theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Danny Beales:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve mental health support in schools. \p Stephen Morgan: This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to high and rising standards in schools and breaking down barriers to opportunity, helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.

The government will deliver on this commitment through providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.

As of April 2024, NHS-funded Mental Health Support Teams covered 44% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England, and are expected to cover at least 50% by the end of March 2025.

The department will also be putting in place new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.

To support education staff, the department provides a range of guidance and practical resources on promoting and supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, such as a resources hub for mental health leads and a toolkit to help schools choose evidence-based early support for pupils.

On top of this, schools are also able to arrange their own mental health interventions that are best suited to their pupils using the core revenue and pupil premium funding they receive from the department.

The Autumn Budget 2024 confirmed an additional £2.3 billion for the core schools budget for 2025/26 compared to 2024/25. This means that overall core schools funding will reach over £63.9 billion in 2025/26.
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Blair McDougall:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to provide support to (a) Carmen Lau and (b) Tony Chung in the context of targeted acts of intimidation from the Chinese State towards them. \p Dan Jarvis: The safety and security of Hong Kongers in the UK, including Carmen Lau and Tony Chung, is of the upmost importance. The UK will always stand up for the rights of the people of Hong Kong.

As a matter of long-standing policy, we do not comment on the existence, or details, of security arrangements for any individuals. We continually assess potential threats and take the protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety very seriously. Without drawing inference to this case, any attempt by any foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK will not be tolerated. Wherever we identify such threats, we will use any and all measures, including through our world-class intelligence services, to mitigate risk to individuals.
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Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason she is not making placing of a marker on the medical notes of firearms certificate holders mandatory for general practitioners. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Statutory Guidance for Chief Officers of Police on firearms licensing sets out clearly the different factors that police forces must consider when deciding whether someone is suitable to have a firearms licence. The Statutory Guidance requires that medical information is supplied by the applicant before a firearms licence can be granted by a police force.

The firearms licensing system is supported by the placing of a firearms marker by the GP on the medical records of those who hold a firearms licence. As part of the medical arrangements for firearms licensing, GPs are asked to place a marker on the medical records of those who hold a firearms licence and guidance is issued by the British Medical Association to support doctors in using the marker. The marker prompts the GP to alert the police if the licence holder begins to suffer from a relevant medical condition.

Since 2023, a digital firearms marker has been available to all GP surgeries in England to use with a person’s medical record and replaces the previous marker. The Home Office is working with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to put measures in place to monitor the use of the digital marker to ensure that it is operating as intended.
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Adam Jogee:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether new police recruits will be trained on the impact of (a) waste crime and (b) retail crime on victims in (i) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency, (ii) Staffordshire and (iii) England and Wales. \p Dame Diana Johnson: This Government is committed to ensuring there are consistent, high standards for training in the police. This will help to maintain public confidence and ensure the workforce is equipped to respond to the crime challenges they face every day.

The College of Policing sets and maintains standards for training and professional development, including initial police education. This includes setting the national policing curriculum for initial training.

The Government has provided funding for the national rollout of the Neighbourhood Policing Pathway. This training will provide all neighbourhood officers and PCSOs with specialist training and will include modules on community engagement, problem-solving and tackling anti-social behaviour.

Under the previous government, shop theft soared to record highs and it continues to increase at an unacceptable level, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers.

As set out in the Autumn Budget 2024, we will provide £100,000 of additional funding next financial year for the National Police Chiefs' Council to give further training to police and retailers on retail crime prevention tactics. This will build on funding this financial year to the Police Crime Prevention Initiatives, for development of training for both police and retailers to help combat retail crime and promote partnership working.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, introduced on 25 February, this Government has brought forward a new offence of assaulting a retail worker, to protect hardworking and dedicated shop workers, including small and independent retailers. The offence carries a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment and/or unlimited fine, as well as a presumption on the courts to impose a Criminal Behaviour Order. This will prohibit the offender from doing anything described in the order, which might include a condition preventing specific acts which cause harassment, alarm or distress, or preventing an offender from visiting specific premises.

Also included as part of the Bill is the removing of the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.

