Tommy Sheppard

This Government is committed to understanding, acknowledging and where appropriate addressing the effect that the pre-2000 ban on homosexuality in the UK Armed Forces has had on veterans. In line with the terms of the Independent Review, we will carefully consider the findings and then publish the report and the Government’s response in due course.

This Government is committed to ensuring that the service of every veteran is understood, valued and recognised.

The Cabinet Office and MoD have therefore commissioned an independent review to look at the impact of the pre-2000 ban on LGBT personnel serving in the Armed Forces. Whilst HIV status was not explicitly part of the independent review's terms of reference, the content of the final report will be a matter for the Review. The final report is due by 25 May, and we will publish the report and the Government’s response in due course thereafter.

I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to PQ 16932 on 20 June.

The Government does not receive financial information beyond that published by the Duchy in their annual public accounts.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to PQs 82315 and 82316.

Cabinet Office commissioned Hanbury Strategy to carry out work in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. Two contract documents were signed, the first contract is for nil value, and the services provided to the Cabinet Office by Hanbury were delivered under the contract published on Contracts Finder here: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/8c6ca477-cbfc-49b7-bb59-0fb1ce1475c9. No other contracts have been commissioned in the last three years.

The Government remains committed to scrutiny and transparency. Details of Government contracts above £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk

All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against our Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, including with regard to international humanitarian law.

All licences are kept under careful and continual review and the Government is able to amend, suspend, refuse or revoke licences as circumstances require.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade receives legal advice as appropriate, on all matters related to import and export licensing, as part of advice from officials.

Government considered the closing date of 29 February to provide an appropriate and reasonable length of time for interested parties to respond to the consultation.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have funded around £31 million in long Covid awards to date.

Detailed allocations for specific programmes for this Spending Review period will be set out in due course.

Funding into cholangiocarcinoma has been allocated through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), National Centre for the Replacement Refinement and Reduction in Animals in Research (NC3Rs) and Innovate UK.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has allocated £1.8 million of funding to research related to the understanding, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of Cholangiocarcinoma since 2018/19.

The standing charge is a fixed charge that suppliers pass on to their customers to cover the cost of providing a live supply. One component of these costs relates to transmission and distribution costs, which have increased recently as the Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) levy is paid via network costs. The SoLR levy covers the unrecoverable costs of a supplier taking on the customers of a failed supplier and reflects the significantly higher costs of purchasing wholesale energy since August. The standing charge is passed on to consumers as a flat rate per day rather than as a percentage charge based on how much energy they use.

The development of stamp products is an operational matter for Royal Mail and not an issue in which the Secretary of State has a role.

In response to issues raised around noise and disturbance, the Office for Product Safety and Standards commissioned research to test the decibel level of commonly used fireworks. The objective of the testing work is to help us understand the decibel level associated with a range of fireworks and whether they are compliant with the regulations.

The testing work was delayed due to covid impacting the laboratory’s ability to carry out the necessary testing, but the results will be available in due course.

The Government has put in place a measured and proportionate set of restrictions to continue to support the tourism sector. To support businesses through this next phase, the ‘Working Safely’ guidance will continue to provide advice on sensible precautions employers can take to manage risk and support their staff and customers.

Hospitality businesses are exempt from enforcing customers to wear masks and this assessment has been made from a practical point of view as the nature of hospitality visits is to eat and drink.

The Government has worked to strike a balance with introducing new measures.

The Government has introduced a new temporary business rates relief in England for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties for 2022-23, worth almost £1.7 billion. The VAT rate for goods and services supplied by the tourism and hospitality sector has also been cut, and will remain at the reduced rate of 12.5% until 31 March 2022, to help businesses manage the transition back to the standard rate.

The recent changes demonstrate the government’s focus on protecting the UK from the most dangerous variants while supporting the travel sector’s safe reopening.

We are continuing to listen to stakeholders during this time.

Hosting the 2022 World Cup has seen an increased focus on human rights in Qatar, particularly the welfare of migrant workers. We welcome the concrete steps Qatar has taken on this matter, including the significant legislative reforms earlier this year. The UK continues to press for the swift implementation of these measures. We stand ready to further assist and support Qatar’s continued efforts to implement change.

We continue to engage regularly with the International Labour Organisation and explore areas of their work where the UK can add particular value.

My department continues to work closely with its Arm’s Length Body, the British Film Institute, to ensure it meets the full range of its responsibilities, including to support the film sector nationwide. In its ongoing support for the Scottish film sector, the Government has worked with the BFI to ensure a wide range of funding and initiatives are available across Scottish talent development, production and heritage. In addition, recent Covid-secure guidance has been developed with input from across the nations to support in safely producing films in Scotland. Screen Scotland have been part of the Screen Sector Taskforce looking at the impact of Covid and recovery measures for the sector, in collaboration with DCMS and BFI.

