Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership: Costa Rica
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security (Mr Douglas Alexander)
Today, the Department for Business and Trade is publishing a summary of and response to public engagement on Costa Rica’s CPTPP accession working group.
At the CPTPP ministerial commission meeting in November 2024, CPTPP Ministers, alongside the UK, formally decided to commence an accession process with Costa Rica, establishing an accession working group. As part of this, the Government launched a public engagement period that ran from 29 November 2024 until 24 January 2025, to understand business, civil society and public views and insights on Costa Rica’s potential membership. Twenty-eight responses were received in total, including from businesses, trade bodies, international stakeholders, public sector organisations and individuals.
The document published today summarises the feedback received, and provides a response setting out how the Government intend to approach the accession negotiations with Costa Rica. This feedback is actively informing the Government’s approach to negotiations, including during the first in-person discussions with Costa Rica, which recently took place between 9 and 11 June 2025 in Brisbane, Australia.
CPTPP parties, including the UK, are committed to maintaining the agreement’s high standards, and to further expanding trade ties to drive economic growth. I look forward to keeping the House updated on future CPTPP developments.
[HCWS786]
Post Office Horizon Inquiry Report: Volume 1
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Gareth Thomas)
Today I welcome the publication of volume 1 of Sir Wyn Williams’ Post Office Horizon IT inquiry report. This volume will illustrate the human impact of the scandal on victims and outline recommendations for the redress schemes set up to compensate victims.
Once published, a copy of the inquiry report will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and made available on www.gov.uk.
I would like to thank Sir Wyn and his team for their tireless efforts since the inquiry was first established on 29 September 2020, and all those who have provided evidence. In particular, I pay credit to and thank those victims who have engaged so courageously with Sir Wyn, providing evidence of their experiences of one of the worst miscarriages of justice we have seen.
The Government will thoroughly consider the findings presented today. We will provide a response to the inquiry’s recommendations in due course.
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UK Government Resilience Action Plan
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Pat McFadden)
Today I have updated the House on the publication of the UK Government’s resilience action plan, this Government’s strategic approach to resilience. It is the outcome of the resilience review, which I announced to the House in July last year.
Alongside this, we have also published our chronic risks analysis, the UK biological security strategy implementation report, and an update on the implementation of the commitments made in the covid-19 inquiry module 1 Government response.
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Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rachel Reeves)
At the Budget last October, and again in the spring, I made the necessary choices to fix the foundations of our economy, to put the public finances on a sustainable path and to support growth. The 2025 spending review delivered on this strategy, underpinning fiscal plans with firm spending plans, and providing the certainty and stability essential for growth. These spending plans are only possible because of the decisions taken in the autumn to raise taxes, and the changes to the fiscal rules.
The Office for Budget Responsibility’s 2025 Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report (FRS), which has been laid today—CP 1343—is an important part of the Government’s effective fiscal risk management framework. The report fulfils the OBR’s obligation, set out in the charter for budget responsibility, to examine and report on the sustainability of, and risks to, the public finances. This year’s report examines climate change, the public sector balance sheet, and pensions.
The OBR notes in the FRS that the Government’s reforms to improve the fiscal framework have strengthened fiscal policy making and reduced fiscal risks. This includes legislating for the fiscal lock to ensure that no Government can announce fiscally significant measures without being subject to an independent assessment by the OBR, as well as introducing extended departmental spending planning horizons by committing to hold an SR every two calendar years, setting departmental expenditure limits for a minimum of three years of the five-year forecast period. The Government also introduced robust new fiscal rules that embed stability.
The FRS also highlights that recent global shocks have resulted in greater uncertainty and fiscal pressures amid a shifting international landscape. The Government recognise these challenges, which is why we have acted decisively to strengthen our partnerships and grow the economy, including through recent trade deals with the US, the EU and India. National security is the first duty of the Government, and we have responsibly responded by committing to increase spending on defence to 2.6% from 2027, funded from reductions in the official development assistance budget, with an ambition to reach 3% in the next Parliament.
Making Britain a clean energy superpower, which will be achieved through delivering home-grown clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero, is a key mission in the Government’s plan for change. Building on previous analysis, the 2025 FRS offers an assessment of the fiscal risks posed by climate change and the transition to net zero, concluding that the UK faces increasing costs from climate-related damage. The Government recognise this, which is why SR 2025 allocates £9.4 billion to carbon capture, usage and storage over the SR period and invests more than £8.3 billion in home-grown clean power through Great British Energy and Great British Energy-Nuclear. We will set out further details in the updated carbon budget and growth delivery plan in October. The Government are also investing more than £4.2 billion over three years, from 2026-27 to 2028-29, to build and maintain flood defences.
