Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of updating the decent homes standard to ensure that at least 10% of homes for social rent are offered furnished.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government will consult this year on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sectors.

The Deputy Prime Minister is part of the ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, which is aiming to publish a Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025. As part of the development of the strategy, the Taskforce is considering the impacts of living in poor quality housing.

People in need may be able to get help for essential furniture from their local council through the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has had engagement with the Child Poverty Taskforce on (a) furnished tenancies and (b) the potential impact of the decent homes standard on trends in the level of furniture poverty.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government will consult this year on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sectors.

The Deputy Prime Minister is part of the ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, which is aiming to publish a Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025. As part of the development of the strategy, the Taskforce is considering the impacts of living in poor quality housing.

People in need may be able to get help for essential furniture from their local council through the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has plans to halve the number of non-decent homes in the (a) social and (b) private sector by 2030.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government will consult this year on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sectors.

The Deputy Prime Minister is part of the ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, which is aiming to publish a Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025. As part of the development of the strategy, the Taskforce is considering the impacts of living in poor quality housing.

People in need may be able to get help for essential furniture from their local council through the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence are informed of their rights to access pre-trial therapeutic support.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

We are clear that there is no need for victims to delay therapy before, during or after any potential trial on account of an ongoing police investigation or prosecution.

The Victims’ Code provides that victims have the right to access support to help them to cope, and as far as possible, recover from being a victim of crime. Local support services are provided by Police and Crime Commissioners, and relevant support offers could include therapy and counselling.

Victims can access this support at any time, whether or not they have reported a crime, and during the criminal justice process or at any time after it. The Crown Prosecution Service’s pre-trial therapy guidance is also clear that therapy should not be delayed for any reason connected with a criminal investigation or prosecution. This guidance sets out clearly that it is for the victim to make decisions about therapy with their therapist.

To help make sure victims know about their rights under the Victims’ Code, the police will communicate these to victims when a crime is reported. To help raise wider awareness, we have launched the Understand Your Rights Victims’ Code campaign.

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 increase the availability of trauma-informed counselling services for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to delivering and expansion of NHS Talking Therapies, increasing the number of sessions available, and increasing the number of people completing a course of treatment by 384,000 by 2028/29.

NHS Talking Therapies offer National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved psychological and talking therapies, such as counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy, for adults in England with common mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, including victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

In addition, NHS England has established local pathfinder projects for enhanced trauma-informed mental health support for sexual abuse victims and survivors with the most complex needs. There is now dedicated, enhanced mental health support in five of the seven commissioning regions. The final two regions are considering delivery model options.

In December 2024, the Ministry of Justice confirmed grant awards for the provision of domestic abuse and sexual violence services in 2025/26. Grant recipients provide services, including trauma-informed counselling, based on their local assessment of need.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to help students studying classroom-based electrical technical diplomas transition into the electrical workforce.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is looking at ways of improving the transition rate from further education (FE) courses into construction sector jobs. This includes through the defunding of low-quality courses through the qualifications review.

The department is also working to find ways to narrow the practical experience gap that the industry reports is preventing them from employing people directly after achieving an FE qualification. We will likely need alternative bridging provision for some occupations for those completing FE courses. We are working with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and competency bodies to improve the learner journey and bridge the gap between achieving qualifications and being competent to begin work.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of work by third-sector organisations to (a) support families of children struggling with school attendance and (b) tackle the root causes of low school attendance.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is committed to tackling school absence, including through our attendance guidance, our national enforcement framework and engagement with schools, local authorities and the third sector.

The ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance was developed following government consultation and using effective practice from within the sector. It built on what schools, trusts and local authorities were already successfully doing to improve attendance, particularly in above-average areas of deprivation.

The guidance was first published in 2022 in non-statutory form to give schools and local authorities time to embed the expectations. Since the guidance was published, attendance hubs have offered support to around 2,000 schools to improve their attendance practice, and every local authority in the country has been offered attendance adviser support to help them implement the expectations. Prior to the guidance becoming statutory, a large majority of leaders reported that they either knew a bit about the guidance or were familiar with the details, and almost all of them reported that their school monitors pupil attendance data. A majority of leaders said that their school has a single point of contact at the local authority, and at least half said they hold targeting support meetings with them.

