Richard Holden

The government's entire focus is on the work of delivering change. The government has not yet reviewed existing guidance on home working. We will support the Civil Service with the necessary tools to ensure it can deliver that change. The Government is committed to supporting individuals and businesses to work in ways that best suit their particular circumstances and whilst terms and conditions relating to hours of work are delegated to departments as individual employers, the Civil Service must ensure that it provides value for money for the public.

The process for access talks is set out in the Cabinet Manual. Access talks are initiated with permission from the Prime Minister of the day and are confidential.

It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place between Cabinet ministers and officials is not shared publicly.

The principles around ministerial travel are long-established and have been in place for successive administrations. Ministers take advice on individual travel arrangements as necessary.

The UK has not placed a blanket embargo on spare parts for foreign cars.

All information on trade sanctions, embargoes and restrictions, including trade controls and transit controls can be found on GOV.UK [here].

The process for access talks is set out in the Cabinet Manual. Access talks are initiated with permission from the Prime Minister of the day and are confidential.

It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place between Cabinet ministers and officials is not shared publicly.

The Post Office is an essential service in communities across the country. The Government is committed to finding ways to strengthen the Post Office, through consulting with sub-postmasters, trade unions and customers. This will include supporting the development of new products, services and business models that will help reinvigorate the high street.

The Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement Age Provisions) Regulations 2011 prohibited compulsory retirement taking place unless it could be objectively justified.

Compulsory retirement ages in the current Police pension scheme were removed with the introduction of the 2015 Police pension scheme. Compulsory retirement ages for Firefighters were removed more than 10 years ago.

Nothing in the private pension system sets a mandatory retirement age in the private sector. The Normal Minimum Pension Age (NMPA) sets the earliest point at which you can access your private pension without facing an unauthorised payments charge (except in cases of serious ill health).

I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to UIN 1981. A record of Ministerial meetings is updated periodically on Gov.UK.

The Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) Table 2.1 on Coal Commodities states that the annual figure for heritage railways usage is 15,000 tonnes - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a7a17249b9c0597fdb066a/DUKES_2.1.xlsx

The North Sea Transition Authority publishes UK oil and gas production projections to 2050 and the OBR’s latest forecasts for oil and gas tax revenues up to 2028/29 was published in the March 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook. Future years will be included in future forecasts. Tax revenues from oil and gas employment will be included under forecasts for Income Tax and National Insurance, which are not separated by industry.

The Energy Security Plan Update, published in December 2023, included an assessment of the role of imports in meeting our domestic gas demand until 2050. The department also publishes projections of the UK’s future demand for oil (under existing and near-final policy) and monitors both UK production and demand as part of the regular departmental output.

These assessments will be updated in due course to reflect the new government's policy.

Details of Ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

The Government does not take a prescriptive approach to the amount of rooftop solar deployment required, nor to the mix between installation on domestic and non-domestic properties. Therefore, no such estimate has been made. However, the Government is clear that rooftop solar will play an important role in achieving its ambition of tripling existing solar capacity by 2030. Further details will be included in the upcoming publication of the Solar Roadmap.

Since 1999, the National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £70,562,212 to the UK’s heritage railways.

Within that amount, DCMS funded over 60 heritage steam organisations through the Culture Recovery Fund (2020 - 2021) providing nearly £15 million in support for the heritage rail sector. This has included multiple awards supporting the infrastructure of iconic heritage railways such as Ffestiniog, Bluebell and Severn Valley, as well as the restoration of individual locomotives and elements of rolling stock, including the world-famous Flying Scotsman.

