Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to close migrant hotels.

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

At its peak under the previous government, around 400 hotels were used to accommodate asylum seekers – costing £9 million per day. That figure is now under 200 - the government remains committed no longer using hotels to accommodate asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament.

Hotel closures are prioritised based on a wide range of criteria. The hotel exit plan will continue to be carefully managed to ensure that all supported asylum seekers are accommodated in suitable alternative accommodation, including large sites, elsewhere in the estate.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what percentage of absconders have remained in the UK as a result of (a) unresolved legal appeals and (b) last-minute claims in each of the last three years.

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

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics.

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data.

An individual who is pursuing a legal appeal or has submitted a last–minute claim would not usually be considered to be an absconder, as they would no longer be out of contact with the department. Similarly, requests for travel documentation would not usually take place at the point that someone is considered to be an absconder.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of absconders could not be removed because their home countries would not issue travel documents in each of the last three years.

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

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics.

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data.

An individual who is pursuing a legal appeal or has submitted a last–minute claim would not usually be considered to be an absconder, as they would no longer be out of contact with the department. Similarly, requests for travel documentation would not usually take place at the point that someone is considered to be an absconder.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what percentage of people on immigration bail absconded again in each of the last three years.

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

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics.

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data.

An individual who is pursuing a legal appeal or has submitted a last–minute claim would not usually be considered to be an absconder, as they would no longer be out of contact with the department. Similarly, requests for travel documentation would not usually take place at the point that someone is considered to be an absconder.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the estimated average time is before an absconder going missing and a police report is filed.

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

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics.

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data.

An individual who is pursuing a legal appeal or has submitted a last–minute claim would not usually be considered to be an absconder, as they would no longer be out of contact with the department. Similarly, requests for travel documentation would not usually take place at the point that someone is considered to be an absconder.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what percentage of absconders encountered by police have been detained by police in each of the last three years.

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

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics.

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data.

An individual who is pursuing a legal appeal or has submitted a last–minute claim would not usually be considered to be an absconder, as they would no longer be out of contact with the department. Similarly, requests for travel documentation would not usually take place at the point that someone is considered to be an absconder.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many absconders released on bail have committed further offences in each of the last three years.

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

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics.

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data.

An individual who is pursuing a legal appeal or has submitted a last–minute claim would not usually be considered to be an absconder, as they would no longer be out of contact with the department. Similarly, requests for travel documentation would not usually take place at the point that someone is considered to be an absconder.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refused asylum seekers are classified as absconders.

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

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics.

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data.

An individual who is pursuing a legal appeal or has submitted a last–minute claim would not usually be considered to be an absconder, as they would no longer be out of contact with the department. Similarly, requests for travel documentation would not usually take place at the point that someone is considered to be an absconder.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of absconders have only been found after an arrest for a separate offence in each of the last three years.

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

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics.

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data.

An individual who is pursuing a legal appeal or has submitted a last–minute claim would not usually be considered to be an absconder, as they would no longer be out of contact with the department. Similarly, requests for travel documentation would not usually take place at the point that someone is considered to be an absconder.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many small boat crossings have taken place in each of the last ten years, including 2025.

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

The Home Office publishes daily statistics on detected small boat arrivals to the UK in the Small boat activity in the English Channel - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab) release.

More detailed published data on small boat arrivals to the UK are provided in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release(opens in a new tab)’, with the nationality, age grouping and sex of arrivals shown in table Irr_D01 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets(opens in a new tab)’, with the latest data up to the end of September 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to ensure that data on illegal migrants whose whereabouts are unknown can be published in a verified form.

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

The nature of absconding is complicated because individuals frequently come in and out of contact. Whilst the Home Office has processes for the recording of absconder events, and for seeking to bring such individuals back into contact, the recording of information about absconders is complex and the operational systems involved do not currently support the production of robust statistics on this area.

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data. The Home Office does not publish data on subjects where the information held is known to be of a quality that would be unsuitable for appropriately supporting public debate.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to establish the number of illegal migrants whose whereabouts are unknown.

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

The nature of absconding is complicated because individuals frequently come in and out of contact. Whilst the Home Office has processes for the recording of absconder events, and for seeking to bring such individuals back into contact, the recording of information about absconders is complex and the operational systems involved do not currently support the production of robust statistics on this area.

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data. The Home Office does not publish data on subjects where the information held is known to be of a quality that would be unsuitable for appropriately supporting public debate.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to publish data on the number of migrant absconders in each of the last three years.

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

The nature of absconding is complicated because individuals frequently come in and out of contact. Whilst the Home Office has processes for the recording of absconder events, and for seeking to bring such individuals back into contact, the recording of information about absconders is complex and the operational systems involved do not currently support the production of robust statistics on this area.

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data. The Home Office does not publish data on subjects where the information held is known to be of a quality that would be unsuitable for appropriately supporting public debate.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been deprived of their British citizenship in each year since 2020; and how many of those (a) were born British citizens, (b) became stateless as a result, and (c) had their citizenship restored following an appeal.

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

The Home Office publishes data on the number of citizenship deprivation orders. These reports are available on Gov.UK as part of the HMG Counter-Terrorism Disruptive Powers reports and the Immigration and Protection transparency data

However, the full information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many members of the Independent Monitoring Board for Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre have been appointed; and what the names of those members are.

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

Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) opened on 1 December 2025 following completion of Phase 1 construction. As of 8 December there are currently 9 individuals detained at the IRC. Further information regarding Campsfield IRC can be found in the factsheet: Campsfield immigration removal centre: factsheet - GOV.UK

As with all IRCs, Campsfield IRC is operated in line with Detention Centre Rules 2001, published operating standards for IRCs and Detention Services Orders; a framework which ensures the safety and security of those detained in our care.

Independent scrutiny is a vital part of assurance that our detention facilities are safe, secure, and humane. Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) are required to monitor IRCs as the appointed visiting committee as set out in the Detention Centre Rules 2001 and the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. There are currently four members of the IMB for Campsfield IRC.

IMB chairs and individual member details are not publicised by us or the IMB as the chairs are volunteers. The only names in the public domain are the members of the National Board - About us - Independent Monitoring Boards.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria they use to decide which asylum seekers will be returned to France under the 'one in, one out' scheme.

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

Regarding returning people to France, any individual who arrives on a small boat may be eligible to be detained and returned to France.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were detained at Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre on 5 December 2025 by reason for detention.

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

Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) opened on 1 December 2025 following completion of Phase 1 construction. As of 8 December there are currently 9 individuals detained at the IRC. Further information regarding Campsfield IRC can be found in the factsheet: Campsfield immigration removal centre: factsheet - GOV.UK

As with all IRCs, Campsfield IRC is operated in line with Detention Centre Rules 2001, published operating standards for IRCs and Detention Services Orders; a framework which ensures the safety and security of those detained in our care.

Independent scrutiny is a vital part of assurance that our detention facilities are safe, secure, and humane. Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) are required to monitor IRCs as the appointed visiting committee as set out in the Detention Centre Rules 2001 and the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. There are currently four members of the IMB for Campsfield IRC.

IMB chairs and individual member details are not publicised by us or the IMB as the chairs are volunteers. The only names in the public domain are the members of the National Board - About us - Independent Monitoring Boards.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many migrant hotels have been closed in the last year.

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

At its peak under the previous government, around 400 hotels were used to accommodate asylum seekers – costing £9 million per day. That figure is now under 200 - the government remains committed no longer using hotels to accommodate asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament.

Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, and by local authority can be found within the Asy_D11 tab for our most recent statistics release: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of training provided to police officers on identifying and recording incidents involving gender identity and sex characteristics.

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

Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.

The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.

Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK

The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.

The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she or officials in her Department have had with the College of Policing on updating hate crime recording protocols.

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

Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.

The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.

Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK

The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.

The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consideration the Home Office has given to mandating annual publication of police force level data on hate crime recording compliance.

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

Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.

The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.

Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK

The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.

The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on implementing the Law Commission’s recommendations on hate crime recording.

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

Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.

The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.

Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK

The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.

The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of placing a ban on a) machetes and b) large hunting knives.

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

Knife crime has a devasting impact on families and communities across the country, and the Government is aiming to halve knife crime in the next decade. We keep the law in this area under constant review, and this includes the continuing availability of machetes and large hunting knives.

The Government has already taken action to ban zombie style knives and zombie style machetes in September 2024, and more recently, we took action to ban ninja swords in August 2025. We are continuing to take measures to strengthen the law on knives.

