Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

The Managing Director of the Parliamentary Digital Service replied on 6 January 2025.

The Office for Equality and Opportunity plans to strengthen protections against workplace sexual harassment through the Employment Rights Bill. These measures intend to amend the Equality Act 2010 to:
● require employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees;
● introduce an obligation on employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties, and;
● enable regulations to specify steps that are to be regarded as “reasonable”, to determine whether an employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.

Prevalence across a range of Violence Against Women and Girls offences, including sexual harassment, is currently measured through the Crime Survey for England and Wales which is run continuously throughout each financial year by the Office for National Statistics, with data published quarterly.

The Government is continuing its work to halve Violence Against Women and Girls in a decade.

This Government is committed to recouping public money lost in pandemic-related fraud. As promised in our manifesto, the Government appointed a Covid Counter-Fraud Commissioner, Mr Tom Hayhoe on 3 December. He is expected to engage with both the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Serious Fraud Office.

The CPS continues to bring those who have fraudulently exploited the pandemic to justice. In September 2024, an entrepreneur was sentenced to 18 months in prison for fraudulently securing a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan, which he misused for personal expenses and legal costs.

This Government is committed to halving knife crime in the next decade as set out in our Safer Streets Mission.

From Tuesday 24 September, it will be illegal to own zombie-style knives and machetes as they will be added to the list of dangerous prohibited items already banned, including zombie knives, butterfly knives, Samurai swords, and push daggers. The Government will also legislate to ban ninja swords and strengthen rules to prevent online sales of knives.

The Crown Prosecution Service and National Police Chiefs’ Council also work closely to prevent and tackle knife crime. Guidance setting out their joint approach to knife crime offending can be found here: Offensive Weapons, Knife Crime Practical Guidance | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk).

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon. Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 3 January is attached.

The Government is considering the Liaison Committee's report and looks forward to discussing it with the incoming Chair once elected.

The Government is considering the Liaison Committee's report and looks forward to discussing it with the incoming Chair once elected.

The definition is detailed in the Functional Standards Common Glossary, which is published on the gov.uk website.

The Cabinet Office is committed to improving its productivity, including through artificial intelligence (AI) and effective use of data.

The Cabinet Office Data Strategy promotes the use of high quality data and analytics to gain insights that drive decision making and operational effectiveness.

In parallel, we are growing the department’s AI capabilities through the design and application of a range of solutions, including Redbox which is a tool to help staff perform research, drafting and reviewing faster, reducing administrative burdens and improving response times for stakeholders. Other solutions are also in development (e.g. machine learning applications and generative AI) to automate and accelerate routine business operations and policy activity.

We draw on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform our AI and data usage. For example, the Generative AI Framework, the Data Maturity Assessment, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, the Data Ethics Framework, and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard.

The department also has access to the Central Digital & Data Office, based in the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, for expert advice.

We will continue to regularly review our usage of AI and data to maximise productivity benefits for staff and the public.

Government is committed to ensuring that only safe products can be sold in the UK. Under the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011, all toys placed on the market must meet essential safety requirements.

Where products are identified that do not meet these requirements, the Office for Product Safety and Standards works with local Trading Standards to bring these into compliance with the regulation, or to remove them from sale.

The growth in e-commerce has brought significant challenges to the product safety legal framework. The Product Regulation and Metrology Bill will enable regulations to be updated to better reflect modern online supply chains.

UK product safety regulations require that only safe consumer products be placed on the market. Importers must ensure their products comply with these regulations, including any requirements covering chemicals or banned substances. Distributors have a duty of care to not sell products they know, or should know, are unsafe.

National and local regulators enforce these regulations, including using data and intelligence to target checks on dangerous and non-compliant products entering the UK at the border and sold online.

The Government's Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, introduced to Parliament in September, provides powers to further strengthen the UK's product safety framework.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) works closely with local authorities and investment partners to monitor and support the impact of foreign direct investment in the Berkshire area.

