Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many parents have (1) taken neonatal care leave, (2) received neonatal care pay, and (3) received both neonatal care leave and pay, since the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 came into force on 6 April 2025.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC does not hold information on (1) the number of parents that have taken Neonatal Care Leave and (3) the number of parents that have received both Neonatal Care Leave and Pay.

HMRC does hold data on Statutory Neonatal Care Pay provided by Real Time Information, HMRC’s database that holds Pay as You Earn information relating to employees. Using data from April-December 2025, an estimated 1,900 individuals were in receipt of Statutory Neonatal Care Pay. This data was extracted from HMRC’s Real-Time Information in January 2026 and is subject to revision or updates.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the average length of neonatal care leave has been since 6 April 2025; and whether they will publish a breakdown of the number of parents taking neonatal care leave for each individual week of entitlement.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC does not receive data on exact claim duration. However, it is possible to estimate the duration of a claim based on total amounts of Statutory Neonatal Care Pay claimed. The average length of a claim is currently estimated at 2.3 weeks. The distribution of this is shown in the table below:

Notes:

1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2025. RTI is subject to revision or updates.

2) Cases have been rounded to nearest 100.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the breakdown is of the uptake of neonatal care leave and pay by (1) mothers, and (2) fathers, since 6 April 2025.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Parents cannot receive more than one statutory payment at the same time, meaning Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (SNCP) is often taken at the end of Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Paternity Pay. As mothers can receive up to 39 weeks of maternity pay, and SNCP was introduced from April last year, many eligible mothers will have been in receipt of maternity pay at the point the data was extracted and may not yet have claimed SNCP.

Notes:

1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2025. RTI is subject to revision or updates.

2) Cases have been rounded to nearest 100.

3) Figures may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for the Childhood in the Age of AI event on 20-22 April, including (1) who will be attending the summit; (2) what age ranges and topics it will address; and (3) whether it will include discussion of early years.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The ‘Childhood in the Age of AI’ summit will be attended by a diverse group of representatives from civil society, industry, government and representatives of young people. It will address the impacts of AI on children and young people across a wide range of domains, such as education, wellbeing, development and safety. The discussions will not be restricted to any age group.

This work forms part of the government’s work to hear directly from parents and young people across the UK through our National Conversation children’s and young people’s wellbeing online.

Found: Lord Liddle No relevant interests to declare Lord Newby No relevant interests to declare Baroness Penn

Submit Evidence (by 5 Jun 2026)

The Economic Affairs Committee is launching an inquiry into fiscal devolution in England. The inquiry will consider what form fiscal devolution might take, its distributional consequences, and what governance arrangements might be needed as more powers are devolved to local areas. The committee has issued a call for written evidence and will be taking oral evidence from May 2025.