Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of arrests for online harassment in the last 12 months.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office collects and publishes data on arrests as part of the annual ‘Police Powers and Procedures’ statistical bulletin. The most recent data up to the year ending March 2023 is available here: Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

However, the data is collected by broader offence group e.g. “violence against the person”, therefore data on more specific offences such as online harassment is not available.

The number of harassment and stalking offences reported to police which were flagged as online crime is available in table F11 of the ‘Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables’ dataset:

Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will hold discussions with Alcohol Change UK on their research entitled The need for responsible alcohol delivery, published on 8 May 2024.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government recognises that the way in which people purchase alcohol has changed in recent years, with sales increasingly being made online.

Accordingly, we recently ran a consultation that closed on 30 March this year that requested views on whether the Licensing Act 2003 should be amended to include a requirement for age verification to occur when alcohol purchased remotely is delivered. We also asked for views on whether the Act should be amended to specify that it is an offence to deliver alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated.

We are currently analysing the responses to this consultation and will publish a response in due course.

Home Office officials meet regularly with Alcohol Change UK to discuss the licensing framework in England and Wales.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the the potential merits of updating the Licensing Act 2003 to regulate online alcohol delivery services.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government recognises that the way in which people purchase alcohol has changed in recent years, with sales increasingly being made online.

Accordingly, we recently ran a consultation that closed on 30 March this year that requested views on whether the Licensing Act 2003 should be amended to include a requirement for age verification to occur when alcohol purchased remotely is delivered. We also asked for views on whether the Act should be amended to specify that it is an offence to deliver alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated.

We are currently analysing the responses to this consultation and will publish a response in due course.

Home Office officials meet regularly with Alcohol Change UK to discuss the licensing framework in England and Wales.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people on a (a) student visa and (b) graduate visa took jobs (i) in caring, leisure and other service occupations, (ii) as care workers and (iii) as senior care workers in the financial year (A) 2021-22 (B) 2022-23 and (C) 2023-24.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office published ‘Analysis of migrants use of the Graduate route’. The report shows the proportion of student visa holders who were subsequently granted a work visa after their studies, and those who left the Graduate route and went into work (including those who were granted a Health & Care visa).

The report shows that, of the 25,469 people whose Graduate visas had expired by the end of 2023, 46% had switched to a work visa (9% of the total switched to the Health & Care route). In addition, based on matching Home Office visa records with HMRC income data, of Graduate visa holders who earned in at least one month during the financial year ending 2023 (including those who worked across the full year), 16% worked in the Health and Social Care work sector.

The report does not look at specific occupations Student or Graduate visa holders held, or the number of students who extended into the Health & Care route. This information is not currently published by the Home Office.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been sent by the authorities in the Republic of Ireland to the UK in the last 12 months.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

In 2020, we agreed operational arrangements which allow for the return and readmission of asylum seekers where this is agreed by both participants. Ireland has not returned anyone to the UK under these arrangements, including in the last 12 months.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the cost of an armed response callout.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Given the operational nature of armed deployments, decisions around the funding and deployment of armed officers are a matter for individual forces and their Chiefs.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of visas have been granted to the non-British dependents of (a) British Israelis and (b) British Palestinians that have been repatriated since 7 October 2023.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on visas granted, by nationality, main applicants, and dependants are published in table Vis_D02 of the Entry clearance detailed dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relate up to the end of 2023. Please note the published statistics do not identify how many visas were issued to dependants of people who have been repatriated since 7 October 2023.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take, if any, to assist migrants newly arrived from France to move to the Republic of Ireland.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

We will not be taking any steps to help migrants arriving from France move to the Republic of Ireland. However, we are clear that the Rwanda policy is an important part of the deterrent, breaking the model of the people smuggling gangs.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Minister for Legal Migration and the Border's Oral Statement of 8 May 2024 on Passport e-Gates Network Outage, Official Report, column 592, if he will publish a report of the investigations into the failure of passport e-gates on 7 May 2024.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

It has never been Government practice, for reasons of law enforcement, to comment on operational issues relating to border security and immigration controls. This includes offering commentary on the performance of border systems and of ePassport Gates data specifically.

The Home Office has a number of contingency arrangements in the event of a system failure, including technical and business contingency measures.

In the UK, all arriving passengers need to establish their eligibility for admission. Every passenger is required to establish their nationality and identity. To maintain a safe and secure border, a passenger’s passport or national identity card is checked electronically. The eGates and face-to-face checks are two methods of conducting the same process.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the adequacy of security at passport e-gates.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

It has never been Government practice, for reasons of law enforcement, to comment on operational issues relating to border security and immigration controls. This includes offering commentary on the performance of border systems and of ePassport Gates data specifically.

The Home Office has a number of contingency arrangements in the event of a system failure, including technical and business contingency measures.

In the UK, all arriving passengers need to establish their eligibility for admission. Every passenger is required to establish their nationality and identity. To maintain a safe and secure border, a passenger’s passport or national identity card is checked electronically.

The eGates and face-to-face checks are two methods of conducting the same process.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it remains his Department's policy to end the criminalisation of rough sleeping.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Nobody should be criminalised for simply having nowhere to live. That is why we are committed to bringing into force the repeal of the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824.

We have tabled amendments for Report stage of the Bill which will bring the Repeal of the Vagrancy Act into force three months after the Criminal Justice Bill receives Royal Assent.

At this same time, the provisions on nuisance begging and nuisance rough sleeping in the Criminal Justice Bill will also come into force.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps their Department is taking to support the Disability Confident scheme; how many officials in their Department work directly on supporting that scheme; what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of that work in supporting the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of disabled people in their Department; and what further steps they are taking to support their Department’s recruitment and retention of disabled people.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has supported the Disability Confident Scheme since August 2016, as a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader. The Home Office attained subsequent re-accreditation, at Level 3, in March 2021, and, again in March 2024.

The Home Office remains committed to being a Disability Confident Leader and seeks to break down the barriers to career progression, to maximise the talent disabled people bring to the workplace.

The Department takes an evidence-led approach, to closely monitor disability representation, at all points of the employee life cycle.

The Home Office:

• has a dedicated workplace adjustments team, to support colleagues and line managers, alongside a dedicated team to support those that use assisted technology in the workplace. To supplement this, the Home Office has a workplace adjustment guidance, and line managers are invited to attend awareness session to increase line management capability.
• have dedicated guidance on reasonable adjustments in recruitment for vacancy holders to work with. This is designed to ensure that disabled applicants experience a level playing field in the recruitment process.
• regularly evaluates the effectiveness of Disability related policies and practices, alongside wider inclusion interventions.
• work closely with our accessibility team to ensure our website is compliant with Public Sector Body Accessibility Regulations. For example, all our videos have closed captions, audio description versions and are accompanied by transcripts.
• website also includes information on how to request reasonable adjustments when applying.
• has a dedicated Disability champion at Director General level, who reports directly to the Permanent Secretary. The Home Office Disability champion chairs a Disability champion board every six weeks, which is attended by directorate level champions and the chair of the Home Disability staff network, where they monitor progress against the internal Home Office Disability action plan.
• evaluates disability representation at all grades within the Department and have met or exceeded our internal target of 12%
• has also enhanced its British Sign Language provision for D/deaf colleagues.

The Department encourages disabled staff to participate in all Home Office led talent programmes, in line with their chosen career progression. The tables below show the Disability representation as of March 2024.

*The Home Office Disability target reflects the economically active population, or the existing Home Office representation, whichever is higher.

