Written questions by Anderson.

What information they hold on the number of workdays that were completed remotely in their Department in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.

Hybrid working is an informal, discretionary, non-contractual arrangement that enables employees to work partly in the workplace and partly at home. Employees are expected to spend a minimum of 40% of their working hours in the office. Office attendance requirements are managed locally to ensure the minimum requirement is met, and no central data is held on this.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of levels of borrowing to fund international climate finance on the debt to GDP ratio.

The UK’s current international climate finance commitment of £11.6bn from Financial Year 2021/22 to Financial Year 2025/26 (ICF3) is funded from the government’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget. The ODA budget is accounted for as part of the UK's overall fiscal plans which is moving to a position where day-to-day spending is met with tax revenues, so that the government is only borrowing for investment.

What information they hold on the number of workdays that were completed remotely in their Department in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.

On 24 October 2024, the Cabinet Office announced that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Senior managers will continue to be expected to be in the office more than 60% of the time.Office occupancy data is published on a quarterly basis. The data is published here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data

Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to support regional tourism boards.

Since 2022, DCMS has delivered significant reform of destination management devolving accountability to a regional and local level to promote regional growth. We now have a network of 40 tourism boards or Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) across England - including the Nottinghamshire LVEP, which received accreditation last year - and two Regional Destination pilots in the North East and West Midlands. In March, we announced a £1.35 million funding boost to help the Destination pilots attract even more tourists and investment to the UK over this financial year.

Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department provides on the assessments used to decide whether to return a dangerous dog to its owner after it has been seized.

Dogs that are prohibited under section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and which do not have a valid certificate of exemption could be seized by the Police. In these cases, there is an interim exemption scheme which allows suspected prohibited dogs to remain with their owners in advance of a court hearing. It is for the Police to determine whether to make use of this scheme on a case-by-case basis.

Pursuant to the Answer of 21 July 2025 to Question 67468 on Diseases: Undocumented Migrants, what the cost to the public purse was for initial health assessments for irregular migrants in each of the last five years.

The Department and NHS England do not hold the information requested.The Department, NHS England and UK Health Security Agency officials are supporting the Home Office and regional and local health partners to support delivery of reforms to the asylum system, including to accommodation for asylum seekers. The Department’s role focuses on addressing the health needs of asylum seekers, protecting local services, and addressing the transmission risks for infectious diseases.

What information they hold on the number of workdays that were completed remotely in their Department in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.

The department’s employees work remotely from offices for a variety of reasons, including to visit educational institutions, partner organisations or when they have agreement to work from somewhere other than an office. IT log-on data indicates that approximately 55% of available working days in 2024 and 2025 to date were spent working remotely, but this figure should be treated as indicative rather than definitive, due to limitations in how the data is captured.

What recent steps he has taken to improve access to new treatments for patients with secondary breast cancer.

The Department is committed to ensuring that the National Health Service diagnoses cancer earlier and treats it faster so that more patients, including those with breast cancer, survive.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the NHS on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on their costs and benefits. Cancer medicines are eligible for funding from the Cancer Drugs Fund from the point of a positive NICE recommendation. Since January 2022, NICE has recommended all but one of the treatments for breast cancer that it has assessed, including treatments for secondary breast cancer such as Truqap and Korserdu, which are now available to eligible NHS patients.The National Cancer Plan for England will be published later this year and will set out further details on how we will improve outcomes for all cancer patients, including those with secondary breast cancer. The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare.

What proportion of foreign nationals receiving Universal Credit arrived in the UK in the last five years.

The Department does not hold this information for all claimants over the last five years.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Chinese counterpart on the location of Peng Shuai.

This Government remains deeply committed to the promotion and protection of human rights globally, including in China. We continue to monitor developments closely and raise issues of concern with Chinese counterparts at senior levels. The Prime Minister, Chancellor and former Foreign Secretary all raised human rights recently with their Chinese counterparts. We remain concerned about cases that raise broader questions around freedom of expression, and accountability, and we continue to work with international partners to support these principles.

What recent assessment she has made of the financial sustainability of the number of asylum seekers in receipt of Universal Credit.

People who are in the UK with no immigration status who are applying for asylum are not permitted access to public funds and therefore cannot claim Universal Credit.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) prevention and (b) detection measures used to identify fraudulent claims for Universal Credit by foreign nationals.

This government takes all cases of fraud seriously and has introduced the biggest package of measures in recent history to reduce welfare fraud, error and debt, which includes new legislation, the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill. This contains new powers to modernise our defences and is currently progressing through Parliament. In 2024-25, we saved an estimated £25bn from our up-front controls and detect activity, with the latter delivering £2bn savings and thereby significantly exceeding our Annually Managed Expenditure savings target. The Department always checks a person’s identity and immigration status before paying them benefits if they are a foreign national. We verify this information with the Home Office, including through automatic system-to-system checks.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of foreign national Universal Credit claimants on the (a) delivery and (b) availability of employment support services.

The Department considers migration trends when planning resources for delivering support including employment services and training to ensure that all claimants, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, can access this support if they are entitled to it. The Department does not collect information on or hold a record of the nationality or immigration status of claimants at the point of referral to specific employment services and training.

