Jo Platt

We are committed to delivering better life chances for all - breaking the link between background and success. At the Budget, the Chancellor announced increases to both the National Minimum Wage (16.3% for those aged 18-20) and the National Living Wage (6.7% for those 21 and over), as well as a £240 million Get Britain Working package to improve support for people who are economically inactive, unemployed or want to develop their careers. Through our Mission-driven Government, we will build the skills people need for opportunity and growth.

This Government will also, at last, commence the socio-economic duty in section 1 of the Equality Act 2010. The duty will require public bodies, when making strategic decisions, to actively consider how their decisions might help to reduce the inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage. We will be updating Parliament on this in due course.

We are committed to delivering better life chances for all - breaking the link between background and success. At the Budget, the Chancellor announced increases to both the National Minimum Wage (16.3% for those aged 18-20) and the National Living Wage (6.7% for those 21 and over), as well as a £240 million Get Britain Working package to improve support for people who are economically inactive, unemployed or want to develop their careers. Through our Mission-driven Government, we will build the skills people need for opportunity and growth.

This Government will also, at last, commence the socio-economic duty in section 1 of the Equality Act 2010. The duty will require public bodies, when making strategic decisions, to actively consider how their decisions might help to reduce the inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage. We will be updating Parliament on this in due course.

The Spending Review will set resource or day-to-day departmental budgets until 2028-29 and capital departmental budgets until 2029-30. I and my Cabinet Office officials engage regularly with HM Treasury to support the Spending Review, the outcomes of which will inform the delivery of the Resilience Review. The resilience review is considering established practices and policies to support UK resilience against the full spectrum of risks we face. It is evidence based and is identifying what should be kept, changed or improved to ensure we are best prepared now and into the future.

The Cabinet Office recognises the valuable role that the voluntary and community sector can play in all aspects of resilience. The Cabinet Office has ensured that contributions from a range of Voluntary, Community, and Faith sector representatives have been able to inform the resilience review, specifically to inform the understanding of disproportionate impacts to at-risk groups in emergencies. The Cabinet Office has ongoing engagement with the sector. The Head of Resilience in the Cabinet Office chairs the Voluntary and Community Sector Strategic Discussion Forum every six months. The Forum brings together senior leaders from national voluntary sector organisations and central government. We will continue to explore opportunities to further strengthen voluntary, community and faith sector engagement to build national resilience as part of the resilience review.

Disproportionate impacts and vulnerability is a key focus of the Cabinet Office-led review of our approach to resilience. We are engaging with charitable, faith and other representative organisations to understand how the reduction and prevention of disproportionate impacts to at-risk groups and persons can be better considered in resilience planning and policy.

The government is taking significant steps to support retail and hospitality businesses on high streets. From April 2026, we are introducing permanently lower business‑rates multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure properties, worth nearly £900 million a year and benefiting over 750,000 premises. In recognition of the impact of the revaluation on bills, the government has introduced £4.3 billion transitional support package, to protect ratepayers from large overnight increases.

We have also announced further targeted support for pubs, and from April eligible pubs will receive a 15% cut to their new business‑rates bills, followed by a two‑year real‑terms freeze. We are also more than doubling the Hospitality Support Fund, with £10 million funding over three years. Later this year, we will bring forward a new High Streets Strategy, to help reinvigorate our communities.

The Department for Business and Trade committed to launching a Call for Evidence on co-operative and mutual business by the end of the year.

The Industrial Strategy Advisory Council (ISAC) supports the government's objective of delivering a long-term Industrial Strategy. Members have been appointed based on their expertise and wide-ranging experience and there is extensive business experience on the Council across a wide range of sectors and sizes of businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises.

The ISAC will make and publish recommendations on the development and implementation of the Industrial Strategy, including an annual report on its work.

The UK Government is aware of the current underrepresentation of women in manufacturing and is committed to advancing diversity within the sector. In the recently published Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan we state our intent to improve the equality profile of the sector through a Make UK-led equalities taskforce and by sponsoring an Equality Charter. This will be co-developed with industry stakeholders, including the aim of achieving 35% representation of women in the UK manufacturing sector by 2035.

The Industrial Strategy's Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan sets out this government's plans to support manufacturers to grow and thrive, boosting jobs and increasing prosperity across the UK. SMEs will benefit from a range of policies, including skills, energy, scale-up and innovation, for example directly benefitting from the expansion of Made Smarter Adoption, with up to £99m of funding.

The Industrial Strategy will complement the recently published SME Small Business Plan that will span this Government's whole approach to driving small business growth and productivity - from boosting scale-ups to supporting budding entrepreneurs.

National design planning practice guidance highlights that reusing and adapting buildings can reduce embodied carbon emissions and waste, and lower resource consumption while improving energy performance.

Through the Warm Homes Plan, we are investing £15 billion to upgrade up to 5 million homes, helping to cut bills, lift up to one million households out of fuel poverty by 2030, and create good jobs across the country.

Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, included proposals relating to climate change mitigation, including taking opportunities to re-use existing structures and materials. We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.

