Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many under 18 year olds have undergone gender reassignment surgery in each of the last ten years.

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

No individual under 18 years of age has received surgical intervention for gender dysphoria through commissioning arrangements put in place by the National Health Service in England.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will consult hon. Members with business experience on a cross-party basis in the spending review.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Phase 2 of the Spending Review will maximise the use of independent scrutiny and external experience. External experts will support departments to review and scrutinise budgets, bringing ideas, expertise and innovation of the private sector into the heart of government.

This will also include greater use of departmental non-executive directors – many of whom have extensive experience of business and industry – in the process.

The Treasury has published an external representation portal, where both businesses and members of the wider public can put forward policy proposals, including proposals for delivering public services more efficiently or effectively.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff employed by her Department are responsible for staff welfare; and whether her Department has any contracts with external organisations for staff welfare services.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The DWP Wellbeing Team includes a resource of 8 employees who are responsible for ensuring we proactively support the health and wellbeing of colleagues across DWP, creating a safe and healthy culture for colleagues at work.

DWP has a contract for Occupational Health provision and delivery of a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme with People Asset Management (PAM). DWP also has an Eyecare contract with Specsavers which provides an eyecare service for DWP employees who use display screen equipment at work and offers a free eye test once every two years.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish a list of companies contracted by her Department to undertake training for staff.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department’s main route for Learning is via the Cabinet Office led Learning Frameworks contracts whose main suppliers are KPMG and Ernst and Young.

Any other learning is by exception and this information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much was spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation in HMP (i) Maidstone, (ii) Huntercombe and (iii) Morton Hall in each of the last ten years.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

To provide data on prisoners remaining in custody beyond their sentence date would require a search of individual records, which could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Information on interpretation and translation costs covering the time period specified is not available. Expenditure interpretation and translation in the current financial year to date is shown in the table below. As both types of expenditure are accounted for under the same budget item, it is not possible to provide a further breakdown.

“Drug-related incident” is not a discrete category within the data collected. A variety of different types of incidents could potentially be drug related. It would therefore be necessary to make a detailed search of individual records to establish which incidents could be categorised in that way. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

The latest published breakdown of offences for which prisoners at the three establishments have been imprisoned can be found via the following link (under the ‘PT’ tab): Prison_Population_data_tool_2024-09-30.xlsx.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the total number of drug related incidents in (a) HMP Maidstone, (b) HMP Huntercombe and (c) HMP Morton Hall in each of the last five years.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

To provide data on prisoners remaining in custody beyond their sentence date would require a search of individual records, which could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Information on interpretation and translation costs covering the time period specified is not available. Expenditure interpretation and translation in the current financial year to date is shown in the table below. As both types of expenditure are accounted for under the same budget item, it is not possible to provide a further breakdown.

“Drug-related incident” is not a discrete category within the data collected. A variety of different types of incidents could potentially be drug related. It would therefore be necessary to make a detailed search of individual records to establish which incidents could be categorised in that way. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

The latest published breakdown of offences for which prisoners at the three establishments have been imprisoned can be found via the following link (under the ‘PT’ tab): Prison_Population_data_tool_2024-09-30.xlsx.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners remained in prison beyond the end of their sentence in HMP (a) Maidstone, (b) Huntercombe and(c) Morton Hall in each of the last ten years.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

To provide data on prisoners remaining in custody beyond their sentence date would require a search of individual records, which could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Information on interpretation and translation costs covering the time period specified is not available. Expenditure interpretation and translation in the current financial year to date is shown in the table below. As both types of expenditure are accounted for under the same budget item, it is not possible to provide a further breakdown.

“Drug-related incident” is not a discrete category within the data collected. A variety of different types of incidents could potentially be drug related. It would therefore be necessary to make a detailed search of individual records to establish which incidents could be categorised in that way. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

The latest published breakdown of offences for which prisoners at the three establishments have been imprisoned can be found via the following link (under the ‘PT’ tab): Prison_Population_data_tool_2024-09-30.xlsx.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will provide a breakdown of the offences inmates are serving time for in (a) HMP Maidstone, (b) HMP Huntercombe and (c) HMP Morton Hall.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

To provide data on prisoners remaining in custody beyond their sentence date would require a search of individual records, which could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Information on interpretation and translation costs covering the time period specified is not available. Expenditure interpretation and translation in the current financial year to date is shown in the table below. As both types of expenditure are accounted for under the same budget item, it is not possible to provide a further breakdown.

