Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the impact of her policies on electric vehicle charging companies’ (a) pricing and (b) subscription models.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government is committed to ensuring public charging is affordable for all. Under the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023, chargepoint operators are required to clearly provide the price of charging at public chargepoints in pence per kilowatt hour. While this does not cap the cost of charging or require chargepoint operators to use a specific pricing model, it does ensure consistency in the way prices are displayed, making it easy for drivers to compare public chargepoints and choose the best rate.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the total (a) value and (b) number of payments made by her Department to Motability in each year since 2010.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Work and Pensions retains financial information for 7 years in compliance with the fifth principle of the Data Protection Act, therefore we are unable to provide historic data back to 2010. We can provide the requested estimated total Motability values data for the previous three calendar years, DWP has paid:

2022 - c£607 million

2023 - c£600 million

2024 - c£600 million

We are unable to provide volumes data, and value data for earlier years within the timescales required for this request, due to the time required to interrogate our systems to obtain this level of information.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of clay pigeon shooting on (a) business growth and (b) job creation in rural communities.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Rural areas offer significant potential for growth and are important to our economy, contributing over £315 billion a year to England alone.

Defra has not made a formal assessment on contribution of clay pigeon shooting to the rural economy; however, we know the rural economy is diverse with 86% of rural businesses unrelated to agriculture, forestry or fishing.

The government recognises the economic benefits that shooting sports such as clay pigeon shooting can bring to rural communities and that it can be an important part of a local economy which provides direct and indirect employment opportunities.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England are projected to pay on average for energy bills in each year between 2025 and 2030.

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

The average annual energy costs for primary and secondary schools based on financial returns to the department from 2015 to 2024 are as follows:

To note:

• Local authority-maintained schools report costs for the 12-month period to 31 March. Academies report costs for the 12-month period to 31 August.
• These figures do not include energy costs recorded as attributable to or incurred by multi-academy trust central services.
• All spending data reported by schools to the department is publicly available at https://financial-benchmarking-and-insights-tool.education.gov.uk/data-sources.

The department does not hold a forecast for how much primary and secondary schools are projected to pay in their energy bills beyond the 2025/26 financial year. This is set out in the ‘School costs technical note’ which estimated energy price inflation for schools at a 4.1% increase for the 2024/25 financial year and a fall of 5.1% for the 2025/26 financial year.

The department is developing a suite of productivity initiatives to support schools in making efficiencies in their budgets. This includes giving schools the opportunity to join the department’s Energy for Schools initiative. When schools' energy contracts are up for renewal, they can join the department's contract. During the pilot for this project, schools saved 36% on average compared to their previous contracts.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England paid for energy bills on average in each year since 2015.

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

The average annual energy costs for primary and secondary schools based on financial returns to the department from 2015 to 2024 are as follows:

To note:

• Local authority-maintained schools report costs for the 12-month period to 31 March. Academies report costs for the 12-month period to 31 August.
• These figures do not include energy costs recorded as attributable to or incurred by multi-academy trust central services.
• All spending data reported by schools to the department is publicly available at https://financial-benchmarking-and-insights-tool.education.gov.uk/data-sources.

The department does not hold a forecast for how much primary and secondary schools are projected to pay in their energy bills beyond the 2025/26 financial year. This is set out in the ‘School costs technical note’ which estimated energy price inflation for schools at a 4.1% increase for the 2024/25 financial year and a fall of 5.1% for the 2025/26 financial year.

The department is developing a suite of productivity initiatives to support schools in making efficiencies in their budgets. This includes giving schools the opportunity to join the department’s Energy for Schools initiative. When schools' energy contracts are up for renewal, they can join the department's contract. During the pilot for this project, schools saved 36% on average compared to their previous contracts.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many smart meters have been installed in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England in each year since 2015.

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

The department does not hold information on how many primary and secondary schools have installed smart meters since 2015, nor do we set an expectation for how many primary and secondary schools should install smart meters. However, smart meters are recommended within the department’s published energy efficiency guidance. The guidance outlines that educational settings should monitor their energy use to help prioritise the best ways to reduce energy consumption. The guidance is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-efficiency-guidance-for-the-school-and-fe-college-estate/energy-efficiency-guidance-for-the-school-and-further-education-college-estate.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many smart meters he expects to be installed in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each year between 2025 and 2030.

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

The department does not hold information on how many primary and secondary schools have installed smart meters since 2015, nor do we set an expectation for how many primary and secondary schools should install smart meters. However, smart meters are recommended within the department’s published energy efficiency guidance. The guidance outlines that educational settings should monitor their energy use to help prioritise the best ways to reduce energy consumption. The guidance is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-efficiency-guidance-for-the-school-and-fe-college-estate/energy-efficiency-guidance-for-the-school-and-further-education-college-estate.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the average amount received in benefits by benefit claimant households in each year since 2010, broken down by local authority.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Monthly statistics for the number of households on Universal Credit and Housing Benefit in Great Britain by local authority are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore.

Universal Credit statistics, by monthly average award amount, are available from August 2015 to November 2024 in the Households on Universal Credit dataset.

Housing Benefit statistics, by weekly average award amount, are available from November 2008 to March 2018 in the Housing Benefit – Data to March 2018 dataset and from April 2018 to November 2024 in the Housing Benefit - Data from April 2018 dataset.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide

The information requested for households receiving other benefits is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of benefit claimant households had received welfare payments for (a) five, (b) ten, (c) twenty and (d) more than twenty years in each year since 2010 in the latest period for which data is available, broken down by local authority.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefits claimant households received (a) Universal Credit, (b) New Style Jobseekers’ Allowance, (c) New Style Employment and Support Allowance, (d) Personal Independence Payment and (e) legacy benefits in each year since 2010, broken down by local authority.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Monthly statistics for the number of households on Universal Credit and Housing Benefit in Great Britain by local authority are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore.

Universal Credit statistics are available from August 2015 to November 2024 in the Households on Universal Credit dataset.

Housing Benefit statistics are available from November 2008 to March 2018 in the Housing Benefit – Data to March 2018 dataset and from April 2018 to November 2024 in the Housing Benefit - Data from April 2018 dataset.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide

The information requested for households receiving the other benefits is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS (a) hospitals, and (b) other buildings in England will be (i) sold, (ii) refurbished, and (iii) demolished between 2025 and 2030.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department does not currently hold estimated figures for the number of sales, refurbishments and demolitions of hospitals and other National Health Service buildings in England for 2025 to 2030.

Decisions to sell, refurbish or demolish hospitals and other NHS buildings in England are matters for the local NHS organisations in line with their local infrastructure planning.

Decisions on sales, refurbishments and demolitions will also be shaped by capital availability. We are backing NHS systems to invest in local priorities in 2025/26, with over £4 billion in operational capital, and national funding, including the £750 million Estates Safety Fund. Systems are in planning stages for capital investments in 2025/26, informed by the NHS capital guidance for 2025/26, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/capital-guidance-2025-26/

Capital funding levels for 2026/27 to 2030/31 will be determined through the current Spending Review, which concludes in June 2025.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials in his Department have had with the Health and Safety Executive on its proposed restriction on the acquisition, storage, and use of lead shot.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In Spring 2021, Defra asked the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency (EA) to prepare a restriction dossier for lead ammunition in all habitats. The HSE and the EA have considered the evidence of risk posed by lead in ammunition to human health and the environment, as well as the socio-economic impacts of their proposed restriction. They also considered the effectiveness, practicality, monitorability and enforceability of their suggested restriction.

HSE have now published a final Opinion on their restriction proposal for lead in ammunition (including lead shot), informed by feedback from public consultations as well as independent scientific advice. As part of their Opinion, HSE have considered the socio-economic impacts of their proposed restriction in GB. Defra has received HSE’s final Opinion and are assessing their proposals. A decision will follow, which will be taken with the consent of the Devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales.

Since the final Opinion was published, Defra Officials have been in contact with the HSE to discuss and further understand their recommendation in detail.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of exempting elite shooting athletes from the Health and Safety Executive’s proposed restriction on the acquisition, storage, and use of lead shot.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) final Opinion on their restriction proposal for lead in ammunition, informed by information from public consultations as well as independent scientific advice, included consideration of the use of lead shot by athletes. In their final Opinion, HSE set out their assessment and this included a proposed exemption for competitive athletes. Now Defra has received HSE’s final Opinion on the proposed restriction, we are assessing their proposals. A decision will follow in due course, which will be taken with consent from the Devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations his Department has received from shooting organisations on restrictions on the acquisition, storage, and use of lead shot.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has received representations from a variety of stakeholders, including shooting organisations, setting out a diverse range of views on this issue. The main shooting organisations that have made representations have been: The British Association for Shooting and Conservation, Aim to Sustain, and the Gun Trade Association.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of restricting the acquisition, storage, and usage of lead shot on elite shooting athletes.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) final Opinion on their restriction proposal for lead in ammunition, informed by information from public consultations as well as independent scientific advice, included consideration of the use of lead shot by athletes. In their final Opinion, HSE set out their assessment and this included a proposed exemption for competitive athletes. Now Defra has received HSE’s final Opinion on the proposed restriction, we are assessing their proposals. A decision will follow in due course, which will be taken with consent from the Devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many irregular migrants have been granted permission to work in (a) full-time and (b) part-time employment in each year since 2020.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

Obtaining the specific information requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by multiple teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of irregular migrants who do not have an up-to-date address registered by her Department.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

Obtaining the specific information requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by multiple teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many irregular migrants have been given the right to work in each year since 2020.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

Obtaining the specific information requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by multiple teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school buildings will be (a) sold, (b) refurbished and (c) demolished between 2025 and 2030.

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

The department supports responsible bodies, such as local authorities and charitable trusts, that own and manage the school estate, with capital funding, building programmes and extensive guidance. The department does not generally hold data on planned sales, refurbishment or demolition of primary and secondary school buildings by these bodies.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the (a) sources and (b) levels of carbon emissions for schools in England in each year since 2015.

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

Education settings are not required to provide specific data on their energy use or greenhouse gas emissions.

To estimate the education estate's emissions position overall, the department references a Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy report, the Building Energy Efficiency Survey (BEES) 2014/15.

The BEES report estimates that schools and universities represent approximately one third of all England and Wales public sector building emissions. Total greenhouse gas emissions from education sector buildings were estimated to be 4.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) per year. The equivalent figure for industrial sector buildings is 7.8 MtCO2e. The annual greenhouse gas emissions from electrical energy consumption were 2.2 MtCO2e and those from non-electrical energy consumption were 1.9 MtCO2e.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been spent on ultra-low carbon measures for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England in each year since 2015.

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

The department is committed to supporting the UK net-zero carbon targets. Since 2021, the department’s own building standards require that all new school buildings we deliver are net-zero carbon in operation and are adapted to climate change to between 2 and 4 degrees temperature increase. The costs of meeting net-zero are within the overall construction costs for each school and not separately identified.

Decisions on which projects to prioritise with funding are primarily taken at a local level. For the 2025/26 financial year, the department has increased funding to improve the condition of the estate to £2.1 billion, up from £1.8 billion in 2024/25. Details of capital funding are published on GOV.UK.

Capital funding beyond the 2025/26 financial year will be set out following the next phase of the spending review.

Schools, along with other public bodies, have also been able to access funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which is run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Details of projects funded are also available on GOV.UK.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department is projected to spend on ultra-low carbon measures for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools by 2030.

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

The department is committed to supporting the UK net-zero carbon targets. Since 2021, the department’s own building standards require that all new school buildings we deliver are net-zero carbon in operation and are adapted to climate change to between 2 and 4 degrees temperature increase. The costs of meeting net-zero are within the overall construction costs for each school and not separately identified.

Decisions on which projects to prioritise with funding are primarily taken at a local level. For the 2025/26 financial year, the department has increased funding to improve the condition of the estate to £2.1 billion, up from £1.8 billion in 2024/25. Details of capital funding are published on GOV.UK.

Capital funding beyond the 2025/26 financial year will be set out following the next phase of the spending review.

Schools, along with other public bodies, have also been able to access funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which is run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Details of projects funded are also available on GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of building new charging infrastructure for police electric vehicles in each year between 2025 and 2030.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold this data. Decisions about the allocation of police resources locally, are a matter for Chief Constables and directly elected local policing bodies (including Police and Crime Commissioners, Mayors exercising PCC functions and the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of building new charging infrastructure for police electric vehicles in each year between 2020 and 2025.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold this data. Decisions about the allocation of police resources locally, are a matter for Chief Constables and directly elected local policing bodies (including Police and Crime Commissioners, Mayors exercising PCC functions and the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime).

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many irregular migrants have been given a National Insurance Number in each year since 2020.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP does not issue National Insurance Numbers to irregular migrants. The department is responsible for the allocation of National Insurance Numbers to adults in the UK, and all applicants are required to provide evidence of their identity and information to prove they have the right to work in the UK. This is the only circumstance in which applicants will be granted a National Insurance number.

The information provided by applicants is corroborated against other Government Department systems before a National Insurance Number is allocated.

We publish quarterly data on the number of adult overseas nationals entering the UK that have received a National Insurance number, please see the link below for more information.

National Insurance number allocations to adult overseas nationals entering the UK - GOV.UK

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many successful asylum claimants by nationality there were by (a) age and (b) sex in each year since 2020.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of granted asylum claims in each year, by nationality, age and sex, is published in table Asy_D02 of the Asylum and resettlement detailed datasets. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relate to 2024.