Official statistics at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbt-inward-investment-results-2023-to-2024 show that Foreign Direct Investment projects created 1,270 new jobs in Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) in 2021-22, 746 in 2022-23 and 399 in 2023-24.

The definition is detailed in the Functional Standards Common Glossary, which is published on the gov.uk website.

Revitalising our high streets is a priority for this government. The Secretary of State and I are working with MHCLG to engage colleagues across Whitehall in delivering a cross-government approach for creating better conditions for high street businesses to thrive.

This means addressing anti-social behaviour and crime, working with the banking industry to roll out 350 banking hubs, reforming business rates, stamping out late payments, empowering communities to make the most of the vacant properties, strengthening the Post Office network, and upgrading the new apprenticeship levy.

The definition is detailed in the Functional Standards Common Glossary, which is published on the gov.uk website.

Businesses have a vital role to play in the transition to net zero, from decarbonising their own operations, to working across their sectors and supply chains.

Small and medium-sized businesses can visit the UK Business Climate Hub, which is run in partnership with government, for advice and sources of finance or support on reducing emissions.

Climate Change Agreements provide tax discounts for businesses reducing their emissions, and the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund supports industrial sites with high energy use to transition.

DESNZ is committed to improving its productivity, including through the use of artificial intelligence and effective use of data.

All DESNZ staff have access to Copilot for the web, a work-safe generative AI tool that helps summarise and draft text. In addition, as part of a large-scale, cross-government experiment led by the CDDO, around a third of all DESNZ staff have been given a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, which allows them to utilise generative AI within tools such as Word, Excel and Outlook, and can base responses on their own data (documents, emails, and messages). The experiment began on 30 September and runs through to 29 December and will conclude with a report from the CDDO to set out the case for adopting a tool like M365 Copilot in the longer-term.

We are also building our inhouse capability to develop AI tools at DESNZ. For example, our Advanced Analytics team are currently exploring multiple use cases that allow DESNZ staff to retrieve key information needed for their work more efficiently, including information from past impact assessments, lessons learnt logs and statistics from our Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) publications.

DESNZ has an internal adoption of AI working group which leads on supporting the development of departmental use-cases for Artificial Intelligence, as well as the guardrails, rules and playbooks that govern the safe, secure and ethical use of this technology, ensuring alignment to the Central Digital and Data Office’ Generative AI Framework for Government.

DESNZ's Data Strategy and Governance team are currently developing a data strategy for DESNZ that sets out our strategic ambition for how we collect, manage and use data as a Department. This includes time-saving measures around making it easier for DESNZ staff to locate and access data, making it easier for data to be shared across organisational boundaries, reducing the time taken to ingest, process and cleanse it, and introducing standards that make it easier to aggregate and compare across policies and programmes.

We will continue to regularly review our usage of AI and data to maximise productivity benefits.

We recognise there may be value in government documents, such as the digital driving licence, being available through private sector wallets that have been certified as part of the government's Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework. There are no current plans but we are open to exploring this in the future. Currently, Apple, Google and Samsung Wallets are not certified, but may choose to become so in the future.

Consumers can retain their existing mobile number when renewing their contract or moving to a new contract.

Ofcom has in place rules on retaining an existing number when moving providers, known as "porting", but these only apply when the consumer is leaving one provider and joining a new one.

We would expect mobile operators retaining customers who are changing contract to be motivated to help them retain their existing number should they wish to. People should speak directly to their provider if they are experiencing any issues.

The definition is detailed in the Functional Standards Common Glossary, which is published on the gov.uk website.

The Government meets regularly with a range of stakeholders related to online safety, including social media platforms, to discuss implementation of the Online Safety Act, and the duties it will place on services to tackle illegal content, and content harmful to children, on their sites.

Ministerial meetings and engagements are published through quarterly transparency reports on gov.uk.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is committed to improving its productivity, including through artificial intelligence and effective use of data.

