Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what protections are currently in place for police whistle-blowers reporting misconduct within their own force.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Police officers and staff have protections under ‘whistleblowing’ law, meaning they are protected from being unfairly dismissed or from suffering any detriment due to having made a protected disclosure. The Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 expressly reflect this.

Further, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is a prescribed body to whom police whistleblowers can make protected disclosures, runs a dedicated reporting line for police officers and staff.

The College of Policing’s Code of Practice for Ethical Policing puts a duty on Chief Officers to facilitate and protect whistleblowers. Many police forces provide a confidential, internal reporting system to encourage reporting of concerns.

Part 2 of the Angiolini Inquiry is considering a range of cultural issues in policing, including whistleblowing processes, and the Government will consider any recommendations it makes carefully.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of setting up a licensing regime for the sale of crossbows.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is actively considering the introduction of further controls around crossbows. This follows a call for evidence on strengthening controls on crossbows on public safety grounds which ran from 14 February to 9 April 2024.

The call for evidence paper tested ideas for whether there should be some form of licensing regime that would provide further controls on the use, ownership and supply of crossbows including whether sellers should be licensed in some way. The responses have been reviewed and we will publish the Government’s response to the call for evidence shortly, which will include what action we intend to take.

It is an offence, under the Crossbows Act 1987, for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase a crossbow or parts of a crossbow. The Government is taking action to strengthen the law on sales and delivery including from abroad. Measures currently in the Crime and Policing Bill will make it an offence for a delivery business, delivering a crossbow or parts of a crossbow to a residential premises on behalf of a seller outside of the United Kingdom, to hand the package containing the crossbow to someone other than the purchaser and to confirm, through checking an identity document as prescribed and provided by the purchaser, that they are aged 18 or over.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to stop the illegal importation of crossbows.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is actively considering the introduction of further controls around crossbows. This follows a call for evidence on strengthening controls on crossbows on public safety grounds which ran from 14 February to 9 April 2024.

The call for evidence paper tested ideas for whether there should be some form of licensing regime that would provide further controls on the use, ownership and supply of crossbows including whether sellers should be licensed in some way. The responses have been reviewed and we will publish the Government’s response to the call for evidence shortly, which will include what action we intend to take.

It is an offence, under the Crossbows Act 1987, for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase a crossbow or parts of a crossbow. The Government is taking action to strengthen the law on sales and delivery including from abroad. Measures currently in the Crime and Policing Bill will make it an offence for a delivery business, delivering a crossbow or parts of a crossbow to a residential premises on behalf of a seller outside of the United Kingdom, to hand the package containing the crossbow to someone other than the purchaser and to confirm, through checking an identity document as prescribed and provided by the purchaser, that they are aged 18 or over.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential economic impact of organised protests on (a) the level of tourism to London and (b) businesses in London.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has not made a formal assessment of the potential economic impact of organised protests on tourism or businesses in London.

We continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police Service and to ensure that lawful protest is facilitated while minimising disruption to the public and economic activity.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce incidences of gun crime in (a) the Birmingham City Council area and (b) Sutton Coldfield.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government recognises the significant and long-lasting impact that incidents of gun crime can have both on victims and within the local community. That is why we are work with the police and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to tackle the trafficking and misuse of firearms by criminals to preserve public safety. The recent shooting in Sutton Coldfield is the subject of an ongoing investigation, but we will not hesitate to take further action if found to be necessary.

We are committed to delivering the Safer Streets mission to create a safer, fairer country for all. Incidents of gun crime are relatively rare in this country. The number of firearms offences has fallen by 16% in the 12 months to June 2025 to 5,053 offences, which is the lowest since 2015. Working with the police and the NCA, we are committed to ensuring that we have the right laws, intelligence, detection and enforcement capabilities to tackle the threat posed by the unlawful possession of firearms.

This includes recent and ongoing multi-agency action to target the importation and supply of imitation firearms that can be readily converted by criminals to fire live ammunition, which has seen significant numbers of these guns removed from circulation, helping to ensure the safety of all of our communities, including in the West Midlands.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that (a) long and (b) lifetime driving disqualifications are enforced.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government takes road safety extremely seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. We have tough penalties and rigorous enforcement in place to deter offending behaviour.

The police have a suite of powers at their disposal to enforce driving disqualifications. Penalties for driving whilst disqualified can include vehicle seizure, fines and custodial sentences.

We expect individual Chief Officers to enforce road traffic law and manage how available resources are deployed, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the findings were of the research undertaken by her Department in 2024 on tackling anti-Sikh hate.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government is determined to tackle all forms of hate crime, including those targeting the Sikh community. No one should ever be a victim of hatred because of their race or religion, and the Government continues to work with police and community partners to monitor and combat this.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has provided funding to True Vision – the police hate crime programme and online reporting portal – to encourage communities to report hate crime and reinforce relationships between communities and policing. As part of this, True Vision has been working with the Sikh Guard (established by the National Sikh Police Association) and Rakkha (a third-party reporting site) to encourage reporting from within Sikh communities.

The Home Office also funds the National Online Hate Crime Hub which supports individual local police forces in dealing specifically with all forms of online hate crime.

We back the police in taking strong action against those targeting our communities. As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, communities are now benefitting from more visible patrols, and more focused local engagement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the level of (a) anti-Sikh, (b) anti-Muslim and (c) anti-Jewish hate.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government is committed to tackling all forms of hate crime and we are actively seeking to ensure the safety and protection of all individuals and communities across England and Wales. No one should ever be a victim of hatred because of their race or religion, and the Government continues to work with police and community partners to monitor and combat this.

The Home Office regularly updates data relating to Hate crimes, and keeps the findings under constant review. The most recent Hate crime for England and Wales statistics were published on 9 October 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to help prevent the misuse of Motability vehicles in criminal activity.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has not issued national guidance to police forces on the recording and investigation of criminal activity involving Motability vehicles.

Enforcement of the law, including road traffic legislation, is an operational matter for individual police forces to determine in line with resources and local policing plans.

The Government will continue to support the police to ensure that they have the tools needed to enforce road traffic legislation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance she has issued to police forces on (a) recording and (b) investigating criminal offences involving Motability vehicles.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has not issued national guidance to police forces on the recording and investigation of criminal activity involving Motability vehicles.

Enforcement of the law, including road traffic legislation, is an operational matter for individual police forces to determine in line with resources and local policing plans.

The Government will continue to support the police to ensure that they have the tools needed to enforce road traffic legislation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of rescheduling psylocibin to allow for research into its potential merits in the treatment of mental health issues.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Psilocybin is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (‘the 1971 Act’) and placed in Schedule 1 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (‘the 2001 Regulations’). Drugs are typically placed in Schedule 1 when there is no established medical use in the UK. Drugs that have an established medical use are typically placed in another schedule to enable prescribing.

The Government recognises that studies into the potential use of psilocybin as part of the treatment for mental health conditions have been or are being conducted in the UK. However, medicines based on psilocybin have to date not been assessed on the basis of their safety, quality and efficacy and granted a marketing authorisation by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA).

The MHRA supports the safe and scientifically sound conduct of trials in this area and provides regulatory and scientific advice to companies at all stages of developing medicines. Should a company apply for a marketing authorisation (a product licence), it will ultimately be a decision for the MHRA whether to license a psilocybin-based medicine as a therapy. Reconsideration of scheduling under the 1971 Act would ordinarily follow such an assessment by the MHRA.

Research into Schedule 1 drugs, including psilocybin, proceeds in the UK under Home Office licence. On 16 July, the Government responded to recommendations from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) on how best to reduce barriers to research with Schedule 1 drugs. The Government intends to trial an approach whereby a domestic controlled drug licence is not required in universities, university colleges and hospitals, nor for clinical studies with relevant approval from the Health Research Authority or MHRA. These measures will support the Government’s aim of facilitating access to Schedule 1 controlled drugs for legitimate research into potential uses in healthcare, while minimising the risk of harm, diversion and misuse.

Ministers are under a duty to consider advice from the ACMD prior to making regulations under the Misuse of the 1971 Act, for example if the Government were minded to reschedule a drug to enable it to be prescribed. The Government has no current plans to commission the ACMD to assess the scheduling of psilocybin.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds information on the proportion of crimes involving Motability vehicles where the vehicle was used (a) by the registered Motability customer, (b) by another person with permission and (c) without the registered customer’s consent.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office holds data on the number of vehicle related incidents of crime recorded by the police in England and Wales. However, we do not hold data on whether a vehicle was used as part of the incident or the type of vehicle used.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of recorded crimes in which motability vehicles were identified as being involved, listed by each police force area.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office holds data on the number of vehicle related incidents of crime recorded by the police in England and Wales.

However, we do not hold data on whether a vehicle was used as part of the incident or the type of vehicle used.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the number of recorded criminal incidents involving vehicles registered under the Motability Scheme in each of the last three years.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office holds data on the number of vehicle related incidents of crime recorded by the police in England and Wales.

However, we do not hold data on whether a vehicle was used as part of the incident or the type of vehicle used.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police front counters were closed between 2010 and 2024.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of police front counters in use across all police forces, nor on closures.

Decisions regarding the management of the police estate, including public access counters at police stations, is a matter for Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (or equivalents). They are best placed to make these decisions based on their knowledge of local need, experience, and in line with their existing budget.

A key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission is focused on restoring neighbourhood policing, and rebuilding trust and confidence in policing, The commitments set out in the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee are now making a considerable difference to the service communities receive from their neighbourhood policing teams. We have also provided £200 million in Financial Year 2025/26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of the Parliament. This increase in neighbourhood policing, alongside the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, will strengthen the connections between the police and the communities they serve.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle car theft.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

We are working with the police and the automotive industry, to ensure the strongest response possible to vehicle crime.

The National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership and the police-led National Vehicle Crime Working Group are focusing on prevention and deterrence of theft of, and from, vehicles. This includes training police officers on the methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles, and working with industry to address vulnerabilities in vehicles.

In the Crime and Policing Bill we are banning the electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing, importing and supplying them.

We are providing £485,000 this financial year to the National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership to tackle the export of stolen vehicles.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce crimes against (a) endangered species and (b) other wildlife.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Wildlife crime can have devastating consequences for our natural environments and countryside communities. This Government is committed to reducing crime, including in rural areas, and anyone exploiting or deliberately harming British wildlife should face the full force of the law.

This financial year, we are continuing to fund the National Wildlife Crime Unit who provide intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to forces and other law enforcement agencies across the UK to support them in investigating wildlife crime.

They are also the UK policing focal point for EUROPOL and INTERPOL wildlife crime activity, tackling the illegal trade of endangered species.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her oral contribution of 13 October 2025 during the statement on Manchester Terrorism Attack, Official Report, column 27, what legislative vehicle she plans to use to amend section (a) 12 and (b) 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to allow the police to take account of the cumulative impact of frequent protests when considering whether to impose conditions.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which will allow senior officers to take account of the cumulative impact of protest activity when considering whether to impose conditions under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.

This provision will help protect communities from repeated disruption caused by protests, while protecting the right to peaceful protest.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many recorded (a) hate crimes and (b) religiously motivated offences have involved (i) Christian places of worship and (ii) other religious premises since 2010.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office collects and publishes data on hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales, including information on religious hate crimes by the targeted religion of the victim. Information is not collected on whether or not the offence took place at a place of worship or other religious premises.

The latest official statistics can be found here: Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the longest time was for an asylum application to reach a final resolution in the last ten years.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost. The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘asylum detailed datasets’ as part of the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.

Data on the number of claims awaiting an initial decision, by duration, is published in table Asy_D03. The latest data relates to as at 30 June 2025. For further information on the data, see the notes pages of the tables.

Additionally, data on the number of cases in the asylum system, by case age, is published in table ASY_03 of the 'Migration transparency data'. The latest data relates to as at June 2024.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the value of profits made by Corporate Travel Management under the Stanwell Hotel asylum contract; and whether any profits made have been returned to the Government.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office entered into an agreement with Corporate Travel Management (CTM) in April 2025. Accommodation at the Stanwell Hotel is provided as part of the contracted services.

Given this contract has been in place for a short period of time, the first financial returns have not yet been provided to the Home Office. These will be made available to the Home Office for review at the next quarterly supplier relationship management board taking place shortly.

The contract between the Home Office and CTM does not include profit share or commission share mechanisms.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 8 September 2025, to Question 71461, on Asylum: Housing, what steps do (a) her Department and (b) its contractors follow if a local authority objects to specific asylum accommodation; and if he will set out the (i) circumstances and (ii) criteria that (A) her Department and (B) its contractors may disregard such an objection.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Our contracted providers consult with local authorities on every Dispersal Accommodation bedspace before it is procured with the relevant local authority. If the local authority and provider do not agree, the Home Office reviews it and considers the evidence that the local authority has put forward. This is to ensure procurement is undertaken in a proportionate manner that allows us to consider the impact on local areas.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff were involved in conducting the Equality Impact Assessment of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, published in February 2025; and how many hours were spent by (a) Departmental staff and (b) external consultants in its preparation.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Impacts on vulnerable individuals and equalities considerations are at the front and centre of our work. As required through the Public Sector Equality Duty, the Home Office considers equality impacts in detail throughout the policy development process. It is not possible to estimate how many departmental staff hours were spent as part of this process due to the continuing nature of this work when designing policy. No external consultants were involved in the preparation of the Equality Impact Assessment.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to its contractors on the methdology that should be used to determine the number of bedrooms that should be provided to asylum seekers with children.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office expects the highest standards from accommodation providers. A detailed breakdown of all of the services to be undertaken by accommodation providers and the standards we expect can be found in the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contracts (AASC) Statement of Requirements: http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2018-1112/AASC_-_Schedule_2_-_Statement_of_Requirements.pdf

All Accommodation must comply with the relevant standards for Accommodation defined in Annex B, and the rules relating to sharing and relocations defined in Annex C of this Schedule 2.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for Graduate visas made from within the UK used (a) the standard service, (b) the priority service, and (c) the super-priority service in the last 12 months.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Published data on Graduate visa applications can be found here, Visa, status and immigration data: April to June 2025 including data on standard, priority and super-priority applications.

