Jim Shannon

Every woman should be able to live without fear of harassment or violence in the workplace as much as anywhere else. In July 2021, as part of our strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, the Government announced a new package of measures which will strengthen protections for those affected by harassment at work.

We will introduce a new duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, as well as explicit protections against harassment by third parties. We are also supporting the Equality and Human Rights Commission to develop a statutory Code of Practice on workplace harassment, as well as preparing our own practical guidance for employers on preventing this issue.

In addition, the Government will be shortly launching a communications campaign to raise awareness and challenge behaviours that constitute violence against women and girls, including workplace harassment.

The steps we are taking will not only raise awareness of the nature and prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace, but also motivate employers to prioritise prevention and ultimately improve workplace practices and culture.

Core Spending Power for local government is expected to rise from £50.4 billion in 2021-22 to up to £53.9 billion in 2022-23. The forthcoming Levelling Up White Paper will set out our plans for strengthening accountable local leadership. This is alongside recent investments including the Levelling Up Fund, UK Community Renewal Fund and Towns Fund where Government is working closely with councils right across the United Kingdom.

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has a safe home. Since 2009, the total number of households with Category 1 Hazards has reduced from 21% to 10% as of 2019. As part of its ongoing work to improve the quality of housing, the Government is reviewing the Decent Homes Standard and Housing Health and Safety Rating System, to make standards easier to understand and act on.

The Government is also providing £3.9 billion of funding over the next three years which will improve the energy efficiency of many homes, increasing their thermal comfort, and reducing hazards associated with the cold.

The Church of England has invested substantial resource in supporting the development of teachers and education.

At a diocesan level, every diocese has an Education team which provides training and support for the 4,600 Church of England schools across England.

At a national level the Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership has invested in peer support leadership networks in which over 1,200 schools participate. These cover a variety of subjects important to education and also offer support for addressing mental health and well-being, grief, trauma and other issues that have been particularly important through the pandemic. The Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership also provides excellent leadership development programmes and the Church of England is one of 9 national providers of National Professional Qualifications, offering the suite of NPQs to ensure CPD for staff in Church of England, catholic and community school is prioritised. These NPQs are fully funded for all teachers in all state schools in England and are a brilliant opportunity for teachers and schools to benefit from high quality coaching, support and CPD.

Government restrictions on religion or belief have increased globally in recent years as have societal hostilities. Studies undertaken by the Pew Research Centre indicate that the level of religious restrictions is highest in the Middle East-North Africa region, but that some of the biggest increases in religious restrictions over the past decade have occurred in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, while the levels of social hostilities towards religion or belief norms have increase most in the Americas, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.

President Macron and I speak regularly. As neighbours and historic partners, the UK and France work together on a huge range of issues, including the operation of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement

The UK is committed to implementing the Withdrawal Agreement in the best interests of UK nationals in the EU, EU citizens in the UK and businesses across the UK including Northern Ireland. We have been maintaining extensive discussions with the EU and its Member States on all areas of Withdrawal Agreement implementation, including notably on the Northern Ireland Protocol and citizens' rights.

I have raised the operation of the Northern Ireland Protocol with President Macron on several occasions, including during our discussion at the G20 Summit last month.

The Glasgow Climate Pact is a historic agreement. We have a roadmap to keep 1.5°C alive but this is based on commitments made and relies on concerted and dedicated delivery by all countries. We will continue to demonstrate strong UK leadership over our Presidency year to make sure promises are kept and delivered to the highest standards, working with parties and civil society partners to advance rapid progress.

Leading up to and at COP26, I held regular discussions with China’s Special Climate Envoy, Xie Zhenhua, and I look forward to continuing to work with China throughout the UK’s COP26 Presidency to implement and build on the pledges China has made this year.

The Glasgow Climate Pact is a historic agreement. We have a roadmap to keep 1.5°C alive but this is based on commitments made and relies on concerted and dedicated delivery by all countries. We will continue to demonstrate strong UK leadership over our Presidency year to make sure promises are kept and delivered to the highest standards, working with parties and civil society partners to advance rapid progress.

Leading up to and at COP26, I held regular discussions with China’s Special Climate Envoy, Xie Zhenhua, and I look forward to continuing to work with China throughout the UK’s COP26 Presidency to implement and build on the pledges China has made this year.

It is integral to our democracy that everybody is able to make their voice heard and that elections are accessible for all those eligible to vote.

The Government is committed to protecting the integrity of our democracy by introducing a requirement to show identification to vote at polling stations. Stealing someone's vote is stealing their voice. Voter fraud is a crime that we cannot allow room for and we must stamp out any potential for it to take place in elections. A broad range of documents will be accepted and any eligible voter who does not have one of the required forms of photographic identification, will be able to apply for a free, local Voter Card from their local authority.

It is difficult to give an accurate assessment of the proportion of women who are employed in the STEM sector as not all roles in the sector are STEM occupations. However, we want to ensure that women and girls can make informed choices about their career, including enabling more to work in STEM.

To enable more people into STEM sectors, the Government has introduced free courses through the National Skills Fund to enable adults to upskill and retrain.

In order to improve representation, we are encouraging more girls to take STEM subjects at school, college and university by rolling out several programmes and committing substantial funding to support STEM uptake.

In addition, we are improving careers advice in schools on routes into STEM careers, as well as sector specific action such as supporting the Tomorrow’s Engineers Code, managed by EngineeringUK.

Education and especially STEM is one of the key areas that the independent Gender Equality Advisory Council is looking at as part of our G7 Presidency and continues to be a key area for Government.

It is integral to our democracy that everybody is able to make their voice heard and that elections are accessible for all those eligible to vote.

The Government in its manifesto committed to protecting the integrity of our democracy by introducing identification to vote at polling stations. Stealing someone's vote is stealing their voice. Voter fraud is a crime that we cannot allow room for and we must stamp out any potential for it to take place in elections. A broad range of documents will be accepted and any eligible voter who does not have one of the required forms of photographic identification, will be able to apply for a free, local Voter Card from their local authority.

We continue to work with local authorities, the Electoral Commission, charities and civil society organisations to make sure that reforms, including the provision of a Voter Card, are delivered in a way that is inclusive for all voters.

The Church Commissioners’ land portfolio currently has potential to deliver around 30,000 new homes across England. The aim is to deliver high quality new homes and employment opportunities to support and enhance their local surroundings. New developments provide a mixture of market and affordable homes and can include new primary and secondary schools, community facilities, local retail centres, libraries, sports facilities and new areas of public open space. Through best practice masterplanning and placemaking, the Church Commissioners seek to build new communities, and strengthen existing ones, helping to create and sustain vibrant and vital places.

The Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Community, which reported earlier this year, set out a vision for housing centred on five core values: that good housing should be sustainable, safe, stable, sociable and satisfying. The Church Commissioners support these values as a way of defining what good looks like as an important step in building thriving communities. The full report from the Archbishops’ Commission can be seen here: https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/priorities/archbishops-commission-housing-church-and-community

The Equality Act 2010 (the Act) provides protection for those aged 16 and over against direct and indirect age discrimination in employment. The Act makes it unlawful for an employer to directly discriminate against an employee or a job applicant because of their actual or perceived age or the age of someone they are associated with. Differential treatment because of age is permitted if the employer can show that this is proportionate and in pursuit of a legitimate aim. There are also a number of other limited exceptions to the general prohibition.

It is also unlawful for an employer to indirectly discriminate on age grounds, for example by use of a recruitment policy which unjustifiably disadvantages particular age groups; to harass an employee for reasons related to their age and to victimise an employee for bringing or supporting a complaint under the Act.

A person who believes that they have experienced discrimination because of age, or other unlawful treatment, may take their case to an employment tribunal. Before doing so, we advise people to seek advice and if possible try to solve their issue through conciliation.

Support for the vaccine programme has been provided at the local and regional levels by clergy engaging pastorally in their communities, and the use of cathedrals and larger churches as vaccination centres. As part of the NHS-backed #GiveHope campaign, bishops and church leaders joined together in sharing video messages encouraging communities to seek accurate information on vaccines, hold local conversations, and to encourage one another to take up offers of vaccines: https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/news-and-statements/bishops-and-church-leaders-target-covid-vaccination

The Church has also been supporting VaccinAid, to encourage those who have been vaccinated to donate to enable other people around the world to have access to vaccines: https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/news-releases/church-england-backs-vaccinaid-campaign-give-world-shot-help-defeat

Through its parish and diocesan networks, the Church of England is involved in an estimated 35,000 local community projects. A 2020 survey by the National Churches Trust found that 78% of Church of England churches were involved in supporting or operating food banks. The report can be read here: https://www.houseofgood.nationalchurchestrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/House-of-Good-AW-digital-small.pdf

The National Church Institutions are also investing in areas of low economic activity through strategic development funding. By the end of 2020, £56 million had been committed to areas of low economic activity through 77 projects. Of the 93 local authorities categorised by the Government as priority 1 for levelling-up, 48 contain projects receiving such funding. This is across 20 dioceses and focuses on younger generations and deprived communities in urban and rural contexts. Additional funding is also available to support parishes through lowest income communities funding and strategic transformation funding.

Though it is too early to assess the full impact of online worship, thousands of clergy have been provided with training to use new technology to enable them to produce virtual services. The majority of parishes have also offered some form of online worship live-streaming or bespoke recordings of worship and prayers

One specific advantage of online services has been the ability to broadcast weddings and funerals online. This has enabled family and friends to join in from across the world who may have been prevented from travelling.

The decision on whether to continue with some form of online resource alongside in-person worship will be taken at a parish level, taking into account the local community and accessibility needs.

The Church Commissioners work with their tenants to support the good stewardship of their land and are currently undertaking a natural capital assessment of its estate. The majority of our agricultural land is tenanted, and the Commissioners new farm business tenancies strongly encourage good environmental practice such as ensuring watercourses are kept clear, hedgerows are well maintained, and topsoil is preserved.

The Church Commissioners direct landholdings currently total 184,700 acres as of the end of December 2020. 92,000 acres were in our Rural Portfolio, including land allocated for strategic development and 92,700 acres in our Timberland Portfolio. 120,500 acres (65%) of the Commissioners total land holding are in the UK, with the rest held across the globe. More detail can be found in the latest annual report, which is available here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/Church%20Commissioners%20Annual%20Report%202020.pdf

Throughout the pandemic, the Church of England has operated an online book of remembrance to help families commemorate loved ones lost during this period. In addition, the Church has continued to operate its grief counselling services at a parish level to support those in the community in need. Across the country, parishes have also broadcast funerals virtually, allowing family and friends of the deceased across the globe to participate in the ceremony.

Discussions have now started at St Paul's Cathedral about a permanent memorial. Conversations are at the early stages of exploring a new memorial within the cathedral to create a space to remember all those we have lost to this virus. Other local memorials or commemorations are also being considered where appropriate.

In the last five years, ending with 2020, the average length of the term granted for new farm business tenancies over 50 acres across the Commissioners’ rural portfolio was:

Such averages do not reflect the size of the holdings which were let during this period or the circumstances and rationale for each new farm letting.

Compensation payments made by the Commissioners to their tenants are of a commercially sensitive nature.
The Church Commissioners discuss land and environmental improvement works with their agricultural tenants on an ongoing basis with a view to supporting enhancements to holdings. End of tenancy payments are made as appropriate to the scale and value of such improvement made.

The Church Commissioners’ and their managing agents review the term of each new farm letting and all tenancy renewals on a case by case basis. In the period 2016 to 2020, the number of holdings let by the Church Commissioners on a Farm Business Tenancy (on an area of more than 50 acres) for a term under five years is 64, with a further 30 new tenancies offered for a term of 5 years or more. Each holding is assessed at the time of letting, and other factors considered when determining term length.

The Church Commissioners’ rural portfolio is managed, day to day, by specialist rural agents who regularly engage with farm tenants, including farm visits, inspections and other forms of correspondence. During these discussions, the agents consider the tenants’ farm businesses and, where relevant, the environmental practices on each holding. Our tenants are encouraged to approach our agents at their own discretion to discuss new ideas and strategies which they may seek to implement on the Commissioners’ farms.

The Church Commissioners’ asset managers and managing agents frequently meet (in person when allowed and virtually), at which point any strategic changes to farm businesses and environmental practices are discussed and considered with a view to wider strategic decision making and the objectives of the Commissioners. In addition, the Commissioners’ asset management team typically carries out annual visits to estates and meets with tenants creating the opportunity to discuss any landlord and tenant matters directly.

The Church Commissioners’ rural portfolio is managed day to day by specialist rural agents. The agents hold regular meetings with the Commissioners’ farm tenants. The managing agents are aware of the Commissioners’ ethical investment policies and, as and when appropriate, they engage with the Commissioners’ tenants and asset managers regarding any ethical or other concerns.

The Church Commissioners and their agents always consider the potential length of a farm business tenancy (FBT) on a case-by-case basis, with potential long-term tenancies offered when suitable.

To encourage farm business resilience, the Commissioners pay compensation for improvements where appropriate and encourage good husbandry of the land. Within FBT clauses, obligations on tenants to keep farm books and records and at all times to maintain and establish the maximum entitlements with respect to the holding further provide for sustainable businesses.

To encourage improved environmental management, we prevent the removal of topsoil and stipulate that watercourses must be kept clear from obstruction. In addition, for longer-term tenancies, soil analysis and testing is carried out at the beginning and end of the tenancy to ensure soil health is maintained to a satisfactory standard. We welcome approaches from tenants to discuss environmental schemes and, at such time, consider these proposals within the context of the wider holding.

The General Synod of the Church of England, at its meeting in February 2020, committed the Church of England to reach carbon net zero' by 2030. This year the Church of England's National Institutions have reviewed their Energy Footprint Tool, which enables parishes and cathedrals to monitor their carbon usage. The tool was launched in 2020, and it has been used by over 5,000 churches so far. More information can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/news-and-statements/one-year-church-moves-forward-carbon-reduction-target

The Church of England Pensions Board is a member of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC). This week the investor group has launched the 'Net Zero Investment Framework' following a period of industry-wide consultation. The framework will enable investors to maximise their contribution to the decarbonisation of the global economy and tackle climate change. More information can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/church-england-pensions-board-commits-global-net-zero-investment-framework

The Church Commissioners are committed to reaching a net-zero portfolio in 2050, and the Church of England's National Investing Bodies joined the UN Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance in 2020. More detail about the alliance can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/news-and-statements/church-england-national-investing-bodies-join-un-convened-net

The Church Commissioners have instituted further climate-related investment restrictions to capture companies with significant greenhouse gas emissions but are not taking their responsibilities seriously to assist with the transition to a net-zero emissions economy. The Commissioners are also setting our first interim emissions reduction target as members of the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, working with our public equities managers to achieve it.

The majority of the Church Commissioners rural estate is tenanted via secure long term agreements. Agreements that were drawn up after 1995 often include a combination of clauses which encourage regenerative agriculture and good stewardship of our landholdings, prohibit the removal of topsoil and the spraying and removal of hedgerows, require watercourses to be kept clear and ensure hedges are maintained.

The Church Commissioners are currently undertaking a natural capital assessment of our assets, and through this, the Commissioners hope to identify land across our estates that might be suitable for tree planting.

Church of England schools remained open during the pandemic for key worker children and also, where possible, for those who are unable to study at home. All teachers and staff in Church schools who are providing teaching and care at this difficult time deserve our deep gratitude.

Church schools moved rapidly to provide online lessons and resources, looking after children of key workers and overseeing the distribution of free school meal vouchers and technology to make online education possible. The Church is also delighted to have partnered with the Oak National Academy to provide assemblies and weekly collective worship for parents who are home-schooling.

Many parishes and cathedrals, such as Wakefield Cathedral, donated laptops and equipment to vulnerable children, which enabled these young people to continue to engage in education from home during the pandemic.

The Church Commissioners have welcomed the report of the Archbishops' Housing Commission. The report 'Coming Home', about housing provision in the UK, calls for a national plan to tackle the housing crisis, it can be read here: https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/priorities/coming-home

The Church Commissioners are producing a framework for the integration of material environmental, social and governance in the management of their Strategic Land, a summary of which can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/Strategic%20Land%20ESG%20Integration%20%28ID%20217419%29.pdf

More information about some of the recent property developments on land owned by the Church Commissioners can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/Strategic%20Land%20Case%20Studies%20%28ID%20217418%29.pdf

The Church of England has regular meetings with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office about countries where people are persecuted for their faith or belief so that Her Majesty’s Government can raise these vital issues with the Governments of the countries concerned.

The Church also engages with our heads of mission, civil society groups, and where possible, with the foreign Governments in question.

The Church of England has seen a significant increase in public engagement with its online resources over the pandemic.
The National Church Institutions have produced a weekly online Sunday Service in video form since Mothering Sunday 2020, as well as the Daily Hope telephone line, podcasts and apps. The Sunday services have had more than 3.7 million views on Facebook and YouTube. A further 20,000 local online services and events have been listed on www.AChurchNearYou.com over the last year.

