theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-20)

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Lord Pearson of Rannoch:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 3 March (HL5169), in the past 25 years, how many prisoners have been segregated for 42 days, and how many have been segregated for a longer period. \p Lord Timpson: Removal from association for the purpose of segregation can occur for a number of reasons including for the maintenance of the good order and discipline of a prison; to protect the safety of those within a prison; for a prisoner’s own interests (i.e. due to risk from others); pending adjudication or as a punishment of cellular confinement following adjudication.

Whilst segregated prisoners are removed from association, they are individually risk assessed to enable access to as full a regime as possible. The use of segregation is governed by Prison Service Order 1700, which provides guidance to ensure it is used appropriately, and only where necessary.

The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, often known as the Mandela Rules, define solitary confinement as “the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact”. Prisons in England and Wales do not have a solitary confinement procedure.

Statistics on incidents of segregation over the past 25 years could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
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Lord Weir of Ballyholme:To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total revenue to be raised as a result of the proposed changes to business rates for private schools. \p Lord Livermore: Business rates are devolved. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government reconfirmed that it is removing private schools’ eligibility for business rates charitable rate relief in England from April 2025. This intervention will raise around £140 million per year.

Business rates retention means that local authorities retain a proportion of all business rates revenue. As such, the increase in rates receipts due to the reduction in charitable rate relief for private schools will be shared between central and local government.
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Baroness Eaton:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow local authorities to retain part of the income from vehicle tax in their area for use by highways departments. \p Lord Livermore: The Government uses the proceeds of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) and other tax revenues to support public services and investment in infrastructure including the road network. There are no current plans to devolve or hypothecate VED revenues in part or in full to local authorities.

The Government is going well beyond its promise to fix an additional one million potholes per year, by providing a £500 million cash increase on 2024/25 local roads maintenance baseline funding. This will be enough to fix the equivalent of more than seven million extra potholes in 2025/26.
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Baroness Neville-Rolfe:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that 300,000 small businesses are planning job cuts in response to the planned rise in employer national insurance contributions. \p Lord Livermore: An assessment of this policy has been published by HMRC in their Tax Information and Impact Note. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s October 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook set out the expected economic impacts of this change.

Once the impact of all Budget measures are taken into consideration, the OBR expect the employment level to increase from 33.1 million in 2024 to 34.3 million in 2029.
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Viscount Stansgate:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish an updated edition of the Cabinet Manual. \p Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent: As stated in the answer given on 24 February 2025 (HL4720), the Government takes the function of the Cabinet Manual seriously and we will keep it under review:

HL4720

Q: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish an updated edition of the Cabinet Manual.

A: The Government takes the function of the Cabinet Manual seriously and we will keep it under review.
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Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard:To ask His Majesty's Government what is the value of goods imported from China to the UK each year for the past 10 years. \p Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

27 October 2025

Dear Lord Elliott,

As Acting National Statistician, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking for the value of goods imported from China to the UK each year for the past 10 years (HL11221).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes UK trade in goods data at country level in our trade in goods: country by commodity imports dataset as part of our monthly UK trade release[1]. This data is available up to August 2025.

Data on UK imports of goods from China can be found in Table 1. Please note that all data are in current prices and, as such, include the effect of inflation.

Table 1: UK imports of goods from China, 2015 – 2024

£ billion, current prices, including precious metals

Year

Import value (£bn)

2015

36.947

2016

40.827

2017

43.706

2018

44.231

2019

49.973

2020

55.198

2021

65.970

2022

71.481

2023

68.109

2024

67.264

Source: Office for National Statistics

Yours sincerely,

Emma Rourke

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/datasets/uktradecountrybycommodityimports
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Lord Pack:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the review of the X social media platform carried out in April 2023 under their SAFE Framework. \p Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent: Assessments under the SAFE Framework are regularly carried out on channels to ensure compliance. These assessments are not routinely published in the public domain.
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Lord Mott:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current overspends in systems in the NHS, and the impact of those overspends on winter resilience. \p Baroness Merron: As of July 2025, there is a total system overspend of £172 million, which includes some of the impact of industrial action and reflects held back deficit support funding. The issues are very concentrated, with six systems accounting for more than half of the total overspend. At the same point last year, systems had overspent by £487 million, so we are seeing strong signs of improvement following the changes made as part of the NHS Financial Reset.

