Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with (a) local police and (b) police and crime commissioners on the (i) recording and (ii) sharing of peer-on-peer violence by children online.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We are working to enhance our understanding of how social media platforms are being used by gangs and violent offenders, and how online content translates to ‘real-world’ violence. We know from 2024 survey results published by the Youth Endowment Fund that 70% of young people had encountered real-world violence online in the past 12 months. The most frequently observed content was footage of fights involving young people.
We are working with police and investing in targeted law enforcement capabilities to disrupt gangs and violent criminals operating online and to reduce the crime and harms they bring to our communities. The National Crime Agency is also working in partnership with policing colleagues across the UK and internationally to map and target key offenders operating online, including the darknet markets.
We have also formed the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime which brings together campaign groups, charities, families of people who have tragically lost their lives to knife crime, young people who have been impacted and community leaders, united in their mission to save lives and make Britain a safer place for the next generation. This Coalition is working with the Government to help identify risks and design policy based on the best possible evidence. This will include considering the challenges and risks presented online.
The Online Safety Act 2023 is a key mechanism to monitor and tackle illegal content online. It requires providers within the scope of the Act to implement measures to remove illegal content, including that related to inciting violence. If providers fail to abide by their duties under the Act, Ofcom, as the independent regulator, can now enforce against the illegal content duties and have already launched several enforcement programmes to monitor compliance with the regime.
The Government is closely monitoring the implementation and effectiveness of the Online Safety Act and is committed to ensuring it delivers the necessary protections to ensure a safer online environment and tackle illegal content.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with (a) charities and (b) experts on the (i) recording and (ii) sharing of peer-on-peer violence by children online.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We are working to enhance our understanding of how social media platforms are being used by gangs and violent offenders, and how online content translates to ‘real-world’ violence. We know from 2024 survey results published by the Youth Endowment Fund that 70% of young people had encountered real-world violence online in the past 12 months. The most frequently observed content was footage of fights involving young people.
We are working with police and investing in targeted law enforcement capabilities to disrupt gangs and violent criminals operating online and to reduce the crime and harms they bring to our communities. The National Crime Agency is also working in partnership with policing colleagues across the UK and internationally to map and target key offenders operating online, including the darknet markets.
We have also formed the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime which brings together campaign groups, charities, families of people who have tragically lost their lives to knife crime, young people who have been impacted and community leaders, united in their mission to save lives and make Britain a safer place for the next generation. This Coalition is working with the Government to help identify risks and design policy based on the best possible evidence. This will include considering the challenges and risks presented online.
The Online Safety Act 2023 is a key mechanism to monitor and tackle illegal content online. It requires providers within the scope of the Act to implement measures to remove illegal content, including that related to inciting violence. If providers fail to abide by their duties under the Act, Ofcom, as the independent regulator, can now enforce against the illegal content duties and have already launched several enforcement programmes to monitor compliance with the regime.
The Government is closely monitoring the implementation and effectiveness of the Online Safety Act and is committed to ensuring it delivers the necessary protections to ensure a safer online environment and tackle illegal content.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of children (a) recording and (b) sharing incidents of peer-on-peer violence online.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We are working to enhance our understanding of how social media platforms are being used by gangs and violent offenders, and how online content translates to ‘real-world’ violence. We know from 2024 survey results published by the Youth Endowment Fund that 70% of young people had encountered real-world violence online in the past 12 months. The most frequently observed content was footage of fights involving young people.
We are working with police and investing in targeted law enforcement capabilities to disrupt gangs and violent criminals operating online and to reduce the crime and harms they bring to our communities. The National Crime Agency is also working in partnership with policing colleagues across the UK and internationally to map and target key offenders operating online, including the darknet markets.
We have also formed the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime which brings together campaign groups, charities, families of people who have tragically lost their lives to knife crime, young people who have been impacted and community leaders, united in their mission to save lives and make Britain a safer place for the next generation. This Coalition is working with the Government to help identify risks and design policy based on the best possible evidence. This will include considering the challenges and risks presented online.
The Online Safety Act 2023 is a key mechanism to monitor and tackle illegal content online. It requires providers within the scope of the Act to implement measures to remove illegal content, including that related to inciting violence. If providers fail to abide by their duties under the Act, Ofcom, as the independent regulator, can now enforce against the illegal content duties and have already launched several enforcement programmes to monitor compliance with the regime.
The Government is closely monitoring the implementation and effectiveness of the Online Safety Act and is committed to ensuring it delivers the necessary protections to ensure a safer online environment and tackle illegal content.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the (a) recording and (b) sharing of peer-on-peer violence by children online.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We are working to enhance our understanding of how social media platforms are being used by gangs and violent offenders, and how online content translates to ‘real-world’ violence. We know from 2024 survey results published by the Youth Endowment Fund that 70% of young people had encountered real-world violence online in the past 12 months. The most frequently observed content was footage of fights involving young people.
We are working with police and investing in targeted law enforcement capabilities to disrupt gangs and violent criminals operating online and to reduce the crime and harms they bring to our communities. The National Crime Agency is also working in partnership with policing colleagues across the UK and internationally to map and target key offenders operating online, including the darknet markets.
We have also formed the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime which brings together campaign groups, charities, families of people who have tragically lost their lives to knife crime, young people who have been impacted and community leaders, united in their mission to save lives and make Britain a safer place for the next generation. This Coalition is working with the Government to help identify risks and design policy based on the best possible evidence. This will include considering the challenges and risks presented online.
The Online Safety Act 2023 is a key mechanism to monitor and tackle illegal content online. It requires providers within the scope of the Act to implement measures to remove illegal content, including that related to inciting violence. If providers fail to abide by their duties under the Act, Ofcom, as the independent regulator, can now enforce against the illegal content duties and have already launched several enforcement programmes to monitor compliance with the regime.
The Government is closely monitoring the implementation and effectiveness of the Online Safety Act and is committed to ensuring it delivers the necessary protections to ensure a safer online environment and tackle illegal content.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to increase the level of support available to help schools meet the needs of pupils with learning disabilities in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises the essential role that small, rural schools play in their communities. The national funding formula (NFF) accounts for the particular challenges, including those of providing for pupils with special educational needs (SEN), faced by small schools in rural areas through the lump sum and sparsity factors. The NFF lump sum for the 2025/26 financial year is set at £145,100 and provides a fixed amount of funding that is unrelated to the number of pupils in a school. In addition, eligible small, rural primary schools attract up to £57,400, and eligible secondary or all-through schools attract up to £83,400, in sparsity funding in 2025/26 through the NFF.
Where the cost of additional support for a pupil with SEN exceeds £6,000 per annum, the local authority provides the school with extra funding from its high needs budget. The department is providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in 2025/26, bringing total high needs funding to over £12 billion, to help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting their pupils with complex needs. Of that total, Dorset County Council is being allocated over £60 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £4.1 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs NFF.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to allocate new funding to help schools improve support for pupils with learning disabilities.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises the essential role that small, rural schools play in their communities. The national funding formula (NFF) accounts for the particular challenges, including those of providing for pupils with special educational needs (SEN), faced by small schools in rural areas through the lump sum and sparsity factors. The NFF lump sum for the 2025/26 financial year is set at £145,100 and provides a fixed amount of funding that is unrelated to the number of pupils in a school. In addition, eligible small, rural primary schools attract up to £57,400, and eligible secondary or all-through schools attract up to £83,400, in sparsity funding in 2025/26 through the NFF.
Where the cost of additional support for a pupil with SEN exceeds £6,000 per annum, the local authority provides the school with extra funding from its high needs budget. The department is providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in 2025/26, bringing total high needs funding to over £12 billion, to help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting their pupils with complex needs. Of that total, Dorset County Council is being allocated over £60 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £4.1 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs NFF.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to increase levels of support to help schools in rural constituencies meet the needs of pupils with learning disabilities.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises the essential role that small, rural schools play in their communities. The national funding formula (NFF) accounts for the particular challenges, including those of providing for pupils with special educational needs (SEN), faced by small schools in rural areas through the lump sum and sparsity factors. The NFF lump sum for the 2025/26 financial year is set at £145,100 and provides a fixed amount of funding that is unrelated to the number of pupils in a school. In addition, eligible small, rural primary schools attract up to £57,400, and eligible secondary or all-through schools attract up to £83,400, in sparsity funding in 2025/26 through the NFF.
Where the cost of additional support for a pupil with SEN exceeds £6,000 per annum, the local authority provides the school with extra funding from its high needs budget. The department is providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in 2025/26, bringing total high needs funding to over £12 billion, to help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting their pupils with complex needs. Of that total, Dorset County Council is being allocated over £60 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £4.1 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs NFF.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure (a) early and (b) accurate assessments of learning disabilities in children.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department wants to drive a consistent and inclusive approach to supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) through early identification, effective support, high-quality teaching and effective allocation of resources.
The department knows that effective early identification and intervention can reduce the impact that SEND may have on individuals in the long term. The Early Years Foundation Stage two-year old progress check and the Healthy Child Programme development review offer two valuable opportunities to identify additional needs for children aged two to three and put the right support in place for the children who need it.
The department has also introduced additional resources for early years educators to support children with developmental differences and needs, including a free online training module and SEND assessment guidance and resources.
To support settings to identify need early, the department is also strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings. The department has commissioned evidence reviews from University College London, which will highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people (age 0 to 25) with different types of needs.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of targeted subsidies for small businesses in rural constituencies.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government recognises that rural areas offer significant potential for growth and are central to our economy. Over half a million business are registered in rural areas, with SMEs accounting for 99% of registered rural enterprises.
The Department for Business and Trade provides a range of existing offers that rural SMEs may wish to access. This includes support via the Business Support Service, Gov.uk, the network of 41 local Growth Hubs across England, and the Help to Grow: Management scheme to help improve leadership and management capabilities.
Later this year the Government will publish the SME Strategy Paper. This will set out the Government’s intentions on supporting small businesses across key areas, including thriving high streets, making it easier to secure finance, accessing overseas and domestic markets, encouraging entrepreneurship and building business capabilities, and providing a strong business environment. This will complement the Government’s forthcoming Industrial and Trade Strategies
On targeted subsidies, Defra funds capital projects for small businesses and community infrastructure in rural areas through the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF). The fund will have provided up to £143 million of funding to eligible local authorities between April 2023 and March 2026.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the risk assessment for the abolition of NHS England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The abolition of NHS England will strip out the unnecessary bureaucracy and cut the duplication that comes from having two organisations doing the same job. By the end of the process, we estimate that these changes will save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested in frontline services.
It is only right that with such significant reform, we commit to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts, as is due process. These ongoing assessments will inform our programme as appropriate.
The Government is committed to transparency and will consider how best to ensure that the public and parliamentarians are informed of the outcomes.