Mark Pritchard

The security of Parliament and its Members is a priority for the Commission, and it expects everyone in the parliamentary community, including Members, Members’ staff and House Administration staff, to support this aim and manage sensitive information appropriately. As the Commission and parliamentary authorities have repeatedly made clear, unauthorised disclosure of confidential security advice can pose a direct risk to the security of those we are trying to protect.

The House of Commons Commission has not discussed sanctions on Members who share security advice. However, unauthorised disclosures may also amount to a breach of the Code of Conduct for Members, in which case it would be for the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards or the Committee on Standards to consider penalties on a case-by-case basis.

House Administration staff who make an unauthorised disclosure would be subject to disciplinary action as set out in the House of Commons staff handbook.

Staff employed by Members are not the direct responsibility of the Commission, as they are employed by their Member. However, the Commission would call upon the Member to set standards for conduct and behaviour, and to determine disciplinary action where appropriate. Unauthorised disclosure of confidential information by their staff could be considered gross misconduct.

Beyond formal sanctions, the Parliamentary Authorities engage extensively with Members, their staff and House Administration staff to ensure they understand the crucial role they have to play in the security of the parliamentary community, including information security.

We recognise that strong role models can be key in inspiring others, and in challenging harmful stereotypes.

My officials work closely with male business leaders and campaigners to help make the case that steps to improve equality benefit everyone. They also support work going on across government aimed at tackling gendered stereotypes.

In addition to this work, the Department of Health and Social Care is developing a Men's Health Strategy to address the leading health issues that affect men. The strategy will be part of the government's 10 Year Health Plan.

The Church Commissioners provide funding to pay for the dean and two canons as part of cathedral staff and have a Cathedral Sustainability Fund to which all cathedrals can apply. The role and funding of cathedral choirs is a matter for the dean and chapter of each cathedral, however during the pandemic the Church Commissioners made £1million available, match funded by the Cathedral Music Trust, to retain the skills of musicians throughout. As many will have experienced during the special events like the Coronation and over Christmas, cathedral music and the choral tradition in our churches is a unique part of the English cultural life.

A conference was held at Leicester Cathedral on November 14th 2024 organised by the Association of English Cathedrals and Cathedral Music Trust, which discussed many of the issues facing music in our cathedrals and explored ways forward. The Bishop of St Albans and the Bishop of Southwark have also raised the impact on cathedral choir schools of recent NI and VAT policy announcements, with Ministers in the House of Lords.

In Lichfield Diocese, the cathedral supports many good initiatives, and the choir is thriving. More information can be found about their activities here: https://www.lichfield-cathedral.org/worship-music/music-share

The House of Commons Administration is aware of the risks, and carefully considers hardware procurements, and any security implications of using Chinese manufactured IT hardware on the parliamentary estate. We work with government departments to ensure that we work in line with the latest advice and guidance. The procurement of much of Parliament’s IT hardware (i.e. laptops, printers, tablets and accessories) is managed by a UK-based company called XMA.

Both the UK and the EU allow for visa-free short-term travel in line with their respective arrangements for third country nationals. The UK allows EU citizens short-term visa-free travel for up to six months. Meanwhile, the Schengen Borders Code allows for certain third country nationals to travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; this is standard for third countries travelling to the EU. The UK Government will continue to listen to and advocate for UK nationals.

Most office-based civil servants are expected to spend 60% of their working time in the office, setting a consistent balance across the Civil Service. Departments, as individual employers, are responsible for any other measures.

I apologise to the Rt. Hon. Member for the delayed response to his question of 6 December.

The Online Safety Act, brought forward by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, introduced the false communications offence. This offence captures communications where the individual knows the information to be false and sends it intending to cause harm, without reasonable excuse.

Further legislative proposals on online media usage would fall within the remit of the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology.

It is a long-standing convention that the Government notifies the House of Commons of significant military action, either before or after the event, and where appropriate, makes time for a debate on that action. In the event that the House of Commons is unable to meet or conduct its business, the Government is committed to restoring the functioning of democratic institutions at the earliest opportunity. Even in emergency scenarios it is vital that Government decisions are scrutinised appropriately.

The Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) 2004 and the associated Regulations deliver a single framework for civil protection in the UK. The legislation is deliberately broad ranging and sets out the requirements to consider all emergencies that threaten serious damage to human welfare in the UK; the environment of a place in the UK; or war, or terrorism, which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK.

The Government keeps this legislation under review. The Cabinet Office has a legal obligation to review the CCA every five years. The most recent review was published in March 2022 and concluded that the Act continues to achieve its stated objectives. It did set out recommendations to strengthen the system and its planning which are being considered as part of the Resilience Review.

The government produces estimates of the levels of employee and self-employed jobs by industry sector on a quarterly basis (Mar, Jun, September and Dec). Data on the number of jobs by industry sector in December 2024 will be published on 20^th March 2025.

UK product safety legislation requires manufacturers or importers placing products on the UK market, including e-bikes and e-scooters, to ensure those products are safe. Regulators have powers to require that unsafe products are removed from sale.

We will introduce a new Bill to ensure the product safety framework keeps pace with modern technology, digital business models and international supply chains. This will better protect consumers and support business growth.

The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero looks forward to meeting the new US Energy Secretary to discuss our shared values and interests across a full range of energy issues.

Through the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, we are exploring several ways to reduce energy bills by making more efficient use of the energy infrastructure we are building. As part of this we are considering zonal pricing, alongside options for further reform within our current national pricing arrangements. Government is considering these options carefully and will provide more information in due course.

Government is committed to tackling the harm posed by the creation of non-consensual intimate images. We are bringing forward legislation to criminalise this behaviour in the Data (Use and Access) Bill. The new legislation will ensure that offenders face the appropriate punishments for this atrocious harm.

The sharing of or threatening to share a deepfake intimate image without consent is already a criminal offence under the Online Safety Act and was designated as a priority offence in November 2024. Companies in scope of the Act’s illegal safety duties will be required to proactively tackle this type of content, preventing its proliferation online.

Non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes are degrading and harmful. We refuse to tolerate the violence against women and girls that stains our society, which is why we’ve brought forward legislation in the Data (Use and Access) Bill to ban their creation as quickly as possible.

The Home Office is funding the police to detect and remove illegal deepfake images and are working closely with them to improve officers understanding of this emerging threat.

The Independent Pornography Review assesses the effectiveness of current pornography legislation, regulation, and enforcement. It is an important area of interest for this government. The Review has now just concluded. The government is assessing its findings and the final report will be published in due course.

Under the Online Safety Act, publishers of pornography online and user-to-user services that allow sharing of pornographic content have a duty to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing this.

The Act requires Ofcom to produce and publish a report on in-scope services’ use of age assurance solutions, within eighteen months of these duties coming into force.

Ofcom has set out in its guidance on enforcement. This guidance includes the information Ofcom will generally publish when opening an investigation, including the identity of the subject and scope of the investigation.

The Online Safety Act gives platforms duties to tackle illegal content. The regulator, Ofcom, has outlined steps providers can take to fulfil these duties in codes of practice, including recommending steps for stopping illegal foreign interference and terrorism content being promoted via algorithms. These duties should be in effect by spring 2025.

The Act will also require all services to have clear, accessible Terms of Service (ToS) and will require Category 1 services to state what legal content for adults is not accepted. Companies must have effective reporting mechanisms, enabling users to raise concerns about enforcement of ToS, if they feel companies are not fulfilling their duties.

The Advertising Standards Authority co-regulates broadcast advertising under contract with Ofcom and its sister organisation, the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), sets the advertising codes. The codes require that advertisements must not portray or represent anyone who is, or seems to be, under 18 in a sexual way and care must be taken when scheduling advertisements in or around children's programmes or programmes likely to be seen by significant numbers of children.

The Broadcast Advertising Code has a dedicated section on protecting children, with rules designed to ensure that adverts do not contain anything that is likely to cause children physical, mental or moral harm, and the ASA administers these rules robustly. All broadcast advertising is pre-approved to ensure it is compliant with the BCAP Code before it is aired, through a system known as Clearcast. Clearcast has well established processes to ensure advertising content is thoroughly checked before it appears on television and puts restrictions in place when necessary.