2020 saw an increase of almost 50% in downloads of Church of England apps for prayer and worship, with the apps used around 8 million times during this period. The National Institutions have continued to create resources for the major festivals, accessible on its website and social media. The current campaign #LiveLent is designed to take people on a journey of preparation ahead of Easter Day. This follows on from the #ComfortAndJoy resources, which reached millions during Advent and Christmas.

Most cathedrals and a majority of parishes offer a variety of online services and events: weekly services, morning and evening prayer, children and youth projects and social activities. These have helped grow worshipping communities nationally and internationally. Recent evidence has also shown that attendance at traditional Book of Common Prayer services has grown dramatically. More available here: https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/stories-and-features/book-common-prayer-services-see-huge-numbers-tuning-seeking Digital services have also improved accessibility for those with disabilities.

Digital services are likely to continue for the time being and these will be different in each parish as clergy respond to local needs and circumstances. Training has been provided throughout the pandemic to thousands of clergy and laypeople to improve skills and familiarise themselves with the variety of platforms available.

The National Church Institutions are currently assessing the carbon footprint of all church buildings through an Energy Footprint Tool. This enables parishes to input data from energy bills to create an energy rating. The tool suggests a plan for reducing the footprint of each building

You can read more about the project here: https://www.churchofengland.org/about/policy-and-thinking/our-views/environment-and-climate-change/about-our-environment/energy-footprint-tool

Over 5,000 church buildings have currently received feedback from the Energy Footprint Tool, and we hope many more will engage in the project this year when the scheme reopens. More information about the project one year on can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/news-and-statements/one-year-church-moves-forward-carbon-reduction-target

Across the Church Commissioners Agricultural property portfolio, the Commissioners are encouraging our tenants to farm sustainably and join environmental stewardship schemes to plant trees and hedgerows wherever possible. In addition, we are undertaking a natural capital assessment, which will provide a baseline and trajectory of progress towards achieving lower carbon outputs.

The Church Commissioners have committed to reaching a net-zero portfolio in 2050 and the Church of England's National Investing Bodies joined the UN Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance in 2020. More detail about the alliance can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/news-and-statements/church-england-national-investing-bodies-join-un-convened-net

The Church Commissioners have instituted further climate-related investment restrictions to capture companies that have significant greenhouse gas emissions but are not taking seriously their responsibilities to assist with the transition to a net-zero emissions economy. We are also setting our first interim emissions reduction target as members of the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, working with our public equities managers to achieve it.

The Church Commissioners are committed to the decarbonisation of the real economy, through engagement with policymakers and companies. The vision is for a net-zero carbon emissions global economy by 2050.

NHS chaplains have given their all in response to the unprecedented need for pastoral and spiritual support during the pandemic, with patients, in liaison with families unable to visit their loved ones, and with NHS staff under stress. Chaplains are an essential component in the care for the whole person that is central to the NHS’s vocation.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has also been supporting patients at St Thomas’s Hospital, London as part of the chaplaincy team there and is regularly making time to speak to patients and support families and staff.

The Church of England is responsible for around 16,000 church buildings in England, including 42 cathedrals, around three-quarters of which are listed (and more than half Grade I or Grade II*). The Church Buildings Division of the Archbishops' Council is in regular contact with the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and is in ongoing conversations with Government about how to ensure the sustainability of these important national assets in the long term.

The staff of the Church Buildings Division also have regular meetings with government officials and Historic England, looking at the most effective way to support churches. This has necessarily changed through the COVID19 crisis and current work is drawing on the government-funded Taylor pilot projects in order to establish the best form of partnership to support recovery.

Church of England schools remain open for key worker children and also where possible for those who are unable to study at home. All teachers and staff in Church schools who are providing teaching and care at this difficult time deserve our deep gratitude. Church schools moved rapidly to provide online lessons and resources, looking after children of key workers and overseeing the distribution of free school meal vouchers and technology to make online education possible. The Church is also delighted to have partnered with the Oak National Academy to provide assemblies and weekly collective worship for parents who are home-schooling.

We owe a great debt of gratitude to the many clergy and volunteers across the country who throughout the pandemic have kept running the approximately 36,000 community projects run or supported by local parish networks. These projects provide a range of services to the community, including food banks, debt advice services and other crisis facilities to ensure that those in greatest need still have access to support. Clergy have also supported vulnerable families, the bereaved and homeless throughout this time to find the help they need.

The three lockdown periods of the last 12 months have seen considerable innovations by clergy and youth workers across the Church.

The Education Office of Church House Westminster has partnered with the Government's online Oak Academy to provide educational resources and materials for parents to use in home-schooling. Clergy have also been developing new resources, including virtual prayer services, school assemblies, study groups, fellowship meetings and craft workshops. That is in addition to online church services, bereavement counselling, marriage preparation and marriage support services.

The Church speaks up on behalf of all those who are unable to exercise their right to freedom of religion or belief.

The Church of England is part of an international consortium that has just received £5.6 million from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to equip parliamentarians and religious leaders in eight countries in Africa and Asia to meet these challenges. As part of the new project, the Church of England and other consortium members will be helping parliamentarians and religious leaders with technical assistance and other expertise they need to propose solutions to such terrible human rights abuses in their own countries

The Church of England is continuing to engage with the International Panel for Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion and Belief. More information about that work is available here: https://www.ippforb.com/

Since the first lockdown, the Church Commissioners’ Cathedrals Sustainability Fund has enabled many cathedrals to improve their digital output, including live streaming of services.

There were nearly 36 million viewings of the Church’s Christmas “Comfort and Joy” series. For those who prefer the telephone, the Daily Hope worship line has received 350,000 free calls.

The National Church Institutions have now offered digital training to over 7,000 people, equipping them with practical skills in streaming services on a variety of different platforms. The national Sunday Service has been watched on 2.5 million individual devices, and many parishes and cathedrals are now live streaming regular daily services to their local communities.

The most recent assessment of the effectiveness of the Church of England’s Communications strategy during the covid-19 outbreak was prepared for the General Synod in June 2020. The full document can be read here:

https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/GS%20Misc%201249%20Covid-19%20Response.pdf

At parish, diocesan and national level, the Church of England has been producing resources and delivering support to meet the spiritual and practical needs of those in its parishes throughout the covid-19 outbreak. This has included live and pre-recorded services, both local and national, pastoral support, children and youth work, bereavement care, support for foodbanks and other local charitable activities too numerous to list here, often assisted with resources provided centrally or at a diocesan level. The Daily Hope phoneline has also offered hope and prayerful support to those who are without access to online resources. Church schools have also been involved in supporting pupils and families with home learning during lockdown, as well as continuing to host children of key workers and vulnerable children on site. There is a dedicated coronavirus section of the Church of England website which provides further information: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churches , and examples of the work that churches have undertaken during the outbreak can also be seen here: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/stories-and-features

During the period of lockdown Church of England schools remained open to the children of key workers and to vulnerable children, with teachers working extremely hard to provide support for children at school and those who remained at home.

Church of England schools continue to follow national guidelines on opening and teaching during the current stage of the pandemic.

Parishes have supported local schools and teachers during this difficult time, with examples including donations of equipment for pupils, and parish rooms and halls being made available for use as extra classrooms in cases where social distancing has required it.

The Church of England is in regular communication with the Government and the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion and Belief on the issue of persecution of Christians worldwide.

The Covid-19 pandemic is exacerbating the challenges facing Christians who have experienced persecution in some parts of the world as well as Christians and other faith groups in contexts of civil war. The leaders of the Anglican Communion are in close contact with each other to support in practical and prayerful ways.

A central part of the Church's mission is to provide grief counselling and prayer in times of need, as well as assistance to those under pressure through provision of food and other help to the vulnerable and shielding. Healthcare chaplains continue to work alongside community and acute mental health services.

Parishes have been supporting vulnerable individuals to remain in contact with family, friends and their community, digitally and where possible by direct face to face contact. The reopening of church buildings for prayer, worship, weddings, baptisms and funerals has also provided mental and spiritual succour to clergy, laity and community.

The Church remains particularly concerned for children and young people who are young carers or living in homes where domestic abuse and violence is present. The Church continues to remain open as a first point of contact for vulnerable people and to support local charities and refuges.

I have received correspondence from some of the congregation of St Margaret's and have met with the Dean and Rector along with Mr Speaker to better understand the reasons for the changes that the Abbey wish to initiate at St Margaret's.

The engagement of the Church of England National Investing Bodies ('NIBs'), including the Church Commissioners, is guided by the commitments made by the National Investing bodies in a July 2018 General Synod debate on climate change and investment.

The NIBs reaffirmed their commitment to engage urgently and robustly with companies rated poorly by the Transition Pathway Initiative and, beginning in 2020, to start to disinvest from the ones that are not taking their responsibilities seriously to assist with the transition to a low carbon economy. More information about the Transition Pathway can be found here: https://www.transitionpathwayinitiative.org/tpi/overview

The NIBs have committed to disinvestment by 2023 from fossil fuel companies that they have assessed as not being prepared to align with the goal of the Paris Agreement to restrict the global average temperature rise to well below 2ºC. This assessment will be made drawing on TPI data.

In 2020 the National Investing Bodies joined the UN net-zero asset owner alliance. More information about their engagement can be found at the link: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news/church-england-national-investing-bodies-join-un-convened-net-zero-asset

Worship, weddings, christenings and funerals in COVID-secure church buildings where appropriate social distancing can be achieved, remain permitted and are unaffected by the most recent Government announcement. The Church of England's most up to date guidance on COVID can be seen here: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churches

In July 2020 the Church of England announced a Funding package worth £24 million to increase its presence in urban and deprived areas. More information can be found at: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news/church-england-awards-ps24-million-grants-spread-christian-faith-towns-and

550 people began training for ordained ministry in the Church of England last year and 570 deacons were ordained in 2019 to a curacy parish.

The number of stipendiaries, or paid clergy, remained stable at 7,700, between 2018 and 2019, following a period of decline. There were 7,830 Readers or licensed lay ministers compared to just under 10,000 in 2010. Readers and licensed lay ministers are not ordained but can lead worship and preach in churches, among other roles.

Couples who live within a parish or have a qualifying connection to it are able to marry in their parish church according to the rites of the Church of England. Marriage in a church remains a relatively inexpensive option, but an incumbent has the authority to waive some of the fees to help couples who may have particualr financial difficulties or who are on low incomes.

Many parishes attend wedding fayres and work with local businesses, such as florists and events planners, to increase awareness of the options available to couples to be married in their local church.

In response to the Law Commission's announcement of a consultation on reform of wedding law, a Church of England spokesperson said: "Our research shows that being married in a place that has meaning is still important to couples and their families. The moments of waiting to walk down the aisle, standing at the steps, exchanging timeless vows that can only be said in a church, and turning to walk out of the church as a newly married couple, are cherished."

Thefts of metal and monumental stone from churches initially fell folliowing the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, but have begun to rise again. The Church of England submitted evidence to the Government's review of the Act and recommended legislation be updated to reflect new forms of thefts, the organised nature of the crime and smelting techniques. We await progress on that and in the meantime are working closely with the APPG for Metal Theft, Historic England and the Police, to support parishes that are impacted by this form of serious organised crime.

The deaths of the Dean and members of the congregation of St Luke's Cathedral South Sudan are both tragic and appalling.

In response to the recent attack the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa has called on "all peace-loving institutions to raise their voice and call for peace negotiations in South Sudan and dialogue to address the inter-communal violence."

The Church of England and the Vatican have been working together closely on initiatives to bring peace to South Sudan. The Church of England will continue to support reconciliation efforts and work with its international partners to end the protracted tribal conflict.

Anglican institutions in Beirut were affected by the explosion. All Saints Episcopal Church and the Near Eastern School of Theology were severely damaged, being only a mile from the port. St Luke's school for disabled children thankfully escaped the blast, and the children were away because of the COVID-19 virus.

The Diocese of Jerusalem oversees the Anglican community in Lebanon, and the Church of England is supporting Archbishop Suheil Dawani's appeal to the Anglican Communion for support to repair damaged buildings and affected lives.

The Government is committed to supporting disabled people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

We continue to monitor and understand the impact of the pandemic on people who are disabled or have a health condition by using both existing and new data sources.

The National Church Institutions of the Church of England are not receiving support from central government or local authorities to help reduce their carbon footprint. While there may be instances of local parishes being given one-off small grants, records of these are not held centrally.

The Church of England's General Synod met in February 2020 to discuss reducing the carbon footprint of the Church. The Synod voted to call upon all parts of the Church of England to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. More information about the vote at the Synod can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news/general-synod-sets-2030-net-zero-carbon-target

The Mission and Public Affairs Division of the Archbishop’s Council is in regular contact with the Freedom of Religion or Belief Team at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and has engaged on this issue with relevant embassy staff when travelling overseas. They have also had a series of meetings with the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Freedom of Religion or Belief since his appointment. Senior Church leaders have also had meetings with the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy in recent weeks.

The Church of England’s Mission and Public Affairs Division has partnered with the Universities of Durham and York to address gaps in understanding between science and religion. Equipping Christian Leaders in an Age of Science has been running for four years and has just been awarded £3.4m by the Templeton Religion Trust for its next phases. The team has organised 11 conferences enabling bishops and senior church leaders to engage with the latest developments in topics ranging from neuroscience to cosmology.

The Church of England is also a partner in the Centre for Doctoral Training in AI Ethics at the University of Bath, along with numerous other industry partners, gaining understanding which will be shared within the Church. The Bishop of Oxford is a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on AI and is a board member of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation. The Church also made a submission to the recently-published consultation by the Committee for Standards in Public Life on the impact of AI on public life.

All this work on new technologies will feed into the Equipping Christian Leaders in an Age of Science project and the wider engagement of the Church on public affairs. In March 2020 three new pieces of research will begin. These are designed to deepen understanding of science and to resource and expand the reach of Church engagement. This research will take place at Durham University, York University and within the Mission and Public Affairs Division of the Archbishops' Council.

At parish level clergy and parishioners often work with couples to prepare them ahead of their wedding for life together, support them afterwards, and through voluntary activities offer groups and facilities for families and children, which help sustain community.

Marriage preparation work will often include church-led marriage enrichment workshops and other courses and support for couples at every stage of their marriage. Through the Life Events programme the Church is working with clergy and other church leaders to enhance the depth of engagement with couples through wedding planning.

The Church, including through the Bishops in the House of Lords, continues to highlight and address the social and economic issues that place strain on married relationships, including the Bishop of St Albans’s work on the impact of gambling and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Housing, Church and Community. The Church of England also made a submission to the Government’s consultation on no-fault divorce and the Lords Spiritual have engaged with the legislation in Parliament.

The Government is committed to protecting people with disabilities in the workplace. The Equality Act 2010 places obligations on employers in relation to disabled employees, including a duty to provide reasonable adjustments. However, the legislation recognises the need to strike a balance between the needs of disabled people and the interests of service providers. What is ‘reasonable’ will vary from one situation to another. This is because factors like the practicability of making the adjustment, the cost of the adjustment and the resources available to a business, will vary from one situation to another.

The government runs Access to Work, a demand-led discretionary grant scheme that offers up to £59,200 funding per year for in-work support for people whose disability or health condition affects the way they do their job. The scheme is designed to offer support above the level of employers’ statutory obligations under the Equality Act 2010, as well as providing advice to employers on in work support available for their employees which could include reasonable adjustments.

(a) The Church of England is working closely to support Christan development and aid agencies to meet the humanitarian need of those who are displaced from the conflict in Syria.

The Church is continuing to encourage the Department for International Development and the wider international community to bolster the capacity of local civil society groups operating in the region. These groups, many of them faith-based, will be on the frontline of the humanitarian response in the months and years to come.

(b) The Church of England welcomes the decision by the Government to accept and implement the recommendations of the Truro Report to strengthen Foreign and Commonwealth Office support for persecuted Christians. Church of England officials are providing advice and support to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as it takes forward the implementation of these recommendations. The Church welcomes the Prime Minister’s commitment made in his Christmas message to stand in solidarity with Christians everywhere and to defend their right to practice their faith.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

The COVID-19 Impact Fund has provided nearly £6m in grants to over 100 Armed Forces charities across the United Kingdom, including a number who are based, or operate, in Northern Ireland to support them through the immediate effects of the pandemic. These charities have ranged from smaller local charities to larger, household names. Many charities have also utilised the Government’s employment and other financial support schemes to help sustain them through the pandemic. In addition the Government has continued to provide £10m to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, some of which has also been made available to help charities respond to the direct impacts of COVID-19. Ministers have continued to hold discussions with the Armed Forces charity sector throughout this period and continue to monitor the financial impact on the sector closely.

