School Admissions: Selective Inclusion

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Monday 8th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

I always try my best to spread the news about the excellent work that teachers in England are doing and, of course, the excellent work that this Government are doing to support them.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, does my noble friend or her department have any information about the number of teachers currently working in our schools who have themselves at some time in the past needed special educational provision? To what extent are those teachers able to contribute to the way in which we provide for young people with special educational needs now?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

That is a very interesting question. Although I have to admit that I do not have that information at my fingertips, I have no doubt that having had some of those experiences yourself would probably support you, as a teacher, to recognise the needs of the children you were teaching. But we cannot depend on that, which is why the Government have invested £200 million to ensure that all teachers, from early years through to post-16, have the opportunity for the necessary professional development to enable them to recognise and support children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Youth Unemployment

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 5th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

Well, this is welfare reform. It is wrong that there are 900,000 young people who are neither earning nor learning, which is why we are changing the system. We are ensuring that there is an earlier interview for young people. We are introducing 300,000 more opportunities for young people to gain work experience or training linked to an employer. Then we are ensuring that they have a backstop work placement that they will be expected to take at the end of 18 months. That is welfare reform, which this Government are putting in place to respond to the challenges left by the previous one.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, can my noble friend the Minister tell the House what data, if any, the Government hold on the casual employment of young people between the ages of 16 and 18? Does she agree with me that young people who are able to find employment over this period, when they are often in full-time education as well, are given a range of experience that is extremely helpful to them when they come to seek full-time employment after their education is over?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend raises an interesting point. There seems to be some evidence that young people are doing less of that type of work. This is part of what Alan Milburn will look at in his review, which will consider the causes of the growing numbers of young people who are neither earning nor learning. That is of course why being able to provide placements through some of the courses that young people take and the work experience that will be part of the youth guarantee gateway will be important for those young people who have not otherwise had the opportunity to understand what it is like to be in a workplace.

Pension Schemes Bill

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Committee stage
Thursday 22nd January 2026 Grand Committee

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall) (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, who has tabled the lead amendment in the first group, is not currently here. Before I call it, I ask whether any other Member present wishes to move her amendment. I give the Committee a moment to think about that, because if no one wishes to move it, I will have to regard it as not moved. Given that the next amendment in the group is, helpfully, consecutive to the first, with the permission of the Committee I will move to the next amendment, having called the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, which we have to assume will be not moved. Does the Committee accept that as a way forward?

[Noble Lords]

Yes.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall) (Lab)]

I thank noble Lords.

Clause 11: Relevant schemes: value for money

Amendment 45B not moved.

Preschool Children: Digital Technology

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Lord raises an important point, and of course we have had other very distressing cases that have taken place recently in nurseries. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State made a Statement about action that the Government are taking. Specifically on this issue, we will be appointing an expert panel to inform the development of guidance for the early years sector on CCTV and digital devices within safeguarding. That guidance will set out best practice, technical information and clear expectations about how those devices are used, along with the use of CCTV. I would be happy to send the noble Lord further information about the action that we have taken post that particular case.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that there is an adjacent problem to the one that we are discussing, which the noble Baroness, Lady Penn, has raised, which is parents’ own use of technology and the way that that impacts on their interaction with very young children? Most of us, if we travel on public transport, will often see a child in a pushchair and a parent or carer using their phone and the child being completely isolated from any contact. In the support for parents, will there be advice for parents about how their own use of technology can impact on their ability to interact effectively with their very young children?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend makes an important point. I note, for example, the Children’s Commissioner’s suggestions and advice this morning that Christmas would be a good time for us as adults to put down our phones and focus on family time and interaction with children in particular, while the NHS website provides advice on the activities that are important for children’s health and development. Sometimes the issue about screen time is that it displaces other important activities, so the NHS website provides advice on the importance of sleep at all ages for good physical and mental health and well-being—I am sure that noble Lords will be keen on that one—and guidelines for parents on physical activity for children under the age of five. Those types of activities and the face-to-face interaction that parents can have with their children are one of the most important ways in which we can ensure healthy child development.