The Department recognises that the reuse and retrofitting of existing buildings can offer significant carbon benefits compared to demolition and new build, by avoiding emissions associated with new materials and construction. Improving the efficiency of existing homes and buildings, currently responsible for around one-fifth of UK emissions, is key to reducing energy demand, cutting bills and supporting energy security.

Through the Warm Homes Plan the Government is prioritising upgrades to existing buildings including insulation, solar panels, batteries and low-carbon heating, alongside reforms to standards and advice to support high quality retrofit. New development will continue to play a role, and the Government has recently published the Future Homes Standard to ensure that new homes and non-domestic buildings are built with low carbon heating and high levels of energy efficiency.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) work closely together to coordinate research into Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). Extensive support is provided to early-career researchers through the NIHR Academy and NIHR Infrastructure.

ME/CFS is a priority area for UKRI’s Medical Research Council (MRC) and it has committed over £4,460,000 to ME/CFS research since 2020. NIHR has also committed approximately £3.7 million to this area across the 2019/20-2023/24 financial years.

MRC recently awarded funding to PRIME, a £800,000 partnership to build new research infrastructure for ME/CFS research. PRIME will establish new research collaborations, bringing together researchers and private sector partners, to investigate the genetics, biomarkers and disease mechanisms of ME/CFS.

The Government published a consultation on Copyright and AI in December 2024.

This consultation sought views on creating an effective rights reservation system. This would provide rights holders across the UK, including those in Leigh and Atherton, with the ability to prevent AI developers from using their copyright works in AI training, and/or negotiate licences for their use.

The consultation closed on 25 February. The Government’s priority now is to review all responses to the consultation, gathering the evidence to inform its next steps. The Government will continue to engage extensively before setting out proposals in due course.

The Government’s consultation on Copyright and AI closed on 25th February.

It sought views from both AI developers and rights holders on creating an effective rights reservation system. We will not move forward with any option until we are confident that it will be effective, proportionate, and accessible to both individual creators and larger rights holders.

The Government’s priority now is to review all responses to the consultation, gathering the evidence to inform its next steps. The Government will continue to engage extensively before setting out proposals in due course.

The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal. The government has been consulting civil society as this process unfolds. This includes attending meetings with animal protection organisations and considering documentation sent by such organisations to the Government.

The Government is committed to supporting the use of alternative methods to the use of animals in science and the Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal. The government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year. The government has been and will continue to consult civil society as this process unfolds.

DCMS is committed to supporting grassroots cultural organisations and spurring local creative economy growth.

We launched the Creative Foundations Fund in February 2025, as part of our £1.5bn Arts Everywhere investment. This will invest up to £425m in arts and cultural organisations in England over five years.

The Creative Places Growth Fund will provide £150m of devolved funding across six Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England to turbocharge local creative industries.

Moreover, places across the UK, including many post-industrial towns, have had the opportunity to bid into the UK City of Culture and UK Town of Culture competitions. Notably, both competitions have guaranteed funding to the winners of £10m and £3m respectively.

The Department is not currently developing a national Cultural Infrastructure Map. However, extensive work has been undertaken by Arts Council England and Historic England to effectively map the cultural and heritage infrastructure of England. The Arts Council's Culture and Place Data Explorer maps the currently available datasets related to cultural services across the country, including the location of Theatres, Libraries, ACE accredited museums and charitable organisations delivering culture, heritage and science related activities. Additionally Historic England publishes data relating to assets such as heritage sites, heritage at risk and conservation areas. This data can be found on their website. In addition to this the department has undertaken work to map areas of low engagement and underprovision to help in selecting Culture Priority Places. The methodology will be published in due course.

The continued success of the creative industries is dependent on the diverse people who work within them, and we value and support the potential of neurodivergent workers and their impact on the creative industries. Whilst we already publish employment data broken down by disability status in the creative industries, the Creative Industries Sector Plan committed DCMS to tackling barriers to data collection. We will continue to work with industry to develop new data and evidence and improve access to official statistics, evidence and data, both of which are important to understand representation of neurodiverse people in our creative sectors.

Making creative careers accessible for everyone is a key priority for the Government. That is why we work closely with the Disability and Access Ambassador for the creative industries to drive improvements in the accessibility and quality of services and facilities in the industry for disabled people. We also committed in our Sector Plan to a refreshed UK-wide £9 million creative careers service, to raise awareness of creative careers and support young people from all backgrounds. We are working closely with industry partners to design next year’s expanded programme, ensuring inclusive access for young people outside major urban centres, including those with SEND or other access considerations. Our Creative Careers Programme work experience pilot successfully engaged a diverse and inclusive group of young people, with 81% of the young people who completed a placement in the last year having identified access or additional needs.

The government can't achieve our goals alone, which is why we work closely with the sector to improve inclusivity, through the Creative Industries Council, and our continued support for the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA). We have been pleased to see vital industry initiatives to monitor and improve diversity, such as Project Diamond and the TV Access Project. However, there clearly remains work to do and we want to see stronger efforts from industry to improve diversity and representation, and create career opportunities for all.

