Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to review no recourse to public funds conditions to reduce child poverty.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In developing the Child Poverty Strategy, the Ministerial Taskforce engaged extensively with families, charities and other organisations across the UK, including those making representations on behalf of children subject to no recourse to public funds (NRPF). This engagement will continue as the Government implements its plans for delivering and evaluating the Strategy.
We are continuing our work to develop our understanding of NRPF and its impacts. This includes work with the Home Office to develop questions on NRPF for inclusion in the Family Resources survey 2026/2027, a household survey undertaken annually to explore living standards in the UK. This will provide greater insight into how families with the NRPF conditions are living in the UK and will help to inform future policy-making.
There are important safeguards that currently exist within the system to ensure that vulnerable migrants and children are protected. For example, section 17 of the Children Act 1989 imposes a general duty on English local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of “children in need” in their area. Any support provided to a child by local authorities under such legislation is not dependent on the immigration status of the child or their parent(s). Local authorities can also provide support if there is a human rights issue, or there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution.
In England, migrant children subject to the NRPF conditions have access to a range of support to support disadvantaged children. This includes access to Free School meals (subject to certain eligibility thresholds), funding for schools to support disadvantaged children, 15 hours per week early years childcare entitlement for disadvantaged 2-year-olds, 15 hours early years child care entitlement for 3- to 4-year-olds, support for children with special educational needs and disabilities; and local authority grants.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number and proportion of children in (1) poverty, and (2) deep poverty, living in households subject to no recourse to public funds; and what assessment they have made of the impact of the Child Poverty Strategy on those numbers.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In developing the Child Poverty Strategy, the Ministerial Taskforce engaged extensively with families, charities and other organisations across the UK, including those making representations on behalf of children subject to no recourse to public funds (NRPF). This engagement will continue as the Government implements its plans for delivering and evaluating the Strategy.
We are continuing our work to develop our understanding of NRPF and its impacts. This includes work with the Home Office to develop questions on NRPF for inclusion in the Family Resources survey 2026/2027, a household survey undertaken annually to explore living standards in the UK. This will provide greater insight into how families with the NRPF conditions are living in the UK and will help to inform future policy-making.
There are important safeguards that currently exist within the system to ensure that vulnerable migrants and children are protected. For example, section 17 of the Children Act 1989 imposes a general duty on English local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of “children in need” in their area. Any support provided to a child by local authorities under such legislation is not dependent on the immigration status of the child or their parent(s). Local authorities can also provide support if there is a human rights issue, or there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution.
In England, migrant children subject to the NRPF conditions have access to a range of support to support disadvantaged children. This includes access to Free School meals (subject to certain eligibility thresholds), funding for schools to support disadvantaged children, 15 hours per week early years childcare entitlement for disadvantaged 2-year-olds, 15 hours early years child care entitlement for 3- to 4-year-olds, support for children with special educational needs and disabilities; and local authority grants.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what mechanisms will be used to measure the progress on poverty reduction for children in no recourse to public funds households as part of the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In developing the Child Poverty Strategy, the Ministerial Taskforce engaged extensively with families, charities and other organisations across the UK, including those making representations on behalf of children subject to no recourse to public funds (NRPF). This engagement will continue as the Government implements its plans for delivering and evaluating the Strategy.
We are continuing our work to develop our understanding of NRPF and its impacts. This includes work with the Home Office to develop questions on NRPF for inclusion in the Family Resources survey 2026/2027, a household survey undertaken annually to explore living standards in the UK. This will provide greater insight into how families with the NRPF conditions are living in the UK and will help to inform future policy-making.
There are important safeguards that currently exist within the system to ensure that vulnerable migrants and children are protected. For example, section 17 of the Children Act 1989 imposes a general duty on English local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of “children in need” in their area. Any support provided to a child by local authorities under such legislation is not dependent on the immigration status of the child or their parent(s). Local authorities can also provide support if there is a human rights issue, or there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution.
In England, migrant children subject to the NRPF conditions have access to a range of support to support disadvantaged children. This includes access to Free School meals (subject to certain eligibility thresholds), funding for schools to support disadvantaged children, 15 hours per week early years childcare entitlement for disadvantaged 2-year-olds, 15 hours early years child care entitlement for 3- to 4-year-olds, support for children with special educational needs and disabilities; and local authority grants.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure the delivery of the Child Poverty Strategy, particularly in regard to children subject to no recourse to public funds conditions.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In developing the Child Poverty Strategy, the Ministerial Taskforce engaged extensively with families, charities and other organisations across the UK, including those making representations on behalf of children subject to no recourse to public funds (NRPF). This engagement will continue as the Government implements its plans for delivering and evaluating the Strategy.
