Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps are being taken to improve safety in night clubs especially around spiking.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Spiking is an appalling crime that undermines the public’s right to feel safe when out and about.
We are implementing a robust set of actions to improve safety in the night time economy:
In line with our manifesto commitment, the Government has introduced new legislation on spiking, as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, to strengthen the response to these incidents.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure that police training on violence against women and girls includes training on technology-facilitated abuse.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office has already invested £13.1 million this year into the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP). This funding includes an additional £2 million to deliver a comprehensive package of training enhancements across public protection. Through the NCVPP, we are working closely with the College of Policing to develop strengthened, specialist training for officers across all operational levels - frontline, specialist, and leadership. Grounded in academic research and behaviour change science, new training programmes will ensure that all officers are well equipped to investigate these crimes and provide support to victims. This includes the development of new modules to equip officers with the skills to investigate technology-facilitated and online harm.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many under 21s have been arrested for possession of drugs in the last 12 months.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold the specific information requested.
The Home Office collects and publishes information on arrests for notifiable offences on an annual basis in the Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UK statistical series.However, data is collected at the high-level offence group only, so arrests for “possession of drugs” fall within the wider “drug offences” category, and cannot be separately identified.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, by how much they plan to reduce their Department's budget to help fund the digital ID scheme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Delivery of the National Digital ID scheme is currently being led by the Cabinet Office, with input from Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Home Office and other government departments.
The Cabinet Office, in collaboration with the Home Office and other government departments, is currently in the process of working through the policy and design decisions that will underpin the Digital ID. Whilst this activity is underway, it is not currently possible to finalise cost estimations and the impact these will have on the Home Office’s budget.
The Cabinet Office will launch a public consultation and has already started engaging key groups. The eventual total cost will also depend on the outcomes of this exercise.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is issued guidance on the political uniform ban in the Public Order Act 1936 and the definition of a uniform.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Public Order Act 1936 aimed to control and regulate the wearing of uniform in a public place or at a public meeting if that uniform signifies association with a political organisation or promotes a political object.
The Home Office has not considered issuing guidance specifically on the political uniform ban under the Public Order Act 1936. Enforcement of this provision remains an operational matter for the police.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that English language testing has (a) high standards and (b) testing integrity.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We set high standards in all our services and the current English Language Testing Service is no exception, with Commercial expertise and OFQUAL regulation as well as day to day oversight and monitoring by a dedicated contract management team. Where issues are identified, we do not hesitate to act and we work with suppliers on a daily basis to monitor, manage and improve the service.
As part of the Home Office English Language Testing Procurement, we have engaged the market to understand what capability is available to maintain and enhance the highest standards of security and integrity and be innovative in our delivery, harnessing technology and industry best practice. These standards will be assessed as part of the procurement process and assured during implementation by rigorous technical testing and subject matter experts.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many migrants that possess a criminal record (a) in the UK and (b) abroad were previously thought by her Department to not hold a criminal record since July 2024.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not readily available, requiring manual scrutiny of systems and matching of individual records, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding her Department provided to strategic migration partnership in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not currently publish funding levels to Strategic Migration Partnerships, previous years funding can be found here Government Grants Data and Statistics
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Freedom From Violence and Abuse Strategy, what plans her Department has to ensure the incidence of online abuse is captured in the monitoring of achieving the aim to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We will monitor progress of the Freedom From Violence and Abuse Strategy through a performance framework, details of which are included on pages 69-70 of the Strategy.
The performance framework includes a sub-metric on the prevalence of online harms.
We will report on the development and latest trends in our measures as part of our annual progress reports.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the press release, published on 12 January 2026, entitled UK and Ecuador join forces to tackle cocaine trade at source, what equipment has been provided by the UK to Ecuador to assist with the prevention of drug exports.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Home Office International Operations and UK law enforcement are stationed in Ecuador with officers providing training, equipment and support to enhance the capabilities of Ecuadorian law enforcement – better preventing cocaine from reaching British borders.
Funding for UK law enforcement activity and support in Ecuador is provided via the Integrated Security Fund, Home Office budgetary allocations and law enforcement agency budgets.
The Home Office does not comment on overseas operational deployments for security reasons.