The Department informed Local Authorities and academy trusts of the republished schools National Funding Formula (NFF) on 6 October 2023, alongside the publication of the corrected NFF allocations. In the initial NFF calculations for 2024-2025, there was an error processing forecast pupil numbers, which meant that the overall cost of the core schools budget using the announced schools NFF arrangements would be 0.62% greater than allocated. The Permanent Secretary has taken full responsibility for the error made by officials and has written to both the Secretary of State and the Education Select Committee to apologise.

Since identifying the error, officials have reviewed other funding models to confirm that a similar issue has not occurred elsewhere. The Secretary of State has asked the Department's Permanent Secretary to conduct an independent and external review of the quality assurance process surrounding the calculation of the NFF. This will provide external and independent scrutiny and will be led by Peter Wyman CBE. Officials will ensure that any recommendations from the review are applied to other allocation calculations done by the Department, not just the schools NFF.

The schools NFF calculations are mainly performed using R and RStudio. R is an open source programming language which is widely used for data analysis and processing across the public and private sectors, and RStudio is an open source development environment for using R.

My Planned Care is a web-based platform that provides waiting time data by speciality and National Health Service trust, for both first outpatient appointment and treatment. It is available to all, including patients, carers, voluntary sector organisations, patient organisations, Patient Advice and Liaison Service hospital teams and general practices.

The NHS App provides secure access to a range of NHS services including a user’s medical record, the ability to order repeat prescriptions and to book or manage appointments.

All local authorities have existing statutory duties to ensure that they do not discriminate in their decision making against older people or those with vulnerabilities. The Secretary of State recently wrote to all local authorities in England setting out his expectations that parking services for which councils are responsible remain accessible. For example, it would not seem appropriate for parking on a high street to be solely available for those who have access to a mobile phone. Nor would it appear sensible for local authorities to phase out paper-based parking options such as 'scratch cards' if the only available replacement is an entirely digital option.

The Government is driving innovation in the charge point market in order to best support consumers. This would be hindered by mandating a single app.

The Government has instead laid The Public Charge Points Regulations 2023, which will mandate payment roaming at all public charge points. Drivers will then be able to pay for multiple chargepoint networks through one app or smartcard. This will enable streamlined payments across charging networks, without the need for multiple apps.

The Governments expects the market to eventually converge on a few apps that cover the majority of the public charging network.

Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations are published every quarter and this information can be accessed on the GOV.UK website via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dft-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings

The national average waiting time for a car practical driving test since January 2023 is 17.1 weeks.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is aware that some companies have been using bots to snap up appointments on its public booking service, as soon as they become available, leaving fewer test appointments for genuine learner drivers to purchase directly from the DVSA.

The DVSA does not employ, encourage or licence anyone to provide such a cancellation service checking for newly open slots. These apps or bots are not approved by the DVSA as they make it harder for candidates to get a test and can result in people paying more for a test than the official test fee. Using such services also means that any changes to the test may not necessarily be relayed to the candidate.

To ensure its booking system is used correctly, the DVSA has:

- stopped accepting new automatic online registrations to use its tests booking service – any new applications must be made by email, where they will be thoroughly checked by the DVSA.

- stopped accepting any new registrations from companies who do not directly employ a driving instructor.

- removed registrations not linked to driving instructors.

- reduced the number of times a driving test appointment can be changed from 10 to the pre-pandemic limit of 6 and updated the test booking service terms and conditions to make it clear that users must not book tests and sell them for profit.

Following these changes, there has been a significant drop in traffic to these services because the DVSA is successfully identifying and blocking apps or bots.

Users found breaching the terms and conditions may have their accounts closed. In June 2022, the DVSA stopped customers registering for online business service (OBS) accounts and added the requirement for an approved driving instructor (ADI) to be associated with businesses that booked car tests. The DVSA removed around 7,000 unused business that did not have an ADI associated with them. At this point, the DVSA did not close any duplicate businesses.

Since May 2023, the DVSA has investigated business that appear to have multiple OBS accounts. Overall, 255 business have been investigated across 8 cases.

This has resulted in:

• 197 businesses closed
• 6 business providing sufficient evidence of their independence and reinstated
• 52 businesses remain suspended pending investigation

The DVSA does not hold the number of driving tests that have been booked by automated bots.

The DVSA is continuing to take steps to block cancellation services from accessing the booking system. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and the DVSA’s work on this is ongoing.

We are committed to supporting fair and transparent ticket pricing and tackling unacceptable behaviour in this market.

We have strengthened the law in relation to ticketing information requirements and have introduced a criminal offence of using automated software to buy more tickets online than is allowed. We also support the work of enforcement agencies in this area, such as the Competition and Markets Authority, National Trading Standards, and the advertising industry's own regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority.

The effectiveness of any legislation is dependent on people and organisations reporting suspected breaches to the relevant enforcement agencies, and we strongly encourage anyone with evidence of suspected ticketing fraud to report it to them.

HMRC does not collect or retain this information. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) secretariat provides information about the implementation and progress of the WHO FCTC on their dedicated website.

The latest Global Progress report on implementation of the Protocol can be found here. We understand the WHO are currently preparing the 2023 version which will be published in due course.

As set out in the Plan for Rail, we recognise that the current multitude of train company websites with different standards of service is confusing to passengers. We are continuing to review the best way to address this and are working closely with the rail sector to do this.

We want to see a more competitive retail market and will break down the systems and structural barriers to entry so it is easier to enter the market to sell rail tickets.

The data requested is not held centrally.

The latest statistics for the number of general practitioner (GP) appointments booked through the NHS App in each of the last 12 months up to May 2023 are as follows:

As set out in the Plan for Rail, we recognise that the current multitude of train company websites with different standards of service is confusing to passengers. We are continuing to review the best way to address this and are working closely with the rail sector to do this.

We want to see a more competitive retail market and will break down the systems and structural barriers to entry so it is easier to enter the market to sell rail tickets.

The UK has serious concerns regarding the Chinese State’s use of technologies in ways that violate human rights and harm individuals and societies, including China’s use of high tech surveillance to disproportionately target Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang. We are aware of a number of Chinese technology companies reportedly linked to violations taking place in Xinjiang, and are monitoring the situation closely. However, we are unable to comment on specific security arrangements or procedures.

We will always put national security first, and we have a range of measures in place to scrutinise the integrity of our arrangements. On 24 November 2022, the Government announced that Departments should cease deployment of visual surveillance systems produced by companies subject to China’s National Intelligence Law onto sensitive sites. In June 2023, we committed to publishing a timeline for the removal of this equipment.

The UK has serious concerns regarding the Chinese State’s use of technologies in ways that violate human rights and harm individuals and societies, including China’s use of high tech surveillance to disproportionately target Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang. We are aware of a number of Chinese technology companies reportedly linked to violations taking place in Xinjiang, and are monitoring the situation closely. However, we are unable to comment on specific security arrangements or procedures.

We will always put national security first, and we have a range of measures in place to scrutinise the integrity of our arrangements. On 24 November 2022, the Government announced that Departments should cease deployment of visual surveillance systems produced by companies subject to China’s National Intelligence Law onto sensitive sites. In June 2023, we committed to publishing a timeline for the removal of this equipment.