Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what safeguards will be included in the UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary agreement to ensure the UK maintains the ability to set animal welfare standards unilaterally, for example to ban the import of animal fur products.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon Member to the reply previously given to her on 4 March 2026 to PQ UIN 115407.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the FCDO 2030 restructure on availability of qualified staff at gold, silver and bronze commander level to respond to the situation in the Middle East.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
There is no shortage of available staff for the roles required at present, nor do we anticipate there will be after the completion of the FCDO 2030 programme.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
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 the removal of funding from the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit on dedicated national policing funding for modern slavery activity.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We understand concerns about the lack of dedicated funding for the specialist Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Programme from April 2026, which has historically sat under the National Police Chief Council’s Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Lead.
The modern slavery programme was established in 2017 as a transformation programme, with the long‑term intention of embedding modern slavery expertise and best practice into policing as business as usual. It has been instrumental in improving the law enforcement response to modern slavery, with more investigations and more prosecutions now than when the programme began.
As with all transformation programmes, it is appropriate that it concludes once core objectives have been achieved. It is owing to the success of the programme, with forces better equipped to tackle modern slavery, that we must now ensure a consistent and standardised response to modern slavery across all forces to drive performance and hold the police accountable. This is in line with the Government’s wider ambitions to reform policing as set out in the White Paper, "From Local to National: A New Model for Policing".
In its final year of funding, under the Ministerial Modern Slavery Action Plan for 2025/26, the modern slavery programme has developed a framework for investigating modern slavery, capturing the expertise and lessons learnt from the past eight years of the programme. The framework and related guidance material will be made available to all officers in England and Wales through an online knowledge hub and has been incorporated into the College of Policing’s Applied Professional Practice on Modern Slavery. This will ensure that policing retains a nationally consistent standard for modern slavery investigations and a clear basis for sustaining capability once the programme concludes.
The department will continue to work with police forces across England and Wales to support a strong, coordinated approach to identifying, disrupting, and tackling modern slavery, and to oversee an orderly transition as the central modern slavery policing capability comes to a close.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions there have been with EU negotiators about what falls within scope of the term agri-food product for the purposes of the UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary agreement; and whether animal fur will be excluded from scope.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As announced at the UK-EU Leaders' Summit on May 19, the UK and EU have agreed to work towards a common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area. The details of these are subject to negotiation, but the Government has been clear about the importance of being able to set high animal welfare standards. While those negotiations are ongoing, Defra cannot comment further however parliament will be informed when they are concluded.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2025 to Question 90695, what further steps she is taking with international partners to support Official Development Assistance programming for sexual health and reproductive rights internationally in the context of the recent broadening of the scope of the US’s Mexico City Policy.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Details of all Official Development Assistance allocations for the period up to 2028/29 will be set out in the coming months, including for programmes related to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Crime and Police Bill 2024-26, what assessment her Department has made of adequacy of training for reporting child sexual abuse for people that organise sporting and related activities for children.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. National Governing Bodies are responsible for the regulation of their sports and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm, including through adherence to statutory safeguarding guidance.
The Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU), part funded by our arm’s length bodies UK Sport and Sport England, provides guidance and training about the recognition, response, and reporting of abuse, which includes specialised training on the mandatory reporting duty proposed in the Crime and Police Bill. We will continue to work with partners, including Sport England and the CPSU, to ensure appropriate training is available for the sector.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Crime and Police Bill 2024-26, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of training for reporting child sexual abuse for (a) school teachers and (b) people who volunteer to deliver services for children.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government already sets clear expectations through statutory and non-statutory guidance that those engaging with children should make an immediate referral to the relevant local authority children’s social care or police if they are concerned about a child, including the reporting of child sexual abuse.
Recognising that support is necessary, the Home Office provides funds to the independent Centre for Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse to further strengthen the ability of professionals to understand, identify and respond appropriately to concerns of child sexual abuse through the provision of evidence-based training and practice resources.
Everyone who is responsible for the safety and wellbeing of children should receive appropriate training on such referral processes.
Mandatory reporting introduces a legal duty for those who work with children in a relevant activity to report child sexual abuse to the police or social services. We have committed to delaying commencement of the duty to ensure sectors are prepared for its introduction.
The government will set out clear guidance on the operation of the duty. We will work with regulators and professional standards-setting bodies to ensure the requirements of the new duty are clearly communicated ahead of implementation.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Crime and Police Bill 2024-26, what assessment his Department has made of adequacy of training for reporting child sexual abuse for (a) healthcare professionals and (b) people who volunteer to deliver healthcare services for children.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The Government is committed to tackling the appalling crime of child sexual abuse. Every registered health professional working across the National Health Service has a professional duty of care to protect children from abuse, harm, or violence. This will be strengthened through the introduction of mandatory reporting, as part of the Crime and Police Bill 2024-26, which introduces a legal duty for those who work with children, including volunteers, to report child sexual abuse to the police or social services.
The Government will set out clear guidance on the operation of the duty, and we will work with regulators and professional standards-setting bodies to ensure that the new duty is clearly communicated ahead of implementation.
All healthcare staff and volunteers working with NHS providers complete mandatory safeguarding training. This training is being strengthened for launch in December 2026. This will reinforce to staff their safeguarding responsibilities and support them in identifying and supporting victims of abuse.
The Department and NHS England are developing standalone training on addressing child sexual abuse and exploitation for launch in 2026 to further support healthcare staff to identify victims and survivors and respond in a supportive and trauma-informed manner.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Crime and Police Bill 2024-26, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure a mandatory duty to report child sexual abuse for people undertaking key roles with children and young people are adequately trained to meet this duty.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Everyone who is responsible for the safety and wellbeing of children should receive appropriate training on referral processes. The government will set out clear guidance on the operation of the duty, and we will work with regulators and professional standards-setting bodies to ensure the new duty is clearly communicated ahead of implementation.
Each organisation will need to judge how best to support its own staff in in adhering to the requirements of the duty and developing their response to child sexual abuse.
Recognising that support is necessary in this complex area, the Home Office funds the independent Centre for Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse to further strengthen the ability of professionals to understand, identify and respond appropriately to concerns of child sexual abuse through the provision of evidence-based training and practice resources.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when he plans to make a decision on funding for the Tropical Forests Forever Facility.
Answered by Katie White - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not ruled out a future investment. We will continue to work together to explore options.