Written questions by O'Brien.

How many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit and where the exempting benefit was receiving Universal Credit with limited capability for work and work-related activity during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.

The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to August 2025. Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.

How many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit and where the exempting benefit was PIP during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.

The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to August 2025. Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.

How many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.

The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to August 2025. Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the DSIT Main Estimate memoranda for the years 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026, for what reason there has been an increase in the capital spending allocated to the Met Office during this period.

The movement in capital spending allocated to the Met Office reflected the latest plans for the delivery of the new supercomputer milestones.

Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of staff were promoted (a) in-grade and (b) to a higher grade in the last year by (i) performance marking in the previous year and (ii) grade.

This information is not held centrally. This data is difficult to present due to there being no definition of an “in-grade promotion” and limited data on staff who go on promotion to another department. Collation and presentation of this data could potentially require significant manual work and data linking across departments.

Media and Sport, how many disciplinary cases were concluded against civil servants in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies by (i) outcome and (ii) whether the primary allegation related to (A) performance and (B) conduct in the last twelve months.

In the last 12 months, there have been 6 disciplinary cases that have concluded within DCMS. All related to an allegation of misconduct. We cannot provide the outcome of closed disciplinary cases. Doing so would breach the Data Protection Act and risk identifying individual cases where the case count is five or less, as the information relates to someone other than the data subjects. DCMS does not hold information regarding its agencies, including its arms-length and public bodies. This is because they are independent employers from the department. Poor performance is addressed under a separate management procedure.

How many and what proportion of staff were promoted (a) in-grade and (b) to a higher grade in the last year by (i) performance marking in the previous year and (ii) grade.

It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the hon. Member's Question. I will write to him when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.

What the average number of working days lost to sickness absence per full-time equivalent member of staff was in (a) his Department and (b) its executive agencies in the last year; and how many formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absence exceeded departmental triggers.

It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the hon. Member's Question. I will write to him when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.

How many and what proportion of staff in each grade were rated in the top performance category in the last year.

It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the Hon. Member's Question. I will write to him when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.

In the past twelve months, how many disciplinary cases were concluded against civil servants in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies broken down by (i) outcome and (ii) whether the primary allegation related to (A) performance and (B) conduct.

It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the hon. Member's Question. I will write to him when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.

What the cost was of (a) settlement agreements and (b) special severance payments made to departing staff in the last year.

It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the hon. Member's Question. I will write to him when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to DSIT Main Estimate memorandum 2025 to 2026, if she will provide a breakdown of past and planned capital spending in the category of 'Science and Society'; and for what reasons this spending has increased from 2024 to 2025 levels.

For 2024/25 the total capital spend on Research and Development (R&D) in the category of Science and Society was £111.4m and for 2023/24 was £109.9m. £216.8m spend is planned for 2025/26 as presented within the Main Estimate for 2025/26. Science and Society is a reporting category and budgeted allocations from this area are sometimes reallocated to other DSIT reporting categories during the financial year. The budget at Main Estimate is therefore often higher than at Supplementary Estimate due to the timing of the budget allocations. Future year plans for 'Science and Society' will be confirmed as part of future Estimates.

Media and Sport, what the average number of working days lost to sickness absence per full-time equivalent member of staff was in (a) her Department and (b) its executive agencies in the last year; and how many formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absence exceeded departmental triggers.

Sickness absence data for the Civil Service, including departmental breakdowns is published annually, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence.The next update will be for the year ending 31st March 2025.

Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of staff in each grade were rated in the top performance category in the last year.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport operates a continual performance management approach throughout the year, which includes data on those not meeting performance expectations through the Managing Poor Performance process. There is no common definition of ‘top performance’ across Government, and we do not hold performance data for top performers for staff below SCS level at this time.For Senior Civil Servants, DCMS follows the SCS framework for performance management. There are four possible ratings available with the top marking being ‘Exceeding’. Given the relatively small number of Senior Civil Servants in scope of the process, sharing the number and proportion of those receiving the top box marking could be disclosive and is therefore being suppressed.

