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 ensure newly qualified nurses are not prevented from accessing band 5 roles within the NHS due to (a) experience requirements and (b) such roles only being advertised internally.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Decisions about recruitment are a matter for individual National Health Service employers, who manage this at a local level to ensure they have the staff they need to deliver safe and effective care.

NHS England is working with employers, universities, and regional nursing leads to ensure support is in place to help graduating nurses find a role as soon as possible after qualification, aiding their transition into the workplace.

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 calculating student loan repayments on an annual basis to prevent overpayments.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Student loan repayments for borrowers resident in the UK are collected by HMRC through the UK tax system, which is an efficient approach that minimises the burden on borrowers. Employers deduct repayments each pay period for employees with a student loan when their earnings are above the relevant student loan repayment threshold for that pay period.

At the end of the tax year, a borrower with total earnings below the annual student loan repayment threshold may reclaim any repayments made where a pay period threshold was exceeded. A borrower will be able to apply for a refund of these repayments at the end of the tax year: https://www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan/getting-a-refund. This offers additional protection to the lowest earning borrowers. Alternatively, they may decide not to apply for a refund, which will allow them to repay their loan more quickly.

For those borrowers who are close to fully repaying their student loan, the Student Loans Company provides borrowers with the option to switch to repayments via direct debit, which prevents over-repayments entirely.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) guidance and (b) training is provided to (i) teachers and (ii) school staff to help ensure they are (A) confident and (B) equipped to (1) educate pupils about online grooming and (2) respond appropriately to disclosures.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

As part of statutory relationships and health education in primary schools and relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) in secondary schools, pupils are taught about online safety and harms. The statutory guidance emphasises that schools should be alive to issues such as grooming and sexual exploitation, including coercive and controlling behaviour, and that these should be addressed sensitively and clearly. The statutory guidance for primary schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-education-primary.

The statutory guidance for secondary schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-and-sex-education-rse-secondary.

The RSHE statutory guidance is currently under review. The department is looking carefully at responses to the public consultation conducted last year, considering the relevant evidence and discussing with stakeholders before setting out next steps to make sure the guidance draws from the best available evidence.

In 2023, the department published guidance on teaching online safety in schools, which sets out how to teach about all aspects of internet safety. The full guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.

Schools and colleges must also have regard to the department’s robust safeguarding framework ‘Keeping children safe in education’. The guidance makes clear that all staff should receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training, including online safety. The training should be regularly updated. In addition, all staff should receive safeguarding and child protection updates as required, and at least annually, to continue to provide them with relevant skills and knowledge to safeguard children effectively.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve online safety education in schools to help children (a) recognise and (b) respond to online grooming.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

As part of statutory relationships and health education in primary schools and relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) in secondary schools, pupils are taught about online safety and harms. The statutory guidance emphasises that schools should be alive to issues such as grooming and sexual exploitation, including coercive and controlling behaviour, and that these should be addressed sensitively and clearly. The statutory guidance for primary schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-education-primary.

The statutory guidance for secondary schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-and-sex-education-rse-secondary.

The RSHE statutory guidance is currently under review. The department is looking carefully at responses to the public consultation conducted last year, considering the relevant evidence and discussing with stakeholders before setting out next steps to make sure the guidance draws from the best available evidence.

In 2023, the department published guidance on teaching online safety in schools, which sets out how to teach about all aspects of internet safety. The full guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.

Schools and colleges must also have regard to the department’s robust safeguarding framework ‘Keeping children safe in education’. The guidance makes clear that all staff should receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training, including online safety. The training should be regularly updated. In addition, all staff should receive safeguarding and child protection updates as required, and at least annually, to continue to provide them with relevant skills and knowledge to safeguard children effectively.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 62457 on HMP/YOI Downview, how many of the seven males held on E Wing have access to the general women's estate for (a) work and (b) other services.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

As noted in the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 62457, prisoners on E Wing are located separately from all other prisoners at HMP/YOI Downview. Supervised access to activities in the main prison’s regime, including work, is provided only where a local risk assessment has determined this to be appropriate.

Given the small number of prisoners held on E-Wing, it would not be appropriate to provide information about the management of the individuals in question.

We are reviewing the transgender prisoner policy in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling and will set out any changes to our approach in due course.

Found: Brewer David Burton-Sampson Rosie Duffield Kirith Entwistle Natalie Fleet Christine Jardine Rebecca Paul

Found: Burton-Sampson; Rosie Duffield; Kirith Entwistle; Natalie Fleet; Catherine Fookes; Christine Jardine; Rebecca Paul

Found: Rebecca Paul declared the following interest: serving Surrey county councillor.

Found: Nick Timothy, Mr Gagan Mohindra, Dr Ben Spencer, Sarah Bool, Alison Griffiths, Jack Rankin, Rebecca Paul

Found: These suggestions included: • Rebecca Paul MP (Con) called for the “outlawing the advertising of individuals

Submit Evidence (by 30 Sep 2025)

The Committee is following up its previous work on women’s reproductive health, with a focus on better meeting the needs of girls and young women. It is assessing progress in diagnoses, treatments and pain management of conditions including endometriosis, adenomyosis and heavy menstrual bleeding.