Written questions by Holden.

What the email address is for correspondence from hon. Members to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards.

As was the case when the Rt Hon member was a Minister in the department, correspondence from Members of Parliament addressed to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards can be submitted to the Cabinet Office using the contact details available in the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-ministers-and-responsibilities/list-of-ministerial-responsibilities-html

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 23890 on Government Bills: Impact Assessments, whether her letter to Cabinet colleagues made reference to the publication of impact assessments before the First Reading of bills.

It is a long-established precedent that internal government correspondence is not normally shared publicly.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2025 to Question 23476 on USA: Diplomatic Service, if he will instruct Lord Mandelson to recuse himself from discussions on matters relating to Global Counsel's (a) EU and (b) China (i) clients and (ii) operations.

As in the answer of 20 January, there is a robust and established process in place for the management of interests held by all Senior Civil Servants. This process is designed to identify and, where necessary, mitigate any potential or perceived conflicts of interest. This process applies in the normal way to Lord Mandelson's appointment. It is improper to discuss the specifics of any individual case.

Whether his Department has issued guidance on the publication of declarations of political activity for public appointees.

I refer the Rt Honorable Gentleman to the answer to PQ 25696, answered on 30th January 2025.

Whether any staff in his Department are seconded from the London Borough of Camden.

Secondments are part of a range of ways of bringing talent and experience into the civil service for short periods of time and have been used by successive governments. Secondments are arranged at a business unit level and must follow the processes as set out in the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. Under the Plan for Change, the Cabinet Office is drawing together multi-disciplinary teams across the country including front line public service workers, policy officials and those with digital and data skills to pioneer public service reform.This includes one secondee from the London Borough of Camden.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2025 to Question 22359 on DEFRA: Unpaid Work, what Environment Agency summer internship opportunities for 2025 are open to (a) male, (b) white, (c) British and (d) working class people, other than industry placements, apprenticeships, training partnerships and scholarships.

The Environment Agency (EA) does not offer unpaid internships. Employment opportunities with the EA are advertised on the jobs board: External Opportunities - Environment Agency Jobs. In 2025 the EA is running its Summer Development Internship Programme, which is open to men, working class people, British people and white people who also come from a minority ethnic background (e.g. White Irish, Roma, Jewish or other white ethnic minority backgrounds). We are happy to consider any application that he may want to put forward for one of these roles.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 26089 on Ministers and Public Appointments, whether that legal advice was sought.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 30 January in response to PQ 26089.

If she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to tackle first cousin marriage.

The new Government will consider existing marriage law, including the Law Commission’s 2022 wedding report, before publicly setting out a position on this important issue.

Whether she is taking steps to encourage pension funds to invest into (a) venture capital and (b) growth equity funds.

The Government published the Interim Report of the Pensions Investment Review alongside the Chancellor’s Mansion House Speech on 14 November 2024. The proposed reforms in the Interim Report could potentially unlock around £80 billion of productive investment, while boosting savers’ pension pots.The Government will publish the Final Report in Spring 2025. This will further consider the opportunity for, and scope of, investment in the UK by pension funds.The Government is also taking further proactive steps to increase investment in innovative businesses. Two UK pension funds, Aegon UK and NatWest Cushon, have agreed to collaborate with the British Business Bank on launching the British Growth Partnership to crowd-in institutional investment into venture capital funds and innovative businesses here in the UK.

How many new prison places were built between (a) May 1997-May 2010 and (b) May 2010 and July 2024.

Available records do not provide a complete breakdown of how many new prison places were built between May 1997 and May 2010. However, during this timeframe, the total operational capacity of the prison system increased from 61,927 to 89,757, a net increase of 27,830 places. This figure reflects the overall change in capacity, which includes newly built places. It also accounts for places removed from use across the period.Between May 2010 and July 2024, the total operational capacity of the prison system increased from 89,757 to 90,212, a net increase of 455 places.Our recently announced 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy outlines a target of 14,000 new prison places by 2031, supported by £2.3 billion in funding for prison builds over the next two years.

If she will increase the funding available to British Patient Capital's Future Fund: Breakthrough.

At Autumn Budget 2024 the government announced that it will increase funding for the £425m Future Fund: Breakthrough programme to co-invest in high-growth, innovative firms. The programme, delivered by the Bank’s commercial subsidiary, British Patient Capital, makes equity co-investments with private sector investors in growth stage R&D-intensive UK companies operating in breakthrough technology sectors. Future Fund: Breakthrough supports the growth of the UK’s most innovative companies and will help to provide an investment pipeline to pension fund investment through the work to develop the British Growth Partnership.

If she will make an estimate of the (a) maximum amount of possible court time and (b) actual court time used for each Crown Court in each of the last 12 months.

The information requested can be found in the table attached which provides a monthly breakdown per Crown Court location showing the maximum available court time (verified session hours) and the actual court time (hours used). A ‘session’ represents the time that a court/hearing room space is available, with up to two sessions (AM and PM) available each sitting day.The data provided is for the period 12 months to June 2024, as the Crown Court source of data relating to used sessions changed on 1 July 2024. Data since July 2024 is being quality assured for accuracy.It is important to note that there are various reasons why courts will in practice never be able to utilise 100% of their available session hours. For example: lost time in transition between different hearings when one set of parties leaves a courtroom and another then must enter, pausing proceedings to allow counsel to seek instructions from lay clients, allowing respective legal teams to discuss unforeseen developments in a trial, delays caused by witness non-attendance or prisoner production, and courtroom maintenance or technology problems. However, the independent judiciary, supported by HM Courts and Tribunals Service staff, will always seek to mitigate any down time by bringing on alternative work to fill gaps and maximise courtroom utilisation as far as possible within the boundaries of allocated funding.These data are management information and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics and subject to data quality issues inherent in any large-scale manual system. The data provided is the most recent available and for that reason might differ slightly from any previously published information. Explanations of the specific data provided are set out at the foot of the table where appropriate.

