Found: Baroness Smith of Malvern: My name is Jacqui Smith.

Found: education, skills, training and careers for those aged 19 years remains with the DfE, with Baroness Smith of Malvern

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 10 November (HL Deb col 40), whether they plan to pilot media literacy within the curriculum, and if so, how its efficacy will be assessed.

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

On 5 November, the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review published its final report which includes recommendations for a refreshed curriculum and assessment system in England.

As part of the response to the Review the government has committed to ensuring our young people have the skills they need to identify and challenge misinformation, by strengthening media literacy in citizenship and English.

To ensure primary-aged children are introduced to key content on media literacy we have made a commitment to make citizenship compulsory in key stages 1 and 2.

We will also reform the computing curriculum and create a broader computing GCSE so that pupils have the vital digital skills needed for the future such as AI literacy and we will explore a new level 3 qualification in data science and AI.

The department will engage with sector experts and young people in working out how best to reflect this content in the updated curriculum. There will be public consultation on the updated curriculum programmes of study, to seek views on the content before they are finalised.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 10 November (HL Deb cols 30–38), whether they plan to pilot changes to media literacy in the curriculum, and how its efficacy will be assessed.

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

I refer the noble Lady to the answer of 27 November to Question HL11890.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Blake of Leeds on 16 October (HL Deb col 81GC–84GC) and the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 5 November (HL11244), what steps they will take to continue to provide funding to the eight specialist music and dance schools through the Music and Dance Scheme beyond this academic year.

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

As Baroness Blake of Leeds set out in the Question for Short Debate on 16 October (HL Deb col 81GC 84GC), the Music and Dance Scheme is a long-term commitment and future funding for the scheme beyond this academic year will be announced in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 10 November (HL Deb col 36), what evidence the decision not to follow the Curriculum and Assessment Review's recommendation that the structure of Progress 8 remains unchanged was based on.

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

A July 2025 Skills England report noted that "the creative industries are experiencing significant skills shortages", with 33% of all vacancies attributed to this, and the Curriculum and Assessment Review found declines in entries into some key stage 4 arts qualifications, including music and drama. The department believes that the proposed ‘Progress 8’ structure will support development of these key skills and help deliver the government’s commitment to support young people with the opportunity to study a creative or vocational subject through to the end of key stage 4.

The department will therefore consult on an improved Progress 8 and Attainment 8 that recognises the value of these subjects and balances a strong academic core with breadth and student choice.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 11 November (HL11422), whether they will now answer the question put, namely whether the Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance has been sent to devolved administrations in draft.

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

The Minister is following the process in the Equality Act 2006 and is consulting the Devolved Governments at the relevant stages, as required under section 14(9).

Consultation with Welsh and Scottish Ministers is required if, or in so far as, the Code relates to a duty imposed by or under the Public Sector Equality Duty. As part of the consultation, the draft Code has been shared with the Devolved Administrations.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 22 October (HL Deb col 898), what modelling of the elasticity of demand for international students they have used to inform the decision to implement the international student levy.

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

The technical annex to the White Paper ‘Restoring control over the immigration system’ set out the initial modelling assumptions, which used the London Economics estimates of price elasticity commissioned by the department.

The department is doing further work on this and will set out further details on the levy at Autumn Budget.

Found: Letter dated 10/11/2025 from Baroness Smith of Malvern to Lord Freyberg regarding the importance of recognising

Found: Letter dated 10/11/2025 from Baroness Smith of Malvern to Baroness Bull regarding data collected by the