Written questions by Asato.

With reference to her Department’s statutory guidance entitled Children missing education - Statutory guidance for local authorities, updated August 2024, when she plans to update the guidance; and if she will make it her policy to regularly update the guidance to adapt to emerging trends and needs as indicated by new data collected.

The department conducted a call for evidence from 18 May to 20 July 2023 on ‘Improving support for children missing education’ to understand the sector’s current approach to identifying and supporting children missing education (CME), and to inform any changes which will help us to improve this support.To address current challenges in identifying and supporting CME, the department has already:Established an aggregate termly local authority data collection on CME to improve our understanding of the CME cohort nationally and locally.Held workshops and information sessions for local authorities to improve the consistency of recording of CME data.Held best practice webinars on CME for schools and local authorities. Following the call for evidence, the department is reviewing its CME guidance with a view to publishing an updated version in due course.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing annual statistics on the number of children who miss education due to long term illness; and if she will publish statistics on the child's (a) region, (b) age, (c) ethnicity, (d) gender and (e) type of illness.

The department collects data on children missing education from local authorities. The latest data, including breakdowns by geography, characteristic and length of time missing education, is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education/2024-25-autumn-term. This includes data by region, age, ethnicity and gender.The department does not yet publish data on physical health or mental health as a primary reason for children missing education. However, these fields have been added to the aggregate termly local authority data collection for the first time beginning autumn 2025 and will be included in the next official statistics release.Data on pupil absence is collected via the school census and the latest publication is here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2023-24. Reasons for absence are included in the publication, including the illness rate.

What plans her Department has to support schools to develop timetabling expertise in order to enable more flexible working patterns for teachers (a) who are mothers and (b) generally.

The department is taking action to support and promote flexible working in schools for all teachers and leaders. We have published non-statutory guidance alongside our flexible working toolkit, which includes practical resources to help leaders implement flexible working and to support school staff to request it. We have also clarified the position on planning, preparation and assessment time, so that schools are aware that teachers can use this time more flexibly. This can include taking it in a single chunk of time, or working from home, where the school deems this operationally feasible.The department is also funding support for teachers and school leaders. We are delivering a culture change programme, focused on embedding flexible working in schools and multi-academy trusts (MATs). This programme allows schools to access support to overcome the perceived or practical barriers they face to implementing flexible working. This includes peer support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and MATs, and the delivery of supportive webinars, including several specifically addressing how timetabling can support flexible working.Our programme also offers practical support on combining flexible working with life as a parent and has a range of tailored content such as a webinar on making a flexible working request when returning from parental leave.

Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to update the Government's loneliness strategy, entitled, A connected society: a strategy for tackling loneliness, published on 15 October 2018.

The Government is committed to supporting people to have the social connections they need. This is a key part of achieving wider government priorities across health, community cohesion, and supporting young people. Rather than a standalone strategy for tackling loneliness, we are embedding this important issue in wider government strategies, including the new National Youth Strategy which is due to be released in the autumn. The National Youth Strategy will set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.

Whether his Department plans to develop central commissioning guidance for clinically-based domestic violence and abuse specialists.

In May 2025, the Department of Health and Social Care worked with the Ministry of Justice in developing central commissioning guidance for Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) working in a range of settings, including healthcare. These advocates provide tailored emotional and practical support to victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse, regardless of whether the victim is reporting to the police. The guidance advises commissioners to consider how they resource and encourage ISVA and IDVA services to best serve victims' needs, for example considering additional specialised training beyond an advocate’s core role.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of her Department's age-assessment process for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children; and what steps she is taking to ensure that children are treated as children unless evidence proves otherwise.

Assessing the age of unaccompanied children is an incredibly complex and difficult task, and the Home Office is currently assessing which scientific methods and artificial intelligence can best improve age assessment methods. The Government will inform Parliament of any decisions on this policy area in due course.All policy development is carried out with regard to section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and the best interests of the child.

What recent steps her Department has taken to publish (a) the number of people claiming to be children who have been assessed as adults on first arrival and (b) the number later found to be children following further assessment.

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Available data on the number of raised and resolved age disputes is published in table Asy_D05 of the asylum detailed tables. Updated data will be included in a future edition of the Immigration System Statistics release.

What recent steps her Department has taken to review the (a) accuracy, (b) ethics and (c) fairness of (i) scientific methods and (ii) artificial intelligence tools used to assess the age of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children; and what child-centred safeguards are in place to protect their welfare.

Assessing the age of unaccompanied children is an incredibly complex and difficult task, and the Home Office is currently assessing which scientific methods and artificial intelligence can best improve age assessment methods. The Government will inform Parliament of any decisions on this policy area in due course.All policy development is carried out with regard to section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and the best interests of the child.

What the cost to the public purse was of establishing and operating the National Age Assessment Board; and if she will divert this expenditure into training social workers in local authorities.

Due to the operational nature of the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB), the costs are subject to change and are currently not published. The Home Office continues to keep all aspects of the immigration system under review, including the best process for conducting age assessments.

Whether the children who will now receive free school meals will also be eligible for the Holiday Activities and Food Programme.

This government has taken another step towards delivering our Plan for Change with our announcement that all children in households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals (FSM) from September 2026. This unprecedented step will put £500 back into families’ pockets and lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty, breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling the scar of child poverty across our country.Giving children access to a nutritious meal during the school day also leads to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and the best chance to succeed in work and life.The government remains committed to the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme to ensure children can benefit from enriching activities and healthy meals during the school holidays too. Local authorities already have flexibility to use up to 15% of their HAF funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for children who are not in receipt of benefits-related FSM, but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF provision.We are providing more than £200 million funding for the HAF programme this year. Further to the spending review, once the departmental business planning process has concluded, we will confirm details of HAF funding beyond the current financial year.

