Ben Obese-Jecty

The government is committed to strengthening equal pay and ending pay discrimination. Alongside other measures, we will establish an Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit with the involvement of trade unions.

This month we launched a call for evidence on a number of areas of equality policy, including equal pay enforcement. We are holding this call for evidence while policy is at a formative stage in order to enable businesses, trade unions, civil society and others to share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives at this early point.

Officials in the Office for Equality and Opportunity will continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including trade unions, as policy develops.

The government is committed to strengthening equal pay and ending pay discrimination. Alongside other measures, we will establish an Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit with the involvement of trade unions.

This month we launched a call for evidence on a number of areas of equality policy, including equal pay enforcement. We are holding this call for evidence while policy is at a formative stage in order to enable businesses, trade unions, civil society and others to share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives at this early point.

Officials in the Office for Equality and Opportunity will continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including trade unions, as policy develops.

As set out in the King’s Speech in July, the government is committed to making the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority and disabled people. This measure will be part of the upcoming Equality (Race and Disability) Bill.

This month we launched a call for evidence on a number of areas of equality policy, including on this commitment. We will consider the views from the call for evidence to understand the challenges and find the appropriate solutions in developing this policy, making sure that the legislation works for all.

Details of Ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on gov.uk. Data for Equalities Ministers is included in the releases by the Departments in which they are operationally based - for example, data for Minister Phillipson and Minister Smith is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-ministers-quarterly-returns

www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfe-ministerial-overseas-travel-and-meetings-october-to-december-2024.

For the Cabinet Office the figures are:

These are the devices reported by staff of the Cabinet Office as lost since July 5th 2024. Some of these devices may have been found since their initial reporting.

Office for Equality and Opportunity are part of the Cabinet Office and as such, lost/stolen laptops will be reported within the Cabinet Office data

Part 5 of the Equality Act 2010 provides protection against direct and indirect discrimination in employment and makes it unlawful for an employer or a recruitment agency to discriminate against an employee or someone applying for employment because of a protected characteristic.

Interns with, or applying for, a contract of employment that falls within the definition of “employment” are covered by the Equality Act 2010’s protections against discrimination based on sex, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, amongst other protected characteristics.

There are some circumstances in which employers may provide additional help to groups of people who share a protected characteristic, including interns. This is permitted by the positive action provisions in the Equality Act 2010. Whether positive action is permitted will depend on whether the test in those provisions is met.

Government guidance to help employers understand the difference between positive action and positive discrimination can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/positive-action-in-the-workplace-guidance-for-employers. The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Code of Practice provides employers with support and can be found at: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/equality/equality-act-2010/codes-practice/employment-code-practice-0.

The Law Officers’ Convention applies to advice which may or may not have been given by the Law Officers, or requested of the Law Officers, and the Convention applies to your question.

The Law Officers’ Convention can be found at paragraph 21.27 of Erskine May:

“By long-standing convention, observed by successive Governments, the fact of, and substance of advice from, the law officers of the Crown is not disclosed outside government. This convention is referred to in paragraph [5.14] of the Ministerial Code [updated on 6 November 2024]. The purpose of this convention is to enable the Government to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence.”

The Attorney sits on the Parliamentary Business and Legislation Committee. As part of the process of approving a government Bill for introduction, as set out in the published Guide to Making Legislation, a legal issues memorandum is prepared for this Committee. This will set out all relevant legal issues.

Whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice outside of the PBL process is covered by the Law Officers' Convention. This Convention provides that whether or not the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

Acting recklessly with or throwing fireworks can cause life-changing injuries. These actions can result in criminal prosecution and/or civil liability, depending on whether the injury was caused deliberately, recklessly or negligently.

There are numerous offences this can fall under, including: s.39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (common assault/battery) or from the+ Offences against the Person Act 1861: s47 (assault occasioning actual bodily harm), s20 (wounding/inflicting grievous bodily harm), s18 (wounding/causing grievous bodily harm with intent to do grievous bodily harm), s28 (grievous bodily harm by the unlawful explosion of gunpowder or other explosive substance), s29 (unlawfully causing gunpowder or some other explosive substance to explode with intent to cause grievous bodily harm). The charge chosen will depend on the facts and circumstances of the case and the level of injury caused.

During the most recently available 12 months (ending June 2025) management information shows that a total of 102,493 offences charged by way of the above legislation, commenced prosecution in magistrates’ courts. Of these charges the CPS is unable to identify which offences specifically involved fireworks as opposed to physical assaults or the use of other types of weapons, without a manual review of each case, which would incur disproportionate cost.

