Michael Fabricant

At its meeting on 20 July 2020 the Commission agreed MPs and their staff could be offered office space in the former Department of Health building, Richmond House, initially for a minimum period of three years – to enable urgent refurbishment work to take place on the northern end of the Parliamentary Estate. At that meeting the Commission also agreed to look at a revised plan to use Richmond House as accommodation and to create better welfare facilities for staff.

Ministers and senior officials have raised the concerns of LGBT+ visitors with Qatari authorities at all levels, and will continue to engage on this issue during the World Cup. Qatar has repeatedly committed that "everybody is welcome" to the tournament. We will continue to encourage equal treatment and the respect of individual rights, and identify what action the Qatari authorities are taking to match their commitment.

The Government has engaged with a wide range of international counterparts including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Malta, to understand the approaches they have taken to ban conversion therapy. We will continue to engage with counterparts around the world that are committed to protecting everyone from conversion practices to share insight and develop our approach.

The Government has been liaising with territorial offices and the devolved administrations including the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive on this important issue.

Officials will continue to work with their counterparts across the devolved administrations to discuss the UK Government’s approach to protecting everyone in England and Wales from conversion therapy practices.

Since May 2022, the Government has launched a support service open to all victims or those at risk of conversion practices regardless of their background or circumstances. The Government has committed up to £360,000 over three years to this service. The service includes a helpline, instant messaging service, and website to enable people to get the support they need.

More widely, the Government remains committed to protecting everyone from these practices. We are carefully considering the responses to the public consultation which closed earlier this year and will respond in due course.

The Equality Hub Ministers and officials have met with healthcare professionals in developing the policy approach to protecting all individuals from conversion practices. Many such organisations responded to the public consultation that closed in February 2022.

We will continue to meet with healthcare professionals to inform our approach and will respond to the consultation in due course.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is working with the Parliamentary Security Department to identify Members and staff who have reported the behaviour. This includes identifying those who are able and willing to provide a signed statement which with a statutory declaration can be used for criminal justice purposes. Officers are assessing each occasion that we are aware of, taking into account behaviour; the current law; and the latest guidance on protest from case law. This has taken time. Some witnesses do not want to give statements or are unwilling to go to court; without such testimony it makes any legal action very unlikely. In addition, some behaviour does not constitute a criminal offence when viewed in isolation; without witness statements, building a persuasive case around persistent behaviour is very difficult.

The Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation (PLaIT) are considering all options once they have identified what statements can be obtained, and assessing the evidence provided against the relevant legislation. PLaIT will work in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), who are the ultimate decision maker on whether to prosecute and what for. It is worth noting that hearsay evidence is inadmissible in court, therefore statements need to be gathered from the principal witness, which outline the impact and can be tested in court. Even if a police officer witnessed the event, there would still need to be a victim statement which evidences the offences and impact.

There is a long history of protest outside Parliament and a number of pieces of statute legislation have been put in place to moderate protest activity. Article 9, 10 and 11 of the Human Rights Act 1998 gives the freedom of thought, expression and assembly/association, and these rights mean that protest legislation remains one of the most contested in the courts; the resulting case law provides an ever changing interpretation of the laws. Therefore the use of legislation, especially new legislation, which interferes in the rights to protest needs to be carefully considered, be proportionate and likely to succeed.

The Commission has not made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing external access to Richmond House and there are no plans to open the entrance into Richmond House from Whitehall. The House of Commons Commission’s decision to house Members and their staff in Richmond House was for three years from summer 2021, and the scope of this light refresh did not include opening up this entrance.

In order to open up access there would be a need for intrusive infrastructure works. There would also be an increase in operational costs as the entrance would need to be manned by Met Police. Any opening up of the Whitehall entrance would need to be evaluated against the decision of the Commission (for the three-year period) and other necessary changes to provide adequate physical security arrangements for passholders entering and exiting the building at this location would also be required.

The Elizabeth Tower and the Great Clock are currently undergoing the most extensive conservation project carried out in the 160 years since Big Ben and the quarter bells began to strike.

Following conservation off-site, the clock mechanism – which usually powers the hammers that strike the Great Bell (Big Ben) and the four quarter bells – is currently being re-installed in the Tower and tested.

Dusty works are still ongoing in the ventilation shaft of the Tower, which has required the hands of the West Dial to be kept stationary to prevent damage to both the hands and the mechanism itself.

The clock hands on the West Dial are scheduled to start operating again towards the end of Spring, once these works have completed. The illumination of the dials and the return of regular striking of the bells is set to resume before the conservation project completes in the Summer.

