Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her Department’s press release entitled New UK–Nigeria partnership to speed up removals, how many additional Nigerian nationals above the current 1,150 annual returns rate has she estimated will be removed as a result of this agreement.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 18 March 2026, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a UK-Nigeria Migration Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nigerian Interior Minister, the Hon. Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Under the terms of the MOU, the Home Office will be able to facilitate returns using a UK Letter travel document. This will ensure that we are able to swiftly conduct the return of those that no longer have a right to be in the UK. Home Office officials will work closely with the Nigerian authorities to monitor implementation.
MOUs are not legally binding but are routine mechanisms used to manage activity between the UK and foreign governments.
The Home Office publishes statistics on returns from the UK in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release.
Foreign national offender (FNO) returns from the UK to Nigeria are published in Table Ret_D04 of the Returns detailed datasets with the most recent figures covering the period up to the end of December 2025.
The Home Office does not publish statistics on visa overstayer returns for any nationality. In addition, Nigeria does not appear in the nationality breakdown for failed asylum seeker (asylum related) returns as only the highest 10 nationalities are published.
These publication limitations apply only to those specific return categories and do not affect the published data on foreign national offender returns to Nigeria.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her Department’s press release entitled New UK–Nigeria partnership to speed up removals, what formal agreements underpin the new UK–Nigeria migration partnership announced on 19 March 2026; and whether copies will be published.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 18 March 2026, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a UK-Nigeria Migration Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nigerian Interior Minister, the Hon. Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Under the terms of the MOU, the Home Office will be able to facilitate returns using a UK Letter travel document. This will ensure that we are able to swiftly conduct the return of those that no longer have a right to be in the UK. Home Office officials will work closely with the Nigerian authorities to monitor implementation.
MOUs are not legally binding but are routine mechanisms used to manage activity between the UK and foreign governments.
The Home Office publishes statistics on returns from the UK in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release.
Foreign national offender (FNO) returns from the UK to Nigeria are published in Table Ret_D04 of the Returns detailed datasets with the most recent figures covering the period up to the end of December 2025.
The Home Office does not publish statistics on visa overstayer returns for any nationality. In addition, Nigeria does not appear in the nationality breakdown for failed asylum seeker (asylum related) returns as only the highest 10 nationalities are published.
These publication limitations apply only to those specific return categories and do not affect the published data on foreign national offender returns to Nigeria.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her Department’s press release entitled New UK–Nigeria partnership to speed up removals, what mechanisms are in place to monitor compliance by Nigerian authorities with the terms of the agreement.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 18 March 2026, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a UK-Nigeria Migration Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nigerian Interior Minister, the Hon. Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Under the terms of the MOU, the Home Office will be able to facilitate returns using a UK Letter travel document. This will ensure that we are able to swiftly conduct the return of those that no longer have a right to be in the UK. Home Office officials will work closely with the Nigerian authorities to monitor implementation.
MOUs are not legally binding but are routine mechanisms used to manage activity between the UK and foreign governments.
The Home Office publishes statistics on returns from the UK in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release.
Foreign national offender (FNO) returns from the UK to Nigeria are published in Table Ret_D04 of the Returns detailed datasets with the most recent figures covering the period up to the end of December 2025.
The Home Office does not publish statistics on visa overstayer returns for any nationality. In addition, Nigeria does not appear in the nationality breakdown for failed asylum seeker (asylum related) returns as only the highest 10 nationalities are published.
These publication limitations apply only to those specific return categories and do not affect the published data on foreign national offender returns to Nigeria.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her Department’s press release entitled New UK–Nigeria partnership to speed up removals, whether the agreement with Nigeria constitutes a legally binding treaty.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 18 March 2026, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a UK-Nigeria Migration Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nigerian Interior Minister, the Hon. Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Under the terms of the MOU, the Home Office will be able to facilitate returns using a UK Letter travel document. This will ensure that we are able to swiftly conduct the return of those that no longer have a right to be in the UK. Home Office officials will work closely with the Nigerian authorities to monitor implementation.
MOUs are not legally binding but are routine mechanisms used to manage activity between the UK and foreign governments.
