Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of proposed changes under the Fairer Pathway to Settlement consultation on demand for independent immigration advice services; and what steps they are taking to ensure those services have sufficient workforce capacity to meet that demand.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Proposals for introducing an earned settlement model, as set out in the Command Paper “A Fairer Pathway to Settlement” (CP1448), were subject to a public consultation, which opened on 20 November 2025 and closed on 12 February 2026.

We are now reviewing and analysing all responses received. Implementation of the earned settlement arrangements will be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish the advice they received from the Propriety, Ethics and Constitution team in the Cabinet Office before launching the Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns consultation on 5 March, in line with the Cabinet Office's 2018 Consultation Principles.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office did not receive any advice from the Propriety, Ethics and Constitution team in the Cabinet Office prior to launching the Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns consultation on 5 March. This team provides advice on the interpretation of the Consultation Principles, but not on how to run specific consultations.

The consultation was developed and launched in line with the Cabinet Office’s Consultation Principles, including ensuring clarity of scope, openness to a wide range of views and appropriate duration. The consultation document sets out clearly the proposals under consideration, the questions on which views are sought and how responses will be used.

As no such advice was received, there are no plans to publish it.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people who entered the UK lawfully have now become overstayers and are unable to regularise their status under existing immigration rules.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what mechanisms are in place to ensure that funding allocated within the public health grant for delivery of health visiting services, as set out in the healthy child programme, is spent for that purpose; and what consideration they have given to ringfencing that element of the programme.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Public Health Grant supports local authorities to deliver their public health responsibilities and commission front-line public health services, such as health visiting and other children’s public health services. The grant is ring-fenced to ensure it is spent on public health functions, but local authorities have flexibility to respond to the specific needs of their communities and deliver appropriate public health services.

Local authorities are responsible for deciding how to spend their grant, ensuring that all expenditure complies with conditions set out in the public health grant circular. Local authorities’ compliance with grant conditions is assured by the Department. Local authorities must report their public health expenditure annually, and reporting categories include prescribed children’s zero to five years old services. Each director of public health and senior finance officer must also provide an annual assurance statement confirming that the grant has been spent in line with the conditions set. The Department has issued healthy child programme guidance, which specifies standards and delivery expectations for health visiting, and this has recently been refreshed to strengthen service delivery and promote national consistency in service quality.

The Department has published expected Public Health Grant allocations for the next three years.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of barriers to compliance with school food standards in school breakfast provision; and what steps they are taking as part of the free breakfast club rollout to ensure equitable access to nutritious breakfast for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government is committed to offering free breakfast clubs to all primary-aged pupils in England, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, so that all children have access to a healthy breakfast and a soft start to their school day. Food served at free breakfast clubs must meet the School Food Standards, and we have provided guidance to schools on healthy breakfast options.

Early adopter schools are already sharing examples of good practice to support consistent, high‑quality provision across the country.

Parents care deeply about the food their children eat, which is why we plan to overhaul the School Food Standards for the first time in over a decade. Developed alongside nutritionists and public health experts, the new standards will include dedicated breakfast standards, cutting high sugar items and increasing higher-fibre wholegrains.

We have launched a 9 week consultation on these changes and are committed to developing a robust enforcement system, which includes monitoring of compliance.

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Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the report by Magic Breakfast, Root causes of child morning hunger, published on 9 March, in particular the conclusions on the impact of morning hunger on pupils' readiness to learn, attainment and attendance in secondary schools.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We appreciate publication of the report and will keep up the work with Magic Breakfast and other valued stakeholders as we continue to roll out the free breakfast club programme to all schools with primary-aged pupils across England.

The government is committed to tackling child poverty and delivering meaningful action to support children and families. We recognise the importance of a healthy breakfast at the start of the day for pupils and the impact this can have on attendance and readiness to learn. This is why we are rolling out free breakfast clubs, so that all children, regardless of background, can have the best start in life. Since April 2025, the programme has delivered 8.5 million meals to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We have also invested a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027, with over 500 of those now delivering.

