Written questions by Lowe.

How many Jamaican nationals have been returned to Jamaica in each year since the signing of the Compulsory Transfer Agreement with Jamaica in September 2015.

Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and the Ministry of Justice will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. Since July 2024, 2,925 foreign national offenders (FNOs) have been removed which is a 21% increase compared to the same period 12 months prior. FNOs serving custodial sentences may be transferred to serve their prison sentence in their home country if it has a reciprocal Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) with the UK. The UK has over 110 PTAs with other countries. The previous government agreed some PTAs that are compulsory and others that are voluntary which require the prisoner’s consent to be transferred. A revised compulsory PTA with Albania was ratified in 2021 and an arrangement to increase its efficiency was signed in March 2023. Under the previous government, between 2021 and March 2023, no transfers were made but since the agreement was updated, 8 Albanians have been transferred. The previous government announced the expectation of getting a PTA in 2015 with Jamaica but the agreement was never finalised. Since our electronic records began in 2011, 20 Indian nationals have been returned to India under the PTA. In the past 2 years fewer than 3 Indian nationals have been returned under the PTA. It is worth noting that the PTA with India is voluntary which means that consent is required from the prisoner for the PTA to be agreed. As with India the PTA with Iraq is also voluntary and since the PTA was signed in 2015 fewer than 3 Iraqi nationals have been transferred.

How many of the 200 Albanian nationals were returned under the agreement made with Albania on 24 May 2023.

Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and the Ministry of Justice will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. Since July 2024, 2,925 foreign national offenders (FNOs) have been removed which is a 21% increase compared to the same period 12 months prior. FNOs serving custodial sentences may be transferred to serve their prison sentence in their home country if it has a reciprocal Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) with the UK. The UK has over 110 PTAs with other countries. The previous government agreed some PTAs that are compulsory and others that are voluntary which require the prisoner’s consent to be transferred. A revised compulsory PTA with Albania was ratified in 2021 and an arrangement to increase its efficiency was signed in March 2023. Under the previous government, between 2021 and March 2023, no transfers were made but since the agreement was updated, 8 Albanians have been transferred. The previous government announced the expectation of getting a PTA in 2015 with Jamaica but the agreement was never finalised. Since our electronic records began in 2011, 20 Indian nationals have been returned to India under the PTA. In the past 2 years fewer than 3 Indian nationals have been returned under the PTA. It is worth noting that the PTA with India is voluntary which means that consent is required from the prisoner for the PTA to be agreed. As with India the PTA with Iraq is also voluntary and since the PTA was signed in 2015 fewer than 3 Iraqi nationals have been transferred.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will consider appealing the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruling on the UK's sovereignty of the Chagos Islands.

We understand this question refers to the 2021 International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea case between Mauritius and the Maldives, which concerned a maritime boundary dispute between those two States. The UK was not a party to that case.

How many and what proportion of people who arrived in the UK on small boats who have withdrawn their asylum claims remain in the UK.

Available data on returns of failed asylum seekers, including those who arrive by small boat, is published on a quarterly basis by the Home Office. The latest data goes to the end of December 2024.

How many (a) air miles and (b) flights the Prime Minister has completed since 5 July 2024.

Data on ministers’ travel is published on a quarterly basis. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings-july-to-september-2024.

How many users there are of the Homes for Ukraine scheme by nationality.

The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas for the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme by nationality in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the outcomes of visas are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. Data is up to the end of 2024.

Communities and Local Government, how many (a) air miles and (b) flights she has completed since 5 July 2024.

Data on minister’s overseas travel and on senior civil servant’s business expenses is published on a quarterly basis. The latest available quarterly publications can be found here: MHCLG: ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings, July to September 2024 - GOV.UK MHCLG: senior officials’ hospitality, July to September 2024 - GOV.UK.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the total cost to the public purse was of supporting the modernisation of the Albanian prison system.

In addition to work to disrupt Organised Immigration Crime and address the long-term drivers of migration, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Home Office and the Ministry of Justice work together to enable the return of eligible Albanian foreign national offenders to serve the remainder of their sentence in Albania. As part of an arrangement signed under the previous government in 2023 to implement the 2021 Prisoner Transfer Agreement, £4.3 million was committed over three years to support the modernisation of the Albanian prison system. We are reviewing the operation of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Albania signed by the previous Government to understand how more prisoners can be sent back to serve their time in Albanian prisons. During 2024,1,610 Albanian FNOs were removed from England and Wales - the highest number of any nationality and up 7% from the previous year.