An updated statutory version of the guidance was published in August 2024, and the department will keep its effectiveness under review. Since August 2024, every state-funded school is required to share its attendance data, which is published every fortnight. Thanks to the hard work of the sector, we have seen positive initial progress in attendance rates, although there is further to go. The latest published statistics show that the rate of persistent absence (pupils who miss 10% or more of their possible sessions) was 18.6% over the current academic year, which is a 2.0 percentage point improvement compared to the equivalent point last academic year.

We recognise the valuable role that third-sector organisations can play in supporting families of pupils with barriers to attendance and in tackling the root causes of low attendance. Our ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance is clear that both schools and local authorities should work with the voluntary and community sector, amongst other partners, in removing the barriers to attendance that families experience and in facilitating multi-disciplinary support.

The guidance promotes a support-first model and is clear that all partners should always work together to understand the barriers to attendance. However, where that support is not successful, not appropriate (for example, term-time holidays), or not engaged with, the law protects pupils’ right to an education. The guidance outlines a role for legal intervention based on effective practice within the sector. In a public consultation in 2022, 71% of local authority employees and 59% of school and academy trust employees and governors or trustees strongly or somewhat agreed with the proposed national thresholds for the circumstances in which a penalty notice must be considered, which were subsequently adopted last August.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the implementation across (a) schools and (b) local authorities of its working together to improve school attendance guidance; and whether she has plans to review the guidance.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is committed to tackling school absence, including through our attendance guidance, our national enforcement framework and engagement with schools, local authorities and the third sector.

The ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance was developed following government consultation and using effective practice from within the sector. It built on what schools, trusts and local authorities were already successfully doing to improve attendance, particularly in above-average areas of deprivation.

The guidance was first published in 2022 in non-statutory form to give schools and local authorities time to embed the expectations. Since the guidance was published, attendance hubs have offered support to around 2,000 schools to improve their attendance practice, and every local authority in the country has been offered attendance adviser support to help them implement the expectations. Prior to the guidance becoming statutory, a large majority of leaders reported that they either knew a bit about the guidance or were familiar with the details, and almost all of them reported that their school monitors pupil attendance data. A majority of leaders said that their school has a single point of contact at the local authority, and at least half said they hold targeting support meetings with them.

An updated statutory version of the guidance was published in August 2024, and the department will keep its effectiveness under review. Since August 2024, every state-funded school is required to share its attendance data, which is published every fortnight. Thanks to the hard work of the sector, we have seen positive initial progress in attendance rates, although there is further to go. The latest published statistics show that the rate of persistent absence (pupils who miss 10% or more of their possible sessions) was 18.6% over the current academic year, which is a 2.0 percentage point improvement compared to the equivalent point last academic year.

We recognise the valuable role that third-sector organisations can play in supporting families of pupils with barriers to attendance and in tackling the root causes of low attendance. Our ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance is clear that both schools and local authorities should work with the voluntary and community sector, amongst other partners, in removing the barriers to attendance that families experience and in facilitating multi-disciplinary support.

The guidance promotes a support-first model and is clear that all partners should always work together to understand the barriers to attendance. However, where that support is not successful, not appropriate (for example, term-time holidays), or not engaged with, the law protects pupils’ right to an education. The guidance outlines a role for legal intervention based on effective practice within the sector. In a public consultation in 2022, 71% of local authority employees and 59% of school and academy trust employees and governors or trustees strongly or somewhat agreed with the proposed national thresholds for the circumstances in which a penalty notice must be considered, which were subsequently adopted last August.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of non-attendance sanctions.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is committed to tackling school absence, including through our attendance guidance, our national enforcement framework and engagement with schools, local authorities and the third sector.

The ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance was developed following government consultation and using effective practice from within the sector. It built on what schools, trusts and local authorities were already successfully doing to improve attendance, particularly in above-average areas of deprivation.

The guidance was first published in 2022 in non-statutory form to give schools and local authorities time to embed the expectations. Since the guidance was published, attendance hubs have offered support to around 2,000 schools to improve their attendance practice, and every local authority in the country has been offered attendance adviser support to help them implement the expectations. Prior to the guidance becoming statutory, a large majority of leaders reported that they either knew a bit about the guidance or were familiar with the details, and almost all of them reported that their school monitors pupil attendance data. A majority of leaders said that their school has a single point of contact at the local authority, and at least half said they hold targeting support meetings with them.

