Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - 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 9 February (HL13942), whether the review of childcare provision will cover (1) the availability of funded childcare places across the country, (2) the adequacy of funding rates provided to settings, and (3) the sufficiency, distribution and qualification levels of the childcare workforce.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through the department’s Childcare and Early Education Review, we will look at how to improve access to early education and care, making the system simpler for families and delivering a coherent local offer. The Review will focus on improving outcomes for all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and on helping parents participate in the labour market.
Alongside this, the Early Years Funding Consultation is considering how funding is distributed nationally and locally to ensure it remains fair, reflects delivery costs, and supports areas with higher levels of need. We also work closely with local authorities to monitor sufficiency and understand the barriers to delivering funded places.
On workforce, we are expanding funded Early Years Initial Teacher Training places, introducing financial incentives in disadvantaged areas, and will be consulting on routes and professional status to support a strong, sustainable profession.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - 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 9 February (HL13942), whether the review of childcare provision will assess the effect of funded childcare provision on (1) labour market participation, (2) family living costs, and (3) children's outcomes, including school readiness.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through the department’s Childcare and Early Education Review, we will look at how to improve access to early education and care, making the system simpler for families and delivering a coherent local offer. The Review will focus on improving outcomes for all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and on helping parents participate in the labour market.
Alongside this, the Early Years Funding Consultation is considering how funding is distributed nationally and locally to ensure it remains fair, reflects delivery costs, and supports areas with higher levels of need. We also work closely with local authorities to monitor sufficiency and understand the barriers to delivering funded places.
On workforce, we are expanding funded Early Years Initial Teacher Training places, introducing financial incentives in disadvantaged areas, and will be consulting on routes and professional status to support a strong, sustainable profession.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many additional educational psychologists and speech and language therapists, funded by the special educational needs and disabilities plan announced on 23 February, they expect to complete training in (1) 2026–27, (2) 2027–28, (3) 2028–29, and (4) 2029–30.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Experts at Hand will be delivered through a blend of existing specialist capacity and new staff brought in over time, ensuring the expertise available grows sustainably as the offer develops.
We recently announced £26 million investment to train at least 200 educational psychologists per year, starting their training in 2026 and 2027, followed by further investment from 2028 to train even larger cohorts, subject to a future spending review. This builds on £31 million already being invested since 2023 to train around 200 educational psychologists per year.
The educational psychology doctorate is a three-year course and those who began their training in 2023 will graduate and enter the workforce in 2026/27. Together, these investments will result in approximately 200 trained educational psychologists graduating each year, in 2026/27, 2027/28, 2028/29, and 2029/30 respectively.
We also announced an investment of over £15 million in speech and language therapists (SaLTs). This is to upskill more SaLT support workers and to establish new SaLT advanced practitioners to ensure more therapists and support workers are working with education settings to support additional children and young people. We will also promote the Level 6 SaLT degree apprenticeship to boost the pipeline.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 18 December 2025 (HL12723), whether they have made a decision on whether to ask the National Audit Office to make an assessment of the 10 Year Workforce Plan; and when they expect to publish that plan.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A decision on whether the National Audit Office will be asked to make an assessment of the 10 Year Workforce Plan has not been made. The plan’s modelling will, however, be subject to external scrutiny. The plan will be published in spring 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 2 February (HL13762), what progress they have made in the arm's length bodies review; when they expect that review to be completed; and when they will publish its findings.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the Noble Lady to my answer to HL13762.:
Question:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 19 January (HL13276), when the arm's length bodies (ALB) review will be completed; and whether its findings will be published.
Answer:
The review is ongoing. Outcomes will be communicated in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the speech by the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister on 20 January, which "Prime Ministerial priorities" will be assigned to new teams modelled on the Vaccines Taskforce; and which ministers will sponsor those teams.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Number 10 and the Cabinet Office are continuing to work together and with departments to consider taskforces across the Prime Minister’s priorities.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 11 March (HL15135), in what circumstances a direction under the statutory instrument coming into force on 24 March would not be made.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is important that there is stability in the medicines regulatory and access landscape, and there should be a high bar for making changes to the cost-effectiveness threshold. It is the Government’s intention, therefore, that the power to set the cost-effectiveness threshold would be used rarely.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend that the 2026/27 NHS Payment Scheme consultation outcome in respect of guide prices for ADHD and autism assessments will be agreed to by Ministers before implementation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The full responsibility for developing and setting the National Tariff, which is a set of rules, prices, and guidance that determine how providers of National Health Service funded healthcare are paid for the services they provide, was given to NHS England through the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The Health and Care Act 2022 confirmed this responsibility and renamed the ‘National Tariff’ to the ‘NHS Payment Scheme’. The legislation relating to the NHS Payment Scheme is set out in schedule 10 of the 2022 Act.
Under NHS England’s ‘Scheme of Delegation’, responsibility for approving the NHS Payment Scheme rests with the Chief Executive Officer of NHS England, delated to the Chief Financial Officer of NHS England. Ministerial agreement of the consultation is not currently a requirement of the regulations set out in the act.
NHS England will continue to work with policy teams at the Department and wider stakeholders to further develop currencies and consider appropriate payment options for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, in line with the overall direction set by ministers.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the speech by the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister on 20 January, how key performance indicators (KPIs) for senior civil servants will be set by ministers; whether individual ministers will have total autonomy to set their own KPIs; over what time period those KPIs will be assessed; and whether those KPIs will be changed when a minister changes.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Performance arrangements for members of the Senior Civil Service stem from a centrally set performance management framework, which makes clear that the objectives should be linked directly to the objectives of the department and minister they serve. These are then assessed by their line manager, throughout the performance year.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 24 February (HL14386), how they will monitor whether individual departments and agencies change their hiring procedures and practices to place greater value on frontline delivery, innovation and private sector experience.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Departments and agencies have delegated authority to determine their own practices and procedures for the recruitment of staff to the Civil Service, including the Senior Civil Service (SCS), as outlined in the Civil Service Management Code.
The Government People Group are collaborating with dedicated SCS Recruitment leads from the core Government departments to support them in sharing best practice and making relevant changes to their hiring practices, in line with the ambition set out in the Chief Secretary to the Prime Ministers’ speech of 20 January 2026.