Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of barriers to compliance with school food standards in school breakfast provision; and what steps they are taking as part of the free breakfast club rollout to ensure equitable access to nutritious breakfast for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is committed to offering free breakfast clubs to all primary-aged pupils in England, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, so that all children have access to a healthy breakfast and a soft start to their school day. Food served at free breakfast clubs must meet the School Food Standards, and we have provided guidance to schools on healthy breakfast options.
Early adopter schools are already sharing examples of good practice to support consistent, high‑quality provision across the country.
Parents care deeply about the food their children eat, which is why we plan to overhaul the School Food Standards for the first time in over a decade. Developed alongside nutritionists and public health experts, the new standards will include dedicated breakfast standards, cutting high sugar items and increasing higher-fibre wholegrains.
We have launched a 9 week consultation on these changes and are committed to developing a robust enforcement system, which includes monitoring of compliance.
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Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the report by Magic Breakfast, Root causes of child morning hunger, published on 9 March, in particular the conclusions on the impact of morning hunger on pupils' readiness to learn, attainment and attendance in secondary schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We appreciate publication of the report and will keep up the work with Magic Breakfast and other valued stakeholders as we continue to roll out the free breakfast club programme to all schools with primary-aged pupils across England.
The government is committed to tackling child poverty and delivering meaningful action to support children and families. We recognise the importance of a healthy breakfast at the start of the day for pupils and the impact this can have on attendance and readiness to learn. This is why we are rolling out free breakfast clubs, so that all children, regardless of background, can have the best start in life. Since April 2025, the programme has delivered 8.5 million meals to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We have also invested a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027, with over 500 of those now delivering.
We have also committed to continued funding of breakfast provision from September 2026 for secondary schools in disadvantaged areas which are currently participating in the National School Breakfast Programme.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the latest figures they hold of the number of people receiving new style contribution-based Jobseekers Allowance, broken down by the number of (1) men, and (2) women, and the duration of award (a) up to three months, (b) three to six months, and (c) over six months.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to enable the independent advice sector to benefit from ongoing reforms to apprenticeships, skills and employment policy.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Getting more young people into work is a priority of this Government. As such, we are transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy in England to improve access to opportunities. The new levy will give employers greater flexibility, including those in the independent advice sector, and will support the delivery of the Industrial Strategy.
We are investing in young people’s futures and reversing the sharp decline in apprenticeship starts amongst young people, which have fallen by 40% over the last decade, emphasised by our ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships.
There are several apprenticeship standards available that employers in the independent advice sector can take advantage of, including the Level 3 Learning and Development Practitioner and Level 4 Employability Practitioner standards.
Eligible employers within the independent advice sector will be able to benefit from the new £2,000 apprenticeship hiring grant for non-levy paying employers, typically SMEs, that take on 16–24-year-old apprentices as new employees. It will apply to apprenticeship starts from October as long as they have joined their employer within the past 3 months i.e. from July 2026. This is in addition to fully funding apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers for all eligible 16–24-year-olds from the start of the next academic year.
Employers in the sector will also be able to benefit from the Youth Guarantee, which will offer fully funded training, financial incentives and a pipeline of young talent to help fill skills gaps and build their workforce.
In addition, the Adult Skills Fund which is worth around £1.4bn this year, funds education and skills training up to and including Level 3, for eligible adults aged 19+ which can include learning to support individuals to work in the independent advice sector. Skills Bootcamps also support reskilling and upskilling in a range of priority skills areas that could help learners and employers in the independent advice sector.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people who entered the UK lawfully have now become overstayers and are unable to regularise their status under existing immigration rules.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what mechanisms are in place to ensure that funding allocated within the public health grant for delivery of health visiting services, as set out in the healthy child programme, is spent for that purpose; and what consideration they have given to ringfencing that element of the programme.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Public Health Grant supports local authorities to deliver their public health responsibilities and commission front-line public health services, such as health visiting and other children’s public health services. The grant is ring-fenced to ensure it is spent on public health functions, but local authorities have flexibility to respond to the specific needs of their communities and deliver appropriate public health services.
Local authorities are responsible for deciding how to spend their grant, ensuring that all expenditure complies with conditions set out in the public health grant circular. Local authorities’ compliance with grant conditions is assured by the Department. Local authorities must report their public health expenditure annually, and reporting categories include prescribed children’s zero to five years old services. Each director of public health and senior finance officer must also provide an annual assurance statement confirming that the grant has been spent in line with the conditions set. The Department has issued healthy child programme guidance, which specifies standards and delivery expectations for health visiting, and this has recently been refreshed to strengthen service delivery and promote national consistency in service quality.
The Department has published expected Public Health Grant allocations for the next three years.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish the advice they received from the Propriety, Ethics and Constitution team in the Cabinet Office before launching the Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns consultation on 5 March, in line with the Cabinet Office's 2018 Consultation Principles.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office did not receive any advice from the Propriety, Ethics and Constitution team in the Cabinet Office prior to launching the Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns consultation on 5 March. This team provides advice on the interpretation of the Consultation Principles, but not on how to run specific consultations.
The consultation was developed and launched in line with the Cabinet Office’s Consultation Principles, including ensuring clarity of scope, openness to a wide range of views and appropriate duration. The consultation document sets out clearly the proposals under consideration, the questions on which views are sought and how responses will be used.
As no such advice was received, there are no plans to publish it.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of proposed changes under the Fairer Pathway to Settlement consultation on demand for independent immigration advice services; and what steps they are taking to ensure those services have sufficient workforce capacity to meet that demand.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Proposals for introducing an earned settlement model, as set out in the Command Paper “A Fairer Pathway to Settlement” (CP1448), were subject to a public consultation, which opened on 20 November 2025 and closed on 12 February 2026.
We are now reviewing and analysing all responses received. Implementation of the earned settlement arrangements will be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the latest date by which the consultation process would need to begin in order for section 106 of the Equality Act 2010 to be implemented before the next expected general election in 2029.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Noble Lady to the answer given to PQ HC122818 on 24th March 2026:
Question: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2026 to Question 117942, which stakeholders she plans to engage with on the commencement of Section 106 of the Equality Act 2010; and what her planned timeline is for that engagement process.
Answer: As stated in our answer of 16 March 2026, the Government is committed to commencing section 106 of the Equality Act 2010, requiring registered political parties to publish anonymised data relating to the diversity of their candidate selections in accordance with regulations.
Office for Equality and Opportunity officials are currently exploring when and how to commence the provision under section 106.
Careful consideration needs to be given to how it might be implemented, the necessary supporting regulations and whether any phasing might be needed in implementation.
Officials will consult with stakeholders, including political parties, in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what engagement they have undertaken on implementation of section 106 of the Equality Act 2010 prior to the establishment of a formal consultation process.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Noble Lady to the answer given to PQ HC122818 on 24th March 2026:
Question: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2026 to Question 117942, which stakeholders she plans to engage with on the commencement of Section 106 of the Equality Act 2010; and what her planned timeline is for that engagement process.
Answer: As stated in our answer of 16 March 2026, the Government is committed to commencing section 106 of the Equality Act 2010, requiring registered political parties to publish anonymised data relating to the diversity of their candidate selections in accordance with regulations.
Office for Equality and Opportunity officials are currently exploring when and how to commence the provision under section 106.
Careful consideration needs to be given to how it might be implemented, the necessary supporting regulations and whether any phasing might be needed in implementation.
Officials will consult with stakeholders, including political parties, in due course.