The Reverend Dave Male, Director of Evangelism and Discipleship for the Church of England, addressed the inaccuracies in The Spectator and subsequent articles, in a statement issued on 8th July: “I am very aware that some recent commentary in media and social media purporting to set out the future direction of Church of England has caused real anxiety, hurt and pain to many. Some of this has been based on a fundamental confusion between the Church of England’s own emerging Vision and Strategy for the 2020s and beyond, which we will be discussing at the upcoming meeting of General Synod, and a separate initiative called Myriad to create 10,000 new lay-led churches - which is not a national Church of England project. It has been claimed in some places that there is a plan to dissolve the parish system, sideline or even replace trained clergy, especially paid clergy, or to get rid of our beautiful, historic church buildings. So I want to make it abundantly clear that the Church of England is committed, now as always, to the ministry of the whole people of God including to ordained ministry in our parishes.” The full statement can be read here: https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/news-releases/clergy-and-parishes-heart-church-england-now-and-future

In his presidential address and in the subsequent debate on Vision and Strategy at the July General Synod, the Archbishop of York said that the Church needed more, not fewer vocations to ordination and that the limiting factor was the lack of vocations, not the valuable work of serving clergy across the country, of all forms of ministry.

The Archbishop of York’s presidential address can be read at https://www.archbishopofyork.org/news/latest-news/presidential-address-general-synod-july-2021 and his presentation on the Vision and Strategy is here: https://www.archbishopofyork.org/news/latest-news/vision-and-strategy-address-general-synod-july-2021

More information about Vision and Strategy itself can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/about/leadership-and-governance/emerging-church-england/vision-church-england-2020s

Parishes remain at the heart of the Church of England's mission and ministry to the nation and the Church is delighted that growing numbers of people are answering the call to the priesthood. This year 591 clergy have committed themselves to ordained ministry within the Church, the largest number in over thirteen years. More information about vocations can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/news-releases/recommendations-stipendiary-ordained-ministry-training-highest

The Church of England wishes to welcome all couples eligible to be married in its churches. The Church provides yourchurchwedding.org as a resource to couples seeking information about all aspects of a church wedding, and this has proven to be a popular resource which is now used by over a million couples a year.

The General Synod and Parliament approve the fees charged by the parishes of the Church of England for these and other services via the Parochial Fees Order. Details of the current fees set for 2021 can be found here:

https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/Parochial%20Fees%20A4_21.pdf

The cost of getting married in a church remains very modest when compared to other locations. Weddings are bespoke services, and all churches have a basic charge that covers the ceremony, including the calling of banns, the banns certificate, marriage certificate, and administration cost. Should a couple wish to opt for bells, choir, organist and flowers, etc. they are arranged by the parish for an additional fee to cover people's time and additional administration costs. An incumbent priest also has the discretion to waive some of the fees for pastoral reasons.

The National Church Life Events team has worked with Archdeacons across the country to encourage all parishes to distinguish between the statutory fee and additional charges clearer. The local Archdeacon would be best placed to discuss any individual case.

The Speaker’s State Coach is currently on loan to the National Trust for display at their Carriage Museum at Arlington Court in Devon. The current loan contract is being renewed for two additional years to allow full consideration to be given to the future of the coach.

The Speaker has indicated that this is a matter for Members of the House of Commons. The House of Commons Commission will respond to any decision of the House on this matter. In the absence of any such decision, the Commission's position on the sounding of Big Ben remains unchanged.

For the Bell to ring on 31 January, the temporary striking mechanism used for Remembrance Sunday and New Year's Eve would need to be reattached and tested to ensure the timing is correct. Alongside this work, a temporary floor of the belfry where Big Ben is housed would also need to be installed, as extensive work is currently taking place in this area. The cost for the temporary floor and installing, testing and striking Big Ben would be approximately £120,000.

In addition to the set-up, the delay to work in the belfry would push back the planned programme of works by two to four weeks, with each week of delays costing approximately £100,000 a week. As such, the minimum cost of sounding Big Ben would be £320,000 but could be much higher (up to £500,000). These costs are based on a notice period of approximately two weeks. Should the project team be required to strike the bell with less notice, these costs would increase substantially.

We are planning for all scenarios in the fight against COVID-19 and the Vaccine Taskforce is taking a number of steps to ensure the UK is prepared to respond to current and emerging COVID-19 variants as quickly as possible.

However, current data suggests that all deployed COVID-19 vaccines in the UK - AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna - offer protection against the prevalent virus variants currently circulating in the UK, and recent data indicates that the Pfizer vaccine remains effective against Beta variant.

