Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip — Hansard

Lords Proceedings 14 July 2026 9 contributions

My Lords, we fully recognise the difficulties that families face in accessing the right support following a child’s autism diagnosis. In local areas, post-diagnostic support may be accessed via health, social care, education, and voluntary and community services, depending on what the individual nee…

The noble Baroness raises a very interesting point. One of the most important directions of travel is that we robustly increase capacity at a local level, to bring together all the key people so that we get an accurate picture of what is happening. That can then be collated up to national level, but…

+7 more contributions in this session

Lords Committee Stage 7 July 2026 3 contributions

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Establishment of Schools) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026

My Lords, I thank the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments for their scrutiny of this instrument. The draft regulations were laid in Parliament on 20 May 2026. As noble Lords will be aware, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 changes the…

I thank noble Lords for their contribution to this discussion today. I know from previous experience that both noble Lords are passionate about education and understand its importance for our young people. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Addington, for his particular reference to the mixed economy and …

+1 more contribution in this session

Lords Proceedings 2 July 2026 8 contributions

Post-16 Education and Skills: Funding

My Lords, additional funding for 16-19 schools and further education over the next two years was announced yesterday. As a result, overall 16-19 programme funding per student in the academic year 2026-27 will rise by about 4% compared with 2025-26, rather than the 1.66% that we had previously estima…

I pay tribute to the noble Baroness’s dedication and persistence in supporting the FE sector, which I too believe is fundamental for the future success of our young people but also for the economy of this country. I cannot give her the detail that she wants, as she is probably aware, but we will ann…

+6 more contributions in this session

Lords Debate 15 June 2026

Social Housing Bill [HL]

My Lords, before we start debate on the first group, I rise to remind the House of the rules on declaring interests. Noble Lords should declare any relevant financial interest the first time they speak at each stage of a Bill. This means that, in Committee, relevant financial interests should be dec…

Lords Proceedings 10 June 2026 9 contributions

Best Start Family Hubs

My Lords, we are investing over £900 million in the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies programmes, with an ambition for 1,000 hubs by 2028. New guidance published on 30 March outlines delivery expectations. While there will be a focus on pregnancy and the early years, hubs will welcome all fa…

I recognise the noble Lord’s real commitment in this area and his work over the years. I stress that there are good examples of hubs providing support for families with teenagers, such as in Coventry, where over 400 young people were brought together with 65 partner organisations to facilitate acces…

+7 more contributions in this session

Lords Proceedings 3 June 2026 10 contributions

Alzheimer’s Disease: Diagnosis and Access to Experimental Drugs

My Lords, every person living with dementia, alongside their friends, families and carers, has their own unique and important story. The modern service framework for frailty and dementia will consider what interventions should be supported to improve dementia care and diagnosis waiting times, which …

I thank my noble friend for her tireless work and dedication to this area. I want to reassure her that in developing the MSF we will consider what interventions should be supported to improve diagnosis, and a public information campaign will be in the mix. We have published the D100 assessment tool …

+8 more contributions in this session

Lords Proceedings 2 June 2026 8 contributions

Prostate Cancer Screening

My Lords, the Government have today accepted the UK National Screening Committee’s evidence-based recommendation to offer prostate cancer screening every two years to men between the ages of 45 and 61 with a BRCA2 gene variant and a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic or prostate cancer. P…

I thank my noble friend for courageously continuing to pick up this very important issue. The term “family history” is not well defined in current evidence. Work is under way to define what degree of family history of cancer would carry a significantly increased risk of prostate cancer, and the UK N…

+6 more contributions in this session

Lords Proceedings 2 June 2026 8 contributions

Breast Cancer Screening: Women Over 70

My Lords, an important research study, AgeX, is investigating the effects of routine breast screening in women over 70. It is the biggest trial of its kind ever undertaken and results are expected in 2027. The UK National Screening Committee has been closely involved throughout and will use the find…

