Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards are in place to ensure that those with serious mental health conditions who wish to seek a telemedical abortion are given adequate support.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Safeguarding is an essential aspect of abortion care, and abortion providers are required to have effective arrangements in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults accessing their services. Before an early medical abortion can be undertaken at home, women are given the choice to have either an in-person consultation or a virtual consultation. However, if the doctor has any concerns, the woman will be asked to attend a clinic.
As laid out in the Department’s required standard operating procedures for the approval of independent sector places for termination of pregnancy in England, staff should be able to identify those who require more support than can be provided in the routine abortion service setting, such as those with a mental health condition, and have appropriate referral pathways to support services in place.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Budget 2025 on the number of businesses starting up in the UK.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK is a great place to start a business, with the third largest venture capital market after the US and China, generous tax reliefs for investors in early-stage companies and the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7. Over the last financial year, 800,000 new businesses incorporated.
In the Budget, the Chancellor built on these strengths by expanding our enterprise tax reliefs to incentivise investment in scaling firms and support them to attract top talent, by targeting British Business Bank investment towards these companies, and by committing to public procurement reforms to make the UK government a better customer to innovative businesses.
HM Treasury will continue to monitor the implementation of Budget measures and analyse their impact on the wider economy to inform future policy development.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in the number of young people who are on incapacity benefits due to mental health, categorised by mental health condition, in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC), the specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Information on the volume of 18- to 24-year-old ESA claimants with main disabling condition ‘mental and behavioural’ disorders is held and is provided below. Note that Income-related ESA has not been available to new claimants since January 2021 as this benefit is being replaced by UC.
ESA 18 -24-year-old caseload with main disabling condition ‘mental and behavioural disorders’ by year:
| May-21 | May-22 | May-23 | May-24 | May-25 |
New Style ESA only | 1,300 | 1,100 | 900 | 900 | 900 |
Both New style ESA and Income-related ESA | 100 | .. | .. | .. | .. |
Income-related ESA only | 30,800 | 18,000 | 9,000 | 3,700 | 1,100 |
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the overall cost of removing the two-child benefit cap, and (2) what percentage of that cost will be spent on foreign-born children.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/OBR_Economic_and_fiscal_outlook_November_2025.pdf
Table 3.2: Costing of the removal of the two-child limit
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| £ billion (unless otherwise stated) | ||||
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| Forecast | ||||
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| 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 | 2029-30 | 2030-31 |
Post-behavioural costing |
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| 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 3.1 | ||
of which: |
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Static costing |
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| 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.8 | |
Direct behavioural response from higher take-up | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | ||||
Number of families gaining (thousand) |
| 510 | 520 | 540 | 560 | 570 | |||
Average annual change in award for gaining |
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families (£) |
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| 4,530 | 4,790 | 5,040 | 5,310 | 5,450 | |
We have announced plans to double the standard time most migrants have to wait before they can access benefits to 10 years, reducing the burden on the taxpayer and making sure settlement rights are earned.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many sexual offences have been committed by individuals who have obtained a Gender Recognition Certificate.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold information on the number of sexual offences committed by individuals who have a Gender Recognition Certificate. Individuals that are convicted of sexual offences and qualify for management by the multi-agency public protection arrangements are risk managed according to the risk they pose, rather than their gender.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of children who are home-schooled have Muslim parents.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department does not collect data on the religion of the parents of children in Elective Home Education (EHE).
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that the independent review into rising demand for mental health, ADHD, and autism services in England draws on a broad and representative range of evidence.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The independent review into the prevalence of and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism will appoint an Advisory Working Group. This will be a multidisciplinary group of leading academics, clinicians, epidemiological experts, charities, and people with lived experience to directly shape the recommendations and scrutinise the evidence.
As this is an independent review, it is for the Chair and vice-chairs to consider who to consult and the relevant forums for engagement, that are relevant to deliver the terms of reference, set by the Department. It would not be appropriate for the Department to comment or influence further.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the estimated total cost of scrapping compensation caps for unfair dismissal for businesses in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government will be publishing an Enactment Impact Assessment on the impacts of the Employment Rights Act. This assessment can be found here when published: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many young people are not in education, employment or training because they are waiting for mental health, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism services or diagnosis.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data is not available on the number of young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET) because they are waiting for mental health, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or autism services or diagnosis.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of ending certain zero-hours contracts on the employment rates of younger people, such as students.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
My department has published a robust set of Impact Assessments that provide a comprehensive analysis on the potential impact of the Employment Rights Act, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments
This analysis includes consideration of increases in labour costs for businesses and the subsequent effects, as well as assessments on how the proposed zero hour contract measures could affect different groups in the labour market. The impact on younger people and students will depend on the regulations following consultation, however it is important to note the measures will focus on exploitative zero hours contracts to ensure people are able to access guaranteed hours. For those who want to remain on a zero hours contract, for example many students, they will still be able to.