The OBR also highlights the risks associated with the public sector balance sheet, which is why it is more important than ever to have a robust fiscal framework that addresses long-term challenges and provides greater transparency of the public finances. That is why the Government announced the financial transaction control framework at the autumn Budget 2024, ensuring that investments generate either a financial return or a clear benefit for taxpayers, and committed to publishing an annual report on the performance of the Government’s financial assets.
The FRS also examines the potential fiscal risks from the UK’s pensions system, noting the challenges presented by an ageing population. The final report of the pensions investment review was published in May, setting out the Government’s plans to drive investment and higher returns through large defined-contribution schemes and reforming the local government pension scheme to improve sustainability and support regional growth. However, further work is required to tackle systemic issues and inequality. The next phase of the pensions review will focus on the adequacy of pensions outcomes.
The changing structure of the pensions market is affecting demand for gilts from the sector, and the Government have therefore adjusted the maturity split of gilt issuance to account for this trend, with the proportion of long-dated gilt issuance reduced materially over recent years. The Government continue to monitor market trends.
I would like to thank the OBR for its efforts in producing this report. The Government are required to respond to the FRS within a year.
[HCWS788]
Water Resources Infrastructure: National Policy Statement
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Emma Hardy)
In line with the Government’s ambition to update relevant national policy statements within their first year, today I intend to lay an update by way of non-material amendments to the national policy statement for water resources infrastructure.
Growth is one of the Prime Minister’s five defining missions of this Government.
This update will support growth by making planning decisions for water resources infrastructure quicker and easier.
This will provide certainty to the water industry and support the delivery of nine new reservoirs and the Government’s plans to get Britain building 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament.
Water resources management plans determine what additional water resources infrastructure is needed for at least the next 25 years and are comprehensively revised every five years. The plans are publicly consulted on and the options within them are scrutinised by regulators before being approved by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The updated national policy statement provides a clearer link to final water resources management plans, as part of the water resources statutory framework, so that the “need” for any project within these approved plans will not need to be reassessed at the examination stage of a development consent order application.
This national policy statement also makes clear the Government’s commitment to the water and development sectors, and that water resources projects are critical to growth.
[HCWS792]
Clinical Indemnities Reform
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ashley Dalton)
My noble friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women’s Health and Mental Health (Baroness Merron) has made the following written statement:
I am pleased to report that through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, my Department has commissioned an independent evaluation of the sector-led voluntary code of practice launched by medical defence organisations on 6 January this year.
The intention to develop a sector-led code to address concerns highlighted by the Paterson inquiry report was previously announced in March 2024. The code has now been launched as planned by the Medical Defence Union, Medical Protection Society and Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland.
Clinical negligence cover is the system that enables patients to receive compensation if they are harmed during treatment through the cover held by regulated healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses and dentists. The code aims to improve the transparency and clarity of MDOs’ operations and the discretionary indemnity they provide healthcare professionals whose activities (e.g. private practice) are not covered by state schemes. With these improvements and healthcare professionals’ better understanding of the appropriate cover required for their scope of practice, there will be greater protection for patients’ access to compensation if harmed during treatment.
The full code, which can be accessed on the MDOs’ websites, sets out seven core principles described under the following headings:
Corporate governance
Fair member treatment
Scope of benefit available to members
Decision making
Independent complaints review service
Financial attestation
Statement of adherence
This short-term evaluation focuses on the implementation of the code. We will be exploring a further commission to assess impact and whether further interventions are required.
We continue to consider further policy options to reform the clinical negligence cover system such as addressing cover for criminal acts to improve patients’ access to compensation, and I will provide an update in due course.
[HCWS791]
NHS Dental Contract Reforms: Consultation
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)
As set out in the 10-year health plan, the Government are launching a public consultation on a package of reforms to improve the current NHS dental contract, representing the next step towards delivering a dentistry service fit for the future.
Satisfaction with NHS dentistry has fallen to a record low, from 85% in 2019 to 69% in 2024 and the British Dental Association estimates that 13 million adults—over 1 in 4—are struggling to find NHS care. Poor oral health can have a devastating impact on individuals, yet is largely preventable. We inherited a broken NHS dental system, and we are committed to fixing it, so we can deliver more care to those who need it.
Our plan to stabilise NHS dentistry is already under way. From April 2025, integrated care boards started making available the 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments that we promised in our manifesto. As set out in the 10-year health plan, training a dentist costs the taxpayer up to £200,000 and we believe it is fair to expect graduate dentists to invest their skills and expertise in the NHS in return. Having consulted on the principle, we will now make it a requirement for all newly qualified dentists to practice in the NHS for a minimum period. We intend this minimum period to be at least three years. That will mean more NHS dentists, more NHS appointments and better oral health.
