Written questions by Timothy.

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2025 to Question 26900 on Highways England: Vehicles, whether her Department plans to sell National Highway’s (a) diesel and (b) plug-in hybrid vehicles before 2027; and when those vehicles were purchased.

Operational decisions on its vehicle fleet are made by National Highways; the fleet replacement strategy is to retain vehicles for an operational period of around 3 to 4 years, subject to factors such as mileage, general condition, and suitability for ongoing operational use. National Highways contracts with vehicle disposal agents that use auction services to repurpose and sell its vehicles at the end of their operational life. The table below details the current number of diesel and plug-in hybrid vehicles which were added to National Highways’ fleet (by year, since 2018) to align with the governments’ Road to Zero Strategy for vehicle replacements. On fleet dateNumber of VehiclesFuel Type20181Diesel0PHEV20195Diesel2PHEV20205Diesel15PHEV20210Diesel128PHEV20220Diesel174PHEV20230Diesel195PHEV20240Diesel75PHEV

Innovation and Technology, when Research England informed his Department of their plans for the (a) Research Excellence Framework 2029 and (b) people, culture and environment pilot.

Research England has notified the Department about their plans for developing the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029, which includes the People, Culture, and Environment pilot. This pilot aims to assess the feasibility and practicality of incorporating this element into the REF. The findings will guide future developments of the REF. Final decisions on the REF's structure will be made after the pilot concludes and further engagement with the sector.

How many migrants on Health and Care Worker visas claimed asylum in each year since 2020.

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.However, the Home Office publishes data on visas and asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. The ‘How many people claim asylum in the UK?’ chapter of the release provides the following information: “Internally matched data for asylum claims suggests that around 20% of people claiming asylum in 2023 held a valid visa within 7 days of lodging an asylum claim”.

How many migrants subject to voluntary removals received payments to ensure departure since 5 July 2024; and what the (a) total, (b) average, (c) lowest and (d) highest payment made was.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer I gave on 6 February to Question UIN 28420.

How many migrants on (a) work, (b) student and (c) family visas have claimed asylum since 2010.

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.However, the Home Office publishes data on visas and asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. The ‘How many people claim asylum in the UK?’ chapter of the release provides the following information: “Internally matched data for asylum claims suggests that around 20% of people claiming asylum in 2023 held a valid visa within 7 days of lodging an asylum claim”.

If she will take steps to bar Mohamed Hoblos from entry into the UK.

As the Honourable Member will be aware, it is longstanding policy that the Home Office does not comment on individual cases.However, we have robust safeguards to ensure that those who intend to sow hatred and division in our communities are refused entry to our country, and we make no apology for this. Our priority remains maintaining the safety and security of the UK and our communities.

If she will publish a breakdown of migrants removed since 5 July 2024 by (a) voluntary and (b) enforced removals; and by nationality.

The Home Office publishes data on the number of returns from the UK in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. The latest data on returns are presented in table Ret_D01 of the ‘returns detailed tables’, where the data can be broken down by return type, quarter and nationality. The latest data goes up to September 2024.  Data up to the end of December 2024 is due to be published on 27 February 2025. Information on enforced and voluntary returns from 5th July to 31st January is published at Returns from the UK since 5 July 2024 - GOV.UK.

How many migrants on Health and Care Visas have claimed asylum since 2020.

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.However, the Home Office publishes data on visas and asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. The ‘How many people claim asylum in the UK?’ chapter of the release provides the following information: “Internally matched data for asylum claims suggests that around 20% of people claiming asylum in 2023 held a valid visa within 7 days of lodging an asylum claim”.

Media and Sport, how many times (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have met with the Centre for Media Monitoring since 4 July 2024.

Ministers and officials in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have not met with the Centre for Media Monitoring since 4 July 2024.

Whether her Department plans to align carbon pricing under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme with the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Under the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the UK Government and EU agreed to give serious consideration to linking our respective carbon pricing schemes and to cooperate on carbon pricing. As part of our reset with the EU the Government continues to explore all options to improve trade and investment.

If his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the UK carbon price to £147/tCO2 by 2030 on (a) energy-intensive manufacturing industries and (b) chemical industries.

