Found: Families First Partnership Programme and the new measures set out in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: development given the changes that are about to come into place through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: in response to Operation Lanark, as well as at the Report Stage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: There is already much we are doing in relation to measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Peck CBE as Chair of the Office for Students HC 731 2nd Scrutiny of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Education Committee, Second Report of Session 2024–26, Scrutiny of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multiplier and Private Schools) Bill Correspondence from the Minister of State

Found: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, this important bit of legislation, should create this unique

Found: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, first introduced as part of the 2024 King’s Speech, included

Found: The legislation that is coming in through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill does not address

Found: through: • The implementation of the social care commitments in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: through: • The implementation of the social care commitments in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: through: • The implementation of the social care commitments in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: through: • The implementation of the social care commitments in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: through: • The implementation of the social care commitments in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: through: • The implementation of the social care commitments in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce a financial oversight scheme, but the Department

Found: We have to see how it goes, but the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes a limitation on the

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase uptake of foreign language GCSEs.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The government is committed to supporting modern foreign languages across schools, and across the languages pipeline. In our response to the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, we made a commitment to work with the sector to understand successful approaches to supporting the languages pipeline. This starts at primary by reforming the curriculum, increasing take up at GCSE, and boosting demand at A level and degree level, to meet future social and economic needs, including learning from successful local models.

Subject to the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are also requiring academy schools to teach the revised national curriculum, including languages programmes of study. We are also supporting the quality of languages teaching through continued investment in the National Consortium for Languages Education, which provides teachers with national high-quality professional development.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will set out what companies with current Government contracts will be subject to the profit cap as proposed in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The profit cap provisions in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill would apply in England to any non-local authority providers of children’s homes or fostering services, and subject to changing secondary legislation, supported accommodation. The government does not contract directly to companies to provide these services within scope of the profit cap provisions. Local authorities commission these contracts directly.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the financial impact of participating in GCSE exams on home-schooled students.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

Parents who choose to educate children at home bear the financial responsibility for doing so, including covering the costs of their exam entry. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will not change this.

However, the Bill does introduce a new support duty. For the first time, local authorities will be required to provide advice and information on accessing GCSE examinations when requested by parents, unless it would be unreasonable to do so.

This advice should help parents understand how the exam system works, identify any suitable centres, and plan their child’s education and approach to exams in a timely and informed way.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Adoption and Permanence entitled Adoptee Voices, published on 28 January 2026, if she will take steps to provide (a) a safe space in school and colleges for adoptees and (b) a teacher in each school to support adoptees.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

All children and young people should have every opportunity to achieve and thrive, but too many face barriers holding them back. The upcoming Schools White Paper will set out our vision for a system that delivers educational excellence for every child and young person, no matter their background or circumstance.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of previously looked-after children, including children adopted from state care, and must appoint a Virtual School Head to discharge this duty. All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to provide advice and expertise on the needs of previously looked-after children on their roll. Previously looked-after children have highest priority in school admissions and attract Pupil Premium Plus funding of £2,630 per child per year to support improved educational outcomes.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are committed to updating statutory guidance for Virtual School Heads, including strengthening sections on promoting the educational outcomes of previously looked-after children. In doing so, we will consider the findings of the report to ensure guidance reflects the experiences and needs raised by adoptees. This will support greater consistency and ensure good practice is shared across the system.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Adoption and Permanence entitled Adoptee Voices, published on 28 January 2026, if she will take steps to provide additional support for adoptees in schools.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

All children and young people should have every opportunity to achieve and thrive, but too many face barriers holding them back. The upcoming Schools White Paper will set out our vision for a system that delivers educational excellence for every child and young person, no matter their background or circumstance.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of previously looked-after children, including children adopted from state care, and must appoint a Virtual School Head to discharge this duty. All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to provide advice and expertise on the needs of previously looked-after children on their roll. Previously looked-after children have highest priority in school admissions and attract Pupil Premium Plus funding of £2,630 per child per year to support improved educational outcomes.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are committed to updating statutory guidance for Virtual School Heads, including strengthening sections on promoting the educational outcomes of previously looked-after children. In doing so, we will consider the findings of the report to ensure guidance reflects the experiences and needs raised by adoptees. This will support greater consistency and ensure good practice is shared across the system.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The provisions in the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 are kept under review and updated through primary legislation. We are currently seeking to make updates through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, including in part II of the act, which makes provision for the employment of children in England and Wales.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the regionalisation of foster care commissioning on the role of independent fostering agencies, including on (a) placement availability, (b) costs to local authorities and (c) outcomes for children in care.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Every child in care should have a safe, loving home at value for money for the taxpayer. Through our package of measures, including those in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we will rebalance the placements market, improve competition, regulation and commissioning of placements, shine a light on the level of profit being made, and bring greater visibility to the prices local authorities are paying.

Our fostering plan, published 4 February, focuses predominantly on strengthening local authority fostering provision, which has seen the biggest decrease in foster carers in recent years. We know that, where appropriate for the child, fostering typically delivers the best outcomes.

Concurrently, we want to see an expansion of third sector provision, as well as learning from private providers who achieve good outcomes for children and how their best practice can be shared.

Our wider reforms will also mean local authorities, working together as Regional Care Co-operatives (RCCs), can co-ordinate their approach to private provision more effectively. This will mean they can plan and purchase support from Independent Fostering Agencies, using collective negotiation to improve value for local government, and ensure that care meets children’s needs. Further details on our vision for RCCs was also published 4 February.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of independent fostering agencies on a) costs to local authorities and b) outcomes for children in care; and whether plans to regionalise the commissioning of foster care placements will reflect those impacts.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Every child in care should have a safe, loving home at value for money for the taxpayer. Through our package of measures, including those in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we will rebalance the placements market, improve competition, regulation and commissioning of placements, shine a light on the level of profit being made, and bring greater visibility to the prices local authorities are paying.

Our fostering plan, published 4 February, focuses predominantly on strengthening local authority fostering provision, which has seen the biggest decrease in foster carers in recent years. We know that, where appropriate for the child, fostering typically delivers the best outcomes.

Concurrently, we want to see an expansion of third sector provision, as well as learning from private providers who achieve good outcomes for children and how their best practice can be shared.

Our wider reforms will also mean local authorities, working together as Regional Care Co-operatives (RCCs), can co-ordinate their approach to private provision more effectively. This will mean they can plan and purchase support from Independent Fostering Agencies, using collective negotiation to improve value for local government, and ensure that care meets children’s needs. Further details on our vision for RCCs was also published 4 February.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the number of neurodivergent children living in temporary accommodation in (a) Yeovil constituency (b) Somerset and (c) England.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Homelessness is far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, including neurodivergent children. Accommodation provided to homeless households must be suitable to their needs. The government collects and publishes data on the support needs of households owed a homelessness duty (which includes households with support needs due to learning disabilities).