The GRA’s decisions are made independently of the government, which is important to ensure impartiality. The GRA’s age ratings serve to protect the public and empower people to make informed gaming choices, whilst also recognising and respecting adult freedom of choice within the law. The GRA regularly conducts UK research on aspects of the international PEGI classification criteria for video games.

In most cases, the GRA is able to address issues of potential harm by awarding an appropriate age rating or suggesting changes to a developer’s content to make the game acceptable. However, where this is not possible, a classification may be refused.

Even if material is not in breach of a specific UK law, the GRA may also refuse to classify content,
on harm grounds, when content contains:
● Material that promotes criminal activity, including drugs;
● Material that is illegal or has been created by the commission of a criminal offence;
● Portrayals of children in a sexualised or abusive context;
● Material which makes rape, or other non-consensual sexually violent behaviour, or
sadistic violence look appealing.

Violence has no place in football. As private businesses, football clubs have a right to ban individual supporters from attending matches or accessing club facilities; a power rooted in their responsibility to ensure a safe and enjoyable environment for all fans. These bans are a decision to be taken at club-level.

Convictions may also result in football banning orders (FBOs) which are a court decision to prevent violence or disorder at, or in connection with, regulated football matches. An individual with a banning order is prevented from attending all regulated matches in the UK and can be required to surrender their passport to police before overseas matches and tournaments.

FBOs can be imposed following a conviction for a football-related offence as set out in Schedule 1 of the Football Spectators Act 1989 (which includes offences involving the use or threat of violence), or on application from the police or CPS.

Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code includes rules intended to protect the welfare and the dignity of people under eighteen who take part or are otherwise involved in programmes. Revisions to the Code are a matter for Ofcom as the independent regulator.

The Advertising Standards Authority co-regulates broadcast advertising under contract with Ofcom and its sister organisation, the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice, sets the advertising codes. The codes require that advertisements must not portray or represent children in a sexual way and care must be taken when scheduling advertisements in or around children's programmes or programmes likely to be seen by significant numbers of children.

The classification system has addressed these issues under successive governments, but decisions regarding the classification of films are made by the BBFC and the Games Rating Authority, not the BBFC, is responsible for the classification of video games. The BBFC’s decisions are made independently of the government, which is important to ensure impartiality. The BBFC’s age ratings serve to protect the public and empower people to make informed viewing choices, whilst also recognising and respecting adult freedom of choice within the law.

The standards underpinning the BBFC’s ratings are set out in their published Classification Guidelines, and are based on consultations every 4-5 years with experts and thousands of members of the public.

If the BBFC finds that a film raises issues or concerns that cannot be addressed through their classification system, they may require compulsory cuts or other changes as a condition of classification.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education meets with a wide range of external stakeholders who represent children’s interests as part of her ministerial work. Details of ministers’ external meetings are published in quarterly ministerial transparency returns.

The government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

​At the Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced a £1 billion uplift in high needs funding in the 2025/26 financial year, providing additional support and improving outcomes for the more than a million children in the state sector with SEND.

​​Most children with special educational needs, including most with education, health and care (EHC) plans, are already educated in mainstream state-funded schools. All state-funded schools support children with SEND. All children of compulsory age are entitled to a state-funded school place that is free for parents. Where a private school place is necessary to support a child with SEND, the local authority will fund it through an EHC plan.

​​Local authorities have a statutory duty for ensuring sufficient state school places in their area. Local authorities routinely support children who need a state-funded school place, including where private schools have closed or where pupils move between schools. The department does not collect data on in-year school applications or admissions, but where local authorities are experiencing difficulties in ensuring there are enough school places for children who need them, the department will offer support and advice.

​​The department expects all schools admitting new pupils in-year to provide them with appropriate support, including where they have SEND. Schools will need to work with their local authority where pupils have additional needs that cannot be met within the school.

Schools with charitable status are required to demonstrate public benefit to retain their charitable status and engaging in partnership activities with state-funded schools is one such way to do that. This may in some cases include the sharing of private school facilities, such as sporting facilities. The government does not expect the introduction of VAT to reduce a school's obligations to show public benefit or for partnership activity to decrease.

