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, whether the Government plans to mark the 1,100th anniversary of the unification of England next year.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
There are no plans at present for the Government to mark the 1,100th anniversary of the unification of England.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, if he will publish a breakdown of the spending of Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit spending on Deliver an ambitious industrial strategy, net in that financial year.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Please find below breakdown of the ‘Deliver an ambitious industrial strategy’ line outturn for FY 2024-25 per table 1 in Annex A of the DSIT Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25:
Geospatial Commission £147.676m
Met Office £146.027m
National Measurement Service £121.310m
Office for Life Sciences £42.384m
Position, Navigation & Timing (PNT) Office £0.564m
Innovation & Research £0.215m
Research Base Innovation £0.012m
Total £458.188m
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many unique offenders were convicted for an indictable offence and did not receive immediate custody in 2024 with i) zero, ii) 1-2, iii) 3-6, iv) 7-10, v) 11-14, vi) 15-25, vii) 26-35, viii) 36-45, ix) 46 - 60, x) 61-75 and xi) 76 or more previous convictions.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. The table includes data covering 2024 on the number of offenders who received a conviction but not an immediate custodial sentence split by number of previous convictions. This data is not routinely published or held in an assessable 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.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to SOPS 1.1. in the Department's 2024/5 Annual Report, if she will publish (a) a breakdown of resource spending on G) Modernising and reforming the work of the Government functions; (b) the £46,366,000 spent in gross administration costs; and (c) the £203,636,000 spent in gross programme costs.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The net resource spending on ‘Modernising and reforming the work of the Government functions’ for 2024-25 was £204.375m. The breakdown of gross expenditure is split between Admin and Programme spend is shown below.
The £46.366m Admin spent in gross administration costs is broken down as below:
Purchase of goods and services | £28.627m |
Staff costs | £17.737m |
Other operating costs | £0.002m |
Total | £46.366m |
The £203.636m spent in gross programme costs is broken down as below:
OneLogin | £82.8m |
Gov.Uk | £21.6m |
Product and Services | £15.9m |
Government Chief Product Officer | £9.5m |
Other (Includes Notify) | £73.7m |
Total | £203.5m |
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 his Department's publication entitled High Street Rental Auctions: Non-statutory guidance, updated 5 June 2025, what steps her Department has taken to commence the use of High Street Rental Auctions powers since the publication of that guidance.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government is firmly committed to tackling high street vacancy. Since publishing the non-statutory guidance on 2 December 2024, we have continued to work closely with the 12 early adopters and other local authorities to implement High Street Rental Auctions (HSRA), in addition to providing support and targeted funding. Uptake continues to grow as more councils adopt the measures and are reporting reductions in long-term vacancies, with landlords taking action even before formal notices or auction processes begin.
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, whether the operation of the household benefit cap relies on manual administration; and how many people in his Department work on its administration.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The benefit cap is calculated automatically as part of the UC calculation on the UC administrative system and no manual processing is involved. A small number of households (340, as of August 2025) are capped via Housing Benefit (HB). The calculations relating to these capping decisions are completed by 1.6 FTE staff in post (SIP) within the department.
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, for what reason the (a) number of staff and (b) operating expenditure have increased at the Animal Plant Health Agency since April 2017.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The increase in expenditure is mainly due to variable costs for the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) response to exotic disease outbreaks, principally avian influenza.
When the UK left the EU, staff and costs increased in APHA to resource additional trade and border responsibilities including the management of Sevington which transferred from Defra to APHA in 2025.
APHA required additional operational resource to support the introduction of the new ‘green lane’ schemes, as part of the Windsor Framework in 2023, to simplify requirements for moving goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
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, for what reason the (a) number of staff and (b) and operating expenditure have increased at the Environment Agency since April 2017.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The increase in both staffing levels and operating expenditure at the Environment Agency since April 2017 reflects the expansion of its responsibilities, operational activity, and its role in supporting the Government’s growth agenda. Staff numbers have grown to support increased flood and coastal erosion risk management, strengthened environmental regulation and enforcement, and delivery of additional functions following EU Exit.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people started apprenticeships who were aged a) 16, b) 17, c) 18, d) 19, e) 20, f) 21, g) 22, h) 23, i) 24 in each year since 2017-18.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Apprenticeship starts in England for the individual ages requested are available in the accompanying file.
Further information on apprenticeship starts can be found in the department’s apprenticeships statistics publication, which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to his answer to question 106583, if he will publish a breakdown of the £2bn in capital spending by his Department in 2024-25 in rows 2578, 2579, 9185 and 9197 of the OSCAR Annual Data 2024-5 (Outturn) spreadsheet, under the PESA Economic Group Codes (a) Capital Support for Local Government (net), (b) Capital Support for Public Corporations, (c) Capital Grants to Private Sector Companies (net) and (d) Capital Support for Public Corporations.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It is not possible to provide a breakdown for individual rows within the dataset due to the way the OSCAR system shows monthly data collected during the year from departmental management accounts on a separate line to adjustments made at year-end to align final outturn with the published annual report and accounts.