1. For example, approximately 1,500 staff across DSIT and arms-length bodies are participating in the cross-government Microsoft 365 Copilot experiment led by CDDO. Staff are using Copilot to summarise policy papers and briefings, support initial document drafting, to extract insights from data, and retrieve information within the department or online.
2. We use data and analysis to inform decision making in the department, identify potential improvements, and ensure optimal allocation of funding/resources. We also make use of secure data platforms and reproducible analytical pipelines for data analysis, thus enabling faster, data-driven decisions.

We draw on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform our AI and data usage. For example, the Generative AI Framework, the Data Maturity Assessment, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, the Data Ethics Framework, and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard.

The department also has access to the Central Digital & Data Office for expert advice.

We will continue to regularly review our usage of AI and data to maximise productivity benefits for staff and the public.

Libraries are a vital public resource, helping to inspire, educate, support and entertain people of all ages and backgrounds. The range of outcomes they help to achieve is substantial and varied, and the government is therefore committed to ensuring that libraries continue to thrive.

Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. They are responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources.

The department, as part of its regular monitoring and review of changes to local authority library service provision, has engaged with Slough Council and the other Councils in Berkshire on a number of occasions to discuss issues related to their respective library service.

I understand that as at 31 December 2023 the statutory library provision delivered by Slough Council was four local authority-run static libraries and of the other five Councils in Berkshire (Bracknell Forest, Reading, West Berkshire, Windsor & Maidenhead and Wokingham) there were 46 local authority-run static libraries.

The government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024-25.

Libraries are a vital public resource, helping to inspire, educate, support and entertain people of all ages and backgrounds. The range of outcomes they help to achieve is substantial and varied, and the government is therefore committed to ensuring that libraries continue to thrive.

Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. They are responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources.

The department, as part of its regular monitoring and review of changes to local authority library service provision, has engaged with Slough Council and the other Councils in Berkshire on a number of occasions to discuss issues related to their respective library service.

I understand that as at 31 December 2023 the statutory library provision delivered by Slough Council was four local authority-run static libraries and of the other five Councils in Berkshire (Bracknell Forest, Reading, West Berkshire, Windsor & Maidenhead and Wokingham) there were 46 local authority-run static libraries.

The government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024-25.

Libraries are a vital public resource, helping to inspire, educate, support and entertain people of all ages and backgrounds. The range of outcomes they help to achieve is substantial and varied, and the government is therefore committed to ensuring that libraries continue to thrive.

Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. They are responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources.

The department, as part of its regular monitoring and review of changes to local authority library service provision, has engaged with Slough Council and the other Councils in Berkshire on a number of occasions to discuss issues related to their respective library service.

I understand that as at 31 December 2023 the statutory library provision delivered by Slough Council was four local authority-run static libraries and of the other five Councils in Berkshire (Bracknell Forest, Reading, West Berkshire, Windsor & Maidenhead and Wokingham) there were 46 local authority-run static libraries.

The government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024-25.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we are committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential. Over the past three years, Slough has received funding from the Million Hours Fund and via our support for the Duke of Edinburgh Award. These funds create new opportunities for young people to access regular activities, volunteering and adventures away from home.

Our government has also recently announced the co-production of an ambitious new National Youth Strategy, which will be produced together with young people and the youth sector. This Strategy will better coordinate youth services, as well as move away from national, one-size-fits all programmes from government, bringing power back to young people and their communities and rebuilding a thriving and sustainable sector.

The Strategy will be published next year.

The definition is detailed in the Functional Standards Common Glossary, which is published on the gov.uk website.

Religious education (RE) is an important subject that should provide pupils with an opportunity to learn about a wide range of religious and non-religious beliefs. RE should help pupils to better understand the values and traditions of different religious communities, which is why it remains a compulsory subject in all state-funded schools in England for each pupil up to the age of 18.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review led by Professor Becky Francis. It will publish an interim report in the early spring and a final report with recommendations later this year.

