Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of staff employed by the Land Registry work from home.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
HM Land Registry (HMLR) operates a hybrid working model under which staff are expected to spend at least 60% of their time on average working in an office, in line with Civil Service expectations.
Less than 2% of HMLR staff have not attended an office in the last 12 months. In addition to full-time homeworkers for whom this is a reasonable workplace adjustment (for example those managing long-term health conditions and disabilities), this includes employees on long-term sickness absence, maternity/paternity leave, and career breaks. Reasonable workplace adjustments are regularly reviewed.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the efficiency of the work of the Land Registry.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the Noble Baroness to the response given to UIN HL15918 on 8 April 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the average waiting time is for the Land Registry to issue a changed Title Deed following the completion of a domestic dwelling sale.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In 2025/26, HM Land Registry completed over 4 million post‑completion applications to update or create titles. Nearly half were completed and returned to the customer within one week (excluding third-party action) with 23% automated and completed within minutes.
If a delay to an application may cause financial, legal or personal problems or put a property sale at risk, it can be expedited free of charge.
Improving speed of service for customers remains HM Land Registry’s main priority. Plans to achieve this are outlined in its published Strategy 25+ and supporting Business Plan 2026+.
HM Land Registry’s processing times are publicly available at: HM Land Registry: processing times - GOV.UK and they also provide information on forward looking estimated time ranges for most applications once they have been submitted: HM Land Registry estimated completion timeframes - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they conducted a resource and cost analysis when setting guide prices for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessments for 2026–27; and if so, whether they will publish that data.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has engaged with providers and commissioners as part of the development of the currency models and guide prices for autism assessment services and certain attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services prior to their inclusion within the NHS Payment Scheme.
The statutory consultation for the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27, which closed on 16 December 2025, provided an opportunity for all service providers to review the consultation guidance and provide comments and feedback, with further information avaiable on the NHS.UK website. NHS England is currently reviewing this feedback to inform the final 2026/27 Payment Scheme. The NHS England Payment Team invited all known ADHD and autism service providers to a pre-consultation webinar which set out the overall changes to the payment scheme. NHS England will continue to engage service providers as part of the next phase of development following the publication of the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27.
As set out in the NHS Payment Scheme consultation, we have used a range of existing local prices agreed between commissioners and providers as the basis for the guide prices in the consultation. The payment scheme consultation provides the opportunity for providers to comment on the proposed guide prices, and we will consider all the responses received before finalising the payment scheme for 2026/27. These proposals for 2026/27 represent the first stage of planning pricing development for autism assessment services and certain ADHD services.
NHS England has set out what is included within assessments for ADHD and autism within a supporting document to the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27 statutory consultation. This guidance also links to clinical guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and other guidance which may support the commissioning and provision of these services. Guidance setting out the all age autism assessment pathway intended to help integrated care boards deliver improved outcomes in all age autism assessment pathways was written by NHS England in April 2024 and is available on the NHS.UK website.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the criteria for (1) autism, and (2) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, assessments in 2026–27; and what the differences are between those two assessments.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has engaged with providers and commissioners as part of the development of the currency models and guide prices for autism assessment services and certain attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services prior to their inclusion within the NHS Payment Scheme.
The statutory consultation for the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27, which closed on 16 December 2025, provided an opportunity for all service providers to review the consultation guidance and provide comments and feedback, with further information avaiable on the NHS.UK website. NHS England is currently reviewing this feedback to inform the final 2026/27 Payment Scheme. The NHS England Payment Team invited all known ADHD and autism service providers to a pre-consultation webinar which set out the overall changes to the payment scheme. NHS England will continue to engage service providers as part of the next phase of development following the publication of the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27.
As set out in the NHS Payment Scheme consultation, we have used a range of existing local prices agreed between commissioners and providers as the basis for the guide prices in the consultation. The payment scheme consultation provides the opportunity for providers to comment on the proposed guide prices, and we will consider all the responses received before finalising the payment scheme for 2026/27. These proposals for 2026/27 represent the first stage of planning pricing development for autism assessment services and certain ADHD services.
