Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to consult (a) transgender students, (b) the families of transgender students and (c) organisations that represent the views of transgender people on the draft guidance entitled Guidance for Schools and Colleges: Gender Questioning Children, published on 19 December 2023.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

From the 19 December 2023 to the 12 March 2024, the department carried out a full public consultation on the draft guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning children. Any member of the public could respond and provide their views.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many allowed appeals from (a) First and (b) Upper Tribunal are awaiting implementation; and what the average time taken to implement allowed appeal decisions was in each year between 2019 and 2023.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The requested information cannot be accurately extracted from our internal systems. To provide this information would require a manual trawl of successful appeals and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.

Where an appeal has been allowed in favour of the appellant, and is not subject to onward appeal, we take all reasonable steps to implement the allowed appeal in a timely manner.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to encourage small businesses to provide statutory maternity pay to employees; and whether he has discussions with industry on this.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

All employers have a statutory obligation to pay Statutory Maternity Pay to eligible employees. Employers are reimbursed at least 92 percent of the Statutory Maternity Pay they pay. Small employers (those who pay £45,000 or less gross NICs in the previous tax year) receive 100 percent of the Statutory Maternity Pay paid plus an additional 3 percent, known as the Small Employers’ Compensation Rate. This is in recognition of the relatively greater impact maternity absence has on small businesses.

Employers may apply for advance funding from HMRC if they are unable to meet their SMP liability at the required time.

DWP officials regularly meet with industry representatives to discuss Statutory Maternity Pay.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to ensure benefit fraud investigations do not result in discrimination.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

All fraud investigations are conducted in line with current legislation including Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984.

All staff in the department undergo Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) training. The training is provided to ensure everyone has the right level of skill and understanding to ensure equality of treatment for all customers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of providing a formal apology to unmarried women and their children who were forcibly separated between 1949 and 1976.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government agreed that the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) raised some important issues regarding historical adoption practices. Whilst a formal apology has not been issued, as the government did not actively support these practices, the government has publicly said sorry on behalf of society to all those affected by these practices during this period.

As the government response said at the time, successive governments have made significant changes to adoption legislation and practice to ensure that the practices reported are never repeated.

Furthermore, following the JCHR report, the department has already amended regulations to make it easier for adults to access adoption support. In addition, the department has written to local authorities, encouraging them to retain historical adoption records for 100 years instead of 75, to make access to records easier, and asking them to support access without undue delay to such records.