Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to table 1 of Annex A of the Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, if he will publish a breakdown of the spending of both (a) Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit and (b) Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit on Delivering Affordable energy for households and businesses in that financial year.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

A detailed breakdown of the Resource and Capital Departmental Expenditure limit spending in 2024-25 under Delivering Affordable energy for households and businesses and Ensuring that our energy system is reliable and secure is held on the HM Treasury database OSCAR and published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oscar-annual-release-november-2025.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to table 1 of Annex A of the Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, if he will publish a breakdown of the spending of both (a) Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit and (b) Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit on Ensuring that our energy system is reliable and secure in that financial year, including the value of the Bulb loan which was repaid in that financial year.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

A detailed breakdown of the Resource and Capital Departmental Expenditure limit spending in 2024-25 under Delivering Affordable energy for households and businesses and Ensuring that our energy system is reliable and secure is held on the HM Treasury database OSCAR and published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oscar-annual-release-november-2025.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to table SoPS 1.2 of his Department's annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, if he will publish a breakdown of the Gross Outturn and Income of CDEL in the Local Growth and Devolution Estimate Line in financial year 2024-25.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Please see table below for a breakdown of the gross outturn and income expenditure streams of the requested estimate row for CDEL.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will review the Answer her Department provided to Question 99845 on 18 December 2025, with reference to the Answer provided to Question 99844 on 8 January 2026.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

We have corrected the answer to PQ 99845 and apologise for the error.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to table 1 of Annex A of the Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, if he will publish a breakdown of the spending of Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) spending on Science and Research, excluding CDEL on Science and Research (ALB), net in that financial year.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Please find below a breakdown of the Science and Research line outturn for FY 2024-25 per table 1 in Annex A of the DSIT Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25:

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at the Financial Reporting Council since April 2017.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has taken on several new responsibilities following its (2016) designation as competent authority for audit, and additional work resulting from the UK's exit from the European Union. These include the registration of additional third country auditors, a new programme of assessing third country audit regulatory equivalence and adequacy, and supporting agreements on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. The FRC has also put extra resource into the supervision of audits and expediting enforcement proceedings.

Staff costs have increased in direct proportion to the increase in headcount.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at Companies House since April 2017.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Companies House’s staff numbers have increased in recent years as a result of its extensive transformation to strengthen the integrity and transparency of the UK corporate register. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 has significantly expanded Companies House’s remit, introducing new powers such as identity verification and enhanced investigation and enforcement to tackle misuse of the register and combat economic crime. Alongside enhancements to its digital and data systems, these changes have required additional specialist capability to implement and maintain. These factors, together with the implementation of civil service pay awards, have affected staff costs over this period.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Question 100498, how many households on Housing Benefit and Universal Credit who have flowed off the benefit cap are in the Other outcome category by reason of receiving an exempting benefit during the quarter to (a) August 2025, (b) May 2025, (c) February 2025 and (d) November 2024.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit (HB) or Universal Credit (UC) that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, in the HB Cumulative Caseload dataset and the UC Cumulative Caseload dataset, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore, with monthly off-flows data currently available to July 2025.

The HB statistics do have an Outcome at off-flow category for ‘Household receiving other exempt benefit (Employment Support Allowance support group / Disability Living Allowance / Industrial Injuries / Personal Independent Payment).’

However, statistics on the number of exempting benefit outcomes for UC are included in the Outcome at off-flow category of ‘Other outcome’, and to produce a further breakdown of this group would incur disproportionate cost.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at The Insolvency Service since April 2017.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Insolvency Service has expanded its responsibilities in respect of resourcing the transfer of criminal enforcement functions from the Department, work to distribute payments to creditors from Payment Protection Insurance realisations, and the Insolvency Service's expanded role as it has taken on responsibility for enforcement activity related to the economic crime programme.

These factors, together with the implementation of civil service pay awards, have also affected staff costs over this period.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence did not receive an immediate custodial sentence and had a) one, b) two, c) three, d) four and e) five or more prior convictions for violence against the person in each of the past 5 years.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. This table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:

• The number of offenders who were a) convicted and b) cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences, and

• The number of offenders who were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences.

This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.

Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who were (a) convicted and (b) cautioned for an indictable offence did not receive an immediate custodial sentence and had (i) one, (ii) two, (iii) three, (iv) four and (iv) five or more prior convictions for a violent offence in each of the last five years.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. This table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:

• The number of offenders who were a) convicted and b) cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences, and

• The number of offenders who were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences.

This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.

Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence did not receive an immediate custodial sentence and had a) one, b) two, c) three, d) four and e) five or more prior convictions for theft or robbery in each of the past 5 years.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. This table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:

• The number of offenders who were a) convicted and b) cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences, and

• The number of offenders who were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences.

This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.

Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence did not receive an immediate custodial sentence and had a) one, b) two, c) three, d) four and e) five or more prior convictions for burglary in each of the past 5 years.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. This table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:

• The number of offenders who were a) convicted and b) cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences, and

• The number of offenders who were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences.

This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.

Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are claiming (a) housing benefit and (b) the housing element of universal credit in each broad rental market area (BRMA) and what was the average amount claimed in each BRMA in 2025.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Information on the number of households receiving the UC Housing Element in the Private Rented Sector by Broad Rental Market Area is available on Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/).

Providing the rest of the information requested would incur disproportionate cost.

Information on HB caseload and average award is available on Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/) disaggregated by Local Authority, but not BRMA.

Breakdowns of the UC Housing Element and Housing Benefit are available at national level in the Benefit Caseload and Expenditure Tables (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2025).

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of staff in her Department were promoted (a) in-grade and (b) to a higher grade in the last year broken down by (i) performance marking in the previous year and (ii) grade.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The table below shows the grade breakdown and proportions of promotions to a higher grade (excluding temporary promotions) between November 2025 and October 2025. Please note: The promotion counts shown are based on internal departmental staff who were promoted to a higher grade within the department between November 2024 and October 2025. These figures exclude individuals who joined the department on promotion and those who left on promotion to another department, as this information is not captured in our central HR systems.

Since 2019 the flexible performance management framework has enabled departments to adopt a performance management approach which best suits their organisational and cultural needs. There is no common performance rating across government. The department does not currently operate a performance management system that includes performance markings. However, it is in the process of introducing ratings for its Senior Civil Servants, with ratings for the 2025/26 performance year due to be determined in Spring 2026.

Data has been suppressed where there are fewer than 30 employees.

*The grade displayed in the table represents the grade to which staff were promoted.

** The percentage scores in the table represent the number of promotions to each higher grade between November 2024 and October 2025, expressed as a proportion of the average headcount for that higher grade during the same period.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to table SOPS 1.2 from his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2024/5, if he will publish a breakdown of CDEL in Section A - Department for Business and Trade, covering both gross spending and income.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The breakdown of Estimate line ‘A DBT – Department for Business and Trade (DEL)’ for CDEL outturn of £492,483,000 for 2024-25 is:

¹Difference between this figure and figure in Estimate due to rounding.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish a lookup table matching census Output Areas to Broad Rental Market Areas.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government has no plans to publish a lookup table matching census Output Areas to Broad Rental Market Areas.

The Broad Rental Market Areas for a specific postcode or local authority area can be found using the Valuation Office Agency’s LHA Direct search. This can be found here.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households are claiming housing benefits, either housing benefit or the housing element of Universal credit, in each Broad Market Rental Area (a) in total, (b) in the private rented sector and (c) in the social rented sector.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Information on the number of households receiving the Universal Credit (UC) Housing Element in the Private Rented Sector by Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA) is available on Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/).

Information on Housing Benefit (HB) caseload is available on Stat-Xplore disaggregated by Local Authority, but not by BRMA.

Housing support for social rented sector households claiming either Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit is not determined within BRMAs. BRMAs only apply to housing support in the private rented sector.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the mean size in hectares was of businesses ranked in the top 4% of SFI annual revenue payments by October 2025.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The mean size of a businesses ranked in the top 4% of Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) annual revenue payments as of October 2025 is 803 hectares.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the total annual payments made to businesses under the SFI for actions SAM1, NUM1, IPM1 and HRW1 (broken down by individual action) were at 1 October 2025.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As of 1st October 2025, there were 32,405, Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements which included actions (C)SAM1, (C) NUM1, (C)HRW1 or (C)IPM1.

