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, how many people in Harborough, Oadby and Wigston constituency will be affected by the change in eligibility requirements for Winter Fuel Payment.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Please note that following boundary changes to Parliamentary Constituency, data on Harborough, Oadby and Wigston constituency is not explicitly available/ published. To obtain the above figure, data on the previous Harborough constituency has been used.
It is estimated that around 20,405 people in the previous constituency of Harborough will be affected by the change in policy. This is based on Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics and 22-23 Winter Fuel Payments statistics (sources below).
This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients for Harborough constituency from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients for Harborough constituency. This is essentially the number of Winter Fuel Payment claimants pre-policy change not claiming Pension Credit, as an estimate of those who will no longer receive Winter fuel payment. The Pension Credit data that is used is based on the 2010 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, not 2024, in order to be comparable with the Winter Fuel Payments statistics.
Also, the above figures do not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up we might see as a result of the Government’s Pension awareness campaigns. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.
The published Pension Credit figures refer to households rather than individuals, so the number of individuals claiming Pension Credit, will be higher (i.e., taking account of households where it is a couple claiming Pension Credit).
In addition to that, Pension Credit claimants are the majority of those that will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, not all. There are other pensioners who are eligible for Winter Fuel Payments (as they claim other means tested benefits) but they are not considered in these figures as it is not possible to do so.
Source:
The Winter Fuel Payments statistics are published here:
Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Pension Credit data is published here: Pension Credit – Data from May 2018
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have absconded from immigration detention in each year since 2004.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on escapes from immigration detention in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on escapes from detention centres and absconds from escort is published by year in table Det_05a of the ‘Detention summary tables’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The published data covers the period from 2017 to 2023. Data prior to 2017 is not published. Data for the year 2024 is due to be published in the August 2025 edition of the publication.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of former asylum applicants who have withdrawn their applications (a) have left the country and (b) her Department knew the location of in each year since 2015.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not routinely publish the information you have requested, we are unable to provide this information, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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, with reference to page 6 of the policy document entitled Statement of Levelling Up Missions, published on 25 January 2024, whether it remains his Department's policy that levels of public investment in research and development outside the Greater South East will increase by at least 40% by 2030.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This public R&D regional investment target is committed to in legislation via the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
Increasing productivity right across the UK is fundamental to our mission to kickstart economic growth. Through our Industrial Strategy and the development of Local Growth Plans, we will build on local strengths to ensure that public and private R&D investment right across the UK helps local places to reach their potential.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2024 to Question 2476 on Winter Fuel Payment, if she will provide this information for current constituency boundaries.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Winter Fuel Payment statistics covering winter 2023/24 are due to be published on 24 September at 9:30am: Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2023 to 2024 - Official statistics announcement. This publication will include information for the current constituency boundaries.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average spend per pupil was in state schools in each year since 1994, broken down by region.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The table below provides per pupil funding units from 2018/19 to 2024/25, which represents the funding provided for schools in all regions, nationally.
The department cannot provide comparable funding data back to 1994, due to the changes in the funding system since that time. In particular, funding for schools was only identified separately from funding for high needs or early years in 2013, and funding for central school services provided by local authorities was split out from the schools block funding in 2018/19.
The figures below represent the core funding schools receive through the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). All the figures in the table, apart from those for 2018/19 exclude growth funding but include premises funding. They do not include additional funding that schools have received for pay and pensions, or other funding streams, such as the pupil premium.
Region | DSG Schools Block per pupil funding | ||||||
| 2018/19 * | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
East Midlands | £4,426 | £4,477 | £4,702 | £5,086 | £5,393 | £5,698 | £5,818 |
East of England | £4,445 | £4,447 | £4,643 | £5,021 | £5,322 | £5,616 | £5,736 |
London | £5,383 | £5,360 | £5,529 | £5,914 | £6,240 | £6,553 | £6,656 |
North East | £4,618 | £4,649 | £4,828 | £5,220 | £5,538 | £5,869 | £5,993 |
North West | £4,629 | £4,653 | £4,838 | £5,221 | £5,524 | £5,835 | £5,962 |
South East | £4,335 | £4,372 | £4,589 | £4,975 | £5,268 | £5,555 | £5,681 |
South West | £4,346 | £4,393 | £4,614 | £5,010 | £5,317 | £5,614 | £5,734 |
West Midlands | £4,638 | £4,652 | £4,823 | £5,198 | £5,506 | £5,815 | £5,931 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | £4,590 | £4,622 | £4,819 | £5,202 | £5,508 | £5,824 | £5,949 |
* In the 2018/19 DSG, growth funding and premises funding were calculated together, so the 2018/19 funding figures include growth funding. All other years exclude growth funding.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent on communications in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department uses marketing to support the delivery of strategic aims and government priorities, including to recruit teachers and early years professionals, reform the skills landscape, and drive take up of products and services like apprenticeships, T Levels and childcare entitlements.
The department’s total spend on advertising and communications was £48 million in 2023/24. More information on the department’s accounts for 2023/24, the last year for which data is available, can be found in the link below: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a78085ce1fd0da7b592e80/DfE_consolidated_annual_report_and_accounts_2023_to_2024_-_web-optimised_version.pdf.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department spent on communications in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office reports data on media spending and discloses this together with IT in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts.
Refer to page 243 (page 247 on the PDF reader) of the 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts, through the link below.
Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2023 to 2024 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on communications in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 is the latest version laid before Parliament. For spend on communications we have interpreted this to be publicity and advertising, which includes health promotion campaigns, for instance Better Health, childhood immunisations, and winter vaccinations. The costs in this year for the Department were £27,473,336.
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, how much his Department spent on communications in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In financial year 2023/2024 the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) spent a total of £8,316,561.37 on communications. This is inclusive of £3,516,253.54 which are payroll related costs for staff who work in the Communications Directorate.
The DSIT Communications Team is responsible for all communications conducted by the department and its Ministers to help inform, promote and explain departmental policies through traditional and new media channels. This includes a number of paid-for marketing campaigns such as those designed to encourage uptake of R&D funding made available through Horizon Europe and campaigns to build skills required for the jobs of the future.