Laura Trott

I refer the hon. Member to my update to Parliament on 25 March in the form of a Written Ministerial Statement.

The Government is committed to supporting working parents.

We recognise the particular challenges faced by parents of over 100,000 babies admitted into neonatal care each year, many of whom are born prematurely.

Our Manifesto committed to give parents of babies in neonatal care a new entitlement to paid leave from work.

Following our consultation on this last year, we are analysing the responses as a priority and will set out our plans soon.

The British Board of Film Classification’s (BBFC) age ratings are currently used by a number of video on demand providers and, although adoption is voluntary, we welcome their use. We were particularly pleased to see Netflix announce on 1 December 2020 that they have become the first platform to achieve complete coverage of their content under the BBFC’s ratings. We will continue to engage with industry to encourage platforms to use age ratings, and will keep the evidence for legislation in this area under review.

Regulation of video sharing platforms (VSPs), for which Ofcom is the regulator, came into force on 1 November 2020. UK-established VSPs must now take appropriate measures to protect the public, including minors, from illegal and harmful material. In order to comply with the VSP regime, age assurance measures may be adopted by VSPs along with other measures such as age ratings and parental controls. The video sharing platform regime does not, however, mandate the use of age ratings. Platforms must take into account freedom of expression and should consider what measures are most appropriate and proportionate when introducing them.

Protecting children is at the heart of our online harms agenda. Sites that host user-generated content or facilitate online user interaction, such as sites with video sharing capabilities, will be subject to the new duty of care we will introduce under online safety legislation. Under our proposals, companies likely to be accessed by children will be required to assess the risks that material on their service poses to children of different ages, and to put in place age-appropriate protective measures. The government is working at pace to prepare online safety legislation, which will be ready this year.

Protecting children is at the heart of our online harms agenda, and wider government priorities. Where sites host user-generated content or facilitate online user interaction such as video and image sharing, commenting and live streaming, then that content will be subject to the new duty of care. Under our online harms proposals, companies likely to be accessed by children will be required to assess the risks that material on their service poses to children of different ages and put in place age-appropriate protective measures. Ofcom will set out the steps companies can take to protect children so there will be a consistent approach across platforms

The video sharing platform regime, for which Ofcom is the regulator, came into force on 1 November 2020. UK-established video sharing platforms must now take appropriate measures to protect the public, including minors, from illegal and harmful material. In order to comply with the video sharing platform regime, age assurance measures may be adopted by video sharing platforms along with other measures such as age ratings and parental controls. Platforms must take into account freedom of expression and should consider what measures are most appropriate and proportionate when introducing them.

We will continue to engage with industry to encourage platforms to use age ratings, and will keep the evidence for legislation in this area under review.

I refer the honourable member to the Parliamentary Question HL10193, answered on 12 November. We are not yet able to break Kickstart data down by region.

Health and care settings will continue to maintain appropriate infection prevention and control measures as necessary and this will be reviewed during the summer.

Guidance in National Health Service settings, including hospitals and primary and community care are undergoing further review to ensure that it is in line with service needs and as evidence becomes available, including in neonatal settings.

When visiting a care home, all visitors should wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for the duration of their visit, regardless of whether they have been tested or not. The appropriate PPE for visitors can be determined using the guidance at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-how-to-work-safely-in-domiciliary-care

In most circumstances, visitors in tiers 1 to 3 wishing to undertake indoor visiting must have returned a negative test prior to the visit. This test must be taken at the care home and processed by a trained care worker.

Lateral flow devices are being provided for this purpose, where the results are available quickly so that and the visitor will take the test on arrival. Meaningful visits can only take place provided there is a negative test result.

We are providing training to all care homes as part of the rollout of lateral flow tests to process swabs, interpret results and support visitors through the testing process. This is important to reduce the risk of false negatives where a visitor’s test comes back negative when they are actually positive.

The Department provided grant funding for the Twins Trust Maternity Engagement Project which provided evidence that implementing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on managing twin and multiple pregnancies can significantly reduce twin stillbirths, neonatal deaths and neonatal admissions. The two year evaluation demonstrated an 18% reduction in neonatal deaths, a 7% reduction in stillbirths, a 23% reduction in neonatal admissions, and a 6% reduction in emergency caesarean sections.

