As announced in the Innovation Strategy, Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Paul Nurse is leading an independent Review of the Research, Development, and Innovation Organisational Landscape. The Review will draw on the UK’s strengths and experiences and international best practice to enhance the UK research, development, and innovation (RDI) landscape for the future.

The Review focuses on those organisations performing research activity and whether the current institutional mix is calibrated to deliver the highest quality research. It will support the UK RDI landscape to remain world-class and competitive in an increasingly globalised and contested environment.

The Terms of Reference for the Review were published on 1 October 2021. A final report is expected to be published in Spring 2022.

The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Review is working with system experts and other government departments across education, health and care to ensure that there is balanced input and representation from across the SEND system. The system experts referred to in the answer to Question 23236 include Tony McArdle, the Chair of the SEND System Leadership Board and wider Board members.

It also includes those system experts which the review has most recently engaged with as part of its policy development, which include but are not limited to: Association of Directors of Childrens Services, Confederation of School Trusts, Council for Disabled Children, Local Government Association, National Network of Parent Carer Forums, National Multi-Academy Ttrust (MAT) CEO Network for Alternative Provision and SEND, Office of the Children’s Commissioner, and Ofsted.

The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Review has been making good progress, but the COVID-19 outbreak has frustrated the pace of this important review and materially altered the context for reform. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, will ensure that the house is kept appropriately updated.

The SEND Review continues to work with system experts to make sure we are designing a system fit for the future. We are drawing on the best evidence available to review the system, including the consideration of existing legal entitlements, before publishing proposals for public consultation.

The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Review has been making good progress, but the COVID-19 outbreak has frustrated the pace of this important review and materially altered the context for reform. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, will ensure that the house is kept appropriately updated.

The SEND Review continues to work with system experts to make sure we are designing a system fit for the future. We are drawing on the best evidence available to review the system, including the consideration of existing legal entitlements, before publishing proposals for public consultation.

We are committed to ensuring greater stability of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services as we enter the recovery phase following the COVID-19 outbreak. We aim to have clear oversight of local areas’ performance in delivering SEND services, including those that had weaknesses before the COVID-19 outbreak and those that are struggling to respond to the challenges that the COVID-19 outbreak has brought. With this in mind, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) re-started their revisit programme of areas where SEND services need to improve that received a Written Statement of Action in April, and full inspections in June.

We are working closely with Ofsted, CQC, our professional advisory service and our delivery support partners to identify, support and intervene effectively and early in underperforming areas.

We recognise the need to strengthen accountability in the SEND system and, therefore, the department, with the support of the Department of Health and Social Care, has commissioned Ofsted and the CQC to develop a new area SEND inspection framework to launch after the existing inspection cycle has finished. Learning from the published assessment of the current approach, this will include a greater focus on the experience of children and young people with SEND, and their families, and give more prominence to the quality integration and commissioning of education, health and care services. The new framework will take into account the COVID-19 outbreak’s impact on services and on children, young people and families.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care asked Dr Keith Ridge, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, to lead a review of overprescribing in December 2018. The work was paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic because the majority of the participants have National Health Service clinical roles but has now resumed. The report will be finalised in the coming weeks.

Phase two of Dame Carol Black’s review covering treatment services will be published later this year and will be made available to the National Oversight Group overseeing the National Health Service’s implementation of recommendations from Public Health England’s prescribed medicines review alongside other relevant materials.

Medicines optimisation is defined in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines as ‘a person-centred approach to safe and effective medicines use, to ensure people obtain the best possible outcomes from their medicines’. This includes prescription of medicines which may give rise to dependency when these are clinically justified.

An oversight group has been established by NHS England and NHS Improvement to oversee the recommendations of the Public Health England Review on prescribed medicines.

The group is focusing on the implementation of the recommendations, ensuring alignment with other relevant programmes already underway in the National Health Service and overseeing any new policy initiatives being taken forward in in response to the review.

