Written questions by O'Brien.

Whether the Single Unique Identifier that the Government are piloting is the NHS number; what the (a) locations, (b) timing and (c) size of the pilot is; and how families have been informed.

The department is currently exploring the suitability of using the NHS number as a single unique identifier with Wigan local authority. This process will take several months. This first phase of work will explore whether success rates of linking children’s records can be improved within a local authority by using the NHS number provided by the NHS Personal Demographic Service. This work will inform future tests and pilots. The department anticipates several rounds of piloting the different aspects of implementation to establish where it can have the right impact, and to understand the system costs and business process changes associated with its usage. We will be working with NHS England and local authorities as part of the piloting process, to ensure that the data processed as part of the pilot is secure and meets legal requirements around the data subject's rights to be informed about how their information is processed. One way children and families are informed about how their personal information is used, is via privacy notices. Wigan’s privacy notices that are relevant in this context can be accessed at: https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Council/DataProtection-FOI-Stats/Privacy-notices/Privacy-Notices-for-all-services.aspx.

What the number of (a) employments and (b) employees was by (i) UK, (ii) EU and (iii) non-EU nationality in each month since July 2014.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman Parliamentary Question of 13th of February is attached.

How many people were deported through (a) enforced return, (b) voluntary return, (c) after being refused entry at port and subsequently departed and (d) in total in each quarter between Q1 1995 and Q4 2004.

Historic data on returns is available.The most recent data on the number of returns from the UK since 4th July 2024 was published on 10th February, covering the period up to to 31 January 2025.

How many deportations through enforced return there have been since 4 July 2024.

Historic data on returns is available.The most recent data on the number of returns from the UK since 4th July 2024 was published on 10th February, covering the period up to to 31 January 2025.

How many referrals for masculinising chest surgery there were from the NHS Gender Dysphoria National Referral Support Service in each year for which data is available since 1997.

Referrals for masculinising chest surgery are made by the specialist clinical teams in the NHS Gender Dysphoria Clinics, not by the NHS Gender Dysphoria National Referral Support Service (GDNRSS). The non-clinical role of the GDNRSS is to process the referrals on behalf of the providers.The GDNRSS was established in 2020. Between 1 April 2020 and 31 December 2024, the GDNRSS received 5,463 requests for masculinising chest surgery.

How many gender (a) reassignment and (b) affirmation operations were carried out by the NHS in each year since 2000 for which data is available.

The Department does not hold this data centrally, as it is held at an individual National Health Service provider level.

How many and what proportion of people who have arrived on small boats since 4 July 2024 have been deported.

The Home Office publishes data on small boat returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on quarterly enforced and voluntary returns of people who arrived by small boat, by return date, are published in table Irr_02e of the ‘Irregular Migration to the UK summary tables’.Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the end of September 2024. Data to the end of December 2024 will be published on 27th February.Deportations are a specific subset of returns which are enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good. The deportation order prohibits the person returning to the UK until such time as it may be revoked. Data on deportations are not published separately.

What was the average length of time taken between the point of application to join (a) the army, (b) the Royal Navy, (c) the RAF and attestation in each year since 1997.

The new Government inherited a crisis in recruitment. We have made it a priority to address this with a series of work streams designed to increase recruitment and renew the contract between the nation and those who serve to improve retention.Many factors affect the time taken to proceed through the recruiting pipeline. Many candidates proceed much faster than the average when they are well prepared and ready to move quickly. Others take longer, for reasons including:Delays in the receipt of primary healthcare records.Medical deferment for those requiring time to get medically fit.The need to align the start of basic of training with trade training.A candidate’s current domestic, employment and housing situation.A candidate’s choice regarding pace and level of engagement.Numerical information is provided in the table below, noting that direct comparisons between each Service should be avoided due to the different processes in use; for example, recruits to the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force must achieve a Security Check level of security clearance before joining. In the time available to answer a Parliamentary Question, it has not been possible to provide information for each requested year. Average Time of Flight (days) taken between Application and Basic Training Starts for Regular Other Ranks UK Nationals between 1 October 2018 and 30 September 2024 12 months ending 30 September:Average Time of Flight (days)201920202021202220232024Royal Navy (RN) / Royal Marines (RM)....357376301279Army262285284321254249Royal Air Force (RAF)..345448463375301Source: Analysis (Tri-Service) Table Notes: Time of Flight is defined as the time passed in days between the date of application and the date of intake to the untrained strength. The symbol “..” denotes that information is not available.Average Time of Flight is expressed as the median number of days, meaning that Time of Flight for half of all candidates is shorter than the figures provided, and half is longer. For example, half of RN/RM candidates took up to 279 days in the 12 months ending 30 September 2024, with half taking longer.Application data is taken from the Defence Recruitment System and Recruitment IT System (RN and RAF) and matched to intake data from the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system and should reflect time of entry to training.Figures may differ from information reported elsewhere by single Service recruiting teams, which are intended to support operational decision-makers monitoring operational and pipeline performance and are therefore calculated using differing methodologies.Applications from non-UK candidates are excluded, with Nationality as declared on JPA. Army figures include applications from Irish personnel but exclude applications from other countries and those applicants without a known nationality.For a small number of Navy personnel, application date is recorded as after their intake date, likely due to outflowing and re-joining the Service. These personnel have been excluded from calculations.When an individual has multiple applications to the RAF or RN/RM, the applications closest before their intake was used as the application submission date.Where an application date is not held in the data or an application cannot be matched to intake, such as where there is no corresponding service number or National Insurance number, the case is excluded.