What steps he is taking to help reduce the number of GP visits before diagnosis for patients with blood cancer.

The Department continues to support the National Health Service to diagnose and treat cancer as early and fast as possible. However, because of the state of the NHS this Government inherited, we recognise that patients with cancers with non-specific symptoms such as blood cancer, are waiting too long for diagnosis and subsequent treatment.To help prevent multiple general practice (GP) visits and emergency setting diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England with blood cancers being one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.The Department recently hosted a roundtable with industry experts to discuss the proposal for Jess’s Rule. Outcomes and further steps will be confirmed in due course.

If she will publish the number of foreign nationals in receipt of each benefit across working age welfare spending.

There are no plans to start consistently collecting nationality data across all working age benefits. This is because DWP policy responsibility lies in establishing a customer’s eligibility to claim benefits. An individual’s specific nationality does not play a role in this. The Department checks immigration status when assessing eligibility for benefits, but this information is not collated centrally across all benefit lines and hence is not readily available. The Department publishes Universal Credit (UC) immigration status and nationality statistics as part of the Universal Credit statistics publication. The latest release of these statistics is included in the latest Universal Credit statistical bulletin. ‘Table 2’ in the latest Universal Credit immigration status and nationality data tables provides information on the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status, nationality group and employment status, for each month from April 2022 to June 2025.

What recent discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for the Home Department and (b) the Chancellor of the Exchequer on removing the current eligibility criteria for foreign nationals to claim Universal Credit.

The Department is playing an active role in work across Government connected to the Home Office’s recent White Paper ‘Restoring Control Over the Immigration System’. This includes membership in the Labour Market Advisory Group alongside the Migration Advisory Committee, Industrial Strategy Advisory Council and Skills England and devolved equivalents. The White Paper sets out ambitious changes including plans to increase the standard qualifying period for settlement and access to public funds benefits from five to ten years.

What steps he is taking with the Food Standards Agency to help increase levels of public awareness of dangerous food product recalls.

Food recalls and allergy alerts often receive a high level of engagement depending on the scale and risk associated with each recall. It is the responsibility of businesses to reach the public through displaying in-store notices and notifying consumers through their own communication channels. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) amplifies recalls to reach a wider audience and those most vulnerable.The FSA works with national and regional media outlets, and shares recall information across its social media channels. This strategy achieves regular national coverage, plus targeted regional coverage. Targeted advertising campaigns on social media encourage the public to sign up for the food alerts and recalls service. Promoting the alerts and recall service is a key objective of our current business campaign. Safer food means better business, which aims to support small and micro businesses in protecting their customers.Targeted partnerships with healthcare providers, charities and organisations that represent vulnerable consumers facilitate direct access to those who are most at risk to food borne diseases. This includes immunocompromised groups or those living with an allergy.The FSA carried out a key review of the recall process in 2017 with the strengthened processes in place by 2019, and an evaluation of improvements carried out in 2022. At the heart of this work is making sure that as much as possible the system works smoothly across all those involved so that consumers are aware when unsafe foods are recalled.

If she will make it her policy to house irregular migrants only in secure detention centres.

Immigration detention plays a key role in maintaining effective immigration controls and securing the UK’s borders. The Home Office detains people initially for examination purposes and for the purpose of removing people who have no right to remain in the UK but refuse to leave voluntarily. A person may be detained for a period that the Secretary of State reasonably considers necessary to carry out the examination or removal, make a decision, or directions to be given.There is limited detained accommodation. The Home Office currently operates seven Immigration Removal Centres, three residential Short-Term Holding Facilities and one Pre-Departure Accommodation for families. These house a mixture of time-served foreign national offenders and immigration offenders. A number of factors go into deciding who to detain and determining whether detention is appropriate. All decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.Separately, the Home Secretary is legally required to support those seeking asylum in the UK who would otherwise be destitute. This obligation is fulfilled through the provision of appropriate non-detained accommodation. The Home Office remains committed to reducing reliance on hotel accommodation and is actively pursuing alternative solutions to meet our statutory obligations.

What steps her Department is taking to increase arrests relating to mobile phone theft.

Through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles to provide a more visible and effective service to the public, with each neighbourhood having a named, contactable officer dealing with local issues, including the theft of mobile phones and other personal items.On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, leading tech companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves. The Summit resulted in clear commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the problem, better understand the role of organised crime networks and identify the most effective means of tackling these crimes.In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. This will significantly enhance the ability of the police to act swiftly and effectively.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of illegal cross-Channel migration on the safety of women and girls living in the UK.

The Government’s Plan for Change sets out our ambition to secure borders and control immigration. We have introduced the Border Security Asylum and Immigration Bill which will give law enforcement counter terror-style powers to identify and disrupt people smuggling gangs. It will introduce a new measure whereby those who commit sexual offences which give rise to the notification requirement in Schedule 3 of the Sexual offences Act 2023 will be excluded from being granted asylum protections in the UK.We recognise the devastating impact of sexual violence on victims and our communities and are absolutely committed to tackling sexual offences with a manifesto mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. We will deliver a cross-government transformative approach to relentlessly pursue all VAWG perpetrators in this country, under-pinned by a new strategy which we aim to publish in the autumn.