Filter 'Graduate' on the 'VSI_01a" tab

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum hotels have been closed since 5 July 2024.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government recognises that hotels are not a sustainable solution for accommodating asylum seekers and remains committed to ending their use, already reducing the number in operation. We do not provide a running commentary on hotel numbers, our objective is to close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament, reducing costs to the taxpayer and restoring control to local communities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain submitted by Syrian nationals (a) before October 2024 and (b) to date are pending decision.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The information requested is not centrally held.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 11 September 2025 to Question 71489 on Police: Finance, what the estimated cash value of council tax receipts for policing in England is in (a) 2026-27, (b) 2027-28 and (c) 2028-29.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

As set out in the Spending Review 2025 document, police spending power is projected to increase by an average 1.7% per year in real terms. Police spending power includes projected spending from additional income, including estimated funding from the police council tax precept.

The cash value of council tax receipts for policing in England will be subject to individual decisions from directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) as part of their annual budget setting process. To inform those decisions, the 2026-27 police precept referendum limit for PCCs in England will be confirmed as part of the forthcoming police funding settlement later this year.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the letter from the Minister for Border Security & Asylum to the Home Affairs Select Committee, if she will publish a copy of the accommodation strategy that is now in the delivery phase.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government have committed to exit hotels as soon as possible and by the end of this Parliament. We are looking at a range of more appropriate sites including disused accommodation, industrial and ex-military sites so we can reduce the impact on communities.

We are further investing £500 million in a new, more sustainable accommodation model, developed in consultation with local authorities. The fund will support local authorities to make available basic alternative accommodation that can be used on a temporary basis to house asylum seekers. In the longer term, the ambition is that the investment leaves a lasting legacy of housing for local communities and reduces pressure on local housing markets.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has asked the Office for National Statistics to use anonymised person-level data from the 2021 census to help improve the accuracy of data on the (a) ethnicity and (b) religion of victims of hate crime offences.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes official statistics on hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales. This includes information on religious hate crimes, by targeted religion, including rates per population. These are calculated using population data from the 2021 Census.

There have not been discussions with the ONS on the feasibility of linking Census data to hate crime data, this is something the Home Office is keen to explore.

The latest statistical bulletin can be found here: Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government provides funding for research into (a) detection and (b) attribution techniques to (i) identify malicious drone operations quickly and (ii) support criminal (A) investigation and (B) prosecution.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Government operates a counter-drones science and technology programme, which provides funding for research into Detect, Track and Identify (DTI) technologies.

These technologies allow operators to quickly detect and in certain conditions attribute drone incidents. Teams across government work closely together and with operational partners to understand and make use of new technologies. We do not make public the amount spent on research into counter-drone technology or routinely name partners that we work with.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of arrests that have been made following police use of facial recognition technology.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold data on the number of arrests made following the police’s use of facial recognition technology. The department is, however, funding national evaluation to understand the impact of facial recognition on police and crime outcomes, and its relationship to public trust and confidence.

Where police forces are using live facial recognition technology, the number of arrests made following each deployment are published on their respective websites.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the scope is of the Future Asylum Contract Transformation project.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The focus of the Future Asylum Contract Transformation Project is scoping potential procurement and implementation of a new delivery model, to replace the current Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts, due to expire in 2029, the Advice Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) and Asylum Support Payments contract.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2025 to Question 71464 on Asylum: Housing, if she will publish the amount allocated to each individual local authority from (a) Grant 7 and (b) Grant 6 programmes for asylum in the 2024-25 financial year.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

I refer the Honourable Member to the answer provided in PQ 71464.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Ukrainians with valid leave under the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme are able to obtain confirmation of their right to (a) live, (b) work and (c) study in the UK.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office is developing a more digital and streamlined border and immigration system that will enhance the applicant’s experience and increase the immigration system’s security and efficiency.

Successful applicants under the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, like people granted status on other routes, now receive an eVisa as evidence of their immigration status. An eVisa is a digital record of a person's identity and their immigration permission in the UK, and any conditions which apply, which they can access by logging into their UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account. They can also link their travel document (such as passport) to their UKVI account to facilitate straightforward international travel.

All applicants issued with an eVisa as evidence of their immigration status receive a written notification, either via email or post, once their immigration application has been successful, and their immigration permission granted. This notification confirms that the person has been issued an eVisa as evidence of their immigration status. It also includes information on what an eVisa is, and how to access and use it.

eVisas increasingly update in real time to accurately reflect a person’s immigration status and their entitlements to access work, benefits, housing, and services—unlike physical documents which may appear valid but no longer reflect actual status. This information can be shared automatically with public authorities and government departments, through system-to-system checks, for example to show a person’s entitlement to receive public funds or healthcare.

People with eVisas can share their status easily and securely online, including to employers and education providers, by signing in to the 'view and prove' service and getting a share code, which remains valid for 90 days. More information is available here: eVisas: access and use your online immigration status: View your eVisa and get a share code to prove your immigration status - GOV.UK

We encourage Ukrainians in the UK on the Ukraine schemes who do not yet have a UKVI account to create one to access their eVisa. They can do so here:eVisas: access and use your online immigration status: Set up a UKVI account to access your eVisa - GOV.UK

Should anyone find themselves needing support with creating their UKVI account or getting access to their eVisa, the latest updates and guidance can be found on GOV.UK at: eVisas: access and use your online immigration status: What an eVisa is - GOV.UK

If a person is not be able to prove their rights digitally, employers and landlords can use the Employer Checking Service and Landlord Checking Service to verify a person’s right to work or rent. We do however encourage these people to make the switch to an eVisa given the benefits it brings.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had this year with (a) the Speaker of the House of Commons and (b) the Speaker of the House of Lords on lifting the ban on China’s Ambassador to the UK entering Parliament.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Access to Parliament is a matter for the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Speaker of the House of Lords. It would not be appropriate for the Home Office to comment on any conversations with the Speakers on these matters.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2025 to Question 63031 on Asylum: Private Rented Housing, if she will publish her Department's (a) policies and (b) internal guidance on assessing the suitability of a local area for asylum accommodation.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Dispersed Accommodation is procured under the Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC). The AASC are published and set out our requirements for the sourcing and procurement of accommodation, including how providers should work and consult with local authorities on a range of issues, from pressure on services, to security and the impact on the wider community.

You can find information about specific Home Office contracts using the Contracts Finder, which can be found here: Contracts Finder - gov.uk.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many migrants who arrived in the UK illegally are housed in hotels; and what the daily cost is to the public purse of those hotels.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Data is published quarterly on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including accommodation type, and can be found within the Asy_D11 tab of our most recent statistics release at Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.

Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are commercially confidential therefore, the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the (a) nationalities and (b) age group range of the illegal migrants arrested following raids carried out by Immigration Enforcement between October 2024 and September 2025.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as the quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics while developing new statistics for future release.

We do not routinely publish the information you have requested, and we are unable to provide this information, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of consulting with Members before allocating asylum accommodation in their constituencies.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office routinely engages local officials and elected members as part of the procurement process for specific types of accommodation, to enable us to gather local intelligence which informs our decision making. This engagement and disclosure is undertaken on a case by case basis as is necessary.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people who enquired about her Department's free e-learning training on female genital mutilation subsequently declined to complete the course in each of the last two years.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Frontline professionals and agencies with statutory safeguarding responsibilities are crucial to protecting survivors and those at risk of FGM.

We have issued a range of materials to support professionals to help them understand FGM, spot the signs, and support victims and survivors. This includes making available free e-learning for all frontline staff for example in healthcare, police, Border Force and children’s social care.

From 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024, 121,773 people registered for the free e-learning module on FGM. This can be broken down as:

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to local authorities on securing public spaces from unauthorised drone activity; and whether her Department provides funding to local authorities for local counter-drone measures at high-risk public sites.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Home Office oversees the UK government’s approach to countering the misuse of drones.

The needs and requirements of each local authority to prepare for and respond to unauthorised drone activity will vary. In order to manage their risks, local authorities should work with their local police, for example through their Local Resilience Forum, to agree their approach.

The Home Office provides cross-government coordination on counter-drone policy, and has supported the National Police Chiefs’ Council counter-drones team to develop local police capabilities. Police forces across the UK have been issued with equipment, guidance and training to prepare for and respond to drone misuse, and are responsible for their ongoing local risk assessments.

Guidance on the wider topic of drone awareness and security has been issued by the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), focused on infrastructure but applicable to public spaces: Counter Uncrewed Aerial Systems (C-UAS) | Uncrewed Aerial Systems | NPSA. More broadly, guidance has also been provided following the passing of Martyn’s Law which outlines local authorities’ responsibilities to ensure public safety and security.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigration enforcement raids have taken place in each of the last five years in Northern Ireland.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication. Information about how many Immigration Enforcement raids have taken place in each of the last five years in Northern Ireland is not available in our published data.

Our published national data on enforcement activity is available at the: Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2025 - GOV.UK

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many newly arrived illegal migrants have been provided Government funded accommodation since 4 August 2025.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

In accordance with the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and subsistence support whilst their application for asylum is being considered.

Data, published quarterly, on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including accommodation type, can be found within the Asy_D11 tab of our most recent statistics release. Immigration system statistics data tables - www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release, with the latest information published 30 June 2025, and the next quarterly figures are due to be released later this month in November 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the scope of the inquiry into child sexual exploitation and abuse will permit the inquiry to consider the historic background and factors behind child sexual exploitation and abuse in the United Kingdom.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is driving forward work to establish the National Inquiry into Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse under the Inquiries Act 2005. It will be overseen by an Independent Commission with statutory powers to compel evidence and testimony so that institutions can be held to account for current and historic failures. The inquiry will be independent of government and designed to command the confidence of victims and survivors and the wider public.

In line with the Inquiries Act, the appointed Chair will play a central role in shaping the Commission’s Terms of Reference. These will be published by the Chair once in post and subject to consultation with stakeholders, including victims and survivors.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that charities have entered asylum hotel accommodation to baptise asylum seekers.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

As part of its assurance processes, the Home Office conducts regular inspections and monitoring of asylum accommodation sites to ensure compliance with contractual and safety standards, including security arrangements. Feedback from local authorities and service users is also considered to inform improvements.

The Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract (AASC) Requirements gives a detailed breakdown of all the services to be undertaken by our accommodation providers and to the standards we expect.

All asylum claims, including those based on religion conversion, are carefully assessed individually in accordance with our international obligations and in line with our published guidance.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to prevent illegal immigrants from working in food and parcel delivery with access to private blocks of flats.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The government is changing the law through the upcoming Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. to extend the requirement for right to work checks and bring in employer sanctions, to businesses hiring gig economy and zero-hours workers in sectors like food delivery, courier services and warehousing. This will apply to all roles, including public-facing delivery services who attend private properties.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the data on how many asylum claims have been granted on the basis of fear of persecution in their country of origin because of sexual orientation.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release on GOV.UK.

Data on the number of grants where sexual orientation forms part of the claim is published in table SOC_00. The latest data relates to 2023. In 2023, 2,133 claims were granted where sexual orientation formed part of the basis for the asylum claim. For further information on the data, see the notes pages of the tables.

Not all these individuals will necessarily have been granted protection on the basis of their sexual orientation. Similarly, other asylum seekers may be granted protection without referencing their sexual orientation in their claims and therefore would not be included in these figures.

Updated published data from 2023 onwards is currently unavailable due to ongoing work as immigration data transitions to a new case working system and it will be included in a future edition of the Immigration System Statistics Release.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what data they hold on the number of asylum seekers who are baptised while in asylum accommodation.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of education, safeguarding and therapeutic services for children and young people harmed by exposure to pornography or online sexual harm.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government is doing everything in its power to prevent the horrors of child sexual abuse, including online sexual harm. We are committed to delivering effective education, safeguarding and support to children and young people through a new and refreshed RSHE curriculum in schools which now focusses more on healthy relationships and preventing young people from experiencing harm, including online. We also continue to work with the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse and other organisations to support frontline professionals with the skills they need to better identify and respond to all forms of child sexual abuse. For example, the Home Office has partnered with Crimestoppers to create and deliver a targeted resource for school professionals to help them manage harmful sexual behaviours among young children, including online behaviours. We have also provided funding to the Lucy Faithfull Foundation to support Shore, an online space for under 18s who are concerned about their own or someone else’s sexual thoughts and behaviours.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what security arrangements are in place in asylum hotels to prevent third parties such as churches and charities from entering accommodation.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

As part of its assurance processes, the Home Office conducts regular inspections and monitoring of asylum accommodation sites to ensure compliance with contractual and safety standards, including security arrangements. Feedback from local authorities and service users is also considered to inform improvements.

The Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract (AASC) Requirements gives a detailed breakdown of all the services to be undertaken by our accommodation providers and to the standards we expect.

All asylum claims, including those based on religion conversion, are carefully assessed individually in accordance with our international obligations and in line with our published guidance.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of including (a) clear and (b) deliverable objectives to combat child (i) sexual abuse and (ii) exploitation in the updated Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

This Government recognises the devastating impact of child sexual abuse and exploitation and is committed to tackling these crimes.

The new VAWG Strategy will set the direction for the next decade, driving forward the Government’s bold ambition to halve VAWG within ten years. This is a landmark commitment that demands a truly transformational approach. It’s vital we get it right. We’re working towards publication of the Strategy as soon as possible and I will continue to keep the House updated on its development and forthcoming publication.

Tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation will be clearly reflected in the VAWG Strategy. But we also recognise that tackling these horrendous crimes requires a targeted and child-centred approach. Which is why we are taking forward an ambitious programme of work across Government, including through our response to the Casey Audit and IICSA recommendations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders on the use of proactive technology to (a) identify and (b) tackle (i) deepfakes and (ii) AI generated (A) intimate image abuse and (B) child sexual abuse images.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office actively engages with relevant stakeholders on the use of proactive technology to identify and tackle AI-enabled harms, including deepfakes, intimate image abuse and child sexual abuse images.

Working in partnership with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Alan Turing Institute, and the Accelerated Capability Environment, the Home Office has led the Deepfake Detection Challenge. This initiative brought together experts and stakeholders to develop and evaluate detection tools, which are essential in addressing serious harms including online child sexual abuse. As offenders increasingly exploit AI, we must harness its potential for good.

A key outcome has been the creation of a tool which enables scientific evaluation of detection technologies, offering actionable metrics to support informed procurement decisions and helping end users select the most effective solutions. This capability is now being considered as a potential global standard and the next phase will continue to identify and benchmark AI-driven solutions.

In addition, we are engaging with industry across the AI ecosystem, recognising their vital role in mitigating and preventing AI-enabled harms.

The Home Office has also introduced world leading measures, becoming the first country to criminalise the possession, creation and distribution of AI tools to generate child sexual abuse material, as well as the possession of paedophile manuals that instruct others on creating such tools.

