Written questions by McMahon.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her counterparts in the Israeli government on the impact of food shortages on children in Gaza.

The UK is providing £78 million for humanitarian and early recovery support for Palestine this financial year. This includes £9.7 million to United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to support provision of ready-to-use infant formula, water, sanitation and hygiene services, psychosocial services for children, and social protection to children.In October, the Foreign Secretary spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Sa'ar about the importance of opening more crossings and removing restrictions on aid to allow food to be delivered to all those in need, and we continue to call on Israel to enable humanitarian relief to reach every child in need of nutritional support, shelter and healthcare.

How much the Government has spent on advertisements and subscriptions with (a) X, (b) Meta, (c) Tiktok and (d) Alphabet Inc. Google in each year since 2015.

The government uses paid advertising to communicate important government announcements and campaigns that affect the public. Please refer to the table below for Government spend on advertisements and subscriptions (please note - figures from 2015-2018 are not available): 2018*201920202021202220232024X£340,670.00£2,482,367.00£9,213,054.00£9,166,707.00£5,384,846.00£2,385,782.00£-Meta£1,916,697.00£18,711,558.00£31,824,185.00£33,354,026.00£20,630,493.00£20,332,721.00£17,195,792.00TikTok£-£-£1,850,770.00£3,489,387.00£618,346.00£96,268.00£204,553.00Alphabet (inc Google)£2,036,387.00£17,968,414.00£28,121,714.00£23,808,972.00£23,132,702.00£26,326,818.00£20,840,036.00 £4,293,754.00£39,162,339.00£71,009,723.00£69,819,092.00£49,766,387.00£49,141,589.00£38,240,381.00 *Please note the figures for 2018 are partial year spend due to contract changes.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the nutritional value of food and drinks available to school breakfast clubs in England.

The department supports the provision of nutritious food in schools to enable pupils to be well nourished, develop healthy eating habits and to concentrate and learn in school.The Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014 regulate the food and drink provided at both lunchtime and at other times of the school day, including at free breakfast clubs, and are available here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1603/contents/made.Compliance with the school food standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools. Alongside the school food standards practical guide, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools/school-food-standards-practical-guide. Our free breakfast clubs guidance includes examples of healthy breakfast offers to help support schools to provide a healthy, balanced breakfast offer to pupils. This guidance has been produced in collaboration with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities at the Department of Health and Social Care.

How many complaints of mis-selling of prepayment funeral plans have been made for each year from 2015 to date.

The regulation of pre-paid funeral plans is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Pre-paid funeral plans came under FCA regulation in July 2022, and so the FCA will not hold complaint data from before that date. The FCA will respond to the Honourable Member by letter with further detail, and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House of Commons.

How many illegal working enforcement visits have been undertaken in (a) England, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Oldham in each year since 2015.

To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication.Our published data on illegal working visits is available as follows: Statistics relating to Illegal Migration - GOV.UK (January 2019 – March 2024) and Illegal working and enforcement activity to the end of September 2025 - GOV.UK (October 2023 – September 2025). Data prior to 2019 is not available.

How many vehicles have been seized by the DVLA for not having valid vehicle excise duty in (a) England, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Oldham by vehicle class in each year since 2015.

The information requested is not available in the detail or format requested. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) officials will write to the honourable member with the relevant information that is available when it has been extracted and assured.

What assessment he has made of the value for money of management and service charges paid by academy and free schools to related parties in England.

Academy trusts are permitted to use a proportion of their funding to pay for central services for their schools. This can be more efficient and cheaper than individual academies running or procuring the functions themselves. Where trusts top slice for central services, they must be transparent by disclosing in their annual accounts the services they deliver centrally and the trust’s charging policy.The ’Academy trust handbook’ sets out the requirements related party transactions (RPTs). The handbook requires that trusts must:Report all contracts and other agreements with related parties to the department in advance.Obtain approval for RPTs where the contract or agreement exceeds £40,000.Pay no more than ‘cost’ for goods or services provided by related parties.Agreements to supply goods and services are procured through an open and fair process.The handbook is available in full at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-trust-handbook.The department has also published a guide on managing conflicts of interests and RPTs to support trusts, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/related-party-transactions-information-for-academy-trusts/managing-conflicts-of-interests-related-party-relationships-and-related-party-transactions-good-practice-guide.

Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with TV and film production companies who receive public funding or tax incentives on the inclusion of English regional dialects in their programmes.

[I] do not engage with TV and film production companies regarding editorial decisions relating to programming content due their independence from Government. However, we want British storytelling to reflect the full diversity of people, communities and experiences across the UK so that more people can see themselves reflected on screen and as part of our national story. We are committed to working with the sector to ensure the right framework, conditions and support are in place for this to happen.

How many vehicle registration numbers are held on expired retention certificates; and what the estimated value of those registration numbers is.

While the information requested about expired retention certificates may be available, it would need to be extracted from different databases and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

How many times gambling websites were visited by government system users in each year since 2015.

This information is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office. All users are bound by an ICT Acceptable Usage Policy which states that users must not undertake any form of gambling on Cabinet Office IT. Any breach is managed through the Cabinet Office’s disciplinary process.

How many (a) hate crime and (b) non hate crime arrests have taken place for social media posts, messages and interactions in England in each year since 2015.

The Home Office does not hold arrest data specific to social media posts, messages and interactions.

How many trains were cancelled due to staff shortages in each year since 2015; and whether she has made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of those cancellations.

The Department does not hold a complete historical dataset of cancellations specifically attributed to staff shortages dating back to 2015. However, Network Rail collects management information on the percentage of trains cancelled due to traincrew issues. Network Rail has granted permission for this data to be shared, and these figures are presented in Table 1 alongside the annual cancellations score for context. The ‘Annual cancellation score’ represents the average cancellation score for each year covering all causes of cancellations. The ‘Cancellations resulting from Traincrew issues’ represents the average cancellations specifically attributable to traincrew-related issues. Table 1: Annual Average of Train Cancellations and Cancellations as a result of Traincrew Issues in Great Britain (2014/15 to 2024/25)Financial YearAnnual Cancellations score (%)1Cancellations resulting from Traincrew issues (%)2014/15x0.3%2015/16x0.4%2016/17x0.7%2017/18x0.4%2018/19x0.6%2019/203.4%0.8%2020/212.1%0.3%2021/223.3%1.1%2022/233.8%1.1%2023/243.8%1.0%2024/254.1%1.2%Source: Network Rail and ORR Table 3124 Trains planned and cancellations by operator and cause (periodic) Notes:Comparable data for annual cancellations is only available from 2019/20.Figures exclude trains removed from the timetable due to industrial action.Figures are Moving Annual Average (MAA) which reflect the proportion of trains cancelled in the past 12 months. The Department has not made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of cancellations due to traincrew shortages. The Department has been working closely with the industry to increase the number of train drivers. Network Rail report that the proportion of trains cancelled because of traincrew issues has fallen from 1.19% in the year to January 2025 to 0.85% in the year to September (rail period 8). Network Rail report this is the lowest proportion of trains cancelled due to traincrew issues (MAA) in nearly 4 years.

How much the Government spent on office furniture in each year since 2015.

Spend by the Government on office furniture is a matter for each individual government department and is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office.

How many government (a) mobile phones (b) laptops (c) tablets were reported lost or stolen for each year from 2015 to date.

This answer only provides information for the Cabinet Office, Government Digital Service (GDS) and the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) IT Provision. This answer is not inclusive of Number 10. It also only extends back to 3rd July 2018 as records before this date are not held centrally by the Cabinet Office. The table also lists reported equipment. Some of this equipment may have been recovered after having been reported. Also please note that GDS & CDDO moved to DSIT earlier this year and as such, their contribution to the metrics will have reduced.EquipmentYear20182019202020212022202320242025 (to date)Laptop68111625067577846Mobile101221118118147160171149Tablet00000032

How many hospital wards are not in active use in England; and what the patient capacity is of those wards.

