Pakistan remains an FCDO Human Rights Priority Country. The UK Government remains deeply concerned by the human rights situation in Pakistan, including restrictions on the freedom of expression and reports of discrimination and violence against religious minorities. The UK also remains committed to our longstanding opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We regularly raise human rights as a concern in our dialogue with the Government of Pakistan at a senior level. Most recently, I raised our concerns about human rights, including Freedom of Religion or Belief and the protection of minority religious communities, with Pakistan's Human Rights Minister, Dr Shireen Mazari, on 16 November. We will continue to urge the Government of Pakistan to guarantee the fundamental rights of all its citizens, as laid down in the constitution of Pakistan and in accordance with international standards.

The UK Government strongly condemns the forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls from religious minorities in Pakistan. Our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief, women and girls' rights and gender equality are regularly raised with the Government of Pakistan. We are closely monitoring the case of Maira Shahbaz and engaging appropriately with the Government of Pakistan at Ministerial and senior official levels. Most recently, on 16 November, I raised our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief with Pakistan's Human Rights Minister, Dr Shireen Mazari. In addition, also on 16 November, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Dr Christian Turner CMG, raised our concerns about Maira Shahbaz's case with the Governor of Punjab, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar.

We are closely monitoring developments in the case of Maira Shahbaz. On 16 November, I raised our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief with Pakistan's Human Rights Minister, Dr Shireen Mazari. Also on 16 November, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Dr Christian Turner CMG, raised our concerns about the case of Maira Shahbaz with the Governor of Punjab, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar. As you will understand, we cannot comment further on individual cases.

Helping to ensure a prosperous and stable Pakistan is critical for the future of millions of Pakistanis, and the stability and security of the region as well as the UK.

Pakistan remains significantly off track to attain many of the Sustainable Development Goals. Over a third of Pakistan's population (over 80 million people) lives in poverty. One in fourteen children dies before their fifth birthday, and 8,300 women die in childbirth every year. Food insecurity has increased over time, with four in ten children under five chronically undernourished (stunted) and 2% acutely malnourished (wasted). Pakistan ranks 5th on the list of 10 countries most vulnerable to natural disasters with more than 130 million people at risk. Across Pakistan, there are currently 6.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Since 2011, UK aid has benefited more than 10 million children in primary school education, reached over 1.7 million new family planning users and prevented 4,900 maternal deaths, over 3.49 million unwanted pregnancies, and 490,000 unsafe abortions.

Future assistance for Pakistan in 2021 and beyond will be reviewed against the priorities set out by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Secretary in his statement to the House of Commons on 25 November 2020.

All our programmes have systems in place to detect misuse of aid, including active risk management and assessment of the programme delivery chain. The FCDO undertakes Due Diligence and Fiduciary risk assessments for potential partners. A financial audit is conducted annually for implementing partners. A portfolio risk assurance programme conducts in depth reviews of our implementing partners to provide extra assurance. Where cases are detected, officials ensure that a full investigation is carried out, and that action is taken to recover funding and prevent future problems. We are unable to comment on individual cases, however in the last 3 years the FCDO has overhauled its approach to fraud prevention, detection, and recovery of taxpayers' money. We expect all implementing partners to have the same zero tolerance approach to fraud that we have if they are to receive taxpayers' money.

All our programmes in Pakistan are reviewed annually and given a performance score. These reviews show that FCDO is achieving the majority of programme outputs across our portfolio. It is mandatory for all of programmes to have robust monitoring arrangements in place, to inform timely decision making, learn lessons, and ensure accountability for achieving results and correct use of funds.

Since 2011, UK aid in Pakistan has benefited more than 10 million children in primary school education; provided training in new skills for almost 300,000 people (of which 39% are women); and helped 6.6 million people (53% women) access loans. Since 2011, UK support has also reached over 1.7 million new family planning users and prevented 4,900 maternal deaths, over 3.49 million unwanted pregnancies, and 490,000 unsafe abortions.

While water quality in rivers has generally improved since the 1990s, recent progress has slowed. The 2019 Water Framework Directive classification revealed that no waterbodies in England meet the criteria for good chemical status and therefore do not meet the criteria for overall good ecological status or ecological potential. This compares with about 97% of waterbodies achieving good chemical status in the 2016 classification.

This apparent decline in results is largely due to the use of new monitoring methods rather than a sudden deterioration in water quality, and this means that the 2016 and 2019 classifications are not directly comparable. The use of new monitoring methods by the Environment Agency (EA) to assess the presence of a number of now banned or closely regulated chemicals has meant that in many rivers in Somerset the chemical classification has reduced, although all the other chemical and biological elements which the EA monitors remain largely unchanged. This new method has resulted in a more comprehensive assessment of certain substances in the environment and will allow the EA to begin to understand and address the legacy of these chemicals.

The EA continues to monitor rivers in Somerset and seek improvements in light of this latest classification. It does this by working in partnership with a wide range of local and national organisations to reduce pollution and tackle the areas of biggest concern like storm overflows, working with farmers to support environmentally friendly farming that doesn’t damage water quality, and responding to water quality incidents and prosecuting polluters where applicable.

Local authorities borrow and invest under the Prudential Framework. It is a permissive system that gives local authorities wide freedoms to borrow and invest, and determine their own capital strategies, provided they stay within the legal bounds of the Framework and have regard to the statutory guidance. Local authorities remain accountable to their electorate for their investment decisions.

Government and CIPFA are clear that borrowing to invest for yield is not complaint with the objectives of the Framework. This is consistent with reforms HMT have put in place over the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB), which prevent councils planning to invest primarily for income from borrowing from the PWLB. There is no specific restriction on where local authorities can invest, but councils investing outside their area will need to ensure they are compliant with the Framework.

