Peter Bedford

Paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code states: ‘the fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority’. This is known as the Law Officers’ Convention. Authority to make such disclosures is rarely given.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4 October 2024 is attached.

The Cabinet Office does not hold actual outturn salary cost information for all Civil Service departments and organisations since 2010.

However, estimated nominal Civil Service salary costs have previously been calculated for the years 2010 to 2024. These are provided in Table 1 below.

Table 1

Source: Civil Service Statistics

Figures are based on Civil Service salaries as at 31st March in each year, and have been adjusted for missing values. They have not been adjusted for inflation (i.e. they are nominal values).

To repair public finances and help raise the revenue required to increase funding for public services, the government has taken the difficult decision to increase employer National Insurance.

The government recognises the need to protect the smallest employers, which is why the Employment Allowance has been more than doubled to £10,500, meaning more than half of businesses with National Insurance Contributions (NICs) liabilities either gain or see no change next year. Employers will continue to be able to claim employer NICs reliefs, including the relief for employing apprentices under 25, where eligible.

In addition, at the Autumn Budget 2024, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that from April 2025 the Apprentice Minimum Wage will increase by 18% from £6.40 to £7.55. The government has accepted the findings of the independent Low Pay Commission in full and this increase will boost the hourly wage for thousands of young apprentices across a range of sectors and those in their first year of an apprenticeship.

The government remains committed to ensuring that apprentice wages support the attraction of talented individuals into apprenticeships and remain fair for employers. High quality apprenticeships are key to unlocking a more skilled and productive economy.

The government has launched an independent review of Curriculum and Assessment and will also consider any changes it wishes to make to support the aim of delivering a rich and broad curriculum for every child whilst the review is conducted.

The Curriculum and Assessment Review group has launched a call for evidence, setting out a number of key questions and themes on which it would particularly welcome evidence and input to help direct the focus of the review and engagement with the sector over the autumn term. Anyone can access and respond to the call for evidence to provide a view on any area of the curriculum.

At present, the department is working to ensure that our approach to lifelong learning will be as effective as possible and will enable people to gain the skills they need to support their careers.

The government recognises that lifelong learning is a core part of a sustainable higher education system, which provides opportunities for all and offers learners greater flexibility in an ever-evolving economy.

The department will make further announcements about this work shortly.

The department’s reformed growth and skills levy will deliver greater flexibility for employers and learners and is aligned with the government’s industrial strategy, both of which will create routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries, such as in construction, digital and green skills.

This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity, which means rebalancing levy spending towards young people at the start of their careers whilst ensuring that adults at different stages of their lives can upskill and retrain. The department is developing new foundation apprenticeships in targeted sectors that will help to give more young people a foot in the door and support clear pathways into work-based training and employment.

However, in order to do this, there are tough choices that need to be taken on how levy funding should be prioritised in future. That is why, taking advice from Skills England, the department will be asking more employers to step forward and fund Level 7 apprenticeships outside of the levy.

The department is in the process of designing the growth and skills levy and will set out more detail in due course, including on Skills England’s engagement plans.

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.

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.

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 Environment Agency (EA) publishes an annual Review of Activities Regulated by the EA setting out, details of enforcement action taken. The most recent of these reports was published in March this year and sets out statistics demonstrating the effectiveness of the regulatory activities of the Agency, including enforcement.

In 2018 the Government published the Noel Review: an independent review into serious and organised crime in the waste sector. The review made several recommendations for enhanced enforcement powers and regulations to control the management of waste. The EA’s powers to search and seize evidence and access communications data have been strengthened as a result. Wide ranging recommendations are being implemented through regulatory reform. In 2023, the EA requested and was provided with enhanced powers to sanction offenders using Variable Monetary Penalties.

In addition to the formal review, individual incidents and criminal investigation provide the regulators opportunity to learn lessons and identify further ways to frustrate the efforts of those who are determined to make profits, breaching environmental control with no regard to their impact on the environment and local people.