Whether the Warm Homes Plan will include clean heating solutions required in rural areas as well as urban areas.

Our ambitious Warm Homes Plan will support investment in households, including both rural and urban areas, to install energy efficiency measures and low carbon heating to save families money on their bills. Heat pumps, along with heat networks, will be the primary technologies for decarbonising home heating over the next decade.The Government has committed £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency. This includes the new Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG), which will provide support for low-income households living in privately owned EPC band D-G homes both on and off the gas grid in England. The WH:LG will be delivered from 2025 to 2028 by eligible local authorities.

Whether the Warm Homes Plan will include the decarbonisation of rural off-grid households.

Our ambitious Warm Homes Plan will support investment in households, including rural off-grid households, to install energy efficiency measures and low carbon heating to save families money on their bills. The Government has committed £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency. This includes the new Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG), which will provide support for low-income households living in privately owned EPC band D-G homes both on and off the gas grid in England. The WH:LG will be delivered from 2025 to 2028 by eligible local authorities.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of a mandatory disclosure regime for financial services providers on activities to improve financial inclusion.

Ensuring individuals have access to the appropriate financial products and services they need is a key priority for the Government. This is why I have committed to publish a Financial Inclusion Strategy later this year which will examine the barriers consumers face and further action industry and Government can take in partnership to address them. This includes a focus on: (i) digital inclusion and access to banking; (ii) savings; (iii) insurance; (iv) affordable credit; (v) problem debt and (vi) financial education and capability.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of prosecutions for child truancy from school on mothers.

Absence is one of the biggest barriers to success for children and young people. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, limiting their opportunity to succeed. This government is committed to improving school attendance through our ‘support-first’ approach which seeks to foster strong relationships between families, schools, local authorities and other relevant local services. This ensures that support is made available at an early stage to help children to improve their school attendance. This approach is set out in our statutory attendance guidance, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.Schools, local authorities and other partners should always work together to understand and remove the barriers to attendance. The guidance, which came into effect last August, specifically underlines the importance of working in partnership with families. It also details when Notices to Improve should be issued as a final opportunity for a parent to engage in support and improve attendance before legal intervention is pursued.The decision to prosecute rests solely with the local authority, but paragraph 164 of the guidance sets out factors for their consideration, including public interest tests and equalities considerations.The department’s attendance guidance is based on best practice and was introduced following full public consultation.

Whether her Department plans to take steps to help minimise the potential impact of prosecutions for child truancy from school on mothers.

Absence is one of the biggest barriers to success for children and young people. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, limiting their opportunity to succeed. This government is committed to improving school attendance through our ‘support-first’ approach which seeks to foster strong relationships between families, schools, local authorities and other relevant local services. This ensures that support is made available at an early stage to help children to improve their school attendance. This approach is set out in our statutory attendance guidance, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.Schools, local authorities and other partners should always work together to understand and remove the barriers to attendance. The guidance, which came into effect last August, specifically underlines the importance of working in partnership with families. It also details when Notices to Improve should be issued as a final opportunity for a parent to engage in support and improve attendance before legal intervention is pursued.The decision to prosecute rests solely with the local authority, but paragraph 164 of the guidance sets out factors for their consideration, including public interest tests and equalities considerations.The department’s attendance guidance is based on best practice and was introduced following full public consultation.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for its policies of recommendation 4 of the report by the Older People’s Housing Taskforce entitled Our future homes: Housing that promotes wellbeing and community for an ageing population, published on 26 November 2024.

The government is giving careful consideration to the recommendations in the final report of the Older People’s Housing Taskforce and are committed to enhancing provision and choice for older people in the housing market. We will continue to consider this issue as we develop our long-term housing strategy.

Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to promote the use of provenance metadata on content shared online to help reduce disinformation.

Government recognises the potential for online mis- and disinformation to undermine public trust in the information environment. Mis- and disinformation should be tackled through a multi-faceted, whole of society approach. Solutions that enable users and institutions to critically evaluate information online, including discerning whether a piece of content is AI-generated, are a key part of this approach.We recognise the interest in the use of provenance and metadata to identify AI-generated and modified content. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is working with other government departments and agencies to explore these technologies, alongside other technical measures.

Innovation and Technology, what plans his Department has to prevent social media companies from removing provenance metadata from content posted online.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is working with other government departments and agencies to explore the efficacy of technologies that seek to use provenance and metadata to improve the transparency of AI-generated and modified content posted online.As part of this work, we will be engaging with a range of stakeholders, including relevant online services, to understand further the role that these technologies can play in delivering a trusted online environment and the role these technologies should play in keeping users safe online.

Innovation and Technology, what his planned timetable is for responding to the recommendations of the report entitled Creating a safer world: the challenge of regulating online pornography, published on 27 February 2025.

Services in scope of the Online Safety Act are already required to take action to tackle horrific illegal pornographic content and will be required prevent children accessing all pornographic content. The Secretary of State has met Baroness Bertin to discuss her review. The review’s findings continue to be assessed by the Government and an update will be provided in due course.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has had engagement with the Child Poverty Taskforce on (a) furnished tenancies and (b) the potential impact of the decent homes standard on trends in the level of furniture poverty.

The government will consult this year on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sectors.The Deputy Prime Minister is part of the ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, which is aiming to publish a Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025. As part of the development of the strategy, the Taskforce is considering the impacts of living in poor quality housing.People in need may be able to get help for essential furniture from their local council through the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally.