Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
Make verified ID a requirement for opening a social media account.
Gov Responded - 5 May 2021 Debated on - 28 Feb 2022 View Damian Collins's petition debate contributionsMake it a legal requirement when opening a new social media account, to provide a verified form of ID. Where the account belongs to a person under the age of 18 verify the account with the ID of a parent/guardian, to prevent anonymised harmful activity, providing traceability if an offence occurs.
Enforce the “50+1” Rule for professional football club ownership in the UK
Gov Responded - 24 May 2021 Debated on - 14 Jun 2021 View Damian Collins's petition debate contributionsBring in a law which enforces professional football clubs to have at least 51% fan ownership similar to how the Bundesliga operates this rule.
Introduce an Independent Regulator for Football in England by December 2021
Gov Responded - 7 Jun 2021 Debated on - 14 Jun 2021 View Damian Collins's petition debate contributionsThe Government should use the recently established fan led review of football to introduce an Independent Football Regulator in England to put fans back at the heart of our national game. This should happen by December 2021.
Allow football fans to attend matches at all levels
Gov Responded - 21 Oct 2020 Debated on - 9 Nov 2020 View Damian Collins's petition debate contributionsFootball is a powerful tool of which allows a range of benefits such as employment, and other important aspects of life. Football can be associated with passion, emotion, excitement and dedication across the community. With Fans attending football games a range of economic benefits are there too.
These initiatives were driven by Damian Collins, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Damian Collins has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Damian Collins has not been granted any Adjournment Debates
A Bill to require professional and semi-professional football clubs in England to disclose the identity of their owners; to give the Football Association powers to block the ownership of a club by anyone whom they consider is not a fit and proper person; to require all creditors of a football club to be compensated equally should the club go into administration; to facilitate the raising by supporters’ organisations of the finance required to acquire a controlling stake in a football club; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to reform the governance of football in England to make it more transparent and accountable; to ensure fair financial dealings between professional football clubs and their supporters; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to require professional and semi-professional football clubs in England to disclose the identity of their owners; to give the Football Association powers to block the ownership of a club by anyone whom they consider is not a fit and proper person; to require all creditors of a football club to be compensated equally should the club go into administration; to facilitate the raising by supporters’ organisations of the finance required to acquire a controlling stake in a football club; and for connected purposes.
A bill to require a football club playing in the top four tiers of English and Scottish professional football to disclose the identity of its owner, the identity of the owner of its home playing ground, training ground, any intellectual property associated with the club or a third party stake in its players and the identities of outstanding creditors; to require all creditors of a football club to be compensated equally should the club go into administration; and for connected purposes
A Bill to require a football club playing in the top four tiers of English and Scottish professional football to disclose the identity of its owner, the identity of the owner of its home playing ground, training ground, any intellectual property associated with the club or a third party stake in its players and the identities of outstanding creditors; to require all creditors of a football club to be compensated equally should the club go into administration; and for connected purposes
Digital Devices (Access for Next of Kin) Bill 2021-22
Sponsor - Ian Paisley (DUP)
Sexual Offences (Sports Coaches) Bill 2019-21
Sponsor - Tracey Crouch (Con)
Football (Regulation) Bill 2019-21
Sponsor - Helen Grant (Con)
Football Regulation Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Christian Matheson (Ind)
Requesting data from social media platforms for use in criminal investigations – which may of course lead to the CPS bringing charges – is an investigative matter for the police, who will have to decide if that’s an appropriate line of inquiry.
Where investigators are unable to obtain data held overseas themselves, CPS prosecutors may draft and issue requests for Mutual Legal Assistance from international counterparts. That capability is further enhanced by powers created by the Government in the Crime (Overseas Production Order) Act 2019.
The Defending Democracy programme coordinates work and expertise across government work to safeguard the integrity and security of our democratic processes.
Through the Online Harms legislative proposals, the programme is making good progress against two of its strategic objectives: to encourage respect for open, fair and safe democratic participation; and to promote fact-based discourse.
The transition period will end on 31 December, and the Government made extensive preparations for the changes and opportunities that will come. We have set out a package of support for border infrastructure and the customs intermediaries sector, and provided extensive guidance to business at gov.uk/transition.
