Parliamentary activity

Answering body: Department of Health and Social Care

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections will be supported by a dedicated team of specialist advisors with expertise across a range of settings, including pre-hospital care. The CQC will continue to review the skills and capacity of its teams ahead of implementation to ensure it can regulate the sector effectively.

The Department, in consultation with the CQC, has agreed to a phased approach to implementing the updated regulations, reflecting the time and resource required for registration and ongoing compliance.

The registration period will begin in September 2026, followed by a 15‑month transition period before the regulations come into force, giving providers a lengthy lead-in time to make any changes to meet the required standard.

This is intended to support providers to prepare and minimise disruption to the events sector, and to enable the CQC to prepare for the receipt of additional registration applications and manage their processing in a timely way.

The Government has considered the impact of these changes through a public consultation, which invited stakeholder views on potential effects.

Answering body: Home Office

CONTEST is the UK’s comprehensive counter terrorism strategy, and it’s overarching aim is to reduce the risk to the UK and its citizens and interests overseas from terrorism, so that our people can go about their lives freely and with confidence. As announced in October 2022, CONTEST is being updated to protect the public from new and emerging threats and will be published later this year.

Since CONTEST was last published in June 2018, we have delivered a number of measures to reduce the risk of terrorist attacks. We have established the Counter-Terrorism Operations Centre, pulling together expertise and resource across police, intelligence agencies and the criminal justice system in order to better identify and tackle emerging threats. The Multi-Agency Centre works in partnership to better understand the national security risk posed by individuals who are or have been subject to national security investigations, bringing together existing expertise within the counter-terrorism community and working in partnership with experts in offender management, social care and safeguarding.

The Home Office is in the process of setting up an assurance programme to oversee delivery of accepted recommendations from the Manchester Arena Inquiry. We are committed to implementing the recommendations of The Independent Review of Prevent swiftly, with the majority within one year of publication. This will pave the way for a more transparent, efficient, and sustainable Prevent programme.

We have also strengthened our legislation; The Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act received Royal Assent in 2019 to ensure the police, Security Services, prosecutors, and the judiciary have the powers they need to tackle the evolving threat posed to the UK by terrorism. Martyn’s Law, which is currently is undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny, will keep people safe by introducing proportionate new security requirements for certain public venues to ensure preparedness for, and protection from, terrorist attacks. The Online Safety Bill, which will make tech companies will be accountable to an independent regulator to keep their users safe is currently progressing through the House of Lords.

Answering body: Home Office

Volume 1 of the report of the Manchester Arena Inquiry recommended that “consideration should be given to whether contractors who carry out security services should be required to be licensed” (Recommendation 8). The Government has given careful consideration to this and is not persuaded that licensing businesses in this way would deliver improvements in public safety that would be proportionate to the significant increases in regulatory burdens that this would entail. Instead, the Government has asked the Security Industry Authority, which regulates the private security industry, to consider how its voluntary Approved Contractor Scheme can help to further drive quality standards in security provision.

Separately, the National Counter Terrorism Office (NaCTSO) are looking to develop a voluntary Competent Person scheme. The Competent Person Scheme will involve a Competent Person in the Workplace qualification and the Counter Terrorism Security Specialist Register. This register will recognise existing skills and qualifications within the sector, whilst also providing reassurances to businesses that a counter terrorism specialist has the necessary skills to appropriately advise on risk and suitable mitigation measures.

Answering body: Home Office

The Manchester Arena Inquiry is a statutory independent Inquiry and decisions as to how to deliver its terms of reference are a matter for the Chair.

The Inquiry heard evidence on what steps had been taken to ensure Ishmale Abedi appeared at the Inquiry on 21 October. The transcript for the hearing is published in full: https://files.manchesterarenainquiry.org.uk/live/uploads/2021/10/21201337/MAI-Day-165_Redacted.pdf