Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what funding has been committed up to 2030 to provide a guaranteed job to young people on Universal Credit who are unemployed for over 18 months, as set out in 1.4.2 of their Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper (CP 1412).

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

The government has announced that the Youth Guarantee will include a targeted backstop, where every eligible unemployed young person on Universal Credit for 18 months without earning or learning will be provided guaranteed paid work. The scheme forms part of the government’s aim to provide targeted support for young people at risk of long-term unemployment.

The jobs guarantee will be funded from within existing budgets, and we will set out further details at Budget 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Levitt on 22 October (HL10869), how many (1) arrests, and (2) charges have been made under the Suicide Act 1961 in the past ten years.

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

The Home Office holds some of the information requested.

However, data is collected by broad offence group, for example ‘Miscellaneous crimes against society’, and not on more specific offences such as those under the Suicide Act 1961.

There were 91 offences recorded by the police in the year ending June 2025, an increase of 35 on the previous year (56 offences). This was up from 32 in the year ending March 2016.

There were no charge/summons for aiding suicide offences recorded by the police in the year ending June 2025 (down from 1 in the previous year).

Table: The number of ‘aiding suicide’ offences, and charge/summons, recorded by the police in England and Wales, 2015/16 to year ending June 2025

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Levitt on 2 October (HL10681), whether they will publish the notes of the meetings with the promoters of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill and the actions taken as a result of those meetings in the Library of the House.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Government does not intend to place the notes of meetings with the Sponsors of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill into the Library of the House.

As my honourable friend the Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services discussed with the House of Lords Select Committee considering the Bill on 29 October, the Government has worked with the Sponsors to ensure the Bill is workable, in order to fulfil the Government’s duty of care to the statute book, whilst remaining neutral on the matter of assisted dying.

The Ministry of Justice recognises the importance of promoting openness and transparency in Government. However, it is also in the public interest that the Government can engage confidentially with the Sponsors, so that the advice provided in relation to the operability and soundness of the Bill can be free and frank – both in relation to this Bill and any future private member’s Bill where the Government engages closely with the Sponsor.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government which four councils will be required to have government-backed local inquiries into grooming gangs, in addition to Oldham.

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

In June this year, Baroness Casey published her independent audit into group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, and the Government accepted every recommendation it made, including establishing a new national inquiry. The national inquiry, equipped with statutory powers under the Inquiries Act 2005, will direct targeted local reviews in specific areas.

The former Home Secretary previously committed in January to provide guidance and establish a £5 million fund which would have supported non-statutory local inquiries. Our new approach of establishing a national statutory inquiry, will be strengthened through its statutory powers – therefore, we have discontinued work related to the previously announced guidance and £5 million fund.

We are in the process of identifying an appropriate Inquiry Chair with the credibility and experience to command the confidence of victims, survivors and the public. They will be announced in due course.

Once the Chair is appointed, they will play a central role in shaping the inquiry’s terms of reference, alongside identifying the first local areas for review.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in fulfilling its strategy for 16 and 17 year-olds to take up education and training as set out in 1.4.2 of its Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper (CP 1412), what funding they will provide for transport in rural areas.

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

The responsibility for post-16 transport lies with local authorities, who have a duty to publish a transport policy statement each year that sets out the travel arrangements they will make to support young people to access further education. ​

​Arrangements do not have to be free, but the department expects local authorities, including those in rural areas, to make reasonable decisions based on the needs of their population, the local transport infrastructure, and the resources they have available. ​

​The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund is also used to help students with travel costs, including those on low incomes. It enables schools, colleges and training providers to support students with transport costs where these have been identified as a barrier to participation.​

​In addition to their statutory responsibilities, many local authorities do offer some form of subsidised transport which, combined with the 16 to 19 bursary, has been intended to provide financial support to students from low-income households. These decisions are best made locally, in consideration of local needs, the resources available and other local circumstances.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether legitimate undercover journalism is considered a "reasonable excuse" for the purposes of the offence of taking or recording intimate photograph or film under Schedule 9(2) of the Crime and Policing Bill.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The proposed new section 66AA(5) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 states that: “It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) to prove that the person had a reasonable excuse for taking the photograph or recording the film”.

This would be a fact-sensitive decision to be made by the court on a case-by-case basis.

That said, the position of a journalist working undercover is one of the situations in which the Government has envisaged that the defence might apply.

The public-facing CPS Legal Guidance Assessing the Public Interest in Cases Affecting the Media [Media: Assessing the Public Interest in Cases Affecting the Media | The Crown Prosecution Service] provides further guidance to prosecutors in dealing with scenarios such as this, including the application of the Public Interest Test.

Therefore, any journalist being investigated for an offence would also be entitled to make representations to the Director of Public Prosecutions, relying on the Legal Guidance, that a prosecution should not take place because it did not meet the Full Code Test for prosecution.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government on which clauses and amendments the Ministry of Justice have provided advice on legal and practical workability to the promoters of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Government has provided legal and workability advice to the Sponsors across the entire Bill.

Where the Government has provided advice to the Sponsors on specific amendments, Ministers have referred to this within their remarks at Committee and Report Stage in the House of Commons. Parliamentary Counsel has provided the technical drafting for the amendments tabled by the Sponsors.

All advice provided to the Sponsor in relation to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has been to ensure the coherence of the statute book, and to help ensure the Bill is workable. The Government has remained neutral on the matter of assisted dying, and will continue to take this approach through the Bill’s passage in the House of Lords.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government for how many hours the (1) Family Court, and (2) Family Division of the High Court, sat in (a) 2023, and (b) 2024.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice does not hold the data for hours sat as family sittings for both the County Court and the High Court are recorded in days. This data can be found in the Royal Courts of Justice Annual Tables, table 9.2 as below:

Notes:

1. These figures represent only the days sat in court or in chambers in the jurisdictions shown. Judges sit in other areas (for example, High Court hearings in regional County Courts are not currently included) and also undertake a range of other functions outside the courtroom that are not shown here.

2. Includes Private and other family figures including family: divorce sitting days.

HMCTS does not hold data on how many cases were heard in the Family Court and Family Division of the High Court. However, data on the total number of cases disposed of, which includes both hearings and out of court disposals are in table 1 of the Family Court Statistics as shown below:

Source: HMCTS FamilyMan and Core Case Data

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases the (1) Family Court, and (2) Family Division of the High Court, heard in (a) 2023, and (b) 2024.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice does not hold the data for hours sat as family sittings for both the County Court and the High Court are recorded in days. This data can be found in the Royal Courts of Justice Annual Tables, table 9.2 as below:

Notes:

1. These figures represent only the days sat in court or in chambers in the jurisdictions shown. Judges sit in other areas (for example, High Court hearings in regional County Courts are not currently included) and also undertake a range of other functions outside the courtroom that are not shown here.

2. Includes Private and other family figures including family: divorce sitting days.

HMCTS does not hold data on how many cases were heard in the Family Court and Family Division of the High Court. However, data on the total number of cases disposed of, which includes both hearings and out of court disposals are in table 1 of the Family Court Statistics as shown below:

Source: HMCTS FamilyMan and Core Case Data

Found: Baroness Morris of Yardley (The Chair); Lord Blencathra; Lord Bradley; Lord Carter of Coles; Baroness Coffey

Found: Baroness Morris of Yardley (The Chair); Lord Blencathra; Lord Bradley; Lord Carter of Coles; Baroness Coffey