Written questions by O'Brien.

How much was spent on the housing element of UC in each region and local authority in 2025.

Information about the amount of Universal Credit Housing Element expenditure is available by country and financial year here: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2025 - GOV.UK (see the ‘Housing_Benefits’ tab). However, information about Universal Credit Housing Element expenditure by region and local authority for 2025 is not available and to produce this would incur disproportionate cost.

With reference to sheet Asy_01e of the data release entitled Asylum summary tables, year ending December 2025, updated on 26 February 2026, how many people claiming asylum after entering the UK with a visa or other leave in 2025 were nationals of (a) Myanmar, (b) Sudan, (c) Cameroon and (d) Afghanistan by latest leave held prior to claim.

The Home Office publishes breakdowns of the number of people claiming asylum after entering the UK with a visa or other leave, by nationality and latest leave held prior to claim, for the top five nationalities in Asy_01e. This table does not currently include a full nationality breakdown. The total number of people claiming asylum after entering the UK on a visa or other leave is published in Asy_01d for Afghanistan and Sudan.The Home Office does publish a full nationality breakdown of data on asylum claims and initial decisions, in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. The latest data relates to the year ending December 2025.A full Impact Assessment has been published for the Visa Brake policy; see Table 1 for historic volumes of asylum claims linked to visa for the relevant nationalities and routes in scope of the Brake.Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.

With reference to sheet Asy_01e of the data release entitled Asylum summary tables, year ending December 2025, updated on 26 February 2026, whether she will publish a further breakdown of the nationalities currently grouped under "Other” for people claiming asylum after entering the UK with a visa or other leave in 2025, by latest leave held prior to claim.

The Home Office publishes breakdowns of the number of people claiming asylum after entering the UK with a visa or other leave, by nationality and latest leave held prior to claim, for the top five nationalities in Asy_01e. This table does not currently include a full nationality breakdown. The total number of people claiming asylum after entering the UK on a visa or other leave is published in Asy_01d for Afghanistan and Sudan.The Home Office does publish a full nationality breakdown of data on asylum claims and initial decisions, in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. The latest data relates to the year ending December 2025.A full Impact Assessment has been published for the Visa Brake policy; see Table 1 for historic volumes of asylum claims linked to visa for the relevant nationalities and routes in scope of the Brake.Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.

What was the average number of Working Days Lost per staff year was in each jobcentre in the most recent year.

Please see link to published Average Working Days Lost figures: Civil Service sickness absence, 2025: report - GOV.UK.

With reference to the press release entitled Patients to benefit from improved access to dental appointments, published on 21 February 2026, how many (a) urgent and (b) additional dental appointments have been provided by the NHS in (i) total and (ii) each month since the General Election; and how many additional urgent dental appointments he expects the NHS to provide by the end of 2026-27 above the baseline he is using to monitor progress against his target.

The following table shows the available data for the number of National Health Service urgent dental treatments and total courses of dental treatments delivered each month from July 2024 to October 2025:Treatment month (July 2024 to October 2025)The number of urgent dental treatments deliveredThe number of NHS dental treatments deliveredJuly 2024323,1623,107,924August 2024290,1782,954,258September 2024303,2682,878,678October 2024324,9903,340,505November 2024305,2652,963,893December 2024307,6112,499,861January 2025326,3743,106,909February 2025280,9593,066,611March 2025285,4742,781,951April 2025310,7413,251,218May 2025305,9983,008,029June 2025308,1102,958,788July 2025327,0683,249,401August 2025293,7082,926,398September 2025338,3303,148,312October 2025346,0993,461,661Source: Monthly National Dental Activity data – England July 2023 to October 2025, available at the following link: https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/dental-activity-data-england-july-2023-to-october-2025Data for April 2025 to October 2025 should be treated as provisional. Final data for 2025/26 will be published in August 2026. Data for dentistry is measured in courses of treatment, not appointments. One course of treatment can be more than one appointment.1.8 million additional courses of NHS dental treatment have been delivered in the seven months between April and October 2025, compared to the same period before the general election, nearly half of which were delivered to children.We are broadening the scope of the commitment to deliver additional appointments so that they can be used for more patients, not just those who meet the clinical criteria for “urgent” care.We will ensure a continued urgent care safety net by requiring, from April 2026, high street dentists to deliver 8.2% of their total contract value as urgent or unscheduled care.

With reference to the Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 109196, how many people have been convicted of common assault and battery; and how many of these people did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by year of conviction and number of previous occasions the offender has been convicted for a violence against the person offence, and where that offence was common assault or battery, where the number of occasions was 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9+ previous convictions.

