Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claimed (a) PIP and (b) DLA for ADHD since 2013.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances split by condition, including ADHD, can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics.

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.

Data on Disability Living Allowance (DLA) clearances by condition is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claimed PIP for ADHD in each year since 2010.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances split by condition, including ADHD, can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics.

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people work in his Department's equality, diversity and well-being team.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

There are 29 members of staff working in the central Equality, Diversity and Wellbeing Team based on headcount, this represents 0.06% of the total staff working for the Home Office.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which unit in her Department is responsible for equalities.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Every department across government has a responsibility for equalities. The Human Resources and Transformation Directorate is responsible for equalities in the Department for Education. The department also has a Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) team who can provide colleagues with advice on equalities-related issues. Under the PSED, all public authorities, including government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions.

The government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June, to ensure value for money for taxpayers. The Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many staff in their Department have job titles that include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Nine DBT staff members have the words equality and/or gender in their job titles. These roles are all externally facing roles, responsible for negotiating provisions and chapters within bilateral and multilateral contexts. There are no DBT staff members with diversity; inclusion; LGBT; or race in their job title.

The Government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all activities that support the

equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) of the workforce, through the review of EDI

spending announced last June. As stated in the Autumn Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the number of fax machines used in the NHS.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No data is collected in relation to the number of fax machines being used in the National Health Service.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress he has made on putting the New Homes Ombudsman on a statutory footing.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The Government legislated in the Building Safety Act 2022 to establish a statutory New Homes Ombudsman. They will provide dispute resolution for, and determine complaints by, buyers of new build homes against developments.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many research projects have started work in the HMRC datalab in each year since 2013.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC Datalab have provided 106 projects access to de-identified HMRC data for research purposes, since 2012.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help prevent drones being used to bring drugs and other illicit goods into prisons.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

We are working hard to deter, detect and disrupt the illegal use of drones to deliver contraband into prisons. We conduct vulnerability assessments across the estate to understand the risk and develop and implement plans to manage and mitigate the threat, including physical countermeasures.

The Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act 2021 established powers for prisons to authorise the use of counter-drone technology. This Act also enables the police to stop and search those suspected of committing drone-related crimes.

In January this year, we strengthened the legislative framework by introducing Restricted Fly Zones around prisons to disrupt illegal drone use. This strengthens our ability to intercept illicit items being smuggled via drones, and enables the police to fine or prosecute those seeking to undermine prison security.

Recent joint operations with the police and HMPPS have resulted in a number of drone related arrests and disruptions to the activity of serious and organised crime networks. Since June 2016 we have secured over 70 convictions, and those convicted have been sentenced to more than a total of 240 years in prison.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people work in her Department's (a) Human Resources and Transformation Directorate and (b) Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) team; and whether the PSED team is part of the Human Resources and Transformation Directorate.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Every department across government has a responsibility for equalities. Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), all public authorities, including government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions. The government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June, to ensure value for money for taxpayers.

The Minister for the Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course. As at the end of February 2024 there were 156 people working in the department’s Human Resources and Transformation Directorate. The PSED team is not part of the department’s Human Resources and Transformation Directorate.

The ‘general duty’ of the PSED is in Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and requires public authorities in England, Scotland and Wales to give due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions.The department's PSED team sits within the department's central Strategy Group and ensures that the department is compliant with Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. The PSED team is resourced by 0.8 FTE. In addition, the department, through the PSED team, has a model of maintaining dispersed capacity across the department to comply with its duties.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people (a) received and (b) repaid a refugee integration loans since 2007.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Refugee Integration Loans were introduced in 2007 following a public consultation and are intended to help people with the costs of integrating into UK society. They are funded by the Home Office, who make the initial decisions on applications. They are then administered and recouped by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Refugee integration loans are interest-free loans with favourable repayment terms for individuals who are over 18 and meet the following eligibility criteria:

• a refugee;
• you have humanitarian protection;
• a dependant of a refugee or someone with humanitarian protection.

Individuals are currently able to borrow between £100 and £500. Between £100 to £780 can be borrowed if submitting a joint application with a partner.

The specific data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish the data to be provided to the Migration Advisory Committee as part of the review of the graduate route.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office publishes a range of migration statistics, including statistics relating to the Graduate route, in its quarterly statistics releases.

The Migration Advisory Committee will publish their findings of the Graduate route review in May.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act 2023 to initiate high street rental auctions; and what steps he has taken to support local authorities to use these powers.

Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

The framework of the High Street Rental Auction policy is set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, which is now law, however many aspects need to be defined by secondary legislation before local authorities can begin to use the power. The Government is working to introduce the associated statutory instruments.

We recognise the resource constraints faced by local authorities and have considered how the burden on local authorities can be reduced. We are providing up to £2 million of financial support to make sure that areas which need this the most are not priced out by prohibitive refurbishment costs to bring the properties up to standard. We will also publish guidance for local authorities and relevant stakeholders to support them in implementing High Street Rental Auctions.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the job titles are of people working in her Department's Human Resources and Transformation Directorate.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The job titles for everyone working in the Human Resources & Transformation Directorate are as follows:

• Business Partnering and Organisation Development
• HR
• HR Services & Specialist Advice
• Payroll, Reward, Policies and ER
• Transformation
• Workforce, Skills and Strategy

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to respond to Questions 3012, 3013, 3020, 3022, 3028, 3030, 3032, 3033, 3034, 3035, 3036, 3037, 3038, 3040, 3041 and 3043, which were tabled on 21 November 2023.

Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Parliamentary Questions (PQs) and the Department remains committed to providing the highest level of service.

I sincerely apologise for the delay in responding to these PQs. The information requested in these PQs is detailed and complex, and we have been working hard to identify what information we can provide to accurately answer the questions raised. We hope to be able to provide an answer shortly

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what staff networks there are in his Department.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

There are 15 active networks listed below:

• Flexible working and job share,

• Carers,

• Parenting,

• CORE (Race),

• ABLE (disability),

• Social Mobility,

• Menopause,

• Faith & Belief,

• Christian Network,

• Civil Service Jewish Network,

• LGBT+,

• EU Nationals

• EngAge (intergenerational/age)

• Gender Equality Group.

• Neurodiversity Network

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what staff networks there are in her Department.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The following staff-led support networks currently operate in the Department:

- EnABLE, a disability and long-term conditions network;

- Autism Network;

- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Network;

- Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network;

- Race Equality Matters Network;

- Prism, an LGBT+ network;

- Women’s Network;

- Parents’ Network;

- Age Diversity Network;

- Carers’ Network;

- Care Leavers’ Network;

- Social Mobility Network;

- Men’s Health Network;

- Christian Network;

- Jewish Network;

- Muslim Network;

- Hinduism and Sikhism Group;

- Humanists Network;

- Diversity and Inclusion Analytical Network;

- Domestic Abuse Support Group;

- Working Through Cancer Network; and

- Mental Health First Aid.

The following networks support and promote professional development and operational delivery:

- International Network;

- Flexible Working Network;

- Green Network;

- Social Workers Network;

- Health Science and Engineering Network;

- IT User Engagement Group;

- Clinicians’ Network;

- Nutritionist Network;

- Perspectives Network;

- History Network;

- Culture and Engagement Champions Network;

- Active Travel Network;

- International Network;

- First Aid Network;

- Administrative Officer and Executive Officer Network;

- Personal Assistant Network;

- Senior Executive Officer and Higher Executive Officer Network;

- G6 and G7 Network; and

- Direct Appointment Scheme Network.

Found: Eddie Hughes , Andrew Lewer , Grahame Morris , Damien Moore , Martin Vickers , David Morris , Neil

Found: Jo Gideon, Eddie Hughes, Andrew Lewer, Grahame Morris, Damien Moore, Martin Vickers, David Morris, Neil

Found: Sarah Atherton Brendan Clarke-Smith Damien Moore Kelly Tolhurst Julian Knight James Grundy Neil

Found: Minister Neil O'Brien speech on achieving a smokefree 2030: cutting smoking and stopping kids vaping

Found: Robert Jenrick Sarah Atherton Brendan Clarke-Smith Damien Moore Kelly Tolhurst James Grundy Neil

Found: O'Brien Andrew Lewer Richard Drax Adam Holloway Dame Andrea Jenkyns Sir Julian Lewis Jill

Found: Minister Neil O'Brien speech on achieving a smokefree 2030: cutting smoking and stopping kids vaping