Business of the House

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Thursday 24th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I am sorry to hear of the case that the hon. Member raises. The question of whether DBS checks are wide enough, suitable and so on does get raised in the House regularly. I will ensure that she gets a ministerial reply, but she might want to apply for an Adjournment debate; I am sure that many people would attend.

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab)]

It was good to meet the Safeguarding Alliance this morning about its concerns, which I share, regarding the patchwork of different Departments, bodies and regulators with responsibility for safeguarding. That allows known offenders to slip through the gaps and continue offending. An overarching safeguarding regulator could close those gaps, and with a Cabinet Office review reportedly being undertaken on quangos and arm’s length bodies, will the Leader of the House arrange for Government time for MPs to be part of that? Can she advise when the Data (Use and Access) Bill, which might allow opportunities for better regulation around safeguarding data and information sharing, will be coming back to the House?

[Lucy Powell]

The Bill’s Report stage is on Wednesday 7 May, so my hon. Friend may want to raise some of these issues then. Tackling safeguarding and ensuring that we have the right safeguarding is a cross-Government issue, as she will know. It covers many Departments, but we have a number of measures coming forward in various pieces of legislation, which I hope will improve the safeguarding environment. I encourage her to raise these matters during the passage of some of those Bills.