Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what subscriptions to (a) magazines, (b) television channels and (c) newspaper his Department pays for.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMT does not hold the level of detail requested when related to the expenditure on its subscriptions.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of capacity in UKAS accredited forensic science police laboratories; and whether there is a backlog in cases as of 17 October 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data on capacity at police laboratories and the deployment of resources on forensic science activities is for individual forces and Police and Crime Commissioners to determine. However, the Forensics Reform Programme Board has oversight of strategic capacity issues. Through this Board we have assessed that there are capacity shortfalls in some areas of forensics, including digital.
The Home Office has invested £4.33m in 2022/23 and £3.2m for 2023/24 to the police-led Forensic Capability Network which provides ongoing support to over 4,000 forensics professionals by coordinating a wide range of national activities. BlueLight Commercial works with the National Police Chief’s Council and the Forensics Capability Network to manages forensic science contracts and other commercial functions in England and Wales.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applications were rejected on the grounds of a false claim of LGB in each year since 2010.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on LGB asylum claims in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on initial decisions (including refusals) on asylum applications where sexual orientation formed part of the basis for the claim is published in table SOC_02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’. Please note that information on the reason for refusal is not published and therefore the statistics do not separately identify refusals on the grounds of false claims from refusals for other reasons.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to 2022. Data prior to 2015 is not published.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UK Border Force staff have been posted to (a) Belgium, (b) Germany, (c) the Netherlands and (d) France in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
For security reasons, the Home Office does not provide figures of how many staff have worked or are currently working at overseas deployments.
The Home Office continues to ensure appropriate overseas staff resourcing deployments are maintained.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prison governors have worked at (a) two, (b) three, (c) four and (d) more than four prisons since 2010.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
From 01 January 2010 to 30 June 2023 there have been 295 prison governors employed at public sector prisons. The number of prisons they have been governors of in that period is shown in Table 1.
Table 1 – The number of prisons that governors have governed between 01 January 2010 and 30 June 2023
Number of prisons governed | Governors | Percentage |
1 | 145 | 49% |
2 | 90 | 31% |
3 | 49 | 17% |
4 | 7 | 2% |
More than 4 | 4 | 1% |
Total | 295 | 100% |
Notes:
1. Figures relate to governing governors only (band 10-11) and do not include deputy governors temporarily covering this role.
2. Only a single governor is recorded for each prison, though it is possible for the system to temporarily show more than governor at a prison at a time, any duplicates per prison are removed.
3. Source of data: HMPPS - Single Operating Platform
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the food budget was per-prisoner per day in each year since 2015 in private sector prisons.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
In the majority of privately managed prison contracts, food budgets are not separated out from other contract costs. His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) does not hold this information and it would not be possible to identify the food budget without disproportionate cost.
Nevertheless, all Establishments are required to ensure prisoners receive three nutritionally balanced meals a day as set out in Prison Service Instruction 44/2010 Catering - Meals for Prisoners. These must meet the religious, cultural and medical needs of all prisoners.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) army, (b) RAF and (c) Royal Navy careers fairs were carried out in each year since 2015.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Estimates from the single Services are provided in the tables below:
Army
Calendar Year | Number of Events |
2015 | 1,331 |
2016 | 2,953 |
2017 | 1,335 |
2018 | 211 |
2019 | 471 |
2020 | 422 |
2021 | 505 |
2022 | 1,471 |
2023 | 1,971 |
Note: The low numbers recorded over 2018-19 are due to a switch of recording system. The 2020-21 numbers were significantly reduced due to COVID-19.
Royal Air Force
Financial Year (FY) | Number of Events |
2018-19 | 275 |
2019-20 | 225 |
2020-21 | 110 |
2021-22 | 130 |
2022-23 | 220 |
2023-24 | 201 |
Note: Information prior to FY 2018-19 cannot be collated in the time available. The 2020-21 numbers were significantly reduced due to COVID-19. Figures include a variety of events from air shows, country shows, sporting events as well as the range of Graduate, Jobs, UCAS, Careers, Skills, Medical, Nursing and Apprenticeship Fairs.
Royal Navy
Calendar Year | Number of Events |
2020 | 68 |
2021 | 282 |
2022 | 698 |
2023 (to 17 October) | 595 |
Note: No consistent data on outreach event attendance is held prior to April 2020. The 2020 numbers were significantly reduced due to COVID-19.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service personnel are suspended from active duty due to an ongoing criminal investigation as of 17 October 2023.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As of 17 October 2023, there were approximately 60 Service personnel recorded as suspended from duty due to an ongoing criminal investigation, or post criminal investigation where justified.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many British nationals are serving in (a) the French Foreign Legion and (b) other foreign militaries, by national military, as of 17 October 2023.
Answered by James Heappey
This is not a matter for the Ministry of Defence, therefore the information is not held.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has made to his Israeli counterparts on the welfare of people with disabilities in Gaza.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
While the UK has not made specific representations on the welfare of people with disabilities in Gaza, we have been clear about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza for all civilians there. The UK is steadfast in its position that all states should uphold international humanitarian law and we call on our friends and partners to do so. Israel has the right to defend itself proportionately and its military operations must be conducted in accordance with international humanitarian law. Civilians must be respected and protected. Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have, in their discussions with their Israeli counterparts, emphasised the importance of taking all possible measures to protect innocent civilians.