Written questions by Richards.

What progress he has made on implementing 24/7 mental health text lines.

Mental health crisis text services are an important part of delivering accessible and effective mental health support across the country. NHS England has confirmed that integrated care boards have plans to have 24 hour a day, seven day a week mental health crisis text services in place nationally by spring 2026. Integrated care boards who intend to procure these services via open-market approaches will publicly publish their intentions in the usual way.

How many people have been granted entry clearance to the UK under the (a) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, (b) Afghan citizens resettlement scheme and (c) Afghanistan Response Route.

From 2021 to the end of June 2025, there have been around 36,000 arrivals under the Afghan Resettlement Programme, of which 13,200 were through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, 19,000 through Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy and 3,400 through the Afghanistan Response Route.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the Armed Forces Covenant Duty across his Departmental responsibilities.

The Department is supportive of the extension of the Armed Forces Covenant. A key benefit of the Department having a legal duty to have due regard to the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant is greater awareness and consistency of the unique impacts of military service on health and care needs from the early stages of policy development through to operational delivery from the National Health Service and local authorities.NHS England and other specified NHS bodies have a statutory obligation to have due regard to the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant. Extending this duty to include the Department will build on the good work of the NHS to date and will play an important role within the new NHS model for the benefit of the Armed Forces Community.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the Armed Forces Covenant Duty across her Departmental responsibilities.

The Home Office greatly values the contribution of all service personnel and remains committed to upholding its moral obligations under the Armed Forces Covenant.The Department already embeds the principles of the Covenant, specifically within the provisions of the Appendix HM Armed Forces route which ensures that service personnel and their families are not disadvantaged in immigration matters due to their service.

How many people (a) claim asylum and (b) receive leave to remain based solely on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

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 Hon Member may be interested to know that grants of leave under family and private life rules are an unpublished subset of ‘Other Grants’ which can be found on tab Asy_D02 of the quarterly Immigration System Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables.

How many children under the care of English local authorities were living in (a) Wales and (b) Scotland on (i) 31 March 2024 and (ii) for each of the preceding four years.

The number of children looked after by English local authorities who were living more than 50 and 100 miles from home on 31 March 2024 and for each of the preceding four years is shown in the table below.YearLiving more than 50 miles from homeOf which: living more than 100 miles from home20206,8502,92020217,2102,99020227,0102,97020237,2103,06020247,3503,120 Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Figures exclude children looked after under a series of short-term placements.The number of children looked after by English local authorities who were living in Wales and Scotland on 31 March 2024 and for each of the preceding four years is published annually in section 4.7 of the methodology document that accompanies our statistical release. This can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions#content-section-4-content-7.

How many children in care in England were living more than (a) 50 and b) 100 miles from home on (i) 31 March 2024 and (ii) for each of the preceding four years.

The number of children looked after by English local authorities who were living more than 50 and 100 miles from home on 31 March 2024 and for each of the preceding four years is shown in the table below.YearLiving more than 50 miles from homeOf which: living more than 100 miles from home20206,8502,92020217,2102,99020227,0102,97020237,2103,06020247,3503,120 Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Figures exclude children looked after under a series of short-term placements.The number of children looked after by English local authorities who were living in Wales and Scotland on 31 March 2024 and for each of the preceding four years is published annually in section 4.7 of the methodology document that accompanies our statistical release. This can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions#content-section-4-content-7.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many consultations his Department (a) initiated and (b) completed in the last Parliament between (i) 13 February 2020 and 6 September 2022, (ii) 6 September 2022 and 25 October 2022, (iii) 25 October 2022 and 13 November 2023 and (iv) 13 November 2023 and 4 July 2024.

All Defra consultations are published through the Citizen Space digital consultation platform and are available in the public domain Defra - Citizen Space. The Defra Citizen Space account also hosts consultations for several of Defra’s Arm’s Length Bodies. Other engagement activities such as Call’s for Evidence are also hosted on this platform. The table below covers volumes for Defra’s public consultations only. Where completed volumes don’t align with initiated, this is as a result of the consultation period extending across date ranges. Number of Defra Consultations initiated and completed by date range: Date RangeConsultations InitiatedConsultations Completed.13 February 2020 - 6 September 202298846 September 2022 - 25 October 202211425 October 2022 - 13 November 2023363313 November 2023 and 4 July 20241619

What her Department's policy is on claiming back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year after the upfront payment.

I refer the hon member to the answer given on 23 January to UIN 25009 regarding the policy on Child Benefit overpayments.

What the cost to the public purse would be to not claim back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year after the upfront payment.

I refer the hon member to the answer given on 24 January to UIN 25010 regarding estimated costs of not claiming back Child Benefit overpayments.

If she will make an estimate of the cost to her Department of not claiming back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year since the original payment.

The estimated cost of not claiming back Child Benefit payments from parents who have lost a child in the year since the payment was made is not readily available and could only be produced at disproportionate cost.

What her Department's policy is on claiming back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year since the payment was made.

Entitlement to Child Benefit continues for eight weeks after the date of a child’s death. This recognises that the period following such a traumatic event is particularly difficult and avoids causing additional distress from the immediate removal of financial support. After this point, where a death of a child is not made known to HMRC, any overpayments of Child Benefit are ordinarily recoverable. However, HMRC has processes in place designed to limit overpayments in these circumstances. This includes using regular data from the registry of births marriages and deaths to sensitively contact customers where they have suffered the loss of a child. Similarly, where a customer informs DWP through their 'Tell Us Once Service', this information is passed to HMRC and used to end the Child Benefit claim.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) support and (b) help secure the early release of Marcus Fakana.

Supporting the welfare of British nationals detained overseas is a priority for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The FCDO cannot interfere in the judicial affairs of other countries, however where there are concerns that an individual's welfare needs are not being met, with their consent, we will raise this with the relevant authorities. We are unable to provide comment on the detail of individual consular cases in line with relevant UK data protection legislation: [https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office/about/personal-information-charter].

What steps she is taking to increase economic productivity.

Boosting productivity growth across the country is a key aim of this government’s growth mission. By reforming the economy and increasing productivity, we will drive up prosperity and living standards across the UK. Our Budget showed that this government has a robust, comprehensive strategy for boosting productivity, and we are taking the steps needed to make up for fourteen years of stagnant productivity growth, including introducing planning reforms, protecting record R&D funding and launching Skills England.

How the money raised from the Immigration Skills Charge has been spent over the last five years.

The Immigration Skills Charge is administered by the Home Office and is classified as Trust Statement income. Government departments are required to surrender all Trust Statement income to the Consolidated Fund (CF). Receipts surrendered to the CF are not ring-fenced for any specific area of government spending but will be used towards general government expenditure, which includes funding for departments’ budgetary Supply Estimates approved by Parliament.

What progress she has made on the introduction of digital drivers licences.

In September, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) introduced a digital representation of the photocard driving licence as the latest enhancement to its Driver and Vehicle Account.The DVLA is in the process of introducing functionality which will enable customers to obtain a QR code to allow them to share information from their driving licence with third parties within the Driver and Vehicle Account in addition to the Share Driving Licence service.Discussions continue on future developments in the area of digital driving licences.

Innovation and Technology, how many Government services have moved to the GOV.UK One Login system; and what his planned timetable is for moving all Government services to this system.

As of November 2024, users can access 50 government services within GOV.UK One Login. Approximately 100 services are expected to be onboarded in 2025, with more to follow thereafter. Government departments are actively developing delivery plans to onboard their services to GOV.UK One Login.

How much the Immigration Skills Charge raised in (a) the last 12 months and (b) each of the last five years; and how the money raised has been spent so far.

The Home Office reports income for the Immigration Skills Charge on a financial year basis (April to March), in the Annual Reports and Accounts (ARA). Please refer to the links and references provided in the table below.YearWhere to findLink2019/202019/20 ARA, note 2.1, page 195Home Office annual report and accounts: 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)2020/212020/21 ARA, note 2.1, page 199HO annual report and accounts 2020-21 (publishing.service.gov.uk)2021/222021/22 ARA, note 2.1, page 216Home Office annual report and accounts: 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)2022/232022/23 ARA, note 2.1, page 292Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk)2023/242023/24 ARA, note 2.1, pages 298-299 (pages 302-303 on the pdf reader)Home Office annual report and accounts: 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Data for financial year 2024-25 will be published following the end of the financial year and once the accounts have been laid before Parliament.The Home Office does not hold information on how the money raised has been spent so far as this income is not retained by the Home Office and is remitted to HM Treasury as Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts.

Whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the process to determine the number of sitting days in the Crown Court in each financial year.

Every year, the Government and the Judiciary agree a number of sitting days and an overall budget in what is known as the Concordat process.In June, the judiciary reached an agreement with the former Lord Chancellor to sit 106,000 days in the Crown Court within a total budget of £275 million.To support efforts to maximise capacity, the Lord Chancellor has since agreed to fund an additional 500 days.But there has been over listing against this budget – with more trials scheduled than the funding allows.As a result of that, approximately 1,600 sitting days had to be withdrawn. The level of impact will vary across regions and is being managed closely to ensure there is minimal disruption to all involved.The Lord Chancellor has said that the first concordat process under this Government will be different, and clearer.

How many children in Rother Valley constituency (a) have EHCP plans and (b) are receiving specialist education for special educational needs; and how many of those have not been attending school in each of the last 5 years.

The special educational needs (SEN) publication publishes data on pupils in schools in England with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans which can be accessed at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england. The data file titled “School level underlying data 2024 (csv, 10 Mb)” under the section “Additional supporting files” includes the figures at school level, including the school type and parliamentary constituency. As these figures are taken from the January 2024 school census, the parliamentary constituencies are based on pre-election boundaries. Where statistics were published prior to the changes in parliamentary constituency boundaries, they will be updated to reflect the new boundaries in the next publication of statistics. This is expected to be in June 2025 for statistics on schools and pupils, including SEN. A table showing the number of SEN support and EHC plans is shown below:Rother ValleyTotalSEN support1,208EHC plans2,384It may be useful to note that as the data requested is published at school level, it can be combined with information from ‘Get Information About Schools’ (GIAS) to identify parliamentary constituency. GIAS currently reflects the changes made following the general election parliamentary constituency changes and is accessible here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. Updates to geographical data are made on a quarterly basis using data published by the Office for National Statistics.Information on the number of all children and young people aged 0 to 25 in the Rother Valley who have an EHC plan and are educated other than in school is not readily available. Information is available on the placements of children and young people with EHC plans, for the Rotherham local authority in the publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.An extract showing the number with placements other than in school or further education establishments, is given at this link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/2c1e2c6d-9043-4ff0-410a-08dce44cbd16.Due to changes in the method of data collection in 2023, information is available for two years only.