Sarah Pochin

Victim and witness confidence is vital to tackling FGM. While the CPS does not comment on individual publications, prosecutors work closely with police and partners under established FGM joint protocols to provide early advice, safeguarding and sensitive handling of evidence. We recognise that victims rarely use the term “mutilation” themselves; language is often drawn out through expert evidence.

The CPS understands that in some communities FGM is practised with mistaken belief that is will benefit the girl in some way, but this does not detract from the fact that it causes long term harm and trauma to victims and remains a serious criminal offence. The CPS continues to maintain dedicated prosecution guidance and training to ensure cases are built robustly where the legal test is met.

Whilst securing prosecutions is important, protective measures are central to safeguarding victims. Protective measures, such as Forced Marriage Protection Orders, FGM Protection Orders are designed for of these crimes and safeguard them from on-going risk.

FGM is clearly defined in the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 and CPS prosecutors apply that statutory framework alongside the Code for Crown Prosecutors. CPS’s prosecution guidance for FGM recognises that expert medical evidence may assist a jury on technical matters; however, alternative terminology used in academic or professional contexts does not alter the offence definitions or the legal tests. Prosecutors assess any expert evidence for relevance, admissibility and weight, and will ensure the statutory terminology is used in court.

The CPS role is to make sure the right person is prosecuted for the right offence. Prosecutors apply the Code for Crown Prosecutors when making charging decisions in all cases, including FGM. The evidential threshold, whether the evidence provides a realistic prospect of conviction, requires prosecutors to consider the reliability and credibility of the evidence. Where relevant to a particular case, prosecutors may consider admissible expert medical evidence. However, academic commentary does not change the legal tests or the CPS decision making framework.

The Prime Minister announced a number of changes to Cabinet committees in November to ensure decision-making structures are best able to deliver the Government’s priorities. The list of Cabinet committees can be found online here.

The Prime Minister announced a number of changes to Cabinet committees in November to ensure decision-making structures are best able to deliver the Government’s priorities. The list of Cabinet committees can be found online here.

Listing the endless ways the government engages with the public and assesses its relationship with the public would be fruitless, since that is a basic principle behind everything the government does.

Listing the endless ways the government engages with the public and assesses its relationship with the public would be fruitless, since that is a basic principle behind everything the government does.

Listing the endless ways the government engages with the public and assesses its relationship with the public would be fruitless, since that is a basic principle behind everything the government does.

The department’s modern Industrial Strategy will make the UK the best country to invest in and grow. We are targeting government investment towards our world-class eight-growth driving sectors, from life sciences to digital technologies and advanced manufacturing so British workers can upskill and fill vacancies.

From 2027, the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) will reduce electricity costs by up to £35–40/MWh for manufacturing frontier industries in the Industrial Strategy and foundational industries in their supply chains, by exempting them from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariffs and Capacity Market.

DBT provides targeted capital through several key programmes:

• DRIVE35: A £4 billion fund (expanded to 2035) for zero-emission vehicle manufacturing and R&D.
• Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF): Supports large-scale industrialisation of the electrified automotive supply chain.
• Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI): Up to £2.3 billion in R&D funding to 2035 through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) programme to support the UK’s world-leading aerospace sector develop ultra-efficient and zero-carbon aircraft.
• Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM): Up to £150 million to deploy self-driving services and logistics.

Our modern Industrial Strategy focuses on eight sectors with the greatest potential to raise national levels of investment and productivity, spread prosperity to all parts of the country, make us all more secure, and seize the opportunities of net zero. The Strategy sets out our plans to deliver more opportunities for people at all stages of life, including young people, to learn and earn in our high-growth sectors. Additionally, we are investing £820 million for the Youth Guarantee meaning young people aged 16-24 are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, and also announced a £725 million investment to deliver more apprenticeships for young people and help match skills training with local job opportunities.

Under existing UK regulations, businesses must only place safe products, including batteries for e-bikes and e-scooters, on the market. In 2024, the Department published statutory guidelines for lithium-ion e-bike batteries, clarifying that they must protect against the risk of thermal runaway to be considered safe products. Regulators have powers to enforce these regulations. The Government has now introduced the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025, which will enable us to modernise and improve our product safety framework for products sold online and on the high street.

E-bikes must meet legal speed and power limits to be used on the road.

ECO4 has played a part in delivering clean heat technologies; however, issues identified by the NAO and PAC support a shift to a more direct, publicly-funded approach focused on technologies that cut bills and accelerate the transition to clean heat such as heat pumps, solar PV and batteries. The government is providing an additional £1.5 billion—taking planned capital investment to almost £15 billion—to upgrade low‑income homes and scale clean home‑energy technologies. Deployment will be further supported through wider policies and details of this will be set out soon in the Warm Homes Plan.

