Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the 10 secondary school subjects with the largest number of teacher vacancies in England.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the UK–EU summit in 2026 will be held in the UK or the EU.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the total cost was of hosting the UK–EU summit in 2025.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote reading and the use of libraries to improve reading rates among children.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department, in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, is leading the National Year of Reading 2026 to tackle declining reading enjoyment. This UK-wide campaign combines a marketing initiative with events in schools, libraries, and communities. Activities will take place across the year and will include national events, alongside resources for schools and early years, and library engagement through initiatives such as the Summer Reading Challenge. The campaign aims to address long-term declines in reading enjoyment through engaging new audiences, reshaping public attitudes and building the systems needed to embed lasting, meaningful change. As part of this, we are providing £5 million of funding for secondary schools to purchase books to encourage reading for pleasure. The government has also committed £12.5 million in funding to guarantee a library for every primary school by the end of this parliament, which will be delivered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The government has also committed £28.3 million this financial year to support and drive high and rising standards in reading. This includes supporting the teaching of reading across all primary stages and key stage 3 in secondary via the English Hubs programme.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 5 February (HL14147), what the deadline is to train and equip 500 prison-based staff to use taser devices.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This capability is being implemented on a phased basis, reflecting the complexity of introducing Conducted Energy Devices (generally known as TASERs) safely into the prison environment. Initial enabling activity is under way, including development of policy and operating procedures, assurance processes, training design, and engagement with key stakeholders.
Training and equipping of staff will be delivered incrementally, with cohorts authorised to access the equipment in stages, once the necessary governance, infrastructure and safeguards are in place.
In view of the need to prioritise safety, operational readiness and learning from early phases of implementation, it would not be appropriate at this stage to set a deadline for completion. Progress will continue to be monitored closely to ensure progress is maintained.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many sniffer dogs there are in England and Wales's prisons; and what plans they have to increase that number.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) currently deploys 492 licensed search dogs across prisons in England and Wales. These dogs form a key part of the Department’s approach to tackling the supply of illicit items, including drugs, mobile telephones and other contraband, and are used proactively across the estate.
Decisions on deployment, and any increase in search dog capacity, are made at local and regional level, enabling prisons to respond flexibly to their specific security risks and operational challenges. This includes the ability to scale up provision where intelligence or demand indicates a need.
HMPPS keeps this capability under regular review as part of its wider security strategy and will continue to assess whether additional resources are required to meet any emerging threats.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many job vacancies there currently are in HM Prison and Probation Service.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) holds required staffing levels which are subject to regular amendment and managed at a local and regional level. As a result of this discretion, HMPPS does not present vacancy data due to variability in required staffing levels.
We do, however, publish indicative vacancies in the HMPPS Workforce and the most recently published figures can be found via the following link: HM Prison & Probation Service workforce quarterly: December 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average cost of (1) drafting a Government bill, and (2) its passage through Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The drafting and passage of a Government bill requires resource from a number of departmental teams including legal and policy officials as well as shared resource such as the Office of Parliamentary Counsel.
Each Government Bill requires a different amount of resource based on its size and complexity. The Guide to Making Legislation sets out that bill teams must be properly resourced, with a dedicated bill manager, separate to the policy team, in place to oversee progress from an early stage.
In addition, the passage of Government bills requires resource in both the House of Commons and House of Lords.
Government does not hold data on the average number of people required to, nor the cost of, producing and passing Government bills.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many visits Department for Business and Trade officials have made to Brussels since July 2024.
Answered by Lord Stockwood - Minister of State (HM Treasury)
Department for Business and Trade (DBT) officials routinely engage with EU institutions and Member State counterparts in Brussels and elsewhere as part of their normal duties to advance UK economic and trade interests.
The Department does not centrally record or routinely collate the number of individual visits made by officials, and providing a comprehensive figure would require a disproportionate use of time and resources. DBT officials regularly travel to Brussels to meet a wide range of EU and EU Member State counterparts to support the delivery of HMG objectives, including on trade, investment, regulatory cooperation and wider UK-EU engagement.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has met its target to provide 1.975 million car practical tests by March 2026; and whether it has been able to achieve a national car practical driving test wait time of seven weeks or fewer.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As driving tests taking place in March contribute to the total tests provided in the 2025 to 2026 financial year, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will not be able to provide a final overall figure until April at the earliest.
The average waiting time in weeks, as of February 2026, was 21.6 weeks.
DVSA is continuing with recruitment campaigns across the country to provide as many tests as possible. A full-time driving examiner (DE) can be expected to add approximately 1,200 tests per year to the booking system.
Examiner capacity is rising, with 1,556 full-time equivalent (FTE) examiners now in post supported by ongoing recruitment and training changes. The 1,556 FTE DEs in February 2026 is an increase of 108 when compared to the number of DEs in February 2025 (1,448 FTEs).