Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many deaths there have been of (a) women, (b) babies and (c) stillbirths where the termination of pregnancy through pills-by-post has been considered a contributory factor.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not routinely collected centrally.
The Department collects information on abortions in England and Wales via the HSA4 abortion notification form. The HSA4 form includes a section for recording the death of a woman within 14 days of an abortion, where this is known to abortion providers. This is not routinely published because the 14-day time frame limits the data’s usefulness for counting the total number of deaths amongst women following abortion. Also, it does not record whether the method of abortion, including home use of early medical abortion pills, was a contributory factor in a death.
Since 2020, zero deaths of women following an abortion have been reported to the department via the HSA4 form, rounded to the nearest five. Following the 2023 abortion statistics publication, all data is rounded to the nearest five. As a result of this change, counts of zero can mean no or a small number of procedures in the given field.
Information on the deaths of women, babies following a live birth, and stillbirths are recorded by the Office for National Statistics using data derived from information collected in death registrations. However, it is unusual for wider contextual factors such whether the deceased had taken early medical abortion pills at home to be recorded on the death certificate.
Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of workers who work more than their contracted hours.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There are no official data sources that provide readily available estimates of the number of contracted hours across the whole labour market. The Office for National Statistics regularly publishes estimates of the number of people on zero hours contracts, where all hours worked are additional to contracted hours: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/emp17peopleinemploymentonzerohourscontracts.
The government has published a comprehensive assessment of the potential impacts of the zero hours contract measures in the Employment Rights Act 2025: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments. We will publish further analysis in due course as we implement those measures.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration his Department has given to data from the Office for National Statistics highlighting that for the first time there are more adult vapers in Great Britain than there are smokers.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to monitor the latest data on smoking and vaping prevalence, including the figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The 2024 ONS Adult Smoking Habits in the UK data shows that 10% of adults in Great Britain, approximately 5.4 million people, are current vape users, compared with 4.9 million adult smokers, based on the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.
We are pleased to see a further reduction in the number of smokers and the continued general downward trend in smoking prevalence. The Government is investing an additional £260 million over three years in Stop Smoking Services within the Public Health Grant to support local Stop Smoking Services in England and continue our National Smokefree Pregnancy Incentives scheme to support pregnant smokers to quit.
Our health advice on vaping is clear: vaping can play a role in helping adult smokers to quit, but if you don’t smoke, don’t vape – and children should never vape. Evidence suggests the majority of adult vapers are current or former smokers, demonstrating the role vapes can play in smoking cessation. For those who feel ready to quit vaping and who are confident they can do so without returning to smoking, the Better Health website has a dedicated page on quitting vaping.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will ban vapes and nicotine products from being deliberately promoted and advertised to children to stop the next generation from becoming hooked on nicotine. The Bill, currently going through Parliament, includes a range of measures to tackle youth vaping and will give the government powers to restrict the display, packaging and product features.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 February 2025 to Question 29847 on Death Certificates, if he will publish the findings of his Department's monitoring of the impact of the death certification reforms on the time taken to register deaths.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We believe the answer of 17 February 2025 refers to the answer given to Question 29570. The Department’s monitoring of the impact of death certification reforms, including the time to register a death, includes consideration of:
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what evidence his Department submitted to the Office for National Statistics' review of the ethnicity harmonised standard, including in relation to the recording of Sikhs and Jewish people as ethnic groups.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly. All staff that join do so on an assignment, loan or secondment for other Government departments, who remain the employers.
As information relating to the demographics of staff is held by the employing departments, the Scotland Office is not able to provide evidence into the review of the ethnicity harmonised standard.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the impact of inflation on low-income households.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises inflation can place particular pressure on low-income households. Analysis from the Office for National Statistics shows that lower-income households spend a larger share of their income on essentials such as food, energy and housing.
The Government is committed to bearing down on inflationary pressures and cutting the cost of living.
Alongside this, the Government is going further to support those who need it most by removing the two-child limit in Universal Credit, increasing the National Living Wage, and committing to the pensions Triple Lock for the duration of this Parliament. The Government has also expanded the £150 Warm Home Discount to a total of 6 million lower-income households, and is expanding free school meals to children in households receiving Universal Credit in England.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to question 85264 answered on 5 November 2025, whether her Department has had recent discussions with the Office for National Statistics on the linking of Census data to hate crime data.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home Office officials have started conversations with the Office for National Statistics to investigate the technical feasibility of linking anonymised person-level data Census data to police recorded hate crime to improve its data quality.
I will write to you once these discussions have concluded.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department has made of the number of domestic properties which use (a) oil and (b) liquefied petroleum gas for heating purposes by parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department does not produce bespoke estimates of the number of domestic properties using oil or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for heating by parliamentary constituency. Information on the heating fuels used by households is published by the Office for National Statistics and the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what evidence her Department submitted to the Office for National Statistics' review of the ethnicity harmonised standard, including in relation to the recording of Sikhs and Jewish people as ethnic groups.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
An initial response to the public consultation is due to be published in April, followed by a full report on the consultation in late summer 2026. This report will include all formal responses to the consultation, and the names of the organisations that responded.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the most recent estimate is of the number of qualifying EU citizens on the local election roll in England.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government does not hold data on the number of qualifying EU citizens on the local government electoral register in England.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) previously published estimates of the number of EU citizens eligible to vote in Local Government elections in England but has not produced equivalent estimates following changes to EU citizens’ voting rights implemented through the Elections Act 2022.