ECO4 has played a part in delivering clean heat technologies; however, issues identified by the NAO and PAC support a shift to a more direct, publicly-funded approach focused on technologies that cut bills and accelerate the transition to clean heat such as heat pumps, solar PV and batteries. The government is providing an additional £1.5 billion—taking planned capital investment to almost £15 billion—to upgrade low‑income homes and scale clean home‑energy technologies. Deployment will be further supported through wider policies and details of this will be set out soon in the Warm Homes Plan.

The government is working with a range of departments, regulators, and other public bodies to ensure the UK’s regulatory environment is well placed to support the deployment of CCUS and is committed to ensuring that the HyNet Cluster delivers tangible benefits for local communities.

The first two capture projects in the cluster—Padeswood Cement Works and Protos Energy Recovery Facility—are now under construction and will directly support 500 skilled jobs as part of 2,800 roles across the wider HyNet network.

These projects will generate significant local supply chain investment with substantial spend in the North West as part of the industry led, voluntary 50% UK content target and expand engineering apprenticeships, supporting regional growth and green employment opportunities.

The Online Safety Act already meets the Inquiry’s recommendations on age-verification and online safety measures. The child safety duties require regulated services to implement highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing the most harmful content, including pornography, and implement age-appropriate measures to protect children from other legal but harmful material such as bullying or violent content.

The illegal content safety duties go beyond age-verification. Child sexual exploitation and abuse material is a priority offence, and under the duties, services must take proactive steps to prevent it appearing and remove it swiftly if it does.

The Online Safety Act contains provisions to address the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s recommendation. Under Section 121 of the Act, Ofcom has the power, where necessary and proportionate, to require regulated services to use accredited technology to detect and remove child sexual exploitation and abuse content, including in private or encrypted channels.

Ofcom will be able to issue a tech notice once minimum standards for accredited technologies have been published and its accreditation scheme is in place. It will publish advice on minimum standards to the Secretary of State by April 2026.

The Government’s aim is to support a sustainable and fair funding model for the BBC, and we are considering a broad range of options to deliver this at Charter Review.

A thriving media sector is vital for the UK. We acknowledge that the BBC carrying advertising would represent a significant shift and have impacts on the wider media sector, including the other Public Service Broadcasters and local media providers, as well as on audience experiences.

The Government is seeking further views and evidence about the potential impacts of the BBC carrying adverts on the market, on audience engagement and on willingness to pay the licence fee before making any final decisions, including through the public consultation on the Charter Review Green Paper and through evidence from stakeholders and the BBC. This will build on modelling the department commissioned under the previous government on the BBC’s potential to generate commercial revenue from advertising.

The Government’s aim is to support a sustainable and fair funding model for the BBC, and we are considering a broad range of options to deliver this at Charter Review.

A thriving media sector is vital for the UK. We acknowledge that the BBC carrying advertising would represent a significant shift and have impacts on the wider media sector, including the other Public Service Broadcasters and local media providers, as well as on audience experiences.

The Government is seeking further views and evidence about the potential impacts of the BBC carrying adverts on the market, on audience engagement and on willingness to pay the licence fee before making any final decisions, including through the public consultation on the Charter Review Green Paper and through evidence from stakeholders and the BBC. This will build on modelling the department commissioned under the previous government on the BBC’s potential to generate commercial revenue from advertising.

The Government’s aim is to support a sustainable and fair funding model for the BBC, and we are considering a broad range of options to deliver this at Charter Review.

A thriving media sector is vital for the UK. We acknowledge that the BBC carrying advertising would represent a significant shift and have impacts on the wider media sector, including the other Public Service Broadcasters and local media providers, as well as on audience experiences.

The Government is seeking further views and evidence about the potential impacts of the BBC carrying adverts on the market, on audience engagement and on willingness to pay the licence fee before making any final decisions, including through the public consultation on the Charter Review Green Paper and through evidence from stakeholders and the BBC. This will build on modelling the department commissioned under the previous government on the BBC’s potential to generate commercial revenue from advertising.

The Secretary of State is in regular discussion with the BBC about Charter Review and other BBC matters, including on the options for funding the BBC set out in the Charter Review Green Paper. DCMS officials also hold regular meetings with the BBC and Ofcom about Charter Review, including issues relating to BBC funding.

The Government is developing its understanding of the impact of commercial options and will continue to build this throughout the Charter Review process, including through the public consultation and our engagement with stakeholders, including the BBC and Ofcom.

The Secretary of State is in regular discussion with the BBC about Charter Review and other BBC matters, including on the options for funding the BBC set out in the Charter Review Green Paper. DCMS officials also hold regular meetings with the BBC and Ofcom about Charter Review, including issues relating to BBC funding.

The Government is developing its understanding of the impact of commercial options and will continue to build this throughout the Charter Review process, including through the public consultation and our engagement with stakeholders, including the BBC and Ofcom.

