Each Government Department is responsible for its own Retained EU Laws (REUL). They are currently in the process of assessing and developing proposals for whether they intend to revoke or reform each piece of legislation, or preserve it from the sunset, following normal policy-making procedures. This will include assessing whether the REUL is still needed, if it is operable and fit for purpose, working with relevant stakeholders as appropriate. Any resultant legislation will be laid before Parliament in the usual way. The Government plans to update the retained EU law dashboard to reflect the outcome of this process on a quarterly basis.

Each Government Department is responsible for its own Retained EU Laws (REUL). They are currently in the process of assessing and developing proposals for whether they intend to revoke or reform each piece of legislation, or preserve it from the sunset, following normal policy-making procedures. This will include assessing whether the REUL is still needed, if it is operable and fit for purpose, working with relevant stakeholders as appropriate. Any resultant legislation will be laid before Parliament in the usual way. The Government plans to update the retained EU law dashboard to reflect the outcome of this process on a quarterly basis.

It is too early to assess the number of statutory instruments (SIs) needed to amend retained EU law but all SIs will be publicly available once laid before Parliament.

The Retained EU Law Dashboard shows where retained EU law sits across departments, policy areas and sectors. It is updated quarterly to document the government's progress in identifying, amending, repealing or replacing retained EU law.

Common Framework documents set out the key Retained EU law that is relevant to those Frameworks. The Government is working to identify which Retained EU law is relevant to existing Common Frameworks and we are discussing this with the devolved governments through the Frameworks.

The rate of incidence of YV may vary year-to-year, influenced by environmental conditions. The rate is not yet known at the time of planting sugar-beet, however. There is a means to predict the scale of threat. That is through the YV incidence prediction model developed and run by Rothamsted Research. This provides, a forecast of the level of YV infection that will be reached in August, in the absence of any plant protection intervention. Making the prediction on 1 March allows the model to take account of preceding winter temperatures, which are important in determining the likely incidence of YV. Forecast for Yellows Virus incidence from Rothamsted Research for 2023 is 67.5%.

The £200 million announced on 9 January 2023 is specifically for funding short-term National Health Service step-down care packages and is being used to purchase a maximum of four weeks bedded care per patient. Integrated care boards, working closely with local authorities, are using this to purchase places in care homes and other settings, such as hospices, as well as to help fund wrap-around primary and community health services to support patients’ recovery. The £50 million capital, also announced on 9 January 2023, is targeted at projects that can make an immediate impact on reducing the winter crisis. This includes creating greater capacity in discharge lounges to improve patient discharge and hospital flow, as well as other options such as ambulance hubs.

Each Common Framework contains a review and amendment mechanism. This ensures the Framework can adapt to changing policy and governance environments in the future and provides for both periodic review and an exceptional review triggered by a significant issue. A significant issue is an issue that fundamentally impacts the operation or scope of the Framework. In many cases, reform of the retained EU law which a Common Framework covers will comprise this. Where retained EU law covered by a Framework is revoked, the parties to the Framework would be able to use this mechanism to review the Framework and make the required amendments.

Whilst there are minor differences between the dispute avoidance and resolution mechanisms set out within different Common Frameworks they all follow broadly the same structure and process, and can escalate into intergovernmental relations level mechanisms where necessary. The dispute avoidance and resolution mechanism in Frameworks are designed to deal with policy and governance disputes arising under the Framework. This is a broad category and as a result disputes about reform of retained EU laws would already fall within scope without change required.

Retained EU law itself forms a key part of the scope of individual Common Frameworks and retained EU law reform could necessitate changes to a Framework. This would include any changes to working groups.

For Common Frameworks that are not fully implemented, the amended provisional Common Framework will be published on the completion of legislature scrutiny and sign-off by relevant ministers. As this includes NI ministers this will take place when the NI Executive is restored.

For Common Frameworks that are fully implemented, the amended Framework would be published on GOV.UK once all parties had given their approval, as a matter of course. Again, this will depend on the functioning of the NI Executive.

Each Common Framework contains a review and amendment mechanism. This ensures the Framework can adapt to changing policy and governance environments in the future and provides for both periodic review and an exceptional review triggered by a significant issue. A significant issue is an issue that fundamentally impacts the operation or scope of the Framework. In many cases, reform of the retained EU law which a Common Framework covers will comprise this. Where retained EU law covered by a Framework is revoked, the parties to the Framework would be able to use this mechanism to review the Framework and make the required amendments.

Whilst there are minor differences between the dispute avoidance and resolution mechanisms set out within different Common Frameworks they all follow broadly the same structure and process, and can escalate into intergovernmental relations level mechanisms where necessary. The dispute avoidance and resolution mechanism in Frameworks are designed to deal with policy and governance disputes arising under the Framework. This is a broad category and as a result disputes about reform of retained EU laws would already fall within scope without change required.

Retained EU law itself forms a key part of the scope of individual Common Frameworks and retained EU law reform could necessitate changes to a Framework. This would include any changes to working groups.

For Common Frameworks that are not fully implemented, the amended provisional Common Framework will be published on the completion of legislature scrutiny and sign-off by relevant ministers. As this includes NI ministers this will take place when the NI Executive is restored.

For Common Frameworks that are fully implemented, the amended Framework would be published on GOV.UK once all parties had given their approval, as a matter of course. Again, this will depend on the functioning of the NI Executive.

It is too early to state the volume of legislation needed to amend retained EU law as the number of SIs required will depend on a range of factors. All SIs will become publicly available once laid before Parliament, in the usual way.

