Written questions by Anderson.

How many prisoners have been released from Nottinghamshire prisons as part of the early release scheme since July 2024.

This Government inherited a criminal justice system in crisis, with our prisons on the brink of collapse. We took the necessary action to prevent the complete breakdown in law and order that we were facing when we were elected, by introducing the SDS40 scheme. Unlike the previous Government’s disastrous ECSL scheme, SDS40 has exclusions for domestic abuse related offences and sought to give probation as much time as possible to prepare for releases.SDS40 applies to all prisons in England and Wales and data on early prison releases from Nottinghamshire prisons forms a subset of prison releases data which is intended for future publication. In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we may not give any early indication of the contents of this statistical report.On 07 November, the Ministry of Justice published transparency data on how many offenders were released on the first days of Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 of SDS40 (1,889 prisoners on the first day of Tranche 1, and 1,223 prisoners on the first day of Tranche 2).

Communities and Local Government, how many disabled people were on the waiting list for social housing in the last 12 months.

My Department does not hold data on the number of disabled people on social housing registers (waiting lists).

Communities and Local Government, how many foreign nationals have been granted social housing in the last year.

People are generally eligible for social housing if they have leave to remain in the UK and have recourse to public funds. The Home Office decides whether persons from abroad have leave to remain in the UK and whether they have recourse to public funds. Only individuals that are eligible can join housing registers and be given a social housing tenancy. For those who are eligible, housing needs will be considered on an equal basis in accordance with the relevant local authority’s housing allocation scheme. There were 33,000 new social lettings in England to households whose lead tenant was a non-UK national in 2023/24. This constitutes 13% of all new social lettings that year (262,000 lettings). The Department does not hold data on the nationality of individual members of households in social housing, but such households can contain UK nationals as well as non-UK national lead tenants.

If her Department will introduce trauma training in nurseries and schools to support (a) children in care and (b) children who have been adopted.

Children in care and care leavers are significantly more likely to have experienced trauma and have poor mental health. The latest departmental data shows that two thirds of children become looked after due to abuse or neglect, and we know that care-experienced adults are at four to five times greater risk of suicide attempt than their peers. Knowing the significant trauma that many of these children and young people have experienced and its lasting impact, providing effective support is crucial.To support children in care and those who have previously been in care, including children adopted from state care, Pupil Premium Plus funding of £2,630 is provided per eligible child, per year. For looked-after children, this funding is managed by the local authority’s Virtual School Head and can be used to facilitate a wide range of educational support including additional mentoring, tuition and therapeutic services. Many Virtual School Heads work closely with schools to support the implementation of whole-school, trauma-informed practice. For previously looked-after children, Pupil Premium Plus is paid to, and managed by, the child’s school and can be used to facilitate a wide range of educational support.All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to promote the educational achievement of the children in care or previously in care on the school’s roll. Designated teachers have an important role in ensuring staff can identify signs of potential issues and understand where the school can draw on specialist services. This includes identifying signs of potential mental health issues and understanding the impact that these issues, including experiences of trauma, can have on children in care or previously in care and their ability to engage in learning.Schools have the flexibility to decide what pastoral support they provide to best meet the individual needs of all their pupils. This includes how they approach supporting children who may be particularly vulnerable, such as those who have experienced trauma. The department recognises that many schools do use trauma informed practices as part of their approach.To help schools support their pupils, the government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.The department will also recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, and open new Young Futures hubs with access to mental health support workers.To support education staff, the department provides a range of guidance and practical resources on promoting and supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing. For example, a resources hub for mental health leads and a toolkit to help choose evidence-based early support for pupils, which include resources on trauma.Personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for all children to lead healthy and happy lives and is fundamental to their cognitive development. This is why PSED is one of the three prime areas of learning set out in the early years foundation stage statutory framework that all early years providers in England must follow. This statutory framework can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2.The department’s online child development training for early years educators includes a module dedicated to supporting children’s PSED and covers attachment theory, including how trauma can impact a baby and young child’s attachment style. This training is available at: https://child-development-training.education.gov.uk/.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to reduce homelessness among veterans.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 903640 on 7 April 2025.

What steps her Department is taking to prevent child poverty in Ashfield constituency, in the context of disability benefit reforms.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government. The Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy looking at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. We are listening carefully to the voices of children and families living in poverty, including children with disabilities and special educational needs. Later this month, the Taskforce will meet with external experts, including disability charities and organisations, to discuss the impact of poverty on disabled children specifically. Alongside our work on the Child Poverty Strategy, we have set out ambitious plans to reform employment support and support disabled people and people with health conditions to stay in work and get back into work. Our Get Britain Working (GBW) White Paper includes £15 million funding to support trailblazers and local development of GBW plans. We announced in our Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up by £1 billion of new funding.

Whether she is taking steps to reduce administrative requirements for local authorities handling the blue badge digital service.