Data for the occupancy and utilisation rates of clinical rooms in the NHS Estate for the latest period, which was 2023/24, published in December 2024, is available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/summary-page-and-dataset-for-eric-2023-24

How many mobile phones were stolen in the most recent year for which data is available; and how many of those were recovered.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) provides estimates of the number of people who were the victim of mobile phone theft. In the most recent year for which data is available (year ending March 2024), an estimated 235,000 people in England and Wales were the victim of mobile phone theft in the previous 12 months. Data for previous years is available as part of the Property crime tables (Table 13) published by the Office for National Statistics, at the link below:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtablesThe CSEW cannot provide an estimate of the number of stolen mobile phones which were later recovered.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of tool thefts on lost working days to the economy.

This Government recognises that tradespeople are often targeted by criminals who seek to steal tools. We also recognise the deeply damaging impact on victims who rely on their tools to earn a living. Whilst we do not have an official estimate of the costs of tool theft, recent research commissioned by industry indicated that 9% of victims in their cohort lost over three days of work as a result. In the Government’s Small Business Plan, published on 31 July, we committed to working alongside industry and small business representatives to tackle the problem of tool theft. We are partnering with tradespeople’s representatives, policing and other partners, including retailers and manufacturers, to co-design actions Government and industry can take to encourage theft prevention. A key part of making acquisitive crime less attractive to criminals is making stolen goods harder to sell on. That is why we work closely with policing and academic leads to examine what more can be done to tackle the disposal markets for stolen goods and reduce the profit from acquisitive crime. We are providing £2m funding for the National Business Crime Centre over the next three financial years to help tackle the crimes most affecting businesses today, including tackling the sale of stolen goods. The Chancellor has announced a real terms increase in police spending power over the next three years and more detail on force funding allocations for 2026-27 will be set out at the forthcoming police funding settlement.The 2025-26 settlement represents a 6.4% cash increase and a 3.9% real terms increase in funding. The Police Funding Settlement of £200 million will support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood personnel.

How many reports of tool thefts in England have been made in each year since 2015.

The Home Office does not routinely collect data on the items stolen in theft offences which are reported to the police.The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) provides estimates of the proportion of theft offences reported to the survey where tools were stolen. This will include incidents which were not reported to the police but will exclude incidents which affected commercial premises.The most recently published data is presented in the table belowTable 1: Number of incidents and proportion where a tool was stolen, in year ending March 2024Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National StatisticsOffence typeNumber of incidentsProportion of incidents where a tool was stolenDomestic burglary in a dwelling74,0002%Domestic burglary in a non-connected building53,00025%Theft from outside a dwelling517,0003%Theft from a vehicle465,00012%Other theft of personal property446,00011%

What assessment her Department has made of effectiveness of the tax incentives available to increase the formation of Employee Ownership Trusts.

An evaluation of the Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) tax regime commissioned by HMRC and published in May 2025 found that the tax reliefs encourage company owners to transition their companies to employee ownership under the EOT model. This evaluation can be found at GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/qualitative-evaluation-of-employee-ownership-trusts However, the cost of the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) relief has increased significantly in recent years. The original costing from 2013 suggested the entire EOT tax regime would cost less than £100m in 2018-19. The cost of the CGT relief alone reached £600m in 2021-22 and forecasts suggest it could rise to more than 20 times the original costing to £2 billion by 2028-29 without any action. The relief also allowed wealthy business owners to sell their shares without paying any CGT, with around half of the relief going to the largest 10% of disposals. At Budget 2025, the government announced that it will reduce the relief available on these disposals from 100% of the gain to 50%. This will retain a strong incentive for employee ownership whilst ensuring that business owners pay their fair share of tax. The relief remains more generous than alternative reliefs that individuals might use when disposing of their companies, such as Business Asset Disposal Relief.

What assessment has been made of police force forensic analysis capacity and completion times in England.

Forensic turnaround times currently vary with discipline. Time taken by forces to examine digital devices for example varies considerably, but urgent requests are always prioritised.Chief Constables, and ultimately Police and Crime Commissioners, are currently responsible for forensics procurement and delivery, with some regional coordination. We are exploring the creation of a specialist national capability for police forensics, within the proposed National Centre for Policing, and have recruited a Director of Forensic Services to stabilise and reform forensics in the meantime.