Asked by: Baroness Freeman of Steventon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are giving to nursery providers to help to support children to stop using nappies at an appropriate age.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is committed to giving every child the best start in life, and we are investing in Best Start Family Hubs across the country. These will offer parenting and home learning environment support and are well placed to provide parents toilet training advice.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that early years providers must meet to ensure that children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe.
Within the EYFS, children’s personal, social and emotional development is a prime area of learning. Children are expected to learn how to manage personal needs independently, including going to the toilet.
The department has published toilet training guidance, which can be accessed here: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing/toilet-training. This will help educators to support babies and young children with toilet training in early years settings and signposts the Potty Training Guide. The department will continue to promote this guidance through its online platforms and engagement with the sector. Parents can access the Potty Training Guide from the Best Start in Life website at: https://beststartinlife.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Baroness Freeman of Steventon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to promote the Potty Training Guide, published on 9 December 2025.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is committed to giving every child the best start in life, and we are investing in Best Start Family Hubs across the country. These will offer parenting and home learning environment support and are well placed to provide parents toilet training advice.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that early years providers must meet to ensure that children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe.
Within the EYFS, children’s personal, social and emotional development is a prime area of learning. Children are expected to learn how to manage personal needs independently, including going to the toilet.
The department has published toilet training guidance, which can be accessed here: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing/toilet-training. This will help educators to support babies and young children with toilet training in early years settings and signposts the Potty Training Guide. The department will continue to promote this guidance through its online platforms and engagement with the sector. Parents can access the Potty Training Guide from the Best Start in Life website at: https://beststartinlife.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Baroness Freeman of Steventon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether apprenticeships within priority heritage building crafts will include funding for the apprentice's salary and a compensation grant to SME employers to address reduced productivity linked to the apprenticeship.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Employer satisfaction with apprenticeships is very high: 83% of employers are satisfied with their apprenticeship programme; and 77% report improved productivity.
The government is investing an additional £725m to transform the apprenticeship levy into a growth and skills levy, and provides a range of financial support to small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in all sectors to take on apprentices.
We pay £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in care. Employers are also not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 (when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year).
Additionally, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers (essentially SMEs) for all eligible people aged under 25 from the start of the next academic year in August. At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16 to 21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in local authority care.
To help prospective apprentices find apprenticeship opportunities, they can search and apply for apprenticeships on our Find an apprenticeship service which is used by thousands of employers.
Asked by: Baroness Freeman of Steventon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to provide funding for (1) a scheme based on the expansion of the National Saturday Club provided by the National Trust at Coleshill, and/or, (2) a scheme based on the expansion of the summer school provided by the King’s Foundation, to provide taster experiences in heritage building crafts for school-age children across the county to tackle inequalities of access to those careers.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Whilst we do not have specific plans relating to those schemes, the Government is committed to supporting young people in accessing the skills they need to thrive, including in heritage skills. The Department for Education, which is responsible for skills and education, is working with secondary schools and colleges to develop their careers programmes, with the input of over 3,500 business volunteers. This provides young people with insights into a range of jobs and careers across all sectors, including heritage crafts and skills.
DCMS, working with our arms length bodies and wider government are introducing school aged children to future heritage careers. Through Government funding, Historic England delivers the Heritage Schools Programme which brings local heritage to schools across England, broadening access to local history and raising awareness of the many future job opportunities in the heritage sector. The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) funds a range of programmes that support heritage crafts, high-quality training and paid training placements in heritage careers. This includes the Future Heritage Leadership programme, launched in November 2025 to help young adults (18 - 30 year olds) get into the heritage sector with a strong focus on those from diverse backgrounds.
Asked by: Baroness Freeman of Steventon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to provide funding to scale up the apprenticeship website matchMAKER by Heritage Crafts to allow it to include profiles of apprentices looking for apprenticeships as well as a list of available apprenticeships.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Employer satisfaction with apprenticeships is very high: 83% of employers are satisfied with their apprenticeship programme; and 77% report improved productivity.
The government is investing an additional £725m to transform the apprenticeship levy into a growth and skills levy, and provides a range of financial support to small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in all sectors to take on apprentices.
We pay £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in care. Employers are also not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 (when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year).
Additionally, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers (essentially SMEs) for all eligible people aged under 25 from the start of the next academic year in August. At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16 to 21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in local authority care.
To help prospective apprentices find apprenticeship opportunities, they can search and apply for apprenticeships on our Find an apprenticeship service which is used by thousands of employers.
Asked by: Baroness Freeman of Steventon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Minister for Museums, Heritage and Gambling currently attends the Construction Skills Mission Board; and if not, whether she plans to do so in the future to ensure that heritage building craft skills are represented.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Minister for Museums, Heritage Gambling is not a member of the Construction Skills Mission Board (CSMB). The CSMB is an industry-led group, consisting of construction senior leaders, small business representatives, and union representatives. Officials representing five supporting departments (the Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Department for Business and Trade, Department for Education, and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero) observe meetings of the Board with relevant ministers joining when necessary. Historic England, Government advisors on the historic environment, advises the board on consideration on heritage skills via the CSMB sub committee on Repair, Maintenance and Infrastructure.
Asked by: Baroness Freeman of Steventon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with the single-use nappy industry about helping parents to know when toilet training should be done.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not hold any information relating to this matter.
Asked by: Baroness Freeman of Steventon (Crossbench - 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 19 December 2025 (HL12718), whether they will ask the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to set up a subcommittee on dementia to assess the evidence regarding vaccination against various infections and reduced risk of dementia.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The independent departmental expert committee, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises the Government on matters relating to vaccination and immunisation.
At this time, there are no plans to establish a JCVI sub-committee on dementia.
However, the JCVI continues to monitor emerging evidence relating to all immunisation programmes and, where appropriate, this can include evidence on a potential link between vaccination and reduced risk of dementia.
It is possible for evidence on the link between vaccination and the reduced risk of dementia to be assessed within the existing committee structure, as was the case when research studies suggesting a link between shingles vaccination and reduced dementia risk were considered by the committee last year.
Asked by: Baroness Freeman of Steventon (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 article published in Cell on 2 December, The effect of shingles vaccination at different stages of the dementia disease course, which suggests a causal relationship between shingles vaccination and a lower risk of developing dementia and further advancement of dementia following diagnosis; and in the light of that, what plans they have to request that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation reconsider the current availability of the shingles vaccination on the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following a request from the Department, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) briefly discussed the emerging evidence on the link between shingles vaccination and dementia in its June 2025 meeting.
It was noted that results were consistent across different vaccines and different observational studies and had some potential biological plausibility. However, based on currently available data, this possible benefit was not quantifiable due to the high chance of bias in many of these observational studies.
For these reasons, no change to the current JCVI recommendation on shingles vaccination could be advised at this time. The JCVI continues to monitor emerging evidence relating to all immunisation programmes, including on the potential link between shingles vaccination and dementia, keeping its advice under review.
Asked by: Baroness Freeman of Steventon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the costs and benefits of different methods of achieving reliable on-board WiFi on trains, including satellite technologies and technologies requiring trackside equipment.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As part of the Spending Review planning, the Department produced analysis of the costs and benefits of both Low Earth Orbit satellite technology and trackside infrastructure working with industry partners to validate costs.
These were shared with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.