Written questions by Davies.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding there was for the frequently flooded fund for Telford in each year for which data is available; and what the size of the fund will be in each of the next three years.

This Government is investing £2.4 billion over this year and next year to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences. The list of projects to receive government funding will be consented over the coming months in the usual way through Regional Flood and Coastal Committees, with local representation.

How many justices of the peace served at Telford Magistrates Court in each of the last six years.

Magistrates that sit at Telford Magistrates’ Court are appointed to the Shropshire Bench. The Shropshire Bench covers Telford and Kidderminster Magistrates Court and the magistrates may be required to sit at any of these courts. The table below shows the number of magistrates on the Shropshire Bench (existing members and new appointments) for the years requested:202476202375202282202187202082201991The Staffordshire and West Mercia Advisory Committee on Justices of the Peace’s recruitment plans are published here: Advisory Committee Recruitment Plan - Magistrates Recruitment.

How many outpatients from Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin integrated care system (ICS) have been treated out of area by (a) other ICSs and (b) private providers in each year for which data is available.

The Government is committed to putting patients back at the heart of care. This includes supporting a patient’s right to choose, if they wish, where they go for their first appointment, including private providers holding contracts for National Health Services.Information on the number of individual patients who have been treated out of area in the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System (ICS) is not held centrally. However, information on the number of outpatient appointments taking place outside of the ICS is available, although it should be noted that a patient may have had more than one outpatient appointment. The following table shows the combined outpatient activity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, and the number and percentage of appointments made outside of the ICS, for each of the last three years:YearTotal appointmentsNumber of appointments outside of the ICSPercentage of appointments outside of the ICS2021/22864,870138,71516%2022/23958,190171,50517.9%2023/241,027,375178,59017.4%Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.

How many offenders who have been ordered to be deported following their prison sentence remain in the country by (a) offence and (b) country of birth.

We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Any foreign national offender (FNO) convicted of a crime who receives a custodial sentence in the UK is referred to the Home Office for deportation consideration following sentencing. We are focusing resources on those cases currently serving custodial sentences directly from prison. The latest statistics on FNO removals and on FNOs subject to deportation action are available here: Immigration Enforcement data: Q2 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). We will pursue deportation action against individuals living in the community rigorously, actively monitoring and managing cases through the legal process and negotiating barriers to removal.

If she will publish a breakdown of criminal offenders who were ordered to be deported at the end of their prison sentence by (a) shortest prison sentence imposed, (b) average prison sentence imposed, (c) longest prison sentence imposed and (d) criminal offence convicted in each of the last six years.

The Home Office publishes data on returns of foreign national offenders (FNOs) in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on quarterly numbers of returns of FNOs are published in table Ret_02a of the ‘returns summary tables’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data reports up to the year ending June 2024.Deportations are a specific subset of returns which are enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good. The deportation order prohibits the person returning to the UK until such time as it may be revoked.Information about sentence length and offence type are not currently included in our published statistics and could only be obtained for the purposes of this question at a disproportionate cost. Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of individual appeals to (a) introducing and (b) executing deportation orders on people convicted of criminal offences.

In most deportation cases, there is no right of appeal unless the person concerned makes a human rights or protection claim, in which case there is a right of appeal against a decision to refuse the claim.Where a person who has permission to stay in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme is threatened with deportation, there is a right of appeal against the decision to make a deportation order against them, in compliance with the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU.

Whether she plans to use remote court hearings to ease the burden on the courts system.

The decision to hold a hearing remotely, or enable participants to attend remotely, rests with the judiciary. HM Courts and Tribunal Service continues to support and enable remote hearings by optimising the courts and tribunals estate and building technological capability. This empowers the judiciary to conduct remote and hybrid hearings at their discretion, allowing for increased accessibility and flexibility in the day-to-day business of courts and tribunals.

Whether he plans to continue the provision of the Children's Hospice Grant into 2025/26.

In 2024/2025, NHS England provided £25 million in funding for children and young people’s hospices. This funding was distributed, for the first time, via integrated care boards, in line with National Health Service devolution.I recently met NHS England, Together for Short Lives, and one of the chairs of the Children Who Need Palliative Care All Party Parliamentary Group to discuss children’s palliative and end of life care, and this funding stream was discussed at length at that meeting. NHS England is currently considering the future of this important funding stream beyond 2024/25.

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure the financial sustainability of Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Standalone Fire and Rescue Authorities will see an increase in core spending power of £95.4 million in 2024/25. This is an increase of 5.6% in cash terms compared to 2023/24.In 2024/25 Shropshire FRA has a core spending power of £28.8m, an increase of £1.6m (6.0%) compared to 2023/24.As at 31 March 2023 Shropshire FRA held £6.0m in resource reserves. This is equivalent to 22.1% of their 2023/24 core spending power and an increase of £1.1m (22.4%) compared to the previous year.In addition to the funding received through the Local Government Finance Settlement, fire and rescue authorities including Shropshire FRA will receive a share of grants provided by the Home Office, including Pensions and Protection grants.The Government will continue to work closely with stakeholders across the sector to ensure fire and rescue services have the resources they need to keep the public safe.