An updated statutory version of the guidance was published in August 2024, and the department will keep its effectiveness under review. Since August 2024, every state-funded school is required to share its attendance data, which is published every fortnight. Thanks to the hard work of the sector, we have seen positive initial progress in attendance rates, although there is further to go. The latest published statistics show that the rate of persistent absence (pupils who miss 10% or more of their possible sessions) was 18.6% over the current academic year, which is a 2.0 percentage point improvement compared to the equivalent point last academic year.

We recognise the valuable role that third-sector organisations can play in supporting families of pupils with barriers to attendance and in tackling the root causes of low attendance. Our ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance is clear that both schools and local authorities should work with the voluntary and community sector, amongst other partners, in removing the barriers to attendance that families experience and in facilitating multi-disciplinary support.

The guidance promotes a support-first model and is clear that all partners should always work together to understand the barriers to attendance. However, where that support is not successful, not appropriate (for example, term-time holidays), or not engaged with, the law protects pupils’ right to an education. The guidance outlines a role for legal intervention based on effective practice within the sector. In a public consultation in 2022, 71% of local authority employees and 59% of school and academy trust employees and governors or trustees strongly or somewhat agreed with the proposed national thresholds for the circumstances in which a penalty notice must be considered, which were subsequently adopted last August.

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 the charity School-Home Support report entitled Strengthening the bridge between home and school, published on 26 November 2024; and whether she intends to investigate the issues raised in the report.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence, which is a fundamental barrier to learning and life chances. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, limiting their opportunities to succeed.

The ‘Strengthening the bridge between home and school’ report, published by School-Home Support in November 2024, gives an overview of some of the complex factors which affect school attendance.

We recognise that the barriers to attending regularly can be wide and complex, both within and beyond the school gates, and are often specific to individual pupils and families. Improving attendance must be everyone’s mission. This is why, in August 2024, the department made its ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance statutory, which promotes a ‘support first’ approach and sets out clear expectations for schools, trusts, and local authorities to work together to tackle absence.

Families of children with attendance issues should receive multi-agency support to help resolve complex out-of-school barriers that might affect their attendance, such as housing, transport or mental ill health. This should be from the team or service best placed to support the family and their needs, which may be the school, a local authority team or service, or another statutory partner, such as a health professional. For example, in the case of a pupil experiencing barriers to attendance because of a housing issue, the lead practitioner may more sensibly be the family’s housing officer.

Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, to support disadvantaged pupils with identified needs to attend school regularly.

The department’s work to support school attendance is also supported by broader investments, including funded breakfast clubs for all primary schools to ensure children start their day ready to learn. We are also working across government on plans to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures Hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.

In addition to this work, the department is also providing tangible direct support for pupils who struggle with their attendance through our attendance mentor programmes. Over £17 million is being invested across two mentoring projects that will support at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas. The mentoring pilots are designed to work with pupils to tackle individual causes of persistent absence. These programmes are being rigorously evaluated, and the effective practice that we develop will be shared with schools and local authorities nationally.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to calculate the number of experienced adult learners undertaking electrical training via the (a) experienced worker route and (b) an equivalent national vocational qualification.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Adult, those aged over 19 years old, government-funded further education and skills learning in England is recorded on the individualised learner record and published in the ‘Further education and skills’ statistics publication.

In the 2023/24 academic year, there were 33 adult education and training learning aim enrolments on the level 3 Electrotechnical Experienced Worker Qualification. There were 3,017 enrolments on other level 3 learning aims that are electrical-related.

It should be noted that:

(1) Aim enrolments are a count of enrolments at aim level. Learners will be counted for each aim they are studying and so can be counted more than once.

(2) Learners that are self-funding will not be included.

(3) Electrical-related learning aims are identified as those with ‘Electric’ or ‘Electro’ in the title. The ‘Electrotechnical Experienced Worker Qualification’ is the aim awarded by City & Guilds. There may be other relevant learning aims that are not readily identifiable as related to the electrical profession that are not included here.

(4) The department does not hold information on how much prior experience of the electrical trade that learners taking these aims have.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to (a) reduce consumption amongst children and (b) encourage reformulation of products that are high in fat, sugar and salt that are targeted at children.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to tackling the childhood obesity crisis and creating the healthiest generation of children ever. We have revised the National Planning Policy Framework for local government which has provided stronger powers to local authorities to block new fast-food outlets near schools.

We are implementing legislation to ban junk food advertising on TV before 9pm and paid for advertising online. This will remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets per year in the United Kingdom and reduce the number of children living with obesity by 20,000.