If an injury is caused through negligence (e.g. due to an accident at a private or publicly organised display) the person who set off the firework (or the event organiser/landowner) may be sued for damages in a civil court. Information on proceedings in civil courts is held by HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

Offences relating to the dangerous use or misuse of fireworks can be prosecuted under Section

80 of the Explosives Act 1875 (throw or light a firework in a highway, street or public place),

Section 131(1(d)) and Section 161(2(b)) of Highways Act 1980 (light a fire/discharge a

firework/firearm within 50 feet of a public highway), Section 28 of the Town and Police Clauses

Act 1847 (throw a firework/missile/discharge a firearm/light a fire in the street) and Section 2 of

the Football (Offences) Act 1991 (throw a missile onto a football pitch or adjacent area).

Management information is held by the CPS showing the number of offences in which a

prosecution commenced during each of the last five years for the above legislation.

Of these charges the CPS is unable to identify which offences specifically involved fireworks as

opposed to other types of missiles, without a manual review of each case, which would incur

disproportionate cost.

There is no indication of the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at

the time of finalisation. It is often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than

one offence.

Sickness absence data for the Civil Service, including departmental breakdowns is published annually, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence.

The next update will be for the year ending 31st March 2025.

The process was followed as set out in the Ministerial Code.

The Attorney General made a further statement on the speech in question which is publicly available.

The safety of our roads is a key priority for this government.

We have amended the Crime and Policing Bill to provide for new offences and penalties for dangerous cycling, updating legislation that is over 160 years old, to ensure that the tiny minority who recklessly disregard others face the full force of the law.

Cases of causing death or serious injury by dangerous or careless driving have usually been prosecuted under section 35 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (OAPA 1861), but this offence applies to any person ‘having charge of any carriage or other vehicle’ and therefore does not solely apply to cyclists.

The earliest data held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for prosecutions of offences under s. 35 OAPA 1861 is from 2005. Between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2024, the CPS authorised charges for 362 offences of causing injury by wanton and furious driving contrary to s. 35.

Of these charges, the CPS is unable to identify which offences involved defendants who were cyclists, without a manual review of each case, which would incur disproportionate cost.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has conducted a full manual review of the 11 case files with a monitoring flag for child abuse. It could not ascertain whether the defendants and victims were from Guinea-Bissau or Portugal from the information provided by the police.

The CPS were unable to undertake a full manual review of the remaining cases with a monitoring flag for modern slavery as to obtain this information would incur a disproportionate cost.

This Government is committed to tackling the scourge of child trafficking. Children who are exploited by gangs for criminal purposes will now receive greater protection under the Government’s flagship Crime and Policing Bill, with the introduction of a new offence of child criminal exploitation. The Bill represents the biggest package of measures on crime and policing for decades, with new measures to cut crime and make our streets safer.

From January 2010 to September 2024, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecuted 56 cases flagged for modern slavery in the Cambridge Police Force Area.

Data is recorded by defendant, rather than victim, and therefore modern slavery flagged cases may involve adult or child victims. Of these 56 cases, 11 cases also had a case monitoring flag applied for child abuse, which covers several different offences, including child trafficking.

The CPS is working closely with law enforcement via the Modern Slavery Criminal Justice Action Group – a joint working group led by CPS National Lead for Human Trafficking and the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime – to identify areas of improvement to promote early advice and increase referrals and prosecutions of modern slavery cases.

The George Cross Committee has met on three occasions since 12 December 2024: Thursday 13 March 2025, Thursday 18 September 2025 and Thursday 19 March 2026.

I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the answer provided to PQ 2212.

AUKUS is a unique strategic partnership which is fundamental to security and stability in the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic, as well as to the UK’s NATO-first approach and Trans-Atlantic burden-sharing.

The government has made a landmark £6 billion investment in the UK Submarine Industrial Base to drive forward an 18-month submarine production drumbeat and grow our nuclear-powered, conventionally-armed submarine fleet to up to twelve. The successful deployment of HMS Anson to Western Australia and completion of the Submarine Maintenance Period (SMP) in February 2026 was further demonstration of the UK’s commitment to delivery. Additionally, the Defence Ministerial Meeting in May 2026 announced the first Signature Project under AUKUS Pillar II: cutting-edge payloads and enabling systems for AUKUS partners’ Uncrewed Undersea Vehicles (UUVs).

We are intensifying our cooperation with the EU to protect critical infrastructure, including on hybrid and cyber threats through the implementation of the Security and Defence Partnership agreed at the UK-EU Summit in May 2025. As part of this work, in September 2025, the FCDO Minister of State for Europe, North America, and Overseas Territories co-chaired the inaugural UK-EU strategic consultation on Hybrid Threats. This established practical areas of cooperation including incident response and support to partners facing hostile hybrid activity.

