Written questions by McMurdock.

Pursuant to her Department’s press release entitled New UK–Nigeria partnership to speed up removals, whether the agreement with Nigeria constitutes a legally binding treaty.

On 18 March 2026, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a UK-Nigeria Migration Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nigerian Interior Minister, the Hon. Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.Under the terms of the MOU, the Home Office will be able to facilitate returns using a UK Letter travel document. This will ensure that we are able to swiftly conduct the return of those that no longer have a right to be in the UK. Home Office officials will work closely with the Nigerian authorities to monitor implementation.MOUs are not legally binding but are routine mechanisms used to manage activity between the UK and foreign governments.The Home Office publishes statistics on returns from the UK in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release.Foreign national offender (FNO) returns from the UK to Nigeria are published in Table Ret_D04 of the Returns detailed datasets with the most recent figures covering the period up to the end of December 2025.The Home Office does not publish statistics on visa overstayer returns for any nationality. In addition, Nigeria does not appear in the nationality breakdown for failed asylum seeker (asylum related) returns as only the highest 10 nationalities are published.These publication limitations apply only to those specific return categories and do not affect the published data on foreign national offender returns to Nigeria.

What estimate his Department has made of future demand for care home beds over the next ten years.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population. That is why, under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care market and to commission a range of high-quality, sustainable, and person-centred care and support services to meet the diverse needs of all local people.In performing that duty, a local authority must have regard to current and likely future demand for such services and consider how providers might meet that demand.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled New UK–Nigeria partnership to speed up removals, published on 19 March 2026, what proportion of individuals returned to Nigeria are (a) visa overstayers, (b) failed asylum seekers and (c) foreign national offenders.

On 18 March 2026, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a UK-Nigeria Migration Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nigerian Interior Minister, the Hon. Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.Under the terms of the MOU, the Home Office will be able to facilitate returns using a UK Letter travel document. This will ensure that we are able to swiftly conduct the return of those that no longer have a right to be in the UK. Home Office officials will work closely with the Nigerian authorities to monitor implementation.MOUs are not legally binding but are routine mechanisms used to manage activity between the UK and foreign governments.The Home Office publishes statistics on returns from the UK in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release.Foreign national offender (FNO) returns from the UK to Nigeria are published in Table Ret_D04 of the Returns detailed datasets with the most recent figures covering the period up to the end of December 2025.The Home Office does not publish statistics on visa overstayer returns for any nationality. In addition, Nigeria does not appear in the nationality breakdown for failed asylum seeker (asylum related) returns as only the highest 10 nationalities are published.These publication limitations apply only to those specific return categories and do not affect the published data on foreign national offender returns to Nigeria.

What steps he is taking to help ensure that prison staffing levels are sufficient to maintain security.

Effective prison security is a prerequisite for the safe and stable regimes required to promote prisoner rehabilitation, and sufficient levels of skilled frontline staff are fundamental to delivering secure and rehabilitative prison regimes. Against a challenging labour market, we have recruitment campaigns at all prisons where there are current or projected needs, and provide enhanced support to the prisons in the most challenging parts of the estate. HMPPS offers several routes to become a prison officer, including: A ‘Prison Officer Alumni’ scheme, which encourages former officers to return to the Service, bringing back their previous experience.Advance into Justice scheme, which helps Armed Forces leavers, veterans, and their spouses into Prison Officer roles.First Deployment: new recruits will apply to a national campaign and will be allocated to a ‘home’ prison but will be deployed to a different site for the first 23 months of service, with additional financial incentives.The Operational Support Grades to prison officer fast-track scheme, giving individuals the chance to use their previous experience in prisons and take the next step in their career through a streamlined process. To help improve Prison Officer retention, HMPPS has created a retention strategy which is linked to wider activities around employee experience, employee lifecycle and staff engagement at work. As of December 2025, the resignation rate for Band 3-5 Prison Officers was the lowest it has been in the last four years.We have specialist staff and equipment to stop the smuggling of contraband in prisons – such as drugs, weapons and mobile phones – which can fuel violence and create instability.We remain committed to ensuring prisons are sufficiently resourced and that we retain and build levels of experience, both of which are fundamental to delivering quality outcomes in prisons.

Pursuant to her Department’s press release entitled New UK–Nigeria partnership to speed up removals, how many additional Nigerian nationals above the current 1,150 annual returns rate has she estimated will be removed as a result of this agreement.

