Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure provisions in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill maintain data protection requirements.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises its responsibility to ensure the highest standards of data privacy and transparency in respect of personal data, and we are ensuring that this is prioritised as the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill progresses.
We are ensuring that measures outlined in the Bill align with data protection principles, as set out in the Data Protection Act 2018, UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR) and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
The department has met its obligation under Article 36(4) of UK GDPR to consult with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on all measures involving the use of personal data. We continue to engage with the ICO for measures relating to the single unique identifier and the children not in school.
The department is engaging with the ICO to ensure that data protection risks identified are properly mitigated and will publish summaries of the assessments once they are complete.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consultation her Department undertook with parents of home educated children on the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes a proposal for compulsory Children Not in School registers and an accompanying duty on parents to give information for these registers. The department consulted on this proposal as part of its ‘Children Not in School’ consultation, which ran between April and June 2019. The consultation received almost 5,000 responses, 74% of which were from parents and young people.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the increase to Employer's National Insurance Contributions on rape crisis centres.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a criminal justice system under immense pressure, and a black hole in the nation’s finances. We have made difficult decisions to ensure we can deliver the justice victims deserve.
This Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning that 43% of employers will pay no National Insurance Contributions at all.
I have protected dedicated VAWG victims spending in the department this year to ensure help is available to survivors of these awful crimes. This includes our ringfenced domestic abuse and sexual violence funding to all 42 Police and Crime Commissioners and our Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund, which reaches over 60 specialist rape victim support organisations. Grant recipients are best placed to understand their local communities and shape support to meet the need of victims in their area.
To stay abreast of demand volumes and service user needs, we regularly monitor these grants, using management information to inform policy development and commissioning.
Now that the department has its Spending Review settlement, we are in the process of allocating this budget to individual priorities, including victims funding. This will require difficult and carefully considered decisions to balance priorities within the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for rape crisis centres.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a criminal justice system under immense pressure, and a black hole in the nation’s finances. We have made difficult decisions to ensure we can deliver the justice victims deserve.
This Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning that 43% of employers will pay no National Insurance Contributions at all.
I have protected dedicated VAWG victims spending in the department this year to ensure help is available to survivors of these awful crimes. This includes our ringfenced domestic abuse and sexual violence funding to all 42 Police and Crime Commissioners and our Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund, which reaches over 60 specialist rape victim support organisations. Grant recipients are best placed to understand their local communities and shape support to meet the need of victims in their area.
To stay abreast of demand volumes and service user needs, we regularly monitor these grants, using management information to inform policy development and commissioning.
Now that the department has its Spending Review settlement, we are in the process of allocating this budget to individual priorities, including victims funding. This will require difficult and carefully considered decisions to balance priorities within the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help ensure that rape support charities receive adequate funding.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a criminal justice system under immense pressure, and a black hole in the nation’s finances. We have made difficult decisions to ensure we can deliver the justice victims deserve.
This Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning that 43% of employers will pay no National Insurance Contributions at all.
I have protected dedicated VAWG victims spending in the department this year to ensure help is available to survivors of these awful crimes. This includes our ringfenced domestic abuse and sexual violence funding to all 42 Police and Crime Commissioners and our Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund, which reaches over 60 specialist rape victim support organisations. Grant recipients are best placed to understand their local communities and shape support to meet the need of victims in their area.
To stay abreast of demand volumes and service user needs, we regularly monitor these grants, using management information to inform policy development and commissioning.
Now that the department has its Spending Review settlement, we are in the process of allocating this budget to individual priorities, including victims funding. This will require difficult and carefully considered decisions to balance priorities within the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to review the funding model for rape crisis centres.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a criminal justice system under immense pressure, and a black hole in the nation’s finances. We have made difficult decisions to ensure we can deliver the justice victims deserve.
This Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning that 43% of employers will pay no National Insurance Contributions at all.
I have protected dedicated VAWG victims spending in the department this year to ensure help is available to survivors of these awful crimes. This includes our ringfenced domestic abuse and sexual violence funding to all 42 Police and Crime Commissioners and our Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund, which reaches over 60 specialist rape victim support organisations. Grant recipients are best placed to understand their local communities and shape support to meet the need of victims in their area.
To stay abreast of demand volumes and service user needs, we regularly monitor these grants, using management information to inform policy development and commissioning.
Now that the department has its Spending Review settlement, we are in the process of allocating this budget to individual priorities, including victims funding. This will require difficult and carefully considered decisions to balance priorities within the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to FOI request 24/015 to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, if he will publish the responses received from the Swedish Medical Products Agency following their offer to contact (a) children and (b) teenager psychiatrists.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency have confirmed that the response received from the Swedish Medical Products Agency in relation to the 2008 assessment of preclinical data published within FOI 24/015 did not contain an offer to contact psychiatrists responsible for the care of children and teenagers.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what was the total civil service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion expenditure in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not routinely collect data on all expenditure of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Delivery of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion falls within the responsibility of departments under the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance.
In 2023/2024, the Civil Service conducted a one-off review of expenditure; the outcomes of the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Review have been published in the CS EDI Expenditure Review Data.
Since the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance published on 14 May 2024, the Cabinet Office routinely collects and publishes only external expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. The 2024/2025 external expenditure was published in the Civil Service 2024/2025 External Expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion on 30 May 2025.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what was the total civil service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion expenditure for the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not routinely collect data on all expenditure of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Delivery of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion falls within the responsibility of departments under the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance.
In 2023/2024, the Civil Service conducted a one-off review of expenditure; the outcomes of the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Review have been published in the CS EDI Expenditure Review Data.
Since the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance published on 14 May 2024, the Cabinet Office routinely collects and publishes only external expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. The 2024/2025 external expenditure was published in the Civil Service 2024/2025 External Expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion on 30 May 2025.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what was the total civil service external expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office routinely collects and publishes the external expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion from departments under the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance, which was published on 14 May 2024. Before the guidance was published, combined internal and external expenditure was gathered as part of the one-off Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Review.
The 2024/2025 external expenditure was published in the Civil Service 2024/2025 External Expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion on 30 May 2025.