Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of establishing and operating the National Age Assessment Board; and if she will divert this expenditure into training social workers in local authorities.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Due to the operational nature of the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB), the costs are subject to change and are currently not published. The Home Office continues to keep all aspects of the immigration system under review, including the best process for conducting age assessments.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to publish (a) the number of people claiming to be children who have been assessed as adults on first arrival and (b) the number later found to be children following further assessment.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Available data on the number of raised and resolved age disputes is published in table Asy_D05 of the asylum detailed tables. Updated data will be included in a future edition of the Immigration System Statistics release.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to review the (a) accuracy, (b) ethics and (c) fairness of (i) scientific methods and (ii) artificial intelligence tools used to assess the age of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children; and what child-centred safeguards are in place to protect their welfare.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Assessing the age of unaccompanied children is an incredibly complex and difficult task, and the Home Office is currently assessing which scientific methods and artificial intelligence can best improve age assessment methods. The Government will inform Parliament of any decisions on this policy area in due course.
All policy development is carried out with regard to section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and the best interests of the child.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of her Department's age-assessment process for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children; and what steps she is taking to ensure that children are treated as children unless evidence proves otherwise.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Assessing the age of unaccompanied children is an incredibly complex and difficult task, and the Home Office is currently assessing which scientific methods and artificial intelligence can best improve age assessment methods. The Government will inform Parliament of any decisions on this policy area in due course.
All policy development is carried out with regard to section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and the best interests of the child.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to take steps to help minimise the potential impact of prosecutions for child truancy from school on mothers.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Absence is one of the biggest barriers to success for children and young people. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, limiting their opportunity to succeed. This government is committed to improving school attendance through our ‘support-first’ approach which seeks to foster strong relationships between families, schools, local authorities and other relevant local services. This ensures that support is made available at an early stage to help children to improve their school attendance. This approach is set out in our statutory attendance guidance, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.
Schools, local authorities and other partners should always work together to understand and remove the barriers to attendance. The guidance, which came into effect last August, specifically underlines the importance of working in partnership with families. It also details when Notices to Improve should be issued as a final opportunity for a parent to engage in support and improve attendance before legal intervention is pursued.
The decision to prosecute rests solely with the local authority, but paragraph 164 of the guidance sets out factors for their consideration, including public interest tests and equalities considerations.
The department’s attendance guidance is based on best practice and was introduced following full public consultation.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
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 prosecutions for child truancy from school on mothers.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Absence is one of the biggest barriers to success for children and young people. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, limiting their opportunity to succeed. This government is committed to improving school attendance through our ‘support-first’ approach which seeks to foster strong relationships between families, schools, local authorities and other relevant local services. This ensures that support is made available at an early stage to help children to improve their school attendance. This approach is set out in our statutory attendance guidance, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.
Schools, local authorities and other partners should always work together to understand and remove the barriers to attendance. The guidance, which came into effect last August, specifically underlines the importance of working in partnership with families. It also details when Notices to Improve should be issued as a final opportunity for a parent to engage in support and improve attendance before legal intervention is pursued.
The decision to prosecute rests solely with the local authority, but paragraph 164 of the guidance sets out factors for their consideration, including public interest tests and equalities considerations.
The department’s attendance guidance is based on best practice and was introduced following full public consultation.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the children who will now receive free school meals will also be eligible for the Holiday Activities and Food Programme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government has taken another step towards delivering our Plan for Change with our announcement that all children in households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals (FSM) from September 2026. This unprecedented step will put £500 back into families’ pockets and lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty, breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling the scar of child poverty across our country.
Giving children access to a nutritious meal during the school day also leads to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and the best chance to succeed in work and life.
The government remains committed to the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme to ensure children can benefit from enriching activities and healthy meals during the school holidays too. Local authorities already have flexibility to use up to 15% of their HAF funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for children who are not in receipt of benefits-related FSM, but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF provision.
We are providing more than £200 million funding for the HAF programme this year. Further to the spending review, once the departmental business planning process has concluded, we will confirm details of HAF funding beyond the current financial year.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the Warm Homes Plan will include the decarbonisation of rural off-grid households.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our ambitious Warm Homes Plan will support investment in households, including rural off-grid households, to install energy efficiency measures and low carbon heating to save families money on their bills.
The Government has committed £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency. This includes the new Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG), which will provide support for low-income households living in privately owned EPC band D-G homes both on and off the gas grid in England. The WH:LG will be delivered from 2025 to 2028 by eligible local authorities.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the Warm Homes Plan will include clean heating solutions required in rural areas as well as urban areas.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our ambitious Warm Homes Plan will support investment in households, including both rural and urban areas, to install energy efficiency measures and low carbon heating to save families money on their bills. Heat pumps, along with heat networks, will be the primary technologies for decarbonising home heating over the next decade.
The Government has committed £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency. This includes the new Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG), which will provide support for low-income households living in privately owned EPC band D-G homes both on and off the gas grid in England. The WH:LG will be delivered from 2025 to 2028 by eligible local authorities.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a mandatory disclosure regime for financial services providers on activities to improve financial inclusion.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Ensuring individuals have access to the appropriate financial products and services they need is a key priority for the Government. This is why I have committed to publish a Financial Inclusion Strategy later this year which will examine the barriers consumers face and further action industry and Government can take in partnership to address them.
This includes a focus on: (i) digital inclusion and access to banking; (ii) savings; (iii) insurance; (iv) affordable credit; (v) problem debt and (vi) financial education and capability.