Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve coordination across departments to ensure that key Domestic Homicide Review recommendations are acted upon in a timely manner.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) provide vital opportunities for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths.
We know that recommendations are often made to the Home Office by default when they should sit with other departments and we are working to resolve this issue through clearer guidance and embedding best practice in training for those responsible for DHRs, the DHR Chairs. Creating a clear process that directs recommendations to the right department will ultimately ensure recommendations are received and implemented in a timely manner.
The Home Office also worked closely with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner on the DHR Oversight Mechanism pilot, to improve the implementation of DHR recommendations across Government.
The upcoming Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy will detail the Government’s work going forward to reform DHRs.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) improve awareness of and (b) ensure the implementation of Domestic Homicide Reviews recommendations.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) provide vital opportunities for national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths.
We know that recommendations are often made to the Home Office by default when they should sit with other departments and we are working to resolve this issue through clearer guidance and embedding best practice in training for those responsible for DHRs, the DHR Chairs. Creating a clear process that directs recommendations to the right department will ultimately ensure recommendations are received and implemented in a timely manner.
The Home Office also worked closely with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner on the DHR Oversight Mechanism pilot, to improve the implementation of DHR recommendations across Government.
The upcoming Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy will detail the Government’s work going forward to reform DHRs.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support dementia carers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan reaffirms our commitment to improve the lives of people drawing on care, unpaid carers, and the social care workforce through the first ever Fair Pay Agreement for the sector, as well as our commitment to the creation of a National Care Service, informed by Baroness Louise Casey’s independent commission into adult social care.
The commission will build national consensus on how to create a National Care Service and will produce tangible, pragmatic recommendations that make adult social care more productive and preventative, giving people who draw on care, and their families and carers, more power in the system.
In the meantime, to support unpaid carers, the Government has increased the Carer's Allowance weekly earnings limit from £151 a week to £196, the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Living Wage. This represents the largest increase in the earnings limit since the Carer’s Allowance was introduced in 1976, and the highest percentage increase since 2001. We are also committed to reviewing the implementation of Carer’s Leave and examining the benefits of introducing paid Carer’s Leave.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has considered the potential merits of introducing transparency obligations on generative AI companies to facilitate the appropriate (a) licensing and (b) enforcement of music rights; and whether her Department has considered the potential merits of requiring the clear labelling of content solely generated by AI.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government held a consultation earlier this year to consider how the copyright framework should apply in the context of generative AI, including the merits of transparency obligations and labelling AI generated content. That consultation received a wide range of responses from stakeholders across the creative industries, technology sectors and academia. We are now carefully reviewing that evidence and establishing stakeholder working groups to inform the development of policy on copyright and AI.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of mandating standardised domestic abuse training for all frontline NHS staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of National Health Service organisations to ensure that all staff undertake mandatory training on domestic abuse. Mandatory training at Level 1 is captured in the NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR), as part of the integrated safeguarding training module. This is monitored by the Care Quality Commission as part of their provider compliance visit. Level 2 and 3 are stand-alone modules and are not always captured in the ESR. Staff are also required to undertake further domestic abuse training where it is relevant to their role.
National mandatory safeguarding training for all NHS staff is being strengthened for launch in early 2026. This will reinforce the safeguarding responsibilities of staff and will support them in identifying and responding to victims of abuse.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to make the NHS more accessible for people with hearing impairment.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged.
The Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag was developed to enable health and care workers to record, share, and view details of reasonable adjustments, across the National Health Service and social care, wherever the person is seen or treated.
Since 2016, all NHS organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard, which details the recommended approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss, including people with a hearing or visual impairment.
On 30 June 2025, a revised Accessible Information Standard (AIS) was published. NHS England is working to support implementation of the AIS with awareness raising, communication, and engagement, and is reviewing the current e-learning modules on the AIS. The intention is to ensure that staff and organisations in the NHS are aware of the AIS and the importance of meeting the information and communication needs of disabled people using services.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to make the NHS more accessible for people with visual impairment.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged.
The Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag was developed to enable health and care workers to record, share, and view details of reasonable adjustments, across the National Health Service and social care, wherever the person is seen or treated.
Since 2016, all NHS organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard, which details the recommended approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss, including people with a hearing or visual impairment.
On 30 June 2025, a revised Accessible Information Standard (AIS) was published. NHS England is working to support implementation of the AIS with awareness raising, communication, and engagement, and is reviewing the current e-learning modules on the AIS. The intention is to ensure that staff and organisations in the NHS are aware of the AIS and the importance of meeting the information and communication needs of disabled people using services.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many full-time equivalent civil servants are working on appointing the new contractor for St Michaels School in Paignton.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
St Michael’s School is part of the school rebuilding programme. The project team is made up of a project director, who is a civil servant, and a project manager. A number of technical specialists also support the project at different stages.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of school food guidelines.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to raising the healthiest generation ever. It is important that children eat nutritious food at school and the department encourages schools to have a whole school approach to healthy eating. The school food standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, which are restricted, and those which must not be provided.
To ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, we are acting quickly with experts across the sector to revise the standards, so every school is supported with the latest nutrition guidance.