Written questions by O'Brien.

With reference to his answer of 28 January 2026 to Question 107450, if he will publish a breakdown of the administration and programme expenditure for 2024/5 in the categories of "Subsidies to private sector companies" and "Current grants to persons and non-profit (net)".

The requested breakdowns are below: CURRENT GRANTS TO PERSONS AND NON-PROFIT (NET)DescriptionCapital DEL (£000)Resource DEL (Programme) (£000)Total (£000)Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI)180,149-180,149Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)68,68811668,804Citizens Advice-42,31742,317Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF)26,0441,91527,959Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV)24,35653124,887Help to Grow-20,91320,913Consumer advocacy for Energy, Post and cross-sector-19,50219,502National Trading Standards (NTS)-12,51812,518Global Centre of Rail Excellence6,865-6,865Exceptional Regional Growth Fund (eRGF)3,0002,6515,651Music Export Growth Scheme-2,9832,983Materials Processing Institute2,042-2,042The British Standards Institution-1,8961,896Convention of Scottish Local Authorities-1,3011,301Other2,0536,4808,533 313,197113,123426,320 SUBSIDIES TO PRIVATE SECTOR COMPANIESDescriptionCapital DEL (£000)Resource DEL (Programme) (£000)Total (£000)Energy Intensive Industries (EII) Compensation Scheme-141,679141,679Postmaster Horizon redress-Suspension Renumeration Review-Provision utilisation-8,9798,979Other-2323 -150,681150,681 CAPITAL GRANTS TO PRIVATE SECTOR COMPANIES (NET)DescriptionCapital DEL (£000)Resource DEL (Programme) (£000)Total (£000)Movement on financial guarantee liabilities-Growth Guarantee Scheme62,332-62,332Exceptional Regional Growth Fund (eRGF)34,766-34,766Steel infrastructure15,263-15,263Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF)7,930-7,930Called financial guarantees-Enterprise Financial Guarantee Scheme6,099-6,099 126,390-126,390

With reference to his answer to question 106583, if he will publish a breakdown of the £2bn in capital spending by his Department in 2024-25 in rows 2578, 2579, 9185 and 9197 of the OSCAR Annual Data 2024-5 (Outturn) spreadsheet, under the PESA Economic Group Codes (a) Capital Support for Local Government (net), (b) Capital Support for Public Corporations, (c) Capital Grants to Private Sector Companies (net) and (d) Capital Support for Public Corporations.

It is not possible to provide a breakdown for individual rows within the dataset due to the way the OSCAR system shows monthly data collected during the year from departmental management accounts on a separate line to adjustments made at year-end to align final outturn with the published annual report and accounts.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to table 1 of Annex A of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, if he will publish a breakdown of the spending of Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit spending on Deliver an ambitious industrial strategy, net in that financial year.

Please find below breakdown of the ‘Deliver an ambitious industrial strategy’ line outturn for FY 2024-25 per table 1 in Annex A of the DSIT Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25: Geospatial Commission £147.676mMet Office £146.027mNational Measurement Service £121.310mOffice for Life Sciences £42.384mPosition, Navigation & Timing (PNT) Office £0.564mInnovation & Research £0.215mResearch Base Innovation £0.012mTotal £458.188m

With reference to his answer to of 28 January 2026 to Question 107135, if he will publish a breakdown of the £313m in CDEL outturn for 2024/5 in the category of "Current grants to persons and non-profit (net)".

I refer the Member to the answer I gave on 4 February 2026 to question 109830.

Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the (a) number of staff and (b) and operating expenditure have increased at the Environment Agency since April 2017.

The increase in both staffing levels and operating expenditure at the Environment Agency since April 2017 reflects the expansion of its responsibilities, operational activity, and its role in supporting the Government’s growth agenda. Staff numbers have grown to support increased flood and coastal erosion risk management, strengthened environmental regulation and enforcement, and delivery of additional functions following EU Exit.

Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the (a) number of staff and (b) operating expenditure have increased at the Animal Plant Health Agency since April 2017.

The increase in expenditure is mainly due to variable costs for the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) response to exotic disease outbreaks, principally avian influenza. When the UK left the EU, staff and costs increased in APHA to resource additional trade and border responsibilities including the management of Sevington which transferred from Defra to APHA in 2025. APHA required additional operational resource to support the introduction of the new ‘green lane’ schemes, as part of the Windsor Framework in 2023, to simplify requirements for moving goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

How many people were (a) convicted for burglary and b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by year of conviction and number of previous occasions the offender has been convicted for burglary.

The information requested is provided in the attached excel tables. These tables include 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.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.Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.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 a sexual offence and (b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by year of conviction and number of previous occasions the offender has been convicted for sexual offences.

The information requested is provided in the attached excel tables. These tables include 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.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.Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.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 and (b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by year of conviction and number of previous occasions the offender has been convicted for theft.

The information requested is provided in the attached excel tables. These tables include 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.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.Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.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 robbery and b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by year of conviction and number of previous occasions the offender has been convicted for robbery.

