Written questions by Davies.

How much her Department has spent on programmes aimed at recruiting (a) primary and b) secondary education teachers in each of the last five years, broken down by (i) programme and (ii) region and nation.

High quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child or young person’s outcome in schools and colleges. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.As part of the government’s Plan for Change to deliver 6,500 additional new expert teachers across secondary and special schools and colleges, the department funds initiatives across the teacher training and recruitment pipeline in England, based on available evidence of what works best. In the 2024/25 financial year, the department spent just over £600 million to support school teacher training, recruitment and retention.We are already seeing positive signs that our investment is starting to deliver: the workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent teachers between 2023/24 and 2024/25, in secondary and special schools, the schools where they are needed most. This includes 1,435 more secondary school teachers and 911 more special and pupil referral unit teachers compared to last year.Our future school teacher pipeline is also growing. As of May 2025, there are 11% more trainees who have accepted offers to train as secondary subjects, including in priority subjects such as Physics, where we have seen a 43% increase in acceptances compared to last year.The table below provides detail of the spending on programmes supporting recruitment and retention of the teacher workforce. All programmes are targeted and focused on school specific need. Data on spending by region is not available. 2020/21 financial year 2021/22 financial year 2022/23 financial year 2023/24 financial year 2024/25 financial year InitiativeBudgetBudgetBudgetBudgetBudget(£ million)(£ million)(£ million)(£ million)(£ million)Recruitment Financial Lever332.1249.1140.2193.4242.3Retention Financial Lever5.570.498.1189194.5Recruitment Non-Financial Lever35.948.349.344.347.1Retention Non-Financial Lever2122.828.527.323.6Continuing Professional Development34.819.444.961.293Covid and Tutoring91.923.32401850TOTAL521.25419.9601700.2600.5

What estimate she has made of the total amount owed to the Home Office by companies that receive money to house irregular migrants in hotels since 2019; and what discussions she has had with those companies on the transfer of those monies to her Department.

The Home Office is currently conducting an open book audit covering the seven contracts with the three suppliers of Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts. Following completion of the audit, excess profits will be returned to the Home Office in line with the contracts’ profit share provisions.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to welfare spending on the Household Support Fund.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper has been published here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab). A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months. This Government has extended the Household Support Fund by a further year, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026. This will ensure vulnerable households in the most need can continue to access support towards the cost of essentials, such as energy, water and food. No decision has been made at this stage on funding beyond the end of March 2026. As with all other government programmes, any such funding will be considered in the round at Phase 2 of the Spending Review.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with social housing providers on (a) the Decent Homes Standard and (b) the provision of furnished tenancies in social housing in relation to levels of furniture poverty.

My Department engages actively with registered providers of social housing on all issues facing social housing tenants.We will be consulting this year on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sectors.People in need may be able to get help for essential furniture from their local council through the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally.

How many social care staff there are by gender in each (a) region and (b) nation.

The policy for health and adult social care is devolved across the United Kingdom, and the Department is responsible for adult social care in England. The following table shows the number of filled posts in adult social care, both for local authorities and the independent sector, in England, by gender and region in 2023/24:RegionFemaleMaleEast Midlands80%20%Eastern79%21%London77%23%North East81%19%North West79%21%South East78%22%South West79%21%West Midlands82%18%Yorkshire and the Humber81%19%Source: the data has been produced by Skills for Care using the Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set.According to Skills for Care data for local authorities and the independent sector, at a national level, 79% of the adult social care workforce were female and 21% of the workforce were male in 2023/24.

How many social workers there are by gender in each region.

Information on child and family social workers, including breakdowns by worker characteristics, is published annually in the Children’s Social Work Workforce Official Statistics release. This can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-s-social-work-workforce/2024. The number of full-time equivalent and headcount child and family social workers at 30 September 2024 by region and sex can be accessed at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/de240ca3-343f-4d8c-1fa1-08dd8e2f6934.Note that since 2024, data has been collected on the sex of workers, whereas previously data was collected on gender.

How much the NHS (a) has received and (b) is outstanding in charges from foreign nationals in each year that data is available.

For this answer, we have taken ‘foreign nationals’ to mean chargeable overseas visitors.The Department publishes data on the income identified from chargeable overseas visitors in England in its Annual Report and Accounts. The consolidated National Health Service provider accounts published the cash payments received in-year by the NHS from overseas visitors. NHS charges can be recovered up to six years from the date of invoice, and therefore the amount recovered in a year does not necessarily mean it was identified in the same financial year. The following table shows the income identified and cash payments received in-year between 2019 to 2024:YearIncome identified in-yearCash payments received in-year2018/19£91,000,000£35,000,0002019/20£93,000,000£39,000,0002020/21£61,000,000£21,000,0002021/22£67,000,000£25,000,0002022/23£100,000,000£32,000,0002023/24£123,000,000£42,000,000Source: The Department’s Annual Report and Accounts and Consolidated NHS provider accounts.

