Parliament and Government Update — 24 July 2026

There is no substantive day’s parliamentary business to report from the selected items, but two new government statistics releases and a Lords committee report add fresh updates on childcare support and child protection, alongside scrutiny of a readmission agreement.

Key points

• HMRC published June 2026 Tax-Free Childcare statistics on account usage and government top-ups, including breakdowns for disabled children and regional use.
• Northern Ireland’s quarterly child protection statistics update the number of children on the child protection register at the end of each quarter.
• The Lords International Agreements Committee published a report scrutinising the UK–Moldova Readmission Agreement.

Main update

This set of updates is led by new official statistics. HM Revenue & Customs has published Tax-Free Childcare Statistics for June 2026, reporting the numbers of families and children with open and used accounts and the amounts spent on government top-ups, with additional figures relating to disabled children and how account use varies by region. Separately, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and the Department of Health (Northern Ireland) released Quarterly Child Protection Statistics for September 2026, focusing on the number of children on the child protection register at the end of each quarter. Together, they provide fresh official measurement of two areas of public interest: financial support for childcare and the recording of children within child protection arrangements. [1] [2]

Committee reports

• The Lords International Agreements Committee published its second report scrutinising the UK–Moldova Readmission Agreement, focusing on parliamentary accountability for the UK’s international readmission arrangement with Moldova. [3]

Sources used

1. Tax-Free Childcare Statistics, June 2026 — GOV.UK
2. Quarterly Child Protection Statistics for Northern Ireland (September 2026) — GOV.UK
3. 2nd Report – Scrutiny of International Agreements: UK-Moldova Readmission Agreement — UK Parliament Committees

Licensing

Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Last updated

First published on 25 July 2026. No corrections at the time of publication.