The Government has also intensified engagement with businesses, including through the Brexit Business Taskforce, and is running a major public information campaign which tells businesses and citizens the steps they need to take to prepare.
The Government is reviewing the opportunities of a mobile alerting capability to issue alerts to mobile devices. The Government recognises the need for messages to be easily understood by everyone receiving them.
The consultation closed in October. We are carefully considering the responses we received and will publish our response in due course.
The Government is currently considering the recommendations of the Competition and Market Authority’s market study and will respond in due course.
The Government-funded High Streets Heritage Action Zones programme ran from 2019-2024, operating in England only. It was administered by Historic England. Since 2019, there have been £90,948,829 in grants awarded through the fund.
The programme has funded the transformation and restoration of over 60 high streets, creating economic growth and improving quality of life in these areas.
Two grants were awarded in Kent, in Ramsgate and Chatham. In total, the two schemes were awarded £2,241,797 over the course of the programme.
The High Streets Heritage Action Zone programme came to an end in March 2024.
The Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme is investing over £325 million between 2021 and 2025 to level up facilities across the whole of the UK. The programme provides funding to make essential facility improvements, so that communities have a high-quality pitch to play on, and is a clear demonstration of the government’s commitment to levelling up all corners of the United Kingdom.
Since 2021, over £200 million has been invested in over 2,400 sites across the UK, improving the natural and artificial grass pitches on offer to communities and upgrading floodlights, goalposts, changing rooms and toilet facilities. All funded projects are listed on gov.uk at this link:
Grants that were awarded in England prior to 2021 were delivered by the Football Foundation, funded through Sport England. Sport England’s funding to the Football Foundation is available on their website, along with all awards made by Sport England to football clubs since 2009: https://www.sportengland.org/
Sport is devolved - grants made in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland prior to the Multi-Sports Grassroots Facilities Programme are a matter for the Devolved Administrations.
Over 800,000 young people participated in an NCS programme between 2010/11 and 2022/23. The NCS programme is due to deliver 261,000 experiences between 2023/24 and 2024/25, as per the 2023/24 Annual Business Plan. The number of experiences delivered in the year 2023/24 will be published in the Annual Report later this year.
Evidence-based sports research is an important component in ensuring that sport is made as safe as possible for all participants. To that end, DCMS established a Sports Concussion Research Forum in July 2022, chaired by the Medical Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation. This brings together key academic experts with experience of traumatic brain injury, neurology and concussion to identify the priority research questions for the sporting sector.
The Research Forum has met five times since its inception and is now formulating a report to identify those priority research questions, with the report expected to be completed in 2024.
The Government remains committed to working with sports stakeholders to build on the positive work that is already taking place to mitigate the causes and effects of concussion in sport.
The table below provides a summary of the investments made by Sport England and Arts Council England (“ACE”) in the Folkestone and Hythe Constituency since 2010.
YEAR | SPORT ENGLAND | ACE |
2010 | £19,980 | £642,678 |
2011 | £174,060 | £98,621 |
2012 | £185,448 | £111,071 |
2013 | £70,513 | £912,581 |
2014 | £37,949 | £229,440 |
2015 | £154,039 | £880,023 |
2016 | £36,187 | £1,365,762 |
2017 | £108,966 | £1,934,965 |
2018 | £140,065 | £851,837 |
2019 | £382,364 | £459,254 |
2020 | £239,443 | £1,252,013 |
2021 | £53,428 | £1,616,286 |
2022 | £106,155 | £987,956 |
2023 | £48,601 | £819,229 |
TOTAL 2010-23: | £1,757,198 | £12,161,716 |
For a breakdown of the projects funded across this period, Sport England publishes an updated register of grant awards on a quarterly basis, with awards dating back to 2009 listed in full.
Due to a change in Arts Council England's (ACE) grant management system in 2016, data from before that date is not as high quality and not reliably comparable with more recent data. Noting this caveat we have provided the figures nonetheless for completeness.
Grants awarded from ACE's main funding streams within the last 5 financial years (2023/2024 inclusive) are published online and provide details of all organisations that receive funding.They are available in the following locations:
National Lottery Project Grants
Developing Your Creative Practice
Investment Programme (2018-2022 NPO)
Investment Programme (2023-2026 NPO)
The department has regular conversations with Ofcom at both ministerial and official level about its work to regulate the telecoms market, including the Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review. Ofcom has set out its findings and proposed regulatory approach from the review in its published consultation documents, which are available on its website.
The Age Appropriate Design Code will play an important role in protecting children’s personal data online. The Data Protection Act requires that the Code is laid in Parliament as soon as reasonably practicable. Ministers are taking the necessary steps to lay the Code as soon as possible.
Whilst this cross-government counter-disinformation capability was recently stood up to support COVID-19 response efforts, existing structures have been monitoring for disinformation related to the disease as part of their ongoing work.
The capability is resourced full time through existing cross-government teams and there are no additional costs associated with it.
There are a number of organisations that have relevant capabilities and responsibilities which are brought together through this work. This includes existing teams in DCMS, the Home Office, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office and No10.
It would not be appropriate to provide a running commentary on instances of misinformation or disinformation. We will address instances of misinformation or disinformation using the most appropriate mechanism. We are grateful for the work civil society and academica are doing to highlight and correct misinformation.
As Government one of the best things we can do is make sure that everyone has access to the correct information about the virus. As such, we are working with industry to support the introduction of systems and processes that promote authoritative sources of information. The Government’s public information campaign provides the latest and most accurate information about Covid-19.
The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 to keep schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in 2023/24.
Between 2015/16, when the current condition funding system was introduced, and 2023/24, Kent local authority has been allocated a total of £170,514,468 in school condition allocations (SCA), devolved formula capital (DFC) and one-off funding allocations to improve the condition of its maintained schools, including those in Folkestone and Hythe. Larger multi-academy trusts and voluntary aided school bodies (which cross local authority and parliamentary constituency boundaries) will also have been allocated condition funding in respect of the schools for which they are responsible. Funding allocations prior to 2015 are visible on the National Archives website available at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/*/https:/www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-allocations. It is for local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided school bodies to prioritise School Condition Allocations across their schools based on local knowledge of need.
In addition, 32 projects at 11 schools within the constituency have received funding through the Condition Improvement Fund and two schools were included in the Priority School Building Programme.
Funding allocations for 2023/24 are available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding.
Schools have the flexibility to change both the destination and the timing of their projects within the 2021/22 academic year and should consider running placements later in the current academic year if they find their planned dates are impeded by COVID-19.
The funding period for Turing Scheme projects for the 2021/22 academic year ends on 31 August 2022. The Turing Scheme was allocated funding as part of the Spending Review 2020 to be distributed to Turing Scheme beneficiaries for the delivery of mobilities during the 2021/22 academic year. In line with government spending requirements, any government funding must be used within the period that it has been allocated for.
The Turing Scheme has had funding confirmed for the next three years as part of the Spending Review 2021, and providers that could not deliver their mobilities in academic year 2021/22 are encouraged to apply again if they wish to run their activity in academic year 2022/23.
During this period, we are asking schools to support children who are eligible for and claiming benefits-related free school meals at home by providing meals or food parcels through their existing food providers wherever possible. Schools have continued to receive all their funding for benefits-related and universal infant free school meals. However, we recognise that providing meals and food parcels is not a practicable option for all schools. That is why on 31 March we launched a national voucher scheme as an alternative option, with costs covered by the Department for Education.
Schools are best placed to make decisions about the most appropriate arrangements for eligible pupils, and this can include food parcel arrangements, alternative voucher arrangements or provision through the national voucher scheme.
Edenred has reported that over £154 million worth of voucher codes has been redeemed into supermarket eGift cards by schools and families through the national voucher scheme as of Monday 15 June. Edenred has also reported that over 17,500 schools had placed orders for the scheme as of Tuesday 26 May. We do not collect data on the scheme at pupil level.
The number and proportion of students who qualify for free school meals is published in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication and its underlying data files. We do not collect data at constituency level.
The 2019 publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2019.