In the Crime and Policing Bill 2025, currently going through Parliament, we are increasing the penalties for illegal sales of knives, creating a new offence of possessing a knife with the intention to commit unlawful violence, a duty on sellers to report bulk or suspicious sales, strengthened age checks on online sales and delivery, and we are giving the police a new power to seize knives likely to be used in unlawful violence. On 16 December, the Government also published a public consultation paper on proposals to introduce licensing schemes for those who sell or import knives or other bladed articles and this builds on the earlier recommendations in the Independent End to End Review of Online Knife Sales published in February 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help prevent bicycle theft in Eastbourne constituency.

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

Bike theft has a significant impact on individuals and for too long, many victims have felt not enough was being done to prevent their bikes being stolen or track down the thieves responsible.

The Crime and Policing Bill, now at Committee Stage in the House of Lords, will amend the Theft Act 1968 to give police new powers. Officers will be able to enter and search premises where stolen items – such as GPS-tracked bicycles – are reasonably believed to have been stolen and located, and where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a court warrant. This will significantly enhance the ability of the police to act swiftly and effectively in recovering stolen property.

Additionally, the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will ensure that every community in England and Wales will have named and contactable officers dealing with local issues, and that neighbourhood teams spend the majority of their time in their communities providing visible patrols and engaging with local communities and businesses.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that hate crime data reported by police forces is accurate and comparable across categories of characteristic.

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

Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.

The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.

Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK

The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.

The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of levels of consistency of police hate crime recording practices across regional police forces.

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

Hate crime has no place in our society, and the Government is committed to ensuring it is recorded accurately and addressed effectively.

The accuracy and consistency of crime recording, including hate crime, is the responsibility of individual police forces, who must comply with the Home Office Counting Rules. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects, monitors and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, including crime recording practices. However, HMICFRS does not publish annual compliance reports specifically on hate crime recording.

Home Office statisticians work closely with forces to ensure accurate data is provided for the annual statistical publication on hate crime in England and Wales. The latest release, covering the year ending March 2025, is available on GOV.UK. Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2025 - GOV.UK

The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing, including Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. The Home Office works closely with the College and other policing partners to review and update recording protocols as needed. This ensures forces have clear, consistent guidance for recording hate crime across all protected characteristics.

The government is carefully considering the 34 recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2021 review of hate crime legislation; this does not contain any formal recommendation on how police should record hate crimes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reduce and (b) prevent equipment theft in (1) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (2) Lincolnshire.

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

Equipment theft can have devastating consequences for countryside communities and the agricultural sector.

That is why we are committed to the implementation of the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 and fully support its intentions to prevent the theft and re-sale of All-Terrain Vehicles, quad bikes and GPS systems. We will introduce the necessary secondary legislation when parliamentary time allows.

The Crime and Policing Bill will introduce a new power for the police to enter and search premises to which items have been electronically tracked by GPS or other means, where the items are reasonably believed to have been stolen and are on those premises, and where it has not been reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant from a court. This will provide a valuable tool for police in tackling stolen equipment and machinery.

This financial year the Home Office has provided the first Government funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit (£365,000). The National Rural Crime Unit provides police forces with specialist operational support in their response to rural crime, such as the theft of farming or construction equipment. They also help police across the UK tackle organised theft and disrupt organised crime groups.

We have also worked closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to deliver their updated Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy for 2025-2028. The strategy highlights how policing can assist in the prevention of crime in rural areas including equipment theft.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many meetings have been held of the cross-government officials working group on research with controlled drugs.

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

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 clinical research with Schedule 1 drugs. The Government committed to set up a cross-government working group of officials to assist with delivery of those recommendations.

The group had its first meeting in September, followed by a series of bilateral discussions between Home Office officials and the organisations represented on the working group. The next meeting is planned for January. Alongside the working group, officials have ongoing engagement with relevant officials in wider departments and agencies, and with businesses, representative organisations and researchers who are likely to benefit from the proposals. Officials have also explored with international counterparts the provisions for research with controlled drugs in their jurisdictions.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of phasing out the general sale of sharp-tipped culinary knives.

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

We recognise that the issue of knife crime and the harm caused by any knife has a very real impact on individuals, families and communities and we aim to halve knife crime in the next decade. The Government keeps the law in this area under constant review, but we do not have any plans to phase out the sale of sharp-tipped culinary knives.

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 receive (a) adequate training and (b) resources to (i) identify, (ii) prevent and (ii) prosecute antisemitic hate crimes.

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

Antisemitism has absolutely no place in our society, and the government is committed to tackling it in all its forms.

The government is committed to ensuring there are consistent, high standards in police training and leadership to help maintain public trust and confidence. That is why the Home Office continues to fund the College of Policing to deliver support to forces and improvements to leadership and training standards through the National Police Leadership Centre.

The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing in England and Wales, including publishing Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. This Authorised Professional Practice provides guidance on how police should respond to hate crimes and promotes a proportionate and consistent approach that upholds the rights of victims and protects free speech. While the College sets the overall framework, individual police forces are responsible for determining their own local delivery of training.

Police forces are operationally independent, but we expect them to use these standards, tools and guidance, and to work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure robust charging decisions and prosecutions in cases of antisemitic hate crime.

The Home Secretary launched an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October. This review will assess whether police powers remain fit for purpose, are used consistently, and strike the right balance between protecting the public and safeguarding the right to lawful protest.

It will address whether the existing legislation is effective and proportionate, whether it adequately protects communities from intimidation and hate and whether it strikes a fair and sustainable balance between the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest, and the need to prevent disorder and keep communities safe.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to allocate additional police resources to tackle antisocial behaviour in the Birmingham City Council area.

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

Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

Under the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we are putting neighbourhood officers back into communities. £200 million has been made available in 2025-26 to support the first steps towards delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament, including up to 3,000 additional neighbourhood officers by the end of March 2026.

Based on their £12,210,903 allocation from the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, West Midlands Police are projected to grow by 309 FTE neighbourhood officers in 2025-26 (289 FTE neighbourhood police officers and 20 FTE neighbourhood PCSOs).

Following on from the Safer Streets Summer Initiative, the Home Secretary announced a “Winter of Action” in which police forces across England and Wales will again partner with local businesses, councils and other agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour and other local issues that matter most to their communities. As part of this initiative, West Midlands Police have identified 54 locations, including a number in Birmingham, in which visible patrols and targeted enforcement will be delivered to tackle anti-social behaviour, retail crime and other local crimes. The full list of locations can be found here:

Winter of Action: location list - GOV.UK

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will list the meetings scheduled for the working group on any new issues involving research with controlled drugs during the next six months.

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

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 clinical research with Schedule 1 drugs. The Government committed to set up a cross-government working group of officials to assist with delivery of those recommendations.

The group had its first meeting in September, followed by a series of bilateral discussions between Home Office officials and the organisations represented on the working group. The next meeting is planned for January. Alongside the working group, officials have ongoing engagement with relevant officials in wider departments and agencies, and with businesses, representative organisations and researchers who are likely to benefit from the proposals. Officials have also explored with international counterparts the provisions for research with controlled drugs in their jurisdictions.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy that people with convictions for any sexual offences should be prevented from serving in the police forces.

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

One of the Government’s key priorities is to restore public confidence in policing. To achieve this, we must ensure that those who enter policing are vetted in line with standards the public would expect.

That is why, in alignment with our manifesto commitment, we are strengthening the vetting system by introducing new regulations which will place vetting standards on a legislative footing. These regulations will seek to include robust measures which will enable forces to exclude individuals from policing who have a caution or a conviction for relevant domestic abuse or sexual offences.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support the financial sustainability of police forces.

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

This Government is committed to ensuring that policing has the resources it needs. In December 2025, we published the provisional police funding settlement for 2026-27, which proposes funding of up to £18.3 billion for territorial police forces. This is an increase of up to £746 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement, equivalent to a 2.0% real terms increase.

More widely, the Home Office engages regularly with police forces, the NPCC, and APCC to discuss police finances and understand the pressures on police budgets.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce knife crime.

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

Tackling knife crime is a priority for Government. Since this Government has been in office, knife homicides have fallen by almost 20% while knife crime overall has fallen for the first time in 4 years, dropping by 5% in our first year from 54,215 to 51,527. Stabbings have fallen by 10% (as measured by hospital admissions for assault with a sharp object – NHS data).

60,000 knives have also been removed from the streets of England and Wales under this Government, through weapons surrender schemes, knives seized by Border Force and those recovered through County Lines Programme operations.

Our approach to tackling knife-crime is centred around smart, targeted interventions and enforcement, and a tough legislative landscape to remove dangerous weapons from our streets. Whilst also working across government to tackle the root causes of knife-crime, including through Violence Reduction Units and the new Young Futures Programme supporting those most at risk.

We have introduced tougher knife control measures by banning zombie-style knives and machetes in September 2024 and ninja swords in August 2025. Ronan's Law tightens online knife sales with stricter age checks and penalties and we are introducing new powers to strengthen policing’s ability to seize, retain and destroy dangerous knives.

