Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in collecting data on prisoners who are primary carers and their children through the Basic Custody Screening Tool so that this information can be accessed centrally.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice’s most comprehensive estimate remains that over the course of a year, approximately 200,000 children may be affected by a parent being in or going to prison. This estimate is based on 2009 survey data.
The Prison Strategy White paper detailed our intention to work with other government departments to commission updated research to improve our collective understanding of the overall number of children affected by parental incarceration.
As part of this work, changes have been made to the Basic Custody Screening Tool (BCST) to enable us to collect data on entry to prison about how many primary carers are in custody and how many children under the age of 18 are affected by their imprisonment, which means that we can access this information centrally. Questions contained within the BCST are under continuous review to reflect learning from operational colleagues and people with lived experience of prison. While the BCST does include questions on the sex and ages of dependents of prisoners, the collection of this information relies solely on self-declaration of the parent in prison and therefore may raise challenges as to the accuracy or consistency of this information without being able to verify with other sources.
The Government is delivering on its white paper commitment to improve our data and evidence in this area, through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Programme. BOLD is a £19.7m cross government Shared Outcomes Fund programme which is linking data to enable better evidenced and more joined up cross government services. The purpose of BOLD is to identify the overall scale of the issue by improving our understanding of the number of children affected by parental imprisonment. The BOLD programme aims to do this by exploring data available across government, including information that does not rely on self-disclosure. We expect findings from the project to be published in Spring 2024.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their most recent estimate for the number of children with (1) a parent in prison, and (2) a primary carer in prison.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice’s most comprehensive estimate remains that over the course of a year, approximately 200,000 children may be affected by a parent being in or going to prison. This estimate is based on 2009 survey data.
The Prison Strategy White paper detailed our intention to work with other government departments to commission updated research to improve our collective understanding of the overall number of children affected by parental incarceration.
As part of this work, changes have been made to the Basic Custody Screening Tool (BCST) to enable us to collect data on entry to prison about how many primary carers are in custody and how many children under the age of 18 are affected by their imprisonment, which means that we can access this information centrally. Questions contained within the BCST are under continuous review to reflect learning from operational colleagues and people with lived experience of prison. While the BCST does include questions on the sex and ages of dependents of prisoners, the collection of this information relies solely on self-declaration of the parent in prison and therefore may raise challenges as to the accuracy or consistency of this information without being able to verify with other sources.
The Government is delivering on its white paper commitment to improve our data and evidence in this area, through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Programme. BOLD is a £19.7m cross government Shared Outcomes Fund programme which is linking data to enable better evidenced and more joined up cross government services. The purpose of BOLD is to identify the overall scale of the issue by improving our understanding of the number of children affected by parental imprisonment. The BOLD programme aims to do this by exploring data available across government, including information that does not rely on self-disclosure. We expect findings from the project to be published in Spring 2024.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to require schools’ relationships and sex education syllabuses to include (1) information about sexually transmitted infections (STIs), (2) the full range of ways to avoid contracting STIs, (3) the health and other benefits of later onset of sexual activity, and (4) the health and other benefits of sexual activity within committed relationships.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) statutory guidance introduced in September 2020 states that secondary pupils should be taught factual knowledge around sex, sexual health, and sexuality, set firmly within the context of relationships. Pupils should learn about contraception, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), developing intimate relationships and resisting pressure to have sex. Further information on this guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
The ‘intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health’ topic specifies that by the end of secondary school pupils should know how the different STIs are transmitted, how risk can be reduced through safer sex and the importance of and facts about testing. Pupils are also taught about STIs at key stage 4 of the science curriculum.
To support teachers to deliver these topics safely and with confidence the department has produced RSHE teacher training modules. The topic of ‘intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health’ includes content on STIs and sexual health advice. Further information on these modules can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health.
From primary education onwards, age-appropriate Relationships Education supports pupils to treat each other with kindness, consideration and respect, including understanding the importance of respectful relationships and the different types of loving and healthy relationships that exist.
The department will be launching a public consultation shortly on revised RSHE guidance, so that interested parties can contribute their comments and ideas, including on sexual health, relationships and STIs. The department will carefully consider responses received and intend to publish final guidance later in 2024.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government to what extent the Reducing Parental Conflict Programme is embedded in Family Hub services, particularly in local authorities that received money from the Family Hubs Transformation Fund.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Family hubs are ‘one stop shops’ that make it easier for families to get the support they need. The hub approach means professionals and partners work together more effectively, with a focus on supporting and strengthening family relationships.
The department is investing in 87 local authorities to develop family hubs in their areas. We have developed guidance and expectations for these participating local authorities, working across government to reflect a range of services to be accessed through their family hubs. This has included working with the Department for Work and Pensions to develop the expectations on family hubs around Reducing Parental Conflict.
Reducing Parental Conflict is embedded within the service expectations for family hubs. This means that staff in the family hub should be able to help identify families who may benefit from reducing parental conflict support and connect them to appropriate support, such as online resources or more intensive support, such as structured support from a trained practitioner.
The expectations for the family hubs funded through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme are available in the attached file.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the breakdown of spending by local authorities of Reducing Parental Conflict grants, in terms of matters such as internal human and other resources, training, and direct delivery to parents; and what are local evaluations showing is the impact of the way the grant is allocated locally.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This phase of the Reducing Parental Conflict (RPC) programme (2022-25) focuses on supporting and funding Local Authorities (LAs) to integrate RPC into their family help offer. As such, the programme does not directly put parents through RPC interventions, these decisions are instead taken at a local level.