We are today launching a public consultation, running until 19 August 2025, on a package of reforms to improve the current NHS dental contract and improve the experience of NHS dentistry for patients. From 2026-27 the proposals are intended to:
Make it easier for those who need dental care and treatment to get it by requiring all practices to provide an agreed amount of urgent and unscheduled care which is accessible to all who need it, irrespective of whether they have been to the practice before.
Deliver improvements in the clinical care and treatment received by people with complex care needs. We will do this by introducing new care pathways which integrate prevention and treatment, with fairer payment arrangements for the professionals treating them, and without fear of excessive charges for patients.
Deliver improvements in preventive oral care for children, including through the promotion of fluoride varnish treatment.
Reduce the number of people in good oral health being recalled to the dentist too frequently and the costs to patients associated with that. Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence states that people with healthy teeth and gums should be seen every 12 to 24 months. Making this a reality will enable practices to provide better care to those patients who are most in need.
Make dental staff feel valued members of the wider NHS and able to focus on quality of care. We will do this by developing minimum terms of engagement for dental associates, supporting performance evaluation through appraisals, and extending eligibility for discretionary support payments.
This consultation is an important step towards the fundamental reform to the dental contract that we committed to in our manifesto, for which the process will begin this year. We want a contract that matches resources to need, improves access, promotes prevention and rewards dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability.
We will also deliver a step change in prevention, which is key to good oral health.
On 7 March 2025, we announced £11.4 million to implement the manifesto commitment for a national, targeted supervised toothbrushing scheme for three to five-year-olds. In addition to this investment, we have secured an innovative partnership with Colgate, which has generously committed to donate over 23 million toothbrushes and toothpastes over the next five years. Together we will reach up to 600,000 children, with the first donations being made before the school holidays.
Following public consultation, we also announced the expansion of community water fluoridation across the north-east of England, which will reach an additional 1.6 million people.
Taken together, these reforms represent vital steps in our plan to build an NHS dental service fit for the future.
[HCWS794]
Fire and Rescue Best Value
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Alex Norris)
All right hon. Members will recognise the importance of having well-functioning fire and rescue services that provide essential services that local communities rely upon, and that lives ultimately depend on. Today, I am announcing to the House a best value inspection of West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority.
The relationship between the authority and West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service has come under intense local and national scrutiny in recent months. While the service continues to protect and respond to the needs of its local community, there is concern that the authority, in its oversight and scrutiny of the service, may have failed to deliver against its key best value functions of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
In response to this, the Secretary of State, under section 26 of the Local Government Act 1999, has ordered a best value inspection of West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority. This independent inspection will examine the authority’s compliance with its best value duty to ensure that any failings are identified, addressed and rectified. This focus on governance differentiates this inspection from His Majesty’s inspectorate of fire and rescue services’ report, published on 18 June 2025, which focused on operations. The inspection’s recommendations may additionally identify broader lessons that can be applied across other fire and rescue services.
The Secretary of State has exercised her powers in section 10 of the 1999 Act to appoint Fenella Morris KC as the lead inspector, Anna Bicarregui and Gethin Thomas as assistant inspectors, and Tasnim Shawkat as assistant inspector (monitoring officer). It is intended that the inspection will deliver its recommendations during the first quarter of 2026.
Conclusion
I want to acknowledge the work of the dedicated staff of West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service, who continue to deliver this vital service for their local communities. This inspection will ensure that the lessons from the past are learned and any improvements that need to be made are swiftly implemented.
I will place in the Library of the House copies of the terms of reference and, in time, reports and associated materials.
[HCWS787]
Independent Reviewer for National Security Arrangements: Report
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)
The role of the Independent Reviewer of National Security Arrangements in Northern Ireland is to monitor compliance with annex E of the St Andrews agreement 2006, reviewing the relationship between MI5 and PSNI in handling national security matters.
Dr Jonny Byrne, the Independent Reviewer of National Security Arrangements in Northern Ireland, has sent me his report for 2024. Due to the classification of the report, I am unable to deposit a copy in the Libraries of both Houses, but I am able to provide the House with a summary of its content. What follows is a summary of the main findings of the report covering the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024.
Dr Byrne states:
“My role is to monitor compliance with Annex E of the St Andrews Agreement (2006) reviewing the relationship between MI5 and PSNI in handling national security matters. The role seeks to provide assurance that MI5 and PSNI operate together within the letter and spirit of the St Andrews Agreement. In order to meet the Terms of Reference, I reviewed documents and had a series of meetings with senior members of the PSNI and MI5 along with political and policy stakeholders.
