Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published in October 2022.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April of this year, set out some of the actions we are driving forward across government to tackle all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation. This includes an update on the response to the final recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Several of the commitments made in response to the Inquiry’s recommendations are being implemented through measures in the Crime and Policing Bill. This includes a mandatory duty to report child sexual abuse, the removal of the limitation period for child sexual abuse civil claims and reforms to the disclosure and barring service. The Government is also taking forward work to establish a new Child Protection Authority for England, with a consultation to be launched before the end of the year.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of the statutory guidance entitled Working together to safeguard children, last updated on 12 June 2025, in preventing grooming gang activity.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to protecting children and continuing to strengthen our response to combat all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation, including group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse.
The current Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance provides an important framework to support frontline professionals understand their responsibilities in ensuring effective safeguarding of children across the country. This clarifies that children at risk of harm outside their home, including online, should receive a coordinated multi-agency response in a timely way. Ofsted inspects the provision and quality of children’s social care services across all local authorities and is responsible for ensuring that local authorities adhere to statutory guidance including Working Together to Safeguard Children.
This statutory guidance is one important tool, supported by additional measures to make sure frontline professionals have an effective and robust response to safeguarding and protecting children.
This includes funding the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse work to improve information-sharing where there are concerns of child sexual abuse and work to embed the Child Sexual Abuse Response Pathway across a range of local areas. And the Prevention delivered by The Children's Society, also seeks to raise awareness of child exploitation to professionals working within the private, statutory and third sectors, as well as the general public, and upskills staff to better respond to, disrupt and prevent multiple forms of child exploitation, including child sexual exploitation.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of security measures in place at hotels used for asylum accommodation; and whether such measures are consistent across all sites.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office, and wider government, work closely with Local Authorities to discuss proposed accommodation sites in their area. Each site has its own property and planning requirements which must be complied with. The Home Office ensures that all accommodation is safe, fit for purpose and meets all regulatory requirements.
As part of its assurance processes, the Home Office conducts regular inspections and monitoring of asylum accommodation sites to ensure compliance with contractual and safety standards. These checks include reviewing security arrangements, staffing levels, and physical infrastructure such as fencing and lighting. Feedback from local authorities and service users is also considered to inform improvements.
All sites have security staff, but the numbers vary depending upon the size of the sites. Some sites have additional measures including fencing installed to reduce access and unmanned access points to sites.
The Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract (AASC) Requirements below gives a detailed breakdown of all the services to be undertaken by our accommodation providers and to the standards we expect. Full details of this can be found here: AASC Schedule 2 - Statement of Requirements.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance she provides to (a) local authorities and (b) accommodation providers on (i) fencing, (ii) lighting, and (iii) security staffing at asylum accommodation sites.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office, and wider government, work closely with Local Authorities to discuss proposed accommodation sites in their area. Each site has its own property and planning requirements which must be complied with. The Home Office ensures that all accommodation is safe, fit for purpose and meets all regulatory requirements.
As part of its assurance processes, the Home Office conducts regular inspections and monitoring of asylum accommodation sites to ensure compliance with contractual and safety standards. These checks include reviewing security arrangements, staffing levels, and physical infrastructure such as fencing and lighting. Feedback from local authorities and service users is also considered to inform improvements.
All sites have security staff, but the numbers vary depending upon the size of the sites. Some sites have additional measures including fencing installed to reduce access and unmanned access points to sites.
The Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract (AASC) Requirements below gives a detailed breakdown of all the services to be undertaken by our accommodation providers and to the standards we expect. Full details of this can be found here: AASC Schedule 2 - Statement of Requirements.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with police forces on improving the (a) identification and (b) protection of children at risk of sexual exploitation.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government is committed to strengthening local and national responses to child sexual exploitation and abuse, through the new national police operation in response to Baroness Casey’s Audit recommendations, which will identify inconsistencies in approach to investigating group based child sexual exploitation (including grooming gangs) and ensure identified best practice and lessons learnt are shared through guidance, including on the identification and protection of children at risk.
Additionally we continue to support existing investments to support policing to tackle this type of offending.
Central to these efforts is the Home Office-funded Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce which provides practical, expert, on the ground support for all 43 forces in England and Wales. This includes identifying best practice and promoting it nationally to ensure any lessons learnt are shared widely, and providing specialist interventions where needed to support forces’ capabilities to identify and tackle group-based offending more effectively. The Home Office engages regularly with the Taskforce and policing leaders on this work which has victims and survivors at its heart.
The Home Office is also investing over £9 million this year in the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme (TOEX), including an expedited rollout of its Capabilities Environment to ensure all police investigators in England and Wales have access to an array of AI-enabled and time-saving tools. This will increase law enforcement’s capability to respond to organised exploitation, including child sexual exploitation by providing dedicated intelligence, analytical and technical expertise.