The information requested is provided in the attached excel tables. These tables include 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.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.Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.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 a violence against the person offence and b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by year of conviction and number of previous occassions the offender has been convicted for a violence against the person offence.

The information requested is provided in the attached excel tables. These tables include 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.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.Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.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.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's publication entitled High Street Rental Auctions: Non-statutory guidance, updated 5 June 2025, what steps her Department has taken to commence the use of High Street Rental Auctions powers since the publication of that guidance.

This Government is firmly committed to tackling high street vacancy. Since publishing the non-statutory guidance on 2 December 2024, we have continued to work closely with the 12 early adopters and other local authorities to implement High Street Rental Auctions (HSRA), in addition to providing support and targeted funding. Uptake continues to grow as more councils adopt the measures and are reporting reductions in long-term vacancies, with landlords taking action even before formal notices or auction processes begin.

Media and Sport, whether the Government plans to mark the 1,100th anniversary of the unification of England next year.

There are no plans at present for the Government to mark the 1,100th anniversary of the unification of England.

How many unique offenders were convicted for an indictable offence and did not receive immediate custody in 2024 with i) zero, ii) 1-2, iii) 3-6, iv) 7-10, v) 11-14, vi) 15-25, vii) 26-35, viii) 36-45, ix) 46 - 60, x) 61-75 and xi) 76 or more previous convictions.

The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. The table includes data covering 2024 on the number of offenders who received a conviction but not an immediate custodial sentence split by number of previous convictions. This data is not routinely published or held in an assessable format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.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.

Whether the operation of the household benefit cap relies on manual administration; and how many people in his Department work on its administration.

The benefit cap is calculated automatically as part of the UC calculation on the UC administrative system and no manual processing is involved. A small number of households (340, as of August 2025) are capped via Housing Benefit (HB). The calculations relating to these capping decisions are completed by 1.6 FTE staff in post (SIP) within the department.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to table SoPS 1.2 of his Department's annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, if he will publish a breakdown of the Gross Outturn and Income of CDEL in the Local Growth and Devolution Estimate Line in financial year 2024-25.

Please see table below for a breakdown of the gross outturn and income expenditure streams of the requested estimate row for CDEL. Estimate RowMain Expenditure Streams Gross Income NetCommunities DEL Estimate Rows24/25 £k £k £kC: Local Growth and Devolution CDEL Levelling Up Fund787,168-787,168 Towns and Future High Street Funds503,113-503,113 UK Shared Prosperity Fund431,579-431,579 Place Based Funding343,438-343,438 European Regional Development Fund246,760-246,7600 Investment Funds152,500-152,500 Devo Deals143,610-143,610 Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land Fund141,676-141,676 Levelling Up Pathfinders103,286-103,286 Freeports84,083-84,083 Local Growth Fund81,266-81,266 Other99,839-1,71998,120Total3,118,318 -248,479 2,869,839

For what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at Companies House since April 2017.

Companies House’s staff numbers have increased in recent years as a result of its extensive transformation to strengthen the integrity and transparency of the UK corporate register. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 has significantly expanded Companies House’s remit, introducing new powers such as identity verification and enhanced investigation and enforcement to tackle misuse of the register and combat economic crime. Alongside enhancements to its digital and data systems, these changes have required additional specialist capability to implement and maintain. These factors, together with the implementation of civil service pay awards, have affected staff costs over this period.

For what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at The Insolvency Service since April 2017.

The Insolvency Service has expanded its responsibilities in respect of resourcing the transfer of criminal enforcement functions from the Department, work to distribute payments to creditors from Payment Protection Insurance realisations, and the Insolvency Service's expanded role as it has taken on responsibility for enforcement activity related to the economic crime programme.These factors, together with the implementation of civil service pay awards, have also affected staff costs over this period.

For what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at the Financial Reporting Council since April 2017.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has taken on several new responsibilities following its (2016) designation as competent authority for audit, and additional work resulting from the UK's exit from the European Union. These include the registration of additional third country auditors, a new programme of assessing third country audit regulatory equivalence and adequacy, and supporting agreements on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. The FRC has also put extra resource into the supervision of audits and expediting enforcement proceedings.Staff costs have increased in direct proportion to the increase in headcount.

Innovation and Technology, for what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at the Information Commissioner's Office since April 2017.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is independent of government and sets its own staffing levels to meet its statutory duties. The ICO is funded primarily through the data protection fee and manages its resources in accordance with its regulatory obligations.The volume and complexity of data protection work have increased significantly in recent years, including implementation of the UK GDPR and an expanded regulatory remit. To fulfil these responsibilities and respond to rising public and business demand, the ICO has required additional specialist capacity. Staffing costs have therefore increased in line with workforce growth and market rates for technical expertise, following the civil service pay guidance.You can find more information about ICO’s staff number and costs in their annual reports, which can be viewed at: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/our-information/annual-reports/.