The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education due to a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for eligible children of compulsory school age, who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. Schools are not required to arrange home-to-school travel for their pupils, but some choose to do so. We do not expect the removal of the VAT exemption on independent school fees to have an impact on the provision of home-to-school travel for children with SEND.

The within school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high-quality teaching. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.

A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy. We accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. In addition to recruiting high-quality teachers, the department wants to ensure teachers stay and thrive in this profession. New teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000, after-tax, if working in disadvantaged schools.

The department is also working closely with teachers and school leaders to improve the experience of teaching, including making key resources on reducing workload and supporting wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.

To further improve retention, the department is actively promoting flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation, and assessment to be undertaken from home. The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, ensuring schools are capturing the benefits of flexible working, whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time.

High-quality continuous professional development is also key to ensuring the retention of an effective teaching workforce. Through the revised Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework, new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence-based training, across Initial Teacher Training and into their induction. The department has also launched an updated suite of national professional qualifications (NPQs) for teachers and school leaders at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in high-quality teaching practice to those leading multiple schools across trusts. Teaching School Hubs play a significant role in delivering the initial teacher training, the early career framework and NPQs. The Shropshire and Telford Education Partnership hub supports delivery across Shropshire, Telford and the Wrekin.

This government inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes. That is why the department has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament. We have made good early progress towards this target by expanding the school teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’, and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’, alongside making £233 million available for teacher trainee tax-free bursaries for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle.

In 2022/23, there were 201 notifications where a child had died and abuse or neglect was known or suspected or where a looked after child had died, whether or not abuse or neglect is known or suspected. These statistics show the number of incidents notified in the period, rather than the number of incidents that occurred in the period and are based on one notification per incident, which can relate to more than one child in some instances.

Protecting children at risk of abuse and stopping vulnerable children falling through cracks in services are at the heart of the government’s landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December. Reforming children’s social care is critical to giving hundreds of thousands of children and young people the start in life they deserve. This includes ensuring that every child is safe inside and outside of their home and has access to the right help at the right time.

This government’s vision to ensure children are kept safe is reflected in the legislative changes we are making in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This includes:

• Improving information sharing across and within agencies through the use of a Single Unique Identifier for children.
• Strengthening protecting children from harm through integrated multi-agency child protection teams.
• Placing a new duty on safeguarding partners to ensure education is sufficiently involved in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.
• Ensuring parents have consent from local authorities to home educate children where there are child protection concerns.

The department continues to deliver whole-system reform to help families to overcome challenges, stay together and thrive, where appropriate, and to keep children safe and in stable loving homes, including when they cannot stay with their family. This includes through the roll out of the Families First for Children Pathfinder and Family Networks Pilot, which includes multi-agency child protection reforms. The ‘Local Government Finance Settlement’ policy statement also set out an additional £250 million through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant which will enable investment in prevention activity, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-government-finance-policy-statement-2025-to-2026/local-government-finance-policy-statement-2025-to-2026.

Tackling domestic violence and abuse is a priority for this government, and we are committed to using every government tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of such abhorrent behaviours. Cross-government delivery of the Opportunity and Safer Streets Missions is driving policy and practice improvements for child victims of domestic violence and abuse. The department is also working with other departments and the wider sector, including local authorities and schools, to ensure that children are recognised as victims in their own right in line with the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and that the best use is made of available resources in the provision of universal, targeted and specialist support for child victims.

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’, makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.

The guidance is clear that policy should include how it will be implemented, what should happen in an emergency situation and the role individual healthcare plans play in supporting pupils. The policy should set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.

Regarding equipment, in 2017 the Department of Health published non-statutory guidance to accompany a legislative change to allow schools to purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) from a pharmacy without a prescription and for use in an emergency situation. This guidance is kept under review and gives clear advice to schools on the recognition and management of an allergic reaction and anaphylaxis, and outlines when and how an AAI should be administered for pupils in schools.

The Government shares the public’s high regard for the UK’s environmental protections, food standards and animal welfare. Unfortunately, it inherited trade deals signed by the Conservative government that created unfair disadvantages for British farmers. British farming has been let down by 14 years of Tory decline with 14,000 farming businesses closing under Conservative governments.

