This is an important issue which the Government has committed to act on shortly. We will introduce new civil monetary penalties for breaches of consumer law. The Government will do so through the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill which will be brought forward in this session of Parliament.

This means that anyone ripping off consumers with misleading claims, unfair terms and conditions and hard-to-exit contracts may be penalised up to 10% of annual global turnover, or £300,000, whichever is higher.

Under these plans, the Competition and Markets Authority will be given direct fining powers, alongside the civil courts which would be able to act on application from enforcers like sector regulators and local authority trading standards departments.

Racial harassment is unacceptable, and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities. There is no place in our society - including within higher education – for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism. Universities have clear responsibilities in this regard.

Higher education providers are independent and autonomous organisations. Like all employers, higher education providers have responsibilities under the Equality Act (2010) in relation to their staff. We expect them discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, and to investigate and swiftly address all hate crime.

We encourage providers to make use of tools such as the Race Equality Charter and the Race at Work Charter to identify and address institutional and cultural barriers that affect minority ethnic staff and students.

The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers recognises the need to create and develop positive environments and cultures in which all researchers can flourish and achieve their full potential. This includes having effective policies and practice for tackling discrimination, bullying and harassment and providing appropriate support for those reporting issues.

By improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff within higher education we can ensure that everyone who has the potential to thrive at university, both as a student and as a member of staff, does so.

Regardless of age, all asylum claims lodged in the UK are carefully considered on their individual merits, in accordance with our obligations under the Refugee Convention.

Where clear and credible documentary evidence of age is not available, criteria including physical appearance and demeanour are used as part of the process to assess whether a person is under 18. The Home Office will treat a person claiming to be a child as an adult only where their physical appearance and demeanour very strongly suggest they are 25 years of age or over. When there is doubt about an individual’s claim to be a child, Home Office policy is to refer them to the relevant local authority to carry out a careful “Merton compliant” age assessment, which must be carried out by two social workers and must adhere to guidelines set out by the Courts. Whilst this assessment is ongoing, the individual will be treated as a child with full access to the safeguards available to any child in the system, and the local authority or Health and Social Care Trust looking after the individual remains responsible for their care arrangements and the safeguarding of other children in their care.

The Home Office keeps its policies and processes under review, and we remain committed to striking the right balance between ensuring that children who claim asylum are appropriately supported and maintaining the integrity of the asylum system by preventing adults being treated as children.

The UK is committed to the proper implementation of International Humanitarian Law. We comply fully with our obligations under it, including rules prohibiting civilian objects from being attacked. The UK also works closely with other states and the Red Cross Movement to promote compliance with International Humanitarian Law. We urge all states and non-state actors engaged in armed conflict to respect International Humanitarian Law and to act in accordance with their obligations under it.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gaveon 14 October 2014 to Question 209349.

The Child Protection – Information Sharing (CP-IS) project will allow the sharing of child protection information between NHS unscheduled care settings and local authority children’s services staff only. The information will not be shared with care homes or the police.

CP-IS will hold child protection information only for children in England who are subject to a child protection plan or are looked after by a local authority.

When NHS staff interrogate the CP-IS service, the system will share electronically the following information with the local authority responsible for the child: the time and date of the query, the name of the NHS healthcare worker who made the query, and the NHS organisation from within which the query was generated.

CP-IS will not introduce information sharing over and beyond what is currently shared by NHS staff and local authorities.

The Health & Social Care Information Centre has published guidance on its website for NHS and local authority staff on how to use the CP-IS system.

The Government’s statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’, revised last year, is clear about the importance that we attach to preventative services. Providing help early, before issues and problems escalate, is more effective in promoting the welfare of children than reacting later.

The guidance sets out that local agencies should work together to put processes in place for the effective assessment of the needs of individual children who may benefit from early help services. Decisions about the provision of services, including preventative, early help services, are taken locally by agencies that are best placed to plan provision, taking account of local needs and circumstances.

The Government has also established an Early Intervention Foundation. The Foundation is funded by the Department for Education, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department of Health, and the Department for Communities and Local Government. It is intended to operate independently of central government, to support the needs of commissioners in implementing early intervention programmes and practice in their local areas. The Foundation was established as an independent charity on 4 July 2013.

The Child Protection-Information Sharing (CP-IS) project will allow the sharing of child protection information between national health service unscheduled care settings and local authority children’s services staff only. The information will not be shared with care homes or the police.

CP-IS will hold child protection information only for children in England who are subject to a child protection plan or are looked after by a local authority.

When NHS staff submit a query the CP-IS service, the system will electronically share the following information with the local authority responsible for the child: the time and date of the query, the name of the NHS healthcare worker who made the query, and the NHS organisation from within which the query was made.