On 18 March 2026, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a UK-Nigeria Migration Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nigerian Interior Minister, the Hon. Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.Under the terms of the MOU, the Home Office will be able to facilitate returns using a UK Letter travel document. This will ensure that we are able to swiftly conduct the return of those that no longer have a right to be in the UK. Home Office officials will work closely with the Nigerian authorities to monitor implementation.MOUs are not legally binding but are routine mechanisms used to manage activity between the UK and foreign governments.The Home Office publishes statistics on returns from the UK in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release.Foreign national offender (FNO) returns from the UK to Nigeria are published in Table Ret_D04 of the Returns detailed datasets with the most recent figures covering the period up to the end of December 2025.The Home Office does not publish statistics on visa overstayer returns for any nationality. In addition, Nigeria does not appear in the nationality breakdown for failed asylum seeker (asylum related) returns as only the highest 10 nationalities are published.These publication limitations apply only to those specific return categories and do not affect the published data on foreign national offender returns to Nigeria.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the capacity of the probation service to manage increased caseload.

The Probation Service continues to face capacity and workload pressures. The Probation Service uses the Workload Measurement Tool alongside other management information to support local and national oversight of workloads. This tool indicates the caseload per officer, which is one indicator of pressure, but it does not on its own provide a complete picture of probation capacity, as it does not take account of the complexity, risk level or intensity of individual cases, all of which have a significant impact on workload. The Government recognises the pressures created by increased demand and has taken steps to strengthen probation capacity, including sustained recruitment of probation officers, action to improve retention, the prioritisation of resources towards the highest risk cases, and reducing workloads through the Our Future Probation Service (OFPS) programme, which aims to reduce workloads by 25% by April 2027. Together, these measures are intended to help ensure the Probation Service can continue to protect the public while managing increased caseload pressures safely and effectively.

What estimate he has made of the gap between projected prison demand and planned prison capacity.

On 29 January 2026, we published our second annual statement on prison capacity, which sets out the projected prison demand and planned prison capacity up to November 2032: Ministry of Justice – Annual Statement on Prison Capacity: 2025.

Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to require online platforms to publish data on the volume of fraudulent advertisements detected and removed.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology does not hold data relating to the number of fraudulent or scam adverts on social media or other regulated services.There are mechanisms in the Online Safety Act that allow Ofcom to collect information from categorised services on the incidence and dissemination of illegal content, which would include fraudulent advertising content. Ofcom is required under the Act to publish annual transparency reports.

Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with the Home Secretary and the Justice Secretary on strengthening enforcement against online fraud, especially in relation to fraudulent advertising on social media platforms.

Ministers have regular meetings with Cabinet colleagues on a range of subjects including online fraud. The government is committed to a coordinated, cross-government approach to online fraud.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Hundreds of new UK jobs as Nigerian companies confirm millions in investment, published on 17 March 2026, what assessment he has made of the trends in the level of inward investment from Nigeria into the United Kingdom.

As an integral part of the UK's growth objective, the Government is making it simpler and easier for business to make long term investment into the UK, including Nigerian inward investment.DBT routinely publishes official statistics on foreign direct investment in the UK on the GOV.UK website, including the number of jobs involved.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Hundreds of new UK jobs as Nigerian companies confirm millions in investment, published on 17 March 2026, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of these investments on opportunities for UK-based workers aged 18–24.

As an integral part of the UK's growth objective, the Government is making it simpler and easier for business to make long term investment into the UK, including Nigerian inward investment.DBT routinely publishes official statistics on foreign direct investment in the UK on the GOV.UK website, including the number of jobs involved.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Hundreds of new UK jobs as Nigerian companies confirm millions in investment, published on 17 March 2026, what proportion of jobs created will require high-skilled workers.

As an integral part of the UK's growth objective, the Government is making it simpler and easier for business to make long term investment into the UK, including Nigerian inward investment.DBT routinely publishes official statistics on foreign direct investment in the UK on the GOV.UK website, including the number of jobs involved.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Hundreds of new UK jobs as Nigerian companies confirm millions in investment, published on 17 March 2026, what estimate he has made of the monetary value of the investments confirmed by Nigerian companies as a result of the UK–Nigeria Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership (ETIP).

