Written questions by Lowe.

Pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31569 on Coronavirus: Protective Clothing, if he will breakdown the programme of work to reduce excess PPE stock.

The programme to dispose of excess COVID-19 related personal protective equipment (PPE) stock through sales, donations, recycling and energy from waste concluded in January 2025.The storage costs for COVID-19 related PPE incurred in January 2025 were £300,000. In January 2024 and January 2023, the storage costs were £7,700,000 and £18,600,000 respectively.

Pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31569 on Coronavirus: Protective Clothing, if he will make an estimate of the (a) weekly and (b) total cost to the public purse of storing PPE related to Covid-19 in 2025.

The programme to dispose of excess COVID-19 related personal protective equipment (PPE) stock through sales, donations, recycling and energy from waste concluded in January 2025.The storage costs for COVID-19 related PPE incurred in January 2025 were £300,000. In January 2024 and January 2023, the storage costs were £7,700,000 and £18,600,000 respectively.

What his Department's timetable is for the completion of the James Paget Hospital rebuild.

The pre-construction activity for the James Paget Hospital scheme, which includes business case development and critical enabling works, is ongoing, with construction of the main hospital build expected to commence in 2027/28 as part of Wave 1 of the New Hospital Programme (NHP).The expected completion dates for all schemes will be confirmed following the approval of a Full Business Case as set out in the HM Treasury Green Book and is usual for large infrastructure projects.We have made clear that we will expediate reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) schemes in the NHP, including James Paget Hospital. To support this approach, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has commissioned an updated site by site report, due in summer 2025, to inform decisions on the delivery of the replacement hospitals. The site-by-site report on all seven RAAC hospitals will help inform individual development plans, which includes continued mitigation works as well as addressing the highest risk elements as early as possible through phasing of works. The report will be based on an up-to-date assessment of the safety of the hospital site now, and in future.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the powers of train conductors to tackle disruptive levels of noise on trains.

Train operating companies including their conductors can already use the Railway Byelaws to address disruptive levels of noise, and we have no plans to make changes to this currently. To ensure ease of travel and safety for everyone using the railway, the rules set out in Byelaws must be adhered to and enforcement action can be taken against those who do not comply with them.

If she will take steps to publish regular transparency reports on the number of encryption-related demands her Department makes to (a) Apple and (b) other technology companies.

The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of introducing encryption backdoors for use by the Government on the risk of the exploitation of those backdoors by (a) foreign states and (b) cybercriminals.

The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the decision by Apple to withdraw its advanced data protection system in the UK on cybersecurity risks to (a) businesses, (b) journalists and (c) other people.

The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.

How many meetings (a) she, (b) Ministers from her Department and (c) senior officials from her Department have had with Apple since 4 July 2024.

Home Office Ministers and senior officials regularly meet with key stakeholders, including technology companies, on a range of policies and issues.Details of ministerial meetings are published on a quarterly basis on gov.uk.

Whether Apple was directly instructed to disable its Advanced Data Protection encryption service for UK users.

The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.

Whether her Department plans to request access to encrypted personal data from (a) TikTok, (b) Alphabet, (c) Meta, (d) Amazon and (e) Microsoft.

The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.

For what reason her Department has requested access to Apple customers' personal data under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.

The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.

What data her Department holds on the number of people affected by the removal of Apple's Advanced Data Protection.

The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.

How many Apple devices have been accessed by her Department under surveillance legislation in each of the last 10 years.

The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.

How many people have been (a) investigated and (b) deported for supporting groups proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 in the last ten years by proscribed group.

The Government takes proscription offences very seriously. It is an offence under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 for a person to invite support for a proscribed organisation or express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation.Data on arrests, charges and convictions for the proscription offences in sections 11 to 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 can be found in the quarterly Home Office publication ‘Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000’.The most recent publication was published on 12 December 2024 and includes data up to the year ending September 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/operation-of-police-powers-under-tact-2000-to-september-2024.Data is not published on investigations or deportations relating to section 12 offences. Data providers are not required to provide further detail on events leading to the arrest. Collecting and verifying the data requested to answer this question could only be done at disproportionate cost to the organisations responsible.

Media and Sport, what the total number of TV licence fee payers was in each of the last ten years.

The BBC is responsible for collection of the TV licence via TV Licensing. TV Licensing publishes the number of licences in force in its Annual Review, which can be found here: https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/our-performance-AB6

If she will publish a breakdown of student loan recipients by nationality in each of the last five years.

Attached is a table that breaks down unique students in receipt of tuition fee loans and/or student support scheme income contingent loans (such as maintenance loans) by nationality for the 2019/20 to 2023/24 academic years.Nationality is an optional field for borrowers to fill out when they are applying for student finance, which is why the data contains ‘unknown’ records. The department has seen a downward trend in the number of ‘unknown’ records in recent years, which could be due to people moving towards digital rather than paper applications, as the digital application has a drop-down menu for nationality making it easier for applicants to select the relevant option.Please note, when compared to published figures, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-support-for-higher-education-in-england-2024, total numbers of borrowers in receipt of tuition fee and maintenance loans will differ to this dataset as we are counting unique borrowers. Furthermore, the data is not fully static and data can be updated or re-categorised over time.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many farms he has visited since 30 October 2024.

Ministers visit farms and other food production premises regularly.

What the total cost for the storage of PPE related to Covid-19 was in 2024.

The cost of storing personal protective equipment (PPE) bought in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for the calendar year 2024 was approximately £60 million. The programme of work to reduce excess PPE stock has now concluded.

What the cost to the public purse was of laundry services for irregular migrants housed in hotels in 2024.

The cost of laundry and cleaning services at hotels are included in the overall payment made for the use of each property rather than through any separate contractual arrangement.

If he will make an estimate of how many people in the UK do not speak English as a first language.

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