Home Office Disability recruitment data shows a year-on-year increase in the percentage representation of candidates with disabilities at each stage of the recruitment process, which can be seen in the table below.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to prevent the provision of large dinghies by suppliers to people smuggling gangs.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

We are taking a whole-of-route approach from source countries all the way through to the UK and have signed international agreements to enhance co-operation on organised immigration crime.

As announced by the Prime Minister in December 2022, we have doubled funding to the National Crime Agency and other partners to provide £74 million funding to tackle OIC.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will implement a public health approach to preventing (a) violence and (b) sexual violence for (i) boys and (ii) men.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

Since 2019, the Government has invested over £160m in 20 Violence Reduction Unit’s (VRUs) in England and Wales. VRUs are expected to deliver a ‘whole system’, public health approach to tackling violence, bringing together key partners to identify the local drivers and root-causes of serious violence and implementing a multi-agency response to them. VRUs are supported to adhere to the six key pillars of the public health approach to reduce violence, as set out by Public Health England (now OHID).

The Youth Endowment Fund was established in 2019, which will invest £200m over 10 years to identify, and build an evidence base around, what works in diverting children and young people away from involvement in serious violence and making this information accessible to practitioners.

The Serious Violence Duty introduced through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (PCSC 2022), requires a range of specified authorities, such as, the police, local government, youth offending teams, health, and probation services, to work together to prevent and reduce serious violence within their local communities, enabled by new powers to share data and information. Specified authorities are encouraged to take a public health approach in executing their responsibilities under the Act. The PCSC Act does not define serious violence for the purposes of the Duty but makes clear that local areas may also consider domestic abuse and sexual offences as part of their strategies, particularly where preventative activity is directed at risk factors which are shared between these crimes and public space youth violence.

The Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy (published July 2021) and Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan (published March 2022) contain over 100 cross government commitments and take a whole system approach to tackling these crimes. Commitments in these strategies cover all victims, including men and boys.

In 2021, we published the Rape Review Action Plan and set out a series of commitments to deliver cross-system improvements in the criminal justice response to rape. The National Operating Model, developed through Operation Soteria, provides policing with new training and tools to build strong cases and understand patterns of sexual offending, and seeks to support officers to building stronger cases, understand sexual offending behaviour and ultimately identify and disrupt offenders at the earliest opportunity.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2024 to Question 24749 on Prostitution: Internet, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of criminalising the (a) enablement of and (b) profiting from prostitution of others.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

The acts of buying and selling sex are not in themselves illegal in England and Wales. Research the Home Office commissioned in 2019 on the nature of sex work and prostitution in England and Wales found that some sex workers use technology to manage their safety, and so criminalising the enablement of prostitution online could put these individuals at greater risk of harm.

However, we recognise that advertising of sexual services has increasingly moved online, and that adult service websites can be used enable sexual exploitation. That is why the Online Safety Act 2023 ensures online platforms are responsible and accountable for content on their sites and take proactive steps to prevent their sites being used by criminals. The Act will make the UK the safest place to be online and will require online platforms to proactively identify and remove content linked to priority offences, including controlling and inciting prostitution for gain.

Safeguarding Ministers met the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for sex work on 31 January 2023, 24 May 2022, 6 February 2019, 19 April 2018 and 27 Nov 2017.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2024 to Question 24750 on National Police Chiefs' Council, on what dates the five meetings between Ministers and the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for sex work took place.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

The acts of buying and selling sex are not in themselves illegal in England and Wales. Research the Home Office commissioned in 2019 on the nature of sex work and prostitution in England and Wales found that some sex workers use technology to manage their safety, and so criminalising the enablement of prostitution online could put these individuals at greater risk of harm.

However, we recognise that advertising of sexual services has increasingly moved online, and that adult service websites can be used enable sexual exploitation. That is why the Online Safety Act 2023 ensures online platforms are responsible and accountable for content on their sites and take proactive steps to prevent their sites being used by criminals. The Act will make the UK the safest place to be online and will require online platforms to proactively identify and remove content linked to priority offences, including controlling and inciting prostitution for gain.

Safeguarding Ministers met the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for sex work on 31 January 2023, 24 May 2022, 6 February 2019, 19 April 2018 and 27 Nov 2017.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many reports were made of (a) rape and (b) other serious sexual offences by an alleged perpetrator under the age of 18 in (i) each police force area and (ii) the UK in each of the last five years.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of rape and sexual offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, and their investigative outcomes, including the number of charge/summons. This information is published by Police Force Area on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Home Office does not hold information on perpetrators under the age of 18. Statistics on convictions in England and Wales, including rape and sexual offences by perpetrator age, are published by the Ministry of Justice, in the release Criminal Justice System Statistics Quarterly, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly

Scotland have a different method of recording sexual offences to England and Wales but information on crimes and offences recorded by the police, including clear ups of crimes, can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2022-23/

Information on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Northern Ireland, including investigative outcomes, can be accessed here:

https://www.psni.police.uk/about-us/our-publications-and-reports/official-statistics/police-recorded-crime-statistics

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many charges have been brought against alleged perpetrators under the age of 18 for (a) rape and (b) serious sexual offences in each of the last five years (i) nationally and (ii) by police force area.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of rape and sexual offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, and their investigative outcomes, including the number of charge/summons. This information is published by Police Force Area on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Home Office does not hold information on perpetrators under the age of 18. Statistics on convictions in England and Wales, including rape and sexual offences by perpetrator age, are published by the Ministry of Justice, in the release Criminal Justice System Statistics Quarterly, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly

Scotland have a different method of recording sexual offences to England and Wales but information on crimes and offences recorded by the police, including clear ups of crimes, can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2022-23/

Information on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Northern Ireland, including investigative outcomes, can be accessed here:

https://www.psni.police.uk/about-us/our-publications-and-reports/official-statistics/police-recorded-crime-statistics

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many convictions there have been for (a) rape and (b) serious sexual offences where the perpetrator was under the age of 18 in each of the last five years.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of rape and sexual offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, and their investigative outcomes, including the number of charge/summons. This information is published by Police Force Area on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Home Office does not hold information on perpetrators under the age of 18. Statistics on convictions in England and Wales, including rape and sexual offences by perpetrator age, are published by the Ministry of Justice, in the release Criminal Justice System Statistics Quarterly, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly

Scotland have a different method of recording sexual offences to England and Wales but information on crimes and offences recorded by the police, including clear ups of crimes, can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2022-23/

Information on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Northern Ireland, including investigative outcomes, can be accessed here:

https://www.psni.police.uk/about-us/our-publications-and-reports/official-statistics/police-recorded-crime-statistics

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2024 to Question 24982 on Oppression, if he will publish the details of future reforms made to the systems and processes for tackling transnational repression.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The UK will not tolerate transnational repression (TNR) and will stand up for the rights of all people to live here safely and freely. The National Security Act 2023 strengthens our legal powers to counter foreign interference, and provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to deter, detect, and disrupt modern-day state threats.

The Defending Democracy Taskforce, is reviewing the UK’s response to TNR to ensure we have a robust and joined up response across government and law enforcement.

The review is nearing completion and I will be updating Parliament in due course. The review is an in-depth exploration of the issue, including material which is classified, it would therefore be inappropriate to publish the document in full. I intend to provide the House with a statement which summarises the key findings and recommendations.

