Asked by: Baroness Wyld (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government (1) how many, and (2) what proportion of, neonatal units meet the standard for parent accommodation; and whether they plan to allocate capital to bring parent accommodation on neonatal units up to national standard.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The results from NHS England’s Maternity and Neonatal Infrastructure Review, commissioned in 2023, showed that there are 747 parental accommodation rooms within neonatal units nationally. NHS England does not hold data on the standard of these rooms. However, there is undoubtedly variation in the provision of parental accommodation at neonatal units across England and we know that not all maternity hospitals are currently able to offer adequate accommodation for families due to the historic undercapitalisation across the National Health Service. A summary of the findings report can be found on the NHS.UK website. Data on the number of parental accommodation rooms is in the table attached.
As a first step towards improving the NHS maternity and neonatal estate, we are investing £131 million through the 2025/26 Estates Safety Fund to address critical safety risks on the maternity and neonatal estate, enabling better care for mothers and their newborns. The funded works will deliver vital safety improvements, enhance patient and staff environments, and support NHS productivity by reducing disruptions across NHS clinical services.
In addition, the Government is backing the NHS with over £4 billion in operational capital in 2025/26, with a further £16.9 billion to be allocated to integrated care boards and providers over the following four years, enabling systems to allocate funding to maternity and neonatal estates services where this is a local priority.
Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government to what extent Exercise Pegasus 2025 included members of both Houses of Parliament for oversight and scrutiny.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Exercise PEGASUS, the largest simulation of a pandemic in United Kingdom history, aimed to test our ability to respond to a pandemic, involving all regions and nations of the UK and thousands of participants, including Government ministers.
The live-simulation elements of the exercise took place on three non-sequential days with the exercise testing actions and decision making at specific points in time during a pandemic.
We have continued to engage both Houses of Parliament on the progress of the exercise, including by two Written Ministerial Statements. This engagement will continue as we progress phase four of the exercise, and the final post-exercise report and findings.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask The Leader of the House when she expects a Written Answer to be given to the question asked by Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson on 10 December 2025 (HL12852).
Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Department for Health and Social Care answered the question for written answer (HL12852) on 26th January 2026.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to alternatives to weight loss drugs in appropriate cases, in particular (1) taxation of unhealthy food, and (2) promotion of exercise.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to tackling the root causes of obesity, shifting the focus from treatment to prevention. As part of our 10-Year Health Plan, we’re improving diets, increasing physical activity, and creating healthier environments so fewer people reach the point of needing treatment. This includes requiring all large food businesses to report against standardised metrics on healthier food sales, setting full transparency and accountability around the food that businesses are selling, and encouraging healthier products. We will also be updating the standards behind the advertising and promotions restrictions on ‘less healthy’ food and drink to bring these restrictions in line with the latest dietary advice and increase their health impact.
There currently isn’t a tax on less healthy food, although the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) has been in place since 2018 and applies to manufacturers and importers of pre-packed added sugar soft drinks that contain five grams of total sugar per 100 millilitres or more. However, in the 2025 Autumn Budget, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced the extension of the SDIL to pre-packed milk-based and milk substitutes, including soya, oat, and almond milk, among others, and a lowering of the lowest sugar threshold at which the levy applies to 4.5 grams of sugar per 100 millilitres. These measures will come into effect on 1 January 2028. The Government keeps all taxes under regular review.
We also need to support those already living with obesity. The National Health Service and local government provide a range of services to support people living with overweight and obesity to reach a healthier weight. For eligible individuals, this includes the option of being prescribed weight loss medicines, but there are also other weight management services available, including behavioural support and surgery.
The Government recognises that, coupled with interventions such as promoting a healthy diet, physical activity can help with the maintenance of a healthier weight. The national movement campaign announced in the 10-Year Health Plan will get millions moving more and the development of a new school sport partnerships network will provide more opportunities for the least active children to reap the benefits of movement.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish (1) the NHS workforce plan, and (2) the social care workforce plan.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will publish the 10 Year Workforce Plan in spring 2026.
This plan will set out action to create an NHS workforce able to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. It is important we do this in a robust and joined up way. We are therefore engaging extensively with partners to ensure this plan delivers for staff and patients.
Decisions regarding any potential publication for social care remain under consideration and no final position has been reached.
The Department is supporting the Adult Social Care workforce by improving terms and conditions through introducing a new Fair Pay Agreement, and supporting career development and progression by implementing the first ever career structure and investing up to £12 million in training and qualifications.
