Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made an assessment of the financial impact of the Court of Protection’s Deputyship application process on families of disabled children who lack capacity to access Child Trust Funds.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No such assessment has been undertaken. In many cases, no fee is payable for a court order to access a Child Trust Fund where this is the sole asset.
Where a young adult lacks mental capacity, including due to a disability, legal authority is required to make decisions on their behalf about financial assets or property. This requirement applies to all assets, including Child Trust Funds, and is vital in ensuring that vulnerable people are safeguarded and protected. Guidance on completing the court form when access to a Child Trust Fund is required can be found at How to apply to make property and finance decisions on someone’s behalf (including Child Trust Funds) - GOV.UK.
In February 2023, the Court of Protection introduced an online process to simplify the making of property and affairs applications. This has reduced errors and omissions and reduced administration handling times.
We are considering options for further improving access to matured Child Trust Funds while balancing the need to maintain safeguards which protect the best interests of individuals that lack capacity.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to simplify the Court of Protection’s Deputyship application process for families of disabled children who lack capacity to access Child Trust Funds.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No such assessment has been undertaken. In many cases, no fee is payable for a court order to access a Child Trust Fund where this is the sole asset.
Where a young adult lacks mental capacity, including due to a disability, legal authority is required to make decisions on their behalf about financial assets or property. This requirement applies to all assets, including Child Trust Funds, and is vital in ensuring that vulnerable people are safeguarded and protected. Guidance on completing the court form when access to a Child Trust Fund is required can be found at How to apply to make property and finance decisions on someone’s behalf (including Child Trust Funds) - GOV.UK.
In February 2023, the Court of Protection introduced an online process to simplify the making of property and affairs applications. This has reduced errors and omissions and reduced administration handling times.
We are considering options for further improving access to matured Child Trust Funds while balancing the need to maintain safeguards which protect the best interests of individuals that lack capacity.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that national sports governing bodies enforce compliance with statutory safeguarding guidance; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of enforcement mechanisms for failing to act in the absence of direct harm.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. National Governing Bodies are responsible for the regulation of their sports and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm, including through adherence to statutory safeguarding guidance.
In order to be in receipt of public funding all sport’s organisations need to be in adherence with the Code for Sport Governance, authored by Government’s Arm’s Length Bodies, UK Sport and Sport England. The code includes provisions in relation to welfare and safety which all organisations are required to adhere to.
Sport England also provides support to the sport and physical activity sector around safeguarding, including funding the Ann Craft Trust and the NSPCC’s Child Protection in Sport Unit.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to reduce the rate of VAT for the hospitality and tourism sector.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the significant contribution made by hospitality businesses to economic growth and social life in the UK.
Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for vital public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations. The exceptional VAT relief for tourism and hospitality during the Covid-19 pandemic cost over £8 billion. The Government has no current plans to change the VAT rate for the hospitality and tourism sector.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) regulate care home fees.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes commissioning a diverse range of care and support services that enable people to access quality care.
Section 4.31 of the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) guidance states that when commissioning services, local authorities should assure themselves and have evidence that the contract terms, conditions, and fee levels for care and support services are appropriate to provide the delivery of the agreed care packages with the agreed quality of care. Further information on the CASS guidance can be found at the following link:
Fee rates are set by providers of adult social care, the majority of which are in the independent sector. The Department does not have powers to set or recommend the level of fees that care homes charge.
As part of our monitoring of the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund grant conditions, and to understand fee rates more generally, local authorities are required to provide an annual return to the Department which includes data on the fee rates they pay care providers. The Government publishes this data annually, with the latest being available at the following link:
Please note this does not include data on fee rates for those that pay for their own care, known as self-funders.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to increase taxation on (a) higher-polluting vehicles and (b) tax pickup trucks used for personal purposes as private vehicles.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government uses the tax system to support a variety of objectives including our legally binding climate targets, including the transition to electric vehicles (EVs).
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced changes to the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) first year rates from 1 April 2025, to introduce higher rates for hybrid and petrol/diesel vehicles for 2025-26, and freeze the rate for zero emission vehicles until 2029-30.
The Budget also announced new company car tax rates for 2028-29 and 2029-30, which gradually increase the rates for both petrol/diesel and electric vehicles whilst restricting incentives for hybrid vehicles, which research has shown are over three times more polluting than previously thought.
Cars are treated according to their emissions under the capital allowances system; and company cars made available for private use are also taxed according to their CO2 emissions under the benefit in kind regime.
From April 2025 this includes some pick-up trucks such as double cab pick-ups and extended cab pick-ups. These vehicles will be charged a higher rate for the benefit in kind, and be eligible for lower capital allowances reflecting their generally higher emissions.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to prevent children from receiving (a) harmful content and (b) misinformation from chatbots.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
AI generated content is regulated by the Online Safety Act where it is shared on an in-scope user-to-user or search service and constitutes illegal content or content which is harmful to children. This includes mis- and dis- information where it is assessed to present material harm to a significant number of children. Providers of pornographic content must also prevent children from accessing that content.
Chatbots with functionalities that bring them into scope of the Online Safety Act will be required to comply with the relevant duties including preventing children from encountering harmful content – whether that is real or synthetic.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure Ofcom requires all user-to-user services to remove child sexual abuse content from their platforms.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act creates new duties on online services to tackle illegal content and activity. The strongest duties are to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation (CSEA) and to stop child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from being shared. The illegal content duties have been in effect from 17 March. Ofcom is the regulator for the regime and has set out steps providers can take including strong automated content moderation and takedown measures. Ofcom will continue to develop their codes iteratively, including additional measures to detect, prevent and remove CSAM.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help tackle the threat posed by quantum computing to cybersecurity infrastructure.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises the cyber threats posed by quantum computing. The NCSC recently issued new guidance to help organisations prepare for and protect against threats posed by future developments in quantum computing [https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/pqc-migration-timelines]. The guidance is focused on migrating to post-quantum cryptography to mitigate the potential future quantum threat to encryption services, and identifying and mitigating cyber risks during the migration.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and NCSC have also commissioned external research to understand industry barriers and incentives to migrate to post-quantum cryptography. This will be used to inform future policy interventions to drive the transition.
The government continues to monitor developments in quantum computing and uptake of post-quantum cryptography, including working with other countries to keep UK citizens and organisations secure. The government continues to assess wider cyber risks from critical and emerging technologies on an ongoing basis.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the increased use of AI by (a) cyber-criminals and (b) nation state actors on cyber security risks to the UK.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Cyber security is a priority for the government. We are taking action to protect businesses, citizens and essential services against cyber threats. Last year the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said AI will almost certainly increase the volume and heighten the impact of cyber attacks over the next two years, however the impact on the cyber threat would be uneven. The full report is at https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/report/impact-of-ai-on-cyber-threat .
The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will require regulated organisations to adopt cyber security measures which protect against a wide range of cyber threats, including AI-enabled threats. Further details on the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will be published in due course.
Cyber attacks cost the UK economy billions of pounds per year, resulting in serious disruption for businesses and individuals, and disruption to supply chains and public services. Cyber attacks harm confidence and investment in UK technology, while intellectual property can be stolen which has cost billions of pounds to develop. The Cyber Security Breaches Survey [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cyber-security-breaches-survey] sets out further details on the impact of cyber threats and we will publish further research on this in due course.