UK support to Caribbean countries following a major hurricane is well tested. It includes pre-positioned humanitarian relief supplies in the region and access to a central humanitarian crisis reserve to deliver life-saving assistance. The UK also has a Royal Navy patrol vessel in the region for the hurricane season to provide further support as required.

The UK is a leading supporter of 'disaster risk finance', which provides Caribbean countries with funding around disasters which can support faster recovery for communities. Jamaica was able to mobilise $662 million immediately following Hurricane Melissa in 2025.

The UK Caribbean Infrastructure Fund has provided £350 million in grant financing in the last 10 years, supporting 13 climate-resilient infrastructure projects across eight Caribbean countries and one UK Overseas Territory and leveraged financing from governments/development banks to bring the overall portfolio value to around US$1 billion.

Nationals of Caribbean countries remain able to apply for permission to come to the UK to study at our higher education institutions, including through the Student route. The change referred to has no direct impact on the ability of any national to apply for the Student route.

Visa policy is set by the Home Office and is a matter of border security. We acknowledge the importance of the UK - Saint Lucia relationship and remain committed to working together on many shared priorities including climate resilience, security cooperation, and economic development.

The department remains committed to creating a secure future for the higher education (HE) sector. The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper sets out our commitment to placing the sector on a more sustainable footing, supporting providers to drive efficiency, strengthening financial resilience, and adopting more effective operating models. We increased tuition fee caps in line with inflation in 2025/26 and are doing the same in 2026/27 and 2027/28.

HE providers are independent from government and are responsible for managing their finances. We encourage providers to work with their staff to develop sustainable business models that retain talent and expertise and provide stability for the workforce and the institution.

The department continues to work closely with the Office for Students to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.

The International Education Strategy has confirmed our continued commitment to welcome international students who meet the requirements to study in the UK.

The department remains committed to creating a secure future for the higher education (HE) sector. The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper sets out our commitment to placing the sector on a more sustainable footing, supporting providers to drive efficiency, strengthening financial resilience, and adopting more effective operating models. We increased tuition fee caps in line with inflation in 2025/26 and are doing the same in 2026/27 and 2027/28.

HE providers are independent from government and are responsible for managing their finances. We encourage providers to work with their staff to develop sustainable business models that retain talent and expertise and provide stability for the workforce and the institution.

The department continues to work closely with the Office for Students to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.

The International Education Strategy has confirmed our continued commitment to welcome international students who meet the requirements to study in the UK.

The department welcomes Become's report ‘Gone Too Far’ and its focus on getting the voices of those with care experience heard.

While some out-of-area placements are necessary to meet a child's individual needs or keep them safe, we know that living far from support networks can affect stability and wellbeing, disrupting relationships with family, friends and trusted professionals, undermining educational continuity and making it harder for children to maintain important community connections.

For some children, this can increase vulnerability to exploitation, sexual abuse and other forms of harm.

Moving a child away from their home area is a significant decision and must be approved by the Director of Children's Services, only when the move is in the child's best interests. Local authorities have ongoing duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of looked-after children, including through regular social worker oversight and a statutory requirement to notify the authority in which a child is placed.

The aim of the government's Enduring Relationships Strategy is for all children in care to have the support and stability they need to form and maintain healthy relationships throughout their lives.

Through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, we are strengthening information sharing and multi-agency child protection arrangements and improving the response to child sexual exploitation and other extra-familial harms. We are also investing £560 million to expand children's homes and foster care capacity and developing regional care cooperatives to help more children, including girls at risk of exploitation and abuse, access safe, high-quality care closer to home.

The department welcomes Become's report ‘Gone Too Far’ and its focus on getting the voices of those with care experience heard.

While some out-of-area placements are necessary to meet a child's individual needs or keep them safe, we know that living far from support networks can affect stability and wellbeing, disrupting relationships with family, friends and trusted professionals, undermining educational continuity and making it harder for children to maintain important community connections.

For some children, this can increase vulnerability to exploitation, sexual abuse and other forms of harm.

Moving a child away from their home area is a significant decision and must be approved by the Director of Children's Services, only when the move is in the child's best interests. Local authorities have ongoing duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of looked-after children, including through regular social worker oversight and a statutory requirement to notify the authority in which a child is placed.

The aim of the government's Enduring Relationships Strategy is for all children in care to have the support and stability they need to form and maintain healthy relationships throughout their lives.

