Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of unemployed graduates who are claiming benefits; and what is the proportion of females and males represented in that number.

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

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the Permanent Secretary at the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Lord Patten

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

02 February 2026

Dear Lord Patten,

As Permanent Secretary of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of the number of unemployed graduates who are claiming benefits; and what is the proportion of females and males represented in that number (HL13936).

The ONS collects information on the labour market status of individuals through the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is a survey of people resident in households in the UK. People are classed as unemployed if they were not doing paid work in the reference week, or had a job they were temporarily away from, and are actively seeking and available to start work.

Respondents who are not in employment and are aged between 16 and 69 years are asked if they are claiming any state benefits or tax credits, as well as information regarding any qualifications they have.

The estimated number of unemployed people in the UK aged between 16 and 69 years, who claim any state benefits or tax credits, and have a degree or equivalent qualification, for September to November 2025, the latest LFS period available, is 190,000. This number is made up of an estimated 58% women and 42% men.

Because the identification of whether someone claims benefits is based on survey responses, the total number will differ from administrative counts of claimants.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) are considered ‘official statistics in development’ until further review. Previous challenges with response rates, response levels and weighting approach led to increased volatility. While these have lessened following improvement action, we still advise some caution when interpreting changes in recent periods.

Yours sincerely,

Darren Tierney

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the amount spend on railway flood defences and embankment maintenance by (1) South Western Railway, and (2) Great Western Railway, in each of the past five years.

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

The Government has not carried out any assessments as described in the Noble Lord’s questions. Train Operating Companies, including South Western Railway and Great Western Railway, are not responsible for managing or maintaining railway infrastructure and have not incurred any expenditure on flood defences or embankment maintenance.

Network Rail has robust plans in place to improve and maintain infrastructure. The Wales & Western Region will see a £2.6 billion asset renewals programme and £1.6 billion invested to maintain existing assets and the Southern Region will see an investment of over £3 billion in infrastructure during the current Control Period to 2029.

It is also addressing severe weather events through comprehensive weather resilience and climate change adaptation plans, focusing on safeguarding assets, embedding resilience into daily operations, and adapting to climate change impacts across both the Wales & Western and Southern routes.

An example is the extensive works being implemented at Chipping Sodbury on the Great Western Main Line to mitigate the impact of flooding from both surface water and groundwater. The work already completed has improved the level of resilience from closure due to rainfall. Network Rail is funding further work at this location during the current Control Period to 2029.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the resilience against flooding and landslips on embankments along the railway lines of (1) South Western Railway, and (2) Great Western Railway.

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

The Government has not carried out any assessments as described in the Noble Lord’s questions. Train Operating Companies, including South Western Railway and Great Western Railway, are not responsible for managing or maintaining railway infrastructure and have not incurred any expenditure on flood defences or embankment maintenance.

Network Rail has robust plans in place to improve and maintain infrastructure. The Wales & Western Region will see a £2.6 billion asset renewals programme and £1.6 billion invested to maintain existing assets and the Southern Region will see an investment of over £3 billion in infrastructure during the current Control Period to 2029.

It is also addressing severe weather events through comprehensive weather resilience and climate change adaptation plans, focusing on safeguarding assets, embedding resilience into daily operations, and adapting to climate change impacts across both the Wales & Western and Southern routes.

An example is the extensive works being implemented at Chipping Sodbury on the Great Western Main Line to mitigate the impact of flooding from both surface water and groundwater. The work already completed has improved the level of resilience from closure due to rainfall. Network Rail is funding further work at this location during the current Control Period to 2029.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what their definitions are of (1) retail investor, and (2) professional investor.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) applies a number of regulatory regimes to distinguish between retail investors and those that are more sophisticated, and to apply appropriate protections. These include the financial promotion regime and client categorisation rules.

The financial promotion regime provides a framework which seeks to ensure that consumers are appropriately protected such that they are able to make informed decisions. The regime, which is governed by the Financial Promotion Order, includes exemptions for marketing to investment professionals, and high-net-worth or sophisticated investors.