The Blue Badge Digital Service offers a national online application and badge management facility through GOV.UK. Nearly 90% of all badge applications are now made through this service. The Department for Transport runs a programme of continuous improvement to the digital service to make online badge applications quicker and easier for applicants and local authorities, including undertaking specific research and testing to identify innovative improvements to the online application process. The service also undergoes regular accessibility and assurance testing to guarantee compliance with the Government’s digital standards.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce processing times for applications to the blue badge digital service.

The Blue Badge Digital Service offers a national online application and badge management facility through GOV.UK. Nearly 90% of all badge applications are now made through this service. The Department for Transport runs a programme of continuous improvement to the digital service to make online badge applications quicker and easier for applicants and local authorities, including undertaking specific research and testing to identify innovative improvements to the online application process. The service also undergoes regular accessibility and assurance testing to guarantee compliance with the Government’s digital standards.

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of the blue badge digital service for applicants with disabilities.

The Blue Badge Digital Service offers a national online application and badge management facility through GOV.UK. Nearly 90% of all badge applications are now made through this service. The Department for Transport runs a programme of continuous improvement to the digital service to make online badge applications quicker and easier for applicants and local authorities, including undertaking specific research and testing to identify innovative improvements to the online application process. The service also undergoes regular accessibility and assurance testing to guarantee compliance with the Government’s digital standards.

Whether she plans to use Eastwood Hall Hotel to accommodate irregular migrants.

As a matter of longstanding policy, the Home Office does not comment publicly on sites which may or may not be utilised to accommodate asylum seekers.However, if a hotel has been identified for use as contingency accommodation, Home Office officials will write to the local authority Chief Executive and the constituency MP to inform them of any such plans.It remains our absolute commitment to end the use of hotels over time, as part of our plans to reduce the overall cost of asylum accommodation.

What diversity, equality and inclusion targets his Department has for staff recruitment.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero values the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce. We internally monitor our departmental diversity data and seek to increase representation amongst under-represented groups, especially at more senior grades, with a focus on Women, Ethnic Minority and Disability. We do not set targets as part of our recruitment processes but ensure that our processes are fair and equitable.

Communities and Local Government, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets her Department has for staff recruitment.

MHCLG do not have diversity, equality and inclusion recruitment targets. Our recruitment processes aim to attract a diverse range of applications, with a focus on parity with the economically active population in the places we work. The Economically Active Population (EAP) is published by the Office for National Statistics for the regions in the UK.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to prioritise disabled people on waiting lists for social housing.

Local authorities are responsible for designing and managing their own housing allocations policies to meet local need but have to do so within the legislative framework set by government. As part of this, they are required to ensure they give ‘reasonable preference’ (priority) to people for medical or welfare reasons, which includes a physical or learning disability. Allocations guidance also encourages local authorities to give additional preference to people who need to move urgently because of a sudden disability. Social housing allocations guidance can be found on gov.uk here.

What diversity, equality and inclusion targets her Department has for staff recruitment.

All recruitment at the Department for Transport (DfT) is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. As such there are no diversity, equality and inclusion targets for recruitment in the Department.

Communities and Local Government, how many disabled people have been allocated council housing in Nottinghamshire since 27 March 2024.

The Department does not currently hold figures on allocated council housing since 27 March 2024. However, the Department has begun collecting data for the 2024/25 financial year as part of our Social Housing Lettings in England statistical series and will publish the 2024/25 report in this series in November 2025 on gov.uk here.

What diversity, equality and inclusion targets her Department has for staff recruitment.

I refer the Hon Member to my response to his previous PQ 40631.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets his Department has for staff recruitment.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) follows the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles guiding fair and open appointments based on merit. We aspire to reflect the population we serve but there are no specific diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) targets for recruitment. As a Disability Confident Level 3 Leader the FCDO implements the Disability Confident Scheme across our recruitment campaigns meaning candidates in the scheme are guaranteed an interview if they meet the minimum criteria for the role. DEI in the Civil Service is an important lever to support the delivery of the Government's Plan for Change and wider Civil Service reform.

What steps he is taking to increase the availability of jobs for newly qualified nurses in Nottinghamshire.

Decisions about the employment of newly qualified nurses in Nottinghamshire is a matter for individual National Health Service trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level to ensure they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

What diversity, equality and inclusion targets his Department has for staff recruitment.

Whilst there are no Civil Service-level Diversity, Equality and Inclusion targets for staff recruitment, the Civil Service is committed to representing the diversity of the UK population. At a Departmental level, the Ministry of Defence has set a number of Levels of Ambition which, amongst other factors, aim to improve the diversity of our workforce by delivering the policy, process, cultural and behavioural changes required to maximise the talent of our people. We also have a target for civilian disability representation of 15.3 per cent by 2030.

What diversity, equality and inclusion targets his Department has for staff recruitment.

Appointments to advertised vacancies in the Department for Business and Trade are made on the basis of fair recruitment open to all. The Department does not operate recruitment targets in relation to diversity, equality and inclusion. The Department does have an internally published Diversity and Inclusion plan that is focussed on embracing fairness for all.