These efforts are supported by smarter policing – including data led hotspot patrols, knife arches, facial recognition – and strong partnerships with charities and communities.

We are also introducing new, innovative tools to fight knife crime, identifying crime hotspots by breaking towns and cities into small hexagonal zones where hyper-local issues can be spotted. It will allow the police to partner with local communities, advocacy groups, local authorities and youth outreach teams to spot a problem and take action together to stop it.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to protect civil liberties in the (a) development and (b) implementation of (i) public order and (ii) policing policy.

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

All protest legislation has been and is developed in line with the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, particularly Articles 10 and 11. The government remains committed to protecting civil liberties, including the right to peaceful protest.

It has long been a principle in this country that individuals may gather and express their views, provided they do so within the law. Where protests contravene the law, it is essential that the police who are operationally independent have appropriate powers to respond.

The Home Secretary launched an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October led by Lord Macdonald of River Glaven KC. The review will ensure police powers remain fit for purpose, are used consistently, and strike the right balance between protecting the public and upholding the right to lawful protest.

It will address whether the existing legislation is effective and proportionate, whether it adequately protects communities from intimidation and hate and whether it strikes a fair and sustainable balance between the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest, and the need to prevent disorder and keep communities safe.

The review is underway and will conclude by Spring 2026.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with her counterparts in the police on reducing knife crime.

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

Home Office Ministers meet regularly with Chief Constables and other senior policing leaders to discuss knife crime. For example, the Home Secretary discussed knife crime at the National Policing Board in July 2025 and the Policing Minister chaired the Knife-Enabled Robbery Group in November 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has considered reclassifying date rape drugs such as flunitrazepam and gamma-hydroxybutyrate as weapons.

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

Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB) and Flunitrazepam are controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. GHB, and the related substances Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) and 1,4-Butanediol (1,4-BD), were reclassified from Class C to Class B in 2022, in line with advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (‘ACMD’). Flunitrazepam is controlled as a Class C drug in common with other benzodiazepines. Ministers are obliged to consider advice from the ACMD before making to changes to the classification of drugs. The Government has no current plans to reclassify these drugs.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when will the Government launch its public consultation on the controls on (a) shotguns and (b) other firearms.

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

The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February this year, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns, to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. We intend to publish this consultation shortly.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the scale of people-smuggling facilitation activity with operational links to Northern Ireland since July 2024; and how many disruptions and arrests have been made.

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

Through the Border Security Command, we continue to work with all key partners, both across the UK and internationally to disrupt and deter people-smuggling facilitation. Our collective law enforcement powers, sharing intelligence, data, and expertise, and conducting joined-up operational activity support our aim of putting people-smuggling gangs out of business.

The National Crime Agency's National Strategic Assessment assesses that the Common Travel Area (CTA), and particularly the routes between Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain, continue to be exploited by criminals for the purposes of immigration crime.

Tackling the threat from organised immigration crime, including illegal entry to the UK via the Common Travel Area (CTA), is complex and requires the coordination of approach and resource across the Home Office and with Policing Partners. Within Immigration Enforcement, our Officers work closely with law enforcement partners both in Northern Ireland, Great Britain, and the Republic of Ireland to maximise the use of resources and ensure the upstream disruption of out-of-country organised crime groups who seek to facilitate immigration crime through the CTA.

Our published national data on enforcement activity is available at the following link and includes data on detected irregular arrivals to the UK: Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2025 - GOV.UK.

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 use of alternative terminology for female genital mutilation in professional and academic contexts on the application of existing criminal law.

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

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is clearly and accurately defined in the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. It is a crime, it is child abuse, and it can destroy lives. On Thursday 18 December, we published the VAWG Strategy setting out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver on the Government’s VAWG ambition, including on FGM.

It is important that we recognise FGM for what it is. It is a procedure that causes irreversible harm where the female genital organs are injured or changed and there is no medical reason for this. It is a very traumatic and violent act and can cause lifelong physical and psychological suffering. The Government’s approach to tackling FGM is focused on preventing these crimes from happening, supporting and protecting survivors and those at risk, and bringing perpetrators to justice. We are clear that we must engage with the specialist sector, and most importantly, engage with those directly affected to ensure we keep victims and survivors at the forefront of our work. This is why we are launching a community engagement campaign to raise awareness of the different types of ‘honour’-based abuse including FGM, and to encourage people to come forward for support.

The FGM Act 2003 introduced several measures which demonstrate that FGM is treated as a serious criminal offence and ensure its effectiveness. For example, acknowledging the international and multiple perpetration elements of FGM, the Act created offences for assisting others to perform FGM, including extraterritorial cases.

Regarding enforcement, the Act increased the maximum penalty for committing FGM from 5 years to 14 years imprisonment, reflecting the severity of this crime.

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 Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 in ensuring that female genital mutilation is treated as a serious criminal offence.

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

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is clearly and accurately defined in the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. It is a crime, it is child abuse, and it can destroy lives. On Thursday 18 December, we published the VAWG Strategy setting out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver on the Government’s VAWG ambition, including on FGM.

It is important that we recognise FGM for what it is. It is a procedure that causes irreversible harm where the female genital organs are injured or changed and there is no medical reason for this. It is a very traumatic and violent act and can cause lifelong physical and psychological suffering. The Government’s approach to tackling FGM is focused on preventing these crimes from happening, supporting and protecting survivors and those at risk, and bringing perpetrators to justice. We are clear that we must engage with the specialist sector, and most importantly, engage with those directly affected to ensure we keep victims and survivors at the forefront of our work. This is why we are launching a community engagement campaign to raise awareness of the different types of ‘honour’-based abuse including FGM, and to encourage people to come forward for support.

The FGM Act 2003 introduced several measures which demonstrate that FGM is treated as a serious criminal offence and ensure its effectiveness. For example, acknowledging the international and multiple perpetration elements of FGM, the Act created offences for assisting others to perform FGM, including extraterritorial cases.

Regarding enforcement, the Act increased the maximum penalty for committing FGM from 5 years to 14 years imprisonment, reflecting the severity of this crime.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which of the 43 police forces in England and Wales do not currently have specialist rape and sexual offence investigation teams.

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

Rape and sexual offences are amongst the most harmful crimes in society and can have a devastating impact on victims, their loved ones and our communities. Therefore, it is essential that every police force has the right specialist capability to properly investigate these crimes and to deliver justice for victims.

The Home Office’s assessment is that half of the forces in England and Wales do not have a specialist rape and sexual offence team. However, we are committed to ensuring that by the end of this parliament every police force has one.

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 publication of (a) academic and (b) professional material that (i) reframes and (ii) recharacterises female genital mutilation on the effective enforcement of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.

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

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is clearly and accurately defined in the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. It is a crime, it is child abuse, and it can destroy lives. On Thursday 18 December, we published the VAWG Strategy setting out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver on the Government’s VAWG ambition, including on FGM.

It is important that we recognise FGM for what it is. It is a procedure that causes irreversible harm where the female genital organs are injured or changed and there is no medical reason for this. It is a very traumatic and violent act and can cause lifelong physical and psychological suffering. The Government’s approach to tackling FGM is focused on preventing these crimes from happening, supporting and protecting survivors and those at risk, and bringing perpetrators to justice. We are clear that we must engage with the specialist sector, and most importantly, engage with those directly affected to ensure we keep victims and survivors at the forefront of our work. This is why we are launching a community engagement campaign to raise awareness of the different types of ‘honour’-based abuse including FGM, and to encourage people to come forward for support.

The FGM Act 2003 introduced several measures which demonstrate that FGM is treated as a serious criminal offence and ensure its effectiveness. For example, acknowledging the international and multiple perpetration elements of FGM, the Act created offences for assisting others to perform FGM, including extraterritorial cases.

Regarding enforcement, the Act increased the maximum penalty for committing FGM from 5 years to 14 years imprisonment, reflecting the severity of this crime.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of applying bandings to regional areas of the UK to the base minimum salary thresholds and occupation-specific going rates for businesses employing people with skilled worker visas.

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

We do not plan to introduce varying salary requirements based on location. Our aim is to have a single immigration system which works for the whole of the UK.

Every occupation is expected to be paid at least the “going rate”, which is set at the median for all UK residents who perform that role, or the median rate for all qualifying occupations whichever is higher, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.

The salary threshold, currently £41,700 for new applicants, is in place to ensure that resident workers’ wages should not be undercut and also to protect overseas workers from being used as low-cost labour.

