Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she expects detained British national Alaa Abd el-Fattah to be released.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Alaa Abd El-Fattah was released from prison on 23 September 2025, following a Presidential pardon.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) ongoing work items, (b) unallocated cases and queries, (c) cases and queries allocated but not yet in progress and (d) cases and queries in progress but not yet completed were (i) being dealt with and (ii) still to be dealt with by MyCSP on 1 September 2025.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

MyCSP, the Civil Service pension scheme administrator, does not record the data in the format requested. It reports to the Cabinet Office on a monthly basis. As at 31 August 2025, 73,725 new work items were received in August. A work item reflects an individual piece of work or task. There are 46,983 outstanding items - 9,950 cases awaiting a response and 37,033 items assigned for work to be completed.

The outstanding volumes are in line with what we would expect to see based on the differing clearance targets for certain tasks, such as retirements which can take up to 4 months to process. This is what the Cabinet Office expects to see and monitors on a monthly basis.

The Cabinet Office continues to emphasise to MyCSP the importance of meeting contractual performance levels and improving member experience.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of Community Integrated Care's report entitled The Caring Economy – Unfair To Care 2025, published on 12 March 2025.

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

We appreciate the work undertaken and the findings presented in the Unfair to Care 2025 report. We are committed to supporting adult social care workers, turning the page on decades of low pay and insecurity. That is why we plan to introduce the first ever Fair Pay Agreement in 2028, backed by £500 million of funding to improve pay and conditions for the adult social care workforce.

The Impact Assessment for the Employment Rights Bill, published in October 2024, provides an initial, indicative assessment of the impacts that could result from primary legislation. This represents the best estimate for the likely impacts of a Fair Pay Agreement given the current stage of policy development.

The Spending Review 2025 allows for over £4 billion in additional funding available for ASC in 2028-29 compared to 2025-26. This includes other sources of income available to support adult social care, additional grant funding and an increase in the National Health Service’s contribution to adult social care via the Better Care Fund. This £4 billion increase includes £500 million to begin implementing the Fair Pay Agreement in 2028-29.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many care and support workers in England are paid the national living wage; and whether he plans to increase minimum pay for those workers.

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

Adult social care is a historically low paid sector. In 2024/25, 22% of care workers in the independent sector were paid the National Living Wage (NLW). The median hourly pay rate for care workers was £12.00 in March 2025, 56p higher than the NLW.

We are committed to transforming adult social care and supporting adult social care workers, turning the page on decades of low pay and insecurity. That is why we plan to introduce the first ever Fair Pay Agreement in 2028, backed by £500 million of funding to improve pay and conditions for the adult social care workforce. Negotiations between employee and employer representatives will shape how this funding will be used to enhance pay, terms, and conditions.

The Spending Review allows for over £4 billion in additional funding for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26. This includes other sources of income available to support adult social care, additional grant funding, and an increase in the National Health Service’s contribution to adult social care via the Better Care Fund. This £4 billion increase includes £500 million to begin implementing the Fair Pay Agreement in 2028/29.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her predecessor's oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green during the Oral Statement of 12 May 2025 on the Immigration System, Official Report, column 53, whether her Department has consulted people with direct experience of the immigration system in the development of the proposed consultation on settlement and citizenship changes.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Restoring control over the immigration system: white paper, sets out the government's plans to create an immigration system that promotes growth but is controlled and managed.

We will be consulting on the new settlement rules later this year. Following that, we will provide details of how this initiative will work, including on any transitional arrangements for people already in the UK.

The citizenship proposals will be developed in line with the settlement ones and further details on the proposed citizenship scheme will be provided at a suitable stage.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average income is of care and support workers; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of that income.

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

Adult social care is a historically low paid sector. In 2024/25, 22% of care workers in the independent sector were paid the National Living Wage (NLW). The median hourly pay rate for care workers was £12.00 in March 2025, 56p higher than the NLW. Some studies have found the median household income for residential care workers was lower than the national average.

We aim to transform adult social care and support adult social care workers, turning the page on decades of low pay and insecurity. That is why we plan to introduce the first ever Fair Pay Agreement in 2028, backed by £500 million of funding.