Overspends must be addressed through improved financial management and they should not undermine the National Health Service’s ability to respond to winter pressures. As set out in the 2025/26 Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, the NHS is focused on improvements that will see the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care performance this winter, including improved hospital flow, reduced ambulance handover times, and improved vaccination uptake among frontline staff.
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Lord Scriven:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 1 October (HL10420), what databases or financial records they used to conclude that no individuals have yet received redundancy or severance payments as a result of reductions in NHS England or integrated care board staff in this financial year. \p Baroness Merron: The written answer for HL10420, stating that no individuals have yet received redundancy or severance payments, relates to the Department and NHS England. The schemes are being managed by the human resource departments of both organisations, who hold the supporting documentation, including the financial offers that will be made to individuals who progress to exit. It remains the case that no individuals have yet left under these schemes, with no costs having therefore been incurred.

In the case of integrated care board staff, the associated records will be held locally. At a national level we continue to work with HM Treasury on how to prioritise funding for redundancy payments ahead of the medium-term planning framework being published.
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Lord Rooker:To ask His Majesty's Government what action they have taken since the publication of National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2019 to 2023: report on 11 June, in particular in regard to the finding that females of reproductive age in the UK have less than the World Health Organization thresholds for adequate iodine concentration. \p Baroness Merron: The latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey showed that iodine levels in urine in women of reproductive age, 16 to 49 years old, were below the World Health Organisation threshold for adequacy, indicating insufficient iodine intake. Similar findings were seen in men aged 19 to 64 years old and girls aged 11 to 18 years old.

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) maintains a watching brief on emerging evidence on iodine and health, including the iodine status of women of reproductive age in the United Kingdom. The SACN considered the topic of iodine at its horizon scans in 2022 and 2024 and agreed to add this topic to its work programme, with work on iodine due to start in 2026.

Government advice remains that individuals should be able to obtain all the iodine they need from a balanced diet, as depicted in The Eatwell Guide.
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Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure equitable distribution of the gonorrhoea vaccine to economically and socially disadvantaged communities, including minority communities and women from minority communities. \p Baroness Merron: The routine vaccination programme for gonorrhoea prevention is targeted towards gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM), as this group is disproportionately affected by gonorrhoea infection, accounting for nearly half of all diagnoses in England.

The Government recognises that gonorrhoea and its complications can also disproportionately affect minority groups, including women from ethnic minority communities, particularly in urban and more deprived areas, where longstanding inequalities in sexually transmitted infection rates persist.

Vaccination is offered nationally through sexual health services (SHSs), which are skilled in identifying individuals who should be vaccinated, trusted by eligible cohorts, and understand the local populations they serve. SHSs can perform individual risk assessments to identify those at equivalent risk of gonorrhoea infection to GBMSM and offer vaccination where appropriate. Many services also undertake innovative and effective outreach programmes to reach those less able to access mainstream services.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation continues to keep all vaccination programmes under review as further evidence and epidemiological data emerge. Anyone concerned about their own risk should consult their local sexual health clinic for tailored advice and testing.
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Baroness Coffey:To ask His Majesty's Government how many officials (1) in total, and (2) in number of full-time equivalent staff, have been involved in supporting the promoters of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the Department of Health and Social Care since November 2020. \p Baroness Merron: The number of full-time equivalent staff working on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has fluctuated since January 2025; there was not a team working on this bill prior to this, and any work on assisted dying was delivered through existing policy teams. The primary function of the team now in place is to fulfil the Government’s duty to the statute book, with regards to the legal and technical coherence of the bill. This includes providing technical drafting support and advising on workability of the legislation, as well as supporting Ministers to fulfil their duties to Parliament, such as responding to questions and correspondence and Parliamentary debates and committee hearing. Matters of policy have remained solely for the Sponsoring Members, Kim Leadbeater MP in the House of Commons and Lord Falconer in the House of Lords, to determine.

