theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with farming representative organisations on the (a) efficiency and (b) responsiveness of the Rural Payments Agency. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) meets regularly with a range of farming representative organisations at a strategic and operational level to discuss effectiveness, ideas for improvement and upcoming delivery plans. Meetings take place each month alongside organisations having an open dialogue with the RPA, sharing valuable insight and feedback to help continuously improve their services.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the accessibility of Government-supported agri-science programmes to small and medium-sized farms in (a) Fylde and (b) Lancashire. \p Daniel Zeichner: Since 2021, the Farming Innovation Programme (FIP) has been Defra’s flagship programme for supporting research and innovation in farming in England to help farmers, growers and foresters increase productivity, sustainability and resilience. FIP encourages smaller organisations to be involved in the innovation process. Of the 603 organisations that have received funding through the programme to date, 480 have been small or medium in size.

In February the Secretary of State announced a further £63 million for competitions starting in 2025/6. This includes the Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) fund with £20.6 million across 2025/6 which is focussed on farmer-led, smaller-scale innovation grants and supports trialling new technology and methods on farms. ADOPT is aimed at on farm trials which can deliver quick results, with project costs between £50,000 and £100,000. We have funded a support hub, led by ADAS, to encourage famers to collaborate and to increase participation rates. In addition to this we will also pay support grants of £2,500 to allow smaller farming operations to access our grants by covering professional fees related to applications.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of the Rural Payments Agency in delivering timely payments to farmers in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Rural Payment Agency (RPA) makes payments for schemes and grants against published performance indicators and continues to look at opportunities to issue payments as promptly as possible.

Performance in relation to the financial year (1 April to 31 March) is reported each year within the RPA Annual Report and Accounts and will be published next month.
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Bradley Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote beekeeping. \p Mary Creagh: In 2024 the annual Hive Count exercise produced a figure of 252, 647 honey bee colonies in the UK which indicates that there continues to be interest in keeping bees. There are over 52,700 beekeepers in England, Wales and Scotland registered on BeeBase, the voluntary register managed by the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU). Defra encourages all beekeepers to have good husbandry skills, including recognition of pests and disease and husbandry practices which can minimise the risk of introducing and spreading disease within an apiary.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support innovation in agri-science to improve farming (a) productivity and (b) sustainability in (i) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire. \p Daniel Zeichner: Since 2021, the Farming Innovation Programme (FIP) has been Defra’s flagship programme for supporting research and innovation in farming in England to help farmers, growers and foresters increase productivity, sustainability and resilience. In February the Secretary of State announced a further £63 million for new competitions starting in 2025/6.

Competitions currently open include low emissions farming and precision breeding with up to £12.5 million across each; the Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies fund with £20.6 million across 2025/6 which provides farmer-led, smaller-scale innovation grants and supports trialling new technology and methods on farms; and a £5 million Investor Partnerships programme which will blend government grant money with private investment to bring cutting edge technology to market, giving farmers and food producers faster and more widespread access to state-of-the-art innovations.
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Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been delivered through the UK Seafood Fund; and what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK's exit from the EU leads to investment in small-scale British fishing communities. \p Daniel Zeichner: Since 2021, over £76 million has been delivered through the UK Seafood Fund. This Government remains committed to supporting the fishing industry and small-scale coastal communities. On 19 May 2025, we announced the £360 million Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund will help invest in the next generation of fishermen, while on 9 June we reopened the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme, two schemes that will support this part of the industry.
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Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has a long-term strategy for the fishing sector. \p Daniel Zeichner: We recognise the calls from across the industry for a long-term strategy for the fisheries sector. We are keen to engage with stakeholders to explore this further and shape a strategic approach that supports the industry's future. Nonetheless, our investment in the industry shows our long-term support for the sector: we have reopened the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme on 9 June 2025, allocating around £6 million to create a sustainable and resilient seafood sector. This is in addition to the recently announced £360 million Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund, which will provide investment over the next 12 years to support sustainable fisheries and coastal communities.
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David Chadwick:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) cross-border coordination and (b) strategic support for (i) species reintroductions, (ii) ecological corridor planning and (iii) access to funding between (A) England and the devolved administrations and (B) mid-Wales and the Welsh Marches. \p Mary Creagh: This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Defra has not taken steps on cross-border co-ordination or strategic support for reintroductions between England and the devolved administrations, including mid-Wales and the Welsh Marches.

All reintroductions in England are expected to follow the Code for Reintroductions and other Conversations Translocations. The Code states that, while it is specific to England, cross-border co-operation and engagement with relevant authorities and stakeholders is essential where releases occur close to England’s neighbours or involve a reintroduction of a species to Great Britain. We would therefore expect any reintroduction project to carry out cross-border coordination as part of the planning phase of their reintroduction project.

On strategic support for ecological corridors, delivering the Environment Act habitat target will create more ecologically functional, better-connected habitats. Creating and restoring wildlife-rich habitat can help improve habitat connectivity to support larger and more resilient species populations, especially in the context of a changing climate.

The Four Countries’ Biodiversity Group (4CBG) provides a forum to take forward substantive and policy-development issues relating to biodiversity common to all four countries.
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David Chadwick:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with (a) devolved administrations and (b) local communities on the potential merits of providing (i) funding and (ii) funding through the (A) Shared Prosperity Fund and (B) other environmental or rural development mechanisms to support the reintroduction of (1) beavers, (2) pine martens, (3) elk and (4) golden eagles in Wales. \p Mary Creagh: Defra has not had discussions with devolved administrations and local communities on the potential merits of providing funding to Wales to support the reintroduction of beavers, pine martens, elk, and golden eagles. This is because this is a devolved matter, and funding is therefore the responsibility of the Welsh Government.

Natural England, NatureScot and Natural Resources Wales meet quarterly to discuss all species reintroductions projects in their respective countries including beavers. The agencies have an informal agreement to consult each other for any proposal that would impact cross-border. This has already been done for pine marten and white-tailed eagle reintroductions.

Regarding beaver reintroductions, the agencies consult with each other on licence applications near borders. For the English licensing scheme, licence applicants are required to consult Natural Resources Wales or NatureScot as well as impacted cross-border stakeholders prior to submitting an application to Natural England. Natural England will then carry out their own formal cross-agency consultation once the licence application has been received.
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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with (a) NGOs, (b) non-profit organisations and (c) Surfers Against Sewage on levels of sewage in rivers and seas. \p Emma Hardy: Ministers and officials have regular discussions with a range of stakeholders, including Surfers Against Sewage, on levels of sewage in rivers and seas.

As part of our Plan for Change, we are putting water companies under special measures through our landmark Water (Special Measures) Act, introducing new powers to ban the payment of bonuses for polluting water bosses and bring criminal charges against law breakers.

Government is clear that water companies must take swift action to address storm overflow spills through reducing the number of spills from storm overflows by 45% (compared to 2021 levels) by spending £11bn to upgrade over 3,000 storm overflows in England and Wales.

The Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, will recommend reforms to reset the water sector and is expected to form the largest review of the industry since privatisation. It is considering a wide range of areas, as set out in the Commission’s Call for Evidence(opens in a new tab).

The Commission’s Interim Report was published on 03 June 2025; the report's findings can be found at Independent Water Commission publishes interim findings - GOV.UK. The final report and recommendations will be published later in the summer.
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Katie White:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to support the Fur (Import and Sale) Bill. \p Daniel Zeichner: In accordance with parliamentary convention, the Government will set out its formal position on this Bill when it receives its Second Reading.

