Wendy Chamberlain

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy continues to deliver a comprehensive programme of communication with industry on the implementation of the UKCA marking. The Government will continue this work, with further communications and in person engagement, following our recent announcement of measures to make the UKCA regime easier for businesses.

We are not able to disclose specific costs of individual vaccines procured to date, as details of contracts between the Government and vaccine manufacturers are commercially sensitive.

The Government is committed to encouraging flexible working, which has many benefits for both individuals and employers. The Review of the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 showed that flexible working can reduce vacancy costs; increase skill retention; enhance business performance; and reduce staff absenteeism rates.

To help organisations realise the benefits of flexible working, we issued a consultation and accompanying impact assessment on “making flexible working the default” in Autumn of last year. The consultation closed on 1 December 2021, receiving over 1,600 responses. We will be publishing our consultation response in due course.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beis-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings.

The Government response to the consultation on carer’s leave, published in September 2021, confirmed the Government’s intention to deliver on the manifesto commitment to introduce a new entitlement to one week of leave for unpaid carers.

This will be a day 1 right, available to all employees who are providing care for a dependant with a long-term care need. Eligible employees will be entitled to 5 days of unpaid leave per year, which will be available to take flexibly in individual or half days.

Legislation to introduce carer’s leave will be brought forward when parliamentary time allows.

The UK’s bilateral deals with pharmaceutical companies for covid-19 vaccines include funding for research and development, investment in manufacturing and vaccine trials. This investment supports the global scale up of vaccine production and therefore the quantity of vaccines available for healthcare workers and vulnerable groups globally. The UK is a strong supporter of the multilateral Covid-19 Global Vaccine Access Facility (COVAX) initiative as a means to both get vaccines for the UK population and ensure equitable global access. The UK announced that it will contribute up to £500 million for the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment, which will give lower and middle-income countries equitable access to vaccines that are developed.

We are not able to disclose details of this agreement because of the commercially confidential nature of the contracts between the Government and vaccine manufacturers while commercial negotiations are ongoing.

The UK’s bilateral deals with pharmaceutical companies for covid-19 vaccines include funding for research and development, investment in manufacturing and vaccine trials. This investment supports the global scale up of vaccine production and therefore the quantity of vaccines available for low and middle-income countries. The UK is a strong supporter of the multilateral Covid-19 Global Vaccine Access Facility (COVAX) initiative as a means to both get vaccines for the UK population and ensure equitable global access. The UK announced that it will contribute up to £500 million for the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment, which will give lower and middle-income countries equitable access to vaccines that are developed.

The timings or nature of any commitments regarding vaccine pricing are for the parties involved.

The World Health Organisation declared a coronavirus pandemic on 11 March 2020, and we would expect it in due course to declare a move to a post-pandemic period as it has done previously for the H1N1 pandemic in 2010.

The society lottery annual sales limit was last increased as part of a wider package of reforms in 2020. These were reviewed 12 months after they were implemented, and the results of the review were published in March 2022. Early indicators were positive. The higher annual sales limit has allowed some multiple licensed operators who previously had annual sales in excess of £10 million, to restructure and become single licence holders, and divert the savings to good cause returns. The review concluded that it was too soon to reach any firm view on the impact of the changes, especially during a time when the effect of the Covid pandemic made any evaluation more difficult, and that more data on annual growth of the sector was required before considering any further changes. My officials will continue working with the Gambling Commission, as part of its regulatory role, to keep the sector under review.

The society lottery annual sales limit was last increased as part of a wider package of reforms in 2020. These were reviewed 12 months after they were implemented, and the results of the review were published in March 2022. Early indicators were positive. The higher annual sales limit has allowed some multiple licensed operators who previously had annual sales in excess of £10 million, to restructure and become single licence holders, and divert the savings to good cause returns. The review concluded that it was too soon to reach any firm view on the impact of the changes, especially during a time when the effect of the Covid pandemic made any evaluation more difficult, and that more data on annual growth of the sector was required before considering any further changes. My officials will continue working with the Gambling Commission, as part of its regulatory role, to keep the sector under review.

The Department has spent the following amount on consultancy services in the past 5 financial years. Values include VAT that is non-recoverable, whilst VAT that is recoverable has been deducted accordingly. The values for FY21/22 are subject to change following audit and the final value will be published in the DCMS Annual Report and Accounts FY21/22.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK.

The Great Exhibition 2.0 is a project led by the Royal Albert Hall. The government is not involved in its planning or development, and no government funding has been provided.

Gambling advertising is subject to strict controls set out in the advertising codes of practice issued by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) and the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP). Rules on content mean that these adverts must never seek to exploit or appeal to children or vulnerable people, and rules on placement mean that they must never be targeted at these groups. Both the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) – as the independent advertising regulator – and the Gambling Commission can take action where gambling advertising is found to be in breach of these rules.

The Advertising Standards Authority received 82 complaints about gambling advertising in March this year, and a further 97 complaints between 1 and 28 April. This is compared to 79 complaints received in January, and 71 received in February. Of the 179 complaints received between 1 March and 28 April, 109 related to TV advertising, 8 to radio advertising and the rest to online and non-broadcast media. The ASA does not record what proportion of these adverts were promoting online gambling sites. It did not find any of the adverts complained about to be in breach of the codes for gambling advertising but did take enforcement action where a gambling advert was found to be misleading and therefore in breach of the wider advertising codes.

Between 23 March and 28 April, the Gambling Commission identified a total of 11 online adverts for online gambling products that were in breach of the rules on advertising that relate to the protection of vulnerable adults. Gambling Commission intervention with the operators involved ensured that these adverts were removed or altered. During that period it did not find any adverts to be in breach of rules requiring adverts not to be targeted at children or of particular appeal to them.

The government, Gambling Commission and the ASA do not hold information about the volume of broadcast advertising promoting online gambling. The Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage has written to operators to urge them to increase the prominence of safer gambling messaging adverts across all channels during the current period. In addition, the ASA has warned operators that they must continue to abide by existing rules and must not look to exploit the current situation. Industry group the Betting and Gaming Council announced on 27 April that in response to public concern its members would replace adverts for online slot, casino and bingo products on TV and radio with safer gambling adverts, or donate the slots to charity, for an initial period of six weeks.

The UK government is supporting access to study abroad through the Turing Scheme. ​​The scheme provides grant funding for education providers and organisations to offer their students, learners and pupils undertake study or work placement across the globe. Participants can study or work anywhere in the world, subject to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office travel advice.

Education providers and other eligible organisations are able to apply to the Turing Scheme. Organisations that have been awarded funds are responsible for planning projects that will see their students undertake international placements funded through the Turing Scheme. Students do not apply directly to the Turing Scheme. This is the same institution-led model used for international placement schemes like the Erasmus+ Programme.

The Turing Scheme allocated funding for international study and work placements for 41,024 students, learners, and pupils in the 2021/22 academic year and 38,374 in the 2022/23 academic year. Funding results by sector are published on the Turing Scheme website: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/. Application outcomes for the 2023/24 academic year will be announced in July 2023.

Whilst the Turing Scheme focuses on study and work placements for students, the Erasmus+ Programme also included some staff mobility, and youth and adult educational mobilities. However, the European Commission does not break down the total number of UK participants in any other sector than Higher Education (HE) between staff and students. The department is therefore unable to provide all the information requested. HE student participant numbers in Erasmus+ from the UK were 15,784 in the 2015/16 academic year, 16,559 in 2016/17, 17,048 in 2017/18, 18,305 in 2018/19 and 16,596 in 2019/20. The Turing Scheme is providing funding for 23,472 HE placements in the 2022/23 academic year and provided funding for over 28,000 HE placements in 2021/22.

The Turing Scheme has an annual application window in which eligible organisations can apply for funding:

• For 2021/22 placements, the application window opened on 12 March 2021 and closed on 16 April 2021. Applicants were notified of the outcome of their application and funding amounts by 4 August 2021. There were no appeals. The period between the closing of the application window to the notification of results was 15 weeks and 5 days, during which time the applications were assessed.
• For 2022/23 placements, the application window opened on 31 March 2022 and closed on 29 April 2022. Applicants were notified of the outcome of their application by 30 June 2022 and of their funding amounts by 17 July 2022. Successful appellants were notified of their funding amounts by 16 Aug 2022. The period between the closing of the application window to the notification of initial application results was 8 weeks and 6 days, during which time the applications were assessed. Notification of funding amounts were issued 2 weeks and 3 days later. The duration of the appeals process was 15 weeks and 4 days from the initial notification to the notification of the final outcomes of the appeal.
• For 2023/24 placements, the application window opened on 14 February 2023 and closed on 6 April 2023. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications and funding amounts in July 2023. Appeal outcomes will be confirmed to appellants in August 2023.

Under the Turing Scheme, participants receive grants to help cover the general costs of living while they are abroad. The amount of funding provided towards the cost of living for each participant will vary depending on the sector and destination country/territory. Destination countries/territories are grouped into three categories: Group 1 (high cost of living), Group 2 (medium cost of living) and Group 3 (lower cost of living). These categories were determined with reference to the World Bank’s International Comparison Program which compares countries’ Price Level Indexes, the country groupings used by the European Commission for the Erasmus+ Programme, and data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The UK government is supporting access to study abroad through the Turing Scheme. ​​The scheme provides grant funding for education providers and organisations to offer their students, learners and pupils undertake study or work placement across the globe. Participants can study or work anywhere in the world, subject to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office travel advice.

Education providers and other eligible organisations are able to apply to the Turing Scheme. Organisations that have been awarded funds are responsible for planning projects that will see their students undertake international placements funded through the Turing Scheme. Students do not apply directly to the Turing Scheme. This is the same institution-led model used for international placement schemes like the Erasmus+ Programme.

The Turing Scheme allocated funding for international study and work placements for 41,024 students, learners, and pupils in the 2021/22 academic year and 38,374 in the 2022/23 academic year. Funding results by sector are published on the Turing Scheme website: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/. Application outcomes for the 2023/24 academic year will be announced in July 2023.

Whilst the Turing Scheme focuses on study and work placements for students, the Erasmus+ Programme also included some staff mobility, and youth and adult educational mobilities. However, the European Commission does not break down the total number of UK participants in any other sector than Higher Education (HE) between staff and students. The department is therefore unable to provide all the information requested. HE student participant numbers in Erasmus+ from the UK were 15,784 in the 2015/16 academic year, 16,559 in 2016/17, 17,048 in 2017/18, 18,305 in 2018/19 and 16,596 in 2019/20. The Turing Scheme is providing funding for 23,472 HE placements in the 2022/23 academic year and provided funding for over 28,000 HE placements in 2021/22.

The Turing Scheme has an annual application window in which eligible organisations can apply for funding:

• For 2021/22 placements, the application window opened on 12 March 2021 and closed on 16 April 2021. Applicants were notified of the outcome of their application and funding amounts by 4 August 2021. There were no appeals. The period between the closing of the application window to the notification of results was 15 weeks and 5 days, during which time the applications were assessed.
• For 2022/23 placements, the application window opened on 31 March 2022 and closed on 29 April 2022. Applicants were notified of the outcome of their application by 30 June 2022 and of their funding amounts by 17 July 2022. Successful appellants were notified of their funding amounts by 16 Aug 2022. The period between the closing of the application window to the notification of initial application results was 8 weeks and 6 days, during which time the applications were assessed. Notification of funding amounts were issued 2 weeks and 3 days later. The duration of the appeals process was 15 weeks and 4 days from the initial notification to the notification of the final outcomes of the appeal.
• For 2023/24 placements, the application window opened on 14 February 2023 and closed on 6 April 2023. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications and funding amounts in July 2023. Appeal outcomes will be confirmed to appellants in August 2023.

Under the Turing Scheme, participants receive grants to help cover the general costs of living while they are abroad. The amount of funding provided towards the cost of living for each participant will vary depending on the sector and destination country/territory. Destination countries/territories are grouped into three categories: Group 1 (high cost of living), Group 2 (medium cost of living) and Group 3 (lower cost of living). These categories were determined with reference to the World Bank’s International Comparison Program which compares countries’ Price Level Indexes, the country groupings used by the European Commission for the Erasmus+ Programme, and data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The UK government is supporting access to study abroad through the Turing Scheme. ​​The scheme provides grant funding for education providers and organisations to offer their students, learners and pupils undertake study or work placement across the globe. Participants can study or work anywhere in the world, subject to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office travel advice.

Education providers and other eligible organisations are able to apply to the Turing Scheme. Organisations that have been awarded funds are responsible for planning projects that will see their students undertake international placements funded through the Turing Scheme. Students do not apply directly to the Turing Scheme. This is the same institution-led model used for international placement schemes like the Erasmus+ Programme.

The Turing Scheme allocated funding for international study and work placements for 41,024 students, learners, and pupils in the 2021/22 academic year and 38,374 in the 2022/23 academic year. Funding results by sector are published on the Turing Scheme website: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/. Application outcomes for the 2023/24 academic year will be announced in July 2023.

Whilst the Turing Scheme focuses on study and work placements for students, the Erasmus+ Programme also included some staff mobility, and youth and adult educational mobilities. However, the European Commission does not break down the total number of UK participants in any other sector than Higher Education (HE) between staff and students. The department is therefore unable to provide all the information requested. HE student participant numbers in Erasmus+ from the UK were 15,784 in the 2015/16 academic year, 16,559 in 2016/17, 17,048 in 2017/18, 18,305 in 2018/19 and 16,596 in 2019/20. The Turing Scheme is providing funding for 23,472 HE placements in the 2022/23 academic year and provided funding for over 28,000 HE placements in 2021/22.

The Turing Scheme has an annual application window in which eligible organisations can apply for funding:

• For 2021/22 placements, the application window opened on 12 March 2021 and closed on 16 April 2021. Applicants were notified of the outcome of their application and funding amounts by 4 August 2021. There were no appeals. The period between the closing of the application window to the notification of results was 15 weeks and 5 days, during which time the applications were assessed.
• For 2022/23 placements, the application window opened on 31 March 2022 and closed on 29 April 2022. Applicants were notified of the outcome of their application by 30 June 2022 and of their funding amounts by 17 July 2022. Successful appellants were notified of their funding amounts by 16 Aug 2022. The period between the closing of the application window to the notification of initial application results was 8 weeks and 6 days, during which time the applications were assessed. Notification of funding amounts were issued 2 weeks and 3 days later. The duration of the appeals process was 15 weeks and 4 days from the initial notification to the notification of the final outcomes of the appeal.
• For 2023/24 placements, the application window opened on 14 February 2023 and closed on 6 April 2023. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications and funding amounts in July 2023. Appeal outcomes will be confirmed to appellants in August 2023.

Under the Turing Scheme, participants receive grants to help cover the general costs of living while they are abroad. The amount of funding provided towards the cost of living for each participant will vary depending on the sector and destination country/territory. Destination countries/territories are grouped into three categories: Group 1 (high cost of living), Group 2 (medium cost of living) and Group 3 (lower cost of living). These categories were determined with reference to the World Bank’s International Comparison Program which compares countries’ Price Level Indexes, the country groupings used by the European Commission for the Erasmus+ Programme, and data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The UK government is supporting access to study abroad through the Turing Scheme. ​​The scheme provides grant funding for education providers and organisations to offer their students, learners and pupils undertake study or work placement across the globe. Participants can study or work anywhere in the world, subject to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office travel advice.

Education providers and other eligible organisations are able to apply to the Turing Scheme. Organisations that have been awarded funds are responsible for planning projects that will see their students undertake international placements funded through the Turing Scheme. Students do not apply directly to the Turing Scheme. This is the same institution-led model used for international placement schemes like the Erasmus+ Programme.

The Turing Scheme allocated funding for international study and work placements for 41,024 students, learners, and pupils in the 2021/22 academic year and 38,374 in the 2022/23 academic year. Funding results by sector are published on the Turing Scheme website: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/. Application outcomes for the 2023/24 academic year will be announced in July 2023.

Whilst the Turing Scheme focuses on study and work placements for students, the Erasmus+ Programme also included some staff mobility, and youth and adult educational mobilities. However, the European Commission does not break down the total number of UK participants in any other sector than Higher Education (HE) between staff and students. The department is therefore unable to provide all the information requested. HE student participant numbers in Erasmus+ from the UK were 15,784 in the 2015/16 academic year, 16,559 in 2016/17, 17,048 in 2017/18, 18,305 in 2018/19 and 16,596 in 2019/20. The Turing Scheme is providing funding for 23,472 HE placements in the 2022/23 academic year and provided funding for over 28,000 HE placements in 2021/22.

The Turing Scheme has an annual application window in which eligible organisations can apply for funding:

• For 2021/22 placements, the application window opened on 12 March 2021 and closed on 16 April 2021. Applicants were notified of the outcome of their application and funding amounts by 4 August 2021. There were no appeals. The period between the closing of the application window to the notification of results was 15 weeks and 5 days, during which time the applications were assessed.
• For 2022/23 placements, the application window opened on 31 March 2022 and closed on 29 April 2022. Applicants were notified of the outcome of their application by 30 June 2022 and of their funding amounts by 17 July 2022. Successful appellants were notified of their funding amounts by 16 Aug 2022. The period between the closing of the application window to the notification of initial application results was 8 weeks and 6 days, during which time the applications were assessed. Notification of funding amounts were issued 2 weeks and 3 days later. The duration of the appeals process was 15 weeks and 4 days from the initial notification to the notification of the final outcomes of the appeal.
• For 2023/24 placements, the application window opened on 14 February 2023 and closed on 6 April 2023. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications and funding amounts in July 2023. Appeal outcomes will be confirmed to appellants in August 2023.

Under the Turing Scheme, participants receive grants to help cover the general costs of living while they are abroad. The amount of funding provided towards the cost of living for each participant will vary depending on the sector and destination country/territory. Destination countries/territories are grouped into three categories: Group 1 (high cost of living), Group 2 (medium cost of living) and Group 3 (lower cost of living). These categories were determined with reference to the World Bank’s International Comparison Program which compares countries’ Price Level Indexes, the country groupings used by the European Commission for the Erasmus+ Programme, and data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

There have been two sewage leaks within the Department’s office estate within the last 12 months. The leaks were contained within the building and rectified quickly.

Consultancy expenditure is published in the department’s annual report and accounts, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-annual-reports.

Although the audit is still ongoing, figures for the 2021/22 financial year are included. As a result, this value may be subject to change.