There were no national security attacks in Northern Ireland in 2024. This is compared to one in both 2023 and 2022. There were none in 2021 and 2020, five in 2019, one in 2018 and five in 2017.
In 2024 there was one security-related death (the murder of Kevin Conway), compared to none in 2023. There were six bombing incidents and seventeen shooting incidents in 2024, compared with eight bombing and thirty-three shooting incidents in 2023. There were twenty-three casualties of paramilitary style assaults (seven in Belfast), compared to thirty-one in 2023. There were five casualties of paramilitary style shootings, compared to nineteen which occurred in 2023. There were sixty-seven security related arrests under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, with nine persons subsequently charged. This is compared to one hundred and four arrested in 2023 with twenty-one charged.
On 6 March 2024 and for the remainder of the year, Northern Ireland-related Terrorism (NIRT) threat level in Northern Ireland was lowered from SEVERE (an attack is highly likely) to SUBSTANTIAL (an attack is likely). It is important to note that from the first time a NIRT-specific threat level was published in September 2010 to March 2022 the threat level remained at SEVERE, it was lowered to SUBSTANTIAL between March 2022 and March 2023, and then increased to SEVERE until March 2024.
It is apparent that security statistics along with the approach to measuring the threat level, fails to adequately capture the transformation Northern Ireland has gone through since 1998. Since 2010, the threat level has fluctuated (in a small part) between SEVERE and SUBSTANTIAL yet the policing and security landscape in 2024 is very different and significantly closer to one envisaged through the peace process. There is a risk that Northern Ireland is solely defined through these indicators and that they have a significant influence on current and future security-related policy.
There is a lack of agreement among politicians, policy-makers and the community as to what constitutes a ‘national security issue’. There is also a reluctance to engage on the issue in a public way as most people align it with the conflict and part of our past. As a result, there are limited discussions about national security within the context of public health, the economy, climate change and the environment, migration and immigration, cyber threats and extremism.
In 2019 MI5 in oral evidence to the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament responded to a question about the security environment by saying “do not proceed with an assumption that we (MI5) can continue to drive (NIRT attacks) down to zero. That looks to us to be an undeliverable goal, albeit one we should always strive towards.” If this is the case then there should be focused discussion as to what normalisation looks like and what security indicators are best placed to measure it and reflect the situation. My concern is that we use the current security indicators and threat level to justify why we cannot ‘move on’, which makes any further move to normalisation challenging.
During the November 2024 public session of the Northern Ireland Policing Board the PSNI Chief Constable indicated that due to changes to historical arrangements for assigning Close Protection (namely the dissolution of the Northern Ireland Committee on Protection, NICOP), that the organisation was required to develop a policy to govern the assessment and delivery of such protection. The media interpreted this as the PSNI significantly reducing the level of close protection they provide for members of the judiciary because the degree of terrorist threat had diminished. If this were to happen it may have implications around the justification and rationale for additional funding for security related issues. It may also engineer a more public debate around vulnerability, harm, threats and national security.
Annex E sets out five key principles identified as crucial to the effective operation of national security arrangements between PSNI and MI5. My conclusions in relation to these are as follows:
a) All Security Service intelligence relating to terrorism in Northern Ireland will be visible to the PSNI.
It is evident that the PSNI have sight and access to all Security Service Intelligence relating to terrorism in Northern Ireland. There is compliance.
b) PSNI will be informed of all Security Service counter terrorist investigations and operations relating to Northern Ireland.
There are a number of processes and protocols in place to ensure that PSNI will be informed of all Security Service counter-terrorist activities relating to NI. There is compliance.
c) Security Service intelligence will be disseminated within PSNI according to the current PSNI dissemination policy, and using police procedures.
All Security Service intelligence is disseminated within PSNI according to the current PSNI dissemination policy, and using current police procedures. There is compliance.
d) The great majority of national security CHISs in Northern Ireland will continue to be run by PSNI officers under existing police handling protocols.
It is apparent that the overwhelming number of what are considered national security Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHISs)in Northern Ireland continue to be run by PSNI officers under existing handling protocols. There is compliance.
e) There will be no diminution of the PSNI’s ability to comply with the HRA or the Policing Board’s ability to monitor said compliance.
It is evident that there has been no diminution of the PSNI’s responsibility to comply with the Human Rights Act or the Policing Board’s ability to monitor said compliance throughout 2024. There is compliance.
I wish to note the full co-operation extended to me by both MI5 and the PSNI and the support of the NIO in compiling the report.
It is my conclusion that there is full compliance with Annex E of the St Andrews Agreement between MI5 and PSNI.”
[HCWS789]