will consider the process of emergency proxy applications and the circumstances in which they can be issued, when time allows.

The Government has regularly engaged with multiple stakeholders including the Department for Transport, manufacturers and automotive trade associations to discuss steps to help rectify supply chain shortages.

The Government recognises the severity of the semiconductor shortage and its impacts on vehicle supply chains. BEIS officials are working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) who are leading on this issue. DCMS is working closely with companies affected by this shortage to discuss interim support measures and supply solutions, as well as lobbying for a coordinated multilateral response through the G7. DCMS is also engaging bilaterally with key supplier countries like the US and Japan, to lobby for fair UK access to currently constrained supply and address systemic issues in the sector to avoid future repetition of the current shortage.

While we are working hard to drive down demand for fossil fuels, there will continue to be ongoing demand for oil and gas over the coming years as recognised by the independent Climate Change Committee. The UK is a net importer of both oil and gas and reducing domestic production would only lead to higher imports from other countries on a net basis.

The Cambo field was licensed in 2001 and 2004 and consent to proceed to production will be a matter for our expert regulators, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), and the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED), following their standard regulatory processes. As is normal for such a site, our regulators submit these proposals to extensive scrutiny, including a full environmental impact assessment and a public consultation. This process is currently underway.

We have always been clear that businesses are responsible for repaying any finance they take out. However, we recognise that some borrowers will benefit from additional flexibility with regards to their repayments. That is why we announced the Pay As You Grow measures last year.

Pay As You Grow is designed to provide Bounce Back Loan borrowers more time and flexibility over their repayments by giving them the option to:

• Extend the length of the loan from six years to ten.
• Make interest-only payments for six months, with the option to use this up to three times throughout the loan.
• Take up a six-month repayment holiday. This option is available once during the term of their loan.

Businesses are able to use these options either individually or in combination with each other. These are only available once a business has started making repayments on the loan. In addition, they have the option to fully repay their loan early and will face no early repayment charges for doing so.

The British Business Bank has a range of guidance and resources available to all businesses, including content on managing cashflow and a list of independent advice services. Details can be found at: https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/finance-hub/dealing-with-debt/.

Officials at the Intellectual Property Office (an executive agency of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) which is responsible for policy development on the UK’s IP exhaustion regime have met with representatives of the UK book industry to discuss the potential impact of an international IP exhaustion regime on that industry. The Government will continue to do so as part of the public consultation on the UK’s future exhaustion of intellectual property rights regime.

The Government welcomes views from businesses and consumers and encourages interested parties to respond to the consultation.

The UK has one of the best employment rights records in the world. We have made good progress in bringing forward measures that add flexibility for workers while ensuring the protection of employment rights, such as banning the use of exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts.

An individual’s employment rights are determined by their employment status (employee, limb (b) worker or self-employed). Employees are entitled to all rights including unfair dismissal (subject to qualifying periods) and have responsibilities towards their employer. So-called “limb (b) workers” are only entitled to some rights such as the National Minimum Wage but have increased flexibility and fewer obligations to their employer. The self-employed generally have no employment rights but have complete flexibility in their work. We believe our three-tiered Employment Status structure provides the right balance for the UK Labour Market.

The Government received 94 written responses to the consultation on the sectors in scope of the mandatory notification regime. The responses were used to refine and narrow the definitions for the basis of secondary legislation to provide further clarity for parties on whether their proposed acquisition comes in scope of the mandatory notification regime.

There were substantial responses for each sector definition and the responses received were representative of the key areas of the economy. This included investors, individuals, regulators, individual businesses, legal and advisory firms, trade associations and industry groups, academics and regulators. In addition, the Government has engaged informally with external stakeholders across the economy on the proposed descriptions.

The Government recognises the importance of supporting international research partnerships, and supporting the UK research sector. Our commitment to research and innovation has been clearly demonstrated by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget announcement of increasing investment in R&D across government to £14.6bn in 2021/22, and as has been set out in our Integrated Review ambitions, international collaboration is central to a healthy and productive R&D sector.

We are working with UKRI and all our Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund Delivery Partners to manage the impact of next year’s ODA allocation.

The related consultation launched by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 12 December 2020, ‘Aligning UK international support for the clean energy transition’, set out four possible timing options for implementation of the above referenced policy shift – March 2021, June 2021, October 2021 and Later than 2021. The consultation closed on 8 February 2021, the Government is considering the evidence received, and will respond in due course.

I meet regularly with the industry-led Weddings Taskforce to understand the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and jobs in the sector.

Over the course of the pandemic the Government has provided an unprecedented package of financial support to businesses, including those in the wedding sector, which we keep under regular review.

We know how difficult the current national and international restrictions are for the travel sector, with businesses having already faced many months of reduced trade. Impacted businesses can access a range of Government support measures, including the extended furlough and self-employed support schemes, as well as various government-backed loans.

We are regularly assessing Covid-19’s impact on tourism businesses and are continuing to engage across Government and with stakeholders - such as the Association of British Travel Agents and Association of Independent Tour Operators - to assess how we can most effectively support the recovery of travel and tourism across the UK.

The Government has also committed to producing a Tourism Recovery Plan setting out the transformation and growth of the sector over the next five years as part of our economic recovery.

We recognise that these are extremely challenging conditions for businesses in the travel sector, including tour operators and travel agents, which is why we’ve provided a range of targeted measures to see the sector through COVID-19.

On top of our wider economic support package, we've provided business rates relief and one-off grants for eligible hospitality and leisure businesses – and we’ve cut VAT for tourism and hospitality activities from 20% to 5% until the end of March.

Additionally, on 18 July the Government announced that ATOL-protected holidaymakers can book with confidence following confirmation that the Government will protect refund credit notes offered if packages are cancelled as a result of COVID-19.

I know that the restrictions on singing are frustrating to large numbers of amateur choirs and performance groups across the country and that many people have made sacrifices in order to drive down infections and protect the NHS over the last year. I can assure you that everyone across Government wants to ease these restrictions as soon as possible.

However, it is important that we take a cautious approach in easing restrictions. We have followed the views of public health experts on singing. We are aware, through the NERVTAG and PERFORM studies that singing can increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission through the spread of aerosol droplets. This was backed up by a consensus statement from SAGE, resulting in the suggested principles of safer singing being published.

We will continue to keep guidance and restrictions under review, in line with the changing situation. Further detail on step 4 will be set out as soon as possible.

I know that the restrictions on singing are frustrating to large numbers of amateur choirs and performance groups across the country and that many people have made sacrifices in order to drive down infections and protect the NHS over the last year. I can assure you that everyone across Government wants to ease these restrictions as soon as possible.

However, it is important that we take a cautious approach in easing restrictions. We have followed the views of public health experts on singing. We are aware, through the NERVTAG and PERFORM studies that singing can increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission through the spread of aerosol droplets. This was backed up by a consensus statement from SAGE, resulting in the suggested principles of safer singing being published.

We will continue to keep guidance and restrictions under review, in line with the changing situation. Further detail on step 4 will be set out as soon as possible.

We have supported the Victoria and Albert Museum (“V&A”), an arms’ length body, since the very start of the pandemic and will continue to do so. The V&A has benefited considerably from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, it received tailored revenue support from the Government last year, and is eligible for additional investment this year. Furthermore, we are investing in the V&A’s estate to help with the maintenance of its unique heritage interiors.

Likewise, the Government has provided unprecedented support to the arts, heritage and museums sectors through the Cultural Recovery Fund which has distributed over £1.2 billion, reaching over 5000 individual organisations and sites. This includes £53 million to specifically support construction and conservation projects at heritage sites across England. This fund has supported over 1000 projects directly and is estimated to have safeguarded between 744 and 1137 heritage construction and conservation jobs.

This Government recognises the importance of the UK’s live music sector, and in particular Music Festivals known around the world.

More than £21 million from our unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund has supported over 100 festivals to continue trading including Boomtown, Shambala, Glastonbury and Deer Shed Festival.

Our science-led Events Research Programme (ERP) is also exploring ways in which we can bring larger audiences back safely to the arts this summer if public health conditions allow and we recently announced an outdoor music pilot event at Sefton Park in Liverpool on 2nd May which will provide some valuable data for outdoor events settings featuring unstructured movement of people.

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.

The ‘COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021’ announced by the Prime Minister on the 22 February provides a roadmap out of the current lockdown in England, including for live events. Once theatres and live entertainment venues are able to reopen, we want the public to show their support by attending events, and we will continue to review all viable options to ensure the successful reopening of the live entertainment sector.

DCMS continues to engage with HM Treasury to ensure the needs of our sectors are factored into the developing economic response, and that DCMS sectors, including the music sector, are supported throughout this time. The Government recognises the significant challenge the current pandemic poses to many individuals and freelancers working in the music industry, and we are working very hard to help freelancers in this sectors access support, including through Arts Council England and the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) which will continue until September with a fourth and fifth grant. Individuals will be able to qualify for the new grants based on their 2019-20 tax returns. This means that over 600,000 self-employed individuals may be newly eligible for the SEISS, including many new to self-employment in 2019-20.

Being anonymous online does not give anyone the right to abuse others. Under the new Online Safety framework, which will be introduced in the Online Safety Bill later this year, companies in scope will need to limit the spread of illegal abuse on their services, including illegal anonymous abuse. Major platforms will also need to set out clearly what legal content is acceptable on their platform, and stick to it. The major online services and social media platforms will also need to take action with regard to legal but harmful content

The Government has sponsored a Law Commission review of harmful online communications, which is considering whether current law needs updating to help tackle online abuses. The Law Commission has consulted on provisional reforms and will issue final recommendations later this year, which we will carefully consider.

There are many legitimate reasons why an individual would not wish to identify themselves online. Whistleblowers, victims of modern slavery and survivors of domestic abuse may wish to stay anonymous, to protect their identity online. Our proposals strike the right balance between protecting users’ rights online, while preserving freedom of expression.

English Language Schools have been, and are, able to benefit from a wide variety of Government support, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which has been extended until September, a variety of generous Government backed loan schemes and grants through the Additional Restrictions Grant scheme.

Although funding issued under the Additional Restrictions Grant scheme is ultimately issued at the discretion of Local Authorities, we encourage and expect them to be sympathetic to applications from English Language Schools, as well as other businesses in the tourism supply chain which have been affected by COVID-19 restrictions.

For 2021-22, £29.1 million has been allocated to Festival UK 2022 for delivery in England, with a further £58.6 million allocated for 2022-23. This funding will be taken from the DCMS budget. These spending forecasts do not include the Barnett allocations to the devolved nations, which is administered by HM Treasury.

The Public Lending Right fund amount is set for the Spending Review period. The British Library administers the Public Lending Right Scheme on behalf of the government and the funding level of the PLR would form part of the consideration of British Library’s overall funding at the next Spending Review.

The government is committed to the independent self-regulation of the press and does not intervene in the operation of independent regulators. There have been significant changes to press self-regulation since the Leveson Inquiry and there now exists a strengthened, independent, self-regulatory system. Sir Joseph Pilling’s 2016 review of IPSO found that it had made some important achievements in demonstrating that it is an independent and effective regulator, and it has made further progress since then.

All gambling operators offering services in Britain are subject to strict regulation and must abide by rigorous requirements for the protection of children and vulnerable people. In the last year, the government and the Gambling Commission have acted to strengthen these protections further, including a ban on credit card gambling, making participation in the self-exclusion scheme GAMSTOP mandatory for online operators, and issuing new guidance for operators to address the potential for some customers to be at heightened risk during the Covid period. In addition, the Gambling Commission introduced tighter controls on VIP schemes which came into force at the end of October, and has recently launched a consultation on measures to ensure operators have robust procedures in place to identify and intervene with those who may be at risk of gambling harm.

According to the 2016 combined Health Survey, the 2017 Health Survey for Scotland and the 2018 Health Survey for England, the problem gambling rate among adults has remained stable at around 0.6-0.8%. The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to expand the geographical coverage of NHS services for people with serious gambling problems through the opening of an additional 14 serious problem gambling clinics by 2023/24. In July 2019, government secured a commitment from five large operators for a tenfold increase in their contributions to the research, prevention and treatment of problem gambling over four years, rising from 0.1% to 1% of gross gambling yield. This includes a commitment to spend £100m on treatment over this period. The Department for Health and Social Care continues to work with the NHS and GambleAware to support the expansion and alignment of existing treatment services.

The government has committed to reviewing the Gambling Act 2005 to make sure it is fit for the digital age. Further details will be announced in due course.

We are introducing over 20 T Levels in a wide range of subject areas by 2023, which will boost access to high quality technical education for thousands of young people.

There are no plans currently to introduce T Levels in the areas of art and design, sport or music and the performing arts. T Levels in craft and design will be made available from 2023 and will contain content of relevance to the art and design sector – including occupational specialisms such as textiles, ceramics and jewellery making. The outline content for this qualification can be found at: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/media/5021/craft-and-design-final-outline-content.pdf.

The T Level in Media, Broadcast and Production, also due to be introduced from 2023, will offer occupational specialisms of relevance to the music and performing arts industry, including Creative Media Technician, Events and Venues Technician and Content Creation and Production. The outline content for this qualification can be found at: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/t-levels/approved-t-level-technical-qualifications-and-final-outline-content/final-outline-content/ under the heading 'creative and design'.

We are not currently developing any further T Levels. In July we set out our final plans for the range of situations where we see a role for other technical qualifications to sit alongside T Levels, further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reforms-to-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3-in-england. For 16-19 year olds this includes qualifications enabling entry to occupations not covered by T Levels.

T Levels have several components that are required for completion. Students can re-take all elements of the T Level Technical Qualification and the timing of retakes will depend on the availability of assessments set by the T Level awarding organisation. As per study programmes for young people, retakes of components are not generally eligible for funding as the activity has already been funded. In exceptional circumstances students may be eligible for funding, and institutions will need to consider the relevant funding guidance.

T Levels require students to have achieved level 2 mathematics and English by the end of their course, either through Functional Skills or GCSEs, and students will be able to resit these throughout their course. Institutions also have the discretion to allow students to make up the required industry placements hours, up to 2 years after finishing their T Level programme, should they need to. This is the same for other T Level components.

As part of the wider Review of Post-18 Education and Funding, we continue to consider carefully the recommendations made by the independent panel that reported to the review, including those around fees and funding for higher education. We plan to set out a full conclusion to the Review in due course.

I refer the hon. Members for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough, and Ealing Central and Acton to the answer I gave on 18 October 2021 to Question 53884.

The government is grateful to all teachers, leaders and other staff in schools who have worked incredibly hard throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, including the dedication they have shown in enabling schools to remain open and working in new ways to support pupils with remote education.

In the September 2020 pay award, teachers received an average award of 3.1%, with starting salaries receiving a generous uplift of 5.5%, helping to increase the competitiveness of teacher pay in the wider labour market. The department recognises the decision to pause pay rises in 2021/22 is disappointing, but it ensures we can get the public finances back onto a sustainable path after unprecedented government spending on the response to COVID-19. The government is reassessing the public sector pay policy ahead of the 2022 pay round, once the economic recovery is established and the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the wider labour market is clearer.

The department does not set pay for non-teaching staff in schools. Employers have the freedom to set pay and conditions to suit their circumstances. Most schools use the local government pay scales and employers are required to pay at least the statutory minimum wage. Data published in the School Workforce Census in 2020 shows that the average salary for full-time general teaching assistants has increased year on year since 2017.

The department recognises the importance of the availability of laptops and other technology, in particular for disadvantaged children and young people who may not have access to a device of their own. This is why we have already provided over 1.35 million devices, via schools, colleges and local authorities, which are responsible for allocating them to those pupils who need them most.

On Friday 22 October, the department announced that a further 500,000 devices will be provided this academic year, which brings the total investment to over £520 million.

Our holiday activities and food programme has provided healthy food and enriching activities to disadvantaged children. For 2021, it was expanded to every local authority across England and was backed by up to £220 million. It builds on previous pilots of the programme operating since 2018, including last summer’s, which supported around 50,000 children across 17 local authorities.

As with other programmes, a decision on future funding is dependent upon the forthcoming spending review.

We think it is important that free school meal support is targeted at those that need it most. Free school meals (FSM) are an integral part of our provision for families on low incomes and our wider actions to promote social mobility.

Under the benefits-related criteria, there are currently around 1.7 million pupils eligible for and claiming a free school meal. An additional 1.3 million infants receive a free meal under the Universal Infant FSM policy.

