Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of awarding the Teachers’ Pension Scheme administration contract to Tata Consultancy Services on national security, service standards and domestic employment; and whether UK-based providers were invited to bid for this contract.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The procurement to appoint a new administrator of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme was conducted under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), which aims to ensure an open, transparent and fair competition. During the procurement exercise several UK companies participated in the formal process. This procurement followed the standard due diligence checks and the standard departmental governance procedures. These checks did not highlight any concerns in relation to national security.
As part of the assessment process the potential bidders were required to contractually commit to the mandatory requirements to meet all necessary IT security standards. Domestic employment was not a part of the evaluation criteria for potential providers. The evaluation criteria did assess a potential provider’s capability to meet the required service standards.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) transparency and (b) independence of the process used by the Office for National Statistics to revise historic employment data; and what discussions she has had with the Office for National Statistics on the revisions made since July 2024.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The ONS is an independent organisation and is accountable to the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) board and the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) for the transparency and independence of its statistics. The Government trusts economic statistics produced by the ONS. The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) is responsible for ensuring that official statistics meet the standards set out in the Code of Practice, including the requirements set out in the Code’s Standards for Official Statistics that:
- ‘Producers must lead responsibly and make impartial decisions about statistics, under the direction and authority of the Chief Statistician/Head of Profession for Statistics
- ‘Producers must release statistics in a transparent way.’
- Producers must be ‘open about quality’ and must ‘prominently explain the quality of the statistics’.
The OSR continues periodically to review labour market statistics from the Labour Force Survey against the Code of Practice for Statistics. Their most recent report, published in February 2025, highlighted ONS’s efforts to ensure transparency.
Revisions to the Labour Force Survey employment data since July 2024, such as those relating to the reweighting of the survey in December 2024, have been communicated by the ONS publicly. The ONS continues to advise caution when interpreting changes in the Labour Force Survey over the past two years due to the effects of methodological changes. The Treasury is engaged with the ONS’ processes on data quality monitoring, with engagement at every level.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason HMP Dartmoor remains closed in the context of the shortage of prison spaces.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Following the temporary closure of HMP Dartmoor in August 2024, after detection of elevated levels of radon gas, we have been working with specialist radon experts to investigate and assess options to allow us to reopen the prison safely.
The decision on reopening will be made based on the viability of the site, the effectiveness of works to reduce levels of radon, and value for money. We need to be satisfied that reopening the prison is justified in the light of a range of considerations, including compliance with legislative requirements, operational viability, and the cost of mitigation measures.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many foreign nationals have been granted social housing in each of the last five years.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 85086 on 4 November 2025.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to (a) the public purse, (b) businesses and (c) households of meeting net zero by 2050.
Answered by Katie White - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Net zero is the economic opportunity of the 21st century. Meeting climate targets will cost less than failing to deal with climate change. The Climate Change Committee estimates the cost of meeting net zero targets will be on average the equivalent of 0.2% of UK GDP per year and the OBR estimates the cost of failing to deal with climate change will be 5% of UK GDP per year
The 0.2% cost also does not take into account the wider beneficial growth impacts of net zero investment. Since July 2024, £52bn of private investment has been announced in our clean energy industries
The OBR is clear that the costs of climate damage are getting higher, while the cost of the net zero transition is getting lower. Only by investing in the transition now can we reduce costs in future.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what proportion of renewable energy equipment installed in the UK was manufactured in China.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government does not hold data on what proportion of renewable energy equipment installed in the UK was manufactured in China.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the annual cost of housing foreign national offenders in UK prisons.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We do not disaggregate prison running costs by nationality and the cost to hold individuals depends on the category of prison. Our unit costs for holding prisoners are published on GOV.UK alongside the Prison performance data 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK. Data on the number of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) in custody is published in Offender management statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK (prison population table 1_Q_9).
Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced. Where appropriate, the Ministry of Justice will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. Between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025, over 5,000 were FNOs. This is an increase of 14% compared to the 4,532 FNO returns in the same period 12 months prior.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many migrants who arrived in the UK illegally are housed in hotels; and what the daily cost is to the public purse of those hotels.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data is published quarterly on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including accommodation type, and can be found within the Asy_D11 tab of our most recent statistics release at Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are commercially confidential therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will publish the unredcated Lloyd's Banking Group forward plan.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government does not have plans to publish any further documents related to the EU State aid decision in 2009 concerning Lloyds Banking Group.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that (a) NHS Lincolnshire and (b) other Integrated Care Boards implement the NICE Fertility Guideline recommending (i) three full cycles of IVF for eligible women under 40 and (ii) one full cycle for women aged 40 to 42; and if he will take steps to improve access to NHS-funded fertility treatment.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that fertility treatment across the National Health Service in England is subject to variation in access. Work continues between the Department and NHS England to improve NHS-funded fertility services.
We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England.
NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guidelines and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to NHS-funded treatment are still appropriate. A consultation on revised guidelines was published on 10 September.
In light of broader pressures on the National Health Service and on on-going changes within NHS England, we have been looking again at achievable ambitions to improve access to fertility services and fairness for all affected couples.