​We have also committed to continued funding of breakfast provision from September 2026 for secondary schools in disadvantaged areas which are currently participating in the National School Breakfast Programme.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to enable the independent advice sector to benefit from ongoing reforms to apprenticeships, skills and employment policy.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Getting more young people into work is a priority of this Government. As such, we are transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy in England to improve access to opportunities. The new levy will give employers greater flexibility, including those in the independent advice sector, and will support the delivery of the Industrial Strategy.

We are investing in young people’s futures and reversing the sharp decline in apprenticeship starts amongst young people, which have fallen by 40% over the last decade, emphasised by our ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships.

There are several apprenticeship standards available that employers in the independent advice sector can take advantage of, including the Level 3 Learning and Development Practitioner and Level 4 Employability Practitioner standards.

Eligible employers within the independent advice sector will be able to benefit from the new £2,000 apprenticeship hiring grant for non-levy paying employers, typically SMEs, that take on 16–24-year-old apprentices as new employees. It will apply to apprenticeship starts from October as long as they have joined their employer within the past 3 months i.e. from July 2026. This is in addition to fully funding apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers for all eligible 16–24-year-olds from the start of the next academic year.

Employers in the sector will also be able to benefit from the Youth Guarantee, which will offer fully funded training, financial incentives and a pipeline of young talent to help fill skills gaps and build their workforce.

In addition, the Adult Skills Fund which is worth around £1.4bn this year, funds education and skills training up to and including Level 3, for eligible adults aged 19+ which can include learning to support individuals to work in the independent advice sector. Skills Bootcamps also support reskilling and upskilling in a range of priority skills areas that could help learners and employers in the independent advice sector.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the latest figures they hold of the number of people receiving new style contribution-based Jobseekers Allowance, broken down by the number of (1) men, and (2) women, and the duration of award (a) up to three months, (b) three to six months, and (c) over six months.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent representations, if any, they have made to the government of Israel about the ill-treatment, including the use of sexual assault, of Palestinian children in Israeli detention, as reported in Torture and genocide - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, published on 19 February.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)

I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer provided on 8 December 2025 in response to Question HL11828 (https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-11-11/hl11828).

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the joint briefing by Gingerbread, Surviving Economic Abuse, and Women’s Aid, “Maintenance is used as a weapon all of the time”: Domestic Abuse and the Child Maintenance Service, published on 22 April; and what steps they are taking to improve interdepartmental information sharing to verify the income of paying parents within the Child Maintenance Service.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In order to support victims/survivors of domestic abuse, all Child Maintenance Service (CMS) caseworkers receive extensive training and follow a well-managed process with clear steps to support and recognise domestic abuse, including coercive and controlling behaviour.

The CMS is strengthening support for victims/survivors, for example by making it easier for parents to switch to the Collect and Pay service and being clearer in its communication about what support is available for victims and survivors of domestic abuse and how to access it.

The government intends to remove Direct Pay. Doing so will go further in supporting victims/survivors, and we will do so as soon as parliamentary time allows.

The CMS maintains the accuracy of child maintenance calculations by using verified income information from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and benefit systems.

Information about the paying parent's gross income is taken directly from HMRC for the latest tax year available. This allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately. Any income subject to income tax including bonuses and overtime received by an employed paying parent, is included within their gross weekly income when calculating a child maintenance liability.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to launch the Children and Armed Conflict toolkit currently being developed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office supports children affected by armed conflict across the world, including through humanitarian assistance and our education and demining programmes. Our children and armed conflict toolkit will provide practical guidance for officials on using diplomatic and other levers to protect and support children affected by armed conflict. The toolkit is in the final stages of development and will be launched in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will issue a corrected version of the Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns consultation document and extend the timeline for stakeholders to respond in view of incorrect paragraph numbering affecting stakeholders' ability to understand exactly what is being proposed.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

An addendum correcting numbering errors identified in the Family Returns Consultation, as launched on 5 March 2026, was sent to stakeholders on 14 March. These minor corrections do not affect the substance of the proposals.

To allow proper consideration of the updated information, the consultation period has been extended by one week and will now end on 4 June 2026.

Since 5 March, officials have continued to engage with stakeholders to support informed responses.

Found: George’s, University of London; Edward McPherson, Senior Consultant, WPI Economics; Baroness Lister of Burtersett