Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2026 to Question 108297, whether his Department holds any evidence on rates of neonatal and post-neonatal death, including accidental suffocation and overlaying, associated with parental cannabis use during pregnancy and the postnatal period.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) programme is responsible for reviewing stillbirths and neonatal deaths across the United Kingdom to identify causes, improve clinical care, and reduce future preventable deaths. Analysis of MBRRACE-UK data found that between 2014 and 2024, there were 17 neonatal deaths attributed to accidental suffocation, with only one case explicitly linked to cannabis use. There was also one neonatal sudden infant death syndrome case involving maternal cannabis and alcohol history, and one neonatal death where maternal cannabis use was a secondary contributor. There were thus a total of three neonatal deaths linked to cannabis use between 2014 and 2024.
The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) collects and analyses data on the deaths of all children under 18 years of age. The latest data published by the NCMD highlighted that of the deaths reviewed by Child Death Overview Panels between April 2024 and March 2025, substance misuse during pregnancy was identified as a contributing factor in 62 out of 4,035 infant deaths where data was available. The NCMD thematic report on Deaths of children and young people due to traumatic incidents also highlighted that between 1 April 2019 and March 2022, there were 42 deaths as a result of accidental strangulation or suffocation. 13, or 31%, children were aged under one years old, 17, or 40%, were aged one to four years old, and 12, or 29%, were aged five to 17 years old. In total, 18 children died where entrapment or overlay was found to be a significant contributing factor, but the analysis did not look at whether or not there was substance misuse by the parents.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
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 issue guidance on the potential risks of genetic defects in children born from consanguineous relationships.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has published training modules about close relative marriage and genetic risk for midwives and health visitors. The training modules have been published for health professionals to access and there are no plans to publish them more widely. There are no plans to issue public facing guidance.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of hospital parking charges on patients with long-term health conditions; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing free hospital parking for those patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of hospital parking charges on patients with long-term health conditions, or the introduction of free hospital parking for those patients.
It is important that the National Health Service is as accessible as possible to those that need it most. That is why the NHS already provides free hospital car parking to those in greatest need. This includes disabled blue badge holders, frequent outpatient attenders, and parents of children staying overnight. Some patients with long-term health conditions will therefore be provided free parking when included in these groups.
More widely, all NHS trusts are expected to follow the published NHS Car Parking Guidance. This states that car parking charges, where they exist, should be reasonable for the area, with further information available at the following link:
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of (1) families, and (2) children, who will be affected by the removal of the two child benefit cap in the next two years, including those whose no recourse to public funds status has been lifted by exemption, broken down by immigration status (a) common travel area and right of abode, (b) EU settlement scheme, (c) humanitarian, (d) refugee, (e) indefinite leave to remain (not EU settlement scheme), and (f) limited leave to remain (not EU settlement scheme).
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not produce forecasts of the impact of removing the two child limit on families or children by immigration status, and the estimate requested is not available. To produce such an estimate would incur disproportionate cost.
As our published information shows, in 2026/27, we estimate around 510,000 and in 2027/28, we estimate 520,000 Universal Credit Households will benefit from this policy change.
Table 5: Estimated number of households benefitting from the policy change
| 2026/27 | 2027/28 | 2028/29 | 2029/30 | 2030/31 |
Already on UC (static) (000’s) | 500 | 510 | 520 | 550 | 560 |
Newly entitled to UC (static) (000’s) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Reduction due to exceptions (static) (000’s) | - 20 | - 20 | - 20 | - 20 | - 20 |
Increased take-up of UC (behavioural) (000’s) | 20 | 20 | 30 | 30 | 20 |
Total (000’s) | 510 | 520 | 540 | 560 | 570 |
Note: Caseloads rounded to the nearest 10k and totals may not sum up due to rounding. Great Britain only. | |||||
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament - Regulatory impact assessment template (2023 reforms)
Most migrants with temporary visas cannot access the benefit system. Access to public funds and benefits is usually at the point of settlement, which for most people will be after they have lived in the UK legally for five years, and the Home Office Earned Settlement policy consultation is looking at increasing this to ten years. The Home Office is also consulting on changing the default position to maintain No Recourse to Public Funds at settlement and lifting this only at the point of British citizenship.
Asked by: Baroness Cass (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how evidence from national and public bodies, including the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, teaching unions and the security services, will be balanced against submissions from technology companies and members of the public in the consultation on children's social media use.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government has announced a consultation and national conversation to gather evidence to understand how best we can build on the Online Safety Act’s provisions to ensure children have positive, enriched digital lives.
We will consult parents, the organisations representing children and bereaved parents, technology companies and, crucially, children and young people themselves, because their views and voices must be heard. We will make sure that the consultation is evidence-led, with input from independent experts.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Child Maintenance Service is able to identify hidden earnings.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a paying parent changes jobs, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) uses real-time information from HMRC where available, to quickly identify new employment and adjust maintenance calculations accordingly.
People who are self-employed are required to keep accurate records of their business income and expenses for tax purposes. HMRC can charge penalties for inaccurate reporting where it results in tax being unpaid.
Where the information available from HMRC does not give rise to a liability which accurately reflects what a customer believes a paying parent should be paying, the customer can seek a Variation. Variations allow the CMS to look at some circumstances which are not covered by the basic maintenance calculation. A variation can be requested on grounds of diversion of income. This is when the paying parent may be able to control the amount of income they receive. This includes diverting income to another person or for another purpose (including excessive pension contributions).
Cases involving complex income can be investigated by the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU). This is a specialist team which can request information from financial institutions to check the accuracy of information the Child Maintenance Service is given.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of its earned settlement proposals on the number of children who will be born in the UK without British citizenship; and the number of such children whose entitlement to British citizenship will require a formal application for their registration.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The public consultation on ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’ ran for 12 weeks and closed on 12 February 2026. We are now reviewing and analysing all responses received. This analysis will help inform the development of the final earned settlement model.
Once the final model has been decided, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly. As with all significant policy changes, the proposals will be subject to both an economic impact assessment and equality impact assessment.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of young girls who are currently in danger of online grooming; and what procedures are in place to support their wellbeing.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
In the year ending September 2025 there were 7,527 recorded offences of sexual grooming (which includes sexual communication with a child). In the same period there were 1,000 defendants prosecuted and 1,085 convicted for sexual grooming offences. Girls are more likely to be affected by sexual offending than boys. However, the majority of CSA remains hidden and under-identified. The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA Centre) estimate that 15% of girls experience some form of sexual abuse before age 16 compared to 5% of boys (year ending March 2020). The Home Office funds the CSA Centre to drive system-wide improvements in professionals’ ability to identify and respond to child sexual abuse
The Home Office also equips UK Law Enforcement with the capabilities required to identify and tackle more child sex offenders, including online grooming. The Home Office funds a network of Undercover Online (UCOL) officers based in Regional Organised Crime Units. This network uses specially trained teams and infrastructure to target those who seek to groom children for sexual purposes.
The Home Office also provides funding to voluntary sector organisations to support victims and survivors of CSA through the Support for Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse fund. In 2025 as part of our response to recommendation 16 of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Government set out ambitious proposals to strengthen therapeutic support for victims, announcing it will provide up to £50 million in new funding to expand the Child House (Barnahus) model to every NHS region in England. This internationally recognised model—rightly viewed as the gold standard for supporting children who have experienced sexual abuse—will ensure that wherever a child lives, they can access the specialist, trauma-informed care they need to begin recovering and rebuilding their lives.
The Online Safety Act is also deigned to drive down online grooming. This landmark piece of legislation protects citizens, especially children, from abuse and harm online, such as grooming. There are over 40 specific measures in Ofcom’s Codes of Practice, which will protect children from the risk of online grooming. The Government is committed to supporting Ofcom’s effective implementation of the Act.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks of expanding free school meals in September before updated school food standards are implemented and enforced.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This means over half a million more disadvantaged children will be receiving the support they need in school to be healthy and get the most out of their education.
These meals must be compliant with the School Food Standards. To ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history, we are revising the School Food Standards and are engaging with stakeholders.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on updating school food standards; and when they expect the revised standards to be published.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is revising the School Food Standards and is engaging with stakeholders to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
We want to gather a broad spectrum of perspectives and to achieve this, we intend to consult on these revisions. As we prepare to consult, we are continuing to gather insights from our wider engagement, including a pilot
Further details on timelines for the revisions and the consultation will be available in due course.