Written questions by Timothy.

What representations she has received from schools on the adequacy of funding for the breakfast clubs early adopters scheme.

The department had over 3,000 schools apply to be part of the early adopter scheme, so as expected there has been some movement in the schools taking part as we finalised the 750 running from April, but that has been minimal.The list of schools taking part in the breakfast clubs early adopter scheme can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/breakfast-clubs-early-adopters-schools-in-the-scheme.The department has used existing programmes and costs to determine the funding rates, and this has been tested and refined with a range of schools. We are confident that the total funding will enable schools to meet the minimum expectations, which is a 30-minute club with breakfast meeting the school food standards, based on existing provision operating in schools.One function of the early adopters is to test how schools utilise the funding, and the department has a robust strategy to capture and analyse this data. Decisions about the overall budget envelope for breakfast clubs national rollout is subject to the next spending review.

Which early adopter schools have opted out of the free breakfast club pilot programme.

The department had over 3,000 schools apply to be part of the early adopter scheme, so as expected there has been some movement in the schools taking part as we finalised the 750 running from April, but that has been minimal.The list of schools taking part in the breakfast clubs early adopter scheme can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/breakfast-clubs-early-adopters-schools-in-the-scheme.The department has used existing programmes and costs to determine the funding rates, and this has been tested and refined with a range of schools. We are confident that the total funding will enable schools to meet the minimum expectations, which is a 30-minute club with breakfast meeting the school food standards, based on existing provision operating in schools.One function of the early adopters is to test how schools utilise the funding, and the department has a robust strategy to capture and analyse this data. Decisions about the overall budget envelope for breakfast clubs national rollout is subject to the next spending review.

What information her Department holds on the proportion of imports from China that were worth less than £135 in each year since 2015.

Goods valued at £135 or less imported into the UK are not subject to customs duty and are predominantly imported through a simplified customs declaration. As part of this simplified declaration multiple goods can be bulk declared without providing the total number of consignments or country of origin - in other words, the importer is not asked the specific country where the goods were manufactured or wholly obtained. HMRC therefore does not routinely collect customs data on the proportion of imports from China that are worth less than £135. On April 23rd the Government announced a review of the customs treatment of Low Value Imports valued below £135. We intend to engage a broad range of stakeholders over the Spring to further understand their views and gather evidence, including on the volume and nature of low value imports, to support our analysis.

What information his Department holds on the proportion of imports worth less than £135 that did not meet UK safety standards by country of origin in each year since 2015.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) works with local authorities and border forces to detect, deter and disrupt the flow of unsafe and non-compliant goods as they are imported into the UK. Risk-based and intelligence-led approaches are used to target the most high-risk goods for inspection at the border. Therefore, the Government does not hold the information in the form requested. In 2023/24 the targeted approach resulted in checks on consignments covering over 15 million goods at the border, with 2.4 million goods (16%) refused entry to the UK.

What the total value of shipments worth less than £135 to the UK was in each year since 2015, by country of origin.

Goods valued at £135 or less imported into the UK are not subject to customs duty and are predominantly imported through a simplified customs declaration.HMRC can only provide the overall value of shipments containing goods under £135, as data on country of origin is not collected as part of the simplified customs declaration - in other words, the importer is not asked the specific country where the goods were manufactured or wholly obtained.It was not mandatory to provide the total aggregate value as part of the simplified customs declaration until 2023. In 2024, £5.8bn worth of goods under £135 were declared through the Customs Declarations System (CDS).On April 23rd the Government announced a review of the customs treatment of Low Value Imports valued below £135. We intend to engage a broad range of stakeholders over the Spring to further understand their views and gather evidence, including on the volume and nature of low value imports, to support our analysis.

What the average value of shipments worth less than £135 to the UK was in each year since 2015, by country of origin.

