Tracy Gilbert

Under the Online Safety Act, all in-scope services that allow pornography must use highly effective age assurance to prevent children accessing it, including user-to-user services and services which publish pornography. Under the Act, platforms must proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content including extreme pornography.

Separate to provisions in the Online Safety Act, the 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.

The Government is committed to keeping children safe online. Our priority is the effective implementation of the Online Safety Act so that children benefit from its wide-reaching protections.

The Act requires that all in scope services that allow pornography use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing it, including services that host user-generated content, and services which publish pornography. Ofcom has robust enforcement powers available against companies who fail to fulfil their duties.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

HM Treasury (HMT) is responsible for UK wide VAT policy. HMT has published its assessment of the impacts of removing the VAT exemption that applied to private school fees. This assessment also considers impacts on Scotland and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees/applying-vat-to-private-school-fees#summary-of-impacts.

While VAT is a reserved tax and the VAT policy will apply across the UK, education policy is devolved. The Scottish government will be able to provide further details of special educational needs support available to pupils in Scotland.

The UK's policy on the up-rating of the UK State Pension for recipients living overseas is a longstanding one. The UK State Pension is payable worldwide and is only uprated abroad where there is a legal requirement to do so, for example in countries with which we have a reciprocal agreement that provides for up-rating.

Over many years, priority is given to those living in the United Kingdom when drawing up expenditure plans for additional pensioner benefits.

UK State Pensions are payable worldwide, based on a person’s National Insurance record and are only uprated abroad where there is a legal requirement to do so, for example in countries with which we have a reciprocal agreement that provides for up-rating.

People move abroad for many reasons and may have access to their host country’s benefit system or other sources of income such as an occupational pension.

Information about the impact on State Pensions of moving abroad is available on Gov.uk.

My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has been discussing the new United Kingdom-wide Tobacco and Vapes Bill with Neil Gray, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care for Scotland, and will send formal correspondence prior to its introduction. As the bill covers the whole of the UK, the Department will stay in close contact with all our devolved government counterparts, throughout the passage of the bill.

Department officials have engaged frequently with officials from Public Health Scotland, and the rest of the devolved governments, to help shape and develop proposals for new legislation. Each of the devolved governments, including the Scottish Government, are in support of a new and strengthened bill, and the benefits it will provide to the health of our nations. Once the bill has been introduced to the UK Parliament, the devolved governments will seek consent motions from their respective legislatures, including the Scottish Parliament.

The 'Genocide in Tigray' report by the New Lines Institute has drawn attention to the conduct of actors during the conflict of 2020-2022. The report is consistent with UN investigations which concluded that all sides committed major human rights violations and abuses, some of which might amount to crimes against humanity. UK policy is that genocide can only be determined by a credible international court. The UK has consistently called for accountability for victims of the conflict in northern Ethiopia and is supporting Ethiopia's transitional justice efforts, including by working with national human rights organisations to enhance evidence collection that could support criminal procedures.

Export licence applications continue to be assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. The UK's robust export licensing criteria state that the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Following our review into Israel's compliance with IHL in Gaza, this Government has concluded that a clear risk does exist, and we have suspended certain export licences for items that could be used in the current conflict in Gaza.

Resource spending for the Department of Health and Social Care is set to increase by £22.6 billion in 2025-26 compared to 2023-24 outturn, providing a real-terms growth rate of 4% for the NHS, the largest since before 2010 excluding Covid-19 years. The Government will support local authority services through a real terms increase in core local government spending power of around 3.2%, including at least £600 million of new grant funding to support social care.

The government recognises the need to protect the smallest businesses and charities, which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning more than half of businesses with NICs liabilities either gain or see no change next year. Our tax regime for charities, including exemption from paying business rates, is among the most generous of anywhere in the world with tax reliefs for charities and their donors worth just over £6 billion for the tax year to April 2024.

The Budget will provide support for government departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer NICs costs only. Private sector firms or charities including hospices or social care providers that are contracted by central or local Government will not be exempt from these changes. General Practitioners are independent contractors and therefore will not be exempt from these changes.

This is consistent with the approach to previous Employer NICs changes, as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy.

DHSC will confirm funding for General Practice for 25/26 as part of the usual GP contract process later in the year, including through consultation with the sector.

This Government recognises the importance of tackling wildlife crime, which is why, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Home Office directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit to help tackle these crimes.

There are currently no plans to make wildlife crimes notifiable. Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to the police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.

We are deeply concerned by the continuing tensions and civilian casualties in Lebanon.

I know how important it is for Lebanese nationals in the UK to have certainty on their immigration status, particularly in light of the ongoing conflict in their home country.

Lebanese nationals who are already living in the UK and have permission to stay should continue to follow their immigration conditions. For those whose permission to stay is due to expire, there are a variety of existing routes under the Immigration Rules to allow a person to extend, or vary, their permission in the UK, which are set out on gov.uk.

We are monitoring the situation in Lebanon closely and keeping all existing pathways under constant review for Lebanese nationals currently in the UK.

The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has committed to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will use all of our levers to deliver this.

The criminal justice system and support for victims are devolved matters. However, given the cross-border nature of sexual exploitation, the Home Office works closely with the Scottish Government and law enforcement partners to ensure our approach to victim identification and support, and our pursuit of perpetrators is joined up.

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 Edinburgh North and Leith. However, between January and June 2024, there were 13 potential victims of modern slavery referred to the NRM who reported (either part or whole) sexual exploitation which was disclosed as occurring in the City of Edinburgh. We understand this will not be the full extent.

Available academic research on prostitution highlights the challenges in estimating prevalence. Research conducted by the University of Bristol focusing on England and Wales was unable to identify a single prevalence estimate. However, it assessed a number of existing national estimates made over the last 20 years which ranged from 35,882 to 104,964, across England and Wales.

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.

The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has committed to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will use all of our levers to deliver this.

The criminal justice system and support for victims are devolved matters. However, given the cross-border nature of sexual exploitation, the Home Office works closely with the Scottish Government and law enforcement partners to ensure our approach to victim identification and support, and our pursuit of perpetrators is joined up.

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 Edinburgh North and Leith. However, between January and June 2024, there were 13 potential victims of modern slavery referred to the NRM who reported (either part or whole) sexual exploitation which was disclosed as occurring in the City of Edinburgh. We understand this will not be the full extent.

Available academic research on prostitution highlights the challenges in estimating prevalence. Research conducted by the University of Bristol focusing on England and Wales was unable to identify a single prevalence estimate. However, it assessed a number of existing national estimates made over the last 20 years which ranged from 35,882 to 104,964, across England and Wales.

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.

The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has committed to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will use all of our levers to deliver this.

The criminal justice system and support for victims are devolved matters. However, given the cross-border nature of sexual exploitation, the Home Office works closely with the Scottish Government and law enforcement partners to ensure our approach to victim identification and support, and our pursuit of perpetrators is joined up.

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 Edinburgh North and Leith. However, between January and June 2024, there were 13 potential victims of modern slavery referred to the NRM who reported (either part or whole) sexual exploitation which was disclosed as occurring in the City of Edinburgh. We understand this will not be the full extent.

Available academic research on prostitution highlights the challenges in estimating prevalence. Research conducted by the University of Bristol focusing on England and Wales was unable to identify a single prevalence estimate. However, it assessed a number of existing national estimates made over the last 20 years which ranged from 35,882 to 104,964, across England and Wales.

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.