The UK Covid-19 Inquiry operates independently from the Government. Therefore, Ministerial approval was not required for this contract.

The contract was procured and awarded in line with procurement rules, as well as Cabinet Office Commercial policies and procedures.

In her opening statement Baroness Hallett, the Chair to the Inquiry, stated that she will hear from expert groups with wide-ranging scientific and other expertise to ensure she has the widest and most diverse evidence possible in making her recommendations. This included drawing upon the knowledge of clinical experts, historians, social scientists, political scientists, data governance experts, statisticians and others.

The C19SF08RF25 contract, which involves the analysis and input of 2 expert witnesses, was then procured and awarded in line with the procurement rules as well as Cabinet Office Commercial policies and procedures.

The requirements for the Expert report - Resolution Foundation - Smith / Brewer contract (ref: C19SF08RF25) can be found at Annex 2 – Specification of the redacted Short Form Contract attached to the Contracts Finder notice. Annex 2 states the requirements as being an independent and expert opinion on...Labour Market Inequality and the Welfare System, and Macroeconomic Policy and Public Finances and the contract involves the analysis and input of 2 expert witnesses.

The Expert report - Resolution Foundation - Smith / Brewer contract (ref: C19SF08RF25) was not procured via competitive tendering and instead via a below threshold direct award. The direct award was made in accordance with the Procurement Rules and associated policies.

Details of ministers’ and certain senior officials’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

Special Advisers are required to publish meetings with senior media figures. Meetings with other external individuals and organisations are not collected as part of routine Special Adviser Transparency publications.

We welcome the focus that the Resolution Foundation report draws to the challenge of supporting young people to progress into work and training.

The Government is actively considering ways to help young people continue to develop the skills they will need for the future. We want to give young people the best chance to succeed, despite these challenging and unsettling times.

As part of raising the participation age legislation Local Authorities have duties to track all academic age 16 and 17 year olds, identify those not in education, employment or training (NEET) or at risk of becoming so and supporting them to re-engage in education or training. This includes a September guarantee where Local Authorities need to ensure that all year 11 students and year 12 students on a one year course have a suitable offer of education or training for the following September.

The department provides a range of financial support for students aged 16 to19, to enable them to participate and stay in further education, including free meals, bursaries to help with the cost of travel, books, equipment, IT and connectivity, plus support for childcare and residential costs. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-education-financial-support-for-students

For those learners aged 19 and over, the DfE supports a broad spectrum of learning provision from non-formal, unaccredited learning which helps to engage disadvantaged learners through to Apprenticeships and Traineeships where learners can gain the skills and qualifications needed to get into work.

Learners aged 19 or over who are studying on a further education course and facing financial hardship may be eligible for Learner Support to pay for things like: accommodation and travel, course materials and equipment and childcare. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/learner-support

On apprenticeships, we are continuing to support employers and training providers in dealing with, and responding to, the impacts of COVID-19. While we do not yet know the full impact of COVID-19, our priority is ensuring that apprentices and employers can continue to access high quality training, both now and in the future. We continue to support traineeships and have introduced flexibilities to enable providers to continue to deliver them where possible, given that traineeships will play an important part in supporting young people back into learning and work.

In early June this year, we launched a £7 million Alternative Provision Transition Fund to enable Alternative Provision schools to support all their Year 11 pupils to transition successfully into post-16 settings this summer, and avoid becoming NEET.

Nobody has to wait five weeks for a payment under Universal Credit. Advances are a mechanism for getting claimants faster access to their entitlement; allowing claimants to receive 13 payments over 12 months with up to 12 months to repay the advance.

New Claims Advances of up to 100 per cent of potential entitlement are available if a claimant needs support during their first assessment period. Face-to-face checks for Universal Credit advances have been scrapped due to COVID-19, so people get the support they need despite COVID-19 restrictions.

The Government has already taken steps to help ease the burden of the repayment of advances.

We have reduced the maximum deduction from 40 per cent to 30 per cent of a claimant’s standard allowance. The Budget 2020 set out that the maximum level will be further reduced, so that standard deductions will not exceed 25 per cent of a claimant’s Standard Allowance from October 2021.

The repayment time for advances has already been extended from six months to 12 months, and a further extension to 24 months from October 2021 was announced in the budget. Claimants can ask for repayments to be delayed for up to three months if they can’t afford them.

We continue to review our policies but have no further planned changes at this time.