It is vital that all levels of Government, as well as civil society, business and others, continue to work together to deliver the Global Goals.

The UK Voluntary National Review (VNR) will be an important opportunity to highlight work across the country to support delivery of the Global Goals, and we are determined it will tell the story beyond Central Government. Last month the Government hosted a series of VNR engagement events, including two focussed on local delivery of the Goals in Leeds and Bristol. We have also received over 200 submissions from organisations to our VNR website, showcasing what they are doing to deliver the Goals. This included a number of submissions from local authorities.

The VNR is a stepping-stone rather than an end in itself and is an important tool to further galvanise action and activity across the UK in pursuit of the Goals.

UK aid prioritises support for the poorest and most excluded people and communities in Pakistan. Thus, whilst we recognise that there are poor people living in Islamabad, UK aid is focussed in the provinces with the highest number of poor people and on strengthening capacity of those provinces to deliver basic services to their populations.

DFID strive to visit as many programme locations as possible to gather feedback from communities, including minority communities. DFID Pakistan also has projects that work directly with minorities and aims to tackle the drivers underpinning intolerance and discrimination, through promoting greater understanding between communities.

DFID Pakistan is striving to better disaggregate its results through a data disaggregation action plan which focuses on 4 key areas: sex, age, disability and geography. This will improve our understanding of those who benefit from our programmes. We do not currently have plans to collect data on religion as we recognise the risks associated with potentially revealing such sensitive information for religious minorities.

The Government announced reforms to the way that non-domiciled individuals are taxed in the UK at the Summer Budget 2015. They came into effect in April 2017. The Government published a Tax Information and Impact Note which gives information about the impacts of these measures, which is available online.

The Government also publishes statistics on the taxation of non-domiciled individuals annually, which are available on gov.uk.

The UK maintains a regular dialogue with the US on a range of Middle East issues, and has discussed UNRWA’s long term financial viability in light of the US decision to withdraw their funding.

DFID has not made its own assessment of the study by the Norwegian Refugee Council on the mental health of children in Gaza, published on 25 March 2019, but have previously reviewed the UNICEF Overseas Development Institute December 2016 report and use it to feed into our analysis on the situation of people with disabilities. DFID is planning to commission a comprehensive assessment of needs and existing effective interventions which address the long-term needs of people living with disabilities in Gaza.

The UK remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation throughout the region, including for vulnerable groups such as women and children. We are aware of a significant number of minors residing in refugee and internally displaced persons camps in former Daesh held areas.

Limited access and harsh winter conditions continue to exacerbate humanitarian need. Access to food, sanitation, healthcare, shelter and education remain core concerns in the international response. In 2018/19, we provided over £40 million to address basic-life saving needs in North East Syria. Since 2014, DFID has committed over £250 million in humanitarian support to Iraq, providing a vital lifeline of emergency food, shelter, medical care and clean water.

The fight against Daesh led to widespread damage to infrastructure, housing and communities across Iraq. The World Bank has estimated the cost of material reconstruction to be at least £67 billion. An unquantifiable but equally serious social cost has simultaneously been exacted on Iraqi society.

The UN has spearheaded stabilisation efforts with its Funding Facility for Stabilisation (FFS), which helps stabilise areas liberated from Daesh by repairing infrastructure and vital facilities such as hospitals and schools. To date, almost 1400 projects have been completed by the FFS. The FFS has been the largest recipient of the UK’s own stabilisation funding in Iraq.

There are also numerous examples of International Community-led activities focused on social cohesion and reconciliation. The FFS works to build cohesion amongst communities as the displaced return to their homes. Alongside this, the UK has spent £2.68 million targeting community safety and reintegration projects in Salah-al-Din and Nineveh.

The UK and International Community will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Iraq as it rebuilds post-Daesh. However, as the immediate crisis recedes, only the Government of Iraq has the mandate, tools and capacity to take the primary role in driving systematic, long-term reconstruction across the country.

The Department for International Development (DFID), the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) are together responsible for spending the £5.8 billion of International Climate Finance (ICF) pledged by the Government in the period 2016/17 to 2020/21. The funding is earmarked within departmental budgets.

In total these three departments have spent ICF of £1,119 million in 2016/17 and £958 million in 2017/18, representing 36% of the £5.8 billion commitment. The amount spent in 2018/19 is not yet available.

The Government remains committed to delivering the £5.8 billion pledge in full by 2020/21, recognising the vital importance of supporting developing countries to tackle climate change. Each department has plans in place to deploy this funding over the remaining period to achieve the maximum impact possible.

UK aid prioritises support for the poorest and most excluded people and communities in Pakistan regardless of race, religion, social background or nationality. Our investment will not only assist Pakistan to become a more prosperous country that will help millions of its citizens living in poverty, but will also improve stability and security in Pakistan, the region, and beyond.

The UK’s work in Pakistan is focused on peace and stability, making democracy work, jobs and growth and providing basic services.

UK aid prioritises support for the poorest and most excluded people and communities in Pakistan, thus DFID Pakistan’s bilateral programmes focus on provinces with the highest numbers of poor people and on strengthening the capacity of those provinces to deliver basic services to their populations. This includes supporting the provision of electricity and engaging with the governments regarding adequate water provision.