“Drug-related incident” is not a discrete category within the data collected. A variety of different types of incidents could potentially be drug related. It would therefore be necessary to make a detailed search of individual records to establish which incidents could be categorised in that way. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

The latest published breakdown of offences for which prisoners at the three establishments have been imprisoned can be found via the following link (under the ‘PT’ tab): Prison_Population_data_tool_2024-09-30.xlsx.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) foreign national offenders have been deported and (b) UK citizens have been returned following imprisonment abroad for each country with which the UK has a prisoner transfer agreement in each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Data on returns of foreign national offenders are regularly published in the Home Office’s quarterly release “Immigration Systems Statistics”.

Statistics on UK citizens who were returned to England and Wales following imprisonment abroad are provided in the table attached. To prevent disclosure that could identify individuals, as required under the data protection principles, the symbol * is used for suppressed values of five or fewer.

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.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many contacts to the Pension Service there were in each month of the last five years.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The attached table shows volumes of telephone calls received within Pension Service over the last 5 years and includes the following services:

• State Pension
• Pension Credit
• International Group
• Attendance Allowance
• Carers Allowance
• Winter Fuel Payment
• Bereavement
• Future Pension Service
• Includes all G4S outsourced.

Information regarding other contacts is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of senior civil servants within his Department that have (a) historic and (b) current directorships listed on Companies House.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

As of July 2023, the current number of SCS that have a directorship listed on Companies House is 1 out of 306 SCS listed on payroll.

Historical information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. For information the current limit is £850, worked out in person hours needed to provide the answer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing a migration data dashboard showing information on (a) immigration and (b) irregular migration.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

I refer the Honourable member to the answer I gave on 27 November to question UIN 15076.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate she has made of the (a) cost of building HS2 and (b) impact of HS2 on economic growth in the next 10 years; and what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the lessons learned from the construction of Crossrail.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

HS2 has faced increases in costs since delivery started and this needs to end and the programme must be brought under control. The Secretary of State has asked Mark Wild, the new CEO of HS2 Ltd, to review the remaining scope, the cost and schedule needed to complete phase 1 of the programme, and advise the government on what is needed.

Despite its challenges, HS2 is delivering, and will deliver long-term benefits for people and places. The programme is currently supporting over 31,700 jobs, and it will support wider economic growth, including the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes. A report commissioned by HS2, ‘From Trains to Cranes’, included analysis estimating that HS2 will drive a £10 billion annual uplift within the West Midlands area over the next 10 years (https://www.hs2.org.uk/about-us/our-documents/from-trains-to-cranes-hs2-and-the-west-midlands-development-boom/).