In accordance with Reservoirs Act 1975 (Capacity, Registration, Prescribed Forms, etc) (England) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/1677) and subsequent guidance produced by the UK Reservoir Safety Liaison Group (the National Protocol for the Handling, Transmission and Storage of Reservoir Information and Flood Maps), we are unable to publish the full content of the section 10 report and section 12 statement. I recognise the level of local interest in this matter, and the Environment Agency (EA) will disclose information regarding the planned works that it considers will be of benefit to interested members of the public.
The EA has heard from the community that redacted documents are unhelpful and do not contribute to building trust and cooperation. The EA will be visiting the site in mid-September and intends to openly communicate the legally required work proposed for the site.
During the Dialogues in Baltimore and Aberdeen, Ambassador Tai and my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade agreed to work together to develop an ambitious roadmap for further bilateral collaboration over the coming weeks, including further collaboration on reducing market barriers.
Last month we signed our first state-level trade and economic development Memorandum of Understanding with Indiana, creating a framework to help remove barriers to trade and investment. We hope to sign more MOUs this year.
The United Kingdom is committed to maintaining high standards of protection for personal data, including when it is transferred across borders. Data provisions in Free Trade Agreements including the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) are separate but complementary to the United Kingdom’s adequacy process and international data protection frameworks.
Through CEPA, we have agreed to avoid unjustified restrictions on the free flow of data between the United Kingdom and Japan, and committed to maintaining a legal framework that provides for the protection of personal information. CEPA only addresses data flows between the United Kingdom and Japan and does not address onward transfers to other jurisdictions. The United Kingdom has not endorsed the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross Border Privacy Rules System (APEC CBPR).
Separately, the United Kingdom has preserved the effect of the EU's adequacy decision for Japan on a transitional basis. This does not permit the onward transfer of EU data using APEC CBPR.
The United Kingdom is committed to maintaining high standards of protection for personal data, including when it is transferred across borders. Data provisions in Free Trade Agreements including the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) are separate but complementary to the United Kingdom’s adequacy process and international data protection frameworks.
Through CEPA, we have agreed to avoid unjustified restrictions on the free flow of data between the United Kingdom and Japan, and committed to maintaining a legal framework that provides for the protection of personal information. CEPA only addresses data flows between the United Kingdom and Japan and does not address onward transfers to other jurisdictions. The United Kingdom has not endorsed the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross Border Privacy Rules System (APEC CBPR).
Separately, the United Kingdom has preserved the effect of the EU's adequacy decision for Japan on a transitional basis. This does not permit the onward transfer of EU data using APEC CBPR.
The United Kingdom is committed to maintaining high standards of protection for personal data, including when it is transferred across borders. Data provisions in Free Trade Agreements including the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) are separate but complementary to the United Kingdom’s adequacy process and international data protection frameworks.
Through CEPA, we have agreed to avoid unjustified restrictions on the free flow of data between the United Kingdom and Japan, and committed to maintaining a legal framework that provides for the protection of personal information. CEPA only addresses data flows between the United Kingdom and Japan and does not address onward transfers to other jurisdictions. The United Kingdom has not endorsed the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross Border Privacy Rules System (APEC CBPR).
Separately, the United Kingdom has preserved the effect of the EU's adequacy decision for Japan on a transitional basis. This does not permit the onward transfer of EU data using APEC CBPR.
The United Kingdom is committed to maintaining high standards of protection for personal data, including when it is transferred across borders. Data provisions in Free Trade Agreements including the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) are separate but complementary to the United Kingdom’s adequacy process and international data protection frameworks.
Through CEPA, we have agreed to avoid unjustified restrictions on the free flow of data between the United Kingdom and Japan, and committed to maintaining a legal framework that provides for the protection of personal information. CEPA only addresses data flows between the United Kingdom and Japan and does not address onward transfers to other jurisdictions. The United Kingdom has not endorsed the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross Border Privacy Rules System (APEC CBPR).
Separately, the United Kingdom has preserved the effect of the EU's adequacy decision for Japan on a transitional basis. This does not permit the onward transfer of EU data using APEC CBPR.
There have been multiple replies sent regarding Mrs Old in the past twelve months. The Department will contact the Hon Member’s office and provide copies of any replies that you have not received. The Department has no record of any correspondence being received on 25th June; if a copy can be provided, a response will be sent as soon as possible.
