Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her department has had with (a) Serco and (b) other contract providers on the scope of contingency accommodation for asylum dispersal.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office continues to work with a range of stakeholders to meet our statutory obligations, while also delivering our commitments to reduce overall asylum accommodation costs, and end the use of hotels over time.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the scope of contingency accommodation for asylum dispersal has been changed since 5 July 2024.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office continues to work with a range of stakeholders to meet our statutory obligations, while also delivering our commitments to reduce overall asylum accommodation costs, and end the use of hotels over time.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with (a) West Suffolk District Council and (b) other local authorities on an increase in the number of asylum seekers dispersed.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office works with local authorities and other stakeholders across the country to ensure that it can fulfil its statutory obligations, and meet the Government’s commitment to reduce the overall costs of asylum accommodation, including ending the use of hotels over time.

The Home Office regularly publishes statistics on the numbers of asylum seekers in receipt of support nationally, and further broken down by region and local authority. These data sets can be found on GOV.UK: (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67bc51acd157fd4b79addd4f/support-local-authority-datasets-dec-2024.xlsx).

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the number of plastic recycling facilities that have closed since 2010.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

There is no historical record of closures of plastics recycling facilities

However the National Packaging Waste Database which is held by the Environment Agency provides a Public Register of Accredited Reprocessors and Exporters - including those handling plastic - across each nation, that can be tracked back to 2013.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of asylum seekers that will be dispersed in (a) West Suffolk District Council and (b) other local authorities in the next twelve months.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office works with local authorities and other stakeholders across the country to ensure that it can fulfil its statutory obligations, and meet the Government’s commitment to reduce the overall costs of asylum accommodation, including ending the use of hotels over time.

The Home Office regularly publishes statistics on the numbers of asylum seekers in receipt of support nationally, and further broken down by region and local authority. These data sets can be found on GOV.UK: (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67bc51acd157fd4b79addd4f/support-local-authority-datasets-dec-2024.xlsx).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to increase funding for asylum dispersal to (a) West Suffolk District Council, and (b) other local authorities.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

Current accommodation funding arrangements are published on GOV.UK: Asylum Dispersal Grant: funding instruction - GOV.UK.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the time period between the introduction of the (a) Extended Producer Responsibility and (b) Deposit Return scheme on levels of glass usage in packaging.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has worked closely with industry, including the glass sector, throughout the development of the scheme. In October 2024 the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme on packaging producers. This assessment factored in the introduction of DRS in 2027.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) hospitals and (b) other NHS buildings are in each Integrated Care Board’s area.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The annual Estates Return Information Collection collects data on National Health Service sites and integrated care boards by type and total, for instance hospitals and buildings, and is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average cost of constructing a new (a) primary and (b) secondary school was in each year since 2015.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

New school buildings are delivered by local authorities, the department and other bodies.

The average cost of constructing new primary and secondary schools can be found in the national cost benchmarking study, published at: https://documents.hants.gov.uk/property-services/NationalSchoolDeliveryBenchmarkingreport.pdf. This report contains cost information on local authority delivered schools and department delivered schools, which are broken down each year from 2012 onwards. The primary school section can be found on page 10.

Standards for new school buildings change over time, for example, to increase sustainability requirements, so care should be taken in comparing costs directly year to year.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with Natural England on the potential impact of issuing a GL43 on the shooting season this year.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In considering the issue of GL43 for this year’s shooting season, Defra took into account Natural England’s statutory advice, noting that the national transmission risk status of avian influenza in wild birds continues to be very high. This included a recommendation to exclude the Lundy Special Area of Conservation (SAC) from the scope of the licence and to include an additional licence condition, requiring best practice biosecurity measures to be undertaken and recorded when managing gamebirds, and those records be produced if requested by a wildlife inspector. The licence was published on 2 May.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the National Security Secretariat uses Gaza Health Ministry statistics in its cross-Whitehall briefings.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

NSS does use Gaza Health Ministry casualty figures for briefing.

It is difficult to verify casualty statistics accurately during an active conflict. FCDO and CO rely on the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports which use figures issued from the Gazan Ministry of Health (MoH).

Over the course of this conflict FCDO has consulted experts from the London School of Tropical Medicine, OCHA, WHO and Every Casualty Counts, and assesses that the total number of deaths in Gaza since 7 October 2023 is a reliable figure. The MoH collates information on casualty statistics using a health information system derived from eight major hospitals across the Strip. They verify and identify the dead by age, gender and ID number.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing support to the homegrown sugar industry in fast-tracking trials to help tackle Virus Yellows disease.

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

This Government acknowledges the critical role of sugar beet farmers in the UK's sugar production and their ongoing contributions to the agricultural sector.

This Government recognises the challenge posed to sugar beet growers by Virus Yellows (VY), and we strongly support the industry-led work to develop more sustainable alternative controls for the aphids that spread these diseases. This includes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques such as novel companion crops, and the development of new pest resistant varieties using both traditional and precision breeding techniques. These novel control methods, alongside new active substances such as Flupyradifurone – approved this year – will ensure that sugar beet growers have the tools they need to address VY.

The government is committed towards achieving crop resilience, especially in the sugar beet sector, to support Britain’s food security and nature’s recovery. Defra collaborates with the British Beet Research Organisation on IPM initiatives, with plans to observe their IPM trials in the coming Spring.

As part of this, the Government remains fully committed to enhancing crop resilience and is progressing legislation to activate precision breeding in England.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the beet sugar industry’s Virus Yellows resilience fund.

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

This Government acknowledges the critical role of sugar beet farmers in the UK's sugar production and their ongoing contributions to the agricultural sector.

This Government recognises the challenge posed to sugar beet growers by Virus Yellows (VY), and we strongly support the industry-led work to develop more sustainable alternative controls for the aphids that spread these diseases. This includes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques such as novel companion crops, and the development of new pest resistant varieties using both traditional and precision breeding techniques. These novel control methods, alongside new active substances such as Flupyradifurone – approved this year – will ensure that sugar beet growers have the tools they need to address VY.

The government is committed towards achieving crop resilience, especially in the sugar beet sector, to support Britain’s food security and nature’s recovery. Defra collaborates with the British Beet Research Organisation on IPM initiatives, with plans to observe their IPM trials in the coming Spring.

As part of this, the Government remains fully committed to enhancing crop resilience and is progressing legislation to activate precision breeding in England.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the beet sugar industry to tackle Virus Yellows disease.

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

This Government acknowledges the critical role of sugar beet farmers in the UK's sugar production and their ongoing contributions to the agricultural sector.

This Government recognises the challenge posed to sugar beet growers by Virus Yellows (VY), and we strongly support the industry-led work to develop more sustainable alternative controls for the aphids that spread these diseases. This includes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques such as novel companion crops, and the development of new pest resistant varieties using both traditional and precision breeding techniques. These novel control methods, alongside new active substances such as Flupyradifurone – approved this year – will ensure that sugar beet growers have the tools they need to address VY.

The government is committed towards achieving crop resilience, especially in the sugar beet sector, to support Britain’s food security and nature’s recovery. Defra collaborates with the British Beet Research Organisation on IPM initiatives, with plans to observe their IPM trials in the coming Spring.

As part of this, the Government remains fully committed to enhancing crop resilience and is progressing legislation to activate precision breeding in England.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department uses Gaza Health Ministry statistics in its Cross Whitehall Briefings.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Like many of our partners, we use data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to report on daily casualties in the current Gaza conflict. OCHA draws on figures issued from the Gazan Ministry of Health (MoH). Producing reliable casualty statistics in contexts of violent conflict is never straightforward. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has consulted experts, including from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Every Casualty Counts. Experts assess that the total number of deaths in Gaza since 7 October 2023 estimated by the Gaza Ministry of Health is a reasonable figure, though numbers of those still under rubble, and still missing, is not yet known.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department takes steps to verify statistics published by the Gaza Health Ministry.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Like many of our partners, we use data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to report on daily casualties in the current Gaza conflict. OCHA draws on figures issued from the Gazan Ministry of Health (MoH). Producing reliable casualty statistics in contexts of violent conflict is never straightforward. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has consulted experts, including from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Every Casualty Counts. Experts assess that the total number of deaths in Gaza since 7 October 2023 estimated by the Gaza Ministry of Health is a reasonable figure, though numbers of those still under rubble, and still missing, is not yet known.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when his Department plans to provide further information on its long-term plans for the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is making long-term plans to enable UK industry to decarbonize and reach Net Zero. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero will update stakeholders as soon as possible on Funds that will be available to industry after the upcoming Spending Review, which will conclude in late spring.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department engages with the European Islamic Centre.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The department does not engage with the European Islamic Centre. The responsibility for decisions around who departments engage sits with the respective departments and the appropriate policy areas. We also refer the hon. member to the response provided by the Minister for Security during Oral Parliamentary Questions on 31^st March 2025. Debate: Oral Answers to Questions - 31st Mar 2025 - Nick Timothy extracts.