Lord Bradley

The Equality Act 2006 details the establishment, duties, powers and constitution for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Further information regarding the governance of the EHRC can be found on their website: www.equalityhumanrights.com.

The Office for the Children’s Commission does not have a terms of reference. Instead there is a framework agreement with the Department for Education, which can be found here: DfE framework agreement | Children's Commissioner for England.

The Children Act 2004 created the role for a Children’s Commissioner in England with the primary function of promoting and protecting the rights of children in England, ensuring that the views of the most vulnerable children are heard. The role was established following a recommendation in the Inquiry into Victoria Climbié’s death in 2000.

The intention of the Children and Families Act 2014 was to strengthen the remit, independence, and powers of the Commissioner. The Commissioner was given additional powers to effectively carry out the role.

These pieces of legislation set out the powers and responsibilities of the Children’s Commissioner for England.

The Victims’ Commissioner is appointed by the Secretary of State for Justice in accordance with the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. The functions of the role are set out in legislation and are to promote the interests of victims and witnesses, encourage good practice in the treatment of victims and witnesses, and to keep under review the operation of the Code of Practice for Victims (“the Victims’ Code). The Victims’ Commissioner is also required to make an annual report on the performance of their functions to the Justice Secretary, Attorney General and the Home Secretary and give advice to a Minister of the Crown or to the Treasury when required to do so, amongst other functions and duties.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. It operates within the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations, including the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, which sets out the fundamental standards that providers of health and social care are expected to meet.

The CQC among its other functions, inspects, assess and monitors providers, giving them a rating of either outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate, to encourage continuous improvement. It has enforcement powers, to ensure the quality of care does not fall below the expected levels of standards.

The government has a robust safeguarding framework in place in the form of the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE) statutory guidance, which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The KCSIE guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.

This guidance clearly sets out the requirements regarding safer recruitment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service checks, that schools and colleges should undertake for all staff, including external staff, and visitors, to ensure appropriate safeguarding measures are in place.

Employers must assess whether a conviction deems an individual to be suitable for a role, taking into account the nature of the offence, its relevance to the role and any safeguarding risks.

However, KCSIE stresses the importance of creating a culture of safer recruitment, ensuring that schools and colleges have robust processes and policies in place to ensure people who might pose a risk to children are not employed in education.

Ofsted’s overall functions and remit are set out in a range of legislation, including the Education and Inspections Act 2006, which is available here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/40/part/8. The Act establishes Ofsted as a non-ministerial government department.

Ofsted publishes a number of documents relevant to its work and responsibilities, including its corporate governance arrangements, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsteds-corporate-governance-framework/ofsteds-corporate-governance-framework. An annual report on its work is attached and also available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/655f2551c39e5a001392e4ca/31587_Ofsted_Annual_Report_2022-23_WEB.pdf.

The number of children in poverty has gone up by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. This not only harms children’s lives now, but it also damages their future prospects, and holds back our economic potential as a country.

My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister therefore announced, on 17 July 2024, the appointment of my right hon. Friends, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Secretary of State for Education, as the joint leads of a new ministerial taskforce to begin work on a Child Poverty Strategy. The government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, to tackle the root causes, and give every child the best start at life.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving the life chances for every child. For too many children, living in poverty robs them of the opportunity to learn and to prosper. Too many children, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds, leave primary school with unresolved speech, language and communication needs that have a lasting impact on their life chances.

To help tackle this now, the department will provide targeted support for teachers in early years settings and primary schools to support children with the development of speech, language and communication skills. More broadly, the department will work with teachers and curriculum experts to identify how oracy can be woven into lessons across the curriculum to support all children to succeed. Through this, the department aims to support teachers across the country to realise the benefits of using oracy to teach, by adding it to their repertoire and enabling more children and young people to flourish in life and work.

Early language skills are vital to enable children to thrive in the early years and later in life, including for all aspects of later attainment in school. To support early language skills, the department is investing over £20 million in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme (NELI). NELI is an evidence-based programme targeting reception aged children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, which rises to seven months for those eligible for free school meals. In July 2024, the department announced that funded support for the 11,100 schools registered for the NELI programme, which is equivalent to two thirds of all English state primaries, would continue for the 2024/25 academic year.

Professional dog walkers must comply with the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and other relevant legislation, such as welfare in transport regulations and the Health and Safety at Work Act, and any public liability or other insurance policy requirements.

The Government has no current plans to regulate professional dog walkers. The Canine and Feline Sector Group has published best practice guidance to assist dog walkers which can be found here.

There are no current plans to expand statutory powers in either the Animal Welfare Act 2006 or the Animals (Penalty Notices) Act 2022 to include RSPCA inspectors. The RSPCA has strong working relationships with the Police and Local Authorities who support them in protecting animals where needed.

This Government recognises the challenges unpaid carers are facing and is determined to provide them with the help and support they need and deserve. It is looking closely at how the benefit system currently does this, notably through Universal Credit and Carer’s Allowance.

