In late September, the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust school age immunisation service devised an updated schedule for covid-19 and flu vaccinations comprising the remaining schools to be visited. This was to address some operational challenges, reduce the need to postpone sessions at short notice and offer the best experience to the young people receiving vaccinations. All affected schools were notified as soon as possible. As my hon. Friend said, the service will be attending Humphrey Perkins on 30 November, when eligible students with consent will be offered both the flu and the covid-19 vaccines. West Leicestershire clinical commissioning group has confirmed to me that this date will not be moved.

We have vaccinated more than 1.1 million 12 to 15-year-olds since roll-out began. Vaccine clinics have been held at around 3,500 schools, with 800 more to be visited next week, and there are more than 240 out-of-school vaccine sites in operation. To bolster the roll-out, since 22 October vaccination bookings for any 12 to 15-year-old in England can be made through the national booking service to attend a vaccination site outside school hours. I take this opportunity to thank everybody involved in making this programme so successful.

Only passengers who are kept separated from other travellers at transit stops, for example on an aircraft, in a train carriage, or in a separate area of a terminal, are considered not to have transited through that country.

The Government expects all operators to manage the risks of COVID-19 transmission. The guidance is clear that social distancing of with risk mitigations should be observed where possible. Where social distancing is not possible, operators are advised to carry out a risk assessment and implement appropriate risk controls. For example, wearing a face covering can play a role in helping us to protect each other.

Essential workers can order four test kits for themselves and other symptomatic members of their households. For households of more than four, the 119 contact centre can raise an order on their behalf.

All Care Quality Commission-registered adult care homes are receiving lateral flow device (LFDs) test kits to enable safe visits, where permitted.

Care home residents will be able to be visited indoors by a single, named individual from 8 March as part of the Prime Minister’s roadmap to ease lockdown restrictions. The scheme will allow a single visitor to spend time indoors with their relative or friend in a care home, and make repeat visits under carefully designed conditions to keep residents, staff and visitors safe

We have made no such assessment.

The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. The Department has now extended the Get Help with Technology scheme to provide disadvantaged 16 to 19 year olds with technological support.

As of Monday 1 February 2021, over 920,000 laptops and tablets had been delivered to schools, academy trusts and local authorities. The Government is providing this significant injection of devices on top of an estimated 2.9 million laptops and tablets already owned by schools before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The rollout of laptops and tablets through this scheme is being continually reviewed to ensure support is offered in the most effective way.

Laptops and tablets are owned by schools, academy trusts or local authorities who can lend these to children and young people who need them most during the current COVID-19 restrictions.

It is important that people to whom debts are owed can enforce those debts and get judgment; it is the foundation upon which commercial transactions are built. I am not sure that I entirely recognise the situation to which my hon. Friend refers. Perhaps we can correspond after today’s session, and I would be happy to look into the particulars of the case that she references and see whether I can assist in any way.

The covid pandemic has had an enormous effect on public services, including the court system, but we have risen to that challenge, investing a total this year, as I said earlier, of an extra quarter of a billion pounds in court recovery. That has included installing 450 plexiglass screens in courtrooms to facilitate covid-safe hearings and installing the cloud video platform in 150 magistrates courts and 70 Crown courts to enable

remote hearings, which last week delivered a record in excess of 20,000 remote hearings across all jurisdictions. We are not resting. There is more work to do and this Government will take whatever action is required to ensure justice is delivered.

Sports and physical activity including golf are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus.

On Monday 4 January the Prime Minister announced a national lockdown and instructed people to stay at home to control the virus, protect the NHS and save lives.The National Restrictions are designed to get the R rate under control through limiting social contact and reducing transmissions.

In order for these measures to have the greatest impact, we will all need to sacrifice doing some things that we would otherwise like to do. We have not introduced further exemptions because when you unpick at one activity the effectiveness of the whole package is compromised.

You can continue to exercise alone, with one other person or with your household or support bubble. This should be limited to once per day, in a public outdoor place and you should not travel outside your local area. You should maintain social distancing. Indoor and outdoor sports facilities, including golf courses, must close.

In the development of the COVID-19 support schemes, HMRC have taken into consideration what is operationally feasible, while managing technical complexities and fraud risks, and ensuring that other schemes the Government has committed to are delivered in a timely way.

Income from dividends is a return on investment in the company, rather than wages. It is not possible for HMRC to distinguish between dividends derived from an individual’s own company and dividends from other sources, and between dividends in lieu of employment income and as returns from other corporate activity.

Payment through dividends would require owner-managers to make a claim and submit information that HMRC could not manageably verify to ensure payments are made to eligible companies for eligible activity.

Company directors who are paid via dividends may be eligible for various elements of the support available, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (in respect of their salary but not their dividends), Bounce Back loans, tax deferrals, rental support, increased levels of Universal Credit, mortgage holidays and other business support grants.

It continues to be our aim that all pupils, in all year groups, remain in school full-time. Being at school is vital for children’s education and for their wellbeing.

The leaders and staff of education settings have been doing an extraordinary job to remain open, keep settings safe, and provide education. Schools have implemented a range of protective measures to minimise risk of transmission.

The Department published guidance to support schools to welcome back all children from the start of the autumn term. The full guidance is available through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

Schools should continue to undertake risk assessments and implement the system of controls set out in this guidance. The overarching principle to apply is reducing the number of contacts between children and staff. This can be achieved through keeping groups separate (in ‘bubbles’) and through maintaining the distance between individuals. These are not alternative options and both measures will help, but the balance between them will change depending on children’s ability to distance, the lay out of the school, and the feasibility of keeping distinct groups separate while offering a broad curriculum (especially at secondary schools).