The UK Government’s work on loneliness is coordinated by DCMS and led by Baroness Barron. Lord Gardiner, as Rural Affairs Minister, works closely with her to make sure the needs of those living in isolated rural communities are properly considered and taken into account.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

The Church of England is committed to reducing its own carbon footprint and is developing several strategies to deliver this, including across its 44,000 properties and schools.

The General Synod at its meeting in February 2020 committed the Church to report back in three years time on whether it could meet the ambitious target set by the Synod of decarbonising the Church by 2030.

One of the first steps has already started and many listed buildings have started exploring installing new renewable technology to improve their energy use. A good example is Gloucester Cathedral, a grade 1 listed building, which has managed to install solar panels on its roof.

The Church is working with A Rocha to recognise achievement by church buildings and dioceses with Eco-Church awards at either bronze, silver or gold standard.

A new initiative the Church has developed is an energy rating tool for church buildings, which calculates the energy consumption of the parish church. It takes into account factors including the type of power the parish uses, whether they are on 'green' tariffs, the size of the building and usage.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire on 31 March 2022 to Question 146649.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon on 25 March 2022 to Question 142442.

The Government continues to implement and deliver the R&D Roadmap and subsequent People and Culture and Innovation Strategies, including through establishment of a Business Innovation Forum to galvanise action from the business community.

Publication of the Levelling Up White Paper has set out how the Government will maximise the contribution of innovation to levelling up by building on existing and emerging strengths across the country.

Progress continues on the Independently led Reviews of Research Bureaucracy and the Research, Development and Innovation Organisational Landscape.

Following publication of the British Energy Security Strategy, the Government has increased its plans for the deployment of civil nuclear power to up to 24GW by 2050, around 25% of projected 2050 electricity demand.

The Government intends to take one project to Final Investment Decision (FID) this Parliament and future projects to FID in the next Parliament, including Small Modular Reactors. As with any Government decision, this will be subject to value for money, relevant approvals and technology readiness/maturity.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central to Question UIN 156445.

The Government recognises the potential role of geothermal energy in contributing to the UK’s 2030 COP26 commitments, particularly in the decarbonisation of heat. The potential for geothermal power plants is more limited in the UK than in countries with higher temperature resource.

The recently published Heat and Buildings Strategy acknowledges the potential of geothermal energy and sets out the Government’s commitment to continue to monitor developments in geothermal heat in the UK and assess whether the technology provides a cost-effective option for the future.

HyNet North West and the East Coast Cluster have been named as ‘Track-1’ CCUS clusters, set to come online in the mid-2020s and pioneer carbon capture technologies in the UK. These clusters will form the foundation for the Government’s ambition to capture 20-30 megatons of CO2 annually by 2030, equivalent to the annual emissions of Denmark, making a substantial contribution to carbon budgets and meeting net zero by 2050.

In the Heat and Buildings Strategy, the Government noted that improving the energy performance of buildings and installing low carbon heating can deliver benefits in both areas, especially for those living in fuel poverty. For health, it was stated this can include avoiding physical illnesses, such as heart and lung conditions and help those experiencing cold-related sickness. For wellbeing, making energy efficiency improvements can improve mental wellbeing, as it reduces energy costs, as well as increasing productivity by making homes warmer and more comfortable.

The Government did not have specific conversations regarding how health and wellbeing is applied within the context of the Heat and Buildings Strategy. The Government is committed to engaging with a range of stakeholders and the wider public to deliver on the Strategy’s ambitions, including health bodies, where appropriate.

Electrification of heat is the only option proven to decarbonise off grid homes at scale. BEIS analysis suggests that it would be feasible to install low temperature heat pumps in around 80% of fossil fuel heated off gas grid homes.

The Government has consulted on proposals to end the installation of fossil fuel heating in homes off the gas grid from 2026, with a ‘heat pump first’ approach to replacement heating systems. Under these proposals, homes that cannot reasonably practicably install a heat pump will have a choice of heating technologies that are consistent with net zero. The Government is considering the responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.

The Government has consulted on proposals to end the installation of fossil fuel heating in homes off the gas grid from 2026 in England, with a ‘heat pump first’ approach to replacement heating systems. We are currently reviewing responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.

It would be for the Northern Ireland Executive to consider any similar steps for homes off the gas grid in Northern Ireland.

This Government has set out multiple measures to support the private sector to deliver new nuclear energy projects. The Government wants UK companies to be ambitious in the new nuclear space and be better able to compete for the higher value opportunities that will help build sustainable capabilities in the UK. To support this the Government wants new nuclear developers to share supply chain information with industry early to ensure that UK companies are positioned and prepared to bid for these opportunities.

For future New Nuclear projects (i.e. projects after Hinkley Point C), developers will be required to produce Supply Chain Plans. Developers will need to show evidence that their projects will consider growth in the UK supply chain through the development of competition, the facilitation of new entrants and by boosting innovation and skills.

In addition, the Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill is currently in Parliament. This will introduce a Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model to reduce the project costs and encourage a wider range of private investment into new nuclear projects.

The Government is in constructive negotiations over Sizewell C in Suffolk and recently entered into a Combined Option agreement of £100m with EDF, to mature the project further and attract potential investment. The Government has also made up to £1.7billion of funding available to reach a final investment decision on a new large-scale nuclear power plant this Parliament, subject to value for money and relevant approvals; these funds could also involve Government investment at the point of a capital raise, helping to mobilise other private sector capital into a project.

The Government announced a £385 million Advanced Nuclear Fund. From this, £210 million has been awarded to Rolls-Royce SMR to develop their Small Modular Reactor design, matched by private sector funding of over £250 million. The Government announced a £120 million Nuclear Enabling Fund to provide targeted support to address barriers to entry for future nuclear.

A £75 million Nuclear Fuel Fund will also be created to be used alongside private sector co-investment to preserve and develop the UK’s fuel production capability.

The Net Zero Strategy makes clear that nuclear is an important part of the Government’s plans to achieve net zero. Up to £210 million in Government grant funding was announced in November 2021 for Rolls-Royce SMR to further develop the design for one of the world’s first Small Modular Reactor designs, potentially capable of deployment in the UK in the early 2030s. In the Net Zero Strategy, the Government also announced up to £120 million for a Future Nuclear Enabling Fund to provide targeted support to address barriers to entry. This fund will be part of the measures the Government will take to inform investment decisions during the next Parliament on further nuclear projects, alongside a final investment decision from this Parliament on a further Gigawatt-scale project.

This Government is committed to nuclear power as part of the country’s future diverse energy mix. Hinkley Point C is under construction and, when operational, will supply 3.2GW of secure, low carbon electricity for around 60 years, providing enough power for around 6 million homes. The Government is committed to approving at least one new large-scale nuclear project this Parliament, subject to value for money and all relevant approvals. The Government announced up to £1.7 billion of funding in the last Spending Review to support this objective and have been in constructive negotiations on the Sizewell C project since January 2021. On 27th January, the Government entered into a Combined Option agreement with EDF, providing £100 million of funding to further mature the project, attract investors, and advance to the next phase in the negotiations.

The Government has also announced a £385 million Advanced Nuclear Fund. From this, £210 million has been committed in grant funding to Rolls-Royce SMR to develop their small modular reactor design and their continued advanced modular reactor development. The Government also announced a new £120 million Nuclear Enabling Fund to provide targeted support to address barriers to entry for future nuclear. Further details on the fund will be announced in due course.

Later this year, the Government will publish a nuclear roadmap setting out the Government’s strategy in more detail. The Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill is currently in Parliament. This will introduce a Regulated Asset Base model for nuclear projects and reduce the obstacles to financing new nuclear projects.

The Net Zero Strategy sets out the Government’s plan for decarbonizing the power sector consistent with its net zero commitments, while ensuring a secure, resilient and affordable supply of electricity. This includes ambitious plans to support the deployment of low carbon and renewable technologies such as offshore wind, nuclear and power CCUS.

Energy policy is primarily a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and decisions surrounding the design of, or amendment to, policies that are likely to have an impact on its electricity markets are therefore led by the Northern Ireland Executive.

Further details are set out in the Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-strategy.

Energy security is an absolute priority for the Government. Great Britain benefits from highly diverse and flexible sources of gas supply and a diverse electricity mix, which ensures that households, businesses and industry get the energy they need. In Northern Ireland, electricity is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive, and Northern Ireland’s electricity network is part of the island of Ireland’s Single Electricity Market.

The Capacity Market is the Government's main security of electricity supply mechanism. Through a competitive auction process, it has already secured the majority of Great Britain's electricity capacity needs out to 2025/26.

The Government continues to work closely with key international and industry partners to monitor gas supply and demand, and remains confident that Great Britain’s energy security will be maintained.

The Government has been monitoring the situation and engaging closely with industry and consumer groups since the start of the crisis, to understand the impacts and assess options to help households through this challenging period.

Despite the biggest ever renewable auction in November, support via the Contracts for Difference scheme is now expected to only add 22p per annum on the average bill, showing the increasing competitiveness of UK offshore wind. Since the Government has invested in renewables and energy efficiency, UK demand for natural gas has fallen by 26% since 2010. This has helped reduce the country’s exposure to global price volatility.

In June 2021, the Government and EDF agreed revised arrangements to deliver efficient decommissioning of EDF’s fleet of seven Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor stations once they stop generating power. Under the revised arrangements, each station will transfer to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which will manage the long-term decommissioning programme, once EDF has undertaken the defueling stage of decommissioning. EDF will be incentivised towards achieving good defueling performance and to support the transfer of the stations. The new arrangements provide significant potential cost savings for the taxpayer, with the potential to achieve upward of £1billion of savings without compromising on safety and security.

Fuel poverty is a devolved matter; in England, 18.2% of homes off the gas grid are in fuel poverty, compared to 12.7% on the gas grid (as of 2019). The next fuel poverty statistics are due to be published later this month. The report will include data for 2020 on the number of households living in fuel poverty in England and analysis of the composition of fuel poor households, as well as projections of the number of households in fuel poverty in 2021 and 2022.

Research consortia foster research collaboration between diverse partners within countries and across international boundaries. Evidence shows that collaboration leads to better performance.

Collaboration and excellence reinforce each other:

• Within a single organisation or university, collaboration achieves 27% higher scholarly impact than no collaboration, however across organisations or in consortia within a country, collaborations achieve 45% higher impact, and international collaborations double the impact of scholarly output (99% higher), compared to no collaboration.
• The UK has received 21 of the 55 Nobel Prizes awarded between 2010 and 2020 and all of these (except for one in Literature) were shared with scientists from other nations

International R&D consortia lead to better economic outcomes:

• R&D investments have been found to generate twice as large returns internationally (250%) as they have domestically (121%) (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/roie.12404)
• A 1% increase in foreign R&D investment raises total factor productivity by twice as much as domestic R&D investment (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014292109000348)

Existing international funding vehicles such as the Newton and Global Challenges Research Fund build international consortia (bilateral consortia with Newton and multilateral through the Global Challenges Research Fund) to progress research on shared challenges.

The Government, NHS and Life Science Sector have already taken significant steps in delivering the Life Science Vision. Activity since publication includes the establishment and delivery of the Life Science Scale Up Taskforce, the launch of the £200m Life Sciences Investment Programme, work to improve the NHS’s capacity and capability to utilise new technologies, and innovation work by the Vaccine Taskforce and Antivirals Taskforce to secure access to cutting-edge new technologies to address COVID-19.

Following the conclusion of the 2021 Spending Review on 27th October, the government has confirmed specific funds will be provided upfront to directly support the delivery of the Life Sciences Vision. This includes £95m funding to support the uptake of innovative drugs and technologies and address a number of the Healthcare Missions outlined in the Vision, funding to drive new initiatives through Genomics England to deliver life-changing technologies, and £354m to strengthen the UK’s Life Sciences manufacturing base. This builds on significant programmes of investment in Health Research across DHSC and BEIS, and the largest ever increases in the NHS’s operating budget.

The Office for Life Sciences are working with partner organisations to develop the implementation plan, which will deliver on the commitments as set out in the Life Sciences Vision including supporting the development and commercialisation of immuno-oncology and cancer vaccines in the UK. Further details on the implementation plan will be set out in due course.

Published in July 2020, the R&D Roadmap set out the Government’s vision and ambition for the next chapter for UK research and development.

BEIS is focusing on implementation and delivery of the Roadmap and of subsequent strategies, such as the Innovation and People and Culture Strategies. The objectives of the Roadmap are also being driven through the independently led Reviews of Research Bureaucracy and the Research, Development and Innovation Organisational Landscape. We have also announced the appointment of Dr Peter Highman as the first Chief Executive of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA).

International collaboration has been a vital part of the response to Covid-19 and the UK has played a leading role globally. BEIS, alongside other Government Departments, funded the creation of the Covid Circle platform that enables researchers to access and understand international funding opportunities specifically related to Covid-19.

More broadly the Integrated Review, R&D Roadmap, and Innovation Strategy all highlight how international collaboration can support a dynamic and innovative UK and support strategic priorities.

This is why we are working with colleagues across HMG to develop an International Science & Technology Partnerships Framework to share cross-government interests in international R&D and the landscape of global opportunities and challenges.

The International Energy Agency estimates that coal use remains modestly above 2010 levels, with continued very low growth to 2024. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from global coal use remains a key Government priority. For example, the UK’s COP26 Energy Transition Campaign helped secure a 190-strong coalition of countries and organisations at COP26, including coal power phase out commitments from Poland, Vietnam, Egypt, Chile and Morocco, building on the Government’s co-leadership of the Powering Past Coal Alliance. The Government has committed to phasing out unabated coal generation in Great Britain by October 2024. Coal power generation in this country has declined from almost 40% of our electricity supply in 2012 to less than 2% in 2020.

Solar photovoltaic technology is a key part of the Government’s strategy for decarbonising energy and increasing energy performance of buildings. Generating electricity from rooftop domestic solar can reduce carbon emissions, protect against electricity price fluctuations, and save money on energy bills. Consuming the electricity generated locally also reduces the amount of electricity lost in electricity transmission and distribution networks.

The Government has regular meetings with stakeholders from the North Sea oil and gas industry on a wide range of topics, including the industry supporting the transition to net zero.

The North Sea Transition Deal agreed with the industry in March 2021 will help unlock the UK’s net zero ambition, delivering part of a fair and equitable energy transition by allowing the UK Continental Shelf to transition to a net zero basin as well as supporting the decarbonisation of industries across the UK. This Deal is about harnessing the existing skills of the offshore oil and gas sector’s supply chain to help deliver new low carbon technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture, usage and storage, helping the UK to meet its net zero targets.

Schemes such as Contracts for Difference are vital to developing domestic sources of renewable electricity in Great Britain, which will reduce exposure to potentially volatile global fossil fuel markets and protect consumers in the long term. The competitive nature of the Contracts for Difference scheme has been hugely successful in driving the deployment of renewable energy while rapidly reducing costs. This year’s Contracts for Difference round is the largest yet, with a total budget of £285 million a year allocated to the round; offshore wind will be supported by £200 million funding a year, with £24 million initially allocated for floating offshore wind and £20 million on tidal stream projects.

In order to support all businesses across the UK economy throughout the Covid-19 pandemic we have provided businesses with an unprecedented support package of £400 billion, including grants, loans, business rates relief, VAT cuts and the job retention scheme. This includes a total of over £26 billion in business grants.

My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 21 December that additional support will be available for businesses in recognition of the impact that that the spread of Omicron variant had on hospitality over the Christmas period. The Government is providing one-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises for businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England plus more than £100 million discretionary funding will be made available for local authorities to support other businesses. Around 200,000 businesses will be eligible for business grants which will be administered by Local Authorities. The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) fund is open until March 2022.

The Department continues to speak regularly with the hospitality sector to understand their needs and represent these across Government.

The Government is monitoring the significant increases in wholesale energy prices closely, and meeting regularly with Ofgem, suppliers and consumer groups to understand the future impact on consumers as well as to discuss potential mitigations.

The Government is committed to protecting energy customers, especially the most vulnerable. The Energy Price Cap will continue to protect consumers, ensuring they pay a fair price for their energy this winter. Low income and fuel poor households will continue to be supported with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, which provides eligible households with a £140 discount. Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments will ensure that the most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes through the winter. Additionally, the Government announced an additional £500 million for local authorities through the new Household Support Fund to support vulnerable households meet daily needs such as utility bills.

The Government already supports low-income and fuel poor households with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount which provides eligible households with a £140 rebate on their winter energy bills. Additionally, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments help to ensure the most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes over the colder months. The Government has also provided an extra £500 million for local authorities through the new Household Support Fund to provide help to millions of the most in need and engages constantly with energy companies and consumer groups on further steps to take.

In a competitive market such as for new and used cars, it is for businesses to decide the market worth of their products and to price accordingly. It is Government policy not to intervene when markets function normally, and people considering the purchase of a used vehicle should visit various vehicle selling sites, including auction sites, to get the best price possible.