In October 2025 the government announced £10.9 million funding for 61 councils with the highest levels of children in temporary accommodation. This funding will be used to increase access to support and services for families and make a tangible impact on their quality of life whilst they remain in need. This will deliver positive benefits for education and health outcomes, including school attendance.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are introducing a single unique identifier for children nationally to help improve information sharing and safeguarding, which means practitioners and services working with families and children must receive and share relevant information about children and families they support, including to assess safeguarding risks effectively. We will introduce a new duty on councils to notify schools, health visitors and GPs that a child is in temporary accommodation.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the experiences of neurodivergent children living in temporary accommodation in Yeovil constituency

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Homelessness is far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, including neurodivergent children. Accommodation provided to homeless households must be suitable to their needs. The government collects and publishes data on the support needs of households owed a homelessness duty (which includes households with support needs due to learning disabilities).

In October 2025 the government announced £10.9 million funding for 61 councils with the highest levels of children in temporary accommodation. This funding will be used to increase access to support and services for families and make a tangible impact on their quality of life whilst they remain in need. This will deliver positive benefits for education and health outcomes, including school attendance.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are introducing a single unique identifier for children nationally to help improve information sharing and safeguarding, which means practitioners and services working with families and children must receive and share relevant information about children and families they support, including to assess safeguarding risks effectively. We will introduce a new duty on councils to notify schools, health visitors and GPs that a child is in temporary accommodation.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department provides guidance to local authorities on ensuring that children and young people moving into temporary accommodation are supported to make necessary changes to personal information and continue to access education.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Schools and colleges in England must follow the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ 2025 statutory guidance when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that all children of compulsory school age in their area are receiving suitable education. To support this duty, every local authority must have a Fair Access Protocol in place to ensure that vulnerable children, including those who are homeless, can be secured a school place as quickly as possible where they fail to secure one through the usual admissions processes.

The government has also tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to introduce a new duty on local housing authorities to notify educational institutions, GP practices and health visiting services when a child is placed in temporary accommodation. Guidance will be provided for local authority housing officers and the public bodies receiving notifications.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when amendments to the Children Act 1989 to strengthen protections for children in local authority care will be brought forward, in the context of the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Our ‘Tackling child sexual abuse: progress update’, published in April 2025, set out the government’s work to respond to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s recommendation to amend the Children Act 1989. The update is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-sexual-abuse-progress-update.

The department will publish new national standards and statutory guidance for advocacy for children and young people and has committed to establishing a Child Protection Authority. In December 2025, we published the consultation on the authority’s scope, functions and powers, with the aim of making the system clearer, more unified and ensure there is ongoing improvement through effective evidence-based support for practitioners.

Further, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill marks the biggest overhaul of children’s social care in a generation with a sharp focus on protecting children. This includes measures to establish multi-agency child protection teams in every local authority area, improve information sharing between agencies, and automatically include education and childcare settings in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce risks of suicide, self-harm and depression among care-experienced young people; and what plans she has to ensure continuity of mental health and wellbeing support for care-experienced young people beyond the age of 18.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is committed to reviewing the shockingly high number of early deaths amongst care-experienced young people. As I stated in the House of Commons, at the beginning of the first ever National Care Leavers Month in November 2025, suicide and early death are, tragically, part of the care experience for too many. To start to solve a problem, we must first confront it.

As we progress this review, we will carefully consider how to improve the support that care leavers receive across a range of aspects of their lives, including mental and physical health, housing, education, employment and training, and relationships.

We are already taking action through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, including placing a new duty on local authorities to provide Staying Close support to care leavers up to the age of 25, to help care leavers find and keep suitable accommodation and to access services relating to health and wellbeing, relationships, education, training and employment.

In addition, we are reviewing guidance on ‘Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children’ and extending it to cover care leavers up to age 25.

In December 2025, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and I announced that, in a boost for mental health support, the government will trial a 3-year pilot to make sure children in care have access to the support they need sooner. This will build on existing work across the country, bringing together social workers and NHS health professionals to work together to provide direct mental health support to children and families when they need it most.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing mandatory nutrition and practical cooking education in all schools.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

Mandatory nutrition and practical cooking education is already included within the national curriculum. Additional elements of nutrition education can also be covered within science and relationships, sex and health education. The national curriculum aims to teach children how to cook and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and nutrition. Schools also have flexibility within the broad framework of the national curriculum to tailor curriculum subjects to meet the needs of their pupils.

In response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the department has set out that we will enhance the identity of food education by clearly distinguishing cooking and nutrition, which will be renamed food and nutrition, as a distinct strand within design and technology. We are also legislating through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to require academies to follow the national curriculum, to ensure that pupils in academy schools also benefit from these changes alongside those in maintained schools.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve early interventions in cases of childhood neglect.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is driving major children’s social care reforms to strengthen and improve early intervention, including in cases of childhood neglect. These reforms are backed by £2.4 billion investment, robust statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’, and support for teachers, social workers and all safeguarding professionals to spot the signs of abuse and neglect more quickly.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we will require local authorities and safeguarding partners to establish multi-agency child protection teams, enhance schools’ role in safeguarding partnership arrangements and introduce provisions that empower my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to introduce a consistent identifier for children.

In addition, our Best Start Family Hubs will provide welcoming spaces that connect families to health, education, housing and parenting support, helping identify those who need more intensive help from family support and multi-agency child protection.

Our plans to establish a Child Protection Authority in England will also bring further focus to children who are experiencing or likely to experience significant harm, including neglect.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government intends to bring forward legislation to introduce mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse by designated professionals, in the context of the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April last year, set out clearly the actions the Government is taking to respond to IICSA’s recommendations. We are now delivering on those commitments overseen by an inter-ministerial group on child sexual abuse chaired by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Child Protection Authority

Last month the Government published a consultation seeking views on the creation of the new Child Protection Authority for England. A Government response will be published by summer 2026 including a plan to establish the new body, and further information on its scope, structure, activities and responsibilities.

Mandatory Reporting

Measures to introduce a new statutory duty for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children and young people in England to report sexual abuse, and to create a new criminal offence of obstructing an individual from making a report under the duty are included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Disclosure and Barring Service

The Government, working with the DBS, has been driving forward a continuous programme of work to improve employers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of, and compliance with, their statutory duty to inform the DBS about individuals who may pose a risk of harm to children.

That work has included bespoke workshops on the legal duty to refer, how to make a good quality barring referral and recognising when it may be appropriate to refer someone to DBS because of harm caused outside the workplace. Through these workshops the DBS has reached over 12,000 individuals working in safeguarding roles. Since the DBS Outreach Service was introduced the number of referrals has increased by over 50% in every region.

On 18 December 2025, legislation was also brought into force which enabled ACRO Criminal Records Office to include an individual’s barred list status on its International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) which is available to those who are looking to work with children overseas. By ensuring that overseas employers can also learn an individual’s barred list status, this will reduce the risk of those barred from working with children in the UK being able to do so overseas.

Limitation Period for Civil Claims

The Government has committed to remove the three-year time limit for victims to bring civil child sexual abuse claims with the burden of proof falling on defendants (rather than victims, as at present) to show that a fair trial is not possible. This measure has been included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Joint inspections of compliance with the Victims’ Code

The Government has asked the Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates (CJJI) to include an inspection on the experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in the criminal justice system, including compliance with the Victims’ Code, in their 2025-27 Business Plan. The inspection is expected to take place in summer 2026.

