Lord Jackson of Peterborough

As Leader of the House of Lords I have reiterated to all Departments the importance of adhering to the 10 day target for responses to questions for written answer. My office has been in close contact with the Department for Health and Social Care’s Parliamentary Team to ascertain why HL660 and HL661 went unanswered. They have now confirmed that they have been answered. The Permanent Secretary has previously reassured me that the department is working to return performance to pre-pandemic levels. As this issue has persisted I am writing again to the Permanent Secretary to highlight the lack of improvement.

The Attorney General’s Office has not had any discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on responding to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 in an informative and expeditious manner.

The CPS processes FOI requests independently and in accordance with the requirements of the FOIA 2000.

Following the publication of this report on 20th March, the Civil Service will consider the recommendations as part of our strategic focus as outlined in the Civil Service Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, Civil Service People Plan and commitments to Government Reform.

The Civil Service Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, published in February 2022, places a focus on being data-driven, evidence-led and delivery focussed emphasising the need to take an evaluative approach.

We do not yet have a figure for the costs incurred. We brought this judicial review to seek clarification on a point of law and we are pleased that the Court agreed that there was an important legal question to consider.

It acknowledged our concerns over respecting the privacy of individuals and ensuring that completely irrelevant information is returned and not retained.

The Government is committed to supporting the East of England to grow and prosper.

The Spring Budget reaffirmed our support for East-West Rail, building on significant investment in schemes such as the A14 and A11 upgrades. The region has been a particular focus for the devolution agenda and, in addition to those commitments, is receiving over £500m of investment from the levelling up and towns funds and benefitting from Government support for Freeport East and the Thames Freeport.

In the British Energy Security Strategy, the Government committed to setting up a low carbon hydrogen certification scheme from 2025 and is now working at pace to put it in place.

While the scheme will initially be domestically focused, the Government is taking steps to ensure that it can facilitate international trade in future. This includes participating in international fora on certification and signing a Declaration of Intent at COP28 on cross-border recognition of hydrogen certification.

The Government will set out a pathway to international alignment ahead of launch of the scheme.

The UK’s strong policy framework – including the Hydrogen Production Business Model, Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard – has created an investable model which has leveraged private investment to kick start the UK’s hydrogen economy.

Government is supporting projects to move the UK closer to our hydrogen ambitions.

In December 2023 we announced 125MW of successful projects from Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR) 1, and have since launched HAR2, aiming to allocate up to a further 875MW in 2025, subject to affordability and value for money.

Since the British Energy Security Strategy we have made rapid progress, establishing an investable business model to bring forward new hydrogen production facilities and delivering a £240m capital fund to support early deployment. In December 2023, we announced the largest number of commercial scale green hydrogen production projects at once anywhere in Europe, supporting 11 electrolytic projects through the first hydrogen allocation round. The second allocation round is currently underway with annual allocation planned from 2025. This, alongside the cluster sequencing process bringing forward carbon capture and storage-enabled hydrogen, will ensure we remain on track to meet our 2030 ambition.

The Government runs a significant range of research and innovation programmes to support the transition of the energy system. This includes through UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s agency investing in science and research and interested parties such as Anglia Ruskin University are welcome to apply for these as opportunities arise. More information can be found on UKRI’s online Funding Finder Tool, where all funding opportunities are published (https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/).

In addition, recent investments are set out in the Government’s UK Net Zero Research and Innovation Delivery Plan 2022-2025.

The Department’s analysis published in 2020 showed that most of the UK’s future electricity needs should be met from renewables and flexible technologies, including energy storage and demand side response. But it also demonstrated that to achieve a stable, low-cost electricity system and meet Net Zero, we need more low-carbon, firm power such as nuclear to complement the intermittency of technologies like wind and solar and the uncertainties of storage technologies.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/modelling-2050-electricity-system-analysis

The Government’s Carbon Budget 6 (CB6) trajectory also suggests that we will need to build all low carbon technologies at, or close to, their maximum technical limit, to meet the twin challenge of accelerating decarbonisation and servicing increased demand – that is why we have set out bold plans to deploy up to 24GW of nuclear by 2050, alongside our ambitions for 50GW offshore wind by 2030, the development of onshore wind where it enjoys the backing of local communities, and 70GW solar by 2035.

Through delivery of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, which was published in March 2023, the department is establishing a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with SEND, so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes, and are well prepared for adulthood and employment.

Pupils at school with medical conditions should be properly supported so that they have full access to education. In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions and has published statutory guidance intended to help governing bodies meet their legal responsibilities. This guidance sets out the arrangements they will be expected to make based on good practice. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and should have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed.

Tourette's is a complex neurological condition and children and young people with it may also have other learning difficulties. As a result, schools must use their best endeavours to make sure a child or young person gets the special educational provision they need, which includes monitoring the progress of pupils regularly and putting support in place where needed, such as arranging diagnostic tests where appropriate.

​The department is currently reviewing the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) statutory guidance. In July 2023, as part of the review, the department held a workshop with teachers. The former Minister for Schools also chaired roundtable meetings with a panel of experts and with families to explore the inclusion of suicide prevention in the curriculum.

The department will publish an amended draft of the statutory guidance for consultation at the earliest opportunity. The department will consider responses carefully before publishing the final revised guidance in 2024.