It is crucial that those who believe themselves to be victims of state-backed threats report concerns to the police. At the UK - Hong Kong Symposium on 27 April, I set out that the police are in the process of finalising a new suite of resources to raise awareness and capabilities of frontline officers across the UK, which will be launched over the next few months. This will enable frontline officers to increase their understanding of the threats that foreign powers present, support their engagement with communities who may be at risk, and respond appropriately to reports from members of the public.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2024 to Question 24982 on Oppression, what his expected timetable is for the publication of his Department's review on transnational repression.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The UK will not tolerate transnational repression (TNR) and will stand up for the rights of all people to live here safely and freely. The National Security Act 2023 strengthens our legal powers to counter foreign interference, and provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to deter, detect, and disrupt modern-day state threats.

The Defending Democracy Taskforce, is reviewing the UK’s response to TNR to ensure we have a robust and joined up response across government and law enforcement.

The review is nearing completion and I will be updating Parliament in due course. The review is an in-depth exploration of the issue, including material which is classified, it would therefore be inappropriate to publish the document in full. I intend to provide the House with a statement which summarises the key findings and recommendations.

It is crucial that those who believe themselves to be victims of state-backed threats report concerns to the police. At the UK - Hong Kong Symposium on 27 April, I set out that the police are in the process of finalising a new suite of resources to raise awareness and capabilities of frontline officers across the UK, which will be launched over the next few months. This will enable frontline officers to increase their understanding of the threats that foreign powers present, support their engagement with communities who may be at risk, and respond appropriately to reports from members of the public.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May to Question 24982 on Oppression, on what date his Department announced new training for front line officers.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The UK will not tolerate transnational repression (TNR) and will stand up for the rights of all people to live here safely and freely. The National Security Act 2023 strengthens our legal powers to counter foreign interference, and provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to deter, detect, and disrupt modern-day state threats.

The Defending Democracy Taskforce, is reviewing the UK’s response to TNR to ensure we have a robust and joined up response across government and law enforcement.

The review is nearing completion and I will be updating Parliament in due course. The review is an in-depth exploration of the issue, including material which is classified, it would therefore be inappropriate to publish the document in full. I intend to provide the House with a statement which summarises the key findings and recommendations.

It is crucial that those who believe themselves to be victims of state-backed threats report concerns to the police. At the UK - Hong Kong Symposium on 27 April, I set out that the police are in the process of finalising a new suite of resources to raise awareness and capabilities of frontline officers across the UK, which will be launched over the next few months. This will enable frontline officers to increase their understanding of the threats that foreign powers present, support their engagement with communities who may be at risk, and respond appropriately to reports from members of the public.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2024 to Question 24625 on Undocumented Migrants: English Channel, if he will make it his policy to publish data on asylum seekers receiving accommodation support disaggregated by sex.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

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 relevant factors.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were (a) naturalised and (b) registered who were (i) under 18, (ii) 19 to 24, (iii) 25 to 29, (iv) 30 to 34, (v) 35 to 39, (vi) 40 to 44, (vii) 45 to 49, (viii) 50 to 54, (ix) 55 to 59, (x) 60 to 64, (xi) 65 to 69 and (xii) 70 or above in each quarter since Q1 2023.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office publishes data on citizenship in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on naturalisations and registrations broken down by age group are published in table Cit_D02 of the ‘Citizenship detailed datasets’. Age breakdowns from 2021 onwards cannot currently be provided due to ongoing work to transition underlying systems that are used to produce the data.

Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending December 2023.

Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 64 of the Migration Advisory Committee's report entitled, Rapid Review of the Graduate Route, published on 14 May 2024, if she will take steps to implement the recommendation on requiring universities to publish data on (a) their spend on recruitment agents and (b) the number of international students recruited through such agents.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Migration Advisory Committee's review’s findings are currently being considered very closely. The Government will respond to the MAC’s recommendations in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to support Palestinian families seeking reunification with relatives from Gaza.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

There are no plans to introduce bespoke arrangements for people arriving from the region. Those wishing to come to the UK who currently have no visa can apply under one of the existing visa routes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the care system, care employers, and immigrant care workers of the loss of employers’ visa sponsorship licences; and what advice they give to care workers whose employers have lost their visa sponsorship licence and cannot, therefore, sponsor the renewal of their visa.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Any decision to revoke a sponsor’s licence will only be done in circumstances where a sponsor has failed to meet the obligations and duties of being a sponsor such as ensuring workers are being paid the correct salary and given guaranteed work. Even then, this will only be where other action, such as an action plan to improve processes and compliance, would not be appropriate.

Displaced migrant workers are able to seek alternative employment providing they have a job offer from a Home Office approved sponsor and make a new application.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will consider adopting a similar approach to visa and passport arrangements with Italy and Germany as they have with France.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

At the Leaders’ Summit in Paris on 10 March 2023, as part of an overall agreement on migration reached with France, the UK committed to ease the travel of school groups to the UK by making changes to documentary requirements for schoolchildren on organised trips from France. This agreement is specific to France.

We would consider negotiating similar arrangements with other countries if they approached us in the same context.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many refugee families which include teenage children of both sexes being forced to share a single hotel room.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold data relating to numbers of teenage children of both sexes and room-sharing; families generally manage their own sleeping arrangements, post-allocation of beds and rooms.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 64 of the Migration Advisory Committee's report entitled, Rapid Review of the Graduate Route, published on 14 May 2024, if she will take steps to implement the recommendation on establishing a mandatory registration system for international recruitment agents and subagents.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Migration Advisory Committee's review’s findings are currently being considered very closely. The Government will respond to the MAC’s recommendations in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by the Migration Advisory Committee entitled Rapid review of the graduate route, published in May 2024; and whether he plans to implement each of the recommendations in full.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Migration Advisory Committee's review’s findings are currently being considered very closely. The Government will respond to the MAC’s recommendations in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to maintain routes to enable international students to (a) study and (b) make an economic contribution to the UK.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Migration Advisory Committee's review’s findings are currently being considered very closely. The Government will respond to the MAC’s recommendations in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 30 April 2024 to Question 23314 on Migrant Workers: Hospitality Industry, if he will make it his policy to (a) collect and (b) publish data on certificates of sponsorship for the hospitality industry.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office publishes data on Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) used in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on CoS used by industry are published in table ‘CoS_D01’ of the Work Sponsorship detailed dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates up to the end of December 2023.

A CoS is considered used when the visa applicant has made an application which has also received an outcome.

Hospitality is not a term used by UK Visas and Immigration when classifying job roles for immigration purposes and there are no plans to use it to gather or publish data on Certificates of Sponsorship.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the psychological impact on refugee families of (1) overcrowding, and (2) the placement of teenage children of both sexes in a single hotel room.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold data relating to numbers of teenage children of both sexes and room-sharing; families generally manage their own sleeping arrangements, post-allocation of beds and rooms.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce a policy that, where police officers have been dismissed for gross misconduct, consideration will be given as to whether their police pension should be forfeited.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

A police officer’s pension can only be forfeited by a local policing body in certain circumstances, where they have been convicted of a criminal offence committed in connection with their service. This is not unique to policing and exists in other public sector pension schemes.

The Government has no plans to amend this policy.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers with at least one disabled child who have achieved refugee status have been made homeless on achieving that status in the past 12 months.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information requested.

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered. Following the service of an asylum decision, an individual continues to be an asylum seeker for the purpose of asylum support until the end of the relevant prescribed period set out in legislation. This period is 28 calendar days from when an individual is notified of a decision to accept their asylum claim and grant them leave and we have no plans to extend this period. Whilst our legislative power is clear, we do in practice already extend support beyond this. Our current process means that individuals can remain on asylum support for at least 28 days after they have been issued a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), which means that individuals have longer than 28 days to make arrangements to move on before their asylum support ends. It is important that individuals initiate plans to move on from asylum support as soon as they are served their asylum decision in order to maximise the time they have to make move on arrangements.