How many people started apprenticeships at level (a) 2, (b) 3, (c) 4, (d) 5, (e) 6 and (f) 7 in each public service in each year since 2015.

Apprenticeship level was not collected by the previous government as part of the public sector data return.The latest data on public sector apprenticeship new starts for the years it was collected can be found in the links below.2023/24 financial year: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/680d7c76-ab1a-4fea-d82c-08dd4a33315d.2022/23 financial year: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ef860ba0-ea81-4edf-d82d-08dd4a33315d.2017/18 to 2021/22 financial years: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/81667830-1958-49f0-d82e-08dd4a33315d.

What the average length of time taken was between the point of application to join the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) RAF and attestation in the latest period for which data is available.

The new Government inherited a crisis in recruitment. We have made it a priority to address this with a series of work streams designed to increase recruitment and renew the contract between the nation and those who serve to improve retention.Many factors affect the time taken to proceed through the recruiting pipeline. Many candidates proceed much faster than the average when they are well prepared and ready to move quickly. Others take longer, for reasons including:Delays in the receipt of primary healthcare records.Medical deferment for those requiring time to get medically fit.The need to align the start of basic of training with trade training.A candidate’s current domestic, employment and housing situation.A candidate’s choice regarding pace and level of engagement.Numerical information is provided in the table below, noting that direct comparisons between each Service should be avoided due to the different processes in use; for example, recruits to the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force must achieve a Security Check level of security clearance before joining. In the time available to answer a Parliamentary Question, it has not been possible to provide information for each requested year. Average Time of Flight (days) taken between Application and Basic Training Starts for Regular Other Ranks UK Nationals between 1 October 2018 and 30 September 2024 12 months ending 30 September:Average Time of Flight (days)201920202021202220232024Royal Navy (RN) / Royal Marines (RM)....357376301279Army262285284321254249Royal Air Force (RAF)..345448463375301Source: Analysis (Tri-Service) Table Notes: Time of Flight is defined as the time passed in days between the date of application and the date of intake to the untrained strength. The symbol “..” denotes that information is not available.Average Time of Flight is expressed as the median number of days, meaning that Time of Flight for half of all candidates is shorter than the figures provided, and half is longer. For example, half of RN/RM candidates took up to 279 days in the 12 months ending 30 September 2024, with half taking longer.Application data is taken from the Defence Recruitment System and Recruitment IT System (RN and RAF) and matched to intake data from the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system and should reflect time of entry to training.Figures may differ from information reported elsewhere by single Service recruiting teams, which are intended to support operational decision-makers monitoring operational and pipeline performance and are therefore calculated using differing methodologies.Applications from non-UK candidates are excluded, with Nationality as declared on JPA. Army figures include applications from Irish personnel but exclude applications from other countries and those applicants without a known nationality.For a small number of Navy personnel, application date is recorded as after their intake date, likely due to outflowing and re-joining the Service. These personnel have been excluded from calculations.When an individual has multiple applications to the RAF or RN/RM, the applications closest before their intake was used as the application submission date.Where an application date is not held in the data or an application cannot be matched to intake, such as where there is no corresponding service number or National Insurance number, the case is excluded.

How much his Department spent on Capita provided medical vetting for forces personnel in each of the last 10 years.

The requested information is provided in the following table, by Financial Year (FY): FY£ million2014-15175.7302015-16127.0582016-17134.4762017-18124.0622018-19115.4352019-20120.9612020-21132.1242021-22121.6572022-23121.0282023-24126.760

How many schools (a) initially applied to be part of the universal primary school breakfast clubs pilot and (b) subsequently pulled out.

