Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office on 26 November 2025 (HC92158), whether they will provide equivalent figures on (1) lost, and (2) stolen, devices in the Prime Minister's Office since July 2024.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)

For management and staffing purposes, the Prime Minister’s Office is a business unit of the Cabinet Office. Data for business units is not held.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the annual budget of the Research Information and Communications Unit.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

RICU is part of the Home Office and is funded from within the Department’s overall budgets.

Decisions on funding are taken as part of the Home Office’s normal business planning process.

The Home Office publishes information on departmental spending through its transparency publications. We do not routinely provide detailed budgets for individual teams

The Home Office has previously contracted with a range of suppliers to support communications and research activity, in line with government commercial processes.

Information on individual contracts is published in line with transparency requirements, including on Contracts Finder and through departmental transparency releases.

The Home Office no longer holds a contract with Breakthrough Media.

We do not provide a consolidated, unit-level breakdown of payments to individual suppliers.

RICU operates within the framework of Home Office governance, including ministerial accountability and established departmental oversight processes.

Its work supports the wider counter-terrorism system by providing analysis on terrorist and extremist use of propaganda and exploitation of the internet to inform the UK’s counter terrorism system. All activity complies with relevant legislation.

Ministers have authorised RICU’s work since its establishment and receive its outputs as part of the Department’s wider counter-terrorism activity.

The team’s work is subject to appropriate internal assurance and external scrutiny, including by Parliament.

The Home Office does not routinely publish detailed staffing information for individual counter-terrorism teams where doing so could risk revealing sensitive information about the structure and resourcing of counter-terrorism capabilities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Research Information and Communications Unit has paid to Breakthrough Media in each year since 2016.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

RICU is part of the Home Office and is funded from within the Department’s overall budgets.

Decisions on funding are taken as part of the Home Office’s normal business planning process.

The Home Office publishes information on departmental spending through its transparency publications. We do not routinely provide detailed budgets for individual teams

The Home Office has previously contracted with a range of suppliers to support communications and research activity, in line with government commercial processes.

Information on individual contracts is published in line with transparency requirements, including on Contracts Finder and through departmental transparency releases.

The Home Office no longer holds a contract with Breakthrough Media.

We do not provide a consolidated, unit-level breakdown of payments to individual suppliers.

RICU operates within the framework of Home Office governance, including ministerial accountability and established departmental oversight processes.

Its work supports the wider counter-terrorism system by providing analysis on terrorist and extremist use of propaganda and exploitation of the internet to inform the UK’s counter terrorism system. All activity complies with relevant legislation.

Ministers have authorised RICU’s work since its establishment and receive its outputs as part of the Department’s wider counter-terrorism activity.

The team’s work is subject to appropriate internal assurance and external scrutiny, including by Parliament.

The Home Office does not routinely publish detailed staffing information for individual counter-terrorism teams where doing so could risk revealing sensitive information about the structure and resourcing of counter-terrorism capabilities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many full-time equivalent staff members currently work in the Research Information and Communications Unit.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

RICU is part of the Home Office and is funded from within the Department’s overall budgets.

Decisions on funding are taken as part of the Home Office’s normal business planning process.

The Home Office publishes information on departmental spending through its transparency publications. We do not routinely provide detailed budgets for individual teams

The Home Office has previously contracted with a range of suppliers to support communications and research activity, in line with government commercial processes.

Information on individual contracts is published in line with transparency requirements, including on Contracts Finder and through departmental transparency releases.

The Home Office no longer holds a contract with Breakthrough Media.

We do not provide a consolidated, unit-level breakdown of payments to individual suppliers.

RICU operates within the framework of Home Office governance, including ministerial accountability and established departmental oversight processes.

Its work supports the wider counter-terrorism system by providing analysis on terrorist and extremist use of propaganda and exploitation of the internet to inform the UK’s counter terrorism system. All activity complies with relevant legislation.

Ministers have authorised RICU’s work since its establishment and receive its outputs as part of the Department’s wider counter-terrorism activity.

The team’s work is subject to appropriate internal assurance and external scrutiny, including by Parliament.

The Home Office does not routinely publish detailed staffing information for individual counter-terrorism teams where doing so could risk revealing sensitive information about the structure and resourcing of counter-terrorism capabilities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure proper scrutiny and oversight of the activities of the Research Information and Communications Unit.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

RICU is part of the Home Office and is funded from within the Department’s overall budgets.

Decisions on funding are taken as part of the Home Office’s normal business planning process.

The Home Office publishes information on departmental spending through its transparency publications. We do not routinely provide detailed budgets for individual teams

The Home Office has previously contracted with a range of suppliers to support communications and research activity, in line with government commercial processes.

Information on individual contracts is published in line with transparency requirements, including on Contracts Finder and through departmental transparency releases.

