The Condition Data Collection (CDC) is one of the largest and most comprehensive data collection programmes in the UK’s public sector. It collected data on the building condition of government funded schools in England. It provides a robust evidence base to enable the Department to target capital funding for maintaining and rebuilding school buildings.

The key, high level findings of the CDC programme were published in May 2021 in the ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey: Key Findings’ report. This is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.

Individual CDC reports have been shared with every school and their responsible body to use alongside their existing condition surveys to plan maintenance schedules and investment plans. The Department plans to publish detailed school level CDC data. The Department is still preparing the data and will publish it as soon as possible.

Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. Our funding is directed both to maintaining the condition of the school estate and rebuilding schools. The Department has allocated over £13 billion for improving the condition of schools since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed this financial year.

The ten year School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) is condition led. 400 of the 500 available places on the programme have been provisionally allocated. A list of these schools and the methodology used to select them is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.

The following table shows the constituencies specified that have schools or colleges selected for the SRP:

The 239 schools announced in December 2022 will enter delivery at a rate of approximately 50 per year, over a five year period from 2023. The Department is currently undertaking due diligence on these schools prior to scheduling them, with schools prioritised according to the condition of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The scope and funding for each project will be confirmed following detailed feasibility studies and condition surveys of buildings.

Where a school identifies significant safety issues with a building, that cannot be managed within local resources, the Department considers additional support on a case-by-case basis. This includes applications for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) from eligible institutions. Schools eligible for Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) can apply for UCS where there are urgent health and safety issues that threaten school closure and cannot wait until the next CIF bidding round.

At Spring Budget 2021 the Government announced a £100 million investment into the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce of 1,250 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff up to March 2023. The taskforce was established to extend HMRC’s work to address fraud and error in the COVID support schemes that they administered (Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and Eat Out to Help Out). The table below shows the month-by-month breakdown of resources deployed in the taskforce from April 2021 to end of October 2022. HMRC are unable to provide more recent data as this is still being assured.

Table 1: Monthly breakdown of FTE staff deployed to taskforce:

The Cabinet Office has published guidance to departments on the use of private email that covers how information is held for the purposes of access to information, and how formal decisions are recorded for the official record. This guidance is being updated to reflect changes in technology and ways of working and will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course.

It is Government policy not to comment on individual Ministers’ security arrangements. Ministers receive support and expert advice to help them meet their obligations in the most appropriate and secure fashion. That includes regular security briefings for Ministers, and advice on protecting their personal data and mitigating cyber threats.

It is a long-established practice of the Treasury not to comment either on whether a security breach has been identified, or any subsequent outcome.

There is a place for the use of a variety of digital channels in fast moving modern environments. Ministers will have informal conversations from time to time, in person or remotely, and relevant content from such discussions is passed back to officials. They will also use a variety of digital communications channels for personal, political and Parliamentary matters.

In May 2022, we announced over £15 billion of additional cost of living support, targeted at those with the greatest need. This package builds on over £22 billion previously announced, meaning government support for the cost of living now totals over £37 billion this year, equivalent to 1.5% of GDP. As a result, millions of vulnerable households will receive at least £1,200 of support this financial year, with the vast majority of households receiving at least £550.

We have always been clear that the government cannot seek to offset the entire impact of the increased cost of living for all groups. The government is committed to managing the public finances in a responsible way by targeting support where it is most needed, and we continue to monitor a range of factors, including the Ofgem price cap.

The government is monitoring a range of pressures on households, including the cost of energy, and as we move into winter we will continue to listen to people’s concerns and will seek to help households through challenging times ahead.

We do not hold data on the specific cost of the red weather heat alert 18 – 19^th July 2022. The ONS monthly estimate of GDP for July will become available on the 12^th of September 2022.

Information about the risks to different economic sectors from heatwaves more generally can be found in the UK’s Third Climate Change Risk Assessment which is based on the Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk, the statutory advice provided by the Climate Change Committee, commissioned by the UK Government and devolved administrations.

The support the government has provided over the past two years has put the UK economy in a good position to deal with current challenges, with a record number of employees on payrolls and a strong economic recovery from the pandemic. Annual growth in 2021 was the fastest in the G7 and the latest GDP figures for June showed the UK economy was 0.9% above its pre-pandemic levels.

Limits on the number of salaries that can be paid and at what level are imposed by the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975. Government departments are responsible for paying ministerial salaries and publish relevant information in their annual reports and accounts, which can be found on gov.uk. Salary information for 2021-22 will be included in departments’ 2021-22 annual reports and accounts currently being published.

