Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the average (a) length of (b) time off the job in apprenticeships in (i) England (ii) Germany.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The average expected duration of an apprenticeship in England is published in the apprenticeships statistics publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/e4c10266-a793-4c29-0de2-08dd5ccbf23a.

The ‘Apprenticeship evaluation 2023: learner, non-completer and employer surveys’ contains survey-based information on apprenticeship duration and off-the-job training hours undertaken, noting that proportions are given rather than averages: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-evaluation-2023-learner-non-completer-and-employer-surveys.

The last published estimate of average off-the-job training hours in England covers the 2018/19 academic year. See Table 3 in the ‘Further education and skills: November 2019 statistics’ publication here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ddd3bbd40f0b650d9ba9b15/FE_and_Skills_commentary_November_2019.pdf.

The publication of off-the-job training hours estimates was stopped from the 2019/20 academic year onwards after a review of their quality, particularly regarding the robustness of comparisons over time.

Equivalent information for Germany is not held by the department.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to measure the actual costs for the schools participating in the existing National School Breakfast programme.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The national school breakfast programme (NSBP) is a demand-led programme, established under the previous government. It is a food-only programme which does not include staffing costs. Eligible schools place breakfast food orders with the department’s supplier, Family Action, via their portal, rather than being allocated funding directly. Schools are charged 25% of food and delivery costs by the supplier, with the department covering the remaining 75% of the costs. Schools can therefore order as much food as they need on the system.

The department works closely with Family Action to monitor take-up of the programme by eligible schools, alongside monitoring school-level food and delivery costs. The number of schools on the scheme is relatively stable.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the evidential basis is for her Department's funding allocations to schools for the National School Breakfast programme.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The national school breakfast programme (NSBP) is a demand-led programme, established under the previous government. It is a food-only programme which does not include staffing costs. Eligible schools place breakfast food orders with the department’s supplier, Family Action, via their portal, rather than being allocated funding directly. Schools are charged 25% of food and delivery costs by the supplier, with the department covering the remaining 75% of the costs. Schools can therefore order as much food as they need on the system.

The department works closely with Family Action to monitor take-up of the programme by eligible schools, alongside monitoring school-level food and delivery costs. The number of schools on the scheme is relatively stable.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the average length of time was in which households were without power due to outage in (a) the (i) Basingstoke & Deane: Oakley and The Candovers, (ii) East Hampshire: Bentworth & Froyle, (iii) East Hampshire: Binsted Bentley & Selborne, (iv) East Hampshire: Four Marks & Medstead, (v) East Hampshire: Ropley Hawkley & Hangers, (vi) East Hampshire: Froxfield Sheep & Steep, (vii) East Hampshire: Buriton & East Meon local authority wards and (b) (A) Hampshire, (B) the South East and (C) England in each of the last five years.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department does not hold information on all historic power outages. The UK has one of the most reliable energy systems in the world and maintaining a secure electricity supply is a key priority for Government.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2025 to Question 36625 on Prison Accommodation, when she expects places to become available through the small house blocks programme.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

As outlined in the recently published 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, this Government is committed to delivering 14,000 prison places the previous Government failed to get built. These places will be delivered through the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate, including Small Secure Houseblocks, as well as the construction of four new prisons, including the recently opened HMP Millsike.

As set out in the NAO Report, we expect places to become available through the Small Secure Houseblocks programme from 2027.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of capacity made available through Operation Safeguard was used between its inception and July 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Operation Safeguard is an important contingency measure used to ensure that the current demand on prison places does not cause undue disruption to Criminal Justice System partners. The first places were activated by the previous Government in February 2023.

Between 20 February 2023 – 4 July 2024, 86,561 Operation Safeguard police cells were made available overnight.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2025 to Question 36626 on Prison Accommodation, what breakdown is available of the figure of a net 28,000 places added to the prison estate in England between 1997 and 2010 in terms of (a) place additions (b) place removals, (i) by year and (ii) in total.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate between 1997 and 2010. However, available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures of these places by category. The annual breakdown of this net change has been provided in the table below.

For the information requested relating to the period between 2010 and 2024, I refer you to the table provided in the response to PQs 36624 & 36626.

Last year this Government announced plans to build 14,000 places by 2031 as part of our 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy. We have already started the 700-place expansion at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk in March, and a new houseblock providing nearly 460 places at HMP Rye Hill in Northamptonshire recently received its first prisoners. We are also opening HMP Millsike in the coming weeks, a major milestone which will hold nearly 1,500 prisoners and help put more violent offenders behind bars to make streets safer.

Table 1. Annual change in Operational Capacity between May 1997 and May 2010.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will replicate the data line items included in the ad hoc publication Estimate of the number of prison places built and closed between 2010 and 2024, published on 25 October 2025, for each year from the earliest year for which data are available to 2010.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate between 1997 and 2010. However, available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures of these places by category. The annual breakdown of this net change has been provided in the table below.