Mandatory and voluntary measures are also in place which aim to reduce consumption and encourage reformulation of products that are high in fat, sugar and salt. The Soft Drinks Industry Levy has reduced sugar levels in drinks in scope by 46% between 2015 and 2020, removing 46,000 tonnes of sugar. As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, both the lower and higher tax rates of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy will increase each year over the next five years. A review is also underway of the sugar thresholds at which the levy rates apply, and the current exclusion for milk-based drinks. These changes will ensure that the levy remains effective, protects its value in real terms, and will deliver further reformulation.

The voluntary reformulation programme requires the food industry sector to reduce levels of sugar, calories and salt in food and drink products that contribute substantially to poor diets.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) tackle, (b) prevent and (c) monitor child poverty in the form of malnutrition.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Most cases of malnutrition are clinical and will be secondary to another health condition which may impact on nutritional needs or impact on a person’s ability to eat and drink, rather than it solely being caused by poor or inadequate dietary intake. The term malnutrition is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to a poor diet; although this may put someone at increased risk of malnutrition, this would not necessarily meet the criteria for a clinical diagnosis.

The National Health Service provides Hospital Episode Statistics figures for malnutrition, broken down by age group, for the period 2007/08 to 2020/21, which are available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/supplementary-information/2021/admissions-for-scurvy-rickets-and-malnutrition-2007-08-to-2020-21

The relationship between food poverty or food insecurity, nutritional intake and health in the United Kingdom is currently unclear. However, international evidence suggests that in the long-term, food insecurity may be associated with poorer diets and poorer health, including higher risk of overweight and obesity. The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs’ UK Food Security Report 2024, which pulls together data from a range of sources including the Department of Work and Pensions Family Resources Survey, found that 90% of UK households were food secure in the financial year ending 2023. The report is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2024/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2024-theme-4-food-security-at-household-level

The Government is rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school, with an early adopter scheme launching in April 2025, so children start the day ready to learn, helping to break down barriers to opportunity and confront child poverty. Additionally, all children in Reception, year 1 and year 2 in England's state-funded schools are already entitled to universal infant free school meals and disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools, as well as students aged between 16 and 18 years old in further education, receive free meals based on low income.

The existing Healthy Start scheme aims to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies and young children under four from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk and infant formula; beneficiaries also have access to free Healthy Start Vitamins. The Child Poverty Taskforce, made up of ministers from across Government, will be publishing its strategy to reduce child poverty in spring 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to screen for malnutrition in (a) children and (b) adults across the country in a consistent manner.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The diagnosis and detection of malnutrition are key, and health staff are trained to spot the early warning signs so that effective individual treatment can be put in place. Tools and guidance are available through a range of organisations for health and social care professionals to identify and treat malnutrition and access appropriate training.

The Healthy Child Programme in England is a universal programme for children aged zero to 19 years old. When there is a concern raised about a child’s growth, either a health visitor or a school nurse will monitor this and assess the child for signs of under or overweight, including as a possible sign of neglect and faltering growth, and will work with families to support them in addressing the family and child’s needs.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guideline Faltering growth: recognition and management of faltering growth in children, code NG75, for healthcare professionals, providers of children's services, commissioners of children's services, and parents and carers of children with faltering growth covers the recognition, assessment, and monitoring of faltering growth in infants and children. This guideline is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng75/chapter/Recommendations#faltering-growth-after-the-early-days-of-life

All National Health Services across the country are recommended to adhere to the NICE’s clinical guideline, Nutrition support for adults: oral nutrition support, enteral tube feeding and parenteral nutrition, code CG32, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg32

This sets out the recommendations, based on the best available evidence, for the organisation, screening, and delivery of nutritional support in hospitals and the community. This includes screening for malnutrition and the risk of malnutrition. The NICE guidelines recommend that all hospital inpatients on admission and all outpatients at their first clinic appointment should be screened for malnutrition. Screening should be repeated weekly for inpatients, and when there is clinical concern for outpatients. People in care homes should be screened on admission, and when there is clinical concern.

All people who are identified as being malnourished or at risk of malnutrition should be assessed by an appropriately qualified health professional, such as a dietitian, to receive an individualised care plan in line with their individual circumstances, dietary preferences, and medical needs.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of unfurnished homes on (a) prison leavers, (b) people escaping domestic violence and abuse and (c) people that cannot afford to furnish a home.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Department does not collect data on the number of households living without essential furniture.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide appropriate support in safe accommodation for domestic abuse victims who need to flee their homes.