We offer move on support to all individuals through Migrant Help or their partner organisation.  This includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing.  Individuals do not need to wait for their BRP to make a claim for benefits and are encouraged to do so as early as possible if they require them. Individuals can contact Migrant Help in three ways:

• The freephone line 0808 8010 503. This is available 24/7/365
• Webchat through the website at https://www.migranthelpuk.org.
• Raise an Issue via an online enquiry form, again at https://www.migranthelpuk.org.

We continue to identify and make efficiencies in supporting newly recognised refugees during the move on period and to mitigate the risk of homelessness. We are fully committed to working with partners in doing this. We have already worked closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to ensure the right asylum decision data is being shared with local authorities to enable effective planning and to lessen the impact on existing homelessness and rough sleeping pressures.  We are also utilising Home Office Liaison Officers to replicate part of the Afghan resettlement move on process. We have been working in three local authority areas since December 2023; Glasgow, Brent and Hillingdon. This has now been expanded to Manchester and Liverpool.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers with children have been made homeless on achieving refugee status in the past 12 months.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information requested.

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered. Following the service of an asylum decision, an individual continues to be an asylum seeker for the purpose of asylum support until the end of the relevant prescribed period set out in legislation. This period is 28 calendar days from when an individual is notified of a decision to accept their asylum claim and grant them leave and we have no plans to extend this period. Whilst our legislative power is clear, we do in practice already extend support beyond this. Our current process means that individuals can remain on asylum support for at least 28 days after they have been issued a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), which means that individuals have longer than 28 days to make arrangements to move on before their asylum support ends. It is important that individuals initiate plans to move on from asylum support as soon as they are served their asylum decision in order to maximise the time they have to make move on arrangements.

We offer move on support to all individuals through Migrant Help or their partner organisation.  This includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing.  Individuals do not need to wait for their BRP to make a claim for benefits and are encouraged to do so as early as possible if they require them. Individuals can contact Migrant Help in three ways:

• The freephone line 0808 8010 503. This is available 24/7/365
• Webchat through the website at https://www.migranthelpuk.org.
• Raise an Issue via an online enquiry form, again at https://www.migranthelpuk.org.

We continue to identify and make efficiencies in supporting newly recognised refugees during the move on period and to mitigate the risk of homelessness. We are fully committed to working with partners in doing this. We have already worked closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to ensure the right asylum decision data is being shared with local authorities to enable effective planning and to lessen the impact on existing homelessness and rough sleeping pressures.  We are also utilising Home Office Liaison Officers to replicate part of the Afghan resettlement move on process. We have been working in three local authority areas since December 2023; Glasgow, Brent and Hillingdon. This has now been expanded to Manchester and Liverpool.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following their press release on 1 May stating that individuals are to be detained for removal to Rwanda in the next nine to 11 weeks, how many such individuals they anticipate will be granted immigration bail in the interim.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

As all detention decisions are particular to the individual concerned it would be inappropriate to predict the extent of any related future activity.

The government has repeatedly stated that it will not be providing a running commentary on the removals process.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will implement a visa scheme to enable Palestinian children to receive critical medical treatment in the UK.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The UK is exploring how best to support the medical needs of those in Gaza, including what options can be provided in the region.

It is ultimately at the discretion of the Israeli and Egyptian authorities who can cross the border.

The Home Office is not currently considering establishing a bespoke visa scheme for Palestinian children to receive critical medical treatment in the UK. There are provisions that allow a person to come to the UK for private medical treatment under Appendix V of the Immigration Rules. If the rules are not met, careful consideration will be given on whether a grant of leave outside of the rules would be appropriate.

Should applications be submitted from Palestinian children, who have secured permission from the Israeli and Egyptian authorities to exit Gaza, requiring specialist medical treatment they will be treated with the utmost seriousness. If that leads to the identification of specific cases in which a person would be better off making the long journey to the UK to undertake treatment, we will not rule out bringing them to British hospitals, as we have done in the past.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate he has made of the average cost to the public purse of deporting a refugee to Rwanda.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

The most recently published information, which includes a breakdown of the per person costs, is the National Audit Office Report which can be found here: UK-Rwanda Partnership - NAO report.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to support counter-terrorist training for police officers in the British Overseas Territories.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

Home Office International Police Assistance Service (IPAS) carry out due diligence on all Section 26 police deployment requests for international advice and assistance (whether Counter Terrorist related or otherwise).

If the requests pass the due diligence process, IPAS will then authorise the police deployments on behalf of the Home Secretary. Having reviewed all such referrals contained on the IPAS Platform (an electronic central repository of all S26 referrals) we can confirm that there is no counter-terrorist training being delivered for police officers and staff in the British Overseas Territories.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of people who have been served with notices of intent for removal to Rwanda are (a) women and (b) unaccompanied children.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

The Home Office does not routinely publish data on the gender or age of those issued with a notice of intent.

The UK-Rwanda Treaty makes clear at Article 3 that the agreement reached between the governments of Rwanda and the UK does not cover unaccompanied children and that the UK Government shall not seek to relocate unaccompanied children under the age of 18.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress his Department has made on the (a) implementation and (b) operation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

It remains an absolute priority for the government to take all necessary steps to protect the United Kingdom from any foreign state activity which seeks to undermine our national security, prosperity and democratic values.

The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), introduced under Part 4 of the National Security Act 2023, will support this aim by increasing transparency of foreign influence in UK politics and by providing greater assurance around the activities of specified foreign powers or foreign power-controlled entities.

We intend that the scheme will become operational in Autumn 2024. The work to deliver this is underway, including ensuring regulations on the new powers covered in the National Security Act are fully consulted on and are laid in Parliament as Statutory Instruments in advance of ‘go live’ of the scheme.

The Government expects to publicise the intended ‘go live’ date several months in advance to ensure those affected by the scheme are given sufficient time to prepare.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the corporate report entitled Animals in Science Regulation Unit annual report 2022, published on 25 April 2024, if he will make an assessment of the reasons for increases in incidents involving failure to provide adequate care for animals.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The Home Office takes non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 very seriously. The numbers of non-compliance cases vary in any given year. In 2022 the Animals in Science Regulation Unit introduced improvements in how non-compliance is reported, which includes self-reporting. The self-reporting of non-compliance by establishments is vital to assure a culture of compliance. The increase in numbers of reported non-compliances in the annual report was driven by increased self-reporting.

The Animals in Science Regulation Unit will further evaluate trends in non-compliance as its regulatory reform programme develops. Every case is investigated, and remedies and sanctions applied according to its published non-compliance policy.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle state threats to (a) national and (b) economic security.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

As set out in the Integrated Review and Refresh, the Government is committed to strengthening the UK's defences against state threats. The Home Office has an important role in the cross-government response. Through the National Security Act 2023, we have brought together vital new measures to protect our national security, which will enable our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to deter, detect and disrupt the full range of modern-day state threats.

I also lead the Defending Democracy Taskforce, which seeks to protect the democratic integrity of the UK from threats of foreign interference.

The Home Office also plays an active role in all aspects of protecting the UK’s economic security, including contributing to relevant National Security and Investment Act work which gives the government powers to scrutinise and intervene in business transactions, to protect national security, while providing businesses and investors with the certainty and transparency they need to do business in the UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) training and (b) support the National Crime Agency is providing in the British Overseas Territories.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The National Crime Agency works closely with other UK Government Departments, including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Home Office to deliver training and build capacity in overseas jurisdictions.

Most recently the National Crime Agency has taken part in an exchange of best practice with the British Overseas Territories that have INTERPOL Sub Bureaus. The National Crime Agency has bilateral relationships with many of the British Overseas Territories and works closely with the International Police Assistance Service to ascertain which Agency is best placed to provide support.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to strengthen sanctions for those who breach conditions of a licence to conduct animal experiments for scientific research.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The Home Office takes non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 very seriously.

The Animals in Science Regulation Unit applies sanctions in cases of non-compliance in accordance with its compliance policy, which aims to reduce the risk of future non-compliance.

More rigorous sanctions are used in cases where animal welfare is impacted or there are significant systems failures.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied children are recorded as missing from asylum hotels as of 16 May 2024.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

There are no unaccompanied asylum-seeking children housed in hotels.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of children have refused their (a) first and (b) second move on the National Transfer Scheme; and what guidance his Department issues on refusals by children to move through the National Transfer Scheme.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

The decision for any UAS child to be referred to the NTS for transfer lies with the local authority as the child’s corporate parent. The NTS Protocol sets out the criteria for referring a child to the NTS, and the associated timeframes, which can be found here: Unaccompanied asylum seeking children: national transfer scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The NTS Protocol also outlines the escalation procedure on how to proceed when any issues arise between the receiving local authority around a transfer.

The most recent published data can be found at: RASI (Resettlement, Asylum Support and Integration) data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of children who have been allocated a transfer to a local authority through the National Transfer Scheme have been refused by that local authority.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

The decision for any UAS child to be referred to the NTS for transfer lies with the local authority as the child’s corporate parent. The NTS Protocol sets out the criteria for referring a child to the NTS, and the associated timeframes, which can be found here: Unaccompanied asylum seeking children: national transfer scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The NTS Protocol also outlines the escalation procedure on how to proceed when any issues arise between the receiving local authority around a transfer.

The most recent published data can be found at: RASI (Resettlement, Asylum Support and Integration) data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has issued guidance on the time period within which young people should be (a) referred to the National Transfer Scheme and (b) moved to the receiving local authority.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

The decision for any UAS child to be referred to the NTS for transfer lies with the local authority as the child’s corporate parent. The NTS Protocol sets out the criteria for referring a child to the NTS, and the associated timeframes, which can be found here: Unaccompanied asylum seeking children: national transfer scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The NTS Protocol also outlines the escalation procedure on how to proceed when any issues arise between the receiving local authority around a transfer.

The most recent published data can be found at: RASI (Resettlement, Asylum Support and Integration) data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to bring forward the Draft Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The Government is committed to introducing this important piece of legislation to Parliament, as announced in the King’s Speech on 7 November.

The Government launched a public consultation on the requirements within the Standard Tier, which closed on 18 March. We are currently reviewing the consultation findings to ensure that all feedback is fully considered and that the measures included in Martyn’s Law are proportionate, and that they do not place an undue burden on premises within scope.

We will introduce the Bill as soon as parliamentary time allows, and I am happy to write to the Honourable Member and Parliament once the Bill is introduced.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance his Department issues to asylum seekers on (a) housing, (b) work rights and (c) recourse to public funds once they have been granted leave to remain.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Individuals granted asylum have access to the labour market and to mainstream services that support their integration, including benefits and healthcare. We are working across Government to ensure these services meet the needs of all newly granted refugees.

Support is offered from Migrant Help or their partner organisation to all individuals when they receive a decision on their asylum claim. This support includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals were arrested in connection with suspected (a) live streamed online child sexual abuse and (b) exploitative behaviour in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021, (iii) 2022 and (iv) 2023; and if he will list the nationalities of suspected overseas victims.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

The Home Office collects and publishes data on arrests as part of the annual ‘Police Powers and Procedures’ statistical bulletin. The most recent data up to the year ending March 2023 is available on gov.uk. There is no specific offence of livestreamed child sexual abuse or exploitative behaviour. Arrest data is collected by broader offence group e.g. “sexual offences”.

The Home Office does not hold information relating to the nationality of victims of crime.

However, the Government provides dedicated funding to the National Crime Agency and a network of Undercover Online Officers in Regional Organised Crime Units to tackle the highest harm child sexual abuse offenders, including those engaged in the livestreaming of child sexual abuse. Our understanding of the nature and scale of livestreamed child sexual abuse is informed by threat assessments produced by the National Assessment Centre and other organisations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the budget allocated to his Department's Illegal Migration Operations Command was for financial year (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

For security reasons, the Home Office does not provide data of staff working within the Illegal Migrations of Operation Command or on its resourcing plans.

The Home Office continues to ensure appropriate staffing levels are maintained. As with all government departments, we remain committed to accessing the best talent and skills into the Civil Service while adhering to headcount caps, maximising efficiency and delivering for the public whilst retaining maximum value for the taxpayer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full-time equivalent members of staff were working in Illegal Migration Operations Command on 1 April 2024.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

For security reasons, the Home Office does not provide data of staff working within the Illegal Migrations of Operation Command or on its resourcing plans.

The Home Office continues to ensure appropriate staffing levels are maintained. As with all government departments, we remain committed to accessing the best talent and skills into the Civil Service while adhering to headcount caps, maximising efficiency and delivering for the public whilst retaining maximum value for the taxpayer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit annual report 2022, published on 25 April 2024, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to (a) help increase compliance with (i) legislation and (ii) licence conditions with respect to the provision of care for animals and (b) support the replacement of animal (A) research and (B) testing with (1) organ-on-a-chip, (2) computer modelling and (3) other human-specific technologies.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The Home Office Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU) has embarked on an ambitious agenda of regulatory reform. The ASRU Regulatory Reform Programme aims to deliver leading regulatory practice, improving how ASRU meets best practice regulatory standards, and enhancing ASRU’s ability to protect animals in scientific testing and research. As part of reforms ASRU will be reviewing and strengthening its licensing and audit processes, with a focus on improving compliance with the legislation and providing a quality service to the science sector.

This Government has committed to soon publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science. The Government recently announced that it will double investment, from £10m to £20m per annum, in research to achieve the three Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement) with a focus on the development of non-animal alternatives.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many investigations were undertaken by the National Crime Agency anti-corruption unit in each year since 2015 by reason for investigation.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The National Crime Agency is unable to disclose details of investigations by the Anti-Corruption Unit, as this information is operationally sensitive.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his Department's policy is on the procurement of (a) food and (b) drinks produced in Britain for use in its canteens and restaurants.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Catering services for our canteens and restaurants are provided by our Facilities Management providers on a regional basis. This service provides sustainable and ethical food, adhering to government buying standards.

This compromises of several categories, which include:

• Production standards
• Traceability
• Authenticity
• Origin of meat & diary
• Animal welfare
• Eggs
• Palm oil
• Fish and seasonal produce.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the number of hotels that will be used as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to accommodate asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute and accommodation needs are kept under continuous review. 

Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab). Data is published on a quarterly basis.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many positions within his Department's Illegal Migration Operations Command were vacant on 1 April 2024.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

For security reasons, the Home Office does not provide data of staff working within the Illegal Migrations of Operation Command or on its resourcing plans.

The Home Office continues to ensure appropriate staffing levels are maintained. As with all government departments, we remain committed to accessing the best talent and skills into the Civil Service while adhering to headcount caps, maximising efficiency and delivering for the public whilst retaining maximum value for the taxpayer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) work and (b) family visas were issued to people aged (i) between (A) 18 and 24, (B) 25 and 34, (C) 35 and 44, (D) 45 and 54 and (E) 55 and 64 and (ii) 65 and over in each year since 2010.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The number of work or family applications for entry clearance to the UK that are broken down by age group does not form part of any current transparency data or migration statistics and is not published.

