Written questions by Tice.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of long-term health concerns associated with the use of 3-Nitrooxypropanol in cattle feed.

3-Nitrooxypropanol is the active ingredient in a methane suppressing feed product commercially known as Bovaer. The Food Standards Agency has advised milk from cows given Bovaer, an authorised feed additive used to reduce methane emissions, is safe to drink. Bovaer has undergone a rigorous safety assessment and is approved for use in Great Britain.

What the cost to the public purse was of training NHS staff recruited from abroad in the last 12 months.

The information requested on the cost of recruitment fees, the average recruitment cost, and the cost of training for National Health Service staff recruited from overseas is not collected centrally.

What information his Department holds on (a) the total cost of recruitment fees for employing overseas workers and (b) the average recruitment cost for each overseas employee incurred by NHS trusts in each of the past three years.

The information requested on the cost of recruitment fees, the average recruitment cost, and the cost of training for National Health Service staff recruited from overseas is not collected centrally.

What data his Department holds on (a) the annual costs incurred to date in implementing Net Zero policies and (b) the measurable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions achieved as a direct result of those policies.

The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its analysis of the cost of reaching net zero by 2050 in chapter 3 of the July 2021 edition of its UK Fiscal Risk Report. As the OBR has noted, “the costs of failing to get climate change under control would be much larger than those of bringing emissions down to net zero.” The UK has halved its emissions, having cut them by around 53% between 1990 and 2023. Each year the department publishes updated energy projections, analysing and projecting future energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. They take into account climate change policies where decisions on policy design and funding are sufficiently advanced to allow robust estimates of policy impacts to be made. These projections allow us to monitor progress towards meeting the UK’s carbon budgets. The latest published projections can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-and-emissions-projections-2022-to-2040 Final estimates of UK greenhouse gas emissions are also published annually.

How many non-crime hate incidents were recorded in Lincolnshire in each of the last three years.

The Home Office does not currently centrally hold or collate information on the number of non-crime hate incidents recorded by individual police forces.

How much Lincolnshire Police spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation services in each of the last three years.

The Home Office does not hold information relating to the proportion of budgets spent on translation and interpretation services for police forces.Decisions on how to use funding and resources are an operational matter for Chief Constables. Police and Crime Commissioners are best placed to make resourcing decisions within their communities based on their local knowledge and experience.

How much (a) United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and (b) Lincolnshire Community Health Services spent on (i) translation and (ii) interpretation services in each of the last five years.

The following table shows the amount of money United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust spent on translation and interpretation services each of the last five financial years:YearTotal spend2019/20£158,395.002020/21£127,235.962021/22£162,501.322022/23£204,008.602023/24£248,547.00 In addition, the following table shows the amount of money Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five financial years:YearTotal spend2019/20£34,6382020/21£43,7902021/22£56,5122022/23£71,8852023/24£42,692 During the COVID-19 pandemic, spend on translation and interpretation services reduced due to the reduction in planned activity across the providers’ sites. Since then, providers have significantly increased the number of patients they see and treat, which has resulted in increased interpretation and translation costs.

What the cost to the public purse was of (a) training and (b) otherwise integrating NHS staff recruited from abroad in the last 12 months.

The information requested on the cost to the public purse for the training and integration of National Health Service staff recruited from abroad is not collected centrally.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Autumn Budget 2024 on the (a) profitability and (b) sustainability of farming businesses.

The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms, and further explanatory information at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief. In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.

How many individuals have been granted indefinite leave to remain in each of the last five years, broken down by the individual's (a) occupation and (b) employment sector.

The Home Office publishes data on Settlement by country of nationality and by visa category in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Visa Category relates to type of leave held immediately prior to being granted settlement.The published statistics can be found in the Settlement data tables. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relate to 2024 Q2.

How many individuals have been granted indefinite leave to remain in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) visa category and (b) country of origin.

The Home Office publishes data on Settlement by country of nationality and by visa category in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Visa Category relates to type of leave held immediately prior to being granted settlement.The published statistics can be found in the Settlement data tables. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relate to 2024 Q2.

How much was spent on (a) housing and (b) supporting individuals who entered the United Kingdom illegally in each of the last five years.

Overall asylum support costs are published in the Home Office’s Annual Report and Accounts, which is available through the following link:Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Data for Financial Year for 2024-25 will be published following the end of the financial year and once the accounts have been laid before Parliament.

How much and what proportion of NHS funding was spent on (a) administration and (b) patient care in the latest period for which data is available.