Emergency domestic abuse safe accommodation is furnished, and sources of financial support to furnish safe longer-term housing exist if needed.

The Accommodation for Ex-Offenders scheme launched in July 2021 assists ex-offenders to access the private rented sector, focusing on supporting them into sustainable accommodation with an expected tenancy of 12 months.

All others in need can apply for help in securing essential furniture from their local authority through the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other local services. The social security system includes provision to help eligible people with intermittent furniture expenses that may be difficult to budget for.

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 school-based whole family support practitioners to support the SEND system.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

This government wants to create a high-quality system that places children and families at the centre of its design, providing meaningful and consistent support for families as their needs change over time.

Schools, colleges, early years and childcare settings, and other educational providers, including alternative provision, all have a pivotal role to play in safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. Their insight and co-operation are vital to the successful delivery of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. People working in education settings play an important role in building relationships, identifying concerns and providing direct support to children.

The Children’s Social Care National Framework sets out the purpose, principles and enablers of good practice and the outcomes that should be achieved. The guidance describes what everyone working with families should do and helps everyone come together with a clear vision for how to transform the support that families receive.

Services should prioritise supporting the whole family, recognising that problems do not exist in silos and are often interconnected and intergenerational. Intervening to provide support at the earliest opportunity can help prevent challenges from escalating and improve outcomes.

Family hubs play an important role helping families access vital services to improve the health, education and wellbeing of children, young people and their families. As part of the family hubs’ ‘Start for Life’ programme, there are now over 400 family hubs open across 88 local authorities, creating a welcoming place where families with children aged 0 to 19, or up to 25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), can be connected to a wide range of services.

Programme guidance outlines the minimum expectation that local authorities should be delivering in their family hubs for SEND support Family Hub Service Expectations.

This support includes the staff in the family hub being knowledgeable about the SEND services available and being able to connect families to SEND services within the family hub network.

Over the last three years, many of the local authorities on the programme have chosen to focus on improving SEND services, bringing local offers together in one place and funding early identification/intervention on speech, language and communication needs.

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 increase the availability of counsellors trained to support children who have experienced or witnessed domestic abuse.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

As commissioners of National Health Services, integrated care boards are responsible for making available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population. Service delivery models are determined by service providers at a local level, in response to commissioners’ requirements.

The Ministry of Justice provides funding for vital victim and witness support services. This includes community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services, in addition to the core funding the Ministry of Justice provides to Police and Crime Commissioners to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need. This includes support for children and young people.

In December 2024, the Ministry of Justice confirmed grant awards for the provision of domestic abuse and sexual violence services in 2025/26. Grant recipients provide services, including trauma-informed counselling, based on their local assessment of need.

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 ensure that counselling for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence includes culturally competent and specialist support for diverse communities.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England cannot comment specifically on services which are commissioned by local providers, however work is continuing to address mental health inequalities and attract more professionals from other backgrounds.

The Ministry of Justice and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners published the Victim Services Commissioning Guidance in December 2024, which includes a chapter focused on commissioning appropriate and tailored support for marginalized victims. This includes ensuring that ‘by and for’ services are invited and encouraged to apply for funding opportunities.

We recognise that Police and Crime Commissioners and specialist support organisations are best placed to make local decisions on the services that are required locally. However, it is our expectation that providers adhere to standards, including ensuring services adhere to the Equality Act 2010 and are accessible, inclusive, and address the needs of the community. These expectations are outlined in Grant Funding Agreements.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that children who have witnessed domestic abuse can access age-appropriate counselling and therapeutic interventions.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Improving mental health support for children and young people is a priority for the Government and the National Health Service. Since 2018, NHS England has invested significant additional funding to ensure that more children and young people, including those who may have experienced or witnessed domestic abuse, are able to access mental health support.

However, we need to do more. Too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. We are determined to change that. As part of our mission to build an NHS that is fit for the future, we will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England, introduce open access Young Futures hubs in every community and recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across children and adult services to reduce delays and provide faster treatment.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice provides funding for vital victim and witness support services. This includes community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services, in addition to the core funding the Ministry of Justice provides to Police and Crime Commissioners to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need. This includes support for children and young people.