Most of the shortages of products and raw materials impacting the market have been driven by global and domestic supply and demand factors. Industry experts believe that the current situation is temporary, although projections indicate that strong demand will continue over the next six months.

The Government recognises that this is a worrying time for businesses facing pressures due to increases in global gas prices. The Department is engaging regularly with manufacturers to monitor the impact of rising energy and raw material prices on them and consider possible mitigations.

The Government has supply agreements to buy 453.5 million doses of vaccines with six separate vaccine developers. The Government recently announced the procurement of a further 54m doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and 60m doses of the Moderna vaccine which will provide supply for 2022 and 2023. This is in addition to the 35m doses of Pfizer/BioNTech already secured for 2022. We are in constant contact with suppliers and remain confident in our prospective vaccine supplies beyond this Winter. As part of these supply agreements, the government will be procuring vaccines for Devolved Administrations and Crown Dependencies up to and including Winter 2024.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have held a series of bilateral and roundtable events with a range of energy suppliers. We are continuing to engage with these stakeholders regularly to hear about the challenges they currently face and discuss the way forward.

It is the responsibility of Ofgem, as the independent regulator, to engage with suppliers considering exiting the market.

In a competitive market, it is normal from time to time for energy suppliers who cannot finance their activities to exit the retail energy market. We have, however, seen large and unprecedented gas price spikes which has resulted in acute financial pressure on suppliers recently, driving a higher number of market exits.

We are working with the energy industry to put them on a more stable footing in the longer-term. That includes continuing to build a robust domestic renewable energy sector so that we are less exposed to global trends in natural gas supply and demand.

The Government’s Net Zero Strategy is a strategy for the whole of the UK.

The Government is supporting up to 440,000 jobs across net zero industries in 2030, contributing towards a pivot to a greener economy which could support 2 million jobs in green sectors or by greening existing sectors. The Government is working with business to grow green industries and supply chains and support green skills in the UK, whilst also ensuring our resilience to international changes in supply chains.

The map on page 331 of the Net Zero Strategy highlights the potential locations of these opportunities, including in Northern Ireland.

As announced at the Autumn Budget, on 1 April 2022 the Government will increase the National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 23 years and over by 6.6% to £9.50. This keeps the Government on track to achieve its manifesto commitment for the NLW to equal two-thirds of median earnings by 2024.

The Government will lay a Statutory Instrument to amend the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 in due course. BEIS will publish a full impact assessment next year alongside laying the regulations.

Despite the rise in prices, the UK continues to have some of the lowest pre-tax prices in Europe for diesel and petrol. The UK’s economic analysis of the relationship between changes in the global crude oil and UK petrol and diesel prices suggests that the UK road fuels sector is competitive and ensures that consumers get good value for money.

Due to multiple factors, in 2021 gas prices have been higher globally, these include: rebounding demand as COVID-19 lockdowns ease; greater liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand in Asia; upstream maintenance affecting summer supply capacity; and unusually low wind periods. Supply and demand are balanced in the market through adjusting the prices at which energy trades take place. The Government has no reason to anticipate that this will not continue. The Government continues to engage with international and industry stakeholders to monitor the situation.

One of the Healthcare Missions set out in my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Life Sciences Vision is the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease and its major risk factors, including obesity. Government has announced that £95m will be provided to support the deployment and use of innovative treatments to deliver these Healthcare Missions. Work will now commence with a wide range of partners to develop and deliver this mission.

Alongside this, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds, enables and delivers world-leading health and social care research and focusses their work on early translational research, clinical research and applied health and social care research.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including diabetes and related heart conditions; it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

The Government’s landmark Net Zero Strategy, published on October 19, will drive forward our ambition to reach net zero and level up the UK by supporting up to 190,000 jobs in the middle of the 2020s and up to 440,000 jobs in 2030. Building on my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan, £26 billion of government capital investment has been mobilised for the green industrial revolution. The Strategy provides an ambitious package of policies sets out how we meet Carbon Budgets 4, 5, and our NDC, and puts us on the path for Carbon Budget 6 – and ultimately on course for net zero by 2050.

The Net Zero Strategy confirms the government’s ‘twin-track’ approach to supporting both electrolytic ‘green’ and carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS)-enabled ‘blue’ hydrogen production alongside multiple other production routes.

Support for blue hydrogen is part of the government’s wider programme of long-term decarbonisation through CCUS. Expanding this infrastructure opens up the opportunity to benefit from negative emissions technology in the future, including hydrogen from biomass energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).

The Government recently announced a package of measures to ease temporary supply chain pressures in food haulage industries, brought on by the pandemic and the global economy rebounding around the world. Up to 4,000 people will soon be able to take advantage of training courses to become HGV drivers. 5,000 HGV drivers will be able to come to the UK for 3 months in the run-up to Christmas, providing short-term relief for the haulage industry. A further 5,500 visas for poultry workers will also be made available for the same short period, to avoid any potential further pressures on the food industry during this exceptional period. Ministers from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are working very closely across Government to monitor labour supply chains, identify pinch points and consider any further necessary government action.

BEIS is also working closely with other Government Departments and industry to address sector-specific challenges, which are being faced by countries around the world. For example, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State recently announced the implementation of the Downstream Oil Protocol. This measure will provide a temporary exemption of companies operating in the oil industry from the Competition Act 1998 for the purpose of sharing information and optimising fuel supply in the event of a disruption.

The Government is keen to see employers make long term investments in the UK domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad, and businesses should be looking at how to make employment more attractive, including through wage increases and offering training. Progress is already being made in testing and hiring, and a big push towards improving pay, working conditions and diversity.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution committed to establishing two industrial Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) clusters by the mid 2020s, with the aim of four of these sites by 2030, capturing 10Mt of carbon dioxide per year. As part of the CCUS deployment process, we have announced the clusters eligible for Track-1 and expect to announce the selected Track-1 clusters from 25 October 2021.

The National Minimum Wage is the legal minimum hourly rate of pay for workers over the compulsory school age, generally 16 years of age. Individuals cannot work full-time until they have reached school leaving age. Children are also thoroughly protected by other relevant regulations concerning child employment. We therefore have no plans to change eligibility for the National Minimum Wage.

Ahead of the UN climate change conference (COP26), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has launched the Together for Our Planet (TFOP) Business Climate Leaders campaign, aimed at encouraging as many UK small businesses as possible to join the ‘Race to Zero’ – a global effort to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we all generate to zero by 2050.

Small businesses join the Race to Zero via the SME Climate Commitment. Upon making the SME Climate Commitment, UK small businesses gain access to a Together For Our Planet digital toolkit so they can display to customers they are taking action as part of a UN- and Government-backed campaign.

The Government publishes figures on all solar photovoltaic capacity in the United Kingdom, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solar-photovoltaics-deployment. The figures show that there are currently 1,340 operational ground mount and stand-alone solar projects.^[1]

[1] This comprises ground mount and stand- alone solar PV projects supported under the Renewables Obligation, Feed in Tariff and Contract for Difference schemes.

The Department has regular discussions with Royal Mail on a range of issues.

The Government has no role in Royal Mail’s operational or business decisions which are a matter for the company’s management.

Cosmetic products such as teeth whitening kits sold in the UK must meet some of the strictest safety requirements in the world and may only be placed on the market if they meet those strict safety requirements.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards works with colleagues in local enforcement authorities to take effective enforcement action where products are identified that do not meet the UK’s product safety requirements and expects retailers, including online platforms, to act quickly to remove them from sale.

The Government is aware that a range of building materials are in short supply nationally. This is driven by demand and increased global competition to secure supplies.

In light of this, and in view of more local disruptions in the supply of some products, the Construction Leadership Council’s Coronavirus Task Force has established a Product Availability Working Group, comprised of product manufacturers, builders’ merchants and suppliers, contractors of all sizes, and housebuilders. The Task Force continues to monitor the supply and demand of products, and identify those in short supply.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Commercial and loyalty incentive schemes may be a legitimate business-to-business interaction, between the employment agency and an umbrella company. They are therefore outside the scope of the agency regulations enforced by the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate, which regulate the relationship between the agency and work-seeker.

The Government will continue to work with the recruitment sector to seek compliance with existing regulations. Government will also continue to ensure current regulations remain fit for purpose, drawing on the expertise of trade bodies and businesses in the sector. Proposed regulatory changes would be announced in the usual way.

Following a review, the Green Homes Grant Vouchers scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2021. The voucher scheme will not reopen.

We will refocus efforts and funding on alternative approaches which will maximise delivery of home retrofits for consumers who are most in need.

The Government will be expanding its funding commitment for both the Local Authority Delivery element of the Green Homes Grant scheme and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund with £300 million of new funding.

The Government is aware that some products including tiles and timber are in short supply nationally. At present, global supply of these products is not keeping pace with demand, and undersupply in 2020 reduced existing stocks.

In light of this, and in view of more local disruptions in the supply of these and other products, the Construction Leadership Council’s Coronavirus Task Force has established a Product Availability Working Group, comprised of product manufacturers, builders’ merchants and suppliers, contractors of all sizes, and housebuilders. The Task Force continues to monitor the supply and demand of products, and identify those in short supply.

The Government continues to offer a comprehensive support package for businesses including loan schemes, grant funding, tax deferrals, the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, all of which have been designed to be accessible to businesses in most sectors and across the UK.

In order to further support businesses, we have announced one-off grants worth up to £9,000 for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors and cash grants of up to £1,500 per 2-week closure period, for businesses which are closed during the national restrictions.

Automotive retailers are able to continue to offer click-and-collect and delivery services.

The Government is committed to supporting local businesses during this crucial trading period.

To support retailers in tiers 1-3, we have eased planning rules to allow shops to be open for longer Monday to Saturday from 2 December, giving consumers greater flexibility to choose when they shop. These measures will run through the January sales.

Retailers in tier 4 can continue to offer click and collect, and delivery services which will help businesses keep trading.

We have modified the closing time for hospitality to last orders at 10pm and closing time at 11pm. This allows customers to depart gradually and provides greater flexibility.

The excellent Small Business Saturday UK event took place on the 5 December and was a great way to celebrate small and micro businesses across the UK, raise awareness of the importance of SME’s to our local communities and help them get back on their feet.

My ministerial colleagues across Government and I were delighted to be able to take part on the day itself to champion our small businesses and draw attention to the brilliant campaign.

In order to support businesses across the UK,?we?have extended the?Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme until the end of March 2021,?extended?the existing loan schemes?and Future Fund?to the end of January 2021, with an ability to top-up bounce back loans, and?increased?the support available to the self-employed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme Grant Extension.

Ministers have regular discussions with stakeholders on a number of issues.

The Universal Service Obligation is set out in the Postal Services Act 2011. This requires Royal Mail to deliver letters 6 days a week as part of the universal postal service. It also sets out a clear and transparent process for how longer-term changes to service standards would be considered. Any changes would need to be made through secondary legislation and agreed by Parliament.

For younger workers, the priority in those first years is to secure work and gain experience, and this has always been reflected in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rate structure. Distinguishing between younger and older workers is not new: there have been age-related rates in the NMW structure since its introduction in 1999.

Last year, the Government announced inflation-beating increases to the NMW rates for younger workers and apprentices of between 4.6% and 6.5%. The Government has also announced The Kickstart Scheme, a £2bn fund to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people.

In order to improve fairness for younger workers, the Government has pledged to lower the National Living Wage (NLW) age of eligibility to 23 by 2021 and 21 by 2024.

We are committed to collaboration with the EU and other international partners to ensure a coronavirus vaccine is made available to all as soon as possible.

However, on 10 July 2020, the UK wrote to the European Commission to confirm its decision not to enter into partnership with the EU on its plan to negotiate an advanced purchase agreement on covid-19 vaccines. This decision was made because the EU scheme would not allow the UK to have a say in the vaccines procured, the price, the quantity and the delivery schedule. The UK would also not be allowed to continue pursuing independent discussions with pharmaceutical companies, which is key to ensuring the British public have swift access to any vaccine. This decision was published via an Explanatory Memorandum to Parliament.

That is not to say that we do not want to work closely with the EU on other initiatives outside of this framework, where we continue to engage with the Commission.

We have an ambitious range of policies in place to help business and industry to improve energy efficiency, decarbonise and reduce costs.

Our Climate Change Agreement Scheme allows energy intensive participants to pay significantly reduced main rates of the Climate Change Levy in exchange for delivery of energy efficiency or carbon reduction targets.

The Government’s Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme is a mandatory energy assessment scheme which requires large businesses to identify cost-effective energy saving measures.

Our Industrial Energy Transformation Fund – a £315 million fund - supports industry to improve energy efficiency, cut energy bills and shift to lower carbon energy and processes.

The Government has also committed £170 million in its Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge towards deploying technologies like carbon capture and hydrogen networks in industrial clusters, supporting our Mission to establish the world’s first net zero cluster by 2040.

Finally, we have introduced a new Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) framework in April 2019 to simplify reporting requirements on energy use and emissions while increasing corporate transparency – further incentivising energy efficiency and reducing emissions.

We are committed to making the UK the best place in the world to work. We will be bringing forward an Employment Rights Bill to deliver the greatest reform of workers’ rights in over 20 years, including measures to ensure that women returning from maternity leave receive additional protection from redundancy.

Pregnant women and new mothers can work up to 10 Keeping in Touch (KiT) days without bringing their Maternity Leave, Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance to an end.

KiT days can only be used if both the employer and employee agree to this. Employers cannot require their employees to use their KiT days to work, and similarly employees cannot insist on working a KiT day. Guidance on KiT days for employers and employees is published on gov.uk.

We are committed to making the UK the best place in the world to work. We will be bringing forward an Employment Rights Bill to deliver the greatest reform of workers’ rights in over 20 years, including measures to ensure that women returning from maternity leave receive additional protection from redundancy.

Pregnant women and new mothers can work up to 10 Keeping in Touch (KiT) days without bringing their Maternity Leave, Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance to an end.

KiT days can only be used if both the employer and employee agree to this. Employers cannot require their employees to use their KiT days to work, and similarly employees cannot insist on working a KiT day. Guidance on KiT days for employers and employees is published on gov.uk.

The Government has committed to protect workers’ rights after the UK has left the EU. We will continue to enhance them in the best way for the UK, and have announced in the Queen’s Speech that we will be bringing forward an Employment Rights Bill to deliver the greatest reform of workers’ rights in over 20 years.

In accordance with the Political Declaration on the future relationship between the UK and the EU, in future if the EU changes its law in relation to workers’ rights, the UK will not be obliged to align. Instead the UK Parliament (in respect of Great Britain) and the Northern Ireland Assembly will be responsible for deciding on future changes to workers’ rights in the UK.

In relation to maternity leave specifically, the UK offers pregnant women and new mothers up to 52 weeks of Maternity Leave, which is already significantly more generous than the EU minimum of 14 weeks. Policies to support working families will be key to achieving our goal of making the UK the best place in the world to work.

The government is committed to supporting the recovery of the UK’s tourism industry and promoting domestic tourism. The Tourism Recovery Plan, published in June 2021, sets out a comprehensive framework for rebuilding the sector.

The plan set out ambitious and stretching targets, which were at least a year faster than independent forecast predictions, in which to recover domestic tourism to pre pandemic levels. A target of 99 million overnight trips and spend of £19 billion by the end of 2022 was set, as well as aiming to return inbound visitor volume to return to 41 million and £28 billion spend by the end of 2023.

The TRP also announced plans for a new rail pass, which we hope to launch this year, to help make it easier and more sustainable for domestic tourists to get around Scotland, England, and Wales.

The National Lottery Days Out Campaign offers people the chance to redeem a lottery ticket for a £25 voucher for attractions around the whole of the UK. The campaign is designed to support domestic tourism by stimulating off-season demand from domestic day trips. As of 21 March, 187,117 vouchers have been redeemed. This campaign ends on 31 March.

2022 also promises a host of unmissable events, including Her Majesty’s Jubilee, with a programme of events over the extended Jubilee Bank holiday; Unboxed, which aims to engage millions of people through in person and digital events; as well as the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, which will drive visitors to the region.

My department continues to work closely with its Arm’s Length Body, the British Film Institute (BFI), and the Devolved Administrations to ensure a wide range of funding and initiatives are available to support the film industry in all UK Nations. This includes the UK-wide screen sector tax reliefs, and the UK Global Screen Fund which will invest nearly £30 million in the international growth of independent screen companies across the UK. In addition, the government’s £500 million Film and TV Production Restart Scheme has supported over 1,100 productions around the UK, representing over £2.9 billion of production budgets with over 95,000 jobs supported.

Examples of government support that have been provided to the Northern Irish film industry include the National Lottery-supported talent development programme BFI NETWORK. Northern Ireland Screen also receives Lottery funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, which it has used to prioritise script development and short films, and receives funding for the Irish Language Broadcast Fund and Ulster Scots Broadcast Fund via the BFI. Furthermore, the BFI will continue to consult colleagues from Northern Ireland Screen as part of the UK Film Skills Review, alongside those from other key bodies in the Devolved Administrations.

