Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce a policy that, where police officers have been dismissed for gross misconduct, consideration will be given as to whether their police pension should be forfeited.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

A police officer’s pension can only be forfeited by a local policing body in certain circumstances, where they have been convicted of a criminal offence committed in connection with their service. This is not unique to policing and exists in other public sector pension schemes.

The Government has no plans to amend this policy.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in enforcing mandatory gender pay gap reporting.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)

In 2017, we introduced world-leading regulations requiring large employers to publish the differences in average salaries and bonuses for men and women every year. We continue to see high levels of compliance with the regulations; and the broader requirement has ensured that employers are aware of their gaps and are taking steps to close them.

Enforcement of the reporting regulations is the responsibility of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. They have outlined the process that they follow for gender pay gap reporting here:

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/our-work/gender-pay-gap-our-enforcement-action?return-url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.equalityhumanrights.com%2Fsearch%3Fkeys%3Denforcement%2Bstrategy

More details about their full enforcement powers are detailed here:

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/our-work/our-legal-work/our-legal-powers/our-litigation-and-enforcement-policy-2022-2025/our-0

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to deny preferential trading rights to companies from countries with poor human rights records.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government is committed to working with international partners and businesses to ensure global supply chains are free from human and labour rights abuses. The UK monitors all countries on the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) on an ongoing basis for serious and systemic violations of human rights (including gender rights), labour rights and environmental obligations based on international conventions. The DCTS includes the power to suspend a country's preferential tariffs for such violations, however, it does not have the power to individually suspend a company's trade preferences.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) the NHS, (2) NICE, and (3) MHRA, to ensure that NHS patients can access licensed treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Department officials have had a number of conversations with colleagues in NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to discuss the progress of key regulatory decisions and the National Health Service's preparations for the adoption of any licensed and NICE recommended treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

The NICE is currently developing guidance for the NHS on the use of several potential new medicines for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as currently consulting on its draft guidance on the use of lecanemab. The NICE has determined that the benefits of this first new treatment are just too small to justify the significant cost to the NHS. These are very difficult decisions to make, and it is right that they are taken independently, and on the basis of the available evidence of costs and benefits. We understand how disappointing the NICE’s draft guidance will be to all those affected, but we need to make sure that the finite resources of the NHS are only spent on treatments that are clinically and cost effective, to ensure patient and taxpayer benefit. The NICE’s draft recommendations are now open to consultation, and the NICE will take the comments received fully into account in developing its final guidance.

Lecanemab is the first disease modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s disease with a marketing approval in Great Britain, and to ensure the health system is prepared for future advances in treatments, a dedicated NHS England team is already looking ahead to 27 other treatments which are currently in advanced clinical trials, that could potentially be approved by 2030.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of delays experienced by children’s hospices in receiving the £25 million annual NHS England funding, which is now distributed by Integrated Care Boards, and what steps they are taking to ensure timely access to this funding in future years.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

While 2023/24 marked the final year of the Children’s Hospice Grant in its previous format, in 2024/25, NHS England continued to provide an additional £25 million of funding for children and young people’s hospices, maintaining the level of grant funding from 2023/24. For the first time, this funding was transacted by integrated care boards (ICBs), on behalf of NHS England, rather than being centrally administered as before.

The Department and NHS England are aware that the shift to the dissemination of funding via ICBs in 2024/25 has not been as smooth a transition as we would have hoped. However, we are working closely with NHS England to resolve any remaining issues to the 2024/25 funding, and we are also jointly considering the future of this important funding stream beyond 2024/25.

The Minister of State for Care recently met NHS England, Together for Short Lives, and one of the co-chairs of the Children Who Need Palliative Care All-Party Parliamentary Group, Lord Balfe, to discuss children’s palliative and end of life care, and this funding stream was discussed at length at that meeting.

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 children’s hospices rely on the annual £25 million funding from NHS England; and what plans they have to secure this funding beyond 2024–25 to prevent a shortfall in services.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

While 2023/24 marked the final year of the Children’s Hospice Grant in its previous format, in 2024/25, NHS England continued to provide an additional £25 million of funding for children and young people’s hospices, maintaining the level of grant funding from 2023/24. For the first time, this funding was transacted by integrated care boards (ICBs), on behalf of NHS England, rather than being centrally administered as before.

The Department and NHS England are aware that the shift to the dissemination of funding via ICBs in 2024/25 has not been as smooth a transition as we would have hoped. However, we are working closely with NHS England to resolve any remaining issues to the 2024/25 funding, and we are also jointly considering the future of this important funding stream beyond 2024/25.