While we recognise that there are poor people living in Islamabad, without access to electricity or running water, they cannot be our focus. We expect the Islamabad Capital Development Authority to support them with support received at national level from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

The UK government will continue to lead the world in our long-term support for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and to help women and girls get the information and services they need to give them control over their own lives and bodies.

Following the reintroduction and expansion of the Mexico City Policy in January 2017, we have kept in close contact with partners to ensure the policy does not compromise UK-supported comprehensive SRHR programming. The full implications of the now further expanded Mexico City Policy are not yet clear, but we are closely monitoring developments. DFID will consider the implications with our offices and partners and with civil society and with donors.

The UK government will continue to lead the world in our long-term support for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and to help women and girls get the information and services they need to give them control over their own lives and bodies.

Following the reintroduction and expansion of the Mexico City Policy in January 2017, we have kept in close contact with partners to ensure the policy does not compromise UK-supported comprehensive SRHR programming. The full implications of the now further expanded Mexico City Policy are not yet clear, but we are closely monitoring developments. DFID will consider the implications with our offices and partners and with civil society and with donors.

The UK is clear that it will only consider funding for reconstruction within Syria once a credible, genuine and inclusive political process is firmly underway. To do otherwise would only exacerbate the grievances that led to the conflict in the first place. We are making every effort to achieve a political settlement that ends the suffering and provides stability for all Syrians and the wider region.

While the conflict is ongoing, we are focused on providing vital humanitarian support for millions of people across Syria. We remain one of the largest bilateral donors to the humanitarian response, having committed £2.81 billion to the Syria Crisis to date.

The UK is not providing support to the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. The UK continually monitors the humanitarian situation in Gaza and we are aware of the significant strain on the health sector. We have recently announced that we will be providing £2 million to the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) Appeal to contribute to the delivery of urgently needed surgical equipment, medicines, wound dressing kits, prosthetic limbs and post-surgery physiotherapy. It will also provide physical rehabilitation services for up to 3,000 disabled people. The UK’s commitment to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) currently provides vital health services for around 3 million Palestinian refugees and provides over 800,000 Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and East Jerusalem access to basic healthcare. The UK remains deeply engaged on the challenges facing Gaza’s health sector and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

On 1 April, the Economic Secretary announced that he will use powers under the Financial Services Act 2012 to direct the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to launch an investigation into the events at London Capital & Finance and the circumstances surrounding them. This followed a request from the FCA Chair, Charles Randell, to the Economic Secretary to launch such an investigation.

Approval to act as an ISA manager is granted by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). When considering an application, HMRC undertakes checks to ensure that applicants hold the appropriate regulatory permissions from the FCA.

Once approval is granted, ISA managers must administer the ISA scheme in accordance with the ISA legislation. HMRC has a range of powers to tackle non-compliance with the rules, including withdrawing permission to act as an ISA manager, voiding non-compliant ISAs and reclaiming any incorrectly paid tax relief.

The government conducted an impact assessment for the transfer of the responsibility of Claims Management Companies (CMCs) regulation from the Claims Management Regulator (CMR) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the FCA have also assessed the costs to industry.

The number of CMCs has declined for several years, and if this trend continues, compliance costs for the industry will likely reduce. Remaining CMCs will now be required to meet FCA rules and higher standards of conduct. This will increase trust and confidence in the sector, which will benefit consumers and CMCs.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published updated estimates of potential fiscal impacts from the new student loans accounting treatment in Annex E of their March 2019 Economic and fiscal outlook.

However, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has made it clear that there is a lot to decide before their methodology is finalised. The ONS plan to fully implement the new treatment for student loans in the public sector finances in September 2019.

The Treasury is in frequent contact with firms regarding their contingency planning for EU exit. UK asset managers that are using the EU “passport” to serve clients in the EEA have undertaken and will continue to carry out contingency plans with respect to their operations in the EEA in order to be ready for a no deal scenario. Some European countries have introduced measures to ensure that UK asset managers will continue to be able to service EEA clients.

The Government has undertaken the necessary work to ensure that we have a stable and functioning domestic framework for asset managers at the point of leaving the EU without a deal. This includes establishing the ‘temporary marketing permissions regime’ which enables EEA funds to continue to be able to market into the UK for up to 3 years. These measures have been welcomed across the UK asset management industry.

Overdraft pricing is a commercial decision for firms, therefore HM Treasury does not make assessments of individual firms’ prices, the strategies for announcing those prices or the impact of those changes on customers.

In December 2018 the Financial Conduct Authority published a consultation on interventions in the overdraft market. This consultation has now closed and the final remedies are due to be published in June this year.

Despite the uncertainty around Brexit, the economy remains resilient. We are currently enjoying the longest unbroken quarterly growth streak of any G7 nation, employment is at a record high and regular wages are growing at their fastest pace in over a decade. The government's priority is to continue to press the case for an orderly Brexit that delivers on the result of the referendum and ends the uncertainty facing businesses and consumers.