Whether her Department has had recent discussions with the owners of the M6 toll road on the potential merits of removing toll barriers.

M6 Toll is a privately-owned asset. My Department is aware that Midland Expressway Limited (MEL), which is a private consortium responsible for building and operating the M6 toll road, has ambitions for removing toll barriers which would potentially require creating a specific legislation or amendment via regulation to existing PCN legislation. MEL may offer proposals that highlight the merits of removing toll barriers and meet the challenges of doing so.

What the (a) membership is and (b) terms of reference are of the NHS England Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel; and whether that panel will be guided by the public procurement rules on value for money.

The Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel is a non-statutory administrative arrangement established to help resolve disputes about the application of the Provider Selection Regime. The membership of the panel is publicly available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/how-commissioning-is-changing/nhs-provider-selection-regime/independent-patient-choice-and-procurement-panel/panel-members/The panel has its own terms of reference, which were agreed by NHS England, the Department, and the Cabinet Office, and which are publicly available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/terms-of-reference-the-independent-patient-choice-and-procurement-panel/Whilst the Provider Selection Regime and the panel's terms of reference do not specifically reference the public procurement rules on value for money, value for money is a central pillar of the Provider Selection Regime, with requirements for integrated care boards (ICBs) to consider the value for money of healthcare services and the procurement approach they pursue. Where relevant, the panel takes this into consideration. If the panel finds that an ICB has not acted consistently with the regulations, it advises on the proportionate steps to remedy the issue.

Whether her Department has had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on the construction of a new light rail line in Telford constituency.

The Department has not held any discussions on the opening of a new light rail line or tramway system in the Telford constituency. Departmental officials have however held discussions with Telford Council, Transport Design International, Eversholt leasing and Network Rail on the proposed Greenway Initiative at Ironbridge Gorge. I understand the proposed scheme aims to use lightweight, battery powered ‘Revolution’ Very Light Rail trains to reopen 4 miles of disused heavy railway line. The rail minister will write to you shortly following your request for a meeting on this scheme.

Pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 45981 on Parental Leave, what the breakdown in the Other/Unknown category is between (a) the Channel Islands, (b) the Isle of Man and (c) unknown for the average length of (i) Statutory Paternity Leave, (ii) Shared Parental Leave and (iii) Statutory Maternity Leave claimed in each of the last five years.

The Department for Business and Trade do not hold this information. Information in relation to statutory parental payments are based on HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) system, HMRC do not provide further breakdown of regional information as it risks disclosing individual taxpayer information.

How many applications for visas for business events her Department has received in each of the past 3 years; how many of those applications were successful in that time period; what the (a) shortest, (b) average and (c) longest time was for a visa to be processed in that time period; and how much revenue was raised from those applications.

The requested data is not centrally held by the Home Office, and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

What discussions he has had with (a) Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Hospital Trust and (b) Shrewsbury and Telford ICB on (i) patient safety, (ii) waiting times, (iii) value for money and (iv) regulatory compliance and improvement since July 2024.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has had no discussions with the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust or the Shrewsbury and Telford Integrated Care Board about these issues since July 2024.The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is in segment four of the NHS Oversight Framework. This means that the trust is in receipt of national mandated support via NHS England’s Recovery Support Programme. The National Recovery Support team is working closely with the trust and region to support the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and to ensure the delivery of improvements.We are working closely with NHS England to monitor the situation.

How much money is held in dormant bank accounts, broken down by (a) bank and (b) region.

HMT does not hold information on the level of dormant assets across UK bank accounts as this would be client information held by the banks themselves. However, the Government does have information on the level of funds pertaining to the UK’s official Dormant Assets Scheme. The Dormant Assets scheme – legislated for in 2008, and updated in 2022 – creates a voluntary mechanism for taking dormant funds transferred from the financial sector to spend on charitable causes. The scheme was designed as a public/private partnership. The transferred funds come largely from the UK’s banking and building society sectors and are administered by a body called Reclaim Fund Limited (RFL). Total transfers into the scheme since inception, from across the financial services sector, was £1.98bn as of March 2024. Of this total, £241m was transferred to the scheme in the financial year 2023/2024 alone, of which £219m came from the banking and building societies sectors, demonstrating the large amount of Dormant Assets held by these institutions. There are currently 36 banks and building societies participating in the Dormant Assets Scheme, including many large banks.