Having a national salary limit keeps the Skilled Worker immigration route simple to operate and allows for movement between locations for larger companies.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published a review of Skilled Worker salary requirements on 17 December, and repeated a recommendation they have made many times previously, that salary thresholds should be set at a UK-wide level:

"We continue to believe that ‘regional salary thresholds also bring more complexity and may be harder to enforce within the migration system, particularly as the UK is geographically small, making it is easy to live in one region and work in another’. We also do not want to institutionalise some parts of the UK as ‘lower wage’. Furthermore, as the MAC has shown previously, wages vary far more within regions than across them so even if thresholds were set at a regional level there would still be many areas of the UK that would struggle to meet them."

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 the proposed new earnings requirement for settlement on British children in families where one parent is a non-UK national with primary caring responsibilities.

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

The earned settlement model is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026. Details of the earned settlement scheme will be finalised following that consultation.

However, the May 2025 Immigration White Paper and the command paper accompanying the current consultation, entitled A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, have both already committed to retaining a five-year route to settlement for the spouses and children of British citizens.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Department has evaluated the tax contribution of the sponsoring British partner when assessing the overall economic contribution of mixed-nationality families under the proposed new settlement requirements.

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

The earned settlement model is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026. Details of the earned settlement scheme will be finalised following that consultation.

However, the May 2025 Immigration White Paper and the command paper accompanying the current consultation, entitled A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, have both already committed to retaining a five-year route to settlement for the spouses and children of British citizens.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government will consider assessing household income rather than individual income when determining eligibility for settlement under the proposed contribution-based requirements.

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

The earned settlement model is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026. Details of the earned settlement scheme will be finalised following that consultation.

However, the May 2025 Immigration White Paper and the command paper accompanying the current consultation, entitled A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, have both already committed to retaining a five-year route to settlement for the spouses and children of British citizens.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what evidential basis it is her policy that minimum individual earnings should determine eligibility for settlement, including for applicants with no access to public funds.

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

The earned settlement model is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026. Details of the earned settlement scheme will be finalised following that consultation.

However, the May 2025 Immigration White Paper and the command paper accompanying the current consultation, entitled A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, have both already committed to retaining a five-year route to settlement for the spouses and children of British citizens.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the proposed minimum earnings requirement for settlement applications will apply to family migration routes, including partners and spouses of British citizens.

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

The earned settlement model is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026. Details of the earned settlement scheme will be finalised following that consultation.

However, the May 2025 Immigration White Paper and the command paper accompanying the current consultation, entitled A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, have both already committed to retaining a five-year route to settlement for the spouses and children of British citizens.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many prosecutions for modern slavery offences have been brought in the past five years; and what measures are in place to improve victim identification and access to justice.

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

This Government is committed to tackling modern slavery, ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives and that those responsible are prosecuted.

The data on the number of modern slavery prosecutions is published by the Crown Prosecution Service and the available data shows that between 2019 and 2024 there were:

The National Police Chief Council Lead for modern slavery is developing a national investigations framework to strengthen police forces’ ability to identify, disrupt and bring to justice the perpetrators behind this crime.

The Home Office has also committed to reviewing the modern slavery system in the Restoring Order and Control Statement to ensure that we have the right protections for those who need it. This will build on the responses we received to a Call for Evidence on the victim identification system which closed in October. The Home Office is now analysing the responses received and we will consider the evidence gathered to explore any further changes that could be made to improve the identification of victims.

Furthermore, potential victims of modern slavery with a positive Reasonable or Conclusive Grounds decision have access to legal aid, this includes criminal and civil legal aid, legal aid for immigration advice, advice on an asylum claim, employment law advice and for a civil claim of damages.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department has reviewed the suitability of resources, including trained personnel and appropriate equipment, used by UK Border Force when searching for and rescuing migrants in the English Channel.

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

The operational response to these dangerous, illegal, and unnecessary crossings of the Channel by migrants in small boats is led by Border Security Command’s Maritime and Small Boat Operations. The personnel and equipment needs for that command are kept under regular review to ensure that resource matches risk.

Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) operations in the Channel, rescuing migrants from unseaworthy vessels, are coordinated and directed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). BSC Maritime and Small Boat Operations work closely with DfT and MCA (the regulator) to ensure safety and legal compliance.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of considering the charge of stalking together with that of stalking with intent to ensure that cases can be brought within the six-month time limit.

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

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and the VAWG Strategy published on 18 December sets out clear action to tackle stalking as a part of this.

We have appointed Richard Wright KC to lead a review of the stalking legislation. The review will consider whether the criminal law on stalking needs to change to ensure the police and wider criminal justice partners have the clearest possible framework for effective identification, management and prosecution of stalking cases. The scope of the review includes the stalking offences in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and, due to their intertwined nature, the harassment offences in the same Act. As part of this, the review will also consider the classification of stalking offences as either-way or summary-only and this includes consideration of the statutory time limits involved. The review will recommend options for reform where appropriate.

The full review, including any recommendations, must be submitted to the Secretary of State by the end of March 2026.

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 implementing the 20 recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

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

In April, the Government published the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update setting out the action we are taking on the IICSA recommendations, and we are delivering on those commitments.

For example, we have this month published a consultation on proposals for a new Child Protection Authority, to improve national oversight and consistency of child protection practice, and we have introduced stronger vetting checks for adults working with children. We have also announced up to £50 million funding to expand the Child House model of support for children who have experienced sexual abuse. This a significant step in delivering against IICSA’s recommendation on improving the provision of specialised therapeutic support for child victims of sexual abuse.

Several measures in the Crime and Policing Bill will also directly address IICSA’s recommendations, including a new mandatory duty to report sexual abuse for individuals in England undertaking activity with children and the removal of the three-year limitation period for victims and survivors to bring child sexual abuse claims in the civil court.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her planned timetable is for the implementation of the recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

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

In April, the Government published the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update setting out the action we are taking on the IICSA recommendations, and we are delivering on those commitments.

For example, we have this month published a consultation on proposals for a new Child Protection Authority, to improve national oversight and consistency of child protection practice, and we have introduced stronger vetting checks for adults working with children. We have also announced up to £50 million funding to expand the Child House model of support for children who have experienced sexual abuse. This a significant step in delivering against IICSA’s recommendation on improving the provision of specialised therapeutic support for child victims of sexual abuse.

Several measures in the Crime and Policing Bill will also directly address IICSA’s recommendations, including a new mandatory duty to report sexual abuse for individuals in England undertaking activity with children and the removal of the three-year limitation period for victims and survivors to bring child sexual abuse claims in the civil court.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to help tackle the use of end-to-end encryption in proliferating indecent images of children.

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

The implementation of E2EE without safety mitigations has catastrophic consequences. In 2024, tech companies reported 7 million fewer incidents of suspected child sexual abuse exploitation to NCMEC compared to 2023. This decline is linked to reduced detection capabilities due to E2EE and platform design choices. Offenders deliberately migrate to encrypted platforms to evade detection, using E2EE as a safe haven for grooming, sextortion, and CSAM distribution.

Technology exists to detect and prevent the abhorrent abuse of children, including in end-to-end encryption (E2EE). Platform design cannot be used as an excuse to avoid detection and reporting obligations. Under the Online Safety Act, in-scope services must assess and act on risks regardless of their technical architecture – including the risk of child sexual exploitation and abuse on public and private parts of their service. Section 121 of the Act gives Ofcom the power to issue a Technology Notice requiring a service to deploy accredited technology – or use best endeavours to develop or source technology – to detect and remove child sexual exploitation and abuse across public and private parts of the service, including encrypted environments, where necessary and proportionate. Where companies fail to protect users, the regulator, Ofcom, can issue fines of up to £18 million or 10% of a company's global revenue, whichever is greater.

The Government announced further work to protect children from sexual abuse online in the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. Government will work constructively with companies to make it impossible for children in the UK to take, share or view a nude image. This is about prevention. Preventing the harm from happening in the first place whilst avoiding the need for data collection, data sharing or reporting. The technology exists. Now the government wants to work with tech companies to go further.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the six-month limit for bringing charges on stalking.

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

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and the VAWG Strategy published on 18 December sets out clear action to tackle stalking as a part of this.

We have appointed Richard Wright KC to lead a review of the stalking legislation. The review will consider whether the criminal law on stalking needs to change to ensure the police and wider criminal justice partners have the clearest possible framework for effective identification, management and prosecution of stalking cases. The scope of the review includes the stalking offences in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and, due to their intertwined nature, the harassment offences in the same Act. As part of this, the review will also consider the classification of stalking offences as either-way or summary-only and this includes consideration of the statutory time limits involved. The review will recommend options for reform where appropriate.

The full review, including any recommendations, must be submitted to the Secretary of State by the end of March 2026.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Crime and Policing Bill in its current form will see the protection of workers in quick service restaurants and food-to-go-style operators whose work has a functional overlap with their retail counterparts; and what, if any, impact assessment of such provisions has been undertaken.

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

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

This definition of a retail worker captures someone working in or about retail premises for or on behalf of the owner or occupier of the retail premises.

Our definition is intentionally narrow and does not include hospitality staff, given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker and impacted during their job.

Those workers whose roles are not included within the definition are already covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, such as actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

There is also a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This ensures the courts treat the public-facing nature of a victim’s role as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence for an offence.

Alongside this, we are ending the effective immunity that currently applies for theft of goods under £200 by repealing section 176 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

We are also providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the police and retailers tackle retail crime, including continuing to fund a specialist policing team to disrupt organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how "retail" work is defined for the purposes of the Crime and Policing Bill; and whether that definition includes hospitality premises with a functional overlap, such as pubs which run village shops and restaurants selling branded products on the premises.

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

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

This definition of a retail worker captures someone working in or about retail premises for or on behalf of the owner or occupier of the retail premises.

Our definition is intentionally narrow and does not include hospitality staff, given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker and impacted during their job.

Those workers whose roles are not included within the definition are already covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, such as actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

There is also a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This ensures the courts treat the public-facing nature of a victim’s role as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence for an offence.

Alongside this, we are ending the effective immunity that currently applies for theft of goods under £200 by repealing section 176 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

We are also providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the police and retailers tackle retail crime, including continuing to fund a specialist policing team to disrupt organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what specific protections are in place to address abuse and theft in (1) retail, (2) hospitality, and (3) leisure businesses.

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

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

This definition of a retail worker captures someone working in or about retail premises for or on behalf of the owner or occupier of the retail premises.

Our definition is intentionally narrow and does not include hospitality staff, given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker and impacted during their job.

Those workers whose roles are not included within the definition are already covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, such as actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

There is also a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This ensures the courts treat the public-facing nature of a victim’s role as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence for an offence.

Alongside this, we are ending the effective immunity that currently applies for theft of goods under £200 by repealing section 176 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

We are also providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the police and retailers tackle retail crime, including continuing to fund a specialist policing team to disrupt organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what human rights safeguards are in place to protect vulnerable people from wrongful deportation under the 'one-in, one-out' scheme; and what assessment they have made of how that scheme complies with the UK's obligations under international law.

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

The UK - France Agreement is set out in an international treaty and is deemed to be fully compliant with international law, including the Refugee Convention.

Individuals who arrive in the UK via small boat may be detained on arrival under immigration powers pending examination and removal.

In accordance with statutory and international obligations and as part of inadmissibility action, individuals in scope for removal under the treaty are able to make representations regarding matters which may be relevant to an inadmissibility declaration and removal from the UK to France. Case-by-case consideration will be given to any claimed individual circumstances that mean France would not be safe in any particular case, including any vulnerabilities.

Any referrals from individuals who may be victims of modern slavery are carefully considered in line with the relevant statutory and international obligations. Where they are not judged to be a victim of modern slavery and require permission to stay in the UK, their protection claim can then be considered for inadmissible action and the individual considered for return to France.

Where an individual is detained, the suitability of ongoing detention is regularly reviewed, and where there is no legal barrier removal will proceed.

We will continue to work with French authorities to ensure swift, lawful processing under the Agreement and to maintain public safety; and are continuously monitoring and evaluating our pilot, alongside the procedures in place to deliver it.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to restrict the circumstances in which children may be added to facial recognition watchlists.

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

Facial recognition is a crucial tool that helps the police locate missing people, suspects, and those wanted by the courts.

In some cases, under the existing legal framework this includes vulnerable individuals such as missing children. When using facial recognition technology, police forces must comply with legislation including the Human Rights Act 1998, Equality Act 2010, Data Protection Act 2018, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, as well as their own published policies. For live facial recognition, police forces must also follow the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice (APP) on Live Facial Recognition.

This sets out the categories of people who may be included on a watchlist. These include individuals wanted by the police or the courts, suspects, missing or vulnerable people, or those posing a risk of harm to themselves or others. In each case, inclusion on a watchlist must be justified and authorised, and must pass the tests of necessity, proportionality and use for a policing purpose.

On 4^th December the Government launched a consultation on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies. During the consultation we want to hear views on when and how biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies should be used, and what safeguards and oversight are needed.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer and remarks by Lord Hanson of Flint on 17 November (HL11520) and 10 November (HL Deb col 66), whether for-profit social housing providers will be granted the same powers as not-for-profit housing providers under the Crime and Policing Bill.

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

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are strengthening the powers available to relevant agencies under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

For-profit Social Housing Providers have grown in prominence since the 2014 Act first came into force. While it is important that all agencies have the powers they need to tackle ASB, it is also important that changes to the agencies that can use the powers in the 2014 ASB Crime and Policing Act are considered carefully, on a case-by-case basis. The addition of for-profit social housing providers as applicant agencies for Respect Orders, Housing Injunctions and Youth Injunctions remains under consideration, as mentioned in previous answers.

We are, however, legislating in the Crime and Policing Bill to extend the power to issue Closure Notices to Registered Social Housing Providers, including For Profit Housing Providers. This will make it easier for Housing Providers to take swift action to prevent disruptive ASB.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad will have its firearms capability removed; and if so, what assessment they have made of that decision.

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

Decisions around the deployment of armed officers are operational matters for individual chief constables to determine. It is therefore the responsibility of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service to determine how best to meet the operational requirements and make decisions on deployment of armed officers in London.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s report Scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain: 2024, published on 23 October 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the increase in procedures involving sheep each year since 2021.

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

The Home Office regulates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) to assure compliance with the robust protections afforded to animals used in science and to administrate the licensing framework. Licences to test on animals are only granted where applicants comply with the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement. Animals can only be used where there is no non-animal alternative, numbers are minimised, and where the most refined methods of testing are used to minimise harms.

The majority of procedures involving sheep each year are conducted for basic research purposes. The trends in the number of animals and types of procedures carried out each year are influenced by a range of extraneous factors, for example requirements for research and testing which include products being brought to market.

The Government has published the strategy, "Replacing animals in science, a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods". The strategy seeks to accelerate the development and validation of alternatives to animals in science in all but exceptional circumstances The strategy is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/deleted-replacing-animals-in-science-strategy/replacing-animals-in-science-a-strategy-to-support-the-development-validation-and-uptake-of-alternative-methods

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 recent changes to the eligibility criteria for Indefinite Leave to Remain on British Nationals (Overseas) students who have resettled in the UK.

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

The Government remains steadfast in its support for members of the Hong Kong community in the UK.

BN(O) visa holders will attract a 5-year reduction in the qualifying period for settlement, meaning they will continue to be able to settle in the UK after 5 years’ residence, subject to meeting the mandatory requirements. Individuals on the BN(O) route who are studying in the UK will also qualify for the same reduction.

We are seeking views on earned settlement through the public consultation A Fairer Pathway to Settlement and will continue to listen to the views of Hong Kongers. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following that consultation. An impact assessment will be developed alongside the finalised policy.

In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the BN(O) route will continue to apply.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the relationship between enforcement activity and a) arrests, b) convictions and c) sentencing outcomes for immigration offences.

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

The Government has made a strategic shift in Border Security, focusing on long-term systemic improvements, smarter, intelligence-led interventions and stronger partnerships across agencies.

The Border Security Command (BSC), established in July 2024, provides cross system leadership—bringing together the National Crime Agency, police, intelligence agencies, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force—to prioritise intelligence led operations that disrupt organised immigration crime, illegal working and associated harms. In May we launched a new Organised Immigration Crime Domestic taskforce to transform the way in which police respond to the threat of organised immigration crime.

There is a clear relationship between enforcement activity and arrests. Published Home Office data shows that, from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025, Immigration Enforcement teams carried out over 11,000 illegal working visits (up 51% year on year) which resulted in more than 8,000 arrests (up 63%). Detentions following those visits rose by 75% and returns recorded after a visit rose by 11%. These figures demonstrate that sustained, intelligence led operational activity leads to more arrests and case progression.

Convictions and sentencing outcomes are a matter for the independent Crown Prosecution Service and the Courts.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to publish sector-specific data on illegal working enforcement outcomes, including gig-economy sectors.

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

The Home Office takes the issue of illegal working seriously and continues to take robust enforcement action against those who breach immigration laws.

Official 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 quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is their intention that hospitality venues responsible for upholding the law on the sale of alcohol, cigarettes, solvents and other restricted products will see equal protection under the new offence of assaulting a retail worker in the Crime and Policing Bill.

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

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

This definition of a retail worker captures someone working in or about retail premises for or on behalf of the owner or occupier of the retail premises.

Our definition is intentionally narrow and does not include hospitality staff, given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker and impacted during their job.

Those workers whose roles are not included within the definition are already covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, such as actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

There is also a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This ensures the courts treat the public-facing nature of a victim’s role as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence for an offence.

Alongside this, we are ending the effective immunity that currently applies for theft of goods under £200 by repealing section 176 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

We are also providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the police and retailers tackle retail crime, including continuing to fund a specialist policing team to disrupt organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce limits on the circumstances in which police forces can add children to facial recognition watchlists.

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

Facial recognition is a crucial tool that helps the police locate missing people, suspects, and those wanted by the courts.

In some cases, under the existing legal framework this includes vulnerable individuals such as missing children. When using facial recognition technology, police forces must comply with legislation including the Human Rights Act 1998, Equality Act 2010, Data Protection Act 2018, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, as well as their own published policies. For live facial recognition, police forces must also follow the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice (APP) on Live Facial Recognition.

This sets out the categories of people who may be included on a watchlist. These include individuals wanted by the police or the courts, suspects, missing or vulnerable people, or those posing a risk of harm to themselves or others.In each case, inclusion on a watchlist must be justified and authorised, and must pass the tests of necessity, proportionality and use for a policing purpose.

On 4^th December the Government launched a consultation on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies. During the consultation we want to hear views on when and how biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies should be used, and what safeguards and oversight are needed.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to publish an assessment of the trial use of live facial recognition in immigration enforcement in November; and whether it will be used or trialled again for immigration enforcement purposes before the close of the consultation on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies.

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

Immigration Enforcement carried out two live facial recognition deployments in collaboration with South Wales Police and Greater Manchester Police. The Department are reviewing these operations and considering the next steps. The results of these deployments are available on gov.uk.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to establish a system for recording deaths and serious injuries at the UK-France border; and why mortality data at that border is not routinely published.

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

The Home Office maintains a record of reported fatalities that have occurred as a result of attempts to make dangerous, illegal, and unnecessary crossings of the Channel by migrants in small boats. Most of these fatalities have taken place in French Territorial Waters, and so it would not be appropriate for UK authorities to publish information about fatal incidents occurring outside the UK's jurisdiction.

Those fatal incidents that have taken place in UK TTW are subject to UK coronial and official inquiry processes, and their reports are a matter of public record.

Serious injuries are extremely rare along the UK-France border and following interceptions by Border Force (canalised entry) and BSC (includes all Maritime interception, welfare receptions, initial interviewing and immigration processing on land), but there has always been violence and inhumane treatment perpetrated by people smuggling gangs across Europe and beyond. The UK and international partners are resolved on disrupting and dismantling these gangs.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government why staff are "strongly advised" in the Immigration Enforcement Live Facial Recognition Policy Document published in November to refer to that document rather than being required to do so.

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

The Immigration Enforcement live facial recognition policy document was based on standard police guidance. However, we can confirm that during operational deployments it was made clear to relevant Home Office members of staff that adherence to the agreed-upon policies and processes was mandatory.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they made an equality impact assessment of the proposals in A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, published on 20 November; if so, when they plan to publish that assessment; and, if not, why not.

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

The proposed earned settlement policy is currently subject to a public consultation. This was launched on 20 November and is due to close on 12 February 2026.

This public consultation directly asks for opinions on how English language proficiency should be assessed. This, and the wider details of the earned settlement policy, will be finalised in light of the information collected in that consultation.

An equality impact assessment has been developed alongside the policy. There are specific questions in relation to equalities as part of the consultation to inform the final equality impact assessment, which A Fairer Pathway to Settlement has already committed to publishing in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they will assess the standard of English proposed in A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, published on 20 November.

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

The proposed earned settlement policy is currently subject to a public consultation. This was launched on 20 November and is due to close on 12 February 2026.

This public consultation directly asks for opinions on how English language proficiency should be assessed. This, and the wider details of the earned settlement policy, will be finalised in light of the information collected in that consultation.

An equality impact assessment has been developed alongside the policy. There are specific questions in relation to equalities as part of the consultation to inform the final equality impact assessment, which A Fairer Pathway to Settlement has already committed to publishing in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to expand safe and accessible routes of asylum for people fleeing persecution and conflict, including those affected by escalating violence in countries such as Sudan.

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

The UK has a proud history of providing protection and we continue to welcome refugees and people in need through our safe and legal routes.

As announced in Restoring Order and Control, we are developing new sponsored refugee pathways across education, labour and community routes. This will ensure that there are routes available to support individuals in need of protection, but in a way that meets the need of UK communities too

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of her Department's progress on reducing unauthorised migration across the English Channel.

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

The Government has taken significant steps to address illegal migration and its Plan for Change sets out our ambition to secure borders and control immigration. We are committed to tackling illegal migration and the criminal networks which facilitate it. Since July 2024, nearly 50,000 individuals without lawful status have been removed from the UK. Our agreement with France means that those arriving by small boats can be detained and returned to France.

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 has now received Royal Assent and the overarching impact assessment for this can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/border-security-asylum-and-immigration-bill-2025-impact-assessment/border-security-asylum-and-immigration-bill-2025-impact-assessment-accessible#impact-assessment(opens in a new tab)

The Government is continuously monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of our measures in place to tackle small boats. As stated in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, the Border Security Command will be publishing an annual report, which must state the Commander’s views on the performance in the financial year of the border security system. This is set out in the Act here:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/31/section/4/enacted(opens in a new tab)

Border security is fundamental to both our national security and economic security and evaluating our approach is a critical part of that.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigration enforcement visits relating to visa overstaying were conducted in Northern Ireland in each quarter since July 2024; and what plans she has to increase capacity.

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 enforcement visits in Northern Ireland specifically related to visa overstaying is not available in our published data.

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

All aspects of enforcement activity conducted by the Northern Ireland Immigration Compliance and Enforcement Team have significantly risen year on year. This includes increased illegal working operations and conducting more residential and compliance visits in conjunction with law enforcement partners to tackle abuse of the immigration system.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to help tackle the use of AI in proliferating indecent images of children.

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

The Government recognises the serious and evolving threat posed by AI being misused to create child sexual abuse material. We know offenders will seek to exploit emerging technologies for their own sexual gratification.

AI-generated child sexual abuse is not a victimless crime. The material often includes depictions of real children, escalating the risk of contact abuse. The volume and realism of this material can make it increasingly challenging for safeguarding partners to identify and protect children. Offenders can also use these images to groom and blackmail children.

The Government announced in the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy that we will ban nudification apps and other tools designed to create synthetic non-consensual intimate images (NCII) to stop women and girls’ images being tampered with and exploited without their consent.

This Government is also introducing specific measures within the Crime and Policing Bill to tackle AI driven child sexual abuse. These include:

• Criminalising AI models that have been developed to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM). These optimised models produce hyper-realistic indecent images that often contains the likeness of real children. This offence will carry a sentence of up to five years
• Updating the existing law criminalising ‘paedophile manuals’ to cover AI as well. Manuals which provide guidance on how to use AI to create CSAM will be punishable by up to three years in prison.
• A new criminal offence to target moderators and administrators who run sites dedicated to child sexual abuse, including where these horrific images are created or advice is shared using AI. These crimes will now carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
• A further amendment to empower authorised bodies- including AI developers and child protection organisations- to scrutinise AI systems to help improve safeguards and prevent them generating harmful content in the first place.

These measures are part of this Government’s ongoing efforts to make sure offenders are held accountable for their actions and have no safe place to hide online.

UK law is crystal clear: child sexual abuse material is illegal, whether AI generated or not. Producing, storing, sharing or searching for any content depicting child sexual abuse is a criminal offence.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the prevalence of human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation in the UK; and what additional measures are being taken to strengthen protections for victims and increase successful prosecutions.

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

The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has set out a mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will use all the levers available to us to deliver this ambition. This is why the recently published Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy includes a series of measures to tackle sexual exploitation and to better support victims and survivors.

Victims of sexual exploitation make up a large proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism. The most recent annual statistics show that in 2024, sexual exploitation (either partly or wholly) accounted for 17% (3,266) of all referrals. Of these, the majority of those referred were females (79%; 2,564).

The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through law enforcement activity aimed at tackling modern slavery threats and targeting prolific perpetrators. Also, the National Police Lead for modern slavery is leading Project Turnstone, which will develop a new framework for investigating modern slavery and includes a suite of products to guide forces to identify and tackle sexual exploitation.

To support victims to escape and recover from their exploitation, the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract provides support to adult potential and confirmed victims of exploitation and trafficking in England and Wales. This support includes safe accommodation where necessary, financial support and a support worker to help them access wider support services, including medical treatment, legal aid, legal representatives, and legal advice.

We recently ran a public Call for Evidence on how the Government can improve the process of identifying victims of modern slavery, including for victims who have been trafficked for sexual exploitation. Following analysis of the responses from this Call for Evidence, we will consider whether any future policy changes are needed.

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 Modern Slavery Act 2015 in preventing the exploitation of vulnerable individuals within large commercial organisations.

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

The government is committed to tackling modern slavery, ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives and that those responsible are prosecuted.

Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 established the UK as the first country in the world to require businesses to report on how they are tackling modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. Section 54 has helped bring greater awareness of modern slavery in boardrooms across the country, but it is clear a decade after the Act, the UK’s approach to tackling labour exploitation needs to evolve.

The government is currently conducting a review of Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) policy. The RBC review will consider the effectiveness of the current UK regime and alternative means of supporting responsible business practices, including consideration of mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence laws and import controls on goods made by forced labour.

The Government is also establishing the Fair Work Agency (FWA). The FWA will bring under one roof multiple agencies and bodies to ensure a more cohesive and streamlined response to exploitation. The FWA will have enhanced powers and resources to identify and address labour exploitation more effectively. It will be a strong, recognisable brand so individuals know where to go for help.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2025 to question 95741 on Offenders and Undocumented Migrants, if he will commit to collating and verifying the requested data to publish on a regular basis.

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

Official 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 requests, the public resources required to compile the statistics, and importantly the quality and availability of data. The Home Office does not publish data on subjects where the information held is known to not be sufficiently robust or of high enough quality.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many civil penalties have been issued for illegal working in each of the last three years.

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

Information on illegal working civil penalty statistics has been published since 2016 as part of the Home Office Immigration Enforcement Transparency Data. This can be found at immigration-enforcement-data-jul-sep-2025 on tab CP02.

This publication covers the period up to 30 September 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date the Home Office received the legal action submitted by Crowborough Shield; when the Department plans to respond to that legal action; which Minister will be responsible for responding.

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

The Home Office takes its legal obligations seriously. The Department can confirm that it has received a claim for judicial review from Crowborough Shield. As legal proceedings are ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment further on the timing of any response or which Minister will respond.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to Answer of 8th December 2025 to Question 95555, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of existing fines in deterring illegal working.

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

The Home Office continues to assess direct impacts of civil penalties for illegal working across all sectors of the labour market, through assessment of any changes in the composition and characteristics of those businesses receiving civil penalties, and their actions as a result.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the 1,000 members of staff allocated to work in immigration enforcement were (1) recruited externally, and (2) reallocated internally.

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

Since July 2024 the Home Office has redeployed 1,000 FTE staff to increase delivery of the government’s returns and enforcement priorities, these staff have been drawn from across the Department.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications for political asylum and protection status have been made in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years.

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

Information regarding basis of claim is not published and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Information Commissioner's Office on the issue of bias in retrospective facial recognition searches of the Police National Database.

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

The Home Office is aware of the risk of bias in facial recognition algorithms and supports policing in managing that risk. Hence the Home Office, in collaboration with the Office of the Police Chief Scientific Adviser and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, commissioned independent testing of the facial recognition algorithm currently used by specially trained operators in police forces to search the Police National Database. Contracts were agreed in March 2024.

Independent testing helps to ensure algorithms are used at settings where statistically significant bias is reduced to negligible levels. Where potential bias is identified, the Home Office supports policing to ensure they have the operational processes in place to ensure the risk of any material impact is minimised.

Manual safeguards, embedded in police training, operational practice, and guidance, require all potential matches returned from the Police National Database to be checked by a trained user and investigating officer. These safeguards pre-date the National Physical Laboratory testing but they were reviewed once the results were known.

Home Office Ministers were first made aware of a bias in the algorithm used by specially trained operators in police forces to search the Police National Database in October 2024. Initial findings were shared with the Home Office between March 2024 and October 2024, and the final report was provided by NPL in April 2025 and updated for publication in October 2025.

A replacement system with a new algorithm has also been procured by the Home Office and independently tested. This testing has been published and shows that the system can be used with no statistically significant bias. It is due to be operationally tested early next year and will be subject to further evaluation.

The Home Office briefed the Information Commissioners Office on the findings of the independent report ahead of its publication and we continue to work closely with the ICO as we consult on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies.

The Home Office has also commissioned His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, with support from the Forensic Science Regulator, to conduct an inspection of police and relevant law enforcement agencies’ use of retrospective facial recognition.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the impact of bias in retrospective facial recognition searches of the Police National Database.

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

The Home Office is aware of the risk of bias in facial recognition algorithms and supports policing in managing that risk. Hence the Home Office, in collaboration with the Office of the Police Chief Scientific Adviser and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, commissioned independent testing of the facial recognition algorithm currently used by specially trained operators in police forces to search the Police National Database. Contracts were agreed in March 2024.

Independent testing helps to ensure algorithms are used at settings where statistically significant bias is reduced to negligible levels. Where potential bias is identified, the Home Office supports policing to ensure they have the operational processes in place to ensure the risk of any material impact is minimised.

Manual safeguards, embedded in police training, operational practice, and guidance, require all potential matches returned from the Police National Database to be checked by a trained user and investigating officer. These safeguards pre-date the National Physical Laboratory testing but they were reviewed once the results were known.

Home Office Ministers were first made aware of a bias in the algorithm used by specially trained operators in police forces to search the Police National Database in October 2024. Initial findings were shared with the Home Office between March 2024 and October 2024, and the final report was provided by NPL in April 2025 and updated for publication in October 2025.

A replacement system with a new algorithm has also been procured by the Home Office and independently tested. This testing has been published and shows that the system can be used with no statistically significant bias. It is due to be operationally tested early next year and will be subject to further evaluation.

The Home Office briefed the Information Commissioners Office on the findings of the independent report ahead of its publication and we continue to work closely with the ICO as we consult on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies.

The Home Office has also commissioned His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, with support from the Forensic Science Regulator, to conduct an inspection of police and relevant law enforcement agencies’ use of retrospective facial recognition.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that any use of live facial recognition cameras by law enforcement bodies is subject to clear safeguards to protect privacy and human rights.

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

When deploying facial recognition technology, police forces must comply with existing legislation including the Human Rights Act 1998, Equality Act 2010, Data Protection Act 2018, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, as well as their own published policies. For live facial recognition, police forces must also follow the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice (APP) on Live Facial Recognition. Forces must also give due regard to the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice, which is supplemented by published policing policies.

On 4 December the Government launched a 10 week public consultation on law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies. We are consulting on a new legal framework to create consistent, durable rules and appropriate safeguards for biometrics and facial recognition. This framework will aim to strike the right balance between public protection and privacy. The consultation will close week commencing 9 Feb 2026.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to issue statutory guidance to all statutory safeguarding partners, including police, local authorities and integrated care boards, for the criminal exploitation of children measures in the Crime and Policing Bill should the Bill receive Royal Assent; and if not, why not, and what steps they will take to clarify roles and responsibilities and embed best practice in safeguarding children from exploitation in that absence of that statutory guidance.

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

We recognise the importance of effective multi-agency working to safeguard children from criminal exploitation.

The Crime and Policing Bill includes provision for statutory guidance to be issued to relevant law enforcement officers about their role in preventing, detecting and investigating the new child criminal exploitation offence and about their functions relating to the new child criminal exploitation prevention orders being introduced in the Bill.

In addition, we will publish non-statutory guidance for all relevant frontline practitioners (including statutory partners) to help them understand the new offence and their role in disrupting this crime and supporting victims. This guidance will supplement existing statutory guidance, including ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ and ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, which set out the roles and responsibilities of organisations and agencies to help, support, safeguard and protect children from harm, including in relation to child criminal exploitation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they were first aware of bias in retrospective facial recognition searches of the Police National Database.

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

The Home Office is aware of the risk of bias in facial recognition algorithms and supports policing in managing that risk. Hence the Home Office, in collaboration with the Office of the Police Chief Scientific Adviser and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, commissioned independent testing of the facial recognition algorithm currently used by specially trained operators in police forces to search the Police National Database. Contracts were agreed in March 2024.

Independent testing helps to ensure algorithms are used at settings where statistically significant bias is reduced to negligible levels. Where potential bias is identified, the Home Office supports policing to ensure they have the operational processes in place to ensure the risk of any material impact is minimised.

Manual safeguards, embedded in police training, operational practice, and guidance, require all potential matches returned from the Police National Database to be checked by a trained user and investigating officer. These safeguards pre-date the National Physical Laboratory testing but they were reviewed once the results were known.

Home Office Ministers were first made aware of a bias in the algorithm used by specially trained operators in police forces to search the Police National Database in October 2024. Initial findings were shared with the Home Office between March 2024 and October 2024, and the final report was provided by NPL in April 2025 and updated for publication in October 2025.

A replacement system with a new algorithm has also been procured by the Home Office and independently tested. This testing has been published and shows that the system can be used with no statistically significant bias. It is due to be operationally tested early next year and will be subject to further evaluation.

The Home Office briefed the Information Commissioners Office on the findings of the independent report ahead of its publication and we continue to work closely with the ICO as we consult on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies.

The Home Office has also commissioned His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, with support from the Forensic Science Regulator, to conduct an inspection of police and relevant law enforcement agencies’ use of retrospective facial recognition.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that police counters are kept open in Surrey Heath constituency.

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

Decisions regarding the police estate, including the availability of front counters at police stations, are a matter for Chief Constables equivalents. They are best placed to make these decisions based on their knowledge of local need and their experience.

Police stations are just one of the ways in which people can access their local police. They can also speak to police online, including to report crime, 24 hours a day or by using the 101 service for non-emergencies or 999 in an emergency. As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, all forces now also have named and contactable neighbourhood officers dedicated to addressing the issues that matter most to their communities.

​Exempt all individuals already granted asylum or humanitarian protection from any proposed changes to increase the ILR qualifying period. Maintain the 5-year route to settlement for these groups to ensure fairness, aid integration, and honor the established commitment.

Create a dedicated route to ILR for Ukrainian refugees and ensure that their time on Ukrainian visa schemes (Homes for Ukraine, Family and Extension) count towards obtaining Indefinite Leave to Remain.

We demand the Government reduce the 7-year ILR wait to 5 years for UK-born children, and permanently exclude the Part Suitability policy from their applications.

We are concerned the proposed changes to ILR routes could significantly affect the hopes and dreams of many dependent children of Skilled Worker visa holders, possibly hindering their goals, postponing their degrees due to high international tuition fees and entering lower skilled jobs.

We call on the UK Government to count Home Office delays during the nearly two-year Covid-19 pandemic toward the 5-year residence requirement for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), ensuring fairness for long-term residents affected by delays beyond their control.

The Government should stop its plans to change the 5-year pathway for legal immigrants to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain, potentially including immigrants who are already living and working in the UK and have already been on the pathway since 2021.

Create a renewable Open Work Permit for sponsored workers so they can change employers without needing new sponsorship. The Government says workers can change sponsors, but in reality few employers offer sponsorships. With ILR moving to 10–15 years, workers should not stay tied to one sponsor.

Suspend all immigration to UK for at least 5 years for workers earning £80,000 or less to reduce pressures on the economy, social housing, the NHS, schools and other resources.

Amend the Domestic Abuse Act regarding the prosecution of cross-border coercive and economic abuse, including the misuse of foreign legal actions (SLAPPs) as a form of ongoing domestic abuse that can cause harm in the UK.

We believe the proposed extension of the ILR qualifying period from 5 to 10 years for RQF Level 6 and below skilled workers will cause severe financial hardship, heightened stress, and imbalance in work-life for ground-level employees contributing vitally to the UK.

Keep 5 years route to get ILR status for those who came to UK to study (RFQ Level 6 or above) from UK universities and then switched to Tier 2 Skilled Worker Visa. These are the people who have invested 1-4 years in their education and then on PSW visa in UK which does not count towards ILR.

We want Parliament to keep the 5-year ILR pathway to show their support for legal immigrants, many who migrated to the UK based on the 5-year ILR pathway, and to restrict the extension of citizenship and benefit access for another 5 years to guarantee this proposal.

We call on the UK Government to preserve the current 5-year route (ILR) for refugees and people with humanitarian protection.

The Government should create a dedicated settlement route for international graduates who: have completed a recognised UK degree, demonstrate strong proficiency in English, and have worked in the UK for a certain number of years.

Amend the "Core Protection" policy to grant Indefinite Leave to Remain after 10 years, not 20. The policy cites Denmark as a deterrence model, yet Denmark allows settlement after 8 years. The UK should align with this evidence base, avoiding a costly 20-year outlier.

We want the Government to keep the 5-year ILR pathway to settlement for people on Skilled Worker visas, and their dependents, who enter the UK before the changes come in (April 2026).

We want the Government to introduce serial numbers on all knives, require ID checks for every purchase, create a national knife-licence system, record all knife sales, raise the legal age to buy any knife to 21 to reduce knife crime

Found: services—prison, probation and others—to co-operate in the prevention of homelessness, but should the Home Office

Found: Two weeks ago, the Home Office released evidence that shows that retrospective facial recognition algorithms

Found: but I think it is about the wider tackling violence against women and girls strategy within the Home Office

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the maximum penalty for dog fouling offences.

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

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to anti-social behaviour. These powers include Public Space Protection Orders which can be used to, among other things, require dog owners to pick up their dog's faeces.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, the Home Office are increasing the upper limit for a fixed penalty notice for breaches of a Public Spaces Protection Order from £100 to £500.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May to Question 50489, what recent discussions she has had with Eurostar and SNCF1 Gare Connexions on a) the expansion of the number of border control points and e-gates, and b) longer term plans to expand the terminal.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Departmental officials engage regularly with French counterparts and industry partners to discuss plans to support the growth of international rail services and to enable competition in the coming years.

Officials from my Department, Home Office and Border Force have had several discussions this year with SNCF Gare et Connexions representatives to discuss in detail their plans to expand the Gare du Nord cross-Channel terminal which will effectively double throughput capacity by 2030. We have also committed to work with SNCF to ensure appropriate provision is made for UK and French border controls in the newly expanded terminal and these conversations are continuing. SNCF’s plans were also presented to the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC), the bi-national body which oversees the operation of the Channel Tunnel and is attended by UK and French Government officials, at its most recent meeting in Paris in December.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address reports of search engines that use artificial intelligence being manipulated to direct consumers to fraudulent customer service phone numbers.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Frauds are increasingly sophisticated. The government is aware of reports that criminals are manipulating AI services to place scam customer service numbers at the top of search rankings.

Generative AI services which search live websites to deliver search results are regulated under the Online Safety Act. The Act also lists fraud as a priority offence, requiring companies to minimise its prevalence on their platforms and swiftly remove content when it appears. Ofcom have strong powers to ensure compliance.

The OSA is part of the solution, and the department continues to work with the Home Office as it prepares the new Fraud Strategy.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she plans to put in place measures to safeguard the (a) mental health and wellbeing and (b) ability to enrol in multi-year course programmes of children who be subject to temporary refugee status reviews every 30 months.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department will work with the Home Office as they carefully consider the appropriate pathways and wider provision for asylum-seeking families with children. We will continue to focus on ensuring vulnerable children are protected and their welfare safeguarded.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed asylum policy changes on the continuity of education for children in families facing relocation or deportation.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department will work with the Home Office as they carefully consider the appropriate pathways and wider provision for asylum-seeking families with children. We will continue to focus on ensuring vulnerable children are protected and their welfare safeguarded.

Found: the Department for Transport has used computer vision for performing roadside surveys,70 and the Home Office

Found: The Home Office provides statutory guidance on implementing this legislation.

We ask the Government to create a 5-year ILR route for legal asylum seekers who entered the UK lawfully and have been living here legally while their asylum claims are pending.

Found: A 5-year settlement route would give fairness, stability, and dignity, reduce Home Office delays, and

Ensure Skilled Worker visa holders already in the UK can complete their promised 5-year ILR pathway under the current rules, with no retroactive extensions or recalculations to their qualifying period when new settlement rules take effect.

Found: Migrants relied on clear Home Office rules when planning their lives and families.

Found: any time prior to the Commencement Date and/or during the term of this Contract appeared on the Home Office

Found: any time prior to the Commencement Date and/or during the term of this Contract appeared on the Home Office

Found: any time prior to the Commencement Date and/or during the term of this Contract appeared on the Home Office

Found: Services Network (ESN) The government masts referenced in this press notice are being built by the Home Office

Found: These bodies included the, Cabinet Office, Home Office, Information Commissioners Office and TV licencing

Found: Notwithstanding the existing data protection and records management framework, the Home Office has agreed

Found: Notwithstanding the existing data protection and records management framework, the Home Office has agreed

Found: Report from the Independent Family Returns Panel on recommendations to the Home Office for managing family

Found: 24 2 Chair’s Forward The Independent Family Returns Panel (IFRP) provides advice to the Home Office

Found:  Home Office Fire Statistics.  Insurance Industry Fire Loss Data.

Found: Home Office.

Found: The Home Office fire statistics for England do not provide much information regarding the experience

Found: The incident data is published by the Home Office. 11.10.6.

Found: Services Network (ESN) The government masts referenced in this press notice are being built by the Home Office

Found: disadvantage insofar as the group is proportionately disadvantaged - see the discussion in Essop v Home Office

Found: as: - Tara Service - Police Scotland - Migrant Help - Local authorities - Home Office

Found: We engaged with UK Government officials in the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office during the progress