Eligibility for the Department of Health and Social Care Healthy Start scheme is kept under continuous review and aligns closely with other passported benefits across government. There are no current plans to change eligibility for the scheme with regard to the earnings threshold or the qualifying age range.

The government will consider the recommendations in Henry Dimbleby’s independent review when developing the forthcoming Food Strategy White Paper.

The review focused on producing recommendations aimed at increasing the quality, consistency and coherence of Initial Teacher Training for trainee teachers. Ensuring there are sufficient teachers in the subjects that schools require is one of the priorities of the review and the department will proceed carefully to ensure this is maintained. We intend to respond to the report and its recommendations this autumn.

The department has engaged widely with stakeholders and sought opinions through the consultation to help us understand any potential impact of the proposals on the numbers of trainee teachers. If the recommendations are accepted, the department’s priority during the transition period to any new configuration will be ensuring that the capacity continues to offer enough training places to meet the continuing teacher supply needs across the whole education system. The department expects any future landscape to consist of a diverse range of provision and partnerships, including higher education institutions and school-based providers, as it does now.

In January 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, asked the Office for Students to reform the Strategic Priorities Grant for the 2021/22 academic year. The Strategic Priorities Grant is a limited funding pot provided by government to support the provision of higher education. Reprioritisation of this funding is needed to ensure value for money, and support strategic priorities across the sector, including provision of courses vital for the economy and labour markets, and continued support for disadvantaged students and underrepresented groups. The reforms he proposed include: the reallocation of high-cost subject funding (extra money given to providers to deliver expensive subjects) towards the provision of high-cost subjects that support the NHS and wider healthcare policy, STEM, and specific labour market needs; and the removal of the London Weighting element of the Grant.

The Office for Students (OfS) consulted on the Secretary of State’s proposals and has recently published its conclusions. The consultation responses were carefully analysed, and the issues raised were considered by both the OfS and the Secretary of State in reaching their respective decisions about the allocation of the Strategic Priorities Grant in 2021/22.

For the 2021/22 academic year, total funding for high-cost subjects, such as medicine and engineering, is 12% higher than last year, an increase of £81 million. The high-cost subject funding rate for arts and music courses has been set at £121.50; this is equivalent to a reduction of around 1% in combined funding (on a per-student basis) from a £9,250 tuition fee and Office for Students grant funding compared to 2020/21.

Despite the need to reprioritise taxpayers’ money, the government continues to value performing arts and creative subjects. High-quality provision in a range of subjects is critical for our workforce and our public services, as well as being intellectually rewarding and culturally enriching for those studying them and wider society.

As part of the same reform programme, we have asked the OfS to invest an additional £10 million in our world-leading specialist providers, many of which specialise in arts provision. We want to ensure that such providers receive additional support, and that grant funding is used effectively to support students.

On 21 August, the Department announced that carbon dioxide (CO₂) monitors will be provided to all state-funded nurseries, schools, and further education colleges from September. Backed by £25 million of government funding, the new monitors will enable staff to act quickly where ventilation is poor and provide reassurance that existing ventilation measures are working.

The programme will provide nurseries, schools, and further education colleges with sufficient monitors to take representative readings from across the indoor spaces in their estate. It is expected that monitors will confirm that, in most cases, existing ventilation is sufficient.

The majority of monitors will become available over the autumn term, with special schools and alternative provision prioritised to receive their full allocation from September given their higher than average numbers of vulnerable pupils.

The Department will also shortly provide new guidance on how to better manage ventilation, including how using CO₂ monitors can help.

The Government has also launched a trial of air purifiers in 30 schools in Bradford, which is designed to assess the technology in education settings and whether they could reduce the risk of transmission.

Between March and June this year, over 200 secondary schools and colleges participated in the independently monitored, voluntary trial of Daily Contact Testing, which was approved by Public Health England’s independent Research and Ethics Governance Group.

The aim of the trial was to keep pupils in face-to-face education, whilst reducing the risk of community transmission of COVID-19. The trial consisted of two randomised groups, a control group and an intervention group.

• The control group quarantined contacts of positive cases
• The intervention group enabled daily contact testing of contacts, instead of 10 days isolation

The trial concluded on 25 June 2021, and its findings are expected shortly. The Department has not been informed of the results of the independent trial in order to protect the integrity of the study. The trial’s findings need to be evaluated fully before any decisions can be made by the Government on how Daily Contact Testing may be used in the future.

Rapid testing is a vital part of the Government’s plan to supress COVID-19. Testing is voluntary but staff, pupils and students are strongly encouraged to participate in the education testing programme to help to reduce transmission of COVID-19 in school and college settings and the community.

Pupils, students, and staff have made an incredible and important contribution to the Government’s mass testing programme. As of 23 June, over 60.5 million tests have been completed in total through education settings since January. In recent weeks, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has written open letters to all parents, and to schools and college leaders, to thank them for their contribution so far and to encourage them to continue their efforts to keep pupils and students testing until the end of term.

The Department has worked in partnership with NHS Test and Trace to understand the barriers to rapid testing amongst school and college students and to take steps to encourage uptake of both testing and the reporting of results. These steps have included: improvements to the digital journey for parents, providing advice and guidance to schools and colleges, utilising a range of communications channels to reach parents and pupils directly, collecting and sharing best practice, and giving schools and colleges access to aggregate testing data for their setting to support them to take action where participation rates are low.

Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, schools have continued to receive their core funding regardless of any periods of reduced attendance. School budgets increased by £2.6 billion in the 2020/21 financial year and will increase by a further £4.8 billion in 2021/22 and £7.1 billion in 2022/23 compared to the 2019/20 financial year. Any decisions on future funding will be made as part of this year’s Spending Review.

The Department has provided additional funding to schools, on top of existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. Through the exceptional costs fund, schools could claim costs incurred between March and July 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak that could not be met from their budgets. The Department has paid schools £139 million for all claims within the published scope of the fund across both application windows.

There are no current plans to reopen the exceptional costs fund. Schools will be able to use their existing budgets to help with all other costs associated with COVID-19.

The COVID-19 workforce fund for schools and colleges helped those schools with high staff absences and also facing significant financial pressures to remain open. It funded the costs of teacher absences over a threshold from 1 November 2020 until the end of the autumn term 2020.

The Workforce Fund was introduced at a time when workforce absence and community transmission were high nationally. Workforce absence has since reduced and remained lower than in the autumn term. Schools may need to alter the way in which they deploy their staff, and use existing staff more flexibly as set out in our guidance. These include making best use of teaching assistants, hosting initial teacher trainees, using volunteers, engaging supply staff using in-year allocated budget, and seeking support from their local authority or trust.

Schools continue to be able to access existing support for financial issues, including a wide range of school resource management tools, and in serious circumstances, additional funding or advances from local authorities for maintained schools, or the Education and Skills Funding Agency for academy trusts.

From Step 4 it will no longer be necessary to keep children and young people in consistent groups (‘bubbles’). This means that bubbles will not need to be used for any summer provision (for example, summer schools) or in schools from the autumn term.

As well as enabling flexibility in curriculum delivery, this means that assemblies can resume, and schools no longer need to make alternative arrangements to avoid mixing at lunch. Schools and colleges may of course decide to keep the current arrangement for the last few days of term.

Schools and colleges should make sure their outbreak management plans cover the possibility that in some local areas it may become necessary to reintroduce ‘bubbles’ for a temporary period, to reduce mixing between groups.

Any decision to reintroduce ‘bubbles’ would not be taken lightly and would need to take account of the detrimental impact they can have on the delivery of education. The Department has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England to develop guidance for schools.

The Department has not asked pupils to sing songs for One Britain One Nation day or endorsed any specific materials. However, our schools should promote fundamental British values including those relating to tolerance and respect. As such, the Department supports One Britain One Nation’s broad aims to help children learn about equality, kindness and pride, and it is for schools to decide how they teach these important values.

Singing is an important part of pupils’ education, especially as this builds confidence and supports wellbeing. The Department has continued to make it clear in all of our COVID-19 related guidance that schools are to continue to teach music and we have provided detailed advice on how schools can do this safely in class.

There may be an additional risk of infection where singing takes place, and the guidance provides detailed advice on how music can be taught safely. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance.

The Department increased core schools funding by £2.6 billion last year and is increasing core schools funding by £4.8 billion and £7.1 billion in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years respectively, compared to the 2019/20 financial year. This investment has enabled us to increase funding for primary schools by 3.2% per pupil through the schools national funding formula (NFF) in 2021/22, compared to last year.

Every primary school will receive at least £4,000 per pupil this year, up from at least £3,750 per pupil last year. All schools will receive additional funds to cover additional teachers’ pay and pension costs, adding a further £180 to the minimum per pupil amount.

The Department are increasing the extra support the NFF provides to small, rural primary schools by increasing the maximum amount they can attract through the sparsity factor to £45,000, a significant increase from £26,000 last year. This has contributed to small and remote primary schools attracting on average 5.1% more per pupil through the NFF this year compared to last.

The Department reviews school funding on an ongoing basis and the NFF is designed to respond to changes in need, in order for us to target funding where evidence indicates it is most needed.

The government has, on several occasions, expressed its deepest sympathy for those affected by historical forced adoptions, and I completely endorse those sentiments. Practices in the past which led to such outcomes cannot now occur, not least because of the protection of legislation which has been introduced by successive governments and which is given effect by our independent judiciary. Birth parents also have legal representatives who are appointed to support them in court. These representatives ensure that the views of birth parents are heard and that evidence put forward can be challenged.

The Department is committed to helping all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), make up education lost as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Extended school and college restrictions have had a substantial impact on children and young people’s education, health and wellbeing. The Department is committed to supporting them and their families.

Sir Kevan Collins has been appointed as the Education Recovery Commissioner and is considering how schools and the system can more effectively target resources and support towards pupils in greatest need. In the development of this recovery plan, Sir Kevan is regularly meeting with a variety of stakeholders, including disabled young people and their families. Sir Kevan is reviewing how evidence-based interventions can be used to address the impact that the COVID-19 outbreak has had not just on academic outcomes, but on the physical and mental health of children and young people.

As part of this plan, both special schools and alternative provision will be able to access funding to provide summer schools and the National Tutoring Programme. The Department recognises the additional costs associated with offering provision to pupils in specialist settings. Eligible pupils in special schools, special units in mainstream primary and secondary schools, and alternative provision settings will attract a higher rate of funding for summer schools. We have also consistently prioritised children who attend specialist settings by providing additional uplifts both in the 2020 catch-up Premium and in the 2021 Recovery Premium.

Young people with SEND aged 19 to 24 who have an education, health and care plan will be eligible for support via the 16 to 19 Tuition Fund, where they meet the fund criteria. Colleges are asked to have regard to the needs of students with SEND when prioritising students that would benefit most from small group tuition. Furthermore, the proposals to support early language and literacy catch up will benefit all children, including those with SEND.

The Department will continue to assess the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and its subsequent COVID-19 recovery plans on all pupils, including those with SEND, to ensure it targets support across the system most effectively.

The Strategic Priorities Grant, formerly referred to as the Teaching Grant, plays an important role in supporting providers and students to develop the skills and knowledge needed locally, regionally, and nationally to support the economy.

We have asked the Office for Students (OfS) to reform the Grant for the 2021-22 financial year. These reforms include the reallocation of high-cost subject funding towards the provision of high-cost subjects that support the NHS and wider healthcare policy, high-cost STEM subjects, and subjects meeting specific labour market needs.

One of our proposals is for a 50% reduction in the rate of high-cost subject funding, which is one element of the wider Strategic Priorities Grant, for some subjects in order to enable this reprioritisation. This will help to correct discrepancies which have seen, for example, media studies funded at a higher rate than mathematics or history.

It is important to note that the Strategic Priorities Grant accounts for a relatively small proportion of the total income of higher education providers today. For the providers losing funding due to this reallocation, the income lost would account for approximately 0.05% of their estimated total income, based on the latest data available.

This important reprioritisation of taxpayers’ money does not mean this government is devaluing the arts or social sciences. High-quality provision in a range of subjects is critical for our workforce, and our public services, and is culturally enriching for our society.

That is why, as part of the same reform programme, we have asked the OfS to invest an additional £10 million in our world-leading specialist providers, many of which specialise in arts provision. We want to ensure that our specialist providers receive additional support, and that grant funding is used to effectively support students.

The OfS has now publicly consulted on these proposals, and responses from universities, students and others will be taken into account before any final decisions on allocations are made.

We are committed to taking a cautious approach to easing restrictions, guided by data instead of dates. Much of the data that has been used to inform decision making has already been published.

It is important that we continue to take a cautious – but irreversible – approach to re-opening. Moving too fast, too soon, risks a resurgence in infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Whilst we are aware that there is limited evidence of transmission in in-person teaching environments, we must not lose sight of the risks the virus poses and must stay vigilant throughout to ensure this roadmap provides a one-way passage to returning to a more normal life.

We have worked extremely closely with scientists and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) to understand and model various scenarios to inform our plan that seeks to enable us to re-open the country without putting unsustainable pressure on the NHS. We have also examined economic and social data to get a balanced understanding of the impacts of carefully easing restrictions. The government has also carefully considered data on the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on ethnic minority communities, the vulnerable, the young and low-income groups.

The government has taken into account all the scientific advice and models that suggest that allowing additional indoor mixing at an earlier stage when prevalence is higher, and fewer people have been vaccinated, would result in significantly higher numbers of infections. This is why restrictions outdoors have been eased first and restrictions on most indoor activity will remain in place. As the number of people vaccinated increases, we anticipate being able to take steps to ease further as more people are protected.

A wealth of data, papers and evidence is being published at the same time as the roadmap, to ensure transparency on the information that the government has had available to it in reaching its decisions. This includes information from Public Health England:

• Information on vaccine effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccination.
• A surveillance report with a more detailed summary of the findings so far from the SARS-CoV-2 Immunity & REinfection EvaluatioN (SIREN) study and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections Watch.
• A technical paper on the SIREN analysis being published (as a pre-print) by the Lancet.

The papers from SAGE include:

• Minutes from the last 4 SAGE meetings.
• Children’s Task and Finish Group paper: ‘COVID-19 in higher education settings, 10 February 2021’
• 3 papers from the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), with a summary of modelling on scenarios for easing restrictions, together with the supporting papers from modellers at Warwick and Imperial universities.
• A collection of papers from SPI-M on “relaxation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and the re-opening of schools”, Independent Pandemic Scientific Insights Group on Behaviours (the behavioural experts’ sub-group of SAGE) on return to campus for the spring term and the risk of increased transmission from student migration.

Following the review into when the remaining higher education students can return to in-person teaching and learning, the government has announced that the remaining students should return to in-person teaching no earlier than 17 May 2021, alongside Step 3 of the roadmap. Students and institutions will be given at least a week’s notice of any further return in accordance with the timing of Step 3 of the roadmap.

The government roadmap is designed to maintain a cautious approach to the easing of restrictions to reduce public health risks and ensure that we can maintain progress towards full reopening. However, the government recognises the difficulties and disruption that this may cause for many students and their families and that is why the government is making a further £15 million of additional student hardship funding available for this academic year 2020/21. In total we have made an additional £85 million of funding available for student hardship.

We are supporting universities to provide regular twice weekly asymptomatic testing for all students and staff on-site and, from May, at home. This will help break chains of transmission of the virus.

The Government is committed to helping children and young people make up education lost as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

In January 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, committed to work with parents, teachers, and pupils to develop a long-term plan to help pupils make up their education over the course of this Parliament. As an immediate step to support nurseries, schools, and colleges, on 24 February the Department committed an additional £700 million to support summer schools, tutoring, early language interventions and additional support to schools to help pupils make up their education. This builds on the £1 billion from last year and brings the total available to £1.7 billion.

The Department has appointed Sir Kevan Collins as the Education Recovery Commissioner to advise on the approach for education recovery and the development of a long term plan to help pupils make up their education over the course of this Parliament. Sir Kevan will engage with parents, pupils, and teachers in the development of this broader approach and review how evidence-based interventions can be used to address the impact the COVID-19 outbreak has had on education.

This Government wants pupils to be healthy and well nourished, and encourages pupils to adopt a healthy balanced diet and healthy life choices, through school funding, legislation and guidance.

Up to £24 million will be available to extend our support for school breakfast clubs until 2023, to make sure thousands of children in disadvantaged areas have a healthy start to the day. Further details on the invitation to tender for the delivery of the future programme can be found through the following link: https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html (under ‘View Opportunities’).