The Government is committed to tackling waste crime, which blights communities, damages the environment and undermines legitimate businesses. Waste crime and poor performing waste sites undermine legitimate businesses, deprive the public purse of tax income, harm the environment and communities and in the worst cases directly threaten our health.
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Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds information on the proportion of general practitioners who place medical markers on the medical notes of patients who are firearms certificate holders. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Statutory Guidance for Chief Officers of Police on firearms licensing sets out clearly the different factors that police forces must consider when deciding whether someone is suitable to have a firearms licence. The Statutory Guidance requires that medical information is supplied by the applicant before a firearms licence can be granted by a police force.

The firearms licensing system is supported by the placing of a firearms marker by the GP on the medical records of those who hold a firearms licence. As part of the medical arrangements for firearms licensing, GPs are asked to place a marker on the medical records of those who hold a firearms licence and guidance is issued by the British Medical Association to support doctors in using the marker. The marker prompts the GP to alert the police if the licence holder begins to suffer from a relevant medical condition.

Since 2023, a digital firearms marker has been available to all GP surgeries in England to use with a person’s medical record and replaces the previous marker. The Home Office is working with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to put measures in place to monitor the use of the digital marker to ensure that it is operating as intended.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether funding allocated to police authorities to cover increased employer National Insurance contributions will be added to base budgets for future financial years. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The 2025-26 final police funding settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an increase of up to £1.1 billion compared to 2024-25 and includes £230.3 million for territorial police forces to support them with the costs of the changes to National Insurance Contributions.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what period of time her Department has allocated funding for additional neighbourhood police officers; and whether individual police forces will need to cover the ongoing costs of these officers through local precepting. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The 2025-26 final police funding settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an increase of up to £1.1 billion when compared to 2024-25 and includes £200.0 million to kickstart the recruitment of new neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs in communities across the country.

This will support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood personnel as part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee in 2025-26. This major investment supports our commitment on safer streets and reflects the scale of the challenges that many forces face .

Setting the police precept is a matter for individual Police and Crime Commissioners taking into account the views of the local community and Police and Crime Panels.
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Mrs Sureena Brackenridge:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle antisocial behaviour in Wolverhampton. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

The Government’s Plan for Change, announced by the Prime Minister on 5 December, included our plan to reduce ASB. This will include a dedicated lead officer in every police force working with communities to develop a local ASB action plan.

As part of our wider reforms, we are delivering on our commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing, putting 13,000 neighbourhood police, community support officers and special constables into local communities so residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong.

We will also crack down on those causing havoc on our high streets and in communities by introducing tougher powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to tackle repeat offending, including the new Respect Order to tackle the most persistent ASB offenders.
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Chris Bloore:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether their Department offers (a) paid time off work and (b) other support to employees who become kinship carers. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Home Office employees who are carers have a statutory right to take up to a week’s unpaid leave in any rolling 12-month period to provide or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need. The statutory entitlement is for unpaid leave, but managers may at their discretion choose to offer up to 5 days per annum of paid special leave.

Other forms of support available for employees who are kinship carers are Emergency Leave for Dependants of up to 5 days, flexible working arrangements, job sharing, career breaks and Unpaid Parental Leave.
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Sammy Wilson:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding her Department has provided to fire and rescue services in each of the last five years. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Government funding for fire and rescue services in England is provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) through the Local Government Finance Settlement in the form of revenue support grant (RSG) and retained business rates.

The amount of funding that fire and rescue services receive is determined and distributed using a formula owned by MHCLG. The amount of funding received by fire and rescue services in each of the last five years is as follows:

Year

Funding amount

2020/21

around £2.3 billion

2021/22

around £2.3 billion

2022/23

around £2.5 billion

2023/24

around £2.6 billion

2024/25

around £2.9 billion
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of (a) the police and (b) local authorities to effectively respond to (i) noise nuisance and (ii) other forms of anti-social behaviour. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of tools and powers they can use to respond to ASB, including noise nuisance. It is for local areas to decide how best to deploy these powers depending on the specific circumstances.

In November 2023, the Home Office published a report on police perceptions of powers within the 2014 Act; this can be found on GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-perceptions-of-powers-within-the-anti-social-behaviour-crime-and-policing-act-2014/police-perceptions-of-powers-within-the-anti-social-behaviour-crime-and-policing-act-2014.

Findings confirmed that police were generally content with the range of powers available and considered them effective in the short-term.

As part of this government’s Plan for Change, we are committed to there being a dedicated ASB lead officer in every force working with communities to develop a local ASB action plan. We will also put 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities, ensuring residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong. We are determined to crack down on those causing havoc on our high streets and in communities by introducing tougher powers in the Crime and Policing Bill including the new Respect Order to tackle the most persistent ASB offenders.

