Written questions by McMurdock.

Innovation and Technology, how much money has been spent on the Counter Disinformation Unit in each year since 2021.

In October 2023 the Counter Disinformation Unit became the National Security and Online Information Team (NSOIT). The name more accurately reflects the team’s revised remit to identify and understand information threats that pose national security and public safety risks to UK audiences from mis and disinformation. It would not be appropriate for me to share details of the department’s spend on counter-disinformation as this could give hostile actors insights into UK capabilities.

Innovation and Technology, if he will conduct a review of the work of the National Security Online Information Team.

The National Security Online Information Team’s (NSOIT) agreed remit is to analyse narratives and trends from publicly available information online relating to national security and public safety, where ministers agree there is a high risk to UK audiences from mis and disinformation. This remit and the work of NSOIT is kept under review by ministers.

Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the Counter Disinformation Data Platform does not restrict freedom of speech.

DSIT uses the Counter Disinformation Data Platform (CDDP) in accordance with relevant existing UK legislation, including on data protection and human rights.DSIT officials use the platform to analyse disinformation narratives and trends from publicly available information online relating to risks to national security and public safety, which is a remit set by ministers. In line with the role of government and DSIT’s compliance policies, the CDDP is not used to restrict freedom of expression.

Innovation and Technology, how many times his Department has met with the Centre for Countering Digital Hate; and when those meetings took place.

Ministers, special advisers, and officials have regular meetings with a range of stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings, including the purpose of meetings, are published quarterly on the gov.uk website.

Innovation and Technology, how much online content was flagged as disinformation by his Department in the last 12 months; and what the nature was of that content.

In 2024 the National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) referred 180 pieces of content to platforms, across national security and public safety risks. Any online content referred to social media platforms falls within NSOIT’s defined remit of public safety and national security, be capable of causing harm and potentially breach the platform’s terms of service.Where content is flagged to a social media platform, the next steps for dealing with that content lie solely with the platform.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of launching a review of animal testing in the UK.

The Government is committed to supporting the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science. The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal, and will likely take many years of scientific and technical advancement and validation to reach this point. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is leading on the delivery of this commitment. Our current approach is to support and fund the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs), and to ensure that the UK has a robust regulatory system for licensing animal studies and enforcing legal standards. In line with the Government’s Manifesto commitment, DSIT is currently engaging with partners from sectors with interests in animal science and on a cross-Government level as to how we will take this commitment forward, including the publishing of a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods. The Government expects to publish this strategy later this year.

Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people in England owed homelessness prevention or relief duty.

Homelessness levels are far too high. There are far too many living in temporary accommodation - including 560 families and 839 children in Thurrock as of the 30 September 2024. This is symptomatic of the housing crisis we have inherited and is not acceptable. We know being in temporary accommodation can have a devastating impact on people, particularly children. That is why we will take the action needed to tackle this issue, working across government and with local leaders to develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.We are already taking the first steps to get us back on track to ending homelessness. As announced at the Budget in October, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26. As part of this, we are providing an uplift of £192.9 million to the Homelessness Prevention Grant, bringing total funding for 2025/26 to £633.2 million - the largest investment in this grant since it began.We are also addressing the use of emergency accommodation for homeless families, including the use of bed and breakfast, through a new £8 million programme of Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots. We are working with the 20 local authorities with the highest levels of B&B use for homeless families to test innovative approaches and kickstart new initiatives.We are also tackling the root causes of homelessness, including by delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. We will also abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions with immediate effect, preventing private renters being exploited and discriminated against, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.Accredited official statistics on statutory homelessness applications, duties, and outcomes for local authorities in England were published on the 27 February 2025 and can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the recent increase in the number of households in temporary accommodation in Thurrock.

Homelessness levels are far too high. There are far too many living in temporary accommodation - including 560 families and 839 children in Thurrock as of the 30 September 2024. This is symptomatic of the housing crisis we have inherited and is not acceptable. We know being in temporary accommodation can have a devastating impact on people, particularly children. That is why we will take the action needed to tackle this issue, working across government and with local leaders to develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.We are already taking the first steps to get us back on track to ending homelessness. As announced at the Budget in October, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26. As part of this, we are providing an uplift of £192.9 million to the Homelessness Prevention Grant, bringing total funding for 2025/26 to £633.2 million - the largest investment in this grant since it began.We are also addressing the use of emergency accommodation for homeless families, including the use of bed and breakfast, through a new £8 million programme of Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots. We are working with the 20 local authorities with the highest levels of B&B use for homeless families to test innovative approaches and kickstart new initiatives.We are also tackling the root causes of homelessness, including by delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. We will also abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions with immediate effect, preventing private renters being exploited and discriminated against, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.Accredited official statistics on statutory homelessness applications, duties, and outcomes for local authorities in England were published on the 27 February 2025 and can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities experiencing a significant rise in the number of families requiring temporary accommodation.

Homelessness levels are far too high. There are far too many living in temporary accommodation - including 560 families and 839 children in Thurrock as of the 30 September 2024. This is symptomatic of the housing crisis we have inherited and is not acceptable. We know being in temporary accommodation can have a devastating impact on people, particularly children. That is why we will take the action needed to tackle this issue, working across government and with local leaders to develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.We are already taking the first steps to get us back on track to ending homelessness. As announced at the Budget in October, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26. As part of this, we are providing an uplift of £192.9 million to the Homelessness Prevention Grant, bringing total funding for 2025/26 to £633.2 million - the largest investment in this grant since it began.We are also addressing the use of emergency accommodation for homeless families, including the use of bed and breakfast, through a new £8 million programme of Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots. We are working with the 20 local authorities with the highest levels of B&B use for homeless families to test innovative approaches and kickstart new initiatives.We are also tackling the root causes of homelessness, including by delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. We will also abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions with immediate effect, preventing private renters being exploited and discriminated against, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.Accredited official statistics on statutory homelessness applications, duties, and outcomes for local authorities in England were published on the 27 February 2025 and can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness.

What steps she is taking to support children living in temporary accommodation to ensure their access to a stable education in (a) Thurrock and (b) England.

The Opportunity Mission will break the link between young people’s backgrounds and their future success across Thurrock and the whole of England, by ensuring family security and providing the best start in life. It will ensure all children are achieving, thriving and building skills for opportunity and growth. High and rising standards in every school are at the heart of this mission, driving better outcomes for every child, and delivered through excellent teaching and leadership, a high-quality curriculum, and a system which removes the barriers to learning which hold too many children back. We know that disadvantaged young people in particular face barriers to engagement with education, including insecure housing. If children are unable to engage with education, then no matter how good teaching and learning is, they are much less likely to succeed. From April 2025 the department will be rolling out Family Help Services that will prioritise supporting the whole family and intervening at the earliest opportunity to prevent challenges escalating. Lead practitioners will undertake assessments of all needs of the family, including those who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, homelessness and work to support families where this may be part of a more complex set of needs. As announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26. The Child Poverty Taskforce has also started urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy. The Strategy will tackle overall child poverty including a focus on children in deepest poverty lacking essentials. This is set out in more detail in the 23 October publication ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-poverty-developing-our-strategy. Homeless children are included in the Fair Access Protocol, which is a mandatory mechanism developed by local authorities in partnership with all schools in their area. Its aim is to ensure that vulnerable children, and those who are having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, are allocated a school place as quickly as possible.

What the average processing time is for Pension Credit applications; and what the target processing time is for the coming financial year.

DWP works to a planned timescale of 50 working days to clear Pension Credit claims. In 2023/24 DWP cleared 192,000 Pension Credit claims within the planned 50 working day timescale, equating to 77.7%. [Source: DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK] The latest available management information for week commencing 17th February 2025 shows that the Average Actual Clearance Time for Pension Credit was 52.8 working days. This data aligns to the latest week included within the external publication of Official Statistics for Pension Credit Pension Credit is a complex benefit, and some claims require additional investigation or information from the customer, which can result in longer processing times. As a result of the increase in Pension Credit claims following the Winter Fuel Payments policy announcement, the Department has deployed over 500 additional people to ensure it has the capacity to assess all claims in reasonable timescales. Please note, The Average Actual Clearance Time figure shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. It is rounded to the nearest working day and based on the week the claim was cleared, rather than the week the claim was made.

How much Pension Credit was paid out in the latest reporting period; and what proportion of this was subject to fraud or error.

The latest published DWP Benefit expenditure and caseload tables show that in 2023/24, Pension Credit expenditure (outturn) was £5,467 million (nominal terms). These figures are based on Autumn Statement 2024 and are available at: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK.However, the latest DWP Fraud and Error statistics for financial year 2023/2024 are based on Spring Statement 2024 and estimate that of the £5,400 million Pension Credit expenditure (forecast, rounded to £100m), £520 million is due to fraud and error overpayment (where the Department pays people too much money).This equates to an overpayment of 9.7% of Pension Credit expenditure (nominal terms, based on Spring Statement 2024). This data can be found here: Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2023 to 2024 estimates - GOV.UK. The estimates are published annually, and the next release is planned for May 2025, which will estimate fraud and error in benefit claims for the financial year ending 2025.

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the financial oversight delivered by (a) arms-length bodies and (b) non-Governmental bodies across Whitehall.

