Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence were deported under the Tariff-Expired Removal Scheme in (1) 2023 and (2) 2024.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes official statistics on the number of individuals serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences in the community, as part of the Offender Managements Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) publication. The latest OMSQ statistics were published on 24 April 2025 and showed the number of individuals serving IPP sentences in the community, as at 31 December 2024. In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we cannot share figures on the number of individuals who had their licence automatically terminated between March and June 2025, as to do so, would provide an early indication of data on individuals serving IPP sentences in the community, which is not yet publicly available and is intended for future publication. The next release of OMSQ is scheduled for 31 July 2025, and will show the number of individuals serving IPP sentences in the community as at 31 March 2025.
The Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS) applies to foreign national offenders (FNOs) serving an indeterminate sentence. There were four FNOs serving IPP sentences that were approved for removal for the under TERS in 2023 and one in 2024. It would fall to the Home Office to confirm whether all five have now been deported.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government to ask how many people who are serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence in the community have had their licence automatically terminated in each month between March and June inclusive.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes official statistics on the number of individuals serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences in the community, as part of the Offender Managements Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) publication. The latest OMSQ statistics were published on 24 April 2025 and showed the number of individuals serving IPP sentences in the community, as at 31 December 2024. In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we cannot share figures on the number of individuals who had their licence automatically terminated between March and June 2025, as to do so, would provide an early indication of data on individuals serving IPP sentences in the community, which is not yet publicly available and is intended for future publication. The next release of OMSQ is scheduled for 31 July 2025, and will show the number of individuals serving IPP sentences in the community as at 31 March 2025.
The Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS) applies to foreign national offenders (FNOs) serving an indeterminate sentence. There were four FNOs serving IPP sentences that were approved for removal for the under TERS in 2023 and one in 2024. It would fall to the Home Office to confirm whether all five have now been deported.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of (a) asylum seekers and (b) irregular migrants without the right to work in the UK working in the gig economy.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold an estimate of the number of people working illegally in the gig economy. The recent joint work between the Office for National Statistics and the Home Office explains the complexities - Measuring illegal migration: our current view - Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: Andrew Cooper (Labour - Mid Cheshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the number of university graduates currently in non-graduate roles; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of careers service support in assisting graduates in accessing graduate roles.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has not undertaken any specific assessment of trends of graduates in non-graduate roles. However, the Office for National Statistics have previously released data on numbers of graduates in non-graduate roles using one particular definition of graduate roles supplied by the Institute for Employment Research. The releases are for 2021 to 2022 and 2012 to 2020, and they show that the percentage of graduates in non-graduate roles has dropped from 37.2% in 2012 to 36.0% in 2020. The full 2021 to 2022 release is available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/adhocs/1450onslocalgraduatesandnongraduatesemployedingraduateandnongraduaterolesnumbersandproportionsforukcountriesandregions2021and2022.
The full 2012 to 2020 release is available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/adhocs/13929employedgraduatesinnongraduaterolesincityregions2012to2020.
While most universities provide graduate careers support, the National Careers Service complements this by offering personalised, accessible and impartial advice to all adults, including recent graduates.
Careers service support should assist graduates in accessing graduate roles, ensuring that they contribute to the economy and society through the skills that they acquire. The department knows from Skills England’s September 2024 report ‘Driving Growth and Widening Opportunities’ that many of England’s businesses are dependent on graduate skills.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of (a) suspected and (b) confirmed illegal immigration have been recorded in Northern Ireland in the past five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not make estimates of the number of illegal immigrants in the UK.
Information about the number of illegal migrants in Northern Ireland or using the Northern Ireland border is not available in our published data.
Our published national data on enforcement is available at the following link and includes data on detected irregular arrivals to the UK: Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of illegal migrants that entered the UK using the Northern Ireland border in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not make estimates of the number of illegal immigrants in the UK.
Information about the number of illegal migrants in Northern Ireland or using the Northern Ireland border is not available in our published data.
