Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of artificial intelligence on public expenditure.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The primary focus of the government’s analysis has been to assess the potential for AI to enhance public sector productivity and efficiency, which are key determinants of future spending levels. Analysis by DSIT for the State of Digital Government Review found an estimated £45 billion per year in unrealised savings and productivity benefits in the public sector, 4-7% of public sector spend, which could be achieved through full digitisation of public sector services. Opportunities are based predominantly on process simplification, AI-driven automation of manual tasks, greater availability, adoption of low-cost digital channels and reduced fraud through compliance automation.

Of this, £36 billion in potential annual savings are from using AI to simplify and automate delivery across the public sector. This was estimated through a detailed analysis of 350,000 public sector roles using Civil Service data, scaling productivity savings from automating or augmenting routine tasks to the wider public sector workforce.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to make adherence to the Service Charge Residential Management Code mandatory for residential leasehold property managers.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The current edition of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Service Charge Residential Management Code, approved in 2016 using powers under Section 87 of the Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act 1993, may be used as evidence by the First-tier Tribunal or County Court in any decisions they make. Failure to comply with the Code alone does not make a managing agent or landlord liable to court/tribunal proceedings.

We intend to strengthen the regulation of managing agents by introducing mandatory professional qualifications that will set a new basic standard that managing agents will be required to meet. Proposals to that effect are set out in our consultation on strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services, which can be found on gov.uk here.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of trends in the level of multi-occupancy residential buildings insurance premiums.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as the independent regulator of financial services, carried out a review into insurance for multi-occupancy buildings in 2022. The FCA had concerns about how certain elements of the market were working and in 2023 it introduced a number of regulatory changes to enhance consumer protection and improve the functioning of the market. The FCA has robust powers to take action against firms that do not comply with its rules.

The government continues to engage with relevant stakeholders, including the regulators, insurers, leaseholder representatives and trade bodies, to keep the market under review.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people claiming housing benefit in Gosport in each of the last three years.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Monthly statistics for the number of Housing Benefit claimants in Great Britain are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore, The statistics are available for various geographies, including local authority and parliamentary constituency, and are currently available to May 2025.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the average increase in social housing rents was in Gosport constituency in 2024-25.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Government policy limits how much rents are permitted to increase each year for Social Rent and Affordable Rent homes let by registered providers of social housing.

In 2024-25, these rents were permitted to increase by up to CPI+1% based on the CPI rate in September 2023 (6.7%), which meant that rents were permitted to increase by up to 7.7%.

The Regulator of Social Housing collects annual data from registered providers of social housing regarding their rents, which can be viewed by local authority area. Data for the year 2024-25 is scheduled to be released on 28 October. Statistics for previous years, along with a look-up tool, can be found on gov.uk here.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cancer patients have access to radiotherapy in (a) Gosport, (b) the South East and (c) England.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

All cancer patients have access to radiotherapy treatment. Decisions about cancer treatment are typically made by clinicians and multidisciplinary teams of healthcare professionals.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that every cancer patient who needs it has access to modern and timely radiotherapy cancer treatment.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is taking decisive action to get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster.

We have invested £70 million in replacing outdated radiotherapy machines across the NHS with cutting-edge technology that will speed up treatment for thousands of patients. These new machines are being rolled out across the country.

Found: Letter from Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, Committee Chair, to Craig Guildford, Chief Constable, West Midlands

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Caroline Dinenage (Chair); Mr Bayo Alaba; Damian Hinds; Dr Rupa

Found: Parliament Street London SW1A 2BQ E: enquiries@dcms.gov.uk www.gov.uk/dcms Dame Caroline Dinenage

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Caroline Dinenage (Chair); Mr Bayo Alaba; Zöe Franklin; Dr Rupa