Lord Bishop of Manchester

This government commissioned this review to examine the shockingly high number of early deaths of care experienced young people. We are determined to address this national tragedy and are working quickly, across central government and with local partners, to deliver a significant programme of improved support for care leavers as part of our wider reforms to children’s social care.

Work is already underway in this area, including implementing free NHS prescriptions, dental care and eyecare for care leavers from age 16 to their 25th birthday, funding the development of a toolkit to help local authorities and health partners to develop their own co-located mental health services for care-experienced young people, and embedding a mental health worker into local authority leaving care teams as part of further rollout of Staying Close. We will also ensure that statutory guidance for local authorities as well as health services takes account of the review’s findings, including to improve access to physical and mental health services for care leavers.

This government commissioned this review, bringing to the country’s attention the tragic number of young care leavers who die far too young. The transition to adulthood is an important moment to get right, and the leaving care personal adviser workforce plays a crucial role in that.

We are reviewing the personal adviser workforce and setting higher expectations in the relevant guidance. We have confirmed £25 million of funding this financial year alone, to continue the rollout of Staying Close for care leavers, alongside imposing new duties on councils to strengthen their local offer for young people leaving care, which took effect at the end of September.

The final 2026/27 Local Government Finance Settlement offers £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026/27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025/26. This includes the Revenue Support Grant, which contains funding for the Leaving Care Allowance uplift, extended personal adviser duties, and Staying Put.

The government has a long-standing commitment to provide funding to councils on a non-ringfenced basis, supporting effective and innovative financial management locally and giving local authorities the flexibility to prioritise spending based on local needs and priorities.

The Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) remains central to providing access to specialist performing arts education for high achieving young musicians and dancers, through means-tested bursaries to attend one of eight private schools or one of 20 Centres for Advanced Training (CAT). For the 2024/25 academic year, this includes paying fees in full for 23% of MDS students attending schools and 57% of students attending CATs, for those from families on the lowest incomes.

The scheme will be allocated future funding of £37.8 million for the 2026/27 academic year. This is a £1.3 million increase to the funding this academic year. We will confirm future funding for the 2027/28 academic year before the end of this calendar year.

The Crisis and Resilience Fund aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities – working with the voluntary and community sector – as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis. The Fund will support local interventions that prevent people from falling into crisis and improve their citizens’ long-term financial resilience, reducing the need for crisis support in the long-term.

My Department has engaged extensively with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.

We have no plans to publish data on care leavers claiming Universal Credit.

DWP started routinely collecting data on care leavers claiming UC in February 2022. All new claimants are now given the option of reporting their care leaver status, and work coaches can record existing claimants’ care leaver status if they are they are told about this.

This data is being monitored for data quality and does not meet the quality assurance standards for official statistics: the data coverage is still very limited and the claimants we have data on are not representative of the UC caseload. Therefore, no figures are available for publication.

The Department will continue to carefully review the data in the usual way.

I refer the Right Reverend Prelate to the answer provided on 29 June in response to Question HL1145.

The use of police powers are a matter for the police, who are operationally independent of Government. The Metropolitan Police have issued a statement about the incident in question, which reads as follows:

“Youth Demand have stated an intention to 'shut down' London over the month of April using tactics including 'swarming' and road blocks. While we absolutely recognise the importance of the right to protest, we have a responsibility to intervene to prevent activity that crosses the line from protest into serious disruption and other criminality. On Thursday, 27 March officers raided a Youth Demand planning meeting at an address in Westminster where those in attendance were plotting their April action. Six people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Five of those arrested on Thursday have been released on bail and one will face no further action. A further five arrests for the same offence were made on Friday, 28 March. Four of the arrests were at addresses in London and one in Exeter. All five of those arrested on Friday have been released on bail.”

The Government published a report in December 2024 on how police forces had used their protest powers under the Police, Crime and Sentencing Act 2022 from June 2022 to March 2024. In that period,10 police forces used the amended Public Order Act powers on 473 protests with 95 percent by the Met and 277 arrests for breaches.

Expedited post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023 will begin in May 2025, assessing its enforcement and impact, including arrest numbers.

To help ensure we reach the right balance and have a solid evidence base for any change, the Home Secretary has announced her intention to commission the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules. The government will consider their recommendations before making any changes.

This government is committed to supporting victims of domestic abuse as part of its ambition to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. Achieving this will require a whole of society approach, including from faith organisations, which play a vital role in supporting people and places to thrive.

Since 2021, Tier 1 local authorities in England have had a statutory duty to ensure that victims of domestic abuse and their children can access support in relevant safe accommodation when needed, backed by £499 million government funding over the period 2026-27 to 2028-29. Statutory guidance makes clear that in delivering the duty, local authorities should consider the needs of all victims; understand barriers to accessing support within relevant safe accommodation, including those linked to religion or belief; and ensure appropriate specialist support is available for victims with relevant protected characteristics, including religion or belief.

Local authorities must appoint and consult a domestic abuse Local Partnership Board including a representative of local charities or voluntary organisations supporting domestic abuse victims, and are encouraged to appoint additional members where this reflects local circumstances and need.

This government is committed to supporting victims of domestic abuse as part of its ambition to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. Achieving this will require a whole of society approach, including from faith organisations, which play a vital role in supporting people and places to thrive.

Since 2021, Tier 1 local authorities in England have had a statutory duty to ensure that victims of domestic abuse and their children can access support in relevant safe accommodation when needed, backed by £499 million government funding over the period 2026-27 to 2028-29. Statutory guidance makes clear that in delivering the duty, local authorities should consider the needs of all victims; understand barriers to accessing support within relevant safe accommodation, including those linked to religion or belief; and ensure appropriate specialist support is available for victims with relevant protected characteristics, including religion or belief.

Local authorities must appoint and consult a domestic abuse Local Partnership Board including a representative of local charities or voluntary organisations supporting domestic abuse victims, and are encouraged to appoint additional members where this reflects local circumstances and need.

This government is committed to supporting victims of domestic abuse as part of its ambition to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. Achieving this will require a whole of society approach, including from faith organisations, which play a vital role in supporting people and places to thrive.

Since 2021, Tier 1 local authorities in England have had a statutory duty to ensure that victims of domestic abuse and their children can access support in relevant safe accommodation when needed, backed by £499 million government funding over the period 2026-27 to 2028-29. Statutory guidance makes clear that in delivering the duty, local authorities should consider the needs of all victims; understand barriers to accessing support within relevant safe accommodation, including those linked to religion or belief; and ensure appropriate specialist support is available for victims with relevant protected characteristics, including religion or belief.

Local authorities must appoint and consult a domestic abuse Local Partnership Board including a representative of local charities or voluntary organisations supporting domestic abuse victims, and are encouraged to appoint additional members where this reflects local circumstances and need.