Defra is continuing to build the evidence base on the fur sector. This includes commissioning our expert Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) to produce a report on what constitutes responsible sourcing of fur. The AWC report will add to our understanding of the fur industry and help inform next steps.
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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average time taken is between suspected incidents of animal cruelty and the receipt of those reports by the Animal and Plant Health Agency in the last 12 months. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is not keeping records of time between suspected incidents of animal cruelty and the receipt of those reports by the Agency; consequently, this information is not held by Defra. However, over the last 12 months there have been instances where activist groups have been collecting evidence over long periods of time and APHA has not been informed until the exposés were made public.

This information is not held by Defra. We urge anyone having concerns of farm animals being neglected, abused, or mistreated to contact APHA immediately and – in all circumstances- without undue delays. For England and Wales, there is a telephone number which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In Scotland, people can call their local APHA field service office.

Guidance on how to report animal welfare concerns in England is available on Gov.uk Report farm animal welfare concerns - GOV.UK; the full list of contact details including Wales and Scotland is available on the following page Contact APHA - GOV.UK.
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Dan Norris:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on tackling water pollution in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency. \p Emma Hardy: The Environment Agency (EA) inspected over 50% of the Wessex Water assets in this Constituency between April 2024 and March 2025. Inspections are prioritised according to environmental sensitivity, such as sites that impact bathing waters, conservation designations or where data shows high spill rates. The EA will more than double its water company inspections this year.
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Dan Norris:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to the Health and Safety Executive's report entitled Agency Opinion on the Annex 15 Dossier on the Proposal for a Restriction: Lead in Ammunition, published on 13 December 2024. \p Emma Hardy: Defra has received the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) final opinion on a proposed UK REACH Restriction on lead in ammunition and we are assessing their proposals. Given the need to work through the detail of HSE’s proposal a decision is expected in due course.
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Mr Lee Dillon:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for flood defence protections. \p Emma Hardy: We’re investing £2.65 billion over two years to March 2026 to maintain, repair, and build flood defences. We’re committing a further £4.2 billion over three years from April 2026, an increase of 5% per year, as announced at Spending Review 2025. We’re consulting on proposals for reforming flood defence funding, protecting all communities including rural, coastal, and poorer areas.
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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of long-term water supply resilience in (a) the South West of England and (b) Wiltshire. \p Emma Hardy: South West Water recently received permission from Defra to publish and implement its Water Resources Management plan. Wessex Water and Bristol Water published their plans in 2024.

Key to achieving sustainable water resources, will be the development of a range of Strategic Resource Options, and improved water demand management. The plans covering the South West region show companies are planning to build new reservoirs, including new reservoirs at Cheddar and East Mendips. South West Water is currently building a new desalination plant in Cornwall. For Wiltshire, the most significant of these involves the development of a new reservoir in the Mendips, providing confidence in supplies well into the future.

Improved investment is allowing water companies to improve drought resilience, and they will be able to cope with a 1:500 year drought by 2040, ensuring a high level of resilience.
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Liz Jarvis:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to protect blue carbon ecosystems. \p Emma Hardy: In England, we have established a comprehensive network of 181 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), including 3 Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs), which cover most of our saltmarsh and seagrass habitats. While blue carbon habitats may not always be an explicitly designated feature, MPA protection may still yield benefits. HPMAs were designated to protect the entire marine ecosystem within each site, including areas of habitat considered important for the long-term storage of carbon.

Our focus is now on ensuring these MPAs are effectively protected to allow the designated features to achieve favourable condition and meet HPMA conservation objectives to recover to a natural state. We have recently announced our latest proposals to manage damaging fishing activity in 42 MPAs, covering 30,000 km2 of English waters.

Defra set up the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership in partnership with DESNZ and the Devolved Administrations to address evidence gaps around these important habitats, to support effective protection and restoration.

