The Court of Appeal issued a judgment in the case of (PK (Ghana) v SSHD) on 13 February 2018. We are considering the implications of the judgment.

As we do so, interim guidance has been issued to caseworkers to put on hold any refusals of discretionary leave to remain (DL) decisions for confirmed victims of modern slavery. Grants of discretionary leave are continuing. This guidance is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/interim-operation-guidance-discretionary-leave-for-victims-of-modern-slavery

In line with standard practice, support providers under the Victim Care Contract can seek an extension of support for confirmed victims who are awaiting a discretionary leave decision.

We are not aware of any individuals in support whose DL decision is on hold where continuing support has not been requested by the support provider.

The Home Office does not publish data on how many such determinations are on hold.

The Court of Appeal issued a judgment in the case of (PK(Ghana) v SSHD) on 13 February 2018. We are considering the implications of the judgment.

Whilst we consider next steps interim guidance has been issued to caseworkers to put on hold any refusals of discretionary leave to remain decisions for confirmed victims of modern slavery on. Grants of discretionary leave are continuing. This guidance is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/interim-operation-guidance-discretionary-leave-for-victims-of-modern-slavery

In line with standard practice, support providers under the Victim Care Contract can seek an extension of support for confirmed victims who are awaiting a discretionary leave decision.

The safeguarding powers and duties of local authorities apply to all children resident in their area, whether educated at home or at school. Consequently, there are no provisions on safeguarding, either generally or concerning specific issues such as abuse, extremism and radicalisation that only relate to children educated at home.

If there is a genuine safeguarding concern about a child educated at home, the local authority may use its powers under the Children Act 1989 to investigate. In other cases, local authorities are encouraged to use alternative sources of information about children who may be educated at home – for example, referrals from the health services – in order to address the fact that the child is not being seen regularly by school staff.

Data on numbers and ages of home-educated children, their examination pass rates and their special educational needs, are not collected. Consequently, no assessment has been made by the department of whether there is an attainment gap between home-educated children and those attending school.

There are no requirements for the parents of children educated at home to have particular qualifications. In any assessment made of the suitability of home education, the local authority concerned looks at the education received and the progress made by the child, not the qualifications of those delivering it, whether they be parents or others engaged for the purpose.

The department will shortly be holding a consultation exercise on revised guidance for local authorities on the most effective use of their powers in relation to home education.

The safeguarding powers and duties of local authorities apply to all children resident in their area, whether educated at home or at school. Consequently, there are no provisions on safeguarding, either generally or concerning specific issues such as abuse, extremism and radicalisation that only relate to children educated at home.

If there is a genuine safeguarding concern about a child educated at home, the local authority may use its powers under the Children Act 1989 to investigate. In other cases, local authorities are encouraged to use alternative sources of information about children who may be educated at home – for example, referrals from the health services – in order to address the fact that the child is not being seen regularly by school staff.

Data on numbers and ages of home-educated children, their examination pass rates and their special educational needs, are not collected. Consequently, no assessment has been made by the department of whether there is an attainment gap between home-educated children and those attending school.

There are no requirements for the parents of children educated at home to have particular qualifications. In any assessment made of the suitability of home education, the local authority concerned looks at the education received and the progress made by the child, not the qualifications of those delivering it, whether they be parents or others engaged for the purpose.

The department will shortly be holding a consultation exercise on revised guidance for local authorities on the most effective use of their powers in relation to home education.

The Government is committed to exploring whether some form of “breathing space” would be a useful and viable addition to the range of formal and informal debt solutions available to consumers and creditors. Officials in HM Treasury and the Insolvency Service have been asked to discuss this issue with stakeholders with a view to identifying possible options and have begun work on this review.

Sections 17 and 47 of the Children Act 1989 have different purposes. Section 17 defines a child as being “in need” if they are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision of services by the local authority, or their health and development are likely to be impaired (or further impaired), without the provision of such services, or they are disabled. Under this section, local authorities are required to provide a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs.

Section 47 places a duty on local authorities to make enquiries to decide whether and what action should be taken to safeguard the child from “significant harm”. This is the point at which compulsory intervention in a child’s life is justified.

Each local authority will interpret the definitions at Section 17 and Section 47 and set local thresholds, agreed by Local Safeguarding Children Boards, through their statutory function under the Children Act 2004, in discussion with all partners. This function is set out in Regulation 5 of the Local Safeguarding Children Boards Regulations 2006, as follows:

1(a) developing policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area of the authority, including policies and procedures in relation to:

(i) the action to be taken where there are concerns about a child’s safety or welfare, including thresholds for intervention;

This is also set out in the Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2015 statutory guidance. Ofsted looks at thresholds as part of its inspection process and considers whether the levels set locally are appropriate. It expects good Local Safeguarding Children Boards to monitor and understand the application of thresholds locally.

My Department’s assessment of our proposals for legislation enabling families of missing people to protect their financial and legal affairs is set out in the consultation paper Guardianship of the Property and Affairs of Missing Persons published on 27 August 2014 and the response paper published on 23 March 2015. We will bring forward legislation when Parliamentary time allows.

The Government believes that the consumer is best served by the operation of open competition between companies, and does not generally intervene to regulate what businesses may or may not charge consumers for goods or services. Pricing policies such as these are commercial decisions for the trader, and are best left to the market. However, if there is evidence of collusion that is harming consumers, this should be provided to the Competition and Markets Authority, as the UK’s independent competition authority, who will consider it for investigation in line with their prioritisation principles.

The Government takes doorstep crime very seriously and the issue has been identified as a top priority by the Consumer Protection Partnership (CPP) which brings together enforcement, consumer education, and advocacy partners to identify, prioritise and coordinate collective action to tackle the issues causing greatest harm to consumers.

Both the National Trading Standards Board (NTSB) and Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), which are funded by BIS, are putting resources into tackling doorstep crime and Trading Standards Officers across the country are cracking down on these fraudsters. In Lincolnshire for example, Trading Standards has teamed up with the Police and Community Lincs to raise awareness of doorstep crime amongst professionals caring for the elderly, including awareness of bogus callers, rogue traders, distraction burglary, and scam mail. To date 330 health and social care professionals who work regularly with 4,300 elderly and vulnerable people have been trained in how to spot potential victims and how to intervene at an early stage of a scam.

Doorstep Crime will also be the focus on this year’s National Consumer Week in November 2014, when CPP Partners and the Government will work together to in raise consumer awareness of how to spot a bogus salesperson and where to report it.

We are also hitting the perpetrators of fraud hard. A recent operation involving Trading Standards companies across the country and 20 police forces brought down a trio of fraudsters targeting vulnerable caravan park residents across the country. This resulted in six years of custodial sentences being handed down and the recovery of £20,000 in cash.

We encourage anyone who believes that they have been the victim of doorstep crime or fraud to contact the Citizens Advice Consumer helpline on 08454 040506.