LAs receive RPC funding through the RPC Local Grant, which makes up to £19m available from 2022-25. In the first year of grant funding, LAs have directly supported around 18,000 parents, and over 30,000 training places for staff. Further details on LA breakdowns of grant funding have been appended to the end of this PQ.
In the first year of the RPC Local Grant, LAs had spent £159,000 of their Local Grant funding to undertake evaluation activities. As we are at the start of the second year of a three-year grant process, this work is ongoing. There are however positive findings emerging from local evaluation work. For instance, through our partnered working with ‘Foundations’, these have been published on their website.
LAs are not required to provide data on whether those parents are together or separating/separated. The forthcoming Reducing Parental Conflict evaluation reports, announced on 19th July, will provide further detail on the effects of support on the relationships between intact parents and separating/separated parents.
RPC Local Grant Year 1 | |
Activity Type | LA Spend |
Training | £3,430,000 |
Delivery | £1,260,000 |
Co-ordination | £2,520,000 |
Admin | £400,000 |
Evaluation | £159,000 |
To Note:
The information in this PQ is derived from internal management information and is not quality assured to Official Statistics standards.
As this is ongoing Management Information, derived from 134 LAs, small amounts of additional resource which LAs have committed beyond their Grant Funding has not been disaggregated from the figures, as such totals may slightly exceed overall allocation in some places and the final reported figures will differ.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many parents have been directly supported since the start of phase two of the Reducing Parental Conflict programme through tested interventions that are proven to help parents who (1) want to stay together, and (2) are separating or separated.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This phase of the Reducing Parental Conflict (RPC) programme (2022-25) focuses on supporting and funding Local Authorities (LAs) to integrate RPC into their family help offer. As such, the programme does not directly put parents through RPC interventions, these decisions are instead taken at a local level.
LAs receive RPC funding through the RPC Local Grant, which makes up to £19m available from 2022-25. In the first year of grant funding, LAs have directly supported around 18,000 parents, and over 30,000 training places for staff. Further details on LA breakdowns of grant funding have been appended to the end of this PQ.
In the first year of the RPC Local Grant, LAs had spent £159,000 of their Local Grant funding to undertake evaluation activities. As we are at the start of the second year of a three-year grant process, this work is ongoing. There are however positive findings emerging from local evaluation work. For instance, through our partnered working with ‘Foundations’, these have been published on their website.
LAs are not required to provide data on whether those parents are together or separating/separated. The forthcoming Reducing Parental Conflict evaluation reports, announced on 19th July, will provide further detail on the effects of support on the relationships between intact parents and separating/separated parents.
RPC Local Grant Year 1 | |
Activity Type | LA Spend |
Training | £3,430,000 |
Delivery | £1,260,000 |
Co-ordination | £2,520,000 |
Admin | £400,000 |
Evaluation | £159,000 |
To Note:
The information in this PQ is derived from internal management information and is not quality assured to Official Statistics standards.
As this is ongoing Management Information, derived from 134 LAs, small amounts of additional resource which LAs have committed beyond their Grant Funding has not been disaggregated from the figures, as such totals may slightly exceed overall allocation in some places and the final reported figures will differ.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the new private clinic Gender Plus operates safely for the children and young people who come under its care.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All healthcare providers should follow clinical best practice and must be registered with their professional body and any other regulators, as appropriate, for that service.
If a private organisation which is within the scope of regulated practice fails to meet the standards expected of it, then regulators, including the Care Quality Commission, have powers to inspect these services to determine whether patient safety is at risk or if best practice is not being followed.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that the Universities UK strategic advisory panel involves students from Sensible Drug Policy UK; and what assessment they have made of the implications of this involvement for illegal drug use on university campuses.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is clear there is no safe way to take illegal drugs. These drugs can devastate lives, ruin families, and damage communities. The government welcomes activity by universities and other organisations to raise awareness of the harms of illicit drugs and discourage drug misuse. This includes focusing on the health, safety and wellbeing of students, while working with public health and law enforcement agencies.
This government has invested a record £780 million to rebuild the national drug treatment and recovery system, to improve treatment and provide wider support, such as employment and housing, that people need to rebuild their lives.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support older workers who left the labour market during the COVID-19 pandemic and are now in financial hardship get back into work.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest study by The Office of National Statistics (Working and workless households in the UK: January to March 2023) shows a decrease of 23,000 in the number of people aged 50-64 in workless households against the same period in 2022.
However, the Government recognises the challenges that older jobseekers face which is why we are delivering a comprehensive package of support to help them return to work.
In addition to the help in place for all Universal Credit claimants, eligible older jobseekers can access additional intensive, tailored support in the first 9 months of their Universal Credit claim.
A network of dedicated 50PLUS: Champions are in place in Jobcentre Plus districts across Great Britain, upskilling Work Coaches in supporting over 50s to return to work and engaging with employers to maximise opportunities for recruitment.
The Midlife MOT is delivered in Jobcentres across Great Britain, to help older workers to take stock of their finances, skills and health and, on 5th July 2023, an enhanced digital Midlife MOT went live to provide access to financial, health and career guidance.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the 22 per cent rise in divorce applications since reforms were introduced in April 2022.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government continues to monitor and assess divorce application statistics. In the first year since divorce reforms were introduced in April 2022, 119,000 divorce applications were made through the new process, compared to almost 108,000 applications for the last full year under the previous legislation. This is an increase of 11 per cent. We expected a temporary spike in the volume of applications following implementation of the divorce reforms. This is because people will have waited to apply for a divorce under the new process. However, international evidence shows that long-term divorce rates are not increased by removing ‘fault’ from the divorce process. We expect volumes to return to previous levels once the initial peak has occurred.