Fair Pay Agreements will empower worker representatives, employers and others to negotiate pay and terms and conditions in a responsible manner. This will help to address the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector; in turn supporting the delivery of high-quality care. Negotiations between employee and employer representatives will shape how this funding will be used to enhance pay, terms and conditions.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the budget was for the prison education dynamic purchasing system in each of the last five financial years.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Prison Education Budget has not been reduced but increased costs mean that many prisons will experience a reduction in core-contract provision.

The value of the Prisoner Education Framework contracts between 01 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 was £138 million. We are unable to provide a set contract value for the period 01 October 2025 – 30 September 2026 as this period spans two contract years. Comparisons between individual service budgets year on year are not straightforward due to changes in contract structure and delivery arrangements. Additionally, the overall prison education budget includes a range of services beyond core education and the Prison Education Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), such as libraries, higher education and further education and Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG).

The CIAG contract value for financial year 2025-26 is £9.3 million.

We have set out the previous five years’ DPS budgets below:

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the value is of the Prison Education Service Core Education contracts between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Prison Education Budget has not been reduced but increased costs mean that many prisons will experience a reduction in core-contract provision.

The value of the Prisoner Education Framework contracts between 01 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 was £138 million. We are unable to provide a set contract value for the period 01 October 2025 – 30 September 2026 as this period spans two contract years. Comparisons between individual service budgets year on year are not straightforward due to changes in contract structure and delivery arrangements. Additionally, the overall prison education budget includes a range of services beyond core education and the Prison Education Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), such as libraries, higher education and further education and Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG).

The CIAG contract value for financial year 2025-26 is £9.3 million.

We have set out the previous five years’ DPS budgets below:

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the value was of the Prison Education Service Core Education contracts between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Prison Education Budget has not been reduced but increased costs mean that many prisons will experience a reduction in core-contract provision.

The value of the Prisoner Education Framework contracts between 01 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 was £138 million. We are unable to provide a set contract value for the period 01 October 2025 – 30 September 2026 as this period spans two contract years. Comparisons between individual service budgets year on year are not straightforward due to changes in contract structure and delivery arrangements. Additionally, the overall prison education budget includes a range of services beyond core education and the Prison Education Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), such as libraries, higher education and further education and Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG).

The CIAG contract value for financial year 2025-26 is £9.3 million.

We have set out the previous five years’ DPS budgets below:

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the budget is for the prison education dynamic purchasing system in the 2025-26 financial year.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Prison Education Budget has not been reduced but increased costs mean that many prisons will experience a reduction in core-contract provision.

The value of the Prisoner Education Framework contracts between 01 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 was £138 million. We are unable to provide a set contract value for the period 01 October 2025 – 30 September 2026 as this period spans two contract years. Comparisons between individual service budgets year on year are not straightforward due to changes in contract structure and delivery arrangements. Additionally, the overall prison education budget includes a range of services beyond core education and the Prison Education Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), such as libraries, higher education and further education and Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG).

The CIAG contract value for financial year 2025-26 is £9.3 million.

We have set out the previous five years’ DPS budgets below:

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the value is of the Prison Education Service Careers Information, Advice and Guidance contracts in the 2025-26 financial year.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Prison Education Budget has not been reduced but increased costs mean that many prisons will experience a reduction in core-contract provision.

The value of the Prisoner Education Framework contracts between 01 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 was £138 million. We are unable to provide a set contract value for the period 01 October 2025 – 30 September 2026 as this period spans two contract years. Comparisons between individual service budgets year on year are not straightforward due to changes in contract structure and delivery arrangements. Additionally, the overall prison education budget includes a range of services beyond core education and the Prison Education Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), such as libraries, higher education and further education and Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG).

The CIAG contract value for financial year 2025-26 is £9.3 million.

We have set out the previous five years’ DPS budgets below:

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) unallocated cases and queries, (b) cases and queries allocated but not yet in progress and (c) cases and queries in progress but not yet completed being dealt with by the Civil Service Pension Scheme administrator, MyCSP Ltd. were still in progress as of 1October 2025.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

MyCSP; the Civil Service pension scheme administrator, does not record the data in the format requested. It reports to the Cabinet Office on a monthly basis. 85,503 new work items were received for the month of September. A work item reflects an individual piece of work or task. There are 67,540 outstanding items - 13,783 cases awaiting a response and 53,757 items assigned for work to be completed.

The outstanding volumes are in line with what we would expect to see based on the differing clearance targets for certain tasks, such as retirements which can take up to 4 months to process. This is what the Cabinet Office expects to see and monitors on a monthly basis.

The Cabinet Office continues to emphasise to MyCSP the importance of meeting contractual performance levels and improving member experience.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, updated on 6 June 2025, what estimate her Department has made of the number of (a) people under 18 years and (b) all people affected by the proposed changes to (i) settlement and (ii) citizenship.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The new settlement rules will be subject both to an equality impact assessment and to a public consultation later this year. Details of how this initiative will work will be provided around that consultation. The citizenship proposals will be developed in line with the settlement ones.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many breaches of Criminal Behaviour Orders have been recorded in each of the last five years, by (a) age group, (b) gender and (c) ethnicity of the offender.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The number of Criminal Behaviour Orders issued broken down by local justice area, police force area, sex, age, and the requested ethnicities for the last five years are provided in the attached tables.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, including breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order in the ‘Outcomes by Offences data tool’, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.

However, it is not possible to state what proportion of orders are breached, as the data does not track individuals who were issued a Criminal Behaviour Order and then subsequently breached the order – they are recorded separately.

Policy responsibility for Criminal Behaviour Orders is a matter for the Home Office.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of Criminal Behaviour Orders issued in each of the last five years were subsequently breached; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of these Orders in reducing reoffending.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The number of Criminal Behaviour Orders issued broken down by local justice area, police force area, sex, age, and the requested ethnicities for the last five years are provided in the attached tables.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, including breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order in the ‘Outcomes by Offences data tool’, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.

However, it is not possible to state what proportion of orders are breached, as the data does not track individuals who were issued a Criminal Behaviour Order and then subsequently breached the order – they are recorded separately.

Policy responsibility for Criminal Behaviour Orders is a matter for the Home Office.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many criminal behaviour orders have been issued to (a) White British, (b) Asian, (c) Black, (d) Chinese, (e) Arab and (f) other ethnic group offenders in each of the last five years.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The number of Criminal Behaviour Orders issued broken down by local justice area, police force area, sex, age, and the requested ethnicities for the last five years are provided in the attached tables.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, including breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order in the ‘Outcomes by Offences data tool’, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.

However, it is not possible to state what proportion of orders are breached, as the data does not track individuals who were issued a Criminal Behaviour Order and then subsequently breached the order – they are recorded separately.

Policy responsibility for Criminal Behaviour Orders is a matter for the Home Office.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many criminal behaviour orders have been issued to offenders in (a) under 18, (b) 18-24, (c) 25-34, (d) 35-44, (e) 45-54 and (f) 55+ age groups in each of the last five years.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The number of Criminal Behaviour Orders issued broken down by local justice area, police force area, sex, age, and the requested ethnicities for the last five years are provided in the attached tables.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, including breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order in the ‘Outcomes by Offences data tool’, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.

However, it is not possible to state what proportion of orders are breached, as the data does not track individuals who were issued a Criminal Behaviour Order and then subsequently breached the order – they are recorded separately.

Policy responsibility for Criminal Behaviour Orders is a matter for the Home Office.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many criminal behaviour orders have been issued to (a) male and (b) female offenders in each of the last five years.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The number of Criminal Behaviour Orders issued broken down by local justice area, police force area, sex, age, and the requested ethnicities for the last five years are provided in the attached tables.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, including breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order in the ‘Outcomes by Offences data tool’, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.

However, it is not possible to state what proportion of orders are breached, as the data does not track individuals who were issued a Criminal Behaviour Order and then subsequently breached the order – they are recorded separately.

Policy responsibility for Criminal Behaviour Orders is a matter for the Home Office.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of trends in variations in the use of criminal behaviour orders across police force areas.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The number of Criminal Behaviour Orders issued broken down by local justice area, police force area, sex, age, and the requested ethnicities for the last five years are provided in the attached tables.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, including breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order in the ‘Outcomes by Offences data tool’, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.