As of 1 September 2025, there were 11.8 full-time equivalent (FTE) officials in the Department of Health and Social Care Bill Team, at its largest the Bill Team was 16.8 FTEs. Where required, contributions on specific issues may have been sought from other teams, however the FTE cannot be accurately quantified for these issues.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

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Lord Clement-Jones:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of ethical and legal considerations regarding Anthropic's use of copyright-protected works in training its Claude AI model before awarding the contract for the GOV.UK chat service to the company. \p Baroness Lloyd of Effra: The Government Digital Service recognises the importance of ethical and legal considerations relating to the use of copyright-protected material in the training of large language models.

A range of large language models from multiple suppliers have been considered in developing GOV.UK Chat. Earlier iterations tested OpenAI’s ChatGPT models, while the current phase is evaluating Anthropic’s Claude models. Model selection decisions are based on performance, security, data protection, cost, and alignment with government standards.

GOV.UK Chat is being developed entirely within the Government Digital Service by a multidisciplinary team of civil servants. The Government continues to engage with UK-based AI developers and remains open to collaboration where this supports innovation and the delivery of public services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all workplaces in the United Kingdom use of generative AI tools, including chatbots and content-generation systems, is limited to technologies which are compliant with cybersecurity and data protection regulations. \p Baroness Lloyd of Effra: DSIT supports the use of AI tools in UK workplaces and has established voluntary baseline cyber security requirements for all AI systems and models. The Government’s Code of Practice for the Cyber Security of AI, published in 2025, identifies requirements for securing AI systems with an implementation guide to support adoption. DSIT officials are working with AI companies, and sectors adopting AI, to raise awareness and uptake of the Code. The ICO has issued employment practices and guidance on AI and data protection regulations to employers and has the authority to investigate and impose penalties for non-compliance.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

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Lord Clement-Jones:To ask His Majesty's Government what alternative suppliers they considered for the GOV.UK chat service before selecting Anthropic's Claude model; and what assessment they have made of contracting United Kingdom based AI developers for this project. \p Baroness Lloyd of Effra: The Government Digital Service has considered a range of large language models from multiple suppliers in developing GOV.UK Chat. Earlier iterations tested OpenAI’s ChatGPT models, while the current phase is evaluating Anthropic’s Claude models. Model selection decisions are based on performance, security, data protection, cost, and alignment with government standards. GOV.UK Chat is being developed entirely within the Government Digital Service by a multidisciplinary team of civil servants. The Government continues to engage with UK-based AI developers and remains open to collaboration where this supports innovation and the delivery of public services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

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Lord Clement-Jones:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support UK-based AI developers through government procurement processes, in the light of the establishment of the Sovereign AI unit. \p Baroness Lloyd of Effra: The Sovereign AI Unit was announced in the AI Opportunities Action Plan as a new initiative specifically designed to build homegrown capability in emerging areas of the AI ecosystem. Backed by £500 million at the Spending Review, the programme is focused on unlocking opportunities where targeted public intervention can support UK leadership, scale national champions, and secure long-term strategic advantage.

In relation to procurement specifically, the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence, established earlier this year following the publication of ‘A blueprint for modern digital government’ by DSIT, plays an important role in shaping best practice in relation to technology procurement policy.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

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Lord Truscott:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value for money of existing tax-payer funded energy efficiency schemes. \p Lord Wilson of Sedgefield: The government regularly assesses the value for money of its energy efficiency schemes through published impact assessments.

For example, the government has published an Impact Assessment (which is attached) for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) from 2022/23 to 2024/25 which projected a net present social value of £310m demonstrating strong economic and social benefits. Similar assessments are undertaken for other schemes, to ensure effective use of public funds.

These evaluations consider costs, benefits, and delivery performance to maximise outcomes for households and taxpayers.

Boiler upgrade scheme final impact assessment (pdf, 720.7KB)
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Lord Cameron of Lochiel:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 30 September (HL10502), why they do not publish data on the number of individuals who overstay their seasonal worker visa, and whether they plan to publish such data. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account several factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.
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Lord Cameron of Lochiel:To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications for British citizenship from UK-based foreign nationals (1) have been processed, and (2) are yet to be processed, as of 30 September. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The Home Office publishes data on the processing of applications for British citizenship on the Gov.uk website.

Information on the location of customers who have applied for citizenship is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Data on the number of citizenship applications decided each quarter can be found here: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK

The number of outstanding citizenship applications each quarter can be found here: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK

CItizenship applications (pdf, 281.6KB)

Outstanding citizenship applications  (pdf, 289.0KB)
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Lord Cameron of Lochiel:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 30 September (HL10502), what assessment they have made of the risk of people who receive a seasonal worker visa overstaying, and what steps they are taking to prevent overstaying on those visas. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The Seasonal Worker route is an operator led immigration route with six Scheme Operators responsible for selecting suitable workers from overseas. UK Visas and Immigration closely monitor the performance of the Scheme Operators to ensure high standards of returns are maintained.
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Baroness Lister of Burtersett:To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to start the consultation on the proposed changes to the rules governing indefinite leave to remain set out in the White Paper Restoring Control over the Immigration System, published on 12 May (CP 1326). \p Lord Hanson of Flint: We will be consulting on the new settlement rules later this year.
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Lord Jones of Penybont:To ask His Majesty's Government what policies and protections are in place to enable prisoners to use the Welsh language at HMP Berwyn. \p Lord Timpson: The new HMPPS Welsh Language Scheme (24-27), published this month, sets out how the English and Welsh languages will be treated equally when delivering services to the public. This includes upholding and reinforcing the rights of prisoners to use Welsh, for example, through recording of language preference on arrival, provision of relevant information in Welsh, and offering opportunities for prisoners to use Welsh socially.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

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Lord Hussain:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the disparity in unemployment rates among those of Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic backgrounds by comparison to those from white ethnic backgrounds. \p Baroness Sherlock: There are currently 6.1 million individuals from an ethnic minority background in employment in April to June 2025. This is a record high and an increase of 520,000 on the year. However, there is more to do.

The Department for Work and Pension’s Jobcentre offer provides a range of options to those seeking employment, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance.

The Get Britain Working White Paper details the biggest reforms to employment support for a generation backed by a £240 million investment. The reforms to employment support will help tackle rising economic inactivity levels, support people into good work, and create an inclusive labour market in which everybody, regardless of their background, can participate and progress in work.

Our place-based toolkit helps Jobcentre Districts build a strong evidence base of customer characteristics, employers and partners, labour market trends and funding opportunities. We are working with local goverment and mayoral authorities to ensure provision is tailored to the local populations and lablour makets, including every area has a local Get Britain Working Plan.
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Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to remove the 5 percent VAT rate currently applied to domestic fuel. \p Lord Livermore: The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

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Baroness Hoey:To ask His Majesty's Government what are the 10 franchised delivery providers of education that are registered with the Office for Students with (1) the highest number of foreign national recipients of tuition fee loans, and (2) the highest proportion of enrolled students in receipt of such loans, in the most recent year available. \p Baroness Smith of Malvern: The attached table shows the 10 franchised providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS) with the greatest number of foreign national students in receipt of tuition fee loans and the highest proportion of all franchised students at OfS-registered providers in receipt of tuition fee loans for 2023/24. This covers franchised providers in England whose students were funded by tuition fee loans from Student Finance England.

Generally, to be eligible for student support, a student resident in England must have settled status or another recognised connection to the UK and have been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom and Islands (Channel Islands and Isle of Man) for three years. Persons with international protection are generally eligible for support immediately on their being granted such status by the Home Office. In the attached data, foreign nationality covers students who have declared a nationality other than British in their application for student support.

HL6246_top_10_franchised_providers_by_tuition_fee (xlsx, 24.0KB)
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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of artificial intelligence technologies in supporting (1) the diagnosis of stroke in patients, and (2) the prescription of drugs to stroke patients. \p Baroness Merron: Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to analyse and interpret acute stroke brain scans to support doctors when diagnosing and making treatment decisions in 100% of stroke units in England. Early data has shown a reduction in the average amount of time taken to assess and treat patients, from 140 to 79 minutes, tripling the chance of independent living following a stroke, when these tools are employed.

Clinical Decision Support (CDS) systems are tools which use AI to assess patient data and suggest medication that could be prescribed, though the final decision is always made by a clinician. CDS systems are in use across the United Kingdom and can be used to support clinicians prescribing medication to stroke patients.
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Lord Turnberg:To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current vacancy rate for clinical psychologists. \p Baroness Merron: The Department does not hold the information requested. NHS England publishes quarterly National Health Service hospital trust vacancy and job advert data. The publication sets out vacancy rates for total NHS trust staff and, separately, for registered nurses and doctors at a national and regional level. The latest data for December 2024 shows that the vacancy rate for total NHS trust staff was 7.2%. The data is not detailed enough to identify vacancy rates for clinical psychologists.
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Lord Sharkey:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of refreshed Joint Forward Plans from each integrated care board. \p Baroness Merron: Joint forward plans (JFPs) are produced by integrated care boards (ICBs) and are publicly available on the respective websites of the ICBs. The Government does not hold any central records of these JFPs and there are no plans to place copies of the JFPs in the Library of the House.
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Lord Kamall:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 18 March (HL5406), what assessment, if any, they have made of the impact of the 2025–26 Payment Scheme and Standard Contract on (1) the willingness of ophthalmology service providers to build new specialist eye hospitals in England, and (2) the ability and willingness of other independent providers of NHS funded care in England to build new health infrastructure to meet the demands of the NHS. \p Baroness Merron: No specific assessment has been made of the impact the 2025/26 Payment Scheme and Standard Contract will have on the willingness of ophthalmology service providers to build new specialist eye hospitals in England, or the ability and willingness of other independent providers of National Health Service funded care in England to build new health infrastructure. It is for independent sector providers to determine the most appropriate investment decisions for their businesses.

However, decisions around the annual Payment Scheme and updates to the Standard Contract are subject to consultation, with a legal duty to consult on the Payment Scheme and Standard Contract every year. This includes consultation with independent providers.

The consultation on the Payment Scheme proposed requiring commissioners to set a payment limit for elective services, and all services paid for on an activity basis, based on the value of planned levels of activity. Providers would not be paid for activity above this limit. Following consideration of consultation feedback, this proposal has not been implemented. As in previous years, providers will be paid prices for all activity delivered, subject to any activity management restrictions contractually applied by commissioners. A consultation on further changes to the Standard Contract closed on 28 April 2025, and NHS England is reflecting on the feedback received before publishing the final contract.
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Lord Naseby:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to charge foreign patients the cost of non-urgent treatments provided by the NHS. \p Baroness Merron: In England, the charging of overseas visitors for National Health Service healthcare already exists. Overseas visitors who use the NHS in England are charged upfront 150% of the cost of treatment. Only people who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, or otherwise exempt from charges under the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, are eligible for NHS healthcare without charge in England.

Individuals coming to the UK for six months or more are expected to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge as part of their visa application. Once their application is granted, they are entitled to receive treatment on broadly the same basis as someone who is ordinarily resident in the UK.

People coming to the UK for six months or less are expected to have adequate funds or insurance to cover any healthcare needs whilst in England.

The UK is also party to several reciprocal healthcare agreements. Patients who are from countries covered by a reciprocal healthcare agreement may be entitled to some NHS services without charge.
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Baroness Golding:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the use of imaging equipment in the NHS that enable circular methods of reuse, remanufacture, and recycling; and when will this come within scope of the design for life programme. \p Baroness Merron: The Design for Life Roadmap, the Government’s plan to build a circular economy for medical technology, includes all medical technology products within its scope. Therefore, enabling circular imaging equipment sits within its aims.

