Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which recommendations of the Government’s British Sign Language Advisory Board he will implement to ensure the NHS is accessible to deaf and blind people.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Equality Act 2010, health and care organisations have a legal duty to make changes in their approach and provision to ensure that services are as accessible to disabled people as they are for everybody else.
All National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard, which details the recommended approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of people with a disability, impairment or sensory loss, including Deaf and blind people.
We welcome the British Sign Language Advisory Board’s report, Locked out: Exclusion of deaf and deafblind BSL users from health and social care in the UK. We will carefully consider its recommendations, including how, in the context of our work on the 10-Year Health Plan and reform of adult social care, we can improve the experiences of Deaf and blind people when accessing health and care services.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) support the development of treatments for Huntington's disease and (b) improve the ability of the NHS to deliver new gene therapies for people living with rare diseases.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the significant challenges faced by those living with rare diseases such as Huntington’s Disease. The Department supports research into Huntington’s disease through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR infrastructure supports pioneering research into Huntington's, including the positive preliminary results for a novel gene therapy reported this year. NHS England will assess the service delivery impact of any specific gene therapy for Huntingdon's disease within three years of its expected licensing decision by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will make recommendations for the National Health Service on new medicines based on clinical and cost effectiveness. NHS England is required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, within three months of the publication of final guidance. The NHS has a dedicated team to support the adoption of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) that are recommended by NICE. NHS England works with a variety of internal and external stakeholders to ensure timely patient access to ATMPs that are on NICE’s technology appraisal and highly specialised technology workplan.