Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by his Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department does not hold information on LinkedIn membership fees and other subscriptions in the format requested, and this could only be collated at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what was the total annual NHS expenditure on GnRH analogue puberty blockers for under-18s in each financial year since 2010.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists or ‘puberty blockers’ are used to treat several medical conditions in children and young people. These can include precocious puberty, some forms of cancer, and endometriosis. They have also been used outside of their licenced indication to treat gender dysphoria.
There is no central registry that provides the total number of children in England who have been prescribed GnRH agonists through the National Health Service since 2010.
The following table shows the number of identifiable patients and total net ingredient cost for NHS prescriptions of GnRH agonists for all purposes for children aged 17 years old and under that were prescribed and dispensed in community pharmacies or general practices in England in each year from 2015/2016 to September 2025:
Financial year | The unique number of identified patients aged 17 years old and under who received an NHS prescription of GnRH for all purposes | The total net ingredient cost of prescriptions known to be issued to those aged 17 and under who received an NHS prescription of GnRH for all purposes |
2015/16 | 885 | £621,033.41 |
2016/17 | 987 | £692,927.42 |
2017/18 | 1,047 | £772,767.71 |
2018/19 | 1,072 | £806,393.82 |
2019/20 | 1,048 | £781,151.72 |
2020/21 | 936 | £703,531.55 |
2021/22 | 864 | £607,597.80 |
2022/23 | 849 | £586,845.56 |
2023/24 | 746 | £525,321.93 |
2024/25 | 622 | £449,611.72 |
2025/2026 | 432 | £219,338.73 |
Source: ePACT2, which sources data from the NHS Business Services Authority’s Information Services Data Warehouse.
Note: the net ingredient cost is the basic price of a product excluding VAT. It does not take account of discounts, rebates, dispensing costs, fees, and allowances paid to pharmacists and appliance contractors for the service they provide to the NHS, or prescription charge income received, where the single charge or Prescription Prepayment Certificate fee is paid, or foregone where prescriptions are dispensed free of charge.
The NHS Business Services Authority does not hold patient data prior to April 2015. This data excludes dispensing in secondary care and other settings, and private prescriptions.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any NHS Trusts (a) employ specialist staff or (b) operate dedicated services to address genetic disorders associated with consanguinity.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service in England supports patients with a variety of conditions related to genetics. NHS England is piloting and evaluating new models of care to improve the equity of access to genetic services for the small proportion of couples at increased genetic risk due to close relative marriage. NHS England is funding additional capacity in several professions, including midwifery, genomics associates, and neonatal nurses, in nine pilot sites through the Genetic Risk Equity Project. 3.8 whole time equivalent (WTE) midwives and one WTE neonatal nurse were in post in 2024/25 to deliver the Genetic Risk Equity Project.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS staff there are whose responsibilities include addressing genetic disorders associated with consanguinity.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service in England supports patients with a variety of conditions related to genetics. NHS England is piloting and evaluating new models of care to improve the equity of access to genetic services for the small proportion of couples at increased genetic risk due to close relative marriage. NHS England is funding additional capacity in several professions, including midwifery, genomics associates, and neonatal nurses, in nine pilot sites through the Genetic Risk Equity Project. 3.8 whole time equivalent (WTE) midwives and one WTE neonatal nurse were in post in 2024/25 to deliver the Genetic Risk Equity Project.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients aged under 18 have been prescribed GnRH analogue puberty blockers through the NHS in each year since 2010.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists or ‘puberty blockers’ are used to treat several medical conditions in children and young people. These can include precocious puberty, some forms of cancer, and endometriosis. They have also been used outside of their licenced indication to treat gender dysphoria.
There is no central registry that provides the total number of children in England who have been prescribed GnRH agonists through the National Health Service since 2010.
