Written questions by Barker.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce prison officer vacancies in (a) public prisons and (b) prisons run by contractors.

We remain committed to ensuring prisons are sufficiently resourced and that we retain and build levels of experience, both of which are fundamental to delivering quality outcomes in prisons. As of December 2024, there are 23,062 Band 3-5 Prison officers in post and nationally we are at 97.2% of our Target Staffing Figure, based on hours adjusted FTE. Substantive recruitment efforts will continue at all sites where vacancies exist or are projected, with targeted interventions applied to those prisons with the most need.In private sector prisons, Directors (who are equivalent to Governing Governors in public sector prisons) manage vacancies in line with the contract set by the Government. If there are particularly acute resourcing challenges, we sometimes send HMPPS staff on detached duty to support sites.

What assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of (a) arrests and (b) cost of enforcement of the Public Order Act 2023 since its implementation.

The Home Office does not hold the requested data, but the department has published statistics on arrests for public order offences in the year ending March 2024, the first statistical series since the Public Order Act 2023 was implemented:Stop and search, arrests and mental health detentions, March 2024 - GOV.UKWe have committed to holding expedited post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023, beginning in May 2025. This process will include an assessment of how the Act has worked in practice since it came into force, which will include the number of arrests made and the enforcement of the Act.

Innovation and Technology, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing funding for research into the role of technology in gender based violence.

The government is working with Ofcom, the independent online safety regulator, to implement the Online Safety Act. The Act requires platforms to proactively tackle illegal content and content harmful to children, much of which disproportionately affects women and girls.Ofcom and the government have ongoing online safety research programmes. On 6 February, DSIT published research entitled ‘Platform design and the risk of online violence against women and girls’ which can found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67a39e2cad556423b636cadd/Platform_design_risk_of_online_violence_against_women_girls_A.pdf

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of rail connectivity between Liverpool and the mid Cheshire town of Winsford.

No specific assessment has recently been made of the adequacy of train services between Liverpool and Winsford. West Midlands Trains, who operate London North-Western Railway, keeps train loadings under review and is expected to adjust train lengths where possible if required.

Innovation and Technology, whether funding made available for the AstraZeneca vaccine project in Liverpool will remain available for other life science projects in the Liverpool City region.

The Government supports the vibrant life sciences sector, which contributes £108 billion to the economy and 300,000 jobs nationwide. A new Life Sciences Sector Plan, part of the upcoming Industrial Strategy, is due to be published in late Spring. This will set out a comprehensive plan of how the Government intends to drive growth in the sector. In addition, the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund will allocate up to £520 million to deliver economic growth and build health resilience, and is available UK-wide, including to projects in the Liverpool City region

Whether her Department has engaged with London Northwestern Railway on improving rail connectivity between Liverpool and the mid Cheshire town of Winsford.

No specific discussions have been held with London Northwestern on the subject of the adequacy of train services between Liverpool and Winsford. West Midlands Trains, who operate London Northwestern, keep train loadings under review and is expected to propose adjustments to train lengths and timetables where possible if required.

Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help protect (a) women and (b) girls from deepfake pornography.

Online safety is a priority for government. Services in scope of the Online Safety Act must remove illegal content and protect children from harmful content - including when this content is AI-generated. Services providing pornographic content must use highly effective age assurance to ensure that children cannot access it.We are committed to tackling the atrocious harm posed by the creation of non-consensual intimate images and are bringing in legislation to criminalise this behaviour in the Data (Use and Access) Bill.

Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the growth of AI on individual employment sectors.

We are already witnessing AI’s impact within the labour market: transforming the workplace, demanding new skills and displacing old ones. The Government will work to harness the benefits that AI can bring – such as productivity gains, rising living standards, and improved worker wellbeing – while managing potential risks.The Get Britain Working White Paper from DWP, HMT and DfE sets out how we will address key labour market challenges. We continue to work closely with these and other government departments through the AI Opportunities Action Plan.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of AI on structural unemployment.

We are already witnessing AI’s impact within the labour market: transforming the workplace, demanding new skills and displacing old ones. The Government will work to harness the benefits that AI can bring – such as productivity gains, rising living standards, and improved worker wellbeing – while managing potential risks.The Get Britain Working White Paper from DWP, HMT and DfE sets out how we will address key labour market challenges. We continue to work closely with these and other government departments through the AI Opportunities Action Plan.