The Environment Agency undertakes a programme of ecological, water quality and chemical monitoring on the Somerset Frome according to the requirements defined by the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 (WFD). This provides an understanding of the overall Ecological Status of the river.

The WFD monitoring classification shows the ecological rating of rivers in the Mid Leicestershire constituency as follows:

• The Grand Union Canal, Leicester Line, summit to Aylestone is rated as Good
• The Lubbesthorpe Brook Catchment (tributary of Soar) is rated as Moderate
• The Quorn Brook Catchment (tributary of Soar) is rated as Moderate
• The Rothley Brook Catchment (tributary of Soar) is rated as Moderate
• The Eye / Wreake from Langham Brook to Soar is rated as Poor
• The Soar from Sence to Rothley Brook is rated as Poor.

This information is publicly available on England Catchment Data Explorer.

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.

An estimated 70,000 people in Mid Leicestershire constituency will be affected by the change to Winter Fuel Payments. This is the estimated number of people in Mid Leicestershire constituency that will no longer receive Winter Fuel Payment as they do not claim Pension Credit.

This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients for Mid Leicestershire from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients for Mid Leicestershire (using the latest statistics, sources shown below).

Please note that following boundary changes to Parliamentary Constituency, data on Mid Leicestershire constituency is not explicitly available/ published. To obtain the above figure, local authority data on Blaby, Charnwood and Hinckley & Bosworth have been combined. Therefore, the above figure of 70,000 is likely to be an overestimate as the Mid Leicestershire constituency consists of some wards of the boroughs of Blaby, Charnwood and Hinckley & Bosworth.

Also, the published Pension Credit figures refer to households, so the number of individuals will be higher (i.e. taking account of households where it’s a couple claiming Pension Credit).

Furthermore, the above does not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up we might see as a result of the policy. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies.

Sources used:

winter-fuel-payments-caseload-2022-to-2023.ods (live.com)

Stat-Xplore - Table View (dwp.gov.uk)

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.

We were appalled by the allegations that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attacks against Israel. The Secretary-General and the Commissioner General of UNRWA took these allegations seriously and acted decisively. We expect robust processes to continue to be followed. UNRWA have confirmed that a Hamas leader killed in Lebanon, Fatah Sherif, was a staff member, suspended without pay while under investigation, and that the termination of his employment was imminent. We take this very seriously; UNRWA must meet the highest standards of neutrality as laid out in Catherine Colonna's report, including staff vetting and acting swiftly when concerns arise. The UK has allocated £1 million to support UNRWA to implement the report's recommendations. The FCDO will continue its own annual assessment of UK funding to UNRWA, which plays a vital role in saving lives in Gaza.

We were appalled by the allegations that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attacks against Israel. The Secretary-General and the Commissioner General of UNRWA took these allegations seriously and acted decisively. We expect robust processes to continue to be followed. UNRWA have confirmed that a Hamas leader killed in Lebanon, Fatah Sherif, was a staff member, suspended without pay while under investigation, and that the termination of his employment was imminent. We take this very seriously; UNRWA must meet the highest standards of neutrality as laid out in Catherine Colonna's report, including staff vetting and acting swiftly when concerns arise. The UK has allocated £1 million to support UNRWA to implement the report's recommendations. The FCDO will continue its own annual assessment of UK funding to UNRWA, which plays a vital role in saving lives in Gaza.

We are aware of reports of Hamas using healthcare facilities and other infrastructure, such as schools, as bases and command nodes. UNRWA has condemned the use of UN facilities by any party to the conflict for military and fighting purposes. All parties must act in accordance with International Humanitarian Law.

FCDO has systems in place to monitor how UK funding is safeguarded against aid diversion. Measures include rigorous due diligence assessments, thorough and regular risk management assessments, and clauses on preventing aid diversion in our Memoranda of Understandings and agreements with partners. We continuously monitor our programmes and partners, including through annual review processes. We coordinate closely with our partners and any concerns about misappropriation of aid are proactively raised to us.