Goods valued at £135 or less imported into the UK are not subject to customs duty and are predominantly imported through a simplified customs declaration.As part of this simplified declaration, HMRC does not collect information on the origin of the goods – in other words, the importer is not asked the specific country where the goods were manufactured or wholly obtained.On April 23rd the Government announced a review of the customs treatment of Low Value Imports valued below £135. We intend to engage a broad range of stakeholders over the Spring to further understand their views and gather evidence, including on the volume and nature of low value imports, to support our analysis.

Whether her Department plans to increase funding for asylum dispersal to (a) West Suffolk District Council, and (b) other local authorities.

Current accommodation funding arrangements are published on GOV.UK: Asylum Dispersal Grant: funding instruction - GOV.UK.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with Natural England on the potential impact of issuing a GL43 on the shooting season this year.

In considering the issue of GL43 for this year’s shooting season, Defra took into account Natural England’s statutory advice, noting that the national transmission risk status of avian influenza in wild birds continues to be very high. This included a recommendation to exclude the Lundy Special Area of Conservation (SAC) from the scope of the licence and to include an additional licence condition, requiring best practice biosecurity measures to be undertaken and recorded when managing gamebirds, and those records be produced if requested by a wildlife inspector. The licence was published on 2 May.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of asylum seekers that will be dispersed in (a) West Suffolk District Council and (b) other local authorities in the next twelve months.

The Home Office works with local authorities and other stakeholders across the country to ensure that it can fulfil its statutory obligations, and meet the Government’s commitment to reduce the overall costs of asylum accommodation, including ending the use of hotels over time.The Home Office regularly publishes statistics on the numbers of asylum seekers in receipt of support nationally, and further broken down by region and local authority. These data sets can be found on GOV.UK: (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67bc51acd157fd4b79addd4f/support-local-authority-datasets-dec-2024.xlsx).

How many (a) hospitals and (b) other NHS buildings are in each Integrated Care Board’s area.

The annual Estates Return Information Collection collects data on National Health Service sites and integrated care boards by type and total, for instance hospitals and buildings, and is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection

When his Department plans to provide further information on its long-term plans for the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.

The Government is making long-term plans to enable UK industry to decarbonize and reach Net Zero. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero will update stakeholders as soon as possible on Funds that will be available to industry after the upcoming Spending Review, which will conclude in late spring.

What the average cost of constructing a new (a) primary and (b) secondary school was in each year since 2015.

New school buildings are delivered by local authorities, the department and other bodies.The average cost of constructing new primary and secondary schools can be found in the national cost benchmarking study, published at: https://documents.hants.gov.uk/property-services/NationalSchoolDeliveryBenchmarkingreport.pdf. This report contains cost information on local authority delivered schools and department delivered schools, which are broken down each year from 2012 onwards. The primary school section can be found on page 10.Standards for new school buildings change over time, for example, to increase sustainability requirements, so care should be taken in comparing costs directly year to year.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the beet sugar industry to tackle Virus Yellows disease.

This Government acknowledges the critical role of sugar beet farmers in the UK's sugar production and their ongoing contributions to the agricultural sector. This Government recognises the challenge posed to sugar beet growers by Virus Yellows (VY), and we strongly support the industry-led work to develop more sustainable alternative controls for the aphids that spread these diseases. This includes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques such as novel companion crops, and the development of new pest resistant varieties using both traditional and precision breeding techniques. These novel control methods, alongside new active substances such as Flupyradifurone – approved this year – will ensure that sugar beet growers have the tools they need to address VY. The government is committed towards achieving crop resilience, especially in the sugar beet sector, to support Britain’s food security and nature’s recovery. Defra collaborates with the British Beet Research Organisation on IPM initiatives, with plans to observe their IPM trials in the coming Spring. As part of this, the Government remains fully committed to enhancing crop resilience and is progressing legislation to activate precision breeding in England.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the beet sugar industry’s Virus Yellows resilience fund.