The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data#uk-visas-and-immigration

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to update the definition of serious and organised crime.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

We recently published a definition of serious and organised crime as part of the Serious and Organised Crime Strategy, published in December 2023.

We have no current plans to publish an updated definition.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department is taking steps through the criminal justice system to support small businesses affected by criminal damage.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates 623k criminal damage offences in the year ending December 2023, which is a decrease of -73.9% since year ending March 2010.

The Government is working to reduce crime against businesses. Police forces across England and Wales made a significant commitment to follow up on any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead them to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. This is a substantial and meaningful commitment that we believe will help drive down crime, improve investigations and improve the criminal justice system outcomes to support all victims.

We are taking action to support the retail sector, including small, independent retailers. The Government’s plan – "Fighting retail crime: more action" was launched on 10 April and includes commitments to make it easier for small independent businesses to report crime to the police.

In 2021-22, the Home Office provided £75,000 to the National Business Crime Centre to support the creation of a retail crime hub on their website and to establish it as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for business crime. The crime hub hosts a range of information and crime prevention guidance for businesses, including specific resources for preventing shop theft and prolific offending: Business Support (nbcc.police.uk). The Home Office will be providing further funding to the NBCC to carry out commitments in the Government’s retail crime plan.

We know anti-social behaviour blights neighbourhoods, makes people’s lives a misery and stops businesses and individuals from flourishing. That is why last year the Government launched the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan to crack down on anti-social behaviour and restore public confidence that these crimes will be quickly and visibly punished.  Under the Plan, which is backed by £160m of funding, we are supporting increased patrols in anti-social behaviour hotspot areas, and making sure offenders are made to repair the damage they cause, in some cases within as little as 48 hours.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of the mobile phone industry on using technology to prevent stolen phones from being re-used.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Crime Survey for England and Wales data about the level of mobile phone victimisation (drawn from interviews conducted in the year to March 2023) shows a fall of over 70% in the rate (1.7% to 0.4%) and number (752,000 to 196,000) of owners experiencing mobile phone theft, when compared to findings from CSEW interviews conducted in the year to March 2010.

While mobile phone theft has fallen significantly across England and Wales, reports about the scale of phone theft in London are concerning. The Home Office is therefore working closely with police and industry to tackle mobile phone thefts, and will consider evidence suggesting where new action is needed. Recent meetings have taken place.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to take steps to help local authorities in Greater London tackle the illegal use of e-scooters.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Enforcement of road traffic law, including in relation to the illegal use of e-scooters, is an operational matter for the Mayor of London, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to decide how to deploy available resources, taking into account any specific local problems and demands.

The Government will continue to support the police to ensure they have the tools needed to enforce road traffic legislation, including those relating to offences involving e-scooters.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle (a) antisocial behaviour and (b) other (i) dangerous and (ii) illicit acts caused by illegal drug cultivation.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities. The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.

Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.

Last year the Government launched the Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan ensuring the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies have the tools and powers they need to tackle anti-social behaviour. Under the Plan, which is backed by £160m of funding, we are taking a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of anti-social behaviour, including by toughening up the police response to drugs, expanding testing on arrest and banning nitrous oxide.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department is taking steps to help the London Fire Brigade tackle electrical vehicle fires.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

To help reduce the fire risks associated with lithium-ion batteries in personal light electric vehicles (PLEVs), such as e-bikes and e-scooters, the Home Office has convened a working group of Government departments, the National fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and London Fire Brigade. As part of this group, the Home Office working to raise awareness of safe use, storage and charging of PLEVs within residential buildings. With London Fire Brigade’s permission and cooperation, we have adapted the #ChargeSafe campaign materials for national use and made these available to fire and rescue services to support local engagement activity.

In addition, the Home Office is collaborating with the NFCC, on behalf of all fire and rescue services, to undertake electric vehicle fire safety research to gather scientific evidence on electric vehicle battery fires and associated firefighting tactics.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to reduce shoplifting in Suffolk.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2010 our communities are safer, with neighbourhood crimes including burglary, robbery and theft from the person down 48% and overall violent crime down 44%, and with more police officers on the streets than in 2010.

However, there has been a worrying rise in shoplifting and violence towards retail workers, which we need to address.

Police Recorded Crime figures show shoplifting offences increased by 37% in the 12 months to December 2023. Although, the number of people charged with shoplifting offences in the same period rose by 46%, showing the police are heeding the message and taking action.

The Government has taken a number of recent significant steps to reduce and prevent retail crime. Our plan – "Fighting retail crime: more action" was launched on 10 April, which highlights five areas of work this Government will drive forward to tackle retail crime. This will include us introducing a presumption towards electronic monitoring as part of a sentence served in the community for those who repeatedly steal from shops. We will develop a retail theft electronic monitoring (EM) ‘package’, to offer sentencers starting in a pilot area, a clear community sentence pathway for repeat retail theft offenders.

This builds on the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan, which includes a commitment to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Figures published by the NPCC show early signs of progress.

Furthermore, we will bring forward legislative changes to introduce a presumption towards electronic monitoring as part of a sentence served in the community for those who repeatedly steal from shops. This legislative change will provide that on the third sentencing occasion, an offender would be electronically monitored as part of any community sentence or post-release for the duration of any licence period.

Under section 176 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, low-value shoplifting (value of £200 or less) is a summary offence, unless an adult elects to be tried in the Crown Court. Where a summary offence is committed, the case can be handled as a police-led prosecution.

Police-led prosecutions were introduced to improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system by allowing for a simpler, more proportionate police-led process in high-volume, low-level, uncontested cases. This route enables cases to be handled more speedily, rather than cases having to go to the CPS and through the Crown Court.

Repealing this would mean victims of shoplifting have to wait longer for cases to come to court.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports that the City of London Police have seized 140 illegal e-bikes and e-scooters, whether they plan to direct or encourage all police forces to confiscate e-bikes which have been configured to exceed the 15.5 miles per hour limit.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Decisions on e-bike seizure is an operational matter for Chief Officers who will decide how to deploy available resources, taking into account any specific local problems and demands.

The Government will continue to support the police to ensure they have the tools needed to enforce road traffic legislation, including those relating to offences involving e-scooters.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help ensure the adequacy of wellbeing support for (a) officers and (b) other staff in police forces.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government takes very seriously the mental health of the police workforce and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Through the Police Covenant we have made significant progress on our initial priorities, including delivering pre-employment mental health support for the police workforce, launching a family support pack, improving occupational health standards in all forces and appointing a Chief Medical Officer for policing.

We also continue to fund the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS). The service is helping forces and individuals to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.

The Home Office also provided funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. The NPWS will introduce the new independent and confidential support line imminently. This will be a dedicated phone line for policing staffed by qualified counsellors who have specialised training in crisis intervention and suicide prevention. The line will initially be available to all police officers and staff within the North East Region, with the view to expanding to all regions in England and Wales in 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mental health support is available to police officers in England; and what steps her Department takes to make police officers aware of that support.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government takes very seriously the mental health of the police workforce and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Through the Police Covenant we have made significant progress on our initial priorities, including delivering pre-employment mental health support for the police workforce, launching a family support pack, improving occupational health standards in all forces and appointing a Chief Medical Officer for policing.

We also continue to fund the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS). The service is helping forces and individuals to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.

The Home Office also provided funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. The NPWS will introduce the new independent and confidential support line imminently. This will be a dedicated phone line for policing staffed by qualified counsellors who have specialised training in crisis intervention and suicide prevention. The line will initially be available to all police officers and staff within the North East Region, with the view to expanding to all regions in England and Wales in 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help ensure the adequacy of mental health support for staff in police forces.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government takes very seriously the mental health of the police workforce and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Through the Police Covenant we have made significant progress on our initial priorities, including delivering pre-employment mental health support for the police workforce, launching a family support pack, improving occupational health standards in all forces and appointing a Chief Medical Officer for policing.

We also continue to fund the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS). The service is helping forces and individuals to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.

The Home Office also provided funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. The NPWS will introduce the new independent and confidential support line imminently. This will be a dedicated phone line for policing staffed by qualified counsellors who have specialised training in crisis intervention and suicide prevention. The line will initially be available to all police officers and staff within the North East Region, with the view to expanding to all regions in England and Wales in 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his planned timetable is for the commencement of a 24/7 mental health crisis support line for police forces staff.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government takes very seriously the mental health of the police workforce and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Through the Police Covenant we have made significant progress on our initial priorities, including delivering pre-employment mental health support for the police workforce, launching a family support pack, improving occupational health standards in all forces and appointing a Chief Medical Officer for policing.

We also continue to fund the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS). The service is helping forces and individuals to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.

The Home Office also provided funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. The NPWS will introduce the new independent and confidential support line imminently. This will be a dedicated phone line for policing staffed by qualified counsellors who have specialised training in crisis intervention and suicide prevention. The line will initially be available to all police officers and staff within the North East Region, with the view to expanding to all regions in England and Wales in 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mental health support is available to police officers; and how that support is promoted to officers.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government takes very seriously the mental health of the police workforce and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Through the Police Covenant we have made significant progress on our initial priorities, including delivering pre-employment mental health support for the police workforce, launching a family support pack, improving occupational health standards in all forces and appointing a Chief Medical Officer for policing.

We also continue to fund the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS). The service is helping forces and individuals to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.

The Home Office also provided funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. The NPWS will introduce the new independent and confidential support line imminently. This will be a dedicated phone line for policing staffed by qualified counsellors who have specialised training in crisis intervention and suicide prevention. The line will initially be available to all police officers and staff within the North East Region, with the view to expanding to all regions in England and Wales in 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) collecting and (b) publishing data on the number and proportion of police officers taking sick leave who have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Supporting the wellbeing and mental health of our police officers is a priority for this Government. Through the Police Covenant we are delivering meaningful changes that will support all who work in policing.

The Home Office collects data on the number of officers on long-term sickness absence, including any recognised medical condition, physical or psychological, as reported by the officer or a medical practitioner. The reason for long-term sickness is not collected. We recognise the importance of understanding what mental health or wellbeing challenges members of the police workforce may face. That is why we continue to the fund the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) to conduct the annual National Police Wellbeing Survey, the findings of which directly inform the ongoing development of the Police Covenant.

Found: International Trade dated 14 June Health dated 14 June Defence dated 15 June Education dated 17 June Home

Found: Migration & Citizenship, Senior Responsible Officer, Future Border & Immigration System Programme at Home

Found: The ESN project was required in response to the decision by the Home Office to replace the Airwave system

Found: of Lancaster, Cabinet Office , Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MP, Minister of State (Minister for Security), Home

Found: in the United Kingdom 146 Increase the taxes on fireworks 40 Closed on 15 May 2024 Review how Home

Found: Asylum Seekers in the UK Michael Tomlinson KC MP, Minister of State for Countering Illegal Migration, Home

Found: Correspondence from the Rt Hon Chris Philp M P, Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire, Home

Found: We asked the Home Office how it got its estimates so wrong.

Found: provided to the Civil Service. 208 On top of that, CSL was split between the Cabinet Office and the Home

Found: However, the Home Office stated in its response to the latest consultation that it is considering future

Found: responses, all key departments were represented in the crisis centre, including the Ministry of Defence, Home

Found: individuals to come (or apply to come) to the UK for the purpose of making an asylum claim and Home

Found: A key barrier that prevents people in Home Office initial and contingency accommodation accessing NHS

Found: longer than 72 hours, which is the time limit on detaining pregnant women.14 Worryingly, the Home

Found: The Home Office decided that her asylum claim had to be processed in France because France confirmed

Found: Office recently stated it cannot provide basic information on the detention of pregnant women at

Found: Many across the sector raised concerns about the use of Home Office commissioned hotels, particularly

Found: This year alone with only 03 quarters of data available from Home office statistics 9 suggests that

Found: We also interviewed over 50 practitioners and Home Office officials, 13 of whom were ‘experts’ in Albanian

Found: Meanwhile, the hotels, MEARS and Home Office are profiting from people being placed in hotel accommodation

Found: The Independent Family Returns Panel was established to provide advice to the Home Office on the

Found: Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre the implementation of official policy, whether directed by the Home

Found: One person we support received a Home Office decision 11 months after her application, preventing

Found: People are struggling to pay for a bus to attend a crucial Home Office or health appointments.

Found: According to the Home Office (How many people do we grant protection to?

Found: Immigration detention in the UK is for administrative purposes, not criminal justice; the Home Office

Found: Office recently stated it cannot provide basic information on the detention of pregnant women

Found: In dispersal accommodation, Home Office (HO) contracted private companies are not required to provide

Found: For example, Home Office guidance as to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 defines a strip-search

Found: Letter dated 20 May 2024 from The Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MBE VR MP, Security Minister, Home Office to the

Found: . • Extended Area Service: The Home Office is making available up to 292 masts in remote parts of the

Found: Civil society organisations lambasted the Home Office endorsement as ‘yet another example’ of a

Found: In addition, according to founders, there are two critical departments – HMRC and the Home Office –

Found: review of the activities and strategy of Counter Disinformation Unit within the next 12 months.”26 Home

Found: applications11. a)For example, if AI is applied in law enforcement, such as in predictive policing by the Home

Found: for IMGs, leaving this for ICBs to cover locally or for IMGs to personally navigate with the Home

Found: basis also remain historically low. 26.Further the end-to-end rape review jointly published by Home

Found: The next Government should work across departments including DHSC, DSIT, Education and the Home Office

Found: For example, we are working with the Home Office and Ministry of Defence on longer term capability

Found: LAA also said that it was in constant dialogue with the Home Office around dispersal plans for refugees

Found: Letter to Rt Hon Chris Philp MP, Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire at the Home Office on the Home

Found: Hon James Cle verly MP Rt Hon Alex Chalk KC MP Home Secretary Secretary of State for Ju stice Home

Found: CH MP 24 May 2024 Tom Pursglove MP Minister of State for Legal Migration and the Border Home

Found: Association ( BVA) to understand the potential impact of this and subsequently held discussions with Home

Found: 25 Ofcom, ‘Consultation: Protecting people from illegal harms online ’, accessed 23 May 2024 26 Home

Found: found they did not tell the full story. b) Full Fact highlighted a number of instances in which the Home

Found: 964 HL 135 12th Legislative Scrutiny: Nationality and Borders Bill (Parts 1, 2 and 4) – Asylum, Home

Found: Home Office data already shows that 44% fewer students and dependants applied for sponsored study visas

Found: finding that the graduate route continues to broadly achieve the key objectives outlined by the Home

Found: Chartered Surveyors opportunities afternoon in Westminster and a Q and A with the Chair of the Home

Found: Figures from the Home Office published earlier this month found that visa applications affected by

Found: domestic student fees combined make up 39% of total income at Russell Group universities.5 4 Home

Found: Recent Home Office figures show that the ban on bringing dependents to the UK has already been successful

Found: Royal Academy of Engineering research found that of the 32 standard occupations listed in the Home

Found: James Cleverly MP, Home Secretary, Home Office, re Departmental Minute regarding use of contingent liability

Found: We continue to work closely with partners in the Home Office to share concerns and intelligence related

Found: trainee Official Veterinarian ( OV) route, as well as for qualified OVs, to be exempt from the new Home

Found: soon as possible to agree a definition for Child Criminal Exploitation which takes account of current Home

Found: Office with the goal of presenting a policy proposal which will help individuals with no recourse

Found: of State for Legal Migration and the Border 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF www.gov.uk/home

Found: At a time when the Home Office is urging churches to think carefully about their security arrangements

Found: apply for them in order to avoid the difficulties of proof set out above in their dealing with the Home

Found: The Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are working with the care sector

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many drivers in England and Wales have been charged with (1) causing death by dangerous driving, and (2) causing death by careless driving, in the past five years; how many of those were found guilty; and what estimate they have made of the number of deaths that have been caused by dangerous or careless cycling in the past five years.

Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of ‘Death or serious injury - unlawful driving’ offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, and their investigative outcomes, including the numbers of charges and summonses. This information is published on a quarterly basis.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of offenders found guilty of criminal offences in England and Wales, up to December 2023.

Information on the number of offenders convicted for causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving for the requested period can be found in Table 1.

The Department for Transport publishes statistics on personal injury road collisions reported to police in Great Britain, based on data collected via the STATS19 system. STATS19 does not attribute cause of collision and so it is not possible to determine the number of deaths caused by dangerous or careless cycling from this data.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's statistics entitled Fraud and error in the benefit system, Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2024, published on 16 May 2024, how much of the £7.4 billion overpayment due to fraud is due to serious and organised crime.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department uses the definition as set out by the Home Office - ‘’ We define serious and organised crime as individuals planning, co-ordinating and committing serious offences, whether individually, in groups and/or as part of transnational networks’’.

The Department has a strong counter-fraud function, which includes specifically targeting serious and organised crime including cyber-crime, which identifies and stops illegal activity and saves money for the taxpayer.

Current estimates are that serious and organised crime directly accounts for no more than 6% of the £7.4 billion of benefit fraud reported in the 2023/24 statistics, as it is most likely captured in the Abroad and Conditions of Entitlement (Identity) categories of fraud reported there.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what definition his Department uses for serious and organised crime.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department uses the definition as set out by the Home Office - ‘’ We define serious and organised crime as individuals planning, co-ordinating and committing serious offences, whether individually, in groups and/or as part of transnational networks’’.

The Department has a strong counter-fraud function, which includes specifically targeting serious and organised crime including cyber-crime, which identifies and stops illegal activity and saves money for the taxpayer.

Current estimates are that serious and organised crime directly accounts for no more than 6% of the £7.4 billion of benefit fraud reported in the 2023/24 statistics, as it is most likely captured in the Abroad and Conditions of Entitlement (Identity) categories of fraud reported there.

Found: leave under one of the Ukraine Schemes” was inserted by S.I. 2022/534. (5)On 19th February 2024 the Home

Found: Tribunals Service (HMCTS), the Senior Presiding Judge, the President of the King’s Bench Division, the Home

Found: the best of your knowledge none of you, your group or your personnel have at any time appeared on the Home

Found: DCLG24PFI Special Grants (Current)25Specific Grants from DfE26Specific Grants from DWP27Police Grants (Home

Found: REBATES26Initiator54153600EXP - Curr GRANTS TO LG - HB & COUNTIL TAX ADMIN26InitiatorMatch Relationship 27- Police Grants (Home

Found: be relevant for other contracting authorities whose principal function is not intelligence, e.g. the Home

Found: household provided that this restriction shall not prevent occupiers of the Premises working from a home

Found: household provided that this restriction shall not prevent occupiers of the Premises working from a home

Found: Office.

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Found: It is common practice to work with local Home Office Police Forces to either atten d incidents at their

Found: of antisemitic violent crimes recorded, in each month of 2021, 2022 and 2023, which fell into the Home

Found: A number of Government departments and agencies for their support, including the Home Office, Ministry

Found: From: Department for Business and Trade, Companies House, The Insolvency Service and Home Office Published

Found: Registry 22 HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor 23 HM Revenue and Customs Page 6 of 7 24 Home

Found: not attracting the highest earners who contribute to our economy. after analysis from HMRC and the Home

Found: Office and introduced new categories: Protection, Human Rights, EEA Free Movement and Revocation of

Found: FIA_1 6 The Immigration Act 2014 removed a number of appeal rights against Home Office and introduced

Found: 0.142857142857143 0 0.0 106 7 0.0660377358490566 0 0.0 99 5 0.0505050505050505 0 0.0 53 0 0.0 0 0.0 Home

Found: Office Windrush generation and the Home Office Introduction from the Committee The Home Office

Found: Office Windrush generation and the Home Office Introduction from the Committee The Home Office

Found: if followed, should make a material difference to the quality of services provided for women. 1 Home

Found: “The CNC continues to engage and respond to the Home Office inquiry into the murder of Sarah Everard

Found: From: Department for Business and Trade, Companies House, The Insolvency Service and Home Office Published

Found: A number of Government departments and agencies for their support, including the Home Office, Ministry

Found: Communications Association Awards 01/06/2021 ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE, LONDON 990.00 Training and development Home

Found: from May 2021 statement) 28/06/2021 ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE, LONDON 510.00 Training and development Home

Found: For non-criteria cases, removal is nevertheless being pursued by the Home Office due to wider considerations

Found: and International applications for new, renewed, replacement, updated or extended UK passports 5 The Home

Found: From: Home Office and Immigration Enforcement Published 23 May 2024 Get emails about this

Found: From: Home Office and HM Passport Office Published 23 May 2024 Get emails about this page

Found: From: Home Office and HM Passport Office Published 23 May 2024 Get emails about this page

Found: From: Home Office and Border Force Published 23 May 2024 Get emails about this page

Found: From: Home Office, Immigration Enforcement, Border Force and HM Passport Office Published 23 May 2024

Found: Office in their annual report.

Found: Hayes, Patricia - Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office - ACOBA Advice

Found: Hayes, Patricia - Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office - ACOBA Advice

Found: Hayes, Patricia - Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office - ACOBA Advice

Found: Hayes, Patricia - Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office - ACOBA Advice

Found: Hayes, Patricia - Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office - ACOBA Advice

Found: The third authority to which I was referred is Shah v The Home Office [2024] EAT 21, a recent decision

Found: employer to the Clai mant's racial group from which a Tribunal might infer unlawful discrimination” (see Home

Found: Heather was first appointed by the Home Office on 7 June 2021 for a period of 3 years.

Found: not attracting the highest earners who contribute to our economy. after analysis from HMRC and the Home

Found: We will continue to work with the industry, the Home Office, police, and others to ensure that public

Found: OverarchingEconomicCrimeMeasuresIA.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-and-corporate-transparency-bill-2022-home-office-measures-rpc-opinion-green-rated2022

Found: if followed, should make a material difference to the quality of services provided for women. 1 Home

Found: The Home Office has met the Prime Minister’s pledge to clear the legacy backlog of asylum cases (those

Found: As these powers have not been commenced, the Home Office does not believe any asylum seekers under 18

Found: office accommodation. 1.24 In 2023/24 there were 328 homeless presentations from these household

Found: that we are unable to pay SCP specifically to those with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), as the Home

Found: the hostile environment and these issues have been exacerbated by accelerated decision making by the Home