Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

The Government accepted the headline pay recommendations for National Health Service doctors made by the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Renumeration (DDRB) for 2025/26. Consultant and Specialist and Specialty doctors received pay uplifts above forecast inflation of 4% and resident doctors received 4% plus £750. Resident doctors have received the highest pay uplift in the public sector over the past two years, with pay uplifts amounting to 28.9% over three years. While the Government has been clear that it cannot go further on pay this year, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has met with the British Medical Association (BMA) to discuss their priorities and is committed to improving the working lives of all NHS staff.

The Government has taken steps to accelerate the pay setting process for this year to ensure that uplifts are made in a timely manner. To achieve this, we remitted the DDRB on 22 July and submitted written evidence to them on 30 October. Written evidence was submitted a month earlier than last year, which means we are still on track for pay uplifts to go into pay packets earlier than in previous years.

In acknowledgement of doctors’ concerns about jobs and access to training places, the Government made an offer to BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee to double the previously announced increase in specialty training places in the 10-Year Health Plan to 2,000, bringing 1,000 of these forward to next year, to create an alternative training pathway and take steps to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates and doctors with significant NHS experience for specialty posts. On top of this commitment, NHS England has already made changes to the specialty training application process this year to reduce competition and support UK graduates.

Rural policy is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

The UK Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas. To achieve this, we are ensuring that the needs of people and businesses in rural areas are at the heart of policymaking including in the government’s economic growth agenda.

Defra has a team dedicated to developing the evidence base on rural areas. It publishes the Statistical Digest for Rural England to provide up-to-date analysis across a wide range of subjects including information on employment and redundancy rates in rural areas.

In Q2 2024, the percentage of working-age people (16-64) in employment was 79.1% in Rural areas and 73.9% in Urban areas.

Redundancy rates in England have fluctuated over time, although both Rural and Urban areas have shown an overall decrease in redundancies over the period 2007 to 2024 (falls of 2.5 and 2.3 redundancies per 1,000 employees respectively). In Q2 2024 redundancy rates were lower in Rural areas than in Urban areas, at 3.8 and 4.0 redundancies per 1,000 employees respectively.

The rail industry will work to avoid compulsory redundancies by redeploying existing staff and offering voluntary redundancy for those who do not wish to transition to a multi-skilled role. Exact arrangements will vary by train operator and station and are subject to ongoing discussions with staff and their trades union representatives.

On June 14, Vodafone and Three announced their intentions to merge their UK businesses. As an open economy, we welcome investment where it supports UK growth and jobs, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements, and does not compromise our national security. We will not hesitate to use our powers, under the National Security and Investment Act, to protect national security if we identify concerns.

The Government does not have a role in the review of mergers on competition grounds. It is the responsibility of Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to assess the impact on consumers and competition in the market, with input from sectoral regulators - in this case Ofcom.

At present Vodafone UK have not announced any job cuts in relation to the merger. On 16 May, Vodafone Group, which operates across 21 countries, announced its annual financial results and strategy to improve performance. The announcement included an indication that Vodafone Group plans to cut 11,000 jobs globally over 3 years. Any redundancies are a commercial decision for Vodafone Group.

The railways employ around 100,000 people directly. During the pandemic, the Government provided unprecedented support meaning no staff at DfT contracted train operators and Network Rail were furloughed. The Government earmarked £16 billion of emergency funding to assist in balancing the books - equivalent to £600 for every family in the UK £160,000 for every rail worker.

Change is vital to put the rail industry back on a sustainable footing and to create a rail system fit for the future. That’s why we’re overhauling the industry with Great British Railways and building new hi-tech trains and high-speed lines to create a railway for the 21st Century, all while creating thousands of jobs.

Our Plan for Growth acknowledges skills as a pillar for growth. This department is working in partnership with the Department for Education (DfE) to ensure we deliver against the skills pillar of the Plan for Growth through successful implementation on key policies from within the Skills for Jobs white paper, including promoting the adult skills offer to help upskill and reskill the existing workforce. This White Paper is focused on giving people the skills they need, in a way that suits them, so they can get great jobs in sectors the economy needs and boost this country’s productivity.

The retail sector has been undergoing a period of transition for some time, including many retailers investing in technology and innovation and adapting their business models to meet different consumer demands. We recognise the challenges this brings and are working with the sector, including through the industry-led Retail Sector Council, to address these challenges. The Council has identified skills and employment as two of their priority areas of work as part of this and government continues to work closely with the Council to consider the future needs of the sector.

Additionally, the government’s new ‘Help to Grow: Digital’ scheme will help up to 100,000 UK SMEs over three years to adopt digital technologies that are proven to increase firm-level productivity by learning new skills, reaching new customers and boosting profits.

In November 2020, the Government published the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, which set out the government’s ambition to have two operational industrial clusters by the mid-2020s and a further two clusters operational by 2030. The CCUS programme will contribute to the creation of high skilled, high wage and sustainable jobs in every part of the UK, with the expectation of supporting up to 50,000 jobs in 2030[1]. The Net Zero Strategy outlined an ambition to deploy at least 5MtCO₂/yr of engineered removals by 2030, in line with CCC and National Infrastructure Commission assessments. Our long-term approach to engineered GGR technologies, which includes technologies used by Drax, is to have a market-driven and technology-neutral competitive framework. We intend to assess jobs, the type scale and CO2 emission reduction potential, as part of the evaluation and selection process of GGR projects.

[1] Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener; Green Jobs Taskforce

The Government is committed to supporting people from all backgrounds, including those from ethnic minorities, to move and stay in work. Our Plan for Jobs Programme protects, supports and creates jobs, targeting young people, the long term unemployed, and those in need of new training and skills.

As the economy improves, we will increasingly focus on progression to improve opportunities for those in low-paid work and support them towards financial independence. The In-Work Progression Commission published an independent Call for Action (see attached) to help people progress out of low pay on the 1 July. Government will consider the recommendations and respond later in the year.

We also continue to develop the evidence base for helping people progress their careers and raise their earnings. Building on the findings of our In-Work Progression Randomised Controlled Trial, published in 2018 we are conducting research and working across Government to support progression. We are also testing a work coach led support offer to develop new approaches to progression for Universal Credit claimants.

The Government is committed to bringing forward an Employment Bill when the time is right, to protect and enhance worker’s rights as we build back better from the pandemic. In the meantime, we will continue to take necessary action to support businesses and protect jobs.

We have already made good progress in bringing forward legislation to protect workers’ rights including:

• Closing a loophole which sees agency workers employed on cheaper rates than permanent workers.
• Quadrupling the maximum fine for employers who treat their workers badly.
• Giving all workers the right to receive a statement of their rights from day one.

DCMS-sponsored museums operate independently, at arm’s length from government. The Imperial War Museum’s review of its security operations is an operational matter. As such, Ministers and officials have not assessed or discussed it.

The Government recognises the impact that coronavirus is having on job security in the retail sector and we have put together a far-reaching package of support for businesses and for the economy.

We understand this will be a worrying time for Intu’s employees and their families and stand ready to support anyone affected in any way we can.

This is a commercial matter for the company and we hope the administrators will be able to secure as many jobs as possible.

The aviation sector will be able to draw upon the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which provides financial support for employees. Employers in the aviation sector can apply for a grant that covers 80% of furloughed employees’ usual monthly wage costs, up to £2500 a month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and pension contributions.

The Government is actively monitoring the impact of Covid-19 on the labour market, including the impact on women and on other groups.

However, it is too early to draw any firm conclusions. The next ONS labour market statistics will be released in May, covering the 3-month period up to the end of March. Analysis of this and other data will provide an indication of early impacts of Covid-19 on the labour market.

Following the Chancellor’s recent announcement, we are working urgently to develop proposals to support the UK aviation industry - we are committed to ensuring the sector and its employees continue to thrive.