The figures below cover the entirety of the departmental group, including executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies, for the years specified:

• 2021/22: £6.8 million (unaudited)
• 2020/21: £8.7 million
• 2019/20: £12.7 million
• 2018/19: £13.1 million
• 2017/18: £14.6 million.

Teaching and college staff mobility will not be funded as part of the Turing Scheme in the 2022/23 academic year, to maximise the amount of student, learner, and pupils’ access to life-changing mobilities. The department will continue to keep this decision under review and plans to assess the impact of the scheme following its first year of delivery.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on https://www.gov.uk/.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK.

Funding distributed under the Turing scheme will be demand-led, based on the bids that UK universities, colleges, training providers and schools will make to the scheme, and upon the demand for international mobilities for the academic year 2021-22 they have from their students.

The Turing Scheme provides funding for approximately 20,000 higher education students, 10,000 further education and vocational training students and 5,000 school pupils, a similar number as under Erasmus+. These numbers are subject to the above-mentioned demand.

The Turing scheme will be backed by £110 million for the 2021-22 academic year, providing funding for similar numbers of UK students to travel abroad as under Erasmus+, which is approximately 20,000 higher education (HE) students, 10,000 further education and vocational training students and 5,000 school pupils, subject to demand.

Widening participation and levelling up is a core aim of the Turing Scheme. That is why we plan the following, to widen access to mobilities for disadvantaged groups with additional grants for living costs and living expenses:

• When bidding, providers will need to demonstrate how their project will support widening access. The assessment criteria will be heavily weighted towards this criterion.
• Maintaining parity with Erasmus+ grant rates and existing student finance support, but provide additional financial support for those from disadvantaged backgrounds by reimbursing travel-related costs.
• We will actively target and promote the scheme in those geographical areas of disadvantage, helping to level up the country.
• We have reduced the minimum HE duration of outward mobilities from a minimum of one term to 4 weeks.

Adult education mobilities under Erasmus+ were for staff rather than students. In considering which elements of the Erasmus+ programme we would immediately replicate under the Turing Scheme, we prioritised ensuring that as many students, learners and pupils as possible have access to life-changing mobilities to support them in developing the skills that will help them to thrive.

Youth and sport are policy responsibilities of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Erasmus+ Sport is a very small part of the programme, representing only 1.8% of the overall budget. DCMS estimates that UK organisations have, on average, benefited by less than £1.5 million a year from Erasmus+ Sport.

We do not need to create a specific programme to replace Erasmus+ Sport activities. We are already investing significant sums of money in sport programmes that align with Erasmus+ Sport themes and objectives. For example, through Sport England, we are investing more than £1.2 billion between 2016-21 on grassroots sport and physical activity programmes.

The National Agency collect and publish data on projects funded as part of Erasmus+, including for broken down by England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which can be found here: https://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/statistics.

The table below shows the value of Erasmus+ projects funded in Scotland from call year 2015 to 2017 (the call year is the year in which applications can be made). This is the latest data available, and it can be found in table 11 at the following link: https://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/file/14125/download.

Value of Erasmus+ projects funded in Scotland (in euros)

The Turing scheme will be backed by £110 million for the 2021-22 academic year, providing funding for similar numbers of UK students to travel abroad as under Erasmus+, which is approximately 20,000 higher education (HE) students, 10,000 further education and vocational training students and 5,000 school pupils, subject to demand.

Widening participation and levelling up is a core aim of the Turing Scheme. That is why we plan the following, to widen access to mobilities for disadvantaged groups with additional grants for living costs and living expenses:

• When bidding, providers will need to demonstrate how their project will support widening access. The assessment criteria will be heavily weighted towards this criterion.
• Maintaining parity with Erasmus+ grant rates and existing student finance support, but provide additional financial support for those from disadvantaged backgrounds by reimbursing travel-related costs.
• We will actively target and promote the scheme in those geographical areas of disadvantage, helping to level up the country.
• We have reduced the minimum HE duration of outward mobilities from a minimum of one term to 4 weeks.

Adult education mobilities under Erasmus+ were for staff rather than students. In considering which elements of the Erasmus+ programme we would immediately replicate under the Turing Scheme, we prioritised ensuring that as many students, learners and pupils as possible have access to life-changing mobilities to support them in developing the skills that will help them to thrive.

Youth and sport are policy responsibilities of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Erasmus+ Sport is a very small part of the programme, representing only 1.8% of the overall budget. DCMS estimates that UK organisations have, on average, benefited by less than £1.5 million a year from Erasmus+ Sport.

We do not need to create a specific programme to replace Erasmus+ Sport activities. We are already investing significant sums of money in sport programmes that align with Erasmus+ Sport themes and objectives. For example, through Sport England, we are investing more than £1.2 billion between 2016-21 on grassroots sport and physical activity programmes.

The National Agency collect and publish data on projects funded as part of Erasmus+, including for broken down by England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which can be found here: https://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/statistics.

The table below shows the value of Erasmus+ projects funded in Scotland from call year 2015 to 2017 (the call year is the year in which applications can be made). This is the latest data available, and it can be found in table 11 at the following link: https://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/file/14125/download.

Value of Erasmus+ projects funded in Scotland (in euros)

The Turing scheme will be backed by £110 million for the 2021-22 academic year, providing funding for similar numbers of UK students to travel abroad as under Erasmus+, which is approximately 20,000 higher education (HE) students, 10,000 further education and vocational training students and 5,000 school pupils, subject to demand.

Widening participation and levelling up is a core aim of the Turing Scheme. That is why we plan the following, to widen access to mobilities for disadvantaged groups with additional grants for living costs and living expenses:

• When bidding, providers will need to demonstrate how their project will support widening access. The assessment criteria will be heavily weighted towards this criterion.
• Maintaining parity with Erasmus+ grant rates and existing student finance support, but provide additional financial support for those from disadvantaged backgrounds by reimbursing travel-related costs.
• We will actively target and promote the scheme in those geographical areas of disadvantage, helping to level up the country.
• We have reduced the minimum HE duration of outward mobilities from a minimum of one term to 4 weeks.

Adult education mobilities under Erasmus+ were for staff rather than students. In considering which elements of the Erasmus+ programme we would immediately replicate under the Turing Scheme, we prioritised ensuring that as many students, learners and pupils as possible have access to life-changing mobilities to support them in developing the skills that will help them to thrive.

Youth and sport are policy responsibilities of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Erasmus+ Sport is a very small part of the programme, representing only 1.8% of the overall budget. DCMS estimates that UK organisations have, on average, benefited by less than £1.5 million a year from Erasmus+ Sport.

We do not need to create a specific programme to replace Erasmus+ Sport activities. We are already investing significant sums of money in sport programmes that align with Erasmus+ Sport themes and objectives. For example, through Sport England, we are investing more than £1.2 billion between 2016-21 on grassroots sport and physical activity programmes.

The National Agency collect and publish data on projects funded as part of Erasmus+, including for broken down by England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which can be found here: https://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/statistics.

The table below shows the value of Erasmus+ projects funded in Scotland from call year 2015 to 2017 (the call year is the year in which applications can be made). This is the latest data available, and it can be found in table 11 at the following link: https://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/file/14125/download.

Value of Erasmus+ projects funded in Scotland (in euros)

The Department does not collect or hold information on the proportion of qualified modern foreign language (MFL) teachers in England that have taken part in the Erasmus+ scheme.

The Turing scheme, which replaces the UK’s participation in Erasmus+, will be backed by at least £100 million, providing funding for around 35,000 students in universities, colleges, and schools to go on placements and exchanges overseas, starting in September 2021. The scheme will be global and not limited to the European Union. The Turing scheme will be available to students of all subjects, including those studying degrees in MFL. Further details of the scheme will be published shortly.

Alongside the Turing scheme, the Government remains committed to ensuring pupils have access to high quality languages provision and that we continue to attract, retain, and develop the high quality languages teachers we need. To support MFL teacher recruitment, we are offering a £10,000 bursary for MFL trainees starting initial teacher training (ITT) in the 2021/22 academic year. We have also confirmed that ITT providers will be able to offer subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses to support MFL candidates for the academic year 2020/21 from April 2021. SKE courses are designed to help ITT applicants gain the depth of subject knowledge they need to train to teach their chosen subject.

The Department does not collect or hold information on the proportion of qualified modern foreign language (MFL) teachers in England that have taken part in the Erasmus+ scheme.

The Turing scheme, which replaces the UK’s participation in Erasmus+, will be backed by at least £100 million, providing funding for around 35,000 students in universities, colleges, and schools to go on placements and exchanges overseas, starting in September 2021. The scheme will be global and not limited to the European Union. The Turing scheme will be available to students of all subjects, including those studying degrees in MFL. Further details of the scheme will be published shortly.

Alongside the Turing scheme, the Government remains committed to ensuring pupils have access to high quality languages provision and that we continue to attract, retain, and develop the high quality languages teachers we need. To support MFL teacher recruitment, we are offering a £10,000 bursary for MFL trainees starting initial teacher training (ITT) in the 2021/22 academic year. We have also confirmed that ITT providers will be able to offer subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses to support MFL candidates for the academic year 2020/21 from April 2021. SKE courses are designed to help ITT applicants gain the depth of subject knowledge they need to train to teach their chosen subject.

The Disabled Students’ Premium is allocated by the Office for Students (OfS) each year.

The budget for the disabled students premium in academic year 2020/21 is £39.7 million.

In his strategic guidance letter to the OfS in January this year, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, asked the OfS to continue to prioritise allocations for the student premium.

