Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to establish a national, statutory mechanism to (a) identify and (b) support children with a parent in prison.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

I refer my right hon. Friend, the Member for Oxford East to the answer of 18 June 2025 to Question 58709.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to improve (a) data and (b) evidence collection in response to her Department's report entitled Intergenerational offending: A narrative review of the literature, published on 5 June 2025.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Official Statistics on the scale of parental imprisonment were published in July 2024 and can be found at: Official Statistics in Development: Estimates of children with a parent in prison - GOV.UK.

Further work is ongoing to refine these estimates. Additionally, analysis has started with the aim of providing more in-depth understanding of the impact of parental imprisonment on children, looking at factors such as demographics and education. This work will provide valuable insights, with the intention of driving meaningful change in policy and support for affected children.

The Areas of Research Interest publication reflects our ambition to improve the evidence base on intergenerational offending. This is used as the basis for ongoing conversations, collaboration and challenge with experts in academia, research organisations and funding bodies, and can be found at: Areas of Research Interest.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to support children with a parent in prison.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Having a parent in prison is considered an adverse childhood experience and can have a significant impact on a child’s life chances. This Government has committed to ensuring these children are identified and offered the support they need to thrive.

We are working closely with the Department for Education to determine how to effectively identify and support these children. We understand the importance of driving forward this agenda and officials from both Departments are working with a wide range of stakeholders, including sector experts and those with lived experience, to support the development of policy proposals.

Prisons across England and Wales already offer a range of services to maintain family relationships including social visits, family days, prison voicemail and collaborations with organisations such as the award-winning charity led initiative Storybook Mums and Dads, enabling parents in prison to record bedtime stories for their children.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) potential implications for his policies of trends in the number of cases of cholera in (i) Khartoum and (ii) other parts of Sudan and (b) effectiveness of aid provided by (A) the UK and (B) other countries in tackling cholera.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Cases of Cholera in Sudan are increasing due to the collapse of health systems and water supply and treatment infrastructure exacerbated by the limited reach of humanitarian agencies and the onset of the rainy season. The outbreak in Khartoum is particularly alarming, with 13,000 recorded cases, with a significant spike since late May. UK support to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund is helping to deliver lifesaving emergency health interventions including cholera vaccines and treatment and prevention activities. We are also advocating for the UN's Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SHF), which receives UK support, to step-up its Cholera related work. Key to an effective Cholera response is for the warring parties to urgently facilitate the unhindered delivery of aid and to commit to protecting critical infrastructure.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will hold discussions with Google on its compliance with the Frontier AI Safety Commitments made at the AI Seoul Summit 2024, published on 21 May 2024.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

We expect all signatories to the Seoul commitments to stand by their agreements. The AI Security Institute, within DSIT, has ongoing discussions will all major developers, including Google DeepMind, about the implementation of frontier AI frameworks that guide the safe development of AI.

The government welcomes Google's recently published framework that prioritises the emerging risk of deception in AI models and their plans to publish safety cases.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of training of frontline NHS staff on (a) the definition of domestic abuse, (b) how professionals should respond to immediate and long-term risk and (c) the opportunity of perpetrator incarceration in engaging and safeguarding victims in the long term.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

All National Health Service staff complete mandatory safeguarding training, which includes a focus on domestic abuse. This training gives staff the skills and knowledge to identify and respond to all forms of domestic abuse, as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which includes physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse, psychological, emotional, or other abuse. All professionals are trained to identify the immediate and long-term risks of domestic abuse using blended learning methods including e-learning, in-person training, and supervision. Patient facing clinicians and staff complete more detailed mandatory safeguarding training, including further domestic abuse training relevant to their role. National mandatory safeguarding training for all NHS staff is being strengthened for launch in early 2026. This will reinforce the safeguarding responsibilities of staff and will support them in identifying and responding to victims of abuse.

We are committed to making sure that those who have experienced violence and abuse can access the support they need, to manage short and long-term risk. We also know that for many survivors, the emotional and psychological aftermath can last long after the abuse itself ends and the perpetrator is incarcerated. Mental health support is one of the vital parts of the road to recovery. Anyone in England experiencing a mental health crisis, including domestic abuse and assault victims, can speak to a trained NHS professional at any time of the day through the mental health option on NHS 111. In addition, the 8,500 mental health workers we are recruiting will be trained to support people experiencing mental health challenges, including those who have experienced violence and abuse. The NHS is also piloting more specialised support and has launched local pathfinder projects for enhanced trauma-informed mental health support for survivors with the most complex needs.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of training (a) modules and (b) courses on domestic abuse undertaken by frontline staff were (i) standalone and (ii) integrated with other training programmes broken down by discipline of staff.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Health professionals are trained to identify and respond to domestic abuse using blended learning methods including e-learning, in-person training, and supervision.

It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that staff complete mandatory safeguarding training, which includes a focus on domestic abuse. Level 1 mandatory safeguarding training for all staff is captured on the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Each National Health Service provider holds its own ESR data which is not collated nationally, and therefore the Department does not hold the information requested. Staff will undertake further domestic abuse training relevant to their role.

National mandatory safeguarding training for all NHS staff is being strengthened for launch in early 2026. This will reinforce the safeguarding responsibilities of staff and will support them in identifying and responding to victims of abuse.

Found: My representations on these points to my own MP, Anneliese Dodds, received a boilerplate response which

Found: past year, I have also raised it in meetings with the then Minister for Women and Equalities, Anneliese Dodds

Found: Rosie Duffield Ms Stella Creasy Wera Hobhouse Lillian Jones Ellie Chowns Tonia Antoniazzi Anneliese Dodds