Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what her planned timetable is for the implementation of (a) Sections 61 to 64 and (b) Section 70 of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the risks of commencing Sections 61 to 64 without a formal mechanism for addressing complaints about operators’ non-compliance with the Code of Practice.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Government remains committed to implementing the remaining provisions of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 as soon as possible. Sections 61-64 of the Act will commence on 7 April 2026. My Department is considering options for commencing section 70 of the Act and will confirm timelines in due course.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of commencing Section 70 of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Government remains committed to implementing the remaining provisions of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 as soon as possible. Sections 61-64 of the Act will commence on 7 April 2026. My Department is considering options for commencing section 70 of the Act and will confirm timelines in due course.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when she plans to bring section 70 of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 into force.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Government remains committed to implementing the remaining provisions of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 as soon as possible. Sections 61-64 of the Act will commence on 7 April 2026. My Department is considering options for commencing section 70 of the Act and will confirm timelines in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she intends to publish statutory guidance or a code of practice setting out the duty of care owed by higher education providers to their students.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Universities are already required to comply with their duties under the common law and legislation such as the Equality Act 2010, which includes an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students, including those with mental health conditions which meet the definition set out within the Equality Act. The government has no plans to publish statutory guidance or a code of practice on a duty of care owed by higher education providers to their students.

Our focus is on ensuring that providers adopt consistent, evidence‑based approaches to student safety and wellbeing by embedding the recommendations of the national review of higher education student suicide deaths and other best practice identified through the Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce’s wider outputs and sector-led guidance.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of barriers to adopting a unified national safeguarding framework for extracurricular activities involving children; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of frameworks such as the National Safeguarding Framework for Extracurricular Activities on sector-led implementation across micro providers, community organisations, and recognised governing bodies.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is committed to safeguarding children and protecting them from harm across all extracurricular activities.

These activities often take place within out-of-school settings, however, some are run directly by schools and, if so, the schools’ existing child protection and safeguarding arrangements will apply, as set out in ‘Keeping children safe in education’.

Where extracurricular activities do take place in out-of-school settings, we believe that the majority of providers sufficiently deliver safe and enriching education and activities. However, to ensure that this is the case for all, the department launched a call for evidence on 29 May 2025 to better understand current practice and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding.

We are currently analysing responses and given the significance of the issue, this analysis is being supported by independent external analysts.

The department intends to supplement the call for evidence with further engagement, including through focus groups with parents and smaller providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts, national governing bodies and other community representatives, prior to issuing a full response.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of evidence from public inquiries, serious case reviews and independent safeguarding reports on risks associated with unregulated extracurricular settings involving children; and whether she has considered introducing statutory safeguarding principles for this sector.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is committed to safeguarding children and protecting them from harm across all extracurricular activities.

These activities often take place within out-of-school settings, however, some are run directly by schools and, if so, the schools’ existing child protection and safeguarding arrangements will apply, as set out in ‘Keeping children safe in education’.

Where extracurricular activities do take place in out-of-school settings, we believe that the majority of providers sufficiently deliver safe and enriching education and activities. However, to ensure that this is the case for all, the department launched a call for evidence on 29 May 2025 to better understand current practice and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding.

We are currently analysing responses and given the significance of the issue, this analysis is being supported by independent external analysts.

The department intends to supplement the call for evidence with further engagement, including through focus groups with parents and smaller providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts, national governing bodies and other community representatives, prior to issuing a full response.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department assesses the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements for extracurricular activities involving children, including voluntary compliance, self-regulation, and non-statutory guidance.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is committed to safeguarding children and protecting them from harm across all extracurricular activities.

These activities often take place within out-of-school settings, however, some are run directly by schools and, if so, the schools’ existing child protection and safeguarding arrangements will apply, as set out in ‘Keeping children safe in education’.

Where extracurricular activities do take place in out-of-school settings, we believe that the majority of providers sufficiently deliver safe and enriching education and activities. However, to ensure that this is the case for all, the department launched a call for evidence on 29 May 2025 to better understand current practice and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding.

We are currently analysing responses and given the significance of the issue, this analysis is being supported by independent external analysts.

The department intends to supplement the call for evidence with further engagement, including through focus groups with parents and smaller providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts, national governing bodies and other community representatives, prior to issuing a full response.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing mandatory safeguarding requirements for extracurricular activities involving children in England.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is committed to safeguarding children and protecting them from harm across all extracurricular activities.

These activities often take place within out-of-school settings, however, some are run directly by schools and, if so, the schools’ existing child protection and safeguarding arrangements will apply, as set out in ‘Keeping children safe in education’.

Where extracurricular activities do take place in out-of-school settings, we believe that the majority of providers sufficiently deliver safe and enriching education and activities. However, to ensure that this is the case for all, the department launched a call for evidence on 29 May 2025 to better understand current practice and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding.

We are currently analysing responses and given the significance of the issue, this analysis is being supported by independent external analysts.

The department intends to supplement the call for evidence with further engagement, including through focus groups with parents and smaller providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts, national governing bodies and other community representatives, prior to issuing a full response.

Found: Committee), Lord Alton of Liverpool (Chair, Joint Committee on Human Rights), Baroness Kidron, Helen Grant