An impact assessment was completed alongside our consultation in 2022. As the plans for the legislation evolve that assessment will be updated alongside our legislative proposals. The Government is currently co-funding research into peat free growing media with the RHS and industry leaders over the next three years; this research will expand the knowledge base regarding the quality of peat free growing media and our understanding of particular technical difficulties.

Technical exemptions have already been identified for plugs using less than 150ml of substrate and for casing material for mushroom production. Evidence provided for other plant types or production processes requiring a technical exemption will be considered and we will be engaging with the sector to refine any of these. We are proposing that the legislation will be framed to allow ministers to amend the dates, or modify the exemption, where exigent circumstances mean that the removal date is shown to be unachievable. The proposed legislation will be brought forward when parliamentary time allows.

While individual farm businesses are responsible for charging seasonal workers for their usage of utilities, approved scheme operators must comply with requirements outlined in the sponsor guidance. This includes ensuring farm businesses with whom they have placed workers do not impose additional, unnecessary charges on workers, whether directly or indirectly. The new team within the Home Office compliance network will focus specifically on farm businesses in this sector and ensure sponsors are adhering to this guidance and fulfilling their sponsorship responsibilities.

All recruitment operators for the Seasonal Workers visa route offer a guaranteed minimum number of hours for seasonal migrant workers, with most working in excess of these hours. The usual rules prohibiting zero hours contracts continue to apply. Recruitment operators can transfer seasonal workers between farms to ensure these minimum hours are met and they also have welfare measures in place to ensure workers are well cared for.

The Home Office and Defra continue to monitor the visa route closely to make sure operators and growers adhere to the stringent requirements set for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the seasonal workers, including redress if workers are not paid. The operators of the Seasonal Worker visa route are licensed via a rigorous government selection process. As a minimum requirement, operators must be licensed by the Gangmasters Labour and Abuse Authority (GLAA). This makes sure that all workers are only placed with farms that adhere to all relevant legislation. Should a scheme operator lose their GLAA licencing at any point, their sponsor licence will be revoked with immediate effect.

Defra run an annual workers survey and liaise regularly with operators to monitor any issues. A new team will also focus on ensuring sponsors are abiding by workers' rights by improving training and processes for compliance inspectors and creating clear policies and guidance for robust action for scheme operators where workers are at risk of exploitation.

With production of ornamentals being worth £1.4 billion in the UK at farm-gate in 2020, the Government recognises the importance of the ornamental horticultural industry sector to our economy. Last year the Ornamental Horticulture Roundtable Group published their 'Unlocking green growth: A plan from the ornamental horticulture & landscaping industry'. This identifies how barriers to the sector's growth can be unlocked through a collaborative approach between government and industry, with one of the opportunities for the sector's growth identified as the inclusion of UK ornamental horticulture and landscaping as part of the government's global export strategy. We are working with industry and across government to explore how this can be achieved.

Exports of ornamentals were worth £68 million in 2020. DIT works closely with the Commercial Horticulture Association (CHA), providing support to horticultural exporters from across the UK (including tree and plant growers, ornamental horticulture and landscaping). Jointly, DIT and CHA have developed a capability brochure showcasing UK capability in horticulture, which is available on the Agri-Tech UK portal www.agritech-uk.org. The portal is used by DIT commercial officers overseas to support companies listed in the searchable company directory expand their business overseas.

We have already made £1 million available to UK nurseries and seed suppliers through the Tree Production Innovation Fund to encourage the adoption of innovative technologies and ways of working in the nursery sector. We have also opened a new Tree Production Capital Grant, providing capital support to modernise facilities and improve the quantity, quality, diversity, and biosecurity of sapling supply. These actions are fulfilling commitments made in the England Trees Action Plan, highlighting the vital role of these sectors to support our ambitions on tree planting, woodland creation and management.

With production of ornamentals being worth £1.4 billion in the UK at farm-gate in 2020, the Government recognises the importance of the ornamental horticultural industry sector both to local economies and to people's well-being. Defra meets regularly with the Ornamental Horticulture Roundtable Group (OHRG), who last year published their ‘Unlocking green growth: A plan from the ornamental horticulture & landscaping industry’. This identifies how barriers to the sector’s growth can be unlocked through a collaborative approach between government and industry. We are currently working with the OHRG on the opportunities outlined in their plan to accelerate the sector's growth.

The provisional consultancy spend for 2021-22 is £26.970m for the Core Department and Agencies.

The department’s spend on consultancy is published each year in the Annual Report and Accounts.

2020-21

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021 (page 100)

2019-20

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2019-to-2020 (page 87)

2018-19

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2018-to-2019 (page 64)

2017-18

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018 (page 51)

We will publish a Target Operating Model in the autumn (2022) that will set out how and when we will introduce an improved global regime of all border import controls. It will be based on a further assessment of risk and will harness the power of data and technology. We are working with stakeholders to develop these proposals. This includes looking at the role a trusted trader scheme might play in the plant health control system, which applies to the import of trees, plants and plant products.

Since we agreed the voluntary commitment to phase out the use of peat with the horticultural industry in 2011, many peat-free alternatives have been introduced to the market and some are readily available. However, we know that these products will need to be scaled up to meet demand, and that there might be some specific plants where alternatives are still under development.

We are currently analysing the responses from our recent consultation and call for evidence on ending the sale of peat and peat-containing products in horticulture, to add to our understanding of any challenges and opportunities regarding peat-free alternatives. We are also continuing to work with the industry to understand the support they will require to make the transition. This includes the funding of research to help underpin the development and management of alternative growing media in the professional sector. We will publish our response to the consultation as soon as possible.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK.

The first-year evaluation information on the Seasonal Workers Pilot scheme will be published later this year.

Defra works closely with the Home Office and the Gangmasters Labour and Abuse Authority to monitor and evaluate the Seasonal Workers Pilot against its stated aims and ensure that its rules and regulations are being adhered to.

The Government takes the safety and wellbeing of seasonal workers extremely seriously. The Home Office sponsor licencing system places clear and binding requirements and obligations on the operators of the Seasonal Workers Pilot to safeguard seasonal workers.

The Seasonal Workers Pilot requires the operators to ensure all seasonal workers have a safe working environment, are treated fairly and paid properly, and robust systems are in place for the reporting of concerns and rapid action. A prerequisite for becoming an operator is that each organisation must hold and maintain licencing from the Gangmasters Labour and Abuse Authority. Defra would be notified should an operator or farm not be meeting the required standards and appropriate action taken.

The Department previously submitted an application to the European Commission to become a 'Part 1' listed third country in relation to non-commercial movement of pet dogs, cats and ferrets. On 3 December 2020 the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed of the EU voted in favour of, and has now adopted, the UK as a ‘Part 2’ listed status third country for the non-commercial movement of pet dogs, cats and ferrets. The rules that govern pet travel also apply to assistance dogs.

We are clear we meet all the animal health requirements to become a Part 1 listed third country and have one of the most rigorous pet checking regimes in Europe to protect our biosecurity. Our disease risk has not changed, and we recognise the challenges that ‘Part 2’ listed status pose for assistance dog users. We will continue to press the EU Commission on securing Part 1 listed status.

The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement does not include provisions relating to the movement of pet animals and assistance dogs. These movements are separately governed under the EU’s Pet Travel Scheme, and for Great Britain to continue to take advantage of eased pet and assistance dog movements we applied to become a ‘Part 1’ listed third country specifically for these movements. This was a technical process that was separate to the wider negotiations.

On 3 December 2020 the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF) of the EU voted in favour of giving the United Kingdom “Part 2” listed status for the purposes of non-commercial pet travel after the Transition Period, and this has now been formally adopted. A Part 2 listed status means similar health requirements for assistance dogs travelling to the EU, but new documentation and rules on points of entry. These rules also now apply for movements from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Waste is a devolved matter. Data recently published by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) shows UK food waste fell by almost 15% since 2007 – enough to fill Wembley Stadium three times. However, I know there is more to do everywhere. The Resources and Waste Strategy which covers England only sets out a range of policy actions to reduce food waste further including a £15 million food waste fund, a consultation on mandatory reporting of food waste by businesses, and continued support of cross-sector collaboration through the Courtauld Commitment 2025 to achieve a 20% reduction.

DFID’s Annual Report and Accounts is due to be published on 14 July and will set out baseline programme budgets for 2020/21 spend by DFID spending unit.

DFID is working with the FCO and other ODA spending departments to assess how to manage the 0.7% commitment this year, in light of the risk of a fall in Gross National Income. No decision has been taken, but we are considering the full range of our work.

DFID do not hold a central contingency budget and have not requested any funding from the central exchequer reserve held by HM Treasury.

The UK ODA Crisis Reserve is an annual allocation of £500 million. This consists of a £200 million un-allocated reserve and a £300 million re-deployable reserve. This enables ?exible, quick and effective cross government responses to crises as they happen as set out in the UK Aid Strategy published in 2015. We do not report on expenditure drawn down from the ODA Crisis Reserve.

DFID uses promissory notes with organisations such as international development banks. A promissory note allows that organisation to commit to an activity in full, in advance of funding being transferred.

DFID’s made no adjustment at Main Estimates 2020-21 to the Net Cash Requirement as a result of Promissory Notes.

