The Government is committed to working with businesses to ensure that we create the conditions for a healthier nation, and we are implementing an ambitious programme of measures to tackle childhood obesity. On 1 October 2022, the Government introduced legislation to restrict the location of foods high in fat, salt, or sugar in shops and online. These restrictions will have the single biggest impact on reducing children’s calorie consumption, and are expected to accrue health benefits of over £57 billion, and provide the National Health Service savings of over £4 billion, over the next 25 years.

On 1 October 2025, the volume price promotion restrictions will come into force, restricting volume price promotions such as three for two offers on less healthy products. The Government will simultaneously introduce a United Kingdom-wide 9:00pm television watershed for products high in fat, salt, or sugar, and a restriction of paid-for advertising of these products online, also on 1 October 2025. We continue to work with industry on the Food Data Transparency Partnership, to co-develop voluntary reporting requirements for food business to demonstrate the healthiness of their sales.

Thanks to a combination of national insurance cuts and above-inflation increases to thresholds since 2010, the average worker on £35,400 will pay more than £1,500 less in personal taxes this year. In addition, maintaining fuel duty rates at their current levels represents a further £13 billion benefit to households over the three years since the introduction of the freeze.

The DWP is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), an independent scientific body, on changes to the list of occupational diseases for which Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) can be paid.

The Council considered the available scientific and epidemiological evidence around COVID-19 infection and published a Command Paper entitled, ‘COVID-19 and occupational impacts’ in November 2022 found here.

The Command Paper recommends that the list of prescribed occupational diseases for which IIDB can be paid should be expanded to include health and social care workers with five serious pathological complications following COVID-19 infection.

The Department is currently carrying out a detailed assessment of the report’s recommendations and will respond in due course.

My right hon. Friend, the Member for East Sussex, and former Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing with responsibility for freedom of speech in the department, met with Professor Arif Ahmed in 2023 following his appointment, and discussed plans for implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act (the Act) over the next two years. I also met with Arif Ahmed on 16 January 2024. The intention has always been for the Office for Students (OfS) to publish any guidance within good time of the Act coming into force to allow the sector sufficient time to consider it. The expectation expressed was that any guidance pertaining to the provisions that come into force on 1 August 2024 would be published by summer 2024, giving the sector the summer period to implement it into their practices.

The department understands that the OfS continues to work towards these timelines as set out on their website here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/quality-and-standards/freedom-of-speech/changes-to-regulation/, although precise timings are a matter for the OfS.

A draft version of the guidance that the OfS intend to issue following consultation has already been published for the sector to consider here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/fsvjdljh/regulatory-advice-24-guidance-related-to-freedom-of-speech.pdf.

During winter 2022/23, 363 Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) hubs were implemented by integrated care systems (ICSs). The Department does not hold recorded information on the number of ARI hubs in 2023/24, as this information is held instead by local health bodies. The ambition in the recovery plan for urgent and emergency care is that each local area that would benefit from an ARI hub, has one in place ahead of winter. Evaluations from NHS England suggest that ARI hubs may save general practitioner appointments and accident and emergency attendances.

A response was published to the hon. Member for Sheffield Central to Question 17725 on 21^st March 2024.

The remaining provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 will come into force in two phases. The main provisions of the Act, introducing free speech duties on higher education providers, constituent institutions and students' unions, and the new complaints scheme, will come into force on 1 August 2024. The Office for Students (OfS) has already launched two consultations that will feed into new complaints scheme rules and guidance for students’ unions on the OfS’s approach to regulating them. These will be published before the 1 August 2024.

The second phase involves provisions relating to new conditions of registration on providers and monitoring of overseas funding. These will come into force on 1 September 2025.

The OfS expects to consult shortly on the proposed revisions to the regulatory framework, including on its approach to the recovery of costs, as well as on more detailed guidance on securing free speech within the law and on maintaining a free speech code of practice. The OfS consultations are not yet live, and the OfS will require time to run the consultation, analyse the results and publish a response before they can publish the guidance to which they relate. Precise timings on the publication of guidance are a matter for the OfS.