Action is being taken to learn lessons from Phase 1 of HS2, as well as previous programmes such as Crossrail. The Department has commissioned an independent review of the governance and assurance of the Department’s major infrastructure projects, drawing primarily on the experiences of HS2. The review, which is led by James Stewart, is part of the Department’s on-going programme of work to learn lessons from HS2 and its other major projects, such as Crossrail.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, is she will make an estimate of the number of postgraduate students currently studying in UK universities that are (a) UK citizens and (b) non-UK citizens.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department does not hold citizenship data for higher education (HE) students. However, data on the domicile (permanent address) of HE students, is available via the Higher Education Statistics Agency, which can be accessed here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb269/figure-9. In the academic year 2022/23, there were 426,515 UK-domiciled postgraduate students and 455,780 non-UK-domiciled postgraduate students enrolled at UK HE providers. These figures include both postgraduate taught and research students.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, if she will publish a copy of all information packs provided to service users.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, if she will make an estimate of the number of antisocial behaviour incidents reported to her Department via the contract provider.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021,what the potential cost to the public purse is of (a) furnishing and (b) decorating associated with the contract.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, what the potential cost to the public purse was of recreational activities provided via the contract.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, what the potential cost to the public purse is of cleaning services associated with the contract.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, if she will make an estimate of the number of (a) arrests and (b) enforcement notices reported to his Department as a result of the contract.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, if she will make an estimate of the number of (a) violent and (b) aggressive incidents reported by the provider to her Department.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, how many call outs for reactive maintenance services were made under the contract; and if she will make an estimate of the average waiting time for reactive maintenance services.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, what the potential cost to the public purse is of cash given to service users as an emergency measure associated to the contract.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, what the potential cost to the public purse was of legal advice issued in relation to the contract.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, what the potential cost to the public purse was of food vouchers issued via this contract.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, if she will make an estimate of the potential cost to the public purse of (a) healthcare and (b) dental costs associated with the contract; and if she will make an estimate of the number of (i) GP and (ii) dental appointments arranged.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, if she will make an estimate of the number of social tension incidents reported per local authority associated to the contract.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, what the potential cost to the public purse was of (a) translation and (b) interpretation costs associated with the contract.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, what the potential cost to the public purse was of (a) taxi and (b) public transport associated with the contract.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, if she will breakdown service users by (a) sex and (b) age.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's procurement contract entitled Asylum Accommodation & Support Services Contract NW, reference CF-0155600D58000000L5A4EAK3, published on 9 April 2021, if she will publish a breakdown of material sub-contractors for that contract.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost, and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish (a) the total cost to the public purse for, (b) a breakdown of services provided under contracts related to and (c) a list of companies contracted to deliver services for the Refugee Employability Programme.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

Details of contract values, breakdown of services and companies contracted for the Refugee Employability Programme are available on the Find a Tender service link at https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/023030-2023?origin=SearchResults&p=1.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children entered (a) primary and (b) secondary school in Great Yarmouth constituency in each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department publishes the number of pupils in primary and secondary schools in the Great Yarmouth constituency. This data is available in the ’Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication, which is based on the January school census. The most recent figures can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

The publication webpage includes a school-level data file, listed under the dropdown heading ‘Additional supporting files’ as ‘School level underlying data - 2023/24 (csv, 22 Mb)’.

This file contains one row per school. The data can be filtered by school phase and constituency. Column GZ provides headcount of pupils.

Data from other academic years is available via the ‘Releases in this series’ on the publication webpage. Data on parliamentary constituencies use boundaries as they were when the statistics were published.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse is of Change NHS.

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

The public and staff must be at the centre of the development of the plan to make the National Health Service fit for the future, so it makes a positive impact on their day-to-day lives. That is why we are running a series of in-depth deliberative events and have launched an open platform to hear from members of the public and those who work in health and care.

The events are being delivered within the Department's budget as part of its responsibility to promote the health and wellbeing of everyone in England. We are determined to do this in a way that gives everyone the chance to get involved, while also ensuring value for money. At this point in time, we are not able to provide accurate costs for the whole engagement exercise, because it is still ongoing.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the costs to the NHS of treating birth defects resulting from cousin marriage in each of the past ten years.

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

The Government has not carried out an assessment of the costs to the National Health Service of treating birth defects resulting from cousin marriage.

We will continue to work with the NHS as it delivers its three-year maternity and neonatal plan to grow our maternity workforce, develop a culture of safety, and ensure women and babies receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will have discussions with local authorities on increasing the level of consultation with local residents when calculating housing targets.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Following consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system, the government has implemented a new mandatory standard method for assessing housing needs which aligns with our ambition to build 1.5 million new homes in this parliament.

National planning policy and guidance is clear that when developing their local plan, local planning authorities should carry out robust consultations with their local communities and ensure views are taken into account. Local planning authorities must also comply with the specific requirements in regulation 18 and 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 on consultation and representations as well as with the commitments in their Statement of Community Involvement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of spousal visas were issued to cousins in each of the previous ten years.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The requested data is not currently collected, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of pension payments made to deceased recipients in each of the last ten years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Due to data archiving in accordance with GDPR, we can only provide data from the last five financial years.