In addition, client categorisation rules seek to protect retail clients investing in capital markets, without imposing undue restrictions on professional clients. The FCA are currently reviewing these rules to unlock greater opportunities for wealthy investors, strengthen capital markets and drive economic growth. A consultation on the FCA’s proposals closed on 2 February 2026.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the threats to financial services presented by the cutting of subsea cables or the monitoring of information carried by them.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Strengthening the financial sector’s resilience to threats and hazards of all origins is a key priority for HM Treasury and the financial regulators.

While individual subsea cables are vulnerable to damage, the UK’s international connectivity is resilient, supported by 45 international cables and high‑capacity fibre cables through the Channel tunnel.

However, critical sectors must be prepared for reasonable worst-case disruption. HM Treasury is working closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to update the Government’s assessment of how disruption or monitoring of subsea cables could affect financial services. This work will inform response planning and further support a secure, resilient financial sector.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is their policy that shops, medical centres and other amenities should be provided at the same time as the construction of homes in greenfield developments.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that significant weight should be placed on the importance of new, expanded or upgraded public service infrastructure when considering proposals for development.

The government is consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, more ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making, designed to make planning policy easier to use and underpin the delivery of faster and simpler local plans. The consultation includes policies supporting the delivery of new and improved community facilities and public service infrastructure serving new development, setting out that planning conditions and obligations should be used to secure the timely delivery of community facilities and public service infrastructure required to serve new development, so that these facilities are available for use when the development (or an agreed proportion of the development) is first occupied or comes into use.

We are inviting views on these proposals through the consultation, which is available here (attached) and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of places of worship in current plans for large-scale greenfield housing developments.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that planning policies and decisions should plan positively for the provision and use of community facilities, such as places of worship. It is for local planning authorities to make decisions on individual development proposals, and the government does not collate information on proposals to provide new places of worship as part of these.

The government is consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, more ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making, designed to make planning policy easier to use and underpin the delivery of faster and simpler local plans. The consultation includes policies to support the provision of places of worship, including where a development proposal for housing, employment or other development would give rise to significant numbers of additional people living in, working in or visiting an area.

We are inviting views on these proposals through the consultation, which is available here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the threats to national security presented by the cutting and other interception of subsea communication cables.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government recognises the increasing threat to the homeland from state actors and that critical national infrastructure, including subsea cables, will continue to be a target.

As the threat landscape evolves, it is essential to ensure that our risk assessments remain robust and fit for purpose. All risks in the National Risk Register, including the risk related to subsea cables, are kept under review to ensure that they are the most appropriate scenarios to inform emergency preparedness and resilience activity. We are currently reviewing and updating our assessments of risks to the UK’s subsea telecommunications cables.

While individual cables are vulnerable to damage, the UK’s international connectivity is resilient, supported by 45 international cables as well as high‑capacity fibre links running through the Channel Tunnel.

DSIT continues to work closely with the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Defence and other government departments to ensure the security and resilience of the UK’s subsea telecommunications infrastructure.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of the UK tax-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio in (1) 2025–26, (2) 2026–27, (3) 2027–28, (4) 2028–29, and (5) 2029–30; and what comparative assessment they have made of the tax-to-GDP ratio of each of the G7 countries in each of those years.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published the latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) in March 2026[1]. This forecasts the tax-to-GDP ratio to change as follows: 2025-26 – 36.3%; 2026-27 – 37.0%; 2027-28 – 37.7%; 2028-29 – 37.8%; 2029-30 – 38.3%[2].

The UK’s current tax-to-GDP ratio is in the middle of the pack within the G7; lower than Italy (42.8%), France (43.5%) and Germany (38.0%), but above Japan (33.7%), Canada (34.9%) and the US (25.6%) based on the latest available OECD data. [3]

[1] https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2026/#

[2] https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2026/#, page 42

[3] Latest OECD data 2024, except Japan, which is from 2023.

Found: I am going to quote a line from Lord Patten in his 1999 report.