The UK’s independent production sector plays a vital role in our world-leading creative economy. We recognise that the current market is challenging for many independent producers, which is why we are providing support though a generous 53% tax credit for independent production; through scaling up the UK Global Screen Fund from £7 million to £18 million a year so it can better support independent production, distribution and business development; and through a £150 million Creative Places Growth Fund for six priority areas to support their creative industries, for example by boosting their local screen ecologies.

Our Creative Industries Sector Plan also commits to removing barriers to growth by supporting better access to finance, including through increased support from public finance institutions such as the British Business Bank to increase the pool of debt and equity finance available to the creative industries, with a specific focus on IP-backed lending.

We want our film and TV sector to remain vibrant and dynamic, where production companies of all sizes can create, collaborate and invest in the UK. We have been clear that we do not believe that introducing levies or investment obligations on streamers is the right way to achieve this. We will however continue to engage with major streaming services, with the independent production sector and with Public Service Broadcasters on how best to ensure mutually beneficial conditions for all parties.

The UK’s independent production sector plays a vital role in our world-leading creative economy. We recognise that the current market is challenging for many independent producers, which is why we are providing support though a generous 53% tax credit for independent production; through scaling up the UK Global Screen Fund from £7 million to £18 million a year so it can better support independent production, distribution and business development; and through a £150 million Creative Places Growth Fund for six priority areas to support their creative industries, for example by boosting their local screen ecologies.

Our Creative Industries Sector Plan also commits to removing barriers to growth by supporting better access to finance, including through increased support from public finance institutions such as the British Business Bank to increase the pool of debt and equity finance available to the creative industries, with a specific focus on IP-backed lending.

We want our film and TV sector to remain vibrant and dynamic, where production companies of all sizes can create, collaborate and invest in the UK. We have been clear that we do not believe that introducing levies or investment obligations on streamers is the right way to achieve this. We will however continue to engage with major streaming services, with the independent production sector and with Public Service Broadcasters on how best to ensure mutually beneficial conditions for all parties.

The department recognises that Armed Forces life may present particular challenges for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including the need for their families to relocate regularly. Nationally, we want there to be much greater consistency in the support for children and young people with SEND.

Our reforms include proposals for new National Inclusion Standards, setting out support that should be available in every mainstream setting. We also proposed a nationally consistent set of specialist provision packages to provide comprehensive, evidence-based support for children and young people with the most complex needs, underpinning education, health and care (EHC) plans. Additionally, EHC plans and new Individual Support Plans will be digital, and help deliver smoother transitions when families move.

We will confirm our intentions over reform in light of the consultation responses.

Data is collected on a pupil’s SEN provision or whether their parent(s), or person(s) exercising parental responsibility, are service personnel via the school census.

Further information about the school census is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complete-the-school-census/data-items-2025-to-2026

Although analysis combining both SEN and service status is not routinely undertaken, overall data on educational outcomes for service children is published annually by the Ministry of Defence and is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/armed-forces-covenant-annual-reports

The department recognises that Armed Forces life may present particular challenges for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including the need for their families to relocate regularly. Nationally, we want there to be much greater consistency in the support for children and young people with SEND.

Our reforms include proposals for new National Inclusion Standards, setting out support that should be available in every mainstream setting. We also proposed a nationally consistent set of specialist provision packages to provide comprehensive, evidence-based support for children and young people with the most complex needs, underpinning education, health and care (EHC) plans. Additionally, EHC plans and new Individual Support Plans will be digital, and help deliver smoother transitions when families move.

We will confirm our intentions over reform in light of the consultation responses.

Data is collected on a pupil’s SEN provision or whether their parent(s), or person(s) exercising parental responsibility, are service personnel via the school census.

Further information about the school census is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complete-the-school-census/data-items-2025-to-2026

Although analysis combining both SEN and service status is not routinely undertaken, overall data on educational outcomes for service children is published annually by the Ministry of Defence and is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/armed-forces-covenant-annual-reports

The department recognises that Armed Forces life may present particular challenges for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including the need for their families to relocate regularly. Nationally, we want there to be much greater consistency in the support for children and young people with SEND.

Our reforms include proposals for new National Inclusion Standards, setting out support that should be available in every mainstream setting. We also proposed a nationally consistent set of specialist provision packages to provide comprehensive, evidence-based support for children and young people with the most complex needs, underpinning education, health and care (EHC) plans. Additionally, EHC plans and new Individual Support Plans will be digital, and help deliver smoother transitions when families move.

We will confirm our intentions over reform in light of the consultation responses.

Data is collected on a pupil’s SEN provision or whether their parent(s), or person(s) exercising parental responsibility, are service personnel via the school census.

Further information about the school census is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complete-the-school-census/data-items-2025-to-2026

Although analysis combining both SEN and service status is not routinely undertaken, overall data on educational outcomes for service children is published annually by the Ministry of Defence and is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/armed-forces-covenant-annual-reports