Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that early years staff have access to adequate safety training; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of safety requirements within the Ofsted framework.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The safety of our youngest children is our utmost priority and the department continually monitors and reviews safeguarding requirements to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements early years providers must meet to ensure that children are kept healthy and safe. It is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68c024cb8c6d992f23edd79c/Early_years_foundation_stage_statutory_framework_-_for_group_and_school-based_providers.pdf.pdf. In September 2025, changes were introduced to strengthen safeguarding requirements in the EYFS, including clearer expectations on safeguarding training.
A new safeguarding training annex now sets out clearly what safeguarding training must cover and to support providers, a free online safeguarding training package is being developed by the department with the NSPCC, aligned to the updated requirements.
Ofsted inspects early years providers under the Education Inspection Framework against the full range of EYFS requirements. Inspectors assess whether providers are meeting statutory requirements and taking appropriate action to keep children safe.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a minimum age to access social media of 16 years.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
On 20 January, the government announced a short, swift consultation on further measures to keep children safe online, building on the Online Safety Act. While there is consensus that more action is needed, there is not yet consensus on what form that action should take.
The consultation will be accompanied by a national conversation, putting children and parents at the heart of this issue. It will seek views on a range of measures, including what the right minimum age for children to access social media is, as well as explore a ban for children under a certain age. We will also look closely at Australia and their ban on social media for under 16s.
The government is clear that it will act quickly and robustly to deal with concerns that are being raised.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of the patent box tax relief on levels of private sector (a) investment and (b) innovation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC published an evaluation of the Patent Box in 2020. The evaluation concludes that the Patent Box has had a positive impact on investment by companies, with an increase of around 10% in assets held by companies that use the Patent Box compared to similar companies that do not use the Patent Box since it was introduced.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 11 of the Bank of England's report entitled Financial Stability Report - December 2025, published on 2 December 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the concentration of net borrowers in the gilt repurchase agreements market on the economy.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK gilt market is deep and liquid, with a well-diversified investor base. Gilt repo markets play an important role in supporting the functioning, liquidity and resilience of the wider gilt market.
We work closely with the Debt Management Office, the Bank of England and financial regulators, to monitor developments in the gilt and gilt repo markets.
Most recently, in September 2025 the Bank of England, with input from HM Treasury and the UK Debt Management Office, published an exploratory discussion paper evaluating the effectiveness and impact of a range of potential reforms to enhance the resilience of the gilt repo market.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the supermarket industry on tackling food waste in supermarkets.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra funds the groundbreaking UK Food and Drink Pact, a voluntary agreement with industry to tackle food waste in supply chains. The Pact has developed the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, which helps businesses to identify and measure their surplus and waste and take steps to reduce it. Through the Pact, we have regular engagement with food businesses, including supermarkets, to better understand and overcome the barriers to tackling food waste.
Defra also supports retailers and food businesses to play a key role in making sure their products help consumers to waste less food at home. This includes through appropriate storage advice, packaging design, and how food is labelled.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether transitional arrangements outlined in the 2025 UK Immigration White Paper include those close to settlement on existing long residence routes.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026.
The consultation seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement. Transitional arrangements refer to temporary measures or rules put in place to manage the shift from one system, or policy framework, to another. Details of the earned settlement model, including any transitional arrangements for those already in the UK, will be finalised following that consultation.
The final model will also be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to help ensure that trainees on the HMRC Tax Specialist Programme are able to be awarded a Skilled Worker Visa to maintain the Right To Work in the UK.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC values the contribution of all trainees on the Tax Specialist Programme (TSP) and recognises the importance of maintaining the Right to Work in the UK.
At present, the Tax Specialist Programme (TSP) is not designated as a role eligible for sponsorship because it does not meet HMRCs internal criteria for sponsorship, which prioritise roles that are demonstrably hard to fill.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with international partners on coordinated efforts to promote human rights in Iran.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer my Hon Friend to the statement made by the Foreign Secretary on 13 January, and her responses to the questions raised in the subsequent debate. I can also reassure my Hon Friend that staff from the British embassy in Tehran are continuing to discharge their duties remotely while the embassy is temporarily closed.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to assist British Iranians to access information about the welfare of family members in Iran.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer my Hon Friend to the statement made by the Foreign Secretary on 13 January, and her responses to the questions raised in the subsequent debate. I can also reassure my Hon Friend that staff from the British embassy in Tehran are continuing to discharge their duties remotely while the embassy is temporarily closed.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to increase community funding for employment and skills support for people living in supported accommodation to prevent future homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Through our National Plan to End Homelessness the government is putting prevention at the heart of public services, including action to help prevent homelessness. Through our Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector grant, Homeless Link have produced resources to support homelessness services increase access to employment and volunteering opportunities for people with lived experience of homelessness.
The government is investing £3.5 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years. This includes almost £2 billion to prevent and address homelessness and rough sleeping through the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant, which local authorities will be able to use flexibly to meet local need, including by commissioning community organisations to deliver employment and skills support, if appropriate.