The British Film Commission (BFC), a national body predominantly funded by DCMS, also supports and promotes UK-wide film and high-end television production, including in all Devolved Administrations, and works in close partnership with the national and regional screen agencies.

A variety of initiatives are in place across the gambling regulatory framework, health services, and the educational curriculum to protect individuals and the wider public from harmful gambling and raise awareness of its risks.

As part of the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum in England, young people are taught about the risks relating to gambling, including the accumulation of debt. To support teachers to deliver these topics safely and with confidence, the Department for Education has also developed a series of training modules, one of which has a specific section on gambling.

The Gambling Commission requires all gambling operators to make information available to customers on how to gamble safely and how to access information on problem gambling and the support available. Most operators signpost to the charity GambleAware’s begambleaware.org site, which contains a wide range of information on risks as well as links to advice and support, including the 24 hour National Gambling Helpline. The NHS webpage 'Help for problem gambling' covers common indicators which suggest that individuals may be experiencing harmful gambling, as well as advice and links to treatment services. Work is also being done to raise awareness through frontline practitioners, with GambleAware publishing a competency framework for primary care practitioners to improve the awareness and responsiveness of Primary Care to gambling harms.

Since 2019, GambleAware’s ‘Bet Regret’ campaign, a commitment from the government’s last Gambling Review, has effectively encouraged awareness of risky betting behaviours and action to help regain control, as well as signposting to further support. Members of the Betting and Gaming Council have also committed 20% of their advertising on TV and radio to safer gambling messaging and the Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising requires social responsibility messaging throughout the length of all broadcast gambling adverts.

The Government’s Review of the Gambling Act 2005 aims to ensure gambling regulation is fit for the digital age. As part of the wide scope of that Review, we called for evidence on the effectiveness of safer gambling messaging across a number of media, and we are considering the evidence carefully. We will publish a white paper in the coming weeks.

The Government is clear that there is no place for any kind of discrimination or abuse in sport.

We are concerned by the increase in disorder at football matches and have discussed this with the relevant bodies. These include the Sports Grounds Safety Authority, the UK Football Policing Unit, and the Football Association. We will continue to liaise closely with all the football authorities about their work to tackle disruption and abuse at football matches.

The BBC has a duty to deliver impartial and accurate news coverage and content under its Royal Charter. The BBC Charter also requires the BBC to ‘accurately and authentically represent and portray the lives of the people of the United Kingdom today, and raise awareness of the different cultures and alternative viewpoints that make up its society.’

The BBC is operationally and editorially independent of the government, and the government has no say on the BBC's day-to-day decisions, including on the content it shows. It is for the BBC Board to ensure the quality of all BBC’s content, and that BBC output meets the highest standards the public expects.

As the external independent regulator of the BBC, Ofcom is responsible for ensuring BBC coverage is impartial and accurate under the Broadcasting Code and BBC Charter.

Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with social media platforms on a range of issues, including to discuss incidents of online abuse. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on GOV.UK.

Under the draft Online Safety Bill, social media firms will need to protect users from illegal abuse. Services will need to have effective systems in place to minimise and remove illegal content and protect children from harmful abuse. Major platforms will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults. Priority categories of legal but harmful content for adults will be set out in secondary legislation and these are likely to include some forms of online abuse.

If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.

The draft Bill has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee which reported its recommendations on 14 December. We are considering the Committee’s report and will introduce the Bill as soon as possible.

All of the UK’s public service broadcasters are subject to original production quotas, specified in legislation and enforced by Ofcom, which require them to allocate a minimum proportion of their broadcast schedules to original productions each year. To qualify as an ‘original production’ a programme must be commissioned by one of the public service broadcasters themselves. The Government also has a stable and generous tax relief system, where productions must qualify as ‘British’ under the cultural test. This drove a record-breaking £5.1 billion in UK screen production in 2019, much of it shown by UK broadcasters.

We want this to continue. Indeed, the government is supportive of a modern system of public service broadcasting (PSB) that remains relevant and can continue to meet the needs of UK audiences in the future. This includes making sure that viewers can continue to see themselves and their way of life reflected on screen by ensuring broadcasters show a wide range of high-quality UK-originated content. It is exactly for these reasons that the government is conducting its own strategic review of PSB, including appointing an expert PSB Advisory Panel. We will set out the conclusions from that review in due course.

The Online Safety Bill places new requirements in relation to anonymity online. It requires companies in scope to effectively manage the risk of online anonymous abuse on user-to-user services.

Services within scope of the Bill will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content and prevent children from harmful content. Major platforms will also need to set out clearly what legal content is acceptable for adult users on their services and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently. This applies whether a user is anonymous or not. If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.

The draft Bill has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee which reported its recommendations on 14 December. We are considering the Committee’s report and will introduce the Bill as soon as possible.

The Government launched a consultation in August 2021 to level the playing field between traditional broadcasters and video-on-demand streaming services; to provide a fair competitive framework; and ensure UK viewers receive equivalent standards.

That consultation, which closed in October, considered audience protection measures such as the role of PIN codes and parental controls. We are now considering the response to the consultation and will publish next steps in due course.

Under the draft Online Safety Bill, services in scope will need to minimise and remove illegal content, including illegal hate speech. Services in scope which are likely to be accessed by children will also need to protect them from harmful or inappropriate content.

Major platforms will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults. These services will have to set out clearly what legal content is acceptable on their platforms and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently. This could include removal of prohibited content, banning repeat offenders and preventing them from creating new accounts. Priority categories of legal but harmful content for adults will be set out in secondary legislation and these are likely to include some forms of abuse, including racist abuse.

If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.

The draft Bill has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee which reported its recommendations on 14 December. We are considering the Committee’s report and will introduce the Bill as soon as possible.

The Government is investing £5 billion through Project Gigabit to support gigabit broadband coverage in areas not covered by commercial roll-out, adding to the 600,000 rural homes and businesses already covered by gigabit with our support.

As part of Project Gigabit the government is investing up to £210m in the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to support rural communities with the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections. The scheme provides a micro-grant of up to £1,500 for residents and up to £3,500 for businesses towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband.

The scheme enables those communities and businesses in rural areas not in line for commercial rollout, and those that do not want to wait for Project Gigabit procurements, to get more immediate help with the costs of installing a gigabit-capable connection. Further information is available on the gigabit voucher website including eligibility criteria and how to apply for the scheme.

Violence against match officials is wholly unacceptable and will not be tolerated within the administration of any sport, including football. No-one should receive abuse at their workplace or in wider society, and criminal sanctions are in place where relevant.

More specifically, the Football Association has recently rolled out a nationwide respect campaign, “Pledge for Positivity”, which calls on coaches, parents and spectators of grassroots football to withhold their frustrations at match officials in an effort to create a more positive environment.

The FA have also designed a specific training module for aspiring referees on how to deal with abuse which is included in their Referee Course run at county level alongside other initiatives that are being rolled out to tackle abuse. These include a campaign promoting referees under the age of 18 to wear brightly coloured items of clothing to signal their age to others in an effort to reduce potential safeguarding issues or having mentors on standby to offer advice and support in the face of abuse.

The Government’s sport strategy ‘Sporting Future’ recognises the positive impact that being physically active has on mental health, and the importance of welfare and wellbeing for people participating in sport at all levels.

Sport England, DCMS's arm’s length body for grassroots sport in England, launched a new ten year strategy 'Uniting the Movement’ in January 2021 which prioritises the importance of improving mental health and wellbeing through sport and physical activity. They have also committed to working with partners on health and wellbeing, and supporting communities through social prescribing.

Since 2017, Sport England have invested £280 million into grassroots programmes with mental wellbeing outcomes, as well as £5.5 million into partnerships with expert mental health organisations, such as Mind and Rethink. Mind’s ‘Get Set to Go’ programme has supported 8,000 people to improve their mental health through engaging in physical activity since its launch in 2014. Sport England have also worked closely with national partners such as Public Health England (now Office for Health Improvement and Disparities) and the Royal College of GPs to develop the Moving Healthcare Professionals programme, improving social prescribing links by providing support for healthcare professionals to promote physical activity to patients.

At the elite level, the Government published its Mental Health and Elite Sport Action Plan in 2018, setting out a range of actions to improve the support available to athletes, the sharing of best practice across the sector, and mental health education and training. Following this UK Sport, DCMS’s arm’s length body for elite sport, launched its own mental health strategy as well as a programme of mental health education to support athletes and promote positive mental health across the UK’s high performance system.

The strongest protections in the draft Online Safety Bill are for children.

The draft Bill covers many the most visited pornography sites, social media platforms, video-sharing sites, forums and via search engines - thereby capturing many of the sites through which children access pornography. Under our proposals, companies in scope will need to put in place technologies such as age verification to prevent children accessing pornography or demonstrate that the approach they are taking delivers the same level of protection for children.

The Joint Committee scrutinising the Bill is expected to report by 10th December and the government will introduce the Bill as soon as possible thereafter.

As per the statement to the house of 28th November, our vaccines remain our best line of defence against this virus. I welcome the increase in take up of vaccination amongst Premier League players. We encourage everyone - including footballers - to take up the offers of vaccination, and of boosters, for which many more millions of people are eligible following JCVI changes.

Online dating services are in scope of the Online Safety Bill. This means that they will have to put in place measures to protect their users from harmful content facilitated via user-generated content, including fraud and abuse. Dating sites will have to assess the risk of harm to their users, and then take steps to mitigate and tackle that risk.

All gambling advertising, wherever it appears, is subject to strict controls on content and placement. Gambling operators and their affiliates must abide by the advertising codes issued by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) and the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP). In addition, the gambling industry has its own gambling advertising code – The Gambling Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising which includes additional requirements, for example, a 9pm television advertising watershed for most forms of gambling and ensuring advertising is targeted only at those over 25 years old on social media.

The Government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 with the publication of a Call for Evidence which closed on 31 March. As part of the wide scope of this review we called for evidence on the potential benefits or harms of allowing licensed gambling operators to advertise. The Call for Evidence received approximately 16,000 submissions from a broad range of interested organisations and individuals. We are considering the evidence carefully and will publish a White Paper outlining conclusions and next steps in due course. The Government is also looking more broadly at how online advertising is regulated through the Online Advertising Programme, which will be launching a public consultation in the coming months.

Preventing children’s exposure to harmful material is a priority for the government. Under our proposals in the Online Safety Bill, social media companies will be required to assess the risks of children being exposed to harmful content on their services and implement effective safety measures to protect them. They will also have to ensure that only children who are old enough are able to access their service.

The government continues to engage with a wide range of stakeholders as the Bill goes through pre-legislative scrutiny. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.

We welcome recent steps taken by industry to raise standards and increase protections for customers, including PaddyPower/Betfair’s introduction of its £500 cap and the Betting & Gaming Council’s codes of conduct on high value customer schemes and online game design.

The government and the Gambling Commission are continuing work to consider protections in online gambling. Earlier this year, the Gambling Commission launched a consultation and call for evidence on the steps remote operators should be required to take to identify and protect customers at risk of harm, including on issues to do with affordability. It received over 13,000 responses and the Commission has published an interim update on its website outlining next steps.

The government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 in December with the publication of a Call for Evidence which received 16,000 responses. The Review will be wide-ranging and evidence-led, and aims to make sure that the regulation of gambling is fit for the digital age. We are considering all evidence carefully and will publish a white paper outlining any conclusions and proposals for reform in due course.

The Government, with the assistance of Laurence Geller CBE as ministerial adviser, is currently reviewing the issue of concussion in sport and I will report later this year on the steps that the Government intends to take.

The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. The Government remains committed to working with sports to build on the positive work that is already taking place.

Ministers and officials regularly meet with a range of stakeholders, including from social media companies, on matters relating to online safety. The government published the draft Online Safety Bill in May. It will give online platforms new legal duties to tackle abuse and other harmful content on their services.

All gambling advertising, wherever it appears, is subject to strict controls on content and placement. Gambling operators and their affiliates must abide by the advertising codes issued by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) and the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP). Following work with the Gambling Commission, the industry has committed to make better use of advertising technology to target adverts away from children online and on social media. The sixth edition of the Gambling Industry Code for Socially Responsible advertising, which came into force this month, requires operators to ensure advertising is targeted only at those over 25 years old on social media and to age-gate operator YouTube channels and content.

The government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 with the publication of a Call for Evidence which closed on 31 March. As part of the wide scope of this review we called for evidence on the potential benefits or harms of allowing licensed gambling operators to advertise, including via social media and affiliate marketing. The Call for Evidence received approximately 16,000 submissions from a broad range of interested organisations and individuals. We are considering the evidence carefully and intend to publish a White Paper outlining conclusions and next steps by the end of the year.

Following a call for evidence last year, the government has also been considering how online advertising is regulated through its Online Advertising Programme. We will be consulting on this issue later this year.

All operators who supply gambling to customers in Great Britain must be licensed by the Gambling Commission. Its jurisdiction also extends to online operators who supply gambling to customers outside Great Britain, if the equipment with which they do so is located in this country, and gross gambling yield from these activities is recorded as non-GB GGY. That category also includes GGY which any GC-licensed operator has derived from supplying gambling to customers in other jurisdictions which either allow it to operate there by virtue of its GB licence, or do not have specific legal requirements relating to online gambling. The Commission does not collect granular data on the jurisdictions from which this GGY is derived.

Please note that public libraries is a devolved matter.

In England, whilst library buildings were closed or access limited during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a significant rise in the number of people accessing library services online and downloading e-books and e-audiobooks from their library service.

Although absolute numbers of online readers increased, this was from a low base and it is not yet clear whether this will be a permanent shift or drop back. It will be for local councils, as the statutory providers of library services, to consider the needs of local people and communities with regard to future planning for digital library provision.

Total support committed to councils in England to tackle the impacts of Covid-19 is over £12 billion. Over £6 billion of this is unringfenced in recognition that local authorities are best placed to decide how to meet the Covid-19 pressures in their area, including public libraries.

We recognise the severe impact of COVID-19 on tourism and have published the Tourism Recovery Plan to help the sector recover back to pre-pandemic levels and build back better for the future. The plan aims to recover domestic tourism to pre pandemic levels by 2022 and international tourism by 2023; both at least a year faster than independent forecasts predict.

The British Tourist Authority (BTA) will deliver a £10 million consumer promotion with the National Lottery to support the domestic tourist industry. In addition, the Government and VisitBritain will develop a new domestic rail tourism product, similar to the Britrail Pass for international visitors, working with the Rail Delivery Group.

The Government has allocated at least £19 million to domestic and international marketing activity, with a £5.5 million domestic campaign already underway. The Government will work with VisitBritain to welcome back international visitors as soon as it is safe to do so.

The government is committed to tackling misogyny, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, including the spread of such content online. On 12 May 2021, we published the draft Online Safety Bill, which sets out new expectations on companies to keep their users safe online. Under a new legal duty of care, in-scope companies, including social media, will need to tackle misogynistic, homophobic, biphobic and transphobic content and activity that is illegal, if it is on their services.

In addition, companies with the largest audiences and with high-risk features will need to assess the risk to adults of legal but harmful content on their services. They must also set clear terms and conditions stating what legal but harmful material they accept (and do not accept) on their service. Companies will have to do this for both priority harms which the government will set out in secondary legislation and for any emerging harms they identify in their risk assessments.

These duties will apply to misogynistic, homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate speech, which do not meet the threshold of a criminal offence. Companies will need to enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently, and could face enforcement action if they do not. All companies in scope will be required to have effective and accessible user reporting and redress mechanisms.

The latest Sport England Active Lives data shows that 585,100 adults (16+) participated in archery in the last year from Mid-Nov 2019 to Mid-Nov 2020. The Chief Medical Officer is clear that being physically active is important to long-term health and crucial for keeping people healthy. That’s why we have continued to make sure that people can exercise throughout the national restrictions, and why we have ensured that grassroots and children’s sport is at the front of the queue when easing those restrictions.

On Monday 22 February, the Prime Minister announced a roadmap out of the current lockdown in England. The government introduced a step approach to the return of outdoor and indoor sport areas across England. Organised outdoor and indoor sport including archery has now resumed.

Since 2017/18 Sport England have made 265 awards to archery projects totalling £8,744,328. The Government has also provided unprecedented support to the sport sector to ensure these facilities are able to open. Sport England are also providing £270 million directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic, including their £35 million Community Emergency Fund. Beyond elite level sport, £100 million of funding has now been provided to support local authority leisure centre

My Department has had no such discussions with Neuroflex.

The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. National Governing Bodies are responsible for the regulation of their sports and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm, including serious injuries. With that in mind, we expect sports to do all they can to protect their players as a fundamental part of their duty of care.