How many cases were awaiting a crown court date on (a) 4 July 2024 and (b) 28 January 2025.

The information requested for January is a subset of future official accredited statistics on the Crown Court open caseload due to be published according to a pre-announced quarterly timetable as part of the Criminal Court statistics publication. It is not possible to provide the data requested for July, as such information comes from a live operational database which is updated monthly, with the previous month overwritten each month as new cases enter the system, and existing cases progress.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support closed loop recycling schemes; and if he will bring forward legislative proposals to protect those schemes through regulations.

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, which reform the UK’s producer responsibility system for packaging came into force on 1 January 2025. Extended Producer Responsibility is a major reform that will be iterated over several years to incentivise packaging producers to reduce their material footprint and use more recyclable packaging. We continue to consider further improvements to the scheme with input from a range of stakeholders, including how to treat businesses which run closed loop recycling systems for packaging that is commonly collected by Local Authorities, and my officials are reviewing options to bring forward an offset for closed loop recycling systems at the earliest opportunity.

How many and what proportion of Child Death Overview Panels cited consanguinity as the (a) primary and (b) secondary cause of death of children in each of the last 30 years.

The Child Death Review Statutory and Operational Guidance (England) sets out as a statutory requirement that, ‘When a child dies, in any circumstances, it is important for parents and families to understand what has happened and whether there are any lessons to be learned.’ The guidance is available at the following link:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/637f759bd3bf7f154876adbd/child-death-review-statutory-and-operational-guidance-england.pdfThese reviews are conducted by child death overview panels (CDOPs), who have a statutory obligation to notify the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) within 48 hours of a child’s death using a child death notification form, which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/child-death-reviews-forms-for-reporting-child-deathsThe form includes a question about ‘Further family background’ which asks whether the children’s parents are related to each other. The forms are submitted to NCMD who collate the data to produce reports, including its annual data report. Its latest annual report summarised information about child deaths in England up to 31 March 2024 and the findings of reviews carried out by a CDOP on or before 31 March 2024. The report is available at the following link:https://www.ncmd.info/publications/child-death-review-data-release-2024/For the first time, this report included information on the number of reviews where specific contributory or modifiable factors were identified. Contributory factors may have contributed to vulnerability, ill health or death, while modifiable factors may have contributed to the death of the child and might, by means of a locally or nationally achievable intervention, be modified to reduce the risk of future deaths. Of 3,176 reviews taking place in the year ending 31 March 2024 where contributory factors were identified, 128 reviews, or 4%, identified consanguinity as a contributory factor. Of 1,120 reviews taking place in the year ending 31 March 2024 where modifiable factors were identified and data was available, 16 reviews, or 1%, identified consanguinity as a modifiable factor.

With reference to the oral contribution of the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds at Education Questions on 27 January 2025, which medical schools are offering (a) voluntary and (b) compulsory redundancy to clinical academics; and how many redundancies are being offered by each of those schools.

The government acknowledges the significant impact of our world leading higher education (HE) sector. As both educational and research institutions, universities make a vital contribution to our economy, society, and to industry and innovation.Universities are autonomous and, as such, the government does not gather information on which institutions are offering voluntary and compulsory redundancies to clinical academics, nor the exact number of redundancies being offered by each.This government recognises the concerns of providers and their staff regarding the ongoing financial stability of their institutions. We are aware that some providers are making difficult staffing decisions to safeguard their financial sustainability.We expect providers to work with staff, using their knowledge and experience to help identify how best to reduce unnecessary spend. All efficiency measures taken by the sector should provide better long-term value both for students and for the country.We are currently reviewing options to deliver a more robust HE sector and will set out a long-term plan for reform by summer 2025.

If she will publish a table of the proportion of requests for EHCP assessment met within the correct timeframe by local authorities.

Information on the number and percentage of education, health and care plans issued within the statutory 20 week deadline, with and without statutory exceptions to that deadline applying, is published as part of the 2024 statistical release, ‘Education, health and care plans’, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans. The figures for each local authority in the 2023 calendar year can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/7b372ed7-8c76-42df-5a32-08dd3479441b.

How many and what proportion of school children have required additional support due to special educational needs in each of the last ten years; and if she will make an assessment of the reasons for the trend in the number of children assessed to have special educational needs.

Information on the number of pupils in England with special educational needs can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england. The figures for England for each academic year since 2015/16 are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b04266ac-d3d0-4aff-785c-08dd3ba46a29. For too long the education system has not met the needs of all children, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities, with parents struggling to get their child the support they need and deserve. We know that a lack of capacity in the system to meet need has increased the demand on specialist support, meaning that children, young people and parents are faced with a long and difficult education, health and care plan process. We will work with children, young people, parents, local authorities, schools and colleges and their partners in delivering improvements so that children and young people can access the support they need.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many times the Flood Resilience Taskforce has met since 4 July 2024.

The Floods Resilience Taskforce held its first full meeting on 12 September 2024. Following this meeting a series of working level discussions have been held with various Taskforce member organisations on specific issues, which will report back to the full Taskforce. These include a roundtable on the opportunities and barriers to delivering natural flood management, and sessions on flood forecasting and warning, and the new National Flood Risk Assessment and National Coastal Erosion Risk Assessment. The second full meeting of the Taskforce was held on 5 February 2025.

Whether the Government has received legal advice on the compatibility of (a) Ministerial and (b) special adviser appointments with section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006.

As is a longstanding practice under successive administrations, Civil Service or legal advice on appointments is treated in confidence.