Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2025 to Question 101647 on Anti-social Behaviour: Children, whether she will provide a forum for volunteer groups to ask questions that may arise as a result of the new guidance.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Guidance accompanying the new mandatory reporting duty will make clear that child sexual abuse must never be tolerated. The government will work closely with those impacted by the introduction of the duty to ensure it is clearly understood ahead of commencement.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2025 to Question 101646 on Offences against Children, whether guidance will explicitly address the concerns outlined in the Casey Review that Child Sexual Exploitation cases were being dropped or downgraded from rape to lesser charges where a 13 to 15 year-old has been 'in love' or 'had consented to' sex with the perpetrator.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Guidance accompanying the new mandatory reporting duty will make clear that child sexual abuse must never be tolerated. The government will work closely with those impacted by the introduction of the duty to ensure it is clearly understood ahead of commencement.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2025 to Question 101646 on Offences against Children, whether guidance to volunteer groups will explicitly state that child sexual abuse must not be tolerated under any circumstances, even where apparent consent is claimed.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Guidance accompanying the new mandatory reporting duty will make clear that child sexual abuse must never be tolerated. The government will work closely with those impacted by the introduction of the duty to ensure it is clearly understood ahead of commencement.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made a recent evaluation of the effectiveness of the under-occupation deduction policy for social rented housing.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not recently evaluated the effectiveness of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy.
Information on the number of households subjected to the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy, by nations and regions, is available on Stat-Xplore via the Housing Benefit and Universal Credit official statistics (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/). The information can be found in the Households on Universal Credit dataset, and the Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 dataset, and are currently available to August 2025.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest, and if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department will publish (a) national and (b) regional breakdowns of under-occupied social rented housing.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not recently evaluated the effectiveness of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy.
Information on the number of households subjected to the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy, by nations and regions, is available on Stat-Xplore via the Housing Benefit and Universal Credit official statistics (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/). The information can be found in the Households on Universal Credit dataset, and the Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 dataset, and are currently available to August 2025.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest, and if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 the regionalisation of foster care commissioning on the role of independent fostering agencies, including on (a) placement availability, (b) costs to local authorities and (c) outcomes for children in care.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Every child in care should have a safe, loving home at value for money for the taxpayer. Through our package of measures, including those in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we will rebalance the placements market, improve competition, regulation and commissioning of placements, shine a light on the level of profit being made, and bring greater visibility to the prices local authorities are paying.
Our fostering plan, published 4 February, focuses predominantly on strengthening local authority fostering provision, which has seen the biggest decrease in foster carers in recent years. We know that, where appropriate for the child, fostering typically delivers the best outcomes.
Concurrently, we want to see an expansion of third sector provision, as well as learning from private providers who achieve good outcomes for children and how their best practice can be shared.
Our wider reforms will also mean local authorities, working together as Regional Care Co-operatives (RCCs), can co-ordinate their approach to private provision more effectively. This will mean they can plan and purchase support from Independent Fostering Agencies, using collective negotiation to improve value for local government, and ensure that care meets children’s needs. Further details on our vision for RCCs was also published 4 February.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 independent fostering agencies on a) costs to local authorities and b) outcomes for children in care; and whether plans to regionalise the commissioning of foster care placements will reflect those impacts.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Every child in care should have a safe, loving home at value for money for the taxpayer. Through our package of measures, including those in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we will rebalance the placements market, improve competition, regulation and commissioning of placements, shine a light on the level of profit being made, and bring greater visibility to the prices local authorities are paying.
Our fostering plan, published 4 February, focuses predominantly on strengthening local authority fostering provision, which has seen the biggest decrease in foster carers in recent years. We know that, where appropriate for the child, fostering typically delivers the best outcomes.
Concurrently, we want to see an expansion of third sector provision, as well as learning from private providers who achieve good outcomes for children and how their best practice can be shared.
Our wider reforms will also mean local authorities, working together as Regional Care Co-operatives (RCCs), can co-ordinate their approach to private provision more effectively. This will mean they can plan and purchase support from Independent Fostering Agencies, using collective negotiation to improve value for local government, and ensure that care meets children’s needs. Further details on our vision for RCCs was also published 4 February.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has had discussions with Companies House on recent increases to their fees.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The recent adjustments to the fees, which came into effect on 1 February 2026, were determined following detailed modelling of budgetary requirements by Companies House to support the delivery of priorities set by this government. There was extensive dialogue between the Department and Companies House in deciding the fee levels. These changes are intended to maintain high standards of service and ensure that Companies House and the Insolvency Service are appropriately resourced to fulfil their functions.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure a joined-up approach to the implementation of the Schools White Paper, the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Review, and the Curriculum Review.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Every child deserves an education that meets their needs, one that is academically stretching, where every child feels like they belong, and that sets them up for life and work.
The Curriculum and Assessment Review was clear that whilst many young people are succeeding through the current system, too many are still leaving full-time education without the essential knowledge and skills they need to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities, and from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The department will set out its proposals in the upcoming Schools White Paper, which will build on the Curriculum and Assessment Review and the work we have already done to create a system that is rooted in inclusion.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to promote social cohesion by improving faith literacy in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
High quality religious education (RE) can support community cohesion by developing pupils’ knowledge of the values and traditions of Britain and other countries, and by fostering understanding among people of different faiths and cultures. All state-funded schools are required to teach RE to pupils from the age of 5 to 18.
The department has welcomed the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s recommendation for Dr Vanessa Ogden CBE, a former Review panellist specialising in RE, to lead a sector group to develop a draft RE curriculum for the government’s consideration. The sector group’s work will reflect the role the subject plays in building understanding between communities.