The Environment Agency are leading the Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative to reverse centuries of decline in key estuarine and coastal habitats. By 2043, ReMeMaRe aims to restore 15% of saltmarsh and seagrass extent in England, along with functional oyster reef habitats in 15% of suitable water bodies.
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Sadik Al-Hassan:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to consult the (a) medical technology sector, (b) Department of Health and Social Care and (c) Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency when developing environmental policies. \p Emma Hardy: The Government consults regularly with a range of stakeholders when developing environmental policies, both within and outside of Government.
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Lorraine Beavers:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential (a) implications for his policies of the recent tax introduced in France on industrial emissions of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances into the environment and (b) merits of introducing similar measures in the UK. \p Emma Hardy: Defra continues to work closely with the other Government Departments, regulators, and the Devolved Governments to assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources and their potential risks, in order to inform policy and regulatory approaches. Consideration of other countries’ plans can be helpful in informing the UK's management and regulation of PFAS.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the press release entitled EA steps up dry weather prep after driest spring start since 1956, published on 7 May 2025, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed Bedford-Milton Keynes Waterway Park on managing drought in the East of England. \p Emma Hardy: The Environment Agency (EA) are working closely with the Bedford-Milton Keynes Waterway Park Trust, and other stakeholders including Water Resources East, to consider the benefits and opportunities for water management in the local area and across the East of England. Ongoing discussions are considering navigation, flood risk, biodiversity, and water resources. Through these partnership discussions the EA will be looking to maximise opportunities for improving the local management of water.

Whilst we have seen a dry Spring the water situation in Bedfordshire is currently assessed as ‘normal’. Environment Agency teams are closely monitoring the situation, managing water availability with licensed abstractors and are on standby to respond to reports of environmental incidents.
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Kevin Bonavia:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the merits of modernising the licensing system for forestry operations to provide greater protection for ancient woodlands. \p Mary Creagh: England’s trees and woodlands are protected by a number of regulatory regimes. These include the felling licence regime, the environmental impact assessment regulations, tree preservation orders, sites of special scientific interest and the planning regime.

Defra recently conducted and published a review into how ancient woodland and ancient and veteran trees are protected by the National Planning Policy Framework. We are working to take forward the findings.
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Gregory Stafford:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of historical mortgage tax relief schemes in supporting access to home ownership. \p Emma Reynolds: The Government must ensure the tax system supports strong public finances whilst targeting support where it is most needed. Mortgage interest relief, which was a historical feature of the UK tax system that was abolished in 2000, benefitted lower income individuals less when compared to higher income groups or not at all. It also provides little support to tenants who rent as there is no guarantee that these relieved costs are passed on.

The Government is supporting home ownership through other means. This includes launching a permanent, UK-wide mortgage guarantee scheme to ensure the consistent availability of mortgages for buyers with small deposits.

We know that increasing housing supply is the long-term answer to making home ownership more accessible. The Government has already introduced ambitious reforms to the planning system, judged by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to boost housebuilding to its highest level in 40 years. Through Phase 2 of the Spending Review, the Government is going further to deliver on its Plan for Change commitment of building 1.5 million homes this parliament, including by catalysing additional private investment to further boost housebuilding by confirming £4.8bn in financial transactions from 2026/27 to 2029/30.
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Lewis Cocking:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the target for the number of banking hubs to be opened by the end of this Parliament. \p Emma Reynolds: The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets across the UK, and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 230 hubs have been announced so far, and over 160 are already open.

The commitment to open 350 banking hubs by the end of this Parliament is not a limit. Cash Access UK will deploy a banking hub wherever LINK, the industry coordinating body responsible for making access to cash assessments following a community request or branch closure, suggests one is appropriate.
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Suella Braverman:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has conducted a review into the listed causes of de-banking by banking corporations. \p Emma Reynolds: The government recognises that access to banking services is vital for people and businesses across the UK and is a matter of concern for certain sectors such as cryptoasset firms and their customers.

The government continues to engage with the banking sector and affected industries to better understand the existing and emerging issues in this area.

The government also welcomes the Financial Conduct Authority’s work to date to better understand why banks might reject or close bank accounts. Where the FCA has found areas where firms need to improve customer outcomes, the government expects firms to consider the FCA’s findings and act accordingly.

