Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any relationship between the benefit cap and demand for statutory children's services, including child protection referrals and family support interventions.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made by my department.
Our Best Start in Life Strategy, published in July 2025, sets out how we will expand and strengthen family service and improve the accessibility, affordability and quality of early years education and school-aged childcare in England.
From September 2025, 30 hours of Government-funded childcare is now available to eligible working parents of children from nine months old, enabling thousands more children to start school ready to learn (and giving parents greater freedom over jobs and working hours).
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to outline funding arrangements for the Oak National Academy in 2026-2029.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is providing grant-in-aid of up to a maximum of £17.412 million for Oak National Academy (Oak) for financial year 2025/26. The level of funding for Oak for financial years 2026/27 to 2027/28, as with other programmes, will be confirmed through the department’s business planning process. Funding from 2028/29 onward will be subject to the 2027 Spending Review.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the funding for the Oak Academy is in the 2025-2026 financial year.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is providing grant-in-aid of up to a maximum of £17.412 million for Oak National Academy (Oak) for financial year 2025/26. The level of funding for Oak for financial years 2026/27 to 2027/28, as with other programmes, will be confirmed through the department’s business planning process. Funding from 2028/29 onward will be subject to the 2027 Spending Review.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children of Afghan refugees attending schools in or near army barracks across the UK are being taught in classes segregated by sex.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the safe, transparent and accountable use of AI in public services under the partnership with Google DeepMind, in particular with regard to (1) the proposed automated materials science laboratory, and (2) collaboration with the AI Security Institute.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Google DeepMind will deepen its work with the UK AI Security Institute (AISI) through enhanced technical information exchange on frontier AI capabilities and their real-world impacts, including indicators of accelerating AI progress, and emerging security risks.
The partnership will advance joint research on AI safety, security and societal resilience, with Google DeepMind providing AISI with priority technical access to its frontier models. Google DeepMind will also collaborate with the UK government to explore AI-enhanced approaches to national cyber resilience, including initiatives to identify and remediate threats at scale.
The automated lab announced alongside the partnership is an independent Google DeepMind initiative and the UK Government is not involved in operation of the lab.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of current charging thresholds for domestic abuse-related common assault offences on the ability of the police to bring timely charges.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We remain committed to supporting the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and police in exploring how expanding police-led charging decisions for specific domestic abuse cases can improve outcomes for domestic abuse victims and survivors.
The Home Office has been working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the CPS to expand police charging authority to include certain domestic abuse (DA) flagged offences, aligning with the ambitions of the Government’s Manifesto Commitments.
As set out in the recent Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, the Government will work with the CPS and police to strengthen access to justice for victims and survivors of domestic abuse. This includes reviewing the time limits for charging domestic abuse-related summary offences and considering whether greater flexibility could help reduce the number of timed-out cases.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that free period products are accessible to everyone who needs them in schools, workplaces, and public facilities.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Nobody should have to miss out on education because of their period, which is why the department provides free period products to girls and women in their place of study through the period products scheme. The scheme aims to remove periods as a barrier to accessing education and addresses pupils being unable to afford period products.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to improve awareness of cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques amongst pupils in state a) primary and b) secondary schools in i) England and ii) Romford constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Romford to the answer of 28 November 2025 to Question 92868.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many UK citizens are permanently resident in Greenland.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
There is no general requirement for British travellers or residents to register with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) when they go overseas, and the FCDO does not therefore collect data on the number in each location.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to introduce a statutory right to access free period products.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the importance of women and girls being able to access the care they need for their reproductive health, including period products.
We know that poverty doesn’t recognise gender, and that women and girls may suffer given the cost of period products. However, we know that period poverty reflects wider cost-of-living pressures, which is why the Government is tackling the root causes of poverty, through measures to make work pay, boosting the living wage, and investing in public services, so no one has to go without the essentials.
There are a number of schemes across the Government which ensure that those who are most vulnerable can access the products they need. The Department for Education’s Period Products scheme launched in 2020 and provides free period products to girls and women in their place of study so that nobody misses out on education because of their period. Similarly, all women and girls being cared for by the National Health Service are entitled to be given, upon request, appropriate period products free of charge.
We are also taking steps to ensure that products are as affordable as possible, as the tax on period products has been zero-rated since 2021, and in 2023 this was extended to include reusable period underwear.