Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people they expect to move into employment as a result of the £1 billion employment package announced on 18 March.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP published an impact assessment which explained how employment interventions can have a significant and enduring impacts on peoples’ employment prospects and showed the substantial savings associated with supporting disabled people into work. For every 10,000 additional people in full time work, there would be fiscal savings of around £180m per year, with societal savings around £280m per year, (£80m and £150m respectively if in part-time work.
The Department has extensive evidence on what works, which includes the evaluation of Work Choice, a specialist employment programme for disabled people and those with health conditions, that showed people receiving tailored support were 40% more likely to be in work eight years later. We will be developing more detailed assessments of the potential impacts of the employment measures proposed in the Green Paper as these are developed in detail. The Office for Budget Responsibility has also stated that it intends to assess the labour supply impacts of the Green Paper measures in their Autumn forecast.
Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Livermore on 25 March (HL5735), in what way they plan to broaden the National Wealth Fund's legislative remit beyond infrastructure.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government will introduce legislation when Parliamentary time allows to broaden the National Wealth Fund’s (NWF) legislative mandate beyond infrastructure to enable it to better support the Government’s growth and clean energy missions.
At that point, and subject to Parliamentary consent, the NWF will focus on enabling investment in capital intensive projects, businesses, or assets. For example, the NWF will have the scope to invest in a broader range of supply chains and critical sectors, such as Artificial Intelligence and quantum, where access to finance gaps exist.
Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what responses they received to questions on transparency and large employers publishing their family-related leave and pay policies following their consultation on the ‘Good Work Plan: Proposals to support families’; and how have they responded to the outcomes of the consultation regarding these questions.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The consultation on publication of parental leave and pay policies was undertaken by the previous government.
This government is committed to supporting working families. The Employment Rights Bill will make the right to request flexible working the default, make Paternity and Parental Leave Day one rights, and will require large employers to produce equality action plans, amongst other measures.
As a result, we do not believe that requiring businesses to publish their family-related leave and pay policies is necessary at this time.
Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce legislation to change the remit of the National Wealth Fund.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government will introduce legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows to broaden the National Wealth Fund’s legislative remit beyond infrastructure.
The Government published the National Wealth Fund’s new Statement of Strategic Priorities on 19 March. It directs the National Wealth Fund to prioritise investment into the clean energy, advanced manufacturing, digital and technologies, and transport sectors. It can already invest in infrastructure projects in these areas.
Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to change the remit of the National Wealth Fund to include defence investment.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published the National Wealth Fund’s new Statement of Strategic Priorities on 19 March. It directs the National Wealth Fund to consider the role it can play in delivery of the wider Industrial Strategy, including in the defence sector.
The National Wealth Fund will also consider investments in dual-use technologies across its priority sectors of clean energy, digital and technologies, advanced manufacturing and transport, to better support the UK’s defence and security.
The National Wealth Fund retains the flexibility to invest where financing gaps emerge to ensure it can respond swiftly to emerging Government priorities.
Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether spending by the National Wealth Fund will be subject to their fiscal rules; and, if so, which of the fiscal rules will apply.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK’s fiscal framework (as set out at the October 2024 Budget) applies to the whole public sector, including the National Wealth Fund (NWF). The NWF is operationally independent, but wholly owned by the Treasury, and therefore part of the public sector and subject to the fiscal framework.
Specifically, the fiscal framework contains two fiscal rules:
i) the stability rule – to move the current budget into balance so that day to-day costs are met by revenues, meaning that the government will only borrow for investment. The NWF’s current expenditure, for example the salaries of NWF staff, and current income, for example the income it receives for loans, are included in this metric.
ii) the investment rule – to reduce debt, defined as public sector net financial liabilities or net financial debt, as a share of the economy. Net financial debt is a broad measure that includes the value of financial assets owned by the government and nets these assets off the liabilities of government captured in net financial debt. NWF’s financial assets, for example it’s loans and equity investments, are included as financial assets under this metric.
Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 18 December 2024 (HL3350), what is the status of each of the recommendations made by the Chief Medical Officers in their commentary on Screen-based activities and children and young people’s mental health and psychosocial wellbeing: a systematic map of reviews, published on 7 February 2019.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) is an independent advisor to the Government, and any CMO reports are produced independently. The recommendations are advisory, to inform policy development.
In June 2019, at the request of the then United Kingdom’s CMOs, the then Chief Scientific Advisor convened a workshop to bring together a range of academic experts and funding bodies to discuss future research possibilities around screen-based activities and children and young people’s mental health. The workshop aimed to identify avenues for undertaking future research and funding in this area, and recommended that a methodology panel was convened to improve research methods, and that children and young people’s user needs were scoped out, to determine research priorities.
These recommendations align with the UK Mental Health Research Goals for 2020 - 2030, which includes developing research to halve the number of children and young people experiencing persistent mental health problems. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) continues to commission research in this area to support and improve evidence-based practice. As part of this, the NIHR is currently funding research to explore the impact that school policies which restrict daytime use of smartphones and social media have on adolescent mental wellbeing.
The Department for Education is currently reviewing the statutory guidance on teaching relationships, health, and sex education, and as part of this, will consider whether additional or revised content should be included in the guidance, including content regarding online safety and harm.
Since 2022, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has provided £3 million in funding for media literacy projects that empower users to navigate the online world safely. In 2024, this included £500,000 to scale up two programmes to provide media literacy support to teachers, children aged 11 to 16 years old, and other professionals working with families, parents, and carers.
The Online Safety Act updated Ofcom’s statutory duty to promote media literacy and to raise the public’s awareness of the nature and impact of harmful content and online behaviour. Ofcom has published a three-year media literacy strategy which includes investigating specific impacts of platform design on user safety, such as the impact of persuasive design on children. The Government looks forward to working with them as they implement these strategies.
Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 12 December 2024 (HL3041), what plans they have to introduce guidance for parents of babies and children under five on screen time and phone use through midwifery, health visiting or GP services.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Across departments, this government is considering the recommendations of the previous Education Committee’s report ‘Screen Time: Impacts on education and wellbeing’, including the report’s recommendations on guidance for parents.
Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken with teacher training providers to incorporate the latest evidence on mobile phones, social media and mental health into their curricula.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The mandatory Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework and Early Career Framework have been designed to set out the minimum entitlement of knowledge, skills and experiences that trainees need to enter the profession. This includes requiring all trainees to learn how to contribute positively to the wider school culture and develop a feeling of shared responsibility for improving the lives of all pupils in the school.
The framework is not a curriculum and ITT and Early Career providers, or those schools adopting the school-led approach to deliver the Early Career Teacher Entitlement, must use the framework to create a full curriculum. This includes integrating additional analysis and critique of theory, research, and expert practice as they consider best suited to their curriculum. We recognise that research and evidence is constantly evolving, including evidence on mobile phones, social media and mental health and providers may seek to incorporate this in their curricula.
Decisions relating to teachers’ professional development rest with schools, headteachers and teachers themselves, as they are in the best position to judge the development and training that teachers in their schools need to support their pupils.
Schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy that sets out what is expected of all pupils, including what items are banned from school premises. Additionally, the government’s non-statutory guidance supports schools on how to develop, implement and maintain a policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones throughout the school day. Headteachers are responsible for implementation of guidance within their schools.
Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans Ofsted has to incorporate evidence on mobile phones into its Education Inspection Framework and inspector training.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the noble Lady directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.