Written questions by Stephenson.

How many civil penalties have been issued to employers sponsoring workers under work‑related visa routes since 4 July 2024 by a) visa route and b) sector.

Information on illegal working civil penalty statistics has been published since 2016 as part of the Home Office Immigration Transparency Data. This can be found at immigration-enforcement-data-jul-sep-2025 on tab CP02.To identify specific employers sponsoring workers under work‑related visa routes would require collating and verifying individual data from different records, which could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

How many cases of (a) suspected and (b) confirmed exploitation involving holders of work‑related visas have been recorded since 4 July 2024 by (i) visa route and (ii) month.

The Home Office publishes data on Visa Sponsors that are B rated in the ‘Register of licensed sponsors: workers - GOV.UK’.Please note - published data shows the number of licensed sponsors over time but does not include the number of visas associated with each organisation. The Home Office publishes data on the number of visas sponsored by organisations over the past 10 years, as well as data since 4 July 2024, in the ‘Migration transparency data - GOV.UK’.Data on the number of visas sponsored by licensed organisations is published in table SP_01 of the ‘Sponsorship transparency data: July to September 2025’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from 2014 Q1 up to the end of 2025 Q3.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of introducing (a) vouchers and (b) tax rebates to parents who send children to independent schools of a value less than the cost to the public purse per year of putting a pupil through a state school on (i) the cost to the public purse, (ii) class sizes in state schools, (iii) the wellbeing of state school pupils subject to bullying and (d) pupils with SEND.

The department does not hold this information. Decisions on private school fees are for private schools to make as private businesses. Matters of taxation are for HMRC.

If she will make an estimate of the annual impact of one child attending an independent school on the public purse.

The department does not hold this information. Decisions on private school fees are for private schools to make as private businesses. Matters of taxation are for HMRC.

Whether she has made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of re-introducing maintenance grants.

Targeted, means-tested maintenance grants will be funded by a new International Student Levy, with both being introduced in the 2028/29 academic year. The International Student Levy will require higher education providers to pay a flat fee of £925 per international student per year, with proceeds being fully reinvested into higher education and skills. This will make sure that revenue from international students directly benefits domestic students from low-income households.

Whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of safeguards in AI when dealing with mental health based queries.

The Department recognises the importance of safeguards when using artificial intelligence (AI) for mental health queries. The United Kingdom has a world-leading regulatory system, and the National Health Service operates within a comprehensive regulatory framework for AI, underpinned by rigorous standards established by bodies including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Health Research Authority, and the Care Quality Commission. These agencies ensure that AI technologies are safe, effective, and ethically deployed within healthcare settings.Publicly available AI applications that are not deployed by the NHS, such as ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, are not regulated as medical technologies and may offer incorrect or harmful information. Users are strongly advised to be careful when using these technologies. The Department recommends that individuals seek advice from the NHS website, which provides clinically approved guidance on mental health-based queries, or that they reach out to healthcare professionals.The Department continues to work with NHS England and regulators to strengthen oversight and ensure AI in health and care is safe, effective, and accountable.

Whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the capacity of the construction industry to deliver planned housing and infrastructure projects in Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes.

Government is investing £625 million in construction skills over this Parliament, with the aim of delivering up to 60,000 additional skilled workers and support employers to invest in training.The industry-led Construction Skills Mission Board is working to create construction job opportunities to meet the government’s announced infrastructure and built environment commitments.The Construction Leadership Council’s Material’s Supply Chain Group, in October 2025, noted that product availability was generally good, with isolated reports of shortages, some caused by manufacturing issues.

Communities and Local Government, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of service times at HM Land Registry.

Improving speed of service remains a top priority for HM Land Registry (HMLR). Plans to achieve this are set out in the Agency’s Strategy 2025+ which was published on 5 November 2025 and can be found on gov.uk here. As its sponsor department, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government holds HMLR to account for its performance and operational delivery and is in regular communication with HMLR about their processing times. HMLR has been making improvements in this area through hiring and training more staff and by improving the efficiency of the services its customers use. The introduction of new pre-submission validation checks will speed up processes and reduce staff time spent on dealing with errors or mistakes. The age of outstanding post-completion applications is now under 12 months across all service lines, from a peak of 20 months in February 2023. HMLR processing times are publicly available on gov.uk here. Anyone who is concerned that a delay to their application may cause financial, legal, or personal problems or put a property sale at risk, can apply to have their application expedited free of charge. HMLR processes nearly 1,400 expedited applications every day, with more than 95% actioned within 10 working days.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press release entitled More homes and improved high streets for new mayoral areas through 30-year funding package, published on 4 December 2025, whether additional funding will be available for new mayoral areas outside the Devolution Priority Programme.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 97367 on 11 December 2025. Decisions on future devolution areas beyond those in the Devolution Priority Programme, including Bedfordshire, have not yet been taken, but the Department will continue to engage with local authorities about possible future devolution agreements. All future funding decisions, including the 30-year investment fund, will form part of conversations with local areas. The government is committed to ensuring that all new Strategic Authorities are built on strong foundations and set up to succeed.

Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost of elections for new Mayors during this Parliament.