The existing statutory guidance for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) already places clear responsibilities on schools to engage parents about the content of lessons so that they know what their children are being taught. The department is clear that parents have a right to view teaching materials and that copyright law does not prevent a parent from viewing external resources on school premises. The department will be writing to schools shortly to confirm this position and that schools should not use external providers who would restrict their ability to do this.

On 8 March, the Prime Minister announced that the government had brought forward the review of the RSHE statutory guidance. This will enable the Department to consider the evidence and decide whether the provisions in the guidance need to be strengthened further to ensure that schools are fully transparent with parents.

Schools are responsible for what is taught in Relationship, Health and Sex Education (RHSE) lessons, including anything taught by external providers. Schools should agree reasonable requests from parents to view curriculum materials. We would expect schools to avoid entering into any agreement that seeks to prevent them from ensuring parents can be made properly aware of the materials that are being used to teach their children. The department will soon be writing to schools to clarify this.

Regarding Government providing advice on the application of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000, local authorities and schools are public authorities in their own right for the purposes of the FOIA. This means that they must make their own decisions on how they should respond to specific FOIs they receive, including any from parents requesting access to information on Relationships and Sex Education curricula delivered by external contractors and providers. Accordingly, the department does not advise schools or local authorities on the responses that they should provide to such requests.

The Information Commissioner’s Office makes guidance on the application of the FOIA available to all public authorities. This guidance is available at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-freedom-of-information/.

Defra recently published its Plan for Water which set out the importance of ensuring a clean and plentiful water supply. The Plan sets out our commitment to a twin track approach to improving water resilience, with action to reduce water company leaks alongside investing in new supply infrastructure including reservoirs. The Government also supports the Agricultural sector with its Water Management Grant, under the Farming Transformation Fund, for the construction of new on-farm reservoirs. We aim to launch a third round of the grant next year in 2024.

Regional water resources groups and water companies have consulted on their draft water resources plans. These statutory plans set out how each company will secure water supplies sustainably for at least the next 25 years. The draft water resources management plans contain proposals for multiple new schemes by 2050, including nine new reservoirs, as well as the expansion of some existing reservoirs.

Water companies are also using the £469 million made available by Ofwat in the period 2020-2025, to develop strategic water resources options required to improve the resilience water supplies. In April 2023, Ofwat announced that water companies are bringing forward £2.2bn for new water infrastructure, starting in the next two years, with £350 million worth of investment in water resilience schemes.

The Department for Transport (DfT) works closely with National Highways to ensure the Strategic Road Network is predominantly free from litter, without compromising safety. National Highways aims to influence littering behaviour, and improve operations, responsiveness to road user feedback and partnership-working with local authorities. National Highways performance is also reported to DfT and the Office of Rail and Road through a litter performance indicator.

Defra is supporting councils to tackle litter and fly-tipping such as by bolstering their enforcement powers (including where litter is thrown from a vehicle) and in recent years, providing grant funding for local interventions. These grants include nearly £1 million across 44 councils in 2021 to help them purchase litter bins and over £400,000 across 11 councils in 2022 to reduce fly-tipping using equipment such as CCTV. We have also committed to awarding a further £800,000 in grants in 2023 to help more councils tackle fly-tipping.

In 2022, Defra published a report on litter on the Strategic Road Network which highlighted good practice. Next steps on tackling the issue were outlined in our most recent Litter Strategy Annual Report, including how to ensure better collaboration between National Highways and local authorities.

Defra continues to chair the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group, made up a wide range of interested bodies including the Environment Agency, organisations representing private landowners and local authorities, to promote and disseminate good practice with regards to preventing fly-tipping, including on private land.

Ministers and officials regularly meet with Manchester Airports Group (MAG) to discuss a range of issues. Where opportunities for new commercial flights exist, airports and other stakeholders can work together to establish the case for commercial flights and work with airline partners to create new connections for their communities.

Officials meet regularly with the owners of Stansted Airport, Manchester Airport Group, and attend the annual Stansted Airport Surface Access Forum, along with other stakeholders.

Officials also engage regularly with Greater Anglia and CrossCountry about Stansted Airport services.

As a result, off-peak and weekend Stansted Express services doubled from December 2023 to give a 15-minute frequency to London.

The aspiration for full hourly CrossCountry services from Birmingham to Stansted Airport should be met when resources allow.

Department for Transport Ministers and officials hold regular discussions with airlines, airports and international partners to facilitate global connectivity. Air services between the United Kingdom and other countries are governed by a portfolio of bilateral air services agreements, which set the framework in which airlines from both countries operate. Officials continually review these agreements to ensure they remain up to date and meet the needs of airlines and airports, including Stansted Airport.

However, it is for individual airlines to determine whether to take advantage of the rights and routes available to them within any air services agreement.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has a concession agreement with Midland Expressway Limited (MEL) to operate the M6 Toll. Under the terms of the contract, MEL owns and operates the M6 Toll at its own risk with limited contractual oversight from DfT.

The Government recognises the need to improve the A47 in the East of England. That is why we are already delivering a number of schemes to improve it as part of RIS2. We are also considering the case for further improvements as part of future strategies, informed principally by National Highways evidence-led Route Strategies process.