Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to engage with the (a) National Association of Teachers of Religious Education and (b) Religious Education Council on the RE curriculum.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The purpose of teaching on religious education (RE) is to help pupils understand the wide range of religions and beliefs, including non-religious beliefs, that exist in our country and the wider world. A consequence of high-quality teaching can be the development of respect, tolerance and community cohesion, built through a greater understanding of different viewpoints. The department has previously issued guidance on the teaching of RE which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/religious-education-guidance-in-english-schools-non-statutory-guidance-2010.

The government is grateful to Vanessa Ogden for her work leading the sector to come together on developing a draft RE curriculum. The Curriculum and Assessment Review recommended that government should explore including RE in the national curriculum, contingent on sector consensus. We continue to engage with the sector, including the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education and the Religious Education Council.

More widely, our reforms to the curriculum will support pupils’ understanding of mutual tolerance and respect.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department provides guidance to schools to use religious education to promote respect, tolerance, and community cohesion.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The purpose of teaching on religious education (RE) is to help pupils understand the wide range of religions and beliefs, including non-religious beliefs, that exist in our country and the wider world. A consequence of high-quality teaching can be the development of respect, tolerance and community cohesion, built through a greater understanding of different viewpoints. The department has previously issued guidance on the teaching of RE which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/religious-education-guidance-in-english-schools-non-statutory-guidance-2010.

The government is grateful to Vanessa Ogden for her work leading the sector to come together on developing a draft RE curriculum. The Curriculum and Assessment Review recommended that government should explore including RE in the national curriculum, contingent on sector consensus. We continue to engage with the sector, including the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education and the Religious Education Council.

More widely, our reforms to the curriculum will support pupils’ understanding of mutual tolerance and respect.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to publish an annual assessment of care leavers' experiences of education, training and employment destinations, housing status and criminal justice involvement.

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

The department knows care leavers have some of the worst long-term life outcomes in society. We are determined to address this so that all care leavers have support to build enduring relationships and stable homes.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, we will roll out the Staying Close programme to support care leavers up to the age of 25; require each local authority to publish information about its arrangements for supporting care leavers’ transition to adulthood; change housing legislation so that care leavers cannot be found intentionally homeless; and introduce new corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and relevant public bodies.

The government collects national data on care leavers through the Children Looked After in England including adoptions dataset. This is published annually, and provides information on accommodation, education, training and employment and is used to monitor outcomes and inform policy development and the targeting of support for children and young people leaving care nationally.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has a strategy for reducing inequalities experienced by care-experienced children and young people.

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

The department knows care leavers have some of the worst long-term life outcomes in society. We are determined to address this so that all care leavers have support to build enduring relationships and stable homes.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, we will roll out the Staying Close programme to support care leavers up to the age of 25; require each local authority to publish information about its arrangements for supporting care leavers’ transition to adulthood; change housing legislation so that care leavers cannot be found intentionally homeless; and introduce new corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and relevant public bodies.

The government collects national data on care leavers through the Children Looked After in England including adoptions dataset. This is published annually, and provides information on accommodation, education, training and employment and is used to monitor outcomes and inform policy development and the targeting of support for children and young people leaving care nationally.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has had discussions with Ofcom on the likely categorisation of Telegram; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that categorisation on the risks of violence against women and girls on that platform.

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

Assessment and designation of services against the categorisation threshold conditions is a statutory duty for Ofcom. The regulator plans to publish the register of categorised services and to launch consulting on the relevant additional duties in July.

In November 2025, Ofcom published guidance for services on how they can tackle online VAWG on their platforms. The Secretary of State has been clear that platforms should implement this guidance by the end of the year – regardless of how services are categorised under the Online Safety Act. Information on Ofcom’s approach to implementing the Act, including on categorisation, is available here.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to allocate funding from Ofcom’s fines to platforms for failure to comply with the Online Safety Act 2023 to organisations working to end violence against women and girls.

