We have been really clear that the Online Safety Act is not the end of the road for online safety, and we had the Secretary of State’s announcement earlier this week. The Secretary of State has met the new chair of Ofcom to reinforce the importance of robust enforcement of the Online Safety Act. The Government have also asked Ofcom to publish a clear enforcement strategy and report to Parliament on progress. As the noble Baroness will be aware, it has significant enforcement powers and launches investigations, but we are trying to work with it to make sure that these are used as effectively as possible.

My Lords, climate change clearly poses a long-term risk to financial stability and household resilience. The Government’s remit to the Financial Policy Committee ensures that it considers climate-related risks as relevant to its primary objective of maintaining financial stability. The Climate Change Committee’s recent report identified declining insurability and reduced mortgage access as credible risks, and the Government will reflect this evidence as they prepare the fourth national adaptation programme.

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her Question. I am very conscious that she is far more expert in these matters than I am. As she knows, the independent Climate Change Committee has made recommendations on the preparedness of the UK for current or future climate change risks. The Government will consider these recommendations as part of the next national adaptation programme.

The noble Baroness mentioned households and mortgages. The Bank of England’s assessment suggested that it would take a severe shock to borrowing costs, household incomes or the cost of essential goods to put aggregate debt servicing under pressure. The Government do not expect climate change to have an immediate impact on mortgages or household resilience, though they recognise the long-term pressures that climate change could have on a property’s value, insurability or suitability as security for mortgage lending. The Government will, of course, continue to work with industry to address any market failures.

Exactly what will be contained within the measures needs to be negotiated and worked through. We are working closely with the Government of Bermuda to get this right. Our aim is to get this settled for the first conference of the parties under the agreement, which I think will happen early next year.

On the subject of history, it is well worth noting that today is the Windrush anniversary, and we should recognise the significance of that element of our history. We remain in this country and in our higher education system welcoming to international students. That is why we have many universities in the top flight of international universities. We are continuing to see and welcome students who want to come to this country to study and, in doing that, to make a contribution to our universities and those they study alongside.

The noble Baroness is right: the Erasmus programme is an important part of the work the Government are doing with Europe, and the British Council has a big role to play in that. That is not one of the British Council’s commercial activities, as I understand it—but I will correct that if I have got that wrong—and therefore will continue and will not be affected by the discussions about the loan.

I think it is fair to say that there are many Members of your Lordships’ House who use disappearing messages. There are also many Members of both this Administration and the previous one who use WhatsApp far too often, which is why are undertaking a review of how NCCCs will be used by this and future Governments.

Absolutely. Whichever club noble Lords support—I support a club that has, sadly, been relegated—the joy that was apparent from all supporters, including the Prime Minister, at Arsenal’s victory is just uplifting. Congratulations to them and to all their supporters.

I thank the noble Baroness for her contribution to the commission and its report. A resilient domestic battery sector is essential to the future of our automotive industry, our energy security and our transition to net zero. The Government have demonstrated our commitment to support the UK’s battery and electric vehicle sectors in the modern industrial strategy, including the UK’s record commitment to battery research and development through the battery innovation programme.

As the noble Baroness highlights, the UK understands the need for gigafactories. We have two gigafactories committed to delivering a combined 55 gigawatts of capacity by 2030. We largely agree with the thrust of the recommendations in the report. On the specific question of attracting another major OEM, led by my noble friend Lord Stockwood, the Minister for Investment, the Office for Investment and the department are engaging global EV manufacturers to invest further in the UK, and we are utilising our comprehensive support offer, including DRIVE35 and the battery innovation programme grants, as well as potential national wealth fund support, to proactively engage potential OEM investors.

At the UK Gigafactory Commission’s launch event on 21^st January, Minister McDonald thanked Lord Hutton and the Commissioners for their work and agreed that developing a domestic battery manufacturing base is essential for the UK.

The Government has put batteries and electric vehicles at the heart of the Modern Industrial Strategy, including the UK's largest single commitment to battery R&D of £452 million to 2030 in the new Battery Innovation Programme.

The Government is also engaging at the most senior levels with global manufacturers to attract additional Battery and EV manufacturing to the UK and will continue to do so.

I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer provided on 23 January 2025 to Question HL3786.

I refer the noble Baroness to the answer provided on 30 January 2025 to question 25707, a copy of which has been reproduced below for ease of reference:

Unitaid are a leading funder of innovative tools to find and treat cervical cancer in low- and middle-income countries, with HPV tests the most accurate way to identify if a woman is at higher risk of developing cervical cancer. Together with partners, Unitaid's interventions lowered the cost of HPV testing by nearly 40 per cent and reduced the price of portable thermal ablation devices for treating precancerous lesions by more than 45 per cent. Unitaid's work is laying the groundwork for national cervical cancer elimination programs worldwide. We highly value our Unitaid partnership and have contributed more than half a billion pounds in funding.

Regional growth is a core objective of the Industrial Strategy. We will bring forward more investible sites and support city regions and clusters to attract private investment.

The Strategy reiterates our support for existing Freeports and Investment Zones. These "Industrial Strategy Zones" have huge potential, especially in key sectors including advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries, life sciences, digitally enabled creative industries and defence.

Alongside the Industrial Strategy, we published an Action Plan setting out how we will enhance all our Industrial Strategy Zones with better-targeted investment promotion, support for accessing concessionary finance, and coordinated support on skills.

The exact amount of future renewable capacity will be determined by decisions made at future Contracts for Difference (CfD) Auction Rounds and will be influenced by the value for money offered at each round. But the Government’s current expectation is that wind generation will be the largest source of renewable electricity generation in 2030 and 2035. For 2030, this is detailed in the Clean Power Action plan.

The Government supports the building and installation of offshore wind turbines through the CfD scheme. The offshore wind budget has been announced for the latest round (Auction Round 7). This has been set at £900m for offshore wind, and £180m for floating offshore wind (2024 prices).

My Department does not hold this information as we do not forecast or project housing delivery for individual local authorities.

In December 2024 we implemented a new standard method for assessing local housing needs which aligns with the Government’s ambition for 1.5 million new homes over this parliament, and that better directs new homes to where they are most needed and least affordable.

Alongside the revised method, we published indicative local housing need figures, both for local authorities and regions, which can be found (attached) on gov.uk here.

The Government expects each local planning authority to use the revised standard method to assess local housing needs to inform plan-making. Once an assessment has been made, local authorities should take into account land availability, environmental constraints such as National Landscapes, and other relevant matters, to determine how much of the assessed housing need can be met.

Local authorities are required to adopt appropriate policies in their Local Plans to support delivery of the number, type and tenure of homes needed in their area over the lifetime of the Plan.

Our planning practice guidance on housing and economic needs assessment can be found (attached) on gov.uk here.

The Government is committed to safeguarding the UK's economic security and delivering on our industrial and net zero strategies. Critical minerals and industrial metals are essential for clean energy, green jobs, and future prosperity. That is why critical minerals were identified as a foundational industry to the Industrial Strategy's growth sectors.

Through the UK Critical Minerals Strategy, we are taking decisive action to strengthen domestic production, reduce overreliance on imports from any one country, and work with global partners to build resilient UK and global supply networks. We are also developing a Steel Strategy to create a competitive business environment to secure and expand UK steelmaking capability and capacity which is aligned with our Net Zero goals.

Offshore wind provides the UK with secure, domestically generated electricity, and represents a core part of this Government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower – delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero.

This Government’s mission-driven approach will maximise the opportunity for economic growth, attracting vital investment to UK coastal communities. This Government estimates that the sector could support up to 100,000 direct and indirect jobs by the end of the decade.

Reforming the planning system is key to building 1.5 million homes and delivering our modern industrial Strategy. The revised National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that planning policies should positively and proactively encourage sustainable economic growth whilst making sufficient provision for infrastructure and energy. These policies should also have regard to the national Industrial Strategy and any relevant Local Industrial Strategies.

The Government remains committed to meeting its target of net zero emissions by 2050 and recognises the importance of energy efficient buildings in meeting it. We are consulting on a set of national policies for decision-making before the end of the year. We intend to update the energy efficiency standards in the Building Regulations in the next few months.

Planning law requires decision-makers to consider the potential land-use impacts that proposals have on neighbouring development when determining planning applications.

Our National Planning Policy Framework sets out that planning policies and decisions should ensure that new development can be integrated effectively with existing businesses. Where the operation of an existing business could have a significant adverse effect on new development in its vicinity, the applicant (or ‘agent of change’) should be required to provide suitable mitigation before the development has been completed.