Our Autism Accreditation test project, developed with the National Autistic Society (NAS), showed how we could build the knowledge and skills of our work coaches and improve our support for autistic jobseekers. This led to all 15 Jobcentre test sites meeting the standard and achieving accreditation. We are currently considering how we can achieve similar accreditation for all Jobcentres.

Our Autism Accreditation project is part of wider action to improve employment opportunities for autistic people. We are working with Local Authorities to provide employment support to Learning Disabled and Autistic people through Local Supported Employment (LSE) and started testing Access to Work Plus to help meet the extra costs of workplace adjustments for those with the most profound barriers to employment. This is in addition to our existing Jobcentre Plus support that can be accessed by customers with autism, including priority access to the Work and Health Programme in England and Wales, Intensive Personalised Employment Support (IPES), our Disability Employment Advisors (DEAs) who have expertise in supporting customers with health conditions into work, and our Youth Offer (for 16-24 year olds) with specialist Youth Employability Coaches for young people with barriers to work.

Claimants can apply for jobs online by using the computers and internet access available in all Jobcentres. Work coaches have discretion to use the Flexible Support Fund to provide claimants with internet access outside of the Jobcentre where the claimant is digitally excluded and where it will help the claimant progress in their labour market journey. Solutions may include appropriate digital devices and connectivity to the internet.

DWP is also working with internet service providers to deliver lower-cost broadband for eligible claimants through the broadband social tariffs. Our staff are raising awareness of this, and wider cost of living support being offered through the government’s Help for Households measures.

The Department has no plans to increase the social work bursary amount for the forthcoming academic year.

The Government set out at Fintech Week its firm ambition to make UK a global hub for cryptoasset technology and investment. The Government wants to ensure firms can invest, innovate and scale up in this country. And the Government has announced a number of reforms which will see the regulation and aspects of tax treatment of cryptoassets evolve – our clear message to cryptoasset firms is that the UK is open for business.

These include committing to consult on a future regulatory regime; legislating to bring stablecoins into payments regulation; setting up a series of ministerial-chaired roundtables, bringing together key figures in industry; and exploring ways of enhancing the competitiveness of the UK tax system to encourage further development of the cryptoasset market in the UK.

The Government is delivering an ambitious programme of work through the £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy, including comprehensive support to the cyber industry to foster the growth of a sustainable, innovative and internationally competitive cyber and information security sector in order to raise the level of cyber resilience across the economy. The need for increased cyber resilience is real. In 2021, the UK ranked third behind the US and Ukraine in terms of incoming malicious cyber-activity linked to nation states (between July 2020 to June 2021).

The Government is delivering programmes to improve the UK’s cyber resilience, such as investing in protecting public services, enforcing security standards to protect consumers, promoting best practice through Cyber Essentials certification, and raising awareness through the “Cyber Aware” campaign. The proportion of businesses suffering a cyber attack has decreased overall over the past five years, but 39% of businesses still suffered a breach within the past year.

In 2021, cyber sector revenue exceeded £10 billion for the first time and the sector attracted over £1 billion of investment. To support innovators and entrepreneurs the government funds Cyber Runway, which has already helped over 200 cyber security companies develop and grow. To commercialise academic cyber research, the government funds CyberASAP which has spun out 20 companies and attracted significant investment.

We work with local partners to drive the growth of the cyber sector across the UK and fund the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration (UKC3), a network of regional cyber clusters across the UK who help drive local skills and cyber sector innovation programmes linking to local growth opportunities.

The UK has a number of geographic areas that host world class cyber capabilities, including Cheltenham where the government is supporting the development of the Golden Valley campus led by Cheltenham Borough Council dedicated to supporting the growth of cyber-related technology businesses and resulting wider growth potential.

We are still considering the proposals put forward to the Call for Information, and we will inform Parliament shortly of the way forward on the review of the Computer Misuse Act.