In our approach to gambling advertising, we have struck a balanced and evidence-led approach which tackles aggressive advertising that is most likely to appeal to children, while recognising that advertising is an entirely legitimate commercial practice for responsible gambling firms.

We have welcomed the industry's whistle-to-whistle ban on TV betting adverts during live sports programmes. According to figures from the Betting and Gaming Council, the ban reduced the quantity of gambling advertisement views by children (age 4-17) by 70% over the full duration of live sporting programmes.

Further, alongside the Premier League’s announcement that it will ban gambling sponsors from the front of shirts by the end of the 2025/26 season, the gambling white paper commitment for a cross-sport Code of Conduct for gambling sponsorship has now been agreed by a number of the country’s major sports governing bodies. This will guarantee that where gambling sponsorship does appear, it is done in a responsible way to ensure fans, especially children, are better protected. This code will include provisions to ensure replica shirts for both children and adults are available without front-of-shirt gambling logos and a proportion of in-stadia advertising is dedicated to safer gambling messaging.

Thanks to the combined impact of national insurance cuts and above-inflation increases to thresholds since 2010, an average worker on £35,400 in 2024-25 will pay over £1,500 less in personal taxes than they otherwise would have done. These national insurance contribution cuts were possible due to the significant progress we have made in combating inflation.

We are doing all we can to increase aid into Gaza. With our allies, we will take decisions on the future of UNRWA funding after scrutinising Catherine Colonna’s interim report on UNRWA neutrality.

The new standard of clinical specification for community eye care services, both minor and urgent, was published by the Local Optical Committee Support Unit on 23 February 2024. The specification will help local commissioners in getting the best outcomes, if they choose to commission these services as part of their local eye care provision. The specification is available at the following link:

https://locsu.co.uk/what-we-do/pathways/community-minor-and-urgent-eye-care-clinical-specification/

When commissioning community enhanced eye care services, we would expect integrated care boards to consider the need to give appropriately qualified optometrists access to National Health Service prescription forms.

We hugely value and appreciate the vital work carried out by general practice (GP) nurses. The Government accepted the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body’s recommendation on salaried GP staff pay, and increased the 2023/24 GP contract to provide funding for them to receive a 6% pay rise. We encourage all practices to pass this on to staff. As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, it is for GPs to determine employee pay.

My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has had no discussions with the NHS Pay Review Body on its potential recommendations for the 2024/25 pay round.

My officials have regular engagement with the Pay Review Bodies (PRB) secretariat, however as independent bodies the PRBs will not discuss their potential recommendations with stakeholders, these are received alongside their report.

The British Academy has received considerable interest in the Pump Priming grants scheme, and the Government is pleased with the level of engagement, including from those new to the programme. There are no plans to expand the recently launched pump priming grants.

Applications for Horizon Europe grants are made directly to the European Commission. All calls within Horizon Europe work programme 2024 and beyond are funded by the UK’s association to Horizon Europe.

The government appreciates the significant economic and cultural contribution that international students make to UK higher education.

The government remains committed to the ambitions set out in its International Education Strategy, including the aim to host 600,000 international students in the UK per year by 2030. The government is proud to have met this ambition two years running.

Universities also offer a range of dedicated support to their international students before they arrive in the UK, on arrival and during their studies. Organisations such as the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) and the British Council continue to provide information to international students entering the UK.

The UK is committed to implementing the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework which aims to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss and contains a target to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030.

The UK has a comprehensive legal framework of environmental protection measures for offshore oil and gas activities. Section 12 of the Impact Assessment published alongside the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill sets out how the environmental principles of the Environment Act have been considered in the development of this Bill.

Fuel poverty is a devolved matter. The latest figures, published on 15 February 2024, showed that 3.17 million households were in fuel poverty in 2023. The Government continue to deliver financial support to low-income homes and vulnerable households through the warm home discount scheme and cost of living payments.