We know that breakfast clubs can bring a wide range of benefits for children. An evaluation by the Education Endowment Foundation found that supporting schools to run a free of charge, universal breakfast club before school delivered an average of 2 months’ additional progress for pupils in Key Stage 1 with moderate to low security. Breakfast club schools also saw an improvement in pupil behaviour and attendance.

The Department’s guidance has been updated to make clear that providers who run community activities, holiday clubs, breakfast or after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school provision for children, are able to continue to open for both outdoor and indoor provision, provided that they follow the protective measures set out by the Government in this guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

Parents and carers are only able to access settings for certain essential purposes. Providers should only offer indoor and outdoor face-to-face provision to vulnerable children and young people where the provision is reasonably necessary to enable their parents and carers to work, search for work or undertake education or training; attend a medical appointment, address a medical need or attend a support group; be used by electively home educating parents as part of their arrangements for their child to receive a suitable full-time education; or be used as part of their efforts to obtain a regulated qualification, meet the entry requirements for an education institution, or to undertake exams and assessments.

The Government is committed to helping children and young people make up education lost as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. This is why we have invested £1.7 billion to give early years, schools and colleges support to help pupils get back on track, including additional funding for tutoring, early language support and summer schools.

We have also appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner who will advise Ministers on the approach for education recovery, with a particular focus on helping pupils catch up on lost education as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Strategic Priorities Grant, formerly referred to as the Teaching Grant, plays an important role in supporting providers and students to develop the skills and knowledge needed locally, regionally, and nationally to support the economy.

We have asked the Office for Students (OfS) to reform the grant for the 2021-22 financial year to ensure that more of taxpayers’ money is spent on supporting higher education provision which aligns with national priorities, such as healthcare, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and subjects meeting specific labour market needs.

The London weighting accounts for a small proportion of London providers’ incomes. Providers in London received around £64 million London weighting in the 2020-21 academic year, which is less than 1% of their estimated total income.

London universities will be able to benefit from the significant uplifts we are making to elements of the Strategic Priorities Grant, including the first real terms increase in years in per capita funding for high-cost subjects in grant funding, as well as being able to bid for capital investment to support the delivery of strategic subjects.

We have also asked the OfS for a £10 million increase to the specialist provider allocation, to support these institutions which are particularly reliant on Strategic Priorities Grant funding, many of whom are London-based. We want to ensure that our small and specialist providers, including some of our top music and arts providers, receive additional support, and that grant funding is used to effectively support students.

The OfS will consult on these changes shortly, before final allocations for the 2021-22 financial year are confirmed and will carefully consider the impact of any changes on providers.

From 8 March 2021, all schools, colleges and further education colleges should allow full attendance. To prepare for return to full attendance, schools and colleges should update their risk assessment and ensure they are implementing the system of controls as set out in guidance, to minimise the risk of infection. The guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/958906/Restricting_attendance_during_the_national_lockdown_schools_guidance.pdf and here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/963584/Further_education_coronavirus__COVID-19__operational_guidance.pdf. This includes taking steps to minimise contact between individuals and maintain social distancing wherever possible. Measures have been further strengthened to provide more reassurance and to help decrease the disruption that the COVID-19 outbreak causes to education.

Whilst the Department encourages schools to make use of additional space, support older pupils to maintain distance and keep groups of pupils separate, we do not think that schools need to make significant changes to their buildings. By assessing risk and implementing all the measures, including ventilating occupied spaces, wearing face coverings when recommended and putting in place enhanced cleaning, schools will effectively manage risks and create an inherently safer environment for pupils and staff where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. The way to control this virus is the same, even with the current new variants.

Colleges should also follow the measures set out in the guidance. They are advised to look to maximise the use of their sites and any associated available space. Following a risk assessment, colleges may determine that small adaptations to their sites are required. This will be at colleges’ discretion, based on their circumstances.

At each stage of the Department's response to the COVID-19 outbreak, we have listened to the latest medical and scientific advice. The Department has worked closely with other Departments, including Public Health England (PHE) and the Department of Health and Social Care, as well as stakeholders across the sector, to ensure that our policy is based on the latest scientific and medical advice, and to continue to develop comprehensive guidance based on the PHE endorsed ‘system of controls’ and to understand the effectiveness of these measures on staff, pupils and parents.

It is important to ensure that schools are well ventilated and that a comfortable teaching environment is maintained.

Current evidence recommends that the way to control COVID-19 is the same, even with the current new variants. The PHE endorsed ‘system of controls’, in use throughout the COVID-19 outbreak set out in our published guidance and which includes ventilation, continues to be the appropriate set of measures to take. These measures create an inherently safer environment for children, young people, and staff where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. PHE keeps all these controls under review, based on the latest evidence. Schools therefore need to continue to fully implement these controls. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.

Our guidance signposts to further advice from the Health and Safety Executive on air conditioning and ventilation during the COVID-19 outbreak. The guidance can be found here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/equipment-and-machinery/air-conditioning-and-ventilation.htm.

More generally, in 2018, the Department published Building Bulletin 101 (BB101), which is guidance for school design on ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality. This guidance sets out the World Health Organisation’s air quality guidelines and Air Quality Standards Regulation 2010 for indoor air quality. BB101 requires the indoor environment of new or refurbished school buildings to be monitored by recording temperature and levels of carbon dioxide.

The Department is committed to getting all pupils and students back into schools and colleges full time, as soon as the public health picture allows, in terms of the spread of the virus in communities and the pressures on the NHS. In doing so, the Department will be guided by scientific and medical experts. Data and evidence are considered regularly, including that from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, the Joint Biosecurity Centre, Public Health England, and the Chief Medical Officers.

In the week commencing 22 February 2021, the Government will publish a plan for taking the country out of lockdown. Our aim will be to set out a gradual approach towards easing the restrictions in a sustainable way, guided by the principles we have observed throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, beginning with the most important principle of all: that reopening schools must be our national priority. We have committed to providing schools, parents and young people with a minimum of two weeks’ notice for this return to on-site provision. Additional pupils and students will return to on-site education on 8 March 2021 at the earliest.

Reduction in energy use in new and existing buildings to meet the legislative zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050 is a priority for the Government.

Schools can use their condition funding to invest in improving energy efficiency. Since 2015, the Department has allocated £9.5 billion to maintain and improve school buildings, including an additional £560 million in financial year 2020-21. The latest Spending Review committed a further £1.8 billion in financial year 2021-22 for maintaining and improving the school estate.

The Further Education (FE) Capital Transformation Fund delivers the Government’s £1.5 billion commitment to upgrade the FE college and designated institutions’ estate in England. This will target colleges in the worst condition and promote efficient use of space and support the government's objectives on achieving net zero carbon.

In 2020, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy set up the £1 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which provided grants for eligible public sector bodies, including schools and FE colleges to fund energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation measures. Higher education (HE) institutions were also eligible for these grants.

Whilst this scheme has now ended, schools, FE and HE institutions can apply for interest free loans through the government’s Salix scheme for public sector projects that improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

In November 2019, we published the new Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework (CCF) which sets out a core minimum entitlement for all trainees of what should be covered during their teacher training. From September 2020, all ITT courses will have to encompass the full entitlement described in the CCF into their ITT curricula for all subjects and phases.

The CCF is underpinned by robust independently reviewed evidence about what makes good teaching. There is a strong emphasis on the need for training to be subject and phase specific throughout the framework and it is for providers to ensure they carefully craft coherently sequenced curricula that meet the particular needs of their trainees.

The new ITT CCF does not replace the Teachers’ Standards and all ITT must be designed so that teacher trainees can demonstrate that they meet all of the Teachers' Standards at the appropriate level, including Section 3 ‘having a secure knowledge of the relevant subject(s) and curriculum areas’, which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/665522/Teachers_standard_information.pdf.

The Department’s guidance on face coverings can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-in-education/face-coverings-in-education.

As the guidance outlines, during national lockdown, in schools and colleges where Year 7 and above are educated, face coverings should be worn by adults (staff and visitors), pupils and students when moving around indoors, outside of classrooms and other teaching environments, such as in corridors and communal areas where social distancing is difficult to maintain.

Based on current evidence and the measures that schools and colleges are already putting in place, such as the system of controls and consistent bubbles, face coverings will not generally be necessary in the classroom.

Children in primary schools do not need to wear a face covering.

Some individuals are exempt from wearing face coverings. This includes people who cannot put on, wear, or remove a face covering because of a physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability, or if you are speaking to or providing assistance to someone who relies on lip reading, clear sound or facial expressions to communicate. The same legal exemptions that apply to the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport also apply in schools and colleges.

Face coverings can make it more difficult to communicate with pupils and students with additional needs or those who many rely on lip reading or facial expressions for understanding. We expect staff to be sensitive to these needs when teaching and interacting with pupils and students.

Schools can get advice and support for children with hearing impairments from specialist teachers of the deaf. These teachers support children and young people with hearing impairment, and their families, from the point of diagnosis. The Department for Education also funds the whole school special educational needs and disability consortium (£1.9 million per annum), hosted by National Association for Special Educational Needs, to provide schools with access to resources and tips for the classroom, including for hearing impairment.

We continue to provide information to the sector on our guidance, and any changes to it, through regular departmental communications. We will also continue to work with Public Health England, as well as stakeholders across the sector, to monitor the latest scientific and medical advice and understand the impact of the system of controls on staff, pupils and parents.

The government recognises that students have faced many changes over the last year, as providers have had to adapt teaching, learning and assessment methods in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Some universities have put in place policies stating that students should not be awarded a degree classification below their level of academic performance prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. It is designed by providers as a safety net for students to ensure they are not unfairly impacted by these challenging circumstances.

While providers are autonomous, and responsible for setting their own assessment practices, the government expects providers to make all reasonable efforts for student achievement to be reliably assessed and for qualifications to be awarded securely. It is vital that a fair approach to exams and assessment is in place and understood by students. The Office for Students (OfS), the higher education regulator in England, has issued guidance to the sector setting out expectations about provider approaches to teaching and assessment during this time. OfS guidance is clear - standards must be maintained, but clearly changes to assessments may be required in some circumstances.

The government will continue to work closely with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, professional bodies and the OfS to ensure students continue to leave university with qualifications that have real value, reflect their hard work and allow people to progress.

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, the Government considers that exams cannot be held in a fair way. We have therefore announced that GCSE, AS and A level exams will not go ahead this summer as planned.

We have already confirmed our proposals that in summer 2021 students taking GCSE, AS and A levels regulated by Ofqual should be awarded grades based on an assessment by their teachers.

To provide clarity to the sector as soon as possible, and to ensure that our approach is developed with the sector, Ofqual and the Department launched a two week consultation on how to ensure all students are supported to move to the next stage of their lives.

Further details of alternative arrangements to exams will be confirmed as soon as possible, ensuring that students have the confidence that they will be fairly treated in terms of assessment in 2021.

Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Iceland, the Company Shop Group, Waitrose, McColls and M&S are signed up to the national voucher scheme. We are keen to work with a wide range of supermarkets and encourage others to join – this involves them having the right infrastructure to deliver e-gift cards.

However, we recognise that other independent stores are also well placed to provide this support. Schools are free to decide the best approach for their free school meal pupils. They can provide lunch parcels, locally arranged vouchers, or they can use the national voucher scheme. If a school arranges a local voucher, they will be able to claim the costs back from the department. For more information, please see our guidance on free school meals: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools.

Head teachers, teachers, and staff of schools and other education settings have been doing an extraordinary job to remain open, keep settings safe, and provide education for vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers.

We know that receiving face to face education is best for children’s mental health and for their educational achievement. We have resisted restrictions on attendance at schools and other education settings since the first lockdown but, in the face of the rapidly rising numbers of cases across the country and intense pressure on the NHS, we now need to use every lever at our disposal to reduce all our social contacts wherever possible. Limiting attendance during the national lockdown is about supporting the reduction of the overall number of social contacts in our communities.

During the period of national lockdown, schools, colleges and wraparound childcare and other out of school activities for pupils and students should allow only vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers to attend. All other pupils and students should not attend and should learn remotely until February half term. Early years provision should continue to remain open and should continue to allow all children to attend full time or their usual timetable hours.

Only university students doing medical, clinical and healthcare related subjects, including nursing, social care, dentistry and veterinary studies should return to face to face teaching as planned. Most students should not return to university and should study from their current residence, where possible, until at least mid-February.

On an exceptional basis, universities should consider supporting the return of students who may need to return earlier for other reasons, for example, students who do not have access to appropriate accommodation, facilities, studying space, or that need to return for health reasons.

We will continue to review the restrictions on schools, colleges and universities and will ensure that children and young people return to face to face education as soon as possible.

During national lockdown restrictions, all early years providers remain open nationally to all children, providing vital early education and childcare. The wider restrictions in place as part of the national lockdown to contain the spread of the community enable us to continue to prioritise keeping early years providers open, supporting parents and delivering the crucial care and education needed for our youngest children.

The department is working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure rapid asymptomatic testing for all early years staff to support early years providers to remain fully open. In the meantime, as they are essential workers, early years staff have priority access to symptomatic tests via the online portal.

As outlined in our published guidance, additional use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for COVID-19- related purposes is only needed in a small number of cases, such as if a child becomes ill with COVID-19 symptoms and a distance of 2 metres cannot be maintained, or when undertaking aerosol generating procedures. Public Health England has advised that the current guidance on the system of controls, including the use of PPE and face coverings, should continue to be followed.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the government on which vaccine/s the UK should use and also provide advice on who should be offered them. JCVI advises that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems. As the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age. In the next phase of the vaccine rollout, JCVI have asked that DHSC consider occupational vaccination in collaboration with other government departments. The Department for Education will input into this cross-governmental exercise.

The government will continue to work closely with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), professional bodies and the Office for Students?(OfS) to ensure students continue to leave university with qualifications that have real value, reflect their hard work and allow people to progress.

The government expects providers to make all reasonable efforts for student achievement to be reliably assessed and for qualifications to be awarded securely. The OfS, the higher education regulator in England, has issued guidance to the sector setting out expectations about provider approaches to teaching and assessment during this time. OfS guidance is clear - standards must be maintained, but clearly changes to assessments may be required in some circumstances.

The QAA has also published a series of guides and information to support providers to secure academic standards and to support student achievement during the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes a paper, published in April, which provides an overview of what 'no detriment' policies aim to achieve and some of the measures providers can put in place to ensure that the academic standards of awards remain secure, while also recognising the challenging circumstances for students.

We expect providers to develop solutions appropriate to each course, considering the needs of individual students and to ensure that continuing and prospective students receive the clear, accurate and timely information needed to make informed decisions. If students have concerns, there is a process in place. They should first raise their concerns with their university. If their concerns remain unresolved, students at providers in England or Wales can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education to consider their complaint.

As part of over £195 million invested to support remote education and access to online social care, over 340,000 laptops and tablets are being made available this term to support disadvantaged children in Years 3 to 11 whose face-to-face education may be disrupted.

This supplements over 220,000 laptops and tablets which have already been delivered during the summer term. This represents an injection of over 500,000 laptops and tablets by the end of the year.

The Department has updated the allocation process to more closely align allocations with the number of students schools typically have self-isolating. This approach ensures that as many children as possible are able to access a device at the point at which they need one.

Data about the number of laptops and tablets delivered and dispatched to local authorities or trusts as of 27 August 2020 is published here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/912888/Devices_and_4G_wireless_routers_progress_data_as_of_27_August_2020.pdf

Information on the devices provided this term to schools, local authorities and academy trusts as of 23 October 2020 is published here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/929064/Ad-hoc_stats_note_shipped_data_231020_FINAL.pdf

It is imperative that all pupils, irrespective of background, are taught a broad and ambitious knowledge rich curriculum, covering the core academic subjects, alongside a vibrant arts education that gives pupils a deeper appreciation of their culture. This has been the emphasis of the Government’s National Curriculum and qualifications changes, to ensure that more pupils are able to access ‘the best that has been thought and said’, and to think critically within their subjects.

All children have had their education disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak, but it is likely that disadvantaged and vulnerable groups will have been hardest hit and initial analysis suggests that the attainment gap has widened. The government has announced a catch-up package worth £1 billion, including a ‘Catch-Up Premium’ worth a total of £650 million to support schools to make up for lost teaching time. To help schools make the best use of this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation has published a support guide for schools which is available here:
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/national-tutoring-programme/covid-19-support-guide-for-schools/#nav-covid-19-support-guide-for-schools1.

The guidance includes evidence-based approaches to catch up for all students and a further school planning guide for 2020-21, which is available here:
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/guide-to-supporting-schools-planning/.

Alongside this universal grant, a National Tutoring Programme worth £350 million will deliver proven, successful interventions to the most disadvantaged young people. Research shows high-quality individual and small group tuition can add up to 5 months of progress for disadvantaged pupils.

Schools will continue to receive the pupil premium every quarter. Each school’s original pupil premium strategy may have not been met since March and the pupils’ needs may have changed or intensified. We recommend that, as part of the planning for needs-based universal catch up, school leaders review their pupil premium strategy and amend it to reflect the new situation from September.

The Department is committed to an inclusive education system which recognises and embraces diversity and supports all pupils and students to tackle racism and have the knowledge and tools to do so.

The national curriculum is a framework setting out the content of what the Department expects schools to cover in each subject. The curriculum does not set out how curriculum subjects, or topics within the subjects, should be taught. The Department believes teachers should be able to use their own knowledge and expertise to determine how they teach their pupils, and to make choices about what they teach.

As part of a broad and balanced curriculum, pupils should be taught about different societies, and how different groups have contributed to the development of Britain, and this can include the voices and experience of Black people. The flexibility within the history curriculum means that there is the opportunity for teachers to teach about Black history across the spectrum of themes and eras set out in the curriculum. For example, at Key Stage 1, schools can teach about the lives of key Black historical figures such as Mary Seacole and Rosa Parks or others; and at Key Stage 3, cover the development and end of the British Empire and Britain’s transatlantic slave trade, its effects and its eventual abolition. The teaching of Black history need not be limited to these examples.

The purpose of the reception baseline assessment (RBA) is to form the starting point for reception to year six progress measures in primary schools. The RBA has undergone a thorough review process to ensure that it is fit for purpose, including a national pilot. Data from over 340,000 assessments has now been analysed and shows that the assessment is valid and fit for purpose. The department has recently published the reception baseline assessment validity report, demonstrating the evidence that has been gathered throughout the assessment development process, showing the assessment to be an accurate assessment of children’s starting points.

The report can be found at the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reception-baseline-assessment-validity-report.

Universities are, historically, autonomous institutions, and they may determine their own procedures, within the law. The Secretary of State has no current legal power to intervene in the charging of application fees. In general, the freedom of higher education providers to determine the criteria for the admission of students and how they are applied is recognised in Section 2, and elsewhere, in the Higher Education and Research Act 2017.

Higher education providers in England are autonomous bodies and therefore have discretion over the application fees they charge for postgraduate courses.

The Government takes the conservation of endangered species very seriously, which is why we are banning the import of hunting trophies from endangered species, as set out in the Government’s manifesto.

Our approach will be robust and effective and will deliver the change we promised to help protect thousands of species worldwide. We will be setting out our plans soon.

My Rt Hon Friend the Environment Secretary has discussed with the Secretary of State for Transport the logistical challenges for the food industry caused by a shortfall of HGV drivers. Defra officials are continuously gathering intelligence from food sector’s stakeholders to keep abreast of the impact of shortages on food supply.

Our officials are also working closely with counterparts in the Department for Transport who monitor any potential requirements to consider an extension of driver delivery hours under Article 14(2) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 to accommodate deliveries.

Our officials are continuously working closely across government on a diverse range of solutions to driver shortages in the short and long term. These include the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s increased capacity to test drivers to reach 3,000 practical tests each week and the Department for Education’s Large Goods Vehicle drivers apprenticeship programmes with an increased funding opportunity to £7,000 to improve UK labour supply.

Overall, the UK's food supply is highly resilient. The food industry is well versed in dealing with scenarios that can impact food supply. Consumers in the UK have access to a range of sources of food, including countless domestic food producers and imports from a range of stable sources.

As set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan, the Government is committed to taking action to recover our threatened native species.

As part of the recently announced Green Paper, my department will explore opportunities to enhance and modernise protections for declining native species such as the hedgehog. We intend to publish the Green Paper and seek views later this year.

Our Environment Bill will also strengthen our commitment to our native species. We have amended the Bill to require a new, historic legally binding target for species abundance for 2030 to be set, aiming to halt the decline of nature. We are also taking action through our net gain provisions in the Bill, to support the role of new development in helping protect, improve and create the habitat that our native species, including hedgehogs, need to thrive.

Beyond the Bill, we are introducing three schemes that reward the delivery of environmental benefits: the Sustainable Farming Incentive, the Local Nature Recovery scheme and the Landscape Recovery scheme. These schemes will pay for sustainable farming practices, creating and preserving habitat such as such as woodland, heathland and species-rich grassland, as well as making landscape-scale environmental changes, all of which could benefit species such as hedgehog.

The Government remains committed to introducing a deposit return scheme for drinks containers. We recently undertook a second consultation on introducing the deposit return scheme, in which we set out timelines for the scheme to go live.

We want to have an ambitious but realistic timetable to ensure that we are implementing a deposit return scheme that will be as effective as possible in achieving our objectives. We have therefore reviewed the timelines required to implement a deposit return scheme and currently anticipate that the scheme would launch in 2024, subject to the outcome of the second consultation and parliamentary passage of the Environment Bill.

We are now analysing responses to the consultation and will set out next steps in due course.

This Government takes the conservation of endangered species in the UK and internationally very seriously, which is why we will be banning the import of hunting trophies from endangered species. Our approach will be comprehensive, robust and effective and will deliver the change we promised to help protect thousands of species worldwide. We will be setting out plans soon.

There is clear evidence that animals with a backbone (vertebrates) are sentient and this is reflected in the Government’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill introduced to the House of Lords on 13 May 2021. However, the Bill also gives the Secretary of State a power to extend the recognition of sentience to particular invertebrates in future on the basis of evidence.

Defra has commissioned an independent review of the available scientific evidence on sentience in decapod crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters, as well as sentience in the class, Cephalopoda, which includes octopus, cuttlefish and squid. The review will report shortly.

We are aware of the concerns around the use of snares, which can cause immense suffering to both target and non-target animals. It is an issue we are looking at closely as part of our continued drive to maintain the highest animal welfare standards in the world.

Anyone using snares has a responsibility under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to act within the law to ensure their activities do not harm protected species or cause any unnecessary suffering.

The Government has no current plans to ban the use of all animal snares. Snares are controlled in England and Wales under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This already prohibits the use of self-locking snares and the setting of any type of snare in places where they are likely to catch certain non-target animals such as badgers. It also requires snares to be inspected on a daily basis.

When practised to a high standard, and in accordance with the law, snaring can offer an effective means to reduce the harmful impacts of foxes on livestock, game and wildlife.

The code of practice for the use of snares to control foxes in England can be found at https://basc.org.uk/cop/snares-for-fox-control-in-england/. This code is designed and owned by the sector, rather than Government. It sets out clear principles for the legal and humane use of snares, using evidence from snare use research to improve snare deployment and design.

The schedule to the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 was last updated in 2007, following review and consultation. The Act itself was updated in 2010, following further review and consultation, to allow local authorities to focus their enforcement activity more effectively. The Act’s original aim was to ensure that where private individuals keep dangerous wild animals they do so in circumstances which create no risk to the public. Based on available evidence, including the absence of reported attacks on the public by escaped dangerous wild animals, we consider that the Act is fulfilling those objectives.

However, while there are appropriate public safety measures in place for the keeping of dangerous wild animals, the Government wants to look more closely at the wider animal welfare law to see whether it needs to be improved in relation to the welfare of exotic, non-domesticated animals traded and kept as pets. Defra has already begun this process with a call for evidence and a public consultation to help inform the approach to delivering the Government’s manifesto commitment to ban the keeping of primates as pets.

The latest Government guidance on face coverings is provided at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own#when-to-wear-a-face-covering. It explains that many types of face coverings are available including disposable products and those made of breathable, washable fabric. We welcome the efforts being made by businesses and consumers to produce, sell and buy reusable alternatives which align with the guidance. The guidance also provides instructions on how people can make and care for their own face coverings at home.

Face coverings that are required in shops and a number of other settings are not the same as the single-use surgical masks or respirators used by healthcare and other workers as part of their PPE. These should continue to be reserved for those who need them to protect against risks in their workplace. Instead, the latest Government advice on face coverings provides instructions on how people can make and care for reusable face coverings at home using washable textiles, and is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-wear-and-make-a-cloth-face-covering.

Reusable cloth face coverings are also available to buy from a wide range of retail outlets, including online.

The Government has published guidance on the disposal of face coverings and other PPE during the coronavirus pandemic. This is available at

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-disposing-of-waste.

The UK has been at the forefront of opposing animal tests where alternative approaches could be used. This is known as the "last-resort principle", which we will retain and enshrine in legislation through our landmark Environment Bill.

We are determined that there should be no need for any additional animal testing for a chemical that has already been registered, unless it is subject to further evaluation that shows the registration dossier is inadequate or there are still concerns about the hazards and risks of the chemical, especially to human health.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given on 21 January 2021, PQ 139081.

We will publish a new England Tree Strategy in spring, setting out plans to plant and protect trees across the country, including in towns and cities and on our streets.

The Government is committed to seeing more trees planted and has a general policy against permanent loss of woodland cover. The management and replanting of trees is managed through the felling licence regime.

Trees uprooted without human intervention, such as through windthrow, decay or lightning strike, are exempt from the need for a felling licence regime as this is part of the natural woodland life cycle.

Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, local authorities in England are required to appoint one or more suitably qualified inspectors to inspect premises requiring licensing under the regulations, including those relating to dog breeding, pet selling, hiring out horses, animal exhibits and animal boarding. Local authorities appoint such inspectors using powers under section 51 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Local authority animal welfare inspectors also carry out inspections in relation to welfare in transport, on-farm welfare and helping to tackle illegal imports of dogs. It is for local authorities to determine how to prioritise their resources as well as the number of animal inspectors they appoint under the Animal Welfare Act. We do not hold data centrally on the number of inspectors appointed under the Act.

The Government remains fully committed to animal welfare and supports increasing the maximum custodial sentences for animal cruelty offences from six months to five years. This will enable courts to take a firmer approach to cases such as dog fighting, abuse of puppies and kittens, or gross neglect of farm animals. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on 5 February by Chris Loder MP and is due to have its Second Reading on 10 July. The Government will continue to support the Bill as it makes its way through Parliament. The proposed new maximum sentence of five years would apply to all animals under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and hence would provide parity of treatment under the law for domestic pets, for service dogs used by the police, and for assistance dogs used by visually impaired people.

The new maximum penalty of five years is in line with campaigns by key stakeholders such as Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Blue Cross, Dogs Trust and the RSPCA. This is a positive step forward in improving animal welfare and will act as a serious deterrent against animal cruelty. The increase to five years' imprisonment will provide one of the toughest sanctions in Europe, strengthening the UK's position as a global leader on animal welfare and will apply where anyone is convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Defra is keen to ensure that we uphold our high standards of animal welfare including in relation to horseracing. Irresponsible use of the whip is completely unacceptable.

The British Horseracing Association (BHA) requires that whips be used responsibly and jockeys may only use the whip within certain strict rules. The BHA policy on the whip was drawn up in consultation with animal welfare groups, such as the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare and is published on the BHA website. The latest rules include a threshold on the number of times the whip can be used before racing stewards can consider an inquiry. If the rules are broken, the jockey may be banned from racing for a certain number of days depending on the seriousness of the offence. Stewards also have the ability to impose a fine on a rider between £200 and £10,000.

In addition to sanctions from the sport, using the whip indiscriminately on a horse could be a criminal offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Defra is satisfied that the laws and rules in place are sufficient to restrict and limit the use of the whip in horse racing.

The traffic light system categorises countries, based on risk to protect public health and the vaccine rollout from variants of COVID-19. The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) produces risk assessments of countries and territories. Decisions on Red, Amber or Green List assignment and associated border measures are taken by Ministers, who take into account the JBC risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors.

All classification changes have been decided by ministers, informed by the latest data and analysis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) and wider public health considerations, to help the public understand the risks to public health of travelling to different destinations. The country allocations are reviewed on a three weekly cycle and the Government will not hesitate to take action where a country’s epidemiological picture changes.

The traffic light system categorises countries, based on risk to protect public health and the vaccine rollout from variants of COVID-19. The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) produces risk assessments of countries and territories. Decisions on Red, Amber or Green List assignment and associated border measures are taken by Ministers, who take into account the JBC risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors.

All classification changes have been decided by ministers, informed by the latest data and analysis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) and wider public health considerations, to help the public understand the risks to public health of travelling to different destinations. The country allocations are reviewed on a three weekly cycle and the Government will not hesitate to take action where a country’s epidemiological picture changes.

We have accepted the Rail Accident Investigation Board’s recommendations in the Eden Park report in full, and we are working with Network Rail to develop a programme to aim to install platform edge tactile strips on every platform in Great Britain.

The Department will publish the consultation response as soon as possible.

The Government takes road safety seriously and keeps the law under regular review. However, we do not currently have any plans to conduct a full review of all driving offences and penalties.

Under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the UK and the EU UK hauliers can undertake up to 2 additional laden journeys within the EU after a laden international journey from the UK, with a maximum of 1 cabotage movement outside Ireland.

The TCA ensures that the vast majority of haulage operations will continue as they did before the end of the transition period.

As set out in the Global Travel Taskforce report, our ambition is to have a system in place to facilitate travel certification for international travel. Any solution for international travel certification needs to be user friendly, interoperable with various other systems and able to facilitate a quick interaction at the border. We are continuing to progress work to explore the testing of technology solutions with multilateral organisations and international partners to ensure these can operate effectively at scale as international travel recovers.

The Government recognises the challenging circumstances aviation and associated business face as a result of Covid-19. Firms, across the economy, that are experiencing difficulties have been able to draw upon the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor. This includes support through loan guarantees, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The extension of Government-backed loans and furlough payments announced at the Budget build on the support package available and will help ensure this vital and vibrant part of the UK economy is ready to bounce back in the wake of the pandemic.

We continue to take a flexible approach and keep all impacts and policies under review.

The Department received over 15,000 responses to the consultation. We are carefully considering the consultation findings and will be publishing a response when we have completed this work, which is a priority.

The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) produces risk assessments of countries and territories. Decisions on Red, Amber or Green List assignment and associated border measures are taken by Ministers, who take into account the JBC risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors. Key factors in the JBC risk assessment of each country include genomic surveillance capability, COVID-19 transmission risk and Variant of Concern transmission risk. A summary of the JBC methodology has been published on GOV.UK, alongside key data that supports ministers’ decisions.

The Department published a comprehensive three-year evaluation of the effect of 20mph signed-only limits on 22 November 2018.

The research substantially strengthens the evidence base on perceptions, speeds and early outcomes associated with 20mph speed limits, and is the only major UK study to consider multiple case study areas and provide a national view.

The headline findings were:

• 20mph limits are supported by the majority of residents and drivers
• There has been a small reduction in median speed (less than 1mph).
• Vehicles travelling at higher speeds before the introduction of the 20mph limit have reduced their speed more than those already travelling at lower speeds.
• There is insufficient evidence to conclude that that there has been a significant change in collisions and casualties following the introduction of 20mph limits in residential areas.
• In one city centre case study there has been a significant reduction in collisions and casualties.

The government has issued clear guidance for both passengers and operators, with airports encouraged to introduce clear signage and one-way passenger flows where appropriate. Arrangements may vary depending on the airport and guidance is available to support operators to manage flows in a COVID-secure way.

We continue to improve processes which maintain the checks we need to carry out to keep the public safe, while minimising disruption, and passengers can support this process by ensuring they have completed the necessary requirements to enter the UK. The government continue to engage with the aviation sector to ensure they are supported in implementing best practices.

The country lists have been informed by public health advice, including extensive data from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and are reviewed every three weeks. The Department for Transport recommends returnees only to use public transport to travel home or to where they plan to self-isolate if there is no other option. If they must travel by public transport, they should take all safety precautions including keeping their distance, wearing a face covering, regularly washing their hands and planning ahead to avoid busy routes. They are advised, if possible, to download the NHS COVID-19 app before travelling, and to check in on the app where there are official NHS COVID-19 QR code posters along their route (such as stops to buy food or if they have to take a break) but otherwise minimise all stops on their journey. Returnees will also have undergone the required pre-departure tests before travelling.

Authorities are already required to consult with communities on low traffic neighbourhoods. We have no plans to enable local votes.

