Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on hotel accommodation for (a) staff and (b) Ministers broken down by (i) UK stays and (ii) overseas stays in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Details of Minister travel is available online and can be found within this link: Ministry of Justice data: gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings - GOV.UK
The information requested in relation to hotel accommodation could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department spent on hotel accommodation for (a) staff and (b) Ministers broken down by (i) UK stays and (ii) overseas stays in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Melanie Ward - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
The expenditure on hotel accommodation for the Scotland Office in the 2024-25 financial year is shown below:
2024-25 Hotel Accommodation | |||
Category | UK Stays (£) | Overseas Stays (£) | Total (£) |
Ministers | 4,030 | 2,490 | 6,520 |
Officials | 136,431 | 14,071 | 150,502 |
Total | 140,461 | 16,561 | 157,022 |
All accommodation costs incurred by the Scotland Office are undertaken in accordance with the principles set out in Civil Service Management Code and the Ministerial Code, ensuring value for money for the public purse.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, if he will disclose the financial arrangements for the business delegation to India, including who paid for representatives of Manchester City FC to attend; and whether Manchester City FC contributed to the costs of the trip for themselves or other attendees.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Secretary of State's delegation all met their own travel and accommodation costs. The department bore the cost for some local transport and programming. Manchester City FC was not part of this delegation. In parallel, other delegations visited India, including those led by The Great North grouping of mayors, which included a representative from Manchester City FC. No UK Government funding was provided for this attendance.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much their Department spent on hotel accommodation for (a) staff and (b) Ministers broken down by (i) UK stays and (ii) overseas stays in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP policy is clear that a hotel may only be booked for clear business reasons and with approval from the staff member’s manager. The policy also puts limits on the cost of hotels, which naturally excludes premium hotels.
| UK stays no. | UK stays total | Overseas stays no. | Overseas stays total. | TOTAL |
Staff | 56358 | £7,215,290.21 | 169 | £96,861.25 | £7,312,151.46 |
Ministers | 7 | £975.68 | 2 | £551.34 | £1,527.02 |
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much their Department spent on hotel accommodation for (a) staff and (b) Ministers broken down by (i) UK stays and (ii) overseas stays in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spent the following on hotel accommodation in the 2024-25 financial year:
a) Hotel accommodation for staff
i) UK stays £826,968.74
ii) Overseas stays £253,618.00
b) Hotel accommodation for ministers
i) UK stays £5,744.07
ii) Overseas stays £9,709.83
Typically, these figures will include city tax where relevant, but in some cases this is paid and reclaimed separately, which we believe amounts to £2,334.97 for FY2024-25. We are unable to provide a breakdown of this figure.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when (a) she, (b) Ministers, (c) officials and (d) special advisers in her Department last met (i) representatives and (ii) associates of Manchester City Football Club.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
All Ministerial meetings, gifts, hospitality and donations are declared in the usual way through Departmental transparency returns published each Quarter.
A junior official of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport visited City in the Community on 24 September 2026 to learn about delivery of their Healthy People, Healthy Futures and Healthy Communities programmes. City in the Community is the charitable arm of Manchester City FC.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when (a) she, (b) Ministers, (c) officials and (d) special advisers in her Department last met the football regulator.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
In line with the usual process, all ministerial meetings are declared in quarterly transparency returns. As a non-departmental public body accountable to Parliament through the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport officials have routine and regular meetings with IFR colleagues.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what involvement or assistance her ministers, officials and special advisers had in the meeting between Manchester City Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the 14 September 2026; and if she will publish all relevant correspondence and minutes.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS were not involved in this meeting.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on how her Department will measure how the Enrichment Expansion Programme delivers against the Enrichment Framework and the government’s ambition to halve the enrichment gap.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Enrichment Expansion Programme (EEP), a DCMS-funded programme delivered in strategic partnership with DfE, will invest £22.5 million across 3 years to support up to 400 secondary schools to provide a youth led, tailored enrichment offer and help them meet the Enrichment Framework benchmarks. The Enrichment Framework is non-statutory guidance and will support education settings to plan a high-quality enrichment offer more strategically and intentionally with the aim of increasing the quality of and access to enrichment opportunities.
DCMS has commissioned an independent evaluator to conduct a process, impact and value for money evaluation of the EEP. The evaluation will consider how successfully the programme has delivered against its strategic objectives, which includes evaluating how successfully the programme has supported participating schools to meet the Framework benchmarks. This will include taking a baseline assessment of each school’s provision and pupil participation at the start of the programme to compare progress against by the end of the programme.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Mayor of London on bringing the Knife Angel to London.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary regularly engages with partners on tackling knife crime and serious violence. There have been no discussions between the Home Secretary and MOPAC specifically on the subject of bringing the Knife Angel to London.