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

Under the Online Safety Act, fines imposed by Ofcom are paid into the Consolidated Fund, in line with standard practice across its regulatory functions. This ensures funds are distributed in accordance with overall government priorities, which may include victim support services.

However, fines are intended to drive compliance, not to act as a funding stream. Their inherently unpredictable nature makes them unsuitable for directly supporting work on violence against women and girls or compensating victims.

Decisions on the use of such funds are for HM Treasury, while the Ministry of Justice retains primary responsibility for victim support and compensation policy in England and Wales.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Ofcom’s Guidance, A Safe Life Online for Women and Girls, and whether the Guidance will be sufficient to reduce the risks women experience of non-consensual intimate image abuse on social media.

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

The Online Safety Act provides world-leading protections against non-consensual intimate image abuse. The Government strengthened these by introducing a duty requiring platforms to remove NCII within 48 hours of a valid user report.

Ofcom published updated illegal content codes to prevent the re-upload of NCII, going beyond simple takedown. Its Codes of Practice and guidance outline steps providers can take to keep users safe.

The Secretary of State has been clear with platforms that they should implement Ofcom’s guidance to keep women and girls safe online by the end of the year and that this Government will monitor progress closely.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of Ofcom’s guidance entitled A Safe Life Online for Women and Girls in reducing the risks of non-consensual intimate image abuse on social media.

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

The Online Safety Act provides world-leading protections against non-consensual intimate image abuse. The Government strengthened these by introducing a duty requiring platforms to remove NCII within 48 hours of a valid user report.

Ofcom published updated illegal content codes to prevent the re-upload of NCII, going beyond simple takedown. Its Codes of Practice and guidance outline steps providers can take to keep users safe.

The Secretary of State has been clear with platforms that they should implement Ofcom’s guidance to keep women and girls safe online by the end of the year and that this Government will monitor progress closely.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has taken steps to support platform compliance with Ofcom’s Guidance, A Safe Life Online for Women and Girls, and what discussions she has had with the Minister for Women and Equalities with respect to the metric(s) they intend to use to measure the impact of the guidance.

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

The Secretary of State has been clear that the government expects platforms to implement Ofcom's guidance by the end of the year and has engaged directly with platforms to communicate this message. Ofcom plans to publish a report on platform's compliance with the guidance and the Secretary of State has encouraged Ofcom to do this as soon as possible.

Ministers have regular meetings with Cabinet colleagues on a range of subjects, including online safety for women and girls.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department has taken to support platform compliance with Ofcom's guidance entitled A Safe Life Online for Women and Girls; and by what metrics she plans to measure the impact of that guidance.

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

The Secretary of State has been clear that the government expects platforms to implement Ofcom's guidance by the end of the year and has engaged directly with platforms to communicate this message. Ofcom plans to publish a report on platform's compliance with the guidance and the Secretary of State has encouraged Ofcom to do this as soon as possible.

Ministers have regular meetings with Cabinet colleagues on a range of subjects, including online safety for women and girls.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason initial teacher training bursaries have been withdrawn for (a) Music, (b) Art & Design and (c) Religious Education for the 2026–27 financial year.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

Initial teacher training (ITT) bursaries are offered to incentivise more applications to ITT courses. As such, we review bursaries annually to take account of several factors, including recruitment to date, forecast economic conditions, and teacher need in each subject. The purpose of the scheme is to target resources to where the evidence shows need is highest.

Between the 2023/24 and 2025/26 academic years, postgraduate ITT recruitment increased by 55% in music, 119% in art and design and 71% in religious education, amongst the largest increases across all subjects. Partly due to this improved recruitment and higher retention of existing teachers, the need for new postgraduate trainee teachers in the 2026/27 academic year has reduced in all three subjects.

The department will continue to assess the need for trainee teachers across all subjects and will review the bursaries on offer accordingly, prior to announcing the bursary offer for the 2027/28 academic year this autumn.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to implement Recommendation 7 in the Module 2 Report of the Covid-19 Inquiry, published on 20 November 2025.

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

The government does not intend to introduce legislation to make Child’s Rights Impact Assessments a statutory requirement at this time.

