Baroness Blackstone

As stated in the consultation document, the Government will publish its response as soon as possible, once it has considered the evidence provided and taken a decision on the optimum implementation date for the policy shift.

Local authorities are legally responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in their areas, regardless of the educational setting they attend.

Where local authorities have safeguarding concerns, the department expects their services to intervene. There are a range of powers held by local agencies which can be utilised where concerns have been identified, for example, around health and safety, premises regulations and general safeguarding.

Where local authorities believe that a child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm, they have a legal duty to investigate where necessary.

The department consulted in 2020 on widening the registration requirement to settings that operate full time but only offer a very narrow curriculum, which would include a number of full-time religious settings that are currently allowed to operate without having to register. The department will respond to this consultation soon, setting out next steps.

The department has also committed to taking forward measures to make it easier to investigate and prosecute unregistered schools, working with Ofsted and the Crown Prosecution Service. The department intends to take forward these measures when a suitable legislative opportunity arises.

The department is considering the recommendations made by the report on 'Child Protection in Religious Organisations' from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. The government is already committed to legislating on both matters. We expect to provide the Inquiry with our response within the standard 6 month timeframe.

The Global Methane Pledge is a commitment for signatories to take voluntary actions to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030, against 2020 levels. The UK is proud to have been one of the first signatories to the Global Methane Pledge.

The UK already has a strong record on methane emission reductions, having reduced UK territorial methane emissions by 60% compared to 1990 levels. This is more than any other OECD country. While global methane emissions peaked in 2020, the UK’s methane emissions peaked in 1991 and have decreased substantially since then, due to concerted action across the energy, waste and agriculture sectors. However, we are not resting on our laurels and we will continue to take action to reduce UK methane emissions even further. We have set out our plans to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions across different sectors in the recently published Net Zero Strategy.

International collaboration is vital for making further progress on methane emissions. Sharing best practice, innovative technologies, and collaborating on data and science to ensure we have the most accurate picture of the sources of these emissions, and the most effective solutions. The UK is committed to supporting global action.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have considered the report and are discussing the findings with the British Lung Foundation and Asthma UK. NHS England and NHS Improvement has a duty of regard in relation to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence’s quality standards, including the Five Fundamentals of COPD Care. Clinical commissioning groups should have regard to them in planning and delivery of services, as part of a general duty to secure continuous improvement in quality.

The NHS Long Term Plan focuses on expanding pulmonary rehabilitation services over 10 years, to prevent 500,000 exacerbations and avoid 80,000 admissions. Thirty seven ‘early adopter’ community diagnostic centres will provide additional capacity for 610,000 diagnostic tests in 2021/22 and over 813,000 tests in the next 12 months. Local systems are also asked to review plans and progress against the NHS Long Term Plan to support key clinical conditions. For respiratory conditions, this includes pulmonary rehabilitation and spirometry.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have considered the report and are discussing the findings with the British Lung Foundation and Asthma UK. NHS England and NHS Improvement has a duty of regard in relation to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence’s quality standards, including the Five Fundamentals of COPD Care. Clinical commissioning groups should have regard to them in planning and delivery of services, as part of a general duty to secure continuous improvement in quality.

The NHS Long Term Plan focuses on expanding pulmonary rehabilitation services over 10 years, to prevent 500,000 exacerbations and avoid 80,000 admissions. Thirty seven ‘early adopter’ community diagnostic centres will provide additional capacity for 610,000 diagnostic tests in 2021/22 and over 813,000 tests in the next 12 months. Local systems are also asked to review plans and progress against the NHS Long Term Plan to support key clinical conditions. For respiratory conditions, this includes pulmonary rehabilitation and spirometry.

NHS England and NHS Improvement’s priorities include tackling the backlog for non-urgent treatment, such as for patients with respiratory diseases. This aims to eliminate waiting times of two years or more, arrest the increase in waiting times of one year and over and stabilise total waiting lists. We have made £1.5 billion available to assist local teams to increase their capacity and invest in other measures to achieve these priorities. NHS Digital’s data for 25 October 2021 shows 4,586 referrals were made for respiratory medicine, compared to 5,032 in January 2020.

We regularly raise the issue of Palestinians killed and injured by Israeli Defence Forces in the West Bank and Gaza with the Israeli authorities, encouraging them to carry out swift, transparent and thorough investigations and if wrongdoing is found, that those responsible be held to account. We will continue to stress the importance of the Israeli security forces providing appropriate protection to the Palestinian civilian population, particularly the need to protect children, and urge restraint in the use of live fire.

We regularly raise the issue of Palestinians killed and injured by Israeli Defence Forces in the West Bank and Gaza with the Israeli authorities, encouraging them to carry out swift, transparent and thorough investigations and if wrongdoing is found, that those responsible be held to account. We will continue to stress the importance of the Israeli security forces providing appropriate protection to the Palestinian civilian population, particularly the need to protect children, and urge restraint in the use of live fire.

The Government is committed to using Official Development Assistance and export finance to support countries on their pathway to decarbonisation. Since 2011/12, UK International Climate Finance has provided 33 million people with improved access to clean energy, avoided 31 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and installed 2,000 MW in clean energy capacity. Examples of UK Export Finance for decarbonisation include £27 million of support for a solar-powered clean water project in Ghana and over £230 million of support for off-shore wind farms in Taiwan.

The Government's new policy on support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas is a further demonstration of the UK's commitment to alignment with the Paris Agreement. 76 countries that have received UK ODA or export finance since 2016 have submitted new or updated NDCs to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as at 14 May 2021. As COP26 President, the UK acknowledges the considerable value of collective efforts to accelerate progress on clean energy. That is why the UK is actively seeking commitments from other countries to adopt more ambitious NDCs and Long-Term Strategies, including adopting an approach to fossil fuel investment as ambitious as the UK's.

The Science Based Targets initiative aims to obtain commitments from corporates to reduce their impact on climate change, based on their proportionate contribution to climate targets. As the exemptions within the Government's new policy on support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas are not restricted to corporations, the Science Based Targets initiative was not considered during the formulation of the exemptions within the new policy.

The Government published detailed guidance accompanying the change to its policy on support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas on 31 March which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-government-will-implement-its-policy-on-support-for-the-fossil-fuel-energy-sector-overseas. We will consider any requests for project financing against the published guidance. The policies of CDC, the UK's development finance institution, are well aligned to the delivery of the Government's new policy.

The government published detailed guidance accompanying the implementation of the new policy on support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas on 31 March. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-government-will-implement-its-policy-on-support-for-the-fossil-fuel-energy-sector-overseas. We will consider any requests for project financing against the published guidance.

It is not possible to publish all planned, potential transactions, investments, export credit guarantees, loans, and loan guarantees, for reasons of commercial sensitivity. Details of confirmed financial support will be available in FCDO's annual Statistics on International Development report on Official Development Assistance spend, and in UK Export Finance's annual report.

Five denominations, which had no places of worship registered for the purpose of solemnizing marriages prior to 2013, have since registered. They are:

The Home Office is currently working on implementation plans to introduce the provisions in the Civil Partnership, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc) Act 2019. This will facilitate the move to an electronic system of marriage registration and the update of the marriage entry to include the names of both sets of parents of a couple.

The Government Equalities Office ran a six-week consultation on the future of conversion rights in summer 2019. We are analysing the responses and will publish the government response and bring forward any necessary legislation in 2020.

The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act received Royal Assent in June. The Government has been clear implementing its reforms will be a significant and complex task. Given the scale of the work needed, we are working to an indicative timetable of Autumn 2021.

The Government announced in June 2019 that the Law Commission will conduct a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. This is an important and complex social policy reform and requires careful thought and consideration. As part of the review, the Government invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent.

The Law Commission has published its consultation paper and the Government, following the final report, will decide on provision on the basis of the Law Commission’s recommendations.

In parallel, the Government made clear when it announced the Law Commission project that it would also, as an interim measure, undertake work to allow more civil weddings and civil partnerships to take place outdoors through secondary legislation.

Alongside the Law Commission project, the independent Sharia review recommended an offence apply to religious celebrants marrying in a ceremony that is outside the ambit of the Marriage Acts. Any legislative proposal, including such an offence, must be thoroughly assessed for its fairness to all religious groups and for how far it could achieve the change of practice intended. That is why it is with the greatest care that the Government is continuing the exploration of both limited reform and non-legislative options that it began in detail last year.

On the question of timing the Government will make its intentions clear in due course.

And in regard to the implementation of the provisions in the Civil Partnership, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc) Act 2019, the Home Office is currently working on the secondary legislation, which will need to be debated in Parliament, to enable these changes to be introduced and an implementation date will be announced in due course.

The Government announced in June 2019 that the Law Commission will conduct a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. This is an important and complex social policy reform and requires careful thought and consideration. As part of the review, the Government invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent.

The Law Commission has published its consultation paper and the Government, following the final report, will decide on provision on the basis of the Law Commission’s recommendations.

In parallel, the Government made clear when it announced the Law Commission project that it would also, as an interim measure, undertake work to allow more civil weddings and civil partnerships to take place outdoors through secondary legislation.

Alongside the Law Commission project, the independent Sharia review recommended an offence apply to religious celebrants marrying in a ceremony that is outside the ambit of the Marriage Acts. Any legislative proposal, including such an offence, must be thoroughly assessed for its fairness to all religious groups and for how far it could achieve the change of practice intended. That is why it is with the greatest care that the Government is continuing the exploration of both limited reform and non-legislative options that it began in detail last year.

On the question of timing the Government will make its intentions clear in due course.

And in regard to the implementation of the provisions in the Civil Partnership, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc) Act 2019, the Home Office is currently working on the secondary legislation, which will need to be debated in Parliament, to enable these changes to be introduced and an implementation date will be announced in due course.

The Government announced in June 2019 that the Law Commission will conduct a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. As part of that review, the Government invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent. The Government looks forward to publication of the Law Commission’s consultation paper in September and, following the final report, will decide on provision on the basis of the Law Commission's recommendations.

Separately, the Government continues to explore both limited reform and non-legislative options relating to religious weddings, as well as to explore interim reform of the law governing approved premises for marriages and civil partnerships.