For the information requested relating to the period between 2010 and 2024, I refer you to the table provided in the response to PQs 36624 & 36626.

Last year this Government announced plans to build 14,000 places by 2031 as part of our 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy. We have already started the 700-place expansion at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk in March, and a new houseblock providing nearly 460 places at HMP Rye Hill in Northamptonshire recently received its first prisoners. We are also opening HMP Millsike in the coming weeks, a major milestone which will hold nearly 1,500 prisoners and help put more violent offenders behind bars to make streets safer.

Table 1. Annual change in Operational Capacity between May 1997 and May 2010.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the gross number of prison places removed from the prison estate in England and Wales through permanent closures of whole (a) prisons and (b) wings was between (i) 1997 to 2010 and (ii) 2010 to 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate between 1997 and 2010. However, available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures of these places by category. The annual breakdown of this net change has been provided in the table below.

For the information requested relating to the period between 2010 and 2024, I refer you to the table provided in the response to PQs 36624 & 36626.

Last year this Government announced plans to build 14,000 places by 2031 as part of our 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy. We have already started the 700-place expansion at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk in March, and a new houseblock providing nearly 460 places at HMP Rye Hill in Northamptonshire recently received its first prisoners. We are also opening HMP Millsike in the coming weeks, a major milestone which will hold nearly 1,500 prisoners and help put more violent offenders behind bars to make streets safer.

Table 1. Annual change in Operational Capacity between May 1997 and May 2010.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the gross number of prison places added to the prison estate in England and Wales through new builds and extensions to prisons was between (a) 1997 and 2010 and (b) 2010 and 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate between 1997 and 2010. However, available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures of these places by category. The annual breakdown of this net change has been provided in the table below.

For the information requested relating to the period between 2010 and 2024, I refer you to the table provided in the response to PQs 36624 & 36626.

Last year this Government announced plans to build 14,000 places by 2031 as part of our 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy. We have already started the 700-place expansion at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk in March, and a new houseblock providing nearly 460 places at HMP Rye Hill in Northamptonshire recently received its first prisoners. We are also opening HMP Millsike in the coming weeks, a major milestone which will hold nearly 1,500 prisoners and help put more violent offenders behind bars to make streets safer.

Table 1. Annual change in Operational Capacity between May 1997 and May 2010.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison places for the estate in England were (a) under construction and (b) in planning, in (i) new build prisons (ii) prison extensions and small secure houseblocks and (iii) other projects as of May 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

As outlined in the recently published 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy, this Government is committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places through the 20,000 prison place programmes. This Government will deliver what the previous administration failed to achieve. We will get the prison places this country needs built and will ensure that we always have enough prison places to lock up dangerous offenders.

Given the nuances of the planning system and prison build programmes, we have defined ‘in planning’ as developments submitted for, or awaiting, determination of full planning permission as of May 2024. Some projects within the 20,000 prison place programmes can be delivered through Permitted Development Rights and therefore do not require planning permission. Places that had received planning permission ahead of May 2024 have not been included in this response.

We are aiming to deliver four new prisons (i), in addition to HMPs Five Wells and Fosse Way which have already been built. As of May 2024:

1. c.1,500 places were under construction at HMP Millsike, which officially opened on 27 March 2025, alongside an additional c.245 place houseblock at HMP Fosse Way.

2. c.4,900 places were in the planning system for the proposed new prisons in Leicestershire, Buckinghamshire and Lancashire.

Other places within the 20,000 prison place programmes will be delivered through the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate ((ii) and (iii)) including Small Secure Houseblocks. As of May 2024:

1. c.2,400 places were under construction.

2. c.970 places were in the planning system.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the availability of (a) in-school breakfast and (b) after school clubs on (i) workforce participation and (ii) average hours of work.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The evidence on the benefits of wraparound childcare to help parents work, and work more, is clear. Research shows 43% of non-working mothers report they would prefer to work if they could arrange good-quality, convenient, reliable and affordable childcare, and 54% of parents say they have problems finding formal childcare for their child that is flexible enough to fit their needs. As of February 2024, 76% of parents reported that the main reason that they used wraparound childcare was so that they or others in their household could go to or seek work. Parents who use a breakfast club report that its availability enables them to go to work.

This is why, through the free breakfast clubs programme and the wraparound childcare programme, the department is creating more before and after school childcare places.

We have procured an independent evaluator to conduct a robust evaluation of the wraparound programme, reporting in 2027. The evaluation seeks to understand the impact that expanded wraparound provision has had on the parental labour market participation and parental attitudes towards labour market participation and childcare use.

The breakfast club early adopters scheme will provide a test and learn phase, allowing the department to develop robust evidence of the impact of the programme and implement lessons learned ahead of national rollout, to maximise the positive impact on families.

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