Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is (1) the total number of Motability Scheme recipients, and (2) the total value of payments under the Motability Scheme, by parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Motability Operations state in their 2024 Annual Report and Accounts that there are approximately 815,000 customers on the Motability Scheme as of September 2024.
The information requested on the value of payments under the Motability Scheme by parliamentary constituency is not readily available. To provide this would incur a disproportionate cost. An indication of the value of payments for Great Britain can be found in the Motability Operation’s Annual Report and Accounts. In 2024, Motability Operations reported a rental revenue of £2,806m. This includes direct payments from lessees, and payments from organisations to Motability Operations on behalf of the lessees, including DWP, Social Security Scotland and Veterans UK.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total value of Personal Independence Payments by parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The total value of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) by parliamentary constituency can be found (attached) in the ‘Benefit expenditure by parliamentary constituency, 2010/11 to 2023/24’ tables included in the Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK publication.
Navigate to the ‘PIP_(PC24)’ worksheet to view PIP expenditure figures broken down by 2024 parliamentary constituencies from 2010/11 to 2023/24.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many landowners claim annually through the tax-exempt heritage assets scheme; and how much they claim each year.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Conditional exemption from Inheritance Tax is available for transfers during lifetime or on death of land of outstanding scenic, historic, or scientific interest, buildings of outstanding historic or architectural interest and land protecting the setting of an outstanding building together with objects and collections of national, artistic, historic or scientific interest.
Information on how many landowners claim annually through the tax-exempt heritage assets scheme, and how much they claim each year, is not centrally collated. However, HMRC publishes annual official statistics on Inheritance Tax liabilities at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/inheritance-tax-liabilities-statistics. Table 12.2 has information on the number of estates claiming reliefs and exemptions.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individual cases they have been involved in in the past three years concerning (1) the arrest of UK nationals or their immediate family in Eritrea, (2) deaths of UK nationals or their immediate family in Eritrea, and (3) the imprisonment of UK nationals or their immediate family in Eritrea.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The British Embassy in Asmara provides consular support to British Nationals in Eritrea, alongside neighbouring countries providing remote support. As such, our case management system does not enable us to isolate all consular assistance cases from within Eritrea. However, we can isolate some cases managed in Eritrea, and the number of these is less than five. When a figure is five or less, we do not publish a breakdown which may risk identifying individuals involved. British Nationals planning to visit or already in Eritrea can visit the FCDO travel advice pages for Eritrea and sign up to email alerts.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Eritrea about human rights in that country over the past three years.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We consistently raise human rights with the Eritrean Government through our Embassy in Asmara and during senior official visits including in June 2024 by the UK's Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa and The Red Sea. We also engage with the Government at the multilateral level, including at the Human Rights Council.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many properties were purchased by Serco in the first six months of 2024 to house asylum seekers; and what criteria is used to determine how, when and where to purchase such property.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office cannot comment on commercial arrangements that are confidential. Data on the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated is published at Gov.UK.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they last made an assessment of the situation in Eritrea in determining whether individuals from that country meet the eligibility criteria for asylum in the UK; and what discussions they have had with European counterparts in the past three years concerning these criteria.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office’s most recent country policy and information note (CPIN) on Eritrea, which sets out our general assessment of asylum claims based on a fear of avoiding national service and leaving the country illegally, was published in September 2021. The CPIN is publicly available on GOV.UK.
We maintain a regular dialogue with European counterparts on a wide range of asylum issues.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much was or will be allocated in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero's budget for the development of nuclear fusion in (1) 2023, (2) 2024, (3) 2025, (4) 2026, and (5) 2027.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is responsible for the development of fusion. In 2023/24 the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero provided £248.3m of Grant in Aid to the UKAEA, as set out in the UKAEA’s 2023/24 Annual Report and Accounts which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukaea-annual-report-and-accounts-202324-hc175
Confirmation of the amount of funding for 2025/26 will be shared in due course. A Spending Review will conclude in Spring 2025 which will set budgets for 2026/27 and beyond.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the dental health patient enrolment waiting list in each NHS integrated care board in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally. Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice and there is no single waiting list, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly, and may operate local waiting list arrangements. NHS dentists are required to keep their NHS.UK website profiles up to date, so that patients can find a dentist more easily. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government which NHS Trusts have provided training regarding antisemitism since January 2023, and to how many participants.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held centrally by the Department. Tackling antisemitism in the National Health Service is essential and NHS England has already rolled out antisemitism awareness training to staff across the NHS, provided by the Antisemitism Policy Trust.