The Government does not publish such estimates.

Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation is published by the Government in table ASY D_11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Government is actively considering options to strengthen the standards regime for local government and provide councils with more effective means to address serious misconduct by elected members. We want to give local leaders the tools they need to establish and maintain a strong ethical culture within their authority, and give the people they serve the confidence that local democracy works for them.

Our intention is to engage with local authorities, sector representative bodies, and other key stakeholders in due course to ensure a wide range of views are heard.

The latest available data for October 2023 shows there were approximately 8.6 million households in receipt of a single person discount, this represents approximately a third of all households liable for council tax in England. This data is available here: Council Taxbase 2023 in England.

The Government is committed to the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. Our aspiration is to ensure that, in the first full financial year of this Parliament (2025-26), the number of Social Rent homes is rising rather than falling.

Our proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework include setting a clear expectation that housing needs assessments must consider the needs of those requiring Social Rent homes, and that local authorities should specify their expectations on Social Rent delivery as part of broader affordable housing policies.

We have asked Homes England and the Greater London Authority to maximise the number of Social Rent homes in allocating the remaining Affordable Homes Programme funding. The Government has started to review the increased Right to Buy discounts introduced in 2012, on which we will bring forward more details and secondary legislation to implement changes in the autumn. We have also announced new flexibilities for how councils can use their Right to Buy receipts to deliver replacement homes; these flexibilities will be in place for an initial 24 months, subject to review.

We are committed to setting out details of future Government investment in social and affordable housing at the Spending Review.

Local authorities should already be working together when preparing development plans under the current plan making system as the Duty to Cooperate remains in place.

The consultation on proposed reforms to the NPPF published on 31 July included proposals to strengthen co-operation between local authorities on the sharing of unmet housing need and other strategic issues.

It also sought views on our proposed intention to introduce mandatory mechanisms for cross-boundary co-operation with a view to moving to a model of universal strategic planning coverage within the next five years.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody, but it is not possible to identify an offender’s nationality at this point from the centrally collated court data. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.

However, the number of foreign national offenders (FNOs) serving a prison sentence is available. On 30 June 2022, there were 6,214 FNOs serving a prison sentence; on 30 June 2023 there were 6,453 FNOs serving a prison sentence and on 30 June 2024 there were 6,486 FNOs serving a prison sentence. This information is routinely published in the department's Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) publication.

We refer all foreign national offenders in receipt of custodial sentences to the Home Office. Foreign national offenders who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. This will help to manage prison pressures, keep the public safe and reduce crime.

We are currently on track to remove more foreign national offenders this year than at any time in recent years and we are working across government to explore the ways we accelerate this work further.

The independent Sentencing Council is responsible for the development of sentencing guidelines. The Council regularly evaluates the guidelines to ensure they are operating as intended.

The Government is responsible for sentencing law, and last month we have launched an independent Sentencing Review, chaired by the former Lord Chancellor David Gauke.

The change to the Standard Determinate Sentence release point was the only option to prevent the imminent collapse of the Criminal Justice System and ensure we protect the public.

The amended release point is applicable to eligible sentences only. Certain offences have been excluded from this change. This includes sex offences irrespective of sentence length; serious violent offences with a sentence of four years or more; specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length (including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation); as well as offences concerning national security. The change will also not apply to sentences subject to release at the discretion of the Parole Board or to offences which currently attract automatic release from an SDS at the two-thirds point (certain serious sexual and violent offences).

Some offenders will have a mixture of eligible and ineligible offences. Whether an offender is released early or not depends on their other sentences, and how they were imposed by the court to be served consecutively or concurrently.

The number of revised releases for those currently in custody are being recalculated to ensure probation and prison staff have time to prepare proper plans for their release. This data is being provided at local authority level to align with service provider boundaries, and therefore is not being provided at a constituency level.