Since 1999, Historic England (previously English Heritage) has awarded £280,396 to the UK’s heritage railways. This included sites such as Bowes Railway Company in the North East which received seven grants since 2002 totalling £515,834. In addition, Bowes Railway Company received £36,241 (July 2020 to March 2021) through a Covid-19 Emergency Grant. Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Community Interest Company received £3,374 (June 2020 to September 2020) through a Covid-19 Emergency Grant. A £49k repair grant was provided towards the cost of the restoration of a Grade II* listed turntable in St Blazey, Cornwall in 2021. The turntable has been restored to operational condition by a social enterprise company, and allows main line steam engines to run into Cornwall on railtours bringing tourists to the Duchy, and be turned ready for their return journey. Historic England has also been supporting the Railway 200 celebrations in many ways including research, outreach and listing sites with links to heritage rail.

We do not hold information on grants given from parts of Government that are not DCMS and its arms length bodies.

No.

Arts Council England’s £100 million programme, National Lottery Project Grants, is open for applications to organisations and individuals from across England, from north to south and east to west, including in Basildon and Billericay. The criteria for applying are available on the Arts Council's website.

Grants awarded from the Arts Council’s main funding streams within the last 5 financial years (2023/2024 inclusive) are published online and provide details of all organisations that receive funding.They are available in the following locations:

• National Lottery Project Grants
• Developing Your Creative Practice
• Investment Programme (2018-2022 NPO)
• Investment Programme (2023-2026 NPO)
• Cultural Recovery Fund
• Emergency Response Fund

Since 2019, Arts Council England has provided over £5.8 million of funding to organisations in the Basildon and Billericay constituency.

The department publishes figures on schools and pupils, including information on state-funded and independent schools. More information can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

Data is collected from independent schools through the school level annual school census. This does not include phase but does include the age of pupils. A table showing the number of pupils by age, school type and local authority can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f68a2ed7-d308-4e17-b82a-08dcab23a860.

Please note that age does not necessarily directly align to state-funded sector primary, secondary and post-16 schools.

The department publishes information on children in elective home education (EHE), which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.

The number of children in EHE, at any point in the 2022/23 academic year, by local authority can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/3a87f0ae-7cfd-4b6c-b8de-08dcab23db45.

Please note that approaches to recording of EHE vary across local authorities. This is a new data collection since 2022/23 and, as such, the department expects the quality of the data returns from local authorities to continue to improve over time. In the latest term, data was received from 95% of local authorities. The data is adjusted for non-response and combined with population data for comparable ages to produce the national rate of EHE published in the release, which was 1.1% in autumn 2023.

The Children’s Wellbeing Bill will legislate for local authority registers of children not in school. This will include a duty on parents to provide the necessary information for these registers if their child is eligible, which would improve the accuracy of data and ensure that fewer children slip under the radar when they are not in school.

The impact of any tax changes affecting independent schools on the state sector will be carefully considered. The government will complete its analysis once details of the policy changes have been confirmed. The department is supporting HM Treasury which will deliver tax changes. Further details will be announced in due course.

The department will be bringing forward further details on the role of all local partners working with Technical Excellence Colleges in due course. These colleges will work with businesses, trade unions and local government to provide young people and adults high quality training that local economies need.

Apprenticeship starts and achievements are published by level from academic year 2002/03 and can be found in the following links:

2017/18 to 2023/24 (reported to date):

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c63cef58-95e2-4f9e-b7d1-08dcab23a860.

2014/15 to 2016/17:

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/bd0d64fd-52e9-4a1e-b7d2-08dcab23a860.

2002/03 to 2013/14 apprenticeship starts:

https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F5a82b65940f0b62305b93f40%2Fapprenticeships-starts-by-framework-level-and-gender.xls&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.

2002/03 to 2013/14 apprenticeship achievements:

https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F5a7f5c50e5274a2e8ab4bb61%2Fapprenticeships-achievements-by-sector-subject-area-level-and-age.xls&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.

To note, intermediate apprenticeships are equivalent to level 2, Advanced apprenticeships are equivalent to level 3 and Higher apprenticeships are equivalent to those at level 4 and above. Apprenticeship starts and achievements within an academic year cannot be used to infer the proportion of apprenticeships that are achieved. They are independent performance metrics. Typically, apprenticeships are achieved in a subsequent academic year to the one they started in.

