Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many incidents there have been of drone sightings in the vicinity of high security military establishments in the UK this year; and what steps they have taken to identify and capture those drones.

Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Since 1 January 2025 there have been a total of 187 drone sightings in the vicinity of military establishments in the UK. We will not comment on the sensitivity of establishments or our specific security arrangements in relation to identifying and capturing drones, however we can assure you that we take the safety and security of our personnel, assets and operations extremely seriously. We maintain multi-layered security measures, including counter-drone capabilities which can identify and facilitate the capture of drones.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what amount of interest was paid on the UK national debt for each financial year since, and including, 2015–16.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The requested information is in the table below and publicly available in the Office for National Statistics’ Public Sector Finances bulletin for September 2025. [1]

The government is committed to its non-negotiable fiscal rules, to reduce debt and borrowing. This is the responsible choice – to live within our means, reduce our levels of borrowing in the years ahead and support the Bank of England to get inflation down, so we can deliver on the promises of working people, spend less on servicing debt and reduce the burden on future generations.

[1] Please see Appendix A, table PSA6B part 2, second column (Series NMFX). This series denotes Central Government debt interest payable. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/datasets/publicsectorfinancesappendixatables110

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the annual number of insects killed in the UK by wind turbines, and what impact this may have on the sustainability of insect populations.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has not made an assessment of the annual number of insects killed in England by wind turbines, nor on the sustainability of insect populations accordingly.

International research estimates that individual turbines in temperate regions may kill millions of insects per year. However, to understand the impacts of wind turbines on the sustainability of insect populations, it is necessary to evaluate them in the context of other pressures. Factors operating at larger scales likely have a greater overall impact, e.g. land management and pesticide use.

The Natural Environment Research Council is funding the DRUID project to understand the drivers and repercussions of UK insect declines.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they taken to make a quantitative assessment of the impact of the Autumn Budget 2024 on the economies of Wales and Scotland.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government considered the impact of all measures announced at the Budget in October 2024 on the economies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These considerations also form part of the process for the Budget that the Chancellor is due to deliver on 26 November.

The Government provides information to the Office for Budget Responsibility to enable it to deliver its forecast for those elements of taxation which are devolved.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) graduate recruitments, and (2) apprentice recruitments, there have been in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland, and (d) Northern Ireland, in each year since 2020.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The exact data requested is not held by the department, but we publish data on the number and proportion of first degree graduates and apprenticeship achievers that are in sustained employment at around one year after graduation, for UK-domiciled graduates graduating from English higher education providers only and apprentices achieving their qualification in England. The latest available data is for learners qualifying in 2020/21 who were in sustained employment in the 2022/23 tax year. More recent data is unavailable due to lags in data availability.

These statistics are available in the following publications:

• ‘Further Education Outcomes’, last released in November 2024: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/further-education-outcomes/2021-22.
• ‘LEO Graduate and Postgraduate Outcomes’, last released in June 2025: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/leo-graduate-and-postgraduate-outcomes/2022-23.

The data is also available at the following linked tables derived from those publications:

• Apprenticeship graduates: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/310f48b3-fa52-4fd3-7a4a-08de11c58191.
• First Degree graduates: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c46f37fc-5cf2-487c-95b0-08de11382822.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the latest figure for the total number of people employed in the Civil Service, and how many of those people are employed in (1) England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales, (4) Northern Ireland, and (5) overseas.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Headline information on the number of civil servants are published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the accredited official statistics release ‘Public Sector Employment Statistics’. Latest data as at June 2025 shows that there are 550,730 civil servants on a headcount basis and 516,950 on a FTE basis.

More detailed information on employment numbers by region including overseas are published annually by the Cabinet Office as part of the accredited official statistics release ‘Civil Service Statistics’. Latest information as at 31 March 2025 can be found at table 1 below:

Table 1: Regional distribution of Civil Service employment, as at 31 March 2025

Source: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES), Cabinet Office

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 27 October (HL Deb col 1192), whether the aim to "sort out Hillside" referred to the consequences of the decision of the Supreme Court in Hillside Parks Ltd v Snowdonia National Park Authority [2022] UKSC 30 or the planning status of the hillside location in Aberdyfi; and when they expect the Hillside issue to be resolved.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

My remarks to the House set out the Government’s proposed approach to handling the broader implications of the Supreme Court judgement on the use of drop in permissions for the development sector in England, not the specific case in Wales subject to the judgement.