Direct Payments made into an account after the death of a customer represent only around 0.1% of total annual expenditure on pensions. Although these are treated as non-recoverable and are not enforceable by law, we can request the money back as a voluntary payment. So far, we have recovered around half of the overpayments, to avoid this becoming a long-term cost to the taxpayer.

*Above table identifies the New Debt Value and the value of recoveries of RP & PC DPADs in each financial year.

The repayments in a specific year might not match the overpayments that occurred in that year, as repayment sometimes lags.

Data is GB only and classification information is current.

Payments may have later been reversed.

Debts have not necessarily all been fully recovered.

Net value has been identified using the following Overpaid - Voluntary repayment = Net.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to verify that individuals that enter the country on student visas are attending their courses.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

Sponsoring institutions of international students are required to promptly report where sponsorship is withdrawn due to failure to enrol or attend classes in line with published duties to UKVI. Sponsors are required to submit an annual assessment where course completion and enrolment rates of their sponsored students are assessed against published metrics.

Where educational institutions fall below these metrics, the Home Office is entitled to take compliance action against the sponsoring institution. Those students who do not enrol or persistently fail to attend their courses also face their Student permission being cancelled.

In addition, UKVI has a range of other mechanisms available to ensure that institutions are meeting their sponsor duties, including through onsite compliance visits.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many sole traders (a) registered and (b) deregistered each day in 2024.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC does not hold the data requested relating to people added to and removed from PAYE. The PAYE population is made up of around 35 million individuals, and precise numbers change frequently as customers take up their first PAYE employment or pension, start new employments or pensions, and leave old ones. Increasing numbers of customers also take up secondary or additional employments or pensions, and have other income sources which may or may not be taxed through PAYE.

HMRC does not hold the data requested relating specifically to sole traders registering for Self Assessment. There are around 12.1 million taxpayers who are expected to submit Self Assessment tax returns by 31 January 2025. That population includes sole traders, some of whom will have commenced or ceased trading during the 2023/24 tax year.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people were (a) added and (b) removed from PAYE each day in 2024.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC does not hold the data requested relating to people added to and removed from PAYE. The PAYE population is made up of around 35 million individuals, and precise numbers change frequently as customers take up their first PAYE employment or pension, start new employments or pensions, and leave old ones. Increasing numbers of customers also take up secondary or additional employments or pensions, and have other income sources which may or may not be taxed through PAYE.

HMRC does not hold the data requested relating specifically to sole traders registering for Self Assessment. There are around 12.1 million taxpayers who are expected to submit Self Assessment tax returns by 31 January 2025. That population includes sole traders, some of whom will have commenced or ceased trading during the 2023/24 tax year.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of school places in Great Yarmouth constituency (a) available and (b) requested in the next academic year.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

As part of the school capacity survey 2023, Norfolk local authority submitted to the department information on school capacity and forecast demand for school places. Forecasts are made for pupil place planning areas, which are not a standard geography and cannot be linked to parliamentary constituency. However, there is a Great Yarmouth planning area.

Using school capacity survey 2023 data, as well as information on centrally delivered programmes, the department estimated that in the 2025/26 academic year there would be 426 spare primary places and 323 spare secondary places in the Great Yarmouth planning area.

These estimates were made in 2023. These estimated spare places may or may not be available for pupil placements, as this depends on admission policies set by the individual admission authorities covering the Great Yarmouth planning area.

The department does not have information on the number of places requested for the 2025/26 academic year, as the national primary and secondary applications and offers rounds have not yet started.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will review the use of Bovaer.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Food Standards Agency has advised milk from cows given Bovaer, an authorised feed additive used to reduce methane emissions, is safe to drink. Bovaer has undergone a rigorous safety assessment and is approved for use in Great Britain.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the proportion of children that started secondary school who are (a) new to and (b) have early acquisition of English in each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department does not hold data for children who have learnt English throughout their lifetime. Data for the proportion and number of children who are not known to have English as their first language can be found at school level in the school census publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

A pupil is recorded to have English as an additional language if they are exposed to a language at home that is known or believed to be other than English. This measure is not a measure of English language proficiency or a good proxy for recent immigration.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of planned housing development that will be located within the green belt.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The amount of development that occurs in any given Green Belt will depend on local circumstances.