This government has committed to widening the apprenticeships offer into a growth and skills offer, which will provide greater flexibility to employers and learners across the country, including in Slough and the South East. It will also align with the industrial strategy, creating routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries, such as construction.

As a first step, this will include shorter duration and foundation apprenticeships in targeted sectors, helping more people learn new high-quality skills at work, fuelling innovation in businesses across the country and providing high quality entry pathways for young people.

In addition, as part of this government’s ambitious plan to rebuild Britain and deliver 1.5 million homes in England in this Parliament, 32 new Homebuilding Skills Hubs will deliver fast-track training in critical areas such as bricklaying, groundwork, and site carpentry to boost housebuilding and drive forward the government’s growth mission. Hubs will be established in areas where large-scale homebuilding projects lead to a surge in demand. These Hubs will help deliver around 5,000 more construction apprenticeship places per year by 2027/28, through a £140 million industry investment to get Britain building again.

The Children and Families Act 2014 requires local authorities to work with a wide range of partners, including schools and colleges, health and social care partners and, crucially, parents and young people, to develop their Local Offer of services and provision for special educational needs (SEN). This recognises the differing circumstances of each local area and places decision-making with the local authority. In responding to different local needs, the department would expect to see variation in the way needs are met across local authorities, including variation in the rates of education, health and care (EHC) plans.

Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to assess whether children and young people have SEN that require an EHC plan. A local authority must conduct an EHC needs assessment if the child or young person has or may have SEN and it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made in accordance with an EHC plan.

If the local authority issues an EHC plan, it must secure the special educational provision it specifies, working with its health and social care partners, who have separate duties.

Local authorities identified as having issues with EHC plan timeliness are subject to additional monitoring by the department who work with the specific local authority. Where the department has concerns about the local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, it has secured specialist special educational needs and disabilities advisor support to help identify the barriers to EHC plan process timeliness and put in place practical plans for recovery.

Over the last ten years there has been an international increase in identified special educational needs (SEN). Between 2016/17 and 2021/22, England saw a 40% increase in the percentage of pupils with an official SEN designation, whilst France saw a 49% increase and Germany a 19%.

Improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools is a key part of this government’s ambition to ensure that all children and young people receive the support they need, in the most appropriate setting. Conversations are ongoing between the department and the Department for Health and Social Care, including at Ministerial level, as we work closely on addressing the increased demand for SEN support in schools.

The department is aware of the challenges that families face in accessing support for children and young people through the long, difficult and adversarial education, health and care (EHC) plan process.

The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) code of practice is clear that local authorities must consult and work collaboratively with children, young people and their parents throughout the process of assessment and production of an EHC plan. This statutory guidance can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7dcb85ed915d2ac884d995/SEND_Code_of_Practice_January_2015.pdf. The department recognises that more efficient and effective communication with schools and families is pivotal to rebuilding and reforming this system. We have listened to parents, local authority colleagues, and partners across education, health and social care and are considering carefully how to address and improve the experience of the EHC plan process for families, including reflecting on what practice could or should be made consistent nationally.

Under the Children and Families Act (2014) it is a legal requirement that all local authorities have a Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Advice and Support Services (SENDIASS). This is to ensure families are provided with the support necessary to enable them to participate in discussions and decisions about their support, for example through their EHC plan, and strategically, for example through SEND local offers.

The department funds training and support for SENDIASS services through a contract with specialist charities which supports parents and carers of children with SEND. This contract is led by Contact, a national charity who support families with SEND. In addition, Contact also runs a national telephone helpline which offers impartial support and advice on SEND.

The department also provides grant funding to Parent Carer Forums throughout England who provide a supportive forum for parents. They work alongside local authorities, education, health and other service providers to ensure the services they plan, commission, deliver and monitor, meet the needs of children and families locally.