We do not hold the requested information centrally.
The ‘Financial assistance under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006’ reports set out all funding that was provided to NHS trusts for each financial year and are published with the Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts. However, this does not itemise the funding at the individual hospital and site level. The reports are available at the following link:
We take parliamentary scrutiny incredibly seriously and it is fundamentally important that hon. Members are provided with accurate and timely information to enable them to hold Government to account. We are working rapidly to provide all hon. Members with accurate answers to their questions, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hon. Member’s questions will be answered as soon as possible.
As between the parties, the Government retains legal responsibility for any data breaches or loss of data under its contract with Amazon for data storage.
This is the main data storage contract for NHS Test and Trace. Any other data storage is acquired using Government frameworks which set out standard positions in relation to legal and financial remedies.
The contract was released on 5 June 2020 and will be formally published in due course.
NHS England has not made any application programming interfaces available to Palantir.
NHS England is the data controller for data processed in the NHS Data Store. Palantir is engaged by NHS England under contract as a data processor. As a data processor, the organisation only processes data under instruction from NHS England.
The NHS Data Store data list is found at the following link:
https://data.england.nhs.uk/covid-19/.
Data is Processed on the Foundry Platform which is hosted in the UK Region of Amazon Web Services.
NHS England will be publishing the contract for the NHS Data Store with Palantir in due course.
Alongside the source code for the app, we have already published documentation which sets out the full application and system architecture. The data protection impact assessment lists the data processors and their roles.
We continue to develop the National Health Service COVID-19 app and its compatibility with other apps. We are also in ongoing discussions with Apple and Google with regards to the app’s functionality.
Amazon Web Services, the engineering firm VMWare Tanzu, Google and Microsoft are all providing services necessary for the proper functioning of the app. Data may also be shared with NHS England and NHS Improvement. Where data is held outside of the United Kingdom it will be held within the European Economic Area. The contracts governing the arrangements with data processors contain standard clauses requiring compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation.
The data that app users have chosen to share with the National Health Service may be retained for research in the public interest, or by the NHS for planning and delivering services, in line with the law and on the basis of the necessary approvals required by law.
Data will be stored securely and processed in the UK. Information that does not, and cannot, identify you may be stored and processed outside of the UK (for example, information purely about the number of proximity alerts issued, or the number of outcomes from tests).
App users can delete the National Health Service COVID-19 app whenever they want. If users delete the app, all data stored on the phone and not already shared with the NHS would be deleted. If users do not opt to share their data, it will automatically be deleted on a continuous 28-day cycle within the app, on the phone.
Data shared with the NHS, either proactively or as part of requesting a test, may be retained in accordance with necessary legislation, and may be used in the future for research in the public interest, or by the NHS for planning and delivering services, subject to the necessary approvals required by law.
Whilst digital infrastructure is a mostly devolved matter, the UK provides significant support to the four Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible Territories. The FCDO-funded capital investment programme in Montserrat recently delivered a sub-sea fibre cable and in St Helena we are supporting improvements in the local telecommunications infrastructure.
The UK has not provided support for digital infrastructure in the Caribbean through our bilateral ODA. However, we continue to support the development of digital infrastructure through our shareholding in multilateral agencies including the World Bank, Inter-American and Caribbean Development Banks.
We do not collect comprehensive data on the profession of those relocated, so the following figures are estimates only.
The UK will continue to relocate eligible individuals under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS). The ACRS commenced on 6 January and will provide up to 20,000 women, children and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK.
The UK is supporting life-saving assistance for people affected by the conflict in Tigray, including health and malnutrition treatment and water and sanitation delivered through UN agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and NGO partners. We continue to work closely with the UN and partners, in calling for sustained, free and unfettered humanitarian access across Tigray, in line with the guiding principles laid down by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Since the Foreign Secretary met the Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister in London on 25th November we have continued to press the Government of Ethiopia for a political solution to restore peace, including in my call with the Ethiopian Finance Minister on 16 December.
