My Lords, the Government are clear: unregistered placements must stop. Powers in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will allow Ofsted to issue monetary penalties, enabling faster action against unregistered providers. We are investing £560 million in capital funding up to 2029-30 to increase …
I thank my noble friend for all the work he does in this area, regularly raising its profile. I assure him and noble Lords that places in loving foster homes for children who need them is one of our top priorities. In February, we published an ambitious fostering action plan, setting out urgent step…
My Lords, before I make my few remarks, I also congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady White, on her most excellent maiden speech. I declare my interest as a trustee and a director of pension funds for a number of years. I acknowledge that this Bill is, in general, a good idea; however, as has been sa…
UKRI is clear that, when it allocates grants, particularly for the studentships into doctoral training centres, those organisations should consider increased participation and any disadvantages on the grounds of ethnicity, disability, socioeconomic status or caring responsibilities. There are a numb…
My Lords, the Government are committed to recognising the adult social care workforce as the professionals they are. In April we expanded the care workforce pathway with four new role categories providing guidance on care workers’ career development. We are continuing the learning and development su…
It is probably worth me saying that, while the changes announced in the recently published immigration White Paper mean that overseas recruitment for adult social care will end, as my noble friend said, that is because, as he will know, the Government wish to reduce reliance on an overseas workforce…
My Lords, there is much to welcome in this spending review. Can I especially welcome the £39 billion of investment in social and affordable housing that the noble Baroness mentioned earlier on? Shelter yesterday called this a game-changer. The National Housing Federation said it was the most ambitio…
My Lords, one way you can tell that I am a Treasury nerd is that I am really looking forward to the Green Book review being announced next week, and I welcome what my noble friend has said about that today. There are many problems with the way the Treasury has, historically, allocated money for long…
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Fox, mentioned the much-discussed issue of security requirements—the American requirements that there be security of the supply chain for steel and aluminium. In the document, that requirement applies not just to steel and aluminium but to the pharmaceutical sector. In…