To that end, the Secretary of State and I hosted two roundtables on concussion in sport recently to understand the issues from the perspectives of players and to push the sports on what more they can be doing. The Government remains committed to working with sports to build on the positive work that is already taking place, including the use of technology.

The Secretary of State meets regularly with a range of stakeholders, including the BBC. All DCMS ministerial meetings are disclosed on gov.uk, and the most recent can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dcms-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-1-july-to-30-september-2020.

The government remains deeply disappointed with the BBC's decision to restrict the over 75 licence fee concession to only those in receipt of pension credit. However, the Digital Economy Act 2017 provides that the future of the over-75s concession is the responsibility of the BBC, not the government. The BBC is also responsible for the collection and enforcement of the TV licence fee.

The government has said that the BBC must look at how it uses its substantial licence fee income to support older people. As part of the 2022 licence fee settlement negotiations, the Secretary of State has asked the BBC to set out any further plans it has to support those in vulnerable groups, including the elderly.

The government also remains concerned that a criminal sanction for TV licence evasion is increasingly disproportionate and unfair in a modern public service broadcasting system, and will keep the issue under active consideration while more work is done to understand the impact of alternative enforcement schemes.

Gambling activity is a devolved issue in Northern Ireland, regulated under the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (NI) Order 1985. The UK government and the Gambling Commission therefore do not collect official data on the gross gambling yield derived from customers in Northern Ireland.

The Government has honoured the commitment made to the BBC during the last licence fee funding settlement negotiations in 2015 to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. The BBC’s Royal Charter (cl 43.1) required the Secretary of State to make a settlement agreement which covered the period 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2022.

The CPI increase was agreed as part of the wider settlement during which the BBC accepted responsibility for the Over 75s TV Licence Fee concession from June 2020. The Government is disappointed with the BBC's decision to restrict the over 75 licence fee concession to only those in receipt of pension credit. We recognise the value of free TV licences for over-75s and believe they should be funded by the BBC.

The Secretary of State will make future decisions about the level of the licence fee following discussions with the BBC on the next settlement, which the Charter states must cover the period from 1st April 2022 for at least the next 5 years.

Protecting children is at the heart of our online harms agenda, and wider government priorities. We have now published our Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper, which sets out how a proposed legal duty of care on online companies will work in practice and gives them new responsibilities towards their users. We are working at pace to have legislation ready next year.

Services which are likely to be accessed by children will be required to provide additional protections for children using them. Companies will be required to assess the risk their service poses for children, put in place proportionate measures to protect children, and monitor these for effectiveness. Under our proposals, we expect companies to use age assurance or age verification technologies to prevent children from accessing services which pose the highest risk of harm to children, such as online pornography. Companies will also need to provide age-appropriate protections from harmful content and activity for children using their service.

We would encourage companies to take steps ahead of the legislation to protect children from harmful and age inappropriate content online. We are working closely with stakeholders across industry to establish the right conditions for the market to deliver age assurance and age verification technical solutions ahead of the legislative requirements coming into force.

The government has committed to reviewing the Gambling Act 2005 to ensure that it is fit for the digital age. Further details will be announced in due course.

As set out in the answer to Question 118541, ministers have met with a range of stakeholders ahead of the Gambling Act Review. Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the government’s website at: https://www.gov.uk/search/transparency-and-freedom-of-information-releases?content_store_document_type=transparency&organisations%5B%5D=department-for-digital-culture-media-sport.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport engages regularly with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK’s independent regulator of advertising, including on matters relating to gambling advertising. The ASA is currently consulting on proposed changes to the advertising codes aimed at further restricting the potential for gambling adverts to appeal to children or vulnerable people.

The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government, and the amount it pays its top management and talent is a matter for the BBC.

The BBC Trust was abolished and replaced by the BBC Board at the start of the current Charter.

The government believes that publicly-funded bodies should apply the highest standards, ensure pay restraint and value for money, and be as open and transparent as possible. That is reflected in the requirement for the BBC to publish salary details of all BBC staff paid over £150,000, which we introduced from the beginning of this Charter.

The government welcomes the new Director General’s commitment to a ‘leaner organisation’, and is pleased to see that the BBC has reduced its gender pay gap this year, so that it is now significantly lower than the national average. The government is committed to eliminating the gender pay gap and I am proud that the UK is one of the first countries in the world to introduce mandatory gender pay gap reporting.

We note the recent recommendations of the EHRC and encourage the BBC to take action to quickly resolve any outstanding issues regarding equal pay. As a public service broadcaster funded by the licence fee, the BBC has a responsibility to set an example for others and lead the way in promoting equality in the workplace.

The digital sector contributed £149bn to the UK economy in 2018, accounting for 7.7% of UK GVA. It supports 1.2 million jobs and around 194,000 businesses of which almost all are SMEs. Last year venture capital investment in the UK’s tech sector leapt by 44%, with record growth in many of the key sub-sectors including cyber security and AI.

The Department is taking great strides to support this growth. This year alone we have introduced the UK Gigabit Programme and the Shared Rural Network programme to develop the country’s broadband infrastructure; introduced a Digital Markets Taskforce, an Online Harms White Paper response and a Digital Identity Call for Evidence to ensure people remain safe online; and ran an entirely digital London Tech Week to show our support for the sector. This event was a resounding success, with initial figures suggesting 2,500 unique viewers attended each day, with 24,000 registering for the entire event.

We also deliver support through Tech Nation and our Digital Trade Network. Tech Nation is the main vehicle used by DCMS to support scale-ups. They deliver a programme of initiatives to support the UK tech sector, specifically startups and scale-ups, notably ‘Upscale’, a programme for scale-ups, aimed at accelerating growth. It comprises workshops, socials, & meetups. Alumni include Monzo, depop and Mixcloud.

The Digital Trade Network (DTN) is a joint DCMS/DIT initiative, announced at London Tech Week 2020. This £8m programme supports UK tech businesses to internationalise in Asia Pacific, attract capital and talent to the UK and enhance UK digital economy collaborations internationally.

Finally, the government will publish a new Digital Strategy this year to drive growth in the digital sector and wider economy, and ensure we maximise the benefits of a digital-led economic recovery. It will set out a path to harnessing new appetite for digital transformation, accelerating growth, and building a more inclusive, competitive and innovative digital economy for the future.

The government has said the BBC must look urgently at how it can use its substantial licence fee income to support older people, and must ensure that it supports those affected by its decision on the over 75s concession.

The BBC is responsible for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee. The BBC, through its licensing arm TV Licensing, offers customers a range of options for paying for their TV Licence. This includes instalment options and different mechanisms such as Direct Debit, bank transfer and Paypoint.

For those who had previously received a free over 75s TV licence but will have to pay from 1 August, the BBC is also introducing the 75+ Plan: a new TV licence payment plan which enables people to pay in equal weekly, fortnightly or monthly instalments, if they don’t want to pay the licence fee all in one go. Those over 75 who register for the 75+ plan can pay over the counter with cash or a debit card at any PayPoint location, or over the phone or online with a credit or debit card. They can also set up a Direct Debit for monthly payments. The BBC has also set up specialist telephone contact centres to help people affected by the change to the over 75s concession.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport does not hold this information. Administration of the TV licence, including issuing licences to all parts of the UK, is a matter for the BBC as an independent body.

The BBC’s licensing arm, TV Licensing, says on its website that it does not collect information on specific licence fee revenue by location as ‘it has no reason for doing this’. However, the BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20 provide an estimate of the income from each nation of the UK from TV licence revenues for 2019 and 2020.

The report can be found on the BBC website here: https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/reports/annualreport

Ministers and officials have regular meetings with social media platforms on a range of issues, including online bullying and protecting vulnerable people. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website.

Government is working closely with the heritage sector to ensure there is a continuous and clear dialogue. We are proactively seeking feedback from the sector on emerging issues which is helping to inform the Government's ongoing response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

DCMS recognises that, like those in the private sector, charities are under significant strain as a result of Covid-19. The measures already announced by the Government will support many charities to manage the financial challenges presented by the current emergency.

We are proactively engaging across the sector, to maintain a complete picture of the impact of coronavirus, and working to identify how government can help support the sector through this time of financial instability. Further information will be released on gov.uk as and when it is available.

Government supports community use of listed churches through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme which refunds VAT paid on facilities to aid greater use of the building. This includes electrical and heating works, along with kitchens and toilets. The scheme is presently funded up to £42million per annum.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is also able to support the repair and modernisation of building services and facilities in historic places of worship. Those interested in accessing the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund can contact representatives of the Fund in their local area for guidance on how to apply.

In addition, The Taylor Review, funded to £1.8 million, is piloting new approaches to sustainability and greater community use of listed places of worship.

Government funding for open calls for direct grants to volunteer groups are also published on www.gov.uk.

The current Secretary of state has not yet met with the Northern Ireland Executive to discuss broadband in Northern Ireland. Officials in Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), part of DCMS, are in regular contact with the Northern Irish project delivery body and have a dedicated Project Director based in Belfast. I went to Northern Ireland in September for meetings with officials from the Northern Ireland Civil Service regarding broadband rollout.

Gambling sponsorship of major events, and sport in general, must be socially responsible and must never be targeted at children or vulnerable people. The government has made clear that sporting bodies and event organisers must consider their responsibilities to fans and the wider community when entering commercial arrangements. Some major event organisers will have rules about only accepting sponsors that align with the events values or in some cases choose not to target the gambling sector at all for sponsorship.

Ministers and officials have regular discussions with social media companies on a range of issues, including online bullying. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website.

My department has had regular conversations with the Commonwealth Games Federation regarding shooting sports and their inclusion in Birmingham 2022 from the commencement of the bid process in 2017. In August 2019, the Minister for Sport requested the Commonwealth Games Federation explore the possibility of delivering a separate Commonwealth championship event in 2022, separate from the Birmingham 2022 Games programme.

My department was pleased to see the announcement by the Commonwealth Games Federation on 24 February of a separate shooting and archery championship event to be held in Chandigarh in January 2022. This will give shooters and archers from around the Commonwealth the opportunity to compete at the highest level.

We intend to respond to the Online Harms White Paper consultation shortly.

Protecting children online is at the heart of our online harms agenda and wider government priorities. The joint DCMS-Home Office Online Harms White Paper, published in April 2019, outlined the government’s plans to make the UK the safest place in the world to go online. We will introduce a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator.

Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues, on a range of issues, including the protection of vulnerable children online.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response will outline the information for England only.

The department is firmly committed to ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities, including those with multi-sensory impairments, receive the support they need to achieve in their early years, at school and college. Local authorities in England are required to publish information on the availability of specialist services and support commissioned and provided for children and young people with multi-sensory impairments in a local offer. To ensure local needs are met, they must work with children, young people, and their families to develop this. On the issue of funding for local authorities to support children with multi-sensory impairments, I refer the hon. Member for Strangford to the answer I gave on 8 March 2022 to Question 133247.

Under the Children Act 1989, local authorities are required to provide services for children in need for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting their welfare. The statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children is clear that local areas should have a comprehensive range of effective, evidence-based services in place to address needs early.

There are no current plans for a duty on local authorities to provide early help. The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care is due to set out its final recommendations this spring, and we will consider those relevant to early help to inform any next steps.

Local authority children’s services are a devolved matter, and this information therefore only applies to England.

Local authorities record and store children’s services data in digital case management systems they procure from the market. Our Children’s Social Care Digital Programme has worked with local authorities and case management system suppliers to publish guidance that aims to support local authority planning, procurement, and implementation of case management systems. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-social-care-improving-case-management-systems.

We are also working across government on how data and technology can be used to enable better multi-agency information sharing in safeguarding, including an investigation study on the feasibility of adopting a consistent child identifier.

The government does not currently collect data on the type of support provided through early help services and its impact on wellbeing. The Supporting Families Programme is testing ways of collecting needs and outcomes data on early help. The government will also consider any relevant recommendations from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. Learning from both will inform any next steps.

The government does not currently collect data on the type of support provided through early help services and its impact on wellbeing. The Supporting Families Programme is testing ways of collecting needs and outcomes data on early help. The government will also consider any relevant recommendations from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. Learning from both will inform any next steps.

The Too Little, Too Late report recommends an increase in funding for a range of early intervention services. In the Budget and Spending Review 2021, the government announced a £500 million package for families. This includes £300 million to transform Start for Life services, and to create a network of family hubs in half of council areas in England. The package also includes a £200 million uplift to the Supporting Families Programme (SFP).

The additional SFP funding represents around a 40% real terms uplift for the programme by the 2024/25 financial year. This takes total planned investment across the next three years to £695 million. This funding will help up to 300,000 more families facing multiple, interconnected issues to access effective whole-family support. It will improve their life outcomes and will begin to reduce the pressure on expensive, reactive statutory services, as the system starts to rebalance away from intervening at crisis point.

The report’s recommendations on a legal duty for early help and additional data collection on early help will be considered as part of the department’s response to the independent review of children’s social care.

The outcome of the SEND Review will be published as a green paper for full public consultation by the end of March.

Children’s social care in Northern Ireland is a transferred power, making it a devolved matter. The answer reflects the position in England.

Children’s homes provide care for some of the most vulnerable young people unable to live with their families. This includes children who have suffered abuse or neglect, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, children on remand, and children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, disabilities, special educational needs, or mental illnesses.

Local authorities have primary responsibility for the children in their care. They have a formal role as ‘corporate parents’. Their responsibilities include identifying which children should come into the care system, ensuring there is sufficient accommodation locally to meet the range of needs of looked after children in their area, safeguarding and promoting their wellbeing, ensuring that children’s education and health needs are met, and supporting care leavers.

The government provides funding and support to local authorities to help them meet all their duties to looked after children, including those in children’s homes. As well as providing safe, excellent quality care, the government wants to ensure that all homes can meet each child's individual needs and enable them to achieve the best possible outcomes.

For example, it has ensured that all looked after children have top priority in school admissions, and all local authorities must appoint a virtual school head with a statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of all children in their care. The government has funded eight Staying Close pilots to test an enhanced offer for young people leaving residential care. Additionally, the government will invest £140 million to introduce new national standards for unregulated provisions for older children.

Although we are making progress, the sector still faces challenges. The independent review of children’s social care commenced in March 2021, with Josh MacAlister as Chair. It is looking at how the government can make the system work better.

The review is taking a fundamental look at the needs, experiences, and outcomes of the children supported by children’s social care. It is drawing on a broad range of expertise and prioritising hearing the voices of children, young people, and adults that have received the help or support of a social worker, or who have been looked after. The review is looking at the whole system of support, safeguarding, protection and care, and the child’s journey into and out of that system. We expect it to point to new directions in children’s social care and directly improve the lives of vulnerable children.

As autonomous bodies, it is for higher education (HE) providers to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students. They are not only experts in their student population but also best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body.

The government strongly supports the Stepchange: Mentally Healthy Universities framework, calling on HE leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority. The government also supports The University Mental Health Charter, which outlines that effective services should be responsive to changes in need among their population, including specific issues such as addiction.

We remain committed to preventing gambling-related harm and ensuring those experiencing it can access the right treatment and support whenever and wherever they need it. The NHS Long-Term Plan, published in July 2019, announced the creation of 15 specialist problem gambling clinics by 2023/24, with up to £15 million of funding over the same period. Work continues on the phased expansion of these services, enabling the NHS to explore how best to use existing treatment models to reach those most in need of support.

The government and the Gambling Commission have also significantly raised requirements around age verification, banned gambling on credit cards, made online slots safer with a new game design code, mandated integration with Gamstop (the one-stop online self exclusion scheme) and introduced new rules on VIP schemes

We are also reviewing the Gambling Act to ensure it is fit for the digital age. A core objective of the review is to ensure effective protections are in place for the further protection of vulnerable groups, including children and young people. We are considering the evidence carefully and will publish a white paper outlining any conclusions and proposals for reform in due course.

From September 2020, the subject of health education was made compulsory in all state-funded schools. This includes teaching young people about the risks relating to gambling, including the accumulation of debt.

The NHS website offers support for those that are worried they may have a gambling problem, and outlines support: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/gambling-addiction/.

The government has supported Holocaust education for many years and is fully committed to continuing this support.

In recognition of its importance, the Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the national curriculum for history at key stage 3. This ensures that young people from every background can continue to learn about the Holocaust and its relevance today. Effective teaching about the Holocaust can support pupils to learn about the possible consequences of antisemitism and extremism, to understand how society can prevent the repeat of such a catastrophe.

The department further supports school pupils’ and teachers’ understanding of the Holocaust by providing funding for several programmes. This includes £500,000 in the 2021/22 financial year for University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education which is match funded by the Pears Foundation, and £2.126 million in the 2021/22 financial year for the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz project. The latter has been provided on an online basis during the COVID-19 outbreak and has therefore had the capacity to reach more pupils. These programmes help reach all types of schools and help to develop high-quality teaching across the school sector.

