Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many newly qualified midwives have been supported into employment under the graduate guarantee to date; and how this compares to their initial objective that every newly qualified midwife will have the opportunity to join the health and social care workforce.

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

The Government is committed to taking a long-term approach to workforce planning, including strengthening the supply and retention of maternity staff as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. This includes ensuring that newly qualified midwives are supported into employment and that workforce decisions align with both service need and long-term sustainability.

Following an £8 million investment to expand midwifery workforce capacity, more than 850 additional temporary roles have been created to support and employ more newly qualified midwives since September 2025, supporting the Government’s objective that every newly qualified nurse and midwife in England can apply to join the health workforce.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that NHS trusts are not subject to recruitment freezes where they risk compromising delivery of the graduate guarantee.

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

The Government is committed to taking a long-term approach to workforce planning, including strengthening the supply and retention of maternity staff as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. This includes ensuring that newly qualified midwives are supported into employment and that workforce decisions align with both service need and long-term sustainability.

Following an £8 million investment to expand midwifery workforce capacity, more than 850 additional temporary roles have been created to support and employ more newly qualified midwives since September 2025, supporting the Government’s objective that every newly qualified nurse and midwife in England can apply to join the health workforce.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the lead for children and young people will be appointed to the National Cancer Board; what the process for this appointment will be; and whether stakeholders will be able to contribute to the appointment process.

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

The Government is committed to continuing its work with key cancer partners to deliver the commitments outlined in the National Cancer Plan. We are also committed to bringing together and coordinating the right people and partners, including charities and the third sector.

A reformed National Cancer Board will be accountable for delivery of the National Cancer Plan, and the first meeting of the board is expected in the coming months, when the full membership has been agreed. The appointment of the lead of children and young people’s cancer will follow in due course and will join the first meeting of the board. Charities and third sector organisations have been crucial to informing the development of the National Cancer Plan and we will continue to involve them throughout its implementation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure charities and the third sector are involved in the delivery and implementation of, and accountability structure for, The National Cancer Plan for England, in particular with reference to children and young people.

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

The Government is committed to continuing its work with key cancer partners to deliver the commitments outlined in the National Cancer Plan. We are also committed to bringing together and coordinating the right people and partners, including charities and the third sector.

A reformed National Cancer Board will be accountable for delivery of the National Cancer Plan, and the first meeting of the board is expected in the coming months, when the full membership has been agreed. The appointment of the lead of children and young people’s cancer will follow in due course and will join the first meeting of the board. Charities and third sector organisations have been crucial to informing the development of the National Cancer Plan and we will continue to involve them throughout its implementation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in addressing delays in hospital discharges due to lack of medical equipment for children; and what assessment they have made of any regional disparities in these delays.

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

It is important that all patients, including children, experiencing a stay in hospital are discharged promptly from hospital with the right support to promote better patient outcomes. The Department does not hold data on delays in hospital discharge for children due to a lack of medical equipment and has not assessed regional disparities in these delays.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps are being taken to finalise the second Hydrogen Allocation Round.

Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

We understand that many projects are at critical stages, and that certainty is very important to help businesses plan and manage resourcing and expectations of third parties. We are working hard across government to start the Invite to Offer stage of HAR2 as soon as possible and will be in touch with projects when this commences. We are aiming to announce successful HAR2 projects in 2026.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what urgent measures are being taken to address gaps in necessary training within the clean energy workforce.

Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

In October 2025, we published the Clean Energy Jobs Plan. We have already made significant progress since publishing our Plan. In April, we announced 5 Clean Energy Technical Excellence Colleges delivering training for clean energy jobs in Liverpool, the Tees Valley, Somerset, London and Colchester.

To support skilled oil and gas workers to move into clean energy jobs, the Plan also announced the provision of up to £20 million of funding from the UK and Scottish Governments to the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund. In the North Sea Future Plan, we announced a new North Sea Jobs Service, which will offer end-to-end career transition support for oil and gas workers looking to move into secure jobs in growing industries.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential for job creation of the hydrogen sector by 2050.

Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Industrial Strategy’s Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan (CEI) backs hydrogen as a frontier technology, with potential to drive economic growth, create high-quality jobs, and build industries of the future.

In the UK, hydrogen could support 6,500 – 11,500 jobs by 2035 with opportunities across the graduate and technically trained workforce. We expect these figures to scale with hydrogen sector growth out to 2050.

As part of our Industrial Strategy, we published the Clean Energy Jobs Plan which confirms the workforce needed to deliver our clean energy ambitions and how government will work with industry and trade unions to deliver it.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the update to the UK Hydrogen Strategy will be published.

Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government intends to publish a renewed Hydrogen Strategy, alongside a package of other hydrogen policy documents, as soon as possible this year.

The renewed Hydrogen Strategy will set out Government’s vision and objectives for hydrogen, and how the Government intends to work together with industry to continue to transform ambition into action.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what support they provide to those retraining, particularly for workers moving from other industries to the clean economy.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) provides a range of support to help people retrain and move into growing sectors, including the clean economy. Jobcentre Plus offers tailored employment support such as skills assessments, access to training through Sector-based Work Academy Programmes, skills bootcamps, other bespoke training and direct matching to vacancies, all of which can be applied to clean energy roles.

This is complemented by wider government investment in training and skills, including funded and subsidised courses in clean energy, alongside regional skills programmes designed to address local labour market needs and support access to clean energy jobs.

The Government is also working with industry to support workers transitioning from other sectors by recognising transferable skills and providing the means to help individuals move into clean energy roles more quickly.

DWP have collaborated and agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Dpartment for Energy Security and Net Zero to ensure that the Get Britain Working measures are included in the Clean Energy Jobs Plan and on the ground our teams are working together to make this happen.

There are examples of this collaboration on the recent closures of the Grangemouth and Prax Lindsey oil refineries where a joint cross department response was put in place to support people being made redundant to access training in order to gain the skills needed to move into new employment in the clean economy.

Together, these measures aim to ensure individuals can access the skills, training and opportunities needed to take up jobs in the growing clean economy.

Falling pupil numbers drive budget pressures for schools, most of whose funding is provided on a per-pupil basis, as facilities and senior staffing costs are relatively static. In 2023/24, 14.7% of local authority-run schools were in debt, up from 7.9% six years earlier. The IfG estimates that empty school places account for almost two-fifths of that rise.