The Home Office is also providing £66.3m funding in 2025/26 to police forces in England and Wales for hotspot policing to tackle ASB and knife crime. Surrey police will be allocated £1,000,000 of this funding.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how funding for the fire and rescue service is calculated. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Government funding for fire and rescue services is provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) through the Local Government Finance Settlement in the form of revenue support grant (RSG) and retained business rates.

The amount of funding that fire and rescue services receive is determined and distributed using a formula owned by MHCLG.
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Mrs Elsie Blundell:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with (a) local authorities and (b) business across Greater Manchester on steps to tackle the sale of (a) knives and (b) other offensive weapons to (i) teenagers and (ii) young people. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Government has set out an unprecedented mission to halve knife crime in a decade and we are already taking a range of steps to make our communities a safer place for our young people.

We know that more needs to be done to tackle the sale of knives and offensive weapons online which is why last October, the Home Secretary asked Commander Stephen Clayman, as the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for knife crime, to carry out a review into the online sale and delivery of knives. The review was published on 19 February 2025: www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-end-to-end-review-of-online-knife-sales

We have already decided to take forward the most pressing recommendations in the report and have announced “Ronan’s Law” a range of measures which will include stricter rules for online sellers of knives including strengthening age verification controls and checks through a two-stage age verification system at the point of purchase and on delivery. We are increasing the penalties for illegal sales of knives, funding a new online police coordination hub to take action against illegal knife and weapon content online; and we are intending to consult later this year on a registration scheme for online sellers of knives.

It is a Government manifesto commitment to hold senior executives of online platforms and marketplaces to account for illegal knife related content around the sale of prohibited offensive weapons or illegal marketing of knives in ways which encourages violence. We ran a public consultation on these proposals which closed on 11 December 2024 and we will be publishing our response shortly.

We have also implemented the ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes. The ban came in to force on 24 September 2024 and it is now illegal to sell, manufacture, supply or possess these weapons.

It is also a Government manifesto commitment to ban ninja swords and we ran a consultation between 13 November 2024 and 11 December 2024 to clarify the legal definition. We are now moving forward with our plans to ban ninja swords later this year.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure sufficient recruitment of retained firefighters in Lincolnshire. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Whilst the Government is committed to ensuring fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work, it is individual fire and rescue authorities that are responsible for recruitment and decisions around deployment of resources.

With the local government finance settlement now agreed, standalone fire and rescue authorities will see an increase in core spending power of £65.5m in 2025/26. Including the National Insurance Contribution Grant this is an increase of 3.6 per cent in cash terms compared to 2024/25.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to implement the proposed offence of assaulting a shopworker; and what the anticipated penalties are associated with this offence. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Through our Crime and Policing Bill, introduced on 25 February, this Government has brought forward a new offence of assaulting a retail worker, to protect hardworking and dedicated shop workers, including small and independent retailers. The offence carries a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment and/or unlimited fine, as well as a presumption on the courts to impose a Criminal Behaviour Order. This will prohibit the offender from doing anything described in the order, which might include a condition preventing specific acts which cause harassment, alarm or distress, or preventing an offender from visiting specific premises.

As set out in the Autumn Budget 2024, we will provide £100,000 of additional funding next financial year for the National Police Chiefs' Council to give further training to police and retailers on prevention tactics. We will also invest £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC), which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other to prevent and combat crime. This will build on funding provided this financial year to the Police Crime Prevention Initiatives, for development of training materials for both police and retailers to help combat retail crime and promote partnership working.

We will continue to work closely with the police to consider further training opportunities, including through our Retail Crime Forum, and are delivering on our wider commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing.
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Mr Andrew Mitchell:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of vehicle theft in the West Midlands. \p Dame Diana Johnson: This Government is determined to drive down vehicle crime and we are working with the automotive industry and police – taking a national approach - to ensure our response is as strong as it can be, including working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced measures to ban electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing and supplying them.

We are also providing £250,000 funding this financial year to help support enforcement at the ports to prevent stolen vehicles and vehicle parts being shipped abroad, including additional staff and specialist equipment.