With respect to benefit levels, the Secretary of State has a statutory obligation to review the rates of State pensions and benefits each year. In the case of Carer’s Allowance, the relevant statute provides that it must rise at least in line with the increase in prices over the preceding year. The review to set rates for 2025/26 will take place in the autumn.

Other support is available through the benefit system. Full-time unpaid carers on low incomes may also be eligible for means tested support, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. Currently, the Universal Credit carer element is £198.31 per monthly assessment period. The additional amount for carers in Pension Credit is £45.60 a week.

The Department does not hold information on the total number of speech and language therapists employed in each integrated care board area in England. Therapists will be employed by National Health Service trusts, where data is held, but will also be directly employed by other providers, including schools, local authorities, and third sector or charitable organisations, for which data is not held centrally. The following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) speech and language therapists employed by NHS trusts and integrated care boards in England, as of January 2025, by integrated care board area:

These staff will provide services in a range of settings, but the Department does not hold information on how many may work in criminal justice settings.

This information would be held at a local level by the prison healthcare providers.

The information requested is not held centrally by NHS England, regarding prisons in England. Prison healthcare in Wales is devolved to the Welsh administration.

Having a criminal record does not necessarily mean that a person cannot work in the National Health Service. Local employers should have robust and effective recruitment and background check requirements aligned with the NHS Employment Check Standards issued by NHS Employers, to ensure individuals they employ are suitable, skilled, competent and safe to carry out the role they are being appointed to do. This includes a criminal record check for all eligible positions.

Employers must consider the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) Order 1975 when asking for criminal record information. Any recruitment decision needs to be made on a case-by-case basis balancing the risks associated with any given role. The exception to this rule is where recruiting to a regulated activity under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act, as amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, and where individuals are prohibited from working with adults and/or children who are in receipt of health care or services.

Due to the size of the data, a table showing the names of the current healthcare providers for each prison in England is attached. This does not include providers sub-contracted to provide services for substance use, neurodiversity, mental health, or dental, amongst other services.

The Ministry of Justice completed a review of intermediary provision in 2023 which was summarised in the 2023 Witness Intermediary Scheme (WIS) Annual Report.

The review recommended actions to enhance the role, accessibility, and quality of intermediary services, including:

• Revising the definition of registered intermediaries and devising a communication plan to build better understanding of the intermediary role.

• Seeking improved data collection and analysis around intermediary usage; and

• Building relationships with stakeholders to ensure consistent quality of intermediary services across criminal, family and civil jurisdictions as well as continuing to increase understanding of vulnerable users’ needs.

We have no plans to conduct a further review at this stage, as we are progressing the above actions.

The vetting process includes review of any convictions that may lawfully be taken into account, in accordance with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. A balanced decision is made regarding offence history, based on the type of offence, the number of offences, and the length of time since the offences were committed.

We offer alternative employment entry schemes (Going Forward into Employment and Standard Plus) for people with lived experience, who would not be able to enter the organisation under the usual vetting routes. These schemes are open to people with recent offending history or who have recently been released from prison. Candidates are thoroughly risk-assessed and considered on a case-by-case basis, for suitable roles within the organisation.

Section 30 of the Sentencing Code provides for the provision of pre-sentencing reports for offenders where there is a requirement to obtain a PSR under the Code. This includes where the court is considering whether the offender should receive a sentence of immediate custody. It sets out that if an offender is aged 18 or over, a sentencing court must obtain and consider a pre-sentence report before forming an opinion unless, in the circumstances of the case, it considers that it is unnecessary to obtain a pre-sentence report.

PSRs include an assessment of the offender's behaviour, the risk they pose, and recommendations for sentencing options, helping to ensure that the sentence is tailored to the individual offender and their circumstances. The PSR can recommend various sentencing options, including community sentences and specific requirements like treatment programs. Based on the assessment, a PSR suggests the most appropriate sentence for the offence and makes recommendations to the Court; however, the final decision is at the judge’s discretion.

The Sentencing Council’s Imposition guideline provides sentencing courts with the general principles around imposing community orders and custodial sentences, and in what circumstances a custodial sentence can be suspended.  The Lord Chancellor has been clear that the guidelines regarding pre-sentencing reports do not represent the views of this Government. The Lord Chancellor and the Chairman of the Sentencing Council have had a constructive discussion. It was agreed that the Lord Chancellor will set out her position more fully in writing, which the Sentencing Council will then consider before the guideline is due to come into effect.

We cannot provide the percentage of convicted offenders with a pre-sentence report prepared by the probation service and presented to the Crown Courts and Magistrates Court for the past three years as the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

However, we can provide the number of pre-sentence reports prepared by the probation service and presented to the Crown and Magistrates courts respectively.

Number of pre-sentence reports prepared and presented by the probation service in England and Wales:

Note: Offender Management Statistics for the year of 2024 will be published on 24 April 2025.

The key contractual dates for the current privately-operated prisons are set out in the table below.

*Inherited from the Home Office

The key contractual dates for prisons that were previously privately-operated are set out in the table below.