The government set out its position regarding professional registration of the children’s homes workforce in its ’Tackling child sexual abuse: progress update’, published on GOV.UK in April 2025 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-sexual-abuse-progress-update.

The immediate focus is to develop workforce standards and review sector qualifications to ensure staff working in children’s homes are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to provide the best possible care, and have access to high quality continuing professional development.

This will provide the essential foundation for looking at the risks and benefits of a registration model for care staff, including a wider consultation in the longer term.

In April 2025, the government published its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, which responded to each of the 20 recommendations form the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

The government agrees with the importance of having a clear focus on children across government, including at Cabinet level. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, is the Cabinet minister for children and a Keeping Children Safe ministerial board has been established to drive and mainstream the strong collective cross-government focus on children’s wellbeing, safety and opportunity. This will bring together ministers from the government departments with a key role on issues affecting children.

Our ‘Tackling child sexual abuse: progress update’, published in April 2025, set out the government’s work to respond to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s recommendation to amend the Children Act 1989. The update is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-sexual-abuse-progress-update.

The department will publish new national standards and statutory guidance for advocacy for children and young people and has committed to establishing a Child Protection Authority. In December 2025, we published the consultation on the authority’s scope, functions and powers, with the aim of making the system clearer, more unified and ensure there is ongoing improvement through effective evidence-based support for practitioners.

Further, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill marks the biggest overhaul of children’s social care in a generation with a sharp focus on protecting children. This includes measures to establish multi-agency child protection teams in every local authority area, improve information sharing between agencies, and automatically include education and childcare settings in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

Students with children who are undertaking work placement years with private employers do not qualify for the full-rate partially means-tested loans for living costs or means-tested dependants’ grants (Childcare Grant or Parents’ Learning Allowance). They only qualify for a reduced rate loan for living costs from Student Finance England. The government expects private employers who benefit from students’ work to provide support for students during work placements rather than the taxpayer

The government makes an exception for many work placements in the public sector by making available the full-rate partially means-tested loan for living costs and dependants grants to encourage students to gain work experience in these areas. This ensures that low-income students with children undertaking working placements in the public sector receive targeted support through the student support system.

Public sector work placements include unpaid service with a hospital, with a local authority in relation to the care of children and young persons, health and welfare, with the prison and probation service, and with either House of Parliament. They also include unpaid research at a UK or overseas institution.

Sexual abuse in any form is abhorrent and protecting children from this is an absolute priority for this government.

‘Working together to safeguard children’ is the statutory guidance which sets out the collaborative duties and responsibilities placed on agencies to safeguard and protect children.

‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE) is the statutory safeguarding guidance that all schools and colleges must have regard to, when safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. It includes clear and detailed guidance on managing reports of child-on-child sexual violence and harassment, and on recording concerns, discussions and decisions made

Local authorities, schools and colleges are held to account for safeguarding children through a number of routes, including statutory guidance, legislation, child safeguarding practice review panels and inspection.

All schools are assessed on safeguarding as part of their routine inspections. If a state-funded school is not fulfilling its responsibilities in relation to child-on-child sexual abuse, the school is likely to be placed in a category of concern. Similarly, an independent school would likely be judged to not meet the Independent School Standards. This would then lead to robust action to address the concerns

Any concerns about a school’s procedures should be raised directly with the school in question in the first instance, as they will be best placed to offer information and advice regarding their decisions

Where individuals are not satisfied with the outcome of any concerns raised, they are able to make a formal complaint via the school’s complaints procedure. All schools must have a complaint procedure, and it should explain how a complaint can be progressed if a parent remains dissatisfied with the school’s response. When a parent or other relevant body raises a safeguarding concern about pupil safety, including child-on-child sexual abuse, this could trigger an unannounced or focused inspection by Ofsted to assess whether the school is meeting its safeguarding responsibilities. Ofsted expects schools to demonstrate that they have thoroughly investigated safeguarding concerns from parents. This is part of the school’s statutory safeguarding duty under ‘Keeping children safe in education’.

Parents are also able to escalate concerns directly to the local council where they believe a child is at risk of immediate harm. More information about school complaints can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-school.

In relation to training for headteachers, Designated Safeguarding Leads and school governors, KCSIE makes clear that all staff should undergo safeguarding and child protection training, including online safety, which should be regularly updated and should be in line with any advice from local safeguarding partners.

The department already publishes analysis on children affected by sexual abuse or exploitation, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-in-need-a-focus-on-sexual-abuse-and-exploitation/2025.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is continually recruiting in to fill its ADI examiner vacancies and increase the capacity for additional part two and part three tests.

DVSA has recently undertaken a campaign to recruit an additional 10 examiners this financial year with additional campaigns planned for 2026-27.

