Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the average length of time was in which households were without power due to outage in (a) the (i) Basingstoke & Deane: Oakley and The Candovers, (ii) East Hampshire: Bentworth & Froyle, (iii) East Hampshire: Binsted Bentley & Selborne, (iv) East Hampshire: Four Marks & Medstead, (v) East Hampshire: Ropley Hawkley & Hangers, (vi) East Hampshire: Froxfield Sheep & Steep, (vii) East Hampshire: Buriton & East Meon local authority wards and (b) (A) Hampshire, (B) the South East and (C) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department does not hold information on all historic power outages. The UK has one of the most reliable energy systems in the world and maintaining a secure electricity supply is a key priority for Government.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the average (a) length of (b) time off the job in apprenticeships in (i) England (ii) Germany.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The average expected duration of an apprenticeship in England is published in the apprenticeships statistics publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/e4c10266-a793-4c29-0de2-08dd5ccbf23a.
The ‘Apprenticeship evaluation 2023: learner, non-completer and employer surveys’ contains survey-based information on apprenticeship duration and off-the-job training hours undertaken, noting that proportions are given rather than averages: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-evaluation-2023-learner-non-completer-and-employer-surveys.
The last published estimate of average off-the-job training hours in England covers the 2018/19 academic year. See Table 3 in the ‘Further education and skills: November 2019 statistics’ publication here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ddd3bbd40f0b650d9ba9b15/FE_and_Skills_commentary_November_2019.pdf.
The publication of off-the-job training hours estimates was stopped from the 2019/20 academic year onwards after a review of their quality, particularly regarding the robustness of comparisons over time.
Equivalent information for Germany is not held by the department.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to measure the actual costs for the schools participating in the existing National School Breakfast programme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The national school breakfast programme (NSBP) is a demand-led programme, established under the previous government. It is a food-only programme which does not include staffing costs. Eligible schools place breakfast food orders with the department’s supplier, Family Action, via their portal, rather than being allocated funding directly. Schools are charged 25% of food and delivery costs by the supplier, with the department covering the remaining 75% of the costs. Schools can therefore order as much food as they need on the system.
The department works closely with Family Action to monitor take-up of the programme by eligible schools, alongside monitoring school-level food and delivery costs. The number of schools on the scheme is relatively stable.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the evidential basis is for her Department's funding allocations to schools for the National School Breakfast programme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The national school breakfast programme (NSBP) is a demand-led programme, established under the previous government. It is a food-only programme which does not include staffing costs. Eligible schools place breakfast food orders with the department’s supplier, Family Action, via their portal, rather than being allocated funding directly. Schools are charged 25% of food and delivery costs by the supplier, with the department covering the remaining 75% of the costs. Schools can therefore order as much food as they need on the system.
The department works closely with Family Action to monitor take-up of the programme by eligible schools, alongside monitoring school-level food and delivery costs. The number of schools on the scheme is relatively stable.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to payroll costs from the Autumn Budget 2024 on self funders in social care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Self-funder fee rates are set by providers of adult social care, the majority of which are in the independent sector. The Department does not have powers to set or recommend the level of self-funder fees that care homes charge. However, all businesses are required to comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 by ensuring that they use fair and clear terms in their standard agreements with customers.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the number of prison places removed through (a) prisons closing, (b) parts of prisons being removed from use, (c) loss of modular units, (d) reductions in crowding places and (e) other removals was in each year from the earliest year for which data are available.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As previously set out in an ad-hoc release in October 2024, the previous Government only managed to increase prison capacity by c.500 places between May 2010 and April 2024.
As we have also previously published, the previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate, however available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures.
The answers to both questions, dating back to 2010, have been provided as an Excel document alongside this response. Please note that HMPPS does not collate data in the specific categories requested in PQ 36626 so these have been substituted for the equivalent categories in which the data is held. The ‘other’ category in the table includes all other changes such as places temporarily out of use for maintenance.
Lastly, due to the complexities around prison crowding data, we are unable to provide a breakdown alongside the other information. However, data on prison crowding is published annually and a comprehensive overview can be viewed at HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2023 to March 2024 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) number of prison places added, (b) number of prison places removed and (c) net change in the number of prison places was in each year from the earliest year for which data are available.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As previously set out in an ad-hoc release in October 2024, the previous Government only managed to increase prison capacity by c.500 places between May 2010 and April 2024.