Our published national data on enforcement is available at the following link and includes data on detected irregular arrivals to the UK: Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of graduate-level jobs currently available, and whether the increased use of artificial intelligence is affecting those employment opportunities.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data from the Department for Education (Graduate labour market statistics, Calendar year 2024 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK) shows that graduates aged 16-64 years old in 2024 in England continue to have high employment rates, which exceed the employment rates of non-graduates:
Graduates are also more likely than non-graduates to be in high-skilled work than non-graduates and the proportion of working-age graduates in high-skilled work has increased on the year:
This data also refers to people who are aged 16-64 years old in England in 2024. High-skilled employment is defined as being in Standard Occupational Classification 2020 major occupation groups 1-3.
The Office for National Statistics publish data on labour demand by occupation and how it is changing over time, which can be found here:
Textkernel new online job adverts - Office for National Statistics
No current assessment has been made on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on graduate job opportunities.
The Department for Education has published research on the potential impact of AI on different occupations:
GOV.UK Impact of AI on UK jobs and training
Asked by: Will Stone (Labour - Swindon North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate her Department has made of the proportion of disability benefit claimants who are on a waiting list for NHS treatment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
o 2.8 million people were economically inactive due to long-term sickness
o the number claiming health related benefits with no requirement to work has increased by 800,000 since 2019/2020.
DWP and DHSC work closely, for example through the Joint Work and Health Directorate, to deliver better work outcomes and work experiences for disabled people and people with health conditions. This includes working across the whole of the customer journey to help disabled people and people with long term health conditions who want to work to be in the best position possible to do so.
The Joint Work and Health Directorate is collaborating with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to improve the evidence on the relationship between health and labour market outcomes. The ONS plans to link NHS waiting times data (that they recently acquired access to) to Census, DWP Benefits and HMRC PAYE records to analyse the relationship between waiting time duration (for various health conditions and procedures) and labour market outcomes (such as employment status, gross pay and benefit receipt) in England. This may shed light on the role of extended waiting times witnessed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic on benefit receipt, including sickness related benefit receipt. Due to many dependencies and unknowns, ONS is not able to confirm when the analysis will be available.
Asked by: Alice Macdonald (Labour (Co-op) - Norwich North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of deaths linked to synthetic opioids in the last three years, by region.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department published the below regional breakdown of deaths linked to nitazenes recorded within national surveillance processes in the first twelve months of monitoring by the Department and the National Crime Agency (NCA) in October 2024. There were no deaths recorded as linked to potent synthetic opioids that did not involve nitazenes in that period. Further information is available at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/deaths-linked-to-potent-synthetic-opioids
The Department and the NCA began tracking these deaths in June 2023 in response to an increased threat of potent synthetic opioids, and equivalent surveillance data is not available from before that point. More recent data will be published by the Department in due course.
The following table shows the number of deaths confirmed as involving nitazenes by English region, from June 2023 to May 2024:
Region | Deaths |
East Midlands | 29 |
East of England | 33 |
London | 18 |
North East | 3 |
North West | 12 |
South East | 16 |
South West | 22 |
West Midlands | 21 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 25 |
Total | 179 |
Data is also collected and published annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on drug-related deaths registered in England and Wales, and the ONS’s latest published analysis of deaths related to drug poisoning by selected substances includes historic trends in the numbers of deaths related to drug poisoning involving nitazenes and fentanyl analogues by country. Further information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 57928 on Armed Force: Deployment, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the current allowance package in meeting the cost-of-living differences for service personnel deployed in high-cost overseas locations.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
To account for the differences in the cost-of-living in overseas locations, eligible Service personnel are entitled to Local Overseas Allowance (LOA). LOA recognises the amount by which average essential day-to-day expenditure in an overseas location differs from that in the UK. LOA is calculated with regard to the difference in living costs, locally lived experience, and locally specific costs such as legally required items or banking charges.
LOA transitioned to a new, more accurate methodology in October 2024 which uses both Office for National Statistics and commercially available data to make it more responsive to prices faced by Service personnel. The Ministry of Defence continually reviews and monitors the allowance package to ensure it remains appropriate for varying local economic circumstances through feedback from deployed Service personnel.
The overall remuneration package for Service personnel deployed overseas recognises the unique demands of Service life and includes X-Factor pay which compensates for the conditions faced by Service personnel, including the impact of isolation and separation from families. Those deployed to particularly remote or operationally demanding locations, may also be entitled to Unpleasant Living or Unpleasant Work Allowances.
Although overseas location specific financial incentives were not considered during the Strategic Defence Review process, the importance of overall pay and other related measures were explored.