We continue to assess the efficacy of the vaccines currently in our portfolio against new and future variants of the virus and continue to work closely with vaccine manufacturers to ensure that vaccines that have already received UK regulatory approval could be suitably updated, where possible and where needed, to remain effective against emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2.

The UK Government has secured early access to 397 million vaccines doses through supply agreements with six separate vaccine developers. This includes agreements with:

• Pfizer/BioNTech for 100 million doses
• University of Oxford/AstraZeneca for 100 million doses
• Moderna for 17 million doses
• Novavax for 60 million doses
• Janssen for 20 million doses
• Valneva for 100 million doses

In addition, the Government has a reservation agreement with GlaxoSmithKline/Sanofi Pasteur for 60 million doses and a non-binding agreement with CureVac for 50 million doses.

The Government is working closely with vaccine manufacturers and Public Health England to understand the efficacy of our current vaccine portfolio against new variants and will continue to monitor the picture with variants as it develops.

The Government announced on 3 June 2021 that it has started commercial negotiations with AstraZeneca for future supplies of the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine that have been adapted to tackle the Beta variant first identified in South Africa.

We are completely focussed on fulfilling our manifesto commitment to clamp down on irresponsible payment practices, supporting small businesses who are impacted the most.

We will shortly consult on the merits of strengthening the Small Business Commissioner’s powers, which could support compliance by larger businesses and further improve payment culture.

Ofcom is responsible for the recruitment, retention and terms and conditions of its staff and as such is not a matter for the Secretary of State to discuss with Ofcom.

Ofcom has a robust and comprehensive conflict of interest policy, managed and regularly reviewed by its Executive Board, that upholds high regulatory standards of independence, impartiality and integrity. The policy and procedures in place enable Ofcom’s Executive to take swift and appropriate action should a situation emerge where an employee leaves to join a company it regulates.

In the past two years Ofcom has placed circa six staff on immediate garden leave as they have left to join companies which Ofcom regulates or will regulate in the future. Ofcom does not have data immediately available for a five year period but can provide this on request once available.

Since the end of the Transition Period the UK is no longer part of Roam Like at Home so surcharge-free roaming for UK consumers in the EU is no longer guaranteed. Mobile operators are now able to impose a surcharge on UK consumers travelling abroad to the EU for their mobile phone usage.

Ministers have regular discussions with senior representatives of mobile operators on a range of issues, including on the issue of mobile roaming, and the government will continue to promote a competitive marketplace that serves the interests of consumers.

Regarding the EEA, the UK recently announced a new agreement with Norway and Iceland for the first ever trade provision which will reciprocally cap the costs mobile operators are allowed to charge each other for international mobile roaming between these countries. This cap is the gateway to allowing surcharge-free roaming for everyone travelling between these countries.

On Thursday 12 November 2020 plans were announced to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022. This will include the issue of a Platinum Jubilee medal. The medal will be awarded to people who work in public service including representatives of the Armed Forces, the emergency services and the prison services.

Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. Outdoor swimming pools have been able to open from 11 July, and from 25 July indoor gyms, leisure centres (including sports halls) and swimming pools in England should be able to reopen. These facilities will be able to offer on-site services to customers, provided they are COVID-secure and follow Government guidance.

Sport England have announced a £195 million package of support to help community clubs through this crisis. It recently boosted its Community Emergency Fund by a further £15 million to meet the demand, taking the total up to £210 million.

The income scheme announced on Thursday 2 July by the Secretary of State for Local Government, aims to support local authorities who have incurred irrecoverable loss of income from sales, fees and charge which they had reasonably budgeted for. Further guidance will follow on the principle of the scheme.

We recognise that waterways businesses have been severely impacted by the current crisis. My Department will continue to work closely with the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to assess how we can most effectively support heritage and tourism on inland waterways following COVID-19.

Waterways businesses and workers can access the Government’s comprehensive economic support package, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Bounce Back Loans scheme. The £10 million Kick-starting Tourism Package will give small businesses in tourist destinations grants of up to £5,000 to help them adapt their businesses following COVID-19.

Through the Cultural Renewal Taskforce and its working groups, we have developed COVID-secure guidance which will help heritage and tourism businesses reopen safely.

VisitBritain have also introduced an industry standard quality mark that tourism businesses - including those associated with waterways - can acquire if they are compliant with COVID-secure guidance.

The £45m Discover England Fund encourages visitors to enjoy the West Midlands’ diverse waterways, including the Trent & Mersey Canal in Lichfield.