Retention of Records

The Government is preparing regulations instructing the Information Commissioner’s Office to produce a code of practice on the retention of personal data relating to child sexual abuse. We intend to lay the regulations before the House as soon as possible. Once the regulations have been laid, the ICO will prepare the code following consultation with an expert panel.

Single Core National Dataset

The Government is taking a range of steps to improve the consistency of data collection and sharing related to child sexual abuse. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will introduce a new information sharing duty and a consistent identifier for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share their information about children at risk of child sexual abuse. The Government also continues to support the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse which, through it’s Trends in Official Data report and Data Insights Hub brings together local and national data on the prevalence, identification and response to child sexual abuse.

National Public Awareness Campaign

The Government is committed to raising public awareness about the scale and impacts of child sexual abuse and is supporting several targeted programmes to achieve this, including the #LookCloser campaign, aiming to raise awareness of all forms of child exploitation, and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! Online Deterrence campaign and its services to prevent offending. As part of the Government’s commitment to halve VAWG in a decade, we are also supporting the ENOUGH campaign, a long-term national programme of behaviour change campaigns to deliver a generational shift in the awareness, attitudes, and behaviours underpinning abuse.

Expenditure on Services Supporting Victims and Survivors

The Government is committing significant funding towards specialist support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Department for Health and Social Care has announced a £50m package to support expansion of the ‘Child House’ model, a key step in addressing IICSA’s recommendation on improving therapeutic support for children affected by sexual abuse. The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date - and the Home Office will also invest £2.59m this year to support frontline providers that offer nationally accessible services to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures are being taken to strengthen compliance with the statutory duty to refer individuals to the Disclosure and Barring Service, as recommended by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April last year, set out clearly the actions the Government is taking to respond to IICSA’s recommendations. We are now delivering on those commitments overseen by an inter-ministerial group on child sexual abuse chaired by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Child Protection Authority

Last month the Government published a consultation seeking views on the creation of the new Child Protection Authority for England. A Government response will be published by summer 2026 including a plan to establish the new body, and further information on its scope, structure, activities and responsibilities.

Mandatory Reporting

Measures to introduce a new statutory duty for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children and young people in England to report sexual abuse, and to create a new criminal offence of obstructing an individual from making a report under the duty are included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Disclosure and Barring Service

The Government, working with the DBS, has been driving forward a continuous programme of work to improve employers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of, and compliance with, their statutory duty to inform the DBS about individuals who may pose a risk of harm to children.

That work has included bespoke workshops on the legal duty to refer, how to make a good quality barring referral and recognising when it may be appropriate to refer someone to DBS because of harm caused outside the workplace. Through these workshops the DBS has reached over 12,000 individuals working in safeguarding roles. Since the DBS Outreach Service was introduced the number of referrals has increased by over 50% in every region.

On 18 December 2025, legislation was also brought into force which enabled ACRO Criminal Records Office to include an individual’s barred list status on its International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) which is available to those who are looking to work with children overseas. By ensuring that overseas employers can also learn an individual’s barred list status, this will reduce the risk of those barred from working with children in the UK being able to do so overseas.

Limitation Period for Civil Claims

The Government has committed to remove the three-year time limit for victims to bring civil child sexual abuse claims with the burden of proof falling on defendants (rather than victims, as at present) to show that a fair trial is not possible. This measure has been included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Joint inspections of compliance with the Victims’ Code

The Government has asked the Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates (CJJI) to include an inspection on the experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in the criminal justice system, including compliance with the Victims’ Code, in their 2025-27 Business Plan. The inspection is expected to take place in summer 2026.

Retention of Records

The Government is preparing regulations instructing the Information Commissioner’s Office to produce a code of practice on the retention of personal data relating to child sexual abuse. We intend to lay the regulations before the House as soon as possible. Once the regulations have been laid, the ICO will prepare the code following consultation with an expert panel.

Single Core National Dataset

The Government is taking a range of steps to improve the consistency of data collection and sharing related to child sexual abuse. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will introduce a new information sharing duty and a consistent identifier for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share their information about children at risk of child sexual abuse. The Government also continues to support the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse which, through it’s Trends in Official Data report and Data Insights Hub brings together local and national data on the prevalence, identification and response to child sexual abuse.

National Public Awareness Campaign

The Government is committed to raising public awareness about the scale and impacts of child sexual abuse and is supporting several targeted programmes to achieve this, including the #LookCloser campaign, aiming to raise awareness of all forms of child exploitation, and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! Online Deterrence campaign and its services to prevent offending. As part of the Government’s commitment to halve VAWG in a decade, we are also supporting the ENOUGH campaign, a long-term national programme of behaviour change campaigns to deliver a generational shift in the awareness, attitudes, and behaviours underpinning abuse.

Expenditure on Services Supporting Victims and Survivors

The Government is committing significant funding towards specialist support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Department for Health and Social Care has announced a £50m package to support expansion of the ‘Child House’ model, a key step in addressing IICSA’s recommendation on improving therapeutic support for children affected by sexual abuse. The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date - and the Home Office will also invest £2.59m this year to support frontline providers that offer nationally accessible services to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks for individuals working with children overseas will be introduced, in the context of the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April last year, set out clearly the actions the Government is taking to respond to IICSA’s recommendations. We are now delivering on those commitments overseen by an inter-ministerial group on child sexual abuse chaired by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Child Protection Authority

Last month the Government published a consultation seeking views on the creation of the new Child Protection Authority for England. A Government response will be published by summer 2026 including a plan to establish the new body, and further information on its scope, structure, activities and responsibilities.

Mandatory Reporting

Measures to introduce a new statutory duty for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children and young people in England to report sexual abuse, and to create a new criminal offence of obstructing an individual from making a report under the duty are included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Disclosure and Barring Service

The Government, working with the DBS, has been driving forward a continuous programme of work to improve employers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of, and compliance with, their statutory duty to inform the DBS about individuals who may pose a risk of harm to children.

That work has included bespoke workshops on the legal duty to refer, how to make a good quality barring referral and recognising when it may be appropriate to refer someone to DBS because of harm caused outside the workplace. Through these workshops the DBS has reached over 12,000 individuals working in safeguarding roles. Since the DBS Outreach Service was introduced the number of referrals has increased by over 50% in every region.

On 18 December 2025, legislation was also brought into force which enabled ACRO Criminal Records Office to include an individual’s barred list status on its International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) which is available to those who are looking to work with children overseas. By ensuring that overseas employers can also learn an individual’s barred list status, this will reduce the risk of those barred from working with children in the UK being able to do so overseas.

Limitation Period for Civil Claims

The Government has committed to remove the three-year time limit for victims to bring civil child sexual abuse claims with the burden of proof falling on defendants (rather than victims, as at present) to show that a fair trial is not possible. This measure has been included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Joint inspections of compliance with the Victims’ Code

The Government has asked the Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates (CJJI) to include an inspection on the experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in the criminal justice system, including compliance with the Victims’ Code, in their 2025-27 Business Plan. The inspection is expected to take place in summer 2026.

Retention of Records

The Government is preparing regulations instructing the Information Commissioner’s Office to produce a code of practice on the retention of personal data relating to child sexual abuse. We intend to lay the regulations before the House as soon as possible. Once the regulations have been laid, the ICO will prepare the code following consultation with an expert panel.

Single Core National Dataset

The Government is taking a range of steps to improve the consistency of data collection and sharing related to child sexual abuse. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will introduce a new information sharing duty and a consistent identifier for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share their information about children at risk of child sexual abuse. The Government also continues to support the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse which, through it’s Trends in Official Data report and Data Insights Hub brings together local and national data on the prevalence, identification and response to child sexual abuse.

National Public Awareness Campaign

The Government is committed to raising public awareness about the scale and impacts of child sexual abuse and is supporting several targeted programmes to achieve this, including the #LookCloser campaign, aiming to raise awareness of all forms of child exploitation, and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! Online Deterrence campaign and its services to prevent offending. As part of the Government’s commitment to halve VAWG in a decade, we are also supporting the ENOUGH campaign, a long-term national programme of behaviour change campaigns to deliver a generational shift in the awareness, attitudes, and behaviours underpinning abuse.

Expenditure on Services Supporting Victims and Survivors

The Government is committing significant funding towards specialist support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Department for Health and Social Care has announced a £50m package to support expansion of the ‘Child House’ model, a key step in addressing IICSA’s recommendation on improving therapeutic support for children affected by sexual abuse. The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date - and the Home Office will also invest £2.59m this year to support frontline providers that offer nationally accessible services to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made towards establishing a Child Protection Authority for England; and when such an authority is expected to become operational.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April last year, set out clearly the actions the Government is taking to respond to IICSA’s recommendations. We are now delivering on those commitments overseen by an inter-ministerial group on child sexual abuse chaired by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Child Protection Authority

Last month the Government published a consultation seeking views on the creation of the new Child Protection Authority for England. A Government response will be published by summer 2026 including a plan to establish the new body, and further information on its scope, structure, activities and responsibilities.

Mandatory Reporting

Measures to introduce a new statutory duty for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children and young people in England to report sexual abuse, and to create a new criminal offence of obstructing an individual from making a report under the duty are included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Disclosure and Barring Service

The Government, working with the DBS, has been driving forward a continuous programme of work to improve employers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of, and compliance with, their statutory duty to inform the DBS about individuals who may pose a risk of harm to children.

That work has included bespoke workshops on the legal duty to refer, how to make a good quality barring referral and recognising when it may be appropriate to refer someone to DBS because of harm caused outside the workplace. Through these workshops the DBS has reached over 12,000 individuals working in safeguarding roles. Since the DBS Outreach Service was introduced the number of referrals has increased by over 50% in every region.

On 18 December 2025, legislation was also brought into force which enabled ACRO Criminal Records Office to include an individual’s barred list status on its International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) which is available to those who are looking to work with children overseas. By ensuring that overseas employers can also learn an individual’s barred list status, this will reduce the risk of those barred from working with children in the UK being able to do so overseas.

Limitation Period for Civil Claims

The Government has committed to remove the three-year time limit for victims to bring civil child sexual abuse claims with the burden of proof falling on defendants (rather than victims, as at present) to show that a fair trial is not possible. This measure has been included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Joint inspections of compliance with the Victims’ Code

The Government has asked the Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates (CJJI) to include an inspection on the experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in the criminal justice system, including compliance with the Victims’ Code, in their 2025-27 Business Plan. The inspection is expected to take place in summer 2026.

Retention of Records

The Government is preparing regulations instructing the Information Commissioner’s Office to produce a code of practice on the retention of personal data relating to child sexual abuse. We intend to lay the regulations before the House as soon as possible. Once the regulations have been laid, the ICO will prepare the code following consultation with an expert panel.

Single Core National Dataset

The Government is taking a range of steps to improve the consistency of data collection and sharing related to child sexual abuse. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will introduce a new information sharing duty and a consistent identifier for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share their information about children at risk of child sexual abuse. The Government also continues to support the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse which, through it’s Trends in Official Data report and Data Insights Hub brings together local and national data on the prevalence, identification and response to child sexual abuse.

National Public Awareness Campaign

The Government is committed to raising public awareness about the scale and impacts of child sexual abuse and is supporting several targeted programmes to achieve this, including the #LookCloser campaign, aiming to raise awareness of all forms of child exploitation, and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! Online Deterrence campaign and its services to prevent offending. As part of the Government’s commitment to halve VAWG in a decade, we are also supporting the ENOUGH campaign, a long-term national programme of behaviour change campaigns to deliver a generational shift in the awareness, attitudes, and behaviours underpinning abuse.

Expenditure on Services Supporting Victims and Survivors

The Government is committing significant funding towards specialist support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Department for Health and Social Care has announced a £50m package to support expansion of the ‘Child House’ model, a key step in addressing IICSA’s recommendation on improving therapeutic support for children affected by sexual abuse. The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date - and the Home Office will also invest £2.59m this year to support frontline providers that offer nationally accessible services to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to commission a national public awareness programme on child sexual abuse.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April last year, set out clearly the actions the Government is taking to respond to IICSA’s recommendations. We are now delivering on those commitments overseen by an inter-ministerial group on child sexual abuse chaired by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Child Protection Authority

Last month the Government published a consultation seeking views on the creation of the new Child Protection Authority for England. A Government response will be published by summer 2026 including a plan to establish the new body, and further information on its scope, structure, activities and responsibilities.

Mandatory Reporting

Measures to introduce a new statutory duty for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children and young people in England to report sexual abuse, and to create a new criminal offence of obstructing an individual from making a report under the duty are included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Disclosure and Barring Service

The Government, working with the DBS, has been driving forward a continuous programme of work to improve employers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of, and compliance with, their statutory duty to inform the DBS about individuals who may pose a risk of harm to children.

That work has included bespoke workshops on the legal duty to refer, how to make a good quality barring referral and recognising when it may be appropriate to refer someone to DBS because of harm caused outside the workplace. Through these workshops the DBS has reached over 12,000 individuals working in safeguarding roles. Since the DBS Outreach Service was introduced the number of referrals has increased by over 50% in every region.

On 18 December 2025, legislation was also brought into force which enabled ACRO Criminal Records Office to include an individual’s barred list status on its International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) which is available to those who are looking to work with children overseas. By ensuring that overseas employers can also learn an individual’s barred list status, this will reduce the risk of those barred from working with children in the UK being able to do so overseas.

Limitation Period for Civil Claims

The Government has committed to remove the three-year time limit for victims to bring civil child sexual abuse claims with the burden of proof falling on defendants (rather than victims, as at present) to show that a fair trial is not possible. This measure has been included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Joint inspections of compliance with the Victims’ Code

The Government has asked the Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates (CJJI) to include an inspection on the experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in the criminal justice system, including compliance with the Victims’ Code, in their 2025-27 Business Plan. The inspection is expected to take place in summer 2026.