The data requested is provided in the attached excel table. The table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on the number of offenders who were convicted of common assault and battery offences who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence; separated by the number of previous occasions the offender had been convicted for a violence against the person offence where that offence was common assault and battery. Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.

How many people were a) convicted for child sexual offences and b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by year of conviction and number of previous occasions the offender has been convicted for child sexual offences for the period 2020-2024.

The data requested are provided in the attached excel tables. The tables include data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:- The number of offenders who were convicted of a child sex offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous occasions where the offender was convicted of a child sex offence.- The number of offenders who were convicted of an indictable offence but did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by the number of previous convictions (between 7-10 previous convictions).- The number of offenders who were convicted of a theft offence who did not receive immediate custody, by number of previous convictions (between 3-10 previous convictions).- The number of offenders convicted of theft from a shop who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous convictions for the same offence.As set out in previous responses, this data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.

How many people were convicted of murdering a police officer by year of conviction for the period 2020-2024.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, including murder in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.It is not possible to identify individual characteristics of murder victims, including their profession. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.

With reference to his Answer of 6 February 2026 to Question 109201, how many unique offenders were convicted for an indictable offence and did not receive immediate custody in 2024 with 7, 8, 9 and 10 previous convictions.

The data requested are provided in the attached excel tables. The tables include data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:- The number of offenders who were convicted of a child sex offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous occasions where the offender was convicted of a child sex offence.- The number of offenders who were convicted of an indictable offence but did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by the number of previous convictions (between 7-10 previous convictions).- The number of offenders who were convicted of a theft offence who did not receive immediate custody, by number of previous convictions (between 3-10 previous convictions).- The number of offenders convicted of theft from a shop who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous convictions for the same offence.As set out in previous responses, this data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.

With reference to his Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 109199, how many unique offenders were convicted for a theft offence and did not receive immediate custody in 2024 with 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 previous convictions for a theft offence, broken down by individual number of previous convictions.

The data requested are provided in the attached excel tables. The tables include data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:- The number of offenders who were convicted of a child sex offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous occasions where the offender was convicted of a child sex offence.- The number of offenders who were convicted of an indictable offence but did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by the number of previous convictions (between 7-10 previous convictions).- The number of offenders who were convicted of a theft offence who did not receive immediate custody, by number of previous convictions (between 3-10 previous convictions).- The number of offenders convicted of theft from a shop who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous convictions for the same offence.As set out in previous responses, this data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.

How many people were (a) convicted of theft from a shop and (b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, broken down by (i) year of conviction in each of the past five years, and (ii) the number of previous occasions the offender had been convicted of theft from a shop.

The data requested are provided in the attached excel tables. The tables include data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:- The number of offenders who were convicted of a child sex offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous occasions where the offender was convicted of a child sex offence.- The number of offenders who were convicted of an indictable offence but did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by the number of previous convictions (between 7-10 previous convictions).- The number of offenders who were convicted of a theft offence who did not receive immediate custody, by number of previous convictions (between 3-10 previous convictions).- The number of offenders convicted of theft from a shop who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous convictions for the same offence.As set out in previous responses, this data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.

What number and proportion of those living in i) all tenures and ii) the social rented sector have their rent a) partly and b) fully paid by either housing benefit or the housing element of UC.

Information on the number and proportion of households in the private rented sector in receipt of Housing Benefit (HB), and if it covers rent, is available on Stat-Xplore via the Housing Benefit Official Statistics (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/). The information can be found in the Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 dataset and is currently available to November 2025. Universal Credit (UC) is a single integrated benefit made up of different elements, such as Housing. Households receive one combined monthly payment, and any deductions apply to the total award, not individual elements. As a result, it is not possible to isolate and compare the Universal Credit Housing Element (UCHE) to rents. However, the number and proportion of private rented sector households where rent is higher than Local Housing Allowance rate is available on Stat-Xplore and can be found in the Universal Credit – Households on Universal Credit dataset and is currently available to November 2025. For households receiving housing support in the social rented sector, the Department provides support that covers eligible rents in full, unless reduced by the Removal of Spare Room Subsidy or if they have income or savings, contributions from non-dependants, or limited by the benefit cap. Data on the number of households in social rented sector, how many households are subject to Removal of Spare Room Subsidy and how many households are subject to Benefit Cap can be found on Stat-Xplore. Providing the rest of the information requested would incur disproportionate cost. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest, and if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.

What number and proportion of those claiming a) housing benefit and b) the UC housing element live in the social rented sector.