Examples of support that have been given to the Scottish film industry include the BFI Audience and Film Funds, which offer funding covering development, production, distribution and promotion, supporting Scottish films and Scottish audiences; and Film Hub Scotland, which receives an annual BFI Lottery award as part of the BFI Film Audience Network to increase and diversify Scottish audiences. In addition, young people in Scotland have access to the BFI Film Academy and Future Film offer, with four Scottish partners delivering short courses in 20/21 and a well-established annual Screen Craft Skills residential. Furthermore, Film City Futures and Glasgow Film were recently awarded £1m from the BFI and Screen Scotland to support new and emerging talent.

Finally, in recent years the BFI worked in partnership with the Scottish Screen Archive in the Unlocking Film Heritage programme, which resulted in substantial digitisation of films from and about Scotland.

We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to the grassroots music sector, which is why Government has put in place unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency. These include:

• The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme;

• The Self-Employed Income Support Scheme;

• The Bounceback Loan Scheme;

• Expanding eligibility for the business rates reliefs.

We continue to speak with HM Treasury colleagues to ensure that the full spectrum of government support reaches the UK's world-leading music industry. Our recovery work for this sector is being delivered via the ministerially-chaired Events and Entertainment Working Group, which was established to support the Secretary of State’s Cultural Renewal Taskforce. The Music Venue Trust is an active and valued member of the Working Group, the focus of which is to produce sector-led guidance for the safe reopening of a range of creative industries sectors, including live music venues and music recording and rehearsal studios.

Science and discovery centres around the country have an important role in educating, inspiring and entertaining visitors of all ages on what science is and the important discoveries over the centuries that have changed all our lives.

Science centres in England have access to the unprecedented support the Government has announced for business and workers, to protect them against the current economic emergency. This includes the Job Retention Scheme, which science centres have benefited from, VAT payment deferrals, and £330bn worth of government backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses. The Chancellor has also announced a Bounce Back loan scheme to help small businesses access loans of up to £50,000, with a 100% government-backed guarantee for lenders. Additionally some of the members of the ASDC - specifically cultural institutions like museums - may be eligible to apply for support as part of the £1.57 billion investment announced earlier this month.

Science centres outside England may be eligible for further support from the devolved governments for example some centres in Scotland may eligible for additional support from the Scottish Government.

We recognise it is possible that dogs used for trail hunting may on occasion pick up and follow the scent of live foxes during a trail hunt. If this occurs it is the responsibility of the huntsman and other members of hunt staff to control their hounds.

Failure to prevent dogs from chasing or killing a fox may be taken as intent to break the law. Anyone who believes that an offence has taken place should report the matter to the police, as the police deal with complaints of illegal hunting.

We recognise it is possible that dogs used for trail hunting may on occasion pick up and follow the scent of live foxes during a trail hunt. If this occurs it is the responsibility of the huntsman and other members of hunt staff to control their hounds.

Failure to prevent dogs from chasing or killing a fox may be taken as intent to break the law. Anyone who believes that an offence has taken place should report the matter to the police, as the police deal with complaints of illegal hunting.

The Ivory Act will not affect the ownership of ivory items, but where an owner no longer wants to own an item, they may gift, donate, or bequeath the item. We will explain to owners what options are available to them as part of our awareness raising campaign.

Once commenced, the Ivory Act will introduce one of the toughest bans on elephant ivory sales in the world by banning the dealing in items made of or containing elephant ivory, regardless of their age, unless they fall within one of the narrow and carefully defined exemptions.

We plan to implement the Ivory Act this winter and for the ban to come into force in spring 2022.

The regulations governing the non-commercial movements of cats, dogs and ferrets stipulate that people cannot bring more than 5 pets per person into the UK unless they are attending or training for a competition, show or sporting event (and written evidence of registration is required). However, dogs imported into the UK for rescue or rehoming must be moved under the commercial 'Balai Directive' regulations, which has different requirements. These regulations place no limits on consignment sizes. Any decisions made by the carriers (such as ferries and trains) to restrict consignment sizes in ways not required by the regulations are commercial decisions to which the Government is not party.

Anybody wishing to move animals into the UK during these unprecedented times must plan all journeys carefully, ensuring that the proposed journey is realistic and complies with all relevant regulations and legislation around the movement of animals throughout the animals' entire journey, including welfare in transport, as well as relevant COVID-19 legislation.

The end of the Transition Period may open up new opportunities for managing our own commercial and non-commercial import and pet travel arrangements. The Government will be considering our pet travel and import arrangements (including for puppies and kittens) as part of cracking down on puppy smuggling in line with our manifesto commitment.