We are continuing our work to develop our understanding of NRPF and its impacts. This includes work with the Home Office to develop questions on NRPF for inclusion in the Family Resources survey 2026/2027, a household survey undertaken annually to explore living standards in the UK. This will provide greater insight into how families with the NRPF conditions are living in the UK and will help to inform future policy-making.
There are important safeguards that currently exist within the system to ensure that vulnerable migrants and children are protected. For example, section 17 of the Children Act 1989 imposes a general duty on English local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of “children in need” in their area. Any support provided to a child by local authorities under such legislation is not dependent on the immigration status of the child or their parent(s). Local authorities can also provide support if there is a human rights issue, or there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution.
In England, migrant children subject to the NRPF conditions have access to a range of support to support disadvantaged children. This includes access to Free School meals (subject to certain eligibility thresholds), funding for schools to support disadvantaged children, 15 hours per week early years childcare entitlement for disadvantaged 2-year-olds, 15 hours early years child care entitlement for 3- to 4-year-olds, support for children with special educational needs and disabilities; and local authority grants.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria they will use to evaluate their progress towards the targets set out in the Child Poverty Strategy, including (1) reducing the number of children in relative low income and increasing household incomes, (2) ending the placement of families in bed and breakfasts beyond the six-week limit, (3) increasing accessible childcare for parents on Universal Credit, and (4) establishing a notification system for when a child is placed in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy sets out how we will hold ourselves to account on delivering the impact we have promised through this Parliament and beyond as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and continued learning.
We are continuing our work across government, with devolved governments, local authorities, stakeholders and experts as part of the long-term evaluation.
Further details on our approach to monitoring and evaluation will follow in the baseline report in Summer this year, which will also set out the latest statistics and evidence. We will report on an annual basis thereafter to monitor and evaluate progress.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much has been spent on mental health support as part of the Access to Work scheme in each of the past five years, broken down by mental health condition.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Although the Department holds information on the mental health conditions of Access to Work customers and the specific types of support they receive, information on specific mental health conditions and how much has been spent on mental health support is not readily accessible. The required information is recorded as descriptive free-text information and extracting it would require manual review of individual records.
While we cannot provide total expenditure on mental health support, the Access to Work official statistics do report expenditure for customers whose primary medical condition is a mental health condition, as well as for the Mental Health Support Service, as seen in the table below.
£m, 2024/25 prices | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Mental Health Condition | 5.9 | 12.2 | 17.4 | 27.7 | 38.7 |
Mental Health Support Service | 7.1 | 7.7 | 9.4 | 11.5 | 11.9 |
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the extra costs incurred by disabled people, including for (1) equipment, (2) care, (3) transport, and (4) housing, are accounted for in poverty metrics and support provision.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A range of poverty measures are included in the annual Households Below Average Income Statistics including Relative Low Income (After Housing Costs) and Material Deprivation. Relative Low Income involves setting a threshold based on 60% of net household income after deducing taxes and housing costs. It does not take account of any additional costs incurred due to disability. Material Deprivation involves asking families whether they can afford a set of essential items so the impact of any additional costs due to disability could impact on a family’s ability to afford these items so Material Deprivation metric does take account of these costs.
The extra costs disability benefits, including Personal Independence Payment (PIP), provide a contribution towards the extra costs (which includes equipment, care, transport and housing), that may arise from a long-term disability or health condition.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the compatibility of the Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 with UK commitments to dynamically align with EU pesticide standards as part of the future UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 makes amendments to assimilated law for three areas of chemical regulation: GB Biocidal Products Regulation (GB BPR), GB Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemical Substances and Mixtures Regulation (GB CLP); and the Export and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Regulation (GB PIC). The changes being made are set out in the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) response to its consultation that ran between 23 June 2025 and 18 August 2025. HSE is committed to minimising divergence with the EU across all regimes.
GB BPR is now included in the negotiations between UK and the EU on a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement. Until the agreement is concluded, the changes to GB BPR made by this instrument are necessary to resolve critical issues in the GB biocides regime which could otherwise lead to a large group of biocidal products and active substances being removed from the GB market. The implications for GB BPR will be further analysed when the final shape of the Agreement is known.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the awards made under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 during the 2024–25 financial year were to (1) claimants suffering from pneumoconiosis, (2) claimants suffering from diffuse mesothelioma, and (3) other categories of claimants.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2024/25 there were 2,300 awards to sufferers under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979. The breakdown by medical condition is:
Medical Condition | Awards |
Diffuse mesothelioma | 1,250 |
Pneumoconiosis | 640 |
Other | 410 |
Total* | 2,290 |
*Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of people who use the Access to Work scheme for mental health support have a diagnosed condition.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held centrally and extracting this information would require manual examination of individual records and exceed the cost limit.