Monthly statistics for the number of households on Housing Benefit (HB) and the number of Households on Universal Credit (UC) are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore, with data currently available to November 2025. The statistics are available by Tenure Type for HB, and by Housing Entitlement - Tenure for UC. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance and the Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.

How much is being spent each year on primary care, and how much is being spent on the core GP contract.

In 2024/25, the latest year for which data is available, the total value of expenditure on all primary care was £19.8 billion. This includes expenditure on commissioning optometry, pharmacy, and dental services and excludes prescribing and secondary dental care. At this time, the total value of the GP Contract was £12.3 billion. We are investing £485 million in general practice in 2026/27, bringing the total spend on the GP Contract to over £13.8 billion. This uplift represents a 3.6% cash increase from 2025/26, or 1.4% real terms increase, and includes an assumed pay increase of 2.5%. It follows a record £1.1 billion of investment in 2025/26. As with previous years, we have asked the independent pay review body for Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration, for a pay recommendation for 2026/27 for the Government to consider.

With reference to his Answers of 2 February 2026 to Question 109197, 109198, 109199 and 109200, if he will publish the number of people who were (a) convicted of and (b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence for a (i) robbery, (ii) burglary, (iii) theft and (iv) sexual offence by year of conviction and individual number of previous conviction for that offence up to a maximum of six convictions, rather than grouping previous convictions.

The breakdown requested for PQ 109197, PQ 109198 and PQ 109199 was provided in PQ response 111800. The data for PQ 109200 is provided in the attached excel table. The table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:The number of offenders who were convicted of a specified offence but did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by the number of previous convictions for that specified offence up to a maximum of 6.As set out in previous responses, this data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.

Pursuant to his Answers of 26 January and 4 February 2026 to Questions 106583 and 109831 on Energy Supply: Expenditure, if he will publish (a) monthly data collected during the year from departmental management accounts that were incorporated into the OSCAR database for the financial year 2024-5 and (b) adjustments made at year-end 2024-5 to align final outturn with the published annual report and accounts in spending areas associated with sources of reliable energy.

The final monthly data collected during the year is already published in the OSCAR annual release dataset with the TYPE_LONG_NAME of “IN-YEAR RETURN” and the adjustments to align final outturn with the published annual report and accounts is shown against “FINAL OUTTURN”.

In the last 12 months, how many individuals convicted of (a) a violent offence and (b) homicide had a recorded history of detention under the Mental Health Act 1983.

The Ministry of Justice does not hold the information requested. While the Ministry of Justice holds data on convictions, our data relating to the Mental Health Act 1983 covers only individuals detained as restricted [Criminal Justice] patients and does not capture any prior detention under the Act. NHS England is responsible for information relating to detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983. Any relevant information is therefore held separately by different Departments and is not linked. As a result, we are unable to provide a breakdown of individuals convicted of violent offences or homicide who have a prior history of Mental Health Act detention.

How many people who were a) convicted for theft and b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence were foreign nationals, by year of conviction.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions and sentences for a wide range of offences, including theft in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK However, data held centrally does not include if the defendant is a foreign national. This information may be held in the court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.

What information his Department holds on the number of homicide incidents in each of the last 12 months which involved a suspect who had been a patient of an NHS mental health trust within the preceding six months.

NHS England commissions the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicides and Homicides (NCISH) which has two functions in relation to homicides. First, it reports a count of homicides by people in the care of mental health services. Second, it does research into suicides and homicides, with the aim of helping to identify opportunities for improvements to clinical care in order to improve safety.The ‘count’ of patient homicides by people under the care of mental health services, is not real-time, and there is a delay between the incident occurring and the incident being included in this national data. This is because an incident can only be confirmed as a mental health homicide when a judicial process has determined whether a homicide has been committed and by whom, as well as the nature of the crime.In line with the national Patient Safety Incident Response Framework, in addition to local provider led safety reviews, any reported homicides/suspected homicides involving mental health patients are shared for review by regional NHS England teams, to establish whether an independent investigation is also required. Those requiring independent investigation are commissioned by regional teams.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's Annual Report 2024-25 and pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2026 to Question 105347 on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Public Expenditure, for a breakdown of the (a) £1,012,406,000 in RDEL in 2024-25 on the Affordable Housing Programme, (b) £167,774,00 in RDEL in Investment Funds and (c) programme spend and income of RDEL in FY 2024/5 in the Estimate Lines for (i) Housing and Planning, and (ii) Local Government and Public Services.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.