Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to respond to the Domestic Abuse Commissioner's report, Everyday business: Addressing domestic abuse and continuing harm through a family court review and reporting mechanism, published on 14 October.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Government recognises the impact family court proceedings can have on children and adult survivors of domestic abuse, which is why we are prioritising the protection of abuse survivors going through the family court. This includes the expansion of the Pathfinder programme, which promotes safeguarding and supports victims of domestic abuse through early multi-agency collaboration and expert domestic abuse support.

The family court also has a range of powers to protect victims. These include prohibiting the cross-examination of domestic abuse survivors by their abusers and automatically deeming survivors eligible for special measures, such as giving evidence via video link or from behind a screen. Additionally, Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs) can attend court to provide support throughout proceedings.

The Government welcomes the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s report. We are carefully considering the recommendations and will publish a full response in due course.

On 22 October we announced that, as part of the wider package of family court reforms, we will repeal the presumption of parental involvement. Alongside this announcement, we have published the Review of the Presumption of Parental Involvement and the accompanying reports from the three commissioned research projects.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will consider undertaking a review in relation to concerns of senior lawyers that family courts are "not safe" for victims of domestic violence.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Government recognises the impact family court proceedings can have on children and adult survivors of domestic abuse, which is why we are prioritising the protection of abuse survivors going through the family court. This includes the expansion of the Pathfinder programme, which promotes safeguarding and supports victims of domestic abuse through early multi-agency collaboration and expert domestic abuse support.

The family court also has a range of powers to protect victims. These include prohibiting the cross-examination of domestic abuse survivors by their abusers and automatically deeming survivors eligible for special measures, such as giving evidence via video link or from behind a screen. Additionally, Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs) can attend court to provide support throughout proceedings.

The Government welcomes the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s report. We are carefully considering the recommendations and will publish a full response in due course.

On 22 October we announced that, as part of the wider package of family court reforms, we will repeal the presumption of parental involvement. Alongside this announcement, we have published the Review of the Presumption of Parental Involvement and the accompanying reports from the three commissioned research projects.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many citizenship applications were made on behalf of children under the age of 18, and how many of those applications were successful, in the latest 12 months for which data are available.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what review they are undertaking, if any, of the duty under the Online Safety Act 2023 for internet service providers to take action to prevent child users accessing harmful and illegal suicide and self-harm content online.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Monitoring and evaluation are key to understanding the effectiveness of the online safety regime. The government and Ofcom are monitoring the regime’s impact through a programme of evaluation work to track the effect of the regime and feed into a statutory Post Implementation Review. The Online Safety Act applies to online user to user services and search services.

Further, Ofcom’s Online Experiences Tracker survey is issued twice a year. The most recent data was published in October covering the experiences of adults (aged 18+). The first wave of data from the new Children’s Online Safety Tracker will be published later this year, and the second wave will be published in Spring 2026.

We also engage with civil society and monitor research and reports they publish on online harms.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they are making to ensure that the UK–EU data adequacy decision is renewed before its expiration on 27 December.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government recognises the importance of our EU adequacy decisions and continues to engage with the European Commission to support their successful renewal, acknowledging that this is a unilateral process undertaken by the EU.

The Government welcomed the publication of the European Commission’s draft adequacy decisions in July, which conclude that the UK continues to provide an adequate level of data protection, and looks forward to the completion of the adoption process ahead of the 27 December deadline.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they hold statistics collected by the Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police on racially and religiously aggravated crimes; and if so, whether there has been increase in such crimes over the past five years.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Official statistics on the five racially or religiously aggravated offences defined in law are published on a quarterly basis. These data are quality assured with the forces prior to publication and released at the Police Force Area level in Home Office Open Data Tables.

The latest statistics show that in the year ending June 2025, the Metropolitan Police Service recorded 17,690, and the British Transport Police recorded 3,525 racially or religiously aggravated offences. For both forces, these were the highest annual totals recorded, with a spike seen in these offences during the disorder in August 2024 following the Southport murders.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their current policy on the collection and publication by police forces of statistics on racially and religiously aggravated crimes, and what discussions they have had with police forces on this matter.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Official statistics on the five racially or religiously aggravated offences defined in law are published on a quarterly basis. These data are quality assured with the forces prior to publication and released at the Police Force Area level in Home Office Open Data Tables.

The latest statistics show that in the year ending June 2025, the Metropolitan Police Service recorded 17,690, and the British Transport Police recorded 3,525 racially or religiously aggravated offences. For both forces, these were the highest annual totals recorded, with a spike seen in these offences during the disorder in August 2024 following the Southport murders.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Royal College of Nursing's analysis that there has been a 55 percent increase over the last three years in nurses facing racist incidents at work; and what assessment they have made of the reason for this increase.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Any form of racism or discrimination is unacceptable and has no place in our National Health Service.

NHS Staff Survey data shows that disabled staff, staff from an ethnic minority background, and staff with other protected characteristics face greater challenges when it comes to abuse, bullying, harassment, and career progression.

Recent incidents of antisemitism and racism in the health service have drawn stark attention to problems of culture and in the healthcare professional regulatory system. Action is being taken to address these issues, including an urgent review of antisemitism, other forms of racism, and the oversight and regulation of healthcare professionals. The NHS is also strengthening mandatory anti-racism training across the NHS. Additionally, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment which will include reducing violence against staff and tackling racism and sexual harassment. They will underpin the NHS Oversight Framework and act as an early warning signal for the Care Quality Commission.