Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to meet their manifesto commitment to provide open-access mental health services for children and young people in every community; and what is the expected timeline for full implementation.

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

The Department is establishing Young Futures Hubs to bring together services that improve access to opportunities and support for children and young people in community settings, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.

Since 2024/25, 24 Early Support Hubs received top-up funding of £8 million to expand their early intervention and prevention support for children and young people's mental health and to take part in an ongoing evaluation of these services.

The evaluation of the Early Support Hubs project will make a significant contribution to the design and implementation of Young Futures Hubs, ensuring that services continue to evolve to meet the needs of young people.

Young Futures Hubs will provide early wellbeing support and ensure there is no wrong front door for children and young people, including those aged 18 to 25 years old, seeking mental health help. Hubs will direct individuals to National Health Service mental health services where more specialist support is required.

The hubs will be designed in partnership with local areas, drawing on local understanding of need and the landscape of existing services. The Government aims to establish 50 hubs over the next four years in the places where they will have the greatest impact. The first eight Young Futures Hubs will launch by the end of this financial year, supported by £2 million of investment.

Also, we will accelerate the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what specific measures they are taking to ensure young people aged 18-25 can access appropriate mental health support in the community.

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

The Department is establishing Young Futures Hubs to bring together services that improve access to opportunities and support for children and young people in community settings, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.

Since 2024/25, 24 Early Support Hubs received top-up funding of £8 million to expand their early intervention and prevention support for children and young people's mental health and to take part in an ongoing evaluation of these services.

The evaluation of the Early Support Hubs project will make a significant contribution to the design and implementation of Young Futures Hubs, ensuring that services continue to evolve to meet the needs of young people.

Young Futures Hubs will provide early wellbeing support and ensure there is no wrong front door for children and young people, including those aged 18 to 25 years old, seeking mental health help. Hubs will direct individuals to National Health Service mental health services where more specialist support is required.

The hubs will be designed in partnership with local areas, drawing on local understanding of need and the landscape of existing services. The Government aims to establish 50 hubs over the next four years in the places where they will have the greatest impact. The first eight Young Futures Hubs will launch by the end of this financial year, supported by £2 million of investment.

Also, we will accelerate the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to set targets for the key performance indicators set out in the consultation on the third cycling and walking investment strategy, published on 3 November.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

On the 3rd November the Government launched a consultation to develop the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS3). The consultation is seeking the views of stakeholders on national vision, statutory objectives, and underlying performance indicators.

Details will be provided when the strategy is published next year.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help low-income, vulnerable people such as domestic abuse survivors who are moved into unfurnished social housing without any furniture or white goods, nor the financial means to acquire them.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

My Department engages actively with registered providers of social housing and a wide range of stakeholders on issues affecting tenants, including groups such as End Furniture Poverty to understand their work on this matter.

On 2 July, we launched a consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard (DHS) for the social and private rented sectors, which included proposals for the Government to develop best practice guidance for all landlords, including information on how tenants in need can access support for furniture provision. The consultation has now closed, and responses are being analysed. More details on future guidance will be published as part of the Government’s formal response.

In the meantime, people living without essential furniture may be able to access support through their local authority, including via the Household Support Fund and other locally available services. My Department is also allocating £10.9 million of funding this year to 61 local authorities in England with the highest numbers of children in temporary accommodation, to increase access to support and services. More information (attached) is available on gov.uk here.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the costs and savings resulting from offering furnished tenancies in social housing, and the impact of such tenancies on homelessness presentations and local welfare assistance spending.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

My Department engages actively with registered providers of social housing and a wide range of stakeholders on issues affecting tenants, including groups such as End Furniture Poverty to understand their work on this matter.

On 2 July, we launched a consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard (DHS) for the social and private rented sectors, which included proposals for the Government to develop best practice guidance for all landlords, including information on how tenants in need can access support for furniture provision. The consultation has now closed, and responses are being analysed. More details on future guidance will be published as part of the Government’s formal response.

