Max Wilkinson

This Government has set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade and we are determined to deliver on that ambition.

We will keep all legislation under review as we develop our approach to tackle sexual exploitation and violence against women and girls. We currently have no plans to change the law but will consider licensing regulations to make sure that they are protecting the vulnerable and tackling sexual crime, as well as public nuisance.

Public inquiries are independent of Government and can make recommendations of their choosing. Government takes the recommendations of inquiries very seriously, and determines which recommendations it accepts. To ensure clarity and transparency of progress on the recommendations that Government has accepted, we have established a record on GOV.UK of inquiry recommendations, starting with the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and Infected Blood Inquiry. This will be periodically updated and expanded to capture future inquiry recommendations. This will be an enduring mechanism for monitoring and tracking government implementation of inquiry recommendations. It will allow the public to track the progress of implementation enhancing public trust in Government.

The Public Office (Accountability) Bill is currently progressing through parliament. The legislation will include a requirement that all public bodies establish a professional duty of candour for staff set out within a wider code of ethics. This obligation will require public bodies to promote the ethical conduct of their employees. The Government will drive forward implementation with determination and hold public sector organisations accountable. Public Sector leaders will join ministers on a dedicated new implementation board to monitor progress.

Public inquiries are independent of Government and can make recommendations of their choosing. Government takes the recommendations of inquiries very seriously, and determines which recommendations it accepts. To ensure clarity and transparency of progress on the recommendations that Government has accepted, we have established a record on GOV.UK of inquiry recommendations, starting with the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and Infected Blood Inquiry. This will be periodically updated and expanded to capture future inquiry recommendations. This will be an enduring mechanism for monitoring and tracking government implementation of inquiry recommendations. It will allow the public to track the progress of implementation enhancing public trust in Government.

Members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme are eligible for ill-health retirement benefits under the Scheme if the Scheme Medical Adviser is of the opinion that they have suffered a permanent breakdown in health involving incapacity for employment. The eligibility criteria was reviewed on the introduction of the Alpha scheme in 2015, and are consistent with those in other public service pension schemes.

The Cabinet Office regularly monitors ill-health retirement cases and currently 99.9% of quotes for ill health retirement are being issued within 10 days by the scheme administrator.

The Department recognises the importance of timely access to ill health retirement and there is a process in place to ensure that members, employers, the scheme medical advisor and, where appropriate, the pension scheme administrator, all work together to complete this as quickly as possible.

Whilst there are indicative timelines for various steps, timelines may vary due to the complexity of each case and complex cases may take longer when external parties are also required to contribute to the process.

Employers and members have oversight of progress of their own individual cases and the Cabinet Office continues to monitor the contractual performance of the scheme medical advisor and the pension scheme administrator.

The appointment process for the Director of Government Communications followed the process for Permanent Secretary recruitment set out in the Civil Service Recruitment Principles (here, paragraphs 44 - 47).

The role was advertised on Civil Service Jobs from 19 May to 15 June 2025.

The Companies Act 2006 requires directors to have regard to employee interests and to the impact of the company’s operations on the community and the environment. The UK Corporate Governance Code includes provisions that support inclusive governance, including mechanisms to enable the workforce to engage with directors and for workers to raise concerns in confidence. The Public Sector Equality Duty in the Equality Act 2010 requires public authorities, and those carrying out public functions, to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between different people.

The Government recognises that the whistleblowing framework in the Employment Rights Act 1996 may not be operating as effectively as intended. My Department in July published an independent review into the framework, which did not make formal recommendations for reform but did provide some useful analyses on the functioning of the framework based on stakeholder engagement and a literature review.

The review is a helpful contribution to the governments ongoing assessment of the framework, and the Government welcomes the continued engagement of parliamentarians and stakeholders on this important area of public policy.

The government is committed to putting fans back at the heart of live events by clamping down on exploitative practices in the ticket resale market. We ran a consultation earlier this year to seek views on a range of proposals, including a price cap that would restrict the price at which tickets could lawfully be resold.

We are currently reviewing all the evidence that we received in response to our consultation. We will set out our plans in the government response, which we intend to publish in the coming weeks.

Details of the Department for Business and Trade’s ministerial meetings can be found at Gov.uk.

