Baroness Smith of Malvern
The Rt Hon. the Baroness Smith of Malvern
Labour
•House of Lords•ActiveMember since 16 July 2024
Parliamentary Activity
Recent Debate Contributions
Page 1 of 11 (101 debates)
Young Futures Hubs
23/07/2025 • Lords
The noble Baroness is definitely right. We have seen a reduction in spending on youth services of 73% since 2011, but that is a reason to be ambitious...
The noble Baroness is absolutely right. In thinking about the partnerships and the existing provision on which Young Futures hubs will be built, the v...
6 more contributionsView all →
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
06/07/2025 • Lords
It is certainly a very important part of what we would hope to deliver, both in best start hubs and in early years, as we improve the ability and prov...
Yes, at the moment, one-third of children arrive with the lack of development to succeed. That is exactly why families will have an important role to ...
13 more contributionsView all →
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
02/07/2025 • Lords
Amendment 212, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Wei, seeks to raise the threshold for the local authority to refuse consent to home-educate. This would ...
That is what I was saying. You could envisage circumstances in which there is a child on a child protection plan, notwithstanding that there might be ...
15 more contributionsView all →
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
02/07/2025 • Lords
If I have understood the noble Lord’s first point, it relates to whether the information-sharing provisions within this legislation will support the a...
No, and we will come to that in detail. The Section 47 provision, the child protection inquiries, would require evidence of significant harm to the ch...
10 more contributionsView all →
School Libraries
29/06/2025 • Lords
In citizenship, RSHE, maths, economics and history classes throughout this country, children are learning about all the things that my noble friend ju...
My dad did the same, and I have always been extremely grateful to him for that. The noble Lord is right that the first people who can encourage childr...
6 more contributionsView all →
Independent Schools: Tax Changes
24/06/2025 • Lords
We have also, of course, announced in the most recent spending review a considerable increase in the funding available to our schools, a real-terms in...
My noble friend is right about that. In fact, as of May 2024, 84% of primary schools and 76% of secondary schools had one unfilled place or more. I kn...
6 more contributionsView all →
Music and Dance Scheme
23/06/2025 • Lords
The music and dance scheme has a particular function to play in enabling very talented young people who would not otherwise be able to access the real...
Well, I do agree with the words of my noble friend Lady Longfield. I am sure that she, like me, is dismayed at, for example, the big fall-off in young...
6 more contributionsView all →
Young People: Sporting Activities
23/06/2025 • Lords
Let us be clear: it is not true that there are only a few remaining secondary school playing fields. However, the noble Earl makes a
View full contribution →Given that we are about to go on to day eight in Committee on the Bill, I look forward to that discussion and debate. The noble Earl is, of course, ri...
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Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
22/06/2025 • Lords
My point was that linking free school meal entitlement to universal credit will make it much easier both for families to apply and for us to monitor t...
My Lords, the amendments in this group relate to free school meals and follow on, of course, from the interesting debate that we had last week on wide...
8 more contributionsView all →
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
18/06/2025 • Lords
I thank my noble friend for recognising the enormously broad way in which the Child Poverty Taskforce has undertaken its work, under the leadership of...
Does the noble Lord accept that I was not making that argument? What I was actually arguing—in agreement with him—is that we need a multifaceted appro...
16 more contributionsView all →
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