Written questions by Hall.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of repeat missing incidents amongst children.

The government takes the issue of missing children extremely seriously. The existing statutory guidance, ‘Children who run away or go missing from home of care’, outlines what local authorities and their partners must do to prevent and protect missing children. For example, it mandates that local authorities must offer an independent return home interview to all children who go missing from home or care. The department is updating its guidance on Child Sexual Exploitation, including how this affects children who go missing. We are investing over £500 million in the national rollout of the families first partnership programme which will implement family help and multi-agency child protection to ensure children have the right support at the right time, including those who go missing.

Whether her Department has plans to update the statutory guidance on children that (a) run away and (b) go missing from home or care.

The government takes the issue of missing children extremely seriously. The existing statutory guidance, ‘Children who run away or go missing from home of care’, outlines what local authorities and their partners must do to prevent and protect missing children. For example, it mandates that local authorities must offer an independent return home interview to all children who go missing from home or care. The department is updating its guidance on Child Sexual Exploitation, including how this affects children who go missing. We are investing over £500 million in the national rollout of the families first partnership programme which will implement family help and multi-agency child protection to ensure children have the right support at the right time, including those who go missing.

What steps she is taking to (a) reduce missing incidents and (b) provide additional support to people at risk of going missing who are care experienced.

Effective multi-agency working is the key to reducing missing person incidents, particularly for vulnerable cohorts, such as children with care experience who are at more likely to go missing repeatedly.The Missing Persons Authorised Professional Practice (APP), issued by the College of Policing, sets out best practice guidance for all missing person investigations for police forces in England and Wales in order to prevent missing incidents as well as ensure that all safeguarding partners play a role in an investigation; this includes multi-agency enquiries. The APP for missing persons is publicly available on the College’s website.In addition to the APP, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for Missing Persons has developed the ‘Multi-agency response for adults missing from health and care settings’ framework, which is being rolled out, and the ‘Missing Children from Care’ framework, which has been piloted in West Yorkshire. These frameworks outline good practice that can be adopted by local areas when setting up their own multi-agency protocols for the strategic and operational response to a missing incident, with an aim to ensure that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person.In response to concerns about unconscious bias in the police response to missing persons from BAME communities, the Home Office has funded the NPCC for Missing Persons to conduct research to explore disproportionality and discrimination in police missing persons investigations; comparing how risk is categorised in different ethnic groups. The final report is nearing completion. The NPCC lead for Missing Persons is committed to working with partner agencies to understand issues of disproportionality and addressing any issues. I will continue to monitor developments and insights from partners to ensure our response remains effective.

What steps he is taking to ensure his Department's work on reducing suicide rates includes measures to help those that have been reported missing.

The actions set out in the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England will apply to missing people where relevant. However, we are not taking any specific actions targeted at measuring and reducing suicide rates among people reported missing. As part of our mission to build a National Health Service fit for the future, we are committed to tackling suicides as one of the biggest killers, working closely with other government departments and agencies.

What steps she is taking to (a) reduce missing incidents and (b) provide additional support to people at risk of going missing from BAME communities.

Effective multi-agency working is the key to reducing missing person incidents, particularly for vulnerable cohorts, such as children with care experience who are at more likely to go missing repeatedly.The Missing Persons Authorised Professional Practice (APP), issued by the College of Policing, sets out best practice guidance for all missing person investigations for police forces in England and Wales in order to prevent missing incidents as well as ensure that all safeguarding partners play a role in an investigation; this includes multi-agency enquiries. The APP for missing persons is publicly available on the College’s website.In addition to the APP, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for Missing Persons has developed the ‘Multi-agency response for adults missing from health and care settings’ framework, which is being rolled out, and the ‘Missing Children from Care’ framework, which has been piloted in West Yorkshire. These frameworks outline good practice that can be adopted by local areas when setting up their own multi-agency protocols for the strategic and operational response to a missing incident, with an aim to ensure that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person.In response to concerns about unconscious bias in the police response to missing persons from BAME communities, the Home Office has funded the NPCC for Missing Persons to conduct research to explore disproportionality and discrimination in police missing persons investigations; comparing how risk is categorised in different ethnic groups. The final report is nearing completion. The NPCC lead for Missing Persons is committed to working with partner agencies to understand issues of disproportionality and addressing any issues. I will continue to monitor developments and insights from partners to ensure our response remains effective.

What steps his Department is taking to monitor the correlation between trends in the number of people (a) going missing and (b) committing suicide.

The actions set out in the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England will apply to missing people where relevant. However, we are not taking any specific actions targeted at measuring and reducing suicide rates among people reported missing. As part of our mission to build a National Health Service fit for the future, we are committed to tackling suicides as one of the biggest killers, working closely with other government departments and agencies.