What discussions her Department has had with teachers on recent trends in the level of (a) misogynistic and (b) violent attitudes towards women and girls expressed by boys in education settings.

As set out in the government’s Plan for Change, the Safer Streets Mission aims to reduce serious harm and increase public confidence in policing and in the criminal justice system. Integral to this is the ambition to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. The department plays an important role in delivering that ambition. The relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, currently under review, is designed to provide a comprehensive basis, from primary school onwards, for building respectful, healthy relationships, recognising prejudice and the impact of stereotypes, and understanding what counts as harmful or abusive behaviour. The guidance is clear that schools should be alive to issues such as everyday sexism, misogyny, homophobia and gender stereotypes and take positive action to build a culture where these are not tolerated, and any occurrences are identified and tackled. The RSHE curriculum is supported by teacher training modules available online. The department’s Ministers and officials engage regularly with school staff and their representative bodies on a wide range of issues, including on the behaviour of pupils and students. As part of the work to review the current RSHE statutory guidance, we have been discussing with stakeholders and are planning further engagement directly with teachers. .

Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of social media algorithms on recent trends in the level of misogynistic content targeted at (a) boys and (b) young men.

The Online Safety Act (OSA) places safety duties on in-scope user-to-user and search services. Services must employ age-appropriate measures to protect children from legal abusive and hateful misogynistic content. Additionally, the largest services (category 1) will need to remove misogynistic content where it is prohibited in their terms of service.Ofcom is the independent regulator for online safety and its draft codes include steps regarding algorithm design and operation. Ofcom will keep its codes under review.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the comments made by US President Trump on 4 February 2025 in relation to the future of Gaza.

As the Foreign Secretary has said, for the people of Gaza - so many of whom have lost lives, homes or loved ones - the last 14 months of conflict have been a living nightmare. Palestinian civilians should be able to return to, and rebuild, their homes and their lives. Our position is clear - we want to see a negotiated two-state solution, with a sovereign Palestinian state, which includes the West Bank and Gaza, alongside a safe and secure Israel. The UK is clear that Palestinian civilians must be permitted to return to their communities and rebuild. There must be no forcible transfer of Gazans from or within Gaza, nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza Strip. We would oppose any effort to move Palestinians in Gaza to neighbouring Arab states against their will.We continue to work together with the new US administration to ensure regional security and stability, including ensuring lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians, and we thank the US for the integral role it played in negotiating the ceasefire agreement, alongside Qatar and Egypt. The Prime Minister reiterated this in his call with President Trump on 26 January. Our shared priority must be to work together to ensure the ceasefire is implemented in full, becomes permanent, and supports a pathway to a sustainable peace.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the comments made by President Trump on 4 February 2025 on Palestinians in Gaza.

As the Foreign Secretary has said, for the people of Gaza - so many of whom have lost lives, homes or loved ones - the last 14 months of conflict have been a living nightmare. Palestinian civilians should be able to return to, and rebuild, their homes and their lives. Our position is clear - we want to see a negotiated two-state solution, with a sovereign Palestinian state, which includes the West Bank and Gaza, alongside a safe and secure Israel. The UK is clear that Palestinian civilians must be permitted to return to their communities and rebuild. There must be no forcible transfer of Gazans from or within Gaza, nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza Strip. We would oppose any effort to move Palestinians in Gaza to neighbouring Arab states against their will.We continue to work together with the new US administration to ensure regional security and stability, including ensuring lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians, and we thank the US for the integral role it played in negotiating the ceasefire agreement, alongside Qatar and Egypt. The Prime Minister reiterated this in his call with President Trump on 26 January. Our shared priority must be to work together to ensure the ceasefire is implemented in full, becomes permanent, and supports a pathway to a sustainable peace.

What steps her Department is taking to help (a) prevent (i) serious delays and (ii) cancellations and (b) provide adequate alternate travel provisions when weather conditions cause severe disruptions in the North West.

The Department requires train operating companies and Network Rail to put in place measures to avoid, where possible, the potential impact of disruption including as a result of weather. Network Rail owns and is responsible for maintaining railway infrastructure to ensure passenger and freight services operate safely. Officials hold regular discussions with Network Rail and industry to ensure severe weather preparedness plans are in place with clear mitigations to reduce the impacts of weather on punctuality and reliability. Network Rail Routes liaise closely with train operators to ensure comprehensive checklists are in place and to align customer messaging. Extreme Weather Action Telecons (EWATs) are stood up in anticipation of adverse or extreme weather conditions likely to impact upon rail networks, attended by Network Rail, British Transport Police, the Rail Delivery Group, train operators and the Department. EWATs coordinate the response to severe weather, for example by prepositioning people, equipment, assets to at-risk areas and implementing speed restrictions and emergency timetables where appropriate. Where services need to be cancelled, train operators will seek to provide alternative transport where possible, although there may be instances where this is not viable.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the increase in university tuition fees on university enrolment.

An Equality Impact Assessment of changes to tuition fees and student support for the 2025/26 academic year was published on GOV.UK on 20 January when the Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 were laid before Parliament. These regulations increase maximum tuition fee limits in 2025/26 by 3.1%, based on forecast inflation using the RPI All Items Excl Mortgage Interest (RPIX) inflation index.The government expects that a 3.1% increase in maximum tuition fees, which will be accompanied by a similar increase in fee loans in 2025/26 for full-time, full-time accelerated and part-time undergraduate courses, will have a broadly neutral impact as the total level of debt for students who qualify for up-front tuition fee loans should remain unchanged in real terms.The government also considers that the increase in maximum tuition fees will not significantly alter participation decisions for most students as the value of tuition fees will remain unchanged in real terms.The government plans to lay further regulations in February increasing maximum fee loans for 2025/26 by 3.1%.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure humanitarian aid continues to reach Gaza throughout the ceasefire; and what diplomatic steps he is taking to encourage a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine.

A ceasefire is just the first step towards a lasting solution to this crisis. Crucially, we need to see a sustained surge of aid into Gaza, and we will work with Israel, the UN and all partners to facilitate that. We have provided £112 million this financial year to the Occupied Palestinian territories, including £41 million for United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The UK is ready to play a leading role with international and regional partners, in securing a permanently better future for the Israeli and Palestinian people, based on tangible progress towards a Palestinian state, with Gaza and the West Bank united under one government. Palestinians must be given a credible route to a Palestinian state, which is the right of the Palestinian people. We will continue working with partners to support a path to long term peace and stability with a two-state solution: a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state.

What recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) Pensions Act 1995 and (b) Pensions Act 2011 on women.

No recent assessments have been made.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment on the potential merits of rolling out Housing First pilots to all combined authorities.

The three Housing First pilot areas secured funding up to March 2025 through the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25. From April 2025, local and combined authorities have the flexibility to choose to continue provision of their Housing First or Housing Led services through the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant allocations.The Deputy Prime Minister is also leading cross-government work to develop a strategy to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. Work to develop the strategy also includes working with representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector, local and combined authorities and wider experts to assess what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill on disabled people in receipt of the Personal Independence Payment.

The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill will help the Government to better identify, prevent and deter public sector fraud and error and enable the better recovery of debt owed to the taxpayer. Safeguarding vulnerable claimants is always a priority. All the powers included in the Bill include strong safeguards ensuring they are used appropriately and proportionately – including new oversight and reporting mechanisms.

What support is available for pensioners to assist with pension credit applications.

The Government wants those eligible for Pension Credit but not currently claiming it to receive the benefits they are entitled to. We know there are low-income pensioners who are not claiming Pension Credit, and we urge those people to apply. We encourage all pensioners who may be eligible for Pension Credit to use the Pension Credit calculator - GOV.UK to check eligibility and to use our online Pension Credit claims process. Claims for Pension Credit can be made online at: www.gov.uk/pension-credit/how-to-claim. The service is available to use 24/7, and provides those who may struggle to make their claim alone the flexibility to have a friend or family member to support them when making their claim at a time that is most convenient to them. Pension Credit claims can also be made through the Freephone telephone number 0800 99 1234, and there is an option to complete a paper application form. DWP Agents and third-party organisations are available to support customers with the application process. For customers who are unable to complete forms themselves a home visit from a visiting officer can be arranged. For customers who are deaf and use British Sign Language a Video Relay Service (known as VRS) is available and for customers who cannot hear or speak on the phone, can use Relay UK service. Further information can be found on Gov.uk Pension Credit easy read.