Ministers and officials, working with other Government Departments, have engaged extensively with Eurostar since March 2020 in relation to their financial situation and to help the company access Government support schemes where it is eligible and appropriate.

We continue to engage, at both official and Ministerial level, with Eurostar and the French government regarding Eurostar’s financial situation and any potential support proposals.

The Government supports both further electrification and the use of new, innovative technologies to decarbonise the rail network by 2050. The Department’s forthcoming Transport Decarbonisation Plan will set the strategic direction for rail decarbonisation and we will continue to develop individual decarbonisation schemes across the network, ensuring that they are both deliverable and affordable.

We are closely monitoring the situation and engaging with operators to ensure that essential public transport services continue.

The Government’s £225 million Emergency Active Travel Fund, launched in May, is designed to help local authorities implement measures to create an environment that is safer for both walking and cycling. This can include the development of low traffic neighbourhoods, should a local authority see fit.

Full funding allocations to local authorities for tranche 1 of the Emergency Active Travel Fund and indicative allocations for tranche 2 can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-active-travel-fund-local-transport-authority-allocations/emergency-active-travel-fund-total-indicative-allocations . Local authorities have received their tranche 1 funding, and an announcement on tranche 2 funding is due to be made shortly.

The bus market outside London is deregulated with decisions regarding service provision being primarily a commercial matter for bus operators, who are able to create demand responsive services.

The Secretary of State does however recognise the benefits that demand responsive transport has in areas with infrequent traditional bus services. This is why on September 2019 it was announced that the Department would introduce a £20 million Rural Mobility Fund to trial demand responsive services in rural and suburban areas. We are currently reviewing these bids.

The Department continues to consider options for the future of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise. Transport for London (TfL) has submitted a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for the devolution of the Great Northern Inner Suburban services. The Department has asked their officials to work with TfL to develop this proposal further. Any option proposed must be in the interests of all passengers and the tax-payer, aligning itself with the future plans of the TSGN network and industry reforms.

Passengers deserve punctual and reliable journeys at a fair price, which is why we are investing billions of pounds in modernising the network. We have saved a generation of passengers a third off their fares through the new 16-17 and 26-30 ‘millennial’ railcard, and this November will extend these savings to former servicemen and women through a new Veterans Railcard.

The Department is also working with industry to explore options for flexible commuters, such as carnets, and what steps could be taken quickly to make these as useful and convenient for passengers as possible.

The Department for Transport’s priority is to ensure that passengers are able to access the services they need. Where appropriate the Department may outline an expectation within the specification that first class seating is provided and request that the operator consults local stakeholder groups to inform a rolling stock configuration that is deliverable and meets the needs of the local market. The Department analyses operators’ proposals carefully, and challenges them as appropriate.

Whilst the Government is encouraging people to avoid public transport whenever possible, we understand that many disabled people continue to rely on transport services and maintaining their accessibility is therefore important.

On the 12th May the Department published guidance to help transport operators provide safe environments for their passengers and staff across all forms of public and private transport, including measures to assess and address the risks posed by COVID-19 in the transport sector.

Buses continue to play an important role in enabling disabled people to make essential journeys and we have reminded operators that laws supporting their access remain in force. Operators should ensure that staff are trained and equipped to provide passengers with assistance safely and should consider the impact on disabled passengers of any measures to support social distancing.

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) issued its own advice to the station staff of Train Operating Companies. This included specific advice on how staff could continue to provide assistance to disabled passengers whilst maintaining safe social distancing and good hygiene regimes, including advice on assisting visually impaired customers.

Monitoring of flight traffic conducted by Eurocontrol shows that between 24 March 2020 and 11 May 2020 the total number of flights arriving at Heathrow and Gatwick have decreased by 84% and 98% respectively when compared to the same date range of the previous year.

It is not possible to accurately determine from this data source whether flights during this period were cargo only or passenger flights, this information is officially collected by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and received from UK airports up to two months after the end of each month in adherence to statistical regulation (EC) 437/2003 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air.

We are committed to going further and faster to tackle climate change. Our bold and ambitious plan to achieve net zero emissions across all transport will help make our towns and cities better places to live, create new jobs, as well as improving air quality and health. We are working with industry and communities around the country to develop the plan to decarbonise transport and expect to publish it in the autumn ahead of COP26 in Glasgow.

Any extension of rights to travel facilities to all railway staff would be a matter for employers and employers. An assessment of this nature has not been undertaken by the Secretary of State.

For information regarding the gender and the disability status of those who have begun Kickstart placements I refer the honourable member to PQ 16981 and PQ 6283.

The Department for Work and Pensions will be monitoring and evaluating the Kickstart Scheme throughout and after its implementation. We will gather data on the ethnicity of Kickstart participants through the planned Kickstart participant survey and using information recorded on UC systems. We will publish the findings of the evaluation once complete.

Given the necessary focus on the departmental response to Covid-19, we are working to a longer timescale than previously anticipated. We continue to engage with disabled people and their representatives and plan to publish the formal consultation document in the coming months.

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.

As part of strengthening this safety net we have made Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) payable from the first day of sickness absence from work, rather than the fourth – where an individual is self-isolating due to coronavirus and meets all SSP eligibility conditions.

SSP provides a minimum level of income for employees when they are sick or incapable of work. Employers are legally required to pay SSP to eligible employees who are off work sick or incapable of work, where employees meet the qualifying conditions. Some employers may also decide to pay more, and for longer, through Occupational Sick Pay. More than half of employees receive more than SSP from their employer.

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, 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.

We have strengthened the welfare system, spending £7.4 billion on measures such as the Universal Credit uplift, on top of additional support such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

We have built on this extra support through the introduction of our Covid Winter Grant Scheme, now running to the 20th June as the Covid Local Support Grant, with a total investment of £269m.

The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, backed by £220 million, has already provided support during the Easter holidays this year, and will continue to do so during the summer and Christmas holidays.

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

The Benefit Cap and the two-child limit policies restore fairness between those receiving working age benefits and taxpayers in employment and a benefits structure adjusting automatically to family size is unsustainable

No such assessment has been made. Poverty projections are inherently speculative as they require projecting how income will change for every individual in society which are affected by a huge range of unknown factors.

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 September 2021.

Claimants on legacy benefits can make a claim for Universal Credit (UC) if they think they will be better off and should check carefully their eligibility and entitlements for UC before applying, as legacy benefits will end when claimants submit their UC 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.

DWP Ministers and officials regularly discuss support for carers with their counterparts across Government. The proposed table of benefits / pension rates for 2021/22, including Carer’s Allowance, was published on 4 December 2020 in the House Library, following the Secretary of State’s annual review of benefit rates. Since 2010, the rate of Carer’s Allowance has increased from £53.90 to £67.25 a week, meaning around an additional £700 a year for carers. Between 2020/21 and 2025/26 real terms expenditure on Carer’s Allowance is forecast to increase by nearly a third (around £1 billion). By 2025/26, the Government is forecast to spend just over £4bn a year on Carer’s Allowance.

The Government is committed to supporting disabled people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak including disabled children.

The Cabinet Office Disability Unit works with disability stakeholders and across Government Departments to ensure that the needs of disabled people are considered in the Government’s response to COVID-19.

On 19 May 2020 the Government announced £37.3 million for the Family Fund to help over 75,000 low-income families raising children who are disabled or seriously ill, including £10 million specifically in response to the pandemic. Details of the announcement have been published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/37-million-to-support-children-with-complex-needs

Furthermore, the Government has provided £3.2 billion of additional to support local authorities to address any pressures they are facing in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including in children’s social care and for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services.

We will publish the National Strategy for Disabled People this year taking into account the impacts of the pandemic on disabled people. The strategy will focus on the issues that disabled people say affect them the most in all aspects of life.

The Cabinet Office Disability Unit works with disability stakeholders and across Government Departments to ensure that the needs of disabled people are considered in the Government’s response to COVID-19.

The Government is clear that consideration of equality impacts must be integral in all key policy decisions, and that all equality and discrimination laws and obligations continue to apply during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation’s (JCVI) advice of 30 December placed “the clinically extremely vulnerable” (which includes those on the Shielded Patient List) and “all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality” at number 4 and 6 respectively on the priority list for phase 1 of the vaccination roll out.

Those definitions will apply to many people who are disabled, which has given many welcome assurance that they are being given priority status befitting the higher risks they face.

The £20 per week uplift to everyone on 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 March 2021.

The lower rates for younger claimants under 25 years reflects the fact that they are more likely to live in someone else's household and have lower living costs and lower earnings expectations. It also reinforces the stronger work incentives that Universal Credit creates for this age group which have been aided by the Department’s £2bn Kickstart scheme which is already creating thousands of high-quality jobs for young people.

For claimants who live independently, Universal Credit already includes separate elements to provide support for housing costs, children and childcare costs and support for disabled people and carers.

Care leavers up to the age of 22 are exempt from the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) Shared Accommodation Rate and are entitled to the higher, one bed LHA rate.

For those who require additional support Discretionary Housing Payments are available. Since 2011 we have provided over £1 billion in DHPs to local authorities to support households with their housing costs.

The Government is committed to supporting disabled people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. We continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people using existing and new data sources.

We are ensuring that disabled people continue to have access to employment support, disability benefits, financial support; food, medicines, as well as accessible communications and updated guidance.

We are clear that consideration of equality impacts must be integral in all key policy decisions. All equality and discrimination laws and obligations continue to apply during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Cabinet Office Disability Unit works with disability stakeholders and across Government Departments to ensure that the needs of disabled people are considered in the Government’s response to COVID-19.

The Government will publish the National Strategy for Disabled People this year taking into account the impacts of the pandemic on disabled people. The strategy will focus on the issues that disabled people say affect them the most in all aspects of life.

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 crisis, it will continue to assess how best to support low-income families, which is why we will look at the economic and health context in the new year.

DWP has commissioned a survey of claimants who have had experience of a telephone assessment. The survey will be undertaken over Summer 2020 and the findings will be published in line with Government Social Research Protocols.

The Department will be evaluating the effectiveness of telephone assessments, including claimant perception and stakeholder feedback.

The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve, and the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people.

The Government's immediate focus must be on supporting people and businesses through this difficult period. That is why we announced an extension to the furlough scheme, which has already saved millions of jobs.

Given the unprecedented economic context and the challenges facing the UK economy, we will take stock of the economy and public finances as we exit the current crisis and make the right decisions at that point.

It is premature to speculate about future public finances, budgets and the economy. We are thinking first and foremost about protecting people's health, their jobs and supporting businesses. The Office of Budget Responsibility and the Bank of England have said if we did not do what we are doing today the costs in the future would be far higher.

As with all aspects of Government policy, we will keep tax rates and spending under review, and any decisions on future changes will be taken as part of the annual Budget process in the context of the wider public finances.

The government continues to consider appropriate actions that it can take to protect both the public and the economy from the impacts of COVID-19. We have already introduced a range of measures to support businesses and individuals, ensure financial stability and reinforce social safety nets.

We recognise the pressure on pension investments during these challenging times. However, investments are for the long term and the government does not believe that interventions beyond the easements set out in guidance from the Pensions Regulator would be necessary or proportionate at this time.

On 1 April the Financial Conduct Authority, the Pensions Regulator and the Money and Pensions Service published a joint statement urging savers to take their time when making financial decisions, and to visit the Pension Advisory Service website for free pensions guidance before making any decisions about their retirement savings. https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/

The value of occupational defined benefit pensions is tracked monthly via the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) 7800 index. The most recent publication provides an assessment of the funding position of occupational defined benefit pension schemes, comprising both their assets and liabilities, as at 30 April 2020.

In addition, the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Financial Survey of Pension Schemes will provide information on the assets and liabilities of occupational pension schemes covering both defined benefit and defined contribution schemes. This is a quarterly survey with the first publication due in 2020.

There is insufficient data to estimate the precise economic impact on different groups.

The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve, and the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people.

Since 2010, the full yearly amount of the basic State Pension in 2020/21 is around £700 higher than if it had just been up-rated by earnings since April 2010. That’s a rise of over £1,900 in cash terms.

The information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The Department will look to publish its evaluation in Spring 2020. The evaluation will assess the impact of Universal Credit sanctions on supporting claimants into work. The impact on lone parents will be assessed. The evaluation will not assess the effectiveness of conditionality.

There is an exemption from the shared accommodation rate for those aged 25-34 who have previously spent 3 months, which doesn’t have to be continuous , in a homeless hostel/hostels specialising in rehabilitation and resettlement. There are no current plans to make legislative changes to extend this exemption to those under the age of 25 but as with all our policies, this will continue to be kept under review.

For individuals who may require more support and whose circumstances may make it difficult for them to share accommodation, Discretionary Housing Payments are available.

Nutritional information and an ingredients list are mandatory labelling requirement for drinks with 1.2% alcohol by volume (ABV) or below. This requirement is set out in the Retained EU Regulation No 1169/2011. No assessment has been made on the merits of legislating the ingredients list of alcoholic products with more than 1.2% ABV.

However, as part of the Government’s ‘Tackling Obesity’ strategy, published in July 2020, the Government committed to consult on whether mandatory calorie labelling should be introduced on all prepacked alcohol, as well as alcoholic drinks sold in the out of home sector, for alcohol products over 1.2% ABV. The upcoming consultation will seek evidence on the merits of introducing calorie labelling. Respondents to the consultation can suggest additional labelling requirements for consideration.

The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has invested £8.4 million into endometriosis research and £3.9 million into polycystic ovary syndrome research. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome. While it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions, the NIHR’s funding is available through open competition and we encourage researchers to submit applications in these areas.

No assessment has been made. Last year, 2.7 million vulnerable individuals were offered a free vitamin D supply by the Government. The provision of free vitamin D supplements was undertaken to support those that were shielding or were living in care homes, as they were more likely to have remained indoors in spring and summer. However, the shielding programme has now concluded in England.

The clinical risk groups for influenza were initially considered as a potential way to identify and prioritise individuals at risk of COVID-19 when recommendations for phase one of the vaccination programme were developed.

However, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s advice for the COVID-19 booster vaccine programme recommended offering vaccination to priority groups one to nine in phase one of the vaccination programme, as they received their primary course approximately six months ago.

We have made no formal assessment. The Department continues to engage with NHS England and NHS Improvement to build capacity and reduce the backlog in elective care

In September, the Department announced a further £1 billion, totalling £2 billion this year, to tackle the backlog. An additional £8 billion has been made available across the next three years to reduce waiting times and transform elective services, including cardiovascular care. This could deliver the equivalent of around nine million more checks, scans and procedures.

Plans for additional funding for dementia research are subject to Spending Review settlements. We will be setting out our plans on dementia for England for future years in due course.

NHS England and NHS Improvement encourage all general practitioner (GP) practices and primary care providers to become Safe Surgeries; to implement inclusive and accessible patient registration policies; and to provide equitable healthcare. Most recently this included NHS England and NHS Improvement's registration drive launched in February 2021 to encourage GP registration of inclusion health populations.

Legislation presently allows optometrists to directly refer patients into secondary care services.

No assessment has been made of direct referrals on waiting times or costs.

There are no plans to increase funding for allergy services. Most allergy services are commissioned locally through clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). CCGs are allocated funding from NHS England and NHS Improvement calculated using the CCGs funding allocation formula.

Legislation presently allows optometrists to directly refer patients into secondary care services.

No assessment has been made of direct referrals on waiting times or costs.

We are working urgently with international partners to ensure that British citizens vaccinated abroad with a United Kingdom (UK) recognised vaccine are able to demonstrate their vaccine status through the NHS COVID Pass. Work is ongoing to determine which non-United Kingdom vaccines, and certification solutions, could be recognised in this country for both international travel and for attending events and venues in the UK where individuals may be asked for proof of their COVID-19 status.

The Managed Quarantine Service has provisions in place to allow guests temporary exemption from managed quarantine to attend hospital appointments, including appointments and ultrasound scans for pregnant guests. Security or hotel personnel can obtain permission from the Department for a temporary exemption from quarantine to allow such appointments to take place.

No such assessment has been made. On 25 March 2020, the Government committed to provide free hospital car parking for National Health Service staff for the duration of the pandemic. Trusts continue to be funded to deliver this commitment.

Currently, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommends an interval of eight weeks between doses of all the available COVID-19 vaccines. On 14 May, in response to the increasing rates of infection of the Delta variant, the Government amended the interval of second doses for the most vulnerable cohorts who were offered a vaccine in phase one of the programme, from 12 weeks to eight weeks. The eight week interval was applied to all eligible cohorts from 6 July.

Current evidence shows that a longer dose interval produces a better immune response and as such, the JCVI has advised against reducing the dose interval further in order to maximise the effectiveness of the vaccination programme.

To date, there has not been any modelling by the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies on projected Long COVID case numbers.

From September 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement will publish activity data on referral, assessments and waiting times for post-COVID-19 assessment clinics.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is used in a limited number of settings to protect wearers against hazards and risks, such as surgical mask or respirators used in medical and industrial settings. FFP2/PPF3 masks and other higher specification PPE must be professionally fit tested to ensure that air flows through the filter rather than around the mask. If these masks are provided without fit testing, it is not clear that they will be effective. Additionally, in settings where members of the public are currently required to wear face coverings, it may be difficult to safely and comfortably wear a fitted mask for extended periods of time.

The legal requirements to wear a face covering will be lifted in all settings on 19 July in line with step four of the roadmap. However, to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, the Government expects and recommends the wearing of face coverings when coming into contact with people in enclosed and crowded spaces, such as public transport. This will reduce the risk of individuals and others around them transmitting COVID 19.

The Government’s guidance on face coverings will be published in due course. This guidance will enable people to make informed decisions about how to manage the risk to themselves and others.

The Stroke Association’s report acknowledges that the pandemic has led to many beneficial innovations across the stroke care pathway. Many clinical teams are using virtual rehabilitation alongside face-to-face contact with 80% of patients who received such virtual care reporting positive or very positive experiences

The National Stroke Service Model, published by NHS England and NHS Improvement in May, will ensure that all patients will be entitled to needs based regular reviews following their stroke, typically at six weeks, six months and then annually. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement have funded the Stroke Association’s provision of Stroke Connect, which was developed in direct response to COVID-19. The service offers stroke survivors reassurance, support and links to the wider services they can access as part of their recovery.

A specific assessment has not yet been made on a duty for integrated care boards (ICBs) to promote parity of esteem between mental and physical health. The principle of parity of esteem was enshrined in the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

Legislation will set out minimum membership of ICBs and which will include representatives from National Health Service providers and we fully expect mental health trusts to play a central role in decision-making. Local areas will also have the flexibility to determine any further representation in their area, whether on the ICB or within the integrated care partnership.

We do not currently have any plans to do so. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England and has a key responsibility in the overall assurance of safety and quality of health and adult social care services. All providers of regulated activities, including National Health Service and independent providers, must register with the CQC and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall. The CQC has a wide range of enforcement powers that it can use if the provider does not meet them. These include cancelling registration. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to increased investment in intensive, crisis and forensic community support for people with a learning disability and autistic people by 2023/24.

Allegations of sexual assault are taken extremely seriously. We regularly meet with security companies to ensure all staff adhere to the highest professional standards. It is a requirement that our contracted security staff have passed the Security Industry Accreditation process. If staff fall below these standards, we demand an immediate investigation by the company, including with the police, resulting in the suspension of individuals where appropriate.

The next Spending Review will set out the Government’s spending plans for health and social care for future years. NHS England’s Cancer Recovery Plan set out the aims and actions needed to recover from the impact of COVID-19, while the NHS Long Term Plan remains the detailed strategy for cancer services and will continue to apply after the pandemic.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have established a task and finish group to review psychosocial support for people affected by cancer, including young people. The NHS Long Term Plan states that, by 2021, where appropriate every person, including young people, diagnosed with cancer should receive a Personalised Care and Support Plan based on holistic needs assessment, end of treatment summaries and health and wellbeing information and support, including for mental health needs. All patients should have access to the right expertise and support.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have committed to midwifery-led continuity of carer, so that it becomes the default model of care for women using maternity services across England by March 2023. NHS England and NHS Improvement have provided local maternity systems with £90.05 million in service development funding from 2018 to 2021 to fulfil transformational objectives, including implementing continuity of carer models. An additional £96 million was announced earlier this year in response to the emerging findings from the Ockenden Report, the majority of which will be invested in additional midwives and obstetric capacity.

Upcoming NHS England and NHS Improvement guidance will include advice on the implementation of maternal medicine-focused continuity of carer teams, which could be used to accommodate women deemed higher risk due to previous loss, whilst still offering continuity of the midwife caring for them.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets out that a national network of community first responders and automated external defibrillators (AEDs) will help save up to 4,000 lives each year by 2028. Many community defibrillators have been provided in public locations through national lottery funding, community fundraising schemes, workplace funding or by charities. From May 2019, the Government has required all contractors refurbishing or building new schools through centrally delivered programmes, to provide at least one AED.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are procuring a partner to co-ordinate skills development over the next two years which will significantly increase the use of AEDs by individuals in community settings supported by confident cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills.

Providers listed on GOV.UK have declared and evidenced compliance with the relevant minimum standards for their commercial provision of testing, including participating in the three-staged United Kingdom Accreditation Service process if they are providing sample collection and/or test analysis services.

The Department is working closely with private providers to ensure appropriate standards of performance are met. Private providers’ performance is continually monitored including their ability to provide samples, analysis and report results on time. The Department takes rapid action when providers deliver inadequate services. This includes providers receiving a five-day warning to demonstrate they have rectified their service and if they do not, they are removed from the appropriate GOV.UK list.

NHS Digital has set out which structured and coded data will be collected on its website. Data shared by NHS Digital is subject to robust rules on privacy, security and confidentiality. Access will only be granted to the minimum amount of data necessary to achieve the relevant health and social care purpose. All requests to access patient data from this collection will be assessed by NHS Digital’s Data Access Request Service, to ensure organisations have a legal basis to use the data and that it will be used safely, securely and appropriately. These requests for access will also be subject to scrutiny and oversight by the Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data.

NHS Digital publishes the details of the data they allow access to on their data release register, with audits of those organisations who have been granted access. NHS Digital also provides information to patients about their ability to opt-out of their data being used for purposes beyond their own care, such as through the National Data Opt-Out.

The Government recognises that access to breaks and respite provides important support for people with care needs and their carers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have provided approximately £1.8 billion in specific funding for adult social care. This includes £1.35 billion Infection Control Fund, which has been used towards supporting day centres to re-open safely.

We are also continuing to work with local authorities, in collaboration with Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure, where possible, the safe resumption of these services.

In addition, have provided over £2 billion in 2021 to the Better Care Fund which local authorities can access to fund social care services in their areas, including respite services.

National Health Service audiology services are locally commissioned services and responsibility for waiting times lies with local commissioners. While no recent assessment has been made of trends in diagnosis, work is ongoing to improve access to audiological services. This is being led by the Elective Recovery Programme and Getting It Right First Time.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are working closely with front-line clinical experts, patient representative groups and leading charities to develop evidence-based improvement tools to help improve inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) care, including reducing diagnosis times. This work includes a new IBD RightCare scenario, which will set out high-quality joined-up care at every point of the patient journey, as well as IBD data packs for local commissioners. These packs present data from different parts of the care pathway to help local systems identify the factors driving unwarranted variations in treatment, as well as narrative on how outcomes can be optimised.

The Government is committed to sustainable improvement of the adult social care system and will bring forward proposals in 2021. We are working closely with local and national partners, such as Alzheimer’s Society, to ensure our approach to reform is informed by diverse perspectives, including of those with lived experience of the care sector. In addition, we will be setting out our plans on dementia for England for future years in due course.

We are committed to working with the travel industry and private testing providers to reduce the cost of travel testing, for the British public including for those travelling for family reasons as well as ensuring travel is as safe as possible. NHS Test and Trace tests are available at the market mid-point.

For 2021/22, we have provided a further £1 billion for the recovery of elective procedures, including cancer and £325 million for diagnostic equipment. In addition, £6.6 billion funding has been provided to support the wider health system.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning early years speech and language therapy services, as they are best placed to make individual funding decisions based on local need.

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

In November 2018, the law changed to allow doctors on the General Medical Council’s Specialist Register to prescribe cannabis-based product for medicinal use (CBPMs). Since then, two CBPMs - Sativex and Epidyolex have been made available for prescribing on the National Health Service, where clinically appropriate. This follows clear demonstrated evidence of their safety and clinical and cost effectiveness.

There remain concerns over the clinical and cost effectiveness of unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use. To help further the evidence base, significant progress has been made to support two randomised controlled trials into early onset and genetic generalised epilepsy and to establish a national patient registry. We are also considering what further action the Government might take to widen access to unlicensed cannabis-based products.

We encourage employers to use their local discretion and flexibility to be as supportive as possible of their staff in meeting their childcare needs. Guidance on supporting staff with childcare responsibilities during the pandemic is available on the NHS Employers website at the following link:

https://www.nhsemployers.org/covid19/health-safety-and-wellbeing/supporting-staff-with-childcare-responsibilities

Employers are required to consider flexible working arrangements for all staff in the workplace, including those with caring commitments. This is covered in Section 33 of the NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook, which available at the following link:

https://www.nhsemployers.org/tchandbook/part-5-equal-opportunities/section-33-balancing-work-and-personal-life

Centene Corporation does not directly own any general practitioner (GP) surgeries in England. It is the owner of Operose Health Ltd.’s holding companies. Operose Health Ltd currently hold a number of GP contracts in England.

Regardless of whether a general practice is run by an individual, a partnership or any other organisation, all providers of National Health Service core primary medical services are subject to the same requirements, regulation and standards.

The Government is committed to providing all babies with the best possible start to their lives. The Government recently published A Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days. The Vision outlines actions for both national and local government to improve health outcomes for babies and children in England. The Healthy Child Programme continues to provide support for babies through local services as well as additional support where needed.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advise Government on which vaccines the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation, based on their assessments.

Recent assessment of the data available shows that the first dose of both vaccines currently deployed provides substantial protection within 2-3 weeks of vaccination from severe COVID-19 disease. The second vaccine dose is important to sustain the protection and extend its duration. In the short term however, the additional impact of the second dose is likely to be modest and most of the initial protection from clinical disease is after the first dose of vaccine. The four UK Chief Medical Officers agreed with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that prioritising the first doses of vaccine for as many people as possible on the priority list would protect the greatest number of at-risk people in the shortest possible time.

There are currently no plans to reduce the length of time between the provision of first and second COVID-19 doses for people deemed to be clinically immunocompromised.

The JCVI will continually monitor and assess vaccine effectiveness, including the protection afforded to specific patient groups, such as immunocompromised people, on an ongoing basis. If new evidence comes to light, the JCVI will review their policy to help better protect those most at risk of COVID-19 in the UK.

The ‘NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20 – 2023/24’ sets out detailed plans to increase investment in mental health services over the life of the course of the Plan and how children and young people’s mental health services will grow faster than both overall NHS funding and total mental health spending. The Implementation Plan is available at the following link:

www.longtermplan.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/nhs-mental-health-implementation-plan-2019-20-2023-24.pdf

On 5 March we announced £79 million to be used to significantly expand children’s mental health services. This funding forms part of the approximately £500 million for mental health and National Health Service workforce announced at the Spending Review in November 2020. This additional funding will allow around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services; 2,000 more children and young people to access eating disorder services; and a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges over the next financial year.

We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement, Public Health England and others to gather evidence and assess the potential longer-term mental health impacts of COVID-19 and plan for how to support the public’s mental health and wellbeing throughout the coming weeks and months.

The most recent NHS Digital Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics publication shows that there were 309,961 people in contact with children and young people’s mental health services in December 2020 compared to 235,706 in December 2019.

Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics can be found at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-services-monthly-statistics.

Lateral flow device (LFD) tests taken at test sites, such as on school and college grounds, do not require a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmation as these tests are done in a supervised environment. The self-isolation period must be commenced from the positive LFD test in a supervised environment.

We recognise that specialist weight management services provide a critical part of the weight management pathway, in accordance with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance. The £70 million investment in weight management services will enable up to 700,000 adults to have access to support that can help them to achieve a healthy weight, including specialist clinical support.

For children and young people, there is a programme in place to promote early access to effective, NICE approved treatments for eating disorders, working in partnership with children, young people and their families. For adults, the ‘Adult Eating Disorders: Community, Inpatient and Intensive Day Patient Care’ guidance was published in August 2019, emphasising that eating disorder services should provide evidence-based treatment, care and support for the full range of eating disorder diagnoses, including binge eating disorder.

As a residence-based system, the National Health Service does not provide healthcare, including vaccinations, outside the United Kingdom. The normal rules on access to the NHS will continue to apply.

Wherever possible, British nationals should aim to be vaccinated in the country where they live. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are closely monitoring other countries’ vaccination plans and will share information on local vaccine programmes on their travel advice pages as they are announced. Anyone choosing to travel should consider the public health advice and travel restrictions in the country they are visiting and factor costs associated with the requirement to quarantine on arrival to the UK.

The report raises a number of important issues concerning the treatment and diagnosis of endometriosis which will be carefully considered as part of our ongoing work in women’s health.

Being a kinship carer alone is not cause for prioritisation for a COVID-19 vaccination. This is based on the clinical assessment that most children are not considered to be at increased risk of COVID-19 mortality. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises that only those children at very high risk of exposure and serious outcomes, such as older children with severe neuro-disabilities within residential care, should be offered vaccination as part of Phase 1. There are currently no plans to prioritise kinship carers that are not in the first nine COVID-19 vaccination priority groups in the next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Unpaid carers are included in the JCVI’s priority group 6; which includes individuals who are eligible for a carer’s allowance, or those who are the sole or primary carer of an elderly or disabled person who is at increased risk of COVID-19 mortality and therefore clinically vulnerable. This means that if a kinship carer is the sole or primary carer of a child who was prioritised for vaccination in cohorts 4 or 6, they will be offered the vaccination in cohort 6 themselves.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that prison governors should make every effort to ensure persons in detained settings are offered vaccination in line with the offer to the wider community according to their priority group. The JCVI’s advice is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-the-health-and-social-care-secretary-on-covid-19-vaccination-phase-1-advice/letter-from-the-jcvi-to-the-health-and-social-care-secretary-on-further-considerations-on-phase-1-advice-1-march-2021

Guidance was issued to NHS England and NHS Improvement Health and Justice Commissioners and Health and Justice healthcare providers on 22 March 2021 on next steps on uptake and supply. A copy of the letter is attached.

The information is not currently held in the format requested.

No specific data is centrally held regarding the number of prisoners who are eligible for the Covid-19 vaccination in the first phase of the programme. We do not centrally hold data on how many prisoners have been vaccinated in priority groups 1-9 so far.

We cannot provide information on the numbers of prison staff eligible for vaccination or vaccinated as data is not collected on vaccinations delivered broken down by occupation. NHS England publishes daily and weekly data on overall numbers of vaccinations in England, including those who have received a 1st and 2nd dose. This is available at the following link:

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

The recommendations on what personal protective equipment (PPE) is required in which settings, including the use of FFP3 masks, is set out in the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) guidance, which was last updated on 21 January 2021. These recommendations are agreed by an expert group of clinicians and scientists from across all four nations of the United Kingdom. They are based on the latest clinical evidence and are kept under constant review.

The IPC recommendations are underpinned by the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual practice guide and associated literature reviews and are consistent with World Health Organization guidance for protecting health and social care workers from COVID-19.

The information is not yet available in the format requested. The operational process to build stockpiles is supported by a range of detailed operational and management information. We currently are working to fully validate this data.

In December 2020, we established a four-month stockpile of COVID-19 critical personal protective equipment (PPE), including FFP3 masks. We are confident we can meet the demand from the National Health Service for FFP3s and other PPE throughout the winter period.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The JCVI has advised that the first priorities for any COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of COVID-19 mortality and the protection of health and social care staff and systems. Therefore, in line with the recommendations of the JCVI, the vaccine will be initially rolled out to the priority groups.

This includes care home residents and staff, people over 80 years old and health and care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and risk, including those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and those aged 16-64 years old with certain underlying health conditions. Individuals with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment are considered clinically extremely vulnerable and will be eligible for a vaccine. Anyone with a history of haematological malignancy should be offered a vaccination at priority group six.

Consideration has been given to vaccination of household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals. However, at this time there is no data on the size of the effect of COVID-19 vaccines on transmission. Evidence is expected to accrue during the course of the vaccine programme and until that time the JCVI is not in a position to advise vaccination solely on the basis of indirect protection.