As of 1 July 2020, the Department for International Development has 102 Social Development Advisers, all of whom are technical experts on gender equality and shape DFID’s work in this area. These advisers undergo continuous assessments and are quality assured as they progress up the grades, in terms of both depth and breadth of this expertise, to ensure that they can effectively advance gender equality and women’s rights globally.

We have committed up to £764 million of UK Aid to combat COVID-19 and reinforce the global effort to find a vaccine. We are using UK aid to its full effect to counter the health, humanitarian, and economic risks and impact of this pandemic in the developing world.

The UK has committed £145 million, roughly 19% of the £764 million, to the UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan. Details of which countries are included in the GHRP can be found here.

We have also adapted over one hundred existing bilateral health and humanitarian programmes, and close to two hundred existing social protection, economic, governance, conflict and other programmes, across 35 countries and regions relevant to the COVID-19 response.

At the forefront of global efforts to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak, the UK has provided £764 million of UK aid toward ending the pandemic as quickly as possible. This includes funding to vulnerable countries, like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and to global organisations like the WHO, and investment in rapid diagnostics and vaccines.

Within DRC, UK programmes are supporting health facilities to respond to the virus and support the most vulnerable to maintain access to food. Existing humanitarian, health and economic development programmes are also addressing needs arising from the impact of COVID-19. This includes support to UNICEF.

I recognise both the important place that religious belief has for many people around the world affected by COVID-19 and the role that faith leaders are playing in the response.

The Ebola Crisis has shown that faith groups are amongst the first to respond and can play an effective role in the behaviour change essential to slow the spread, reduce infection, illness and death of epidemics.

Faith groups are key policy and delivery partners for DFID. We are committed to working with and alongside faith-based actors to meet the challenges posed to both the UK and internationally by COVID-19.

DFID is taking forward a structured approach to working with UK and international civil society organisations, including faith-based actors. This is incorporating strategic and technical discussions to help inform the sector’s response to the pandemic. Specifically, Baroness Sugg has chaired round table discussions with the Chief Executive Officers from key civil society organisations, including faith-based organisations. This has been to update the sector on DFID’s COVID-19 response to date, engage with concerns across the sector, and explore how to mitigate the threats posed by COVID-19 to sector resilience.

Lord Ahmad also hosted a round table with faith leaders and faith-based development organisations on 8 June to discuss how we can work together more effectively on the response to COVID-19.

DFID has pledged new funding for civil society organisations, including faith-based organisations, to support the response. This includes £20 million through the Rapid Response Facility, which includes funding for Christian Aid; up to £30 million of new grants through the next round of the UK Aid Direct programme, and significant funding through the DFID Unilever COVID-19 Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition.

Faith-based organisations can receive funding through multilateral organisations, as downstream partners as part of the UK’s response, and through our country office network.

We have been reviewing our programme portfolio in light of the COVID-19 response, enabling us to identify existing activities which can already support the response and others that can be adapted or scaled up, such as our support to health systems and humanitarian crises.

The Government will implement these changes in the most cost effective way possible. While we anticipate there may be cost savings in the long term as a result of using our resources more effectively and efficiently, it is not the primary goal of the merger of these two Departments. This is primarily about bringing together our international efforts so we can maximise the UK’s influence around the world. By aligning our efforts, the merger will maximise our influence and expertise and ensure we are in the best position to confront the challenges that lie ahead. This will strengthen our ability to lead the world’s efforts to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and allow us to seize the opportunities ahead, as we prepare to take on the G7 presidency and host COP26 next year.

Merging the departments will bring together the best of what we do in aid and diplomacy, and create new opportunities for staff. The ambition, vision and expertise of DFID staff will be at the heart of the new department – taking forward the work of UK aid, which will remain central to our mission. There will be no compulsory redundancies.

Merging the departments will bring together the best of what we do in aid and diplomacy, and create new opportunities for staff. There are no plans to close DFID’s office in Scotland, where staff play a vital role in ensuring UK aid delivers results for the world’s poorest and represents value for money for UK taxpayers.

The UK is at the forefront of the global response to COVID-19. We are using UK aid to its full effect to counter the health, humanitarian, and economic risks and impact of this pandemic in the developing world. We have committed up to £764 million of UK Aid to combat COVID-19 and reinforce the global effort to find a vaccine.

Our funding is supporting a range of initiatives and partners to ensure it can reach those who need it the most. This includes £75 million for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help lead international efforts to stop the spread of the virus and access critical medical supplies; £55 million to International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement appeals to provide medical supplies and equipment to hospitals and clinics, and build quarantine areas and disinfection facilities; and a range of support to NGOs.

The WHO and UNICEF are working with governments to identify requirements and ensure that supplies, including the critical medical equipment for oxygen therapy, reach those in need.

The UK Government’s funding to UNICEF is in support of its global COVID-19 appeal. Through the appeal, UNICEF will contribute to both outbreak control and mitigation of the collateral impacts of the pandemic, including interruptions to water and sanitation, health, nutrition, education, protection and essential social services for children, women and vulnerable populations.

It is anticipated that all funding received from both the UK Government and other donors will be fully utilised by 31 December 2020, in line with the current appeal. In providing these funds to UNICEF, DFID did not require that a specific amount be channelled to NGOs. However, DFID welcomes the vital role that NGOs will continue to play in service delivery through multilaterals, and we are pleased that some UN agencies, such as UNICEF, are seeking to simplify their processes for NGO partners to help ensure funding reaches them more swiftly. We will be working with the UN and DFID’s country offices to increasingly better understand and track eventual flows to NGOs in-country.

All of DFID’s aid activities reported to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are screened against the gender equality policy marker. This is a measurement of the proportion of aid that supports gender equality and women’s empowerment. An activity can be marked as ‘principal’ if gender equality is the main objective of the programme, or as a ‘significant’ if gender equality is an important and deliberate objective, but not the principal reason for undertaking the programme.

DFID’s spend on bilateral allocable activities targeting gender equality is made publicly available through the OECD statistics portal. For example, in 2018 £4.2 billion of DFID’s total bilateral spend was marked principal or significant (66%).

These world-leading investments are delivering results at scale. Between 2015 and 2019, DFID reached 50.6 million women of childbearing age, children under 5 and adolescent girls through our nutrition-relevant programmes and supported 5.8 million girls gain access to a decent education. Last year, UK aid helped 23.5 million of the world’s poorest women and girls access to vital, voluntary family planning.

NGOs are key policy and delivery partners for DFID and we are committed to working with the sector to meet the challenges posed by COVID-19. CSOs including NGOs and charities deliver roughly one quarter of DFID programmes around the world. A total of 40 charities and NGOs are receiving funding from the Department for International Development’s (DFID) £20 million humanitarian support package, announced in April, or the £100 million global hygiene partnership with Unilever, unveiled in March.

DFID is providing £24.4 million as part of our Unilever partnership to Action Aid, The African Medical and Research Foundation, PSI, Save the Children, Oxfam, WaterAid, International Rescue Committee, World Vision, Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor.

Through DFID’s Rapid Response Facility, £18 million of DFID funding is supporting Action Against Hunger, CARE, Christian Aid, GOAL, Humanity & Inclusion and Norwegian Refugee Council to provide healthcare, water and sanitation, food and shelter to meet the basic needs of some of the world’s most vulnerable people during the COVID-19 crisis.

Through the Humanitarian 2 Humanitarian network and its host Danish Refugee Council, £2 million of DFID funding will support 14 partners to manage information on the virus and share this with global partners, and to communicate facts to communities across Africa, the Middle East and beyond. These partners are: Fondation Hirondelle, Ground Truth Solutions, the New Humanitarian, CDAC Network, ACAPS, CartONG, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap, Map Action, Evidence Aid, Sphere, Red R UK, Humanitarian Academy for Development, Atlas Logistique and Insecurity Insight.

In country a significant proportion of existing DFID programmes are implemented directly through NGO partners and we expect NGOs will play a significant role in our country level COVID response. Many NGOs will also receive funding as part of DFID’s significant investment in the multilateral response to COVID-19. Collating the full list of organisations in receipt of funding for COVID-19 work from existing programmes or as downstream partners would take a disproportionate amount of time to extract.

Since March 2020 there have been no additional budget allocations to individual country offices, but we have adapted over one hundred existing bilateral health and humanitarian programmes, and close to two hundred existing social protection, economic, governance, conflict and other programmes, across 35 countries and regions relevant to the COVID-19 response. For some programmes this included moving funding from programme components less relevant to the COVID-19 response to increase funding to those that are most in need. Many of these programmes are delivered in part or wholly through NGOs.

We have committed up to £764 million of UK aid to combat COVID-19 and to reinforce the global effort to find a vaccine. £296 million of this has been provided to support the global health response and vulnerable countries. This includes support to UK charities and international organisations to help reduce mass infections in developing countries.

The UK is a key donor to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and have already contributed £75 million to help the organisation lead international efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 and end the pandemic, including: global coordination; planning for country level preparedness and response; global procurement and supply; the science and research and development agenda; and communications. This £75 million is going towards the WHO’s COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) and includes £10 million to the flash WHO appeal announced in February and March 2020 and a further £65 million for the SPRP was announced in April 2020. The SPRP outlines the public health measures that need to be taken to support countries to prepare for and respond to COVID-19. Funding that is provided to countries is allocated to NGOs when and as needed based on the individual country context. This funding will be spent this calendar year. The UK’s funding for the WHO is based on our assessment of the organisation’s needs and we continue to keep this under review.

