Peter Bedford

Between 2020 and 2024 to date, Defra has agreed six settlement agreements: one in 2021, two in 2022, two in 2023 and one in 2024 to date. The total cost of these settlements is £234,200.

The Government recently confirmed its commitment to delivering the Collection and Packaging Reforms to the announced timelines, including Simpler Recycling, subject to spending review outcomes. Ministers are reviewing the final detail of the Simpler Recycling policy; we hope to provide further certainty and clarity to stakeholders as soon as possible.

Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act), it is an offence to cause any animal unnecessary suffering or to fail to provide for its welfare. The 2006 Act is backed up by the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and Their Hybrids which provides owners with information on how to meet the welfare needs of their equines.

As stated in the code, tethering is not a suitable method of long-term management of an animal. It should only be used as a short-term method. People who do not tether their horses appropriately risk causing their animals distress and suffering.

Local authorities have powers under the 2006 Act to act to intervene where an animal is suspected to be suffering on any land, public or private.

Please see attached Balai data for the number of dogs imported each month in 2023 and 2024.

The EU data may include animals that have originated from a non-EU country but have travelled through an EU Border Control Post (BCP). The database records the EU BCP Country as the Country of Origin for these imports. The Rest of the World data will not include any animals that have arrived through an EU BCP.

This information is drawn from the external Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System (IPAFFS), not directly controlled by the department.

The data regarding the Pet Travel Scheme covers pets entering Great Britain and is based on information provided by checkers employed by approved carriers of pet animals. Please be aware that this is subject to change as we often receive throughput returns from carriers months later.

A functional review of the work of the traffic commissioners was carried out in 2021-2022 and the report can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-commissioner-function-review-2021-to-2022. The Department is working towards implementing the recommendations of the review.

Where the Secretary of State has concerns about the conduct of an applicant for a large goods vehicle or passenger carrying vehicle driving licence, the matter may be referred to a traffic commissioner for consideration.

Where appropriate cases are referred to a traffic commissioner, they are provided administrative support by Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency staff who are deployed to the Office of the Traffic Commissioner. The Senior Traffic Commissioner has issued statutory guidance to assist traffic commissioners in adopting a consistent approach. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-commissioners-vocational-driver-conduct-january-2016. As part of the strategic objectives of the traffic commissioners, a review of this document is currently being undertaken.

Straightforward applications for vocational driving licences are being processed within normal turnaround times. Applications where a medical condition must be investigated before a licence can be issued may take longer as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is often reliant on receiving information from third parties, for example doctors, other healthcare professionals or the applicant themselves, before a decision on whether to issue a licence can be made.

Exit packages are published in the DfT Annual Reports and Accounts and all redundancy, severance and other department costs, are paid in accordance with the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (except where instances are detailed in the accounts as otherwise) e.g. see Page 141 of 2023/24 DfT Annual Report and Accounts https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a7690649b9c0597fdb0617/dft-annual-report-23-24-print.pdf.

Concessionary travel is a devolved policy area, and legislation and assessment of eligibility with regarding concessionary travel in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for the appropriate devolved administration.

In England, the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age. The Office for National Statistics mid-year estimates for 2021 show that around 9.9 million people in England were aged 66 and above and therefore eligible for an ENCTS bus pass.

Delivering reliable and affordable public transport services for passengers is one of the Government’s top priorities and we know how important this is for passengers and for local growth. The Government is urgently considering the most effective and affordable ways to deliver on these objectives.

No estimate has been made of the number of pensioners eligible for Pension Credit by region.

According to the latest available data, in financial year ending 2023, an estimated 2,134,000 households were eligible for Pension Credit in Great Britain. This has been calculated by adding the estimated number of households who are entitled to but not receiving Pension Credit to the number of eligible households that received Pension Credit. It is not possible to break this figure down by region.

In published DWP Pension Credit Take-up statistics, it is estimated that up to 760,000 households who were entitled to receive Pension Credit did not claim the benefit. These statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2022 to 2023 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK

The published Pension Credit caseload for Great Britain, for financial year 2022 to 2023 shows that an estimated 1,374,000 households received Pension Credit. This is obtained from the latest published Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 and is available at: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

No estimate has been made of the number of pensioners eligible for Pension Credit by region.

