Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support unpaid carers over the next 12 months in the light of increases to the cost of living.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises the vital contribution made by unpaid carers and is committed to ensuring they receive the support they need.
The cross-government Unpaid Carers Action Plan, published on 14 July, sets out our work to improve how unpaid carers are recognised, how support is offered, and how they can be helped to reach their full potential and live fulfilling lives.
Financial support is available from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit, Pension Credit, and – in England and Wales – Carer’s Allowance. The Universal Credit Act 2025 introduced, for the first time ever, a sustained above-inflation increase to the Standard Allowance to rebalance support for those on low incomes. This increased by 6.1% in April 2026. The Universal Credit carer element, which is payable in addition to the Standard Allowance for those providing unpaid care of 35 hours a week or more for a severely disabled person, was increased in line with the increase in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) by 3.8%.
The Standard Minimum Guarantee in Pension Credit was increased in line with average earnings growth by 4.8%. The Pension Credit carer addition, which is payable in addition to the Standard Minimum Guarantee, was increased in line with the increase in the CPI by 3.8%, as was Carer's Allowance.
The weekly earnings limit in Carer's Allowance was increased to £204 per week, aligned with 16 hours at the National Living Wage. This continues the policy we introduced last year, which saw the largest ever increase in the earnings limit since Carer's Allowance was introduced, and means over 60,000 additional people are expected to receive Carer's Allowance between 2025/26 and 2029/30.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) high, (2) medium, and (3) low, secure beds in mental health units were available in every region of England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Neither the Department nor NHS England holds centrally validated information on the number of secure beds in each region.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure the financial stability and development of Appropriate Adult services across the criminal justice system in the next three years.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the important role that Appropriate Adults play in safeguarding the rights and welfare of children and vulnerable adults within the criminal justice system, ensuring they are treated fairly and able to participate effectively in police processes.
Appropriate Adult services are delivered locally through a range of partnership arrangements, including local authorities, police and crime commissioners and voluntary sector organisations, enabling provision to reflect local need and demand.
The Home Office provides grant funding to support Appropriate Adult services, including through funding to the National Appropriate Adult Network
The Government is committed to upholding the safeguards set out in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and its Codes of Practice, which requires that children and vulnerable adults are supported by an Appropriate Adult during police interactions.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the education budget for (1) women's prisons, and (2) men's prisons, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Timpson
To provide figures that show education budgets broken down by men’s and women’s prisons over the period requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The budget encompasses various different services which are managed in different ways and are not all apportioned on a per-prison level.
Figures for the budget across both men and women’s prisons are shown in the table below. This only covers education, it does not cover broader skills training and employment work, for example that is delivered through prison industries and workshops.
Financial Year | Total Education Budget for Male and Female estate in millions |
2021/22 | £146.8 |
2022/23 | £153.2 |
2023/24 | £166.2 |
2024/25 | £170.4 |
2025/26 | £176.3 |
Budgets for locally commissioned services are allocated to individual prisons based on size of population, type of establishment and geographic area. Other services are commissioned nationally, such as Higher Education provision through the Open University and Distance Learning through the Prisoners’ Education Trust. We are focusing on improving attendance and driving up quality to ensure that every pound spent has greater impact on learners.
Both contracts through which core education was delivered during the period allocated a greater per-prisoner amount to women's prisons.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the fitting quality of electronic monitoring tags.
Answered by Lord Timpson
The field and monitoring service contract, with the provider Serco, has clear contractual requirements governing the delivery of the Electronic Monitoring service, including the fitting of electronic monitoring tags. The latest performance data from Serco evidenced continued improved performance with all contractual KPIs met.
The relevant contract can be found on contract finder via the following links, and have also been attached for ease: Electronic Monitoring Field and Monitoring Service (FMS) - Contracts Finder and Electronic Monitoring - MDSS contract - Contracts Finder.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - 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 25 February (HL14473), when they expect the co-produced action and implementation plan to be published.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has no plans at present to publish the action plan. The action plan is a partnership with HM Prison and Probation Service and other Government departments, and NHS England has a governance route through which it holds itself accountable.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish an action and implementation plan to ensure the recommendations of the report by the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody Investigating deaths under the Mental Health Act: The need for independence and parity, published in September 2025, are quickly progressed.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is very grateful to the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody for its report, which highlights the critical issue that there are still too many deaths in mental health services and provides valuable insights and recommendations for change.
The Government is currently considering the report and its recommendation to establish an independent investigative mechanism. We will consider the most suitable way to share the Government’s response to this report in due course and will continue to work with the panel to explore how we can deliver further improvements to the way deaths in mental health detention are investigated.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in prison or a Young Offenders Institute self-describe their ethnicity as Romany.
Answered by Lord Timpson
This information is published in Table 1_A_21 of the Offender Management Statistics ‘annual’ prison population tables.
As of 30 June 2025, the most recent date for which statistics are available, 79 of those in custody described their ethnicity as Roma.
To note, the ‘Roma’ ethnicity code is a recent addition to the prison offender management system, and the ‘as at 30 June 2025’ data is the first publication of these figures. As such, we would expect numbers to increase over time as new prisoners entering the system are able to self-identify as ‘Roma’.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement the recommendations of the report by the Chief Medical Officer for England, The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England, published on 6 November 2025.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department welcomed the Chief Medical Officer’s report and is working across NHS England, HM Prison and Probation Service, and other Government departments on the implementation of its recommendations and the co-production of an action and implementation plan.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times, and in which NHS regions of England, the outcome of commissioned health and justice service contracts have been referred to the Independent Patient and Procurement Panel in each of the past two years.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The panel has received two representations regarding Health and Justice services. The panel accepted one case for review and did not review the other case. The case that the panel accepted was in the North West of England.