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations are key partners for DFID in responding to the unprecedented challenges arising from COVID-19. We know that in many places NGOs will be best placed to meet the needs of those most vulnerable and at risk. CSO including NGOs and charities deliver roughly one quarter of DFID programmes around the world. A total of 40 charities and NGOs will receive funding from DFID’s £20 million humanitarian support package or the £100 million global hygiene partnership with Unilever. NGOs are also receiving £24 million of extra funding through the DFID COVID-19 Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition.

The UK Government’s funding to UNHCR is in support of its global COVID-19 appeal. Through the appeal, UNHCR will support refugees and IDPs, through scaling up of health and water, sanitation and hygiene preparedness, and response interventions.

It is anticipated that all funding received from both the UK Government and other donors will be fully utilised by 31 December 2020, in line with the current appeal. Given the global nature of this pandemic, UK funding to UNHCR’s appeal is pooled with that of other donors and is therefore not earmarked for any specific implementing partner whether they be NGOs, local government etc. Given UNHCR’s presence in over 130 countries, it is best placed to determine the specific needs in each country, as well as which implementing partner is best placed to deliver these needs.

However, given the important role that NGOs and civil society organisations can play in tackling COVID-19, UNHCR has undertaken a review of its existing procedures related to partnership management and issued additional internal guidance to simplify and expedite collaboration where appropriate.

My officials continue to liaise with UNHCR on all aspects of its COVID-19 response, including its work with NGOs and civil society organisations.

The UK Government’s funding to the World Food Programme (WFP), is in support of its global COVID-19 appeal. WFP is setting up a platform of services to enable the health and humanitarian communities (including NGOs) to deliver support to the most vulnerable populations. So far, 39 NGOs have used WFP’s cargo and passenger services.

WFP has established eight international strategic consolidation hubs to support global movement of cargo. These hubs will be connected to regional staging areas in East, West and Central Africa, Central America, Asia and the Middle East.

WFP is setting up air transport links between strategic hubs and regional staging areas to ensure the predictable and sustained movement of life-saving humanitarian and medical cargo.

WFP operates passenger air services to ensure that humanitarian and medical staff are not restricted by commercial transport closures and can reach the areas where they are most needed.

Due to the increased risk of exposure to COVID-19, worldwide movement restrictions and the grounding of commercial transport systems, WFP also set up global medical evacuation services for the whole humanitarian community.

The WFP appeal is for USD $965 million; this is 9% funded with $85 million in confirmed contributions, of which the UK has contributed 22%.

The UK Government has committed £10 million of UK aid to UNFPA in support of its global COVID-19 appeal, through the Global Humanitarian Response Plan. Through the appeal, UNFPA will address the needs of women and girls impacted by COVID-19, including strengthening health systems to deliver sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence services, and plugging gaps in the availability of SRH supplies caused by coronavirus.

It is anticipated that all funding received from both the UK Government and other donors will be fully utilised by 31 December 2020, in line with the current appeal. DFID welcomes the vital role that NGOs will continue to play in service delivery through multilaterals, and we are pleased that some UN agencies, such as UNFPA, are seeking to simplify their processes for NGO partners to help ensure funding reaches them more swiftly. We will be working with the UN and DFID’s country offices to understand, improve and track eventual flows to NGOs in-country.

Decisions on allocating funds through the Rapid Response Facility (RRF) are being made in relation to the wider DFID COVID19 response. We will keep the funding under review as we do with all our humanitarian interventions. DFID is also adapting its programmes across its country network to respond to COVID-19 and has committed significant new funding through the multilateral system. We expect NGOs to play a key role in delivery through both these channels, and indeed recognise that in many places NGOs will be best placed to meet the needs of those most vulnerable, at risk and hard to reach. In addition, extra funding has been allocated to NGOs through the DFID Unilever COVID-19 Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition.

The UK is at the forefront of the global response and has publicly committed up to £744 million of UK aid so far to support the global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19. This is split across three areas 1) £276 million to support UN, NGOs and Red Cross efforts to build resilience in vulnerable countries 2) £318 million to find a vaccine, new drugs and therapeutics and 3) £150 million to support countries facing the economic shock of COVID-19.

This is on top of our work to pivot much of our existing activity to provide health, humanitarian and economic support where it is needed most. This ongoing exercise includes close collaboration with our existing partners on their ability to operate and adapt their programmes during the pandemic.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are key partners for DFID in our response to COVID-19 and we have pledged new funding specifically for CSOs to support our work to tackle the virus. This includes funding allocated through the Rapid Response Facility and significant funding through the DFID Unilever COVID-19 Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition. In addition, International Non-Government Organisations will receive funding through multilateral organisations as downstream partners as part of the UK’s response. As DFID’s country network adapts programming to respond to COVID-19, country teams are considering how they can do this through partners, including through CSOs. For example, in Sudan and Nepal, preparedness and response plans will support both UN and CSO operations.

We are working flexibly with existing civil society partners to respond to the pandemic, maintain delivery of essential programmes and manage the impacts on organisations and staff. DFID is also offering support to all suppliers, including civil society, in line with the provisions of the Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Note and associated guidance for grants, which allows for relief on services and goods provided in the UK, to DFID aid programmes as a last resort and on a case-by-case basis for DFID contracts and grants. UK-based CSOs are also eligible for the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The expertise, resilience and flexibility of our supply partners, both in the private sector and civil society, is vital to deliver UK aid to protect the most vulnerable in the world’s poorest countries.

DFID is currently reviewing its entire portfolio and assessing the expected impact of COVID-19 on our programmes, both in-country and centrally, and prioritising (in this order) the health and humanitarian response; livelihoods, social protection, and support to the governments of vulnerable countries. Many of these programmes are delivered in part or wholly through NGOs. We are assessing each of our programmes to evaluate their contribution to these objectives and for opportunities to adapt them to support the COVID-19 response.

DFID is engaging with supply partners to address the challenges posed to them and DFID-funded projects by COVID-19. We will work collaboratively with supply partners to find pragmatic solutions to support both our partners and continuation of our programmes where appropriate.

DFID is offering support to suppliers and partners where this is appropriate, in line with the UK government position and will apply the provisions of the Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Note and associated guidance for grants, which allows for relief on services and goods provided in the UK, to DFID aid programmes as a last resort and on a case-by-case basis for DFID contracts and grants.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are key partners for DFID in our response to COVID-19. We have pledged new funding specifically for civil society, including UK-based CSOs, to support the international COVID-19 response, including £20 million, the majority of which will be allocated through the Rapid Response Facility, and funding through the DFID Unilever COVID-19 Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition. The Small Charities Challenge Fund is open for grant applications from small UK-based development charities.

Aside from new opportunities to gain funding through grants and contracts, there are no plans for DFID to support organisations it does not fund. UK-based CSOs are also eligible for the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) in the global south are key partners for DFID. Many of DFID’s programmes support local CSOs in order to deliver humanitarian and development outcomes, including providing humanitarian support to tackle the spread and consequences of COVID-19. As DFID’s country network adapts programming to respond to COVID-19, country teams are considering how they can do this through partners, including local CSOs.

In addition to direct funding from DFID, there are funds available through our global multilateral support, with southern-based CSOs acting as delivery partners. A key funding avenue is the Country-Based Pooled Funds, to which DFID is a major donor. CSOs receive significant funding through these. COVID-19 allocations have been made through these funds, including in Myanmar, Afghanistan and Sudan so far. We expect further allocations soon.

The UK government’s manifesto committed to build on existing efforts to end preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children by 2030. Our support for the poorest countries to strengthen their health systems, scale up quality health services and achieve universal health coverage is central to this commitment. We will continue to discuss plans for publication of the health system strengthening position paper with our civil society colleagues, who have contributed valuable feedback to earlier drafts.

Our support for low-income countries to scale up quality health services and achieve universal health coverage is central to the UK government’s manifesto commitment to build on existing efforts to end preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children by 2030. Publication of the health systems strengthening position paper must therefore be coordinated with other information on how the UK government will deliver this manifesto commitment. We are committed to publishing the health systems strengthening position paper but the exact month cannot be determined until this other information is available.

Details of the UK’s Official Development Assistance spend on health are published in Statistics on International Development. Our reporting is based on internationally agreed Organisation for Co-operation and Development - Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) codes, as part of our commitment to transparent reporting of development assistance in a way that permits international comparisons. We do not currently collect the information disaggregated between physical and mental health as these are not categories within the OECD-DAC codes.

We are focused on ending the preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children. We work to strengthen countries’ health systems, including for both physical and mental health, towards achieving Universal Health Coverage by 2030, which will enable us to lead the way in helping countries to tackle diseases such as malaria and Ebola.

As with all such Government events, the full costing will be available in due course. 2020 UK ODA spend, including for this Summit, will be reported in Statistics on International Development, published by DFID in Autumn 2021.

As with all such Government events, the full costing will be available in due course. 2020 UK ODA spend, including for this Summit, will be reported in Statistics on International Development, published by DFID in Autumn 2021.

I refer the Honourable Lady to the answer I gave on 23^rd November (UIN: 117290).

There have been no discussions with foreign counterparts about the Office for the Internal Market (OIM) as set out in the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill. HM Government has been clear that the purpose of the OIM is to support the effective operation of the United Kingdom internal market by providing non-binding advice and reporting.