Separately, the Treasury concluded a call for evidence in April 2023 which found deficiencies in the rules applying to bank account closures. In June 2025, the government therefore legislated to require banks and other providers to give customers a longer notice period of at least 90 days before terminating services and to provide a sufficiently detailed and specific explanation.

These changes will give people and businesses the time and information they need to challenge decisions or find an alternative provider.
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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential cost to the public purse of not insuring Government debt repayments against inflation. \p Emma Reynolds: The government’s financing strategy is designed to align with the Debt Management Objective, which is to minimise over the long term, the cost of meeting the Government’s financing needs, taking account of risk, while ensuring that debt management policy is consistent with the aims of monetary policy. To meet its financing requirement for each financial year, the government issues an appropriate balance of conventional and index-linked gilts over a range of maturities. Issuing index-linked gilts has historically brought cost advantages for the government due to strong investor demand and has historically helped to underscore the credibility of the government’s commitment to low and stable inflation. As set out in HM Treasury’s Debt Management Report 2025-26, analysis by the Debt Management Office shows that, for gilts that matured since their introduction in 1981 but prior to January 2025, the government generated direct savings of around £90.8 billion in total from the issuance of index-linked gilts if valued at maturity, or £184.7 billion in 2025 terms.
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Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 56735 on Cars: Credit, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the banking sectors' resilience in ensuring the scale of regulated motor finance is manageable. \p Emma Reynolds: HM Treasury works in close coordination with the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), monitoring the resilience of the banking sector and the overall stability of consumer credit markets, including motor finance. Regular stress testing by the Bank of England shows the UK banking system remains strong, resilient, and well capitalised. HM Treasury continuously monitors risks across the financial sector and escalates its response where appropriate in coordination with the independent financial authorities.
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David Simmonds:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Spending Review 2025, published on 11 June 2025, what is the required evidential base behind funding from the Growth Mission Fund. \p Emma Reynolds: The government is establishing a Growth Mission Fund to directly support local economic growth. This fund will invest £240 million of capital from 2026/27 to 2029/30 in projects that enable local job creation and the economic regeneration of local communities. Further detail on this fund and the criteria that will be applied for project selection will be set out in due course.
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Gregory Stafford:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Tax-Free Childcare scheme in reducing childcare costs for working families. \p Darren Jones: Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) has been designed with the specific policy aim of supporting parents to return to paid work or work more. For every £8 parents pay into their childcare account, the Government adds £2 up to a maximum of £2,000 in top up per year for each child up to age 11 and up to £4,000 per disabled child until they are 16.

TFC covers a wide range of parents who may not be covered by other offers, and take-up has steadily increased since its introduction in 2017. During the 2024 to 2025 financial year, the government provided top-ups to approximately 826,000 families for 1,085,000 children, an increase of almost 100,000 families from the previous year.
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Ann Davies:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her oral statement on Spending Review 2025, Official Report, column 985, for what reason she referenced Swansea and Bridgend in the context of the extension of free school meals in England. \p Darren Jones: The government will provide £410 million per year by 2028-29 to expand Free School Meals eligibility from September 2026 to all pupils in England with a parent receiving Universal Credit.

The Barnett formula will apply in the normal way; education is a devolved matter and so the Welsh Government is responsible for Free School Meals policy in Wales.
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Steve Darling:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of pensioners who will exceed the £35,000 income threshold for receiving the Winter Fuel Payment, in each year from 2025 to 2030; and what estimate she has made of the annual financial yield resulting from that measure in each of those years. \p Darren Jones: On 9 June the Government announced that, from this winter 2025-26, Winter Fuel Payment eligibility will be expanded in England and Wales. Pensioners with incomes below or equal to £35,000 will benefit from a Winter Fuel Payment.

This will mean that the vast majority of pensioners - over three quarters, or 9 million individuals - will benefit from a Winter Fuel Payment throughout this parliament. This change ensures that the means-testing of winter fuel payments has no effect on pensioner poverty.