The Home Office no longer holds a contract with Breakthrough Media.

We do not provide a consolidated, unit-level breakdown of payments to individual suppliers.

RICU operates within the framework of Home Office governance, including ministerial accountability and established departmental oversight processes.

Its work supports the wider counter-terrorism system by providing analysis on terrorist and extremist use of propaganda and exploitation of the internet to inform the UK’s counter terrorism system. All activity complies with relevant legislation.

Ministers have authorised RICU’s work since its establishment and receive its outputs as part of the Department’s wider counter-terrorism activity.

The team’s work is subject to appropriate internal assurance and external scrutiny, including by Parliament.

The Home Office does not routinely publish detailed staffing information for individual counter-terrorism teams where doing so could risk revealing sensitive information about the structure and resourcing of counter-terrorism capabilities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the expenditure has been on both initial and dispersal accommodation for asylum seekers paid to (1) Serco, (2) Mears Group, and (3) Clearsprings Ready Homes, in each month since July 2024.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system, and details are considered to be commercially confidential.

The total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Livermore on 2 June (HL105), how many times Lord Mandelson was recorded as visiting 10 Downing Street between 4 July 2024 and being appointed Ambassador to the United States according to (1) the 10 Downing Street diary records, and (2) the Downing Street visitor notification system.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)

I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by the then Prime Minister on 7 February 2017, Official Report, PQ 62542. Following the practice followed by past administrations, the Government does not comment on security matters.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the National Audit Office in respect of the Equality Act 2010 regarding the exclusion of white British men from its diversity summer internship programme.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We have not had any discussions with the National Audit Office regarding their summer internship programme.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Livermore on 2 June (HL105), why Lord Mandelson’s meeting in 11 Downing Street on 18 November 2024 was not listed in the transparency data "HMT’s ministerial meetings, October to December 2024"; and whether a civil servant was present at that meeting.

Answered by Lord Livermore

At the time of the meeting Peter Mandelson was a Parliamentarian and it was therefore not included in the return in line with the guidance on publishing Ministers’ meetings.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask His Majesty's Government on what evidential basis staff in the Attorney-General's Office have been instructed to stop using X; and when this decision was taken.

Answered by Lord Hermer

The Attorney General Office’s official account is no longer posting on X. The decision was taken to focus on other communication platforms that I believe are more conducive to public debate, and don’t prioritise misinformation. I understand and respect colleagues who remain on the platform.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 16 June 2026 (HL106), whether the Department for Health and Social Care holds a list of the clients and investments of AM Strategy Ltd, Bridgepoint Capital Ltd and PricewaterhouseCoopers which relate to health and social care and which may represent a conflict of interest with the work of Alan Milburn advising the department.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Prior to appointment, non-executive candidates are required to declare all relevant interests. Part of this process involves non-executive candidates declaring any clients or investments they hold. Appropriate mitigations are then approved and put in place by the Department. This process was carried out for the Rt Hon. Alan Milburn.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 1 April (HL15993), how many properties owned by HS2 Limited on the Phase 2b eastern leg have been disposed of.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Six properties that were situated along the former Meadowhall route, which was removed in 2016 when the Phase 2b East route to Leeds was altered, were sold between 2023-2024 as part of a disposals pilot project. Following the announcement in July 2025 of a programme to dispose of over 550 properties on the former Phase 2b eastern leg of HS2, the department has appointed a delivery agent to develop and implement this programme. No properties have yet been sold under this programme. We expect open market sales to begin in late 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 8 July (HL1547), what mitigations, if any, have been approved and put in place in the Department for Health and Social Care with regard to any potential conflicts of interests of Rt Hon Alan Milburn.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Non-Executive Director candidates are required to declare all relevant interests prior to appointment. Actions to mitigate conflicts are then put in place for all relevant interests.

All financial interests and all remunerated outside employment, work, memberships, and appointments should be declared. Disclosure requirements and clear conflict of interest policies are detailed in Cabinet Office guidance to support the Department in managing any conflicts of interest. These include recusal from relevant matters, limitations on any gifts, transparent lobbying practices, and robust mechanisms for ethics enforcement within the Government.

Found: Lord Barrow Lord Brennan of Canton Lord Elliot of Mickle Fell Baroness Suttie Lord Jackson of Peterborough

Found: Lord Brennan of Canton Baroness Brown of Silvertown Lord Elliot of Mickle Fell Lord Jackson of Peterborough

Found: Lord Barrow; Lord Brennan of Canton; Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell; Lord Grantchester; Lord Jackson of Peterborough

Found: Chair) Baroness Ashton of Upholland Lord Barrow Baroness Smith of Newham (Remote) Lord Jackson of Peterborough

Found: Director • NNB Generation Company (HPC) Limited: Independent Non- Executive Director LORD JACKSON of PETERBOROUGH