The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December makes clear that before concluding that exceptional circumstances exist to justify changes to Green Belt boundaries, the relevant authority should be able to demonstrate that it has examined fully all other reasonable options for meeting its identified need for development. Where it is necessary to release Green Belt land for development, plans should give priority to previously developed land, then consider grey belt which is not previously developed, and then other Green Belt locations.

It is for local planning authorities to assess whether Green Belt land should be released, with their decisions informed by Green Belt reviews undertaken at a local level. The government recognises the need to provide further guidance, to ensure a consistent approach to Green Belt Reviews and the identification of grey belt land. We will be providing further guidance in January 2025 to assist in this.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will (a) make an assessment of the adequacy of local infrastructure in Great Yarmouth constituency and (b) reassess the housing target for that constituency following that assessment.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Local development plans should address needs and opportunities in relation to infrastructure and identify what infrastructure is required and how it can be funded and brought forward, including in Great Yarmouth.

When preparing a Local Plan, Planning Practice Guidance recommends that local planning authorities use available evidence of infrastructure requirements to prepare an Infrastructure Funding Statement. Such Statements can be used to demonstrate the delivery of infrastructure throughout the plan-period.

I understand that Great Yarmouth Council intend to adopt the Community Infrastructure Levy to help secure contributions towards local infrastructure.

The government has no intention of reassessing the recently implemented new standard method for assessing housing needs.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing restrictions on foreign (a) nationals and (b) companies purchasing new houses.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government made clear in its manifesto that we would increase the non-resident Stamp Duty Land Tax surcharge by one percentage point.

At the Budget, we decided to go further and instead increased the Higher Rate for Additional Dwellings by 2 percentage points to 5%. This will raise £310 million by 2029-30 and go further than the manifesto commitment to rebalance the housing market.

Overseas entities who want to buy, sell, or transfer property or land in the UK, must register with Companies House and tell us who their registrable beneficial owners or managing officers are.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will introduce legislation to prohibit non-resident foreigners from purchasing residential property in the UK.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government made clear in its manifesto that we would increase the non-resident Stamp Duty Land Tax surcharge by one percentage point.

At the Budget, we decided to go further and instead increased the Higher Rate for Additional Dwellings by 2 percentage points to 5%. This will raise £310 million by 2029-30 and go further than the manifesto commitment to rebalance the housing market.

Overseas entities who want to buy, sell, or transfer property or land in the UK, must register with Companies House and tell us who their registrable beneficial owners or managing officers are.

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 potential merits of ensuring that infrastructure investment is in place before any new building of homes.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development, including the provision of supporting infrastructure in a sustainable manner.

Local development plans should address needs and opportunities in relation to infrastructure and identify what infrastructure is required and how it can be funded and brought forward. When preparing a Local Plan, Planning Practice Guidance recommends that local planning authorities use available evidence of infrastructure requirements to prepare an Infrastructure Funding Statement. Such Statements can be used to demonstrate the delivery of infrastructure throughout the plan-period.

The Government provides financial support for essential infrastructure in areas of greatest housing demand through the Housing Infrastructure Fund.

The changes to the National Planning Policy Framework announced on 12 December will also support the increased provision and modernisation of various types of public infrastructure.

The Government is also committed to strengthening the existing system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure. Further details will be set out in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a review of which nationalities proportionately commit the largest number of crimes.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Ministry of Justice already publishes the nationality of those entering custody or serving prison sentences as part of their quarterly Offender Management Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2024/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2024.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many notices that a person is to be treated as an illegal entrant or as a person liable to administrative removal under section 10 of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999 have been issued by her Department in each of the last five years.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The specific information requested is not readily available from published statistics, and could only be obtained 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, with reference to her Department's contract entitled Services to Support Migrants Currently Living in the Community Who Do Not Have Permission to Live in the UK, reference C16116, published on 14 December 2020, how many migrants have used these services.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

