Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his Department will publish data on (a) the parental responsibility status of offenders sentenced for sexual offences against children under 13 and (b) the number of such offenders who were sentenced to more than four years in custody in each year since 2017.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on sentences for sexual offences, including average custodial sentence lengths, in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK
It is not possible to identify those who have a parental responsibility status. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department holds information on whether offenders sentenced for sexual offences against children under 13 are the parents of minor children; and if he will make it his policy to publish such data.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on sentences for sexual offences, including average custodial sentence lengths, in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK
It is not possible to identify those who have a parental responsibility status. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders with parental responsibility for a minor child have received a custodial sentence of over four years in each year since 2017 for a sexual offence against (a) their own child and (b) any child.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on sentences for sexual offences, including average custodial sentence lengths, in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK
It is not possible to identify those who have a parental responsibility status. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that immigration rules do not prevent the relocation to the UK of high-profile creative artists in Afghanistan with links to the UK at risk under the Taliban.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The UK has a proud history of providing protection for those fleeing war and persecution through our safe and legal routes. Since 2021, we have resettled over 34,500 individuals through the UK’s Afghan schemes.
Given the scale of global displacement, it is unfortunately not possible to offer a pathway to the UK for every person who needs it. The UK’s Afghan schemes were never intended to operate indefinitely, and, on 1 July 2025, the Government announced the closure of the schemes.
Afghans wishing to settle in the UK may apply through existing safe and legal routes for work, study and settlement.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the campaign for the (a) protection and (b) resettlement of high-profile creative artists in Afghanistan with links to the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The UK has a proud history of providing protection for those fleeing war and persecution through our safe and legal routes. Since 2021, we have resettled over 34,500 individuals through the UK’s Afghan schemes.
Given the scale of global displacement, it is unfortunately not possible to offer a pathway to the UK for every person who needs it. The UK’s Afghan schemes were never intended to operate indefinitely, and, on 1 July 2025, the Government announced the closure of the schemes.
Afghans wishing to settle in the UK may apply through existing safe and legal routes for work, study and settlement.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to establish a relocation scheme for high-profile creative artists in Afghanistan with links to the UK facing (a) imprisonment, (b) torture and (c) death.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The UK has a proud history of providing protection for those fleeing war and persecution through our safe and legal routes. Since 2021, we have resettled over 34,500 individuals through the UK’s Afghan schemes.
Given the scale of global displacement, it is unfortunately not possible to offer a pathway to the UK for every person who needs it. The UK’s Afghan schemes were never intended to operate indefinitely, and, on 1 July 2025, the Government announced the closure of the schemes.
Afghans wishing to settle in the UK may apply through existing safe and legal routes for work, study and settlement.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure that police forces implement changes in practice following Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel findings.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Keeping children safe is a priority for this Government and we are committed to implementing improvements in practice, including through introducing multi-agency child protection teams in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
The new National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection launched in April 2025 will improve the police response to child protection and we will also deliver a cross-government strategy as part of our mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking with Acas under the new Resolve and Manage priorities in its 2025–30 strategy to help support victims of harassment and discrimination following the planned introduction of the ban on non-disclosure agreements.
Answered by Justin Madders
Clause 24 of the Government’s Employment Rights Bill will void any agreement, such as a contract of employment or settlement agreement, between a worker and their employer that prevents a worker from speaking out about relevant harassment or discrimination. These agreements are often referred to as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
The Government will work with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) on updates to its guidance on NDAs to ensure that workers and employers understand the changes to the law when they come into force.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking with Acas under the Prevent strand of its 2025–30 strategy to ensure that employers do not issue non-disclosure agreements in cases of (a) harassment and (b) discrimination.
Answered by Justin Madders
Clause 24 of the Government’s Employment Rights Bill will void any agreement, such as a contract of employment or settlement agreement, between a worker and their employer that prevents a worker from speaking out about relevant harassment or discrimination. These agreements are often referred to as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
The Government will work with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) on updates to its guidance on NDAs to ensure that workers and employers understand the changes to the law when they come into force.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by the UNESCO entitled AI and the Holocaust: rewriting history, published on 18 June 2024.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government welcomes the publication of this report, which explores both the challenges and opportunities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Holocaust remembrance and education.
We remain committed to working internationally on both developing safe, secure, and responsible AI and promoting education, remembrance and research about the Holocaust. We must continue to stand against Holocaust distortion in all its forms, including AI-facilitated distortion.
AI was a focus area of the UK's recent presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, held from March 2024 to February 2025. In October 2024, our presidency co-sponsored an event with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Romania to consider how AI could improve Holocaust education and identify and tackle instances of antisemitism and Holocaust distortion online.