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Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 14 Jan 2026
Early Years Education

"My Lords, does the Minister agree that the mastery and development of language, spoken and written, needs to begin very early and be sustained through the early years? Children will not get that from a tablet. What they need is interaction with adults in order to develop learning skills—listening to …..."
Lord Laming - View Speech

View all Lord Laming (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Early Years Education
Division Vote (Lords)
12 Jan 2026 - Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Laming (XB) voted No and against the House
One of 20 Crossbench No votes vs 15 Crossbench Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 201 Noes - 169
Division Vote (Lords)
5 Jan 2026 - Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Laming (XB) voted Aye and in line with the House
One of 17 Crossbench Aye votes vs 16 Crossbench No votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 132 Noes - 124
Written Question
Adoption
Monday 15th December 2025

Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what action they intend to take in response to the estimate published by the BBC that during the last five years the adoption arrangements of more than 1,000 children have resulted in those children being returned to local authority care.

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

Providing support for families at an earlier stage, before needs escalate to crisis point, is critical and we are working with Adoption England to achieve this.

Adoption England are working with their local authority partner safeguarding teams to improve the support adopted families receive when they are in crisis. This includes developing a national protocol which can be used for all adoption support services teams in regional adoption agencies and local authority front door safeguarding services.

We have provided funding of £8.8 million to Adoption England to improve adoption services, including support to adoptive families This includes implementing a new framework for an early support core offer which covers the first 12 to 18 months after placement.

This financial year the department has also invested £50 million into the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund to ensure that adopted children can access therapeutic services which help stabilise placements and address complex needs.

Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 08 Dec 2025
Young People not in Work, Education or Training

"My Lords, the Minister will agree that, after the 1948 Education Act was introduced, there was an unspoken contract between the state and parents that the state would provide education for every child and that parents, on the other hand, had an obligation to get their child to school every …..."
Lord Laming - View Speech

View all Lord Laming (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Young People not in Work, Education or Training
Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 02 Dec 2025
Carer’s Allowance: Overpayments

"My Lords, I hope I am right in thinking that the whole House is in support of what the Minister is trying to achieve, so well done. Can she extend this just a little further and help carers feel that they are recognised and listened to? Some of the points …..."
Lord Laming - View Speech

View all Lord Laming (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Carer’s Allowance: Overpayments
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 24 Nov 2025
NHS: Wheelchair Services

"My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the problems is that the need is often not identified until the person is heading for discharge from hospital, whereas if it was foreseen at a much earlier stage and there was proper co-ordinated planning between health and social care, a …..."
Lord Laming - View Speech

View all Lord Laming (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: NHS: Wheelchair Services
Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 18 Nov 2025
Carer’s Allowance: Overpayments Review

"My Lords, in the preparation of this report, could the opportunity be taken to pay a very warm and well-deserved tribute to carers for what they do? As a society, we should always indicate how indebted we are to the people who care for other people with very special needs...."
Lord Laming - View Speech

View all Lord Laming (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Carer’s Allowance: Overpayments Review
Written Question
Prescription Drugs
Tuesday 18th November 2025

Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to the NHS of identifying, sourcing and distributing medications for emergency prescriptions.

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

The Department has made no assessment of the cost to the National Health Service of identifying, sourcing, and distributing medications for emergency prescriptions.

Prescriptions issued on an emergency basis to patients are not treated any differently to regular prescriptions.

Written Question
Drugs: Shortages
Tuesday 18th November 2025

Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what definition they use to define a medicine shortage.

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

For the purposes of reporting to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the DHSC Reporting Requirements for Medicines Shortages and Discontinuations guidance document states that a supply shortage of a presentation of health service medicine occurs when supply does not meet patient demand at a national level, irrespective of whether it applies to the entire United Kingdom, or only to one or more of England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland as individual UK nations. However, we have a variety of escalation routes, and we will investigate issues on a case-by-case basis regardless of whether they fit this definition.