Speeches by Phillipson.

“That consultation is under way. We will take whatever steps are necessary in order to maintain confidence. I am not clear whether or what form of legislation might be required, or whether the Home Secretary may be able to discharge her functions in a way that delivers on what I think is essential around police forces h…”

“It is essential that everyone in our society is able to live free of abuse and free of such unacceptable targeting, including online. Sadly, in the world in which we live, we know this happens far too often to too many people. I would always encourage anyone who is targeted online or receives abuse of any form in perso…”

“The last Government launched a consultation on RSHE, which concluded not long after the formation of this Government. I agree that it is incredibly important that all young people have access to high-quality RSHE, particularly covering crucial areas such as consent and healthy relationships, in a way that is age-approp…”

“My understanding is that that is the case, but I can make sure the Home Office provides you with a more comprehensive update on that. The Home Office also wants to ensure that there is a more consistent approach overall to data gathering, because there is variation between different police forces.”

“Just to add to that, there is work going on across Government. While the Deputy Prime Minister leads this, I attended the first meeting of the cross-governmental steering group that she set up. The Department for Education is also represented as a part of that work. We know that this is about the wider services that ar…”

“This is a DFT lead but we are committed across Government to making sure we improve accessibility to the railway; we know it is absolutely crucial. We are considering our approach to Access for All. We are not able to offer comment on specific stations or projects at this stage, other than to say that a further eight a…”

“Home Office colleagues believe the best measure of VAWG is prevalence, as reported through the crime survey for England and Wales, but we are working with the ONS across Government on producing headline measures overall, so a suite of metrics where we can work towards the halving of violence against women and girls in …”

“Yes, of course.”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely. Let me begin by saying thanks so much for the opportunity to be in front of the Committee today. We will seek to keep our answers short to get through as much as we can and follow your steer on providing more information in writing as required. It is an enormous privilege to do this job, and we have a fanta…”

“Over the next two years we want to have made significant progress on a number of our key manifesto commitments, particularly when it comes to legislative priorities, and we can go into more detail on that. Anneliese is leading on the legislation. We have the Employment Rights Bill scheduled to receive Royal Assent with…”

“It is an enormous challenge. If you do not mind, Chair, I will defer to Anneliese, who leads on this area for us.”

“I will keep it brief, but I lead the opportunity mission, working across Government to tackle issues around socioeconomic disadvantage—making sure that your background does not determine all that you can go on to achieve. I also sit on all five of the mission boards, which means that the work on equalities runs through…”

“I understand your concerns. If I may, Chair, I will ensure that further information is provided on all those points.”

“No, I understand, and it is a very reasonable question. Both of us have a busy set of responsibilities, but if you want something doing, you usually ask a busy person, don’t you? More seriously, we are both able to dedicate the necessary time to this crucial work. I find the work that I do around equalities, together w…”

“I know this is something a number of Members have raised, including recently in debates and questions in the House, and I know it speaks to wider challenges in the family courts overall, which is something, again, that the Lord Chancellor is keen to make progress on. I will return to the Committee with further informat…”

“The Home Secretary has set out ambitious plans to make sure we can all have confidence in the police. That also goes to questions around ensuring there is the highest quality of vetting to ensure that those who discharge their responsibilities as police officers are of the highest standards and that we can be completel…”

“The Home Office is currently consulting in this area around vetting and that consultation is due to conclude very soon. In response to what you describe, the Home Secretary set out yesterday that we intend to make rapid progress in ensuring that police forces have the powers at their disposal to ensure that the officer…”

“I can certainly put that point to Treasury. My instinct is that what you are asking for is not necessarily straightforward, but I will happily ensure that that is picked up with Treasury. I would also emphasise that, while we believe as a Government that it was necessary to make that tax change, we protected the smalle…”

“This is obviously a Treasury lead. My understanding is that various assessments were undertaken as a part of that, but not in the way you describe, which is in line with previous changes to national insurance contributions and how that would have been approached. The Government will be providing support for Departments…”