The Retained EU Law Dashboard shows where retained EU law sits across departments, policy areas and sectors. It will be updated quarterly to document the government's progress of amending, repealing or replacing retained EU law that is not right for the UK.

The purpose of Common Frameworks is to manage divergence, and whilst the sunset date within the Bill may encourage a quicker pace of reform, there is nothing unique to REUL reform that places it beyond the ability of Common Frameworks to handle in the areas they cover. As such, no specific scenario planning is required. I refer the noble Baroness to the answer I gave her today to HL5580 and HL5581: the Review and Amendment mechanism within Frameworks is designed to allow a Framework to be updated should a relevant change, such a reform of a significant piece of retained EU law that in the scope of the framework, require it.

To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library

To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library

My Lords, we have made our supply chains more resilient by massively expanding both our supply from overseas and our domestic manufacturing capability. We are now confident in our supply of PPE to meet the needs of health and social care over the next seven-day and 90-day horizons and are looking further ahead. We continue to model future demand from health and care services to cover the approach of winter and bring resilience to the supply chain.

My Lords, the pre-school sector plays a vital role in educating our youngest children. As with all parts of society, the pandemic has greatly affected the sector, limiting the number of children able to attend. Since 1 June, we have asked the sector to welcome back all children. We are working with local authorities and the sector to monitor the impact of the pandemic. Government will continue to provide funding, guidance and support for the sector.

Understanding the number of cases of COVID-19 in care homes and other community settings requires access to testing in symptomatic and asymptomatic people. Public Health England (PHE) uses a variety of real-time data on results of testing in care homes and other community settings at both local and national level to detect and manage outbreaks and understand the number of infected individuals, both symptomatic and asymptomatic. This data is published in the weekly PHE surveillance report. The latest Weekly Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Surveillance Report is attached.

Regarding testing in care homes, the Minister of State for Care (Helen Whately MP) wrote to local health systems on 14 May to advise of the key messages from emerging evidence in the United Kingdom and internationally in relation to transmission of COVID-19 in care homes, as well as the steps being taken to mitigate this as part of the Government’s care homes support package. A copy of the letter is attached.

A positive antibody test demonstrates that someone has COVID-19 antibodies. The presence of COVID-19 antibodies signals that the body has staged an immune response to COVID-19. COVID-19 is a new disease, and our understanding of the body’s immune response to it is limited. We do not know, for example, how long an antibody response lasts, nor whether having antibodies means a person cannot transmit the virus to others. Our understanding of the virus will grow as new scientific evidence and studies emerge.

We are conducting some of the biggest surveys in the world, using lab-based tests to find out what proportion of the population have already had the virus. This work includes four major surveillance studies with Public Health England, the Office for National Statistics, IPSOS MORI and UK Biobank, designed to understand the current and future prevalence of COVID-19 in the wider population. We will be able to share further details of the results of these studies in due course. Information on levels of infection will inform our future plans for rolling out antibody tests.

The Government does not hold specific information on the instrumentation available in United Kingdom laboratories. Plans for the roll out of laboratory-based tests are being developed and, among other things, will consider the ability and capacity of National Health Service laboratories to process commercially available tests.

The Government does not hold specific information on the instrumentation available in United Kingdom laboratories. Plans for the roll out of laboratory-based tests are being developed and, among other things, will consider the ability and capacity of National Health Service laboratories to process commercially available tests.

The Chief Medical Officer discourages in the strongest terms organisations from buying their own unvalidated antibody tests. Professor John Newton has also warned that unapproved tests could be misleading, by providing inaccurate or inconsistent results, potentially putting those tested and those around them at risk. He has therefore advised organisations both in the public and private sector against the use of antibody tests that have not been verified in a laboratory setting.

A RT-PCR or ‘antigen’ test is used to find out if a person currently has the virus. These tests are different to antibody tests, which are used to detect antibodies to the COVID-19 virus as a marker of past infection.

The Department is working in partnership with several organisations to ensure the Lighthouse Laboratories, who are conducting antigen testing, have the workforce required to maintain capacity. Individuals can apply to work in the Lighthouse Laboratories directly through Reed recruitment agency or at an organisational level. During screening, individuals can determine whether they wish to be paid or volunteer.

The Government has announced the start of its national antibody testing programme, with initial plans to provide antibody tests for National Health Service and care staff, as well as hospital patients and care residents on the basis of clinical advice, in England from the end of May. The United Kingdom Government has purchased tests on behalf of the devolved administrations, and each devolved nation is deciding how to use its test allocation. This strategy, in which NHS patients and staff will be amongst the first to benefit from testing, is similar to the approach taken to roll out RT-PCR tests.

There are currently no such plans. If we make any changes to how the app works over time, we will explain in plain English why those changes were made and what they mean for app users and will publish an updated Data Protection Impact Assessment and Privacy Notice.

The UK remains resilient against cyber attacks and the government has invested heavily in developing the UK's cyber security capabilities, as set out in the National Cyber Security Strategy. The Government judges the overall level of cyber crime has remained stable, however there has been an increase in malicious ‘phishing’ emails attempting to capitalise on concern around Covid-19. The National Cyber Security Centre is supporting the NHS, health researchers and others in the health supply chain to ensure all the nation's resources can be focused on the public health response without disruption.

We have rapidly expanded our testing capacity. Further increases are a top priority for the Government, and our overall ambition is to ensure that everyone who needs a test can get one.

As capacity continues to increase, we will consider when we are able to expand eligibility to other groups and the order of prioritisation both between and within groups. Our decisions will continue to be guided by the science and will take account of Public Sector Equality Duties.