Earlier this year, the government consulted on the resale of live events tickets to seek views on a range of proposals aimed at improving fairness for consumers – including a price cap that would restrict the price at which tickets could lawfully be resold.

In the consultation document, we set out our assessment of the beneficial role of the secondary ticketing market and ongoing issues relating to how it currently operates.

We are currently reviewing all the evidence that we received in response to the consultation and we intend to publish the government response later this summer.

The Government supports ground mount solar through its Contracts for Difference scheme, which has supported 7.5GW so far. It supports demand for rooftop solar by various means, including favourable tax treatment, permitted development rights, new building standards, the Smart Export Guarantee, and the £13.2bn being made available through the ambitious Warm Homes Plan.

The Government recently published the Solar Roadmap, which set out actions for government and industry to remove barriers to deployment. Progress will be monitored by a Ministerially chaired Solar Council, allowing industry representatives to engage directly on any challenges or opportunities which arise.

To support local authorities to implement the Warm Homes: Local Grant, the Government is funding a free Technical Assistance Facility called the Retrofit Information, Support and Expertise: ‘RISE’. RISE provides technical support for local authorities from when they request funding to beginning to upgrade homes, as well as access to experts, training and guidance to enhance their capability to deliver the scheme. All local authorities in England can access support through this facility. In addition, Government has procured a delivery partner to provide ongoing support to local authorities throughout the delivery period, with each project assigned a Delivery Support Manager to provide project delivery expertise.

Retrofit, Information, Support, and Expertise (RISE) is a free support service funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), which provides training, guidance and support to help social housing providers, local authorities and their supply chains across England plan and deliver successful domestic retrofit programmes. For specific queries relating to support received or available to specific organisations, organisations are encouraged to engage with the RISE team directly at info@riseretrofit.org.uk . If organisations would like to speak to the department about the RISE service, you are welcome to contact DESNZ at: TAF mailbox. tafteam@energysecurity.gov.uk

Cheltenham Borough Council participates in the Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG) as part of a consortium led by Stroud District Council. Stroud District Council is expected to receive the initial payment of WH:LG funding shortly, subject to the Council completing any administrative actions requested.

As the consortium lead, Stroud District Council will be responsible for managing any distribution of funding to consortium members, including Cheltenham Borough Council.

Retrofit, Information, Support, and Expertise (RISE) is a free support service funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), which provides training, guidance and support to help housing providers and their supply chains across England, to plan and deliver successful domestic retrofit programmes. For specific queries relating to support received or available to supply chain organisations, including in specific regions. organisations are encouraged to engage with the RISE team directly at info@riseretrofit.org.uk . If organisations would like to speak to the department about the RISE service, you are welcome to contact DESNZ at: TAF mailbox. tafteam@energysecurity.gov.uk

Proportionality is a core principle of the Online Safety Act and is in-built into its duties. As online safety regulator, Ofcom must consider the size and risk level of different types of services when recommending steps providers can take to comply with their duties.

Ofcom is communicating with in scope services about the new regulations in the Act and is working with services to ensure compliance is as easy as possible. As noted in the Ofcom CEO’s letter of 8 July 2025 to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ofcom is providing support to online service providers of all sizes to make it easier for them to understand – and comply with – their responsibilities under the new laws.

We want to ensure that people have access to good, meaningful work. AI will impact the labour market and Government is working to harness its benefits in terms of boosting growth, productivity, living standards, and worker wellbeing, while mitigating the risks. We’re planning for varied outcomes and monitoring data to track and prepare for these. The Get Britain Working White Paper sets out how we will address key challenges and spread opportunity to fix the foundations of our economy to seize AI’s potential.

The Government is supporting workforce readiness for AI through a range of initiatives. The new AI Skills Hub, developed by Innovate UK and PwC, provides streamlined access to digital training. This will support government priorities through tackling critical skills gaps and improving workforce readiness. We are also partnering with 11 major companies to train 7.5 million UK workers in essential AI skills by 2030.

The Online Safety Act now requires in-scope platforms to implement effective measures to prevent illegal fraudulent user-generated content and activity. Ofcom has launched an enforcement programme to monitor compliance with the illegal content duties and a consultation to strengthen codes of practice, including proposals for automated tools to detect illegal content, including fraud. Additionally, the largest user-to-user and search services (Category 1 and 2A) must tackle paid-for fraudulent ads once the relevant codes are in force.

