Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value for money of obesity treatments and weight-loss medicines; and whether their impact on sickness absence, workforce participation and wider economic productivity has been taken into account.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness. When assessing treatments, NICE looks at how well they work and whether they represent good value for NHS money. Its standard approach focuses on NHS costs and does not include wider economic factors such as the impact on sickness absence or workforce productivity.

NICE has recommended a number of medicines licensed for the treatment of obesity for use on the NHS using its standard approach to evaluations, and those treatments are now available for the treatment of NHS patients in line with NICE’s guidance.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what targets they have set for reducing the number of young people aged 16 and 17 with an unknown education, employment or training status.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Reducing the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is a shared priority for government and local authorities, preventing the impacts of disengagement on individuals, the economy and society.

Local authorities support this by maintaining effective systems to identify and support NEET young people. There is already strong practice across the sector, often in the face of significant challenges. The department has written to all local authorities and contacted those where the proportion of young people whose activity is not known is in the highest quintile to provide support and challenge, understand local circumstances, and agree actions.

To support local authorities, we have introduced a new risk of NEET indicator tool and guidance. The department is continuing to refine it with local authorities and monitoring its impact on earlier identification of young people at risk of becoming NEET.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what information will be collected to measure the success of the new Risk of NEET Indicator tool.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Reducing the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is a shared priority for government and local authorities, preventing the impacts of disengagement on individuals, the economy and society.

Local authorities support this by maintaining effective systems to identify and support NEET young people. There is already strong practice across the sector, often in the face of significant challenges. The department has written to all local authorities and contacted those where the proportion of young people whose activity is not known is in the highest quintile to provide support and challenge, understand local circumstances, and agree actions.

To support local authorities, we have introduced a new risk of NEET indicator tool and guidance. The department is continuing to refine it with local authorities and monitoring its impact on earlier identification of young people at risk of becoming NEET.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons why 32,100 young people aged 16 and 17 have an unknown education, employment or training status.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Reducing the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is a shared priority for government and local authorities, preventing the impacts of disengagement on individuals, the economy and society.

Local authorities support this by maintaining effective systems to identify and support NEET young people. There is already strong practice across the sector, often in the face of significant challenges. The department has written to all local authorities and contacted those where the proportion of young people whose activity is not known is in the highest quintile to provide support and challenge, understand local circumstances, and agree actions.

To support local authorities, we have introduced a new risk of NEET indicator tool and guidance. The department is continuing to refine it with local authorities and monitoring its impact on earlier identification of young people at risk of becoming NEET.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to assess the impact of obesity treatment on economic inactivity and workforce participation.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises that obesity is associated with significant labour market challenges, including reduced workforce participation and increased sickness absence. The Government remains committed to monitoring emerging evidence to better understand the full range of health and economic benefits associated with obesity treatments. Indeed, the evidence base for the impact of health interventions on employment outcomes is rapidly growing, with very robust evidence on the impact of bariatric surgery and Talking Therapies.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what metrics they plan to use in future studies on weight-loss medicines to assess employment outcomes, workforce participation and sickness absence.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Studies currently underway in the United Kingdom are examining outcomes which include employment status, work productivity, and sickness absence. For example, the industry funded SURMOUNT-REAL study will examine employment status and work productivity outcomes alongside other factors. The Government funded Scotland CardioMetabolic Impact Study will include an assessment of how improved health through weight loss may help people remain in work and reduce sick leave.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of their commitment in 2023 to include unearned income in the standard calculation used by the Child Maintenance Service, when they intend to introduce the necessary legislation to facilitate this.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department has recently completed a review of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) calculation. This was underpinned by a substantial programme of research the results of which have been published.

Following the review, the Government intends to reduce the income tolerance from 25 per cent to 15 per cent so that changes in income are reflected more quickly in maintenance calculations. The Government also intends to include unearned income within the standard calculation, helping to ensure liabilities more accurately reflect a parent's financial circumstances and that more money reaches children.

Secondary legislation is required before implementation, which is subject to parliamentary approval. Further details on legislation and implementation will be communicated in due course.

We remain committed to ensuring that the CMS provides an effective service for separated parents and their children and continue to keep the operation of the child maintenance system under review and will consider any future changes in the context of wider priorities for supporting children and families.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will reconsider the cancellation of the public consultation on the Child Maintenance Service's calculation process.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department has recently completed a review of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) calculation. This was underpinned by a substantial programme of research the results of which have been published.

Following the review, the Government intends to reduce the income tolerance from 25 per cent to 15 per cent so that changes in income are reflected more quickly in maintenance calculations. The Government also intends to include unearned income within the standard calculation, helping to ensure liabilities more accurately reflect a parent's financial circumstances and that more money reaches children.

Secondary legislation is required before implementation, which is subject to parliamentary approval. Further details on legislation and implementation will be communicated in due course.

We remain committed to ensuring that the CMS provides an effective service for separated parents and their children and continue to keep the operation of the child maintenance system under review and will consider any future changes in the context of wider priorities for supporting children and families.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that Child Maintenance Service users who are assigned to the specialist domestic abuse caseworker team are transferred to that team when they contact the Child Maintenance Service helpline.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is committed to ensuring that victims and survivors of domestic abuse receive the support they need when using the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).

The CMS has a Specialist Caseworker team that provides targeted support for customers experiencing the most challenging or complex domestic abuse situations. All CMS caseworkers receive training to identify indicators of domestic abuse and to refer appropriate cases to the specialist team.

Once the CMS has moved a customer’s case into the Specialist Caseworker team, all inbound calls from that customer will route directly to that team. If the automated call routing cannot identify the customer, their call will go to a different team, but all caseworkers are trained to identify this and will reroute the call to the Specialist Caseworker Team. CMS has strengthened telephony quality assurance arrangements and provided targeted training for team leaders on service standards, coaching and feedback. These measures are designed to support consistent service delivery and help ensure customers requiring specialist support are identified and transferred appropriately.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of non-British nationals claiming Universal Credit.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Figures are routinely published of the number of non ‘Common Travel Area’ (CTA) nationals in the Universal Credit statistics available on GOV.UK.

From the most recently published Universal Credit statistics, there were 8.3 million people on Universal Credit in January 2026, and the percentage of those people by nationality group, compiled from Table 2 of the immigration and nationality data tables, is shown in the table below.

Table 1: Proportion of People on Universal Credit by Nationality group, Great Britain, January 2026

Source: DWP Universal Credit - Immigration Status and Nationality statistics

Notes:

1. The latest non-missing Nationality declared by the claimant, reported across all previous UC claims.
2. CTA – The Common Travel Area (CTA) is a special travel zone that allows for free movement between the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey).
3. “CTA – UK, Ireland, Right of Abode”: British nationals, Irish nationals, and people with right of abode in the UK do not need an immigration status to claim Universal Credit.
4. “EEA (Excluding Ireland)”: Those with nationalities from the 27 European Union (EU) member states, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
5. “Non-EEA”: A person who is not an EEA citizen and is not a British citizen.
6. “No nationality recorded on digital systems”: The individual has not provided their nationality during their claim.
7. If a claimant has dual nationality and one is CTA then they will be recorded as CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode.
8. Right of Abode individuals include Commonwealth citizens.

Found: Baroness Humprheys Baroness Williams of Trafford Apologies: Earl of Kinnoull, Lord Mawson, Baroness Stedman-Scott

Found: Lord Faulkner of Worcester Baroness Wilcox of Newport Apologies: Max Wilkinson, Baroness Stedman Scott

Found: The Chair announced that Baroness Stedman-Scott had left the Committee, the Committee thanked her for