The department is working closely with Cabinet Office and other government departments to strengthen the consideration of children and young people’s interests within overall risk planning, including in relation to pandemics and other emergencies.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Best Start in Life Family Hubs will include families with children aged 2 and under at risk of developing speech and language challenges.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

Best Start Family Hubs focus on pregnancy and the early years,including the 1,001 critical days from conception to age 2,while also welcoming all families with older children up to age 19 (or 25 for young people with special educational needs and disabilities). This includes children aged 2 and under at risk of developing speech, language and communication needs. They bring together health, parenting and early years services, backed by £900 million to deliver a strong universal and targeted offer.

Evidence shows that what happens at home is central to a child’s development and long-term life chances. Hubs offer accessible services such as stay and play sessions and play‑based early language activities, giving parents practical advice and guidance, building confidence and relationships, and supporting a rich home learning environment through warmth, play and everyday communication.

Each hub will have a Best Start Inclusion Practitioner (BSIP) to provide early support for children aged 0 to 5 with emerging needs, without need for a formal diagnosis. BSIPs work across hubs and outreach locations, collaborating with speech and language therapists and others to provide joined‑up support.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the report by AI Forensics entitled ‘Harassment as Infrastructure’, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of payment providers facilitating payments for access to non-consensual intimate image.

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

The Online Safety Act places clear duties on in-scope services to tackle illegal content, including non-consensual intimate image abuse, backed by Ofcom’s strong enforcement powers. Where services fail to comply, Ofcom can seek Business Disruption Measures to restrict access to those services, including measures which may require third-party payment providers to withdraw services from non-compliant sites.

We are strengthening the regulatory framework through new criminal offences and a 48-hour removal duty, alongside Ofcom’s use of hash-matching to prevent re-sharing.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has made an estimate of how much money online platforms receive from image-based sexual abuse channels on their services.

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

Non-consensual intimate images (NCII) are completely unacceptable and tackling this abuse is a priority for this government.

Under the Online Safety Act, services must assess for the risk of NCII, take steps to prevent this content appearing and removing it swiftly when it does. This government has built on the framework by introducing a new requirement on service to remove NCII within 48 hours of a valid report.

This is complemented by Ofcom’s update to its illegal content codes on the use of hash-matching to deliver victim-centred protection from this horrific abuse.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will bring forward an AI Bill that ensures the safety of current and emerging AI products to help tackle the harms of tech-facilitated gender-based violence.

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

Tackling violence against women and girls, including online, is a government priority. The Online Safety Act (OSA) establishes a strong regime requiring in-scope AI services to tackle illegal content and protect children from harmful content.

However, we’ve always been clear we would go further where necessary to tackle emerging AI harms. We have criminalised the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes and we decided to make it an OSA Priority Offence. We have banned AI nudification apps. We have also legislated in the Crime and Policing Act to ensure that platforms are required to take down non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours. Ofcom has accelerated and announced its decision that service providers should use ‘hash matching’ technology to combat image abuse online.

New powers will also enable regulation of currently unregulated chatbots, requiring them to protect their users from illegal content, including non-consensual intimate images and child abuse. In response to the AI Action Plan, the Government committed to work with regulators to boost their capabilities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of AI innovations increasing violence against women and girls.

Answered by Natalie Fleet - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

We are determined to keep women and girls safe from the ever-evolving threat of criminal misuse of artificial intelligence. Accurately estimating the cost to the public purse of AI-enabled violence against women and girls (VAWG) is difficult given uncertainties with regards to the scale of AI-enabled offending. AI has the potential to considerably increase these costs by making it easier for criminals to produce more realistic material and at greater scale than ever before.

The Home Office will continue to ensure that Law Enforcement have the capabilities they need to tackle perpetrators who exploit the use of artificial intelligence to commit violence against women and girls.

In addition, the Home Office has introduced world leading measures, becoming the first country to criminalise the possession, creation and distribution of AI tools to generate child sexual abuse material, as well as the criminalisation of the development and supply of nudification tools.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission is taking to ensure that the outcomes from the Savings and Improvements Programme adequately support the continued delivery of Parliament's educational outreach programmes.