Education is a devolved matter, and approaches to Holocaust education may differ in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response will outline the information for England only. English law is clear that it is an offence for a person who is in a position of trust and is over the age of 18 to engage in a sexual relationship with a person under the age of 18. Such activity is also likely to lead to barring by the Disclosure and Barring Service and, where the individual is a teacher, prohibition by Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA). The TRA, an executive agency of the Department for Education, operates the teacher misconduct arrangements on behalf of the Secretary of State as regulator of the teaching profession in England. The TRA considers allegations of the most serious cases of misconduct to decide whether a teacher should be prohibited from teaching work in England.

Teachers are expected to demonstrate consistently high standards of personal and professional conduct within and outside school, which includes observing proper boundaries appropriate to a teacher’s professional position. Whilst we do not hold the data requested, we do hold data, shown in the table below, on the number of teachers prohibited from the teaching profession for sexual misconduct in England. This data includes cases involving children and/or adults, as well as students.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response will outline the education reforms for England. The government remains committed to promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges. The department recognises it is more important than ever that children and young people have access to the support they need for their mental health and wellbeing, and we know that funding the right services and provision within education settings is key to ensuring they do so.

On 10 May 2021, as a part of our Mental Health Awareness week, the department announced £17 million towards improving mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people. This included £9.5 million to offer senior mental health led training to around a third of all state schools and colleges in academic year 2021/22, helping them to implement effective holistic approaches to mental health and wellbeing, and £7 million to Wellbeing for Education Recovery, enabling local authorities to continue supporting schools and colleges until the autumn to meet ongoing mental wellbeing needs.

Schools support the mental wellbeing of their pupils as part of their curriculum provision and pastoral support, which is paid for from schools’ core funding; the autumn 2021 Spending Review delivers an additional £4.7 billion for the core schools budget by financial year 2024/25, compared to previous plans. This settlement includes an additional £1.6 billion for schools and high needs in 2022/23, on top of the funding we previously announced. It also includes an additional £1 billion for a recovery premium over the next two academic years (2022/23 and 2023/24). Schools will have flexibility to target funding towards those pupils who need it most, and we will publish further detail around rates, allocations, and conditions of grant in due course.

Beyond this, the department is also investing up to £5 billion to support recovery for children and young people who need it most. This includes the Recovery Premium for this academic year worth over £300 million, weighted so that schools with more disadvantaged pupils receive more funding. Schools can use this funding to deliver evidence based approaches to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils.

This is in addition to the £79 million announced by the Department of Health and Social Care in March 2021 to significantly expand children’s mental health services. This will partly be spent on speeding up and expanding the provision of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges, meaning nearly 3 million children in England will access school or college-based support by April 2023.

The department does not expect teachers to be mental health experts. Therefore, for those that need more specialist support, the NHS Long Term Plan is backed by an additional £2.3 billion a year for mental services by financial year 2023/24. This will mean at least 345,000 more children and young people will be able to access support as we aim to ensure that mental and physical health are treated equally.

The student loan system in England removes financial barriers for those hoping to study higher education courses while sharing its costs between learners and the general taxpayer, which is fair. After finishing study, monthly student loan repayments are linked to income, not to interest rates or the amount borrowed. Repayments are made only on earnings above the repayment threshold, and borrowers are protected; if their income drops, so do their repayments. Any outstanding debt is written off after the loan term ends at no detriment to the borrower.

As part of the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding we are carefully considering a range of options to ensure that student finance continues to deliver value for money for both students and the taxpayer. The interim conclusion of the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding was published on 21 January 2021, and we will conclude the Review in full in due course. Full information about this review and the interim conclusion can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-18-education-and-funding-review-interim-conclusion.

The national curriculum includes content that can be used by teachers as an opportunity to inform pupils about organ donation. For example, pupils are taught about this as part of the Key Stage 4 science curriculum. The national curriculum is compulsory in state-maintained schools and is often used as a benchmark by academies and free schools.

Since September 2020, it has been compulsory for schools to teach relationships education to primary school-aged pupils, relationships and sex education to secondary school-aged pupils and health education to all pupils in state-maintained schools. The statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education sets out that by the end of secondary school, pupils should know about the science relating to blood, organ and stem cell donation.

The department has published teacher training modules, including online modules for primary and secondary teachers containing key knowledge and facts to help teachers understand what they must teach in relation to the new requirements. This can be done flexibly and can include teaching about organ donation.

As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools continue to have flexibility over how they deliver important topics and use their autonomy and local community knowledge to do this.

Health education in schools in Northern Ireland are matters for the Department of Education for Northern Ireland.

Any form of harassment, violence or sexual assault is abhorrent and unacceptable anywhere in society, including in our universities. Sexual harassment is in no way tolerable on our campuses and online environments. The government urges university leaders to ensure a zero-tolerance approach to all harassment and sexual misconduct and to ensure they have robust systems in place for reporting incidents where they do occur.

The Office for Students (OfS) statement of expectations on harassment and sexual misconduct was published on 19 April and is a useful tool for providers. As part of its next steps on harassment and hate crime, the OfS will now be considering options for connecting the statement of expectations to its conditions of registration. The OfS wrote to providers on 10 June, asking them to review and update their systems, policies and procedures in line with the statement of expectations on harassment and sexual misconduct by the beginning of the next academic year. I have made it clear that government sees the OfS statement as the minimum that providers should be doing to keep students safe from sexual harassment and misconduct, and to handle reported incidents appropriately when they do occur.

I also wrote to the sector on 2 July reasserting the government’s firm expectations for providers in this space. This includes giving urgent consideration to the OfS request to update their systems. I detailed the way in which the government will legislatively tackle the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in relation to workers and employers. I also outlined that I have asked officials to explore options for going further in this area in higher education (HE). The use of NDAs in relation to sexual violence, harassment and misconduct is wholly inappropriate.

I am extremely concerned that many of the deeply disturbing testimonies that continue to be posted on the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ website reference experiences within HE settings. I met with the founder of Everyone’s Invited in June, to discuss tackling sexual harassment in HE. I also met with Universities UK (UUK) to discuss this issue, including their existing guidance for providers in this area. I understand they are preparing guidance on staff to student sexual misconduct, which will be published soon.

I know that sexual harassment and misconduct is an area that for several years HE providers, the OfS, the government and sector bodies have been working together on. In 2015, UUK set up a taskforce on harassment at the request of the government. Since 2016, a total investment of £4.7 million, match funded by HE providers, has been invested by the OfS and its predecessor, funding 119 safeguarding projects. £2.45 million of this was given to 63 projects specifically focused on tackling sexual and gender-based violence in HE. In my recent letter to the sector, I highlighted that it may also be timely to revisit the resources produced by these OfS-funded projects relating to this area, available via the following link: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/student-wellbeing-and-protection/student-safeguarding-evaluation-and-resources/.

In addition to preventative policies and procedures, we expect providers to ensure that students continue to have access to support services, and complaints processes, during the COVID-19 outbreak, to ensure they are able to report any issues. I will continue to work across government to ensure that sexual harassment is stamped out of our world leading HE sector.

We continue to contribute funding to the NSPCC to ensure that children and young people of all ages have access to free, confidential and expert safeguarding advice and can raise concerns about sexual and domestic abuse. Support and advice are also available to professionals, parents and carers, and to any adults who have concerns about a child.

We have also created the ‘Report Abuse in Education’ helpline with the NSPCC, specifically in response to the testimonies shared on the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ website. This dedicated route for raising concerns, receiving advice, or reporting an incident has received over 400 calls since 1 April 2021 and will be open until October.

Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is a priority for this government. While education settings cannot provide specialist clinical care, the support schools and colleges are providing to their pupils following the return to face-to-face education should include time devoted to supporting mental health and wellbeing, which will play a fundamental part in supporting recovery. We want schools to have the freedom to decide what wider pastoral and extra-curricular activity to put in place, based on the needs of their pupils and drawing on evidence of effective practice.

We are supporting recovery action with significant additional funding. In June 2021, we announced £1.4 billion of additional funding for education recovery. This is in addition to the £1.7 billion already committed, bringing total investment announced for education recovery over the past year to over £3 billion. The package provides support to children aged 2 to 19 in schools, 16 to 19 providers and early years. It will expand our reforms in two areas where the evidence is clear our investment will have significant impact: high quality tutoring targeted at those that need it most and high-quality training for teachers. The one-off Recovery Premium for state-funded schools will help schools to provide their disadvantaged pupils with a boost to the support, both academic and pastoral, that has proven most effective in helping them recover from the impact of COVID-19. This is in addition to the £650 million catch-up premium shared across state-funded schools over the 2020/21 academic year, which is also supporting education settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place. The Education Endowment Foundation have published a COVID-19 support guide to support schools, which includes further information about interventions to support pupils’ mental health and wellbeing.

Our Mental Health in Education Action Group has been looking further at what more can to be done to help education settings support mental wellbeing as part of recovery. The department recently brought together all its sources of advice for schools and colleges into a single site, which includes signposting to external sources of mental health and wellbeing support for teachers, school staff and school leaders: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mental-health-and-wellbeing-support-in-schools-and-colleges#mental-health-and-wellbeing-resources. As education and health are devolved matters, these are relevant to the policy context in England, but materials may be more widely useful across the UK. The site also includes guidance to support relationships, sex and health education curriculum planning, covering of the key issues children and young people have been concerned about throughout the COVID-19 outbreak: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing.

On 10 May, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, we announced more than £17 million of mental health funding to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges. This includes £9.5 million for up to 7,800 schools to train a senior mental health lead in the next academic year, and £7 million in additional funding for local authorities to deliver the Wellbeing for Education Recovery programme. This builds on Wellbeing for Education Return in the 2020/21 academic year, which reached up to 15,000 schools across every local authority with free expert training, support and resources for staff dealing with children and young people experiencing additional pressures from the last year, including trauma, anxiety, or grief.

For further education, the College Collaboration Fund (CCF), a £5.4 million national programme of competitive grant funding delivered in the 2020/21 financial year, is helping to support learner and staff mental health and wellbeing through online programmes and remote support. One of the funded projects was Weston College’s ‘Let’s Chat’ programme, which delivered a number of wellbeing support packages accessible at any time to keep staff, students and their families safe and well during lockdown. We are now assessing bids for the CCF 2 for the 2021/22 financial year.

​With regards to higher education (HE), student mental health and suicide prevention are key priorities for this government. We continue to work closely with the HE sector to promote good practice. Universities are not only experts in their student population, but also best placed to identify the needs of their student body. The Department for Health and Social Care has overall policy responsibility for young people’s mental health. We continue to work closely with them to take steps to develop mental health and wellbeing support.

We have also increased funding to specialist services. In March, we announced a £79 million boost to children and young people’s mental health support, which will include increasing the number of Mental Health Support Teams. The support teams, which provide early intervention on mental health and emotional wellbeing issues in schools and colleges, will grow from the 59 set up by last March to around 400 by April 2023, supporting nearly 3 million children. This increase means that millions of children and young people will have access to significantly expanded mental health services. In total, £13 million will be used to accelerate progress to support young adults aged 18 to 25. This group includes university students and those not in education or training, who have reported the worst mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak, and who sometimes fall through the gap between children and adult services.

While it is for HE providers to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students to offer that support, the government is proactive in promoting good practice in this area. We continue to work closely with Universities UK on embedding the Stepchange programme within the sector. Stepchange calls on HE leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and to take a whole-institution approach, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula, and practice. The Stepchange programme relaunched in March 2020 as the Mentally Healthy Universities programme. Further information on the programme is available here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/stepchange.

The University Mental Health Charter, announced in June 2018, is backed by the government and led by the HE sector. The charter, developed in collaboration with students, staff and partner organisations, aims to drive up standards of practice, including leadership, early intervention, and data collection. Further information on the charter is available here: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/charter.html.

The department has also worked with the Office for Students (OfS) to provide Student Space, a dedicated mental health and wellbeing platform for students. Student Space has been funded by up to £3 million from the OfS in the 2020/21 academic year. We have asked the OfS to allocate £15 million towards student mental health in 2021/22 through proposed reforms to Strategic Priorities grant funding, to help address the challenges to student mental health posed by the transition to university, given the increasing demand for mental health services. This will target students in greatest need of such services, including vulnerable and hard to reach groups.

The Department recognises that restrictions to the time spent in schools over an extended period have had a substantial impact on the education of children and young people. We are committed to helping pupils make up education lost due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

To address this challenge, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, has committed to working with parents, teachers, and schools to develop a long-term plan to help schools support pupils to make up their education and wider enrichment over the course of this Parliament.

The Department is considering all options to address lost education, including time spent in schools, to ensure the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak is addressed as comprehensively as possible for all pupils. In doing so, we are mindful of the need to manage teacher workload and disruption in the short term, whilst also examining the benefits of change.

The Government has appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to oversee the long term plan. Sir Kevan will engage with parents, pupils and teachers to develop this proposal and review how evidence based interventions can be used to address the impact the COVID-19 outbreak has had on education. We will share further details in due course.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was launched to conduct a detailed, data-led examination of inequality across the entire population, and to set out a positive agenda for change. It is now right that we consider their recommendations on education in detail and assess the implications for future government policy. The Department remains committed to providing world-class education, training and care for everyone, whatever their background, and taking the action needed to address disparities.

In February 2021, we appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to advise how to help pupils make up their education over the course of this Parliament. The Commissioner will engage with parents, pupils, and teachers in the development of this broader approach which will examine a range of options, including time in education, to help education settings use evidence-based interventions to support their pupils to make up lost education.  We shall share further details on this in due course.

As an immediate step, we have invested a further £700 million to support education recovery measures, bringing total investment in catch up to £1.7 billion. This includes tutoring, summer schools in 2021 and additional support for schools, and includes significant funding aimed at addressing the needs of disadvantaged pupils.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is the domestic successor to the EU’s Structural Fund programme. It will maximise the benefits of leaving the EU through quicker delivery of funding, better targeting, better alignment with domestic priorities and by reducing EU bureaucracy.

The Department for Education is working closely with other government departments including the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions on the development of the UKSPF. As set out in the Heads of Terms published in the Spending Review 2020, a portion of the fund will be targeted to people most in need through bespoke employment and skills programmes that are tailored to local need. This will support improved employment outcomes for those in and out of work in specific cohorts of people who face labour market barriers.

The government will publish a UK wide investment framework later in 2021 and confirm the quantum funding amount at the next Spending Review.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is the domestic successor to the EU’s Structural Fund programme. It will maximise the benefits of leaving the EU through quicker delivery of funding, better targeting, better alignment with domestic priorities and by reducing EU bureaucracy.

The Department for Education is working closely with other government departments including the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions on the development of the UKSPF. As set out in the Heads of Terms published in the Spending Review 2020, a portion of the fund will be targeted to people most in need through bespoke employment and skills programmes that are tailored to local need. This will support improved employment outcomes for those in and out of work in specific cohorts of people who face labour market barriers.

The government will publish a UK wide investment framework later in 2021 and confirm the quantum funding amount at the next Spending Review.

As we address the challenges presented by the COVID-19 outbreak and prepare to seize the opportunities offered up by leaving the EU, it is vital that we support adults, irrespective of gender, to attain the skills that will be needed in the economy of the future. We recently published the white paper, Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth, focusing on giving people the skills they need so they can get great jobs in sectors the economy needs and boost this country’s productivity.

Starting this year, the government is investing £2.5 billion, rising to £3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations, in the National Skills Fund (NSF). This is a significant investment and has the potential to deliver new opportunities to generations of adults who may have been previously left behind, or who need to reskill and retrain. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer also announced £375 million for the NSF at the Spending Review in November 2020, further information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/spending-review-2020. This includes £95 million funding for a new Level 3 adult offer and £43 million for Skills Bootcamps. Investment in skills through the NSF is vital, ensuring adults have the opportunity to progress into higher wage employment and to support those who need to retrain at different points throughout their lives.

From April 2021, we will be supporting any adult aged 24 and over who wants to achieve their first full Level 3 qualification – equivalent to two A-levels, or an advanced technical certificate or diploma – to access nearly 400 fully funded courses. Alongside the Level 3 adult offer, Skills Bootcamps offer free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer. We are seeing a demand for digital and technical Skills Bootcamps across many sectors and industries, including healthcare, where take up is higher amongst women than men. We have also introduced bootcamps that specifically aim to support women to access training in a range of digital and technical qualifications, including subjects known to be traditionally “male-dominated”. For example, the Software Engineering Academy for women in the West Midlands is designed to prepare women for careers in software engineering.

Through our lifelong loan entitlement, we will also make it easier for adults and young people to study more flexibly. This will allow them to space out their studies across their lifetimes, transfer credits between colleges and universities, and enable more part-time study.

We are also investing £1.34 billion in the 2020/21 academic year through the adult education budget (AEB), which will provide education and skills training for adults. The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to Level 3, helping them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.