The Government also publishes information about the salary entitlements and salaries claimed at different ministerial ranks. This information can be found at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1027301/Salaries_of_Members_of_Her_Majestys_Government_-_Financial_Year_2021-22_-_Publication.pdf

The Government estimates around 545,000 second homes in Great Britain, which make up around 2% of the UK’s housing stock. If all of these homes were eligible for the Energy Bills Support Scheme grant, this could contribute a maximum estimate of £218million towards the cost of the scheme.

The Government is prioritising issuing the money to 29 million households by winter 2022. Accurately identifying second homeowners would delay the delivery of the scheme. Additionally, some second homes will be held in circumstances where the recipient may need cost of living support, such as providing a home for an elderly or disabled relative.

The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) consulted on the basis of paying EBSS via domestic electricity meter points. The Government response will be published later in the summer.

The Government’s intention is for EBSS to reach as many households as possible from October, while minimizing the administrative complexity of the scheme. The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has consulted on the basis of paying EBSS via domestic electricity meter points.

While some households have second homes or multiple meter points, it is important to balance this against the timely and efficient delivery of this scheme.

Distributional analysis produced by HM Treasury relies on an established microsimulation model of the UK tax and benefit system. This model is designed to be used for estimating the impacts of a wide range of policies and does not contain information about households’ multiple home ownership.

The Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme closed to new applicants at the end of 31 March 2021. The latest Green Homes Grant voucher release official statistics, published on gov.uk in February 2022, show at the end of 7 February 2022 the total number of household applications received was 113,736, the total number of approved household applications was 61,650, and the number of household applications with at least one measure installed was 43,303. There will be a final statistical release towards the end of 2022 when all exceptional circumstance vouchers are redeemed.

Many supplies of education, including those provided by eligible independent schools, are exempt from VAT. This means that no VAT is charged to the final consumer, and that the schools cannot recover VAT they incur on their costs.

The Government keeps all taxes under review, and any future changes to the UK tax system will be costed in the usual way.

I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave to PQ UIN 37482.

Annual growth in 2021 was the fastest in the G7, and GDP data for Q1 2022 showed the UK had the joint fastest growth in the G7.

The Office for Budget Responsibility are the government’s official forecaster, and they will update their forecasts for UK GDP in the Autumn.

Like other advanced economies, the UK is affected by global economic challenges, including the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine. Support provided over the past two years has put the UK economy in a good position to deal with these challenges, with a record number of employees on payrolls and a strong economic recovery from the pandemic.

The government has also taken significant action to support households with the cost of living, totalling around £37bn this year.

The Government’s public consultation on draft regulations for the Statutory Debt Repayment Plan (SDRP) was launched on 13 May and will close on 5 August.

As of 18 July, the Government has received 5 formal responses to this consultation. However, this is highly unlikely to be representative of the total number of responses that will be received, as it is expected that many of those will be received closer to the deadline.

There has been significant interest in the consultation so far, from a wide range of stakeholders in the debt advice and consumer credit sectors, and the Government continues to engage closely with these stakeholders to support the development of the scheme.

The Government recently ran a Call for Evidence on the umbrella company market to ensure it has a detailed and up to date understanding of the market. This Call for Evidence, which was issued jointly by HM Treasury, HMRC and BEIS, closed on 22 February 2022. Officials in the three departments are working closely together to consider the evidence submitted and will publish the Government's response in due course.

The sovereign immunity consultation was launched on 4 July and will close on 12 September. As of 15 July, the Government has not received any consultation responses.

In response to its Green Finance Strategy consultation, the Government received 145 responses from organisations, and over 1,250 responses from individuals.

The SCAPE discount rate is used in the valuation of unfunded public service pension schemes to set employer contribution rates and is set by HM Treasury following a prescribed methodology. A consultation was published in June 2021 seeking views on the objectives for the SCAPE discount rate and the most appropriate methodology going forward.

Following the consultation’s publication, the Government ran engagement sessions to ensure stakeholders were given the opportunity to express their views. Meetings were also held with members of Scheme Advisory Boards from across the UK relating to each public service workforce, and views were sought from the Government Actuary. Most stakeholders have followed up with formal written responses.

The Government has received 51 responses from a broad range of respondents. These include individuals, trade unions and other member representative bodies, Scheme Advisory Boards, employers and employer representative bodies, actuarial and pensions specialists, and pensions administrators.

All Government consultations and calls for evidence are published on gov.uk, which also provides an update on whether Government has responded to these.

In this Parliament, we have identified 15 calls for evidence or consultations which are closed, but which Government has not yet responded to.