The Government remains committed to investing in innovation to combat these appalling crimes and will continue to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to do so.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases supported by the Forced Marriage Unit in each of the last five years resulted in a referral to the National Referral Mechanism; and what specialist support for girls affected by forced marriage is funded through the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls programme.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The UK is a world leader in the fight to stamp out the harmful practice of forced marriage. The joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) has been working to combat forced marriage since 2005. The Forced Marriage Unit provides support to victims, those at risk of forced marriage, and advice to professionals through its public helpline and inbox. The support offered ranges from providing information and guidance, to consular assistance for victims who are British national and habitual residents overseas.

The FMU works in an advisory capacity and therefore does not hold information on referrals of victims to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). First Responders, such as Local Authorities, the police, Border Force, UKVI, and Immigration Enforcement, and specific NGOs, are responsible for identifying indicators of modern slavery and referring potential victims into the NRM for their cases to be considered by the appropriate Competent Authority.

The Home Office also funds Karma Nirvana to operate the national ‘Honour’-Based Abuse (HBA) Helpline. This service aims, through the provision of a telephone line and e-mail service to support victims and survivors of HBA including forced marriage.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the forthcoming Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and its delivery plan will include (a) funding and (b) measures to improve support for (i) child victims of criminal exploitation (ii) child victims of sexual exploitation, (iii) other victims of modern slavery, (iv) child victims of 'honour-based' abuse, and (v) child victims of forced marriage.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The new Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy will set the direction for the next decade, driving forward the Government’s bold ambition to halve VAWG within ten years. We’re working towards publication as soon as possible and I will continue to keep the House updated on its development and forthcoming publication.

The Strategy will cover all forms of VAWG, including but not limited to sexual violence, domestic abuse, stalking, ‘honour’-based abuse, forced marriage, and sexual exploitation, and will address VAWG that can occur online as well as offline. All victims of VAWG are in scope of the Strategy and tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation will be covered.

Extensive work is already underway across government to address all of these crimes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with (a) local authorities and (b) police forces in West Yorkshire on the prevalence of illegal or ghost number plates used to evade enforcement cameras.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Cloned and misrepresented plates are a serious problem which cause distress to innocent people and provide cover for criminals.

The Home Office and the Department for Transport are working closely with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), Trading Standards and local authorities to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has had recent discussions with West Yorkshire Police on tackling the use of ghost number plates in Bradford and the surrounding area.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Cloned and misrepresented plates are a serious problem which cause distress to innocent people and provide cover for criminals.

The Home Office and the Department for Transport are working closely with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), Trading Standards and local authorities to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking through the criminal justice system to protect children who become victims of stalking.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Stalking is an insidious crime that can leave victims, including children, living in fear just going about their daily lives. Recognising children as victims in their own right is vital and this Government will go further to ensure this is put into practice. This Government is fully committed to tackling stalking and doing all that it can to protect victims, including children.

We have appointed Richard Wright KC to lead a review of the stalking legislation to determine whether the law should be changed to support a better understanding and better identification of stalking. It will examine the extent to which the legislation helps or hinders the effective management of stalking cases through the criminal justice system from identification to investigation and prosecution. The full review, including any recommendations, must be submitted to the Secretary of State by the end of March 2026.

We are also delivering on the manifesto commitment to strengthen Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs). Through the Crime and Policing Bill we are introducing provisions which, once implemented, would provide for the courts to impose SPOs on conviction and acquittal of their own volition. SPOs are an essential tool designed to protect all victims of stalking at the earliest possible opportunity and address the perpetrator’s behaviours before they become entrenched or escalate in severity. SPOs support existing tools to ensure there are robust protections available to victims, including children.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are also introducing statutory guidance to set out the process by which the police should release identifying information about stalking perpetrators to victims so appropriate safeguards can be put in place, including for any relevant children.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the risk from small unmanned drones to (a) public order and (b) public safety.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office and Department for Transport collaborate closely with each other and a range of stakeholders, including operational partners and colleagues inside and outside of government, to address the risks posed to public order and safety posed by drone misuse.

The Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act 2021, which gives police powers to better protect against malicious or negligent drone use, was developed by DfT working closely with the Home Office.

The policy and operational tools to manage drone misuse sit across a number of agencies, including the Department for Transport, Home Office, Civil Aviation Authority and the police. DfT and HO engage regularly to ensure that the future of drone regulation and policy supports both the security needs of the UK and the legitimate use of drones.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with the Metropolitan Police on the policing of non-contentious parades in central London.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government continues to work closely with the Metropolitan Police to ensure parades, protests and assemblies can take place whilst maintaining public safety.

Operational matters are for individual forces, and Government ministers do not intervene in how the law is applied.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the revocation of the Online Safety Act 2023 (Commencement No 5) Regulations 2025 on the spread of child sexual abuse material online.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The National Crime Agency (NCA) is responsible for the development and implementation of the Designated Reporting Body (DRB), which will receive reports of CSEA from in-scope user-to-user service providers. The NCA has confirmed that the DRB has been delayed due to technical issues. By revoking the original SIs, the Government is granting the NCA time to resolve technical issues with the reporting portal and allow for the reporting portal to be thoroughly tested ahead of the portal becoming fully operational. This will significantly increase the prospect of an efficient, fully accessible and robust reporting mechanism when legislation comes into force.

We expect the impact of this revocation to be minimal, given service providers can and already do report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US, as US-based services, under US law. NCMEC forwards any reports with a UK nexus to UK law enforcement.

More broadly, until the CSEA reporting provisions within the Online Safety Act (OSA) comes into force, services can continue to act as they do now, including reporting under international law, to existing reporting bodies and law enforcement. Again, suspected CSEA cases with a UK nexus made via alternative channels, including reports made internationally, will continue to be passed to UK law enforcement.

The NCA expects the DRB to go live in Spring 2026. The OSA’s provisions to report CSEA content to the NCA, including the Reporting Regulations, will be laid and will come into force in parallel with the operationalisation of the DRB in Spring 2026.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Police Pension Scheme 1987 regulations on the (a) financial security and (b) wellbeing of (i) widows and (ii) widowers of former police officers.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The government recognises the vital contribution that police officers make in keeping our communities safe. We remain committed to supporting the wellbeing of all members of the policing family, including the families of those who have served.

The 1987 Police Pension Scheme provides a pension for the widow, widower or civil partner of a police officer who dies in service or after retirement. From 1 April 2015, the 1987 police pension scheme was amended to allow widows, widowers and civil partners of police officers who have died as a result of an injury on duty to receive their survivor benefits for life regardless of remarriage, civil partnership or cohabitation.

The 1987 police pension scheme is now a closed scheme, superseded by the 2015 scheme, and there are no plans to make further changes to the benefits accrued under it.

Through the Police Covenant, we are working to ensure that both serving and former officers, as well as their families, are treated fairly and receive the support they need. This includes recognising the lasting impact that service can have on wellbeing, particularly for those who have lost a loved one in the line of duty.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of nudification apps on boys and girls under 18.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Government is aware of concerns about the impacts of nudification apps on children and in facilitating violence against women and girls. AI-generated child sexual abuse material can have direct impact on real children. Offenders use AI to create photorealistic abuse imagery that often features real children, for example children known to the offender or existing victims. We also know that offenders are using AI imagery to groom and blackmail children.

We are taking action on non-consensual intimate image abuse, having criminalised the creation of intimate images without consent (or reasonable belief in consent) in the Data (Use and Access) Act. This built on the existing offences introduced by the Online Safety Act for sharing, or threatening to share intimate images, including deepfakes.

Furthermore, in the Crime and Policing Bill, this Government is protecting children from the growing threat of online predators, by becoming the first country in the world to criminalise AI tools which generate child sexual abuse images.

We are going even further in the Crime and Policing Bill by introducing offences of taking an intimate image without consent, and installing equipment with the intent of taking an intimate image without consent, or a reasonable belief in consent.

Regarding a prohibition of ‘nudification’ apps, the Government is actively considering what action is needed to ensure that any intervention in this area is effective, and will provide an update in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what independent oversight mechanisms are in place for monitoring policing incidents involving the use of force on (a) elderly and (b) vulnerable people.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is clear that any use of force must be reasonable, proportionate and necessary in all circumstances and officers are accountable through the law for their actions.

Before being deployed all officers must pass comprehensive training in Public and Personal Safety which must be refreshed annually. Training reinforces the importance of legitimacy in police use of force at every level and trains officers to factor in the potential vulnerabilities of a person, including their size and age. Training is aimed at de-escalating the situation wherever possible to prevent harm.

Where de-escalation is not possible, officers use their training and experience in line with the National Decision-Making Model to decide on the most appropriate use of force in the circumstances. The National Decision-Making Model has been adopted by police as a framework for ensuring any decisions can be effectively evaluated and challenged where necessary.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary inspect police forces on their use of force as part of their regular PEEL (police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy) programme of inspections.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigate where serious injury is caused following police contact, and when complaints are made.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a result of such a rating; and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff this represented.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

This information can only be obtained via disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure police forces (a) review and (b) improve procedures for responding to (i) people with (A) dementia and (B) physical impairments and (ii) other vulnerable adults in care settings.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The College of Policing set the professional standards for police in England and Wales. The College’s core guidance includes the initial training for officers under the Policing Education Qualifications Framework which incorporates autism, learning disabilities, mental health and vulnerabilities. Through this, officers are taught to assess vulnerability and amend their approaches as required.

The College further promotes the need for frameworks to assess vulnerability, to aid in consistent identification, support decision making, and to trigger appropriate safeguarding action. Such principles and practices are set out in a number of college products, including the Detention and Custody Authorised Professional Practice.

All police forces are operationally independent of the Home Office, and it is for each Chief Constable to decide on levels of training, and to set and enforce standards, giving them the flexibility to address their own local challenges, needs and priorities.

Work is underway nationally to support improvements in mental health provision and to reduce inappropriate demand on police resources through the Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) approach. This means that people in need of health or social care can get help from people with the right skills and training.

Where an individual is brought into police custody, custody officers should carry out a vulnerability assessment, taking account of their appearance and behaviour, signs of illness or injury, their style and level of communication, collaborative information from all sources and the circumstances and environment in which they were found.

The police must secure an appropriate adult as soon as is practicable if they suspect that the person is vulnerable. The appropriate adult is a mandatory procedural safeguard to uphold the rights, entitlements and welfare of vulnerable persons.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will provide guidance to statutory safeguarding partners on (a) recognising and (b) responding to the grooming and exploitation of 13 to 16-year-olds.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Government is committed to protecting and safeguarding all children and working to strengthen our response to identify and combat all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation, including group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse and grooming.

The current Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance provides an important framework to support frontline professionals in understanding their responsibilities in ensuring effective safeguarding of children across the country.

This clarifies that children at risk of harm outside their home, including online, should receive a coordinated multi-agency response in a timely way. Ofsted inspects the provision and quality of children’s social care services across all local authorities and is responsible for ensuring that local authorities adhere to statutory guidance including Working Together to Safeguard Children.

This statutory guidance is one important tool, supported by additional measures to make sure frontline professionals have an effective and robust response to safeguarding and protecting children.

This includes funding the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse work to improve information-sharing where there are concerns of child sexual abuse and work to embed the Child Sexual Abuse Response Pathway across a range of local areas.

And the Prevention Programme delivered by The Children's Society, also seeks to raise awareness of child exploitation to professionals working within the private, statutory and third sectors, as well as the general public, and upskills staff to better respond to, disrupt and prevent multiple forms of child exploitation, including child sexual exploitation. Furthermore, we continue to invest in the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce to support policing's response to all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation, including by providing practice advice for investigators.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders on how to protect all public-facing workers from abuse in their workplaces.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Public facing workers are covered under legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which covers serious violence, such as actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

The Government introduced a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

The aggravating factor applies in cases of assault where an offence is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public.

Retail workers will be specifically covered by a new offence which we are introducing via the Crime and Policing Bill. We have been in contact with a range of stakeholders across industries, including transport and hospitality to reiterate that violence and abuse towards any worker will not be tolerated.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when regulations requiring providers of regulated user-to-user services to report child sexual abuse and exploitation content to the National Crime Agency will (a) be laid and (b) come into force.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The National Crime Agency (NCA) is responsible for the development and implementation of the Designated Reporting Body (DRB), which will receive reports of CSEA from in-scope user-to-user service providers. The NCA has confirmed that the DRB has been delayed due to technical issues. By revoking the original SIs, the Government is granting the NCA time to resolve technical issues with the reporting portal and allow for the reporting portal to be thoroughly tested ahead of the portal becoming fully operational. This will significantly increase the prospect of an efficient, fully accessible and robust reporting mechanism when legislation comes into force.

We expect the impact of this revocation to be minimal, given service providers can and already do report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US, as US-based services, under US law. NCMEC forwards any reports with a UK nexus to UK law enforcement.

More broadly, until the CSEA reporting provisions within the Online Safety Act (OSA) comes into force, services can continue to act as they do now, including reporting under international law, to existing reporting bodies and law enforcement. Again, suspected CSEA cases with a UK nexus made via alternative channels, including reports made internationally, will continue to be passed to UK law enforcement.

The NCA expects the DRB to go live in Spring 2026. The OSA’s provisions to report CSEA content to the NCA, including the Reporting Regulations, will be laid and will come into force in parallel with the operationalisation of the DRB in Spring 2026.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on improving consistency in identification of child victims of modern slavery by introducing a statutory definition of child criminal exploitation; and whether she will include a definition in an updated edition of the Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office is working closely with the Department for Education to improve the identification and response to victims of child criminal exploitation (CCE).

As committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we are introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation in the Crime and Policing Bill. The offence itself already defines CCE.

In addition, we will include a definition of child criminal exploitation in the statutory guidance that the Government will issue to the police in relation to the new offence. The CCE definition in this statutory guidance will set out in layman’s terms the conduct captured by the offence as well as additional information for police and practitioners on how the offence should be applied and victims identified by the police. This will promote awareness and ensure there is a shared understanding of child criminal exploitation so that victims are better identified and receive the protection they need.

We will also review existing guidance, including Working Together to Safeguard Children and consider what amendments to such guidance may be needed as a result of introducing this new offence.

A public Call for Evidence on how the Government can improve the process of identifying victims of modern slavery, human trafficking and exploitation closed on 8th October, and the Home Office is analysing the responses received.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the decision by the Metropolitan Police Force to stop recording non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs), whether they plan to put an end to the existence of NCHIs altogether.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government has been clear that a consistent and common-sense approach must be taken with non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs).

The Home Secretary has asked the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing to expedite its review of NCHIs which began earlier this year. The review is considering the recording of information that has not yet reached the criminal threshold, but which may still be useful for the purposes of monitoring community tensions and keeping the public safe. It is also considering the fundamental right of freedom of expression and recent court rulings in this area.

The Home Office is working closely with the NPCC and the College as they develop their findings.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the length of time taken for UK Visas and Immigration to process requests for an increase in undefined Certificates of Sponsorship allocations for healthcare providers.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The same service standard applies to all sponsors using the immigration system and the onus is on the sponsors to be aware of the legal status of their workers and request the relevant Certificates of Sponsorship in accordance with those timescales. Priority services are available albeit capped for an expedited consideration. We keep our service standards under review.

Healthcare workers who qualify for the Health and Care Visa benefit from faster in-country visa processing times and are exempt from paying the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating an expedited process for healthcare organisations seeking Certificates of Sponsorship to support visa renewals for existing employees.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The same service standard applies to all sponsors using the immigration system and the onus is on the sponsors to be aware of the legal status of their workers and request the relevant Certificates of Sponsorship in accordance with those timescales. Priority services are available albeit capped for an expedited consideration. We keep our service standards under review.

Healthcare workers who qualify for the Health and Care Visa benefit from faster in-country visa processing times and are exempt from paying the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers in her Department have met British Refugee Council since July 2024.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

All ministerial meetings are declared through the transparency returns.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the employment rate of refugees in Northern Ireland in each of the last ten years.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Data on refugees by location and nationality is available in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release on GOV.UK.

• Information on resettled refugees by UK region can be found in Table Res_D01, and by nationality in Table Res_D02 of the Resettlement Detailed Datasets.
• Data on asylum seekers receiving support, broken down by nationality and UK region, is published in Table Asy_D09 of the Asylum Support Datasets.

Please note that individuals only receive refugee status once their asylum claim is granted. The Home Office does not track the addresses of those granted refugee status, and refugees are free to relocate within the UK or leave the country.

The latest available data covers up to the end of June 2025. Guidance on using the datasets can be found on the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.

The Home Office does not hold data on the employment rate of refugees in Northern Ireland. The employment rate of refugees in England and Wales between 2015 and 2021 was 37% for asylum route refugees and 12% for resettlement refugees.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the remarks concerning the potential risks of autonomous AI made by the Director-General of MI5 on 16 October, and what steps they are taking to mitigate autonomous AI threats to national security.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

As MI5’s Director General has noted, AI strengthens the UK’s national security capabilities, but its misuse or loss of control poses serious risks. The UK Government is actively addressing these concerns.

The Home Office collaborates with the UK intelligence community and technical partners like the AI Safety Institute and Alan Turing Institute to assess threats and shape policy. This includes ensuring AI systems align with human values and operator intent to reduce misalignment risks.

Through the National Security Strategy 2025 and UK AI Opportunities Action Plan, the UK is investing in sovereign, high-assurance AI for defence and critical infrastructure, developing cybersecurity standards, and evaluating advanced AI models to detect harmful capabilities—ensuring AI is deployed safely and in line with national interests.

In September 2025, the UK also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the US under the Technology Prosperity Deal, strengthening collaboration on AI and national security to mitigate future risks. Subsequently, the UK has committed to greater collaboration between the US Centre for AI Standards and Innovation and the UK AI Security Institute, and secured multi-billion-pound US tech investments in UK AI infrastructure and Growth Zones to deliver new AI infrastructure in the UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in his Department (a) did not retain employment following completion of their probationary period and (b) had their probationary period extended in each of the last five years.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office’s probation policy and guidance advises managers on the steps to take to assess a new employee’s suitability for the post and to provide support to enable them to succeed. It also advises on the steps to take where performance, attendance or conduct are not satisfactory. This can include exiting the employee or extending their probation to provide further evidence for a final decision on their suitability. However, the information requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to expedite delayed biometric processing in Islamabad, Pakistan, for family members of people who assisted UK military operations in Afghanistan; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential risk of family members being deported to Afghanistan and identified by the Taliban.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold this information.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of net migration on public services.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes a variety of analysis considering the impact of migration on public services. Home Office Impact Assessments and wider analysis can be found here: Migration analysis at the Home Office - GOV.UK

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide additional funding for policing in Cardiff in recognition of its capital city status.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

A National and International Capital City (NICC) grant is paid to the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police to reflect the unique demands of policing in London. The NICC grant is partially funded from a reallocation of the core funding for all police forces in England and Wales and as such, decisions on the level of the funding must consider its impact on wider policing.

South Wales Police will receive up to £441.7 million in 2025-26, an increase of up to £32.6 million when compared to 2024-25. Decisions on the allocation of NICC funding are taken at the time of the Police Settlement and as with previous years, more details on force funding allocations for 2026-27 will be made via the provisional police funding settlement later in the year.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department,with reference to her statement of 13 October 2025 on Manchester Terrorism Attack, Official Report, col 27, whether trade union picket lines outside workplaces would be considered within the scope of the cumulative impact, in the context of her proposed amendments to sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which will allow senior officers to take account of the cumulative impact of protest activity when considering whether to impose conditions under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.This provision will help protect communities from repeated disruption caused by protests, while protecting the right to peaceful protest.

The Home Office regularly engages with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Public Order and Public Safety, Chief Constable Mark Hobrough, and this clause has been developed in discussion with the NPCC and other operational policing partners, and informed by community concerns about the ongoing disruption caused by repeat protests.

The Home Office will work with the College of Policing and NPCC to include guidance on cumulative impact in the Public Order Public Safety authorised professional practice, and the Protest Operational Advice Document, which contain operational advice for frontline policing and are regularly updated to include all public order powers.

Police forces will be engaged in the development of the guidance, to help ensure the application of this legislation achieves the objective of addressing safety and security concerns of affected communities while ensuring that consideration of any cumulative disruption is balanced with the right to peaceful and lawful protest.

It will be for senior officers to consider whether to impose conditions on a protest having considered any relevant cumulative disruption to the life of the community in the area in which the protest is held or intended to be held.

Statistics on police protest powers are published here: Police protest powers, June 2022 to March 2024 - GOV.UK The latest figures cover the period up to March 2024.

In the period 28 June 2022 to 31 March 2024, 10 forces used powers under Sections 12, 14,14ZA of the Public Order Act (1986). The remaining 34 forces confirmed they had not used these powers in the period.

Since sections 12, 14 and 14ZA of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022) came into force, they have been used to apply conditions to 473 protests. Of these 473 protests, 434 were recorded as processions (conditions imposed under section 12) and 39 were recorded as assemblies (conditions imposed under section 14); the powers have not been used to apply conditions to any one-person protests (section 14ZA). As part of this data collection, information is provided on the ‘theme’ of protests that had conditions applied to them under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, to indicate whether the protest had one of more of the following themes: social justice, anti-fascism, cultural nationalism, animal rights, international, anti-government, environmental.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her oral contribution on 13 October 2025 during the statement on the Manchester Terrorism Attack, Official Report, column 29, what definition her Department plans to use for the term 'cumulative impact' in relation to protest activity under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which will allow senior officers to take account of the cumulative impact of protest activity when considering whether to impose conditions under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.This provision will help protect communities from repeated disruption caused by protests, while protecting the right to peaceful protest.

The Home Office regularly engages with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Public Order and Public Safety, Chief Constable Mark Hobrough, and this clause has been developed in discussion with the NPCC and other operational policing partners, and informed by community concerns about the ongoing disruption caused by repeat protests.

The Home Office will work with the College of Policing and NPCC to include guidance on cumulative impact in the Public Order Public Safety authorised professional practice, and the Protest Operational Advice Document, which contain operational advice for frontline policing and are regularly updated to include all public order powers.

Police forces will be engaged in the development of the guidance, to help ensure the application of this legislation achieves the objective of addressing safety and security concerns of affected communities while ensuring that consideration of any cumulative disruption is balanced with the right to peaceful and lawful protest.

It will be for senior officers to consider whether to impose conditions on a protest having considered any relevant cumulative disruption to the life of the community in the area in which the protest is held or intended to be held.

Statistics on police protest powers are published here: Police protest powers, June 2022 to March 2024 - GOV.UK The latest figures cover the period up to March 2024.

In the period 28 June 2022 to 31 March 2024, 10 forces used powers under Sections 12, 14,14ZA of the Public Order Act (1986). The remaining 34 forces confirmed they had not used these powers in the period.

Since sections 12, 14 and 14ZA of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022) came into force, they have been used to apply conditions to 473 protests. Of these 473 protests, 434 were recorded as processions (conditions imposed under section 12) and 39 were recorded as assemblies (conditions imposed under section 14); the powers have not been used to apply conditions to any one-person protests (section 14ZA). As part of this data collection, information is provided on the ‘theme’ of protests that had conditions applied to them under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, to indicate whether the protest had one of more of the following themes: social justice, anti-fascism, cultural nationalism, animal rights, international, anti-government, environmental.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her statement of 13 October 2025 on Manchester Terrorism Attack, Official Report, col 27, what discussions she has had with police forces on how they would take cumulative impact into account when determining restrictions on protest locations.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which will allow senior officers to take account of the cumulative impact of protest activity when considering whether to impose conditions under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.This provision will help protect communities from repeated disruption caused by protests, while protecting the right to peaceful protest.

The Home Office regularly engages with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Public Order and Public Safety, Chief Constable Mark Hobrough, and this clause has been developed in discussion with the NPCC and other operational policing partners, and informed by community concerns about the ongoing disruption caused by repeat protests.

The Home Office will work with the College of Policing and NPCC to include guidance on cumulative impact in the Public Order Public Safety authorised professional practice, and the Protest Operational Advice Document, which contain operational advice for frontline policing and are regularly updated to include all public order powers.

Police forces will be engaged in the development of the guidance, to help ensure the application of this legislation achieves the objective of addressing safety and security concerns of affected communities while ensuring that consideration of any cumulative disruption is balanced with the right to peaceful and lawful protest.

It will be for senior officers to consider whether to impose conditions on a protest having considered any relevant cumulative disruption to the life of the community in the area in which the protest is held or intended to be held.

Statistics on police protest powers are published here: Police protest powers, June 2022 to March 2024 - GOV.UK The latest figures cover the period up to March 2024.

In the period 28 June 2022 to 31 March 2024, 10 forces used powers under Sections 12, 14,14ZA of the Public Order Act (1986). The remaining 34 forces confirmed they had not used these powers in the period.

Since sections 12, 14 and 14ZA of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022) came into force, they have been used to apply conditions to 473 protests. Of these 473 protests, 434 were recorded as processions (conditions imposed under section 12) and 39 were recorded as assemblies (conditions imposed under section 14); the powers have not been used to apply conditions to any one-person protests (section 14ZA). As part of this data collection, information is provided on the ‘theme’ of protests that had conditions applied to them under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, to indicate whether the protest had one of more of the following themes: social justice, anti-fascism, cultural nationalism, animal rights, international, anti-government, environmental.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her statement of 13 October 2025 on Manchester Terrorism Attack, Official Report, col 27, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to amend sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which will allow senior officers to take account of the cumulative impact of protest activity when considering whether to impose conditions under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.This provision will help protect communities from repeated disruption caused by protests, while protecting the right to peaceful protest.

The Home Office regularly engages with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Public Order and Public Safety, Chief Constable Mark Hobrough, and this clause has been developed in discussion with the NPCC and other operational policing partners, and informed by community concerns about the ongoing disruption caused by repeat protests.

The Home Office will work with the College of Policing and NPCC to include guidance on cumulative impact in the Public Order Public Safety authorised professional practice, and the Protest Operational Advice Document, which contain operational advice for frontline policing and are regularly updated to include all public order powers.

Police forces will be engaged in the development of the guidance, to help ensure the application of this legislation achieves the objective of addressing safety and security concerns of affected communities while ensuring that consideration of any cumulative disruption is balanced with the right to peaceful and lawful protest.

It will be for senior officers to consider whether to impose conditions on a protest having considered any relevant cumulative disruption to the life of the community in the area in which the protest is held or intended to be held.

Statistics on police protest powers are published here: Police protest powers, June 2022 to March 2024 - GOV.UK The latest figures cover the period up to March 2024.

In the period 28 June 2022 to 31 March 2024, 10 forces used powers under Sections 12, 14,14ZA of the Public Order Act (1986). The remaining 34 forces confirmed they had not used these powers in the period.

Since sections 12, 14 and 14ZA of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022) came into force, they have been used to apply conditions to 473 protests. Of these 473 protests, 434 were recorded as processions (conditions imposed under section 12) and 39 were recorded as assemblies (conditions imposed under section 14); the powers have not been used to apply conditions to any one-person protests (section 14ZA). As part of this data collection, information is provided on the ‘theme’ of protests that had conditions applied to them under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, to indicate whether the protest had one of more of the following themes: social justice, anti-fascism, cultural nationalism, animal rights, international, anti-government, environmental.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her statement of 13 October 2025 on Manchester Terrorism Attack, whether she plans to amend sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 through amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which will allow senior officers to take account of the cumulative impact of protest activity when considering whether to impose conditions under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.This provision will help protect communities from repeated disruption caused by protests, while protecting the right to peaceful protest.

The Home Office regularly engages with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Public Order and Public Safety, Chief Constable Mark Hobrough, and this clause has been developed in discussion with the NPCC and other operational policing partners, and informed by community concerns about the ongoing disruption caused by repeat protests.

The Home Office will work with the College of Policing and NPCC to include guidance on cumulative impact in the Public Order Public Safety authorised professional practice, and the Protest Operational Advice Document, which contain operational advice for frontline policing and are regularly updated to include all public order powers.

Police forces will be engaged in the development of the guidance, to help ensure the application of this legislation achieves the objective of addressing safety and security concerns of affected communities while ensuring that consideration of any cumulative disruption is balanced with the right to peaceful and lawful protest.

It will be for senior officers to consider whether to impose conditions on a protest having considered any relevant cumulative disruption to the life of the community in the area in which the protest is held or intended to be held.

Statistics on police protest powers are published here: Police protest powers, June 2022 to March 2024 - GOV.UK The latest figures cover the period up to March 2024.

In the period 28 June 2022 to 31 March 2024, 10 forces used powers under Sections 12, 14,14ZA of the Public Order Act (1986). The remaining 34 forces confirmed they had not used these powers in the period.

Since sections 12, 14 and 14ZA of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022) came into force, they have been used to apply conditions to 473 protests. Of these 473 protests, 434 were recorded as processions (conditions imposed under section 12) and 39 were recorded as assemblies (conditions imposed under section 14); the powers have not been used to apply conditions to any one-person protests (section 14ZA). As part of this data collection, information is provided on the ‘theme’ of protests that had conditions applied to them under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, to indicate whether the protest had one of more of the following themes: social justice, anti-fascism, cultural nationalism, animal rights, international, anti-government, environmental.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of asking the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to review their scheduling of Psilocybin.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Psilocybin is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (‘the 1971 Act’) and placed in Schedule 1 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (‘the 2001 Regulations’). Drugs are typically placed in Schedule 1 when there is no established medical use in the UK.

Ministers are under a duty to consider advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) prior to making regulations under the 1971 Act. The Government has no current plans to commission the ACMD to review the scheduling of psilocybin.

Medicines based on psilocybin have to date not been assessed on the basis of their safety, quality and efficacy and granted a marketing authorisation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA). Reconsideration of scheduling under the 1971 Act would ordinarily follow such an assessment by the MHRA.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the penalties for driving with a non-compliant or ghost number plate.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Cloned and misrepresented plates are a serious problem which cause distress to innocent people and provide cover for criminals.

The Home Office and the Department for Transport are working closely with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), Trading Standards and local authorities to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the number of times police forces in England and Wales have exercised powers under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 in each of the last three years.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which will allow senior officers to take account of the cumulative impact of protest activity when considering whether to impose conditions under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.This provision will help protect communities from repeated disruption caused by protests, while protecting the right to peaceful protest.

The Home Office regularly engages with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Public Order and Public Safety, Chief Constable Mark Hobrough, and this clause has been developed in discussion with the NPCC and other operational policing partners, and informed by community concerns about the ongoing disruption caused by repeat protests.

The Home Office will work with the College of Policing and NPCC to include guidance on cumulative impact in the Public Order Public Safety authorised professional practice, and the Protest Operational Advice Document, which contain operational advice for frontline policing and are regularly updated to include all public order powers.

Police forces will be engaged in the development of the guidance, to help ensure the application of this legislation achieves the objective of addressing safety and security concerns of affected communities while ensuring that consideration of any cumulative disruption is balanced with the right to peaceful and lawful protest.

It will be for senior officers to consider whether to impose conditions on a protest having considered any relevant cumulative disruption to the life of the community in the area in which the protest is held or intended to be held.

Statistics on police protest powers are published here: Police protest powers, June 2022 to March 2024 - GOV.UK The latest figures cover the period up to March 2024.

In the period 28 June 2022 to 31 March 2024, 10 forces used powers under Sections 12, 14,14ZA of the Public Order Act (1986). The remaining 34 forces confirmed they had not used these powers in the period.

Since sections 12, 14 and 14ZA of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022) came into force, they have been used to apply conditions to 473 protests. Of these 473 protests, 434 were recorded as processions (conditions imposed under section 12) and 39 were recorded as assemblies (conditions imposed under section 14); the powers have not been used to apply conditions to any one-person protests (section 14ZA). As part of this data collection, information is provided on the ‘theme’ of protests that had conditions applied to them under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, to indicate whether the protest had one of more of the following themes: social justice, anti-fascism, cultural nationalism, animal rights, international, anti-government, environmental.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consultation her Department has undertaken with (a) police forces and (b) Police and Crime Commissioners on the proposal to extend police powers to consider the cumulative impact of protests.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which will allow senior officers to take account of the cumulative impact of protest activity when considering whether to impose conditions under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.This provision will help protect communities from repeated disruption caused by protests, while protecting the right to peaceful protest.

The Home Office regularly engages with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Public Order and Public Safety, Chief Constable Mark Hobrough, and this clause has been developed in discussion with the NPCC and other operational policing partners, and informed by community concerns about the ongoing disruption caused by repeat protests.

The Home Office will work with the College of Policing and NPCC to include guidance on cumulative impact in the Public Order Public Safety authorised professional practice, and the Protest Operational Advice Document, which contain operational advice for frontline policing and are regularly updated to include all public order powers.

Police forces will be engaged in the development of the guidance, to help ensure the application of this legislation achieves the objective of addressing safety and security concerns of affected communities while ensuring that consideration of any cumulative disruption is balanced with the right to peaceful and lawful protest.

It will be for senior officers to consider whether to impose conditions on a protest having considered any relevant cumulative disruption to the life of the community in the area in which the protest is held or intended to be held.

Statistics on police protest powers are published here: Police protest powers, June 2022 to March 2024 - GOV.UK The latest figures cover the period up to March 2024.

In the period 28 June 2022 to 31 March 2024, 10 forces used powers under Sections 12, 14,14ZA of the Public Order Act (1986). The remaining 34 forces confirmed they had not used these powers in the period.

Since sections 12, 14 and 14ZA of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022) came into force, they have been used to apply conditions to 473 protests. Of these 473 protests, 434 were recorded as processions (conditions imposed under section 12) and 39 were recorded as assemblies (conditions imposed under section 14); the powers have not been used to apply conditions to any one-person protests (section 14ZA). As part of this data collection, information is provided on the ‘theme’ of protests that had conditions applied to them under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, to indicate whether the protest had one of more of the following themes: social justice, anti-fascism, cultural nationalism, animal rights, international, anti-government, environmental.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds data on the subject matter of protests at which sections (a) 12 and (b) 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 have been used in the last three years.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which will allow senior officers to take account of the cumulative impact of protest activity when considering whether to impose conditions under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.This provision will help protect communities from repeated disruption caused by protests, while protecting the right to peaceful protest.

The Home Office regularly engages with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Public Order and Public Safety, Chief Constable Mark Hobrough, and this clause has been developed in discussion with the NPCC and other operational policing partners, and informed by community concerns about the ongoing disruption caused by repeat protests.

The Home Office will work with the College of Policing and NPCC to include guidance on cumulative impact in the Public Order Public Safety authorised professional practice, and the Protest Operational Advice Document, which contain operational advice for frontline policing and are regularly updated to include all public order powers.

Police forces will be engaged in the development of the guidance, to help ensure the application of this legislation achieves the objective of addressing safety and security concerns of affected communities while ensuring that consideration of any cumulative disruption is balanced with the right to peaceful and lawful protest.

It will be for senior officers to consider whether to impose conditions on a protest having considered any relevant cumulative disruption to the life of the community in the area in which the protest is held or intended to be held.

Statistics on police protest powers are published here: Police protest powers, June 2022 to March 2024 - GOV.UK The latest figures cover the period up to March 2024.

In the period 28 June 2022 to 31 March 2024, 10 forces used powers under Sections 12, 14,14ZA of the Public Order Act (1986). The remaining 34 forces confirmed they had not used these powers in the period.

Since sections 12, 14 and 14ZA of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022) came into force, they have been used to apply conditions to 473 protests. Of these 473 protests, 434 were recorded as processions (conditions imposed under section 12) and 39 were recorded as assemblies (conditions imposed under section 14); the powers have not been used to apply conditions to any one-person protests (section 14ZA). As part of this data collection, information is provided on the ‘theme’ of protests that had conditions applied to them under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, to indicate whether the protest had one of more of the following themes: social justice, anti-fascism, cultural nationalism, animal rights, international, anti-government, environmental.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to help ensure access to twenty-four-hour police front counters in (a) Romford constituency and (b) England.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Decisions regarding the management of local police resourcing and estates, including publicly accessible front counters at police stations, is a matter for Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (or equivalents). They are best placed to make these decisions based on their knowledge of local need, experience, and in line with their existing budget.

A key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission is focused on restoring neighbourhood policing, and rebuilding trust and confidence in policing, The commitments set out in the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee are now making a considerable difference to the service communities receive from their neighbourhood policing teams.

We have also provided £200 million in FY 2025/26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of the Parliament. This increase in neighbourhood policing, alongside the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, will strengthen the connections between the police and the communities they serve.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to help increase the regularity of police patrols in (a) England and (b) Romford.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee (NPG) is now being delivered across England and Wales to ensure consistent and high-quality neighbourhood policing.

As a result of the NPG, communities are now benefitting from more visible patrols, and stronger engagement. Officers are working closely with residents and businesses to tackle issues such as anti-social behaviour, shop theft, vandalism.

Neighbourhood policing teams are spending the majority of their time within their communities, delivering visible patrols and actively engaging with residents and businesses.

As part of the NPG the Government has made £200 million available in FY 25/26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament, including up to 3000 additional neighbourhood officers by March 2026.

As a result of the Neighbourhood Policing Grant the Metropolitan Police Service are projected to grow by 470 neighbourhood officers in 2025-26.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department communicates with NHS trusts on Category F patients.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS Trusts, share information with the Home Office to tackle NHS debt accrued by patients who fall under Charging Category F.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of (a) consultations and (b) reviews conducted by her Department since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The information requested is not centrally held in an easily accessible form as there are no expenditure categories that just cover consultations or reviews.

Due to this any response could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) disciplinary actions and (b) dismissals of Home Office officials have there been for unauthorised access to personal data since July 2024.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

We do not hold data specifically on the number of cases involving unauthorised access to personal data and would otherwise be disproportionate effort to retrieve.

The nearest category for which we hold data is ‘Unauthorised Access IT Systems, Databases and Record Systems’, the following have been prepared using these figures.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff left her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by grade.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Information on the number of civil servants leaving each government department and organisation by responsibility level for the years 2021 to 2025 is published annually through the ‘Civil Service data browser’ as part of Civil Service Statistics 2025, an accredited official statistics publication.

Information can be accessed through the Civil Service data browser for 2021 through 2025 at the following web address: https://civil-service-statistics.jdac.service.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent guidance she has issued to police forces on the (a) lawful and (b) proportionate use of stop and search powers.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Stop and search is an important tool for tackling knife crime, but it must be used fairly and effectively. Getting that balance right is key to meeting the Government’s objective of halving knife crime in ten years. We know that stop and search is most effective when it is targeted and intelligence led.

Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) governs the use of stop and search powers. Guidance on the use of stop and search is also issued to forces by the College of Policing in its Authorised Professional Practice.

In the year ending March 2024, available data suggests there were at least 9,423 arrests for offensive weapon or firearm offences following a stop and search. However, this data is designated as ‘Official Statistics in development’ to denote that there are known data quality issues, and the true figure will be higher.

In the year ending March 2024, 16,066 (3.0%) of stop and searches resulted in an offensive weapon or firearm being found. However, that figure includes searches where police were looking for drugs, stolen goods, or other items rather than weapons. Where offensive weapons were the reason for the search, the find rate was 12%.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of stop and searches resulted in the seizure of a weapon in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) governs the use of stop and search powers. Guidance on the use of stop and search is also issued to forces by the College of Policing in its Authorised Professional Practice.

Stop and search is an important tool for tackling knife crime, but it must be used fairly and effectively. Getting that balance right is key to meeting the Government’s objective of halving knife crime in ten years. We know that stop and search is most effective when it is targeted and intelligence led.

In the year ending March 2024, available data suggests there were at least 9,423 arrests for offensive weapon or firearm offences following a stop and search. However, this data is designated as ‘Official Statistics in development’ to denote that there are known data quality issues, and the true figure will be higher.

In the year ending March 2024, 16,066 (3.0%) of stop and searches resulted in an offensive weapon or firearm being found. However, that figure includes searches where police were looking for drugs, stolen goods, or other items rather than weapons. Where offensive weapons were the reason for the search, the find rate was 12%.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of stop and search powers in reducing knife crime.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Stop and search is an important tool for tackling knife crime, but it must be used fairly and effectively. Getting that balance right is key to meeting the Government’s objective of halving knife crime in ten years. We know that stop and search is most effective when it is targeted and intelligence led.

Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) governs the use of stop and search powers. Guidance on the use of stop and search is also issued to forces by the College of Policing in its Authorised Professional Practice.

In the year ending March 2024, available data suggests there were at least 9,423 arrests for offensive weapon or firearm offences following a stop and search. However, this data is designated as ‘Official Statistics in development’ to denote that there are known data quality issues, and the true figure will be higher.

In the year ending March 2024, 16,066 (3.0%) of stop and searches resulted in an offensive weapon or firearm being found. However, that figure includes searches where police were looking for drugs, stolen goods, or other items rather than weapons. Where offensive weapons were the reason for the search, the find rate was 12%.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking ensure the continuity of independent medical advice to the National Police Chiefs Council's Less Lethal Weapons Working Group, following the replacement of the Science Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons with the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons Expert Committee.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The provision of a robust medical assessment of the effects of any less lethal weapon is critical to ensuring that when police use less lethal weapons, they use them safely and effectively to protect the public and prevent harm. The Scientific Advisory Council on the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons (SACMILL) has played an important role in this to date and plans are in place to ensure robust independent medical advice continues under the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons Executive Committee (MILLWEC), in line with the Code of Practice for Armed Policing and Police Use of Less Lethal Weapons.

The Home Office has been working closely with the Ministry of Defence to manage the transition and ensure no disruption to the provision of independent scientific advice. MILLWEC will be established from 30 November and SACMILL will continue in their advisory function until then. A framework, which will support the independence and accountability of the new committee, has been developed and is publicly available on the gov.uk website Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons Expert Committee - GOV.UK

Processes are in place to ensure Home Office management of the committee retains their independence at every level, in line with the Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees and Councils.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) legal and (b) operational guidance her Department has issued to police forces on the lawful use of (i) signal jamming, (ii) electronic disruption, and (iii) kinetic interception measures to tackle unauthorised drones in public spaces.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has worked closely with policing colleagues to ensure operational responders have access to appropriate technologies and powers to detect and mitigate against drone misuse.

The government brought in the Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act (ATMUA) in 2021, to give the police necessary powers to protect against malicious or negligent drone use. ATMUA amends the Police Act 1997 to enable the use of counter-drone technologies by operational responders.

How and when the police use the technologies and powers provided to them by the Home Office is an operational matter. The Home Office has always maintained the importance of operational independence and does not routinely comment on operational decision making.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the ability of police forces to implement the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee set out commitments for police forces to implement by July 2025. Forces are now delivering on the Guarantee across England and Wales to ensure consistent and high-quality neighbourhood policing. Every neighbourhood now has named, contactable officers.

Additionally, the Government has made £200 million available in FY 25/26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament, including up to 3000 additional neighbourhood officers by March 2026

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of drone-related incidents reported to the police by type of incident for each of the last five years.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The police provide the Home Office with analysis of general trends in drone misuse across the UK to help co-ordinate work and allocate resources across government.

Over the past five years these trends have shown a consistent increase in both legal and illegal drone use.

The police maintain detailed central reporting and recording which is used for operational and planning purposes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Levitt on 22 October (HL10869), how many (1) arrests, and (2) charges have been made under the Suicide Act 1961 in the past ten years.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office holds some of the information requested.

However, data is collected by broad offence group, for example ‘Miscellaneous crimes against society’, and not on more specific offences such as those under the Suicide Act 1961.

There were 91 offences recorded by the police in the year ending June 2025, an increase of 35 on the previous year (56 offences). This was up from 32 in the year ending March 2016.

There were no charge/summons for aiding suicide offences recorded by the police in the year ending June 2025 (down from 1 in the previous year).

Table: The number of ‘aiding suicide’ offences, and charge/summons, recorded by the police in England and Wales, 2015/16 to year ending June 2025

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has recent discussions with police forces on their use of stop and search powers under Section 60 of the Public Order Act 2023.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) governs the use of stop and search powers. Guidance on the use of stop and search is also issued to forces by the College of Policing in its Authorised Professional Practice.

Stop and search is an important tool for tackling knife crime, but it must be used fairly and effectively. Getting that balance right is key to meeting the Government’s objective of halving knife crime in ten years. We know that stop and search is most effective when it is targeted and intelligence led.

In the year ending March 2024, available data suggests there were at least 9,423 arrests for offensive weapon or firearm offences following a stop and search. However, this data is designated as ‘Official Statistics in development’ to denote that there are known data quality issues, and the true figure will be higher.

In the year ending March 2024, 16,066 (3.0%) of stop and searches resulted in an offensive weapon or firearm being found. However, that figure includes searches where police were looking for drugs, stolen goods, or other items rather than weapons. Where offensive weapons were the reason for the search, the find rate was 12%.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending statutory guidance to clarify the intent of section 75 of the Crime and Policing Bill on the reporting of abuse of 13-16 year olds that appears consensual.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

When recommending the introduction of a mandatory reporting duty to government, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse recognised that in limited circumstances, a different approach may sometimes be necessary when considering sexual activity between teenagers (where a reporter has no wider concerns about the situation).

However, sexual activity under the age of consent is illegal and the Government does not condone underage sex.

Section 75 of the Bill is informed by the Inquiry's consideration of this issue. Guidance will be published to accompany the duty which will make clear that sexual relationships involving teenagers under the age of consent should not be met by inaction or indifference, as well as setting out appropriate avenues for advice and support.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Casey review, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that victims aged 13 to 16 are adequately protected under section 75 of the Crime and Policing Bill.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

When recommending the introduction of a mandatory reporting duty to government, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse recognised that in limited circumstances, a different approach may sometimes be necessary when considering sexual activity between teenagers (where a reporter has no wider concerns about the situation).

However, sexual activity under the age of consent is illegal and the Government does not condone underage sex.

Section 75 of the Bill is informed by the Inquiry's consideration of this issue. Guidance will be published to accompany the duty which will make clear that sexual relationships involving teenagers under the age of consent should not be met by inaction or indifference, as well as setting out appropriate avenues for advice and support.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to publish guidance to clarify the legal position of children aged 13 to 16 under section 75 of the Crime and Policing Bill.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

When recommending the introduction of a mandatory reporting duty to government, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse recognised that in limited circumstances, a different approach may sometimes be necessary when considering sexual activity between teenagers (where a reporter has no wider concerns about the situation).

However, sexual activity under the age of consent is illegal and the Government does not condone underage sex.

Section 75 of the Bill is informed by the Inquiry's consideration of this issue. Guidance will be published to accompany the duty which will make clear that sexual relationships involving teenagers under the age of consent should not be met by inaction or indifference, as well as setting out appropriate avenues for advice and support.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the National Police Air Service in meeting its strategic objectives since its establishment.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

As NPAS is a police-led collaboration, it is their National Strategic Board which is responsible for setting and evaluating the strategic direction of NPAS, as well as for all operating and financial decisions. Policing leaders are best placed to determine their requirements for air support and how to meet this using the resources available. However, Home Office officials remain closely involved and continue to monitor and support NPAS and each year agree objectives and deliverables for NPAS within the funding envelope available.

The NPAS Strategic Board is responsible for setting the strategic direction of NPAS, the terms of the Collaboration Agreement arranged through section 22A of the Police Act 1996 agreed between forces, and for all operating and financial decisions within the scope of the grant funding agreement, such as the number and location of NPAS bases.

The total budget allocation for NPAS in each of the last five years was as follows:

• FY25/26: £10,672,695
• FY24/25: £10,276,503
• FY23/24: £10,470,000
• FY22/23: £15,478,437
• FY21/22: £11,500,000

NPAS currently operates a fleet of 24 aircraft, comprising 20 rotary (8 EC135 T2, 8 EC135 P2, and 4 EC145 models), and 4 fixed wing. NPAS is in the process of partially replacing this fleet.

NPAS operates a network of 15 strategically located bases across England and Wales, providing vital air support to police forces nationwide. In addition to these regional bases, NPAS also operates a 24-hour service from Lippitts Hill in Epping Forest, supporting the Metropolitan Police Service and ensuring continuous air coverage for London. There are currently no changes to the base network planned for the next two years.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many stop and searches in have led to an arrest for (a) possession of a knife and (b) bladed article in the last 12 months.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Stop and search is an important tool for tackling knife crime, but it must be used fairly and effectively. Getting that balance right is key to meeting the Government’s objective of halving knife crime in ten years. We know that stop and search is most effective when it is targeted and intelligence led.

Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) governs the use of stop and search powers. Guidance on the use of stop and search is also issued to forces by the College of Policing in its Authorised Professional Practice.

In the year ending March 2024, available data suggests there were at least 9,423 arrests for offensive weapon or firearm offences following a stop and search. However, this data is designated as ‘Official Statistics in development’ to denote that there are known data quality issues, and the true figure will be higher.

In the year ending March 2024, 16,066 (3.0%) of stop and searches resulted in an offensive weapon or firearm being found. However, that figure includes searches where police were looking for drugs, stolen goods, or other items rather than weapons. Where offensive weapons were the reason for the search, the find rate was 12%.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the amount of police time taken to administer vehicle stops under section 163 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Section 163 of the Road Traffic Act (RTA) 1988 allows a police officer in uniform to require the driver of a vehicle to stop when directed.

This is an important provision in maintaining road safety. It also enhances understanding of road traffic crime and vehicle-enabled crime.

Enforcement of traffic law and the deployment of available resources is an operational matter for individual Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners to determine, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many operational bases the National Police Air Service maintains; and what changes to the base network are planned for the next two years.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

As NPAS is a police-led collaboration, it is their National Strategic Board which is responsible for setting and evaluating the strategic direction of NPAS, as well as for all operating and financial decisions. Policing leaders are best placed to determine their requirements for air support and how to meet this using the resources available. However, Home Office officials remain closely involved and continue to monitor and support NPAS and each year agree objectives and deliverables for NPAS within the funding envelope available.

The NPAS Strategic Board is responsible for setting the strategic direction of NPAS, the terms of the Collaboration Agreement arranged through section 22A of the Police Act 1996 agreed between forces, and for all operating and financial decisions within the scope of the grant funding agreement, such as the number and location of NPAS bases.

The total budget allocation for NPAS in each of the last five years was as follows:

• FY25/26: £10,672,695
• FY24/25: £10,276,503
• FY23/24: £10,470,000
• FY22/23: £15,478,437
• FY21/22: £11,500,000

NPAS currently operates a fleet of 24 aircraft, comprising 20 rotary (8 EC135 T2, 8 EC135 P2, and 4 EC145 models), and 4 fixed wing. NPAS is in the process of partially replacing this fleet.

NPAS operates a network of 15 strategically located bases across England and Wales, providing vital air support to police forces nationwide. In addition to these regional bases, NPAS also operates a 24-hour service from Lippitts Hill in Epping Forest, supporting the Metropolitan Police Service and ensuring continuous air coverage for London. There are currently no changes to the base network planned for the next two years.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many aircraft are currently operated by the National Police Air Service by (a) type and (b) operational status.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

As NPAS is a police-led collaboration, it is their National Strategic Board which is responsible for setting and evaluating the strategic direction of NPAS, as well as for all operating and financial decisions. Policing leaders are best placed to determine their requirements for air support and how to meet this using the resources available. However, Home Office officials remain closely involved and continue to monitor and support NPAS and each year agree objectives and deliverables for NPAS within the funding envelope available.

The NPAS Strategic Board is responsible for setting the strategic direction of NPAS, the terms of the Collaboration Agreement arranged through section 22A of the Police Act 1996 agreed between forces, and for all operating and financial decisions within the scope of the grant funding agreement, such as the number and location of NPAS bases.

The total budget allocation for NPAS in each of the last five years was as follows:

• FY25/26: £10,672,695
• FY24/25: £10,276,503
• FY23/24: £10,470,000
• FY22/23: £15,478,437
• FY21/22: £11,500,000

NPAS currently operates a fleet of 24 aircraft, comprising 20 rotary (8 EC135 T2, 8 EC135 P2, and 4 EC145 models), and 4 fixed wing. NPAS is in the process of partially replacing this fleet.

NPAS operates a network of 15 strategically located bases across England and Wales, providing vital air support to police forces nationwide. In addition to these regional bases, NPAS also operates a 24-hour service from Lippitts Hill in Epping Forest, supporting the Metropolitan Police Service and ensuring continuous air coverage for London. There are currently no changes to the base network planned for the next two years.

Found: Letter from Lord Hanson, Minister of State for the Home Office to Lord Strathclyde, Chair of the Constitution

Found: According to Home Office immigration statistics published in August 2025, 3,383 people had arrived in

Found: I was also privileged to qualify as what the British Home Office recognises as a very Highly Skilled

Found: Home Secretary 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF www.gov.uk/home-office Lord Alton

Found: guidance, targeted follow -ups with Trusts where issues are identified, and close working with the Home Office

Found: there are other non-devolved parts of the UK Government that are not, namely the police and the Home Office

Found: Initially, consideration was given to transferring to a Home Office system,.

Found: Labour Market Insights. https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk 19 Home Office. (2023).

Found: The finishes and interiors sector turns a structure into a home, office, hospital, hotel, school, university

Found: They operate the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, funded by the Home Office, which is the national

Found: the retail sector HC 355 8th Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage HC 351 7th Asylum accommodation: Home Office

Found: I have thought about this a lot, and originally, we thought Education or the Home Office—the latter

Found: The relevant news articles were about HMRC using Home Office travel data to cut off child benefit payments

Found: When leaving the UK via airports, we understand that the airlines send API data to the Home Office in

Found: Do you feel that your work is, in a sense, being hampered by the policies being led by the Home Office

Found: These include the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Home Office and

Found: the fact that we worked for the Home Office and not the police.

Found: partners, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Home Office

Found: partners, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Home Office

Found: It was also developed in line with research undertaken by the Home Office on police perceptions of the

Found: It is part of the Prevent programme, funded by the Home Office.

Found: Regeneration Trust [ITS0010] Problem drug use in Scotland follow-up: Glasgow’s Safer Drug Consumption Home Office

Found: Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF www.gov.uk/home-office

Found: tool with the Accelerated Capability Environment (ACE), an innovation capability based out of the Home Office

Found: the use of Electronic Monitoring (EM): policy letter dated 5 November 2025 from the Chair to the Home Office

Found: Correspondence with the Home Office relating to citizenship fees, dated 10 July, 2 September, 16 September

Found: College London, previously UK security and intelligence coordinator, permanent secretary of the Home Office

Found: College London, previously UK security and intelligence co-ordinator, permanent secretary of the Home Office

Found: .  Home Office circulars, which are reflected in Northern Ireland Office (NIO) parallel documents,

Found: Letter from Lord Carlile of Berriew to Lord Hanson of Flint, Minister of State, Home Office re: The Crime

Found: Letter from Lord Hanson of Flint (Home Office) to Lord Carlile of Berriew re The Crime and Policing Bill

Found: We check Companies House information and their licensing situation—that is, their MHRA and Home Office

Found: The licence has lapsed; we cannot be inspected; there are no resources in the Home Office to do this

Found: On 26 September, a letter came into the Home Office from the Scottish Cabinet Minister, Shirley-Anne

Found: the retail sector HC 355 8th Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage HC 351 7th Asylum accommodation: Home Office

Found: Q6 Chair: Will the Home Office be the answering Department? Baggy Shanker: Absolutely. Chair: Okay.

Found: Subsequently, with the exception of IDRC and money spent in this country by the Home Office, the amount

Found: reporting with the safeguarding Minister, currently Jess Phillips, and our work delivers against Home Office

Found: really striking is that you have the Environment Agency, Defra, HMRC, the police—therefore, the Home Office—and

Found: The MOJ do their bit by providing the courtroom and the judge to be the facility, but the Home Office

Found: The MOJ do their bit by providing the courtroom and the judge to be the facility, but the Home Office

Found: elections, HC 570, para 74 92 Metropolitan Police (SCS0047); Qq 97, 100 [Commander Messinger]; Home Office

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, whether the Church makes funding available for the installation of CCTV cameras at pastoral buildings that are not churches.

Answered by Marsha De Cordova

Best practice would be to engage with the diocese in question, the insurance company and with local police, to discuss any specific equipment that might be needed and what local money may be available.

In some cases the insurance company working with the local parish and police can install equipment and devices if needed.

There is some advice on the Church of England website about responding to antisocial behaviour: https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/deeper-god-mission-theology (link is under ‘Reconciliation’)

It is also worth looking at the Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme, operated by the Home Office, to see whether this particular circumstance might be eligible. A crime reference number would be required

Depending on the cost of the equipment needed the parish may also wish to consider applying to the local authority, which has local discretionary small grant schemes. Under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 monies are available for local authorities to give financial assistance to parish churches for repairs and improvements.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2025 to Question 67377, which (a) Departments and (b) civil servants are represented at the (i) the Cross-Whitehall Working Group and (ii) the Cross-Whitehall Deputy Director Shadow Board.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The quarterly Cross-Whitehall Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) is jointly chaired by the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD), with the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive also represented. The Cross-Whitehall Deputy Director Shadow Board includes senior officials from the same UK Government departments and devolved administrations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) agency staff, (b) overseas recruits and (c) other NHS staff can communicate effectively in English.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Where legally required, healthcare professionals must be registered with the appropriate United Kingdom healthcare regulator to be able to practise. Professionals who qualified outside of the UK must demonstrate that they have the necessary knowledge of English. This process varies according to regulator, the healthcare role, and the circumstances of applicants

The healthcare regulators are independent of the Government, and it is for regulators to determine the required processes and thresholds in relation to English language competence for registrants.

General practitioners, dentists, and opticians delivering NHS primary care must also be on the relevant NHS performers list. Applicants’ ability to communicate effectively and safely with patients and colleagues is assessed as part of the performers list application process.

For the performers lists in England, it is NHS England policy that the required level of English language competence for admission to the list is the same as that required by the relevant healthcare regulator. If there are concerns about an applicant’s English language competence, they will be required to demonstrate competence by further assessment. This may be an oral exam with an NHS England assessor or with satisfactory completion of the International English Language Test System or the Occupational English Test.

In regard to care workers, since February 2022, the main route for care workers wishing to come to the UK has been through the Health and Care visa. To qualify for this visa, individuals must demonstrate that they meet the B1 standard of English language. On 14 October 2025, the Home Office laid rules changes to increase the English Language requirement to Level B2. These changes will come into effect from 8 January 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to introduce annual English language reassessments for NHS staff trained overseas.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Where legally required, healthcare professionals must be registered with the appropriate United Kingdom healthcare regulator to be able to practise. Professionals who qualified outside of the UK must demonstrate that they have the necessary knowledge of English. This process varies according to regulator, the healthcare role, and the circumstances of applicants

The healthcare regulators are independent of the Government, and it is for regulators to determine the required processes and thresholds in relation to English language competence for registrants.

General practitioners, dentists, and opticians delivering NHS primary care must also be on the relevant NHS performers list. Applicants’ ability to communicate effectively and safely with patients and colleagues is assessed as part of the performers list application process.

For the performers lists in England, it is NHS England policy that the required level of English language competence for admission to the list is the same as that required by the relevant healthcare regulator. If there are concerns about an applicant’s English language competence, they will be required to demonstrate competence by further assessment. This may be an oral exam with an NHS England assessor or with satisfactory completion of the International English Language Test System or the Occupational English Test.

In regard to care workers, since February 2022, the main route for care workers wishing to come to the UK has been through the Health and Care visa. To qualify for this visa, individuals must demonstrate that they meet the B1 standard of English language. On 14 October 2025, the Home Office laid rules changes to increase the English Language requirement to Level B2. These changes will come into effect from 8 January 2026.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of houses of multiple occupation being used to accommodate illegal migrants on (a) the wider private rented housing sector (b) rental prices, (c) the supply of family homes and (d) the (i) availability and (ii) affordability of housing in areas of high demand.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

In accordance with the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and subsistence support while their applications for asylum are being considered. Accommodation is provided on a no-choice basis.

Asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected are generally not provided with dispersal accommodation.

The Home Office consults with local authorities across the UK before dispersal accommodation, including Houses of Multiple Occupation, is procured, ensuring the impact on communities is understood. When considering how much dispersed accommodation to procure in any given area, a range of factors are considered including the local housing availability as well as social factors such as pressures on GPs.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of online misinformation spread by AI Large Language Models on social media platforms.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government recognises the risks posed by mis- and disinformation on social media, including that which is spread by Large Language Models (LLMs). The Online Safety Act already provides protections against material that is AI-generated, where it is illegal or harmful to children.

The Government continues to invest in assessing and countering the risks posed by AI on misinformation. We work with industry, academics and civil society to understand how the risk picture is developing, and to consider options for future mitigations. One example of this is the Deepfake Detection Challenge, co-led by the Home Office and DSIT.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Cabinet Office's press release entitled Child Benefit action to save £350 million from claimants abroad, published on 22 August 2025, for what reason her Department chose international travel data to monitor whether a claimant was outside of the UK for more than eight weeks; and for what reason (a) PAYE and (b) other data were not selected for this purpose.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce error and fraud in the Child Benefit system, HMRC ran a pilot last year using data on international travel and UK employment for a random sample of 200,000 Child Benefit records. This was to identify and remove people from the system who had left the UK for more than twelve weeks but continued to claim Child Benefit despite no longer being eligible.

The pilot used Home Office data on international travel as the best starting point for indicating potential unreported absences in the UK. From this data, HMRC undertook checks of PAYE systems to look for continuous UK employment before sending compliance enquiries. No Child Benefit awards were ended without attempting contact with claimants first, to clarify their residency status.

HMRC’s evaluation of the pilot showed that, of the 3,656 customers that were sent enquiry letters, 933 were confirmed to be eligible, with nearly three-quarters found to be non-compliant. In all, the pilot had prevented around £17m in wrongful payments. This led to a wider rollout announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, which is expected to save £350 million over the next five years. Using PAYE and international travel data in this way is considerably more proportionate than requesting all claimants reconfirm their eligibility to HMRC frequently. It is in line with HMRC’s risk-based approach to compliance.

In expanding the process last month, the PAYE check that had been present in the pilot was inadvertently omitted on around 23,500 enquiries. Based on the insight from the pilot, HMRC expect that most of these cases will have been correctly suspended.

HMRC has taken immediate corrective action to resolve this issue. The employment check has been reinstated for all future cases, meaning fewer people will be sent letters in the first instance. HMRC will also perform further checks, including against PAYE records for enquiries already opened, before formally terminating awards.

In addition, HMRC will no longer suspend payments at the outset and will give customers one month to evidence their continued entitlement first. Together, these changes ensure a proportionate approach for customers while balancing the need to protect against losses to the taxpayer.

HMRC has set up a dedicated team to quickly unsuspend payments, where it is able to confirm with the customer that they remain entitled to Child Benefit. This includes where HMRC had failed to first check for UK employment, which led to enquiries being issued in error. Customers affected by the issue who believe they are still eligible should call the number on the letter they received, so that this dedicated team can handle their cases swiftly. Where eligibility is confirmed, payments will resume and HMRC will make backdated payments, so no one is left out of pocket.

HMRC has reinstated payments for 589 claimants, as at 28 October. This includes 134 cases for customers in Northern Ireland where employment checks were retroactively applied. HMRC has also reinstated payments for a further 46 Northern Ireland customers while their residency status is confirmed.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Cabinet Office's press release entitled Child Benefit action to save £350 million from claimants abroad, published on 22 August 2025, how many Child Benefit claimants were erroneously identified as having been outside of the UK for more than eight weeks (a) during the pilot period and (b) since 22 August 2025.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce error and fraud in the Child Benefit system, HMRC ran a pilot last year using data on international travel and UK employment for a random sample of 200,000 Child Benefit records. This was to identify and remove people from the system who had left the UK for more than twelve weeks but continued to claim Child Benefit despite no longer being eligible.

The pilot used Home Office data on international travel as the best starting point for indicating potential unreported absences in the UK. From this data, HMRC undertook checks of PAYE systems to look for continuous UK employment before sending compliance enquiries. No Child Benefit awards were ended without attempting contact with claimants first, to clarify their residency status.

HMRC’s evaluation of the pilot showed that, of the 3,656 customers that were sent enquiry letters, 933 were confirmed to be eligible, with nearly three-quarters found to be non-compliant. In all, the pilot had prevented around £17m in wrongful payments. This led to a wider rollout announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, which is expected to save £350 million over the next five years. Using PAYE and international travel data in this way is considerably more proportionate than requesting all claimants reconfirm their eligibility to HMRC frequently. It is in line with HMRC’s risk-based approach to compliance.

In expanding the process last month, the PAYE check that had been present in the pilot was inadvertently omitted on around 23,500 enquiries. Based on the insight from the pilot, HMRC expect that most of these cases will have been correctly suspended.

HMRC has taken immediate corrective action to resolve this issue. The employment check has been reinstated for all future cases, meaning fewer people will be sent letters in the first instance. HMRC will also perform further checks, including against PAYE records for enquiries already opened, before formally terminating awards.

In addition, HMRC will no longer suspend payments at the outset and will give customers one month to evidence their continued entitlement first. Together, these changes ensure a proportionate approach for customers while balancing the need to protect against losses to the taxpayer.

HMRC has set up a dedicated team to quickly unsuspend payments, where it is able to confirm with the customer that they remain entitled to Child Benefit. This includes where HMRC had failed to first check for UK employment, which led to enquiries being issued in error. Customers affected by the issue who believe they are still eligible should call the number on the letter they received, so that this dedicated team can handle their cases swiftly. Where eligibility is confirmed, payments will resume and HMRC will make backdated payments, so no one is left out of pocket.

HMRC has reinstated payments for 589 claimants, as at 28 October. This includes 134 cases for customers in Northern Ireland where employment checks were retroactively applied. HMRC has also reinstated payments for a further 46 Northern Ireland customers while their residency status is confirmed.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps, with reference to the Cabinet Office's press release her Department is taking to rectify data on people erroneously identified as having been outside of the UK for more than eight weeks for Child Benefit purposes.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce error and fraud in the Child Benefit system, HMRC ran a pilot last year using data on international travel and UK employment for a random sample of 200,000 Child Benefit records. This was to identify and remove people from the system who had left the UK for more than twelve weeks but continued to claim Child Benefit despite no longer being eligible.

The pilot used Home Office data on international travel as the best starting point for indicating potential unreported absences in the UK. From this data, HMRC undertook checks of PAYE systems to look for continuous UK employment before sending compliance enquiries. No Child Benefit awards were ended without attempting contact with claimants first, to clarify their residency status.

HMRC’s evaluation of the pilot showed that, of the 3,656 customers that were sent enquiry letters, 933 were confirmed to be eligible, with nearly three-quarters found to be non-compliant. In all, the pilot had prevented around £17m in wrongful payments. This led to a wider rollout announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, which is expected to save £350 million over the next five years. Using PAYE and international travel data in this way is considerably more proportionate than requesting all claimants reconfirm their eligibility to HMRC frequently. It is in line with HMRC’s risk-based approach to compliance.

In expanding the process last month, the PAYE check that had been present in the pilot was inadvertently omitted on around 23,500 enquiries. Based on the insight from the pilot, HMRC expect that most of these cases will have been correctly suspended.

HMRC has taken immediate corrective action to resolve this issue. The employment check has been reinstated for all future cases, meaning fewer people will be sent letters in the first instance. HMRC will also perform further checks, including against PAYE records for enquiries already opened, before formally terminating awards.

In addition, HMRC will no longer suspend payments at the outset and will give customers one month to evidence their continued entitlement first. Together, these changes ensure a proportionate approach for customers while balancing the need to protect against losses to the taxpayer.

HMRC has set up a dedicated team to quickly unsuspend payments, where it is able to confirm with the customer that they remain entitled to Child Benefit. This includes where HMRC had failed to first check for UK employment, which led to enquiries being issued in error. Customers affected by the issue who believe they are still eligible should call the number on the letter they received, so that this dedicated team can handle their cases swiftly. Where eligibility is confirmed, payments will resume and HMRC will make backdated payments, so no one is left out of pocket.

HMRC has reinstated payments for 589 claimants, as at 28 October. This includes 134 cases for customers in Northern Ireland where employment checks were retroactively applied. HMRC has also reinstated payments for a further 46 Northern Ireland customers while their residency status is confirmed.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Cabinet Office's press release entitled Child Benefit action to save £350 million from claimants abroad, published on 22 August 2025, what steps her Department is taking to identify people who were erroneously identified as fraudulently claiming Child Benefit on the grounds that they had been outside of the UK for more than eight weeks.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce error and fraud in the Child Benefit system, HMRC ran a pilot last year using data on international travel and UK employment for a random sample of 200,000 Child Benefit records. This was to identify and remove people from the system who had left the UK for more than twelve weeks but continued to claim Child Benefit despite no longer being eligible.

The pilot used Home Office data on international travel as the best starting point for indicating potential unreported absences in the UK. From this data, HMRC undertook checks of PAYE systems to look for continuous UK employment before sending compliance enquiries. No Child Benefit awards were ended without attempting contact with claimants first, to clarify their residency status.

HMRC’s evaluation of the pilot showed that, of the 3,656 customers that were sent enquiry letters, 933 were confirmed to be eligible, with nearly three-quarters found to be non-compliant. In all, the pilot had prevented around £17m in wrongful payments. This led to a wider rollout announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, which is expected to save £350 million over the next five years. Using PAYE and international travel data in this way is considerably more proportionate than requesting all claimants reconfirm their eligibility to HMRC frequently. It is in line with HMRC’s risk-based approach to compliance.

In expanding the process last month, the PAYE check that had been present in the pilot was inadvertently omitted on around 23,500 enquiries. Based on the insight from the pilot, HMRC expect that most of these cases will have been correctly suspended.

HMRC has taken immediate corrective action to resolve this issue. The employment check has been reinstated for all future cases, meaning fewer people will be sent letters in the first instance. HMRC will also perform further checks, including against PAYE records for enquiries already opened, before formally terminating awards.

In addition, HMRC will no longer suspend payments at the outset and will give customers one month to evidence their continued entitlement first. Together, these changes ensure a proportionate approach for customers while balancing the need to protect against losses to the taxpayer.

HMRC has set up a dedicated team to quickly unsuspend payments, where it is able to confirm with the customer that they remain entitled to Child Benefit. This includes where HMRC had failed to first check for UK employment, which led to enquiries being issued in error. Customers affected by the issue who believe they are still eligible should call the number on the letter they received, so that this dedicated team can handle their cases swiftly. Where eligibility is confirmed, payments will resume and HMRC will make backdated payments, so no one is left out of pocket.

HMRC has reinstated payments for 589 claimants, as at 28 October. This includes 134 cases for customers in Northern Ireland where employment checks were retroactively applied. HMRC has also reinstated payments for a further 46 Northern Ireland customers while their residency status is confirmed.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether with reference to the Cabinet Office's press release her Department has carried out an assessment of the pilot scheme to stop Child Benefit payments where a claimant had been outside the UK for more than eight weeks.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce error and fraud in the Child Benefit system, HMRC ran a pilot last year using data on international travel and UK employment for a random sample of 200,000 Child Benefit records. This was to identify and remove people from the system who had left the UK for more than twelve weeks but continued to claim Child Benefit despite no longer being eligible.

The pilot used Home Office data on international travel as the best starting point for indicating potential unreported absences in the UK. From this data, HMRC undertook checks of PAYE systems to look for continuous UK employment before sending compliance enquiries. No Child Benefit awards were ended without attempting contact with claimants first, to clarify their residency status.

HMRC’s evaluation of the pilot showed that, of the 3,656 customers that were sent enquiry letters, 933 were confirmed to be eligible, with nearly three-quarters found to be non-compliant. In all, the pilot had prevented around £17m in wrongful payments. This led to a wider rollout announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, which is expected to save £350 million over the next five years. Using PAYE and international travel data in this way is considerably more proportionate than requesting all claimants reconfirm their eligibility to HMRC frequently. It is in line with HMRC’s risk-based approach to compliance.

In expanding the process last month, the PAYE check that had been present in the pilot was inadvertently omitted on around 23,500 enquiries. Based on the insight from the pilot, HMRC expect that most of these cases will have been correctly suspended.

HMRC has taken immediate corrective action to resolve this issue. The employment check has been reinstated for all future cases, meaning fewer people will be sent letters in the first instance. HMRC will also perform further checks, including against PAYE records for enquiries already opened, before formally terminating awards.

In addition, HMRC will no longer suspend payments at the outset and will give customers one month to evidence their continued entitlement first. Together, these changes ensure a proportionate approach for customers while balancing the need to protect against losses to the taxpayer.

HMRC has set up a dedicated team to quickly unsuspend payments, where it is able to confirm with the customer that they remain entitled to Child Benefit. This includes where HMRC had failed to first check for UK employment, which led to enquiries being issued in error. Customers affected by the issue who believe they are still eligible should call the number on the letter they received, so that this dedicated team can handle their cases swiftly. Where eligibility is confirmed, payments will resume and HMRC will make backdated payments, so no one is left out of pocket.

HMRC has reinstated payments for 589 claimants, as at 28 October. This includes 134 cases for customers in Northern Ireland where employment checks were retroactively applied. HMRC has also reinstated payments for a further 46 Northern Ireland customers while their residency status is confirmed.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing an employer pays principle to help tackle (a) debt bondage and (b) labour exploitation of workers on the Seasonal Worker visa.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Together with the Seasonal Worker Scheme Taskforce, Defra jointly funded an independent investigation into the feasibility of applying the ‘employer pays principle’ to the horticulture sector, to understand how financial risks faced by workers can be mitigated.

The Government has considered the findings of the report but has no plans to mandate implementation of the employer pays principle in the horticulture sector. Welfare protections are already in place through the licensing and inspection processes provided by the Home Office and its agencies: the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and UK Visas and Immigration.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on (a) the establishment of the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons Expert Committee (MILLWEC), (b) cross over between the remit of MILLWEC and the Science Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons (SACMILL) and (c) decisions on the future of SACMILL.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Defence Reform programme is establishing robust and streamlined governance, clearer accountabilities, and faster decision-making processes across the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Armed Forces. The Prime Minister’s Productive and Agile State initiative to reduce duplication and inefficiency, including through Arm’s length Body (ALB) reform, is an integral part of Defence’s approach to reform.

The closure of the Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons (SACMILL) is an important step in Defence’s ALB reform journey. The MOD reviewed and recommended the abolition of the SACMILL – an advisory Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) – as the function is no longer required by MOD and the focus of advice from SACMILL in recent years has been in relation to Police equipment.

The ALB review recognised an enduring requirement for expert advice on the medical implications of less-lethal weapons by the Home Office (HO). MOD has worked with HO to enable the establishment of an alternative mechanism to provide independent, evidence-based advice. SACMILL will close on 30 November 2025.

The Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons Expert Committee (MILLWEC), an expert committee sponsored by the HO, will provide independent, scientific advice to the HO and other government departments. This will focus on the medical implications, including risk of injury, of less-lethal weapons (for example, TASERs™).

Further details about MILLWEC can be found at the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/medical-implications-of-less-lethal-weapons-expert-committee

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason the Science Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons was replaced by the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons Expert Committee.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Defence Reform programme is establishing robust and streamlined governance, clearer accountabilities, and faster decision-making processes across the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Armed Forces. The Prime Minister’s Productive and Agile State initiative to reduce duplication and inefficiency, including through Arm’s length Body (ALB) reform, is an integral part of Defence’s approach to reform.

The closure of the Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons (SACMILL) is an important step in Defence’s ALB reform journey. The MOD reviewed and recommended the abolition of the SACMILL – an advisory Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) – as the function is no longer required by MOD and the focus of advice from SACMILL in recent years has been in relation to Police equipment.

The ALB review recognised an enduring requirement for expert advice on the medical implications of less-lethal weapons by the Home Office (HO). MOD has worked with HO to enable the establishment of an alternative mechanism to provide independent, evidence-based advice. SACMILL will close on 30 November 2025.

The Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons Expert Committee (MILLWEC), an expert committee sponsored by the HO, will provide independent, scientific advice to the HO and other government departments. This will focus on the medical implications, including risk of injury, of less-lethal weapons (for example, TASERs™).

Further details about MILLWEC can be found at the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/medical-implications-of-less-lethal-weapons-expert-committee

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Public Bodies Review recommended the abolition of the Science Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Defence Reform programme is establishing robust and streamlined governance, clearer accountabilities, and faster decision-making processes across the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Armed Forces. The Prime Minister’s Productive and Agile State initiative to reduce duplication and inefficiency, including through Arm’s length Body (ALB) reform, is an integral part of Defence’s approach to reform.

The closure of the Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons (SACMILL) is an important step in Defence’s ALB reform journey. The MOD reviewed and recommended the abolition of the SACMILL – an advisory Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) – as the function is no longer required by MOD and the focus of advice from SACMILL in recent years has been in relation to Police equipment.

The ALB review recognised an enduring requirement for expert advice on the medical implications of less-lethal weapons by the Home Office (HO). MOD has worked with HO to enable the establishment of an alternative mechanism to provide independent, evidence-based advice. SACMILL will close on 30 November 2025.

The Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons Expert Committee (MILLWEC), an expert committee sponsored by the HO, will provide independent, scientific advice to the HO and other government departments. This will focus on the medical implications, including risk of injury, of less-lethal weapons (for example, TASERs™).

Further details about MILLWEC can be found at the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/medical-implications-of-less-lethal-weapons-expert-committee

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Community Recovery Fund: Guidance, published on 18 September 2024, whether councils report to his Department on how the Police Special Grant was spent.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Councils do not report to this Department on how the Police Special Grant is spent. The Police Special Grant is for police and crime commissioners to apply for and is administered by the Home Office.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 84701 on Roads: Accidents, whether her Department has requested data from (a) the Home Office and (b) the police on the number of roadside drug-driving tests carried out since 2020.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

While statistics on breath tests are published by the Home Office, the equivalent information on roadside drug-driving tests are not. Decisions relating to the collection and publication of this data would be a matter for the Home Office.

The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) provide information to the Department on the Christmas Drink and Drug Driving campaign, Operation Limit. This includes the number of drink and drug tests administered during the winter period.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential deployment of military counter-unmanned aerial vehicle capabilities for civil purposes.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

The UK employs a broad approach to deterring and defeating air and missile threats, including those from Uncrewed Air Systems (UAS or drones). The Ministry of Defence (MOD) works closely with the Home Office on Homeland C-UAS issues. While domestic peacetime C-UAS is a Home Office lead, the MOD maintains C-UAS systems for military purposes. Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) protocols provide a recognised framework to enable the provision of Defence capabilities to support civilian authorities in certain circumstances.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to (a) recover and (b) salvage any consignment of radioactive material in the event of the sinking of a vessel carrying radioactive cargo.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra are the lead government department in England for the recovery from malicious and civil radiological and nuclear incidents. The preparations and response to these incidents is led by the Home Office and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero respectively.

If a civil vessel carrying a cargo of radioactive or nuclear material sunk in waters controlled by the UK, Defra would consider recovery options. This would involve a risk-based approach using existing contingency plans to consider environmental risks and salvage practicalities. This would include the Flag State of the vessel and owner of the material, who each have legal responsibilities.

If the sunken vessel was owned by the UK military or an ally, recovery and salvage operations would be led by the Ministry of Defence.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the annual cost of housing foreign national offenders in UK prisons.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

We do not disaggregate prison running costs by nationality and the cost to hold individuals depends on the category of prison. Our unit costs for holding prisoners are published on GOV.UK alongside the Prison performance data 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK. Data on the number of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) in custody is published in Offender management statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK (prison population table 1_Q_9).

Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced. Where appropriate, the Ministry of Justice will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. Between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025, over 5,000 were FNOs. This is an increase of 14% compared to the 4,532 FNO returns in the same period 12 months prior.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the recommendations in his Department's policy paper entitled Licensing policy sprint: joint industry and HM government taskforce report, published on 31 July 2025, on the (a) ill health to prevention workstream of the Health Mission Board and (b) specific priority of tackling alcohol harm within the Health Mission Board.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Following the Licensing Taskforce, which was jointly let by the Department for Business and Trade and industry, the Government is considering which recommendations to take forward. As part of this, the Government is inviting views and evidence to inform the development of a modern, proportionate, and enabling licensing system, including public health considerations. This work is being led by the Department for Business and Trade and the Home Office with support from other departments, including the Department of Health and Social Care.

A Call for Evidence is currently open until 6 November in order to gather views and evidence to inform proposals for reforms to licensing. This is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/reforming-the-licensing-system

Public health considerations will be kept under review. Any legislative changes will be subject to an impact assessment, consultation, and parliamentary scrutiny.

We will continue to work across Government to consider what other measures might be needed to reduce the negative impact that excessive alcohol consumption is having on health, crime, and the economy.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment of trends in the level of post-pandemic changes to (a) drinking patterns and (b) resulting health harms were (i) requested by and (ii) provided to the Licensing Taskforce by his Department to inform their proposed licensing reforms.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Following the Licensing Taskforce, which was jointly let by the Department for Business and Trade and industry, the Government is considering which recommendations to take forward. As part of this, the Government is inviting views and evidence to inform the development of a modern, proportionate, and enabling licensing system, including public health considerations. This work is being led by the Department for Business and Trade and the Home Office with support from other departments, including the Department of Health and Social Care.

A Call for Evidence is currently open until 6 November in order to gather views and evidence to inform proposals for reforms to licensing. This is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/reforming-the-licensing-system

Public health considerations will be kept under review. Any legislative changes will be subject to an impact assessment, consultation, and parliamentary scrutiny.

We will continue to work across Government to consider what other measures might be needed to reduce the negative impact that excessive alcohol consumption is having on health, crime, and the economy.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether each Mission Board was (a) represented, (b) involved in and (c) consulted as part of the Licensing Taskforce workstream; and what their level of involvement was.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Licensing Taskforce reported its findings in July and relevant Government departments were involved in determining the response to that report. That included the Department for Business and Trade, the Home Office, HM Treasury, the Department for Health and Social Care, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. A cross-government team has been established with the involvement of those departments to take forward a review of the proposals and subsequent implementation where appropriate. That further stage of activity has led to the Call for Evidence which will inform next steps.

The Call for Evidence is open until 6 November in order to gather views and evidence to inform proposals for reforms to licensing. This is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/reforming-the-licensing-system.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the (a) Courts and Tribunals Service on ensuring (i) the adequacy of the judicial process for cases involving child sexual abuse and (ii) welfare of child sexual abuse victims and (b) Sentencing Council on ensuring the adequacy of prosecutions for those crimes.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice continues to work across Government to strengthen court processes and sentencing, ensuring they are effective and responsive in all cases, including those involving child sexual abuse.

HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) staff support fair hearings led by independent judges. Special measures are available to enable vulnerable witnesses to give their best evidence, including the option to attend remotely and/or give evidence from witness suites located in court buildings or designated remote sites, designed to provide a supportive environment. Judges also take steps to help child victims feel more at ease, such as meeting them before trial or removing traditional court attire like wigs and gowns. Familiarisation visits can be arranged to help vulnerable witnesses become more comfortable with the court setting and process. Recent reforms include powers to compel offenders to attend sentencing and enhanced training to ensure victims are treated with dignity.

We continue to work across Government to ensure victims receive the support they require and need. Victims are supported by Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs) during proceedings. The Ministry of Justice funds the CSA Centre to provide training and resources, and invests in specialist services via the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund. Additionally, The Home Office has invested £1.6 million in the Support for Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Fund and an extra £1.6 million for national services for adult victims.

Charging decisions are a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service. Where an offender pleads guilty to or is convicted of an offence, the independent judiciary determine the appropriate sentence in individual cases within the maximums set by Parliament, and in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council.

The Sentencing Council has issued a package of guidelines on sexual offences, including child sexual offences. These provide the Court with guidance on factors that should be considered, which may affect the sentence given. They set out the different levels of sentence based on the harm caused and how culpable the offender is. The guidelines also include non-exhaustive lists of aggravating and mitigating factors which can result in an upward or downward adjustment in the sentence.

Parliament is responsible for setting the overall sentencing framework and the Government has legislated for strong custodial sentences; through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing measures to make grooming an aggravating factor in sentencing for child sexual offences.

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Found: by the Royal Navy in partnership with Advai and the Accelerated Capability Environment (ACE), a Home Office

Found: Following the Manchester Arena and Parsons Green explosives attacks in 2017 the Home Office

Found: sanctions guidance published by departments including the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), Home Office

Found: departments including the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), Department for Transport (DfT), Home Office

Found: Immigration Officers, Entry Clearance Officers and all staff of the Home Office will carry out their

Found: The Home Office Code of Practice on Powers of Entry issued under sections 47 to 53 of the Protection

Found: The role of the Independent Examiner of Complaints (IEC) The IEC is not a civil servant or Home Office

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Found: Introduction This is the appropriate policy document (APD) for the Home Office produced in accordance

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Found: It sets out the safeguards the Home Office has in place to protect special category and criminal convictions

Found: All information on this list below is held within secured Home Office Databases that are subject to

Found: with the public, the officer is making this decision drawing on an image to person comparison, Home Office

Found: the SCS of the policy/operational area has consented for the EIA to be published internally on Home Office

Found: of the Proof of concept IE are using equipment and staff supplied by South Wales Police (SWP), Home Office

Found: relevant to all Watchlists 10 Additional safeguards relating to protected characteristics 11 Home Office

Found: April 2025, a machinery of government change moved all responsibility for fire policy from the Home Office

Found: April 2025, a machinery of government change moved all responsibility for fire policy from the Home Office

Found: Key documentation links are set out below: The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 Home Office

Found: The UK Government’s consistent intent, most recently set out in a Home Office Immigration White Paper

Found: In the UK, the Home Office monitor and regulate organisations that possess, manufacture, produce or supply

Found: To complete our review, NHS Lanarkshire informed us on 10 July, that the Home Office inspected the Motherwell