a) An evaluation of the creative industry tax reliefs covering Film Tax Relief, High-end Television Tax Relief, Animation Tax Relief and Children’s Television Tax Relief was published in 2022: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/creative-industry-tax-reliefs-evaluation
An evaluation of the video games tax relief was published in 2017: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/video-game-tax-relief-evaluation
A qualitative evaluation capturing the wider impacts of the Museums and Galleries relief was conducted in 2020: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tax-relief-for-museums-and-galleries-qualitative-research
The government keeps the tax system under review.
b) The number of recipients of the creative industry tax reliefs is published in HMRC’s Creative Industries Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/creative-industries-statistics-august-2023
Since 2022, the Government has taken significant action to support struggling families with the high cost of living in all constituencies. This includes the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG), the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS), the £150 Council Tax rebate, fuel and alcohol duty cuts and successive extensions of the Household Support fund, Cost of Living Payments and benefit uprating to millions of the most vulnerable. Taken together, total support over 2022-2025 to help households with the high cost of living is worth £104 billion – an average of £3,700 per UK household.
Across the English Football League, including the Championship, League 1 and League 2, the total debt is £110,437,964 excluding VAT which was deferred from spring 2020 and is not due until 31 March 2021. The breakdown by league is:
Championship | £88,897,407 |
League 1 | £16,601,127 |
League 2 | £4,939,428 |
total debt | £110,437,964 |
The total of overdue taxes is £77,612,777 excluding VAT which is auto-deferred to 31 March 2021 and Month 6 PAYE payments.
This is broken down by league as:
Debt | |
Championship | £59,127,124 |
League 1 | £13,637,069 |
League 2 | £4,848,583 |
Total | £77,612,777 |
Employees on fixed-term contracts, regardless of industry, can be claimed for under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme if otherwise eligible.
From 1 July an employee is eligible to be claimed for under the scheme, if their employer has previously submitted a claim for them in relation to a furlough period of at least three consecutive weeks taking place any time between 1 March 2020 and 30 June.
For an employee on a fixed term contract, the employer would have been able to re-employ them and put them on furlough as long as they did this by 10 June, and if either the employee’s contract expired on or after 28 February 2020 and an RTI payment submission for the employee was notified to HMRC on or before 28 February 2020, or the employee’s contract expired on or after 19 March 2020 and an RTI payment submission for the employee was notified to HMRC on or before 19 March 2020.
If the employee’s fixed term contract has not already expired, it can be extended, or renewed. Employers can claim for these employees as long as an RTI payment submission for the employee was notified to HMRC on or before 19 March 2020.
Employees that started and ended the same contract between 28 February 2020 and 19 March 2020 will not qualify for this scheme. This is not specific to employees on fixed-term contracts; the same would apply to employees on all other contracts.
The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area (PFA), on a bi-annual basis in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
These data are collected by PFA level only, and information at lower levels of geography, such as districts are not collected. Data on the number of police officers in Kent as at 31 March each year, from 2007 to 2023, on a full-time equivalent and headcount basis, can be found in the ‘Police Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1172892/open-data-table-police-workforce-260723.ods.
We maintained a regular dialogue with the FCDO in response to the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom’s recommendations, including meeting with the report’s author. The Foreign Secretary wrote to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 2 February 2022 with our full response.
The Home Secretary’s existing discretion to grant leave as outlined in the New Plan for Immigration and ability to use this – for example in exceptional humanitarian circumstances – is sufficient to respond to such individuals. We have already seen discretion used in the context of the Afghanistan crisis.
In August 2021, we offered granted over 70 journalists and other employees of UK media organisations, including employees from BBC World Service, the Guardian, and The Times, leave to enter the UK outside the rules.
Further, journalists are eligible to apply under the skilled worker route of the Points-Based system, providing they meet the specified requirements.
The Government responded swiftly to the fast-moving and challenging events in Afghanistan, including supporting the largest and fastest evacuation in recent history. We can be proud as a country that we helped over 15,000 people to safety from Afghanistan in August 2021 and we continue to do all we can to enable those who are eligible to relocate to the UK.
There have been approximately 100 Afghan journalists who have been evacuated and brought to safety since 1 August 2021. Those who entered were granted Leave Outside the Rules (LOTR) for 6 months, this status is not a bar to them being permanently housed or to starting their life in the UK.
The Home Office is currently supporting those here in the UK to assist them to obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain status.