The Government has long-supported affordable and equitable access to medicines, including in developing countries. A robust and fair intellectual property system is essential to drive innovation, allow economic growth and enable society to benefit from knowledge sharing. There are flexibilities within the Agreement for the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and World Trade Organisation (WTO) Members can use these to ensure access to medicines. The Department for International Trade welcomes initiatives such as Diatropix launched this week in Dakar – where British and Senegalese partners will share technology to produce COVID-19 antibody tests, making 10 million available across west Africa by the end of March 2021. This initiative, supported by development funding from the UK and elsewhere, will make a practical difference in the fight against COVID-19.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency offers a six-month window for people to book theory tests so people can book appointments at the time they choose. There is no backlog for theory tests as capacity is available for more people to book.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has focused extra resource on vocational driving licence applications. Routine applications and renewals of vocational licences, including passenger carrying vehicles, are being processed within normal turnaround times of five working days. Applications where medical investigations are needed will take longer.

The Department for Transport is responsible for the legislative and policy framework of the Blue Badge Scheme in England only, where applicants with scores other than 10 under PIP descriptor ‘e’ would only be eligible for a badge following further assessment.

The rules relating to Blue Badges in England, Scotland and Wales differ as each country runs its own Blue Badge scheme and is responsible for determining the eligibility criteria that will apply. Questions about how the scheme operates outside England should be addressed to the Government of the relevant nation.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK.

The Integrated Rail Plan confirms that HS2 will be built from Crewe to Manchester, enabling improved onward connectivity to Wales. Crewe Northern Connection would improve connections from North Wales to the HS2 network, potentially bringing many passengers within 2 hours 15 minutes of London. Work to progress options on completing the Midlands Rail Hub could also give passengers from South Wales easy access to the HS2 network at Birmingham Curzon Street.

The core pipeline set out in the Integrated Rail Plan, which includes completing HS2 Phases One and 2a and completing HS2 Phase 2b from Crewe to Manchester, including the link to the West Coast Main Line, will help reduce journey times between England and Scotland. Birmingham and London to Glasgow and Edinburgh could be cut by between 40 and 50 minutes compared to today. In addition, the package of upgrades to the East Coast Main Line will separately improve journey times for services to Edinburgh from London King’s Cross. Journey times could be cut by 25 minutes compared to today depending on stopping patterns. The recent Union Connectivity Review also considered the reduction of rail journey times to Scotland.

From 1 January 2021, regulations prohibited the display of the European Union symbol on new number plates fitted to vehicles from that date. Since then, the Government has decided that the appropriate distinguishing sign for vehicles registered in the United Kingdom should be the letters UK. This reflects the four nations of our union and is consistent with the sign used on other motoring documentation including driving licences of UK nationals.

From 28 September the UK distinguishing sign should be displayed on vehicles travelling internationally but there has been no change to legislation which permits a range of letters and flags to be incorporated in vehicle number plates. Any vehicle displaying these markings (or the European Union symbol if attached prior to 1 January 2021) may continue to do so but when driving abroad they must display the UK identifier which can be a sticker on the rear of the vehicle. Compensation is not available for those who choose to purchase new number plates.

The theory test centre estate and service for England, Scotland and Wales, which is currently delivered by a sole supplier, is changing. From 6 September 2021, the contract for running theory test centres is to be split into three regions and the number of theory test centres in Great Britain will increase from 180 to 202.

As part of its service recovery, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has extended theory test centre opening hours in England and Wales, where conditions allow, creating 300,000 extra theory test appointments. It has also opened 10 temporary theory test super centres in England, which will create a minimum of 120,000 extra appointments each month.

In Scotland, the DVSA has increased opening hours and run tests on extra days, where possible. When theory tests resumed in Scotland on 26 April, the Scottish Government made the decision to keep the two-metre physical distancing restrictions in place. Due to this, the DVSA was unable to increase the number of desks for theory tests, which reduced capacity at most theory test sites in Scotland by 50%. The recent relaxing of physical distancing rules will provide additional testing capacity at theory test centres in Scotland.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) online services are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their driving licence within a few days.

However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application for a driving licence. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day which must be dealt with in person. Ongoing industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union is leading to delays for customers who make paper applications.

Currently, paper applications are likely to take between six and ten weeks to process. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example, if medical investigations are needed as part of a driving licence application. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.

The DVLA has leased an additional building to accommodate more operational staff and has reconfigured its accommodation to safely maximise the number of staff on site and is working hard to process applications as quickly as possible. The DVLA has accelerated the development of additional online services to reduce the number of paper applications and supported their take up through a publicity campaign. Further digital service enhancements are underway.

The Union Connectivity Review is an independent review led by Sir Peter Hendy. The Interim Report will be published shortly with final recommendations expected in summer 2021.

No formal assessment has been made. The Department for Transport does not directly hold data on the level of haulage through-traffic from the Republic of Ireland to the EU via Great Britain since the end of the transition period. The government keeps the flow of goods in and out of Great Britain and the UK under review.

No formal assessment has been made. It is too early to assess the overall effect of recent increases in the services available, but we do not foresee a significant impact on UK businesses.

No formal assessment has been made. It is too early to assess the overall effect of recent increases in the services available, but we do not foresee a significant impact on the Welsh economy. Welsh ports will continue to offer essential and attractive routes between the Republic of Ireland and the Continent.

For married women who reach State Pension age prior to 6th April 2016 the Department’s policy is as follows.

• For those in receipt of a Category A state pension based on their own National Insurance contributions and whose husband became entitled to his state pension on or after 17th March 2008, a Category BL pension will be paid automatically by the Department. There is a LEAP exercise currently underway to identify and correct some historical cases where this did not happen.

• For those in receipt of a Category A pension and whose husband became entitled to his state pension before 17th March 2008, including where someone is widowed, a claim is required in order for the Department to be able to assess entitlement to any Category BL pension.

• Women who have not made a claim for and are not receiving a state pension at the point they are widowed must also make a claim to become entitled to a state pension based on their late husband’s National Insurance contributions. If it is their preference, they can get any Category BL pension backdated for a maximum of 12 months before their claim. They may also be entitled to a deferral payment (one-off lump sum or an additional weekly amount) for the time they have deferred their Category BL pension.  

For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property. Survey work is underway.

This information is not centrally collated and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Ministers will regularly seek to engage with hon. Members, whilst balancing wider Ministerial and Parliamentary responsibilities.

The Midlife MOT within Jobcentres was rolled out from the end of January 2023.

Data is not yet available.

The Midlife MOT within Jobcentres was rolled out from the end of January 2023.

Data is not yet available.

The Average Actual Clearance Time (AACT) to process a claim for Carer’s Allowance, for each of the tax years from April 2021 to May 2023, is shown in the table below:

* April & May 2023 data only

Source: Carer’s Allowance Computer System

The department’s Risk Review Team (RRT) was created in 2020, as a direct response to threats identified by the department’s Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service (IRIS). A breakdown of cases suspended as a result of the RRT process is therefore only available from the financial year ending March 2021.

In the last three financial years the number of cases suspended as a result of the process are as follows:

• 2020/2021 – 152,101 cases

• 2021/2022 – 31,445 cases

• 2022/2023 – 6,244 cases

We do not suspend claims lightly, and where we do, it will be clear to claimants what actions they need to take to resolve matters. Where a customer does contact us, and provides the information requested, we have processes in place to ensure people’s claims are put back into payment as soon as possible, and any arrears that are due are paid.

Information on the proportion of workers who were not eligible for Statutory Sick Pay over the last ten years is not readily available and to produce it would incur a disproportionate cost.

Statutory Sick Pay is administered and paid by employers, and information on recipients is not held by government. Therefore, we are not able to make a robust assessment on the number of people who have claimed SSP in each year from 2015 to 2023.

Third Party Deductions information is only available from 2018.

Table 1 provides the volume of households subject to at least one Third Party Deduction for each financial year from April 2018 to February 2023. The latest figures show that between April 2022 and February 2023 there were 912,200 households on Universal Credit that had at least one Third Party Deduction.

Notes:

1. The number of households have been rounded to the nearest hundred.

2. Household level figures have been provided. Please note that some households will have more than one Third Party Deduction within the time period provided. The volumes capture households that have at least one deduction in that time period.

3. Third Party Deductions contains debt types such as rent arrears, court fines and child maintenance (Last Resort Deductions and Enforcing Social Obligations Deductions).

4. Complete data for Third Party Debts is only available from 2018.

5. Data up to February 2023 has been provided in line with the latest available UC Household Statistics.

6. The data for 2018/19 only provides data for Universal Credit full-service claims. Data on Universal Credit live service for 2018/19 is not available. In May 2016 the Universal Credit full service for all claimant types began to rollout nationally and was completed by the end of 2018.

7. Comparison across the different financial years is problematic due to changes in the deductions policy for Universal Credit, which would have affected the number of households having a Third-Party Deduction.

8. Figures have been provided for Universal Credit households in Great Britain. Northern Ireland claims are administered by the Department for Communities.

9. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.

10. The methodology used is different to those used to derive the Official Statistics Household series and therefore, figures may not be comparable.

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

DWP aims to contact customers within 15 working days to clear their complaint or agree how to investigate it if it will take longer.

DWP now triage complaints giving priority to vulnerable claimants who may be at risk, and those with benefit payment issues. We continue to investigate all complaints as quickly as we can and, as part of the triage process, we write or call those customers, where there may be a delay in answering their complaint.