As we have also previously published, the previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate, however available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures.
The answers to both questions, dating back to 2010, have been provided as an Excel document alongside this response. Please note that HMPPS does not collate data in the specific categories requested in PQ 36626 so these have been substituted for the equivalent categories in which the data is held. The ‘other’ category in the table includes all other changes such as places temporarily out of use for maintenance.
Lastly, due to the complexities around prison crowding data, we are unable to provide a breakdown alongside the other information. However, data on prison crowding is published annually and a comprehensive overview can be viewed at HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2023 to March 2024 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the number of prison places added through (a) prisons opening, (b) small secure houseblocks, (c) rapid deployment cells, (d) crowding places and (e) other additions was in each year from the earliest year for which data are available.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As outlined in the recently published 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, this Government is committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places through the 20,000 prison place programmes, which the previous Government failed to deliver.
We are aiming to deliver the further 14,000 places by 2031 through our four new prisons, in addition to HMPs Five Wells and Fosse Way which have already been built. Other places within the 20,000 place programmes will be delivered through expansion of the existing estate, including Small Secure Houseblocks and Rapid Deployment Cells, additional houseblocks and refurbishments on the existing estate, additional crowded places available in the new manage and maintain private prison contracts, Category D Estate Expansion, Small Secure Investments and Urgent Temporary Accommodation.
No places have been delivered through the Small Secure Houseblocks Programme to date. ‘Other (e)’ in the table below consists of additional crowded places available in the new manage and maintain private prison contracts, Category D Estate Expansion, Small Scale Investments and Urgent Temporary Accommodation.
Data has been provided from this point as the programmes in the question (Rapid Deployment Cells and Small Secure Houseblocks) are new delivery types from the 20k programmes, which began in 2020. Due to the complexities around prison crowding data (d), we are unable to provide a breakdown in the below table. However, data on prison crowding is published annually and a comprehensive overview can be viewed at HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2023 to March 2024 - GOV.UK This data does not represent the net breakdown of supply across this period, which can be found through PQs 36624 and 36626, or the October 2024 Ad Hoc publication which can be found at The_number_of_prison_places_built_and_closed__2010-2024_.docx.
YEAR | PROGRAMME | PLACES ADDED |
2020 | New Prisons (a) | 0 |
| Small Secure Houseblocks (b) | 0 |
| Rapid Deployment Cells (c) | 0 |
| Houseblocks and Refurbishments (e) | 651 |
| Other (e) | 0 |
2021 | New Prisons (a) | 0 |
| Small Secure Houseblocks (b) | 0 |
| Rapid Deployment Cells (c) | 0 |
| Houseblocks and Refurbishments (e) | 0 |
| Other (e) | 407 |
2022 | New Prisons (a) | 1,715 |
| Small Secure Houseblocks (b) | 0 |
| Rapid Deployment Cells (c) | 0 |
| Houseblocks and Refurbishments (e) | 0 |
| Other (e) | 353 |
2023 | New Prisons (a) | 1,715 |
| Small Secure Houseblocks (b) | 0 |
| Rapid Deployment Cells (c) | 406 |
| Houseblocks and Refurbishments (e) | 165 |
| Other (e) | 284 |
2024 | New Prisons (a) | 0 |
| Small Secure Houseblocks (b) | 0 |
| Rapid Deployment Cells (c) | 361 |
| Houseblocks and Refurbishments (e) | 214 |
| Other (e) | 251 |
2025 | New Prisons (a) | 0 |
| Small Secure Houseblocks (b) | 0 |
| Rapid Deployment Cells (c) | 0 |
| Houseblocks and Refurbishments (e) | 0 |
| Other (e) | 126 |
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment she has made of rates of school absence in academic year 2023-24 in England relative to the other home nations.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not publish statistics on the other home nations besides England. The rates of school absence on the other home nations have been aggregated from the individual nations’ government websites.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Low Emission Zones on the cost of school trips made by coach by schools in (a) Greater London and (b) other parts of the country.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Schools typically offer a range of enriching opportunities, including trips, for pupils but it is for schools to decide what to offer in line with their curriculum and what works for the children and families they serve.
The department has not made an assessment of the impact of Low Emission Zones on the cost of school trips made by coach.