The Department has regular discussions with policing on the identification and protection of children at risk, particularly in relation to the risk of sexual exploitation due to policing’s duties as a statutory safeguarding partner. This is particularly the case as reforms are implemented through the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
We are also working with the College of Policing and the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection to consider how forces’ most important resource can be bolstered – its officers. We continue to identify opportunities to strengthen officer training at all ranks to ensure the most effective and up-to-date methods to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse are utilised.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure police forces have sufficient resources to investigate grooming gang offences.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government is committed to strengthening local and national responses to child sexual exploitation and abuse, through the new national police operation in response to Baroness Casey’s Audit recommendations, which will identify inconsistencies in approach to investigating group based child sexual exploitation (including grooming gangs) and ensure identified best practice and lessons learnt are shared through guidance, including on the identification and protection of children at risk.
Additionally we continue to support existing investments to support policing to tackle this type of offending.
Central to these efforts is the Home Office-funded Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce which provides practical, expert, on the ground support for all 43 forces in England and Wales. This includes identifying best practice and promoting it nationally to ensure any lessons learnt are shared widely, and providing specialist interventions where needed to support forces’ capabilities to identify and tackle group-based offending more effectively. The Home Office engages regularly with the Taskforce and policing leaders on this work which has victims and survivors at its heart.
The Home Office is also investing over £9 million this year in the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme (TOEX), including an expedited rollout of its Capabilities Environment to ensure all police investigators in England and Wales have access to an array of AI-enabled and time-saving tools. This will increase law enforcement’s capability to respond to organised exploitation, including child sexual exploitation by providing dedicated intelligence, analytical and technical expertise.
The Department has regular discussions with policing on the identification and protection of children at risk, particularly in relation to the risk of sexual exploitation due to policing’s duties as a statutory safeguarding partner. This is particularly the case as reforms are implemented through the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
We are also working with the College of Policing and the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection to consider how forces’ most important resource can be bolstered – its officers. We continue to identify opportunities to strengthen officer training at all ranks to ensure the most effective and up-to-date methods to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse are utilised.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that lessons learned from grooming gang cases are applied nationally.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government is committed to strengthening local and national responses to child sexual exploitation and abuse, through the new national police operation in response to Baroness Casey’s Audit recommendations, which will identify inconsistencies in approach to investigating group based child sexual exploitation (including grooming gangs) and ensure identified best practice and lessons learnt are shared through guidance, including on the identification and protection of children at risk.
Additionally we continue to support existing investments to support policing to tackle this type of offending.
Central to these efforts is the Home Office-funded Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce which provides practical, expert, on the ground support for all 43 forces in England and Wales. This includes identifying best practice and promoting it nationally to ensure any lessons learnt are shared widely, and providing specialist interventions where needed to support forces’ capabilities to identify and tackle group-based offending more effectively. The Home Office engages regularly with the Taskforce and policing leaders on this work which has victims and survivors at its heart.
The Home Office is also investing over £9 million this year in the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme (TOEX), including an expedited rollout of its Capabilities Environment to ensure all police investigators in England and Wales have access to an array of AI-enabled and time-saving tools. This will increase law enforcement’s capability to respond to organised exploitation, including child sexual exploitation by providing dedicated intelligence, analytical and technical expertise.
The Department has regular discussions with policing on the identification and protection of children at risk, particularly in relation to the risk of sexual exploitation due to policing’s duties as a statutory safeguarding partner. This is particularly the case as reforms are implemented through the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
We are also working with the College of Policing and the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection to consider how forces’ most important resource can be bolstered – its officers. We continue to identify opportunities to strengthen officer training at all ranks to ensure the most effective and up-to-date methods to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse are utilised.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to ensure that recovered life jackets are not re-entered into circulation for use in further crossings.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The majority of life jackets seized arrive in very poor condition and may be damaged during the recovery process, and are disposed of by Border Force’s approved contractors and, where appropriate, any suitable materials are recycled.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds information on the reuse of life jackets recovered from small boat crossings by criminal gangs.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The majority of life jackets seized arrive in very poor condition and may be damaged during the recovery process, and are disposed of by Border Force’s approved contractors and, where appropriate, any suitable materials are recycled.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of defaulting to a claimant’s self-declared age where no independent verification is available on the provision of effective (a) safeguarding and (b) community safety.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The age of a person arriving in the UK is normally established from the documents with which they have travelled, but many do not have any definitive documentary evidence to support their claimed age.
There are clear safeguarding issues which arise if a child is inadvertently treated as an adult, and equally if an adult is wrongly accepted as a child and placed in accommodation with children to whom they could present a risk.
Where there is reason to doubt an individual’s claimed age, immigration officers are required to make an initial age decision to determine whether the individual should be treated as a child or an adult. This is an important first step to prevent individuals who are clearly an adult or child from being subjected unnecessarily to a more substantive age assessment and ensure individuals are routed to the correct adult or child process for assessing their asylum or immigration claim.
If there is doubt whether a claimant is an adult or child, they will be referred to a local authority’s Children’s Services Department who are then able to either undertake an age assessment themselves or can refer into the National Age Assessment Board for further consideration of their age in the interests of safeguarding. Regardless of age, where issues relating to safeguarding or community safety are raised, referrals will be made to the relevant authorities.