Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 with local authorities to ensure that social services act quickly following reports of potential grooming of vulnerable adults.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Any form of abuse or neglect is unacceptable. The Government makes it clear, in the statutory guidance of the Care Act, that local authorities must ensure that the services they commission are safe, effective, and of high quality.
Where a local authority has reasonable cause to suspect that an adult in the local authority’s area has care and support needs and appears to be at risk of, or experiencing, abuse or neglect, and is unable to protect themselves as a result of those needs, the local authority must carry out a safeguarding enquiry.
Workers across organisations should be vigilant about adult safeguarding and share information and concerns, whether they be in health and social care, welfare, policing, banking, fire and rescue services, trading standards, leisure services, faith groups, or housing.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to include media literacy within the English curriculum as part of the ongoing curriculum review.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The current English language GCSE curriculum equips students with critical reading and comprehension skills. They learn to identify and interpret themes in diverse texts, read for various purposes, draw inferences, support viewpoints with evidence and identify bias.
In its interim report, the Curriculum and Assessment Review noted the importance of the curriculum keeping pace with the rise of artificial intelligence and trends in digital information. To address this, as well as securing learning in foundational subjects, the curriculum needs to reflect the growing demand for key knowledge and skills such as digital and media literacy and critical thinking skills.
The Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in the autumn, at which point the government will respond.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will respond to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People's report, entitled: Laying Firm Foundations: Financial education in schools and colleges across the UK and the opportunities of devolution.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and this response outlines the information for England only.
The government welcomes the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People to highlight the importance of financial education.
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review seeks to deliver an excellent foundation in core subjects, including mathematics, and a rich and broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that readies young people for life and work.
The interim report highlighted that the Review has heard, from children, young people and their parents, that they want more focus on the applied knowledge and skills that will equip them for later life and work, such as financial education.
The Review’s final report will be published in autumn, following which we will consider how to ensure the financial education pupils receive is relevant and taught by confident and committed teachers.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when the Minister for Gambling plans to respond to the correspondence of 24 March 2025 from the hon. Member for Hazel Grove, Ref LS04145.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS did not receive the Hon Member’s letter until her office was contacted on 23 July, on receipt of this question. Baroness Twycross replied via return letter, with reference MC2025/07636/GT, on 26 August. We apologise for the delay.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department plans to strengthen enforcement powers against employers who misrepresent jobs as apprenticeships in order to (a) pay below the National Minimum Wage and (b) use apprentices as cover for absent employees.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Employers are required by law to pay their apprentices the correct rate of the National Minimum Wage. An apprenticeship combines on the job learning and classroom-based learning. Employers cannot call a worker an apprentice if they are not genuinely an apprentice.
The existing enforcement mechanisms in place already protects workers and we are creating the Fair Work Agency to deliver a much-needed upgrade to enforcement of employment rights. The Fair Work Agency will provide better support to businesses on how to comply with the law and will take tough action against rogue employers who exploit their workers.
If a worker believes they are not being paid correctly, they can seek confidential advice. If HMRC finds an employer has underpaid their workers, the employer is required to pay back the full amount owed to the worker and a penalty to the government.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that individuals who have been paid below the statutory minimum wage in circumstances involving mislabelled apprenticeships are compensated.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Employers are required by law to pay their apprentices the correct rate of the National Minimum Wage. An apprenticeship combines on the job learning and classroom-based learning. Employers cannot call a worker an apprentice if they are not genuinely an apprentice.
The existing enforcement mechanisms in place already protects workers and we are creating the Fair Work Agency to deliver a much-needed upgrade to enforcement of employment rights. The Fair Work Agency will provide better support to businesses on how to comply with the law and will take tough action against rogue employers who exploit their workers.
If a worker believes they are not being paid correctly, they can seek confidential advice. If HMRC finds an employer has underpaid their workers, the employer is required to pay back the full amount owed to the worker and a penalty to the government.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to introduce additional safeguards to prevent the mislabelling of jobs as apprenticeships.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Employers are required by law to pay their apprentices the correct rate of the National Minimum Wage. An apprenticeship combines on the job learning and classroom-based learning. Employers cannot call a worker an apprentice if they are not genuinely an apprentice.
The existing enforcement mechanisms in place already protects workers and we are creating the Fair Work Agency to deliver a much-needed upgrade to enforcement of employment rights. The Fair Work Agency will provide better support to businesses on how to comply with the law and will take tough action against rogue employers who exploit their workers.
If a worker believes they are not being paid correctly, they can seek confidential advice. If HMRC finds an employer has underpaid their workers, the employer is required to pay back the full amount owed to the worker and a penalty to the government.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of (a) 30 April 2025 to Question 46025 and (b) 24 April 2025 to Question 38415, whether her Department has considered aligning the data collection processes of police forces in relation to (i) contacts with individuals experiencing suicidal ideation and (ii) incidents where a suicide is in progress with the equivalent data collection processes used by UK Fire and Rescue Services in order to ensure consistent recording of such incidents across frontline.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect data from police on calls about suicidal ideation or where an apparent suicide is in progress and has no current plans to do so.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on enforcing the provisions of the Online Safety Act 2023 in relation to small-scale online suicide forums (a) through the Small but Risky Taskforce and (b) by other means.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ofcom is the independent regulator of the Online Safety Act and is responsible for its enforcement. Within the first month of the Act’s illegal content duties coming into effect, Ofcom launched several enforcement programmes to monitor compliance with the regime, including into the provider of a pro-suicide forum, demonstrating small but risky sites as a high priority for enforcement. As demonstrated by their dedicated small but risky taskforce and recent enforcement actions, Ofcom will identify, manage and enforce against such services where there is a failure to comply with their duties.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2025 to Question 47877 on NHS dental professionals, what criteria his Department uses to identify which areas are in greatest need of increased numbers of NHS dental professionals.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of local populations is delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England.
ICBs have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years. Dental practices in specific areas, determined locally as experiencing significant dental pressures due to workforce challenges impacting patient access, were invited by their ICBs to express interest in participating in the scheme and notified of the outcome of their application via their ICB. Further information on the dental recruitment process can be found in guidance issued by NHS England, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/dental-recruitment-incentive-scheme-2024-25/