A total of 84 participants took part in the Refugee and Migrant Advice Service, which ran from June 2020 until June 2022.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to put proposed changes to the structure of local government in Norfolk to voters in that county.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The English Devolution White Paper sets out the Government’s plans for local government reorganisation, and that the Government will write to council leaders as soon as possible to formally invite proposals, setting out information on our criteria for sustainable unitary structures, how and when to submit proposals and how the government intends to respond to proposals.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing guidance on the sentencing of people committing offences on social media.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Sentencing guidelines are developed by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales, in fulfilment of its statutory duty to do so.

The Council is independent of Parliament and Government. As an independent body, the Council decides on its own priorities and work plan for producing and reviewing guidelines. The Lord Chancellor or the Court of Appeal can ask the Council to consider reviewing or producing guidelines in a particular area, but the Council is not required to agree to any such requests.

The Council monitors and evaluates all definitive guidelines, as per its statutory duty to do so. The assessment covers the operation and effect of the guideline. A report on the evaluation findings is published online. A variety of different methods of data collection and analysis may be used, as necessary: analysis of existing data on sentencing trends over time, collections of data from sentencers on factors that influence their sentencing of different offences, interviews and focus groups, analysis of Crown Court sentencing transcripts and media reports.

Sentencing guidelines for child sexual offences were first published in 2013. Following consultation, revised guidelines were published and came into force in May 2022.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of houses planned to be built during this Parliament that will home new arrivals to this country.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

My Department does not collect data on the nationalities of people buying homes for private sale on the open market.

Eligibility for social housing is already tightly controlled. If a person’s visa means that they cannot access state benefits or local authority housing assistance, they are not eligible for an allocation of social housing. Migrants arriving in the UK on student or work visas are not eligible and nor are those who arrive in the country illegally with no leave to remain.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of officials in her Department were hired via positive action schemes in the last financial year.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice works within the Civil Service Recruitment Principles, as regulated by the Civil Service Commission, to recruit using a fair and open process and appoint on merit. The Department will only limit a campaign to a specific group as a form of positive action as a proportionate response to achieve a legitimate aim as defined in section 159 of the Equality Act 2010.

The Ministry of Justice does not currently utilise any positive action schemes, as defined by the Equality Act, to support the hiring of those with protected characteristics.

The Civil Service is committed to a diverse workforce and culture of openness and inclusivity - not as ends in themselves but as means of delivering better outcomes to the citizens we serve.

The Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-25 Promoting Fairness and Performance, published in February 2022, is positioned as an essential lever to deliver a Modern Civil Service, where our values are to serve with integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality; driving our vision to be a skilled, innovative and ambitious Civil Service equipped for the future. This strategy sets out a broader definition of diversity, to include geographical, social and career backgrounds alongside the protected groups.

As set out in the Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027, we are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds, to create a modern Civil Service, now and for the future.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of officials in his Department were hired via positive action schemes in the last financial year.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

All Civil Service departments work within the Recruitment Principles, as regulated by

the Civil Service Commission, to recruit using a fair and open process and appoint on

Departments will only limit a campaign to a specific group as a form of positive action

as a proportionate response to achieve a legitimate aim as defined in section 159 of

the Equality Act 2010.

The Civil Service is committed to a diverse workforce and culture of openness and

inclusivity - not as ends in themselves but as means of delivering better outcomes to

the citizens we serve.

The Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-25 Promoting Fairness and Performance,

published in February 2022, is positioned as an essential lever to deliver a Modern

Civil Service, where our values are to serve with integrity, honesty, objectivity and

impartiality; driving our vision to be a skilled, innovative and ambitious Civil Service

equipped for the future. This strategy sets out a broader definition of diversity, to

include geographical, social and career backgrounds alongside the protected groups.