Last year we introduced the Skills Toolkit, an online platform providing free courses to help individuals build the skills that are most sought after by employers. We have recently expanded the platform so that people can now choose from over 70 courses, covering digital, adult numeracy, employability, and work readiness skills, which have been identified as the skills employers need the most. These courses will help people stay in work or take up new jobs and opportunities.

In July last year, the Plan for Jobs was announced by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which includes incentives for employers to take on new apprentices, including those over 25, and an additional £17 million to increase the number of sector-based work academy programme placements in the 2020/21 academic year.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is the domestic successor to the EU Structural Fund programme. It will maximise the benefits of leaving the EU through quicker delivery of funding, better targeting, better alignment with domestic priorities and by cutting burdensome EU bureaucracy.

The department is working closely with other government departments including the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions on the development of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. As set out in the heads of terms published at Spending Review 2020, a portion of the fund will be targeted to people most in need through bespoke employment and skills programmes that are tailored to local need. This will support improved employment outcomes for those in and out of work in specific cohorts of people who face labour market barriers.

The government will set out further details of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in a UK-wide investment framework published in the spring.

The Department for Education works closely with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and its agencies, including Public Health England (PHE), on action to promote good mental health and wellbeing. On 8 September, PHE launched a mental wellbeing campaign for children and young people. It expands PHE’s Better Health-Every Mind Matters website with content specifically for children and young people and their parents and carers.

We know that the COVID-19 outbreak is having a particular impact on children and young people’s wellbeing and mental health. DHSC have published a mental health and wellbeing support plan, setting out a wide range of actions that the government is supporting across the NHS and wider services to support mental health and wellbeing recovery, including for children and young people. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staying-mentally-well-winter-plan-2020-to-2021/staying-mentally-well-this-winter.

The plan highlights the importance of the action that we have taken to ensure that pupils are able to return to school. It also sets out a range of actions that have been taken by the department to support schools, and specific groups of children and young people. This includes the £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme, providing schools and colleges with the knowledge and access to resources to support children and young people, teachers and parents.

The department engages regularly with key children’s charities and has valued the insight and challenge from charities in shaping our response to supporting children through the COVID-19 outbreak. Our focus has been to ensure that, together, we support as many children as possible. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak we have met monthly with the NSPCC, and several other key children’s charities, to understand key issues facing the system, the challenges facing vulnerable young people, and to ensure a coherent response to providing support.

Additionally, to inform our work to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people, my hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health, and I held a roundtable in July, attended by stakeholders from NHS mental health services, local government, and the voluntary and community sector, including Childline. This was conducted to explore ways of mitigating the mental health impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on children and young people and strengthen partnership working between schools, mental health services, and local organisations.

To increase support further in the long term, we remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with DHSC and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams linked to schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges, and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.

The government continues to prioritise the wellbeing and long-term future of our children and young people and early years settings, schools, colleges and universities remain open.

Some individuals are exempt from wearing face coverings. This includes children and young people who cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering because of a physical or mental illness, impairment, or disability and people who are speaking, or providing assistance, to someone who relies on lip reading, clear sound or facial expression to communicate. These exemptions apply in education settings and may be particularly relevant to children and young people with hearing impairments.

We have published guidance on face coverings in education settings, which was updated on 5 November 2020. It includes that face coverings could have a negative impact on teaching and their use in the classroom should currently be avoided. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-in-education/face-coverings-in-education.

In England, languages are included in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) at Key Stage 4. Since September 2019, Ofsted’s new inspection framework has placed a renewed focus on all pupils benefiting from a broad, balanced, and ambitious curriculum. Since the introduction of the EBacc performance measure in 2010, the proportion of GCSE entries from pupils in state-funded schools in a modern foreign language (MFL) has increased from 40% in 2010 to 47% in 2019.

The Department’s £2.41 million MFL Pedagogy Pilot, run by the National Centre of Excellence in Languages Pedagogy, commenced in December 2018 with a mission to improve language curriculum design and pedagogy. The Centre has developed an open database which includes schemes of work and resources. It also runs a pilot network of 18 specialist teachers in nine lead schools, each working with four local hub schools, as well as with a wider network of a further 90 schools. The aim of this collaborative network of MFL teachers and schools is to raise standards of language teaching through the sharing of resources and good practice. In May 2020, the programme was extended to December 2021, receiving an additional £1.45 million funding.

During the summer term, as part of over £160 million invested to support remote education and access to online social care, the Department delivered over 220,000 laptops and tablets and over 50,000 4G wireless routers to children who would not otherwise have access. The programme is thought to have been the biggest and fastest deployment of laptops in the UK - at its peak, 27,000 laptops were delivered through a fleet of couriers in a single day.

The laptops and tablets were an injection of support to help local authorities and academy trusts to provide access to education and social care during the COVID-19 restriction period. Data on how many devices were delivered to local authorities and academy trusts can be viewed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/912888/Devices_and_4G_wireless_routers_progress_data_as_of_27_August_2020.pdf.

The Department is now supplementing this support by making 250,000 additional laptops and tablets available in the event that face to face schooling is disrupted as a result of local COVID-19 restrictions and children become reliant on remote education.

The government remains committed to promoting and supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. Access to mental health and wellbeing support is more important than ever during the COVID-19 outbreak and the department has taken action to ensure schools and colleges are equipped to support children and young people.

We have in particular prioritised children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 outbreak. Getting children and young people back into school and college is itself key to their wellbeing. We have worked hard to ensure that all pupils and learners were able to return to a full high-quality education programme in September. Our £1 billion COVID-19 catch-up package, with £650 million shared across schools over the 2020-21 academic year, is supporting education settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place.

Staff in schools and colleges need to be equipped to understand that some of their pupils may be experiencing feelings such as anxiety, stress or low mood as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, that these are normal responses to an abnormal situation and how to respond. This is a central part of our guidance both on remote education and on the return to school. We supported this with a range of training and materials, including webinars, which have been accessed by thousands of education staff and accelerating training on how to teach about mental health as part of the new relationships, sex and health curriculum, so that all pupils can benefit from this long-term requirement.

To continue this support we are investing £8 million in the Wellbeing for Education Return programme, which will provide schools and colleges all over England with the knowledge and practical skills they need to support teachers, students and parents, to help improve how they respond to the emotional impact of the COVID-19. The programme is funding expert advisers in every area of England to train and support schools and colleges during the autumn and spring terms. More details are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wellbeing-for-education-return-grant-s31-grant-determination-letter.

In further education, the department has provided £5.4 million of competitive grant funding through the College Collaboration Fund and five of the projects funded support student and staff mental health and wellbeing through online programmes and remote support.

Schools and colleges are not mental health professionals, and it is important that more specialist support is available for children and their families. All NHS mental health trusts have ensured that there are 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of all ages. Public Health England and Health Education England have also developed advice and guidance for parents and professionals on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing.

We have also provided £9.2 million of additional funding for mental health charities, including charities such as Young Minds, to support adults and children struggling with their mental wellbeing during this time.

In the long term, we remain committed to our major joint green paper delivery programme with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England. This includes introducing new mental health support teams linked to schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges, and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.

Whilst over 7 million pupils are back in the classroom, we recognise that some parents will still have concerns. In such cases we recommend schools discuss with parents their concerns, and provide reassurance of the measures in place to minimise the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in their school.

In the guidance for full opening, we asked schools and local authorities to communicate clear and consistent expectations around attendance to families, and to use the additional catch up funding settings will receive. In addition, schools should make full use of existing pastoral and support services, attendance staff, and pupil premium funding to put measures in place for those families who will need additional support to return to school. Relevant guidance can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#attendance.

Schools and local authorities have also been asked to work closely with other professionals, as appropriate, to support pupils’ return to school, including continuing to notify a child’s social worker, if they have one, of non-attendance.

As is usually the case, schools should follow up whenever a pupil is absent to ascertain the reason and ensure any appropriate safeguarding action is taken. Schools have a duty to inform the local authority of any pupil of compulsory school age who has had a continuous period of unauthorised absence of ten school days or more.

On the 1 October, the Department announced a package of remote education support designed to help schools and colleges build on and deliver their existing plans in the event that individual or groups of pupils are unable to attend school because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Schools can access a new central support hub, where resources and information on remote education will be housed. This support has been co-designed with schools and includes a range of school-led webinars and resources intended to share good practice. We are also investing £1.5 million of additional funding to expand the EdTech Demonstrator programme, which provides peer-to-peer support for schools and colleges.

This adds to existing support including the resources available from Oak National Academy. The Department has made £4.84 million available for Oak National Academy, both for the summer term of the academic year 2019-20 and the 2020-21 academic year, to provide video lessons for reception up to year 11. It provides lessons across a broad range of subjects and includes specialist content for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. Oak National Academy will remain a free optional resource for 2020-21.

The support package can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

The Department is committed to the continuation of high-quality education for all pupils during this difficult time. We also want to make clear that schools have a duty to provide remote education for state-funded, school-age children who are unable to attend school due to the COVID-19 outbreak in line with guidance and the law. We have, therefore, published a Direction which provides an express legal duty on schools to provide remote education in these circumstances. The purpose of this direction is to provide greater certainty for all involved in the education sector, including parents, teachers and schools themselves.

We understand the need for effective and timely assessment of children who require special needs support. The department’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Improvement and Intervention Unit, alongside NHS England, will be engaging with all local areas to discuss progress on recovery from the disruption caused by the outbreak of COVID-19, and the return to school for children with SEND. This will include representatives from local authorities, health and the parent carer forum for the area, and will be led by the department’s professional SEND advisers, Department for Education case leads and an NHS England SEND adviser.

One section focuses on statutory processes, education, health and care (EHC) plans and annual reviews. SEND advisers will probe local areas on the timeliness and quality of plans, any barriers to progress, such as capacity to reduce EHC plan backlogs, and actions proposed by local areas to address weaknesses identified. The local authority engagement will also aim to ascertain if the areas have improvement needs that can be addressed by the department’s funded delivery support programme.

We are increasing high needs funding for local authorities by £780 million this year and a further £730 million next year, which means high needs budgets will have grown by nearly a quarter in just 2 years. In addition, local authorities have been allocated a further £3.7 billion to help their communities through the COVID-19 outbreak. This funding is un-ringfenced, recognising local authorities are best placed to decide how to meet the major COVID-19 service pressures in their local area, including support to children’s services.

We have worked closely with Universities UK and other sector representatives to ensure that international higher education students are welcomed to the UK and that their fellow students’ health and wellbeing is being catered for. Those students travelling from countries not on our exemption list will need to self-isolate for 14 days. We expect these students to be supported by their chosen university as soon as they arrive in the country, if not before.

While it is for individuals to abide by all regulations, universities have a duty to ensure their students are safe and well looked after during the 14-day self-isolation period. The government has produced guidance on isolation for residential educational settings, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-isolation-for-residential-educational-settings/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-isolation-for-residential-educational-settings.

Universities UK have also produced bespoke guidance for universities on how to prepare for and care for students who are required to self-isolate on arrival in the UK. This guidance sets out the principles to consider in ensuring students are fully and properly supported throughout this period. We would encourage them to have regard for this guidance when planning for the arrival of international students who need to isolate. The guidance is available here:
https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2020/self-isolation-guidance.pdf.

The Department for Education (DfE) recognise the substantial risk that some young people who would usually enter the labour market this year will find themselves unemployed instead.

On 8 July, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a plan to support jobs. Measures announced as part of the plan are being delivered by both the Department for Work and Pensions and DfE, who are working closely together to ensure a co-ordinated approach.

These measures form a plan to support jobs focusing on skills and young people. This includes a new £2 billion Kickstart Scheme to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people aged 16 to 24 claiming Universal Credit. Funding available for 6 month job placements will cover 100% of the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week.

£1.6 billion is also being invested to scale up employment support schemes and training. This includes nearly £900 million to double the number of work coaches to 27,000 and over £500 million in a package of support to ensure young people have the skills and training to go on to high quality, secure and fulfilling employment.

This support includes a new payment of £2,000 that employers are now able to claim for every new apprentice they hire under the age of 25, and £1,500 for those 25 and over. Employers can start claiming for payments from 1 September. £111 million will also be provided to triple the scale of traineeships, with 3 times more funding available to providers in 2020/21 to support 30,000 new places. We have also introduced payments of £1,000 per trainee for employers who offer new or additional work placements for up to 10 trainees.

In addition, we are providing £101 million to give 18 and 19-year-old school and college leavers the opportunity to study high value level 2 and 3 courses when there are no employment opportunities available to them. We will also be making £32 million available over 2 years to help 269,000 more people receive advice from the National Careers Service and £17 million available to triple the number of sector based work academy programme placements in 2020/21. This is enough funding to support an extra 40,000 job seekers with additional training opportunities and the chance of a job.

Starting this Parliament, we are also providing £2.5 billion (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations), for the National Skills Fund to help adults learn valuable skills and prepare for the economy of the future. The fund aims to boost productivity and ensure more people and places can share in the rewards that improved productivity can bring.

Both Cabinet colleagues and school leaders are aware of our plan for all pupils, in all year groups, to return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term. All school kitchens are expected to be open and deliver healthy and nutritious meals that meet the School Food Standards. Further guidance for schools is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.

As of 4 July, all providers offering wraparound care, holiday clubs and out-of-school activities for children have been able to open for both indoor and outdoor provision with safety measures in place. We have published guidance for providers of these activities on the measures they should put in place to ensure they are operating as safely as possible, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

We recognise that breakfast clubs and wraparound care will give pupils opportunities to re-engage with their peers and with school, ensure children have a healthy breakfast and are ready to focus on their lessons, provide enrichment activities, and support working parents.

Therefore, as outlined in the guidance for full opening of schools published by the department, schools should consider resuming any breakfast and after-school provision, where possible, from the start of the autumn term. We recognise that schools may need to respond flexibly and build this up over time. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

However, schools should carefully consider how they can make such provision work alongside their wider protective measures, including keeping children within their year groups or bubbles where possible. If it is not possible to maintain bubbles being used during the school day then schools should use small, consistent groups. Schools can consult the guidance produced for summer holiday childcare, as much of this will be useful in planning extra-curricular provision.

All schools are required to teach a balanced and broad curriculum that helps provide young people with knowledge, skills and understanding to prepare them to play a full and active part in society.

Cooking and nutrition is a discrete strand of the design and technology programme of study within the National Curriculum which was introduced in 2014. It is compulsory in state-maintained schools for Key Stages 1-3 (ages 5 to 14), and can be used as an exemplar for free schools and academies. The curriculum aims to teach children how to cook and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and good nutrition. It recognises that cooking is an important life skill that will help children to feed themselves and others healthy and affordable food. By the end of Key Stage 3, pupils should be able to cook a repertoire of predominantly savoury dishes and be competent in a range of cooking techniques.

A new food preparation and nutrition GCSE was also introduced in September 2016. It requires pupils to understand and apply the principles of food science, nutrition and healthy eating when preparing and cooking food. The first exams in this new qualification were taken in summer 2018.

All schools are required to teach a balanced and broad curriculum that helps provide young people with knowledge, skills and understanding to prepare them to play a full and active part in society.

Cooking and nutrition is a discrete strand of the design and technology programme of study within the National Curriculum which was introduced in 2014. It is compulsory in state-maintained schools for Key Stages 1-3 (ages 5 to 14), and can be used as an exemplar for free schools and academies. The curriculum aims to teach children how to cook and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and good nutrition. It recognises that cooking is an important life skill that will help children to feed themselves and others healthy and affordable food. By the end of Key Stage 3, pupils should be able to cook a repertoire of predominantly savoury dishes and be competent in a range of cooking techniques.

A new food preparation and nutrition GCSE was also introduced in September 2016. It requires pupils to understand and apply the principles of food science, nutrition and healthy eating when preparing and cooking food. The first exams in this new qualification were taken in summer 2018.

The School Food Standards, as set out in ‘The Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014’, provide the legislative framework to ensure schools provide children with healthy food and drink options, and to make sure that children get the energy and nutrition they need across the school day.

Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for all maintained schools. We also expect all academies and free schools to comply with the standards, and since 2014 we have made this an explicit requirement in their funding agreements.

The government made a commitment to update the standards in the Childhood Obesity Action Plan, and in 2019 we commissioned Public Health England to provide expert nutritional advice and develop proposed updates to the standards, incorporating feedback from an advisory group consisting of suppliers, schools, charities, nutritionists and other stakeholder organisations.

The School Food Standards, as set out in ‘The Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014’, provide the legislative framework to ensure schools provide children with healthy food and drink options, and to make sure that children get the energy and nutrition they need across the school day.

Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for all maintained schools. We also expect all academies and free schools to comply with the standards, and since 2014 we have made this an explicit requirement in their funding agreements.

The government made a commitment to update the standards in the Childhood Obesity Action Plan, and in 2019 we commissioned Public Health England to provide expert nutritional advice and develop proposed updates to the standards, incorporating feedback from an advisory group consisting of suppliers, schools, charities, nutritionists and other stakeholder organisations.