The total estimated cost of committed schemes in the Roads Investment Strategy (RIS) at planning stage (excluding Lower Thames Crossing) is £8.5 billion, and for schemes under construction the total is £4.1 billion. The total estimated cost of the schemes in the Major Road Network (MRN) and Large Local Major (LLM) Programmes at planning stage is £6.2 billion and for schemes under construction the total is £1.2 billion. The value for money of the enhancement schemes in the second RIS programme (RIS2), including those already completed, is estimated to be “medium”. Based on an average of the available data, the indicative value for money of the MRN/LLM programme is estimated to be “high”.

For the RIS schemes cancelled in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s statement the details are as follows:

Value for Money information for A27 Worthing and Lancing is unavailable as the precise scope of the scheme had not yet been determined.

No schemes in the MRN/LLM programme were cancelled in the Chancellor’s statement.

The Department for Transport published an interim report on the £2 fare cap in September 2023 setting out emerging trends in key outcomes from the first two months of the scheme. It is available on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-2-bus-fare-cap/2-bus-fare-cap-evaluation-interim-report-february-2023.

Bus patronage appears to be continuing to recover following the COVID-19 pandemic, and people making additional bus trips with the £2 bus fare cap in place are likely to be existing bus users and make a small number of additional trips.

DfT is considering the overall value for money of the £2 fare cap as part of our ongoing evaluation, which will continue over the coming months and provide richer conclusions on its effects and people’s attitudes.

The government is urgently considering the most effective ways to ensure public transport services are reliable and affordable. We will conclude this as quickly as possible.

The government is urgently considering the most effective ways to ensure public transport services are reliable and affordable. We will conclude this as quickly as possible.

The latest rounds of the Safer Roads Fund are rounds 3A and 3B. Round 3A was funded in April 2023 to the total of £47.5 million and was granted to 25 Local Authorities to improve 27 roads. Round 3B was funded in March 2024 to the total of £38.3 million and was granted to 14 Local Authorities to improve 17 roads.

As Round 3 is still newly funded, local authorities are in the design phase of their schemes. Estimated completion dates are submitted to the Department as part of the Local Authorities' application process with most of round 3 schemes stating 2-3 years from design stage to completion. This would predict between 2025 and 2026 for completion.

The Department estimates that groundworks on many of the schemes will begin soon and Department officials will remain in contact with the local authorities, offering support throughout the lifetime of their scheme.

A single pensioner aged 90 with a weekly income of £218.16 which doesn’t fall to be disregarded, for example, it’s made up of state pension or a personal pension, would not be entitled to the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit because their non-disregardable income is in excess of the standard minimum guarantee for a single person. However, they would be entitled to the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit and would therefore receive the Winter Fuel Payment.

A pensioner couple both aged 90 with a combined weekly income of £332.96 which, again doesn’t fall to be disregarded would not be entitled to the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit because their non-disregardable income is in excess of the standard minimum guarantee for a couple. They would, however, be entitled to the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit and would therefore receive the Winter Fuel Payment.

The Pension Credit calculator on gov.uk provides an estimate as to what Pension Credit, a person may have entitlement to.

The number and proportion of people previously in receipt of the winter fuel payment, who will no longer be eligible to receive it in each local authority and constituency can be derived using the following published statistics: winter-fuel-payments-caseload-2022-to-2023.ods (live.com) and Stat-Xplore - Table View (dwp.gov.uk).

These are 22/23 Winter Fuel Payment statistics and Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics.

Estimation of those who will no longer be eligible to receive Winter Fuel Payment can be calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients for each local authority and constituency from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients for each local authority and constituency.

Please note that the Pension Credit data that is used should be based on the 2010 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, not 2024 in order to be comparable with the Winter Fuel Payments statistics.