The Department has no plans to make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the UK carbon price to £147/tCO2 by 2030. The Department previously published an impact assessment in July 2023 of the impact of the moving to the current United Kingdom Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) using the analysis at that time : https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64b91b522059dc00125d267b/developing-uk-ets-main-impact-assessment.pdf The Department produces its own traded carbon values for modelling purposes which are used to estimate the financial cost of purchasing allowances in the UK ETS under different scenarios. This figure of £147/tCO2 is higher than in any of the scenarios in those projections. The Department’s most recent projections can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traded-carbon-values-used-for-modelling-purposes-2024/traded-carbon-values-used-for-modelling-purposes-2024

Whether her Department is preparing for the UK to enter the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

The UK has had its own standalone Emissions Trading Scheme since 2021. Under the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the UK Government and EU agreed to give serious consideration to linking our respective carbon pricing schemes and to cooperate on carbon pricing. As part of our reset with the EU the Government continues to explore all options to improve trade and investment.

Whether her Department holds (a) written and (b) statistical evidence on how police forces treat different identity groups based on (i) ethnicity, (ii) nationality, (iii) gender and (iv) sexuality.

The Home Office collects and publishes regular statistics on the use of police powers. A range of data on different characteristics are collected across the different policing collections. Specifically, on police powers (including stop and search and arrest), data is collected on sex, ethnicity and age.The collection of statistics, along with other policing statistics such as police misconduct and police workforce, are available at the following link:Policing statistics - GOV.UKOfficial 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 timescales her Department uses to assess public investment in energy infrastructure in (a) oil and gas, (b) wind, (c) solar, (d) hydropower and (e) nuclear.

The costs and benefits of a proposal should be calculated over its entire lifetime. The Green Book states that an appraisal period of 60 years is a standard measure for infrastructure projects. However, it is customary for departments to discuss and agree a suitable appraisal period with the Treasury in advance, based on the lifetime of the proposal.

Whether his Department has made an estimate of the proportion of grid decarboinsation that will be achieved via reduced energy usage before 2030.

The Government expects overall grid demand to rise by 2030 as we electrify transport, heating, industry, and other sectors. The Government has committed to funding energy efficiency improvements in existing building stock which will make heating homes cheaper and more efficient.

With reference to her oral contribution of 2 September 2024 in response to the question from the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich, Official Report, column 70, on what evidential basis she said that two-tier policing does not occur in England and Wales.

Schedule 4 of the Police Act 1996 requires all police constables to make a declaration that they will carry out their role with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality. This means that the police must, and do, enforce the law without fear or favour.The use of police powers to maintain public order is an operational decision for the relevant force and how they choose to exercise those powers will depend on the circumstances of a particular incident.The previous Home Secretary (the Rt Hon Member for Fareham and Waterlooville) was rightly dismissed from her position for suggesting otherwise.

Whether his Department has received recent representations from (a) energy-intensive manufacturing and (b) chemical industries on carbon pricing.

Ministers regularly engage with a variety of stakeholders.

What steps his Department is taking to increase domestic inventories of plutonium.

There are no plans to increase the quantity of plutonium in the UK. The domestic inventory of plutonium has arisen from historic reprocessing of spent fuel from the UK and overseas energy utilities under commercial agreements. Reprocessing stopped in the UK in 2022.

How much uranium was imported annually since 2010, by country of origin.

The procurement of nuclear fuel, including uranium and enrichment services, is a commercial matter for reactors operators. The Government works closely with these operators to ensure there is a secure and resilient supply for the UK fleet. Uranium enrichment facilities in the UK operate as service providers, enriching uranium that is provided to them by customers. The stockpiles of Uranium held by these companies are a commercial matter and therefore disclosure of these amounts would be at the discretion of these entities.

How many prison officers recruited since 5 July 2024 are (a) British nationals and (b) foreign nationals, broken down by country of origin.

Our latest published prison and probation workforce statistics present data up to June 2024. The link to the latest publication is: Recruitment Diversity Statistics: June 2024 - GOV.UK, data tables: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bcaa1d3cc0741b92314631/recruitment-diversity-statistics_jun-2024_final.ods. We are unable to provide data for periods following June 2024 as this could pre-empt the next set of published Staff in Post data which will be released on Thursday 20 February 2025.