Schools should look to maximise the use of their site and any associated available space. The Department does not, however, consider it necessary for schools to make significant adaptations to their site, because class sizes have been able to return to normal and spaces used by more than one class or group can be cleaned between use. Following a risk assessment, some schools may determine that small adaptations to their site are required. This will be at the discretion of individual schools, based on their particular circumstances.

When timetabling, groups should be kept apart and movement around the school site kept to a minimum. While passing briefly in the corridor or playground is low risk, schools should avoid creating busy corridors, entrances, and exits. Schools should also consider staggered break times and lunch times (and time for cleaning surfaces in the dining hall between groups).

Since March 2020, Public Health England has translated key public guidance on COVID-19 in multiple languages including Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (traditional), Chinese (simplified), French, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi and Urdu. This now also includes translation of shielding guidance into Bulgarian, Hindi and Nepali. Examples of guidance are available at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19

The Department is working with National Health Service and the general practitioner (GP) community to deliver a trial providing swab testing in a small number of GP surgeries across England. We are working with the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners and NHS England to deliver this in a way that works for both GPs and for their patients. Safety is our number one priority and this trial is only being delivered within the existing ‘COVID-19 safe’ working arrangements of GP surgeries which have the appropriate infection control measures in place. This does not replace any of the existing routes for accessing testing – instead it adds to the available routes. The aim of this is to make it as easy as possible for everyone who needs a swab test to get one.

Ensuring cancer services have continued throughout the pandemic has been, and continues to be, a priority for this Government. This includes services for those with secondary cancers, and patients receiving noncurative treatments.

The strategy for maintaining services through the second wave stands, with key messages including: maintaining or stepping up hubs for cancer surgery; maximising independent sector use; ensuring good patient communication, with use of pathway navigators and safety netting; continue to step up cancer clinical trials; and further rolling out of Rapid Diagnostic Centres and stratified follow up, with redeployment of staff or pausing of invitations considered only as a last resort.

The Government recognises the impact that Covid-19 is having on the sporting sector and our multi-billion-pound package of business support has enabled many of our sports clubs to survive. We have provided unprecedented support to businesses through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support, which many sport clubs have benefited from. Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund has also provided £210 million directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic.

The Government has also supported elite sports to return to "behind closed doors" competition, which enabled vital broadcast revenue, retained competitive integrity and brought joy to millions of sports fans.

The safety and security of players and spectators remains of paramount importance. Work continues at pace to find solutions that will allow crowds safely back into stadia as soon as possible. This includes the creation of a new Sports Technology Innovation Working Group of sporting bodies and health experts to analyse new technologies which might support this. Ministers and officials will continue to engage with Premiership Rugby as part of this process. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is also working with HM Treasury on what can be done to provide further support.

In April 2020, G20 Finance Ministers approved the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) to pause debt repayments from the poorest countries in 2020. On 14 October the Chancellor met with his G20 counterparts, including China, to agree an extension of the DSSI for 6 months. The G20 also agreed in principle a Common Framework on future debt treatments beyond the DSSI which will ensure fair, timely and sustainable debt reductions on a case by case basis when needed.

Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support, which many sport clubs have benefited from. Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund has also provided £210 million directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic.

We have also supported elite sports to return to "behind closed doors" competition, which enabled vital broadcast revenue, retained competitive integrity and brought joy to millions of sports fans. The government also ensured Project Restart was shared with everyone by getting Premier League football on the BBC for the first time ever.

The government recognises the implications for sports clubs of not being able to admit spectators to stadia from 1 October, and are working urgently on what we can do now to support them. The Department will continue to work with colleagues across Whitehall to support the sector.

There is no change from the usual requirements of risk assessment. Employers have a duty to conduct a risk assessment in consultation with workers and unions where applicable.

All employers and self-employed people whose activities may pose a risk to the health and safety of other people should meet the objectives in the guidance to help keep people safe, but the actions they take will depend on the working environment, the size of their workforce and the site.

Businesses that have fewer than five workers do not need to record their risk assessment but still need to take all reasonably practical steps to reduce the risks of COVID-19.

As per guidance outside of new tiering local restrictions, people will still be able to meet in a group of larger than 6 for work purposes while maintaining social distancing.

Any meeting in a hotel venue, or similar, should also follow relevant guidance for the specific venue, including any relevant risk assessment and compliance with social distancing requirements.

The Government has taken a number of measures to identify and support veterans who are experiencing, or who are at risk of, homelessness. The Homelessness Reduction Act includes a statutory duty for members of the Armed Forces, who it is believed may be at risk of homelessness after discharge, to be referred to a local housing authority. The MOD, though Veterans UK, also provides a Defence Transition Service which offers those personnel who are known to be at risk of challenges, which may impact on making a successful transition back into civilian life, with enhanced support and a Veterans Welfare Service which provides support and assistance to veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Earlier this year King's College London was commissioned to undertake research on the impact of COVID-19 on veterans, the results of which will provide insight across a range of factors including housing and homelessness and other areas such as mental health and loneliness. Alongside this, the COVID-19 Impact fund has provided nearly £6m of support to over 100 Armed Forces charities including those working in the housing sector.