NHS England has set out what is included within assessments for ADHD and autism within a supporting document to the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27 statutory consultation. This guidance also links to clinical guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and other guidance which may support the commissioning and provision of these services. Guidance setting out the all age autism assessment pathway intended to help integrated care boards deliver improved outcomes in all age autism assessment pathways was written by NHS England in April 2024 and is available on the NHS.UK website.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consultations they had with service providers in establishing the NHS Payment Scheme guide prices for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessment in 2026–27.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has engaged with providers and commissioners as part of the development of the currency models and guide prices for autism assessment services and certain attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services prior to their inclusion within the NHS Payment Scheme.
The statutory consultation for the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27, which closed on 16 December 2025, provided an opportunity for all service providers to review the consultation guidance and provide comments and feedback, with further information available on the NHS.UK website. NHS England is currently reviewing this feedback to inform the final 2026/27 Payment Scheme. The NHS England Payment Team invited all known ADHD and autism service providers to a pre-consultation webinar which set out the overall changes to the payment scheme. NHS England will continue to engage service providers as part of the next phase of development following the publication of the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27.
As set out in the NHS Payment Scheme consultation, we have used a range of existing local prices agreed between commissioners and providers as the basis for the guide prices in the consultation. The payment scheme consultation provides the opportunity for providers to comment on the proposed guide prices, and we will consider all the responses received before finalising the payment scheme for 2026/27. These proposals for 2026/27 represent the first stage of planning pricing development for autism assessment services and certain ADHD services.
NHS England has set out what is included within assessments for ADHD and autism within a supporting document to the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27 statutory consultation. This guidance also links to clinical guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and other guidance which may support the commissioning and provision of these services. Guidance setting out the all age autism assessment pathway intended to help integrated care boards deliver improved outcomes in all age autism assessment pathways was written by NHS England in April 2024 and is available on the NHS.UK website.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will begin the consultation for the new Autism Strategy.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In developing the next national autism strategy, we will consider evidence and outputs from all relevant work including the recently published House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Committee’s report Time to deliver: The Autism Act 2009 and the new strategy. We will be responding to the committee’s helpful recommendations, including regarding a new national autism strategy, in the new year.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to improve education and training opportunities for disabled people with complex needs under the age of 22.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. This includes:
As announced in the spending review, we are investing over £1 billion annually in skills by 2028/29. This will support and grow the wide range of options available for everyone to succeed.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to support disabled people with complex needs who are not eligible for the Youth Guarantee.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we will launch a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work.
We recognise, however, that for a small minority of young people, work may never be a realistic goal. We acknowledge that we would need to include special provisions for this group and are working through how they can be best identified and supported.
The current benefit system categorises too many young people as unable to work, often leaving them without meaningful engagement or support. For most disabled young people and young people with a health condition working at some point in the near future must be a credible ambition.
The Pathways to Work Green Paper set out proposals to create a distinct and active youth phase for people aged 18 to 21 in the health and disability benefit system. The consultation closed on 30 June, and we are now carefully reviewing all responses as we develop the new support offer and our expectations of engagement.
This will build on the many interventions already, or soon to be, in place to support disabled people and people with a health condition, more broadly. This includes our new voluntary Supported Employment programme, Connect to Work, which is rolling out across England and Wales throughout 2025 and provides bespoke employment support to help people get into, and stay in, sustainable work.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend for the proposal to remove eligibility for the limited capability for work and work-related activity group from those under the age of 22 to apply to disabled adults receiving residential care.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation, the Government invited views on the proposal to raise the minimum age for accessing the Universal Credit (UC) health element to 22. The consultation closed on 30 June, and we are now considering responses. The Government’s conclusion will be announced in due course.