The Home Office publishes statistics on returns from the UK in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release.
Foreign national offender (FNO) returns from the UK to Nigeria are published in Table Ret_D04 of the Returns detailed datasets with the most recent figures covering the period up to the end of December 2025.
The Home Office does not publish statistics on visa overstayer returns for any nationality. In addition, Nigeria does not appear in the nationality breakdown for failed asylum seeker (asylum related) returns as only the highest 10 nationalities are published.
These publication limitations apply only to those specific return categories and do not affect the published data on foreign national offender returns to Nigeria.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled New UK–Nigeria partnership to speed up removals, published on 19 March 2026, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that agreement on the time taken to remove individuals with no right to remain.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 18 March 2026, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a UK-Nigeria Migration Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nigerian Interior Minister, the Hon. Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Under the terms of the MOU, the Home Office will be able to facilitate returns using a UK Letter travel document. This will ensure that we are able to swiftly conduct the return of those that no longer have a right to be in the UK. Home Office officials will work closely with the Nigerian authorities to monitor implementation.
MOUs are not legally binding but are routine mechanisms used to manage activity between the UK and foreign governments.
The Home Office publishes statistics on returns from the UK in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release.
Foreign national offender (FNO) returns from the UK to Nigeria are published in Table Ret_D04 of the Returns detailed datasets with the most recent figures covering the period up to the end of December 2025.
The Home Office does not publish statistics on visa overstayer returns for any nationality. In addition, Nigeria does not appear in the nationality breakdown for failed asylum seeker (asylum related) returns as only the highest 10 nationalities are published.
These publication limitations apply only to those specific return categories and do not affect the published data on foreign national offender returns to Nigeria.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled New UK–Nigeria partnership to speed up removals, published on 19 March 2026, what proportion of individuals returned to Nigeria are (a) visa overstayers, (b) failed asylum seekers and (c) foreign national offenders.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 18 March 2026, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a UK-Nigeria Migration Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nigerian Interior Minister, the Hon. Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Under the terms of the MOU, the Home Office will be able to facilitate returns using a UK Letter travel document. This will ensure that we are able to swiftly conduct the return of those that no longer have a right to be in the UK. Home Office officials will work closely with the Nigerian authorities to monitor implementation.
MOUs are not legally binding but are routine mechanisms used to manage activity between the UK and foreign governments.
The Home Office publishes statistics on returns from the UK in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release.
Foreign national offender (FNO) returns from the UK to Nigeria are published in Table Ret_D04 of the Returns detailed datasets with the most recent figures covering the period up to the end of December 2025.
The Home Office does not publish statistics on visa overstayer returns for any nationality. In addition, Nigeria does not appear in the nationality breakdown for failed asylum seeker (asylum related) returns as only the highest 10 nationalities are published.
These publication limitations apply only to those specific return categories and do not affect the published data on foreign national offender returns to Nigeria.
Asked by: Lord Redwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many industrial plants employing over 200 people have closed in the last year.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the Permanent Secretary of the Office for National Statistics.
Lord Redwood
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
26 March 2026
Dear Lord Redwood,
As Permanent Secretary of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many industrial plants employing over 200 people have closed in the last year (HL15771).
It is not possible to answer the question as asked because these data are not available by the number of employees. However, by using the quarterly business demography dataset[1], it is possible to make an estimate of the number of businesses within the production industries which have closed in the last year.
The number of businesses within the production industries which have closed in the year 2025 is estimated to be 12,510.
The quarterly business demography statistical release is regarded as ‘official statistics in development’.
Yours sincerely,
Darren Tierney
[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemographyquarterlyexperimentalstatisticsuk/latest
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of levels of access to GP appointments in influencing patients’ decisions to attend accident and emergency departments for non-emergency conditions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service guidance is clear that patients should only attend accident and emergency (A&E) for emergencies that cannot be dealt with by a patient’s general practice (GP), NHS 111, or walk-in centres.
GPs are independent contractors to the National Health Service and are required to provide care during core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. Evidence suggests that when practices are closed, patients are more likely to seek care elsewhere. The 2025 GP Patient Survey found that 23.4% of respondents reported attending A&E when they wanted care or advice from a healthcare professional and their GP was closed. Though the survey does not qualify whether the attendance was due to urgent or non-urgent care being needed.
