Every parliamentary written question tabled by Lee Anderson this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 801–820 of 1,402 · this parliament
What estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of Universal Credit claims made by foreign nationals in each of the last five years.
Universal Credit awards are paid to households, which may include both British and foreign nationals who are eligible. Therefore, the information requested is not readily available at the required quality and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
What estimate she has made of the cost of employment (a) services and (b) training for foreign nationals in each of the last five years.
The Department considers migration trends when planning resources for delivering support including employment services and training to ensure that all claimants, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, can access this support if they are entitled to it. The Department does not collect information on or hold a record of the nationality or immigration status of claimants at the point of referral to specific employment services and training.
What recent estimate her Department has made of the proportion of Universal Credit claims made by foreign nationals (a) since July 2024 and (b) in each of the last three years.
The Department publishes Universal Credit (UC) immigration status and nationality statistics as part of the Universal Credit statistics publication. The latest release of these statistics is included in the latest Universal Credit statistical bulletin
What discussions he has had with the Food Standards Agency on increasing the frequency of food hygiene assessments.
The Food Law Code of Practice (the Code), which is prepared by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and issued by my rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, provides statutory guidance to local authorities and Port Health Authorities responsible for the delivery of official food controls and other official activities. Within the Code is guidance for authorities on how to determine the frequency of official controls using a risk-based approach. Higher risk or non-compliant establishments receive a higher frequency of official control than lower risk, compliant establishments.The FSA has recently consulted upon a revised Code which included proposals to introduce and develop flexibilities available to authorities. These can help support more focus on higher risk or non-compliant food establishments. The FSA aims to lay the revised Code in autumn 2025. The FSA also continues to work across Government and with local authority partners to ensure food safety regulation remains proportionate and effective.
What steps her Department is taking to evaluate demographic trends by nationality of Universal Credit claimants.
The Department regularly monitors demographic trends including publishing statistics on Universal Credit claims by Immigration Status and Nationality. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics
Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department provides on the assessments used to decide whether to return a dangerous dog to its owner after it has been seized.
Dogs that are prohibited under section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and which do not have a valid certificate of exemption could be seized by the Police. In these cases, there is an interim exemption scheme which allows suspected prohibited dogs to remain with their owners in advance of a court hearing. It is for the Police to determine whether to make use of this scheme on a case-by-case basis.
Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department provides on the assessments used to decide whether to return a dangerous dog to its owner after it has been seized.
Dogs that are prohibited under section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and which do not have a valid certificate of exemption could be seized by the Police. In these cases, there is an interim exemption scheme which allows suspected prohibited dogs to remain with their owners in advance of a court hearing. It is for the Police to determine whether to make use of this scheme on a case-by-case basis.
If she will publish the number of foreign nationals in receipt of each benefit across working age welfare spending.
There are no plans to start consistently collecting nationality data across all working age benefits. This is because DWP policy responsibility lies in establishing a customer’s eligibility to claim benefits. An individual’s specific nationality does not play a role in this. The Department checks immigration status when assessing eligibility for benefits, but this information is not collated centrally across all benefit lines and hence is not readily available. The Department publishes Universal Credit (UC) immigration status and nationality statistics as part of the Universal Credit statistics publication. The latest release of these statistics is included in the latest Universal Credit statistical bulletin. ‘Table 2’ in the latest Universal Credit immigration status and nationality data tables provides information on the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status, nationality group and employment status, for each month from April 2022 to June 2025.
What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) prevention and (b) detection measures used to identify fraudulent claims for Universal Credit by foreign nationals.
This government takes all cases of fraud seriously and has introduced the biggest package of measures in recent history to reduce welfare fraud, error and debt, which includes new legislation, the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill. This contains new powers to modernise our defences and is currently progressing through Parliament. In 2024-25, we saved an estimated £25bn from our up-front controls and detect activity, with the latter delivering £2bn savings and thereby significantly exceeding our Annually Managed Expenditure savings target. The Department always checks a person’s identity and immigration status before paying them benefits if they are a foreign national. We verify this information with the Home Office, including through automatic system-to-system checks.
What recent assessment she has made of the financial sustainability of the number of asylum seekers in receipt of Universal Credit.
People who are in the UK with no immigration status who are applying for asylum are not permitted access to public funds and therefore cannot claim Universal Credit.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Chinese counterpart on the location of Peng Shuai.
This Government remains deeply committed to the promotion and protection of human rights globally, including in China. We continue to monitor developments closely and raise issues of concern with Chinese counterparts at senior levels. The Prime Minister, Chancellor and former Foreign Secretary all raised human rights recently with their Chinese counterparts. We remain concerned about cases that raise broader questions around freedom of expression, and accountability, and we continue to work with international partners to support these principles.
What information they hold on the number of workdays that were completed remotely in their Department in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of foreign national Universal Credit claimants on the (a) delivery and (b) availability of employment support services.