The government is committed to offering a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England, beginning with the launch of an early adopter scheme in summer term 2025. Schools were invited to express their interest in taking part by 20 December 2024. A list of participating schools will be published in due course.

Representing the Church Commissioners, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed Project Spire on (a) church parishes and (b) the maintenance of historic church buildings.

Project Spire is important missional activity. The anticipated impact on parishes is an increased understanding of historic links with enslavement, which exist in many parts of the Church of England, and possible ways to share, discuss and respond.Funding for Project Spire will be sourced entirely from the Endowment Fund managed by the Church Commissioners. None of the money from parish income, or that is given to a parish church, will be used for this fund. Therefore, no direct financial impact is anticipated for parishes.Contested heritage guidance has been developed that may support churches in considering contested monuments within churches, but this work is not part of Project Spire, which exists to respond to links between the historic endowment of the Church and enslavement.

With reference to her Department's consultation entitled School accountability reform - school profiles, improvement and intervention, page 18, published on 3 February 2025, what estimate she has made of the number of schools which will require a (a) structural intervention and (b) targeted RISE intervention in the next three years.

The department’s consultation document explained that, overall, we expect twice as many mandatory interventions in schools, through both structural intervention and targeted regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) interventions. This is expected to total around 370 schools experiencing mandatory intervention averaged annually over the next three years, based on the pattern of Ofsted inspections in recent years and based on the numbers of schools which already meet our proposed eligibility criteria but have not had structural intervention to date.

How many pupils are enrolled in a National Centre for Computing Education computing hub.

Computing hubs are embedded within individual schools which provide free computing continuing professional development (CPD), met a ministerially approved quality bar and are supported by the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE). 28 schools in England are currently part of a computing hub. The support offered by computing hubs is, for the most part, aimed at teachers only. Being enrolled at a school which is also a computing hub does not therefore mean that a pupil is enrolled in, or directly accessing, the computing support the hub offers. The only support from computing hubs which is aimed directly at pupils is hub-run outreach events. In the 2023/24 academic year, over 3,700 young people attended an NCCE outreach event.

What information her Department holds on the total number of pupils who (a) have participated in the National Consortium for Languages Education’s language hubs since they were established and (b) currently use those hubs.

There are currently 15 language hubs across England, typically comprising one lead school, working with seven partner schools and feeder primary schools, in addition to supporting wider networks of schools within their region. The support offered by language hubs is aimed at schools and teachers only. Being enrolled at a school which is also a language hub does not therefore mean that a pupil is enrolled in, or directly accessing, the languages support the hub offers.

What the annual cost of providing free breakfast clubs in every primary school will be.

The department will fund schools to provide the new breakfast clubs. The department published its funding methodology alongside guidance for early adopters on 16 January, and it has worked closely with schools on these rates to ensure they were sufficient for the ask. Funding for national rollout is subject to the next spending review. Funding rates for schools as part of the national roll out will be informed by learning from early adopters.

What estimate her Department has made of the cost of providing free breakfast clubs in primary schools in each financial year to 2028-29.

The department will fund schools to provide the new breakfast clubs. The department published its funding methodology alongside guidance for early adopters on 16 January, and it has worked closely with schools on these rates to ensure they were sufficient for the ask. Funding for national rollout is subject to the next spending review. Funding rates for schools as part of the national roll out will be informed by learning from early adopters.

How many and what proportion of staff in her Department are qualified teachers.

The information on staff teaching qualifications is not centrally held on the department’s HR system. Seeking the information across the department’s full workforce could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

With reference to the consultation entitled Technical consultation - Inheritance Tax on pensions: liability, reporting and payment, published on 30 October 2024, if she will make an estimate of how much tax revenue will be raised following the extension of inheritance tax on death-in-service payments for military families in each of the next five years.

The costing for including inheritable pension wealth in the value of the estate for inheritance tax purposes from April 2027 was certified by the OBR at the 2024 Autumn Budget as ‘reasonable and central’. Additional information on the costing methodology can be found in the OBR’s Economic and fiscal outlook – CP 1169.The specific revenue raised as part of this costing from the extension of inheritance tax to death-in-service payments for military families in each of the next five years is not available as the data does not distinguish whether a taxpayer is or was a member of the Armed Forces.Estates of service personnel will benefit from the normal nil-rate bands, reliefs, and exemptions available. For example, the nil-rate bands mean an estate can pass on up to £1 million and the general rules mean any transfers, including the payment of death benefits, to a spouse or civil partner are exempt fully from inheritance tax. There is also a full exemption from inheritance tax when a member of the armed forces dies from a wound inflicted, accident occurring, or disease contracted on active service.