Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on young people in Gower constituency of differences in the level of regulation of pornographic content accessed (a) online and (b) offline.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act imposes duties on user-to-user services and publishers of pornography to prevent children encountering pornographic content online.
Ofcom can enforce duties on publishers of pornography from early 2025. The age assurance duties for user-to-user services will come into effect by summer 2025.
Additionally, the Independent Pornography Review will assess the effectiveness of pornography legislation, regulation and enforcement, including online and offline regulation. We expect that the independent review will finalise towards the end of this year.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the harmful effects of pornography in Gower constituency.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Online Safety Act, platforms must proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content including extreme pornography. The Act requires services in scope to understand risks from illegal content online and take mitigating action.
Separate to provisions in the Online Safety Act, the Independent Pornography Review, led by Independent Lead Reviewer Baroness Gabby Bertin will explore the effectiveness of regulation, legislation and the law enforcement response to pornography. The government expects the Review to present its final report by the end of the year.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Gower.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has set out a mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will use all of the levers available to us to deliver this.
The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through operational intensifications to target perpetrators, and we are working closely with the voluntary and community sector to help victims. We have several ways to estimate the scale of sexual exploitation. Victims of sexual exploitation make up a significant proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (the framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery to appropriate support). The most recent statistics show that in 2023, sexual exploitation accounted for 10% (1,679) of all referrals, a 2% increase from the previous year, with 9% (1,470) of referrals relating to women. The Home Office does not hold data specific to Gower. However, between January and June 2024, there were 7 potential victims of modern slavery referred to the NRM who reported (either part or whole) sexual exploitation which was disclosed as occurring in West Glamorgan.
To help support people at risk of being sexually exploited, Changing Lives has received £1.36m from the Home Office over three years (2022-2025) for their Net-Reach project, which provides online outreach, early intervention and intensive support for women and girls at high-risk of exploitation and abuse.
In addition, the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract provides support to adult potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery in England and Wales. This support includes a support worker to help them access support services, including medical treatment, legal aid, legal representatives, and legal advice.
Online platforms are a significant enabler of sexual exploitation. The Online Safety Act 2023 sets out priority offences, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking offences, and companies will need to adopt measures and put in place systems and processes to identify, assess and address these offences based on a risk assessment.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what support is available for vulnerable people who meet the financial threshold for the Warm Home Discount but are not the named bill payer.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Warm Home Discount is a rebate on energy bills, usually paid into the bill payer’s account. Where an individual is not named on the bill, the rebate may still be paid if their partner or legal representative is named. The scheme also funds wider support, including a grant scheme for occupiers of park homes and programmes providing energy efficiency advice and measures. Those not benefiting from the rebate may be eligible for other government programmes, current schemes include the Energy Company Obligation, the Great British Insulation Scheme, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, and the Home Upgrade Grant.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure vulnerable people are able to access financial support with energy bills.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to ensuring energy bills are affordable for all consumers, especially the most vulnerable. The Government is continuing to deliver the Warm Home Discount which provides a £150 rebate off energy bills to eligible low-income households.
I recently met with suppliers and encouraged them to build on the Voluntary Debt Commitment from last year and go further in supporting vulnerable customers this winter.
The Government has also extended the Household Support Fund for an additional six months until 31 March 2025 with an extra £500 million in funding, and I encourage any vulnerable individual who is struggling to pay their bills contacts their local authority to see if they are eligible for this support.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of availability of the Warm Home Discount to named account holders only.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Warm Home Discount is a rebate on energy bills received by over 3m households where an eligible individual, their partner or their legal representative is named on the energy account. To provide support on this scale, it is paid directly into energy accounts in the majority of cases. Those who are not eligible for the Warm Home Discount may be eligible for support from other government schemes or the wider support offered through the Warm Home Discount.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the PNC system in apprehending wanted individuals at airports.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This Government has been clear that we will strengthen our border security, undertaking thorough checks to prevent serious criminals from entering the UK. Border Force and Police work closely together to protect UK security, and our border systems identify individuals wanted on the PNC.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to provide £400 million for (a) employment support and (b) resources for (i) musculoskeletal and (ii) mental health services.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Long-term sickness continues to be the most common reason for economic inactivity among the working age population, now standing at 2.8 million. The two main causes contributing to sickness absence are mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, with the latter responsible for an estimated 23.4 million days of sickness absence in 2022.
Improving health and good work outcomes for people who live with musculoskeletal and mental health conditions forms a key part of the Government’s missions to kickstart economic growth and build a National Health Service fit for the future.
The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, with a range of support available to enable individuals to get into and remain in work. Measures include joining up health and employment support around the individual through WorkWell, Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care, as well as support from Work Coaches, Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres, and Access to Work grants.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to provide £400 million for scaling up musculoskeletal hubs.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving health and good work outcomes for the 20 million people in the United Kingdom who live with musculoskeletal l conditions forms a key part of the Government’s missions to kickstart economic growth and build a National Health Service fit for the future.
The Government is currently exploring options to support these missions and those who experience musculoskeletal conditions. Decisions on the scaling up of musculoskeletal hubs will be taken as the work of the missions progresses and through the usual Spending Review processes.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making Proleukin available for motor neurone disease patients on the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have made no assessment. It is critical that medicines used in the United Kingdom are safe and effective and as such, medicines cannot be marketed in the UK without a marketing authorisation. These are granted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) which assesses all medicines with regard to their quality, safety, and effectiveness. Proleukin (interleukin-2, Aldesleukin) has not been licensed by the MHRA as a treatment for motor neurone disease. It is the responsibility of the company to apply to the MHRA for a relevant marketing authorisation. Should an application for it be received, the MHRA will consider this accordingly.
In England, newly licensed medicines are also appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to determine whether they represent a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. If the manufacturer of Proleukin seeks a licence from the MHRA for the treatment of motor neurone disease, then the NICE may consider it through the Technology Appraisal programme.