Written questions by Lowe.

If she will make an estimate of the average time taken for theft cases to be processed through the courts in each year since 2019.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the average duration for various stages of the criminal justice system for defendants by offence group, including theft, from 2014 to 2023 (latest available) in the ‘End-to-end timeliness tool’ as part of Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly.

How much the NHS paid in compensation in each of the last five years.

NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. NHSR administers claims covered by several indemnity schemes. The two main schemes are: the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts, which provides cover for clinical negligence claims against secondary care providers, including all NHS trusts; and the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice, which provides cover for clinical negligence claims relating to NHS services provided in general practice, for incidents occurring on or after 1 April 2019. NHSR also administers the Liabilities to Third Parties Scheme for non-clinical claims against NHS trusts, such as public and employer’s liability.The following table shows the payments made for clinical negligence claims, broken down into damages, NHS legal costs, claimant legal costs, and sum total paid, between the financial years 2019/20 and 2023/24:Financial yearDamages paidNHS legal costs paidClaimant legal costs paidTotal paid2019/20£1,644,216,037£145,231,480£475,257,408£2,264,704,9262020/21£1,588,102,706£150,740,413£432,972,932£2,171,816,0512021/22£1,777,244,213£157,860,991£470,329,975£2,405,435,1792022/23£1,985,073,662£161,232,916£489,738,305£2,636,044,8832023/24£2,111,274,291£171,207,686£544,941,740£2,827,423,717Total£9,105,910,909£786,273,487£2,413,240,360£12,305,424,756In addition, the following table shows the payments made for non-clinical claims, also broken down into damages, NHS legal costs, claimant legal costs, and sum total paid, between the financial years 2019/20 and 2023/24:Financial yearDamages paidNHS legal costs paidClaimant legal costs paidTotal paid2019/20£29,385,103£7,235,444£18,155,566£54,776,1132020/21£28,523,132£6,244,463£16,379,137£51,146,7322021/22£32,118,571£6,529,827£17,314,793£55,963,1922022/23£26,857,633£6,081,045£16,314,408£49,253,0862023/24£26,166,825£7,091,718£16,635,005£49,893,548Total£143,051,264£33,182,497£84,798,910£261,032,671Notes:1) NHSR has advised that the values for the payments reported for each year will be different from those reported in the published Annual report and accounts (ARA), because: accruals for NHS legal costs are included in the accounting records used for the ARA and are not included at the last day of the financial year in the Claims Management System used to provide these more detailed tables; timing differences in manual postings, for instance income received is reflected in the financial records used for the ARA and not included at the last day of the financial year in the Claims Management System used to provide these more detailed tables; and payments made in 2019/20 and 2020/21 for some older general practice claims (ELGP), during their transition to NHSR, are included in the accounting records used for the ARA, however, those ELGP payments are not included in the Claims Management System used for these tables during the oversight period, as NHSR was not managing the cases within its claims management systems; and2) there may be other compensation schemes involving the NHS that are not covered by NHSR, however, this information is not held centrally.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many complaints to his Department from farmers there were in each of the last five years.

Records of complaints categorised by the occupation of the complainant are not held by the department. Obtaining the information would incur disproportionate costs.

With reference to paragraph 5.54 of Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, whether her Department has carried out an impact assessment on the proposed changes to agricultural property relief.

The Government has published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief#:~:text=From%206%20April%202026%2C%20the,rather%20than%20the%20standard%2040%25. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief in 2026-27 are expected to be unaffected by these reforms. In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph 3.82 of Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, if he will provide funding for flood defences in Hemsby.

To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion over the next two years to improve flood resilience, by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences. The list of projects to receive government funding in 2025/26 will be consented over the coming months in the usual way through Regional Flood and Coastal Committees, with local representation. We are committed to supporting coastal communities and ensuring flood and coastal erosion risk management is fit for the challenges we face now and in the future. Defra will consult in the new year on a new simpler and more flexible approach to floods investment that maximises value for the taxpayer and supports nature-based solutions. This will include a review of the floods funding formula.

What recruitment targets there were in each branch of the armed forces in each of the last five years; and how many people were recruited to each branch in the same period.