How many and what proportion of people in receipt of the State Pension live outside the UK have less than (a) 35, (b) 20, (c) 10 and (d) 5 years of National Insurance contributions.

The information on the years of National Insurance contributions for State Pension recipients living outside the UK is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The Department publishes the volumes of State Pension recipients living outside the UK on StatXplore Stat-Xplore - Log in. The latest figure, for the quarter ending August 2024, is around 1.1 million State Pension recipients living outside the UK. This is 8.5% of the overall State Pension caseload.

What steps she is taking to reopen court rooms at Telford Justice Centre.

I recently visited Telford Justice Centre and observed for myself the state of the court estate. Of the eight courtrooms at Telford Justice Centre, seven are currently operational, with one courtroom temporarily out of use due to damage caused by water ingress from the roof which requires complete replacement.HMCTS is focused on completing the works required to bring this courtroom back into operation as quickly as possible. Temporary patch repair is complete, and redecoration works are now being scheduled.We are already progressing complete replacement of the roof as a priority project, and HMCTS is working with contractors to develop designs and final project proposals. The extensive and complex nature of the work means that commencement of this project is unlikely before March 2026.Historical underfunding under the previous Government has resulted in challenges such as this across the court and tribunal estate. That is why this Government has announced a boost in court capital maintenance and project funding from £120 million last year, to £148.5 million for 2025/26.

What steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to promote the UK business event sector.

Government recognises that the business events sector is a machine for economic growth, local prosperity and international importance, helping to enhance the UK's global reputation and foster international business relationships.The Business Events Growth Programme (BEGP) supported across government, including by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) , and led by VisitBritain, forms part of the UK Government's commitment to grow the business events sector across Britain. Every pound invested in the programme supported £33 of revenue being generated for the British economy through new events secured, or in additional delegate spend, during the five-year review period from 2018 to 2023.

What steps her Department is taking to (a) enforce the Plastic Packaging Tax and (b) prevent illegal imports.

To ensure a level playing field, importers and UK manufacturers must provide the same level of evidence to claim relief from the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT). The government continues to assess the prevalence of PPT non-compliance on imported plastic packaging and are considering options to further safeguard against this. In the meantime, HMRC continues to develop their data and risk driven approach to compliance as the tax matures and more data comes available to profile, identify and target error and non-compliance. HMRC has a range of sanctions to promote compliance and deter non-compliance, such as penalties of up to 100% of the tax due and compulsory registration. In 2023/24 HMRC completed inquiries into 690 PPT cases with a tax yield of almost £18m. HMRC lead tax compliance and work in policy partnership with HM Treasury officials. HMRC are committed to working closely with Defra and the Environment Agencies to share data and insight, alongside continued engagement with the sector on a range of PPT issues.

Whether (a) she and (b) officials in her Department have met with (i) the Environment Agency and (ii) His Majesty's Revenue and Customs to discuss the enforcement of the Plastic Packaging Tax on imports.

To ensure a level playing field, importers and UK manufacturers must provide the same level of evidence to claim relief from the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT). The government continues to assess the prevalence of PPT non-compliance on imported plastic packaging and are considering options to further safeguard against this. In the meantime, HMRC continues to develop their data and risk driven approach to compliance as the tax matures and more data comes available to profile, identify and target error and non-compliance. HMRC has a range of sanctions to promote compliance and deter non-compliance, such as penalties of up to 100% of the tax due and compulsory registration. In 2023/24 HMRC completed inquiries into 690 PPT cases with a tax yield of almost £18m. HMRC lead tax compliance and work in policy partnership with HM Treasury officials. HMRC are committed to working closely with Defra and the Environment Agencies to share data and insight, alongside continued engagement with the sector on a range of PPT issues.

What discussions she has had with representatives of the UK plastics industry on the enforcement of the Plastic Packaging Tax on imports.

To ensure a level playing field, importers and UK manufacturers must provide the same level of evidence to claim relief from the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT). The government continues to assess the prevalence of PPT non-compliance on imported plastic packaging and are considering options to further safeguard against this. In the meantime, HMRC continues to develop their data and risk driven approach to compliance as the tax matures and more data comes available to profile, identify and target error and non-compliance. HMRC has a range of sanctions to promote compliance and deter non-compliance, such as penalties of up to 100% of the tax due and compulsory registration. In 2023/24 HMRC completed inquiries into 690 PPT cases with a tax yield of almost £18m. HMRC lead tax compliance and work in policy partnership with HM Treasury officials. HMRC are committed to working closely with Defra and the Environment Agencies to share data and insight, alongside continued engagement with the sector on a range of PPT issues.