I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to UIN 120984 on 30th November 2020.

In reference to your first question, the rates for financial support are set out in the Victim Care Contract (VCC) and Modern Slavery Act 2015: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales. These rates have not been adjusted for inflation, however, they are kept under review. The Home Office is currently working towards a new financial support policy that will focus on individual victims’ needs.

In reference to your second question, there is no distinction made between victims of trafficking and modern slavery in relation to support provided by the VCC. The current VCC has been operational since 2015; providing support to individuals who have been referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), have received a positive reasonable grounds decision and have consented to support. The VCC provides support through accommodation (where needed), financial support and specialist support workers.

We are aware that some individuals may have received incorrect financial support payments during their time in VCC support until 30 November 2019. Financial support payments may have been reduced as a result of them receiving alternative sources of income, in a way that was not in line with published policy or with the wording of the VCC. We are working at pace to establish who may have been affected. We will communicate further details on how we plan to rectify this issue in the coming weeks.

In reference to your third question, the data requested on how many and what proportion of people in the NRM from April 2019 to March 2020 are receiving subsistence payments does not currently form part of the published NRM statistics. The Home Office published quarterly statistics regarding the NRM which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.

The Victim Care Contract (VCC) provides support to individuals who have been referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), have received a positive reasonable grounds decision and have consented to support. The VCC provides support through accommodation (where needed), financial support and specialist support workers.

The rates for financial support are set out in the VCC and Modern Slavery Act 2015: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales. These rates have not been adjusted for inflation, however, they are kept under review. The Home Office is currently working towards a new financial support policy that will focus on individual victims’ needs.

Funding decisions for the next financial year, including obesity programmes, are being considered as part of the ongoing Spending Review. The conclusion of the Spending Review will be announced on 25 November.

‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’ demonstrates an overarching campaign to reduce obesity, takes forward actions from previous chapters of the childhood obesity plan and sets out measures to get the nation fit and healthy, protect against COVID-19 and protect the National Health Service.

We have invested £3.279 billion in local authority public health services through the Public Health Grant in 2020/21, in addition to what the NHS spent on preventative interventions such as our world-class immunisation and screening programmes.

From 1 August the Government has relaxed national advice for the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV), bringing it in line with the advice to those who are clinically vulnerable. The advice is still to stay at home as much as possible. However, if they are unable to work from home, they will be able to return to work, provided their workplace is COVID-safe. It is important that this group continue to take careful precautions, and employers should do all they can to enable them to work from home where this is possible, including moving them to another role or adjusting their work patterns if required.

To support this guidance, the CEV will continue to have access to an unprecedented package of financial support after the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends. To keep employees attached to the workforce even if they are unable to work their usual hours, the Government will be introducing a new Job Support Scheme from 1 November, which will support firms facing reduced demand with wage costs incurred from 1 November 2020. In order to protect jobs, the Government has also expanded the JSS for businesses legally required to temporarily close their premises as a direct result of coronavirus restrictions. The Government will provide those employers with a grant for employees unable to work, covering two thirds of their usual wages and subject to a cap.

For clinically extremely vulnerable individuals who are on low incomes or who are out of work, the Government has injected a further £9.3 billion into the welfare system according to OBR estimates. Changes include a £20 per week increase to the Universal Credit (UC) standard allowance and Working Tax Credit basic element, and a nearly £1 billion increase in support for renters through increases to the Local Housing Allowance rates for UC and Housing Benefit claimants.

The Government remains strongly committed to supporting research into dementia and the United Kingdom research community is playing a significant role in the global effort to find a cure or a major disease-modifying treatment by 2025.

The Government’s 2020 Challenge contained the commitment to spend £300 million on dementia research over the five years to March 2020. This commitment was delivered a year early with £341 million spent on dementia research over the four years to 31 March 2019. We are currently working on ways to boost significantly further research on dementia at all stages on the translation pathway including medical and care interventions.

‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’ demonstrates an overarching campaign to reduce obesity, takes forward actions from previous chapters of the childhood obesity plan and sets our measures to get the nation fit and healthy, protect against COVID-19 and protect the National Health Service.

Through the strategy we are delivering a range of measures on weight management, including expanding weight management services, to help more people get the support they need and making conversations about weight in primary care the norm. Further details about these measures will be available later in the year and we will engage stakeholders throughout this process.

It is for clinical commissioning groups to commission complex obesity services for adults based on the needs of their local population, which includes all bariatric surgical procedures and the associated care.

We work closely with FareShare, as we always have. As the hon. Gentleman points out, we did make available some additional funding to help it to support the financially vulnerable during this pandemic. Obviously, as we go into winter we keep all these matters under review.

NHS England published a letter on 13 July, setting out that a deduction of 16.75% will be applied to National Health Service dental practices (those that were not operating as urgent dental centre sites) for the period 1 April to 7 June, to take account of lower consumables (laboratory and material) and other variable practice costs during the period. Local urgent dental care centres will not have any deductions applied for the period they have been operational. A copy of the letter can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/03/C0603-Dental-preparedness-letter_July-2020.pdf

NHS England published a letter on 13 July, setting out that a deduction of 16.75% will be applied to National Health Service dental practices (those that were not operating as urgent dental centre sites) for the period 1 April to 7 June, to take account of lower consumables (laboratory and material) and other variable practice costs during the period. Local urgent dental care centres will not have any deductions applied for the period they have been operational. A copy of the letter can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/03/C0603-Dental-preparedness-letter_July-2020.pdf

We recognise that many charities are facing difficult decisions at the exact time their services are needed most and, on 8 April 2020 the Chancellor announced £750 million to support for the charity sector in response to COVID-19. This includes up to £200 million for hospices and £22 million for health and social care charities. The £22 million includes:

- £4.2 million to support mental health charities and charities within the National Bereavement Alliance;

- Up to £6.8 million to support St John Ambulance;

- £6 million to support Air Ambulances;

- £6 million to support various charities, including those working with people with learning disabilities, autism and complex needs, those working to support people with cancer and stroke and dementia charities, and those that support the adult social care system; and

- This funding will also go to charities supporting pregnant women, babies in neonatal intensive care and those affected by stillbirth and neonatal deaths and support for specialist addiction and recovery charities.

