Chris Bloore

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is independent of government. The purpose of the EHRC’s Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations is to ensure or facilitate compliance with the Equality Act 2010 or an enactment made under that Act. The EHRC has opened its consultation on the draft updated statutory Code of Practice, seeking views from affected stakeholders. We encourage all those affected stakeholders to submit a response to the consultation. We will then consider the EHRC’s updated draft once they have submitted it.

People smuggling is a deplorable transnational crime, and anyone involved in this dangerous trade will face the full force of the law. The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill is nearing Royal Assent and will give law enforcement agencies the toughest powers yet to take down criminal smuggling gangs

The Bill will introduce new offences to help tackle offending, such as criminalising the creation of material advertising unlawful immigration services online, the endangerment offence, and the power to seize electronic devices. It will also implement interim Serious Crime Prevention Orders to disrupt and deter organised crime, including people smuggling.

Due to the cross-border nature of these crimes, international collaboration remains essential to disrupt criminal supply chains and networks. This Government is working hard to fix the borders crisis, which is why we agreed a landmark deal with France, where we have returned migrants, as well as increasing international cooperation with Germany and other countries. In line with this, the CPS has increased cooperation with international partners to improve information sharing and evidence gathering for prosecutions.

The Attorney General’s Office offers carers emergency leave for dependants with pay in accordance with the department’s special leave policy. Employees can take time off work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant or are able to request other leave, paid and unpaid, as well as annual and flexi leave as required to support them when they become a kinship carer. Employees are also able to request flexible working to support both short term and longer-term arrangements.

This Government is serious about tackling stalking, as part of our ambition to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade.

For over seven years there have been yearly increases in the number of stalking offences which received a first hearing in the magistrates' courts. In 2018/19, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recorded 2,208 cases, and in 2023/24 these had more than doubled to 5,859.

In November 2024, the CPS and National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Domestic Abuse Joint Justice Plan which prioritises improving the recognition and identification of behaviour driven offending including stalking. This applies to domestic and non-domestic forms of this crime.

Since publication, work has already commenced to develop a shared definition of high-harm, high-risk repeat offending and to update the police and CPS joint protocol on the appropriate handling of stalking offences. Informed by operational insights from police and stalking leads in the CPS, this work will ensure police and prosecutors are better equipped to recognise and handle stalking and identify the offenders who pose the greatest threat.

Protective orders are an important tool in safeguarding victims of stalking. On 22 January, the CPS updated its prosecution guidance on stalking or harassment emphasising that prosecutors must consider breaches of orders within the wider context of offending and, where new offences are present, that they are charged in addition to breaches. This Government has also committed to extend the reach of Stalking Protection Orders so they can be applied for on acquittal, as well as on conviction.

Cyber attacks are increasing in scale and impact; they are slowing the UK’s economic growth and damaging our national security. The UK Government has an existing national process to manage the response to major cyber incidents: the national cyber incident categorisation system is published on NCSC.GOV.UK.

The Government, alongside the National Cyber Security Centre, engages with regulators and critical national infrastructure operators to ensure resilience and preparedness to cyber threats, working to better understand and manage cyber risk, and minimise the impact of cyber incidents when they occur.

The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will also support this, by boosting UK cyber defences and improving the cyber security of our essential public and digital services.

Cyber attacks are increasing in scale and impact; they are slowing the UK’s economic growth and damaging our national security. The UK Government has an existing national process to manage the response to major cyber incidents: the national cyber incident categorisation system is published on NCSC.GOV.UK.

The Government, alongside the National Cyber Security Centre, engages with regulators and critical national infrastructure operators to ensure resilience and preparedness to cyber threats, working to better understand and manage cyber risk, and minimise the impact of cyber incidents when they occur.

The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will also support this, by boosting UK cyber defences and improving the cyber security of our essential public and digital services.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is independent of government. The purpose of the EHRC’s Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations is to ensure or facilitate compliance with the Equality Act 2010 or an enactment made under that Act. The EHRC has opened its consultation on the draft updated statutory Code of Practice, seeking views from affected stakeholders. We encourage all those affected stakeholders to submit a response to the consultation. We will then consider the EHRC’s updated draft once they have submitted it.

At this time, no such estimate has been made, as that code remains in draft and is currently subject to consultation.

The Cabinet Office does not currently specifically offer (a) paid time off work and (b) other support to employees who become kinship carers.

However, the Cabinet Office has other mechanisms in place to support employees who are kinship carers, in parity with other forms of care leave.

The Industrial Strategy sets out how targeted regulatory reform will support key sectors to unlock investment and increase productivity. This is reinforced by the Regulation Action Plan which aims to tackle the regulatory burden and complexity; reduce uncertainty and challenge risk aversion to drive growth.

This is supported by targeted regulatory reviews in growth-driving sectors. For example, DBT is working with Defra and the Regulatory Innovation Office on a regulatory review of agri-tech as a frontier industry, to help SMEs navigate the regulatory landscape and support farmer adoption. This approach ensures regulation supports innovation and investment while maintaining essential protections.

We have established a baseline of the annual administrative burden of regulation on UK businesses, including SMEs. As set out in the technical annex to the policy paper ‘A new approach to ensure regulators and regulation support growth’, we used a pragmatic, top-down approach, building on the previous Administrative Burden Reduction Programme (2005-10), which was based on detailed feedback from businesses, including SMEs, in individual sectors.

Our approach was also informed by DBT’s Business Perceptions Survey, which draws from a large, representative sample of businesses across sectors and sizes to ensure our reforms are targeted effectively.

We have established a baseline of the annual administrative burden of regulation on UK businesses, including SMEs. As set out in the technical annex to the policy paper ‘A new approach to ensure regulators and regulation support growth’, we used a pragmatic, top-down approach, building on the previous Administrative Burden Reduction Programme (2005-10), which was based on detailed feedback from businesses, including SMEs, in individual sectors.

Our approach was also informed by DBT’s Business Perceptions Survey, which draws from a large, representative sample of businesses across sectors and sizes to ensure our reforms are targeted effectively.

This Government recognises the distinct value of downstream users, including in the manufacturing supply chain, alongside the importance of maintaining a resilient domestic steel sector.

The steel trade measure has been designed to addresses the serious threat posed by global steel overcapacity, which undermines the viability of UK steelmaking and, in turn, our critical national infrastructure and defence.

We have carefully balanced the needs of producers and downstream industry, and the product scope of the measure reflects this. This has involved extensive engagement with downstream industry, and we will review the measure after 12 months.

Cyber security of the UK is a key priority for this government and DSIT and NCSC have been taking significant action to help protect businesses against cyber attacks. This includes providing businesses with the tools, advice and support to protect themselves from cyber threats, including free training for boards and staff. We have also put in place:

• The Cyber Governance Code of Practice, which shows boards and directors how to effectively manage the digital risks to their organisation
• The highly effective Cyber Essentials scheme to prevent common attacks – reducing the likelihood of a cyber insurance claim by 92%. The certification scheme includes automatic cyber liability insurance for any UK organisation who certifies their whole organisation and has less than £20m annual turnover.

In cases of acute and exogenous disruption, including in the context of the cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover, requests for support are assessed on a case‑by‑case basis. The support for JLR. The government agreed to back JLR with a loan guarantee through UK Export Finance, to unlock up to £1.5 billion in commercial financing. This loan covered by the guarantee will be re-paid over 5 years. JLR supports 154,000 UK jobs and protects a critical part of our automotive supply chain.

The Government will continue to prioritise its support and encouragement for cyber resilience across the economy, to reduce the likelihood and impact of incidents such as cyber attacks, while retaining the ability to respond flexibly using existing frameworks where this is justified.

It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

We will bring forward plans later this year to offer legacy low carbon generators the option of fixed price arrangements, with an intention to run an allocation process in 2027. Government will only offer contracts to electricity generators where it represents clear value for money for consumers. Further details will be set out in due course, with plans to consult later this year.

This government has been clear that the answers to the challenges around energy security, affordability and sustainability point in the same direction, clean energy.

By 2030 unabated gas will account for less than 5% of total generation. As the role of unabated gas diminishes, we continue to work with NESO and Ofgem to explore how market and system arrangements can evolve to minimise its impact on energy bills, whilst retaining sufficient unabated gas capacity for security of supply.

As part of this, officials have considered proposals to move gas-fired power stations onto a regulated asset base model. Whilst this option may have merits in the long-term, it also has some challenges and would take considerable time to develop and implement. No decisions have been taken at this stage.

The Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018 provides the UK’s only cross-sector cyber legislation, focused on protecting the security and resilience of essential services. The regulations impose security duties on Operators of Essential Services (OES) and relevant digital service providers (RDSPs) to take "appropriate and proportionate technical and organisational measures" to manage risk and prevent and minimise the impact of cyber incidents.

The Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill, introduced in November 2025, updates these regulations to ensure it is fit for today, and the future. It will cover a wider range of critically important entities, including data centres and large load controllers and relevant managed service providers (RMSPs). The Bill will also allow, through secondary legislation, for security and resilience requirements to be set for regulated entities. Our proposals for this legislation will be linked to existing, high level security duties and be consistent with the NCSC’s Cyber Assessment Framework.