The UK remains fully committed to “full steam ahead” on AUKUS, injecting pace, focus and significant investment to drive delivery, alongside the US and Australia. AUKUS continues to support growth, deliver workforce and skills development and reinvigorate defence industrial bases across the UK, US and Australia. The House of Commons Defence Committee report on AUKUS sets out a recommendation to enable mutual recognition of security clearances for AUKUS-related work. The Government will publish a full response to the Committee report in due course.

The UK remains fully committed to “full steam ahead” on AUKUS, injecting pace, focus and significant investment to drive delivery, alongside the US and Australia. The House of Commons Defence Committee report on AUKUS sets out a recommendation to introduce an AUKUS visa across trilateral AUKUS partners. The Government will publish a full response to the Committee report in due course.

The UK remains fully committed to “full steam ahead” on AUKUS, injecting pace, focus and significant investment to drive delivery, alongside the US and Australia. The House of Commons Defence Committee report on AUKUS sets out a recommendation to establish a joint secretariat to support trilateral AUKUS representatives. The Government will publish a full response to the Committee report in due course.

The recruitment of delivery advisors is a matter for individual departments. Support will be provided so that appropriate appointments can be made in a timely way.

The Government follows all NATO definitions and guidance on applicable spend within the 1.5% of GDP. I refer the Honourable Member to their previous Parliamentary Question, where the answer set out that NATO has already agreed the definition of 1.5% as spend “to inter alia protect critical infrastructure, defend networks, ensure civil preparedness and resilience, innovate, and strengthen the defence industrial base.” Further details on plans for meeting our obligations will be set out in due course.

The government is working tirelessly with groups across society, including operators of critical national infrastructure, to make the UK a harder target for hostile actors and to deliver growth.

Strategies such as the National Security Strategy 2025, which consolidated several national security reviews and audits including the Resilience Action Plan into one framework, are critical to this work. The government engages with a range of stakeholders, considers assessments and analysis from think-tanks, academics, industry and parliamentary reports, to ensure the ambitions of these strategies are deliverable for industry and other groups across society.

The Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill will strengthen the UK’s cyber defences and ensure the essential and digital services the public relies on are more secure. The government is continuing to engage closely with industry to ensure the Bill is robust and deliverable, and we will consult stakeholders on our plans for secondary legislation in due course. In addition, the Resilience Action Plan included a commitment to map standards across the CNI landscape, which will provide an overview of the resilience requirements placed on CNI sectors and their cumulative impacts.

The National Security Adviser meets with a range of individuals and organisations as part of his role providing advice to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on national security matters. Such meetings are often sensitive in nature, and the Government does not routinely comment on them or their content.

The Prime Minister and Defence Secretary are determined to deliver against our AUKUS commitments and are personally driving the renewed whole-of-government effort. It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its committees, including how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.

The Contingency Planning Small Ministerial Group is meeting regularly to respond to the range of topics that arise as part of the Middle East response.

The recruitment of delivery advisors is a matter for individual departments.

Sir Stephen Lovegrove was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on AUKUS in April 2025. This appointment was made on an initial 12 month basis and has been extended for an additional year. Sir Stephen will continue to drive forward the Prime Minister’s commitment to delivering against our AUKUS commitments, recognising AUKUS as a strategic partnership which is fundamental to the UK’s NATO-first approach and to Trans-Atlantic burden-sharing. The government will keep the duration of the appointment under review, in line with the terms of the appointment.

Sir Stephen Lovegrove submitted his classified report at the end of 2024. A version was also shared with the US and Australian governments, both of which have conducted their own reviews of AUKUS over the past 18 months. In order to protect the confidentiality of inputs received from US and Australian contributors and others consulted during the review, it was decided that it would not be appropriate to publish the report. This is consistent with the approach taken by the US and Australian governments in their reviews.

The government accepted the recommendations made by Sir Stephen and he has made a number of public appearances since then in which he has set out his headline findings and the actions being taken in response. They include measures to underpin delivery of the “Optimal Pathway” by accelerating production across the UK Submarine Industrial Base; to jointly clarify and focus the pursuit of Advanced Capabilities under Pillar II; and to strengthen the UK’s cross-government leadership and co-ordination arrangements across both pillars. The associated actions are all either complete or well underway.

The government has also made a landmark £6bn investment in the UK Submarine Industrial Base to drive an 18 month submarine production drumbeat. The Prime Minister has been clear that the UK is "all in" on delivering against our AUKUS commitments and that he regards it as a strategic partnership which is fundamental to the UK's NATO-first approach and to Trans-Atlantic burden-sharing.