Through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, we are strengthening information sharing and multi-agency child protection arrangements and improving the response to child sexual exploitation and other extra-familial harms. We are also investing £560 million to expand children's homes and foster care capacity and developing regional care cooperatives to help more children, including girls at risk of exploitation and abuse, access safe, high-quality care closer to home.

The department welcomes Become's report ‘Gone Too Far’ and its focus on getting the voices of those with care experience heard.

While some out-of-area placements are necessary to meet a child's individual needs or keep them safe, we know that living far from support networks can affect stability and wellbeing, disrupting relationships with family, friends and trusted professionals, undermining educational continuity and making it harder for children to maintain important community connections.

For some children, this can increase vulnerability to exploitation, sexual abuse and other forms of harm.

Moving a child away from their home area is a significant decision and must be approved by the Director of Children's Services, only when the move is in the child's best interests. Local authorities have ongoing duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of looked-after children, including through regular social worker oversight and a statutory requirement to notify the authority in which a child is placed.

The aim of the government's Enduring Relationships Strategy is for all children in care to have the support and stability they need to form and maintain healthy relationships throughout their lives.

Through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, we are strengthening information sharing and multi-agency child protection arrangements and improving the response to child sexual exploitation and other extra-familial harms. We are also investing £560 million to expand children's homes and foster care capacity and developing regional care cooperatives to help more children, including girls at risk of exploitation and abuse, access safe, high-quality care closer to home.

The department welcomes Become's report ‘Gone Too Far’ and its focus on getting the voices of those with care experience heard.

While some out-of-area placements are necessary to meet a child's individual needs or keep them safe, we know that living far from support networks can affect stability and wellbeing, disrupting relationships with family, friends and trusted professionals, undermining educational continuity and making it harder for children to maintain important community connections.

For some children, this can increase vulnerability to exploitation, sexual abuse and other forms of harm.

Moving a child away from their home area is a significant decision and must be approved by the Director of Children's Services, only when the move is in the child's best interests. Local authorities have ongoing duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of looked-after children, including through regular social worker oversight and a statutory requirement to notify the authority in which a child is placed.

The aim of the government's Enduring Relationships Strategy is for all children in care to have the support and stability they need to form and maintain healthy relationships throughout their lives.

Through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, we are strengthening information sharing and multi-agency child protection arrangements and improving the response to child sexual exploitation and other extra-familial harms. We are also investing £560 million to expand children's homes and foster care capacity and developing regional care cooperatives to help more children, including girls at risk of exploitation and abuse, access safe, high-quality care closer to home.

The department welcomes Become's report ‘Gone Too Far’ and its focus on getting the voices of those with care experience heard.

While some out-of-area placements are necessary to meet a child's individual needs or keep them safe, we know that living far from support networks can affect stability and wellbeing, disrupting relationships with family, friends and trusted professionals, undermining educational continuity and making it harder for children to maintain important community connections.

For some children, this can increase vulnerability to exploitation, sexual abuse and other forms of harm.

Moving a child away from their home area is a significant decision and must be approved by the Director of Children's Services, only when the move is in the child's best interests. Local authorities have ongoing duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of looked-after children, including through regular social worker oversight and a statutory requirement to notify the authority in which a child is placed.

The aim of the government's Enduring Relationships Strategy is for all children in care to have the support and stability they need to form and maintain healthy relationships throughout their lives.

Through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, we are strengthening information sharing and multi-agency child protection arrangements and improving the response to child sexual exploitation and other extra-familial harms. We are also investing £560 million to expand children's homes and foster care capacity and developing regional care cooperatives to help more children, including girls at risk of exploitation and abuse, access safe, high-quality care closer to home.

The department welcomes Become's report ‘Gone Too Far’ and its focus on getting the voices of those with care experience heard.

While some out-of-area placements are necessary to meet a child's individual needs or keep them safe, we know that living far from support networks can affect stability and wellbeing, disrupting relationships with family, friends and trusted professionals, undermining educational continuity and making it harder for children to maintain important community connections.

For some children, this can increase vulnerability to exploitation, sexual abuse and other forms of harm.

Moving a child away from their home area is a significant decision and must be approved by the Director of Children's Services, only when the move is in the child's best interests. Local authorities have ongoing duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of looked-after children, including through regular social worker oversight and a statutory requirement to notify the authority in which a child is placed.

The aim of the government's Enduring Relationships Strategy is for all children in care to have the support and stability they need to form and maintain healthy relationships throughout their lives.