The number of agreements containing these actions and the value of these actions broken down by individual action are shown in the table below.

To Note: An Agreement can have multiple options so for example may have NUM1, SAM1 & IPM1 so may be counted multiple times under number of agreements in the table above.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, as of 1st October 2025 how many SFI agreements included actions SAM1, NUM1, HRW1 and IPM1 broken down by individual action.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As of 1st October 2025, there were 32,405, Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements which included actions (C)SAM1, (C) NUM1, (C)HRW1 or (C)IPM1.

The number of agreements containing these actions and the value of these actions broken down by individual action are shown in the table below.

To Note: An Agreement can have multiple options so for example may have NUM1, SAM1 & IPM1 so may be counted multiple times under number of agreements in the table above.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the mean and median total income per business for the Sustainable Farming Incentive was in the year to October 2025.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Farm businesses can hold multiple Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements under the SFI scheme. As of October 2025, there were 44,474 Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreements including SFI 23 and SFI 24. Over the full term of the agreement the mean value of these agreements was £57,000 and the median value of these agreements was £32,000.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to table SOPS 1.1 from the Department's 2024/5 Annual Report and Accounts, what categories of spending are covered by the total of £1,497,088,000 covering administration and programme expenditure in Section A - Department for Business and Trade (Departmental Expenditure Limits).

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The breakdown of Estimate line ‘A DBT – Department for Business and Trade (DEL)’ for RDEL outturn of £1,497,088,000 for 2024-25 is:

¹Difference between this figure and figure in SOPS due to rounding.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, for what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at the National Physical Laboratory since April 2017.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is a Public Corporation owned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. NPL manages its staffing levels in response to demand for its services from UK Government, industry and academia, and in line with forecasted revenue.

Staffing numbers and costs at NPL have increased since 2017 because of increased demand from Government and industry to build national capability in measurement and standards, aligned with industry needs and emerging tech.

Staffing costs have also increased through annual pay awards, which is managed by NPL and takes account of Managing Public Money and public sector pay policy.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, for what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at the Information Commissioner's Office since April 2017.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is independent of government and sets its own staffing levels to meet its statutory duties. The ICO is funded primarily through the data protection fee and manages its resources in accordance with its regulatory obligations.

The volume and complexity of data protection work have increased significantly in recent years, including implementation of the UK GDPR and an expanded regulatory remit. To fulfil these responsibilities and respond to rising public and business demand, the ICO has required additional specialist capacity. Staffing costs have therefore increased in line with workforce growth and market rates for technical expertise, following the civil service pay guidance.

You can find more information about ICO’s staff number and costs in their annual reports, which can be viewed at: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/our-information/annual-reports/.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at the Competition and Markets Authority since April 2017.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Changes in staff numbers at the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) since 1 April 2017 have been affected by the expansion of its responsibilities in respect of competition enforcement and merger control following the UK’s departure from the EU; the introduction of new statutory functions and responsibilities, including under the UK Internal Market Act 2020, leading to the creation of the Office for the Internal Market and the Subsidy Advice Unit; and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which established the digital markets competition regime. These factors, together with the implementation of civil service pay awards, have also affected staff costs over this period.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what was the a) mean and b) median amount of housing support claimed by people in each local authority who were on i) Housing Benefit ii) the Housing Element of UC and iii) either Housing Benefit or the Housing Element of UC.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

I) The information requested for Housing Benefit (HB) mean amounts are available on Stat-Xplore (link below).

II) Universal Credit (UC) is a single integrated benefit made up of different elements, such as Housing. Benefit units receive one combined monthly payment, and any deductions apply to the total award, not individual elements. Breakdowns of the UC Housing Element are available at national level in the Benefit Expenditure Tables (link below). However, the underlying data is not sufficient to produce these breakdowns at a sub-national level, such as local authorities. As a result, it is not possible to robustly estimate mean or median element of UC at a local authority level.

III) Due to data quality limitations that prevent calculation of (ii), it is not possible to estimate the population receiving either HB or the housing element of UC.

Stat-Xplore

Benefit Expenditure and Caseload Tables: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2025 - GOV.UK

Found: Letter dated 20/01/2026 from Louise Sandher-Jones MP to Neil O'Brien MP regarding a question concerning