Retention of Records

The Government is preparing regulations instructing the Information Commissioner’s Office to produce a code of practice on the retention of personal data relating to child sexual abuse. We intend to lay the regulations before the House as soon as possible. Once the regulations have been laid, the ICO will prepare the code following consultation with an expert panel.

Single Core National Dataset

The Government is taking a range of steps to improve the consistency of data collection and sharing related to child sexual abuse. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will introduce a new information sharing duty and a consistent identifier for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share their information about children at risk of child sexual abuse. The Government also continues to support the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse which, through it’s Trends in Official Data report and Data Insights Hub brings together local and national data on the prevalence, identification and response to child sexual abuse.

National Public Awareness Campaign

The Government is committed to raising public awareness about the scale and impacts of child sexual abuse and is supporting several targeted programmes to achieve this, including the #LookCloser campaign, aiming to raise awareness of all forms of child exploitation, and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! Online Deterrence campaign and its services to prevent offending. As part of the Government’s commitment to halve VAWG in a decade, we are also supporting the ENOUGH campaign, a long-term national programme of behaviour change campaigns to deliver a generational shift in the awareness, attitudes, and behaviours underpinning abuse.

Expenditure on Services Supporting Victims and Survivors

The Government is committing significant funding towards specialist support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Department for Health and Social Care has announced a £50m package to support expansion of the ‘Child House’ model, a key step in addressing IICSA’s recommendation on improving therapeutic support for children affected by sexual abuse. The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date - and the Home Office will also invest £2.59m this year to support frontline providers that offer nationally accessible services to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has set a timetable for the introduction of a single core national data set on child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April last year, set out clearly the actions the Government is taking to respond to IICSA’s recommendations. We are now delivering on those commitments overseen by an inter-ministerial group on child sexual abuse chaired by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Child Protection Authority

Last month the Government published a consultation seeking views on the creation of the new Child Protection Authority for England. A Government response will be published by summer 2026 including a plan to establish the new body, and further information on its scope, structure, activities and responsibilities.

Mandatory Reporting

Measures to introduce a new statutory duty for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children and young people in England to report sexual abuse, and to create a new criminal offence of obstructing an individual from making a report under the duty are included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Disclosure and Barring Service

The Government, working with the DBS, has been driving forward a continuous programme of work to improve employers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of, and compliance with, their statutory duty to inform the DBS about individuals who may pose a risk of harm to children.

That work has included bespoke workshops on the legal duty to refer, how to make a good quality barring referral and recognising when it may be appropriate to refer someone to DBS because of harm caused outside the workplace. Through these workshops the DBS has reached over 12,000 individuals working in safeguarding roles. Since the DBS Outreach Service was introduced the number of referrals has increased by over 50% in every region.

On 18 December 2025, legislation was also brought into force which enabled ACRO Criminal Records Office to include an individual’s barred list status on its International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) which is available to those who are looking to work with children overseas. By ensuring that overseas employers can also learn an individual’s barred list status, this will reduce the risk of those barred from working with children in the UK being able to do so overseas.

Limitation Period for Civil Claims

The Government has committed to remove the three-year time limit for victims to bring civil child sexual abuse claims with the burden of proof falling on defendants (rather than victims, as at present) to show that a fair trial is not possible. This measure has been included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Joint inspections of compliance with the Victims’ Code

The Government has asked the Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates (CJJI) to include an inspection on the experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in the criminal justice system, including compliance with the Victims’ Code, in their 2025-27 Business Plan. The inspection is expected to take place in summer 2026.

Retention of Records

The Government is preparing regulations instructing the Information Commissioner’s Office to produce a code of practice on the retention of personal data relating to child sexual abuse. We intend to lay the regulations before the House as soon as possible. Once the regulations have been laid, the ICO will prepare the code following consultation with an expert panel.

Single Core National Dataset

The Government is taking a range of steps to improve the consistency of data collection and sharing related to child sexual abuse. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will introduce a new information sharing duty and a consistent identifier for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share their information about children at risk of child sexual abuse. The Government also continues to support the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse which, through it’s Trends in Official Data report and Data Insights Hub brings together local and national data on the prevalence, identification and response to child sexual abuse.

National Public Awareness Campaign

The Government is committed to raising public awareness about the scale and impacts of child sexual abuse and is supporting several targeted programmes to achieve this, including the #LookCloser campaign, aiming to raise awareness of all forms of child exploitation, and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! Online Deterrence campaign and its services to prevent offending. As part of the Government’s commitment to halve VAWG in a decade, we are also supporting the ENOUGH campaign, a long-term national programme of behaviour change campaigns to deliver a generational shift in the awareness, attitudes, and behaviours underpinning abuse.

Expenditure on Services Supporting Victims and Survivors

The Government is committing significant funding towards specialist support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Department for Health and Social Care has announced a £50m package to support expansion of the ‘Child House’ model, a key step in addressing IICSA’s recommendation on improving therapeutic support for children affected by sexual abuse. The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date - and the Home Office will also invest £2.59m this year to support frontline providers that offer nationally accessible services to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of public expenditure on services supporting victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, and when those assessments will be published, in the context of the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April last year, set out clearly the actions the Government is taking to respond to IICSA’s recommendations. We are now delivering on those commitments overseen by an inter-ministerial group on child sexual abuse chaired by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Child Protection Authority

Last month the Government published a consultation seeking views on the creation of the new Child Protection Authority for England. A Government response will be published by summer 2026 including a plan to establish the new body, and further information on its scope, structure, activities and responsibilities.

Mandatory Reporting

Measures to introduce a new statutory duty for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children and young people in England to report sexual abuse, and to create a new criminal offence of obstructing an individual from making a report under the duty are included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Disclosure and Barring Service

The Government, working with the DBS, has been driving forward a continuous programme of work to improve employers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of, and compliance with, their statutory duty to inform the DBS about individuals who may pose a risk of harm to children.

That work has included bespoke workshops on the legal duty to refer, how to make a good quality barring referral and recognising when it may be appropriate to refer someone to DBS because of harm caused outside the workplace. Through these workshops the DBS has reached over 12,000 individuals working in safeguarding roles. Since the DBS Outreach Service was introduced the number of referrals has increased by over 50% in every region.

On 18 December 2025, legislation was also brought into force which enabled ACRO Criminal Records Office to include an individual’s barred list status on its International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) which is available to those who are looking to work with children overseas. By ensuring that overseas employers can also learn an individual’s barred list status, this will reduce the risk of those barred from working with children in the UK being able to do so overseas.

Limitation Period for Civil Claims

The Government has committed to remove the three-year time limit for victims to bring civil child sexual abuse claims with the burden of proof falling on defendants (rather than victims, as at present) to show that a fair trial is not possible. This measure has been included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Joint inspections of compliance with the Victims’ Code

The Government has asked the Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates (CJJI) to include an inspection on the experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in the criminal justice system, including compliance with the Victims’ Code, in their 2025-27 Business Plan. The inspection is expected to take place in summer 2026.

Retention of Records

The Government is preparing regulations instructing the Information Commissioner’s Office to produce a code of practice on the retention of personal data relating to child sexual abuse. We intend to lay the regulations before the House as soon as possible. Once the regulations have been laid, the ICO will prepare the code following consultation with an expert panel.