What the cost to the public purse was of Universal Credit payments made to foreign nationals in 2024.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The Department is exploring the feasibility of developing suitable official statistics related to the immigration status of non-UK / Irish Universal Credit customers.

What information her Department holds on the number and proportion of spousal visas granted to people who were (a) first and (b) second cousins to their spouse in 2024.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer I gave him on 20 December 2024 in response to Question UIN 19992.

How many and what proportion of applications to extend student visas were successful in 2024.

Information on grants and refusals of extensions of stay to study is published in table EXE_D01, within the ‘Extensions detailed datasets’ file, at Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK. The latest publication includes data up to 31st December 2024.

If she will make an estimate of the number of work visas that will be issued in 2025.

The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of work visas issued in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release. See the entry clearance visa data tables.Future grant rates are very uncertain and liable to change.

What recent estimate she has made of the number of people with non-domiciled tax status who permanently left the UK in each month of 2024.

The Government’s priority is improving the UK’s competitiveness internationally and securing economic growth. The non-dom reforms have been specifically designed to make the UK competitive with a modern, simple tax regime that is also fair. The reforms establish a tax regime for new residents, which is more attractive to new arrivals than the current rules.The Government published a Tax Information and Impact Note for this policy on 30 October. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tax-changes-for-non-uk-domiciled-individuals/reforming-the-taxation-of-non-uk-domiciled-individuals.There have always been relatively large flows of non-doms in and out of the UK every year. For example. in the latest HMRC statistics for tax year 2022/23, 8,000 non-doms left and 13,000 arrived.We anticipate that some non-doms ineligible for the new regime will exit the UK in response to the changes. Taking this migration response into account, the OBR expects the non-dom reforms to raise £33.8 billion over the next five years to help fund the public services and investment projects needed to drive growth.

What information her Department holds on the number of assaults committed by biological males serving a custodial sentence in a women-only facility in 2024.

No such assaults have been reported.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support greyhound racing in England.

As the Secretary of State said recently, we have absolutely no plans to ban greyhound racing. We appreciate the joy it brings to many people in our country and the important contribution it makes to British cultural life and the rural economy, providing some 5400 jobs across Great Britain.The industry is supported by voluntary contributions from participating bookmakers through the British Greyhound Racing Fund, which plays a crucial role in its growth and sustainability. The Government remains committed to ensuring voluntary contributions reflect the value of the sport to the betting industry.

Communities and Local Government, when the next tranche of levelling up funding is due to be paid to coastal towns.

Monitoring Returns determine the amount councils are paid in relation to each Levelling Up Fund project, with the next payments due in late March.

Media and Sport, if she will provide a breakdown of costs relating to her Department's podcast entitled First Draft.

The podcast was created and delivered as part of the DCMS Communications Teams' day to day work at no extra cost.

How many and what proportion of medical school places are occupied by non-UK nationals.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education sector. These data are shared with the department and include a wide range of information on students in UK higher education providers (HEPs), including their legal nationality.In the 2022/23 academic year, there were 84,230 student enrolments in medicine and dentistry subjects at UK HEPs, of which 19,990 held a legal nationality other than British or dual-British nationality, representing 24.7% of those with known legal nationality.

What information her Department holds on the number of people impacted by train delays in 2024.

The Department does not hold information on the number of people affected by train delays. Rail industry data measures train delays. The Office of Rail and Road publishes quarterly and periodic (four-weekly) statistics on punctuality, reliability and causes of delay for passenger trains operating on the mainline network in Great Britain. This data set includes the percentage of recorded station stops that were arrived at ‘On Time’ (early or less than one minute after the scheduled time). In the year ending 4 January 2025, the proportion of station stops that were arrived at ‘On Time’ was 67.1%. These statistics can be found on the passenger rail performance data portal at https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/ .

How many people used Access to Work support in 2024; for what reasons; and what the cost to the public purse was of this.

The most recent complete financial year of data available in the published Access to Work official statistics is 2023/24: Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2024 - GOV.UK. In 2023/24, around 61,630 people received a payment for any Access to Work provision and total expenditure across all provision was £257.8 million. We have interpreted reasons for using Access to Work as being the primary medical condition reported by the individual. In 2023/24, the largest Access to Work customer group in terms of number of payments, by primary medical condition was those with a ‘Mental health condition’, who account for 27% (16,560) of the total number of customers. Those with the primary medical condition ‘Learning disability’ are the second most common group and make up 11% of customers (6,720 people). Those who are ‘Deaf or hard of hearing’ are in receipt of the highest proportion (30%) of total Access to Work expenditure. The Department intends to publish data for the financial year 2024/25 in the next official statistics publication which has a provisional publication date of September or October 2025.