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 1,881–1,900 of 2,391 · this parliament
Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on the number of enforcement visits there were for non-payment of the BBC licence fee in each of the last three years.
The BBC is responsible for collection and enforcement of the TV licence. The BBC has published figures on field visits made by TV Licensing in its most recent TV Licence Fee Trust Statement, which can be viewed here: https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/bbc-trust-statement-AB21
How much each Department has spent on recruitment agencies in each of the last five years.
The information is not centrally held centrally. Each department is responsible for its own recruitment expenditure, which includes any agency spend.
Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to decriminalise non-payment of the BBC licence fee.
It is important that the television licence fee has a fair enforcement regime that does not disproportionately impact vulnerable people, and the Secretary of State has discussed this issue with the BBC’s leadership.As part of the next Charter Review, the government will engage with the BBC and others to consider how to ensure the BBC thrives well into the next decade and beyond. This will include discussions on a range of important issues, including future funding models for the BBC and their enforcement.The Government has also laid regulations before Parliament to extend the Simple Payment Plan, to enable more households in financial hardship to pay their TV licence in flexible fortnightly or monthly installments. This is expected to come into force on 31st January 2025, subject to the regulations concluding the necessary parliamentary procedure.
If she will publish a list of companies contracted by her Department to undertake training for staff.
The Department’s main route for Learning is via the Cabinet Office led Learning Frameworks contracts whose main suppliers are KPMG and Ernst and Young. Any other learning is by exception and this information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
If she will consult hon. Members with business experience on a cross-party basis in the spending review.
Phase 2 of the Spending Review will maximise the use of independent scrutiny and external experience. External experts will support departments to review and scrutinise budgets, bringing ideas, expertise and innovation of the private sector into the heart of government. This will also include greater use of departmental non-executive directors – many of whom have extensive experience of business and industry – in the process. The Treasury has published an external representation portal, where both businesses and members of the wider public can put forward policy proposals, including proposals for delivering public services more efficiently or effectively.
Is she will make an estimate of the number of postgraduate students currently studying in UK universities that are (a) UK citizens and (b) non-UK citizens.
The department does not hold citizenship data for higher education (HE) students. However, data on the domicile (permanent address) of HE students, is available via the Higher Education Statistics Agency, which can be accessed here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb269/figure-9. In the academic year 2022/23, there were 426,515 UK-domiciled postgraduate students and 455,780 non-UK-domiciled postgraduate students enrolled at UK HE providers. These figures include both postgraduate taught and research students.
How many staff employed by her Department are responsible for staff welfare; and whether her Department has any contracts with external organisations for staff welfare services.
The DWP Wellbeing Team includes a resource of 8 employees who are responsible for ensuring we proactively support the health and wellbeing of colleagues across DWP, creating a safe and healthy culture for colleagues at work. DWP has a contract for Occupational Health provision and delivery of a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme with People Asset Management (PAM). DWP also has an Eyecare contract with Specsavers which provides an eyecare service for DWP employees who use display screen equipment at work and offers a free eye test once every two years.
How many contacts to the Pension Service there were in each month of the last five years.
The attached table shows volumes of telephone calls received within Pension Service over the last 5 years and includes the following services:State PensionPension CreditInternational GroupAttendance AllowanceCarers AllowanceWinter Fuel PaymentBereavementFuture Pension ServiceIncludes all G4S outsourced. Information regarding other contacts is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
What information his Department holds on the number and proportion of senior civil servants within his Department that have (a) historic and (b) current directorships listed on Companies House.
As of July 2023, the current number of SCS that have a directorship listed on Companies House is 1 out of 306 SCS listed on payroll.Historical information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. For information the current limit is £850, worked out in person hours needed to provide the answer.
If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing a migration data dashboard showing information on (a) immigration and (b) irregular migration.
I refer the Honourable member to the answer I gave on 27 November to question UIN 15076.
If she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of pension payments made to deceased recipients in each of the last ten years.