We estimate that around £450m per year will be recovered via the tax system or from individuals opting out of receiving the Winter Fuel Payment. This is subject to OBR certification when this policy is scored this Autumn.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the recorded rate of theft from the person was in each of the last ten years. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 10th June is attached.

PQ58711 (pdf, 91.8KB)
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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the cost of domestic flights undertaken by the Prime Minister set out in the Freedom of Information Act response with reference FOI2025/05760 included carbon offsetting. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: The flights in-scope of FOI2025/05760 were not carbon offset. This is in line with the Carbon Offsetting Reduction Scheme.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

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Vikki Slade:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made an assessment of the accuracy of the 2021 census, in the context of covid-19 lockdown measures. \p Georgia Gould: I have met with UK Statistics Authority / Office of National Statistics leadership regarding the future of the census and the 2031 census twice: in October 2024 and April 2025. As is longstanding practice, we do not publish minutes of such meetings.

The Office for Statistics Regulation published a report on Thursday 12 June setting out its post publication findings on the 2021 England and Wales Census, including the impact of the pandemic on the census.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_211

Preet Kaur Gill:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the annual population survey, what estimates he has made of the number of people who reported their religion as (a) Sikh and (b) Judaism in each of the past five years. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 10th June is attached.

PQ 58794 UK Statistics Authority (pdf, 97.1KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_212

Andrew George:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of the occupancy levels of premises (a) owned and (b) leased by (i) the Government and (ii) its agencies in (A) Cornwall and (B) the Isles of Scilly. \p Georgia Gould: Central data on Civil Service Headquarters (HQ) occupancy is collected and published quarterly on GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data) for all HQ buildings of Whitehall Departments, Office for Scotland, Office for Wales and Northern Ireland Office.

As was the case under the previous administration, no other information on workforce attendance is gathered centrally. Heads of departments have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_213

Andrew Gwynne:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on how many occasions has His Majesty’s Government accepted in full the position of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s findings, including the recommendations on (a) issuing an apology and (b) other forms of redress in the last 10 years. \p Georgia Gould: The Government does not hold records centrally of all the recommendations made by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, or the outcomes of those recommendations.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_214

Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance he has given to civil servants on speaking at press conferences. \p Georgia Gould: As per the detailed Government Communication Service (GCS) Propriety & Ethics Guidance, when civil servants are acting as departmental spokespeople they must establish impartiality and neutrality with the news media, and ensure that they deal with all news media even-handedly. GCS also provides training and support to media officers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_215

Jim Shannon:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of job applications to the civil service in the last 12 months. \p Georgia Gould: The number of vacancies advertised via the Civil Service (CS) Jobs website has decreased over the past full financial year and applications received via CS Jobs have increased.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Civil Service EDI Expenditure Review Data, published on 29 May 2025, if he will publish a list of the external (a) organisations and (b) firms that provided (i) benchmarking and (ii) memberships in 2023-24. \p Georgia Gould: As per the data published in the Civil Service EDI Expenditure Review Data on 29 May 2025, the expenditure in this category was £800,000 for all responding organisations during the twelve months prior to their return in July 2023. Naming organisations may breach commercial agreements between departments and providers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_217

Lisa Smart:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many local companies who joined the Crown Commercial Services for Solar for Schools Tenders in November have been offered contracts. \p Georgia Gould: Solar for Schools is a Department for Education initiative. Schools have a variety of available routes to market to procure their solar energy solution requirements. The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) is not aware of any contracts awarded through its frameworks specifically for the Solar for Schools scheme.

