Every parliamentary written question tabled by Rupert Lowe this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 1,821–1,840 of 2,391 · this parliament
How many and what proportion of officials in her Department were hired via positive action schemes in the last financial year.
Seven officials have been hired by the Department at AO and EO grades via the Civil Service ‘Going Forward into Employment’ schemes in the last financial year.
How many and what proportion of officials in his Department were hired via positive action schemes in the last financial year.
The Ministry of Defence has not hired any permanent civil servants using a positive action scheme in the last financial year.
Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of officials in her Department were hired via positive action schemes in the last financial year.
All Civil Service departments work within the Recruitment Principles, as regulated by the Civil Service Commission, to recruit using a fair and open process and appoint on merit.Departments will only limit a campaign to a specific group as a form of positive action as a proportionate response to achieve a legitimate aim as defined in section 159 of the Equality Act 2010.The Civil Service is committed to a diverse workforce and culture of openness and inclusivity - not as ends in themselves but as means of delivering better outcomes to the citizens we serve.The Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-25 Promoting Fairness and Performance, published in February 2022, is positioned as an essential lever to deliver a Modern Civil Service, where our values are to serve with integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality; driving our vision to be a skilled, innovative and ambitious Civil Service equipped for the future. This strategy sets out a broader definition of diversity, to include geographical, social and career backgrounds alongside the protected groups.As set out in the Civil Service People Plan 2024-2027, we are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds, to create a modern Civil Service, now and for the future.
How many and what proportion of officials in her Department were hired via positive action schemes in the last financial year.
All Civil Service departments work within the Recruitment Principles, as regulated by the Civil Service Commission, to recruit using a fair and open process and appoint on merit.
How many and what proportion of foreign national offenders serving prison sentences have been transferred to prison in their country of origin in each of the last five years.
The table below shows the number of foreign national offenders removed under prisoner transfer agreements in each year since 2020, including 2024 to date:202081202173202250202333202474As the number of foreign national prisoners is constantly changing, it is not possible to represent the above figures as a proportion of the total.
How much the Prison Phoenix Trust has received from her Department for (a) prison contracts and (b) contracts relating (i) HMP Maidstone, (ii) HMP Huntercombe and (iii) HMP Morton Hall in the last financial year.
In the last financial year (FY 23/24) Prison Phoenix Trust has received £54,663 from the Department for prison contracts. The Prison Phoenix Trust has received £0 for contracts relating to HMP Maidstone, HMPS Huntercombe and HMP Morton Hall in the last financial year.
How much the Forward Trust received from contracts in HMP (a) Maidstone, (b) Huntercombe and (c) Morton Hall in the last financial year.
In the last financial year (FY 23/24) Forward Trust has received £7,401,140 from the Department for prison contracts. Forward Trust has received £0 for contracts relating to HMP Maidstone, HMPS Huntercombe and HMP Morton Hall in the last financial year.
How many and what proportion of prisoners in HMP (a) Maidstone, (b) Huntercombe and (c) Morton Hall have access to mobile phones.
Prisoners are not permitted to have mobile telephones, and stringent measures are in place to prevent the entry of mobile telephones into establishments.
If will make an assessment of the potential merits of conducting a review into the funding of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
There is currently no planned review of the funding of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).The MHRA is funded predominately by charging fees to industry, for the services it delivers, with additional funding being provided by the Department. The fees are set to recover the full cost of delivering the respective services. This follows the HM Treasury guidance, Managing Public Money. This cost-recovery approach means that the regulated bear the cost of regulation, rather than the taxpayer and, by extension, patients.Departmental funding to the MHRA is set in advance through collaborative spending review processes, which consider the MHRA’s needs in detail.
If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing guidance on the sentencing of people committing offences on social media.
Sentencing guidelines are developed by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales, in fulfilment of its statutory duty to do so.The Council is independent of Parliament and Government. As an independent body, the Council decides on its own priorities and work plan for producing and reviewing guidelines. The Lord Chancellor or the Court of Appeal can ask the Council to consider reviewing or producing guidelines in a particular area, but the Council is not required to agree to any such requests.The Council monitors and evaluates all definitive guidelines, as per its statutory duty to do so. The assessment covers the operation and effect of the guideline. A report on the evaluation findings is published online. A variety of different methods of data collection and analysis may be used, as necessary: analysis of existing data on sentencing trends over time, collections of data from sentencers on factors that influence their sentencing of different offences, interviews and focus groups, analysis of Crown Court sentencing transcripts and media reports.Sentencing guidelines for child sexual offences were first published in 2013. Following consultation, revised guidelines were published and came into force in May 2022.
How many sole traders (a) registered and (b) deregistered each day in 2024.
HMRC does not hold the data requested relating to people added to and removed from PAYE. The PAYE population is made up of around 35 million individuals, and precise numbers change frequently as customers take up their first PAYE employment or pension, start new employments or pensions, and leave old ones. Increasing numbers of customers also take up secondary or additional employments or pensions, and have other income sources which may or may not be taxed through PAYE. HMRC does not hold the data requested relating specifically to sole traders registering for Self Assessment. There are around 12.1 million taxpayers who are expected to submit Self Assessment tax returns by 31 January 2025. That population includes sole traders, some of whom will have commenced or ceased trading during the 2023/24 tax year.
How many people were (a) added and (b) removed from PAYE each day in 2024.
HMRC does not hold the data requested relating to people added to and removed from PAYE. The PAYE population is made up of around 35 million individuals, and precise numbers change frequently as customers take up their first PAYE employment or pension, start new employments or pensions, and leave old ones. Increasing numbers of customers also take up secondary or additional employments or pensions, and have other income sources which may or may not be taxed through PAYE. HMRC does not hold the data requested relating specifically to sole traders registering for Self Assessment. There are around 12.1 million taxpayers who are expected to submit Self Assessment tax returns by 31 January 2025. That population includes sole traders, some of whom will have commenced or ceased trading during the 2023/24 tax year.
What information her Department holds on the proportion of children that started secondary school who are (a) new to and (b) have early acquisition of English in each of the last 10 years.
The department does not hold data for children who have learnt English throughout their lifetime. Data for the proportion and number of children who are not known to have English as their first language can be found at school level in the school census publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.A pupil is recorded to have English as an additional language if they are exposed to a language at home that is known or believed to be other than English. This measure is not a measure of English language proficiency or a good proxy for recent immigration.
Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to put proposed changes to the structure of local government in Norfolk to voters in that county.
The English Devolution White Paper sets out the Government’s plans for local government reorganisation, and that the Government will write to council leaders as soon as possible to formally invite proposals, setting out information on our criteria for sustainable unitary structures, how and when to submit proposals and how the government intends to respond to proposals.
How many notices that a person is to be treated as an illegal entrant or as a person liable to administrative removal under section 10 of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999 have been issued by her Department in each of the last five years.
The specific information requested is not readily available from published statistics, and could only be obtained for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
How many and what proportion of civil service job opportunities restricted applications through positive action schemes based on (a) race and (b) sex or gender in the last financial year.
Cabinet Office recruitment policy and practice is conducted in accordance with UK law, including the Equality Act 2010, as well as the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles and the Civil Service Nationality rules (available on GOV.UK). Non-Ministerial departments and Executive Agencies are responsible for managing their own recruitment processes and ensuring they are also compliant with UK law.
How many foreign national offenders were arrested in Great Yarmouth constituency in each of the last 10 years.
This data is not collected centrally, and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
What the cost to the public purse is of Change NHS.
The public and staff must be at the centre of the development of the plan to make the National Health Service fit for the future, so it makes a positive impact on their day-to-day lives. That is why we are running a series of in-depth deliberative events and have launched an open platform to hear from members of the public and those who work in health and care.The events are being delivered within the Department's budget as part of its responsibility to promote the health and wellbeing of everyone in England. We are determined to do this in a way that gives everyone the chance to get involved, while also ensuring value for money. At this point in time, we are not able to provide accurate costs for the whole engagement exercise, because it is still ongoing.
How many children entered (a) primary and (b) secondary school in Great Yarmouth constituency in each of the last 10 years.
The department publishes the number of pupils in primary and secondary schools in the Great Yarmouth constituency. This data is available in the ’Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication, which is based on the January school census. The most recent figures can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.The publication webpage includes a school-level data file, listed under the dropdown heading ‘Additional supporting files’ as ‘School level underlying data - 2023/24 (csv, 22 Mb)’.This file contains one row per school. The data can be filtered by school phase and constituency. Column GZ provides headcount of pupils.Data from other academic years is available via the ‘Releases in this series’ on the publication webpage. Data on parliamentary constituencies use boundaries as they were when the statistics were published.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to prevent further damage following coastal erosion in Hemsby; and what his Department’s timetable is for reviewing the funding formula for flood defences.
I refer the Honourable Member to the answers to his previous questions; PQ 12005, tabled on 30 October 2024, and PQ 8968, tabled on 14 October 2024.