Due to data archiving in accordance with GDPR, we can only provide data from the last five financial years. Direct Payments made into an account after the death of a customer represent only around 0.1% of total annual expenditure on pensions. Although these are treated as non-recoverable and are not enforceable by law, we can request the money back as a voluntary payment. So far, we have recovered around half of the overpayments, to avoid this becoming a long-term cost to the taxpayer. State PensionPension CreditTotalYearOverpaidVoluntary repaymentNetOverpaidVoluntary repaymentNetOverpaidVoluntary repaymentNet2019/20£71.8m£43.3m£28.5m£8.6m£4.0m£4.6m£80.4m£47.3m£33.1m2020/21£54.5m£20.4m£34.1m£6.7m£2.0m£4.7m£61.1m£22.4m£38.8m2021/22£106.6m£53.8m£52.9m£13.4m£5.4m£8.0m£120.0m£59.1m£60.9m2022/23£81.0m£48.5m£32.5m£10.1m£4.6m£5.5m£91.1m£53.1m£38.0m2023/24£143.9m£67.3m£76.7m£15.2m£5.9m£9.3m£159.2m£73.2m£86.0m *Above table identifies the New Debt Value and the value of recoveries of RP & PC DPADs in each financial year.The repayments in a specific year might not match the overpayments that occurred in that year, as repayment sometimes lags.Data is GB only and classification information is current.Payments may have later been reversed.Debts have not necessarily all been fully recovered.Net value has been identified using the following Overpaid - Voluntary repayment = Net.
If she will make it her policy that (a) internships and (b) jobs in (i) her Department and (ii) all non-ministerial bodies are open to applicants of all ethnic backgrounds.
Home 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.
If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of undertaking a review of the employment of illegal immigrants in the food delivery industry.
I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer I gave on 4 December to Question UIN 16906.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he plans to take to ensure that the £11 million in aid for Syria reaches its intended recipients.
The UK continues to support those in need across Syria where it is safe to do so. Through NGOs and UN organisations, we are providing food, healthcare and other life-saving assistance.The additional £11 million of humanitarian aid for the people of Syria includes £6 million to the UN Humanitarian Pooled Funds, £4 million to the Aid Fund for Northern Syria, and an additional £1 million to NGOs operating across all of Syria.As with all our work, we have extensive controls in place to ensure our aid reaches those who need it.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will provide a breakdown of planned spending for the additional £11 million in humanitarian aid for Syria.
The UK continues to support those in need across Syria where it is safe to do so. Through NGOs and UN organisations, we are providing food, healthcare and other life-saving assistance.The additional £11 million of humanitarian aid for the people of Syria includes £6 million to the UN Humanitarian Pooled Funds, £4 million to the Aid Fund for Northern Syria, and an additional £1 million to NGOs operating across all of Syria.As with all our work, we have extensive controls in place to ensure our aid reaches those who need it.
If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of an independent review into the impact of crimes committed by illegal migrants on women and girls.
This Government has made the unprecedented commitment to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published next year.As part of our approach, we will use every tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of the abuse and violence they commit, irrespective of their nationality or immigration status.
If she will make it her policy to pause asylum applications made by people from Syria, in the context of the fall of the Assad regime.
The Home Office acted swiftly to pause decisions on Syrian asylum claims whilst we assess the current situation.We keep all country guidance relating to asylum claims under constant review so we can respond to emerging issues.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the number of UK citizens that are imprisoned abroad.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) provides consular assistance to c.4100 British nationals who are arrested or detained each year, and is currently providing ongoing assistance to c.1,400 British nationals detained overseas. It is not mandatory for British nationals to report incidents to the FCDO or one of its diplomatic missions. Data held by the FCDO only includes incidents where we have offered consular assistance.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make it his policy that (a) internships and (b) jobs in (i) his Department and (ii) all non-ministerial bodies are open to applicants of all ethnic backgrounds.
The FCDO is committed to being a truly inclusive employer, with a workforce that reflects the diversity of the diverse population we serve. We encourage applications from people of all ethnic backgrounds and indeed all backgrounds for all our schemes and positions.
How many assaults on staff there were by prisoners in HMP (a) Maidstone, (b) Huntercombe and (c) Morton Hall in each of the last five years; and what the national average was for those assaults.
Please see the below table showing the number and rate of assaults on staff in HMP (a) Maidstone, (b) Huntercombe and (c) Morton Hall in each of the last five years, together with the rate of assaults on staff across the estate as a whole.Number and rate per 1,000 prisoners of assaults on staff1 within prison custody, 2019 to 2023 20192020202120222023Number of incidentsMaidstone2548202740Huntercombe191617108Morton Hall42138616England & Wales9,1857,5017,5397,2219,204Rate of incidents per 1,000 prisoners2Maidstone42.686.835.946.767.2Huntercombe40.837.041.222.117.3Morton Hall170.0114.9107.733.747.9England & Wales111.693.996.589.8107.6These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing returns but the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.(1) Assaults on staff are a subset of all assault incidents. Some assault incidents may be recorded as both a prisoner-on-prisoner assault and an assault on staff.(2) Rates express the number of incidents per 1,000 prisoners, and give a more reliable indicator of trends than numbers of incidents because they take account of changes in the prison population over time. The rates are calculated by dividing the number of incidents occurring within a twelve-month period by the average prison population at the end of each month within the same period, multiplied by 1,000. The prison population figures are published in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly.