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 households are claiming housing benefits, either housing benefit or the housing element of Universal credit, in each Broad Market Rental Area (a) in total, (b) in the private rented sector and (c) in the social rented sector.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the number of households receiving the Universal Credit (UC) Housing Element in the Private Rented Sector by Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA) is available on Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/).
Information on Housing Benefit (HB) caseload is available on Stat-Xplore disaggregated by Local Authority, but not by BRMA.
Housing support for social rented sector households claiming either Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit is not determined within BRMAs. BRMAs only apply to housing support in the private rented sector.
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 many and what proportion of staff in her Department were promoted (a) in-grade and (b) to a higher grade in the last year broken down by (i) performance marking in the previous year and (ii) grade.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The table below shows the grade breakdown and proportions of promotions to a higher grade (excluding temporary promotions) between November 2025 and October 2025. Please note: The promotion counts shown are based on internal departmental staff who were promoted to a higher grade within the department between November 2024 and October 2025. These figures exclude individuals who joined the department on promotion and those who left on promotion to another department, as this information is not captured in our central HR systems.
Since 2019 the flexible performance management framework has enabled departments to adopt a performance management approach which best suits their organisational and cultural needs. There is no common performance rating across government. The department does not currently operate a performance management system that includes performance markings. However, it is in the process of introducing ratings for its Senior Civil Servants, with ratings for the 2025/26 performance year due to be determined in Spring 2026.
Grade* | Average headcount | Count of those promoted to grade | Proportion of roles filled by internal candidates on promotion (%)** |
EO | 655 | <30 | - |
HEO | 1,488 | 95 | 6 |
SEO | 2,342 | 202 | 9 |
Grade 7 | 2,229 | 129 | 6 |
Grade 6 | 905 | 44 | 5 |
Deputy Director | 206 | <30 | - |
Director | 46 | <30 | - |
Total | 8,026 | 482 | 6 |
Data has been suppressed where there are fewer than 30 employees.
*The grade displayed in the table represents the grade to which staff were promoted.
** The percentage scores in the table represent the number of promotions to each higher grade between November 2024 and October 2025, expressed as a proportion of the average headcount for that higher grade during the same period.
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 1.2 from his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2024/5, if he will publish a breakdown of CDEL in Section A - Department for Business and Trade, covering both gross spending and income.
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 CDEL outturn of £492,483,000 for 2024-25 is:
| DBT Core (£000) | Insolvency Service (£000) | Companies House (£000) | Total (£000) |
Current grants to persons and non-profit (net) | 313,198 | - | - | 313,198 |
Income from sales of assets | (265) | - | - | (265) |
Income from sales of goods and services | (2,075) | - | - | (2,075) |
Net lending to the private sector and abroad | (72,606) | - | - | (72,606) |
Other capital | (13) | - | - | (13) |
Purchase of assets | 15,271 | 4,687 | 19,432 | 39,390 |
Purchase of goods and services | 12,327 | - | - | 12,327 |
Staff costs | 1,556 | - | - | 1,556 |
Capital grants abroad (net) | 150 | - | - | 150 |
Capital grants to persons & non-profit (net) | 1,270 | - | - | 1,270 |
Capital grants to private sector companies (net) | 126,391 | - | - | 126,391 |
Capital support for local government (net) | 10 | - | - | 10 |
Capital support for public corporations | 73,151 | - | - | 73,151 |
| 468,365 | 4,687 | 19,432 | 492,484¹ |
1Difference between this figure and figure in Estimate due to rounding.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish a lookup table matching census Output Areas to Broad Rental Market Areas.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has no plans to publish a lookup table matching census Output Areas to Broad Rental Market Areas.
The Broad Rental Market Areas for a specific postcode or local authority area can be found using the Valuation Office Agency’s LHA Direct search. This can be found here.
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 are claiming (a) housing benefit and (b) the housing element of universal credit in each broad rental market area (BRMA) and what was the average amount claimed in each BRMA in 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the number of households receiving the UC Housing Element in the Private Rented Sector by Broad Rental Market Area is available on Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/).
Providing the rest of the information requested would incur disproportionate cost.
Information on HB caseload and average award is available on Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/) disaggregated by Local Authority, but not BRMA.
Breakdowns of the UC Housing Element and Housing Benefit are available at national level in the Benefit Caseload and Expenditure Tables (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2025).
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 convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence did not receive an immediate custodial sentence and had a) one, b) two, c) three, d) four and e) five or more prior convictions for burglary in each of the past 5 years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. This table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:
The number of offenders who were a) convicted and b) cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences, and
The number of offenders who were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences.
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 convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence did not receive an immediate custodial sentence and had a) one, b) two, c) three, d) four and e) five or more prior convictions for violence against the person in each of the past 5 years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. This table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:
The number of offenders who were a) convicted and b) cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences, and
The number of offenders who were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences.
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 who were (a) convicted and (b) cautioned for an indictable offence did not receive an immediate custodial sentence and had (i) one, (ii) two, (iii) three, (iv) four and (iv) five or more prior convictions for a violent offence in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. This table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:
The number of offenders who were a) convicted and b) cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences, and
The number of offenders who were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences.
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 convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence did not receive an immediate custodial sentence and had a) one, b) two, c) three, d) four and e) five or more prior convictions for theft or robbery in each of the past 5 years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. This table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:
The number of offenders who were a) convicted and b) cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences, and
The number of offenders who were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences.
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, for what reason (a) the number of staff and (b) staff costs have increased at the Financial Reporting Council since April 2017.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has taken on several new responsibilities following its (2016) designation as competent authority for audit, and additional work resulting from the UK's exit from the European Union. These include the registration of additional third country auditors, a new programme of assessing third country audit regulatory equivalence and adequacy, and supporting agreements on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. The FRC has also put extra resource into the supervision of audits and expediting enforcement proceedings.
Staff costs have increased in direct proportion to the increase in headcount.