The noble Lord is quite right to say that women over the age of 71 can go to their GP and request a further screening every three years above that age. The noble Lord touched on a good point that it is imperative that that information is more widely available. I have talked to women of that age grou…

+6 more contributions in this session

Lords Proceedings 20 May 2026 9 contributions

Disadvantaged Pupils: Music Attainment Gap

My Lords, the Government are committed to tackling inequity in music education. In response to the curriculum and assessment review, we will reform the music curriculum in all state-funded schools from September 2028, with a focus on improving equity and quality. We will also establish the new natio…

My noble friend highlights a key area. The department funds the music opportunities pilot in 10 areas to assess the impact of targeted support for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and for SEND and offers primary and secondary pupils free lessons to progress, including taking music exams. All mu…

+7 more contributions in this session

Lords Proceedings 18 May 2026

King’s Speech

My Lords, I realise that everyone has a great deal to say in this debate. Unfortunately, the advisory time is four minutes. There are a significant number of speakers. If everyone goes even half a minute or up to a minute over, it will really knock on the time. Can I please ask all noble Lords to st…

Lords Proceedings 18 May 2026

King’s Speech

My Lords, I realise that everyone has a great deal to say in this debate. Unfortunately, the advisory time is four minutes. There are a significant number of speakers. If everyone goes even half a minute or up to a minute over, it will really knock on the time. Can I please ask all noble Lords to st…

Lords Statutory Instrument 28 April 2026 2 contributions

Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2026

My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in the name of my noble friend Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill.

Lords Oral Questions 28 April 2026 8 contributions

RMT Strikes: Impact on Businesses

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for the Answer, but yesterday the RMT’s general secretary threatened to maximise strike disruption nationwide. This month’s Tube strikes have already cost small businesses an estimated £760 million. Do the Government now regret removing the 50% strike ballot t…

I, too, thank the Minister for her reply to this Question. I have spent a lot of time in my working life trying to help resolve disputes; in my experience, there are often faults on both sides when disputes arise, but I particularly recognise the impact for businesses and the public when transport d…

+6 more contributions in this session

Lords Oral Questions 28 April 2026 10 contributions

Rail Safety Recommendations: Backlog

I thank the Minister. The latest published list of safety recommendations from RAIB shows outstanding items dating all the way back to 2008 which have not yet been implemented. The Department for Transport told me that ensuring action on this list is the responsibility of the regulator, the Office o…

My Lords, given RAIB’s success in detecting what went wrong with various different accidents and making the recommendations—some are late but some of the recommendations are responded to very quickly—have the Government thought of extending its remit to the roads? Some 1,600 people die on the roads …

+8 more contributions in this session

Lords Debate 27 April 2026

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

My Lords, I insist on continuing to speak and am very glad to have support from the Benches over there. I was comparing the House with the less proactive House 54 years ago and saying how you would go to the Table Office and quickly get an opportunity to table your Question. Look at it now. There i…

Lords Debate 27 March 2026 5 contributions

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Apologies, I was taken by surprise by the lack of an Opposition Front Bench. I thank noble Lords for another important debate on opting into and out of providing assistance and various functions under the Bill. As I have already made clear, I will keep my comments limited to amendments on which the …

I confirm that it is “may require”: that is the response I wish to give him on that. Again, it is pushing the limits of what I am able to say at this point, in terms of future policy.

