Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that there is cross-government cooperation with regard to the setting up, funding and operation of (1) Young Futures Hubs programmes and (2) other cross-cutting youth initiatives.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across a range of departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. As part of this we are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other key stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery, including considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to create Young Futures Hubs in every local authority area; and whether they intend to set out a workforce development plan to support the creation of Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across a range of departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. As part of this we are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other key stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery, including considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the report by the Fund the Hubs campaign group, A Blueprint for Young Futures Hubs, published on 11 March.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across a range of departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. As part of this we are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other key stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery, including considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to involve young people in the development and co-design of Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across a range of departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. As part of this we are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other key stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery, including considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to update the text of the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative strategy published on 28 November 2022; and if so, when and why they plan to do so.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government's determination to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) remains resolute. We are fully implementing the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) strategy. In the last year alone, through PSVI, we have contributed to three landmark cases on CRSV as a crime against humanity and supported almost 60,000 survivors. At the same time, we are considering our future approach to PSVI to best harness the UK's development, defence, and diplomatic capabilities to tackle this appalling crime in a context of rising conflict and increasing prevalence of CRSV. We will continue to engage closely with survivors as we develop our future approach.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they have provided to the Kosovo Centre for the Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors in the financial years 2021–25 and what assistance they plan to provide during the financial year 2025–26.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK has supported the work of the Kosovo Rehabilitation Centre for Torture victims (KRCT) to provide medical, gynaecological, psycho-rehabilitation services, as well as legal support and economic empowerment programmes to survivors since 2014. Since 2021 we have provided approximately £1 million with funding for this financial year currently standing at £57,000. This funding helps support KRCT's work to address stigma, enable survivors to speak out about their experiences and help others to seek the justice they deserve, and aims to remove the deadline for survivors to apply for status recognition.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they marked the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on 26 June; and what plans they have to promote the introduction of international controls on weapons and equipment that could be used for torture, including at this year’s UN General Assembly.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government remains committed to preventing torture and tackling impunity for those who torture others. It is essential for safeguarding our security and integral to a fair legal system and the rule of law.
At the UN General Assembly, we will continue to work with allies to encourage all states to uphold their international human rights obligations. As a member of the Global Alliance on Torture Free Trade, the UK supports the initiative to stop the trade of goods used for capital punishment and torture. Goods are subject to export restrictions if they can be used for torture, capital punishment, or cruel and inhuman treatment. Export licence applications are considered against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. The Government will not grant a licence for items where we determine there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate internal repression.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce in-donor refugee costs charged to the Overseas Development Assistance budget.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The Home Secretary is committed to ensuring that asylum costs fall and has already acted. The government has taken measures to reduce the asylum backlog and reform the asylum accommodation system to end the use of expensive accommodation in the next Spending Review (SR) period to ensure more of our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget is spent on our development priorities overseas. The aid spent in the UK on refugee and asylum costs fell by a third last year and the Home Office is working to bring it down further.
In addition to this, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) budgets will no longer be exposed to the volatility of GNI fluctuations or ODA spending by other departments, including changes in asylum costs, providing greater predictability in our budgets.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support upcoming replenishment cycles for the Global Fund, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and other multilateral initiatives.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
We remain committed to supporting key global health institutions, including the Global Fund and Gavi, recognising their central role in the multilateral health architecture. The UK announced our new investment in Gavi at the High-Level Summit on 25 June. Following the spending review, we are working through detailed decisions on how the Official Development Assistance budget will be used, including the decision regarding the UK's pledge to the Global Funds 8th replenishment, informed by internal and external consultation and impact assessments.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase humanitarian funding for food assistance programmes in the light of the increase in the number of people facing catastrophic hunger.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is deeply concerned by rising levels of acute food insecurity and catastrophic hunger. We are a key government donor to the World Food Programme (WFP); in 2024 we contributed over $600 million to WFP initiatives, including in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Sudan, South Sudan and Haiti.
We are also driving international action to scale-up Pre-Arranged Finance, making sure finance reaches the most vulnerable and hardest hit ahead of, or quickly after, a disaster strikes. This includes supporting vulnerable countries and humanitarian agencies to respond to harvest failures caused by drought. We recently supported anticipatory drought insurance for WFP in Syria, which paid out $7.7 million for emergency assistance.
However, simply responding to crises is not a long-term solution, and we are working with partners to improve early warning systems, to act ahead of shocks and invest in strengthening countries' resilience to food crises in the longer-term.