Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will visit Dr Sophie Nightingale at Lancaster University and her specialist lab investigating generative AI and its use to create sexual digital forgeries to discuss the contribution of that research to the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government recognises and shares concerns about the proliferation of AI-enabled products and services that facilitate the creation of sexual forgeries, including deepfake non-consensual intimate images (NCII).
The Data (Use and Access) Act inserts new offences into the Sexual
Offences Act 2003, criminalising the creation and requesting the creation of
an intimate deepfake without consent (or reasonable belief in consent).
In addition to this offence, the Government announced that it will ban nudification apps and other tools designed to create synthetic NCII to stop victims’ images being tampered with and exploited without their consent. This was announced in the Freedom from Violence and Abuse: Cross-government Strategy to Build a Society for Women and Girls, which was published on 18 December.
The Home Office introduced world-leading measures, making the UK the first country to outlaw the possession, creation and distribution of AI tools for generating child sexual abuse material, as well as criminalising paedophile manuals that instruct others on developing such tools. We have also introduced an AI testing defence to help strengthen safeguards against AI models being used to create sexual digital forgeries.
We recognise the important role of academics in this space, including Dr. Sophie Nightingale, with whom Government officials have engaged. We look forward to continuing this engagement to combat and prevent AI-enabled harms.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of research by Dr Sophie Nightingale at Lancaster University into generative AI and its use to create sexual digital forgeries.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government recognises and shares concerns about the proliferation of AI-enabled products and services that facilitate the creation of sexual forgeries, including deepfake non-consensual intimate images (NCII).
The Data (Use and Access) Act inserts new offences into the Sexual
Offences Act 2003, criminalising the creation and requesting the creation of
an intimate deepfake without consent (or reasonable belief in consent).
In addition to this offence, the Government announced that it will ban nudification apps and other tools designed to create synthetic NCII to stop victims’ images being tampered with and exploited without their consent. This was announced in the Freedom from Violence and Abuse: Cross-government Strategy to Build a Society for Women and Girls, which was published on 18 December.
The Home Office introduced world-leading measures, making the UK the first country to outlaw the possession, creation and distribution of AI tools for generating child sexual abuse material, as well as criminalising paedophile manuals that instruct others on developing such tools. We have also introduced an AI testing defence to help strengthen safeguards against AI models being used to create sexual digital forgeries.
We recognise the important role of academics in this space, including Dr. Sophie Nightingale, with whom Government officials have engaged. We look forward to continuing this engagement to combat and prevent AI-enabled harms.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether registered social workers will be eligible for the 5 year pathway to settlement for skilled frontline public service workers.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
In May 2025, the Immigration White Paper set out an increase in the baseline qualification period for settlement from five years to ten, which was collectively agreed across government.
A Fairer Pathway to Settlement sets out the Government’s proposed model for earned settlement and accompanies the current public consultation on settlement reform, which is open until 12 February 2026.
The consultation seeks views on the proposal that there should be a shorter pathway to settlement for those working in vital public services, particularly where earnings are based on national pay scales and may not meet the proposed threshold for an income-based reduction in the qualifying period. This might include, for example, medical and teaching professionals working in public services. However, it is envisaged that the above reduction in the qualifying period for public service roles would apply only to those working in skilled occupations (at RQF Level 6 or above).
Full details on earned settlement will be finalised following the conclusion of the public consultation.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
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 linking salary requirements to NHS pay scales on overseas social workers with skilled worker visas employed by local authorities.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We use Office for National Statistics (ONS) data to set salary requirements for occupations, except where a national pay scale exists. In the case of social workers, the NHS Agenda for Change is the only available national scale, as Local Authority rates vary. Using Agenda for Change means the salary requirements are lower than they would be if we used ONS data.
On 2 July we asked the independent Migration Advisory Committee to advise on future salary requirements for Skilled Worker visas. We look forward to receiving their recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many social workers are working in the UK on a (a) skilled workers visa and (b) health and care visa.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on sponsored work visas by occupation in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release. Data on grants of visas are published in table ‘Occ_D02’ of the ‘sponsored work visas by occupation and industry dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. Data is from January 2021 up to the end of June 2025.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason she decided to use NHS pay bands instead of local authority pay bands when determining income requirements for overseas social workers applying for a skilled workers visa.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We use Office for National Statistics (ONS) data to set salary requirements for occupations, except where a national pay scale exists. In the case of social workers, the NHS Agenda for Change is the only available national scale, as Local Authority rates vary. Using Agenda for Change means the salary requirements are lower than they would be if we used ONS data.
On 2 July we asked the independent Migration Advisory Committee to advise on future salary requirements for Skilled Worker visas. We look forward to receiving their recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many alcohol industry representatives Ministers in her Department have met since July 2024.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Details of ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Data for the period of July to September 2024 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the aim of the Bottle Stop campaign to ensure that all bottles in clubs and bars are plastic instead of glass.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Licensing Act 2003 regulates the sale and supply of alcohol in licensed premises across England and Wales and devolves decision-making to local licensing authorities.
The Government publishes guidance for licensing authorities to assist them in carrying out their functions under the Act in line with the four licensing objectives: the prevention of crime and disorder; the prevention of public nuisance, upholding public safety, and the protection of children from harm.
This guidance specifically states that a number of matters should be considered by a licensing authority in relation to public safety, which may include requiring, as part of a premises licence, the use of plastic containers and preventing customer access to glass bottles.
We keep under review licensing of alcohol premises.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will hold discussions with Alcohol Change UK on their research entitled The need for responsible alcohol delivery, published on 8 May 2024.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government recognises that the way in which people purchase alcohol has changed in recent years, with sales increasingly being made online.
Accordingly, we recently ran a consultation that closed on 30 March this year that requested views on whether the Licensing Act 2003 should be amended to include a requirement for age verification to occur when alcohol purchased remotely is delivered. We also asked for views on whether the Act should be amended to specify that it is an offence to deliver alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated.
We are currently analysing the responses to this consultation and will publish a response in due course.
Home Office officials meet regularly with Alcohol Change UK to discuss the licensing framework in England and Wales.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the the potential merits of updating the Licensing Act 2003 to regulate online alcohol delivery services.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government recognises that the way in which people purchase alcohol has changed in recent years, with sales increasingly being made online.
Accordingly, we recently ran a consultation that closed on 30 March this year that requested views on whether the Licensing Act 2003 should be amended to include a requirement for age verification to occur when alcohol purchased remotely is delivered. We also asked for views on whether the Act should be amended to specify that it is an offence to deliver alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated.
We are currently analysing the responses to this consultation and will publish a response in due course.
Home Office officials meet regularly with Alcohol Change UK to discuss the licensing framework in England and Wales.