Via the recently established National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership and the police-led National Vehicle Crime Working Group, we are focusing on prevention and deterrence of theft of and from vehicles; this includes training police officers on the methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles, and working with industry to address vulnerabilities in vehicles.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) authorisations and (b) warrants are required for Government access to data following Apple's removal of advance data protections. \p Dan Jarvis: I refer the Hon Member to my response to PQ 33378 answered on 3 March 2025.
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Dan Norris:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2025 to Question 24409 on Animal Experiments: Dogs, what the evidential basis is for stating that tests of procedures on dogs predict the safety of conducting the equivalent procedures on humans with up to 96% accuracy. \p Dan Jarvis: The evidential base is from an international consortium of large pharmaceutical companies, and published in the journal: www.sciencedirect.com/journal/toxicology-and-applied-pharmacology. The specific paper provides an industry-wide translational database of animal to human outcomes and examines the concordance between humans and dogs, non-human primates and mice.

The full citation is: Monticello TM, Jones TW, Dambach DM, Potter DM, Bolt MW, Liu M, Keller DA, Hart TK, Kadambi VJ. Current nonclinical testing paradigm enables safe entry to First-In-Human clinical trials: The IQ consortium nonclinical to clinical translational database. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2017 Nov 1;334:100-109. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2017.09.006. Epub 2017 Sep 8. PMID: 28893587.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 29255 on Immigration: Overseas Students, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the student visa process on the international student experience. \p Seema Malhotra: An evaluation of the Student visa has been published on Gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-visa-views-of-students-and-higher-education-institutions.
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Jack Rankin:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) sham marriages and (b) relationships of convenience on the number of (i) spousal and (ii) partner visas applications; and how many cases were identified in each of the last three years. \p Seema Malhotra: If UKVI suspect a relationship may not be genuine, further checks can be conducted, which may include a relationship interview with the applicant and sponsor. If the relationship is found to be non-genuine the application may be refused.
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Daisy Cooper:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time is for new-born out of country passport applications. \p Seema Malhotra: The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost

The published processing guidance for children by country of application is identical for all persons applying from that country who are under 16 years old.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time was for student visa applications in the latest period for which data is available; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce processing times for such applications. \p Seema Malhotra: Our published transparency statistics can be found here and include data on service standards. The current publication covers to Q3 2024.

Visas, status and immigration data: Q3 2024 - GOV.UK

We continue to operate within our service standard of 15 days for straightforward applications, with even faster times for our priority services.

Where applications are complex and we require further information or checks, decisions may take longer. This is to prevent abuse of our immigration system. All visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the immigration rules.

We encourage international students to apply as early as possible and ensure they have provided all required documents, to avoid any delay to starting their studies in the UK. Visa applications can be made up to 6 months before the course start date, once the student has their Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies from their education sponsor.

We work with educational institutions and partners globally to ensure students are encouraged to apply for their visa as early as possible and guided through the application process online.
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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases relating to unsuccessful applications to the Ukraine Family Scheme are (a) awaiting hearing and (b) ongoing in (i) Crown and (ii) magistrates courts. \p Seema Malhotra: There is no right of appeal or administrative review against decisions on Ukraine Family Scheme applications.

Immigration appeals are not heard in Crown or Magistrates' Courts
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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of proposals to move the Chinese Embassy to the former Royal Mint building on security. \p Dan Jarvis: As set out in a joint letter by the Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary to the Planning Inspector on 14 January, the Home Office has considered the breadth of national security issues in relation to the planning application.

It would not be appropriate to comment in further detail on specific matters relating to national security.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many meetings (a) she, (b) Ministers from her Department and (c) senior officials from her Department have had with Apple since 4 July 2024. \p Dan Jarvis: Home Office Ministers and senior officials regularly meet with key stakeholders, including technology companies, on a range of policies and issues.

Details of ministerial meetings are published on a quarterly basis on gov.uk.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the number of people affected by the removal of Apple's Advanced Data Protection. \p Dan Jarvis: The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.

The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department last checked conditions at Marshall BioResources in Huntingdon. \p Dan Jarvis: The Animals in Science Regulation Unit conducts both announced and unannounced audits to ensure establishments compliance with the terms of their licences, the Code of Practice and with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA). Each establishment that holds specially protected species, such as dogs, will be audited at least once every year. All other establishments will receive an audit at least every three years.

ASPA provides protections for animals bred in the UK for use in scientific procedures. All establishments licenced to breed protected animals under ASPA are required to comply with the published Code of Practice, which sets out standards for the appropriate care and accommodation of animals.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has had communications with the company Lowick on the proposed new Chinese Embassy. \p Dan Jarvis: A final decision on China’s planning application for a new embassy has yet to be made. The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government in her independent, quasi-judicial role will make the final decision in due course.