The Minister of State for Care recently met NHS England, Together for Short Lives, and one of the co-chairs of the Children Who Need Palliative Care All-Party Parliamentary Group, Lord Balfe, to discuss children’s palliative and end of life care, and this funding stream was discussed at length at that meeting.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that children's hospices can continue to provide lifeline care if the £25 million annual funding from NHS England is not extended beyond 2024–25.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

While 2023/24 marked the final year of the Children’s Hospice Grant in its previous format, in 2024/25, NHS England continued to provide an additional £25 million of funding for children and young people’s hospices, maintaining the level of grant funding from 2023/24. For the first time, this funding was transacted by integrated care boards (ICBs), on behalf of NHS England, rather than being centrally administered as before.

The Department and NHS England are aware that the shift to the dissemination of funding via ICBs in 2024/25 has not been as smooth a transition as we would have hoped. However, we are working closely with NHS England to resolve any remaining issues to the 2024/25 funding, and we are also jointly considering the future of this important funding stream beyond 2024/25.

The Minister of State for Care recently met NHS England, Together for Short Lives, and one of the co-chairs of the Children Who Need Palliative Care All-Party Parliamentary Group, Lord Balfe, to discuss children’s palliative and end of life care, and this funding stream was discussed at length at that meeting.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement a robust system to track the school nurse workforce to enable informed decision-making and resource allocation.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to creating the healthiest generation of children ever. The child health workforce, including school nurses, who lead the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme is central to how we support children, young people, and families.

We are also committed to training the staff we need to ensure everyone receives care from the right professional, when and where they need it. We will want to assure ourselves, and the National Health Service, that the current workforce plan will deliver the reform needed. We will also need to do this in light of the 10-Year Health Plan.

Local authorities are best placed to determine local workforce needs, as they know their communities best. Determining the skills and workforce requirements should be underpinned by a local plan and led by the area’s identified health needs.

The Chief Public Health Nurse Office has established a programme of work which aims to improve the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme, which includes school nursing. This will include a review of the school nursing workforce data in England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to end the geographical disparity in care by ensuring equitable distribution of school nurses on the basis of need.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to creating the healthiest generation of children ever. The child health workforce, including school nurses, who lead the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme is central to how we support children, young people, and families.

We are also committed to training the staff we need to ensure everyone receives care from the right professional, when and where they need it. We will want to assure ourselves, and the National Health Service, that the current workforce plan will deliver the reform needed. We will also need to do this in light of the 10-Year Health Plan.

Local authorities are best placed to determine local workforce needs, as they know their communities best. Determining the skills and workforce requirements should be underpinned by a local plan and led by the area’s identified health needs.

The Chief Public Health Nurse Office has established a programme of work which aims to improve the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme, which includes school nursing. This will include a review of the school nursing workforce data in England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of school nurses to ensure adequate coverage across the country.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to creating the healthiest generation of children ever. The child health workforce, including school nurses, who lead the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme is central to how we support children, young people, and families.

We are also committed to training the staff we need to ensure everyone receives care from the right professional, when and where they need it. We will want to assure ourselves, and the National Health Service, that the current workforce plan will deliver the reform needed. We will also need to do this in light of the 10-Year Health Plan.

Local authorities are best placed to determine local workforce needs, as they know their communities best. Determining the skills and workforce requirements should be underpinned by a local plan and led by the area’s identified health needs.

The Chief Public Health Nurse Office has established a programme of work which aims to improve the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme, which includes school nursing. This will include a review of the school nursing workforce data in England.

Found: Present: Lord Morse (Chair) Baroness Blake of Leeds Baroness Buscombe Earl of Courtown Baroness

Found: 12.30 pm in Committee Room 3A Present: Lord Morse (Chair) Baroness Buscombe Earl of Courtown Baroness

Found: • Member of Committee A, Sovereign Matters, of the British -Irish Parliamentary Assembly Baroness

Found: Lord Jay of Ewelme (The Chair); Lord Dodds of Duncairn; Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell; Lord Empey; Baroness

Found: Lord Jay of Ewelme (The Chair); Lord Dodds of Duncairn; Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell; Lord Empey; Baroness

Found: Baroness Boycott; Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe; Baroness Browning; The Earl of Caithness; Lord Colgrain; Baroness

Found: Baroness Goudie. Baroness Goudie: Good afternoon, Minister and colleagues.