Regulators will also have the power under the Bill to designate certain suppliers as “critical” if a compromise or outage in their systems can cause a disruption to their services that would have serious, cascading impacts for our society and economy. Proportionate cyber security and resilience duties and requirements to applying to those designated suppliers, with associated requirements will be developed through secondary legislation and guidance. This will ensure that these critical suppliers have the appropriate cyber security and resilience measures in place, helping to protect the UK’s critical infrastructure from disruption.

The Bill sits alongside other regulatory regimes, such as for public telecoms providers and financial services, and a range of other tools to help organisations actively improve their cyber resilience. For example, the government offers the Cyber Essentials certification scheme to prevent the most common cyber attacks. Organisations with Cyber Essentials are 92% less likely to make a claim on their cyber insurance than those without it.

Improving the cyber security of our nation's small businesses is critical to the resilience of our wider economy. We recognise many small businesses lack the resources to invest in their cyber security. As such, the government has developed a wide range of free tools, guidance and training to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) implement cyber security measures, including the Cyber Action Toolkit which provides SMEs with tailored advice on protecting their business.

National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)-certified Cyber Advisors are available to provide advice and guidance on commercial terms and SMEs are eligible for a free 30- minute consultation. Additionally, the government's Cyber Essentials scheme helps all organisations, including SMEs, implement critical cyber security controls, protecting them from most common cyber attacks and provides them with free insurance. All of this information is available on the NCSC website.

More broadly across government, the Home Office funds a network of Cyber Resilience Centres which provide free resources, guidance and training to SMEs to strengthen their cyber security.

Sovereign AI is a new government VC fund backed by £500 million to invest in strategically significant UK AI companies, anchoring them here to drive national advantage.

Direct equity investment, integrated with a package of government-only support levers will be central to this mission.

This ensures Britain has a stake in the technologies shaping our future, protecting people from future economic shocks while powering UK growth.

The UK is an excellent place for frontier artificial intelligence companies to expand operations, with a world leading R&D ecosystem which is home to four of the world’s top ten research institutions. These companies are already choosing to build in this country. For example, in February 2026 OpenAI announced that it is significantly expanding its presence in London, establishing the city as its largest research hub outside of the United States. Google DeepMind is also opening its first automated research lab in the UK this year.

The Government has also delivered an ambitious programme of reforms to make it easier for firms to list and raise capital on UK markets, this includes overhauling the Prospectus Regime and Listing Rules.

Under UK data protection laws, UK organisations must ensure personal data is appropriately protected when transferred internationally. The UK has an adequacy decision for certain transfers to the US, which assessed US government access laws and practices. Where adequacy cannot be relied upon, organisations must use alternative safeguards, such as contractual clauses.

The UK believes complex issues like data security and digital governance are best addressed through transparent, inclusive multi-stakeholder engagement. The UK remains committed to working with international partners via recognised global mechanisms to promote shared understanding and responsible behaviours, while supporting UK-based data-driven businesses to innovate and grow.

DCMS does not hold the data requested. Local Authorities have a statutory duty to ‘secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people’. This is funded from the Local Government settlement, which is almost £69 billion this year (FY 25/26).

This government recognises the value of youth centres and youth services, and has committed to co-producing a new National Youth Strategy. This is an opportunity to move away from one-size-fits all approaches from central government, bringing power back to young people and their communities and rebuilding a thriving and sustainable sector. We plan to publish the strategy in the summer.

It will be the responsibility of the Independent Football Regulator to determine the key elements of the Football Governance Code, including whether independent directors should be included. The drafting of the Football Governance Code will be done in consultation with the FA and other stakeholders with an interest in safeguarding the long-term future of our national game. It is the norm for all corporate governance codes to have detail and guidance on INED’s included, and we do not expect the Football Governance Code to be any different.

The Regulator will publish the Football Governance Code, guidance around this, and an annual report highlighting best practice and where certain clubs are failing to meet the standards. The Regulator will adopt a collaborative approach wherever possible and will meet regularly with clubs to ensure they are meeting the requirements set out by the legislation.

It will be the responsibility of the Independent Football Regulator to determine the key elements of the Football Governance Code, including whether independent directors should be included. The drafting of the Football Governance Code will be done in consultation with the FA and other stakeholders with an interest in safeguarding the long-term future of our national game. It is the norm for all corporate governance codes to have detail and guidance on INED’s included, and we do not expect the Football Governance Code to be any different.