As such, it would not be appropriate to comment further on the case. The Home Secretary and I have and continue to respect the bounds of this robust quasi-judicial process.
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Julia Buckley:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a legal definition of child-to-parent abuse. \p Jess Phillips: Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and our mission is to halve VAWG within a decade. To achieve this ambitious aim, it is essential that we tackle domestic abuse and all forms of interpersonal abuse. The Home Office is working closely with other Government departments to develop plans to deliver on this ambition and deliver a transformative change to society, and will publish a cross-government VAWG Strategy later this year.

This Government will only succeed if we continue to ensure children and young people are also at the heart of prevention and intervention programmes and policies. Progressing work around child-to-parent abuse is an important part of this. A consultation into the definition of child-to-parent abuse closed in February 2024. The responses are currently being considered and will inform the detail of future work, but child-to-parent abuse does fall under the domestic abuse definition.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how family members are vetted under the Afghan Resettlement Programme. \p Seema Malhotra: The Afghan Resettlement Programme, announced by the Defence Secretary on 18 December 2024, is not in itself an immigration scheme, but a single approach to improve efficiency in the end-to-end relocation and in-UK resettlement of those arriving on our Afghan schemes.

To obtain entry clearance to the UK under our Afghan schemes, individuals must successfully complete the required entry clearance processes, which includes meeting the relevant suitability requirements.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_173

Robert Jenrick:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any people released under the standard determinate sentence (SDS40) release scheme have reported faults with their tags since September 2024. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The longest period between receipt of an electronic monitoring requirement order by the Electronic Monitoring provider and installation for an offender with a revised SDS40 release date was 53 days for releases in tranche one. Tranche two’s performance was much improved with all visits to install tags completed by Monday 4 November.

In respect of faults being reported from individuals subject to release on SDS40, we do not have data readily available to answer this question.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_174

Daisy Cooper:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who complete the Professional Qualification in Probation remain in the Probation Service for at least five years after qualifying. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: There were 648 staff who completed their Professional Qualification in Probation (PQIP) qualification between January 2018 and December 2019. 571 (88%) of these could be matched to subsequent HMPPS employment records. 415 (73%) of those that could be matched were still employed by the Probation Service 5 years after they completed their course. A further 32 (6%) were still employed within HMPPS but had moved outside of the Probation Service.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_175

Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the legal services sector on (a) levels of employment and (b) gross value added. \p Sarah Sackman: The UK legal services sector is an important contributor to the economy. In 2023, the sector contributed £37 billion to the UK economy, equivalent to 1.6% of the real GVA, and posted a trade surplus of £7.6 billion.

Additionally, in 2022, the UK’s legal services sector employed around 368,000 people across the country. Leading centres of legal services sector employment include London (133,000) Manchester (13,000), Birmingham (12,000), Leeds (9,000), Edinburgh and Glasgow (7,000), Sheffield and Cardiff (4,500), and Belfast (3,344).

This information can be found in TheCityUK’s legal services report (December 2024): uk-legal-services-2024-legal-excellence-internationally-renowned.pdf
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_176

James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure the recommendations of the Prison Capacity Review are implemented. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Review into the Handling of Prison Capacity is an independent review, which will report its findings in spring 2025, and we will carefully consider any recommendations.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_177

James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what immediate steps she is taking to tackle prison overcrowding while awaiting the conclusions of the 2025 Prison Capacity Review. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Review into the Handling of Prison Capacity will report its findings in spring 2025, and we will carefully consider any recommendations to help future governments to avoid the cycle of repeated prison capacity crises.

We are aiming to deliver 14,000 additional prison places by 2031 as set out in the 10-Year Capacity Strategy published in December. This consists of the construction of four new prisons, as well as the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate and temporary accommodation.

The Lord Chancellor announced a series of measures in October 2024 to manage the pressures on the prison estate until longer term reforms come into effect. This includes reforming our recall practices to target the unsustainable growth in the recall population since the pandemic and an extension of the maximum period offenders can spend on Home Detention Curfew from 6-12 months.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_178

Liz Saville Roberts:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers working in each prison in Wales were recorded as Welsh speaking in (a) March, (b) June, (c) September and (d) December 2024. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The table below represents the numbers of prison officers at the end of each calendar month specified who have self-declared that they are Welsh speaking on the organisation’s HR system. This includes Band 3-4 prison officers, including specialists, Band 4 Supervising Officers, and Band 5 Custodial Managers. ‘~’ denotes suppressed values of 2 or fewer to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 2018.