The Department considers migration trends when planning resources for delivering support including employment services and training to ensure that all claimants, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, can access this support if they are entitled to it. The Department does not collect information on or hold a record of the nationality or immigration status of claimants at the point of referral to specific employment services and training.
If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of illegal cross-Channel migration on the safety of women and girls living in the UK.
The Government’s Plan for Change sets out our ambition to secure borders and control immigration. We have introduced the Border Security Asylum and Immigration Bill which will give law enforcement counter terror-style powers to identify and disrupt people smuggling gangs. It will introduce a new measure whereby those who commit sexual offences which give rise to the notification requirement in Schedule 3 of the Sexual offences Act 2023 will be excluded from being granted asylum protections in the UK.We recognise the devastating impact of sexual violence on victims and our communities and are absolutely committed to tackling sexual offences with a manifesto mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. We will deliver a cross-government transformative approach to relentlessly pursue all VAWG perpetrators in this country, under-pinned by a new strategy which we aim to publish in the autumn.
If she will make it her policy to house irregular migrants only in secure detention centres.
Immigration detention plays a key role in maintaining effective immigration controls and securing the UK’s borders. The Home Office detains people initially for examination purposes and for the purpose of removing people who have no right to remain in the UK but refuse to leave voluntarily. A person may be detained for a period that the Secretary of State reasonably considers necessary to carry out the examination or removal, make a decision, or directions to be given.There is limited detained accommodation. The Home Office currently operates seven Immigration Removal Centres, three residential Short-Term Holding Facilities and one Pre-Departure Accommodation for families. These house a mixture of time-served foreign national offenders and immigration offenders. A number of factors go into deciding who to detain and determining whether detention is appropriate. All decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.Separately, the Home Secretary is legally required to support those seeking asylum in the UK who would otherwise be destitute. This obligation is fulfilled through the provision of appropriate non-detained accommodation. The Home Office remains committed to reducing reliance on hotel accommodation and is actively pursuing alternative solutions to meet our statutory obligations.
What steps he is taking with the Food Standards Agency to help increase levels of public awareness of dangerous food product recalls.
Food recalls and allergy alerts often receive a high level of engagement depending on the scale and risk associated with each recall. It is the responsibility of businesses to reach the public through displaying in-store notices and notifying consumers through their own communication channels. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) amplifies recalls to reach a wider audience and those most vulnerable.The FSA works with national and regional media outlets, and shares recall information across its social media channels. This strategy achieves regular national coverage, plus targeted regional coverage. Targeted advertising campaigns on social media encourage the public to sign up for the food alerts and recalls service. Promoting the alerts and recall service is a key objective of our current business campaign. Safer food means better business, which aims to support small and micro businesses in protecting their customers.Targeted partnerships with healthcare providers, charities and organisations that represent vulnerable consumers facilitate direct access to those who are most at risk to food borne diseases. This includes immunocompromised groups or those living with an allergy.The FSA carried out a key review of the recall process in 2017 with the strengthened processes in place by 2019, and an evaluation of improvements carried out in 2022. At the heart of this work is making sure that as much as possible the system works smoothly across all those involved so that consumers are aware when unsafe foods are recalled.
What proportion of foreign nationals receiving Universal Credit arrived in the UK in the last five years.
The Department does not hold this information for all claimants over the last five years.
What steps he is taking to help reduce the number of GP visits before diagnosis for patients with blood cancer.
The Department continues to support the National Health Service to diagnose and treat cancer as early and fast as possible. However, because of the state of the NHS this Government inherited, we recognise that patients with cancers with non-specific symptoms such as blood cancer, are waiting too long for diagnosis and subsequent treatment.To help prevent multiple general practice (GP) visits and emergency setting diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England with blood cancers being one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.The Department recently hosted a roundtable with industry experts to discuss the proposal for Jess’s Rule. Outcomes and further steps will be confirmed in due course.
What information they hold on the number of workdays that were completed remotely in their Department in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.
The department’s employees work remotely from offices for a variety of reasons, including to visit educational institutions, partner organisations or when they have agreement to work from somewhere other than an office. IT log-on data indicates that approximately 55% of available working days in 2024 and 2025 to date were spent working remotely, but this figure should be treated as indicative rather than definitive, due to limitations in how the data is captured.
What recent steps he has taken to improve access to new treatments for patients with secondary breast cancer.
The Department is committed to ensuring that the National Health Service diagnoses cancer earlier and treats it faster so that more patients, including those with breast cancer, survive.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the NHS on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on their costs and benefits. Cancer medicines are eligible for funding from the Cancer Drugs Fund from the point of a positive NICE recommendation. Since January 2022, NICE has recommended all but one of the treatments for breast cancer that it has assessed, including treatments for secondary breast cancer such as Truqap and Korserdu, which are now available to eligible NHS patients.The National Cancer Plan for England will be published later this year and will set out further details on how we will improve outcomes for all cancer patients, including those with secondary breast cancer. The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare.