Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the number of (a) collisions and (b) offences that have later been linked to drivers found to have obtained licences fraudulently in the last five years.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The requested information is not held by the Department.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has issued (a) a national strategy and (b) guidance for NHS trusts on genetic disorders linked to consanguinity.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Genomic testing is delivered through the NHS Genomic Medicine Service and guided by the National Genomic Test Directory, which outlines the eligibility criteria for genomic testing based on specific clinical indications. These eligibility criteria support clinicians to decide whether genetic testing is appropriate, including in cases where genetic disorders may be linked to consanguinity. In addition, through the Genetic Risk Equity Project, NHS England is piloting and evaluating new models of care in nine sites to improve equity of access to genetic services for the small proportion of consanguineous couples at increased genetic risk. NHS England has published training modules about close relative marriage and genetic risk for midwives and health visitors, as well as guidance on how to submit data around consanguinity and pregnancy to the Maternity Services Dataset.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many non-British people received 15 hours of free childcare in the last financial year.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The requested information on nationality is not held by the department.

Information on children under 5 registered for government funded entitlements in England and on providers and staff delivering them, is published in the ‘Funded early education and childcare statistics’ publication, which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/funded-early-education-and-childcare/2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of internationally recruited NHS workers were required to retake the International English Language Testing System more than once to meet employment eligibility criteria between 2020 and 2025.

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

The Department does not collect data on repeat International English Language Testing System (IELTS) attempts or average test scores for National Health Service staff. Information on English language competence for professional registration is held by the relevant United Kingdom healthcare regulators. Any assessment data for candidates applying to join the NHS Performers List would be managed by NHS England, while local NHS trusts and employers may hold records of candidate performance where assessments form part of their recruitment process. Additionally, IELTS publishes global test statistics on its website, at the following link:

https://ielts.org/researchers/our-research/test-statistics

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average International English Language Testing System scores were for internationally recruited healthcare professionals entering the NHS via the international recruitment programme in each of the last three years.

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

The Department does not collect data on repeat International English Language Testing System (IELTS) attempts or average test scores for National Health Service staff. Information on English language competence for professional registration is held by the relevant United Kingdom healthcare regulators. Any assessment data for candidates applying to join the NHS Performers List would be managed by NHS England, while local NHS trusts and employers may hold records of candidate performance where assessments form part of their recruitment process. Additionally, IELTS publishes global test statistics on its website, at the following link:

https://ielts.org/researchers/our-research/test-statistics

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, to provide a breakdown of (i) the total number (ii) the age of children taken into care in each of the last ten years.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The latest figures on the number of children taken into care for reasons of court orders or police protection, emergency or child assessment orders in England by age are shown in the attached table.

The latest figures on all children starting to be looked after in England by legal status and separately by age is published in the statistical release: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025#explore-data-and-files.

The table can be located at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a70a7aef-adc9-46be-b94b-08de28d609b2.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department has made available to local authorities for (a) housing (b) other support to Gazan evacuees.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is funding local authorities, in the form of an accommodation tariff, so they can provide suitable accommodation for families from Gaza for up to two years in England.

The Department of Health and Social Care is providing local authorities a fixed flat-rate tariff to fund wraparound services to families. Local authorities are also able to claim additional funding to cover exceptional adult social care, children’s social care, and educational costs.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will establish a limit on the proportion of foreign national officers that may be employed by each police force.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and selection processes are run, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners and are therefore managed locally by forces. This is done within a national application, assessment and selection framework, in line with national guidance maintained by the College of Policing. Forces are also expected to act lawfully in line with equalities legislation and adhere to best practice in this area when carrying out recruitment.

Police forces that reflect the communities they serve are crucial to tackling crime and maintaining public trust and confidence in a modern diverse society. A person of any nationality may apply to be a police officer in England and Wales, subject to candidates satisfying eligibility and vetting requirements, including meeting relevant residency criteria.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have been subject to disciplinary action as a result of (a) poor communication and (b) language comprehension in the last five years.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the requested information.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on cases handled under the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 as a part of its published Police Misconduct: England and Wales statistical series:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-misconduct-statistics

This includes information on the volume of complaints, internal conduct matters and recordable conduct matters which, if proven, could result in disciplinary action.

Allegations are categorised using the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) allegation types, which includes a category of impolite language/tone. Data on the volume of allegations and action taken, by IOPC allegation type can be found in the misconduct allegations by type open data table, available from:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-misconduct-open-data-tables

The Home Office does not currently collect information on cases that resulted in disciplinary action for unsatisfactory performance, handled under the Police (Performance) Regulations 2020.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) police misconduct cases and (b) police misconduct cases involving non-UK national police officers since 2020.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the requested information.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on cases handled under the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 as a part of its published Police Misconduct: England and Wales statistical series:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-misconduct-statistics

This includes information on the protected characteristics of those facing complaint, conduct matter and recordable conduct matter allegations. The Home Office does not collect information on the nationality of those who face allegations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national officers have failed vetting or re-vetting procedures since 2015.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not centrally collect information on the number of police officers who fail vetting or re-vetting procedures. This information is held individually by each of the 43 territorial police forces.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proportion of police officers that are of foreign nationality or non-native English speakers on public confidence in police forces.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and selection processes are run, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners and are therefore managed locally by forces. This is done within a national application, assessment and selection framework, in line with national guidance maintained by the College of Policing. We expect all forces to uphold the highest standards in recruitment so that only those fit to serve as police officers are appointed.

The Home Office does not collect data on the nationality of police officers, nor on police officers that have completed English language training. However, all candidates for appointment as a police officer must meet the standards set by the College of Policing.

As set out in Regulations, police officers must demonstrate competence in written and spoken English. We are working closely with the College of Policing to ensure that forces continue to make improvements to all entry routes. As part of this work, the College of Policing is currently consulting police leaders to assess and determine the appropriate English language standard required for all policing roles.

Forces are operationally independent, and decisions about training requirements and the deployment of officers remain an operational matter for Chief Constables.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that police officers demonstrate fluent spoken and written English before being deployed in frontline roles.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and selection processes are run, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners and are therefore managed locally by forces. This is done within a national application, assessment and selection framework, in line with national guidance maintained by the College of Policing. We expect all forces to uphold the highest standards in recruitment so that only those fit to serve as police officers are appointed.

The Home Office does not collect data on the nationality of police officers, nor on police officers that have completed English language training. However, all candidates for appointment as a police officer must meet the standards set by the College of Policing.

As set out in Regulations, police officers must demonstrate competence in written and spoken English. We are working closely with the College of Policing to ensure that forces continue to make improvements to all entry routes. As part of this work, the College of Policing is currently consulting police leaders to assess and determine the appropriate English language standard required for all policing roles.

Forces are operationally independent, and decisions about training requirements and the deployment of officers remain an operational matter for Chief Constables.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers recruited since 2019 have required English language training after appointment.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and selection processes are run, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners and are therefore managed locally by forces. This is done within a national application, assessment and selection framework, in line with national guidance maintained by the College of Policing. We expect all forces to uphold the highest standards in recruitment so that only those fit to serve as police officers are appointed.

The Home Office does not collect data on the nationality of police officers, nor on police officers that have completed English language training. However, all candidates for appointment as a police officer must meet the standards set by the College of Policing.

As set out in Regulations, police officers must demonstrate competence in written and spoken English. We are working closely with the College of Policing to ensure that forces continue to make improvements to all entry routes. As part of this work, the College of Policing is currently consulting police leaders to assess and determine the appropriate English language standard required for all policing roles.

Forces are operationally independent, and decisions about training requirements and the deployment of officers remain an operational matter for Chief Constables.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides to police forces on English language standards for police recruitment.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and selection processes are run, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners and are therefore managed locally by forces. This is done within a national application, assessment and selection framework, in line with national guidance maintained by the College of Policing. We expect all forces to uphold the highest standards in recruitment so that only those fit to serve as police officers are appointed.

The Home Office does not collect data on the nationality of police officers, nor on police officers that have completed English language training. However, all candidates for appointment as a police officer must meet the standards set by the College of Policing.

As set out in Regulations, police officers must demonstrate competence in written and spoken English. We are working closely with the College of Policing to ensure that forces continue to make improvements to all entry routes. As part of this work, the College of Policing is currently consulting police leaders to assess and determine the appropriate English language standard required for all policing roles.

Forces are operationally independent, and decisions about training requirements and the deployment of officers remain an operational matter for Chief Constables.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many serving police officers in England and Wales are foreign nationals, broken down by nationality.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and selection processes are run, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners and are therefore managed locally by forces. This is done within a national application, assessment and selection framework, in line with national guidance maintained by the College of Policing. We expect all forces to uphold the highest standards in recruitment so that only those fit to serve as police officers are appointed.

The Home Office does not collect data on the nationality of police officers, nor on police officers that have completed English language training. However, all candidates for appointment as a police officer must meet the standards set by the College of Policing.

As set out in Regulations, police officers must demonstrate competence in written and spoken English. We are working closely with the College of Policing to ensure that forces continue to make improvements to all entry routes. As part of this work, the College of Policing is currently consulting police leaders to assess and determine the appropriate English language standard required for all policing roles.

Forces are operationally independent, and decisions about training requirements and the deployment of officers remain an operational matter for Chief Constables.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many telephone operators work on the HMRC employers general enquiries line by the nationality of those operators.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC does not have information readily available identifying the nationality of staff working on specific telephone enquiry lines. Obtaining this information would require a manual process which would exceed the cost threshold for answering parliamentary questions.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many telephone operators work on the HMRC self-assessment line by the nationality of those operators.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC does not have information readily available identifying the nationality of staff working on specific telephone enquiry lines. Obtaining this information would require a manual process which would exceed the cost threshold for answering parliamentary questions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2025 to Question 38250 on Health Services: Foreign Nationals, what the ten nationalities with the highest total unpaid invoices were in 2023-24.

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

The Department does not currently have any plans to reassess or revise charging categories. Introducing additional charging categories would likely be disproportionate and not aid in improving cost recovery.

While the Department holds information on the income identified from chargeable overseas visitors, it does not hold or collect information relating to specific categories of patient, including Category F patients.

The Department also does not hold or collect information on the nationalities that have the highest unpaid invoices.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of splitting charging category A patients ordinarily resident in the UK and (a) asylum seeker and (b) failed asylum seeker under section 95 of the Immigration Act 1999 into two new categories.

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

The Department does not currently have any plans to reassess or revise charging categories. Introducing additional charging categories would likely be disproportionate and not aid in improving cost recovery.

While the Department holds information on the income identified from chargeable overseas visitors, it does not hold or collect information relating to specific categories of patient, including Category F patients.

The Department also does not hold or collect information on the nationalities that have the highest unpaid invoices.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much income was generated through charges for category f patients in each financial year since 2018-19; and how much aggregate income identified for the 2018-19 financial year was written off.

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

The Department does not currently have any plans to reassess or revise charging categories. Introducing additional charging categories would likely be disproportionate and not aid in improving cost recovery.

While the Department holds information on the income identified from chargeable overseas visitors, it does not hold or collect information relating to specific categories of patient, including Category F patients.

The Department also does not hold or collect information on the nationalities that have the highest unpaid invoices.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse was of the NHS Muslim network in each of the last five years for which data is available.

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

As of August 2025, there are 1.54 million staff employed by NHS trusts and integrated care boards in England. Over 89,000, or 5.8%, report Islam as their religion.

Staff networks are not allocated budgets but can apply for funding to support activities which improve staff experience or patient outcomes. In 2023/24, NHS England spent £2,655 supporting the NHS Muslim Network’s activities.

The NHS Muslim Network seeks to create a sense of belonging and community within the National Health Service and provide wellbeing support to members.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November to Question 82825 on NHS: English Language, how many tests were taken, by nationality; and how many were failed.

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

The Department does not hold data about these tests or assessments. Where collected, this would be held by the relevant lead organisation for each process. For data about English language competence for registration, this would be held by the healthcare regulators. Any available assessment data on candidates applying for the NHS Performers List would be held by NHS England. The International English Language Testing System and Occupational English Test would hold data for their respective tests and local National Health Service trusts and employers would hold data on candidate performance where an assessment has been carried out as part of a recruitment process.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October to Question 81590 on Medical Treatments: Gaza, what wraparound support is offered through the Gaza injured children scheme.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Local authorities are responsible for delivering the wraparound services required to support the patients and their immediate family travelling with them from Gaza to settle in England.

This includes providing support upon arrival, urgent health treatment, accommodation near treatment locations, school placements, essential items for the children, community integration support, casework assistance for accessing health and financial services, mental health support, and workforce entry assistance where feasible.

The Government will provide funding to local authorities for delivery of these wraparound services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Digital, Data and Technology roles at the NHS Business Services Authority filled by overseas recruits since January 2023 were advertised on the (a) NHS Jobs website and (b) Civil Service Jobs portal prior to appointment.

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

Since January 2023, a total of 68 staff were recruited from overseas into Digital, Data and Technology roles, sponsored by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) on a visa.

The Digital, Data and Technology roles at the NHS BSA that were filled by overseas recruits since January 2023 were advertised on the NHS Jobs website, rather than the Civil Service Jobs portal, prior to appointment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff have been recruited from overseas into Digital, Data and Technology roles within the NHS Business Services Authority since January 2023.

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

Since January 2023, a total of 68 staff were recruited from overseas into Digital, Data and Technology roles, sponsored by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) on a visa.

The Digital, Data and Technology roles at the NHS BSA that were filled by overseas recruits since January 2023 were advertised on the NHS Jobs website, rather than the Civil Service Jobs portal, prior to appointment.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2025 to question 91631 on Motor Vehicles: Insurance, if she will make it the Department’s policy to collect data on (i) the number and proportion of collisions involving uninsured drivers that were caused by non-UK citizens and (ii) the number of uninsured drivers that are non-UK citizens.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The department currently has no plans to collect this data. As outlined in my response on data held about uninsured drivers, the Road Traffic Act 1988 requires all drivers to have third party insurance cover and measures are in place to deter uninsured driving.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of waiving fines for parents judged to be responsible by the headteacher for taking their children out of school during term for holidays.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

​The department has no plans to review our approach to term-time holidays. Schools can grant pupils a leave of absence for exceptional circumstances at their discretion, judging each application on the specific facts. However, generally a holiday would not constitute an exceptional circumstance. The school year is structured in a way that provides plenty of time for holidays outside of term-time. Schools and local authorities also have considerable flexibility to plan term dates themselves, and hold inset days and other occasional days at quieter times of the year, helping families to plan breaks at times that suit them.

​Where term-time holidays are taken without permission, it is right that the law protects children’s right to a full-time education. ​The national framework for penalty notices is designed to improve fairness by ensuring they are considered at a consistent point across the country, and on an individual basis, preventing schools from having blanket rules.​

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider updating guidance to allow headteachers to use their own discretion to allow parents to take their children out of school for holidays during term time.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

​The department has no plans to review our approach to term-time holidays. Schools can grant pupils a leave of absence for exceptional circumstances at their discretion, judging each application on the specific facts. However, generally a holiday would not constitute an exceptional circumstance. The school year is structured in a way that provides plenty of time for holidays outside of term-time. Schools and local authorities also have considerable flexibility to plan term dates themselves, and hold inset days and other occasional days at quieter times of the year, helping families to plan breaks at times that suit them.

​Where term-time holidays are taken without permission, it is right that the law protects children’s right to a full-time education. ​The national framework for penalty notices is designed to improve fairness by ensuring they are considered at a consistent point across the country, and on an individual basis, preventing schools from having blanket rules.​

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many IELTS testing centres have been investigated, suspended, or removed from the UKVI-approved list due to suspected malpractice since 2020.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office only permits the use of UKVI approved centres that meet the standards under the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) contracts and does not have responsibility or oversight of the IELTs network which is a separate arrangement to SELT contracts. We therefore do not hold numbers on activities in relation to IELTS.

Every application where English language evidence is provided as a SELT is checked, including that the person on the test result is the person they say they are, to assure its genuineness. Where there may be an issue around the genuineness of a SELT supporting an application for immigration leave, that application may fall for refusal. Where fraud or malpractice is suspected we have robust process in place with the supplier to take action where required.

UK Visas and Immigration oversees the centres operating Secure English Language Testing (SELT). Integrity of centres is monitored and managed via a number of contractual and operational processes and measures including that all centres must be audited and where malpractice or concerns are suspected, UKVI personnel will conduct unannounced audits of centres and ask them to cease operation where needed.

The use of proxies, and all other types of fraudulent activity, are assessed routinely by UK Visas and Immigration teams who ensure the integrity of these services. Where risks are identified swift action is taken including suspension of test centres pending investigation, results being withheld or cancelled and appropriate action against test takers.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the integrity of International English Language Testing System test centres operating abroad.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office only permits the use of UKVI approved centres that meet the standards under the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) contracts and does not have responsibility or oversight of the IELTs network which is a separate arrangement to SELT contracts. We therefore do not hold numbers on activities in relation to IELTS.

Every application where English language evidence is provided as a SELT is checked, including that the person on the test result is the person they say they are, to assure its genuineness. Where there may be an issue around the genuineness of a SELT supporting an application for immigration leave, that application may fall for refusal. Where fraud or malpractice is suspected we have robust process in place with the supplier to take action where required.

UK Visas and Immigration oversees the centres operating Secure English Language Testing (SELT). Integrity of centres is monitored and managed via a number of contractual and operational processes and measures including that all centres must be audited and where malpractice or concerns are suspected, UKVI personnel will conduct unannounced audits of centres and ask them to cease operation where needed.

The use of proxies, and all other types of fraudulent activity, are assessed routinely by UK Visas and Immigration teams who ensure the integrity of these services. Where risks are identified swift action is taken including suspension of test centres pending investigation, results being withheld or cancelled and appropriate action against test takers.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any data is held by his Department on the number of applicants who submitted invalid or forged IELTS results as part of higher education or visa applications.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office only permits the use of UKVI approved centres that meet the standards under the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) contracts and does not have responsibility or oversight of the IELTs network which is a separate arrangement to SELT contracts. We therefore do not hold numbers on activities in relation to IELTS.

Every application where English language evidence is provided as a SELT is checked, including that the person on the test result is the person they say they are, to assure its genuineness. Where there may be an issue around the genuineness of a SELT supporting an application for immigration leave, that application may fall for refusal. Where fraud or malpractice is suspected we have robust process in place with the supplier to take action where required.

UK Visas and Immigration oversees the centres operating Secure English Language Testing (SELT). Integrity of centres is monitored and managed via a number of contractual and operational processes and measures including that all centres must be audited and where malpractice or concerns are suspected, UKVI personnel will conduct unannounced audits of centres and ask them to cease operation where needed.

The use of proxies, and all other types of fraudulent activity, are assessed routinely by UK Visas and Immigration teams who ensure the integrity of these services. Where risks are identified swift action is taken including suspension of test centres pending investigation, results being withheld or cancelled and appropriate action against test takers.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what systems her Department has in place to verify the authenticity of IELTS certificates submitted with visa and immigration applications.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office only permits the use of UKVI approved centres that meet the standards under the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) contracts and does not have responsibility or oversight of the IELTs network which is a separate arrangement to SELT contracts. We therefore do not hold numbers on activities in relation to IELTS.

Every application where English language evidence is provided as a SELT is checked, including that the person on the test result is the person they say they are, to assure its genuineness. Where there may be an issue around the genuineness of a SELT supporting an application for immigration leave, that application may fall for refusal. Where fraud or malpractice is suspected we have robust process in place with the supplier to take action where required.

UK Visas and Immigration oversees the centres operating Secure English Language Testing (SELT). Integrity of centres is monitored and managed via a number of contractual and operational processes and measures including that all centres must be audited and where malpractice or concerns are suspected, UKVI personnel will conduct unannounced audits of centres and ask them to cease operation where needed.

The use of proxies, and all other types of fraudulent activity, are assessed routinely by UK Visas and Immigration teams who ensure the integrity of these services. Where risks are identified swift action is taken including suspension of test centres pending investigation, results being withheld or cancelled and appropriate action against test takers.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many IELTS test centres operating abroad were suspended or de-authorised in each of the last five years.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office only permits the use of UKVI approved centres that meet the standards under the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) contracts and does not have responsibility or oversight of the IELTs network which is a separate arrangement to SELT contracts. We therefore do not hold numbers on activities in relation to IELTS.

Every application where English language evidence is provided as a SELT is checked, including that the person on the test result is the person they say they are, to assure its genuineness. Where there may be an issue around the genuineness of a SELT supporting an application for immigration leave, that application may fall for refusal. Where fraud or malpractice is suspected we have robust process in place with the supplier to take action where required.

UK Visas and Immigration oversees the centres operating Secure English Language Testing (SELT). Integrity of centres is monitored and managed via a number of contractual and operational processes and measures including that all centres must be audited and where malpractice or concerns are suspected, UKVI personnel will conduct unannounced audits of centres and ask them to cease operation where needed.

The use of proxies, and all other types of fraudulent activity, are assessed routinely by UK Visas and Immigration teams who ensure the integrity of these services. Where risks are identified swift action is taken including suspension of test centres pending investigation, results being withheld or cancelled and appropriate action against test takers.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the use of proxy test-takers or impersonation at IELTS centres overseas.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office only permits the use of UKVI approved centres that meet the standards under the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) contracts and does not have responsibility or oversight of the IELTs network which is a separate arrangement to SELT contracts. We therefore do not hold numbers on activities in relation to IELTS.

Every application where English language evidence is provided as a SELT is checked, including that the person on the test result is the person they say they are, to assure its genuineness. Where there may be an issue around the genuineness of a SELT supporting an application for immigration leave, that application may fall for refusal. Where fraud or malpractice is suspected we have robust process in place with the supplier to take action where required.

UK Visas and Immigration oversees the centres operating Secure English Language Testing (SELT). Integrity of centres is monitored and managed via a number of contractual and operational processes and measures including that all centres must be audited and where malpractice or concerns are suspected, UKVI personnel will conduct unannounced audits of centres and ask them to cease operation where needed.

The use of proxies, and all other types of fraudulent activity, are assessed routinely by UK Visas and Immigration teams who ensure the integrity of these services. Where risks are identified swift action is taken including suspension of test centres pending investigation, results being withheld or cancelled and appropriate action against test takers.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 17 November 2025 to question 81592 Medical Treatments: Gaza, for the total number of accompanying adults that have entered the UK under the Gaza Injured Children Scheme.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The information requested is not available from published statistics. Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many fraudulent International English Language Testing System certificates were detected by her Department in each of the last five years.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The data is only available at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of fraudulent IELTS certificates have been identified by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) in each of the last five years.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The data is only available at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the value of outstanding Dartford Crossing fines for foreign HGV drivers.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department does not release this information on the grounds that it could prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs by undermining the collection of Dart Charge.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much Universal Credit was paid to (a) foreign nationals and (b) households with refugee status in October 2025.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (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 Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for the total number of people, broken by nationality, on the Department's Person of Interest List concerning individuals involved with taking payment to take driving tests on a third party's behalf.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) does not capture any information on nationalities at either the theory or practical driving tests.

The DVSA has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test.

At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, and the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.

To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give driving examiners access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for a test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.

DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub to enable assessment of all information available and prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud and intelligence team to investigate such allegations.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 89231 on Cabinet Office: Social, which channels were (a) contracted and (b) paid by his Department in the last financial year.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Please see below Cabinet Office spend by social platform from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025:

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2025 to Question 81591 Medical Treatments: Gaza, how many Gazan children have been treated on the NHS.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Statement HCWS899 made to the House on 1 September 2025 by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

The safety, privacy, and wellbeing of these severely ill and vulnerable patients and their families remains our absolute priority. We will not be providing further operational details, including numbers of arrivals, at this stage.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS (a) maternity wards and (b) perinatal services treat fathers as active participants in the birth process.

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

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has committed to putting the voices of families, including fathers, at the heart of the approach to improving quality, safety and accountability in maternity services.

Baroness Amos’ independent national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services will ensure that the lived experiences of families, including fathers and non-birthing partners, are fully heard and used to inform the development of the national recommendations. A National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will take forward the recommendations of the investigation to develop a new national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care.

National bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Royal College of Midwives have issued guidelines emphasising the importance of involving fathers and partners in maternity and perinatal care. These guidelines set expectations for trusts to adopt family-centred care and to treat fathers as active participants, not just visitors or observers. These resources are available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng201/chapter/recommendations#:~:text=Antenatal%20classes-,1.3.,NICE%20guideline%20on%20postnatal%20care

Fathers and partners can now receive evidence-based assessments and support through specialist perinatal mental health services where needed, with some NHS trusts now also working with Home Start UK’s Dad Matters project to support paternal mental health. The project engages with fathers to help them understand their baby, their role as a father, and how transition to fatherhood may affect them and their family.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in his Department were employed in tackling benefit fraud in (a) 2025 and (b) 2020.

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

Since Autumn Budget 24, including the new announcements at Autumn Budget 25, the Government have committed to gross savings of £14.6bn up to the end of 2030/31 from fraud, error and debt activity in GB.

The Government is committed to ensuring that public funds are spent appropriately and deliver value for taxpayers. Fraud against the welfare system undermines public services and takes resources away from those who need them most.

Within the Department for Work and Pensions, tackling fraud and error is a shared responsibility across all roles, from Work Coaches in Jobcentres to colleagues in Service Centres. Because this work is embedded throughout the organisation, it is not possible to provide a precise breakdown of staff numbers or costs dedicated solely to preventing and detecting fraud

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has considered restricting access to non-contributory benefits for non-UK nationals until they have completed a minimum qualifying period of lawful residence and tax contribution.

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

On 20 November my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary launched a consultation on proposals for a fairer pathway to settlement, the point at which foreign nationals generally gain access to public funds. These plans include doubling the standard qualifying period for settlement from 5 to 10 years, with the opportunity to reduce this period based on their contributions to the UK economy and society and longer periods for those who contribute less.

The consultation also covers proposals that benefits might not be available to those who have settled status, reserving them, instead, for those who have earned British citizenship.

You can find more details in here: “Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy (accessible)”, and in “Open consultation: Earned settlement”.

In conjunction with these reforms, my Department will consult in due course on a change to taxpayer-funded benefits to prioritise access for those who are making an economic contribution to the UK.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that individuals whose immigration status no longer entitles them to public funds are automatically removed from benefit systems; and how many such removals have taken place in each of the last five years.

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

Universal Credit systems carry out daily automatic checks against Home Office data to identify any changes in immigration status, and subsequently, DWP caseworkers stop claims where the individual no longer has an immigration status that permits recourse to public funds.

However, the department does not hold data on the number of benefit claims disallowed after a review.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of identified benefit fraud cases in which the claimant was a non-UK national in the last five years.

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

The Monetary Value of Fraud and Error Statistics are not disaggregated by nationality and immigration status.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department routinely records the nationality and immigration status of claimants in cases of proven benefit fraud.

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

The Monetary Value of Fraud and Error Statistics are not disaggregated by nationality and immigration status.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of benefit fraud identified in the last five years involved individuals whose immigration status was later found to be (a) overstayer, (b) illegal entrant or (c) failed asylum seeker.

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

The Monetary Value of Fraud and Error Statistics are not disaggregated by nationality and immigration status.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the value of benefit expenditure paid to non-UK nationals in the last financial year by benefit type.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (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, if she will publish an annual breakdown of benefit fraud and error by nationality and immigration status of the claimant.

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

The Monetary Value of Fraud and Error Statistics are not disaggregated by nationality and immigration status.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-UK nationals are in receipt of (a) Universal Credit, (b) legacy working-age benefits and (c) child-related benefits by nationality.

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

The Department publishes Universal Credit (UC) immigration status and nationality statistics as part of the Universal Credit statistics publication. These statistics can be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/universal-credit-statistics-29-april-2013-to-9-october-2025. The number of people on Universal Credit who are non – Common Travel Area nationals, for each month from April 2022 to October 2025, is in Table 1 of the following data tables: Universal Credit immigration status and nationality statistics to October 2025.

The information requested for parts (b) and (c) are not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how often are driving test examiners audited to ensure they are following ID verification procedures prior to an examination.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.

At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.

To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.

DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.

Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.

The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.

Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.

As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.

Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.

The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.

As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what checks are required of examiners when verifying photo ID before a driving test begins.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.

At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.

To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.

DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.

Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.

The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.

Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.

As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.

Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.

The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.

As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what disciplinary measures are in place for driving examiners who fail to follow ID verification protocols.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.

At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.

To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.

DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.

Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.

The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.

Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.

As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.

Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.

The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.

As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has been made of the potential risk posed to road safety by illegitimate licences being issued through fraudulent tests.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.

At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.

To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.

DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.

Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.

The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.

Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.

As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.

Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.

The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.

As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cases of impersonation or fraudulent driving tests have been detected in the past five years.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.

At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.

To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.

DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.

Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.

The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.

Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.

As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.

Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.

The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.

As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has identified any driving test centres with unusually high rates of suspected impersonation.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.

At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.

To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.

DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.

Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.

The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.

Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.

As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.

Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.

The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.

As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what training and refresher courses are provided to driving test examiners to spot impersonation attempts.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.

At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.

To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.

DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.

Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.

The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.

Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.

As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.

Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.

The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.

As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing new technologies including biometric checks and digital verification to strengthen identity checks at driving test centres.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.

At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.

To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.

DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.

Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.

The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.

Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.

As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.

Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.

The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.

As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking with police forces to detect and prosecute organised fraud rings involved in impersonation during driving tests.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.

At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.

To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.

DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.

Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.

The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.

Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.

As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.

Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.

The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.

As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish annual statistics on the number of impersonation and fraud attempts in driving tests.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.

At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.

To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.

DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.

Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.

The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.

Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.

As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.

Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.

The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.

As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of ambulance callouts recorded for (a) violent assaults related injuries, (b) injuries sustained during a burglary or break in in each year since 2015 involved (i) response times exceeding 15 minutes or (ii) hospital transfer times exceeding 60 minutes.

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

There are clearly defined national standards for patient access to urgent and emergency care with a clinically led model that prioritises those in the greatest need. While NHS England routinely monitors and evaluates Category 1 and 2 ambulance response times by clinical condition, e.g. cardiac arrest or stroke, NHS England does not record the cause of the incident, e.g. assault or injury sustained during a burglary. The requested data on the number of ambulance callouts for violent or assault-related injuries and injuries sustained during a burglary or break in is not centrally collected. Similarly, response and handover times for such incidents are not available. No specific assessment has been made of ambulance delays on the survival and recovery rates for these victim groups.

For data on crime-related incidents, including assaults and burglaries, please refer to police-recorded crime data, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/police-recorded-crime-and-outcomes-open-data-tables

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of ambulance delays on (a) survival and (b) recovery rates for victims of (i) violent crime and (ii) home intrusion.

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

There are clearly defined national standards for patient access to urgent and emergency care with a clinically led model that prioritises those in the greatest need. While NHS England routinely monitors and evaluates Category 1 and 2 ambulance response times by clinical condition, e.g. cardiac arrest or stroke, NHS England does not record the cause of the incident, e.g. assault or injury sustained during a burglary. The requested data on the number of ambulance callouts for violent or assault-related injuries and injuries sustained during a burglary or break in is not centrally collected. Similarly, response and handover times for such incidents are not available. No specific assessment has been made of ambulance delays on the survival and recovery rates for these victim groups.

For data on crime-related incidents, including assaults and burglaries, please refer to police-recorded crime data, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/police-recorded-crime-and-outcomes-open-data-tables

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England routinely monitors Category 1–2 ambulance response times by incident type.

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

There are clearly defined national standards for patient access to urgent and emergency care with a clinically led model that prioritises those in the greatest need. While NHS England routinely monitors and evaluates Category 1 and 2 ambulance response times by clinical condition, e.g. cardiac arrest or stroke, NHS England does not record the cause of the incident, e.g. assault or injury sustained during a burglary. The requested data on the number of ambulance callouts for violent or assault-related injuries and injuries sustained during a burglary or break in is not centrally collected. Similarly, response and handover times for such incidents are not available. No specific assessment has been made of ambulance delays on the survival and recovery rates for these victim groups.

For data on crime-related incidents, including assaults and burglaries, please refer to police-recorded crime data, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/police-recorded-crime-and-outcomes-open-data-tables

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ambulance call-outs have been recorded for (a) violent or assault-related injuries and (b) injuries sustained during a burglary or break-in in each year since 2015.

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

There are clearly defined national standards for patient access to urgent and emergency care with a clinically led model that prioritises those in the greatest need. While NHS England routinely monitors and evaluates Category 1 and 2 ambulance response times by clinical condition, e.g. cardiac arrest or stroke, NHS England does not record the cause of the incident, e.g. assault or injury sustained during a burglary. The requested data on the number of ambulance callouts for violent or assault-related injuries and injuries sustained during a burglary or break in is not centrally collected. Similarly, response and handover times for such incidents are not available. No specific assessment has been made of ambulance delays on the survival and recovery rates for these victim groups.

For data on crime-related incidents, including assaults and burglaries, please refer to police-recorded crime data, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/police-recorded-crime-and-outcomes-open-data-tables

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to improve the quality of stay for fathers in the maternity ward.

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

When a mother chooses to have support from the father or partner during labour, birth, and in the postnatal period, the father or partner should feel welcome to stay with her. Where possible, fathers or partners are offered a chair or fold up bed to enable them to stay with the birth mother. These temporary items are to ensure the flexibility of the space in the room. Many maternity units also have 24-hour access for fathers and partners.

Not all maternity units are currently able to offer accommodation for birth partners. This is due to the size of the inherited estate and historic undercapitalisation across the National Health Service, as highlighted by the Darzi Report. 11 out of the 16 new hospitals to be built as part of the New Hospitals Programme will have maternity and neonatal units, which include parental accommodation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of sharing information between Border Force and Kent Police on HGV drivers that repeatedly break the speed limit.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The allocation of resources and deployment of officers in Kent is an operational matter for Kent Police’s Chief Constables to determine in line with local policing plans and in conjunction with their Police and Crime Commissioners.

Excess speed is a major cause of death and serious injury on our roads and anyone who breaks the speed limit should expect to face proper sanction.

Any form of dangerous or inconsiderate driving behaviour is a serious road safety issue. We expect all drivers to observe the speed limit.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data the Police National Computer holds on the number of offences committed in the last 12 months, by where the offender was born.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Police National Computer (PNC) is a system that provides real-time access to criminal records of offenders, vehicle data, and other information relevant to policing. The PNC retains records by individual suspects and offenders rather than by offences.

The PNC holds some information on the place of birth and in some circumstances the nationality of the individuals, but that data is not held for all convictions. It does not retain information in a format that would provide an answer on the number of offences committed in the last 12 months, by where the offender was born. In any case, the PNC is not designed to provide such bespoke reports and would need development to obtain such information.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Home Office hold regular discussions about the appropriate use of this information for purposes beyond policing.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many telephone operators work on the Universal Credit helpline by the nationality of those operators.

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

We do not centrally hold the nationality of Universal Credit call handlers and to provide the information would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what has been the cost to the public purse of the Gaza medical evacuation scheme for children.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 November 2025 to Question 81587.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much was paid in compensation by the NHS by the reason for that compensation in each of the last ten years.

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

This information is available on the NHS Resolution website at the following link:

https://resolution.nhs.uk/resources/annual-statistics/

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has been (a) informed of, (b) consulted on and (c) involved in EU-funded projects for migrant (i) accommodation and (ii) reception facilities in (A) France, (B) the Western Balkans, (C) north Africa and (D) Türkiye since 2022.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since EU Exit, the UK is not a participant in EU funding programmes that cover third country compliance with UN standards on reception facilities and migrant accommodation.

We have not had specific discussions with the EU or member countries about EU-funded migrant accommodation or reception centres in France, Türkiye, North African or Western Balkan nations. That would be an internal matter for those countries.

However, the Home Office works closely with international partners to address the shared challenge of irregular migration and as such we continue to engage on wider migration management with the EU and member countries.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department has spent on social media advertising by (a) influencer and (b) organisation in each of the last five financial years.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The specific information breakdown requested is commercially confidential.

However, significant payments to companies, £25,000 and over, are published by month as part of the Department’s transparency data. This information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/spending-over-25-000--2

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for the total budget and number of staff of the Government Communication Service.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government Communication Service (GCS) conducts an annual data collection, requesting government organisations to submit accurate and timely returns. It should be noted that some organisations may have undergone significant changes since the data was collected in July 2025.

At the time of the 2025 annual Government Communications data collection, the total figure for staff in the Government Communication Service is 6,150 across the profession in all departments and ALBs. The total budget is not held centrally in the Cabinet Office.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has been informed of any Palantir contracts or U.S. federal agreements referencing UK data-sharing or joint programme work since 2020.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DSIT is not responsible for holding information centrally on contracts or federal agreements that may be held in other government departments. Within DSIT there are currently no Palantir contracts or U.S. federal agreements referencing UK data-sharing or joint programme work since 2023 when DSIT was formed.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of benefit expenditure was lost to (a) claimant fraud, (b) official error and (c) customer error in each of the last five years.

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

Since Autumn Budget 2024, including the new announcements at Autumn Budget 2025, the Government have committed to gross savings of £14.6bn up to the end of 2030/31 from fraud, error and debt activity in Great Britain.

Estimates of the levels of fraud and error in the benefit system for the financial year 2024-25 can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2024 to 2025 estimates - GOV.UK and cost of fraud and error in the benefit system for the past five financial years can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of savings from halving levels of benefit fraud and error by 2030.

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

Since Autumn Budget 2024, including the new announcements at Autumn Budget 2025, the Government have committed to gross savings of £14.6bn up to the end of 2030/31 from fraud, error and debt activity in Great Britain.

Estimates of the levels of fraud and error in the benefit system for the financial year 2024-25 can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2024 to 2025 estimates - GOV.UK and cost of fraud and error in the benefit system for the past five financial years can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much benefit expenditure was lost to fraud and error in the most recent year for which figures are available by benefit type.

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

Since Autumn Budget 2024, including the new announcements at Autumn Budget 2025, the Government have committed to gross savings of £14.6bn up to the end of 2030/31 from fraud, error and debt activity in Great Britain.

Estimates of the levels of fraud and error in the benefit system for the financial year 2024-25 can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2024 to 2025 estimates - GOV.UK and cost of fraud and error in the benefit system for the past five financial years can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applications were made to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme in each of the last three years; and how many and what proportion of those applications were unsuccessful.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) regularly publishes data on the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme to improve transparency. Information related to COVID-19 vaccine claim volumes and outcomes up to June 2025 is available at the following link:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/vdps-covid-19

Claims that have not been assessed may have been rejected before a medical assessment took place as they did not meet the eligibility criteria for the scheme. Other claims are still live, but the NHS BSA may be awaiting medical records. Medical assessments cannot take place until sufficient medical records have been received to allow for a robust assessment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 17 November 2025 to question 81592 on Medical Treatments: Gaza, what the estimated total cost of the programme will be to the public purse.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 November 2025 to Question 81587.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people have been monitored by the Government Communications Service in the previous year.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government Communication Service (GCS) monitors publicly available media posts, under strict controls, to measure communication effectiveness, understand public narratives, and address potential mis/disinformation.

GCS does not access private information or monitor individuals, but collects, stores, and processes data from public social media posts.

Reports may include examples of high-performing public content relevant to government priorities, and adheres to a published Privacy Notice (link below) outlining the legal basis for monitoring.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/privacy-notice-social-and-digital-media-analysis/privacy-notice-social-and-digital-media-analysis

GCS uses commercially available automated and AI tools, such as Storyzy, procured via the civil service framework, for information environment analysis; no external contractors are used.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants within the Government Communications Service are engaged in identifying, categorising, or responding to social media content critical of government migration policy.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Cabinet Office's GCS team has three staff members responsible for media and social media analysis. While their analysis is not specifically focused on migration, the topic may arise as part of wider thematic reporting. We cannot provide information on GCS staffing levels or responsibilities within other government departments.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government Communications Service maintains a database, spreadsheet, internal dashboard, or record of accounts or individuals who post content about migrants, asylum seekers, or community housing pressures.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government Communication Service (GCS) monitors publicly available media posts, under strict controls, to measure communication effectiveness, understand public narratives, and address potential mis/disinformation.

GCS does not access private information or monitor individuals, but collects, stores, and processes data from public social media posts.

Reports may include examples of high-performing public content relevant to government priorities, and adheres to a published Privacy Notice (link below) outlining the legal basis for monitoring.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/privacy-notice-social-and-digital-media-analysis/privacy-notice-social-and-digital-media-analysis

GCS uses commercially available automated and AI tools, such as Storyzy, procured via the civil service framework, for information environment analysis; no external contractors are used.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government Communications Service uses automated tools, AI systems, or external contractors to scrape social media data relating to criticism of migration.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government Communication Service (GCS) monitors publicly available media posts, under strict controls, to measure communication effectiveness, understand public narratives, and address potential mis/disinformation.

GCS does not access private information or monitor individuals, but collects, stores, and processes data from public social media posts.

Reports may include examples of high-performing public content relevant to government priorities, and adheres to a published Privacy Notice (link below) outlining the legal basis for monitoring.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/privacy-notice-social-and-digital-media-analysis/privacy-notice-social-and-digital-media-analysis

GCS uses commercially available automated and AI tools, such as Storyzy, procured via the civil service framework, for information environment analysis; no external contractors are used.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government Communications Service collects, stores, or processes data from social media accounts under the RESIST framework.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government Communication Service (GCS) monitors publicly available media posts, under strict controls, to measure communication effectiveness, understand public narratives, and address potential mis/disinformation.

GCS does not access private information or monitor individuals, but collects, stores, and processes data from public social media posts.

Reports may include examples of high-performing public content relevant to government priorities, and adheres to a published Privacy Notice (link below) outlining the legal basis for monitoring.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/privacy-notice-social-and-digital-media-analysis/privacy-notice-social-and-digital-media-analysis

GCS uses commercially available automated and AI tools, such as Storyzy, procured via the civil service framework, for information environment analysis; no external contractors are used.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department consulted (a) Stonewall, (b) Mermaids and (c) other advocacy organisations at any stage during the (i) design, (ii) approval, and (iii) communication of the PATHWAYS trial.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. That’s why we are following expert, independent advice from the Cass Review to implement a package of research to find out how the National Health Service can best support children and young people with gender incongruence.

This includes the PATHWAYS trial, a carefully designed clinical trial to assess the relative benefits and harms of puberty-suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence.

The trial has received independent scientific, ethical, and regulatory approvals as well as a comprehensive review. The study design, including inclusion criteria and safety protocols, has been thoroughly scrutinised to protect young people's wellbeing. The process has included consideration of robust procedures relating to consent and eligibility.

The trial was designed and will be delivered by an independent research team. This was in conjunction with patient and public involvement as well as clinical and legal experts, including those who specialise on medical ethics. The Department has not conducted its own parallel engagement with advocacy organisations on trial development but is represented, alongside patient and parent representatives, on the National Research Oversight Board to which the research team regularly reports.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with Kings College London on the potential merits of pausing recruitment to the new Pathway puberty-blocker trial until an independent panel considers the findings of the Cass Review.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. That’s why we are following expert, independent advice from the Cass Review to implement a package of research to find out how the National Health Service can best support children and young people with gender incongruence.

This includes the PATHWAYS trial, a carefully designed clinical trial to assess the relative benefits and harms of puberty-suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence.

The trial has received independent scientific, ethical, and regulatory approvals as well as a comprehensive review. The study design, including inclusion criteria and safety protocols, has been thoroughly scrutinised to protect young people's wellbeing. The process has included consideration of robust procedures relating to consent and eligibility.

The trial was designed and will be delivered by an independent research team. This was in conjunction with patient and public involvement as well as clinical and legal experts, including those who specialise on medical ethics. The Department has not conducted its own parallel engagement with advocacy organisations on trial development but is represented, alongside patient and parent representatives, on the National Research Oversight Board to which the research team regularly reports.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Pathway puberty-blocker trial on future legal claims by participants.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. That’s why we are following expert, independent advice from the Cass Review to implement a package of research to find out how the National Health Service can best support children and young people with gender incongruence.

This includes the PATHWAYS trial, a carefully designed clinical trial to assess the relative benefits and harms of puberty-suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence.

The trial has received independent scientific, ethical, and regulatory approvals as well as a comprehensive review. The study design, including inclusion criteria and safety protocols, has been thoroughly scrutinised to protect young people's wellbeing. The process has included consideration of robust procedures relating to consent and eligibility.

The trial was designed and will be delivered by an independent research team. This was in conjunction with patient and public involvement as well as clinical and legal experts, including those who specialise on medical ethics. The Department has not conducted its own parallel engagement with advocacy organisations on trial development but is represented, alongside patient and parent representatives, on the National Research Oversight Board to which the research team regularly reports.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued on the capacity of children aged between 11 and 15 to consent to medical trials related to puberty blockers.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. That’s why we are following expert, independent advice from the Cass Review to implement a package of research to find out how the National Health Service can best support children and young people with gender incongruence.

This includes the PATHWAYS trial, a carefully designed clinical trial to assess the relative benefits and harms of puberty-suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence.

The trial has received independent scientific, ethical, and regulatory approvals as well as a comprehensive review. The study design, including inclusion criteria and safety protocols, has been thoroughly scrutinised to protect young people's wellbeing. The process has included consideration of robust procedures relating to consent and eligibility.

The trial was designed and will be delivered by an independent research team. This was in conjunction with patient and public involvement as well as clinical and legal experts, including those who specialise on medical ethics. The Department has not conducted its own parallel engagement with advocacy organisations on trial development but is represented, alongside patient and parent representatives, on the National Research Oversight Board to which the research team regularly reports.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has obtained legal advice on whether putting minors on puberty blockers constitutes a breach of child-safeguarding duties.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. That’s why we are following expert, independent advice from the Cass Review to implement a package of research to find out how the National Health Service can best support children and young people with gender incongruence.

This includes the PATHWAYS trial, a carefully designed clinical trial to assess the relative benefits and harms of puberty-suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence.

The trial has received independent scientific, ethical, and regulatory approvals as well as a comprehensive review. The study design, including inclusion criteria and safety protocols, has been thoroughly scrutinised to protect young people's wellbeing. The process has included consideration of robust procedures relating to consent and eligibility.

The trial was designed and will be delivered by an independent research team. This was in conjunction with patient and public involvement as well as clinical and legal experts, including those who specialise on medical ethics. The Department has not conducted its own parallel engagement with advocacy organisations on trial development but is represented, alongside patient and parent representatives, on the National Research Oversight Board to which the research team regularly reports.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children under the age of 16 were administered puberty blockers, including through (a) clinical trials and (b) private routes in each of the last five years; and what adverse effects were reported.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists or ‘puberty blockers’ are used to treat several medical conditions in children and young people. These can include precocious puberty, some forms of cancer, and endometriosis. They have been used outside of their licenced indication to treat gender dysphoria.

The following table shows the National Health Service prescriptions of puberty blockers for children aged 15 years old and under that were prescribed in England and dispensed in a community pharmacy or general practice in each year from 2020/21 to September 2025:

Source: ePACT2, which is sourced from the NHS Business Services Authority’s Information Services Data Warehouse

Note: figures are unrounded.

The NHS does not centrally collect data on secondary care prescribing. Information on the clinical indication for which these medications have been prescribed is not held. The Government does not hold data that shows how many children under 16 years old were administered puberty blockers through clinical trials or private routes.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has not previously funded trials specifically giving puberty suppressing hormones to children and information on non-NIHR funded trials is not held.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has received three United Kingdom based suspected adverse drug reaction reports in which a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists analogue has been reported as being used in a child or young person for the purpose of puberty suppression in gender dysphoria.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of de-transitioners reporting harm from puberty blockers; and whether his Department considered this data as part of its approval of the trial.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There is currently no registry in place in the United Kingdom that routinely collects data that is specific to individuals who choose to detransition at any point following a previous medical intervention for gender reassignment.

Last month, NHS England published a Call for Evidence aimed at healthcare professionals and medical bodies to gather evidence on the care needs of individuals who choose to detransition, in line with the recommendations of the Cass Review. NHS England will publish plans for the establishment of a clinical detransition pathway in 2026, informed by the outcome of the Call for Evidence and a review of the published evidence.

The PATHWAYS trial has been subject to extensive scientific, clinical, ethical, and regulatory approvals. It was approved by an independent National Institute for Health and Care Research funding committee, with the final protocols all subject to rigorous approval processes from both the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Health Research Authority, including review by an independent Research Ethics Committee.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

As of 31 October 2025, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero had less than five employees on sickness absence for six months or more where the recorded reason related to mental health. The exact number has been redacted to avoid identification of individuals.

The Department records sickness absence reasons in line with Civil Service categories, which include stress, anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions.

The Department offers a range of support including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders, and access to occupational health services.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology routinely reports its sickness absence data on gov.uk alongside the rest of the Civil Service.

Information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence

This contains statistics for sickness absence by organisation and sickness reason, including Mental Ill-Health.

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 been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Civil Service sickness absence reports (which provide statistics for sickness absence by organisation and sickness reason, including Mental Ill-Health) are publicly available at: [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence]. The next release of data is likely to be on Thursday 18th December 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigration offenders were released on bail and not detained in each of the last ten years.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

We do not routinely publish the information you have requested. We are unable to provide this information, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

On the 30 September 2025, 94 individuals were recorded on Ministry of Defence (MOD) HR systems with an ongoing sick absence of six months or longer for Mental Disorders as defined by the World Health Organisation International Classification of Diseases.

The MOD HR systems do not break down this down but include Anxiety, Depression and Stress within the description.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Information on sickness absence, including data by Department and sickness reason (such as Mental Ill-Health), is published in the Civil Service sickness absence reports available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence. The next release is expected soon.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Civil Service publishes sickness absence statistics by organisation and by sickness reason, including mental ill-health. These figures are available in the publicly accessible Civil Service sickness absence reports on GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence). The next release of these statistics is scheduled for 18 December, and you may wish to refer to this forthcoming publication for the most up-to-date information.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Civil Service publishes regular sickness absence reports, which provide statistics for sickness absence by organisation and sickness reason, including Mental Ill-Health. These can be found at Sickness absence in the Civil Service - GOV.UK.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

We currently have fewer than 5 staff on leave for six months or more for mental health related sickness absence. We do not reveal the medical details for individual ill health.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Cabinet Office publishes sickness absence data for the Civil Service on an annual basis, including by organisation and by absence reason. I refer you to the statistics publicly available which can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence. The next release is likely to be around 18 December 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Civil Service sickness absence reports, which provide statistics for sickness absence by organisation and sickness reason, including Mental Ill-Health.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with (a) asylum seeker status, (b) refused asylum seeker status and (c) no lawful immigration status are in receipt of benefit support; and what the annual cost of that support is.

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

People without valid UK immigration status are prohibited from accessing public funds benefits, including asylum seekers and those refused asylum in the UK. People with a pending asylum application may be able to claim asylum support provided by the Home Office, which is separate to the mainstream welfare system.

Welfare benefits for foreign nationals

Digital ID and civil liberties

Cancelled mayoral elections

Government participation in the independent Rape Gang Inquiry

Trial by jury

Pink Ladies of Essex

Found: Rupert Lowe: I will take it that you do not know.