This work is a priority and implementation of the recommendations is being taken forward as quickly as possible, taking into account other pressures on healthcare professionals and the NHS. With progress having been initially delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, an update on the programme is expected later this year or early in 2022.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have been coordinating implementation of the recommendations of the Public Health England review, ‘Dependence and withdrawal associated with some prescribed medicines: An evidence review’. This includes developing a framework to support commissioners to optimise prescribing of dependence forming medicines.

To support the development of the framework, a call for case studies was issued on 15 December 2020. The call was aimed primarily at commissioners, providers and other appropriate organisations such as those in the third sector. The deadline for submissions has recently been extended to the 29 January 2021 to allow stakeholders more time to respond.

There is an awful lot of action on those scores. The boundaries Bill does an important thing first—paying equal respect to all nations of our United Kingdom—because we on the Government side believe in the Union. We believe it is incredibly important, and we believe that people’s voices ought to be equal between and within the countries of our United Kingdom.

Because they are not discriminatory. The hon. Lady sees evils where they do not exist. Everyone on the Government side of the House, and I hope everyone in the House, agrees that black lives matter. She is wrong and has been wrong every time she has tried to run that argument about voter identification. It is a reasonable thing that many other countries do, and it will improve the security of our voting. The evidence shows there is no impact on any particular demographic group.

The specification and search protocols for the rapid evidence assessment were based on Public Health England’s (PHE) previous experience of conducting evidence reviews and after consultation with members of the review’s expert reference group and other experts in the field.

PHE has set a 10 year limit for collating research and other papers on this topic, so it can have a comprehensive set of current evidence, whilst being able to complete the report by spring 2019.

Approximately 30,000 research papers and other reports will be examined and assessed for the rapid evidence assessment. Reports that reference and build upon research published before 2008 will also be accepted for the review.

Public Health England was commissioned on 24 January 2018 to review the evidence for dependence on, and withdrawal from, prescribed medicines. The review will have an expert group to inform its approach, interpret findings and propose recommendations. This expert group has not yet been set up but will be formed of a range of stakeholders including clinical and non-clinical experts and representatives of patient groups. Details on the members of the group will be available in due course.

Public Health England (PHE) will carry out a public-health focused review of commonly prescribed medicines, authorised for adults who have non-cancer pain, anxiety, insomnia or depression. The report will be authored by PHE but will include contributions from academic institutions which will be appointed following a tender process.

More information about the review, including its scope and the methods that will be used, is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/news/prescribed-medicines-that-may-cause-dependence-or-withdrawal

Public Health England (PHE) will carry out a public-health focused review of commonly prescribed medicines, authorised for adults who have non-cancer pain, anxiety, insomnia or depression. The report will be authored by PHE but will include contributions from academic institutions which will be appointed following a tender process.

More information about the review, including its scope and the methods that will be used, is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/news/prescribed-medicines-that-may-cause-dependence-or-withdrawal

The scope of the second phase of the funding review is to consider the cost of national elections and identify ways to improve value for money, including by promoting good practice and consistency of the policies and processes that govern Returning Officers’ expenditure.

The review will involve a wide range of stakeholders including returning officers, electoral services managers, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE), the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA), the Electoral Commission, other government departments, the devolved administrations, the National Audit Office and various suppliers. Stakeholders will be able to provide their input throughout the review process

The Government keeps elections processes and policy under review and Cabinet Office
officials are actively discussing timetables and other processes with the Association of
Electoral Administrators and the Electoral Commission to understand the issues and
identify practicable solutions that put electors first.

Combining polls can bring benefits in terms of enhancing voter participation and reducing cost. However, it is recognised that changing the rules surrounding the combination of polls would be a complex exercise involving amendments to primary legislation. We will continue to consider this matter with stakeholders to see where improvements can be made.

I expect to announce the Chair of the independent review of full-time social action by young people in due course. Following the appointment of the Chair we will appoint a panel of experts from the private and voluntary sectors.

Officials in my department are providing the secretariat for the review including preliminary work in advance of the Chair and panel appointments.