Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much her Department spent on communications in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Communications supports the government in delivering for the public, ensuring information is shared widely and effectively, informed by data and using a broad range of channels. In DCMS, an in-house team delivers communications with a limited supporting budget, used for example to help deliver campaigns that reach members of the public who don’t frequently engage with traditional media. In addition, internal communications ensures staff are informed and engaged - a proven driver of productivity - in support of delivering government and departmental priorities.
Spend on communications for the Department for Culture, Media & Sport during the 2023/24 financial year was £552,010.27 as outlined below:
Communications spending for FY 2023/24 | |
Media monitoring and services | £242,753.55 |
Campaigns | £156,121.22 |
Research & Evaluation | £107,775.00 |
Digital services & equipment | £20,510.50 |
Internal Communications | £24,850.00 |
To note, the figures for 2023/24 are still being audited and so could be subject to change. The Annual Report and Accounts to be published in November 2024 post audit.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department spent on communications in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra spent £1,503,000 on communications activity in the 2023/2024 financial year. Defra publishes details on spend on a monthly basis on GOV.UK as part of routine Government transparency arrangements.
Communications campaigns are an important part of delivering some of the Department’s policies. Communications spend allows us to reach audiences in places and ways that ensure they are more responsive and open to hearing about our work and hopefully changing their attitudes and behaviours towards positive action.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much her Department spent on communications in the latest year for which data is available.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Expenditure on communications staffing was £2,507,000 and non-pay related items/services for the communications team was £869,000, In 2023-24.
HM Treasury’s Communications Team is responsible for all communications conducted by HM Treasury and its Ministers to help inform, promote and explain HMT policies through traditional and new media channels.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment in each Parliamentary constituency; and what estimate she has made of the number of people that will be eligible after the proposed means testing for that payment.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Annual statistics relating to Winter Fuel Payment recipients are routinely published. The number of recipients within each parliamentary constituency is available at the following link: |
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1.2 million households will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments in England and 100,000 households in Wales post policy change (based on the number of current Pension Credit recipients). Source: Stat-Xplore - Table View (dwp.gov.uk). Winter Fuel Payments in Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Government.
Please note that Pension Credit claimants are the majority of those that will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, not all.
Also, the published Pension Credit figures refer to households, so the number of individuals will be higher (i.e. taking account of households where it is a couple claiming Pension Credit).
Furthermore, the above does not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up we might see as a result of the policy.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse of the asylum system was in each year since 2005; and what estimate she has made of the cost for 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data on asylum costs has been disclosed each year since 2013-14 in the Home Office’s Annual Report and Accounts. However, data for Financial Year 2024-25 is not yet published and will be available when the 2024-25 Annual Report and Accounts is published. Data for asylum costs was not published prior to Financial Year 2013-14.
Please refer to the below page references which are available through the following link:
Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Financial Year 2023-24 page 243 (page 247 on the PDF reader)
Financial Year 2022-23 page 244
Financial Year 2021-22 page 171
Financial Year 2020-21 page 159
Financial Year 2019-20 page 150
Financial Year 2018-19 page 135
Financial Year 2017-18 page 124
Financial Year 2016-17 page 115
Financial Year 2015-16 page 132 (page 133 on the PDF reader)
Financial Year 2014-15 page 124 (page 127 on the PDF reader)
Financial Year 2013-14 page 110 (page 127 on the PDF reader)
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the median cost per night for hotel accommodation for asylum seekers was in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what the cost was of the (a) most and (b) least expensive decile.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly, and fairly, including reducing the use of hotels over time. Additionally, the Government will be reviewing current Home Office arrangements to ensure efficiency and deliver value for money.
Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential; therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. The total specific breakdowns of hotel costs are not reportable in the format requested, but the expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The number of asylum seekers in receipt of Section 95 support is published quarterly. At the end of quarter four 2003 published statistics indicate that there were 47,148 people housed in Dispersal Accommodation and a further 30,362 in receipt of subsistence only support. The geographical location of these supported asylum seekers was not published at that time. Since 2019 data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation has been published at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the supported asylum population in each local authority ward in England was on 31 December 2003.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly, and fairly, including reducing the use of hotels over time. Additionally, the Government will be reviewing current Home Office arrangements to ensure efficiency and deliver value for money.
Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential; therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. The total specific breakdowns of hotel costs are not reportable in the format requested, but the expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The number of asylum seekers in receipt of Section 95 support is published quarterly. At the end of quarter four 2003 published statistics indicate that there were 47,148 people housed in Dispersal Accommodation and a further 30,362 in receipt of subsistence only support. The geographical location of these supported asylum seekers was not published at that time. Since 2019 data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation has been published at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will exempt independent special schools from the removal of business rates charitable rates relief.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 29 July 2024, the Government published a technical note confirming that the Government will remove private schools’ eligibility for charitable rates relief under business rates in England.
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government will bring forward primary legislation to amend the Local Government Finance Act 1988 to end relief eligibility for private schools. The change is intended to take effect from April 2025, subject to Parliamentary process.
As set out in the technical note, the Government recognises some pupils have special educational needs that can only be met in a private school. The Government has made clear that it will consider how to address the potential impact of these changes in cases where private school provision has been specified for pupils through an Education, Health and Care Plan
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much was loaned through refugee integration loans in each year since the scheme was created.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Refugee Integration Loans were introduced in 2007 following a public consultation and have operated over the last seventeen years to help recipients with the costs of integrating into UK society. They are funded by the Home Office, who make the initial decisions on applications. They are then administered and recouped by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Single applicants can borrow between £100 and £500 and if applying jointly the maximum amount increases to £780.
The Home Office work with DWP to administer the loans across different IT platforms. Consequently, data on the level of loans provided on an annual basis is not held in an easily reportable format and would require a manual search of records that could only be conducted at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much she expects will be loaned in refugee integration loans this year.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Refugee Integration Loans were introduced in 2007 following a public consultation and have operated over the last seventeen years to help recipients with the costs of integrating into UK society. They are funded by the Home Office, who make the initial decisions on applications. They are then administered and recouped by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Single applicants can borrow between £100 and £500 and if applying jointly the maximum amount increases to £780.
The Home Office work with DWP to administer the loans across different IT platforms. Consequently, data on the level of loans provided on an annual basis is not held in an easily reportable format and would require a manual search of records that could only be conducted at a disproportionate cost.