The CCS Demand Management and Renewables Framework provides central government and the wider public sector with a range of decarbonisation products and services to support their carbon net zero strategy. During 24/25 customers utilised this commercial route to market - which has 41 suppliers, including 6 SMEs, allocated across the UK - to procure over £48m of projects ranging from Solar PV, Heat Pump installations and various other decarbonisation initiatives.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_218

Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who is responsible for paying for the (a) internet broadband, (b) wi-fi and (c) telephone lines for the Ministerial residences of (i) 10 Downing Street, (ii) 11 Downing Street, (iii) Admiralty House, (iv) Dorneywood and (v) Chequers. \p Georgia Gould: The maintenance of 10 and 11 Downing Street is managed by the Cabinet Office with costs accrued in the usual way.

The maintenance of Admiralty House is managed by the Government Property Agency with costs accrued in the usual way.

The maintenance of Dorneywood and Chequers is managed by the Dorneywood and Chequers Trusts respectively, with costs accrued in the usual way.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_219

Edward Morello:To ask the Minister for Cabinet Office, whether he has held discussions with his EU counterparts on negotiating changes to the 90 in 180-day visa rule to allow British citizens to stay in the EU for longer for (a) leisure, (b) family visits and (c) seasonal work. \p Nick Thomas-Symonds: HMG officials and Ministers regularly engage the EU and EU Member State counterparts on a range of issues affecting UK nationals. The UK and the EU allow for visa-free, short-term travel in line with their respective arrangements for third country nationals. The UK allows EU citizens visa-free travel for up to six months; the EU allows for visa-free travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period; this is standard for third country nationals travelling visa-free. UK nationals planning to stay longer will need permission from the relevant Member State. The UK Government will continue to listen to and advocate for UK nationals.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_220

Matt Western:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 30 April 2025 to Question 46758 on Integrated Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy Review, which departments have been consulted in the development of the National Security Strategy. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: The National Security Strategy is being developed by the National Security Secretariat in the Cabinet Office, led by the National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, with support from academic and technical experts. The Cabinet Office has engaged a broad spectrum of stakeholders including our allies, additionally considering assessments and analytical products from think tanks, academics, and industry experts. Departments have been engaged throughout the process.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_221

Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with police forces on tackling phone theft. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Home Secretary has been clear that tackling mobile phone theft is a priority.

On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, local government representatives, leading technology companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves. The Summit resulted in clear commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the problem, better understand the role of organised crime networks and identify the most effective means of tackling these crimes.

The Home Office continues to regularly engage with the police and other stakeholders to progress work to tackle this criminality and the Home Secretary will reconvene this group shortly to agree further actions.

Through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles to provide a more visible and effective service to the public, with each neighbourhood having a named, contactable officer dealing with local issues, including the theft of mobile phones.

In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_222

Mike Wood:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the risk of large-scale disorder in (a) a single area and (b) multiple areas in Great Britain. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Cabinet Office publishes a regular National Risk Register (National Risk Register 2025 - GOV.UK), including assessments relating to large-scale disorder, and the government also continues to work closely on an ongoing basis with the police who are responsible for monitoring threats to public orders.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_223

Esther McVey:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many illegal immigrants that are housed in Cheshire have (a) committed a crime and (b) been denied protected status after committing a crime in each of the last three years. \p Dame Angela Eagle: The requested information is not available from published statistics and could only be obtained for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

However, work is currently underway to publish more detailed information on foreign national offenders (FNOs) subject to deportation. Further information on this work can be found at: Statistics on foreign national offenders and the immigration system - GOV.UK.

This government is also determined to increase the removal of people with no right to be in the UK, including foreign criminals.

Of the total returns since 5 July 2024, 4,436 were of FNOs. This is an increase of 14% compared to the 3,879 FNO returns in the same period 12 months prior (FNO returns include both enforced and voluntary returns).
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-18 conversation_224

Nick Timothy:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department collects data on the number of people that have made more than one attempt to illegally enter the UK by crossing the English Channel in each year since 2020. \p Dame Angela Eagle: No robust or comprehensive data is held in this category, given that many attempts to cross the Channel illegally will fail before an individual has been identified by the UK authorities.