In addition to that, the above figures do not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.

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 is a couple claiming Pension Credit).

Furthermore, Pension Credit claimants are the majority of those that will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, not all. There are other pensioners who are eligible for Winter Fuel Payments (as they claim other means tested benefits) but they are not considered in these figures as it is not possible to do so.

The headline UK economic inactivity level was 9.433 million in March-May 2010 (based on people aged between 16 and 64). In March-May 2024 (the latest month for which figures are available) the UK economic inactivity level was 9.383 million.

The headline UK economic inactivity rate was 23.4% in March-May 2010 (this is also estimated on a 16-64 basis). In March-May 2024 (the latest month for which figures are available) the UK economic inactivity rate was 22.1%.

The UK has experienced a rise in economic inactivity since the pandemic. The economic inactivity level has risen by 833,000 since the pre-pandemic level, with economic inactivity due to long-term sickness rising to 2.8m. The UK remains the only nation in the G7 with an economic inactivity rate higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statistics on the total number of people living in relative and absolute poverty both before and after housing costs are published annually in the Households Below Average Income statistics Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Figures are produced on an annual basis and available for the breakdowns requested.

The UK has experienced a recent rise in unemployment. It has also seen a rise in economic inactivity since the pandemic of 833,000 with long-term sickness rising to 2.8m. The UK remains the only nation in the G7 with an employment rate lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The headline UK unemployment level was 2.508 million in March-May 2010 (based on people aged 16 and over). In March-May 2024 (the latest month for which figures are available) the UK unemployment level was 1.528 million.

The headline UK unemployment rate was 7.9% in March-May 2010 (this is also estimated on a 16+ basis). In March-May 2024 (the latest month for which figures are available) the UK unemployment rate was 4.4%.

Existing labelling rules for genetically modified organisms (GMO) stipulate that foods sold in the United Kingdom that contain GMO ingredients must be labelled. This labelling gives consumers the choice on whether to consume such foods containing, or consisting of, GMO ingredients, and the choice to avoid such foods, should they wish to do so. In the case of food sold loose, or where food has been cooked in GMO products, for instance cooking oil, this information must appear on a notice, menu, ticket, or label which can be easily read by customers.

Information about any characteristic or property which renders a food consisting of or containing genetic modifications different from its conventional counterpart, such as its composition, nutritional value, the intended use of the food or feed, or any health implications for certain sections of the population, must also be included.

The following table shows the planned and real expenditure for National Health Service mental health services, including learning disabilities and dementia, each year since 2016/17, as the information for 2015/16 is not available:

Source: the NHS mental health dashboard, published by NHS England, and available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/.

Note: the planned expenditure in real terms is at 2023/24 monetary value.

The information requested is not available for 2009/10, as National Health Service expenditure on mental health services was not separately identified prior to 2015/16. The total planned spend on mental health for 2023/24, including learning disabilities and dementia, was £16,814,000,000. The final figures for 2023/24 are not yet available, and will be published through the NHS mental health dashboard, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/

The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent nurses, including health visitors, and doctors employed by National Health Service trusts and other core organisations in England, as of May 2010 and May 2024:

Source: NHS Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England, published by NHS England on a monthly basis.

The data includes staff employed by NHS trusts and other core NHS organisations. It excludes staff directly employed by general practitioner surgeries, local authorities, and other providers such as community interest companies and private providers. More detailed data can be found at the following link:

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

NHS England, which is usually taken as the basis of the National Health Service budget, was established in 2013/14, and so equivalent figures for earlier years are not available. For comparisons before 2013/14, the Government usually uses the Department’s overall budget, of which the NHS budget forms the vast majority. The overall budget, including the NHS and other components, was £183.6 billion in 2023/24. In 2009/10 it was £100.2 billion which, adjusting for inflation using gross domestic product deflators published on 28 June 2024, would be the equivalent of £141.5 billion in 2023/24.