No assessment has been made. Spend on council elections is a matter for local authorities and spend on mayoral elections for strategic authorities is a matter for those bodies.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the press release entitled People across UK to benefit from easier access to local services as councils get digital boost, published on 22 November 2025, what proportion of GDS Local’s work will be with County and District Councils in a) 2025-26, b) 2026-27 and c) 2027-28.

GDS Local is a new unit within the Government Digital Service that brings central and local government together to improve how digital public services are designed and delivered.GDS Local has a mandate to support all councils and local authorities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including County and District Councils. It is currently developing its strategic objectives and delivery plans to ensure people across the UK benefit from easier access to local services, including supporting the ambitions in the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government.At this time, no specific proportion of work has been allocated to County and District Councils for future financial years, as the unit intends to take a whole-system approach to supporting local government across the UK. This includes working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Local Government Association to support County and District Councils going through Local Government Reorganisation.

Pursuant to the answer of 8 October 2025 to written question 75742, if he will make an estimate of the resources required for continuous monitoring.

Detailed planning is still underway for the Spending Review period, which would include the continuous monitoring of all elements of the NHS App, including artificial intelligence assisted triage functionality. At this stage no estimate has been made of the resources required for the continuous monitoring of the triage functions of the NHS App specifically, but it is being included and is a key element when considering how to deliver this change.

How many visa-sponsoring organisations are B-rated; and how many visas those organisations sponsored as of October 2025.

The Home Office publishes data on Visa Sponsors that are B rated in the ‘Register of licensed sponsors: workers - GOV.UK’.Please note - published data shows the number of licensed sponsors over time but does not include the number of visas associated with each organisation. The Home Office publishes data on the number of visas sponsored by organisations over the past 10 years, as well as data since 4 July 2024, in the ‘Migration transparency data - GOV.UK’.Data on the number of visas sponsored by licensed organisations is published in table SP_01 of the ‘Sponsorship transparency data: July to September 2025’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from 2014 Q1 up to the end of 2025 Q3.

If she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of putting a child through secondary state school education.

Annually, the department publishes the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), which includes information on the amount of core schools funding allocated by the department nationally as well as to each local authority. This includes the amount of funding allocated in respect of secondary pupils in mainstream schools, the ‘secondary schools unit of funding’. The DSG for financial year 2026/27 has now been published and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2026-to-2027.In addition to the funding from the DSG, schools also receive additional school funding annually, for example through the Pupil Premium grant (in respect of pupils eligible for free school meals in the last six years), and capital funding.

Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his planning policies on nature.

The Environment Act 2021 requires Ministers to have 'due regard' to the policy statement on environmental principles when making policy. This is to ensure that environmental considerations are at the heart of policymaking across government. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that to protect and enhance biodiversity and geodiversity, local plans should identify, map and safeguard components of local wildlife rich habitats and wider ecological networks such as chalk streams. It is for local planning authorities to apply this policy when planning for new development. The government is currently consulting on changes to the NPPF, including proposals to simplify and improve the approach to environmental protections and promote a stronger focus on green infrastructure and nature-based solutions. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.

With reference to the press release entitled Record numbers of visa sponsor licences revoked for rule breaking, published on 11 September 2025, how many of those license revocations resulted in visa holders leaving the UK.

The Home Office does not publish data linking visa holder returns to licence revocations. However, general returns data is available and has been referenced instead.The Home Office publishes returns data from the UK in the ‘Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK’.Returns data from the UK can be found in table RET_D01 of the ‘Returns detailed datasets, year ending September 2025’.Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from 2024 Q1 to 2025 Q3.The Home Office publishes data on Visa Sponsors that are subject to suspension and revocation action in the ‘Migration transparency data - GOV.UK’.Data on suspension and revocations for Visa Sponsors are published in table SC_01 of the ‘Sponsorship transparency data: July to September 2025’Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from 2012 Q1 up to 2025 Q3.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has conducted a lessons learned review of new settlements commenced since 2000 in the context of his plans for New Towns.

I refer the hon. Member to the independent New Towns Taskforce final report as well as the government’s initial response to it. Both can be found on gov.uk here.

Pursuant to the answer of 6 November 2025 to written question 79826, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on the national security implications of the creation of a large database of genomic data.

Data is the driving force of modern economies and technology and is strategically important nationally and globally. However, we know this data can be exploited by those seeking to counter United Kingdom interests and we are taking action to secure our data and its supporting infrastructure to support the UK's long-term growth.The UK has strong safeguards and world-leading investigation and enforcement to ensure that data is collected and handled responsibly and securely. I am engaging with my Cabinet Office colleagues to ensure our protocols adapt as technology develops to protect the UK’s national security.

Communities and Local Government, if he will set out the timeline for establishing a Mayoral Strategic Authority in Bedfordshire.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 97367 on 11 December 2025. Decisions on future devolution areas beyond those in the Devolution Priority Programme, including Bedfordshire, have not yet been taken, but the Department will continue to engage with local authorities about possible future devolution agreements. All future funding decisions, including the 30-year investment fund, will form part of conversations with local areas. The government is committed to ensuring that all new Strategic Authorities are built on strong foundations and set up to succeed.

How many and what proportion of prison officers hold work visas.

The requested data is not held centrally in a reportable format.