Lord Sikka

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Lord Sikka

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

31 January 2025

Dear Lord Sikka,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking when the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will publish their latest data on winter deaths; what criteria they will use to calculate them; and whether they have any plans to return to a static reporting date (HL4448).

The ONS previously published a regular release on winter mortality in England and Wales. However, following the recent consultation on health and social care statistical outputs[1], this release has been paused to enable a review of the methodology and timeliness of the statistics to be completed. Once the review is complete, a proposal on the future status of this output will be published.

The ONS does publish regular statistics on deaths registered each week[2] which may be of interest to you. This includes deaths registered over the winter period as well as estimates of excess deaths using the methodology that was implemented in February 2024[3].

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/health-and-social-care-statistical-outputs/outcome/health-and-social-care-statistical-outputs-consultation-response

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/previousreleases

[3]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/articles/estimatingexcessdeathsintheukmethodologychanges/february2024

His Majesty’s Government takes allegations of suspicious company filings and any concerns raised seriously. As such, the Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets has asked Companies House to investigate the allegations surrounding Avis Capital Limited.

Companies House are aware of concerns that have been raised about the highlighted company. Where such concerns are raised, Companies House will look into these matters further and, where necessary, take appropriate action.

The cost of nationalisation was calculated in a report published by the Social Market Foundation titled ‘The cost of nationalising the water industry in England’. The report estimated the costs of nationalising water companies would be £90 billion. This research draws on a range of existing academic studies, as well as publicly available data from Ofwat, the London Stock Exchange and the annual accounts of the water companies. The research can be viewed on the Social Market Foundation’s website www.smf.co.uk.

Information on amounts of State Pension by gender are available at DWP Stat-Xplore. The table below provides information on the Median State Pension amount for (i) people who reached State Pension age before 6^th April 2016 and will get the basic State Pension and may get earnings-related additional State Pension, and (ii) those who reached State Pension age on or after 6th April 2016, who get the new State Pension. The information in the table below is based on the latest available quarter ending May 2024.

Data for 2024-25 as requested is not currently held by the department.

Transcripts of court judgments are available upon application HMCT, DWP does not hold transcripts of court judgments. The DWP case files referred to in the question have been destroyed in line with data protection legislative requirements.

The Department is aware of 61 Post Office members of staff who were prosecuted by DWP between 2001 and 2006. Each of the cases involved welfare-related fraud offences. In most cases this involved encashment of stolen benefit payment order books. There is no evidence that any of the cases prosecuted by DWP relied on the Horizon system. They followed lengthy, complex investigations, relying on multiple sources of evidence.

Until 2012, DWP prosecuted its own cases. The cases were handled by DWP Solicitors who would instruct Counsel to represent DWP at Court. In March 2012, the prosecutorial function of the DWP was assigned to the Crown Prosecution Service.

In the early 2000’s the Department moved to paying benefits automatically into people’s bank accounts which significantly reduced the opportunity for benefit fraud, including potential offences by Post Office staff.

To assist, please find attached a table setting out the information the Department holds for each of the 61 cases. The information includes the date of conviction, the location of the court, and the sentence (outcome) for each of the 61 cases.

The Department is aware of 61 Post Office members of staff who were prosecuted by DWP between 2001 and 2006. Each of the cases involved welfare-related fraud offences. In most cases this involved encashment of stolen benefit payment order books. There is no evidence that any of the cases prosecuted by DWP relied on the Horizon system. They followed lengthy, complex investigations, relying on multiple sources of evidence.

Until 2012, DWP prosecuted its own cases. The cases were handled by DWP Solicitors who would instruct Counsel to represent DWP at Court. In March 2012, the prosecutorial function of the DWP was assigned to the Crown Prosecution Service.

In the early 2000’s the Department moved to paying benefits automatically into people’s bank accounts which significantly reduced the opportunity for benefit fraud, including potential offences by Post Office staff.

To assist, please find attached a table setting out the information the Department holds for each of the 61 cases. The information includes the date of conviction, the location of the court, and the sentence (outcome) for each of the 61 cases.

Institutional investment is vital for growth, and investment in starts ups and scale ups is an important part of that. The Myners Report contains valuable insights that are still valuable today. However, the pensions market in particular is now significantly different than it was in 2001. The Chancellor has launched a landmark pensions review which will focus on increasing investment, improving saver returns and tackling waste in the pensions system. This is alongside other major initiatives to drive economic growth such as the National Wealth Fund to mobilise private capital and institutional investment.

The Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) regime was introduced in the Criminal Finances Act 2017. The number of UWOs obtained, wealth involved (estimated value of assets secured and estimated value of assets recovered) and number of prosecutions and convictions is outlined below.

It is important to note that a UWO is only an investigatory order into an asset. A number of the UWO investigations listed that have not resulted in civil recovery proceedings are ongoing investigations. Any property subject to a UWO can be frozen whilst under an investigation which disrupts criminal activity but the property itself cannot be recovered using a UWO, it must be recovered through subsequent civil recovery proceedings. Civil recovery proceedings apply to assets rather than individuals so require no prosecution or criminal conviction.

The Government publishes statistics annually on the number of UWOs applied for and obtained. The most recent report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unexplained-wealth-orders-2023-to-2024-annual-report/unexplained-wealth-orders-2023-to-2024-annual-report

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for a wide range of offences including for tax evasion under the Criminal Finances Act 2017 in the Outcomes by Offences data tool. This can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.

Since its introduction, there have been no prosecutions or convictions of corporations for the following two specific tax evasion offences recorded under the Criminal Finances Act 2017 in England and Wales:

1) Relevant body fail to prevent facilitation of UK tax evasion; and,

2) Relevant body fail to prevent facilitation of foreign tax evasion offence.

The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database has not recorded any prosecutions under section 36 of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 since its introduction.

Please see the offence group classification which lists the offences available to view in the Outcomes by Offence tool available via the following link: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This provides information on the number of prosecutions, convictions, sentences and sentence outcomes in England and Wales.