Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to direct the Horse Race Betting Levy Board to increase the proportion of the levy for aftercare provision for vulnerable horses leaving the racing industry.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is aware of the vital work the horseracing industry does in supporting and retraining former racehorses. However, we have no current plans to direct the Levy Board to make amends to levy schemes.
The Horserace Betting Levy Board’s expenditure covers all its three statutory purposes, all of which support horse welfare to some extent, with one of their goals to drive high quality care and support for the horse in Racing. In total, the Horserace Betting Levy Board spends around £3.5 million annually on horse-related areas, such as educational research and on a number of horse welfare projects. The Levy Board funds the Retraining of Racehorses charity, which is British Horseracing's official charity for the welfare of horses who have retired from racing.
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is responsible for the safety of horses at races in Britain and works with animal welfare organisations like the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare to keep racecourses as safe as possible for horses. The British Horseracing Authority created a cross-industry Horse Welfare Board in April 2019. The Board makes recommendations including a multi-year strategy for improving welfare. In February 2020, the Welfare Board published its five-year strategic plan for the welfare of horses bred for racing. The strategy focuses on the ambition that every horse bred to race should lead – and be seen to lead – “a life well-lived”. The Horse Welfare Board is funded by the HBLB and The Racing Foundation.
Furthermore, in April 2024 the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and Great British Racing (GBR) launched a new campaign, HorsePWR, designed to promote the facts around welfare in horseracing and challenge and correct inaccurate information shared by people who are opposed to it.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much and what proportion of fraud and error was (a) prevented upfront and (b) detected after the event in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our estimate is that the Department prevented up front £17.1bn of fraud and error and detected £0.6bn after the event in the financial year 2022/23.
Further details can be found in the Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23, link below.
Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 for the year ended 31 March 2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
DWP will update these figures in the Annual Report and Accounts for financial year 23/24, expected to be published in Summer 2024.
Asked by: Sarah Edwards (Labour - Tamworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many vacancies there are in frontline police roles, including Police Community Support Officers, as of 16 April 2024.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data on vacancies in frontline policing roles.
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the function of police workers (officers, staff, designated officers (S.38) and Police Community Support Officers) as at 31 March each year in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
This includes information on the number and proportion of police workers in frontline policing roles. Data from 31 March 2021 to 31 March 2023, by worker type, can be found in the ‘Functions Open Data Table’ here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64ba635306f78d000d7426aa/open-data-table-police-workforce-functions-260723.ods. Data for previous years, can be found in Tables F1 to F3 of the data tables accompanying each publication.
Data for the ‘as at 31 March 2024’ publication will be published in July 2024 as part of the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have retired due to ill health in the last five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of police officers leaving the police service and their reasons for leaving, including medical retirements, as at 31 March each year, in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
Information on the number of police officers leaving the police service by reason for leaving, including medical retirements, between the years ending 31 March 2007 and 2023 can be found in the ‘Leavers Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64ba76662059dc000d5d27c0/open-data-table-police-workforce-leavers-260723.ods
The Home Office does not hold data on the number of police officers taking medical retirement in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of his Department’s (a) advertising and (b) marketing expenditure was on (i) local newspapers in print and online, (ii) national newspapers in print and online, (iii) social media, (iv) search engines, (v) broadcast and on-demand television and (vi) other channels in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold the information broken down in this way internally.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much the Royal Navy spent on advertising (a) above the line, (b) on Tiktok, (c) on Facebook and Instagram, (d) on Snapchat and (e) on Twitter in each financial year since 2017.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Navy (RN) has spent the following overall sums on marketing with above the line media and social media platforms since Financial Year 2017-18:
Financial Year |
| Social Media | Media (Excluding Social) |
2017-18 |
| £423,990 | £7,697,349 |
2018-19 |
| £784,161 | £14,528,656 |
2019-20 |
| £1,626,458 | £15,699,198 |
2020-21 |
| £1,824,316 | £13,428,792 |
2021-22 |
| £1,615,263 | £14,037,031 |
2022-23 |
| £1,682,000 | £14,025,000 |
2023-24 |
| £2,593,000 | £16,191,000 |
The breakdown of spend by individual platform is commercially sensitive and it would therefore be inappropriate to provide this level of detail.
In accordance with advice from the Government Communication Service, the RN does not currently use the TikTok platform.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the (a) value of grants awarded by and (b) number of grant recipients for the Listed Places of Worship Scheme was since 2010.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme was established to reimburse the VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship. The grant scheme has been managed by multiple administrators on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport since it was established in 2001, and there are limited data predating 2014. Since 2010, a total of £358,356,027 has been allocated in grant funding to support places of worship throughout the UK. Based on the data the Department does possess, it can be estimated that 22,633 listed places of worship were the recipients of grant funding through the scheme since 2014.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has for funding for councils to deliver cultural services in the next two years; and if she will increase such funding.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The funding of local cultural services and organisations is a matter for individual local authorities, but the Government strongly supports their doing so, not least because of the significant economic, social, and wellbeing benefits cultural organisations deliver. The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024–25 makes available up to £64.7 billion for local authorities — an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023–24. This above-inflation increase demonstrates the Government’s commitment to supporting local authorities. The majority of this funding is not ring-fenced, so local authorities can consider how best to balance their local priorities.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that family hubs have adequate funding to help support all children that require their services.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is investing around £300 million in 75 local authorities to transform their family support services to family hubs. Funding has been targeted to the most deprived local authorities to ensure that families get the support they need. This will fund a network of family hubs and specific support within those hubs for parent–infant mental health, infant feeding services, parenting support, home learning environment, and to establish parent-carer panels. In addition, all 75 local authorities will publish their Start for Life offer and the department is providing funding for trials of innovative workforce models to a smaller number of local authorities.
Family hubs provide services for children of all ages, and from 0 to 19 for families who have children with SEND, with a great Start for Life offer at their core.
In allocating funding to each local authority, the department has balanced the variable costs that local authorities face due to different population sizes, such as greater service demand resulting from a bigger population, against the fact that some costs will be similar regardless of these differences, for example the costs of establishing a parent carer panel. Each local authority’s total funding allocation therefore consists of two elements. The first is a fixed amount for each of the programme’s strands. The second element is a variable amount for each strand based on each local authority’s relative population size.
As outlined in the 'Family Hubs and Start for Life programme: local authority guide' each element of the programme focuses on a specific age range. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide. The variable amounts were, therefore, based on the most relevant population age ranges for the objectives of each programme strand.
For further information please see the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62ed30f98fa8f5033275fce8/Family_Hubs_and_Start_for_Life_programme_-_methodology_for_allocating_funding_to_local_authorities.pdf.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of her Department’s (a) advertising and (b) marketing expenditure was on (i) local newspapers in print and online, (ii) national newspapers in print and online, (iii) social media, (iv) search engines, (v) broadcast and on-demand television and (vi) other channels in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The department does not hold comprehensive information to the level of detail requested without incurring a disproportionate cost.