According to the latest available data, in financial year ending 2023, an estimated 2,134,000 households were eligible for Pension Credit in Great Britain. This has been calculated by adding the estimated number of households who are entitled to but not receiving Pension Credit to the number of eligible households that received Pension Credit. It is not possible to break this figure down by region.

In published DWP Pension Credit Take-up statistics, it is estimated that up to 760,000 households who were entitled to receive Pension Credit did not claim the benefit. These statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2022 to 2023 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK

The published Pension Credit caseload for Great Britain, for financial year 2022 to 2023 shows that an estimated 1,374,000 households received Pension Credit. This is obtained from the latest published Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 and is available at: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

On 28 November we published national Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application volumes from 29 July 2024 to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK

These statistics show that 150,000 Pension Credit claims were received between 29 July 2024 and 17 November 2024.

Please note, the figures presented are from DWP’s Pension Credit system which has previously been collected for internal departmental operations use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standards.

We do not currently hold data at a regional level.

Since April 2020 the DWP has agreed 127 employee settlements totalling £2,322,639.

All settlements are made following a robust value for money assessment and on the basis of legal advice.

Currently the time taken from the job advert being created to the individual being onboarded is between 7 to 20 weeks. Training time varies by function with the majority of new staff needing three to six months to fully consolidate learning, whereas special investigator roles can require up to 18 months – although these only make up a small proportion of the 3,000 specified.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill was introduced to Parliament on 5 November 2024, and passed its second reading in the House of Commons on 25 November 2024. The bill will put us on track to a smoke-free United Kingdom, helping to reduce approximately 80,000 preventable deaths and reduce the burden on the National Health Service and on the taxpayer.

The bill contains powers to extend the ban on smoking indoors to certain outdoor settings, to reduce the harms of second-hand smoking, particularly around children and vulnerable people. In England, we are considering extending smoke-free outdoor places to outside schools, children’s playgrounds, and hospitals, but not to outdoor hospitality settings such as pub gardens. The bill also has powers to make most public places and workplaces that are smoke-free, vape-free.

Exactly which settings should become smoke-free and vape-free will be a matter for secondary legislation, with all proposed reforms subject to a full consultation.

I can confirm that since 2020 to date, the Department has had one settlement agreement in 2024. The settlement agreement was for the value of £20,000.

NHS England publish monthly statistics detailing information on National Health Service staff recorded within the Electronic Staff Record, the human resource system for the NHS. Each quarter, these statistics include data on ‘reasons for leaving’, where these have been recorded upon a member of staff leaving or moving employment. The published data is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

The attached table summarises the published information, providing details for 2011/12 to 2023/24 of the total number of assignments of NHS staff where a reason for leaving is recorded. Within the total number, the number recorded against the four categories available to define dismissals are also presented. We believe the category ‘dismissal – capability’ is the best proxy for the data requested.

Data is presented from 2011/12 as we know the pattern of staff leaving or moving roles in the NHS was impacted in 2020/21 and 2021/22 by the pandemic and so comparison with pre-pandemic levels is appropriate.

Any interpretation of data should be made with the understanding that not all assignments that finish in the NHS result in a ‘reason for leaving’ being recorded. Therefore, the data presented can be viewed as a minimum number of leavers in any giving category. From analysis of the records of staff who leave NHS employment entirely it is estimated around one third of leavers do not have a reason recorded. There is no data available to confirm the completeness of recording of reasons around dismissals.

As one of the interventions in the Strategic Framework for NHS Commercial and a workstream in the Commercial Efficiencies Optimisation Programme, NHS England launched an Accredited Framework Host programme in late 2023.

The ambition is to drive efficiency by creating the best commercial routes to market for the National Health Service, aiming to create a healthy, competitive marketplace by de-duplicating framework agreements, to deliver high quality procurement outcomes.

NHS England successfully accredited 20 Procurement Framework Host organisations, which cover £16 billion of third-party goods and services the NHS spent in 2023/24, all of whom have subscribed to enhanced standards. These standards cover a range of areas, from minimum contractual terms and conditions, robust supplier appointment and value for money assessment processes, through to the sharing of commercial and commission data with NHS England.

Further details and the list of accredited host organisations is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/system-guidance-for-the-implementation-of-framework-host-management/

The number of identified patients aged 60 years old or over who received a prescription that was recorded as exempt from the single item prescription charge in England in 2023/24 was 13.6 million.