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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many apprentices the department recruited in 2025, compared with the figures for i. 2022, ii. 2023 and iii. 2024.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

There are two different ways of counting apprenticeship recruitment:

• Definition A: colleagues who joined on an apprenticeship contract.
• Definition B: colleagues who joined MHCLG via a role which was advertised as including an apprenticeship and subsequently began an apprenticeship after joining.

Both definitions are included below. The source of this information is MHCLG recruitment data. The number of apprentices the MHCLG has recruited in the requested years are as follows:

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many apprentices the Department recruited in 2025 compared with (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.

Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Office recruited 1 apprentice in 2023 and 1 in 2025 for a 2-year term. We did not recruit any apprentices in 2022 or 2024.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many apprentices the department recruited in 2025, compared with the figures for i. 2022, ii. 2023 and iii. 2024.

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

The majority of apprenticeships in the Department are held by existing employees who started an apprenticeship after they had joined the Department.

The following figures refer only to people who were recruited specifically to a role as an apprentice in each year:

- zero in 2025;

- seven in 2024;

- zero in 2023; and

- zero in 2022.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what change there has been in the number of hotels used to accommodate asylum seekers since 4 July 2024 for which the latest data is available.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Exiting all asylum hotels as soon as possible is one of the Government’s top priorities and must be executed through a controlled, managed and orderly plan of work. This plan involves reducing inflow, speeding up caseworking, maximising utilisation of our estate, continuing to increase returns and exploring the use of large sites as suitable alternative accommodation.

From a high of over 400 asylum hotels in summer 2023 at a cost of nearly £9 million a day. As of 4 January 2026, there are 197 hotels in use. We will close every asylum hotel as soon as possible and before the end of this Parliament.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an internal (a) estimate and (b) similar type of projection for the net fiscal impact of immigrants in the UK over their lifetimes since July 2024.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Migration Advisory Committee has produced an assessment of the lifetime fiscal impact of migrants in the UK, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6938108633c7ace9c4a41e42/ The_Fiscal_Impact_of_Immigration_Final__1_.pdf

Further analysis of those on a Family visa is included in the 2025 Annual Report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-annual-report-2025/migration-advisory-committee-mac-annual-report-2025-accessible#chapter-1-fiscal-analysis-of-the-family-visa

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil service employees were on performance management plans in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Data on how many civil servants have a performance management plan in place is not captured centrally.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the total value of non-contractual severance payments across the civil service establishment in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how are musculoskeletal conditions being prioritised within the neighbourhood health framework.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Neighbourhood Health Framework is designed to provide clarity and consistency to integrated care boards (ICBs), local authorities, and their partners, in developing and scaling neighbourhood health.

The framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of Neighbourhood Health Services. This includes improving health outcomes with specific focus on high-priority cohorts, including people with frailty. Whilst frailty and musculoskeletal overlap, we recognise that many people with conditions affecting their joints, bones, and muscles across their life course are not frail.

It is important that reforms are locally led, as ICBs and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework, and this could include musculoskeletal services.

We know there are areas where we need to go further. Delivering a Neighbourhood Health Service will be an incremental process as local understanding develops and national reforms progress.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of public consultations for local government reorganisation for people without access to the internet.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government is keen that all interested parties, including local residents, can have their say on the future of local government in their area. Members of the public who wish to engage can submit responses online or in writing by email or post, in line with the consultation arrangements. There are no plans to carry out a separate assessment of consultation accessibility.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what work is being done to investigate the use of body mass index thresholds as a means of determining eligibility for joint replacement surgery.

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

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Rushcliffe on 20 November 2025 to Question 89688.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to betting and gaming levies on illegal gambling operations.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The issue of illegal gambling is a concern for this Government. We are committed to working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed.

As part of the 2025 Budget, the Treasury announced that the Gambling Commission will receive an additional £26 million across three years to increase investment, resources and capacity to tackle the illegal market. The government has also launched the Illegal Gambling Taskforce which brings together a wide range of stakeholders to take action against the illegal market.

We will continue to engage with the sector and the Gambling Commission to understand any impacts of duty changes.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the nationality of foreign office civil servants on government policy.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

All civil servants are appointed on merit and are required under the Civil Service Code to provide impartial, objective advice to Ministers.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to Inheritance Tax on private pension provision.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Most unused pension funds and death benefits payable from a pension will form part of a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. This removes distortions resulting from changes that have been made to pensions tax policy over the last decade, which have led to some pensions being openly used and marketed as a tax planning vehicle to transfer wealth, rather than as a way to fund retirement. These reforms also remove inconsistencies in the inheritance tax treatment of different types of pensions

The Government will continue to incentivise pension savings for their intended purpose of funding retirement, with ongoing tax reliefs on both contributions into pensions and on the growth of funds held within a pension scheme. Pensions continue to benefit from very significant tax benefits, with gross income tax and National Insurance contributions relief costing £78.2 billion in 2023-24. It is therefore crucial to ensure that tax reliefs on pensions are being used for their intended purpose – to encourage saving for retirement and later life – rather than for passing on wealth free of inheritance tax

Estates will continue to benefit from the normal nil-rate bands, reliefs, and exemptions available. For example, the nil-rate bands mean an estate can pass on up to £1 million with no inheritance tax liability and the general rules mean any transfers, including the payment of death benefits, to a spouse or civil partner are fully exempt from inheritance tax. More than 90 per cent of UK estates will continue to have no inheritance tax liability in 2030-31 following these changes and the reforms will only affect a minority of those with inheritable pension wealth.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of small boat migrants that have re-entered the UK in 2026 that have previously been removed from the country.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office will publish statistics on returns from the UK up to March 2026 on 21 May 2026. Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account several factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide the latest data her department possesses on the asylum claim acceptance rate for cases that were decided by Home Office immigration caseworkers that are British nationals.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The information requested could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide the latest data her department possesses on the asylum claim acceptance rate for cases that were decided by Home Office immigration caseworkers that are foreign nationals.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The information requested could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

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 small boat migrants that will enter the UK in 2026.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not make a single estimate of this kind. A range of scenarios are considered for operational planning purposes.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what was the total value of non-contractual severance payments across the department in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The total value of severance payments is set out in the department’s Annual Report and Accounts, which are available for the last three years.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of immigration since July 2024 on social cohesion in the UK.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office will increase existing English language requirements for economic migrants and introduce new English language requirements for dependants of those coming under economic routes.

These measures support the integration of those coming here to work here (and their families) into UK communities, as well; as ensuring that those coming to work here are less vulnerable to abuse and exploitation in the workplace.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what was the total value of non-contractual severance payments across the department in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 19 March in response to Question 120757.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what was the total value of non-contractual severance payments across the department in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The total value of severance payments is set out in the department’s Annual Report and Accounts, which are available for the last three years.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what was the total value of non-contractual severance payments across the department in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The total value of non-contractual severance payments across the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) was £22,500 in 2023, £nil in 2024 and £60,000 in 2025.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what was the total value of non-contractual severance payments across the department in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The total value of severance payments is set out in the department’s Annual Report and Accounts, which are available for the last three years.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what was the total value of non-contractual severance payments across the department in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s first set of accounts were for 2023/24 where the expenditure on special severance payments was £99,390. Expenditure in subsequent years can be found in the relevant annual report and accounts.