In December 2024, the Ministry of Justice confirmed grant awards for the provision of domestic abuse and sexual violence services in 2025/26. Grant recipients provide services, including trauma-informed counselling, based on their local assessment of need.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for counselling services supporting survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards are responsible for providing health and care services to meet the needs of their local populations. Despite the challenging fiscal environment, we have chosen to prioritise funding to deliver expansions of NHS Talking Therapies in the Autumn Budget, demonstrating our commitment to addressing the root cause of mental health issues. This is expected to increase the number of people completing courses of treatment by 384,000 and increase the number of sessions.

Injury on Duty Award Scheme

Found: Current membership Helen Hayes (Labour; Dulwich and West Norwood) (Chair) Jess Asato (Labour; Lowestoft

Found: III: Melanie Onn, Jess Asato and Linsey Farnsworth. IV: Caroline Voaden.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Jess Asato; Mrs Sureena Brackenridge; Amanda

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Jess Asato; Mrs Sureena Brackenridge; Darren

Found: including from the Children’s Commissioner for England.87 New clause 10 New clause 10, tabled by Jess Asato

Found: New Amendments: 4 to 19 and NC15 and NC16 _NC1 Helen Hayes Jess Asato Caroline Voaden Mark Sewards

Found: Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury Ms Polly Billington Melanie Ward Jess Asato

Found: Florence Eshalomi Sarah Dyke Carla Denyer Liz Saville Roberts Sorcha Eastwood Siân Berry Jess Asato

Found: Florence Eshalomi Sarah Dyke Carla Denyer Liz Saville Roberts Sorcha Eastwood Siân Berry Jess Asato

Found: New Amendment: NC14 _NC1 Helen Hayes Jess Asato Caroline Voaden Mark Sewards Mrs Sureena Brackenridge

Found: Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury Ms Polly Billington Melanie Ward Jess Asato

Found: Florence Eshalomi Sarah Dyke Carla Denyer Liz Saville Roberts Sorcha Eastwood Siân Berry Jess Asato

Found: _NC1 Helen Hayes Jess Asato Caroline Voaden Mark Sewards Mrs Sureena Brackenridge Manuela Perteghella

Found: Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury Ms Polly Billington Melanie Ward Jess Asato

Found: Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury Ms Polly Billington Melanie Ward Jess Asato

Found: Florence Eshalomi Sarah Dyke Carla Denyer Liz Saville Roberts Sorcha Eastwood Siân Berry Jess Asato

Found: New Amendments: NC9 to NC13 _NC1 Helen Hayes Jess Asato Caroline Voaden Mark Sewards Mrs Sureena

Found: Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury Ms Polly Billington Melanie Ward Jess Asato

Found: As such, Hourglass wholeheartedly supports the amendments around training laid down by Jess Asato, and

Found: Florence Eshalomi Sarah Dyke Carla Denyer Liz Saville Roberts Sorcha Eastwood Siân Berry Jess Asato

Found: _NC1 Helen Hayes Jess Asato Caroline Voaden Mark Sewards Mrs Sureena Brackenridge Manuela Perteghella

Found: England and the Welsh Ministers in relation to Wales. 5 COMMITTEE STAGE Wednesday 5 March 2025 _20 Jess Asato

Found: Julian Smith Naz Shah Rachael Maskell Antonia Bance Ruth Jones Marsha de Cordova David Smith Jess Asato

Found: Florence Eshalomi Sarah Dyke Carla Denyer Liz Saville Roberts Sorcha Eastwood Siân Berry Jess Asato

Found: Presented by Josh MacAlister supported by Jess Asato, Claire Coutinho, Florence Eshalomi, Kit Malthouse

Found: Presented by Josh MacAlister supported by Jess Asato, Claire Coutinho, Florence Eshalomi, Kit Malthouse

Found: New Amendments: 3 and NC8 _NC1 Helen Hayes Jess Asato Caroline Voaden Mark Sewards Mrs Sureena Brackenridge

Found: COMMITTEE STAGE Tuesday 4 March 2025 16 _20 Jess Asato Rebecca Paul Dame Meg Hillier Antonia Bance

Found: Julian Smith Naz Shah Rachael Maskell Antonia Bance Ruth Jones Marsha de Cordova David Smith Jess Asato

Found: Florence Eshalomi Sarah Dyke Carla Denyer Liz Saville Roberts Sorcha Eastwood Siân Berry Jess Asato