Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 17 November (HL11448), why the School Workforce Census does not report specialist teacher numbers for citizenship.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The school workforce census collects information on subject teachers in a large sample of state-funded secondary schools. Specialist teachers are identified by comparing the subject they teach with their qualifications.
For subjects such as citizenship, personal, social, health and economic education, careers and key skills, and general studies, qualifications are often broad and not specific to these subjects, making it difficult to determine whether a teacher is a specialist. As a result, the School workforce in England statistical release reports the total number of teachers and teaching hours for these subjects, rather than the number of teachers holding a relevant qualification. The report is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.
Figures for the number of citizenship teachers and hours taught are reported here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/eed2fc61-5d0f-48c8-eae3-08de29d3af56.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many primary teachers they plan to train to teach citizenship as a statutory subject at Key Stages 1 and 2, and whether additional funded training routes are planned to meet that need.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Recruitment to citizenship initial teacher training courses is unrestricted, enabling providers to recruit to increased demand. All trainees on a tuition fee-funded course can apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding is available depending on individual circumstances, such as the Childcare Grant.
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report was published on 5 November 2025. In line with the Review’s recommendation, the government will look for the earliest opportunity to make citizenship a new statutory requirement for key stages 1 and 2, and ensure that the programme of study is tightly focused on the essential content pupils should know at primary and secondary. The secondary curriculum will both mirror and follow from this core content, encompassing the vital threads of government, law and democracy, climate education, financial and media literacy.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the recommendations in the Curriculum and Assessment Review published on 5 November, what steps they are taking to increase the number of specialist citizenship teachers in England.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Recruitment to citizenship initial teacher training courses is unrestricted, enabling providers to recruit to increased demand. All trainees on a tuition fee-funded course can apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding is available depending on individual circumstances, such as the Childcare Grant.
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report was published on 5 November 2025. In line with the Review’s recommendation, the government will look for the earliest opportunity to make citizenship a new statutory requirement for key stages 1 and 2, and ensure that the programme of study is tightly focused on the essential content pupils should know at primary and secondary. The secondary curriculum will both mirror and follow from this core content, encompassing the vital threads of government, law and democracy, climate education, financial and media literacy.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many teachers were funded and training as citizenship specialists in England in 2024–25, and whether they plan to increase that number.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is working with the sector to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession across all subjects, including citizenship, and as a first step this government has increased teacher pay by almost 10% over two years.
Our Plan for Change is committed to recruiting 6,500 new teachers across secondary and special schools, and our colleges, over the course of this parliament to ensure sufficient teachers across all subjects. We are making good progress, with the workforce growing by 2,346 full-time equivalent between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools, where it is needed most.
Whilst we do not hold data on the number of trainees for citizenship, recruitment to citizenship initial teacher training courses is unrestricted, enabling providers to recruit to increased demand. All trainees on a tuition fee-funded course can apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding, such as the childcare grant, is available depending on individual circumstances.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken since the Impact Assessment on Converting Support for Mortgage Interest from a benefit into a loan, published in June 2017, identified limited data on disabled claimants using the Support for Mortgage Interest loan scheme; and what measures they have taken to address the impact assessment's conclusion that the scheme was likely to have a disproportionate impact on disabled claimants.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) transitioned from a benefit to a loan in April 2018. Support was provided at the same level as before, ensuring the same degree of protection against repossession.
SMI loans are not repayable until the property is sold and then, only to the extent that there is any available equity.
Since SMI converted to a loan, the Department has regularly reviewed the impact of the policy on its recipients, including on people with disabilities. In March 2021, loan ‘porting’ was introduced to allow SMI recipients to transfer their loan to a new property rather than repay. The primary purpose of this change was to enable disabled recipients to move home due to changes in their disability requirements. Further changes were introduced in April 2023 which extended eligibility to in-work Universal Credit recipients and support was provided after three months instead of nine.
Two separate research projects related to SMI have been conducted and published, in March 2022 and May 2025. Both are publicly available, and a copy will be deposited of both publications in the House of Lords library.