Autistic Children: State Schools

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 23rd October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right that schools have a legal duty, under the Equality Act, not to discriminate against pupils by excluding them because of their disability. It would be unlawful to exclude a pupil simply because they have SEN or a disability that the school feels unable to meet, for example. I will write to the noble Baroness about the nature of the data that we collect, and any future plans, but, even more importantly, the message that we need to intervene earlier, identify earlier and find a range of ways in which to support pupils is constantly being delivered to schools alongside the support to enable that to happen. But I will write about the particular issue on data.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, does my noble friend accept that autism and ADHD often present differently in boys and girls? Girls are frequently underdiagnosed and under-understood, because their behaviour can sometimes be challenging in a completely different way. They may not be disruptive but their behaviour often results in them simply ducking out of the kind of engagement that we need. Can my noble friend assure the House that that issue will be taken into account when taking forward the training programmes for teachers that she has identified?

Youth Unemployment

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 16th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Earl is right that, as part of the curriculum and assessment review, Becky Francis is considering the large amount of evidence that has been provided, and she has been clear in the challenge that the Government have set her, and that she has set herself, that maintaining a strong knowledge base within our curriculum is fundamentally important but so is providing the space for teachers and others to enable young people to develop their creativity in the very widest sense. I am sure we will hear more about that when the curriculum and assessment review is published.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, building on the answer that the Minister gave to my noble friend Lady Bousted, can she confirm that schools value all the various ways in which young people can move from education into further and higher education and into employment, and do not unnecessarily downgrade the virtue of, for example, BTECs and other forms of vocational qualifications, which I think historically has been the case?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

I think there have been improvements in careers education in recent years, something that this Government are determined to build on. One of the key points, as my noble friend says, is how we provide young people with information, advice and guidance on the whole range of opportunities available to them, both in academic routes through A-levels and in technical routes through T-levels and apprenticeships, which we are determined to support for younger people. We will have more to say about all that in our post-16 White Paper soon.

Supporting Disadvantaged Families

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 12th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall) (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, has withdrawn her name, so I call the next speaker, the noble Lord, Lord Rooker.

[Lord Rooker (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, what is happening about the decline in the number of health visitors in respect of the youngest children in disadvantaged families? If the Government, as was said in the Statement, are taking a long-term holistic approach, why has there been no national health inequality strategy since 2010? Is this why life expectancy in England has stalled since 2010—something that has not happened since 1900, according to The Marmot Review 10 Years On?

[Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)]

There is an exam question to finish this session. I will need to ask my colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care to provide the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, with the information about health visitors and the other valid points that he raises.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall) (Lab)]

My Lords, all speakers who wished to ask questions on the Statement have done so. We will move straight on to the next Statement, but I recommend that we just take a few moments to allow Front-Bench Members and others to find their right places.

Jobseekers (Back to Work Schemes) Act 2013 (Remedial) Order 2019

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Grand Committee

Motion agreed.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall) (Lab)]

I remind Members to sanitise their desks and chairs before leaving the room.

Pension Schemes Bill [HL]

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Committee stage & Committee: 2nd sitting (Hansard) & Committee: 2nd sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 26th February 2020 Grand Committee

Relevant documents: 4th Report from the Delegated Powers Committee and 2nd Report from the Constitution Committee

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall) (Lab)]

My Lords, good afternoon. I remind the Committee that, in the event of a Division in the Chamber, the Committee will adjourn at the sound of the Division Bell and resume after 10 minutes.

Clause 109: Duty to give notices and statements to the Regulator in respect of certain events

Amendment 27

Moved by

Local Welfare Assistance

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Monday 11th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Buscombe]

My Lords, what the noble Earl has said about family breakdown and what this leads to is quite right. Indeed, that is why we have a strong focus now on the family parental conflict programme, to which we will be contributing £30 million in the coming two years. We have also invested up to £200 million in universal support, which provides budgeting advice and digital support to claimants, delivered by local authorities. This support is tailored to local needs and our work coaches, who gauge claimants’ financial needs from their first interview. We are doing a variety of things to help people at a local level. The noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, shakes his head, but we are doing an awful lot more than his Government ever achieved. I am proud of what we are doing.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, will the noble Baroness please have another go at answering the question put to her by my noble friend Lord Howarth? Can she confirm that local authority budgets have been cut by 40%, and if she cannot, what figure does she think is the right one? Can she further say whether she thinks that—if that figure or anything like it is correct—it is at all likely that there has been no major impact on services that were previously provided?

[Baroness Buscombe]

My Lords, it is a great shame that under the Labour Government so much taxpayers’ money was wasted, leaving our local councils bereft of funds. We have worked hard to ensure that there are emergency provisions in place. Although there may be cuts to local authorities, we are ensuring that there is proper provision, but we are leaving it to local authorities to decide the best way to provide for the needs that people have at local level.