This Government acknowledges the critical role of sugar beet farmers in the UK's sugar production and their ongoing contributions to the agricultural sector. This Government recognises the challenge posed to sugar beet growers by Virus Yellows (VY), and we strongly support the industry-led work to develop more sustainable alternative controls for the aphids that spread these diseases. This includes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques such as novel companion crops, and the development of new pest resistant varieties using both traditional and precision breeding techniques. These novel control methods, alongside new active substances such as Flupyradifurone – approved this year – will ensure that sugar beet growers have the tools they need to address VY. The government is committed towards achieving crop resilience, especially in the sugar beet sector, to support Britain’s food security and nature’s recovery. Defra collaborates with the British Beet Research Organisation on IPM initiatives, with plans to observe their IPM trials in the coming Spring. As part of this, the Government remains fully committed to enhancing crop resilience and is progressing legislation to activate precision breeding in England.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department takes steps to verify statistics published by the Gaza Health Ministry.

Like many of our partners, we use data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to report on daily casualties in the current Gaza conflict. OCHA draws on figures issued from the Gazan Ministry of Health (MoH). Producing reliable casualty statistics in contexts of violent conflict is never straightforward. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has consulted experts, including from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Every Casualty Counts. Experts assess that the total number of deaths in Gaza since 7 October 2023 estimated by the Gaza Ministry of Health is a reasonable figure, though numbers of those still under rubble, and still missing, is not yet known.

Whether the National Security Secretariat uses Gaza Health Ministry statistics in its cross-Whitehall briefings.

NSS does use Gaza Health Ministry casualty figures for briefing. It is difficult to verify casualty statistics accurately during an active conflict. FCDO and CO rely on the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports which use figures issued from the Gazan Ministry of Health (MoH). Over the course of this conflict FCDO has consulted experts from the London School of Tropical Medicine, OCHA, WHO and Every Casualty Counts, and assesses that the total number of deaths in Gaza since 7 October 2023 is a reliable figure. The MoH collates information on casualty statistics using a health information system derived from eight major hospitals across the Strip. They verify and identify the dead by age, gender and ID number.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing support to the homegrown sugar industry in fast-tracking trials to help tackle Virus Yellows disease.

This Government acknowledges the critical role of sugar beet farmers in the UK's sugar production and their ongoing contributions to the agricultural sector. This Government recognises the challenge posed to sugar beet growers by Virus Yellows (VY), and we strongly support the industry-led work to develop more sustainable alternative controls for the aphids that spread these diseases. This includes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques such as novel companion crops, and the development of new pest resistant varieties using both traditional and precision breeding techniques. These novel control methods, alongside new active substances such as Flupyradifurone – approved this year – will ensure that sugar beet growers have the tools they need to address VY. The government is committed towards achieving crop resilience, especially in the sugar beet sector, to support Britain’s food security and nature’s recovery. Defra collaborates with the British Beet Research Organisation on IPM initiatives, with plans to observe their IPM trials in the coming Spring. As part of this, the Government remains fully committed to enhancing crop resilience and is progressing legislation to activate precision breeding in England.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department uses Gaza Health Ministry statistics in its Cross Whitehall Briefings.

Like many of our partners, we use data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to report on daily casualties in the current Gaza conflict. OCHA draws on figures issued from the Gazan Ministry of Health (MoH). Producing reliable casualty statistics in contexts of violent conflict is never straightforward. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has consulted experts, including from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Every Casualty Counts. Experts assess that the total number of deaths in Gaza since 7 October 2023 estimated by the Gaza Ministry of Health is a reasonable figure, though numbers of those still under rubble, and still missing, is not yet known.

Whether his Department uses Gaza Health Ministry statistics in cross-Whitehall briefings.

I refer the Right Honorable Gentleman to the response given for PQ 49111.

Whether his Department takes steps to verify statistics published by the Gaza Health Ministry.

I refer the Right Honorable Gentleman to the response given for PQ 49111.