However, it is not possible to state what proportion of orders are breached, as the data does not track individuals who were issued a Criminal Behaviour Order and then subsequently breached the order – they are recorded separately.

Policy responsibility for Criminal Behaviour Orders is a matter for the Home Office.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many criminal behaviour orders have been issued in each local justice area in each of the last five years.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The number of Criminal Behaviour Orders issued broken down by local justice area, police force area, sex, age, and the requested ethnicities for the last five years are provided in the attached tables.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, including breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order in the ‘Outcomes by Offences data tool’, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.

However, it is not possible to state what proportion of orders are breached, as the data does not track individuals who were issued a Criminal Behaviour Order and then subsequently breached the order – they are recorded separately.

Policy responsibility for Criminal Behaviour Orders is a matter for the Home Office.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her predecessor's oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green during the Oral Statement of 12 May 2025 on the Immigration System, Official Report, column 53, whether her Department has consulted civil society organisations that provide services to (a) migrants experiencing (i) poverty and (ii) destitution and (b) all migrants in the development of the proposed consultation on settlement and citizenship changes.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

We will be consulting on the new settlement rules later this year. Following that, we will provide details of how this initiative will work, including on any transitional arrangements for people already in the UK.

The citizenship proposals will be developed in line with the settlement ones and further details on the proposed citizenship scheme will be provided at a suitable stage.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to safeguard patient data under NHS contracts with (a) Palantir and (b) other private sector data collectors.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Health Service operates to the highest standards of data security, and all organisations have governance arrangements in place to ensure the safe, legal storage and use of data. The NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) is built with robust security and privacy controls to ensure that access to NHS data is tightly governed and independently auditable.

All user activity within the FDP environment is logged for auditing purposes. These logs are actively monitored by both Palantir’s United Kingdom security team and the NHS Cyber Security Operations Centre, to detect and respond to any malicious activity. Security logs are encrypted at rest and in transit, and are stored on a secure Security Information and Event Management server which is accessible only to authorised personnel

Access to data within the FDP is governed by strict controls, including the principle of least privilege and mandatory access control systems. Only authorised users are granted access for approved purposes, and all permissions are subject to audit and review. In addition to these technical safeguards, the FDP and associated services contract includes audit provisions that allow NHS England to validate and confirm that contractual requirements are being met. These rights of audit are standard within NHS commercial agreements and provide assurance that the platform operates in accordance with NHS England’s expectations and legal obligations.

Further information on the FDP’s security and governance framework is available in the published contract documentation and supporting materials, a copy of which is attached.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will (a) review and (b) reconsider the contract between the NHS and Palantir for the Federated Data Platform, in the context of the (i) abolition of NHS England, (ii) opposition of the British Medical Association and (iii) comments of Peter Thiel on the NHS.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The provider of the Federated Data Platform (FDP) was identified through a rigorous, competitive procurement process in line with Government procurement legislation. The selection was made by multiple assessors against clear criteria following an open tender process where any supplier could respond with their solution. Potential suppliers were required to demonstrate their financial, commercial, security, and technical capability to meet contractual requirements.

The contract for the FDP includes provisions to ensure transparency. This includes regular audit provisions that allow NHS England to validate and confirm that contractual requirements are being met. These rights of audit are standard within National Health Service commercial agreements and provide assurance that the platform operates in accordance with NHS England’s expectations and legal obligations. There is no plan to reconsider the contract.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department holds contracts with Straight Flight Nevada Commercial Leasing LLC.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

I cannot comment on these matters for reasons of operational security.

Kashmir Black Day and self-determination

68 Is Too Late report by the Prison Officers' Association

Freezing of Local Housing Allowance

Tower Hamlets counter-demonstration on 25 October 2025

Detention of British journalist Sami Hamdi in the United States

Loan Charge and settlement terms offered to large companies and individuals

Yemen

Buying community energy locally

Conduct of the hon. Member for Runcorn and Helsby

Drug deaths (No. 2)

Strike action at the British Library

Five-year indefinite leave to remain pathway for Skilled Worker visa holders

London Underground cleaners

Football regulator

Leeds Stand Up To Racism’s event

Anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street