CP-IS will not introduce information sharing over and beyond what is currently shared by NHS staff and local authorities.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre has published guidance on its website for NHS and local authority staff on how to use the CP-IS system.

The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) does not gather information on child protection issues except when it receives referrals regarding serious teacher misconduct. The NCTL can receive referrals regarding allegations of child abuse at independent schools from the employer, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), and the police. Where an offence is involved, it is likely that the referral will come from the police under the Notifiable Occupations Scheme. Where an employer makes a referral to DBS, DBS will send a copy of the referral to NCTL where serious misconduct of a teacher is involved.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Department.

As set out in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, it is illegal for any person to show or involve children in online obscene materials. The Government is committed to protecting children from this form of abuse. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Command of the National Crime Agency (NCA) is central to protecting children and as part of the NCA, CEOP can access more resources to deal with complex cases of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and benefits from support from other NCA specialist functions such as the National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU). Every officer in the NCA, over 4000 people, has a legal duty to safeguard children and promote child welfare.

We have made additional progress in tackling child abuse online through work we are doing with the internet industry. Internet search engines have made changes to their search mechanisms, and these new measures have been effective in making it harder to access child abuse images. Britain and the US have also created a new taskforce to work with industry to counter online child sexual exploitation.

Local authorities are under a duty to follow statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education unless exceptional circumstances prevent them from doing so. Every local authority is subject to inspection by Ofsted as to the quality of their services for children in need of help and protection. This includes whether assessments are in line with ‘Working together to safeguard children’.

The Department intervenes to secure improvement in local authorities where there is failure to deliver adequate services, including in the provision of child protection.

We need to be careful not to conflate the two issues of historical abuse and the robustness of the current system. When there has been abuse in the past, we need to investigate it and take the evidence where it leads. I am clear, however, that the Working Together guidance—along with all the other work we are doing to improve social work practice and to free people working on the front line to spend more time with families rather than sitting behind desks—is the way forward. We are building on the Laming and Munro reviews, and that is being reflected in the response not only that Ofsted is having through its inspections but from front-line practitioners themselves, who can see the sense in what we are doing to ensure that all children are kept safe, whatever the circumstances.

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for asking that question, if for no other reason than that I get to answer a question. This is an extremely important issue. I know that he agrees with me about the utmost need to make further inroads into eradicating child neglect in our society. There are two definitions of child neglect which relate to criminal law and civil law. I assume that he is talking about the criminal aspect and the work that is being done in the Ministry of Justice, with which I have had discussions. This is an ongoing issue and I am happy to discuss it with him further.

The Government does not collect data on the models used in local areas to share information about safeguarding. However, the Home Office is undertaking a project to improve national and local understanding of the different local multi-agency models in place, and as part of this they surveyed all local authorities. Responses were received from 63 of 152 local authority areas. Of these 64% of authorities said they had some kind of multi-agency model in operation. The Multi-Agency Working and Information Sharing Project—Early Findings report, published in July 2013, gives examples of areas that use Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs and other multi-agency models. The document can be accessed online¹.

Note:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225012/MASH_Product.pdf

Central Government does not prescribe which model local areas should use to share information, as this is a matter for local determination.

The Government does not collect data on the models used in local areas to share information about safeguarding. However, the Home Office is undertaking a project to improve national and local understanding of the different local multi-agency models in place, and as part of this they surveyed all local authorities. Responses were received from 63 of 152 local authority areas. Of these 64% of authorities said they had some kind of multi-agency model in operation. The Multi-Agency Working and Information Sharing Project—Early Findings report, published in July 2013, gives examples of areas that use Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs and other multi-agency models. The document can be accessed online¹.

Note:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225012/MASH_Product.pdf

Central Government does not prescribe which model local areas should use to share information, as this is a matter for local determination.

Local authority funding for safeguarding children and young people is included within core funding for children's social care which comes from the Department for Community and Local Government's Formula Grant and local taxation. Funding is not ring-fenced and it is for local authorities to decide how to apply their funding across the services they deliver.

A report from the Audit Commission¹ published in November 2013 found that children's social care has been largely protected from spending reductions from 2010-11 to 2013-14. Council spending on children's social care on average increased by 1.2% in real terms since 2010-11.¹ Note:

http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Tough-Times-2013-Councils-Responses-to-Financial-Challenges-w1.pdf

Work is currently under way, commissioned by HM Treasury, on a joint project between the Department for Education and Department for Communities and Local Government looking at spend on and outcomes for children's services. The project seeks to develop proposals to increase the efficiency of children's services.