Ben Lake

The UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions programme has previously allocated over £33m to five shore power demonstrator projects at Aberdeen, Atlantic and Peninsula Falmouth, Cammel Laird shipyard, Leith and Portsmouth.

These projects have informed Government policy making about maritime decarbonisation, and in March 2025, the Government published its Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy. A core policy within this Strategy is taking action to reduce emissions from vessels whilst at berth. Although the Government remains technology neutral, we recognise that shore power will play a role in reducing emissions from vessels at berth, supporting our mission to make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower.

Alongside this Strategy, the Government also published a call for evidence on Net Zero Ports to explore the opportunities and barriers to reducing emissions at berth, with a focus on the role ports can play in enabling the shipping sector to decarbonise. Ports policy is devolved, so this will inform Government policy relating to English ports. However, we welcome input from ports and their tenants in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to this Call for Evidence to broaden our understanding of the issues.

The Department and industry are jointly investing up to £43.5 million to upgrade truckstops across England. This is on top of up to £26 million joint investment by National Highways and industry in lorry parking facilities along the strategic roads network.

This investment is supporting operators across 30 counties in England to improve security, toilets, showers and refreshment facilities and increase lorry parking spaces.

To improve working conditions for HGV drivers, the Department and industry are jointly investing up to £43.5 million to upgrade truckstops across England. This is on top of up to £26 million joint investment by National Highways and industry in lorry parking facilities along the strategic roads network. This funding is supporting operators across 30 counties in England to improve security, showers and refreshment facilities and increase lorry parking spaces.

In addition, the Department has been working with the insurance and road haulage trade associations to raise awareness of fleet insurance policies that can provide cover for newly qualified drivers without higher premiums.

To support drivers in returning to the sector, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has introduced more flexible Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) requirements for those driving in the UK. The requirement removes the need to complete 35 hours of training prior to a return to driving and replaces it with a 7-hour ‘return to driving’ training module, and a requirement to complete the 28 hours of other CPC training within 12 months.

The Department for Transport is also a strong supporter of the Generation Logistics campaign. Led by the industry, this initiative aims to raise awareness and enhance perceptions of careers in logistics, particularly among young people and underrepresented groups.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Child Maintenance Service (CMS) did not capture the data requested on proportion of (a) Paying Parents and (b) Receiving Parents using the Child Maintenance Service who disclosed domestic abuse in 2023-24. Therefore, this information is not readily available to provide. To extract this data would involve the manual review of all CMS cases, at a significant cost to the department and taxpayer.

The Department is assessing how it can provide statistics on domestic abuse now the application fee exemption statistics are no longer published. The Department's Chief Statistician will oversee the development of these statistics to make sure they meet the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The Child Maintenance Service takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and is committed to ensuring victims of abuse get the help and support they need to access and use the service safely and securely.

CMS caseworkers are provided with domestic abuse training to ensure they understand, recognise and respond safely and appropriately to customers who are experiencing domestic abuse, or are survivors of domestic abuse. In July 2024, the training was updated with input from external stakeholders, and covers different types of abuse, including economic, post-separation, coercive and controlling behaviour.

Specialist Case Team is one of the measures CMS have introduced to manage cases with the most challenging or complex domestic abuse concerns. This has minimised the need for parents to recount their history of domestic abuse and caseworkers to deliver support to some of the most vulnerable customers.

As of February 2025, the volume of cases in the Specialist Case Team was 301, this equates to 0.04% of CMS total customer caseload.

We don’t measure or report Fraud and Error statistics at a regional level. Our benefit review sample sizes are not large enough to support this level of detail measure or report Fraud and Error statistics at a regional level.

The Department has been conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose and reflects today’s social trends. The review will also consider the treatment of unearned income and assets within the automatic calculation.

Unearned income and assets can still be captured through the current variation process up until changes are introduced.

On 28 February 2025, further to engagement with industry representative bodies, the Food Standards Agency published the 2025/26 charge rates for inspections in meat premises in England and Wales. As in previous years, charges in 2025/26 will be offset by a taxpayer-funded discount scheme which will provide the greatest proportional support to smaller abattoirs, and will therefore benefit the small abattoir industry in Wales. A separate exercise is being conducted in respect of 2025/26 charges for abattoirs in Northern Ireland.