The information requested by the hon. Member can be found below. Financial YearRoyal NavyArmyRoyal Air ForceTargetActualTargetActualTargetActual2019-204,1803,67010,1109,5902,9002,6202020-214,4004,0609,4209,3302,4902,2102021-224,3503,7307,3607,2302,6702,3202022-233,8302,9508,8306,0802,3701,9302023-244,0402,61010,4506,7202,5601,600 The new Government has made improving recruitment and readiness of our armed forces an early priority. The Secretary of State has already made announcements to improve recruitment and further announcements will be made by the Ministry of Defence in due course. Notes: Royal Navy1. Full-Time Naval Service personnel (Royal Navy and Royal Marines), including Nursing Services, but excluding Full-Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel and reservists.2. Untrained intake for Navy include Marines and comprises new entrants into Phase 1 training. Figures do not include transfers from another Service or include transfers from Other Rank to Officer. Army1. The figures are for the Regular Army only and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves, but includes those personnel that have transferred from GURTAM to UKTAP.2. Untrained intake for Army comprises new entrants into Phase 1 training. Figures do not include transfers from another Service. Figures also do not include transfers from Other Rank to Untrained Direct Entry Officer.3. The Army Regular Other Rank Basic Training Starts (BTS) targets exclude re-joiners and personnel joining the Military Provost Guard Service and the Royal Gibraltar Regiment.4. In 2019-20 the target was exceeded; however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent reduction in BT capacity, the number of BTS was impacted. Recruits were loaded to training, however, but were unable to start BT in year.5. The Army reduced its recruitment targets in 2020-21 and 2021-22 due to measures under Future Soldier, which are reflected in the above figures. The Other Ranks target for 2020-21 was reported as 8,270 due to an administrative error in an earlier Parliamentary Question (UIN 7264) dated 8 January 2024 and has been corrected in the calculations for the above table.6. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 for presentational purposes. Royal Air Force1. Intake to the Regular RAF includes both trained and untrained intake. The figures match the Service Personnel Statistics, Table 5A.2. Recruitment and intake is likely to be affected by wider circumstances, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and cost of living.3. Figures have been rounded to 10 for presentational purposes. Numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systemic bias.

What the office budget will be for the Covid Counter-Fraud Commissioner.

The Commissioner will be supported by a team of experts from HM Treasury, the Public Sector Fraud Authority, the Government Commercial Function, the Government Debt Management Function and the Department of Health and Social Care.

How many shoplifting convictions there were by the nationality of the offender in Great Yarmouth constituency in each of the last five years.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants convicted for shoplifting offences by Police Force Area in each of the last five years in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2023 - GOV.UK.However, it is not possible to identify an offender’s nationality from the centrally collated convictions data. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the percentage of food consumed in the UK that is produced domestically.

In 2023, 58% of domestic consumption came from UK production (based on unprocessed value at farmgate), 24% from the European Union and the remaining 18% from the rest of the world. Data for 2024 will be published in Defra's ‘Agriculture in the United Kingdom’ report in mid-2025.

With reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the planned rise in employer's national insurance contributions on businesses.

Raising the revenue required to fix the public finances and restore economic stability requires difficult decisions on tax, which is why we are asking employers to contribute more. The government will protect the smallest businesses by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500 and removing the £100,000 eligibility threshold. This means that next year, 865,000 employers will pay no National Insurance contributions at all and more than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing parents to take their children out of school during term time for up to five days per year.

Tackling absence is at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. If children are not in school, it does not matter how effective or well-supported teaching and learning is, they will not benefit. The government recognises school absence as a key barrier to learning.Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure that their child of compulsory school age attends school regularly. Regular school attendance is vital for children’s attainment, mental wellbeing and long-term development.Taking children out of school during term time can damage their education and cause unnecessary disruption for teachers and other pupils. There are 175 days per year when pupils are not expected to be in school which gives families various opportunities to enjoy holidays.Thanks to the sector's efforts, more students are attending school this year compared to last. However, 1.6 million children remain persistently absent, missing 10% or more of lessons.