Single Core National Dataset

The Government is taking a range of steps to improve the consistency of data collection and sharing related to child sexual abuse. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will introduce a new information sharing duty and a consistent identifier for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share their information about children at risk of child sexual abuse. The Government also continues to support the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse which, through it’s Trends in Official Data report and Data Insights Hub brings together local and national data on the prevalence, identification and response to child sexual abuse.

National Public Awareness Campaign

The Government is committed to raising public awareness about the scale and impacts of child sexual abuse and is supporting several targeted programmes to achieve this, including the #LookCloser campaign, aiming to raise awareness of all forms of child exploitation, and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! Online Deterrence campaign and its services to prevent offending. As part of the Government’s commitment to halve VAWG in a decade, we are also supporting the ENOUGH campaign, a long-term national programme of behaviour change campaigns to deliver a generational shift in the awareness, attitudes, and behaviours underpinning abuse.

Expenditure on Services Supporting Victims and Survivors

The Government is committing significant funding towards specialist support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Department for Health and Social Care has announced a £50m package to support expansion of the ‘Child House’ model, a key step in addressing IICSA’s recommendation on improving therapeutic support for children affected by sexual abuse. The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date - and the Home Office will also invest £2.59m this year to support frontline providers that offer nationally accessible services to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to remove the three year limitation period for civil personal injury claims relating to child sexual abuse, in the context of the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April last year, set out clearly the actions the Government is taking to respond to IICSA’s recommendations. We are now delivering on those commitments overseen by an inter-ministerial group on child sexual abuse chaired by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Child Protection Authority

Last month the Government published a consultation seeking views on the creation of the new Child Protection Authority for England. A Government response will be published by summer 2026 including a plan to establish the new body, and further information on its scope, structure, activities and responsibilities.

Mandatory Reporting

Measures to introduce a new statutory duty for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children and young people in England to report sexual abuse, and to create a new criminal offence of obstructing an individual from making a report under the duty are included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Disclosure and Barring Service

The Government, working with the DBS, has been driving forward a continuous programme of work to improve employers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of, and compliance with, their statutory duty to inform the DBS about individuals who may pose a risk of harm to children.

That work has included bespoke workshops on the legal duty to refer, how to make a good quality barring referral and recognising when it may be appropriate to refer someone to DBS because of harm caused outside the workplace. Through these workshops the DBS has reached over 12,000 individuals working in safeguarding roles. Since the DBS Outreach Service was introduced the number of referrals has increased by over 50% in every region.

On 18 December 2025, legislation was also brought into force which enabled ACRO Criminal Records Office to include an individual’s barred list status on its International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) which is available to those who are looking to work with children overseas. By ensuring that overseas employers can also learn an individual’s barred list status, this will reduce the risk of those barred from working with children in the UK being able to do so overseas.

Limitation Period for Civil Claims

The Government has committed to remove the three-year time limit for victims to bring civil child sexual abuse claims with the burden of proof falling on defendants (rather than victims, as at present) to show that a fair trial is not possible. This measure has been included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Joint inspections of compliance with the Victims’ Code

The Government has asked the Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates (CJJI) to include an inspection on the experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in the criminal justice system, including compliance with the Victims’ Code, in their 2025-27 Business Plan. The inspection is expected to take place in summer 2026.

Retention of Records

The Government is preparing regulations instructing the Information Commissioner’s Office to produce a code of practice on the retention of personal data relating to child sexual abuse. We intend to lay the regulations before the House as soon as possible. Once the regulations have been laid, the ICO will prepare the code following consultation with an expert panel.

Single Core National Dataset

The Government is taking a range of steps to improve the consistency of data collection and sharing related to child sexual abuse. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will introduce a new information sharing duty and a consistent identifier for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share their information about children at risk of child sexual abuse. The Government also continues to support the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse which, through it’s Trends in Official Data report and Data Insights Hub brings together local and national data on the prevalence, identification and response to child sexual abuse.

National Public Awareness Campaign

The Government is committed to raising public awareness about the scale and impacts of child sexual abuse and is supporting several targeted programmes to achieve this, including the #LookCloser campaign, aiming to raise awareness of all forms of child exploitation, and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! Online Deterrence campaign and its services to prevent offending. As part of the Government’s commitment to halve VAWG in a decade, we are also supporting the ENOUGH campaign, a long-term national programme of behaviour change campaigns to deliver a generational shift in the awareness, attitudes, and behaviours underpinning abuse.

Expenditure on Services Supporting Victims and Survivors

The Government is committing significant funding towards specialist support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Department for Health and Social Care has announced a £50m package to support expansion of the ‘Child House’ model, a key step in addressing IICSA’s recommendation on improving therapeutic support for children affected by sexual abuse. The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date - and the Home Office will also invest £2.59m this year to support frontline providers that offer nationally accessible services to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when a code of practice on the retention of and access to records relating to child sexual abuse will be published, in the context of the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April last year, set out clearly the actions the Government is taking to respond to IICSA’s recommendations. We are now delivering on those commitments overseen by an inter-ministerial group on child sexual abuse chaired by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Child Protection Authority

Last month the Government published a consultation seeking views on the creation of the new Child Protection Authority for England. A Government response will be published by summer 2026 including a plan to establish the new body, and further information on its scope, structure, activities and responsibilities.

Mandatory Reporting

Measures to introduce a new statutory duty for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children and young people in England to report sexual abuse, and to create a new criminal offence of obstructing an individual from making a report under the duty are included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Disclosure and Barring Service

The Government, working with the DBS, has been driving forward a continuous programme of work to improve employers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of, and compliance with, their statutory duty to inform the DBS about individuals who may pose a risk of harm to children.

That work has included bespoke workshops on the legal duty to refer, how to make a good quality barring referral and recognising when it may be appropriate to refer someone to DBS because of harm caused outside the workplace. Through these workshops the DBS has reached over 12,000 individuals working in safeguarding roles. Since the DBS Outreach Service was introduced the number of referrals has increased by over 50% in every region.

On 18 December 2025, legislation was also brought into force which enabled ACRO Criminal Records Office to include an individual’s barred list status on its International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) which is available to those who are looking to work with children overseas. By ensuring that overseas employers can also learn an individual’s barred list status, this will reduce the risk of those barred from working with children in the UK being able to do so overseas.

Limitation Period for Civil Claims

The Government has committed to remove the three-year time limit for victims to bring civil child sexual abuse claims with the burden of proof falling on defendants (rather than victims, as at present) to show that a fair trial is not possible. This measure has been included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Joint inspections of compliance with the Victims’ Code

The Government has asked the Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates (CJJI) to include an inspection on the experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in the criminal justice system, including compliance with the Victims’ Code, in their 2025-27 Business Plan. The inspection is expected to take place in summer 2026.

Retention of Records

The Government is preparing regulations instructing the Information Commissioner’s Office to produce a code of practice on the retention of personal data relating to child sexual abuse. We intend to lay the regulations before the House as soon as possible. Once the regulations have been laid, the ICO will prepare the code following consultation with an expert panel.