On 24 February the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) published a clarification of their advice on vaccinating people with a learning disability. They confirmed their view that priority should be given to those with a severe and profound learning disability, but recognised concerns about coding of learning disability on general practitioner (GP) systems and supported a practical approach of inviting everyone who is on the GP Learning Disability Register for vaccination in cohort six in phase one.

Phase two of the COVID-19 vaccine programme will cover all adults under 50 years old not already included in phase one. Interim advice has been published by the JVCI recommending an age-based approach which the Government has accepted in principle. This is subject to final advice from JCVI.

The success of restrictions rests on them reducing the number of contacts between infected and susceptible individuals within the population, thereby reducing the number of infections. Mobility and payment data in April 2020, November 2020 and in recent days show substantial declines in the number of contacts leading to lower numbers of COVID-19 infections in spring last year and in the second half of November 2020. The Office for National Statistics’ COVID-19 Infection Survey shows that prevalence has recently fallen from its late-December peaks. The lagged fall in hospitalisations and deaths provides good evidence of a causal link between lockdowns and reduction in transmission of the virus.

Multiple data sources including the Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS) and pillar 2 test data showed a reduction in transmission in children following schools closing for October half term and transmission rates increasing again after half term. CIS data also showed a substantial decline in positivity in children aged 11 to 16 years old, which was steeper than in older age groups, following schools closing in December 2020. This is supported by the CoMix Social Contact Survey that shows the closing of schools is associated with reduced contact rates and the consensus view across models that estimate schools reopening will increase transmission and ‘R’ by a factor of 1.1 to 1.5 or 10% to 50%.

For workers in the National Health Service, infection prevention and control guidance, which is published on GOV.UK and updated most recently on 21 January 2021, sets out the occasions when an FFP3 mask should be used.

By December 2020, we had built a four-month stockpile of COVID-19 critical personal protective equipment, including FFP3 masks. We are confident we have a secure supply for frontline workers in the NHS.

Vaccination against COVID-19 is offered to every adult living in the United Kingdom free of charge, regardless of immigration status. National Health Service frontline health and social care workers have been prioritised in the first phase of the vaccination programme. This includes foreign NHS frontline healthcare workers.

Vaccination centres are subject to the same standards to support people with accessibility needs including visual impairment as all health care services. This includes ensuring good lighting and clear signage. In addition, marshals and staff will help people attending vaccination centres to navigate through the centre safely. The public may choose the most appropriate vaccination service to suit their needs. This may be best met by their general practitioner.

When sent an invitation for vaccine by letter, the public are directed to the location’s individual details on accessibility. The letter also provides links to guidance and advice which can be enlarged on a screen, provided in accessible formats as well as provided in hard copy.

All sites are designed to ensure they are COVID-19 secure. Guidance has been provided by the National Health Service to ensure social distancing is in operation, sanitising stations are readily available, facemasks worn at all times, healthcare professionals are wearing appropriate personal protective equipment and vaccinations should be deferred for those with confirmed COVID-19 infection.

Evidence that COVID-19 can be spread by asymptomatic people is available at the following link:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7508369/

Current evidence shows that the COVID-19 virus is primarily transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact routes.

Public Health England has published further information about COVID-19 transmission which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phe-factors-contributing-to-risk-of-sars-cov2-transmission-in-various-settings-26-november-2020

Evidence that COVID-19 can be spread by asymptomatic people is available at the following link:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7508369/

Current evidence shows that the COVID-19 virus is primarily transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact routes.

Public Health England has published further information about COVID-19 transmission which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phe-factors-contributing-to-risk-of-sars-cov2-transmission-in-various-settings-26-november-2020

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that phase one of the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be targeted at reducing mortality, as well as protecting health and social care staff and systems. As a result, vaccines have first been prioritised amongst care home residents and staff, followed by people aged over 80 years old and health and social care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors.

As set out by the JVCI, dental care staff fall under the second priority cohort during phase one, comprising of health and social care workers. The JCVI’s advice states that this not only includes those working for the NHS, but also those in independent, voluntary, non-standard and community healthcare settings.

The Government is committed to publishing data that has informed its decision making, including the tiers framework and allocations.

We have also published supporting information to accompany the laying of the most recent regulations are laid before Parliament on 30 November, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-health-economic-and-social-effects-of-covid-19-and-the-tiered-approach

Epidemiological data and projection models on local restriction tiers, including commentary on individual tier allocation decisions, is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938964/Coronavirus_England_briefing_26_November.pdf.

This provides further information and context beyond the headline metrics as to why areas are in particular tiers currently.

We take parliamentary scrutiny incredibly seriously and it is fundamentally important that hon. Members are provided with accurate and timely information to enable them to hold the Government to account. We are working rapidly to provide all Members with accurate answers to their questions, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hon. Member’s question will be answered as soon as possible.

NHS Long Term Plan work to ensure early and rapid access to heart failure diagnostic tests remains a priority for NHS England and NHS Improvement during the COVID-19 pandemic. NHS England and NHS Improvement are committed to working with regions and networks to increase access to the B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) blood test and echocardiography, to improve the early detection and optimum management of heart failure.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are also working with voluntary sector partners, employers, local authorities, community pharmacists and general practitioner practices to provide opportunities for the public to check on their health, through readily accessible tests of high-risk conditions.

No information is held centrally regarding the number and proportion of people who having been given the BNP blood test and who are then referred to a specialist early for further investigation and diagnosis.

Following significant increased demand for National Health Service gender services, three new clinics are being established in London, Merseyside and Cheshire, and Manchester working to a new service specification. The first of these clinics, London, began seeing patients in July 2020. The clinics will be evaluated over a period of up to three years and planning is underway to establish similar services in other parts of the country.

Face coverings are largely intended to protect others and not the wearer against the spread of infection. Evidence on the effectiveness of face coverings in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in community settings is constantly developing, and research is being conducted all over the world, leading to a variety of observations and suggested conclusions that vary in their degree of confidence.

In June 2020 the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies published a briefing paper on the impact of false positives and false negatives in the United Kingdom’s COVID-19 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction testing programme, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gos-impact-of-false-positives-and-negatives-3-june-2020

Officials are working closely together to ensure coherence between the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Women’s Health Strategies.

Development of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy and Women’s Health Strategy was paused at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, work on both strategies is now getting underway. We plan to publish the Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy in 2021, details of the scope and objectives will be announced in due course. We are currently working to consider priorities for the Women’s Health Strategy including how we can ensure that women’s voices are heard more effectively moving forward.

Ensuring equal access to contraception will be a key theme of our new Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy. Sexual and reproductive health services have remained open during the pandemic though some are temporarily reducing their face-to-face appointments and may only be able to see emergency or urgent cases in person. Services are maintaining access during this time through scaling up of online services including increasing eligibility through current provision or utilising a neighbours’ service for residents of another local authority.

In recognition of the importance of transparency in these unprecedented times, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) has been publishing the statements and the accompanying evidence it has reviewed to demonstrate how the scientific understanding of COVID-19 has continued to evolve as new data emerges, and how SAGE’s advice has quickly adapted to new findings that reflect a changing situation.

Our approach as to keeping gyms and leisure centres open during future lockdowns will be guided by the science and advice from SAGE.

The Government keeps these restrictions constantly under review.

In recognition of the importance of transparency in these unprecedented times, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) has been publishing the statements and the accompanying evidence it has reviewed to demonstrate how the scientific understanding of COVID-19 has continued to evolve as new data emerges, and how SAGE’s advice has quickly adapted to new findings that reflect a changing situation.

Our approach as to keeping gyms and leisure centres open during future lockdowns will be guided by the science and advice from SAGE.

The Government keeps these restrictions constantly under review.

Treatments may be brought into routine use in the National Health Service after their efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness have been appropriately demonstrated. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for assessing new technologies and interventional procedures, as well as producing guidelines for best practice of treatment and care.

NICE has produced diagnostics guidance on technologies for managing blood glucose levels in people with type 1 diabetes. These integrated sensor-augmented pump therapy systems combine continuous glucose monitoring with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion.

The Government expects clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to give fair consideration to all patients who have had fertility treatment delayed so that no one misses out on treatment due to COVID-19.

NHS England has agreed a joint statement with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, to encourage CCGs to give special consideration to the need for flexibility and sensitivity for individuals whose waiting times, investigations or planned treatment have been disrupted due to COVID-19. This is to ensure that all women and their partners seeking fertility treatment are treated fairly. The statement was sent to the National Health Service on 6 November 2020.

The level of provision of local health services available to patients, including fertility treatment, is a matter for local healthcare commissioners. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have a statutory responsibility to commission healthcare services including fertility services that meet the needs of their whole population.

In respect of National Health Service fertility services, the Government have been consistently clear that we expect CCGs to commission fertility services in line with recommendations in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) fertility guidelines, so that there is equal access across England. The NICE fertility guidelines are evidence-based and represent national best-practice for clinicians to achieve the most effective treatment.

As we move into the winter months, it is more important than ever to following existing Government advice on vitamin D supplements.

At this time, the evidence is insufficient to prove that vitamin D helps people respond to COVID-19.

Public Health England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence are currently re-reviewing the evidence, which will be published in mid-December.

We take parliamentary scrutiny incredibly seriously and it is fundamentally important that hon. Members are provided with accurate and timely information to enable them to hold the Government to account. We are working rapidly to provide all Members with accurate answers to their questions, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hon. Member’s question will be answered as soon as possible.

Existing Government advice is that everybody should take a daily 10 microgram vitamin D supplement between October and early March to maintain musculoskeletal health. This is particularly important for shielded groups, care home residents, prisoners and black, Asian and minority ethnic groups who may be more at risk of not getting enough vitamin D from sunlight.

Public Health England will shortly be updating relevant web pages and public-facing channels to remind people of the importance of taking vitamin D supplements over autumn and winter.

Decisions on tiers are made by ministers based on public health recommendations primarily informed by five key indicators - the case detection rate in all age groups, case detection rates among the over 60 year olds, the rate at which case rates are rising or falling, positivity rate and pressures on the NHS.

Final decisions on tiering are made by the COVID-19 Operations Committee.

As of 6 January, all areas have been moved into tier 4 and the Government will review the tiering allocations every 14 days.

The Department has noted the findings from this study. Public Health England (PHE) is monitoring any new, high quality evidence on nutrition and COVID-19 and is seeking further advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) as appropriate. On 29 June 2020, the SACN and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a rapid evidence review which concluded that there is currently no evidence to support taking vitamin D supplements to reduce the risk or severity of COVID-19.

In April 2020, PHE re-issued advice on vitamin D supplementation, advising that people who do not go outdoors often should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D to prevent deficiency.

The Department’s public consultation from 28 August to 18 September proposed changes to the Human Medicine Regulations and welcomed views from a wide variety of stakeholders. The response to consultation, which has now closed, will be issued in due course.

As part of the consultation process, the Department, in collaboration with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, held a number of meetings with health and social care professional bodies and pharmaceutical industry representatives. The Department invited views from a wide range of organisations, including patient groups, to respond to the consultation.

Public Health England (PHE) supported the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to review emerging evidence on vitamin D for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. NICE’s review concluded that there is currently no robust evidence to support taking vitamin D supplements to reduce the risk or severity of COVID-19. The review was published in June 2020 and can be accessed at the following link:

www.nice.org.uk/advice/es28/evidence/evidence-review-pdf-8777674477

PHE and NICE will keep this topic under review and consider updating the evidence summary if emerging high-quality evidence suggests a change to existing conclusions and advise the Government accordingly.

The National Health Service and the wider scientific community are currently working to better understand the disease course of COVID-19 infection, including the prevalence, severity and duration of symptoms, and how best to support recovery. The National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation have invested £8.4 million in the Post-HOSPitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID), led by Christopher Brightling at the University of Leicester. This study is one of the world’s largest comprehensive research studies into the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 on hospitalised patients.

The NHS is working to expand access to COVID-19 rehabilitation treatments for those who have survived the virus but still have problems with breathing, mental health problems or other longer-term complications. As part of this, in July the NHS launched ‘Your COVID Recovery’ service, a personalised programme to support the recovery of people who have been in hospital or suffered at home with the virus.

The research currently underway will inform future NHS service design and provision.

The stay at home guidance sets out that if someone who has been isolating for 10 days still has a temperature, they should continue to self-isolate and seek medical advice. People do not need to self-isolate after 10 days if they only have a cough or loss of sense of smell or taste, as these symptoms can last for several weeks after the infection has gone. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

The National Health Service and the wider scientific community are currently working to better understand the disease course of COVID-19 infection, including the prevalence, severity and duration of symptoms, and how best to support recovery. The National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation have invested £8.4 million in the Post-HOSPitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID), led by Christopher Brightling at the University of Leicester. This study is one of the world’s largest comprehensive research studies into the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 on hospitalised patients and will inform future service design and provision.

The new ‘Your COVID Recovery’ service, announced on 5 July, forms part of NHS plans to expand access to COVID-19 rehabilitation treatments for those who have survived the virus but still have problems with breathing, mental health problems or other complications.

The stay at home guidance sets out that if someone who has been isolating for 10 days still has a temperature, they should continue to self-isolate and seek medical advice. People do not need to self-isolate after 10 days if they only have a cough or loss of sense of smell or taste, as these symptoms can last for several weeks after the infection has gone. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

The National Health Service and the wider scientific community are currently working to better understand the disease course of COVID-19 infection, including the prevalence, severity and duration of symptoms, and how best to support recovery. The National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation have invested £8.4 million in the Post-HOSPitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID), led by Christopher Brightling at the University of Leicester. This study is one of the world’s largest comprehensive research studies into the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 on hospitalised patients and will inform future service design and provision.

The new ‘Your COVID Recovery’ service, announced on 5 July, forms part of NHS plans to expand access to COVID-19 rehabilitation treatments for those who have survived the virus but still have problems with breathing, mental health problems or other complications.

We recognise the crucial role that unpaid carers play in supporting people with dementia, especially during the pandemic. Our guidance for unpaid carers published on 8 April is designed to apply across a range of conditions.

In addition, on 2 December the Government updated the local tiering regulations to allow carers in all three tiers to arrange for another family member or friend to provide respite care and give carers a break. The new tiering regulations also allow individuals caring for someone with a disability at home to form a support bubble with another household.

On 1 December, we also published updated guidance to enable more meaningful indoor visits to take place for care home residents across all tiers. This is enabled by providing testing to visitors, which was available before Christmas.

NHS England and NHS Improvement’s guidance ‘Visiting healthcare inpatient settings during the COVID-19 pandemic’ states that there should be reasonable adjustments to allow certain groups of people, including people with dementia, to have a family member or friend visit them if not being present would cause the patient to be distressed. This applies to all inpatient settings.

We commissioned research through the National Institute for Health Research on how to manage or mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on people with dementia and their carers living in the community. Concise advice was produced for people with dementia and their carers respectively. This is available at the following link:

http://www.idealproject.org.uk/covid/

The Social Care Institute for Excellence has published advice on COVID-19 and dementia in care homes in collaboration with NHS England and NHS Improvement aimed at supporting residents, carers and homes which is available at the following link:

https://www.scie.org.uk/care-providers/coronavirus-covid-19/dementia/care-homes

The Cancer Drugs Fund will be extended to create a new Innovative Medicines Fund so that doctors can use the most advanced, life-saving treatments for conditions such as cancer.

Detailed proposals for the new Innovative Medicines Fund are in development and will be consulted on in due course. The will extend the successes of the reformed Cancer Drugs Fund into other areas.

The NHS Long Term Plan for Cancer states that “by 2021, where appropriate every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care, including needs assessment, a care plan and health and wellbeing information and support”.

The Government recognises that social distancing and self-isolation are likely to increase the risk of loneliness and mental health issues. To respond to this Public Health England has published guidance advising the public on how to look after their mental health and wellbeing during the coronavirus outbreak. We have set up NHS Volunteer Responders to help support the 1.5 million people in England who are at most risk from the virus to stay well. Mental health providers are looking to maximise the use of digital and virtual channels, such as helplines and video consultations, to keep delivering support to those needing mental health support. We have provided £5 million additional funding to mental health charities providing mental health and wellbeing support to those who need it.

Essential and urgent cancer treatment and care will continue during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

People with certain cancers and those who have received or are receiving certain treatments are at higher risk if they catch COVID-19. The Government has advised around 200,000 cancer patients who are particularly vulnerable to stay at home for 12 weeks to minimise their risk of infection, by following Public Health England guidance which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19

People with cancer who are not at highest risk should still take precautions to reduce their risk of infection by staying at home, avoiding people who are unwell, washing their hands regularly and carefully following the social distancing measures in place.

