Robbie Moore

This government has a very simple principle: if you live near new clean energy infrastructure, you should benefit from it. That's why the Planning and Infrastructure Bill proposes much-needed reforms, including direct bill discounts for communities, easier access to community funds, and a streamlined, less burdensome planning process. We know that to deliver on our mission we must bring communities with us.

The Government has committed to ensuring nature’s recovery and recognises the vital role of peatlands in storing carbon, tackling climate change and fighting biodiversity loss. The National Policy Statements for energy set out the requirements on developers to undertake Greenhouse Gas Assessments and the mitigation hierarchy they must apply, including consideration of peatland restoration through a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy. Where significant effects are likely, energy infrastructure developers must submit an Environmental Impact Assessment with their planning application, demonstrating how they have applied this hierarchy to any impacts arising from proposed development.

This government’s missions include breaking down barriers to opportunity and delivering economic growth. Every young person should be able to follow the pathway that is right for them, whether through a high-quality apprenticeship or going to university or college. This includes ensuring all young people have access to expert careers advice and guidance, offering high-quality vocational and technical training such as Higher Technical Qualifications and T Levels, introducing foundation apprenticeships as part of our Growth and Skills Levy, and reforming the higher education system so that it delivers better value for money for students and taxpayers.

There is already a robust safeguarding framework in place in the form of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), which is the statutory safeguarding guidance that all schools and colleges must have regard to when safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. This guidance clearly sets out requirements regarding the checks schools should undertake for staff, including external staff, and visitors, to ensure appropriate safeguarding measures are in place.

In particular, KCSIE provides guidance on how schools should manage visitors, distinguishing between those in a professional capacity (for example, educational psychologists, social workers) and general visitors (for example, parents attending events). KCSIE makes clear that schools should not request Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for general visitors, while those attending in a professional capacity should have their ID checked, and schools should be assured that appropriate DBS checks have been carried out by their employer. The guidance also highlights the importance of schools having policies in place to assess external organisations providing educational content.

KCSIE is reviewed annually, ordinarily with substantive changes and public consultation taking place in one year and technical-only changes the next. This approach ensures that schools and colleges have sufficient time to implement any updates effectively while minimising disruption for their staff.

The department collects data on children looked after by local authorities. The latest available information on the number of children in care by each requested local authority within private care homes on 31 March 2024 is shown below:

The figures include children looked after in secure children’s homes, children’s homes subject to Children’s Homes Regulations and residential care homes under private provision. Figures exclude children looked after under a series of short-term placements.

Ofsted’s latest annual publication of ‘Inspection and regulation of children’s social care providers’ shows the following private children’s homes and places as at 30 September 2024:

This publication can be accessed in full at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspection-and-regulation-of-childrens-social-care-providers.

The department collects data on children looked after by local authorities. The latest available information on the number of children in care by each requested local authority within private care homes on 31 March 2024 is shown below:

The figures include children looked after in secure children’s homes, children’s homes subject to Children’s Homes Regulations and residential care homes under private provision. Figures exclude children looked after under a series of short-term placements.

Ofsted’s latest annual publication of ‘Inspection and regulation of children’s social care providers’ shows the following private children’s homes and places as at 30 September 2024:

This publication can be accessed in full at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspection-and-regulation-of-childrens-social-care-providers.

Early years providers required to register with Ofsted on the Early Years Register, or with an early years childminder agency (CMA) are under a legal duty to comply with the early years foundation stage (EYFS), which includes learning and development requirements, and the quality of their provision is regulated by Ofsted or their CMA.

All other early years providers who are not required to register with Ofsted or a CMA, including nannies, do not have the same legal requirements. They are not required to implement the EYFS or provide any form of education and are not regulated or inspected by Ofsted against the EYFS, even if they choose to register on the voluntary part of Ofsted’s General Childcare Register, which they may do in order to bring them within the scope of government schemes such as Tax-Free Childcare. This enables parents for whom they are working to make use of government support.

The services that nannies provide are subject to a private arrangement with parents, and there are no plans to alter this by requiring nannies to register. However, the department is in contact with the National Nanny Association who campaign on this issue, and we continue to discuss with them matters affecting nannies and those who use them.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive is an England-only scheme. We therefore have undertaken no such assessment.

