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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason initial teacher training bursaries have been withdrawn for (a) Music, (b) Art & Design and (c) Religious Education for the 2026–27 financial year.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