The Government has funded research through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in a number of areas. This includes investment by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in the Centre for Nature-Based Engineering (CNIE). Launched in 2013, as one of five EPSRC “Frontier Engineering” Centres, the CNIE draws lessons from nature to engineer innovative solutions to our grand challenges in energy, water, materials, health, and living space. In 2017, the Centre was awarded an EPSRC Progression Grant, to enable the Centre to continue to explore novel, transformative, multi-disciplinary solutions to key engineering challenges, where mechanisms found in nature systems can deliver superior performance over traditional approaches. In addition, the Centre accelerates translation of its findings into practice, through a wide range of industrial collaborations and entrepreneurship. The Frontier Engineering Progression Grant extends underpinning EPSRC investment in the CNIE until at least the end of 2021.

Biomimicry is also one of the potential features of the National Engineering Biology Programme being developed by UKRI partners and the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory. As part of the proposed programme, Engineering Biology aims to draw upon discovery-inspired advanced research themes in Bioinspired Design (e.g. biomimicry, biocomputing), Bioengineered Cells & Systems (e.g. artificial life, protocells, genome engineering) and Novel Materials (e.g. smart materials, new chemistry).

Her Majesty’s Treasury is responsible for the policy for Child Trust Funds, including the fact that they can be accessed when a child reaches 18 years of age. However, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, which governs the processes around how to obtain the legal authority to manage the finances of people who lack the mental capacity do so for themselves, is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.

Consequently, policy surrounding access to Child Trust Funds of young people that lack mental capacity is ultimately the remit of the Ministry of Justice.

Government constantly monitors and gains insight on public awareness. We use regular evaluations to maximise the impact of our campaigns across the UK.

Cabinet Office publishes expenditure on COVID-19 and other national campaigns on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements.

Representatives of the National Trust last met with the Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage on 21st October 2020 as part of the Heritage Working Group. The meeting focussed on covid-19 impacts on the heritage sector.

Although no specific assessment has been made, the government recognised that increasing the green amenity space available to the public was important for both physical health and mental wellbeing, especially as one in eight households in Britain has no garden.

The Government was keen that sites and organisations could freely reopen to the public, once it was safe to do so. These included the likes of National Trust gardens and parkland (not houses), the grounds and gardens of privately owned historic houses, Kew Gardens and the outdoor spaces of Royal Horticultural Society properties. Only those outdoor spaces that could be opened safely and in compliance with wider social distancing guidelines reopened. Opening these sites provided a wider range of safe opportunities for the public to engage in outdoor recreation, helping to reduce pressure on pinch points and hotspots such as urban public parks, beaches and areas of natural beauty.

None. HM Land Registry holds the database that records the legal ownership of registered land in England and Wales. While the register currently holds some 87% of the freehold surface area by individual land owner, the data is not structured in a way that makes it practical to assess the largest single landowner.

The information is not held in the format requested.

The Government fully recognises the importance of the Isles of Scilly’s inter-island transport network which allows for the provision of vital services to islanders, including ensuring that children can attend school. As such we have been engaging with local stakeholders from the outset of the current crisis and have provided bespoke financial support to Isles of Scilly transport operators to ensure that services to, from and between the islands continue.

Our immediate priority is to support the islands’ transport network through the pandemic. However, we are aware that the Isles of Scilly Transport Board are working on proposals to improve transport services over the longer term and look forward to discussing their proposals with them in due course. Going forward, DfT officials will continue to engage with local stakeholders to ensure that we fully understand the challenges facing the islands well into the future.

The Government fully recognises the importance of the Isles of Scilly’s inter-island transport network which allows for the provision of vital services to islanders, including ensuring that children can attend school. As such we have been engaging with local stakeholders from the outset of the current crisis and have provided bespoke financial support to Isles of Scilly transport operators to ensure that services to, from and between the islands continue.

Our immediate priority is to support the islands’ transport network through the pandemic. However, we are aware that the Isles of Scilly Transport Board are working on proposals to improve transport services over the longer term and look forward to discussing their proposals with them in due course. Going forward, DfT officials will continue to engage with local stakeholders to ensure that we fully understand the challenges facing the islands well into the future.

We have taken action to tackle domestic extraction of peat; the National Planning Policy Framework, first published in 2012, ends the granting of new licences for peat extraction. Peat extraction in England will therefore end when the remaining licenses expire.

The Government continues to be committed to phasing out the use of peat in horticulture in England. The biggest user of peat is the amateur sector and this is an important part of our policy focus. We signalled to the industry that if we have not seen sufficient movement to peat alternatives by 2020, then we would look at further measures that could be taken, and we are currently considering what these potential further measures could look like.

The consultation on changes to the current planning system sought views on changes to the standard method for assessing local housing need (“the standard method”). Alongside a worked example of the proposed formula, it sets out the elements we want to balance when determining local housing need, including meeting our target of building 300,000 homes, tackling affordability challenges in the places people most want to live and renewing and levelling up our towns and cities.

Having consulted on each element of the indicative formula, the Government is now reflecting on the feedback. The Government response to the consultation will follow in due course.

The Government’s Data Ethics Framework and ‘Guide to Using AI in the Public Sector’, alongside other guidance are available on GOV.UK, to support ethical and safe use of algorithms in the public sector. Building on existing work on algorithmic and data ethics, the Government is now seeking to deliver more transparency on the use of algorithmic-assisted decision making within the public sector; and is working with leading organisations in the field of data and AI ethics on a proposed approach to algorithmic transparency.