Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers in (a) her Department and (b) its predecessor Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost of those visits was.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The number of overnight ministerial domestic visits undertaken over the last 3 financial years are as follows. The total costs provided are limited in scope, to only the Minister themselves, and to those booked through the Department's, and its predecessor's (the Department for International Trade), contracted travel provider, which covers costs of rail, air and hotel; where these costs were available.
Financial Year | Total number of overnight visits | Total Cost |
2021 - 2022 | 22 | £6,470.97 |
2022 - 2023 | 12 | £4,493.86 |
2023 - 2024 | 15 | £4,514.84 |
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, to which domestic destinations Ministers in his Department have attended overnight visits in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to my response to UIN 17515 on 12th March 2024.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, to which domestic destinations Ministers in her Department have attended overnight visits in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East to the answer of 12 March 2024 to Question 17517.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, to which domestic destinations Ministers in her Department and its predecessor Department have attended overnight visits in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial trips, including costs of travel and other costs (visas, accommodation, and meals).
But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, to which domestic destinations Ministers in her Department and its predecessor Departments have attended overnight visits in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the Hon. Member to my response to UIN 17516, on the 12th March 2024.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Wolverhampton South East constituency are on long-term sickness benefits; and how many were on such benefits in each of the past five years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
People on ‘long-term sickness benefits’ have been assumed as those in the main phase of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and the Universal Credit (UC) Limited Capability to Work (LCW) and Limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) groups. The Department regularly publishes Benefit Combination statistics on Stat-Xplore and these were extended inFebruary 2024 to include additional information for those on ESA and the UC Health Journey, so can now be used to provide the information, from quarter ending May 2019 to the end of the latest quarter, August 2023.
The figures can be obtained from the ‘Benefit Combinations - Data from May 2019 for England and Wales’ dataset using the ‘Additional Claim Details’ options. The ‘ESA Phase of Claim’ and ‘UC Health Journey’ options should be used to identify quarterly totals for ESA Support Group (SG), ESA Work-related Activity Group (WRAG), Universal Credit Limited Capability to Work (LCW) and Limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) groups, and those on one benefit but not the other using the ‘Not On’ options. The ‘Geography’ option can then be used to filter by the relevant Westminster Parliamentary Constituency.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
Using the Benefit Combinations data on Stat-Xplore, the number of people on long-term sickness benefits in the Wolverhampton South East constituency is provided in the table below:
| Aug 2019 | Aug 2020 | Aug 2021 | Aug 2022 | Aug 2023 |
Total | 4,150 | 4,440 | 4,690 | 5,080 | 5,830 |
Source: Stat-Xplore
Notes:
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, to which domestic destinations Ministers in her Department and its predecessor Departments have attended overnight visits in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The regions visited with an overnight stay over the last 3 financial years are as follows:
Financial Year | Regions visited |
2021 – 2022 | Scotland – 12 Northern Powerhouse – 4 Wales – 1 South West – 2 Jersey – 1 Northern Ireland – 2 |
2022 – 2023 | Scotland – 3 Northern Ireland – 4 South West – 2 Northern Powerhouse – 2 Wales – 1 |
2023 – 2024 | Northern Powerhouse – 3 Northern Ireland – 7 Midlands – 1 Scotland – 1 Channel Islands – 2 South West – 1 |
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department and has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department provides details of the funding spent on advertising and publicity as part of its annual reports and accounts, which are published in the usual way on GOV.UK:
The department uses marketing to support the delivery of strategic aims and government priorities, including to recruit teachers, reform the skills landscape, and drive take up of products and services like apprenticeships, T Levels and childcare entitlements. Since 2010, there are now 27,000 more teachers working in state-funded schools across the country, 5.4 million apprenticeship starts and the department is delivering the largest ever expansion of free childcare in England.
Spend includes different types of marketing activity, including advertising. Figures for the last three financial years are:
Financial Year | Total Department Spend on Marketing |
2020/21 | £20 million |
2021/22 | £26 million |
2022/23 | £40 million |
The department does not hold complete records of budget profiles for marketing and communications compared to final confirmed spending.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the amount of money lost to fraud and error by her Department in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system. The government established the dedicated Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). In its first year it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits.
The PSFA produces a ‘Fraud Landscape Report’ This provides data on fraud and error detection, loss and recoveries in central government, outside of the tax and welfare system. The 2020/21 Report was published in March 2023 and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cross-government-fraud-landscape-annual-report-2022. .
Information regarding the department’s detected fraud and error can be found in the department’s Annual Reports and Accounts which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-consolidated-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what guidance her Department issues on the use of WhatsApp.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
All departments in central government, including arms lengths bodies apply the published guidance: Using non-corporate communication channels (e.g. WhatsApp, private email, SMS) for government business published by Cabinet Office in March 2023. It applies to all individuals in central government (ministers, special advisers, officials, contractors, non-executive board members and independent experts advising ministers). DCMS uses the central guidance and has applied it since March 2023.