To this date there has been no funding agreed for ophthalmology charities.

There is still an opportunity for charities to apply directly for funding from the National Lottery’s £200 million Coronavirus Community Support Fund. This fund is supporting charities working with vulnerable people. The criteria for this fund are set out at the following link:

https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/

We recognise that many charities are facing difficult decisions at the exact time their services are needed most and, on 8 April 2020 the Chancellor announced £750 million to support for the charity sector in response to COVID-19. This includes up to £200 million for hospices and £22 million for health and social care charities. The £22 million includes:

- £4.2 million to support mental health charities and charities within the National Bereavement Alliance;

- Up to £6.8 million to support St John Ambulance;

- £6 million to support Air Ambulances;

- £6 million to support various charities, including those working with people with learning disabilities, autism and complex needs, those working to support people with cancer and stroke and dementia charities, and those that support the adult social care system; and

- This funding will also go to charities supporting pregnant women, babies in neonatal intensive care and those affected by stillbirth and neonatal deaths and support for specialist addiction and recovery charities.

To this date there has been no funding agreed for ophthalmology charities.

There is still an opportunity for charities to apply directly for funding from the National Lottery’s £200 million Coronavirus Community Support Fund. This fund is supporting charities working with vulnerable people. The criteria for this fund are set out at the following link:

https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has a duty to ensure access, in England, to National Health Service pharmaceutical services. These are commissioned from community pharmacies who are private businesses. £2.592 billion a year was committed to the sector in the five-year deal from 2019/20 to 2023/24 for the NHS pharmaceutical services they provide, a total of nearly £13 billion. To maintain access in areas where there are fewer pharmacies or higher health needs, additional payments, from within that funding, are made under the Pharmacy Access Scheme to eligible pharmacies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, £350 million in extra advance payments have been made to address cash flow, and support pharmacies in maintaining medicine supplies and providing health advice. Additional payments above the £2.592 billion for 2020/21 have been made to support additional opening hours on Bank Holidays and for a medicine delivery service to shielded patients. We continue to work with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee to assess any additional COVID-19 related costs that it may be necessary to cover.

Due to issues relating to the card provider, on 26 June 2020 potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery with access to a payment card through the Adult Victims of Modern Slavery (AVMS) support contract were informed the payment cards were frozen and advised to contact their dedicated support worker if they needed emergency cash payments.

All subcontractors of the AVMS support contract were also instructed to assess their service users for those who might have needed urgent payments, so they could be contacted proactively, and provided with support as required.

On 30 June 2020, the freeze on the payment cards was lifted and all service users were able to resume using their payment cards.

In 2020/21 the total public health grant to local authorities is £3.279 billion. The grant is ring-fenced for use on public health functions, including sexual health services and contraception.

No assessment has been made of trends in the level of funding for contraception.

We have been reviewing the level of the cash allowances provided to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute, as we do each year to ensure that they remain capable of meeting their essential living needs.

As a result of this work, the standard allowance has been raised to £39.60 per week from £37.75 per week, an increase of around 5%. The increase is significantly higher than the current general rate of inflation, which Office of National Statistics data shows was only 0.8% in the 12 months period to April 2020. Food inflation over the same period was only 1.4% and the data actually shows that, despite Covid-19, food prices fell between March to April 2020. In addition to asylum support payments, asylum seekers are provided with free accommodation, utilities are paid for, council tax is paid for, they have free access to the NHS and their children have free access to education.

DCMS and the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF - our distribution partners for the Coronavirus Community Support Fund) have been - and continue to - engage extensively with BAME organisations during the development of the response and are working with a number of organisations to improve the reach of the Coronavirus Community Support Fund.

A diverse advisory panel has been set up to assist in the distribution process for the fund. DCMS will continue to work closely to assess how we can support BAME charities and social enterprises in doing their important work. The Minister for Civil Society holds a fortnightly roundtable to hear directly from BAME civil society organisations to highlight concerns and responses to Covid-19. DCMS will continue to work closely to assess how we can support BAME charities and social enterprises in doing their important work.

We have published clear and comprehensive guidance on the £750 million, plus other sources of support, at

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/financial-support-for-voluntary-community-and-social-enterprise-vcse-organisations-to-respond-to-coronavirus-covid-19.

This is a package of emergency response to help groups in need and to provide other essential services. It builds on the significant package of support available across sectors, including the Job Retention Scheme.

In the Government’s Future Homes Standards consultation, which closed 7 February, we proposed that new homes built to this standard should have 75-80% fewer CO2 emissions than those built to current building regulation standards. An impact assessment on the Future Homes Standard will be published when we consult on the details of the policy proposals. We will carefully consider any impacts on costs and housing supply as part of the consultation.