Declaration rates vary between prisons, but are consistently low, which means true numbers are likely to be higher, and no conclusions should be drawn from the data. This question was introduced to Ministry of Justice systems in 2023, and ongoing campaigns across HMPPS Wales encourage staff to complete their Welsh language information, however, this is voluntary.

31/03/2024

30/06/2024

30/09/2024

31/12/2024

Berwyn

13

13

14

15

Cardiff

6

6

6

6

Swansea

9

10

11

11

Usk/Prescoed

~

~

~

~
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_179

Liz Saville Roberts:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were recorded as Welsh speaking in every prison in (a) Wales and (b) England in (i) March, (ii) June, (iii) September and (iv) December 2024. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Ministry of Justice holds the data for Welsh speaking prisoners in both Wales and England. Annex A outlines how many prisoners were recorded as Welsh speaking in every prison in (a) Wales and (b) England in (i) March, (ii) June, (iii) September and (iv) December 2024.

PQ_table (xlsx, 18.4KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_180

Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the level of inflation for food products; and what steps she is taking to help support people with the cost of food. \p Alison McGovern: We are committed to tackling food poverty and reducing mass dependence on emergency food parcels. Economic factors including the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have resulted in record levels of need for food banks. This issue is being discussed as part of the Child Poverty Taskforce.

We have announced additional support to address financial pressures on households. These measures include tripling investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and increasing the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers. In England, Healthy Starts supports over 356,000 beneficiaries, 3 million pupils are eligible for a Free School Meal, we have invested over £200 million every year into the Holiday Activities and Food Programme. Additionally, the Household Support Fund has provided billions of pounds of support to millions of households across England since its inception, helping vulnerable households with the cost of household essentials and supporting those most in need, and provided further funding of £742 million, extending the Household Support Fund until 31 March 2026.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_181

Sir Ashley Fox:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there are any requirements for civil servants to book a desk in advance in order to attend the office in person in each of (a) their Department's office workplaces and (b) the arm’s length bodies of their Department. \p Andrew Western: The Department currently has a formal digital desk booking tool - in a limited number of locations - which allows colleagues to book a desk in advance of attending the office, if they wish to do so. However, there is no requirement for colleagues to book a desk in advance in order to attend the office in person. There is no formal desk booking tool in place at the remaining DWP locations.

The Department’s ALBs have their own procedures for booking a desk:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_182

Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 February 2025 to Question 30518 on Department for Work and Pensions: Translation Services, what the spend in social security benefits was on people receiving those interpretation services by language of interpretation. \p Andrew Western: This information is not collected by DWP, and thus is not available.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_183

Chris Bloore:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department offers (a) paid time off work and (b) other support to employees who become kinship carers. \p Andrew Western: We do not have a policy which explicitly covers (a) paid time off work and (b) other support to employees who become kinship carers. Employees are able to take time off work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant or are able to request other leave, paid and unpaid, as well as annual and flexi leave as required to support them when they become a kinship carer. Employees are also able to request a combination of flexible working patterns, special leave and adjusted duties depending on their specific needs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_184

Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing child related benefits annually in line with trends in level of (a) inflation and (b) wages. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Child Poverty Taskforce is exploring how we can use every available lever across Government to reduce child poverty before publishing a strategy which will deliver lasting change.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-04)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-04 conversation_185

Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people used Access to Work support in 2024; for what reasons; and what the cost to the public purse was of this. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The most recent complete financial year of data available in the published Access to Work official statistics is 2023/24: Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2024 - GOV.UK.

In 2023/24, around 61,630 people received a payment for any Access to Work provision and total expenditure across all provision was £257.8 million.

We have interpreted reasons for using Access to Work as being the primary medical condition reported by the individual. In 2023/24, the largest Access to Work customer group in terms of number of payments, by primary medical condition was those with a ‘Mental health condition’, who account for 27% (16,560) of the total number of customers. Those with the primary medical condition ‘Learning disability’ are the second most common group and make up 11% of customers (6,720 people). Those who are ‘Deaf or hard of hearing’ are in receipt of the highest proportion (30%) of total Access to Work expenditure.

The Department intends to publish data for the financial year 2024/25 in the next official statistics publication which has a provisional publication date of September or October 2025.