What the budget will be for the Office for Value for Money; and how many staff it will have.

The Office for Value for Money is a time-limited, multidisciplinary team of up to 20 civil servants based in HM Treasury and led by David Goldstone, the independent Chair. Its costs in 2024-25 and 2025-26 will be funded from HM Treasury's RDEL settlements, which were announced as part of the first phase of the Spending Review in Budget 2024.

How many trained military personnel were ready to deploy in a combat role in each branch of the armed forces in each of the last five years.

The below table represents the number of UK Armed Forces personnel with a Medical Deployability Standard (MDS) of Medically Fully Deployable (MFD) and Medically Limited Deployable (MLD), in a combat role, as at 1 July for each year between 2020 and 2024, by Service. DateRoyal Navy (incl. Royal Marines)British Army1Royal Air ForceMFDMLDTotalMFDMLDTotalMFDMLDTotal01 July 202023,7722,31926,09120,5742,17522,74923,8232,30326,12601 July 202124,3792,39726,77621,4882,27423,76223,9752,40526,38001 July 202224,2032,28626,48920,5512,42822,97923,2232,48525,70801 July 202323,7172,22725,94419,4892,21921,70822,5092,47724,98601 July 202422,9942,38525,37918,3982,12320,52121,9152,46524,380Source: Analysis (Health) The new Government is determined to improve readiness and recruitment levels from those we inherited. Work to do so is underway and the MOD will be making announcements on action in due course. Notes/caveats:For the Army, the figures reflect the MDS of Full-Time Trade Trained Strength of the Infantry, the Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps and the Army Air Corps only, which are defined by the Army as personnel serving in a ‘combat role’.The Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force do not have a definition for ‘combat role’ and the figures therefore reflect the MDS of Full-Time Trained Strength.The figures include Reserve Forces personnel filling Regular posts whilst serving on Full Time Reserve Service and Gurkha personnel. Other Reserves, Civilians, Foreign Service, and non-UK military personnel are excluded.The Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DMICP) was used to obtain information on MDS. Prior to July 2022, MDS was sourced from a combination of DMICP medical records and data held on the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system. Since July 2022 MDS has been sourced directly from DMICP due to improvements in data quality.

How much his Department spent on first class flights in each year since its creation.

Since its creation on 7 February 2023 and up until 31 March 2024, the Department for Business and Trade has incurred no first-class air travel expenditure as it is not permitted under the travel policy.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of running a public awareness campaign to remove all COVID signs.

No assessment of the merits of running a public awareness campaign to remove all COVID-19 signs has been made.

How many staff in their Department work outside of the UK; where these staff work; and what the cost is of salaries for these staff.

The Department does not have any staff who work outside of the United Kingdom.

How much was paid to the EU in each year since 2021.

The UK continues to make payments to the EU in relation to the liabilities arising from the period of the UK’s membership under the legally binding Withdrawal Agreement. Between the UK’s departure from the EU on 30th January 2020 and the end of 2023, such payments amounted to £23.8bn (net of assets returned to the UK and estimated receipts to UK beneficiaries from the EU Budget).Further details of payments are set out are set out in the European Union Finances Statement (EUFS) 2023, available on Gov.uk and in the library of the House. These figures do not include payments to the EU for other purposes such as those in relation to continued UK association to certain EU programmes under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement; such payments are reported in the relevant departments’ annual accounts and as part of normal budgetary disclosures.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department spent on first class flights in each of the last five years.

This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. In line with FCDO Travel Policy for all staff, first class air travel is prohibited.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of conducting a review into the food labelling system.

Defra is in the process of conducting a Post Implementation Review of the Food Information Regulations 2014 and the Country of Origin of Certain Meats Regulations 2015 to assess their success against their origin policy objectives. Furthermore, we plan to publish a summary of responses to a recent public consultation on fairer food labelling.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in their Department work outside of the UK; where those staff work; and what the cost is of salaries for those staff.

Information on civil servants employed by Defra working overseas and the median salary for overseas posts are available at the following link: https://civil-service-statistics.jdac.service.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/data_browser_2024/index.html Information on the precise location of staff working overseas is not published.