Patient care is too broad a category and could encompass a wide range of spending. We are unable to break this down as it stands. However, the total administration spend for NHS England and the integrated care boards is available on page 177 of NHS England’s Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24, which is available at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6709344a92bb81fcdbe7b728/nhs-england-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024.pdf

What data her Department holds on the staff time taken to (a) record and (b) investigate (i) non-crime hate incidents and (ii) suspected criminal offences in each of the last five years; what the cost of that work was; and what proportion of total (A) spending and (B) staff time was spent on such work.

The Home Office holds data on notifiable crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales including the date when they were recorded and the date when a resulting investigation has been closed.This data is routinely published as official statistics.The Home Office does not currently hold or collate information on the number of non-crime hate incidents recorded by police forces.

If she will take steps to ensure that illegal entrants to the United Kingdom are (a) detained and (b) promptly removed; and how many and what proportion of those illegal entrants have been (i) detained and (ii) removed in each of the last five years.

Data on how many people are in immigration detention and how many people have been removed in each of the last five years is available up to year ending June 2024, and can be found within the Returns and Detention data tables at, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-june-2024/how-many-people-are-detained-or-returned#data-tables.

What steps his Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to ensure energy security during periods where renewable energy sources do not meet demand.

The UK’s diverse power mix reduces dependence on one generation source, ensuring security of supply in a range of conditions. Transitioning away from fossil fuels and towards a range of home-grown clean energy technologies will reduce the UK’s vulnerability to unstable energy prices while ensuring energy security. The Government is accelerating the development and deployment of low-carbon flexible energy generation and storage, including batteries and pumped hydro, to manage the intermittency of wind and solar. The Clean Power 2030 action plan, set for release by year-end, will detail the Government's strategy for achieving a secure, clean power system by 2030.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many enforcement actions his Department has taken against foreign fishing vessels operating illegally in UK waters in each of the last five years.

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is responsible for licensing foreign vessels to fish in English waters and for fisheries enforcement of vessels within English waters. The MMO has boarded and inspected foreign vessels at sea on 1451 occasions since the start of 2019 to the 31 October 2024. Infringements were detected during 585 of these inspections. In addition to these inspections at sea, 36 infringements by foreign vessels were detected remotely. The number of enforcement actions the MMO has taken against foreign fishing vessels operating illegally in English waters in each of the last five years is: 2024(YTD 31 October)1562023115202212720211272020472019112 Fisheries control and enforcement is a devolved matter and, as such, Fisheries Authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are responsible for managing fisheries risk and conducting inspections in their respective waters.

How many and what proportion of Universal Credit claimants are not UK citizens.

The Department checks immigration status when assessing eligibility for Universal Credit, but the requested statistics are not readily available. We are, however, exploring the feasibility of developing suitable statistics related to the immigration status of non-UK / Irish customers Universal Credit claimants.

How many and what proportion of NHS staff are (a) qualified healthcare professionals and (b) administrative staff.

The following table shows the number and proportion of full time equivalent (FTE) staff employed by National Health Service trusts and integrated care boards in England, by broad staff groups, as of July 2024: Number, FTEProportionProfessionally Qualified Clinical Staff1713,62753.0%Support to Clinical Staff2283,36921.1%Administrative and Clerical Staff3250,10818.6%Managers and Senior Managers439,5952.9%Other NHS Infrastructure Staff558,9524.4%Other Staff or Those with Unknown Classification3800.0%Total Staff1,346,030 Source: NHS England, NHS Hospital and Community Health Service Workforce StatisticsNotes:Professionally qualified staff will mostly be degree level professionally qualified staff such as doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals and professionally qualified scientific staff.The support to clinical support group will be staff such as healthcare assistants, nursing associate, nursing assistant practitioners, maternity support workers, ambulance technicians, assistant/assistant practitioner AHPs, healthcare science assistants. They will likely hold a range of qualifications relevant to their role.Administrative and clerical staff will include both those with regular interaction with patients such as ward receptionists or clerks (included in published statistics as clerical and administrative support to clinical staff) and also those staff working in ‘back office’ central functions such as finance or human resources roles.Managers or senior managers who are not required to be a specific professionally qualified staff member to undertake their roles.Other NHS infrastructure roles will include NHS property, estates and hotel staff. Further data is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

How many police officers have surrendered firearms licences in the last 12 months; and what data her Department holds on the reasons recorded for those surrenders.

The Home Office collects and publishes information annually on the number of armed police officers in the Police use of firearms statistics. The latest available data is for the year ending 31 March 2024 and can be accessed at the following link:Police use of firearms statistics: Police use of firearms statistics, April 2023 to March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)The number of armed police officers and, of those, the number that were operationally deployable can be found in data table 2.