Through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, we are strengthening information sharing and multi-agency child protection arrangements and improving the response to child sexual exploitation and other extra-familial harms. We are also investing £560 million to expand children's homes and foster care capacity and developing regional care cooperatives to help more children, including girls at risk of exploitation and abuse, access safe, high-quality care closer to home.

This Government is taking robust action to tackle the growing threat of AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including where offenders use innocent images of children to create sexualised or abusive content.

The law is crystal clear: child sexual abuse material is illegal regardless of whether it is produced using artificial intelligence or any other means. Law enforcement agencies will pursue those who create, possess, distribute or use such material to facilitate further offending, including blackmail and coercion.

Through the Crime and Policing Act, we have introduced a new offence targeting AI models designed or adapted to generate child sexual abuse material, helping to prevent this abuse at its source. We have also taken action to ban so-called "nudify" tools, which can be used to create sexually explicit images from posted images, including images of children.

In addition, we have introduced a technology testing defence to enable authorised organisations, child protection charities and other AI safety companies to safely test AI systems and identify vulnerabilities within AI models. This supports the development of stronger safeguards to prevent AI systems from being able to generate child sexual abuse material in the first place.

Online services also have duties under the Online Safety Act to assess risks and implement proportionate measures to protect users, particularly children. They are also required to tackle illegal content on their platforms, including by implementing effective systems and processes to reduce the risk of illegal content being shared across public and private spaces, and by providing users with clear and accessible reporting mechanisms.

The Government is also working closely with industry, law enforcement, child protection organisations and the AI Security Institute to understand AI risks and improve safeguards across the AI ecosystem, to reduce opportunities for offenders to create, distribute and profit from AI-generated child sexual abuse material.

This Government is taking robust action to tackle the growing threat of AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including where offenders use innocent images of children to create sexualised or abusive content.

The law is crystal clear: child sexual abuse material is illegal regardless of whether it is produced using artificial intelligence or any other means. Law enforcement agencies will pursue those who create, possess, distribute or use such material to facilitate further offending, including blackmail and coercion.

Through the Crime and Policing Act, we have introduced a new offence targeting AI models designed or adapted to generate child sexual abuse material, helping to prevent this abuse at its source. We have also taken action to ban so-called "nudify" tools, which can be used to create sexually explicit images from posted images, including images of children.

In addition, we have introduced a technology testing defence to enable authorised organisations, child protection charities and other AI safety companies to safely test AI systems and identify vulnerabilities within AI models. This supports the development of stronger safeguards to prevent AI systems from being able to generate child sexual abuse material in the first place.

Online services also have duties under the Online Safety Act to assess risks and implement proportionate measures to protect users, particularly children. They are also required to tackle illegal content on their platforms, including by implementing effective systems and processes to reduce the risk of illegal content being shared across public and private spaces, and by providing users with clear and accessible reporting mechanisms.

The Government is also working closely with industry, law enforcement, child protection organisations and the AI Security Institute to understand AI risks and improve safeguards across the AI ecosystem, to reduce opportunities for offenders to create, distribute and profit from AI-generated child sexual abuse material.

On 15 June, the government published a progress statement in response to the ‘Growing up in the Online World’ consultation.

This set out a package of new measures including banning social media platforms from offering their services to under 16s and restricting harmful functionalities, including stranger communication, across a wider range of services for under 16s. Restrictions on harmful functionalities will also be on by default for 16 and 17 year olds.

The government has committed to provide a further update, including on restrictions for persuasive design features, in the coming weeks.

We have taken a power in the Crime and Policing Act to close loopholes in the Online Safety Act regarding AI chatbots. This means unregulated chatbots will have to comply with duties under the Online Safety Act to protect their users from illegal content once the relevant legislation is passed.

Alongside this we are considering the evidence from the ‘Growing up in the online world’ consultation. Some responses felt that chatbots could support children’s wellbeing. However, we also heard concerns about how these services can provide children with harmful, misleading, or inaccurate advice.

Following the publication of the progress statement in June, we plan to provide a further update on the consultation in the coming weeks.

The contract with Churchill Cleaning is jointly held with the House of Commons. Parliament has outsourced the majority of its cleaning services for more than 15 years for operational efficiency and financial reasons. It is for our contractor to explain the reasons for its employment decisions. However, the House Administrations have made clear their concerns to Churchill Cleaning about the pace and scale of the proposed changes and have received assurances regarding continued delivery to contractual standards. Our cleaners are highly valued members of our community and we are emphasising this to Churchill Cleaning in our discussions with them.