Neil O'Brien MP: written questions 2025
425 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Freedom of InformationDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 3 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 96738More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2025 to Question 45822 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Equality, if she will publish the Freedom of Information Act response with
Answer: The Freedom of Information Act response has been published and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staff-numbers-in-the-hr-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-edi-team-foi202524724.
Answered 17 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security BenefitsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 2 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 96204More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many additional households will become subject to the Household Benefit Cap following the removal of the two-child limit on the Universal Credit child element.
Answer: The requested information is not available.
Answered 8 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security BenefitsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 2 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 96202More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households are exempt from the Household Benefit Cap solely as a result of receiving (a) Personal Independence Payment and (b) Carer’s Allowance by region.
Answer: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Answered 8 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security BenefitsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 2 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 96201More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households are exempt from the Household Benefit Cap solely as a result of receiving (a) Disability Living Allowance and (b) Attendance Allowance by region.
Answer: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Answered 8 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security BenefitsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 2 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 96200More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of total benefit income received by the average benefit-capped household is accounted for by (a) Universal Credit excluding child elements, (b) the Universal Credit child element, (c) Ho
Answer: The information is not available. This is because, whilst there are different elements in the determination of the gross entitlement, Universal Credit is paid as one single payment. As such it is not possible to quantify the amount of Universal Credit exc...
Answered 8 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security BenefitsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 1 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 95982More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of each exemption from the Household Benefit Cap on (a) the number of households subject to the cap and (b) overall welfare expenditure.
Answer: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Answered 4 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security BenefitsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 1 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 95981More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households with total benefit entitlement above the level of the Household Benefit Cap have entitlement above (a) £30,000, (b) £40,000 and (c) £50,000 per year, or the equivalent weekly and mon
Answer: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Answered 4 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Social Rented HousingDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 1 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 95980More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households currently subject to the Household Benefit Cap are living in (a) council housing and (b) housing association accommodation.
Answer: There were 540 households on Housing Benefit affected by the benefit cap in May 2025. Of these, 40 were living in council housing and 100 were living in housing association accommodation.There were 123,000 households on Universal Credit affected by the be...
Answered 12 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security BenefitsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 1 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 95979More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of additional households that would become subject to the Household Benefit Cap following the removal of the two-child limit on the Universal Credit C
Answer: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Answered 4 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordDriving Tests: LocationDepartment for TransportTabled 27 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 95328More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of driving-test bookings had their test location changed before the test was taken in the last 12 months.
Answer: Between the 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025, just over 565,000 tests were recorded as being moved between driving test centres (DTC). This equates to approximately 31% of tests. Please note, in line with other published data that the Driver and Vehicle Stand...
Answered 4 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Transport: Disciplinary ProceedingsDepartment for TransportTabled 21 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 93426More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many disciplinary cases were concluded against civil servants in (a) the Department and (b) its agencies broken down by (i) outcome and (ii) whether the primary allegation related to (A) performance and (B)
Answer: Over the past 12 months (1st November 2024 to 31st October 2025), a total of 247 ‘Discipline’ cases and 58 ‘Managing Poor Performance’ cases have been concluded in the Department for Transport’s central department and its Executive Agencies. A breakdown o...
Answered 27 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Transport: Redundancy PayDepartment for TransportTabled 21 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 93425More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total cost was of (a) settlement agreements and (b) special severance payments made to departing staff in the last year.
Answer: For the last year (1st November 2024 to 31st October 2025), there have been no settlement agreements or special severance payments made to departing Department for Transport central staff outside of statutory, contractual or other requirements.
Answered 27 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Transport: Performance AppraisalDepartment for TransportTabled 21 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 93424More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of staff in each grade were rated in the top performance category in the last year.
Answer: The table below shows the number and proportion of each non-Senior Civil Service (SCS) grade receiving the top performance category at the end of 2024/25 for DfTc. GradeNumber of staff receiving the top performance category (“Outstanding”)Proportion of st...
Answered 27 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Transport: Career DevelopmentDepartment for TransportTabled 21 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 93423More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of staff were promoted (a) in-grade and (b) to a higher grade in the last year broken down by (i) performance marking in the previous year and (ii) grade.
Answer: Higher Grade promotions Total StaffHigher grade promotionsProportionAO/EO52951%HEO/SEO/FS18201388%G7/G618161186%SCS267218%Totals44322826% Payband GroupsHigher grade promotions23/24 Year End MarkingAE/EO5Not Available/ReportableHEO/SEO/FS24AchievingHEO/SE...
Answered 27 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Transport: Sick LeaveDepartment for TransportTabled 21 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 93422More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average number of working days lost to sickness absence per full-time equivalent member of staff was in (a) the Department and (b) its executive agencies in the last year; and how many formal performan
Answer: The figures below are calculated as a rolling 12-month period up until 31st October 2025.The Average Working Days Lost for the Department is currently 4.2.The table below shows the average working days lost for the Department’s Executive Agencies Column1A...
Answered 28 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordDisability Living Allowance: MotabilityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 20 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 93275More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Disability Living Allowance claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) the East Midlands, (b) the West Midlands, and (c) the East of England in March of each of the last f
Answer: Information on Disability Living Allowance claimants with an active Motability Scheme is not held centrally for analytical purposes. Such information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Answered 25 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordDisability Living Allowance: MotabilityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 20 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 93093More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Disability Living Allowance claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) the North East, (b) the North West, and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber in March of each of the last fi
Answer: Information on Disability Living Allowance claimants with an active Motability Scheme is not held centrally for analytical purposes. Such information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Answered 25 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordDisability Living Allowance: MotabilityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 20 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 93092More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Disability Living Allowance claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) London, (b) the South East, (c) the South West, and (d) Wales in March of each of the last five year
Answer: Information on Disability Living Allowance claimants with an active Motability Scheme is not held centrally for analytical purposes. Such information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Answered 25 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordPersonal Independence Payment: MotabilityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 20 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 93091More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will provide the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants in a contract with the Motability Scheme to receive a vehicle, broken down by primary medical condition in a) the East Midl
Answer: We will be publishing data to answer this question in due course.
Answered 5 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPersonal Independence Payment: MotabilityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 18 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 92311More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many PIP claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) the East Midlands, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the East of England in March of each of the last five years up to 2025.
Answer: The information requested is provided in the table below as a snapshot of the PIP caseload with active Motability contracts in July of each of the last 5 years. Jul-21Jul-22Jul-23Jul-24Jul-25North East21,50022,40025,10030,30034,500North West58,80061,3006...
Answered 24 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordPersonal Independence Payment: MotabilityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 18 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 92310More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many PIP claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) the North East, (b) the North West and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber in March of each of the last five years up to 2025.
Answer: The information requested is provided in the table below as a snapshot of the PIP caseload with active Motability contracts in July of each of the last 5 years. Jul-21Jul-22Jul-23Jul-24Jul-25North East21,50022,40025,10030,30034,500North West58,80061,3006...
Answered 24 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordPersonal Independence Payment: MotabilityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 18 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 92309More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many PIP claimants had active contracts with the Motability Scheme in (a) London, (b) the South East, (c) the South West and (d) Wales in March of each of the last five years up to 2025.
Answer: The information requested is provided in the table below as a snapshot of the PIP caseload with active Motability contracts in July of each of the last 5 years. Jul-21Jul-22Jul-23Jul-24Jul-25North East21,50022,40025,10030,30034,500North West58,80061,3006...
Answered 24 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordChina: Diplomatic ServiceForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 18 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 92122More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2025 to Question 40312 on China: Diplomatic Service, how many staff in her Department have achieved Mandarin qualifications at (a) C1 and (
Answer: Almost 100 valid Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) qualifications in Russian are currently held at C1 level or above by FCDO staff, and almost 75 in Mandarin. Exam passes are valid for five years. Some staff may concurrently hold a valid...
Answered 25 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordRussia: Diplomatic ServiceForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 18 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 92121More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 April 2025 to Question 40311, if she will provide an updated figure for the number of staff in her Department who currently hold valid Russian-lan
Answer: Almost 100 valid Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) qualifications in Russian are currently held at C1 level or above by FCDO staff, and almost 75 in Mandarin. Exam passes are valid for five years. Some staff may concurrently hold a valid...
Answered 25 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordDriving TestsDepartment for TransportTabled 17 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 91661More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has assessed the potential merits of offering bonus payments to driving instructors for undertaking driving tests above their contracted duties.
Answer: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) does not employ driving instructors. By law, approved driving instructors (ADI) cannot work as examiners at the same time as being a registered instructor, even temporarily. Whilst DVSA does not have the powe...
Answered 20 Nov 2025
Original Parliament record
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