Answered by Nick Smith

The Commission has considered the changes to the education outreach model proposed by the Chamber and Participation Team. These changes have also been considered by the Administration Committee and the Lords Services Committee.

The proposed continued support for the educational outreach programme will focus on the key benefit of a supporting the establishment of a UK wide digital education model which ensures there are no geographic barriers to participation for schools. Every school, regardless of their location in the UK, will be able to join a session to participate, putting all schools on an equal footing. This support includes the proposed creation of a digital education room at Westminster, a staff team to lead the education programme and the resources to create a new programme that meets the curriculum.

Research has been conducted by the Participation Team on ambitious digital education programmes already underway across the UK with institutions including the Royal Ballet and Opera, The North East Museums Service, and the Holocaust Education Trust all of whom are reaching tens of thousands of students across the UK through the digital education programmes they already have in place.

Under the current outreach model, in 2025/26 only 9% of Members were involved in a school outreach visit and 32% of constituencies received no outreach visits at all. The proposed new service aims to significantly improve on these figures, with much greater opportunities for Members to join in with digital sessions with their local schools. The total, combined reach of the proposed new service is expected to be the same as or greater than the current service by the third year of its operation.

Proposed changes to the staffing of the Education Outreach team would save a total of £550k per annum. The House of Commons share of this saving would be £385k per annum as the House of Commons contributes 70% of the Education Outreach team budget. An estimated £40k per annum would be required for software licensing for new digital services. An initial investment in the creation of a dedicated digital education room would be subject to more detailed financial modelling and any necessary approvals.

Other outreach and education services provided by the Participation team for audiences across the UK – including the Education Centre, UK Parliament Week, Teacher Training, Learn with the Lords, and the Travel Subsidy – are not affected by this proposal. All of these education services have UK wide regional and national reach that reflect the percentage of schools in each area. This support to the education service remains in place to create a holistic education programme for schools to select from.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, what assessment the Commission has made of the adequacy of planned levels of future funding for the Chamber and Participation Team’s Outreach Team.

Answered by Nick Smith

The Commission has considered the Chamber and Participation Team’s proposed changes to the educational outreach model. These changes have also been considered by the Administration Committee and Lords Services Committee. A formal consultation with affected staff is underway and will close on 29 June 2026. Final decisions will be taken following the conclusion of the consultation.

The proposed changes involve the development of a smaller, Westminster-based team, which would operate a UK-wide digital outreach service. Under the current model, in 2025/26 only 9% of Members were involved in a school outreach visit and 32% of constituencies received no outreach visits at all. The new service aims to significantly improve on these figures, with much greater opportunities for Members to join in with digital sessions with their local schools. The total, combined reach of the new service is expected to be the same as or greater than the current service by the third year of its operation.

Proposed changes to the staffing of the Education Outreach team would save a total of £550k per annum. The House of Commons share of this saving would be £385k per annum as the House of Commons contributes 70% of the Education Outreach team budget. An estimated £40k per annum would be required for software licensing for new digital services. An initial investment in the creation of a dedicated digital education room would be subject to more detailed financial modelling and any necessary approvals.

Other outreach and education services provided by the Participation team for audiences across the UK – including the Education Centre, UK Parliament Week, Teacher Training, Learn with the Lords, and the Travel Subsidy – are not affected by this proposal.

Parliament Education and Engagement Outreach Service

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

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

Found: Education Committee members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Jess Asato; Darren Paffey; Rebecca Paul; Manuela

Found: Education Committee members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Jess Asato; Darren Paffey; Rebecca Paul; Manuela

Found: Education Committee members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Jess Asato; Darren Paffey; Rebecca Paul; Manuela

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

Submit Evidence (by 30 Jul 2026)

The Education Committee is examining the Government’s proposals for reform of the school system in England, as set out in the Every Child Achieving and Thriving White Paper.