Managing Public Money guidance sets out the responsibilities of accounting officers in departments and in ALBs regarding the stewardship of public funds, including the requirement for public bodies and their sponsor departments to have an appropriate framework document (or equivalent) in place to provide certainty about their relationship and governance arrangements. The framework document agreed between an ALB and its sponsor department should provide for the sponsor department to exercise meaningful oversight of the ALB's strategy and performance, pay, and/or major financial transactions.Additionally, supported by the National Audit Office (NAO), the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) independently scrutinises public funds, including providing Parliament with financial audit of the accounts of both departments and ALBs.

How many (a) arms-length bodies and (b) Non-Governmental departments have not published full financial accounts in the last five years.

For arms-length bodies, inclusive of non-departmental public bodies the legal requirement to produce financial accounts is normally set out in their founding legislation. The Treasury monitors all Departmental accounts to ensure they are laid in a timely manner. All 2023-24 Departmental accounts have been laid in Parliament. There are no Departments which have not published audited financial accounts in the last five years. The Treasury also lay the accounts of 21 non-ministerial departments and 8 pension schemes; all 2023-24 accounts have been laid in Parliament. There are no non-ministerial departments or pension schemes where laying is done by The Treasury which have not published audited financial accounts in the last five years. Departments have responsibility for monitoring the publishing of financial accounts for bodies in their departmental group, including for arms-length bodies.

Whether she has plans to introduce new financial reporting requirements for (a) arms-length bodies and (b) Non-Governmental departments that handle significant public expenditure.

For arms-length bodies, inclusive of non-departmental public bodies, the legal authority to direct financial reporting requirements for their individual Annual Reports and Accounts is with its sponsoring department. HM Treasury’s Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) applies directly to all government departments. Sponsoring departments may also require their arms-length bodies, including non-departmental public bodies to apply the FReM. Financial reporting requirements outlined in the FReM are updated annually, the 2025-26 FReM has been published which will apply to relevant bodies for the 2025-26 financial year. The FReM is based on International Financial Reporting Standards-adapted or interpreted as appropriate to the public sector context. Under section 24 of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000, the Treasury is required to consult an advisory group on financial reporting principles and standards for resource accounts and Whole of Government Accounts. This role is fulfilled by the Financial Reporting Advisory Board (FRAB) who are required to agree to any changes to the financial reporting requirements included in the FReM. Reporting requirements would then apply to government departments directly as well as those arms-length bodies and non-departmental public bodies directed to follow the FReM by their sponsoring department.

Whether she is taking steps to ensure that people who rely on in-person banking services are provided with suitable alternatives.

The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open. Another option for in-person banking is the Post Office. Through the Post Office Banking Framework, 99% of personal banking and 95% of business banking customers can access vital cash withdrawal and deposit facilities in-person at 11,500 Post Office branches across the country. The Government protects the Post Office network by setting minimum access criteria. These include ensuring that 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a Post Office and 90% of the population within one mile. Some banks also provide their own community banking services via pop-ups in community centres and libraries, or operate mobile banking vans, and the Government supports these initiatives. Further alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking and through digital means such as mobile or online banking. In 2022, over 65% of those aged over 75 used online banking or mobile apps. The Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) has recently published a Digital Inclusion Action Plan which sets out the Government’s first steps towards our long-term objective of ensuring everyone has the access, skills, support and confidence to participate in our modern digital economy.

What her Department's policy is on support for elderly people who lack access to (a) online banking and (b) a physical banking hub.

The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open. Another option for in-person banking is the Post Office. Through the Post Office Banking Framework, 99% of personal banking and 95% of business banking customers can access vital cash withdrawal and deposit facilities in-person at 11,500 Post Office branches across the country. The Government protects the Post Office network by setting minimum access criteria. These include ensuring that 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a Post Office and 90% of the population within one mile. Some banks also provide their own community banking services via pop-ups in community centres and libraries, or operate mobile banking vans, and the Government supports these initiatives. Further alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking and through digital means such as mobile or online banking. In 2022, over 65% of those aged over 75 used online banking or mobile apps. The Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) has recently published a Digital Inclusion Action Plan which sets out the Government’s first steps towards our long-term objective of ensuring everyone has the access, skills, support and confidence to participate in our modern digital economy.

Innovation and Technology, what discussions his Department has had with Faculty AI on the scope of their monitoring software.

Faculty AI was contracted by DSIT following a procurement process. Details of the contract can be found here. As part of that procurement process, all companies were required to provide a variety of information, including details of their expertise in managing technology projects and ensuring compliance with UK GDPR and security measures.

Whether her Department has had discussions with technology companies other than Apple on the removal of advanced data protection systems.

I refer the Hon Member to my response to PQ 33378 answered on 3 March 2025.

What (a) authorisations and (b) warrants are required for Government access to data following Apple's removal of advance data protections.

I refer the Hon Member to my response to PQ 33378 answered on 3 March 2025.