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 the increase in National Insurance Contributions on the (a) financial viability and (b) capacity of the third sector in the health sector.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises the vital work carried out by voluntary organisations, including in the heath sector, and is committed to supporting small businesses and charities. That is why the Employment Allowance has been more than doubled to £10,500. As a result, over half of the businesses with National Insurance contribution (NIC) liabilities will either benefit or see no increase in their contributions. In addition, eligible businesses and charities will continue to be able to claim reliefs on employer NICs, including those for employees under 21 years old and apprentices under 25 years old. Integrated care boards have developed plans to commission services in 2025/26 from providers, both National Health Service and third sector, to best meet the needs of their local populations, in response to national planning guidance.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of government health expenditure that will be spent on mental health in each year of this parliament.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Written Ministerial Statement was published on 27 March 2025. This contained information on Government health expenditure in 2024/25 and 2025/26.

No estimate has been made for the remaining years of Parliament beyond this. However, mental health remains a priority for the Government, and this is backed by our commitment to the Mental Health Investment Standard in 2025/26.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders have breached the conditions of their tag in each of the last five years.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

Available information on the number of individuals electronically monitored (EM) in each of the last five years is available here: Electronic Monitoring Statistics Annual Publication, March 2024 - GOV.UK, but is not broken down by nationality.

When an FNO breaches the conditions of their EM, the action taken will consider the nature and frequency of breach, the level of harm posed by the person and any previous history of non-compliance, including potential prosecution where the breach relates to refusal to comply with induction onto electronic monitoring (EM), deliberate attempts to remove or damage a device, or tampering with the device so that it fails to operate correctly.

Further details of potential sanctions for non-compliance with EM are set out on Page 93 of the Immigration bail guidance, available at Immigration bail.docx.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders have been tagged in each of the last five years.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

Available information on the number of individuals electronically monitored (EM) in each of the last five years is available here: Electronic Monitoring Statistics Annual Publication, March 2024 - GOV.UK, but is not broken down by nationality.

When an FNO breaches the conditions of their EM, the action taken will consider the nature and frequency of breach, the level of harm posed by the person and any previous history of non-compliance, including potential prosecution where the breach relates to refusal to comply with induction onto electronic monitoring (EM), deliberate attempts to remove or damage a device, or tampering with the device so that it fails to operate correctly.

Further details of potential sanctions for non-compliance with EM are set out on Page 93 of the Immigration bail guidance, available at Immigration bail.docx.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the penalty is for foreign national offenders who breach the conditions of their tag.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

Available information on the number of individuals electronically monitored (EM) in each of the last five years is available here: Electronic Monitoring Statistics Annual Publication, March 2024 - GOV.UK, but is not broken down by nationality.

When an FNO breaches the conditions of their EM, the action taken will consider the nature and frequency of breach, the level of harm posed by the person and any previous history of non-compliance, including potential prosecution where the breach relates to refusal to comply with induction onto electronic monitoring (EM), deliberate attempts to remove or damage a device, or tampering with the device so that it fails to operate correctly.

Further details of potential sanctions for non-compliance with EM are set out on Page 93 of the Immigration bail guidance, available at Immigration bail.docx.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding was awarded to Knutsford Town Council via the Shared Prosperity Fund.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is allocated to lead local authorities (LLAs). Details of full funding allocations for LLAs can be found here for 2022-25 and here for 2025-26.

Knutsford Town Council did not directly receive a UKSPF allocation for 2022-25 or 2025-26. However, Knutsford has benefited from UKSPF allocations made to Cheshire East Council who are the LLA for this area.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times were drugs were found in (a) men's and (b) women's prisons in each year between 2015 and 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The information requested can be found via the following link: 08_Finds_drug_type_data_tool.ods.

In the pivot table, “Prison Name” should be entered in the rows and “Month” in columns to find the number of incidents by prison.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what investigations his Department has carried out on the condition of copper telecommunications cabling in rural areas.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Department has not investigated the condition of copper telecommunications cabling in rural areas. However, we are aware that the overall condition of the copper networks is aging and deteriorating: the number of major incidents on the copper-based PSTN has been rising, with a 45% increase in 2024 compared to the previous year. Between April 2024 and March 2025, there were over 2,600 major incidents on the PSTN, each affecting 500 or more customers. The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks arising from the industry-led migration of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for all customers across the UK.