Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government to what extent the rise in employers' National Insurance contributions contributed to the loss of 69,000 hospitality jobs since last October, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics, and how this compares with their initial estimates of sector specific job losses before implementing the rise.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer National Insurance contributions (NICs). The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.

The Office for Budget Responsibility also published the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), which sets out a detailed forecast of the economy and public finances.

With all policies considered, the OBR's March 2025 EFO forecasts the employment level to increase from 33.6 million in 2024 to 34.8 million in 2029.

The Government protected the smallest businesses from the changes to employer NICs by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, and more than half of all employers will either gain or will see no change.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what changes were made to the guidance Managing Public Money in the June 2025 version compared to the May 2023 version.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

As set out in the Dear Accounting Officer letter DAO 02/25, the 2025 edition of Managing Public Money includes the following revisions and additions.

1. New guidance on the circumstances in which it might be appropriate to ‘pre-fund’ future liabilities, aligned with guidance set out in Dear Accounting Officer letter 05/23.
2. Revised guidance on subsidy control to reflect changes to the wider UK subsidy control regime.
3. Updated guidance on how accounting officers should manage risk in their organisations.
4. Revised references and guidance on the importance of evaluation in government.
5. Updated guidance on the use of models in government.
6. Updated guidance on access to information by the National Audit Office, and clarifying rules on communication with the Public Accounts Committee.
7. Revised guidance on the propriety of using the Companies Act 2006 to establish government owned companies.
8. Revisions permitting the setting of delegations by the Treasury for the approval of special severance payments.
9. Revised guidance, to align with that in Consolidated Budgeting Guidance, on the disposal of public sector land.
10. An uprated threshold for the definition of ‘modest’ expenditure which may rest on the sole authority of the Supply and Appropriation Act, to reflect inflation.
11. Updated guidance on fees and charges reporting to ensure that these are backed by appropriate powers.
12. Updated guidance on the treatment of Public Corporations.
13. Updated wording to confirm the scope of the rules in Managing Public Money – in line with existing Clear Line of Sight guidance.
14. More detailed definitions of Regularity, Propriety, Value for Money and Feasibility.
15. Wider corrections and amendments including updated links to wider government guidance.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many large-scale exercises with their involvement were undertaken in the past year to prepare for terrorist attacks and other civil contingencies, and what were the learning outcomes from those exercises.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As is longstanding practice under successive administrations, the Government does not publish the exercises that it undertakes for terrorist attacks or other civil contingencies unless requested to by inquiries or where it would serve to make the public better prepared.

The national exercise for 2025 will be a pandemic preparedness exercise. It will aim to test our ability to respond to a pandemic arising from a novel infectious disease, involving all regions and nations of the UK and thousands of participants.

The publicly available UK Resilience Academy Lessons Digest synthesises and shares lessons learned from selected large-scale exercises and emergency responses.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to set up an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; and if so, what the organisational structure of that office will be.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

I refer the Noble Lord to the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office on 10 July, Official Report, PQ HC64454.

PQ 64454 Kevin Hollinrake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government plans to establish an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. 64454

Minister Oppong-Asare response, published 10 July: Deputy Prime Ministers are rightly supported in their role to deliver the additional responsibilities.

The Deputy Prime Minister’s responsibilities are set out on Gov.uk and any such plans would be set out in the usual way.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people received a driving lessons grant from the Motability scheme in each of the past five years, broken down by the qualifying benefits those people received in each year.

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

Data about the receipt of driving lesson grants from the Motability Scheme is not held by the Department.

The Motability Scheme is overseen by the Motability Foundation and is delivered by Motability Operations Ltd.

Motability is independent of the government and is wholly responsible for the terms and administration of the Scheme.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what work they have undertaken following the findings in the report by the National Audit Office The Motability scheme (HC 1681), published on 7 December 2018, in particular in relation to the findings on the remuneration of senior staff.

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

DWP is responsible for the disability benefits which passport people to the Motability scheme. Motability Foundation is a registered charity, incorporated by Royal Charter, to help disabled people with their mobility and transport needs. They own and have oversight of the Motability Scheme which is delivered by an independent commercial company Motability Operations.

The National Audit Office made a number of recommendations in their 2018 report. Those relating to remuneration of senior staff were directed to Motability and Motability Operations. The Department has worked closely with Motability Foundation since then in relation to developing a long-term strategy to put its charitable funding to best use and governance.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether Motability Scheme support is available to applicants with (1) a food intolerance, (2) alcohol misuse, and (3) obsessive compulsive disorder; and if so, what are the reasons for making that support available.

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

DWP is responsible for the disability benefits which passport people to the Motability Scheme. To be eligible for the Scheme individuals must be in receipt of a qualifying benefit such as enhanced mobility Personal Independence Payment, higher rate mobility Disability Living Allowance, War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement and Armed Forces Independence Payment (including equivalent Scottish benefits).

Disability benefits are awarded based on how conditions affect a claimant, a determination of their functional needs and not the condition itself.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many super-injunctions are currently in force in England and Wales.

Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede

The Government does not routinely publish or hold centralised data on the number of super-injunctions currently in force, due to the sensitive and often confidential nature of such orders.

Where such orders are made, they are typically issued by the High Court under strict judicial oversight and may include provisions that prevent disclosure of their very existence.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals resettled in the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy were identified as a case of interest, broken down by the case of interest reason of (1) criminality, (2) hate crimes, (3) Prevent referrals, (4) perceived failing, and (5) potential media coverage.

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

Available data on individuals resettled or relocated under the Afghan schemes are available in the quarterly immigration statistics release. Afghan Transparency data is released quarterly. These are available to view on GOV.UK.

The data published in the Immigration System Statistics release gives the number of individuals under ARAP as 21,316. Available rules and guidance on the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy can be found on GOV.UK.

The above is the best available operational data, as of 31 March 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the case of interest guidance distributed to local authorities for assessing applications under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.

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

Available data on individuals resettled or relocated under the Afghan schemes are available in the quarterly immigration statistics release. Afghan Transparency data is released quarterly. These are available to view on GOV.UK.

The data published in the Immigration System Statistics release gives the number of individuals under ARAP as 21,316. Available rules and guidance on the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy can be found on GOV.UK.

The above is the best available operational data, as of 31 March 2025.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask His Majesty's Government what their position is on seeking super-injunctions to restrict reporting of public policy issues.

Answered by Lord Hermer - Attorney General

The filing of an application for a super-injunction on behalf of His Majesty’s Government is recognised as a truly exceptional measure and would be justified only by the most compelling evidence.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the breakdown of costs, by month, of flights used on the Afghanistan Response Route since its inception, including costs of (1) any Royal Air Force or government flights, and (2) any charter flights, with details of which organisation provided the charter.

Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

In February 2022, under the previous Government a spreadsheet with names and other information relating of individual applicants of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) – the resettlement scheme for Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK Armed Forces in Afghanistan – was emailed outside of official Government systems.

The previous Government decided to seek an injunction concerning the breach and the High Court granted a super-injunction. They also decided to set up a new secret resettlement route, called the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR). The ARR was created to support a limited cohort of people who were affected by the data loss incident and who were previously thought to be at the highest risk, into the UK.

The current Secretary of State then commissioned an independent policy review from former Deputy Chief of Defence Intelligence, Paul Rimmer. This began earlier this year and was presented to Ministers in June. The review examined the overall policy context in spring 2025, three years since the data incident and concluded that it appears “highly unlikely” that merely being on the dataset would be grounds for targeting.

As the Defence Secretary outlined in his oral statement of 15 July 2025, the Rimmer review was a very significant element in the Government’s decision to change policy to close the ARR, though not the sole element. We have now made the matter public so it can be subject to full Parliamentary scrutiny.

To resettle those under the ARR, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) uses mixed cohort flights to relocate Afghans to the UK under the schemes that make up the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP). This includes the ARR and ARAP scheme. These flights have also included a small number of persons eligible for the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).

The MOD has used both RAF and charter flights. Additionally, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to resettle eligible Afghans has run charter flights. For reasons that are commercially and operationally sensitive, we cannot name the companies that organised the charter flights.

The average total monthly costs from MOD charter flights, Royal Air Force flights and IOM charter flights is to date £457,833.33.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish all external contractors that worked on the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.

Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

A wide variety of contractors have supported the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), with some involved in sensitive operational activities. As a result, a comprehensive list of external contractors that worked on ARAP cannot be published due to both operational risks and commercial sensitivity.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish any documents about vetting or security clearance processes that were given to applicants of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.

Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

When the Taleban seized control in 2021, many thousands of people who served and supported our British Armed Forces were left in Afghanistan.

The UK made a commitment to honour the moral obligation we owe to those Afghans who stood with us and there was cross party support for this at the time. This became the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme.

All those resettling in the UK under Afghan resettlement schemes are coming to the UK legally. As with all those arriving to the UK, all those found eligible for ARAP have to undergo robust security checks, including for national security. If they don’t pass these checks, they are not granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK

An application must first be made, by the applicant, to the Ministry of Defence, who will decide if the applicant is eligible. If they are eligible for relocation to the UK, the second stage is that the Ministry Of Defence (MOD) will on behalf of the applicant, make an application to the Home Office for entry clearance (if they are outside the UK) or settlement (if they are in the UK). Eligibility does not guarantee resettlement in the UK. Those who are eligible must first undergo checks in accordance with the UK Immigration Rules

The MOD, as part of the first stage, sends an offer letter to Eligible Persons (EPs) which details the vetting and security process that applicants must go through to enter the UK and signposts EPs to the Government's Immigration Rules for further guidance. Permission to enter the UK is subject to the enrolment of biometrics and security checks run by the Home Office as part of the second stage.

National security is a priority for this Government and all ARAP eligible individuals who arrive in the UK will have undergone thorough security checks.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many special advisers are in post, broken down by department; and how many special advisers left their posts between July 2024 and June 2025.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

A breakdown of how many special advisers are in post by department is available in the Annual Report on Special Advisers is attached. Between July 2024 and June 2025, 19 special advisers left their posts.