The Government is required to review the effectiveness of the online safety framework, two to five years after key provisions have come into force.

The Government has committed to establishing stakeholder working groups to inform the development of policy on copyright and AI.

In line with debates in Parliament on the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the Secretaries of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are convening the first meeting of these stakeholder working groups on 16th July. The Government will publish details and a list of working group members in due course.

Having travelled westbound from London to Wales and back again on a weekly basis for twenty four years I know how poor the signal is. That is why I am delighted that DfT have secured funding to introduce low-earth-orbit satellite connectivity on all mainline trains, significantly improving both the availability and internet data connection speeds for Wi-Fi connected passengers.

Ofcom, the independent telecoms regulator, is responsible for reporting on the coverage of mobile networks in the UK. In 2019, Ofcom published data on mobile signal strength along UK railways based on measurement equipment installed on ‘yellow trains’. The Department for Transport and Network Rail are currently repeating this coverage measurement exercise. Ofcom continue to explore the feasibility of reporting on coverage on trains in the most relevant way.

The then Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism met with the newly formed Video Games Council in September where the availability of business training for entrepreneurs in the video games sector was discussed.

As noted in the Creative Industries Sector Plan, the Video Games Skills Strategy is being developed and published in 2025 by a sector-convened UK Games Skills Network. This will build on findings from the Creative Industries Council Skills Audit, giving video games skills organisations and delivery partners a clear remit for tackling persistent skills gaps.

The Government looks forward to this important piece of industry-led work to assess sector needs, including in business training for entrepreneurs.

Currently, businesses are able to access Business & IP Centres, coordinated by the British Library, that provide businesses and entrepreneurs with access to IP knowledge, market intelligence, and support services, with locations across the UK.

As outlined in the Creative Industries Sector Plan, the government will also work with industry to support sector training pathways through a new DCMS and Skills England led Creative Sector Skills Forum.

DCMS commissioned an independent evaluation of the UK Games Fund (UKGF) by Alma Economics which was published on 18th July 2025. This evaluation assessed the fund’s impact between April 2022 and March 2025, as well as previous iterations of the programme since 2015.

The evaluation found that:

1. UKGF was estimated to contribute around 430 additional FTE jobs in the video games sector during the three years evaluated.

2. UKGF-funded companies surveyed leveraged an additional £18.2m in funding, which exceeds the total £13m invested into the fund.

3. On IP development, 74% of beneficiaries agreed or strongly agreed that their prototype or video game would not have been completed without UKGF support, which was associated with an eight-percentage-point increase in the probability of beneficiaries having developed a prototype or video game after one year of funding, compared to those who did not receive UKGF support.

The evaluation did not measure the fund’s impact on studio formation but, in response to interviews, some applicants commented that UKGF was well-targeted to smaller studios early in the development process, noting it as a critical funding source for games studios that had not yet made a game in full.

As part of the recently published Creative Industries Sector Plan, the government announced the £30 million Games Growth Package, including an expansion of the UKGF over the next three years. While we do not have an assessment of the fund’s impact over the next 12 months, it is anticipated that the programme will achieve greater impact with its increased funding.

As set out in the Creative Industries Sector Plan, the Government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK’s video games sector. DCMS have engaged with The Independent Game Developers Association, including through the industry-led UK Video Games Council, to discuss proposals for enhanced tax relief support for lower budget productions.

There are a multitude of factors to consider when deciding on new tax reliefs beyond return on investment and sector impact, and the government is committed to ensuring that all public money is spent and targeted effectively across the creative industries and wider economy.

Future proposals on gambling duties are a matter for HMT. Should changes to the tax regime be announced in the Autumn Statement, we expect them to be accompanied by tax and impact notes from HMT, as is standard practice.

The Video Games Expenditure Credit was introduced in 2024 to replace the Video Game Tax Relief, modernising the reliefs and ensuring they continue to work as intended to support the video games industry.

As set out in the Creative Industries Sector Plan, the Government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK’s video games sector. My department engages regularly with His Majesty’s Treasury on a range of issues to deliver this objective, including the Video Games Expenditure Credit.