What steps his Department is taking to improve screening for prostate cancer.

Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended by the UK National Screening Committees (UK NSC). This is because of the inaccuracy of the current best test, the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). A PSA-based screening programme could harm men, as some of them would be diagnosed with a cancer that would not have caused them problems during their life. This would lead to additional tests and treatments which can also have harmful side effects; for example, incontinence of faeces and urine and impotence.The UK NSC is undertaking an evidence review for prostate cancer screening and plans to report within the UK NSC’s three-year work plan.The evidence review includes modelling the clinical cost effectiveness of several approaches to prostate cancer screening; this includes different potential ways of screening the whole population from 40 years of age onwards and targeted screening aimed at groups of people identified as being at higher-than-average risk, such as black men or men with a family history of cancer.

What the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in his Department was in each of the last three years.

The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly. All staff that join do so on an assignment, loan or secondment from other Government bodies, principally the Scottish Government and the Ministry of Justice, who remain the employers and hold the information you have requested.

What the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in her Department was in each of the last three years.

The average length of paternity leave taken by staff in my Department in the last three years was 14 days in 2021-22, 0 days in 2022-23, and 14 days in 2023-24.In the current 2024-25 year, 14 days have been taken.

What the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in her Department was in each of the last three years.

Below is the average length of paternity leave, in working days, for each of the last 3 calendar years.Calendar YearWorking days20219.8320229.5020239.39

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in his Department was in each of the last three years.

Due to the migration of IT systems, the FCDO is unable to provide indicate timescales for Parental leave at this time.The FCDO's Paternity Leave offer enables staff to take one or two weeks' statutory paternity leave. This enables staff to take the necessary time off whilst balancing work and home commitments.

What the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in (a) her Department and (b) HMRC was in each of the last three years.

HMT ResponseHM Treasury offers two-weeks’ paternity leave with pay for staff who meet the qualifying conditions. Staff can choose to take the two weeks together or in separate blocks of one week each. The information below covers the average length of paternity leave in calendar days for the past three financial years in HM Treasury: Financial years:Average length of paternity leave:1 April 2021 – 31 March 202212.781 April 2022 – 31 March 202313.161 April 2023 – 31 March 202412.35 HMRC Response Financial year April-23 to March-24: The average number of calendar days taken for paternity leave per person is 27.79 days.

What the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in his Department was in each of the last three years.

The average length of paternity leave in days taken by staff in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) was 9.6 during 2023 and 9.8 during 2024. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) was established in February 2023. Data before this time is unavailable.

What the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in (a) his Department and (b) the armed forces was in each of the last three years.

Our records show that between 2021 and October 2024, Ministry of Defence employees have taken paternity leave for the birth or adoption of a child. The average working days taken (AWDT) for civilian and military personnel is shown in the tables below. Calendar YearAWDT Civilian Personnel202113.3202212.7202312.92024 Jan-Oct12.5Data covers the entire civilian workforce (includes DE&S and SDA)Data includes Paternity Leave, Paternity Leave Birth and Paternity Leave Adoption Calendar YearAWDT Military Personnel202113.6202213.7202313.62024 Jan-Oct13.7Data includes Paternity Leave, Paternity Leave Birth and Paternity Leave Adoption- including any unpaid and deferred elements

What the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in her Department was in each of the last three years.

This data has been taken from a live system. Staff have 52 weeks to take paternity leave following the birth of the child, so figures for 2024 may rise. The average working days taken (AWDT) is shown in the table below: YearAWDT2021620229202372024 (1-Jan - 30-Sep)7

What the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in (a) his Department and (b) NHS England was in each of the last three years; and what information his Department holds on the average level of paternity leave taken at each NHS trust in the same period.

The average length of paternity leave at the Department over the last three years is 10 days. The following table shows average length of paternity leave at the Department broken down by year:PeriodAverage working days by yearOctober 2021 September 202210October 2022 September 202310October 2023 September 202410 Regarding the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in NHS England and NHS trusts, the Department does not hold this information.

Innovation and Technology, what the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in his Department was in each of the last three years.

Our records show that between 2021 and October 2024, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) employee’s have taken 160 days paternity leave for the birth or adoption of a child.The average working days taken per colleague (AWDT) is shown in the table below.YearAWDT2021-2022-2023 (Feb 2023* to Dec 2023)102024 (Jan 2024 to Oct 2024)12.9 *The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) was established in February 2023. Data before this time is unavailable.