Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how NHS Cheshire and Merseyside will ensure that patients whose needs cannot safely be managed at home, and who require more than short term stabilisation, can access appropriate specialist palliative care following the loss of any permanent hospice inpatient capacity in Liverpool.

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

The Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board is working with the Cheshire and Merseyside Hospice Collaborative to develop a longer-term sustainability strategy, aligned to a wider, population needs-based commissioning strategy.

More widely, we are developing a modern service framework for palliative care and end-of-Life care to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end-of-life care. The modern service framework will cover both generalist and specialist palliative care, and 24/7 provision will be considered as part of the interventions. Further metrics and associated targets will build on the 2029 ambitions set out in the Neighbourhood Health Framework, which include increasing the number of people identified as approaching the end of life by 10% and reducing non-elective admissions and hospital bed days by 10% for that cohort.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a national standard requiring every integrated care system to demonstrate that people receiving palliative and end-of life care can obtain timely clinical assessment, appropriate medication and specialist intervention 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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

The Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board is working with the Cheshire and Merseyside Hospice Collaborative to develop a longer-term sustainability strategy, aligned to a wider, population needs-based commissioning strategy.

More widely, we are developing a modern service framework for palliative care and end-of-Life care to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end-of-life care. The modern service framework will cover both generalist and specialist palliative care, and 24/7 provision will be considered as part of the interventions. Further metrics and associated targets will build on the 2029 ambitions set out in the Neighbourhood Health Framework, which include increasing the number of people identified as approaching the end of life by 10% and reducing non-elective admissions and hospital bed days by 10% for that cohort.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether NHS Cheshire and Merseyside is meeting its statutory duty to commission palliative and end-of-life care according to population need; and what action they will take if evidence shows that Liverpool’s current capacity is insufficient.

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

The Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board is working with the Cheshire and Merseyside Hospice Collaborative to develop a longer-term sustainability strategy, aligned to a wider, population needs-based commissioning strategy.

More widely, we are developing a modern service framework for palliative care and end-of-Life care to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end-of-life care. The modern service framework will cover both generalist and specialist palliative care, and 24/7 provision will be considered as part of the interventions. Further metrics and associated targets will build on the 2029 ambitions set out in the Neighbourhood Health Framework, which include increasing the number of people identified as approaching the end of life by 10% and reducing non-elective admissions and hospital bed days by 10% for that cohort.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman regarding delays in accessing out-of-hours clinical assessment, symptom control and end-of-life medicines.

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

The Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board is working with the Cheshire and Merseyside Hospice Collaborative to develop a longer-term sustainability strategy, aligned to a wider, population needs-based commissioning strategy.

More widely, we are developing a modern service framework for palliative care and end-of-Life care to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end-of-life care. The modern service framework will cover both generalist and specialist palliative care, and 24/7 provision will be considered as part of the interventions. Further metrics and associated targets will build on the 2029 ambitions set out in the Neighbourhood Health Framework, which include increasing the number of people identified as approaching the end of life by 10% and reducing non-elective admissions and hospital bed days by 10% for that cohort.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of changes in emergency ambulance use and hospital admissions among Liverpool residents in their last 90 days of life; and whether inadequate specialist palliative care capacity is contributing to avoidable emergency activity.

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

The Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board is working with the Cheshire and Merseyside Hospice Collaborative to develop a longer-term sustainability strategy, aligned to a wider, population needs-based commissioning strategy.

More widely, we are developing a modern service framework for palliative care and end-of-Life care to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end-of-life care. The modern service framework will cover both generalist and specialist palliative care, and 24/7 provision will be considered as part of the interventions. Further metrics and associated targets will build on the 2029 ambitions set out in the Neighbourhood Health Framework, which include increasing the number of people identified as approaching the end of life by 10% and reducing non-elective admissions and hospital bed days by 10% for that cohort.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the grounds of the judicial review regarding the establishment of the Oak National Academy as an Arm’s Length Body.

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

In establishing Oak National Academy as an arm's length body, the department is helping to tackle teacher workload, strengthen curriculum expertise and improve education. As legal proceedings are ongoing, the department cannot comment further on the judicial review or speculate on its outcome.

Monitoring the academy’s impact on the curriculum resources market remains a priority. A market impact assessment published on 26 September 2025 found that the academy had a modest impact on the domestic curriculum resources market and was unlikely to have had any significant impact on the international market. The department will continue to keep the academy’s impact under review, and the corporate report is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-independent-review-and-market-impact-assessment.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of freely available resources by Oak National Academy on the commercial education publishing market.

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

In establishing Oak National Academy as an arm's length body, the department is helping to tackle teacher workload, strengthen curriculum expertise and improve education. As legal proceedings are ongoing, the department cannot comment further on the judicial review or speculate on its outcome.

Monitoring the academy’s impact on the curriculum resources market remains a priority. A market impact assessment published on 26 September 2025 found that the academy had a modest impact on the domestic curriculum resources market and was unlikely to have had any significant impact on the international market. The department will continue to keep the academy’s impact under review, and the corporate report is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-independent-review-and-market-impact-assessment.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether online secondary schools are required to be registered; if so, how many of these schools are registered.

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

The department does not regulate online education providers and these providers are not required to register with the department. The department, therefore, does not hold information on the number of online secondary schools in England.

However, the department does operate a voluntary Online Education Accreditation Scheme for eligible providers of full-time online education. Ofsted acts as the quality assurance body for the scheme and carries out accreditation visits for providers that apply.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether online secondary schools are inspected by Ofsted.

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

The department does not regulate online education providers and these providers are not required to register with the department. The department, therefore, does not hold information on the number of online secondary schools in England.

However, the department does operate a voluntary Online Education Accreditation Scheme for eligible providers of full-time online education. Ofsted acts as the quality assurance body for the scheme and carries out accreditation visits for providers that apply.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many online secondary schools there are.

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

The department does not regulate online education providers and these providers are not required to register with the department. The department, therefore, does not hold information on the number of online secondary schools in England.

However, the department does operate a voluntary Online Education Accreditation Scheme for eligible providers of full-time online education. Ofsted acts as the quality assurance body for the scheme and carries out accreditation visits for providers that apply.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many (1) primary, and (2) secondary, school teachers have taken early retirement in each of the last five years.

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

Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of qualified teachers who leave service each year and the number of teachers who retire, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, available on GOV.UK.

The closest measure available for teachers leaving the profession is the number of qualified teachers leaving service in the state-funded school sector in England.

The department does not hold information on the number of teachers taking early retirement. However, information is available on teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits before normal retirement age, including actuarially reduced, ill-health and premature retirement benefits. School workforce data are published on an academic year basis, while Teachers' Pension Scheme awards are recorded on a financial year basis.

The information requested is provided below.

Full-time equivalent number of qualified teachers leaving the state-funded school sector each year, by phase

Notes: Includes those leaving the state-funded sector in England due to a change of career, joining other UK education sectors, retirement and those who died. Primary includes Nursery schools.

Source: School Workforce Census

Headcount number of teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits (excluding normal age retirement), by phase

Notes: Includes actuarially reduced age retirements, ill-health retirements and premature retirements. Awards relating to normal age retirement have been excluded. These benefits may be awarded during service or after the teacher has left service. The number of awards may be revised for each past year as late applications for pension benefits are processed. Therefore, these figures differ to figures presented of leavers due to retirement.

Source: Teacher Pension Scheme

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many children in care are there (1) in total, (2) under local authority care, (3) in unregistered care settings, and (4) in temporary care.

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

All looked after children are under local authority care if they are provided with accommodation for a continuous period of more than 24 hours, are subject to a care order, or are subject to a placement order.

The total number of children looked after by local authorities in England as of 31 March 2025 is 81,770.

Information on looked after children in unregistered care settings is not centrally held by the department.

The total number of children in temporary care, defined as children looked after exclusively under a series of short-term placements (respite), during the year ending 31 March 2025 is 500. Children may be provided with respite as 'children in need' or as 'children looked after', so this figure for looked after children will underrepresent the total number of children provided with short breaks.

The latest information on the numbers and placements for looked after children, relating to the year ending 31 March 2025, was published on 20 November 2025 in the annual statistical release 'Children looked after in England including adoptions'.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many (1) primary, and (2) secondary, school teachers have left the profession in each of the last five years.

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

Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of qualified teachers who leave service each year and the number of teachers who retire, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, available on GOV.UK.

The closest measure available for teachers leaving the profession is the number of qualified teachers leaving service in the state-funded school sector in England.

The department does not hold information on the number of teachers taking early retirement. However, information is available on teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits before normal retirement age, including actuarially reduced, ill-health and premature retirement benefits. School workforce data are published on an academic year basis, while Teachers' Pension Scheme awards are recorded on a financial year basis.

The information requested is provided below.

Full-time equivalent number of qualified teachers leaving the state-funded school sector each year, by phase

Notes: Includes those leaving the state-funded sector in England due to a change of career, joining other UK education sectors, retirement and those who died. Primary includes Nursery schools.

Source: School Workforce Census

Headcount number of teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits (excluding normal age retirement), by phase

Notes: Includes actuarially reduced age retirements, ill-health retirements and premature retirements. Awards relating to normal age retirement have been excluded. These benefits may be awarded during service or after the teacher has left service. The number of awards may be revised for each past year as late applications for pension benefits are processed. Therefore, these figures differ to figures presented of leavers due to retirement.

Source: Teacher Pension Scheme

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