This Government is committed to ensuring consumers know and can exercise their rights and that there is an effective system to enforce them when things go wrong. Protecting public safety is a priority for this government and stringent legislation is in place which requires manufacturers to place only safe products on the market. The Office for Product Safety and Standards was set up in January 2018 to provide leadership on product safety issues.

It has not been possible within the timeframe to identify robust information on BEIS expenditure on product safety prior to 2016-17.

[i] Telephone and online advice for consumers on general consumer issues. Increase in 2012-13 includes £5m in transition costs moving the service from Consumer Direct to the Citizens Advice consumer service.

[ii] Provision of general consumer advocacy only

[iii] 2010-11 and 2011-12 represents BEIS funding for specific enforcement projects such as Scambusters, Illegal Money Lending, Ports and Borders prior to the establishment of National Trading Standards and Trading Standards Scotland in April 2012 to deliver national and cross-border enforcement.

BEIS has allocated a total of £4.7m to Citizens Advice (including proportionate provision for Citizens Advice Scotland) to review and update advice provided across the advice spectrum, including consumer, to assist with EU exit. We have also allocated £0.4m to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute to update advice for businesses on consumer rights and training for Trading Standards Officers.

On product safety, BEIS has spent a total of £3.1m in 2017/18 and 2018/19 to enable the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) to prepare for EU exit.

​The Government is very concerned at the high numbers of Palestinians killed by Israel Defense Forces both in the West Bank and Gaza. We have raised the issue with the Israeli authorities, encouraging them to carry out transparent investigations into whether use of live fire had been appropriate. The UK has repeatedly made clear to Israel our longstanding concerns about the manner in which the Israel Defense Forces police non-violent protests and the border areas, including the use of live ammunition. We will continue to do so. We also stress the importance of protecting civilians, especially children and medical personnel. We call on Israel to adhere to the principles of necessity and proportionality when defending its legitimate security interest.

​The UK has taken bilateral and multilateral action to end the Turkish military incursion into north-east Syria. We have been consistently clear with Turkey on our opposition to its military action– the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and Minister for the Middle East and North Africa each communicated this to their Turkish counterparts, most recently on 26 October. We therefore welcome the fact that the ceasefire is holding and that Turkey has confirmed it has no plans for a further offensive. We continue to call for all parties to ensure the protection of civilians and unhindered, safe and sustainable humanitarian access throughout Syria, including at the UN Security Council.

I have written to the Trustees of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme to confirm that the Government will agree to their proposals in full. This includes providing a guarantee for pensions that have accrued that could otherwise have been lost. I have instructed BEIS officials to work with the Trustees to implement the changes as swiftly as possible.

The government takes the suspension and winding up of the Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF) very seriously and is monitoring the response. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is continuing its investigation into the activities that led to the suspension of the WEIF. At this stage, the government has not seen evidence that would justify establishing an independent review into the FCA’s supervision of the fund.

As part of its investigation, the FCA is considering what FCA rule changes may be necessary to protect investors and to prevent similar issues in future. The FCA is also working with the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee to assess how funds’ redemption terms might be better aligned with the liquidity of their assets. Once the FCA publishes its findings, we will be able to assess whether there is any further role for the government.

All children should have access to the support they need to keep them safe, provide them with a stable and nurturing home, and overcome challenges to achieve their potential. That is why, at the Spending Round 2019, the government confirmed an additional £1 billion grant for adult and children’s social care in 2020-21 in addition to the continuation of all existing social care grants.

Local authorities core spending power is expected to rise from £46.2 billion to £49.1 billion in 2020/21, an estimated 4.3% real terms increase.

We also provide targeted help and support to drive improvement in local authorities. We are investing £20 million in regional sector-led improvement to get ahead of failure. Our strong ‘Partner in Practice’ authorities have already helped over 70 local authorities, getting upstream of the risk of failure, with work underway to broker support for many more. Additionally, we are investing £2 million in improving leadership in children's services with support being delivered through the local government authority. In addition to the £84 million targeted fund, the Autumn Budget made £410 million available to local authorities for adults and children’s social care in 2019/20.

All children should have access to the support they need to keep them safe, provide them with a stable and nurturing home, and overcome challenges to achieve their potential. That is why at the Spending Round 2019, the government confirmed an additional £1 billion grant for adult and children’s social care in 2020-21 in addition to the continuation of all existing social care grants.

Local authorities core spending power is expected to rise from £46.2 billion to £49.1 billion in 2020-21, an estimated 4.3% real terms increase.

We also provide targeted help and support to drive improvement in local authorities. We are investing £20 million in regional sector-led improvement to get ahead of failure. Our strong ‘Partner in Practice’ authorities have already helped over 70 local authorities, getting upstream of the risk of failure, with work underway to broker support for many more.

Additionally, we are investing £2 million in improving leadership in children's services with support being delivered through the Local Government Association. In addition to the £84 million targeted fund, Autumn Budget made £410 million available to local authorities for adults and children’s social care in 2019-20.

The Government recognises how valuable it is that whistleblowers are prepared to shine a light on wrongdoing, and believes that they should be able to do so without fear of recriminations.

Government has committed to review the UK whistleblowing framework and will carry this out once sufficient time has passed for there to be the necessary evidence available to assess the impact of recent reforms.

A decision on the changes has been taken and we will communicate this to interested parties shortly.

Racial harassment is unacceptable, and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities. There is no place in our society - including within higher education – for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism. Universities have clear responsibilities in this regard.

Higher education providers are independent and autonomous organisations. Like all employers, higher education providers have responsibilities under the Equality Act (2010) in relation to their staff. We expect them discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, and to investigate and swiftly address all hate crime.

We encourage providers to make use of tools such as the Race Equality Charter and the Race at Work Charter to identify and address institutional and cultural barriers that affect minority ethnic staff and students.

The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers recognises the need to create and develop positive environments and cultures in which all researchers can flourish and achieve their full potential. This includes having effective policies and practice for tackling discrimination, bullying and harassment and providing appropriate support for those reporting issues.

By improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff within higher education we can ensure that everyone who has the potential to thrive at university, both as a student and as a member of staff, does so.

Protecting children is at the heart of our online harms agenda and is key to wider government priorities. The government published the Online Harms White Paper in April this year which proposed the establishment of a duty of care on companies to improve online safety, overseen by an independent regulator with strong enforcement powers to deal with non-compliance.

The White Paper sets out our expectation that companies should protect children from inappropriate content, including pornography, and we will produce guidance for companies to keep children safe online, ahead of the new regulatory framework.

We are committed to the UK becoming a world-leader in the development of online safety technology and expect age verification to continue to be a tool used by companies to keep children safe online.

The Government is aware of the cyber attack on Pitney Bowes and urges all organisations to ensure they have appropriate cyber security controls in place to protect themselves.

The Government’s National Cyber Security Strategy (2016-2021) is backed with £1.9 billion investment to transform the nation’s cyber security and make the UK the safest place to live and do business online. As part of the strategy we have opened the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which provides guidance and support to help businesses be more resilient to cyber attacks. This includes the Small Business Guide and an online staff training module, plus the Board Toolkit and '10 Steps to Cyber Security' guidance for larger organisations, as well as a programme of business engagement activity. The NCSC is the lead Government organisation for managing cyber incidents and has led on 658 incidents in the last year, providing support to almost 900 victim organisations, handling almost 1,800 incidents since commencing operations.

In addition, the Government is currently undertaking a Review of Cyber Security Incentives and Regulations to help understand the effectiveness of Government support to date and what more can be done to ensure businesses of all sizes are effectively managing their cyber risks.