This Government recognises farmers’ concerns about imports produced using methods not permitted in the UK. We have been clear that we will use our Trade Strategy to support economic growth and promote the highest standards of food production.

Defra has set up a dedicated team to look at the particular set of issues driving poor mental health outcomes in the farming and agricultural sector. We will be working in consultation with communities, farming support organisations and experts across the Government to review how we can best support those experiencing poor mental health.

Furthermore, the Government is building a national network of Young Futures hubs, which will be present in every community and will deliver support for young people facing mental health challenges.

Finally, the Government is giving mental health the same attention and focus as physical health through measures such as employing 8,500 new mental health support workers. This will reduce delays and provide faster treatment closer to people’s homes.

The Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) introduced a new risk-based approach to border controls. Goods have been categorised into the risk groups ‘High, medium and low’ and controls have been appropriately weighted against the risk.

Certain EU medium-risk cut flowers have been subject to pre-notification since 1st January 2022. EU medium-risk cut flowers have required a Phytosanitary Certificate (PC) since 31 January 2024, but there are now inspections for EU medium-risk goods at the border since 30 April 2024. EU plants for planting, including those used for ornamental purposes, are already classified as high-risk goods, and subject to a pre-notification, a PC and inspections at Border Control Post or Control Points.

In relation to risks from invasive non-native species (INNS) more generally, in Great Britain horizon scanning is carried out by UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology every 5 years using expert judgement to identify species likely to arrive, become established and have an impact in the near future.

To reduce and prevent the introduction and establishment of INNS we have prioritised horticulture as one of the top 5 pathways of introduction. We have developed a Horticulture Pathway Action Plan (PAP), available here: https://www.nonnativespecies.org/biosecurity/pathway-action-plans/horticulture-pap-for-great-britain/ which aims to address the most likely routes by which INNS can get into the country.

There are clearly continued issues with its execution in the field and the new Government will work with stakeholders and business to improve them.

Where birds of prey are killed by illegal use of rat poison, the full force of the law should apply to proven perpetrators of the crime. We have significant sanctions in place including an unlimited fine and/or a six-month custodial sentence.

Bird of prey crime has been identified as a national wildlife crime priority. Defra supports the work of the National Wildlife Crime Unit which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime by, for example, directly assisting law enforcers.

Defra also provides funding for England’s Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme which determines the underlying cause of death in birds of prey where illegal use of pesticides or rodenticides/rat poison is suspected.

The Health and Safety Executive has responsibility for the GB Biocidal Products Regulation which covers rodenticides. Given the potential risks posed to the environment by rodenticides, they are subject to strict regulation. To ensure risks associated with professional use of anticoagulant rodenticides could be properly managed, a stewardship regime was developed by the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use UK to promote responsible use. This is currently under review. As of July 2024, it is no longer possible to purchase anticoagulant rodenticides for use outdoors in open areas.

Defra acted quickly to contain bluetongue serotype 3 (BTV-3) when the first case this season was detected on 26 August, implementing zones with movement controls on susceptible livestock to prevent spread. These disease control restrictions have been adapted in response to new findings and there is now a single restricted zone (RZ) covering the east coast and some inland areas in England.

The movement of susceptible animals from the RZ to live elsewhere in England requires a specific licence and is subject to free pre-movement and post-movement testing. This helps to prevent the possible establishment of new pockets of disease from undetected spread via animal movements.

BTV-3 was confirmed on a single farm in Shropshire on 3 October, following the high-risk movement of cattle from the RZ.

Infected animals in cases found in free areas outside the restricted zone that moved before the RZ was declared, have also been humanely culled to minimise the risk of onward transmission.

Defra has permitted the use of vaccines for BTV-3. These vaccines are now available for vets to prescribe in England.

The Government is committed to an open and competitive aviation sector, ensuring choice and value for passengers. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) are responsible for the effective operation of the aviation market for consumers.

The UK aviation market operates predominantly in the private sector. Airports invest in their infrastructure to attract passengers and airlines, while airlines take their own decisions on the routes and services they provide.

Prioritising UK-based shareholdings within this private market is not planned as international agreements ensure fair competition. What matters most is that companies operate safely, securely and are properly regulated.