Media and Sport, what the cost was of (a) settlement agreements and (b) special severance payments made to departing staff in the last year.

For the last financial year, the total cost to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of payments associated with settlement agreements is set out in Annual Report and Accounts. Where relevant, this includes special severance payments that have associated settlement agreements.The DCMS Annual Report and Accounts for 2024/25 can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dcms-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025

What the average number of working days lost to sickness absence per full-time equivalent member of staff was in (a) her Department and (b) its executive agencies in the last year; and how many formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absence exceeded departmental triggers.

Information on the average number of working days lost to sickness within the department for 2024 - 2025 is published annually through the HM Treasury annual report and accounts at the following web address: HM Treasury annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK (Page 102). This information can also be found for HM Treasury’s executive agencies at the following web addresses:Government Internal Audit Agency: GIAA Annual Report and Accounts 2024-2025 - GOV.UK (Page 78);UK Debt Management Office: UK Debt Management Office and Debt Management Account annual report and accounts, 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK (Page 67). HM Treasury does not issue performance warnings to those who exceed the absence trigger point as absence triggers are managed under the attendance management policy.

What the cost was of (a) settlement agreements and (b) special severance payments made to departing staff in the last year.

There have been zero settlement agreements made to departing staff in the last year.

How many and what proportion of staff were promoted (a) in-grade and (b) to a higher grade in the last year by (i) performance marking in the previous year and (ii) grade.

(a) This information is not held centrally due to there being no definition of an “in-grade promotion”.(b) Please see below a table which sets out promotions in the year 2024-25 by box marking in the previous year (2023-24) . Promotions in year 2024-25 by Box Marking in Previous Year (2023-24)Grade promoted from1/Top2/AchievingUnknown/No box markingRange B (AO)<30<30<30Range C (EO)<30<30<30HEO39 (2%)40 (2%)<30SEO<30<30<30Range E (G7)<30<30<30Range E2 (G6)<30<30<30SCS 1<30<30<30Please note that data that could identify individuals has been suppressed. All proportions have been rounded to the nearest whole percentage; and any proportions based on less than 30 employees have been suppressed.

How many disciplinary cases were concluded against civil servants in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies by (i) outcome and (ii) whether the primary allegation related to (A) performance and (B) conduct in the last twelve months.

HMT don’t hold the information for disciplinary cases in agencies. Where there is an issue in staff performance, HMT have a managing poor performance policy to manage any concerns. Our disciplinary policy covers issues with conduct. In the last twelve months, there have been six disciplinary cases concluded against civil servants. We consider that providing an exact breakdown of outcome would constitute the disclosure of personal data. This is because section 40(2) of the FOI Act, by virtue of section 40(3A) provides an absolute exemption for third party personal data, where disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles set out in Article 5 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The first data protection principle requires the disclosure of third-party personal data to be lawful, fair and transparent. We believe that releasing the information would breach the first data protection principle, since it would be unlawful and unfair to release the information.

How many and what proportion of staff in each grade were rated in the top performance category in the last year.

Performance management reviews are conducted in accordance with the relevant policies and procedures within HM Treasury. The table below presents the percentage of staff in each grade who achieved the highest performance rating in the 2024–25 end-of-year performance management process, which concluded on 31st March 2025: GradeNumber of those in each grade that received the highest performance ratingPercentage of those in each grade that received the highest performance ratingAOLess than 30N/AEO5828%HEO11726%SEO9132%Grade 720932%Grade 69132%SCS Grades4130%For delegated grades the high performance category is defined as delivering exceptional performance, consistently exceeding expectations in both the achievement of objectives (‘what’ is delivered) and the demonstration of organisational values and behaviours (‘how’ the work is carried out). For SCS the exceeded performance category is defined as exceeding outcomes, exceeding expected competency and behavioral standards. The members of the SCS should have consistently performed above and beyond all of their agreed stretching objectives throughout the performance year.