Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of he number of UK students who will access the Erasmus scheme in 2027-28, 2028-29 and 2029-30.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The UK and European Commission have reached an agreement in principle for the UK’s association to Erasmus+ in 2027.
The department expects that over 100,000 people could benefit from mobility and partnership opportunities from participation in 2027. Our immediate focus is on realising the benefits of Erasmus+ association in 2027.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of staff in each grade were rated in the top performance category in the last year.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
All CO staff members (in scope) are allocated a performance marking at both the mid (Oct) and end of year (April) points of the performance year as part of their performance reviews.
The below table sets out what proportion of staff in each grade were awarded an Exceeding marking for the 24/25 end of year process.
Grade | No of Employees at grade | Exceeding |
SCS3 | 14 | <5 |
SCS2 | 87 | 13 |
SCS1 | 294 | 65 |
G6 | 772 | 169 |
G7 | 1887 | 309 |
SEO | 1163 | 208 |
HEO | 1325 | 161 |
EO | 758 | 92 |
AO | 387 | 42 |
This data covers all performance markings which have been uploaded onto our central system (SOP).
The data will not include all agencies as many have their own dedicated systems to record this information and are not subject to the CO performance processes.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of staff 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 Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
This data would be difficult to present, due to there being no definition of an in grade promotion and limited data on staff who go on promotion to another department. Collation and presentation of this data would require significant manual work and data linking across departments.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many estates were liable to inheritance tax passing on death in each parliamentary constituency, over the last five year period taken as a whole.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
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. The latest tax year for which statistics are available is 2022-23; data for earlier years are available on the National Archives website. Data for 2023-24 is scheduled to be published in July 2026 in the normal way.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total cost was of (a) settlement agreements and (b) special severance payments made to departing staff in the last year.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
For the last financial year, the total cost to the Cabinet Office of payments associated with settlement agreements is set out in Annual Report and Accounts. Please find attached link here
Figures for 2025/26 are not yet available as the analysis has not been conducted and the figures have not been audited. These will be published in the department's 2025/26 Annual Report and Accounts in September 2026.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of UK students who will access the Erasmus scheme in 2027-28, 2028-29 and 2029-30.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We have now concluded negotiations with the European Commission on association to Erasmus+ in 2027. Our commitment covers the 2027/28 academic year.
We will now work closely with institutions and our young people to maximise take-up, particularly among disadvantaged groups. We expect that over 100,000 people could benefit from mobility and partnership opportunities from Erasmus+ participation in 2027-28.
Any participation in Erasmus+ into the next Multiannual Financial Framework will need to be agreed in the future, and be based on a fair and balanced contribution.
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, what assessment her Department has made of the drivers of and reasons for the almost trebling of the wage and salary costs of Arts Council England since April 2017.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Arts Council England (ACE) is an arms-length body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). As such, ACE is responsible for its own operational matters, including wage and salary costs. Nevertheless, they are in scope of the Cabinet Office annual pay remit guidance and, as the sponsoring department, DCMS oversees ACE's activities to ensure adherence to that central guidance and the principles of Managing Public Money.
It is important to note that an accounting adjustment impacts any comparison between reported staff costs between April 2017 and March 2025 as presented in the accounts. The accounts in 16/17 are not directly comparable to other years, as the figure is reduced by £3m due to an unutilised pension provision.
Nevertheless, staff costs have increased over the period. This reflects some headcount growth (in part to support new funding initiatives as well as improved approaches to counter-fraud, cyber security, governance, and data reporting), and pay awards limited to those allowable by the Cabinet Office pay remit.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, 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 Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The European Union is the UK’s largest trading partner, and cooperation with our European partners is, among other issues, central to the government’s work on trade, security, illegal migration, development and climate change, not to mention our support for Ukraine. In order to obtain an answer, the hon. Member for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston may therefore wish to be more specific about the aspects of the UK’s relationship with Europe that he has in mind.
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 2 in the UKRI Budget Allocation, published on 17 December 2025, if she will itemise the wider priorities category of targeted investment in industrial strategy growth sectors, including spending allocated to i) climate adaption, environment and resilience, ii) space and iii) food, animal and plant health for each of the remaining years of the Spending Review period.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In addition to funding for the Industrial Strategy sectors, UKRI’s allocations towards strategic governmental and societal priorities and innovative company support include dedicated funding for wider priorities. This category is intended to be open to targeted investment in climate adaptation, environment and resilience, space, and food, animal and plant health, while retaining flexibility to respond to emerging priorities. Decisions on the detailed breakdown of funding across the specific areas will be taken in due course, informed by engagement with DSIT, other government departments, and external stakeholders including universities, researchers, industry and innovators. Further details of investments will follow in due course.
Other UKRI areas of investment may also have cross-cutting benefits for these areas, for example through investments in critical technologies and research infrastructure. UKRI will continue to manage its budgets dynamically to capture emerging opportunities and ensure maximum impact.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, 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 Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The European Union is the UK's largest trading partner, and cooperation with our European partners is - among other issues - central to the Government's work on trade, security, illegal migration, development and climate change, not to mention our support for Ukraine. Future budgetary and resource allocations will be set out in the usual way across the range of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office responsibilities and priorities.