Single Core National Dataset

The Government is taking a range of steps to improve the consistency of data collection and sharing related to child sexual abuse. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will introduce a new information sharing duty and a consistent identifier for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share their information about children at risk of child sexual abuse. The Government also continues to support the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse which, through it’s Trends in Official Data report and Data Insights Hub brings together local and national data on the prevalence, identification and response to child sexual abuse.

National Public Awareness Campaign

The Government is committed to raising public awareness about the scale and impacts of child sexual abuse and is supporting several targeted programmes to achieve this, including the #LookCloser campaign, aiming to raise awareness of all forms of child exploitation, and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! Online Deterrence campaign and its services to prevent offending. As part of the Government’s commitment to halve VAWG in a decade, we are also supporting the ENOUGH campaign, a long-term national programme of behaviour change campaigns to deliver a generational shift in the awareness, attitudes, and behaviours underpinning abuse.

Expenditure on Services Supporting Victims and Survivors

The Government is committing significant funding towards specialist support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Department for Health and Social Care has announced a £50m package to support expansion of the ‘Child House’ model, a key step in addressing IICSA’s recommendation on improving therapeutic support for children affected by sexual abuse. The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date - and the Home Office will also invest £2.59m this year to support frontline providers that offer nationally accessible services to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when joint inspections of compliance with the Victims’ Code for child sexual abuse cases will commence, in the context of the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April last year, set out clearly the actions the Government is taking to respond to IICSA’s recommendations. We are now delivering on those commitments overseen by an inter-ministerial group on child sexual abuse chaired by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Child Protection Authority

Last month the Government published a consultation seeking views on the creation of the new Child Protection Authority for England. A Government response will be published by summer 2026 including a plan to establish the new body, and further information on its scope, structure, activities and responsibilities.

Mandatory Reporting

Measures to introduce a new statutory duty for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children and young people in England to report sexual abuse, and to create a new criminal offence of obstructing an individual from making a report under the duty are included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Disclosure and Barring Service

The Government, working with the DBS, has been driving forward a continuous programme of work to improve employers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of, and compliance with, their statutory duty to inform the DBS about individuals who may pose a risk of harm to children.

That work has included bespoke workshops on the legal duty to refer, how to make a good quality barring referral and recognising when it may be appropriate to refer someone to DBS because of harm caused outside the workplace. Through these workshops the DBS has reached over 12,000 individuals working in safeguarding roles. Since the DBS Outreach Service was introduced the number of referrals has increased by over 50% in every region.

On 18 December 2025, legislation was also brought into force which enabled ACRO Criminal Records Office to include an individual’s barred list status on its International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) which is available to those who are looking to work with children overseas. By ensuring that overseas employers can also learn an individual’s barred list status, this will reduce the risk of those barred from working with children in the UK being able to do so overseas.

Limitation Period for Civil Claims

The Government has committed to remove the three-year time limit for victims to bring civil child sexual abuse claims with the burden of proof falling on defendants (rather than victims, as at present) to show that a fair trial is not possible. This measure has been included in the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently passing through Parliament.

Joint inspections of compliance with the Victims’ Code

The Government has asked the Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates (CJJI) to include an inspection on the experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in the criminal justice system, including compliance with the Victims’ Code, in their 2025-27 Business Plan. The inspection is expected to take place in summer 2026.

Retention of Records

The Government is preparing regulations instructing the Information Commissioner’s Office to produce a code of practice on the retention of personal data relating to child sexual abuse. We intend to lay the regulations before the House as soon as possible. Once the regulations have been laid, the ICO will prepare the code following consultation with an expert panel.

Single Core National Dataset

The Government is taking a range of steps to improve the consistency of data collection and sharing related to child sexual abuse. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will introduce a new information sharing duty and a consistent identifier for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share their information about children at risk of child sexual abuse. The Government also continues to support the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse which, through it’s Trends in Official Data report and Data Insights Hub brings together local and national data on the prevalence, identification and response to child sexual abuse.

National Public Awareness Campaign

The Government is committed to raising public awareness about the scale and impacts of child sexual abuse and is supporting several targeted programmes to achieve this, including the #LookCloser campaign, aiming to raise awareness of all forms of child exploitation, and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! Online Deterrence campaign and its services to prevent offending. As part of the Government’s commitment to halve VAWG in a decade, we are also supporting the ENOUGH campaign, a long-term national programme of behaviour change campaigns to deliver a generational shift in the awareness, attitudes, and behaviours underpinning abuse.

Expenditure on Services Supporting Victims and Survivors

The Government is committing significant funding towards specialist support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Department for Health and Social Care has announced a £50m package to support expansion of the ‘Child House’ model, a key step in addressing IICSA’s recommendation on improving therapeutic support for children affected by sexual abuse. The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date - and the Home Office will also invest £2.59m this year to support frontline providers that offer nationally accessible services to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Outer London Allowance was last reviewed for (a) teachers, (b) police officers and (c) civil servants.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

For teachers, the geographical areas covered by the different teacher pay ranges were defined some years ago to reflect a practical approach to compensate teachers working in London.

The School Teachers’ Review Body has not recommended any changes to London pay ranges in recent years; however, the Department is currently considering what additional flexibilities should be built into the statutory pay and conditions framework as a result of our commitment on changes to pay and conditions through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, and we will keep this matter under review.

For police officers, there’s London Weighting and London Allowance. There’s not an inner and outer London rate – it’s the same across all of London.

London Weighting and London Allowance were last reviewed by the Police Remuneration Review Body in the 2025/26 pay round.

Decisions on pay, including London weighting, are delegated to individual departments for grades below the Senior Civil Service (SCS); departmental policies on London weighting are not collected centrally. The SCS pay framework is managed centrally and only operates a national pay range.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how frequently academy trusts will be inspected; and whether inspection frequency will vary according to previous performance.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The government has tabled an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill to bring in multi-academy trust inspections. Multi-academy trust inspections will raise standards and enable sharing of best trust-level practice, as well as incentivising and supporting improvement efforts across the sector.

The government intends to specify the intervals for routine trust inspections in secondary legislation, after working closely with Ofsted and the sector to determine what an appropriate period of time would be.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve safeguarding practices in nurseries and early years settings.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The safety and wellbeing of children in nurseries and early years settings is our priority and we continually monitor and review safeguarding requirements for early years settings to ensure children are kept as safe as possible. Where evidence shows that changes are needed, we take action to strengthen requirements and provide clearer expectations for providers.

In September 2025, the government introduced changes to the safeguarding requirements within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework. These changes were informed by evidence and engagement with the early years sector and were designed to strengthen safeguarding practice across settings, including clearer and more robust expectations around safer recruitment, whistleblowing and staff training.

The department is developing free, online safeguarding training in collaboration with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The training will support providers to meet statutory requirements and promote a strong and open safeguarding culture across early years settings.

In December, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced that she will be appointing an expert panel to inform guidance for the sector on the effective and safe use of digital devices and CCTV in relation to safeguarding. The panel will consider the question of whether CCTV should be mandated and will set out best practice, technical information and clear expectations on CCTV and digital device usage. No decisions have been taken in advance of this work.

