Biography
Baroness Barran has engaged extensively with children's wellbeing and education policy through 40 debate speeches, with particular focus on smartphone use in schools, special educational needs support, and child protection procedures. Her contributions demonstrate sustained scrutiny of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill across multiple parliamentary stages, raising specific concerns about safeguarding vulnerable children, the liberty of children in care, and the implementation of family support mechanisms. She has also advocated for stronger guidance on mobile phone restrictions in schools, drawing on evidence from health professionals, educators, and parents affected by social media harms.
Generated from their own Hansard record, below
“…I was sad to go—but I genuinely look forward to working across the House on the special educational needs and disabilities legislation when it comes and more. Our role is making sure that legislation works in practice; I have tried to do this in this Bill, and I will try to do it in the future.…”
Record by topic
- Learning disability & autism20th of 89976.5
- Mental health113th of 88032.0
- Unpaid carers36th of 28316.0
- Public health & prevention176th of 68810.0
- NHS & care workforce/staffing103rd of 3024.0
- NHS waiting lists302nd of 5344.0
- GP access86th of 2414.0
- Adult social care & reform161st of 3764.0
- Maternity & neonatal363rd of 4382.0
- Children's health131st of 1572.0
- Dementia211th of 2512.0
- Diabetes154th of 1902.0
- Cancer503rd of 6222.0
What they’ve said
“…The noble Lord, Lord Addington, rightly raised concerns about children with special educational needs. The evidence from the medical profession is that it is precisely these children who are made most vulnerable by having a smartphone, and teachers are quite clear that it is not appropriate for a child’s special educat…”
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · 2026-03-25 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…Lords, I start by thanking the Government for the Statement and the publication of the schools White Paper, the SEND consultation and the update on teacher recruitment.”
Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving · 2026-02-24 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…Bill, Part 1, rather than trying fundamentally to address the shortage of foster and kinship carers in this country, focuses on reorganisation and regulation. Also, in Part 2, rather than learning from the successes of our free schools and academies and embedding those in the school system, the Government have sought t…”
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · 2026-02-09 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…Parliament in expressly approving school closures in the event of a future pandemic or public health emergency. In practical terms, as we all know and have heard in this short debate, parents and teachers see every day the impacts on those young people who missed out on significant chunks of their education and their s…”
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · 2026-02-03 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…In response to the noble Lord, Lord Addington, of course, we want children with special educational needs to be independent and would be very happy to work with the noble Lord to look at that.”
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · 2026-02-03 · Read on Hansard ↗
Contributions reproduced under the Open Parliament Licence.