Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were (a) convicted for robbery and b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by year of conviction and number of previous occasions the offender has been convicted for robbery.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the attached excel tables. These tables include data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on the number of offenders who were convicted of a specified offence but did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by the number of previous convictions for that specified offence.
This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.
Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were (a) convicted of theft and (b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by year of conviction and number of previous occasions the offender has been convicted for theft.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the attached excel tables. These tables include data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on the number of offenders who were convicted of a specified offence but did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by the number of previous convictions for that specified offence.
This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.
Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were (a) convicted for a sexual offence and (b) did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by year of conviction and number of previous occasions the offender has been convicted for sexual offences.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the attached excel tables. These tables include data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on the number of offenders who were convicted of a specified offence but did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by the number of previous convictions for that specified offence.
This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.
Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to table SOPS 1.1 from the Department's 2024/5 Annual Report and Accounts, what categories of spending are covered by the total of £1,497,088,000 covering administration and programme expenditure in Section A - Department for Business and Trade (Departmental Expenditure Limits).
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The breakdown of Estimate line ‘A DBT – Department for Business and Trade (DEL)’ for RDEL outturn of £1,497,088,000 for 2024-25 is:
| DBT Core (£000) | Insolvency Service (£000) | Companies House (£000) | Total (£000) |
Current grants to persons and non-profit (net) | 113,123 | - | - | 113,123 |
Depreciation | 26,664 | 6,421 | 7,974 | 41,059 |
Income from sales of goods and services | (989) | (2,300) | (432) | (3,721) |
Other resource | (60,019) | (43,993) | (203,517) | (307,529) |
Purchase of goods and services | 418,404 | 42,356 | 48,403 | 509,163 |
Rentals | 315 | 277 | - | 592 |
Staff costs | 535,964 | 100,991 | 88,783 | 725,738 |
Subsidies to private sector companies | 150,680 | - | - | 150,680 |
Subsidies to public corporations | 240,951 | - | - | 240,951 |
Change in pension scheme liabilities | 228 | - | - | 228 |
Current grants abroad (net) | 8,622 | - | - | 8,622 |
Current grants to local government (net) | 18,181 | - | - | 18,181 |
| 1,452,124 | 103,752 | (58,789) | 1,497,0871 |
1Difference between this figure and figure in SOPS due to rounding.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, for what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at the National Physical Laboratory since April 2017.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is a Public Corporation owned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. NPL manages its staffing levels in response to demand for its services from UK Government, industry and academia, and in line with forecasted revenue.
Staffing numbers and costs at NPL have increased since 2017 because of increased demand from Government and industry to build national capability in measurement and standards, aligned with industry needs and emerging tech.
Staffing costs have also increased through annual pay awards, which is managed by NPL and takes account of Managing Public Money and public sector pay policy.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, for what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at the Information Commissioner's Office since April 2017.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is independent of government and sets its own staffing levels to meet its statutory duties. The ICO is funded primarily through the data protection fee and manages its resources in accordance with its regulatory obligations.
The volume and complexity of data protection work have increased significantly in recent years, including implementation of the UK GDPR and an expanded regulatory remit. To fulfil these responsibilities and respond to rising public and business demand, the ICO has required additional specialist capacity. Staffing costs have therefore increased in line with workforce growth and market rates for technical expertise, following the civil service pay guidance.
You can find more information about ICO’s staff number and costs in their annual reports, which can be viewed at: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/our-information/annual-reports/.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at the Competition and Markets Authority since April 2017.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Changes in staff numbers at the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) since 1 April 2017 have been affected by the expansion of its responsibilities in respect of competition enforcement and merger control following the UK’s departure from the EU; the introduction of new statutory functions and responsibilities, including under the UK Internal Market Act 2020, leading to the creation of the Office for the Internal Market and the Subsidy Advice Unit; and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which established the digital markets competition regime. These factors, together with the implementation of civil service pay awards, have also affected staff costs over this period.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what was the a) mean and b) median amount of housing support claimed by people in each local authority who were on i) Housing Benefit ii) the Housing Element of UC and iii) either Housing Benefit or the Housing Element of UC.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I) The information requested for Housing Benefit (HB) mean amounts are available on Stat-Xplore (link below).
II) Universal Credit (UC) is a single integrated benefit made up of different elements, such as Housing. Benefit units receive one combined monthly payment, and any deductions apply to the total award, not individual elements. Breakdowns of the UC Housing Element are available at national level in the Benefit Expenditure Tables (link below). However, the underlying data is not sufficient to produce these breakdowns at a sub-national level, such as local authorities. As a result, it is not possible to robustly estimate mean or median element of UC at a local authority level.
III) Due to data quality limitations that prevent calculation of (ii), it is not possible to estimate the population receiving either HB or the housing element of UC.
Benefit Expenditure and Caseload Tables: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2025 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the mean size in hectares was of businesses ranked in the top 4% of SFI annual revenue payments by October 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The mean size of a businesses ranked in the top 4% of Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) annual revenue payments as of October 2025 is 803 hectares.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the total annual payments made to businesses under the SFI for actions SAM1, NUM1, IPM1 and HRW1 (broken down by individual action) were at 1 October 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As of 1st October 2025, there were 32,405, Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements which included actions (C)SAM1, (C) NUM1, (C)HRW1 or (C)IPM1.
The number of agreements containing these actions and the value of these actions broken down by individual action are shown in the table below.
option code | Number of Agreements | Total Value of Action within Agreement (£) |
CHRW1 | 5,766 | 8,754,000 |
CIPM1 | 7,162 | 24,258,000 |
CNUM1 | 7,593 | 14,852,000 |
CSAM1 | 9,179 | 17,963,000 |
HRW1 | 10,191 | 21,709,000 |
IPM1 | 15,656 | 53,025,000 |
NUM1 | 16,583 | 32,435,000 |
SAM1 | 18,421 | 51,638,000 |
To Note: An Agreement can have multiple options so for example may have NUM1, SAM1 & IPM1 so may be counted multiple times under number of agreements in the table above.