The Government is delivering an ambitious programme of work through the £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy, including comprehensive support to the cyber industry to foster the growth of a sustainable, innovative and internationally competitive cyber and information security sector in order to raise the level of cyber resilience across the economy. The need for increased cyber resilience is real. In 2021, the UK ranked third behind the US and Ukraine in terms of incoming malicious cyber-activity linked to nation states (between July 2020 to June 2021).

The Government is delivering programmes to improve the UK’s cyber resilience, such as investing in protecting public services, enforcing security standards to protect consumers, promoting best practice through Cyber Essentials certification, and raising awareness through the “Cyber Aware” campaign. The proportion of businesses suffering a cyber attack has decreased overall over the past five years, but 39% of businesses still suffered a breach within the past year.

In 2021, cyber sector revenue exceeded £10 billion for the first time and the sector attracted over £1 billion of investment. To support innovators and entrepreneurs the government funds Cyber Runway, which has already helped over 200 cyber security companies develop and grow. To commercialise academic cyber research, the government funds CyberASAP which has spun out 20 companies and attracted significant investment.

We work with local partners to drive the growth of the cyber sector across the UK and fund the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration (UKC3), a network of regional cyber clusters across the UK who help drive local skills and cyber sector innovation programmes linking to local growth opportunities.

The UK has a number of geographic areas that host world class cyber capabilities, including Cheltenham where the government is supporting the development of the Golden Valley campus led by Cheltenham Borough Council dedicated to supporting the growth of cyber-related technology businesses and resulting wider growth potential.

We are still considering the proposals put forward to the Call for Information, and we will inform Parliament shortly of the way forward on the review of the Computer Misuse Act.

The Petroleum Act 1998 (as amended by the Infrastructure Act 2015, amongst others), places a duty on the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) to produce and give effect to one or more strategies to enable the principal objective of maximising the economic recovery of petroleum from UK waters to be met. The OGA has announced that it will shortly be revising its strategy and will have regard to the need for the oil and gas sector to minimise its own carbon emissions and support the transition to Net Zero.

As we transition to a low carbon economy, there will continue to be a need for oil and gas, which are projected to provide around two-thirds of our total primary energy demand in 2035. All scenarios proposed by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) setting out how we could meet our 2050 emissions target include demand for natural gas.

The Department has made no such assessment.

Ambulances on emergency business are already generally allowed to use bus lanes through an exemption in the underlying Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) which creates a bus lane. Local authorities can extend this to ambulances on non-emergency business if they wish, but will need to consider whether the vehicles are easily identifiable for enforcement purposes, and the impact on the operation of the lane for buses.

Local authorities are best placed to judge how best to operate bus lanes on their road networks. Bus lanes are provided to give buses priority over other traffic, particularly at congested times of day, and to provide bus passengers with a more reliable service. Allowing more vehicle types to use a bus lane may start to erode this priority.

On behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has responsibility to administer funding to deliver education and skills, from early years through to adulthood.

In 2018, the teachers’ pay grant was introduced to support schools to implement the 2018 teacher pay award. In 2019, the teachers’ pay grant was increased to support schools to implement the 2019 teacher pay award. It is allocated to schools on a per pupil basis, taking into account their phase and geographical area. In 2020-21, the teachers’ pay grant will be worth over £500 million to schools and local authorities.

In respect of pupils with education, health and care plans, local authorities are responsible for covering the costs of additional provision above the first £6,000. Local authorities retain the flexibility to provide extra funding to schools, based on the schools’ individual needs and where there is a strong local rationale for doing so.

The 15^th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity will be held in Kunming, China in October 2020.

The make-up of the UK delegation will be confirmed closer to the time and will be dependent on the conference agenda. Decisions about UK Ministerial involvement will also be made closer to the time.

The Home Office has commissioned Sir Craig Mackey QPM to carry out a review of Serious and Organised Crime (SOC), including fraud. The review is considering powers, capabilities, governance and effectiveness of funding across policing and wider law enforcement. It is due to report by the end of February 2020.

The UK will be seeking an ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework to spur global action, recognising the transformative change needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. Addressing this challenge and tackling climate change are critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

As part of this post-2020 global biodiversity framework, the Government wants to see new targets agreed that are both ambitious and implementable, and it will be important that they are measurable. We recognise the major role nature-based solutions play in climate change mitigation and adaptation and are working to ensure the Convention on Biological Diversity framework and agreements at COP 26 reinforce this message that both need to be tackled together to deliver the necessary step change at the national and global levels.

The Government recognises the importance of meeting the housing needs of disabled, older and other vulnerable people including those with autism, and we keep under regular review how we can achieve this.

We have strengthened the revised National Planning Policy Framework so that local planning authorities are expected to have planning policies which identify the size, type and tenure of homes required for different groups in the community including disabled and older people, and we will shortly be consulting on improving accessibility standards for new homes.

We are also working with the social housing sector to boost new supply of much needed supported accommodation for disabled and older people.

The next generation of Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contracts will commence in August this year. Under these contracts data specifically related to any contractor failure to produce prisoners in court will be collated.

In both the current and next generation of the Prisoner Escort Custody Services contract there are financial remedies in place when contractors delay proceedings in courts.

There is currently no requirement or any plans for HMCTS to collate data on the costs incurred as a result of prisoners not being produced in court by companies operating prisoner escort contracts.

Home Office officials have been engaging in regular discussions with all relevant stakeholders regarding possible reform of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 which includes the National Cyber Security Centre. 10417

The Home Office keeps the Computer Misuse Act 1990 under regular review. It was last amended through provisions contained in the Serious Crime Act 2015. The Home Office is engaged in ongoing discussions with relevant partners in law enforcement, government and the private sector to ensure that the legislation continues to remain effective. 10418

Home Office officials have been engaging in regular discussions with all relevant stakeholders regarding possible reform of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 which includes the National Cyber Security Centre. 10417

The Home Office keeps the Computer Misuse Act 1990 under regular review. It was last amended through provisions contained in the Serious Crime Act 2015. The Home Office is engaged in ongoing discussions with relevant partners in law enforcement, government and the private sector to ensure that the legislation continues to remain effective. 10418

The Government is committed to exploring innovative ideas and processes for constructing, repairing and maintaining road surfaces. The Department for Transport is aware of a number of initiatives, both here in England and overseas, in which recycled plastic and other waste product materials are added as a binding mix to asphalt. Technological innovation in road maintenance processes can also improve efficiency and reduce waste by recycling existing road material.

As part of a Live Labs research programme, the Department for Transport, in conjunction with the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) and private partners, announced in January 2019 that we were providing Cumbria County Council with £16 million to extend a trial for the selection and testing of recycled plastic in surfacing and structural treatments on the Local Road Network for which they are responsible. This trial will assess the suitability and durability of the plastics additives from minor patching work and pothole repairs through to major resurfacing.

Elsewhere, on the Strategic Road Network, Highways England is committed to investing in innovation to help meet the economic, environmental and efficiency challenges we face in our changing world. Its Innovation Designated Fund provides £150 million in the first Road Investment Strategy for innovation capital projects to discover and implement emerging technologies, new materials and ways of working. Highways England currently has no plans to deploy blended recycled plastic with bitumen in road surfaces, but it continues to investigate its potential for future use.

A trial of asphalt containing Ground Tyre Rubber was successfully completed along the M1 motorway in May 2019. By including a small amount of Ground Tyre Rubber into the asphalt surface it can present a good opportunity to re-cycle tyre rubber at its end-of-life, while not undermining asphalt properties and performance.

HMCTS does record data on the number of trials that are ineffective in both Crown and Magistrate’s Courts as a result of a defendant not being produced by prisoner escort custody services. These statistics are published in Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly publication on gov.uk and the latest data is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2019

There is currently no requirement or plans for HMCTS to collate data on the number of court days lost as a result of prisoners not being produced in court by companies operating prisoner escort contracts.