Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions has her Department had with Ofcom on the regulation of online AI chatbots and companions in the context of exposure of harmful content on children.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
On 3 December 2025, the Secretary of State confirmed in Parliament that the government is exploring how emerging services, such as AI chatbots, interact with the Online Safety Act and what further measures may be required.
The Department has regular discussions with Ofcom about online safety matters. Ministerial meetings are published through quarterly reports on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is his department taking to improve record keeping and documentation within the emergency departments and observation units.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving how information is recorded, stored, and used across the National Health Service, including in emergency departments and observation units.
Regarding accident and emergency data, NHS England has published a Data Quality Improvement Plan for the Emergency Care Data Set. NHS England is supporting trusts to improve data quality collection and compliance.
Through our Urgent and Emergency care plan, we are expanding the use of integrated data systems such as the Federated Data Platform and Connected Care Records. We are investing in secure digital platforms and interoperability standards to ensure clinicians can access real-time patient information across hospitals, ambulance services, and community settings. Improving interoperability helps reduce duplication, minimise the risk of errors, and support clinicians to provide safe and timely care.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the quality of medical care available to people with learning disabilities.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Significant action is underway to improve access to and the quality of care for people with a learning disability. This will help deliver the shift from treatment to prevention, outlined in our 10-Year Health Plan, with further information avaiable at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future
As part of this we are rolling out mandatory training for health and social care staff, improving identification on the general practice learning disability register and uptake of annual health checks, and implementing a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag in health and care records to ensure care is tailored appropriately. The NHS Learning Disability Improvement Standard also supports trusts by setting guidance on safe, personalised, and high-quality care provision. The standards are designed to support organisations in assessing the quality of their services and to promote uniformity across the National Health Service in the care and treatment provided to people with a learning disability. Further information on the standards is avaiable at the following link:
Each integrated care board must also have an executive lead for learning disability and autism and must demonstrate how they will reduce inequalities for people with a learning disability within their five year strategic plans under the Medium-Term Planning Framework. Further information is avaiable on the Medium-Term Planning Framework at the following link:
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of Matha's Rule on enhancing patient care and saving lives for those with learning disabilities.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Martha’s Rule is being implemented in all acute hospitals in England. Early indications suggest a positive impact on patient care across patient groups, including people with learning disabilities, through improved recognition of physiological deterioration, strengthened patient and family voice, and earlier clinical review.
Data published by NHS England shows that from September 2024 to November 2025, 9,135 Martha’s Rule calls were made, with the highest proportion of calls, or 72%, made via the family escalation process. 3,186 Martha’s Rule escalation calls, or 36%, related to acute deterioration and of those, 412 calls resulted in potentially life-saving transfers of care.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure timely chid maintenance payments for single parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Children in separated and single-parent families are statistically more likely to experience poverty compared to those in non-separated families. Through both statutory and non-statutory arrangements, Child Maintenance payments currently help keep around 120,000 children out of poverty each year.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring that parents meet their financial responsibilities in full and on time. Recent system changes enable us to identify at-risk cases earlier, allowing caseworkers to intervene promptly where partial payments are made and before payments stop altogether.
Where parents fail to meet their obligations, the CMS will not hesitate to use the full range of enforcement powers available. These powers are applied fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
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 establishing a statutory Code of Practice on the Sikh articles of faith to prevent discrimination.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has made no assessment of the potential merits of establishing a statutory Code of Practice on Sikh articles of faith to prevent discrimination as religious discrimination is not a matter for the Home Office.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle AI-driven (a) abuse and (b) discrimination.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act 2023 places robust duties on user-to-user and search services to tackle abuse and discrimination where it is illegal or harmful to children. These duties apply regardless of whether content is created by AI or not. Services must implement effective systems to prevent, identify, and swiftly remove illegal material. Additionally, in-scope service providers have a responsibility to protect children from ‘priority’ content that is harmful to children, which includes violent content or content that is hateful or abusive based on certain characteristics. Services must also put in place adequate mechanisms for users to report bullying and online harassment.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ban nudification apps from online app stores.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is concerned about the proliferation of AI-enabled products and services that facilitate the creation of deepfake non-consensual intimate images.
Government legislated to ban the non-consensual creation of sexually explicit deepfake images in the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, ensuring that offenders face the appropriate punishments for this atrocious harm. The government is aware of the concerns over the tools themselves and is looking into this closely.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to make harmful pornographic content illegal on online platforms.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act protects users from harmful and illegal pornographic content. Extreme pornography is a priority offence, meaning that services must proactively mitigate and remove such content.
In addition, the Secretary of State and Victims Minister are introducing a new offence via the Crime and Policing Bill that will crack down on violent pornography, criminalising the possession and publication of images depicting strangulation and suffocation. This will also be designated as a priority offence under the Online Safety Act, meaning platforms will be required to take proactive steps to prevent users from seeing illegal strangulation and suffocation content.
Since 25 July 2025, services that host, publish or allow the sharing of pornography must also implement highly-effective age assurance to prevent children encountering pornographic content.
These measures are part of the government's Plan for Change to halve violence against women and girls, sending a strong message that dangerous and sexist behaviour will not be tolerated.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools reported deepfake intimate image abuse in 2024-25.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Schools are under no obligation to report data on deepfake intimate image abuse to the department.
The department’s statutory safeguarding guidance, 'Keeping children safe in education', which supports schools and colleges to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, includes robust advice on how to protect pupils online. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.