The safety of the youngest children is our utmost priority, which is why the EYFS statutory framework includes clear requirements on safe sleep. The framework requires that babies are placed down to sleep safely and in line with the latest government guidance and that sleeping children are frequently checked. To make the existing requirements clearer for all, we plan to add in more detail to the EYFS frameworks. We have worked with safe sleep experts, including the Lullaby Trust, on proposed new wording.

Ofsted inspects early years providers against the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the EYFS statutory framework. Through our Best Start in Life strategy, we are investing in raising the quality, frequency and consistency of inspections, including work to strengthen oversight of larger nursery chains.

The government is also strengthening multi-agency safeguarding arrangements through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. These measures place duties on safeguarding partners to ensure education providers and childcare settings are appropriately involved in local safeguarding arrangements, while not changing any existing duties on providers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the safeguarding bruising protocol on people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Nothing is more important than keeping children safe.

Our Families First Partnership Programme guidance, published in March 2025, is clear that practice should be inclusive, anti-discriminatory and responsive to the needs and experiences of children and families of different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. We would encourage local safeguarding partnerships to align any local protocols, including in relation to bruising, with this guidance, the latest available evidence and with national child safeguarding guidance, and consider the impact of local protocols on children and families from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce new measures including improved information sharing and the introduction of multi-agency child protection teams to prevent children falling through the cracks.

We are also investing in the recruitment, training and development of child and family social worders to ensure the workforce has the capacity, skills and knowledge to identify, support and protect vulnerable children who may be at risk of maltreatment.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to a) reduce public access to and b) ensure the online security of the Children Not in School Register proposed in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Section 436C of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill prohibits information from a local authority Children Not in School register being published or made public in a way that would include the name or address of a parent or eligible child or that would identify them.

The department will highlight in statutory guidance that we expect registers to be held securely on local authority systems. Local authorities should have an appropriate data protection policy document and privacy notice regarding the processing of personal data and its secure storage and destruction. We are continuing to engage with the Information Commissioner’s office to ensure that appropriate mitigations are in place for any risks identified.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with adoptive and kinship families about levels of support offered by statutory authorities to meet family needs.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government works closely with organisations that represent kinship and adoptive families, and directly with adopters and kinship carers through both our adopter and kinship carer reference groups.

Following the Care Review, the government updated the kinship care guidance for local authorities and appointed the first ever National Kinship Ambassador, who works closely to engage with lived experience groups.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to assess and provide adoption support tailored to family needs. This includes financial assistance such as adoption allowances, settling-in grants, and access to adoption leave and pay. The adoption and special guardianship support fund provides post-adoption support interventions, including therapeutic support for adopted children and their families.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department will mandate all local authorities in England to publish their local kinship offer and offer family group decision-making at pre-proceedings where that is in the child’s best interests. We will soon trial a kinship allowance in some local authorities, to support eligible kinship carers with the additional cost incurred when taking the parental responsibility of a child in kinship care.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to educators to support their understanding of kinship care.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government recognises that there is a need for greater awareness of the needs of kinship children and families and the importance of improving data collection in this space and is therefore exploring including kinship in the school census.

Following the Care Review, the government has updated ‘Kinship Care Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities’. This guidance outlines the framework for the provision of support for kinship children and kinship families.

The government has also extended both the delivery of over 140 kinship carer peer support groups across England and the virtual school head (VSH) role (on a non-statutory basis) to include championing the education, attendance, and attainment of children in kinship care.

The government intends to make this role statutory through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We will publish updated statutory guidance setting out how VSHs will be expected to work with kinship carers and guardians to support the educational outcomes of these children.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to include kinship care in the school census.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government recognises that there is a need for greater awareness of the needs of kinship children and families and the importance of improving data collection in this space and is therefore exploring including kinship in the school census.

Following the Care Review, the government has updated ‘Kinship Care Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities’. This guidance outlines the framework for the provision of support for kinship children and kinship families.

The government has also extended both the delivery of over 140 kinship carer peer support groups across England and the virtual school head (VSH) role (on a non-statutory basis) to include championing the education, attendance, and attainment of children in kinship care.

The government intends to make this role statutory through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We will publish updated statutory guidance setting out how VSHs will be expected to work with kinship carers and guardians to support the educational outcomes of these children.

Found: family group conferences (FGCs), before children go into a care.cc The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: media ban 15 5.2 Calls for a UK ban 15 5.3 Against a UK ban 16 5.4 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

The Government should reject the Lords amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill requiring the Government to introduce "highly effective" age assurance measures to stop under-16s using social media.

Found: Reject Lords amendment on age checks to the Children’ Wellbeing & Schools Bill

We call on the Government to commission an independent inquiry into the delivery of social work and social care services before making further progress on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Found: social work and social care services before making further progress on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

I believe decisions about children should include children. I want the Government to ask the Children’s Commissioner to consult children on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, and pause the Bill until the consultation finishes, including on data privacy & protecting the home as a safe space.

Found: Young people demand that the Government pause the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill until children

We call on the government to add a category of exclusion to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to prevent child sex offenders from accessing the increased amount of data that could be collected stored and shared if the Bill becomes an Act amounting in some cases to a child’s daily whereabouts

Found: We call on the government to add a category of exclusion to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Second Supplementary Delegated Powers Memorandum

Found: As for the kinship local offer itself, the requirement, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: In addition, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are legislating to require all local

Found: Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, all state-funded schools with primary- aged pupils

Found: already announced our plans to introduce trust inspections, via the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: already announced our plans to introduce trust inspections, via the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Following final passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we will remove the ceiling on

Found: Following final passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we will remove the ceiling on

Found: vulnerability and crime in England through our National Youth Strategy and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: scope and content of the regulation making powers in clause 3 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Notes to editors: New powers, to be tabled in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, will enable

Found: As you know, our wider children’s social care reforms – including the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The Education Secretary has today tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to

Found: Notes to editors: New powers, to be tabled in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, will enable

Found: The report states that the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, with its increased focus on early help

Found: Partnership Programme, and anticipate the opportunities presented by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: procedure” material, as discussed during the Report stage (fourth day) of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: registration, as discussed during the Report stage (fourth day) of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: changes to multi agency working ahead of any legislation changes in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: landmark reforms to children’s social care and the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Smith to Peers regarding the debate on food and nutrition during the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: about kinship carers, made during the Report stage (first day) of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Safety During Childhood survey pilot in Autumn 2025/26, measures in Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill information: FOI release

Found: approach was in line with powers being introduced in England via the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: provisions relating to Children Not in School contained in the UK Governments Children Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The Welsh Government’s Legislative Consent Memoranda on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: However, as regards the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill a different approach was taken.

Found: including the impact of the children not in school provisions of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: SUPPLEMENTARY LEGISLATIVE CONSENT MEMORANDUM (MEMORANDUM NO 4) CHILDREN’S WELLBEING AND SCHOOLS BILL

Found: on the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (No.4) on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: legislation including the Welsh Government’s associated LCM on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: long title of Bill states that it is a Bill to: 1 CYPE Committee, Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: on the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (No.4) on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: on the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (No.4) on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill