Tag: Leicester

Bishop of Leicester asks about welfare reform

The Bishop of Leicester asked a question on welfare reform during a discussion on the Access to Work Fund on 5th March 2026:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester: My Lords, although I recognise that spending on Access to Work has increased in recent years and applaud the Government’s ambition to support more disabled people into work, this will most likely require more financial investment and more training of specialist staff. Therefore, have the Government assessed how their welfare reforms will affect demand for Access to Work and how the scheme can be strengthened to meet what may be an increased case load in coming years?

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Bishop of Leicester asks about English language teaching programmes

The Bishop of Leicester received the following written answer on 3rd March 2026:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester asked His Majesty’s Government:

  • what assessment they have made of the impact on local authorities of funding changes for English for speakers of other languages programmes.
  • what steps they are taking to ensure that English language learning provision is accessible to those who require it, including individuals with no recourse to public funds.
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Bishop of Leicester asks about free school meal enrollment

The Bishop of Leicester asked a question on barriers to auto-enrolment of children for Free School Meals, during a discussion on the government’s Child Poverty Strategy on 2nd March 2026:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester: My Lords, like many others, I warmly welcome the child poverty strategy; there is much to commend it, such as—to pick one particular aspect—the expansion of free school meals for children. However, I have a question about auto-enrolment of children for free school meals. There is much evidence to show that auto-enrolment not only lifts children out of poverty but increases educational attainment and allows schools to ensure that they get the pupil premium needed. Can the Minister therefore tell us what barriers remain for the introduction of auto-enrolment?

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Bishop of Leicester asks about improving citizenship application process

The Bishop of Leicester received the following written answer on 26th February 2026:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce processing times and improve communication with applicants for British citizenship.

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Bishop of Leicester asks about universal credit sanction rates

The Bishop of Leicester received the following written answer on 25th February 2026:

The Bishop of Leicester: To ask His Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 3 February (HL13743), what assessment they have made of the reasons that Universal Credit sanction rates vary by (1) ethnicity, and (2) region.

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Bishop of Leicester asks about free school meal registration

The Bishop of Leicester received the following written answer on 23rd February 2026:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of potential data processing measures to enable automatic registration for free school meals.

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Bishop of Leicester asks about support for youth employment

The Bishop of Leicester asked a question on supporting young people not in work, education, or training on 5th February, during a discussion on youth unemployment:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester: I welcome the Government’s new initiatives in this area, particularly the youth guarantee. Can the Minister tell us how the Government are going to tackle the estimated 500,000 young people who are not in education, employment or training, and who are not claiming benefits either? Are we not at serious risk of a whole generation of young people not being able to use their gifts for the good of wider society?

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Bishop of Leicester asks about employment and social security

The Bishop of Leicester received the following written answers on 3rd February 2026:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester asked His Majesty’s Government for how long they will remove the right to claim benefits from 18-to-21-year-olds on Universal Credit who do not accept the offer of a work placement through the Youth Guarantee scheme.

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Bishop of Leicester asks about welfare payments

The Bishop of Leicester received the following written answer on 30th January 2026:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester asked His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that cash payments received through the Crisis and Resilience Fund do not lead to a deduction in a person’s Universal Credit payment.

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Bishop of Leicester asks about youth employment scheme

The Bishop of Leicester received the following written answer on 27th January 2026:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester asked His Majesty’s Government how they will ensure the jobs created for the Youth Guarantee scheme for 18-to-21-year-olds on Universal Credit are genuinely new roles which would not otherwise have been advertised.

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