Since 2021, Child Maintenance Service complaints team have seen their response times to complainants steadily improve and are now responding to almost all complaints within the timescale.

The Department does not measure complaints as described in the question and to determine this request, we would need to examine each individual case, which the Department considers to be cost prohibitive to provide.

The State Pension top up was a scheme introduced on 12 October 2015 and ran until 5 April 2017. The scheme allowed people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 to obtain extra State Pension income for life by making a voluntary lump sum National Insurance contribution (class 3A). Data was published State Pension top up: 12 Oct 2015 to 17 Sept 2017 (publishing.service.gov.uk) that shows that 13,200 people purchased State Pension top ups. The scheme ended on 5 April 2017, so no further people will be eligible to purchase State Pension top ups by 31 July 2023.Please note, this is a different scheme to VNICs.

The State Pension top up was a scheme introduced on 12 October 2015 and ran until 5 April 2017. The scheme allowed people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 to obtain extra State Pension income for life by making a voluntary lump sum National Insurance contribution (class 3A). Data was published State Pension top up: 12 Oct 2015 to 17 Sept 2017 (publishing.service.gov.uk) that shows that 13,200 people purchased State Pension top ups. The scheme ended on 5 April 2017, so no further people will be eligible to purchase State Pension top ups by 31 July 2023.Please note, this is a different scheme to VNICs.

The Management Information used has been taken from the same operational source data systems as our published administrative data. However, as this Management Information is not a recognised National or Official Statistic, it has not been subjected to the same level of Quality Assurance. As a result, these figures should be treat with caution.

The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) estimates on the value of both fraud and error in the benefit system, can be found in our annually published statistical report on the Monetary Value of Fraud and Error. Reports for each of the last ten financial years can be found at:

Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

This year’s figures show that the work we have been undertaking to reduce Fraud and Error is having an impact, with the headline rate of overpayment having decreased by 0.4% from 4.0% to 3.6%.

Our Fraud Plan, Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System, published on 19 May 2022, sets out our approach and explains how additional investment is allowing us to recruit 1,400 more staff into our counter-fraud teams and develop enhanced data analytics as a means of preventing and detecting fraud and error.

Additionally, we are creating a dedicated team to deliver Targeted Case Reviews of existing Universal Credit claims. This supports wider Government aims of strong oversight and control and efficiently managing the public purse. Over the next five years we expect to review millions of potentially high-risk claims, including suspicious cases which entered our system at the height of the pandemic.

More information on our Fraud Plan, which also explains our ambition to modernise and strengthen our legislative framework, can be found here:

Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) estimates on the value of both fraud and error in the benefit system, can be found in our annually published statistical report on the Monetary Value of Fraud and Error. Reports for each of the last ten financial years can be found at:

Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

This year’s figures show that the work we have been undertaking to reduce Fraud and Error is having an impact, with the headline rate of overpayment having decreased by 0.4% from 4.0% to 3.6%.

Our Fraud Plan, Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System, published on 19 May 2022, sets out our approach and explains how additional investment is allowing us to recruit 1,400 more staff into our counter-fraud teams and develop enhanced data analytics as a means of preventing and detecting fraud and error.

Additionally, we are creating a dedicated team to deliver Targeted Case Reviews of existing Universal Credit claims. This supports wider Government aims of strong oversight and control and efficiently managing the public purse. Over the next five years we expect to review millions of potentially high-risk claims, including suspicious cases which entered our system at the height of the pandemic.

More information on our Fraud Plan, which also explains our ambition to modernise and strengthen our legislative framework, can be found here:

Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Access to Work is a demand-led, discretionary grant that supports the recruitment and retention of disabled people in sustainable, paid employment. In 2021/22 over 38,500 people with a disability or a health condition received a payment from Access to Work and this year Access to Work has already seen a significant rise in the number of applications.

Access to Work regularly engages with stakeholders, partners, and employer associations, to raise awareness of the scheme. To support local engagement Access to Work has delivered a series of upskilling sessions to Jobcentre Work Coaches and developed a toolkit to support employer engagement. In addition, the DWP regularly provides information about the support available via its social media channels.

To further raise awareness of Access to Work and support transitions into employment, my department has worked with stakeholders to develop an Adjustments Passport. The Adjustments Passport provides the holder with an up-to-date record of their workplace adjustments, it can support conversations with employers and help remove the need for an Access to Work assessment.

In May 2022, the Health Adjustments Passport was rolled out in Jobcentres to support disabled jobseekers. In the coming months a service leavers passport will be made available to support Armed Forces personnel with their transition into civilian employment; and from September 2023 the Adjustments Passport will be rolled out across universities.

Please find below Average Speed to Answer data for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) New Claims lines for each year since April 2015. This includes calls routed through the Service Lines PIP New Claims, PIP New Claims Reassessment and PIP New Claims Special Rules for the Terminally Ill.

Please note this information is derived from the department’s management information designed solely for the purpose of helping the department to manage its business. As such, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics. As the DWP holds the information internally, we have released it. However, it is possible information held by the DWP may change due to operational reasons and we recommend that caution be applied when using it.

This information is readily available. It is published quarterly as part of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) statistics on GOV.UK and can be found within the PIP: Clearance/Outstanding Times and Customer Journey statistics tables.

The DWP can confirm that there have been no sewage leaks reported to the water authorities within the Department’s estate in the last twelve months.

There have been 25 minor sewage leaks across the estate in the period, generally relating to individual toilets and blocked pipes.

Deduction from Earnings Orders (DEO) are applied as a method of payment where the Child Maintenance Service deducts maintenance directly from the Paying Parent’s wages. The DEO is primarily used to enforce payments but can be set up voluntarily. Deduction from Earnings Requests are similar to a Deduction from Earnings Order but used for Paying Parents who are serving members of the Armed Forces. The Child Maintenance Service can only request a deduction to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), unlike civilian employers they cannot order or enforce payment. MOD policy aims to comply with requests however if the Paying Parent is committed to operational duties MOD may suspend the collection of debt.

Child Maintenance Service takes action to ensure the correct method of payment is applied through identifying whether a Paying Parent is in the Armed Forces through its use of Real Team Information (RTI) Data taken from HMRC. This provides up to date information about Pay As You Earn income as the information submitted by employers online is displayed in RTI immediately. To ensure that the correct method of payment is used for a Paying Parent who is serving in the Armed Forces caseworkers are provided with step-by-step procedural instructions and training.

As at December 2022 Child Maintenance Service had 46,205 Deduction from Earnings Orders and 483 Deduction from Earnings Requests in operation.

(source – Published stats – stat-xplore – CMS Paying Parents = method of payments).

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

The Department publishes quarterly Child Maintenance Service (CMS) statistics, with the latest statistics available to the end of December 2022 here.

The quarterly number of Deduction Orders set up and in process can be found in Table 7.1: Enforcement Actions of the National Tables.

Quarterly statistics showing the method of payment for CMS Paying Parents are available on Stat-Xplore here.

Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found here.

Assessment quality is a priority for the department. We work extensively with providers to make improvements to ensure a quality service is delivered. An Independent Audit function continually monitors performance and provides feedback to its providers, ensuring a high standard is always maintained.

There are no plans to change this policy.

I want pension savers to have access to information and support that helps them to understand their retirement choices whatever their level of engagement is with their pension. That is why between June and July 2022 my department conducted a call for evidence to get an understanding of the support and information savers need when accessing their pensions in order to choose the option that meets their retirement goals and what is currently on offer.

I am grateful for those who provided responses. My officials are currently reviewing those responses, with a view to publishing a response in due course.

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

I can confirm the Department has published guidance on this subject and details are available within the Advice for Decision Making (ADM) on Gov.uk.

DWP holds data relating to the late and non-return of a Life Certificate for the 2019 period, which resulted in the temporary suspension of a customer’s State Pension payments. In 2019, 26,206 claims were temporarily suspended, which is broken down by country as shown in the following table: -

As a result of the outbreak of COVID in 2020, DWP suspended the Life Certificate exercise in March 2020, to ensure that our customers were not negatively impacted by any postal service issues which could have resulted in their State Pension payments being temporarily suspended. Therefore, DWP does not hold any data for this period.

DWP reintroduced the Life Certificate exercise in November 2021. Therefore, DWP does not hold any data for 2021, as any potential suspensions would be applied after 16 weeks of issue of the Life Certificate, which would mean that the suspension occurred in 2022.

The Management Information used has been taken from the same operational source data systems as our published administrative data. However, as this Management Information is not a recognised National or Official Statistic, it has not been subjected to the same level of Quality Assurance. As a result, these figures should be treated with caution.

Life Certificates are issued from our supplier, Allied Publicity Services (APS) who is based in Runcorn, Cheshire.

DWP allows 16 weeks for the completed Life Certificate to be returned under normal circumstances. In 2022, DWP was notified of the postal issues effecting deliveries in Canada. In light of this, we reinstated the State Pension of those effected and extended the normal 16-week time limit by another 48 weeks for the completed Life Certificates to be returned.

DWP does not maintain data regarding the temporary suspension of International State Pensions owing to postal issues, as this is not something the Department is able to determine. However, DWP does hold data for the temporary suspensions due to the non/late return of a Life Certificate in 2022.

The number of UK State Pension customers whose payments were temporarily suspended due to the non/late return of Life Certificates issued in 2022 was 37,517; this is broken down by country as follows: -