The Office for National Statistics’ Health Insight Survey shows that the proportion of patients who find it easy to access their GP has increased significantly, from 60.9% in July 2024 to nearly 77% more recently. As part of efforts to improve access, from 1 October GPs were required to make online services available throughout core hours. For the first time, the Office for National Statistics’ data shows that more patients surveyed are now contacting their GP online than by telephone, with 44.6% contacting practices online compared with 38.9% by phone. There has also been a 17.9%, or 1.3 million, increase in online consultation submissions in January 2026 compared to December 2025. This expansion of access routes is intended to make it easier for patients to receive timely advice and care from GPs, supporting appropriate use of urgent and emergency services
The 2026/27 GP Contract also makes it explicit that any requests identified as clinically urgent, as determined by the GP, must be dealt with on the same day.
Out of hours services are those provided outside of these core hours, from 18:30 to 08:00 on weekdays, all weekends and on bank holidays. Practices may provide out of hours services or opt out of providing these with their commissioner’s approval.
Where a practice has opted out of delivering these services, the commissioner, such as an integrated care board, must commission the services from an alternative provider for that practice’s registered patients.
Last year we invested £80 million in Advice and Guidance. We are now embedding this money in core contract funding. As a result, since April 2025, we have avoided 1.3 million patients ending up on a waiting list.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of mental health support for senior leaders in non-clinical NHS roles.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data on the level of suicides amongst the National Health Service workforce.
Data relating to numbers of suicides in England and Wales is published regularly by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). ONS occasionally also publishes ad hoc analysis of suicide numbers by standard occupational classifications. Whilst this data does not allow identification of the employer, such as the NHS, it does present suicide numbers by broad occupation categories. The latest ad hoc publication can be found at the following link:
There is a wide range of mental health support for all NHS staff. Staff are able to access mental health support through their general practice but can also access support provided by their employer through employee assistance programmes or occupational health. NHS England also offers a range of health and wellbeing resources, including health and wellbeing apps and text support services, and NHS leaders can access the National Staff Mental Health Treatment Service which is available to both clinical and non-clinical staff and is in place to help those with more complex mental health needs. Further information on the National Staff Mental Health Treatment Service is available at the following link:
https://www.practitionerhealth.nhs.uk/
The service is designed to offer confidential support to NHS professionals, who cannot access confidential support locally.
NHS England has also published a national suicide prevention toolkit and postvention toolkit to help organisations introduce prevention strategies and support their workforce, both of which are available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/working-together-to-prevent-suicide-in-the-nhs/
https://www.nhsconfed.org/system/files/2023-03/NHS-employee-suicide-postvention-toolkit.pdf
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on trends in the level of suicides amongst senior leaders in non-clinical roles in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data on the level of suicides amongst the National Health Service workforce.
Data relating to numbers of suicides in England and Wales is published regularly by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). ONS occasionally also publishes ad hoc analysis of suicide numbers by standard occupational classifications. Whilst this data does not allow identification of the employer, such as the NHS, it does present suicide numbers by broad occupation categories. The latest ad hoc publication can be found at the following link:
There is a wide range of mental health support for all NHS staff. Staff are able to access mental health support through their general practice but can also access support provided by their employer through employee assistance programmes or occupational health. NHS England also offers a range of health and wellbeing resources, including health and wellbeing apps and text support services, and NHS leaders can access the National Staff Mental Health Treatment Service which is available to both clinical and non-clinical staff and is in place to help those with more complex mental health needs. Further information on the National Staff Mental Health Treatment Service is available at the following link:
https://www.practitionerhealth.nhs.uk/
The service is designed to offer confidential support to NHS professionals, who cannot access confidential support locally.
NHS England has also published a national suicide prevention toolkit and postvention toolkit to help organisations introduce prevention strategies and support their workforce, both of which are available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/working-together-to-prevent-suicide-in-the-nhs/
https://www.nhsconfed.org/system/files/2023-03/NHS-employee-suicide-postvention-toolkit.pdf