Based on the evidence generated through the Engagement Project, the Saving Babies’ Lives care bundle (version two) strongly encourages providers and commissioners to implement NICE guidance and stipulates best practice for multiple pregnancies.

In September 2019, my Rt. Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care unveiled the Health Infrastructure Plan: a long-term startegic investment programme in the future of our National Health Service.

This included the biggest hospital building programme in a generation: £2.8 billion funding for 40 new hospitals over the next ten years, with six in the first wave (HIP 1), on top of the 20 hospital upgrades announced by the Prime Minister in August 2019.

Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the FSO) states that the responsible person (usually the building owner or landlord) must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which relevant persons are exposed for the purpose of identifying the general fire precautions they need to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed on them by the FSO. This requirement is not new, having been in place since the FSO came into force in 2006, and applies to all buildings regulated by the FSO.

The Fire Safety Act 2021 clarifies that the external walls (including cladding and balconies) and individual flat entrance doors for buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises must be included in that assessment.

The Fire Safety Act will apply to all buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises (multi-occupied residential buildings) so will include buildings under 18 metres.

Article 19 of the FSO states that the Responsible Person must provide employees with comprehensible and relevant information about relevant fire safety matters.

We are currently seeking to amend the FSO, via the Building Safety Bill, to extend this requirement to residents in buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises. ‘Relevant fire safety matters’ includes the risks to residents of the domestic premises identified by the risk assessment and the preventive and protective measures.

Domestic abuse can lead to emotional, physical and psychological harm in victims including children. Operation Encompass aims to mitigate this harm by rapid provision of support within the school to safeguard children. Operation Encompass works by directly connecting the police with schools. When officers have attended a domestic abuse incident, police share the information with a school’s trained Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) before the start of the next school day, so that appropriate support can be given at the earliest possible opportunity.

The Home Office has provided funding to rollout Operation Encompass nationally, and together with the Department for Education has provided £194,360 in funding for a specialist Teacher’s Helpline during the pandemic. This helpline provides free access for teachers to confidential and immediate access to support and guidance from experienced clinical and educational psychologists

To date 41 forces have signed up to Operation Encompass, Bedfordshire and Avon & Somerset are yet to sign up.

On 5 November 2019, the Government launched a consultation seeking views on measures to strengthen police powers to tackle unauthorised encampments. The consultation closed on the 5 March. We will announce the outcome of this consultation in due course.

Volunteers do not need a DBS check if they are carrying out tasks such as delivering shopping or walking dogs for people in their community.

The DBS has published guidance to assist community volunteering groups understand when a check may be needed.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safeguarding-factsheet-community-volunteers-during-covid-19-outbreak

Standard and enhanced checks are free for volunteers.

On 21 July, the Government issued a recommendation that EWS1 forms should not be required for buildings under 18 metres.

The announcement followed the new advice from fire safety experts which found that there is no evidence of systemic risk of fire in all blocks of flats.

The expert advice also stated that where EWS1 forms and assessments have already been completed for buildings below 18 metres, it is strongly recommended that these assessments are reviewed by competent professionals to ensure that the proposed solution is cost effective and proportionate.

The Government is continuing to engage with insurers and lenders to encourage them to take a proportionate approach to risk.

Ministers and policy officials have met senior representatives from the largest insurance companies, major lenders and industry bodies, and have encouraged the insurance and lending industries to take a proportionate approach to risk. We are continuing to work with insurers and lenders to restore confidence in building safety and return to proportionate premiums and products.

Currently due to measures in place to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic, all possession procedures from private and public properties are suspended until 23 August 2020. We do not intend to extend the suspension of possession proceedings beyond this date.

Landlords may still serve a notice of intention to seek possession, but they must comply with the Coronavirus Act 2020 by providing their tenants with at least three months’ notice. Our emergency measures to stay possessions and extend notice periods are designed to protect public health and as such apply to all cases, even where the issues a landlord has with their tenant are unrelated to the effects of COVID-19.

Both private and social landlords can also work with their local authority who have strong powers available to them through the Anti-social, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to tackle anti-social behaviour. These powers include the use of civil injunctions, closure orders and community protection notices.