Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to encourage parents, children and teachers to discuss the child-friendly version of the child poverty strategy published on 13 March.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The child‑friendly version of the government’s Child Poverty Strategy is designed to help teachers and parents talk to children about the challenges facing children and families in poverty. It provides a clear, reassuring, and age‑appropriate overview of what poverty means, why some families face difficulties, and the actions the government is taking in response.
In developing the strategy, the government undertook structured engagement with children and families experiencing poverty, placing their views at the centre of the work. A Children’s Rights Impact Assessment was also published, outlining the expected positive effects on children’s rights. The child-friendly version of the Strategy (attached) and the Children’s Rights Impact Assessment can be found on the Strategy’s gov.uk webpages: Our Children, Our Future: How the government is helping children and families (Child Friendly) and Child Poverty Strategy: Child Rights - GOV.UK.
UNICEF has shared the strategy with its network of 1,600 Rights Respecting primary schools, and the Department for Education has highlighted it in its sector communications. Further promotion has been supported through social media activity and a stakeholder toolkit to help raise awareness of the child‑friendly strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria will be used to decide whether a refugee can move from 'core protection' to the 'work and study route' as proposed in Restoring Order and Control (CP 1418).
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Work is underway to create the Protection Work and Study route. Further details on the new route, including the eligibility criteria, will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of their consultation titled Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns, launched on 5 March, (1) what plans they have, if any, to consult local authorities, and (2) why the consultation has not been published on Gov.uk.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The consultation, launched on 5 March, has been shared with a range of expert stakeholders across government, the third sector and beyond, including local authorities. A copy was also deposited in the libraries of both Houses and can be found online.
There will be a range of workshops and engagements over the coming weeks to maximise reach and engagement.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of their consultation titled Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns, how many families in receipt of asylum support under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 are currently classified as "appeals rights exhausted".
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data relating to people receiving section 95 support is published on GOV.UK as part of the immigration system statistics quarterly release. You can find the latest information in the data set from year ending December 2025 ‘Asylum seekers in receipt of Home Office support’. We do not currently publish data on those in receipt of support to the level of their family and appeal status.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to respond to the recommendations from the second module of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, including the recommendation on statutory child rights impact assessments.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government will consider the report’s findings and recommendations and will provide a full response to the report in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to ensure equity for children in households with no recourse to public funds in the expansion of eligibility for free school meals from September.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department has permanently extended free school meal eligibility to children in all households with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), provided they meet income thresholds set out in public guidance.
This ensures that children can access support regardless of their background or circumstances, including the immigration status of their parents.
The income thresholds for NRPF households were designed to account for the differences in household income between NRPF households and those with access to additional state support to ensure parity.
The government has set out plans to extend free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. We continue to keep all aspects of the free school meals system, including the guidance for families with no recourse to public funds, under review.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan, subject to the 'emergency brake' on visas announced on 4 March, will be once again be able to apply for Chevening Scholarships.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The decision to introduce a visa brake on the Student visa route for Sudan, Afghanistan and two other nationalities was based on data-driven migration and border security considerations. There are no exceptions for government-funded scholarship programmes, including the Chevening programme. Whilst we recognise that most people who apply to study in the UK do so genuinely, the evidence is clear that the Student route for these nationalities has been a source of both high numbers and high proportions of visa-linked asylum claims. We have therefore acted to halt this unacceptable strain on our asylum system, and to ensure that the system remains fair, credible, and sustainable.
The brake will be kept under regular review. The visa brake is not intended to be permanent, but it will only be released once the government considers it appropriate to do so.
As set out in the Restoring Order and Control policy statement, the Government remains committed to the introduction of capped safe and legal routes for refugees and displaced people to come to the United Kingdom. Work is underway to develop these routes, including confirming the eligibility criteria and the number of places to be made available for each new safe and legal route.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps are they taking to protect the education and safety of vulnerable women from Sudan and Afghanistan who had already been selected for government-funded scholarships prior to the announcement of an 'emergency brake' on visas for nationals of those countries on 4 March; and whether they have established a formal mechanism to exempt Chevening Scholars from this restriction.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The decision to introduce a visa brake on the Student visa route for Sudan, Afghanistan and two other nationalities was based on data-driven migration and border security considerations. There are no exceptions for government-funded scholarship programmes, including the Chevening programme. Whilst we recognise that most people who apply to study in the UK do so genuinely, the evidence is clear that the Student route for these nationalities has been a source of both high numbers and high proportions of visa-linked asylum claims. We have therefore acted to halt this unacceptable strain on our asylum system, and to ensure that the system remains fair, credible, and sustainable.
The brake will be kept under regular review. The visa brake is not intended to be permanent, but it will only be released once the government considers it appropriate to do so.
As set out in the Restoring Order and Control policy statement, the Government remains committed to the introduction of capped safe and legal routes for refugees and displaced people to come to the United Kingdom. Work is underway to develop these routes, including confirming the eligibility criteria and the number of places to be made available for each new safe and legal route.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for the provision of accommodation for women and children seeking asylum who are awaiting a decision on their claims once they are moved out of hotel accommodation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home Office officials keep the asylum accommodation estate under continual review. As part of this estate management, operational adjustments are made on an ongoing basis to ensure sufficient and suitable capacity is maintained to meet expected levels of demand.
As the department reduces its reliance on hotel accommodation, individuals and families, including women and children, are moved into more appropriate longer‑term forms of asylum accommodation within the existing estate. This includes dispersal accommodation and, where required, other contingency arrangements that meet the necessary standards for safety and suitability.
The Home Office is committed to ensuring that destitute asylum seekers are provided with safe, secure and appropriate accommodation, and that they are treated with dignity throughout the asylum process.
In line with the Allocation of Accommodation policy, accommodation is offered on a no‑choice basis across the United Kingdom. Where an individual has specific, acute needs that require them to be accommodated in a particular area, established processes supported by Migrant Help and asylum support casework teams are in place to consider such circumstances.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 11 March (HL14955), and the remarks by Lord Hanson of Flint on 5 November 2025 (HL Deb col 1973), what steps they plan to take to share the findings of the move on period evaluation with Parliament.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The evaluation report cannot be shared externally until we have two satisfactory external peer reviews. Once approved, the report will be published on GOV.UK as part of the Home Office Research Series.