We monitor forecasts of scheme uptake and spend against the current year budget on an ongoing basis and respond accordingly to maximise the amount that can be delivered. We committed to spending £2.6 billion in 24/25 and are on track to deliver that having responded to a number of demands in year.

Furthermore, we have a full understanding of commitments into future years arising from multi-annual agreements. We monitor the uptake of our demand led schemes which have a budgetary impact on future years (such as SFI) on a regular basis, increasing the frequency of this as the level of commitment approaches the budget available in future years.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive Expanded Offer (SFI EO) is an online application and as of the 12 March there are 6,626 applications currently started but not submitted on the Rural Payments Portal.

The information requested can be found publicly available here.

Defra is tracking contributions to outcomes and is planning to publish information this year. We recently published statistics on the area within agri-environmental schemes, which showed that 64% of England’s farmed area is in a scheme. 3.3 million hectares is in SFI 2023 and over 380,000 hectares in the SFI expanded offer.

We have published quarterly data on SFI uptake and are preparing publications on how schemes are contributing to environmental outcomes as part of our comprehensive monitoring and evaluation programme.

An update on the farming budget was recently published on our Farming Blog. It shows the following spend over the next two years (24/25 and 25/26). The information requested can be found publicly available here: https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2025/03/12/update-on-the-farming-budget/ .

The first process evaluation report covering the launch of SFI22 and SFI23 will be published this Spring.

We will update this with further evaluation work for SFI24 once this is completed. In addition, process, impact and value for money evaluations for the SFI pilot will be published this Autumn.

On 20 January 2025, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced a new, realistic timeline to deliver schemes on the New Hospital Programme; the abolition of NHS England should not impact these timelines.

The UK Government continues to raise Mr Alaa Abd El-Fattah's case at the highest levels with the Egyptian government. We have been consistently clear in calling for his release and continue to press for urgent consular access. The Prime Minister wrote to President Sisi on 26 December 2024 and again on 8 January 2025. The Foreign Secretary raised this case with Egyptian Foreign Minister on 23 January; I raised the case with the Egyptian Ambassador to London on 18 February. National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell also raised this with the Egyptian Foreign Minister on 2 January.

Banking has changed significantly in recent years with many customers benefiting from the ease and convenience of remote banking. While branch closures are commercial decisions for banks, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and put in place alternatives where reasonable. This seeks to ensure that branch closures are implemented in a way that treats customers fairly.

The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open.

The FCA introduced regulatory rules for access to cash in September 2024. Its rules require the reasonable provision of free cash withdrawal and deposit facilities for personal current accounts.

Where a branch closure is announced or a community has submitted a cash access assessment request, LINK (the operator of the UK’s largest ATM network) assesses a community’s access to cash withdrawal and deposit needs, and can recommend a new service if necessary.

Where a resident, community organisation or other interested party feels access to cash in their community is insufficient, they can submit a request for a cash access assessment. Further information about submitting a cash access request can be found on LINK’s website.

Alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking and via the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance, pay bills and cash cheques at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.

The safety and security of young people is top priority for this Government and DBS checks are one way we can help to protect them.

The DBS is moving to a model where ‘online results’ will be the default way in which employers engage with DBS products. This approach will help to improve employers’ confidence in any online result that they view, as it will be viewed via secure Government web services.

The Crime and Policing Bill will further strengthen the Disclosure and Barring regime by removing the exemption which currently prevents those working closely with children but under supervision from undergoing the highest level of DBS checks (enhanced with a check of the children’s barred list).

There are already a number of security features relating to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificates to assist organisations with verifying their authenticity. These include the certificate being produced on a uniquely sized paper stock, the presence of a crown seal watermark, and a complex design using specific inks. Nevertheless, if an organisation is unsure of a DBS certificate’s authenticity, then they can contact the DBS to explore their concerns.

Additionally, the DBS run an ‘Update Service’ which can confirm whether a DBS check is up to date and contains the most recent relevant information. This annual subscription service allows employers to do an online check which confirms whether the certificate that has been presented to them remains valid, or whether they should apply for a new DBS check to be presented with any updated criminality information.

On 16 January 2025, the Home Secretary announced a funding package to deliver stronger national support for locally-led work on tackling group-based child sexual exploitation. This includes supporting Oldham Council who have confirmed that work to undertake a local inquiry has already begun. We are in the process of consulting with local authorities and relevant stakeholders on the design and delivery of this package and will update the House in due course.

On 16 January 2025, the Home Secretary announced a funding package to deliver stronger national support for locally-led work on tackling group-based child sexual exploitation. This includes supporting Oldham Council who have confirmed that work to undertake a local inquiry has already begun. We are in the process of consulting with local authorities and relevant stakeholders on the design and delivery of this package and will update the House in due course.

The Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce has brought together the best police data that is currently available on group-based offending. This was published in November 2024: https://www.hydrantprogramme.co.uk/publications/hydrant-publications#LatestNews).

The taskforce reports that 127 major police investigations across 29 police forces are currently under way into child sexual exploitation and gang grooming. However, as the Home Secretary set out in her statement on 16 January, the Home Office will overhaul the data that we expect local areas to collect on child sexual exploitation and abuse as part of a new performance framework for policing, and we have already asked the Taskforce to immediately expand the data it collects and publishes, including on ethnicity.

To go further, the Home Secretary has asked Baroness Louise Casey to oversee a rapid audit of the current scale and nature of gang-based child sexual exploitation across the country. That work is currently underway.

The Prime Minister’s announcement last week of an additional £3.5 million to combat veteran homelessness demonstrates that veterans are at the forefront of the highest office of this Government.

Both my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence and I continue to work across Government, the Devolved Administrations, and the third sector to strengthen the support we offer to our veterans.

Recall is a vital tool to protect the public. All offenders on licenced supervision in the community are liable to recall to prison if they fail to comply with the conditions of their licence or if the Probation Service assess that they can no longer be safely managed in the community.

From 1 January 2019 to 21 February 2025, 781 sentences were referred to the Court of Appeal by the Law Officers under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

The number of referrals by Law Officers to the Court of Appeal each year since 2019 is as follows:

This data is available publicly using the Outcome of ULS Referrals Data Tool - Outcome of unduly lenient sentence referrals - GOV.UK.

Parliament intended the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme to be an exceptional power, and any expansion of the scheme must be carefully considered. While we understand calls for expansion, it is important for both victims and offenders that there is finality in sentencing.

The Law Commission is undertaking a review of the laws governing criminal appeals. Last month, it launched a public consultation which invites views on a range of reforms to the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme, including extending the 28-day time limit. The consultation is open to all and runs until 30 May: Criminal Appeals Consultation Paper - Law Commission.

We are tackling the causes of reoffending by investing in a range of interventions to address the underlying criminogenic needs of offenders (including those convicted of drug dealing). This includes accommodation, employment and substance misuse treatment services.

There are also a range of accredited programmes in prisons and probation designed to address offending behaviour. Those convicted of drug dealing offences may be suitable, for example, for the Building Choices programme, which provides offenders with a structured opportunity to learn, strengthen, and practice skills and behaviour that targets areas of common criminogenic need. Accredited programmes are complemented by a range of interventions that aim to support individuals to change their attitudes, thinking and behaviour, which are commonly delivered by third sector organisations – and may also be suitable for those convicted of drug offences.

Furthermore, people convicted of drug dealing are subject to licence conditions on release from prison which aim to protect the public, prevent re-offending and secure the successful re-integration into the community. For those convicted of drug dealing with substance misuse issues, licence conditions may require them to attend appointments with substance misuse services or to submit to drug testing.

Council Tax in Wales is a devolved matter and is the responsibility of the Welsh Government. The Welsh Government confirmed plans for reform earlier this year including a property revaluation exercise to bring the system up to date, and a redesign of the tax bands to make the system fairer. No major changes to council tax will be made in this Senedd term.

This government is committed to resetting the relationship and working collaboratively with the Welsh Government to improve transport infrastructure.

I am pleased to see the Welsh Government redesigning and delivering new road schemes like the Llanharan link road in a way that is cheaper, reduces embedded carbon, minimises impact on the environment, and delivers better public transport connectivity.