As an integral part of the UK's growth objective, the Government is making it simpler and easier for business to make long term investment into the UK, including Nigerian inward investment.DBT routinely publishes official statistics on foreign direct investment in the UK on the GOV.UK website, including the number of jobs involved.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Hundreds of new UK jobs as Nigerian companies confirm millions in investment, published on 17 March 2026, what mechanisms will be used to monitor whether the jobs announced are delivered in practice.

As an integral part of the UK's growth objective, the Government is making it simpler and easier for business to make long term investment into the UK, including Nigerian inward investment.DBT routinely publishes official statistics on foreign direct investment in the UK on the GOV.UK website, including the number of jobs involved.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of his renewable energy policies on non-electricity energy demand.

The Department has made a range of assessments of energy supply and demand under a range of scenarios. The published energy and emissions projections set out a view of electricity and non-electricity energy demand given firm and funded policy." Annex_E_primary_energy_demand_TWh.ods

What estimate she has made of the financial losses to UK consumers resulting from fraud facilitated via social media and online platforms in each year since 2020.

The Government takes the issue of fraudulent activity arising on social media and online platforms very seriously. The Office of National Statistics estimates that, in year ending March 2024, nearly half of all frauds were online-enabled.The department does not currently collect data on the financial losses from victims of fraud through social media channels directly. However, there have been 228,141 reports to Report Fraud of cyber-enabled fraud in 2025, totalling approximately £1.9 billion of losses. The government has also estimated that the total socio-economic cost of fraud to the UK was £14.4 billion between 2023-2024.Whilst the Government does not collect this type of data directly, as part of the recently published Fraud Strategy, the Government has committed to working with industry, including social media and online platforms, to develop metrics, with the purpose being to improve transparency and accountability and track sectors’ performance in tackling fraud.We encourage anyone to report instances of online fraud to Report Fraud, the UK’s dedicated fraud reporting service, and visit the Stop! Think Fraud website for information on how they can stay safe from fraud.

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of battery storage technology for large-scale grid stabilisation.

Battery energy storage systems can play an important role in large-scale grid stabilisation, depending on the type of inverter technology used and their location on the network. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for grid stability, and the department works with NESO to ensure that we have the resources needed for secure system operation. Battery energy storage systems with grid-forming capabilities were trialled on the Stability Pathfinder programme and are now eligible to apply into the Stability Market which offers a route for NESO to procure these services through a transparent and competitive market.

What assessment he has made of the UK’s refinery capacity and whether they are sufficient to meet national demand.

The Department publishes data on refinery production (Table 3.12) and demand for petroleum products (Table 3.13) as part of Energy Trends: UK oil and oil products - GOV.UK. These data are updated monthly.

What assessment she has made of trends in online-enabled fraud, including investment fraud involving deepfake content, since 2020.

Fraud and cybercrime are deeply interconnected. The Office of National Statistics estimates that in year ending March 2024, nearly half of all frauds were online-enabled.The government’s Fraud Strategy (2026-2029) sets out the latest trends and evolving drivers of online fraud. Criminals routinely hijack online channels to socially engineer people into sending money directly, through fraudulent adverts or through convincing fraudulent emails and text messages. Criminals exploit data breaches, and use phishing techniques, to obtain personal information to takeover online accounts directly. We have also seen the growth of ‘fraud-as-a-service’ marketplaces, which lower the barrier to entry for new criminals.The government is aware that criminals have adopted generative AI as a tool to increase the scale and sophistication of attacks, as well to bypass company’s security procedures to impersonate customers for account takeovers. Measuring these types of attacks is a challenge as often victims will be unaware of whether AI has been used. While reports of AI enabled fraud are increasing, they still account for a fraction of all Report Fraud cases (0.2% in 2025); but it is almost certain that the true number of AI enabled frauds is much higher.We encourage anyone to report instances of online fraud to Report Fraud, the UK’s dedicated fraud reporting service, and visit the Stop! Think Fraud website for information on how they can stay safe from fraud.

What estimate he has made of the volume of UK-origin oil and gas reserves that are currently being extracted by foreign operators and subsequently re-imported into the UK.

Oil and gas produced in the North Sea is traded on international markets, regardless of whether the operator is UK-based or otherwise. Due to the physical characteristics of UK North Sea Crude, such as density and sulphur content, it is often more cost-effective for UK refineries to process imported crude oils that are better suited to their configurations. In 2024, 92% of oil production and 34% of UK natural gas production was exported.