Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total number of individual children who attended at least one Holiday Activities and Food Programme session over the course of the 2026 school summer holidays; and how many of those children were of (1) primary, and (2) secondary, school age.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, backed by over £600 million of funding for the next three years, provides free nutritious meals, enriching activities, and safe environments to eligible children from reception to year 11 during the school holidays.
Participation data is not yet available for summer 2026. In summer 2025, over 624,000 children and young people attended HAF, of whom over 513,000 were funded directly through the programme and over 434,000 were in receipt of benefits-related free school meals. The department does not currently publish participation data by primary and secondary age phase.
Local authorities have significant flexibility to design and deliver their HAF offer to respond to local need, so the balance of participation between primary and secondary age children varies between areas.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children were eligible for free school meals under transitional protections in the 2025–26 academic year; and, of those children, how many are now eligible for (1) targeted, and (2) expanded free school meals, and how many are no longer eligible for means-tested free school meals.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department has published estimates showing around three million children becoming eligible for benefits-based free school meals (FSM) under our expanded criteria. These estimates account for the ending of transitional protections.
Families must claim FSM as a condition of eligibility, which is then recorded through the school census as either targeted or expanded free school meals. The department publishes data on recorded levels of FSM eligibility annually. The next published data, which will include the expanded FSM breakdown, will be available in summer 2027.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to transitional protection for those who will be affected by the proposed abolition of the long-residence policy following their consultation on earned settlement, which closed on 12 February.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As set out in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, a consequence of the proposed system is that there will no longer be a separate long residence route. In allowing for an individual to increase or reduce their qualifying period to settlement through relevant criteria, the introduction of the earned settlement model will supersede the requirements of the Long Residence route.
The consultation on the earned settlement model was open between 20 November 2025 and 12 February 2026. We received over 200,000 responses and are currently analysing them. This will inform the development of the final model, which will be decided by the Home Secretary.
Once the final model has been decided, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly. As with all significant policy changes, the proposals will be subject to both economic and equality impact assessments.
In the meantime, the current Long Residence rules will continue to apply, and any changes will be communicated publicly.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of statistics on statistics on child poverty published by UNICEF showing that over half of children in poverty in the UK live in families with a child under five, why babies and young children are not identified as a specific vulnerable group in the Tackling Child Poverty – Monitoring and Evaluation Baseline Report, published on 9 July.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government's monitoring and evaluation framework, and baseline report, commit to assessing how child poverty trends and experiences vary across different family types and demographic groups. Children aged under five are an important group of interest, as set out in the Strategy’s evidence pack, and will continue to be considered within the Government's ongoing monitoring and analysis of child poverty outcomes.
The Government recognises the importance of the early years in shaping children's outcomes and life chances. This is why supporting children to have the best start in life is central to the Government's approach to tackling child poverty.
Our wider support for families with young children includes investing over £900 million in Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies, bringing together health, parenting support and early years services in a more connected, place-based model of support for families. Best Start Family Hubs focus on pregnancy and the early years, including the critical 1,001 days from conception to age two, helping ensure that babies, young children and their parents can access support at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the employment of disabled people of reduced Access to Work support packages in the last 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessment has been undertaken. The support that a customer will receive from Access to Work is dependent upon their needs and circumstances at the time they make an application. Case Managers undertake a comprehensive assessment of the customer’s individual disability related requirements to ensure that the support provided is appropriate, proportionate, and aligned with the guidance and principles of the Access to Work scheme. This is also the case with any renewal applications which are also subject to a full review, including in cases where customers indicate that there have been no changes to their support needs. We are committed to ensuring that each case is considered carefully and fairly, with due regard to each individual customer’s needs and circumstances.
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 latest visa and asylum statistics relating to (1) Cameroon, (2) Afghanistan, (3) Myanmar, and (4) Sudan.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The latest public immigration statistics show that visa applications and asylum claims for the affected routes and nationalities in Q2 2026 have on average fallen by over 90% and 70%, respectively, compared to Q4 2025.
The visa brake for Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan will be reviewed by the Home Office after 18 months after imposition. This principally involves an assessment of the risk of future visa-linked asylum claims. It does not mean the visa brake will necessarily be lifted. The brake will only be lifted once the government assesses it appropriate to do so and it is clear that there has been a reduction in the risk of high proportions of visa-linked asylum claims recommencing on these routes from these nationalities.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the next review of the visa brake for Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan is scheduled to take place; and what criteria and evidence will be used when undertaking it.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The latest public immigration statistics show that visa applications and asylum claims for the affected routes and nationalities in Q2 2026 have on average fallen by over 90% and 70%, respectively, compared to Q4 2025.
The visa brake for Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan will be reviewed by the Home Office after 18 months after imposition. This principally involves an assessment of the risk of future visa-linked asylum claims. It does not mean the visa brake will necessarily be lifted. The brake will only be lifted once the government assesses it appropriate to do so and it is clear that there has been a reduction in the risk of high proportions of visa-linked asylum claims recommencing on these routes from these nationalities.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what their intended timeline is for the application of the planned reduction of the income tolerance from 25 per cent to 15 per cent for child maintenance calculations.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Changing the income tolerance from 25 to 15 per cent will require amendments to legislation that will be subject to Parliamentary approval. The Department is currently developing an implementation plan considering plans to bring forward the changes as Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what impact, if any, the introduction of quarterly income tax updates as part of Making Tax Digital has had on the way the Child Maintenance Service assesses the income of self-employed paying parents.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The introduction of quarterly reporting under Making Tax Digital (MTD) has not changed the way that the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) currently assesses the income of self-employed paying parents.
The CMS continues to use HMRC income information for the latest completed tax year and does not currently use quarterly MTD updates as evidence of self-employed income.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 17 July (HL1821), how they will inform stakeholders and parliamentarians of changes to Universal Credit as a result of the Universal Credit Review.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Universal Credit Review has been designed as an ongoing flexible programme of engagement, evidence gathering and policy development rather than a single review culminating in a final report. This approach has allowed the Department to respond to evidence as it emerges and take forward improvements where appropriate.
Any future changes to Universal Credit arising from the Review will be announced in line with established Government and Parliamentary processes.