Baroness Casey’s independent commission into adult social care is underway as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. The Terms of Reference have been designed to be sufficiently broad to enable Baroness Casey to independently consider how to build a social care system, and workforce, fit for the future.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the ethnic pay gap reporting framework will require employers to record and report pay gap data for Jewish and Sikh employees as distinct ethnic groups.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our consultation on ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting closed in June 2025. The consultation sought views on the proposed approach, including whether ethnicity data should be collected following the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Ethnicity Harmonised Standard. Good progress has been made in analysing the responses and we will publish the Government response to the consultation in due course.
The ONS current harmonised standard does not include specific “Sikh” and “Jewish” categories for a person’s ethnic group. The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which is independent of government, is currently running a public consultation which seeks to review the harmonised standard to ensure it meets the needs of both data users and respondents.
We will monitor the progress of this review during policy development.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit Annual Report 2024, published in December 2025, what steps they are taking to prevent and sanction non-compliance to regulations including (1) the re-use of animals for testing without licence, (2) depriving animals used for testing of food and water and, (3) animals used for testing dying due to drowning or starvation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government remains fully committed to continuous improvement in the regulation of the use of animals in science, and to strengthening the UK’s position as a global leader in science and innovation. As part of this, the Home Office is in the final stages of delivering a comprehensive programme of regulatory reform to further strengthen the Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU), ensuring confidence in the regulatory system and maintaining robust compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA).
As part of the reform programme, the number of inspectors will increase from 14.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions at the end of 2017 to 22 FTE positions by March 2026.
All licensed establishments must fully uphold the standards for animal welfare set out in ASPA and in the Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Bred, Supplied or Used for Scientific Purposes. ASRU conducts regular audits to assure compliance and takes any instance of non-compliance extremely seriously.
ASRU’s published Compliance Policy (www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-testing-and-research-compliance-with-aspa) sets out how the regulator identifies, investigates and responds to potential incidents of non‑compliance, and how it applies appropriate and proportionate measures and sanctions where breaches are found. Through the delivery of this policy, the regulator aims to minimise the risk of future non‑compliance.
The Government’s strategy Replacing Animals in Science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods sets out a long-term vision to accelerate the development and use of nonanimal approaches. The Home Office will continue to apply ASPA’s rigorous licensing framework, ensuring that animals are only used where no validated non-animal alternative exists.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with her Gibraltarian counterpart on the potential impact of the new Remote Betting Duty on the Gibraltarian economy.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Increasing gambling duties will raise over £1 billion per year to support the public finances and forms part of our ambition to create a fair, modern and sustainable tax system.
The Government understands that Gibraltar has a gambling industry that faces the UK, and engaged with representatives of the Government of Gibraltar following the Budget and will continue to monitor all impacts of these changes.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which health inequalities experienced in early childhood contribute to long-term disparities in physical and mental health outcomes.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. We know that a child’s early experiences shape their lifelong physical, emotional, and social development. Inequalities, such as poverty, can have a long-lasting impact on children’s health. For example, childhood obesity is strongly linked to deprivation and an increased risk of obesity in later life. Research suggests that any exposure to poverty during childhood is associated with worse physical and mental health in adolescence.
The 10-Year Health Plan, Child Poverty Strategy, and Best Start in Life Strategy all set out the action we are taking to raise the healthiest generation of children ever and reduce long-term health inequalities. This includes our supervised toothbrushing programme for three-to-five-year-olds in deprived areas, increasing the weekly value of Healthy Start by 10%, and over £500 million to roll out Best Start Family Hubs to every local authority.
We are committed to strengthening the evidence on children’s health and its lifelong impacts. We have commissioned research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research to deepen our understanding of early-years risk factors and inequalities, which is due to report in 2027/28.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the long-term outcomes for individuals diagnosed with mental health conditions, including potential harms from diagnostic labelling and unnecessary treatment.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are concerned that many adults, young people, and children with mental health conditions have been let down by services and are not receiving timely or appropriate support and treatment. That is why we have launched an independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism, which will look to understand the similarities and differences between mental health conditions, ADHD, and autism.
The review will look at prevalence, early intervention, and treatment, and the current challenges facing clinical services. The review will also examine the extent to which diagnosis, medicalisation, and treatment improve outcomes for individuals. This will include exploring the evidence around clinical practice and the risks and benefits of medicalisation. It will also seek to identify opportunities to provide different models of support and pathways, within and beyond the National Health Service, that promote prevention and early intervention, supplementing clinical support.