+3 more contributions in this session

Lords Oral Questions 26 March 2026

Curriculum and Assessment Review

My Lords, I am very conscious of the richness of this debate, and I thank the noble Lord, Lord Freyberg, for instigating it and everyone who has participated. I acknowledge that I have 10 minutes to comment on the incredible breadth that has come from the Room. I will touch on as much as I can, but …

Lords Debate 25 March 2026 17 contributions

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

My Lords, I will speak briefly to this group of amendments. I thank the Minister in her absence for the meetings we have had away from your Lordships’ Chamber. Clearly, protecting our young people is close to all our hearts and is something that we will keep a watching brief on. We have looked at th…

Can the noble Baroness acknowledge that in the case of Sara Sharif and many other children—she will be aware of the report into the 41 children who were home-educated and were either killed or seriously harmed—the current system clearly does not work and that this small but important loophole could …

+15 more contributions in this session

Lords Oral Questions 25 March 2026 10 contributions

Equality: Break Down Barriers to Opportunity Mission

I thank the Minister for her reply. Research shows that early years inequalities account for almost half of the disadvantage gap by the age of five, and that although the UK has historically high levels of employment overall, the Government have inherited nearly 1 million young people who are not in…

My Lords, the Government have pledged that 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs will be operational by April 2026, with at least one in every local authority. Is that pledge on track and, if so, how many are currently in use? How many will be in operation by April 2026, which is days away?

+8 more contributions in this session

Lords Statutory Instrument 19 March 2026

Further Education (Initial Teacher Training) Regulations 2026

That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 22 January and 5 February be approved. Relevant documents: 50th and 51st Reports from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (special attention drawn to the second instrument). Considered in Grand Committee on 17 March.

Lords Committee Stage 17 March 2026 3 contributions

Further Education (Initial Teacher Training) Regulations 2026

My Lords, as the noble Baroness, Lady Blake, has just said, this statutory instrument is probably well overdue. It is something that we have not looked at, because Governments of whatever colour or combination really just did not get around to it. So, I congratulate the current Government on having …

Actually, there is quite a lot of good practice and basic support in virtually all further education institutions. For things such as information capture, there is a standard for everywhere. It can be used in a few ways; for example, lectures and so on can be taped and transcribed into any digital o…

+1 more contribution in this session

Lords Oral Questions 17 March 2026 11 contributions

Plan 2 Student Loans: Repayment Terms

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for that Answer, and I declare an interest as the father of a daughter who is currently accumulating these loans. Does the noble Baroness agree that, particularly for students whose courses are not of the quality required to generate returns of the order…

Does the Minister agree that the situation has gone too far for tinkering? We need a fresh start. As I said yesterday, we need a Select Committee in this House on education. But does she agree that it is time for something radical, such as a graduate tax or complete exemption for those who repay the…

+9 more contributions in this session

Lords Committee Stage 17 March 2026 3 contributions

Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026

My Lords, unfortunately, my noble friend Lady Smith is unwell, so I shall speak to the draft Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. To begin with, I should take this opportunity to explain that within the Explanatory Note there was a discrepancy…

My Lords, as we heard from the Minister, the purpose of this statutory instrument is an increase in tuition fee limits, indexed to inflation. The Minister has presented this as a technical adjustment that is necessary to maintain financial stability in our higher education sector. However, we must b…

+1 more contribution in this session

Lords Debate 13 March 2026 11 contributions

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for taking part in the debate so far today. As we know, this group of amendments focuses on two core subjects: first, adding a new multidisciplinary panel process into the Bill, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, and secondly, amendments in relation to appro…

I can only refer the noble Lord to previous comments that the details around these matters will be considered when progress is made. It is not appropriate for those matters of detail to be considered now. The noble Lord is shaking his head, but I think we are very clear about the responsibility of g…

+9 more contributions in this session

Lords Oral Questions 12 March 2026 10 contributions

Children in Care: Illegal Accommodation

I thank the Minister for that Answer. It should shame all of us in this country that for many years, our system for protecting the most vulnerable children has been and is pushing hundreds of them each year into unregistered homes—illegal homes that are not inspected. Addressing this, as the Ministe…

Further to the Question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Wood, if we are to reduce the use of illegal accommodation, we need to provide more, safer and better accommodation. The Minister may know that some organisations, such as Home for Good, provide alternatives to hard-pressed local authority accomm…

+8 more contributions in this session