As set out in the Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027, we are committed to

ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of

backgrounds, to create a modern Civil Service, now and for the future.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to prevent further damage following coastal erosion in Hemsby; and what his Department’s timetable is for reviewing the funding formula for flood defences.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

I refer the Honourable Member to the answers to his previous questions; PQ 12005, tabled on 30 October 2024, and PQ 8968, tabled on 14 October 2024.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners in HMP (a) Maidstone, (b) Huntercombe and (c) Morton Hall have access to mobile phones.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Prisoners are not permitted to have mobile telephones, and stringent measures are in place to prevent the entry of mobile telephones into establishments.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of foreign national offenders serving prison sentences have been transferred to prison in their country of origin in each of the last five years.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The table below shows the number of foreign national offenders removed under prisoner transfer agreements in each year since 2020, including 2024 to date:

As the number of foreign national prisoners is constantly changing, it is not possible to represent the above figures as a proportion of the total.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to reduce antisocial behaviour in Great Yarmouth constituency.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

The Government recently announced Respect Orders, which will be introduced in the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill. Respect Orders can be applied for by police and local councils and are issued by the courts. They will enable courts to place wide-ranging restrictions on the behaviour of the most persistent and disruptive ASB offenders. Breach will be a criminal offence meaning officers can arrest and take action quickly to disrupt ongoing ASB. Breaches will be heard in the criminal courts who will have a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, up to two years’ imprisonment.

We will also put thousands of neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities so that residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including immigration status on crime reports.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer he was given on 4^th December to question UIN 16906.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse was for all non-departmental bodies in the last financial year.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

We are currently collecting financial data from arms lengths bodies, which includes non-departmental public bodies, for 2023/24 and will publish it in due course.

Financial data for arm’s length bodies, including non-departmental public bodies, in 2022/23 is published on GOV.UK.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much the Prison Phoenix Trust has received from her Department for (a) prison contracts and (b) contracts relating (i) HMP Maidstone, (ii) HMP Huntercombe and (iii) HMP Morton Hall in the last financial year.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

In the last financial year (FY 23/24) Prison Phoenix Trust has received £54,663 from the Department for prison contracts.

The Prison Phoenix Trust has received £0 for contracts relating to HMP Maidstone, HMPS Huntercombe and HMP Morton Hall in the last financial year.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much the Forward Trust received from contracts in HMP (a) Maidstone, (b) Huntercombe and (c) Morton Hall in the last financial year.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

In the last financial year (FY 23/24) Forward Trust has received £7,401,140 from the Department for prison contracts.

Forward Trust has received £0 for contracts relating to HMP Maidstone, HMPS Huntercombe and HMP Morton Hall in the last financial year.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department uses sewage to estimate population changes.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra does not routinely measure population changes and therefore does not use sewage monitoring for this purpose.

Sewerage undertakers account for population changes in their business planning by using local Government growth plans and population data supplied by the Office of National Statistics.

Sewerage undertakers use projections of population growth at a sewerage catchment level to assess future capacity needs within their Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMP). Since 1 September 2024, sewerage undertakers in England are required to prepare, publish and maintain a DWMP. The DWMP is a key evidence base to inform future capacity needs in the sewerage undertakers' business plans.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if will make an assessment of the potential merits of conducting a review into the funding of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

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

There is currently no planned review of the funding of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The MHRA is funded predominately by charging fees to industry, for the services it delivers, with additional funding being provided by the Department. The fees are set to recover the full cost of delivering the respective services. This follows the HM Treasury guidance, Managing Public Money. This cost-recovery approach means that the regulated bear the cost of regulation, rather than the taxpayer and, by extension, patients.

Departmental funding to the MHRA is set in advance through collaborative spending review processes, which consider the MHRA’s needs in detail.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's contract entitled Travel, Transport, Accommodation & Venue Solutions, reference RM6342 TTA&VS, published on 9 October 2024, how much and what proportion of the contract value relates to the provision of services for (a) asylum seekers, (b) refugees and (c) migrants.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Travel, Transport, Accommodation & Venue Solutions (RM6342) is not a contract but a commercial agreement. There is no guaranteed spend associated with this agreement, as it is designed to provide a solution for potential procurement needs. As such, there is no specific spend or proportion of the agreement value allocated to the provision of services for asylum seekers, refugees, or migrants.