The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts the National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving cardiac health in all parts of the country.

More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all help people manage their long-term conditions, including cardiac disease, closer to home. Moving from sickness to prevention will help us provide treatment earlier, rather than only intervening when conditions deteriorate.

NHS England has published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions that covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease or families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause. NHS England is currently reviewing this service specification in line with the national service specification methods review process. The specification is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cardiology-inherited-cardiac-conditions.pdf

In 2017, NHS England published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions (ICC) which defines the standards of care expected from organisations commissioned by NHS England. The specification sets the national minimum standards for the diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of patients with ICC.

NHS England is reviewing this service specification, working with a broad range of stakeholders, including National Health Service clinical experts, the Association of Inherited Cardiac Conditions, Cardiomyopathy UK, Heart Valve Voice, and the British Heart Foundation. This review considers the referral of ICC patients from primary care into ICC specialised services and considers how families of ICC patients are supported through the screening and identification process. The service specification review has also considered referrals directly from primary into secondary care, which would improve the timeliness of patient diagnosis.

Department ministers regularly have discussions with their colleagues and counterparts in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland on matters of cross border interest.

In 2017, NHS England published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions (ICC) which defines the standards of care expected from organisations commissioned by NHS England. The specification sets the national minimum standards for the diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of patients with ICC.

NHS England is reviewing this service specification, working with a broad range of stakeholders, including National Health Service clinical experts, the Association of Inherited Cardiac Conditions, Cardiomyopathy UK, Heart Valve Voice, and the British Heart Foundation. This review considers the referral of ICC patients from primary care into ICC specialised services and considers how families of ICC patients are supported through the screening and identification process. The service specification review has also considered referrals directly from primary into secondary care, which would improve the timeliness of patient diagnosis.

Department ministers regularly have discussions with their colleagues and counterparts in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland on matters of cross border interest.

In 2017, NHS England published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions (ICC) which defines the standards of care expected from organisations commissioned by NHS England. The specification sets the national minimum standards for the diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of patients with ICC.

NHS England is reviewing this service specification, working with a broad range of stakeholders, including National Health Service clinical experts, the Association of Inherited Cardiac Conditions, Cardiomyopathy UK, Heart Valve Voice, and the British Heart Foundation. This review considers the referral of ICC patients from primary care into ICC specialised services and considers how families of ICC patients are supported through the screening and identification process. The service specification review has also considered referrals directly from primary into secondary care, which would improve the timeliness of patient diagnosis.

Department ministers regularly have discussions with their colleagues and counterparts in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland on matters of cross border interest.

Airspace access is not within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's policy responsibilities. The Civil Aviation Authority is responsible for airspace management and related policies in the UK.

The UK is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide, including in Western Sahara. We consistently support the UN efforts to resolve the situation in Western Sahara, and support language in relevant UN Security Council Resolutions that encourages the parties to continue their efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara, including the freedoms of expression and association. We engage regularly with the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General on Western Sahara.

The UK is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide, including in Western Sahara. We consistently support the UN efforts to resolve the situation in Western Sahara, and support language in relevant UN Security Council Resolutions that encourages the parties to continue their efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara, including the freedoms of expression and association. We engage regularly with the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General on Western Sahara.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office have had no such discussions regarding these three individuals.

The full implementation of the 'Agreement for Lasting Peace through a Permanent Cessation of Hostilities' in Pretoria in November 2022 is key to peace and stability in Northern Ethiopia. The UK continues to be at the forefront of diplomatic and development efforts to sustain the agreement and encourage political dialogue. We regularly engage the parties to the agreement and the African Union guarantors to reiterate the importance of full implementation. We most recently issued a statement to this effect on 13 March alongside the US, EU, and 22 other countries. Furthermore, we are supporting the African Union Monitoring Verification and Compliance Mechanism.