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, 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.
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, with reference to the Forestry Commission's annual reports for 2017-18 and 2024-25, which teams and roles within the Forestry Commission have expanded since April 2017; and for what reason the body's (a) overall headcount and (b) headcount of senior civil servants has increased in that time.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
| 2017/2018 | 2024/2025 |
Forestry Commission |
|
|
Staff | 310 | 560 |
Directors & Senior Civil Servants | 5 | 4 |
Forest Research |
|
|
Staff | 230 | 417 |
Directors & Senior Civil Servants | 1 | 3 |
Total |
|
|
Staff | 540 | 977 |
Directors & Senior Civil Servants | 6 | 7 |
Total | 546 | 984 |
The information on headcount for individual teams and roles is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Headcount changes within the Forestry Commission are a direct result of responding to the Government’s increased ambition for woodland creation alongside ensuring England’s woodlands remain resilient to the challenges associated with climate change and the impacts of pests and diseases.
Forest Research has increased its headcount in a range of scientific disciplines from silviculture to wind modelling and tree breeding. The focus on improving UK biosecurity has also led to an increase in the number of pathologists and entomologists. The Senior Civil Service headcount in Forest Research has increased by two following independent regrading of two existing posts.
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 MHCLG's Annual Report 2024/5, if he will publish a breakdown of the Gross Outturn and Income of CDEL in the Housing and Planning Estimate Line in FY 2024/5.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Please see table below for a breakdown of income and expenditure on the requested estimate rows and DEL control totals.
Estimate Row | Main Expenditure Streams | Gross | Income | Net |
Communities DEL Estimate Rows | 24/25 | £k | £k | £k |
B: Housing and Planning CDEL |
| 642,249 | - | 642,249 |
| 278,770 | - | 278,770 | |
| 199,897 | - | 199,897 | |
| 102,517 | - | 102,517 | |
| 63,781 | - | 63,781 | |
| 59,728 | - | 59,728 | |
| 711,000 | -711,000 | 0 | |
| 131,732 | -25,408 | 106,324 | |
Total | 2,189,675 | -736,408 | 1,453,267 | |
I: Housing and Planning (ALB)(Net) CDEL |
|
| 2,398,482 | |
|
| 847,683 | ||
|
| 298,720 | ||
|
| 150,599 | ||
|
| 18,197 | ||
Total |
| 3,713,681 | ||
C: Local Growth and Devolution RDEL Programme |
| 1,012,406 | - | 1,012,406 |
| 167,774 | - | 167,774 | |
| 101,533 | -101,755 | -222 | |
| 69,233 | - | 69,233 | |
| 36,891 | - | 36,891 | |
| 19,540 | - | 19,540 | |
| 59,509 | -387 | 59,122 | |
Total | 1,466,886 | -102,142 | 1,364,744 |
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, for a breakdown of the programme spend and income of RDEL in the Local Growth and Devolution Estimate Line in FY 2024/5, with reference to MHCLG's Annual Report 2024/5, SoPS 1.1.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Please see table below for a breakdown of income and expenditure on the requested estimate rows and DEL control totals.
Estimate Row | Main Expenditure Streams | Gross | Income | Net |
Communities DEL Estimate Rows | 24/25 | £k | £k | £k |
B: Housing and Planning CDEL |
| 642,249 | - | 642,249 |
| 278,770 | - | 278,770 | |
| 199,897 | - | 199,897 | |
| 102,517 | - | 102,517 | |
| 63,781 | - | 63,781 | |
| 59,728 | - | 59,728 | |
| 711,000 | -711,000 | 0 | |
| 131,732 | -25,408 | 106,324 | |
Total | 2,189,675 | -736,408 | 1,453,267 | |
I: Housing and Planning (ALB)(Net) CDEL |
|
| 2,398,482 | |
|
| 847,683 | ||
|
| 298,720 | ||
|
| 150,599 | ||
|
| 18,197 | ||
Total |
| 3,713,681 | ||
C: Local Growth and Devolution RDEL Programme |
| 1,012,406 | - | 1,012,406 |
| 167,774 | - | 167,774 | |
| 101,533 | -101,755 | -222 | |
| 69,233 | - | 69,233 | |
| 36,891 | - | 36,891 | |
| 19,540 | - | 19,540 | |
| 59,509 | -387 | 59,122 | |
Total | 1,466,886 | -102,142 | 1,364,744 |
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2026 to WPQ 104190, how many estates were liable to inheritance tax by constituency over the last five years aggregated.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As stated in my previous answer, these statistics are publicly available. The estimated number of estates liable to Inheritance Tax, broken down by UK (Westminster) Parliamentary Constituency, is published annually as part of HMRC’s Inheritance Tax Liabilities statistics, and is available in Table 12.9 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/inheritance-tax-liabilities-statistics.
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, what funding has been allocated to programmes relating to the UKs relationship with Europe in the (a) 2026-7, (b) 2028-9 and (c) 2029-30 financial years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is currently undertaking its internal business planning process, through which it will set programme budgets ahead of the new financial year. Details on DWP budgets are to be published in the explanatory memo for the 2026/27 Main Estimate.
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, what assessment his Department has made of the drivers of and reasons for the doubling of the wage and salary costs of the Land Registry since April 2017.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
HM Land Registry’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2016-17 and 2024-25 respectively show that staff costs for permanent HMLR employees have increased from £168 million to £326 million.
The drivers of this increase are a combination of the compound interest of annual pay increases, plus the increase in permanent employees from 4,148 at the end of March 2017, to 6,907 at the end of March 2025.
The principal reason for the staff increase at the Agency has been the need to invest in its people and systems to improve the services it provides following a period of historic underinvestment following the property market crash in 2007-08, prior to which HMLR had over 8,000 permanent employees.
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, what assessment his Department has made of the drivers of and reasons for the doubling of the wage and salary costs of the Planning Inspectorate since April 2017.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Planning Inspectorate deals with a range of planning and environmental casework from across government including:
Since 2017 the Planning Inspectorate has increased its employees by approximately 60%, including an increase in full time equivalent Inspectors providing advice, decisions, and recommendations from 261 to 421 (61%).
This reflects the significant increase and complexity in the Planning Inspectorate's casework over that period as well as a significant investment in digital services which has been necessary for the organisation to fulfil its critical role in delivering the agendas of successive governments.
Inflation accounts for about a third of the increase in costs over the period.
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, for what reason employment and wage costs have increased at the Intellectual Property Office since April 2017.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is an executive agency of the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), with delegated responsibility for operational matters including salaries. Salary costs have increased since 2017 due to two main factors. Headcount has increased over this period, driven both by a sustained increase in demand for IP Services plus investment in a Transformation programme aimed at delivering better digital services to our customers and internal frontline staff. The second reason is the application of the annual pay awards. IPO complies fully with the Cabinet Office annual pay remit guidance and annual pay cases are approved by HMT through a rigorous business case process.
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, for what reason employment and wage costs have increased at the Nuclear Decommisioning Authority since April 2017.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The NDAs mission involves complex and hazardous nuclear decommissioning, requiring advanced technical engineering and project management skills. These roles command higher than average salaries due to scarcity and competition for nuclear expertise.
Since 2017 the NDA receive funding from HMG each year which reflects the NDAs mission. This funding has led to operations to accelerate hazard reduction at sites like Sellafield and Dounreay. This acceleration has meant an increase in employment and wages at the NDA who continually review how they operate to ensure value for money to the taxpayer whilst keeping the UK safe and secure.