Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of people who commit environmental crimes.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency (EA) is the main regulator responsible for the enforcement of environmental law and the prosecution of environmental crime in England. Other regulators responsible for environmental compliance and prosecution in England include local authorities, Natural England and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Natural Resources Wales is the responsible authority for Wales and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency in Scotland.

Supported by Defra the EA must follow the requirements of the Regulators’ Code and prosecutes in accordance with its published Enforcement and Sanctions Policy. Prosecutions are directed towards the activities that cause the greatest risk of serious environmental damage, where the risks are least well-controlled, the regulatory framework is undermined and where deliberate or organised crime is suspected. The EA delivers the equivalent constitutional check with prosecutions that the CPS provides to the police. The EA reviews whether evidence is adequate and whether a prosecution is in the public interest in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

Natural England (NE) has enforcement powers and views enforcement as an essential tool to ensure that the natural environment is protected. A key element of NE’s wider regulatory role involves helping people to comply with laws that protect wildlife and the natural environment, but where laws are broken and impacts on wildlife or the natural environment have occurred, or are likely to occur, NE will take enforcement action to ensure that the environment is protected, and environmental harm is restored. Where enforcement action is taken, NE will apply established principles of good regulation to ensure fairness and transparency for those we regulate.

NE has access to a range of enforcement sanctions available to secure the right level of environmental protection. Where an offence has resulted in significant harm NE’s enforcement response will be robust, aiming to correct and deter further non-compliance. NE aims to apply the polluter pays principle in all cases to ensure that the public purse does not bear the burden of enforcement and clean-up costs. In appropriate cases, NE works collaboratively with other regulators to ensure appropriate enforcement goals are met.

The conservation of wildlife is an area in which the police play an investigative and enforcement role and where the CPS are called upon to prosecute in accordance with the provisions of the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The CPS sits on a number of working groups to tackle wildlife crime including the National Wildlife Crime Unit’s (NWCU) UK Tasking and Coordinating Group (UKTCG) and the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW UK). In some cases, the Director of Public Prosecutions may be able to take over a prosecution brought by another organisation.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on introducing mandatory training on hidden disabilities for all (a) school, (b) further education and (c) higher education staff.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

High quality teaching is the most important in-school factor for improving outcomes for all children, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework and Early Career Framework, for trainees and early career teachers (ECTs) respectively, cover the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge, skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and are underpinned by the most up-to-date evidence. From September 2025 they will be superseded by the combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by ITT providers to create their curricula. All ECTs will be entitled to a two-year induction underpinned by the ITTECF which will be known as the Early Career Teacher Entitlement (ECTE).

During the department’s review which led to the development of the ITTECF, particular attention was paid to the evidence base and needs of trainees and ECTs when supporting pupils with SEND. There is now significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND, including those with neurodiversity.

The department recognises that continuous improvement is essential and have recently committed to a full review of the ECTE in 2027, including the ITTECF, to ensure it continues to provide the best possible support for ECTs. This review will include a focus on the support we provide new teachers in teaching pupils with SEND.

School support staff play a vital role in children’s education. They are crucial to ensuring we give children the best possible life chances. The availability of training and career progression opportunities for school support staff helps ensure schools have the skilled staff they need to deliver high quality education. For example, in September 2024 the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) approved a new Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant apprenticeship, allowing teaching assistants to specialise in one of three areas: SEND, Social and Emotional Wellbeing, or Curriculum provision. The apprenticeship will be available for candidates to undertake in 2025.

We recognise the importance of supporting further education (FE) students with complex needs, and the valuable role colleges play in SEND education. We are currently supporting the recruitment and training of SEND specific teachers in FE through:

1. Enabling providers through the Taking Teaching Further (TTF) programme, to support new teachers with relevant knowledge and industry experience to undertake a teaching qualification and receive wrap-around early career support. Funding is also available to support recruits who will provide support to students with SEND.
2. Supporting recruitment and retention with teacher training bursaries worth up to £30,000 tax-free in certain key subject areas, including SEND.

The department also runs a Universal SEND Services contract to provide SEND-specific professional development and support for the school and FE workforce. The programme helps professionals to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, earlier and more effectively. Since the programme commenced, school and college staff have completed over 20,000 online training modules.

All education and training providers, including universities and other related service providers, have a duty to ensure reasonable adjustments for disabled people, so they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled students. This includes people with a learning difficulty. This duty is set out under Section 20 of the Equality Act 2010.

International Day of the Midwife

Protecting children from data exploitation

Import and sale of real fur

Refusal of Citizenship to refugees who have made irregular crossings

Snares

Bank closures

Healthy lunches

Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell

Found: George Freeman Daisy Cooper Bradley Thomas Sir Desmond Swayne Manuela Perteghella Dr Danny Chambers

Found: Leigh George Freeman Daisy Cooper Bradley Thomas Sir Desmond Swayne Manuela Perteghella Dr Danny Chambers

Found: Dewhirst Mary Glindon Sir Edward Leigh George Freeman Daisy Cooper Manuela Perteghella Dr Danny Chambers