The following table shows the number of identifiable patients and total net ingredient cost for NHS prescriptions of GnRH agonists for all purposes for children aged 17 years old and under that were prescribed and dispensed in community pharmacies or general practices in England in each year from 2015/2016 to September 2025:
Financial year | The unique number of identified patients aged 17 years old and under who received an NHS prescription of GnRH for all purposes | The total net ingredient cost of prescriptions known to be issued to those aged 17 and under who received an NHS prescription of GnRH for all purposes |
2015/16 | 885 | £621,033.41 |
2016/17 | 987 | £692,927.42 |
2017/18 | 1,047 | £772,767.71 |
2018/19 | 1,072 | £806,393.82 |
2019/20 | 1,048 | £781,151.72 |
2020/21 | 936 | £703,531.55 |
2021/22 | 864 | £607,597.80 |
2022/23 | 849 | £586,845.56 |
2023/24 | 746 | £525,321.93 |
2024/25 | 622 | £449,611.72 |
2025/2026 | 432 | £219,338.73 |
Source: ePACT2, which sources data from the NHS Business Services Authority’s Information Services Data Warehouse.
Note: the net ingredient cost is the basic price of a product excluding VAT. It does not take account of discounts, rebates, dispensing costs, fees, and allowances paid to pharmacists and appliance contractors for the service they provide to the NHS, or prescription charge income received, where the single charge or Prescription Prepayment Certificate fee is paid, or foregone where prescriptions are dispensed free of charge.
The NHS Business Services Authority does not hold patient data prior to April 2015. This data excludes dispensing in secondary care and other settings, and private prescriptions.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2025 to question 95741 on Offenders and Undocumented Migrants, if he will commit to collating and verifying the requested data to publish on a regular basis.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data. The Home Office does not publish data on subjects where the information held is known to not be sufficiently robust or of high enough quality.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by her Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
For FY24/25, DSIT spent £159,000 on LinkedIn subscriptions and £1,221,168 on other subscriptions. DSIT uses its LinkedIn subscription to support with recruitment efforts including role advertisement and usage of LinkedIn Insights which supports with strategic workforce planning. With more than 44 million registered users in the UK as of January 2025, LinkedIn offers DSIT the ability to promote live vacancies to as many potential external candidates as possible. This is particularly important for DSIT’s critical digital and data vacancies, whereby it is estimated that more than half of our applicants come from outside of the civil service market.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether additional support will be given to coastal councils like Great Yarmouth facing above-average costs for waste and public space maintenance.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises the significant pressures that councils are facing. This is why, alongside the additional £3.4 billion of grant funding announced at the Spending Review, the government is delivering fair funding reforms to ensure money goes to the places that need it most.
On 17 December, the government published the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, the first multi-year Settlement in a decade. The provisional 2026-27 Settlement will make available almost £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England, a 5.7% cash-terms increase compared to 2025-26. By the end of the multi-year period, we will have provided a 15.1% cash-terms increase, worth over £11 billion, compared to 2025-26.
The government is absolutely committed to tackling the issues that matter to rural and coastal communities. Our updated assessment of need will more effectively capture variations in demand for services within a local authority. We will continue to apply Area Cost Adjustments to account for the different costs faced in delivering services, including in coastal areas.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether nationality data held by EROs is used in any national-security screening or analysis relating to electoral interference risk.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not hold data on the number of postal or proxy votes issued to foreign nationals eligible to vote in English local elections. The Department also does not hold data on the number of foreign nationals registered to vote in English local elections.
Electoral registers and the approval and issuing of postal and proxy votes are managed at a local level by Electoral Registration Officers.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government has considered standardising the collection of nationality-grouped data at national level to ensure consistent oversight of local-election eligibility across the UK.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not hold data on the number of foreign nationals registered to vote in UK local elections. Electoral registers are managed at a local level by Electoral Registration Officers. The Electoral Commission already has access to information about nationality that is held on electoral registers and have published this data in the past, including most recently in 2023. The government has no plans to make any changes to these matters.