In the meantime, people living without essential furniture may be able to access support through their local authority, including via the Household Support Fund and other locally available services. My Department is also allocating £10.9 million of funding this year to 61 local authorities in England with the highest numbers of children in temporary accommodation, to increase access to support and services. More information (attached) is available on gov.uk here.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the impact of requiring social landlords to provide at least 10 per cent of their stock as furnished.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

My Department engages actively with registered providers of social housing and a wide range of stakeholders on issues affecting tenants, including groups such as End Furniture Poverty to understand their work on this matter.

On 2 July, we launched a consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard (DHS) for the social and private rented sectors, which included proposals for the Government to develop best practice guidance for all landlords, including information on how tenants in need can access support for furniture provision. The consultation has now closed, and responses are being analysed. More details on future guidance will be published as part of the Government’s formal response.

In the meantime, people living without essential furniture may be able to access support through their local authority, including via the Household Support Fund and other locally available services. My Department is also allocating £10.9 million of funding this year to 61 local authorities in England with the highest numbers of children in temporary accommodation, to increase access to support and services. More information (attached) is available on gov.uk here.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they will work with local authorities and social housing providers to reduce so-called 'furniture poverty’ among children and ensure all children have a bed of their own.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

My Department engages actively with registered providers of social housing and a wide range of stakeholders on issues affecting tenants, including groups such as End Furniture Poverty to understand their work on this matter.

On 2 July, we launched a consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard (DHS) for the social and private rented sectors, which included proposals for the Government to develop best practice guidance for all landlords, including information on how tenants in need can access support for furniture provision. The consultation has now closed, and responses are being analysed. More details on future guidance will be published as part of the Government’s formal response.

In the meantime, people living without essential furniture may be able to access support through their local authority, including via the Household Support Fund and other locally available services. My Department is also allocating £10.9 million of funding this year to 61 local authorities in England with the highest numbers of children in temporary accommodation, to increase access to support and services. More information (attached) is available on gov.uk here.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to pause asylum accommodation evictions during the activation of a severe weather emergency protocol.

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

Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) protocols are now recognised standard operational practice in the Home Office.

Where SWEP is activated in a local authority area, if Service Users at the end of their move on period have not secured onward accommodation and are due to be evicted from asylum accommodation, Accommodation Providers will not actively pursue eviction, and this will be delayed.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the links between child poverty and school absence due to ill health or other circumstances.

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

We know that disadvantaged pupils face barriers to engagement with education. A recent report from the Child Poverty Action Group found that more than 1 in 4 pupils aged 11 to 18 eligible for free school meals in the UK say they have missed school at least once because they did not have something they needed to attend. Absence data reinforces this with the rate of overall absence for pupils eligible for free school meals continuing to be almost twice that of pupils not eligible.

The government’s landmark decision to remove the two-child limit will lift almost half a million children out of poverty; this comes alongside our actions to tackle the cost of the school day, through expanding free school meals, cutting the cost of uniform and delivering free breakfast clubs in primary schools, which will all remove barriers to school attendance and attainment. Mental health support teams are also providing earlier support in school for young people.

Our real-time attendance data and toolkits for schools enable early identification of pupils at risk of persistent absence and include a self-assessment tool that explicitly asks schools how they track and respond to the absence of pupils entitled to free school meals. Schools can also use Pupil Premium funding to provide attendance support for disadvantaged students.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the new Crisis and Resilience Fund guidance will make furniture and appliance provision an integral part of the support offered by local authorities to those lacking essential furniture.

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

My Department has engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of furniture provision, through the Crisis and Resilience Fund, on the likelihood of low-income households entering unmanageable debt.

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

My Department has engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process including furniture provision. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to involve organisations working to tackle youth homelessness in their review of value for money of homelessness services; and what is the timeline of that review.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Building on the recommendations of the Office for Value for Money, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury will lead a process with Secretaries of State to review how to improve value for money across homelessness services. The review will commence in 2026, with the outputs considered as part of the Spending Review 2027.

To drive meaningful change, the review will be a collaborative effort across government departments and we will consider where and how external expertise can be utilised as part of this to ensure a comprehensive assessment.