DVSA recommends trainee instructors use the ‘Book to Hold’ service. All tests must be paid for at the time of booking, including where tests are booked to ‘hold’. This gives DVSA an accurate picture of where demand is, and it can then ensure that it deploys its examiner resources in the right areas. Once approved driving instructor examiner programmes have been finalised, DVSA will contact those on the hold list in the order they booked their test to hold to arrange a test whilst also mindful of regulatory deadline for the qualification process.

The operation of the Mersey Gateway crossings is the responsibility of Halton Borough Council. Over 97% of drivers using the two bridges pay the charge on time, and fewer than 0.5% neither pay on time nor the penalty charge within 42 days. It is a matter of fairness to the great majority of people who pay on time that the operator of the crossing seeks to collect the debt from those who do not do so. Anyone who receives a penalty charge should respond quickly, using the information on the notice.

The operation of each toll bridge is the responsibility of the body that owns it, in this case Halton Borough Council. Furthermore, most toll bridges collect payments at toll-booths which minimises the risk of non-payment. Where free-flow charging is used, as at the Mersey Gateway crossings, operators offer numerous ways to pay to maximise compliance rates. National regulations specify the maximum penalty charge that may be imposed for non-payment at the Dartford Crossing and the Mersey Gateway bridges. If penalty charges go unpaid, enforcement agents may be used to collect the debt. The Enforcement

Conduct Board provides independent oversight of the enforcement industry to ensure that all those who are subject to enforcement action are treated fairly.

Parliamentary Questions and their answers are publicly available on the parliament website.

The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to enabling local highway authorities to maintain and renew their local highway networks effectively.

For this financial year, the Department has already announced a funding uplift of £500 million compared to the last financial year for local authorities to spend on highway maintenance. 25% of this funding uplift is subject to local highway authorities demonstrating how they are complying with best practice, for example in relation to the adoption of innovative technologies to repair potholes and undertaking preventative maintenance to prevent potholes from forming in the first place.

The Department also encourages and supports innovation through its update to the Code of Practice for Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure, which will include guidance on matters such as innovative surface treatments.

The is also supporting the £30 million Live Labs 2 innovation programme which is supporting the local highway sector to demonstrate innovative low-carbon ways of maintaining local highways. It includes projects that are testing and evaluating novel surfacing materials for the benefit of the whole highways sector.

We know that children in separated families are more likely to live in poverty than those in non-separated families. Child maintenance payments through both statutory and non-statutory arrangements keep approximately 120,000 children out of poverty each year.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) works hard to make sure parents pay in full and on time to minimise delays in payments.

Where parents fail to take responsibility for paying for their children, the CMS will not hesitate to use the range enforcement powers available. The CMS is committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families. CMS has implemented significant improvements to speed up action when payments first break down, targeting enforcement actions more effectively.

CMS undertake regular quality assurance checks to ensure processes are delivered accurately, reducing the requirement for rework and reinforcing our aim to ‘get it right first time’. These measures demonstrate our commitment to minimising delays and ensuring that child maintenance reaches children promptly.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) relies on receiving accurate and current information to make child maintenance assessments. If additional or new evidence is provided after a child maintenance assessment has been made for example a Mandatory Reconsideration this can lead to corrective action being taken.

As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) the demand for the service is increasing. To allow the CMS to meet this demand and provide an efficient service the service continuously looks at the resources they have and where it should focus their efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to their customers.

The CMS reviews overall resource supply and takes appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet current demands. The CMS has an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2026; this will ensure the CMS is resourced to meet current and future forecasted demand.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) relies on receiving accurate and current information to make child maintenance assessments. If additional or new evidence is provided after a child maintenance assessment has been made for example a Mandatory Reconsideration this can lead to corrective action being taken.

As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) the demand for the service is increasing. To allow the CMS to meet this demand and provide an efficient service the service continuously looks at the resources they have and where it should focus their efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to their customers.

The CMS reviews overall resource supply and takes appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet current demands. The CMS has an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2026; this will ensure the CMS is resourced to meet current and future forecasted demand.

As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) the demand for its service is increasing. To allow it to meet this demand and provide an efficient service, the CMS continuously reviews its resources and where to focus its efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to customers.

The CMS reviews its overall resource supply and takes appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet current demands. The service is currently resourced at a level appropriate to its operational demand, ensuring that support is directed to the teams and functions where it is most needed.

There is an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2026; this will ensure CMS continues to be resourced to meet current and future forecast demand.

As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) the demand for its service is increasing. To allow it to meet this demand and provide an efficient service, the CMS continuously reviews its resources and where to focus its efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to customers.

The CMS reviews its overall resource supply and takes appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet current demands. The service is currently resourced at a level appropriate to its operational demand, ensuring that support is directed to the teams and functions where it is most needed.

There is an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2026; this will ensure CMS continues to be resourced to meet current and future forecast demand.