The Regulator will publish the Football Governance Code, guidance around this, and an annual report highlighting best practice and where certain clubs are failing to meet the standards. The Regulator will adopt a collaborative approach wherever possible and will meet regularly with clubs to ensure they are meeting the requirements set out by the legislation.

We do not have a policy which explicitly covers (a) paid time off work and (b) other support to employees who become kinship carers. Employees are able to take time off work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant or are able to request other leave, paid and unpaid, as well as annual and flexi leave as required to support them when they become a kinship carer. Employees are also able to request flexible working to support both short term and longer term arrangements.

It will be the responsibility of the Independent Football Regulator to determine the key elements of the Football Governance Code, including whether independent directors should be included. This will be done in consultation with the FA and other stakeholders with an interest in safeguarding the long-term future of our national game.

We recognise that independent directors can greatly improve decision-making and independent scrutiny on corporate governance, however, it will be for the Regulator to determine whether independent directors are included in scope of the Football Governance Code.

Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers in state-funded schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.

Schools are asked to record whether staff self‑report a disability. In the November 2024 school workforce census, disability information was either not yet obtained or was refused for around 59% of teachers, the most recent data available. Where disability information was reported, around 3% of teachers were recorded as disabled. However, this may not represent the true proportion due to the level of missing data. This has been available since 5 June 2025.

The department does not collect data centrally on whether school staff are neurodivergent.

This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to my hon. Friend, the Member for Redditch directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The department introduced Kinship leave and pay in November 2024. Other support available within the department includes access to an Employee Assistance Programme, staff networks, Mental Health First Aiders and the ability to request flexible working.

High and rising school standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best life chances. The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review which will seek to deliver, amongst other things, an excellent foundation in core subjects of reading, writing and maths. The review group will publish an interim report early in 2025 setting out their interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work. The final review with recommendations will be published in autumn 2025. In the meantime, the department will continue to consider how to best support writing standards at all ages.

At the end of the academic year in which children turn five, which is usually reception year, each child’s level of development must be assessed against the 17 early learning goals set out in the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework. In the 2022/23 academic year, just 71% of children met the expected level of development in writing. The EYFS reforms were introduced in September 2021. As part of those reforms, the EYFS Profile was significantly revised. It is therefore not possible to directly compare assessment outcomes with earlier years.

In 2024, the key stage 2 national curriculum assessments in England showed that 72% of pupils met the expected standard in writing. The method of assessing writing changed in 2017/18, when 78% of pupils met the expected standard, therefore 2024 results are not directly comparable to 2015. In 2015, 87% of pupils achieved a level 4 or above in the writing teacher assessment.

The English language GCSE aims to provide all students with robust foundations in reading and good written English, and with the language and literary skills which are required for further study and work. While 50% of this GCSE assesses writing, the results do not directly reflect changes in the standard of writing over time, due to the way GCSEs are graded using comparable outcomes. In 2024, 61.6% of pupils entering the exam achieved a grade 4 or above. GCSEs were reformed for teaching in schools from September 2015 onwards, with first examinations in summer 2017, when 70.8% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above.

The government takes very seriously the need for high academic standards in higher education (HE), as does the Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator of HE in England. HE providers are autonomous organisations, responsible for ensuring the standards of students' work. However, the OfS explored the standard of writing in a sample of providers in its 2021 report 'Assessment practices in English higher education providers: Spelling, punctuation and grammar', which sets out the OfS’s view that students should be assessed on spelling, punctuation and grammar in order to maintain quality and protect standards.

As part of the OfS's ‘B4 Registration’ condition, HE providers must establish academic regulations that are designed to ensure the effective assessment of technical proficiency in the English language in a manner which appropriately reflects the level and content of the applicable HE course.

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. This includes allergies.

The accompanying statutory guidance, 'Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions', makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.

'Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions' includes guidance on individual healthcare plans and specifies that they should ensure that the school assesses and manages risks to the child’s education, health and social wellbeing, and minimises disruption.

The department included a reminder to schools of these duties in its regular schools’ email bulletin in both March and September 2024. In the same communication we also alerted schools to the newly created Schools Allergy Code. The Code was developed by The Allergy Team, Independent Schools’ Bursars Association and the Benedict Blythe Foundation, who are all trusted voices on the matter of allergies. The department has now also added a link to the Code to its online allergy guidance, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools/allergy-guidance-for-schools.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) have produced guidance on the use of adrenaline auto-injectors in schools here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/using-emergency-adrenaline-auto-injectors-in-schools. DHSC have also produced guidance on emergency inhalers in schools, including the purchase of spares, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-asthma-inhalers-for-use-in-schools.