People can still attend hospital for essential appointments, and cancer teams are finding ways to reduce the need for them to leave their homes wherever possible, for example offering telephone or video consultations.

No such assessment has been made.

To improve cancer care, the NHS Long Term Plan sets out how we will speed up the path from innovation to business-as-usual, spreading proven new techniques and technologies and reducing variation. Faster, smarter and effective radiotherapy, supported by greater networking of specialised expertise, will mean more patients are offered curative treatment, with fewer side effects and shorter treatment times.

Since October 2010, the Cancer Drugs Fund has enabled over 120,000 approvals for treating people in England with life-extending cancer drugs that would not otherwise have been available to them. This year £340 million has been invested in the Fund and we have spent more than £1.9 billion helping people with cancer get the treatments they need.

By 2021, where appropriate every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care, including needs assessment, a care plan and health and wellbeing information and support. This will be delivered in line with the NHS Comprehensive Model for Personalised Care. This will empower people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer and maximise the potential of digital and community-based support. Over the next three years every patient with cancer will receive a Personalised Care and Support Plan based on holistic needs assessment, end of treatment summaries and health and wellbeing information and support. All patients, including those with secondary cancers, will have access to the right expertise and support, including a Clinical Nurse Specialist or other support worker.

NHS England has committed funding of over £1.3 billion over the next five years to deliver the commitments on cancer in the Long Term Plan.

We have committed through the NHS Long Term Plan and the NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20 – 2023/24 to ensure that all acute hospitals have an all-age mental health liaison service in place by 2020/21, with 50% of these meeting the ‘core 24’ standard for adults and older adults. This will increase to 70% by 2023/24 working towards 100% coverage thereafter.

This will ensure that people who present at accident and emergency departments with mental health needs will have access to appropriate mental health support.

Spending on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) is mainstreamed across wider government activity rather than funded through one budget, to ensure a broad range of activity and support for the agenda. Progress in meeting commitments and objectives under the 2018-2022 WPS National Action Plan is assessed each year as part of the Annual Report to Parliament. The Government publishes the Annual Report and also presents it to the All Party Parliamentary Group on WPS for scrutiny.

There is no specific budget for our work on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). This work is mainstreamed into wider activity supporting UK National Action Plan strategic objectives and is funded from several sources. For example, the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund requires all portfolios to fund WPS projects and activities by targeting and by integrating WPS and gender equality into all programmes.

We continue to monitor and raise the case of Hassan Mushaima and others, as necessary, with the Bahraini Government as well as with the Oversight bodies.

Our G7 Presidency championed equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics and we will share 100 million doses within the next year, 30 million of those by the end of 2021 with 5 million doses shared by the end of September. Decisions on which vaccines will be shared will be based on the continued reliability of supply chains, regulatory restrictions and advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

80% of the vaccines shared will go to COVAX, the multilateral mechanism set up to support international co-operation on vaccines, COVAX remains best-placed to allocate vaccines to where they will be most effective. This was part of an agreement with G7 partners to share at least 870 million doses over the next year, primarily through COVAX, which has so far helped deliver over 81m doses to 129 countries and territories.

We regularly raise the importance of human rights with the Nigerian authorities. During my visit to Nigeria in April I met the Foreign Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, the President's Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari, as well as community leaders, to discuss insecurity across the country and the importance of protecting the human rights of all Nigerians. In May, I discussed Nigeria's security situation with the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK.

In my meetings with the President's Chief of Staff and the Governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, I also discussed the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria in October 2020, and I stressed the importance of the police and military's cooperation with the judicial panels of inquiry, which are investigating reports of police and security service brutality. We will continue to stress the importance of protecting civilians and their human rights in our engagements with the Nigerian Government.

The UK supports a strong and successful Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) within a peaceful and prosperous Iraq. The Foreign Secretary's visit to the KRI on 9 June 2021 was the first by a Cabinet Minister since 2017. He spoke with President Barzani about the Iraq elections in October, regional security and the threat from militia groups, and highlighted our continued support to Iraq and the KRI on security sector reform.

In north east Syria, we welcome the fact that the ceasefire is broadly holding and we urge all parties to continue adherence, while pressing for a UN-led political settlement as the only long-term solution to the Syria conflict. As a leading member of the Global Coalition against Daesh, the UK continues to support both the Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdish Security Forces in maintaining capacity and capability to tackle the threat from Daesh. We will also maintain our significant humanitarian and early recovery support to liberated areas of Iraq and Syria, thereby helping communities recover from the brutality of life under Daesh.

The UK remains committed to supporting the UN process to reach a Cyprus Settlement, which will be good for Cyprus, regional stability and UK interests. On 27-29 April, in support of the efforts led by the UN Secretary General to find common ground on a way forward to resolve the Cyprus Issue, the Foreign Secretary represented the UK as a Guarantor Power at informal UN talks in Geneva.

At the meeting, the Foreign Secretary continued to urge all sides to demonstrate flexibility and compromise to find a solution to the Cyprus Issue within the UN Security Council parameters. This followed UK messaging to the parties ahead of the talks, including the Foreign Secretary's visit to the island on 4 February where he met President Anastasiades, Turkish Cypriot leader Tatar and the UN. Ahead of the talks, during my visit to Cyprus (7-9 April), I reiterated this message and the UK's support for a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Cyprus issue. FCDO Ministers and Officials will continue to engage with all parties in support of the UN process.

The UK Government has repeatedly raised our concern at Nasrin Sotoudeh's ongoing detention with the Iranian authorities. On 22 September last year, the Iranian Ambassador was summoned and we handed over a letter from E3 Foreign Ministers about the human rights situation in Iran, which raised her case. On 25 September, the UK also joined 46 other countries in calling for her release at the Human Rights Council. We strongly support Human Rights Defenders worldwide to enable them to carry out their work safely and without fear.

The Foreign Secretary stated on 24 May that the Government would coordinate with our international partners on additional measures, including further sanctions. We are doing just that. We have already imposed over 90 designations in response to the fraudulent elections and subsequent human rights violations in Belarus. Government officials are currently examining the evidence for further designations. Furthermore, we are in contact with allies to strengthen an effective and unified stance against the Lukashenko regime.

During my visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan in February I urged both parties to work with the ICRC to expedite the return of all prisoners of war. Through the OSCE and bilateral engagement in Baku and Yerevan, UK officials continue to urge the Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities to prioritise this issue, alongside other unresolved issues following hostilities last year.

The UK Government remains concerned about reports of human rights violations in Colombia, and we have raised our concerns with the relevant state actors in Colombia since the recent protests began. We are clear that we support the right of all Colombians to protest peacefully, and that the right to peaceful assembly and association must be guaranteed.

Most recently, I spoke with then acting Foreign Minister Adriana Mejía on 14 May to express my concerns, and welcome Colombia's commitment to transparent investigations into allegations of excessive use of force. Security services must be held accountable for their actions, with all complaints thoroughly investigated.

The UK Government remains deeply concerned about reports of discrimination against the Christian community and other religious minorities in Pakistan. We regularly raise these concerns at a senior level with the Government of Pakistan. On 23 March, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South Asia, discussed Freedom of Religion or Belief with Pakistan's Special Representative for Religious Harmony, Tahir Ashrafi. On 20 February, Lord Ahmad raised our concerns about the protection of minority religious communities with Pakistan's Human Rights Minister, Dr Shireen Mazari. We will continue to urge the government of Pakistan to guarantee the fundamental rights of all its citizens, regardless of their religion or belief.

The UK Government is concerned about the rising number of COVID-19 infections in Sri Lanka, and is in regular contact with the Government of Sri Lanka and the World Health Organisation's (WHO) representatives in Sri Lanka. The UK has committed £548 million to the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment to support equitable access to vaccines across the world. The Prime Minister has confirmed that the UK will share the majority of any surplus vaccines with COVAX and this multilateral mechanism, set up to support international co-operation on vaccines, remains the best way to ensure global equitable access to vaccines. It is too early to determine if and when the UK will have any vaccine surplus to our domestic needs, but we are keeping the situation under continual review.

The UK has taken a leading role in the COVID-19 global health response, both in addressing the direct health impacts, and keeping essential services going. In addition to our average annual contribution of £120 million to assist the WHO, including in their role to provide technical guidance and operational support on maintaining essential health services, we recently announced a further £340 million (2020-24) in new core contributions. This is a significant uplift in support towards its vital work on public health.

Ministers regularly engage with their Swiss counterparts. The Foreign Secretary last held substantive discussions with Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in September 2020 and I last held discussions with State Secretary Livia Leu in March 2021.

There has been regular senior level engagement with the Government of Ukraine and with our allies on this issue. The Foreign Secretary spoke to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on 2 April and the Prime Minister had discussions with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on 5 April to assure them of the UK's support and our solidarity with the government and people of Ukraine. On 12 April, the Foreign Ministers of the G7 issued a joint statement, in which they called on Russia to cease its provocations and reaffirmed our unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders.

Russia's build-up of military forces near the Ukrainian border and within illegally annexed Crimea indicates a troubling escalation in its ongoing campaign of aggression towards Ukraine and its militarisation of the illegally annexed peninsula. The restraint shown by Ukraine, including efforts to deescalate and commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to this conflict, are to be commended.

We note Russian Defence Minister Shoigu's announcement on 22 April that Russian troops will return to their bases. We continue to carefully monitor the situation and work with international partners to continue to de-escalate and reassure all sides.

We note the outcome of the vote in Switzerland on 7 March in a referendum to ban face coverings in public. Ministers regularly speak to their Swiss counterparts on a broad range of issues. We know that human rights protection in Switzerland is strong, and that its domestic legal and administrative systems are fully capable of dealing with any human rights-related issues on this or any other matter, should they arise.

The Foreign Secretary spoke to his counterpart, the Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr Jaishankar, on 6 May, where they agreed on the need for swift and equitable access to vaccines around the world.

The Government of India continues to provide free of cost vaccinations to defined vulnerable categories of the population, including health and frontline workers, and all those above 45 years of age.

The Prime Minister and President Kenyatta of Kenya will co-host the Global Education Summit: Financing the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in London in July 2021. No decision has yet been taken on the UK's next contribution to GPE, and details will follow in due course.

As co-hosts of the Summit, we are using all the means at our disposal to help the GPE in securing its five-year rolling financing target of up to $5 billion (2021-2026). A well-funded GPE will be central to delivering the two ambitious global objectives endorsed by the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers in London on 5 May of getting 40 million more girls in school, and 20 million more girls reading by age 10 in the next 5 years.

The seismic impact of the pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to make tough but necessary decisions, including temporarily reducing the amount we spend on foreign aid. We are now working through the implications of this change for individual programmes so I am unable to comment on the UK's funding to UNFPA at this time.

The UK's aid budget has been allocated in accordance with our key strategic priorities. Standalone impact assessments were not carried out for individual programmes given the multiple overlapping scenarios, but officials carefully considered the impact of all funding decisions when developing advice to Ministers. We are now working with partners to help them assess and manage the impact of UK funding reductions on individual programmes and we will share further details on this in due course.

We repeatedly call on Israel to abide by its obligations under international law and have a regular dialogue with Israel on legal issues relating to the occupation, including the treatment of Palestinian children. Officials from the British Embassy in Tel Aviv last raised the issue of Palestinian children in detention on 23 February with the Israeli Ministry of Justice.

We continue to stress the importance of the Israeli security forces providing appropriate protection to the Palestinian civilian population, in particular the need to protect children. We remain concerned about Israel's extensive use of administrative detention which, according to international law, should be used only when security makes this absolutely necessary rather than as routine practice and as a preventive rather than a punitive measure. We remain committed to working with Israel to secure improvements to the practices surrounding children in detention.

We regularly raise Mr Johal's case directly with the Government of India, including his allegations of torture, his right to a fair trial, and concerns about delays to legal proceedings against him. We have emphasised to the Government of India the need for Mr Johal's torture allegations to be fully investigated.

The Foreign Secretary raised Mr Johal's case with the Indian Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on 15 December 2020. The Secretary of State for International Trade raised the case with the Indian Minister for Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad, on 5 February. Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth, raised Mr Johal's case with the Indian Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kishan Reddy and with Minister Prasad on 15 March during his visit to India. Most recently Lord Ahmad raised Mr Johal's case with the Indian High Commissioner on 16 April.

This Government will continue to look to raise our concerns about Mr Johal's case at all appropriate opportunities.

In order to enable consumers to make a more fully informed decision concerning the products they buy, in December 2009, the UK introduced voluntary guidelines to enable produce from Israeli settlements in the OPTs to be specifically labelled as such.

We regularly make clear our concerns about the evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem to the Israeli authorities and the Municipality of Jerusalem. The Fourth Geneva Convention, which applies to all occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, prohibits demolitions or forced evictions absent military necessity.

The UK Ambassador in Tel Aviv raised ongoing demolitions with the Israeli Authorities in a meeting alongside like-minded partners on 25 March 2021. I raised the issue of evictions of Palestinians from their homes, with the Israeli Ambassador to the UK on 29 October 2020, and the British Embassy in Tel Aviv raises this issue regularly with the Israeli authorities. UK officials from the British Consulate in Jerusalem have made regular visits to areas at risk of demolition and eviction to reiterate UK support for those communities. On 8 April 2021, the UK Consul General Jerusalem visited families at risk of eviction in Sheikh Jarrah, restating UK opposition to evictions of Palestinians from their homes.

The UK supports the International Court of Justice (ICJ) process which is putting pressure on Myanmar to protect the Rohingya. We are clear that Myanmar should comply with the provisional measures ruling. We have reiterated our support to the ICJ process in Parliament, at the UN Security Council, and through public statements. We provided funding to enable Rohingya refugees to attend the ICJ hearing in December 2019. The case will develop significantly in the coming months. We are monitoring developments closely and will consider the legal arguments once they are made available to establish whether a UK intervention would add value.

We understand that Myanmar's report will only be provided to the Court and the parties. We believe it is in the interests of transparency that Myanmar publishes its response to the ICJ.

The humanitarian situation in Tigray is concerning, with 4.5 million people in desperate need. Both publicly and in our engagements with our Ethiopian counterparts, the Foreign Secretary and I [Minister Duddridge] have consistently called for greater humanitarian access, as has the UK Ambassador in Addis Ababa. The lack of telephone and internet services is yet another challenge for humanitarian efforts and it should be restored. We also need to see improvements to security for humanitarian workers, the restoration of communications and banking services in Tigray, and the departure of Eritrean troops in line with PM Abiy's commitment of 26 March.

We are deeply concerned at the mounting evidence of human rights abuses and violations in Ethiopia's Tigray region. Since the conflict started, the UK alongside international partners, have consistently called for an end to fighting, and for all parties to the conflict to prioritise the protection of civilians. We will hold Prime Minister Abiy to his statement on 23 March that the perpetrators of human rights atrocities should face justice - whoever they are. Further atrocities including sexual and gender-based violence must stop and an independent investigation of those that have occurred must take place. The UK will support the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights' planned investigations.

In a joint statement on Ethiopia with 41 other countries at the 46th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), we condemned in the strongest terms the reported killings of civilians. Eritrea's role in the conflict is particularly concerning; there are numerous reports of atrocities involving Eritrean forces, and the presence of Eritrean forces is fuelling insecurity. We welcome the announcement, on 26 March by Prime Minister Abiy that Eritrean forces will withdraw and call for this to be swift, unconditional and verifiable. We have yet to see any evidence that Eritrean forces are leaving Tigray.

The UK Government takes its export control responsibilities seriously and continues to monitor developments in Ethiopia very closely. We examine every licence application on a case-by-case basis against strict criteria, drawing on a range of sources in making assessments, including Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and international organisations in addition to our diplomatic posts. All licences are kept under careful and continual review.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the UK is facing its worst economic contraction in over 300 years. The UK government has taken the difficult, but temporary, decision to spend 0.5% of GNI on ODA in 2021. We are still working through what this means for individual programmes and no decisions have yet been made, however the provision of humanitarian support will continue to be a priority. This is why last month the UK pledged to provide at least £205 million to the Syria crisis in 2021, bringing our total commitment to the Syria conflict to £3.7 billion since 2012 - our largest ever response to a humanitarian crisis. The UK is proud of our role supporting millions of vulnerable Syrians with life-saving food, clean water, healthcare, education and livelihoods and our response so far is the UK's largest to a single humanitarian crisis.