The programme is already making progress in this area. For example, the Department recently commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare to conduct a series of pilots across National Health Service trusts to investigate the real-world processes, barriers, and enablers involved in transitioning from single use to reusable products. These pilots spanned several high-priority products, including bronchoscopes. The report of the findings from these pilots will be publicly available later in the year, and the programme will work closely with NHS trusts and the NHS Supply Chain to explore the rapid implementation of the recommendations.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_8

Lord Kamall:To ask His Majesty's Government, following publication of the Information Commissioner's Office guidance on anonymisation in March, what assessment they have made of NHS England’s decision not to apply the NHS National Data Opt Out to pseudonymisation of medical records for secondary use purposes that do not qualify as necessary processing. \p Baroness Merron: The Information Commissioner’s Office detailed guidance on anonymisation and pseudonymisation, which is a helpful and welcome resource. NHS England continues to apply the National Data Opt Out option, in line with the National Data Opt Out Policy guidance, which the Department keeps under review.

The Department and NHS England are currently conducting large-scale public engagement on health data in the National Health Service to help inform future policy on opt-out options.
lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_9
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_9

Lord Turnberg:To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average waiting time for patients with anxiety and depression to gain access to cognitive behavioural therapy. \p Baroness Merron: This information is not held in the format requested. NHS England publishes data on the average waiting time for patients to start treatment with NHS Talking Therapies services, but the condition with which a person may be presenting is not recorded.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_11

Lord Blunkett:To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they have issued to integrated care boards in England about (1) the projected reduction in headcount as a result of the abolition of NHS England, and (2) the balance between maintaining staff (a) at the 'place' level and, (b) in the integrated care board administration. \p Baroness Merron: NHS England has asked the integrated care boards (ICBs) to act primarily as strategic commissioners of health and care services and to reduce the duplication of responsibilities within their structure to achieve a 50% cost reduction in their running cost allowance. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts, and NHS foundation trusts on 1 April 2025, where ICBs were tasked with developing plans by the end of May setting out how they will manage their resources to deliver across their priorities.

The Government understands the importance of communities and places, which is why NHS England will be working closely with the ICBs to support the development of these plans, ensuring that their implementation reduces duplication and supports patient care.

We continue to analyse and assess impacts of all kinds and will work collaboratively across both organisations to put in place plans to ensure the continuity of services and patient safety.
lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_12
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_12

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any increases in Israel of (1) incitement to violence, (2) glorifying the killing of Palestinian civilians, and (3) anti-Palestinian racism; and what representations they have made to the government of Israel in this regard. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: The Government strongly opposes all forms of racism and is committed to promoting tolerant society for people of all ethnicities, religions and nationalities. We recognise that dehumanising language and hate speech can lay the ground for and justify identity-based violence in conflict. The Government will challenge those who undermine the prospects of a two-state solution or use hateful rhetoric. The UK strongly condemns inciteful remarks, such as those made by Israel's National Security Minister Ben-Gvir, which seek to inflame tensions and harm the viability of a two-state solution. In October 2024, the Government introduced sanctions targeting 3 settler outposts and 4 organisations that have supported, incited and promoted violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

The Government has been engaging with the British Palestinian community, including through a PM-led roundtable with members of the Palestinian community in the UK to mark the one-year anniversary of the conflict. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials work closely with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government to understand the impact of international events domestically in the UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_13

Lord Scriven:To ask His Majesty's Government how many requests for intervention the British embassy in Bahrain and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have received over the past year regarding British-Bahraini dual nationals facing delays and challenges in leaving Bahrain; and how many of those cases remain unresolved. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: Consular support is limited if you are a dual national in the country of your other nationality. As stated in His Majesty's Government Travel Advice, if you are a dual Bahraini / British national the Bahrain authorities may require you to enter and exit Bahrain on a Bahrain travel document only.
lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_14
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_14

Lord Caine:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 12 April (HL6549), what training or guidance is given to Personal Independence Payment assessors to ensure that fluctuating or invisible conditions, such as myasthenia gravis, are properly evaluated under the mobility descriptor including the reliability criteria, that is being able to carry out an activity safely, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period. \p Baroness Sherlock: Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides support based on the needs arising from a health condition or disability, and a functional assessment is an important part of PIP.

The Department recognises the importance of ensuring health professionals (HPs) have sufficient experience, skills, and training to undertake assessments. DWP has set out very clear rules on HP competency, both in guidance and in regulations.

All HPs receive comprehensive training in disability analysis, including how to assess the impacts of medical conditions on people’s day-to-day activities, as well as awareness training in a range of conditions, symptoms and disabilities. The principles of assessing claimants on their ability to carry out an activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period are a core part of the HP training and guidance materials. Our assessment suppliers are required to demonstrate that their HPs meet all our requirements before they are approved to carry out assessments on behalf of DWP, and all HP core training and guidance material undergoes both clinical and policy quality assurance.

The Personal Independence Payment Assessment Guide (PIPAG) provides guidance for assessment suppliers and HPs carrying out PIP assessments on applying the criteria set out in legislation. This includes sections on “Time periods, fluctuations and descriptor choices” and “Reliability”, which cover assessing the impacts of health conditions and impairments which can fluctuate over time in line with the reliability criteria.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_15

Lord Mackinlay of Richborough:To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding was available to help amputees to find employment in each of the past five years for which figures are available; and how much funding will be provided this year. \p Baroness Sherlock: We are unable to provide this information as this is not available.

We can provide the overall budgets for Contracted Employment provision (including Access to Work) that support people to find employment above that provided by job centres over the last 5 years

Budgets

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

2024/25

2025/26

Contracted Employment Programmes

£290m

£760m

£830m

£740m

£800m

£830m
lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_16
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_16

Lord Jamieson:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment has been made of the activities of the United Front Work Department in the United Kingdom in relation to the called-in Chinese Embassy planning application. \p Baroness Taylor of Stevenage: I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave on 11 March 2025 to question UIN HL5338.

HL5338 (pdf, 108.0KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_17

Lord Jamieson:To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Local Government Boundary Commission will assess the new wards and boundaries of the new unitary authorities. \p Baroness Taylor of Stevenage: The Local Government Boundary Commission England (LGBCE) is responsible for electoral reviews for local government, reviewing wards, and setting the council size in terms of number of councillors. When a full electoral review of a newly established authority is carried out, the LGBCE will follow its guidance (which is available on its website), and the electoral review process includes a local consultation.

In terms of the number of and external boundaries of new unitary councils, the process set out in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 is that following the receipt of proposals for a single tier of local government the Secretary of State may request the LGBCE to advise on any matter that relates to the proposal. The Secretary of State may by order implement the proposal, with or without modification; if she has received an alternative proposal from the LGBCE, by order implement that alternative proposal with or without modification; or decide to take no action.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_18

Baroness Thornhill:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of registered providers currently offering a ‘downwards staircasing’ policy to their shared owners and whether such policies are accessible and downloadable from registered providers’ websites so that any shared owner can access them. \p Baroness Taylor of Stevenage: The Government does not collect data on the number of shared owners, impacted by building safety issues, who have sold or sublet their properties.

A number of steps have already been taken to accelerate the removal of unsafe cladding from buildings and improve outcomes for residents of all tenures, including shared ownership customers. This includes working closely with partners across the social housing sector to identify barriers to remediation and ways to overcome them. Further details of the Government’s plan to increase the pace of building remediation can be found in the Remediation Acceleration Plan, available at: Remediation Acceleration Plan - GOV.UK.

Social housing providers have the option to repurchase homes where shared owners are unable to sell due to building safety issues. This is not an automatic entitlement for shared owners and is available at providers’ discretion. Providers will have their own policies setting out when this option is available, including any relevant eligibility criteria. The Government expects all relevant policies to be published on providers’ websites in a clear and accessible format.

Remediation Acceleration Plan (pdf, 410.0KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-05-09 conversation_19

Lord Bailey of Paddington:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Metropolitan Police's decision to cut 1,700 staff upon the implementation of the Crime and Policing Bill; and what steps they are taking to mitigate the impact of these cuts. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The Metropolitan Police will receive up to £3.8 billion of funding in 2025-26. This is a £262.1 million increase when compared with the 2024-25 settlement, equating to a 7.4% cash increase and 4.9% real terms increase.

The Home Office is currently working closely with the Metropolitan Police and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, to further understand the force’s recruitment and budget challenges, and ensure that the force is taking every step available to prevent further reductions in headcount and increase officer numbers.