What progress her Department has made on establishing Attendance Hubs; what datasets her Department is collecting to measure the success of that programme; and if she will publish the data collected in relation to that programme to date.

The attendance hubs are established and led by schools with strong practice and intended to give senior leaders in schools a forum to discuss and share effective attendance practice. To date 31 hubs have been established and these have offered support to around 2,000 schools. Last year, the department shared some of the effective practice from the hubs through our ‘Attendance toolkit for schools’, which can be found here: https://attendancetoolkit.blob.core.windows.net/toolkit-doc/Attendance%20toolkit%20for%20schools.pdf?utm_campaign=Daily%20Briefing%20Emails&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8b6UxxFW90snpeTz6dwjH6sUkBsMfMBDwkOxVCp7I9g1uY5-VXiWWsDjvKIk2YbdGp8qvIfotuo4qIG3GrzkbCWEFw_A&_hsmi=99095029&utm_content=99095029&utm_source=hs_email. Feedback from the schools who have engaged with an attendance hub has suggested that they have found participation useful. We are using the feedback to evaluate the work of hubs further as it develops.

What steps his Department is taking to compensate employees of (a) the Post Office, (b) sub-postmasters and (c) shops that fulfilled Post Office functions who were (i) prosecuted, (ii) arrested and (iii) had their employment terminated on the basis of flawed information generated by the Horizon system.

Regardless of employment status, individuals who had their Horizon-related convictions overturned, or were prosecuted but not convicted, are eligible to apply for redress through the Overturned Convictions Scheme or Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme. Postmasters who were part of the 2019 group litigation against the Post Office are eligible for redress via the Group Litigation Order Scheme, whilst those not in any of these groups who suffered mainly shortfall losses may seek redress via the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS). Individuals who were employees of the Post Office, or those who were employed by a business partner of the Post Office or a postmaster in branch, unfortunately are not eligible for redress under the HSS. This is because they did not have a direct contract with the Post Office. We are, however, continuing to look actively at potential gaps in the provision of redress which may prevent individuals who were affected by the Horizon scandal from being able to claim redress.

Communities and Local Government, whether the government strategy to end homelessness will include a section on youth homelessness.

Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people.We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term so...

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen partnerships with (a) humanitarian organisations, (b) women-led organisations and (c) local civil society in the UK’s develo

The Department has strong relationships with the main humanitarian agencies. The Foreign Secretary and I have met or spoken to the main UN humanitarian agencies and to the International Committee of the Red Cross.The work of grassroots women's rights orga...

What assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Alzheimer’s Society’s report entitled Because we’re human too: Why dementia training for care workers matters, and

The Department welcomes knowledge sharing across the sector and officials will consider the report in future policy development. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, care providers are required to provide sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, co...

How many businesses engaged with UK Export Finance in financial years (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23 and (c) 2023-24.

The numbers of businesses that UK Export Finance (UKEF) supported in the financial years in question are shown in the table below: Total exporters supported2021/225452022/235322023/24650 Further information is available in UKEF’s annual report and account...

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to prioritise ending youth homelessness.

Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people.We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term so...

Communities and Local Government, what account her strategy to tackle homelessness takes of the findings of the report published by Centrepoint entitled Human costs and lost potential: the real cost of youth home

Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people.We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term so...

What steps his Department is taking to provide export support for small businesses.

Under the umbrella of the recently announced Business Growth Service, UK businesses can access DBT’s wealth of export support via Great.gov.uk. This comprises an online support offer and a wider network of support including the Export Academy, UK Export F...

Communities and Local Government, how she plans to prioritise young people in the new cross-departmental strategy to end homelessness.

Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people.We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term so...

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to push for greater humanitarian access to Gaza.

As the Prime Minister has said, the world will not tolerate any more excuses on humanitarian assistance. We continue to press Israel to end its aid restrictions and ensure that the UN and humanitarian partners can work safely and effectively. The Foreign ...

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to prevent companies from polluting (a) Lake Windermere and (b) other national parks.

Labour introduced National Parks 75 years ago, and introduced the Rights of Way Act that secured public access and preserved natural beauty. A thriving natural world underpins our economy, health and society. That’s why this Government is investing £400 m...

What steps his Department has taken to improve the (a) visibility and (b) accessibility of the Export Academy for micro businesses looking to export.

The UK Export Academy is here to support all businesses to grow by giving attendees the confidence and know-how to land overseas deals, and it is reaching more micro-businesses than ever before. Already this year, more than 3,700 micro-businesses have reg...

How many penalties were issued for non-submission of self-assessment tax returns in each of the last five years.

Late filing penalties are issued when a taxpayer fails to file an Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA) return on or before the filing date (October 31 for paper, January 31 online). HMRC requires the information provided in a tax return to establish tax liab...