Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what safeguards are in place to ensure that outcome-linked funding arrangements do not give rise to perceived conflicts of interest in operational decision-making.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We fully recognise the serious and growing threat that freight crime poses to businesses, drivers, and the wider economy. The Government does not fund NaVCIS. Instead NaVCIS is funded by the industry, including finance and leasing companies, insurers and hauliers.
NaVCIS is a national policing unit that provides dedicated specialist intelligence, and it engages with a range of partners to tackle organised vehicle crime.The Governance arrangements for NaVCIS are a matter for the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of levels of public resource available where constabularies act upon intelligence or referrals generated by industry-funded vehicle crime units.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We fully recognise the serious and growing threat that freight crime poses to businesses, drivers, and the wider economy. The Government does not fund NaVCIS. Instead NaVCIS is funded by the industry, including finance and leasing companies, insurers and hauliers.
NaVCIS is a national policing unit that provides dedicated specialist intelligence, and it engages with a range of partners to tackle organised vehicle crime.The Governance arrangements for NaVCIS are a matter for the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Department intends to review transparency requirements for nationally operating police-associated units funded by private industry bodies.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We fully recognise the serious and growing threat that freight crime poses to businesses, drivers, and the wider economy. The Government does not fund NaVCIS. Instead NaVCIS is funded by the industry, including finance and leasing companies, insurers and hauliers.
NaVCIS is a national policing unit that provides dedicated specialist intelligence, and it engages with a range of partners to tackle organised vehicle crime.The Governance arrangements for NaVCIS are a matter for the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of the governance arrangements applying to the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS), including its industry funding model.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We fully recognise the serious and growing threat that freight crime poses to businesses, drivers, and the wider economy.
The Government does not fund NaVCIS. Instead NaVCIS is funded by the industry, including finance and leasing companies, insurers and hauliers.
NaVCIS is a national policing unit that provides dedicated specialist intelligence, and it engages with a range of partners to tackle organised vehicle crime.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Ministers have received information regarding funding arrangements for both fixed contributions and payments calculated by reference to the value of vehicles recovered.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Vehicle recovery Statutory fees are prescribed in secondary legislation under road traffic vehicle recovery powers.
The statutory framework provides for both fixed charges and variable payments that reflect the size, condition and recovery requirements of the vehicles involved.
The Home Office does not collect data on the fees collected by forces.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of barriers to adopting a unified national safeguarding framework for extracurricular activities involving children; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of frameworks such as the National Safeguarding Framework for Extracurricular Activities on sector-led implementation across micro providers, community organisations, and recognised governing bodies.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to safeguarding children and protecting them from harm across all extracurricular activities.
These activities often take place within out-of-school settings, however, some are run directly by schools and, if so, the schools’ existing child protection and safeguarding arrangements will apply, as set out in ‘Keeping children safe in education’.
Where extracurricular activities do take place in out-of-school settings, we believe that the majority of providers sufficiently deliver safe and enriching education and activities. However, to ensure that this is the case for all, the department launched a call for evidence on 29 May 2025 to better understand current practice and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding.
We are currently analysing responses and given the significance of the issue, this analysis is being supported by independent external analysts.
The department intends to supplement the call for evidence with further engagement, including through focus groups with parents and smaller providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts, national governing bodies and other community representatives, prior to issuing a full response.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of evidence from public inquiries, serious case reviews and independent safeguarding reports on risks associated with unregulated extracurricular settings involving children; and whether she has considered introducing statutory safeguarding principles for this sector.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to safeguarding children and protecting them from harm across all extracurricular activities.
These activities often take place within out-of-school settings, however, some are run directly by schools and, if so, the schools’ existing child protection and safeguarding arrangements will apply, as set out in ‘Keeping children safe in education’.
Where extracurricular activities do take place in out-of-school settings, we believe that the majority of providers sufficiently deliver safe and enriching education and activities. However, to ensure that this is the case for all, the department launched a call for evidence on 29 May 2025 to better understand current practice and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding.
We are currently analysing responses and given the significance of the issue, this analysis is being supported by independent external analysts.
The department intends to supplement the call for evidence with further engagement, including through focus groups with parents and smaller providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts, national governing bodies and other community representatives, prior to issuing a full response.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department assesses the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements for extracurricular activities involving children, including voluntary compliance, self-regulation, and non-statutory guidance.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to safeguarding children and protecting them from harm across all extracurricular activities.
These activities often take place within out-of-school settings, however, some are run directly by schools and, if so, the schools’ existing child protection and safeguarding arrangements will apply, as set out in ‘Keeping children safe in education’.
Where extracurricular activities do take place in out-of-school settings, we believe that the majority of providers sufficiently deliver safe and enriching education and activities. However, to ensure that this is the case for all, the department launched a call for evidence on 29 May 2025 to better understand current practice and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding.
We are currently analysing responses and given the significance of the issue, this analysis is being supported by independent external analysts.
The department intends to supplement the call for evidence with further engagement, including through focus groups with parents and smaller providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts, national governing bodies and other community representatives, prior to issuing a full response.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing mandatory safeguarding requirements for extracurricular activities involving children in England.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to safeguarding children and protecting them from harm across all extracurricular activities.
These activities often take place within out-of-school settings, however, some are run directly by schools and, if so, the schools’ existing child protection and safeguarding arrangements will apply, as set out in ‘Keeping children safe in education’.
Where extracurricular activities do take place in out-of-school settings, we believe that the majority of providers sufficiently deliver safe and enriching education and activities. However, to ensure that this is the case for all, the department launched a call for evidence on 29 May 2025 to better understand current practice and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding.
We are currently analysing responses and given the significance of the issue, this analysis is being supported by independent external analysts.
The department intends to supplement the call for evidence with further engagement, including through focus groups with parents and smaller providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts, national governing bodies and other community representatives, prior to issuing a full response.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she intends to publish statutory guidance or a code of practice setting out the duty of care owed by higher education providers to their students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Universities are already required to comply with their duties under the common law and legislation such as the Equality Act 2010, which includes an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students, including those with mental health conditions which meet the definition set out within the Equality Act. The government has no plans to publish statutory guidance or a code of practice on a duty of care owed by higher education providers to their students.
Our focus is on ensuring that providers adopt consistent, evidence‑based approaches to student safety and wellbeing by embedding the recommendations of the national review of higher education student suicide deaths and other best practice identified through the Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce’s wider outputs and sector-led guidance.