Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to maternity pathways with tailored support for pregnant people experiencing homelessness.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities with the provision of Education Otherwise Than At School.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing parity of pay between teachers in further education colleges and sixth forms.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education (FE) teachers are central to delivering high quality technical education. Last year, we announced an additional £190 million to help colleges and other 16-19 providers address the recruitment and retention of specialist FE teachers. In addition, our targeted retention incentive offer is designed to retain eligible FE teachers in technical subjects with payments of up to £6,000 after tax. In its first year, nearly 6,000 teachers received a payment.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and my noble Friend, the Minister for Skills have regular engagement with FE stakeholders including the Association of Colleges (AoC) on a range of issues, including matters pertaining to funding. FE pay remains a matter for individual colleges supported by the National Joint Forum, the AoC’s national bargaining arrangements.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Association of Colleges on pay increases for further education staff.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education (FE) teachers are central to delivering high quality technical education. Last year, we announced an additional £190 million to help colleges and other 16-19 providers address the recruitment and retention of specialist FE teachers. In addition, our targeted retention incentive offer is designed to retain eligible FE teachers in technical subjects with payments of up to £6,000 after tax. In its first year, nearly 6,000 teachers received a payment.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and my noble Friend, the Minister for Skills have regular engagement with FE stakeholders including the Association of Colleges (AoC) on a range of issues, including matters pertaining to funding. FE pay remains a matter for individual colleges supported by the National Joint Forum, the AoC’s national bargaining arrangements.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent meetings she has had with Syrian representative and diaspora groups about changes to the asylum and immigration process.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home Office ministers have met with a range of stakeholders since the Home Secretary announced proposed changes to the immigration system.
We understand how important these changes are to individuals, families and communities as we work to restore public confidence in our immigration system. For example, the Government ran a public consultation on the proposed earned settlement changes to gather views on the proposals.
In addition to the consultation, the Home Office also ran separate engagement sessions with our immigration advisory groups and other affected stakeholders.
The Home Office will continue to engage with a range of stakeholders as the government considers the consultation responses and develops the policy further.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the UK's preparedness for AI-enabled cyber threats.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The cyber security of the UK is a priority for the government and we have robust measures in place to protect our critical national infrastructure and essential public services. It is clear that artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities are accelerating quickly, which presents both risks and opportunities for cyber security.
The government takes these accelerating capabilities very seriously. We have been clear ongoing action is needed to improve UK cyber defences. We are already taking significant steps, including working across government and industry to understand the latest developments, publishing evaluations of the latest AI models, and taking widespread action to improve cyber resilience across the economy and help organisations protect against AI-driven threats.
On 15 April the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Security Minister wrote an open letter to businesses urging them to strengthen their cyber resilience. On 22 April the government announced further measures to improve UK cyber resilience, including £90m of new funding to boost cyber security, and the new Cyber Resilience Pledge companies can take to demonstrate their commitment to cyber security.
The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill is currently making its way through Parliament and later this year we will publish a new National Cyber Action Plan. Cyber security is a shared responsibility and both industry and government must play their part in tackling this challenge. This includes the urgent need for tech companies to ensure they develop secure by design software and devices, aligned to agreed standards and codes of practice.