Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to allow all licensed pubs and restaurants to provide (a) off-sales and (b) take-away pints.

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

The Government recognises the important role that pubs and restaurants play in local communities and the wider economy. The temporary easement introduced during the pandemic, which allowed on-trade premises to provide off-sales without a variation, expired on 31 March 2025.

Businesses wishing to offer off-sales or takeaway pints can apply to vary their existing premises licence through existing processes under the Licensing Act 2003 for £89. New licence applicants already have the ability to request a license for both ‘on’ and ‘off’ sales at no additional cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds data on the number of people who were (a) referred to the Prevent programme for an initial assessment and (b) did not live in the UK (i) 3 and (ii) 5 years ago in the latest period for which data is available.

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

Prevent aims to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It works to ensure that people who are susceptible to radicalisation are offered appropriate interventions and support, and that communities are protected against radicalising influences.

The Home Office produces annual statistics on GOV.UK and provides official statistics on the number of individuals recorded as having been referred to and supported through the Prevent programme in England and Wales, from 1 April to 31 March each year which can be found here: Individuals referred to and supported through the Prevent Programme statistics - GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who have faced identity fraud through impersonation.

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

Cifas, a not-for-profit fraud prevention organisation, holds records of first and third-party fraud risk, including identity fraud. In the first six months of 2025, Cifas reported that over 118,000 identity fraud cases were reported to their NFD in their Fraudscape 2025 six-month update (Fraudscape 2025 - Cifas).

Identity theft is not a standalone criminal offence and not included in official crime statistics The Independent Review of Fraud Offences will consider whether a specific offence for identity theft is needed.

We also recognise that one of the most effective ways of preventing identity theft enabled fraud is to improve the safety and security of the identity systems we use. The Government is developing proposals for a digital identity system, to enable people to prove their identity securely, without physical documents, with the aim of reducing identity-enabled fraud and crime. Information on digital identity and the Trust Framework can be found here: UK digital identity and attributes trust framework - GOV.UK.

It is also important to empower the public to protect themselves and keep their identities safe. That is why we have introduced a checklist, providing advice and steps on how to prevent the misuse of identities: Identity fraud victims' checklist.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help protect people from identity fraud through impersonation.

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

Cifas, a not-for-profit fraud prevention organisation, holds records of first and third-party fraud risk, including identity fraud. In the first six months of 2025, Cifas reported that over 118,000 identity fraud cases were reported to their NFD in their Fraudscape 2025 six-month update (Fraudscape 2025 - Cifas).

Identity theft is not a standalone criminal offence and not included in official crime statistics The Independent Review of Fraud Offences will consider whether a specific offence for identity theft is needed.

We also recognise that one of the most effective ways of preventing identity theft enabled fraud is to improve the safety and security of the identity systems we use. The Government is developing proposals for a digital identity system, to enable people to prove their identity securely, without physical documents, with the aim of reducing identity-enabled fraud and crime. Information on digital identity and the Trust Framework can be found here: UK digital identity and attributes trust framework - GOV.UK.

It is also important to empower the public to protect themselves and keep their identities safe. That is why we have introduced a checklist, providing advice and steps on how to prevent the misuse of identities: Identity fraud victims' checklist.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department requires staff in multi-agency safeguarding hubs to receive safeguarding training on the risks of non-intimate partner coercive and controlling behaviour of older victims.

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

Coercive and controlling behaviour (CCB) is a particularly insidious form of domestic abuse and I recognise the long-term emotional and psychological distress it can cause victims, including older people.

Statutory guidance on CCB has been issued to the police and other agencies, which can be found here [Controlling or coercive behaviour statutory guidance]. In addition, the Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance is clear that older victims may face additional challenges and barriers in accessing support and that it is crucial that they get the support they need.

Multi-agency safeguarding hubs have a crucial role to play in the safeguarding system by keeping vulnerable adults, including vulnerable people, safe. Multi-agency safeguarding hubs are non-statutory, and models and ways of working vary between areas. As these are local initiatives, local authorities are best placed to make decisions on the training and guidance required for staff.

The Government is committed to tackling the abuse of older people. We are providing the specialist organisation Hourglass with £532,121 this year. This funding will provide enhanced helpline support with a focus on reaching marginalised communities across England and Wales by providing more training to staff in their organisation and external agencies.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has provided guidance for multi-agency staff on non-intimate partner coercive and controlling behaviour of older victims.

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

Coercive and controlling behaviour (CCB) is a particularly insidious form of domestic abuse and I recognise the long-term emotional and psychological distress it can cause victims, including older people.

Statutory guidance on CCB has been issued to the police and other agencies, which can be found here [Controlling or coercive behaviour statutory guidance]. In addition, the Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance is clear that older victims may face additional challenges and barriers in accessing support and that it is crucial that they get the support they need.

Multi-agency safeguarding hubs have a crucial role to play in the safeguarding system by keeping vulnerable adults, including vulnerable people, safe. Multi-agency safeguarding hubs are non-statutory, and models and ways of working vary between areas. As these are local initiatives, local authorities are best placed to make decisions on the training and guidance required for staff.

The Government is committed to tackling the abuse of older people. We are providing the specialist organisation Hourglass with £532,121 this year. This funding will provide enhanced helpline support with a focus on reaching marginalised communities across England and Wales by providing more training to staff in their organisation and external agencies.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of measures to protect women and girls from harassment, abuse and intimidation.

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

Everyone has the right to both feel safe and be safe going about their day-to-day lives and the scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in our country is intolerable.

We recognise that public sexual harassment is a crime that often leaves victims, who are disproportionately likely to be women, feeling very unsafe. That is why tackling it is very much an important part of our ambition to halve VAWG in a decade.

Once in force, the Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Act 2023 will help tackle this issue and ensure women both feel and are safer on our streets.

We are also working tirelessly across Government to deliver a new VAWG Strategy, which will set out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver the Government’s objectives on VAWG.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department requires mandatory training in coercive and controlling behaviour for all staff in multi-agency safeguarding hubs.

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

Coercive and controlling behaviour (CCB) is a particularly insidious form of domestic abuse and I recognise the long-term emotional and psychological distress it can cause victims, including older people.

Statutory guidance on CCB has been issued to the police and other agencies, which can be found here [Controlling or coercive behaviour statutory guidance]. In addition, the Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance is clear that older victims may face additional challenges and barriers in accessing support and that it is crucial that they get the support they need.

Multi-agency safeguarding hubs have a crucial role to play in the safeguarding system by keeping vulnerable adults, including vulnerable people, safe. Multi-agency safeguarding hubs are non-statutory, and models and ways of working vary between areas. As these are local initiatives, local authorities are best placed to make decisions on the training and guidance required for staff.

The Government is committed to tackling the abuse of older people. We are providing the specialist organisation Hourglass with £532,121 this year. This funding will provide enhanced helpline support with a focus on reaching marginalised communities across England and Wales by providing more training to staff in their organisation and external agencies.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of AI-driven detection technologies in preventing online child sexual abuse.

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

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

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

The next phase of the Challenge will continue to identify and benchmark AI-driven solutions. The Government remains committed to investing in innovation to combat this appalling crime.

The Home Office has also introduced world leading measures by becoming the first country in the world to criminalise the possession, creation and distribution of AI tools to generate child sexual abuse material, and criminalised the possession of paedophile manuals that teach others how to create tools for this purpose.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with her international counterparts on tackling livestreamed child sexual abuse.

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

The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes ensuring that we are working to combat livestreamed abuse and ensuring that offenders cannot use technology to harm children with impunity.

The Home Office continues to invest in a network of Undercover Online Officers (UCOLs) in Regional Organised Crime Units. UCOLs deploy online to identify and pursue offenders seeking to sexually exploit children, including those who consume and facilitate livestreaming of child sexual abuse. Home Office funding supports the National Crime Agency to use its unique capabilities to disrupt high harm offenders, including those based overseas who seek to livestream abuse.

The UK is leading the way in supporting the building and developing thematic knowledge and operational capabilities of other international law enforcement agencies to work together to pursue offenders and safeguard children. In addition, the NCA is leading a number of initiatives with industry and engagement with the financial sector, to specifically prevent and detect livestreaming offending. This includes work to build on the UK-supported report by the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) ‘Detecting, Disrupting and Investigating Online Child Sexual Exploitation’.

The Online Safety Act introduces world-leading protections for children. It places robust duties on tech companies to prevent and swiftly remove illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, and to take proactive steps to protect children from harm. Ofcom, as the regulator, will have strong enforcement powers to ensure compliance.

We also recognise the importance of device-level protections in preventing livestreaming abuse and we support the development and deployment of safety technologies that can help prevent abuse before it happens. This includes exploring the role of on-device tools that can detect and disrupt livestreamed abuse and other image-based harms, while respecting users’ privacy and maintaining end-to-end encryption.

The Government continues to work closely with law enforcement, industry, and child protection experts to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of efforts to tackle online child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackl livestreamed child sexual abuse being accessed in the UK.

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

The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes ensuring that we are working to combat livestreamed abuse and ensuring that offenders cannot use technology to harm children with impunity.

The Home Office continues to invest in a network of Undercover Online Officers (UCOLs) in Regional Organised Crime Units. UCOLs deploy online to identify and pursue offenders seeking to sexually exploit children, including those who consume and facilitate livestreaming of child sexual abuse. Home Office funding supports the National Crime Agency to use its unique capabilities to disrupt high harm offenders, including those based overseas who seek to livestream abuse.

The UK is leading the way in supporting the building and developing thematic knowledge and operational capabilities of other international law enforcement agencies to work together to pursue offenders and safeguard children. In addition, the NCA is leading a number of initiatives with industry and engagement with the financial sector, to specifically prevent and detect livestreaming offending. This includes work to build on the UK-supported report by the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) ‘Detecting, Disrupting and Investigating Online Child Sexual Exploitation’.

The Online Safety Act introduces world-leading protections for children. It places robust duties on tech companies to prevent and swiftly remove illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, and to take proactive steps to protect children from harm. Ofcom, as the regulator, will have strong enforcement powers to ensure compliance.

We also recognise the importance of device-level protections in preventing livestreaming abuse and we support the development and deployment of safety technologies that can help prevent abuse before it happens. This includes exploring the role of on-device tools that can detect and disrupt livestreamed abuse and other image-based harms, while respecting users’ privacy and maintaining end-to-end encryption.

The Government continues to work closely with law enforcement, industry, and child protection experts to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of efforts to tackle online child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to enable (a) private coaches, (b) education tutors and (c) other self-employed people to apply for an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate with the relevant barred list check, in line with Recommendation 4 of the Bailey Review.

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

On 9 April 2025, the Government published an update on its work to tackle child sexual abuse, available on GOV.UK: Tackling Child Sexual Abuse. As part of this, by the end of 2025, we will introduce secondary legislation to create the ability for self-employed individuals, working in sensitive roles with children and vulnerable adults, to access higher-level Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. This change will apply in England and Wales.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to introduce a legal requirement for people undertaking regulated activity to obtain an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate with a barred list check.

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

Outside of specific sectors such as health and education, where Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are mandated, the decision to carry out DBS checks lies with the employer. DBS checks apply in England and Wales; other parts of the UK have their own arrangements.

Whilst some sectors do set requirements for enhanced checks for some roles and/or settings where regulated activity takes place. Home Office legislation around regulated activity and DBS checks only provides eligibility for checks; it does not make them a requirement.

However, if an individual has been barred, then they will be committing a criminal offence if they knowingly engage, or seek to engage, in regulated activity with a vulnerable group from which they are barred. This is punishable by imprisonment and/or fine. The same is true for employers who knowingly employ somebody who is on the barred list. This is why employers are expected to undertake regular checks for those in regulated activity otherwise they risk committing that offence.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many properties have been procured by (a) her Department and (b) contracted companies to serve as dispersal housing for asylum seekers in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire.

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

The Home Office does not publish detailed information on the location of asylum accommodation sites for safety and security reasons. Data, published quarterly, on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation can be found within the Asy_D11 tab of our most recent statistics release.

The data can be broken down by local authority rather than by constituency. Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the time taken to issue visas on the ability of Commonwealth citizens to participate effectively in proceedings before UK courts.

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

UKVI will always seek to ensure those who need to attend court are able to do so in line with the Immigration Rules and wider court instructions.

All short term visit visas are governed by our published service standards. These can be found here: Visitors and transit: customer service standards - GOV.UK

Customers are advised to allow enough time to receive their visa before applying. Customers in certain locations have the option to apply for a premium paid service to allow them to receive a decision quicker than the advertised times. Information on premium paid services can be found here: Get a faster decision on your visa or settlement application: Applying for a faster decision - GOV.UK

Visa processing times are constantly monitored to ensure that visas are being delivered within our published service standards. Where an application will not be processed within service standards due to the complex nature of the application, the applicant is informed their application will take longer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prioritise visa applications from overseas parties required to appear before UK courts.

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

UKVI will always seek to ensure those who need to attend court are able to do so in line with the Immigration Rules and wider court instructions.

All short term visit visas are governed by our published service standards. These can be found here: Visitors and transit: customer service standards - GOV.UK

Customers are advised to allow enough time to receive their visa before applying. Customers in certain locations have the option to apply for a premium paid service to allow them to receive a decision quicker than the advertised times. Information on premium paid services can be found here: Get a faster decision on your visa or settlement application: Applying for a faster decision - GOV.UK

Visa processing times are constantly monitored to ensure that visas are being delivered within our published service standards. Where an application will not be processed within service standards due to the complex nature of the application, the applicant is informed their application will take longer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to publish further information on the extension of the Ukrainian visa scheme.

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

On 1 September, the Home Secretary announced in parliament that the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme (UPE) would be extended for an additional 24 months to enable those eligible to obtain a further period of permission following their initial permission under UPE. More detail will follow in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Prime Minister's has considered establishing a framework enabling asylum-seeking students to access (a) internships, (b) placements and (c) other forms of work experience that support their university courses.

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

Asylum seekers are eligible to apply for permission to work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own. Those permitted to work are restricted by the Home Office to apply for jobs on the Immigration Salary List (ISL).

When considering permission to work applications that forms part of a further education course such as certain apprenticeships, the individual must meet the requirements under Paragraph 360 or 360C or that the role in question meets the volunteering requirements set out in the policy guidance published on gov.uk.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is her Department's policy on targets for net migration.

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

This Government recognises and values the contribution that legal migration makes to the UK.

But under the previous Government, between 2019 and 2024, net migration almost quadrupled, heavily driven by a big increase in overseas recruitment.

The Restoring control over the immigration system: white paper, published on 12 May, sets out reforms to legal migration, so that we can restore order, control and fairness to the system, bring down net migration and promote economic growth.

Previous governments have set targets and then not met them, which has undermined the credibility of the system. Instead, we want to restore public confidence with a series of steps to replace our failing system with one that reduces net migration substantially.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to review cases of people born in the UK before 1 July 2006 to a British father and a non-British mother where the parents were not married, who sought registration under section 4G of the British Nationality Act 1981, particularly where they had (a) disabilities and (b) faced financial hardship.

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

All applications made under section 4G of the British Nationality Act 1981 are considered against the statutory criteria. Customers are only required to pay the citizenship ceremony fee; no registration fee is payable.

In the White paper – restoring control over the immigration system, we committed to consider removing all financial barriers to acquiring British citizenship for young adults who have lived their entire lives in the UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Statement on Strengthening border security and reforms to the asylum system of 1 September 2025, whether applicants to the Ukrainian Permission Extension scheme who applied in Spring 2022 will have these finished in Autumn 2028.

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

On 1 September, the Home Secretary announced in parliament that the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme (UPE) would be extended for an additional 24 months to enable those eligible to obtain a further period of permission following their initial permission under UPE. More detail will follow in due course.

We continue to keep the Ukraine Schemes and the evolving situation in Ukraine under active review.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the guidance entitled Skilled Worker visa: minimum salary if you’re under 26, studying, training or in a postdoctoral role, last updated on 22 July 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increasing the salary threshold for the skilled worker visa for people under the age of 26 on (a) young professionals, (b) regional employers and (c) graduate visa holders seeking to transition to skilled worker status.

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

As set out in the Immigration White Paper ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’, published on 12 May, this Government’s approach is to link migration policy and visa controls to skills and labour market policies, so that immigration is not used as an alternative to training or tackling workforce problems in the UK.

It is our intention to publish an Impact Assessment at the earliest opportunity. A technical annex (www.gov.uk/government/publications/restoring-control-over-the-immigration-system-white-paper/restoring-control-over-the-immigration-system-technical-annex) was published alongside the Immigration White Paper setting out the impact of some of the key policy changes.

The Graduate route is designed to allow UK graduates time to work, or look for work, for a set period after completing their studies. It does not guarantee progression to the Skilled Worker route, for which an individual would need to find higher skilled, higher salaried employment after graduation and meet the requirements in place at the time they make their Skilled Worker application.

On 2 July we asked the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on future salary requirements for Skilled Worker visas. We expect the MAC to respond around the end of the year.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of average waiting times for visa applications from Commonwealth citizens required to attend court proceedings in the UK.

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

UKVI will always seek to ensure those who need to attend court are able to do so in line with the Immigration Rules and wider court instructions.

All short term visit visas are governed by our published service standards. These can be found here: Visitors and transit: customer service standards - GOV.UK

Customers are advised to allow enough time to receive their visa before applying. Customers in certain locations have the option to apply for a premium paid service to allow them to receive a decision quicker than the advertised times. Information on premium paid services can be found here: Get a faster decision on your visa or settlement application: Applying for a faster decision - GOV.UK

Visa processing times are constantly monitored to ensure that visas are being delivered within our published service standards. Where an application will not be processed within service standards due to the complex nature of the application, the applicant is informed their application will take longer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has issued guidance on expediting visa applications for (a) witnesses, (b) litigants and (c) legal representatives required to attend court hearings in the UK.

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

UKVI will always seek to ensure those who need to attend court are able to do so in line with the Immigration Rules and wider court instructions.

All short term visit visas are governed by our published service standards. These can be found here: Visitors and transit: customer service standards - GOV.UK

Customers are advised to allow enough time to receive their visa before applying. Customers in certain locations have the option to apply for a premium paid service to allow them to receive a decision quicker than the advertised times. Information on premium paid services can be found here: Get a faster decision on your visa or settlement application: Applying for a faster decision - GOV.UK

Visa processing times are constantly monitored to ensure that visas are being delivered within our published service standards. Where an application will not be processed within service standards due to the complex nature of the application, the applicant is informed their application will take longer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of foreign nationals who have abscond after being served with a deportation order.

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

Obtaining the specific information requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The Home Office does not hold any central record of the requested information.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using a UK-based manufacturer to build the Border Force’s replacement cutters and coastal patrol vessels.

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

Border Force Maritime Command is the UK’s national sea-going law enforcement body. Its Cutter and CPV fleet tackles the whole range of law enforcement duties, including preventing and deterring importation of illegal drugs, organised people crime and other threats.

Renewal of the Border Force fleet remains a key Departmental priority.

A dynamic UK shipbuilding sector has potential to play a key role in creating and sustaining jobs and in ensuring shared prosperity around the country.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure that police forces implement changes in practice following Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel findings.

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

Keeping children safe is a priority for this Government and we are committed to implementing improvements in practice, including through introducing multi-agency child protection teams in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

The new National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection launched in April 2025 will improve the police response to child protection and we will also deliver a cross-government strategy as part of our mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.

Question to the Home Office:

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

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

We are making sure that every penny spent within policing delivers improvement for the public through a Collaboration and Efficiencies Programme. Force-to-force collaboration remains an important part of this work.

In addition, an ambitious White Paper published later this year will outline significant reforms to allow policing to collaborate further to deal with the changing threats we face.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help counter hostile state threats.

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

We are ensuring the UK is a harder target for states that seek to harm our people and interests

We have established a cross-Whitehall Joint Unit for state threats, launched the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme on 1 July, placing Iran and Russia on the enhanced tier, and are taking forward recommendations from the comprehensive review of transnational repression.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the reason for the increased number of asylum seekers in hotels on 30 June 2025 compared with the same date in 2024.

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

This government inherited a hotels policy which saw 400 hotels opened and a staggering £9million spent a day housing migrants across the country.

Instead of clearing the asylum backlog to reduce those costs, the previous government allowed asylum decision-making to fall by 70 per cent in their last months in office.

I have been clear that I will do whatever it takes to secure our borders and end the use of hotels. This includes exploring the use of Ministry of Defence sites to get people out of hotels fast.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the exploitation of people working illegally.

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

As already announced, through the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, the Government is introducing tough new laws to clamp down on illegal working.

We have expanded our work across government and with law enforcement partners to target, investigate and enforce penalties on unscrupulous employers who illegally employ those with no right to work here.

We are stopping exploitation by criminal gangs, ensuring vulnerable people receive the correct support and making sure that those who break the law face serious consequences.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to protect civil liberties.

Answered by Shabana Mahmood - Home Secretary

The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to UK democracy but must be balanced with the need to maintain public safety.

To achieve this, public order legislation has been developed that both safeguards freedoms of expression and assembly and upholds the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights

Ultimately, operational decisions lie with the police, who are required to act lawfully and proportionately at all times.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support awareness campaigns on violence against women and girls in Surrey Heath constituency.

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

The Government is treating is treating violence against women and girls as a national emergency. We have set out our unprecedented ambition to halve the prevalence of VAWG within a decade, using every lever available to us.

We are going further than before to deliver a cross-government transformative approach to halve VAWG, underpinned by a new VAWG Strategy to be published as soon as possible. We are actively considering the contribution that communications campaigns can play and will work closely with stakeholders on this.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of UK-based live-streaming of child sexual abuse.

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

The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes work to combat livestreamed abuse and ensuring that offenders cannot use technology to harm children with impunity.

The UK has been reported as the third highest consumer of livestreaming and as such we are investing heavily into addressing this heinous crime. The UK is leading the way in supporting the building operational capabilities with other international law enforcement agencies to work together to pursue offenders and safeguard children. The NCA is leading a number of initiatives with industry and engagement with the financial sector to specifically prevent and detect livestreaming offending. This includes work to build on the UK-supported report by the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) ‘Detecting, Disrupting and Investigating Online Child Sexual Exploitation’.

We are also supporting our law enforcement partners as they continue to work tirelessly to prevent consumption. The Home Office invests in a network of Undercover Online Officers (UCOLs) in Regional Organised Crime Units, who deploy online to identify and pursue offenders seeking to sexually exploit children, including those who consume and facilitate livestreaming of child sexual abuse. Home Office funding also supports the National Crime Agency to use its unique capabilities to disrupt high harm offenders, including those based overseas who seek to livestream abuse.

In addition to pursuing offenders, we are taking legislative action to protect children online. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we will introduce a brand-new criminal offence criminalising AI Models which have been designed or adapted to produce child sexual abuse imagery as well as criminalising those who are administrators or moderators of child sexual abuse sites.

The Online Safety Act introduces world-leading protections for children. It places robust duties on tech companies to prevent and swiftly remove illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, and to take proactive steps to protect children from harm. Ofcom, as the regulator, will have strong enforcement powers to ensure compliance.

We also recognise the importance of device-level protections in preventing livestreaming abuse and we support the development and deployment of safety technologies that can help prevent abuse before it happens. This includes exploring the role of on-device tools that can detect and disrupt livestreamed abuse and other image-based harms, while respecting users’ privacy and maintaining end-to-end encryption.

The Government continues to work closely with law enforcement, industry, and child protection experts to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of efforts to tackle online child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on increasing international cooperation to help tackle organised immigration crime.

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

This government has strengthened co-operation on organised immigration crime with countries near and far – forging new and deeper partnerships through action such as our landmark border security statement with Iraq.

Deals have been struck that no other government thought possible, including the returns deal with France and new agreements with Germany to stop the warehousing of small boats by criminal gangs.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing (a) device-based and (b) operating system-based safeguards to prevent live-streamed child sexual abuse.

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

The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes work to combat livestreamed abuse and ensuring that offenders cannot use technology to harm children with impunity.

The UK has been reported as the third highest consumer of livestreaming and as such we are investing heavily into addressing this heinous crime. The UK is leading the way in supporting the building operational capabilities with other international law enforcement agencies to work together to pursue offenders and safeguard children. The NCA is leading a number of initiatives with industry and engagement with the financial sector to specifically prevent and detect livestreaming offending. This includes work to build on the UK-supported report by the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) ‘Detecting, Disrupting and Investigating Online Child Sexual Exploitation’.

We are also supporting our law enforcement partners as they continue to work tirelessly to prevent consumption. The Home Office invests in a network of Undercover Online Officers (UCOLs) in Regional Organised Crime Units, who deploy online to identify and pursue offenders seeking to sexually exploit children, including those who consume and facilitate livestreaming of child sexual abuse. Home Office funding also supports the National Crime Agency to use its unique capabilities to disrupt high harm offenders, including those based overseas who seek to livestream abuse.

In addition to pursuing offenders, we are taking legislative action to protect children online. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we will introduce a brand-new criminal offence criminalising AI Models which have been designed or adapted to produce child sexual abuse imagery as well as criminalising those who are administrators or moderators of child sexual abuse sites.

The Online Safety Act introduces world-leading protections for children. It places robust duties on tech companies to prevent and swiftly remove illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, and to take proactive steps to protect children from harm. Ofcom, as the regulator, will have strong enforcement powers to ensure compliance.

We also recognise the importance of device-level protections in preventing livestreaming abuse and we support the development and deployment of safety technologies that can help prevent abuse before it happens. This includes exploring the role of on-device tools that can detect and disrupt livestreamed abuse and other image-based harms, while respecting users’ privacy and maintaining end-to-end encryption.

The Government continues to work closely with law enforcement, industry, and child protection experts to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of efforts to tackle online child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) prevent and (b) limit UK-based offenders from (i) creating demand for, (ii) accessing and (iii) viewing live-streamed child sexual abuse.

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

The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes work to combat livestreamed abuse and ensuring that offenders cannot use technology to harm children with impunity.

The UK has been reported as the third highest consumer of livestreaming and as such we are investing heavily into addressing this heinous crime. The UK is leading the way in supporting the building operational capabilities with other international law enforcement agencies to work together to pursue offenders and safeguard children. The NCA is leading a number of initiatives with industry and engagement with the financial sector to specifically prevent and detect livestreaming offending. This includes work to build on the UK-supported report by the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) ‘Detecting, Disrupting and Investigating Online Child Sexual Exploitation’.

We are also supporting our law enforcement partners as they continue to work tirelessly to prevent consumption. The Home Office invests in a network of Undercover Online Officers (UCOLs) in Regional Organised Crime Units, who deploy online to identify and pursue offenders seeking to sexually exploit children, including those who consume and facilitate livestreaming of child sexual abuse. Home Office funding also supports the National Crime Agency to use its unique capabilities to disrupt high harm offenders, including those based overseas who seek to livestream abuse.

In addition to pursuing offenders, we are taking legislative action to protect children online. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we will introduce a brand-new criminal offence criminalising AI Models which have been designed or adapted to produce child sexual abuse imagery as well as criminalising those who are administrators or moderators of child sexual abuse sites.

The Online Safety Act introduces world-leading protections for children. It places robust duties on tech companies to prevent and swiftly remove illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, and to take proactive steps to protect children from harm. Ofcom, as the regulator, will have strong enforcement powers to ensure compliance.

We also recognise the importance of device-level protections in preventing livestreaming abuse and we support the development and deployment of safety technologies that can help prevent abuse before it happens. This includes exploring the role of on-device tools that can detect and disrupt livestreamed abuse and other image-based harms, while respecting users’ privacy and maintaining end-to-end encryption.

The Government continues to work closely with law enforcement, industry, and child protection experts to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of efforts to tackle online child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of creating a (a) single, (b) centralised and (c) digitised firearms licensing body to replace the current system of 44 separate licensing authorities.

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

The Government has no plans to introduce a new national body for firearms licensing. The Firearms Act 1968 places statutory responsibility for firearms licensing on the Chief Officer of Police of each individual force in England, Wales and Scotland.

This framework is supported by Statutory Guidance to Chief Officers of Police issued by the Home Secretary in respect of firearms licensing and by Authorised Professional Practice issued by the College of Policing.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution to the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam on 31 March 2025, Vol. 765, column 25, page 23, if she will update the House on developments in relation to arrests made at the Quaker meeting house in Westminster.

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

Decisions relating to police operations, including arrests, are made independently by the police.

Ministers do not intervene in individual cases or operational matters, not because of any lack of concern, but to respect and uphold the principle of policing free from political influence.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the reduction in the post-decision move on period on levels of homelessness.

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

We closely monitor the impact of all our policies, including the move on period, on the number and occupancy of asylum hotels, the overall costs of the asylum accommodation estate, the wider effect on local communities, and any pressures placed on local authorities and public amenities. We remain committed to working closely with our partners to identify improvements and make efficiencies in supporting newly recognised refugees move on from asylum accommodation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) allegations of non-fatal strangulation have been made that were not proceeded against and (b) cases for that offence were dropped due to evidence deficiencies since 29 April 2021.

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

The Home Office collects information on the number of investigative outcomes for offences recorded by the police in England and Wales.

From 1^st of June 2022, the subcodes ‘008/78 Racially or religiously aggravated non-fatal strangulation or suffocation’ and ‘008/77 non-fatal strangulation or suffocation’ were introduced.

The below table shows the number of these offences and their investigative outcomes.

Table – number of non-fatal strangulation offences² recorded by the police in England and Wales¹ (excluding Humberside police), 1^st June 2022 to year ending March 2025, by outcome

Notes

1. Excludes Humberside police who were unable to provide data to the Home Office Data Hub
2. Consists of subcodes ‘008/78 Racially or religiously aggravated non-fatal strangulation or suffocation’ and ‘008/77 non-fatal strangulation or suffocation’
3. Subcodes 008/78 and 008/77 were introduced from 1^st June 2022

The Home Office does not hold information on the number of allegations of non-fatal strangulation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on apprehending Kevin Thomas Parle.

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

Kevin Thomas Parle features on the NCA’s Most Wanted List. As this is a live investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Afghan Response Route was included within data published on the Afghan Resettlement Programme.

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

Data on arrivals through the Afghan Resettlement Programme is published in the quarterly Immigration System Statistics. The first arrivals under the Afghan Response Route (ARR) came to the UK in July 2024. Data on the ARR was previously included as a subset of the ARAP data in the publication. As of the August 2025 release, the publication has included a separate breakdown for ARR arrivals, in table Hum_01 of the ‘Safe and legal (humanitarian) routes summary tables’. The latest data relate to June 2025. 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, if she will prohibit the entry of Greta Thunberg to the UK on the basis of her support for Palestine Action.

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

It is longstanding Home Office policy not to comment on individual cases.

Where a foreign national is seeking to enter or stay in the UK, in order to qualify they will be assessed by UK Visas & Immigration (or Border Force when presenting at the border) against a range of provisions in the current Immigration Rules relating to criminality and other adverse conduct and character prior to their entry to, and any previous time spent in, the UK. Failure to satisfy these criteria may mean their application for a visa, entry clearance, permission to enter or permission to stay will be refused, depending on the severity of past offences or other factors in their history.

Details of these criteria can be found in Part 9 of the Immigration Rules, available on the GOV.UK website here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-part-9-grounds-for-refusal.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide the (a) criteria and (b) arrangements for evacuating students from Gaza to the relevant (i) universities and (ii) hon. Members.

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

I refer the Honourable Member to the previous Home Secretary’s oral statement to the House on 1 September 2025 on strengthening border security and reforms to the asylum system. Further details will be set out in due course.

The Home Office has put in place systems to issue expedited visas, with biometric checks conducted prior to arrival for all Chevening Scholars from Gaza.

We are in the process of doing the same for a group of students who have been awarded fully funded scholarships covering course fees and living costs at UK universities so they can start their studies in Autumn 2025.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is doing everything it can to support their safe exit and onward travel to the UK. The situation on the ground in Gaza makes this extremely challenging.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to evacuate the dependents of students with UK scholarships as well as those students.

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

The Government is prioritising those with fully-funded, verifiable, scholarships commencing in the autumn term. This decision has been made for these students due to their potential role in rebuilding Gaza in the future.

I refer the Honourable Member to the then-Home Secretary’s oral statement to the House of Commons on 1 September 2025 on strengthening border security and reforms to the asylum system. Further details will be set out in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the resale of stolen mobile phones in (a) Bedfordshire, (b) Cambridgeshire and (c) Suffolk.

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

The Home Secretary has been clear that tackling mobile phone theft and the resale of stolen devices is a priority.

Earlier this year the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, leading tech companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves. The Summit resulted in clear commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including work to disrupt the resale of stolen phones, exploring technological solutions to make devices harder to re-register or resell, and working with the police to better understand the routes used to sell stolen phones.

The Home Office is driving this work with the police and other stakeholders to tackle this criminality.

In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. This power will support efforts to recover stolen phones before they can be resold.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of life jackets recovered from small boat crossings since 4 July 2024; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of their disposal.

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

The information requested is not centrally held, and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

The majority of life jackets seized arrive in very poor condition and may be damaged during the recovery process, and are disposed of by Border Force’s approved contractors and, where appropriate, any suitable materials are recycled.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) on its compliance with Section 9.4 of the IOPC Statutory Guidance, published on 1 February 2020; and what guidance her Department has issued on whether the IOPC has discretion to decline to investigate matters that fall within the mandatory referral criteria.

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

The IOPC has powers to issue statutory guidance under section 22 of the Police Reform Act 2002 to local policing bodies, the 43 Home Office territorial police forces in England and Wales and other law enforcement bodies, such as the National Crime Agency. Paragraph 9.4 of this guidance is directed not at the IOPC but at such police forces and bodies (known as “appropriate authorities”). Paragraph 9.4 places a requirement on them to “notify the IOPC where concerns or issues arise after the initial referral that indicate the matter should be referred [to the IOPC] again” in line with mandatory referral criteria.

The 2002 Act itself sets out the requirements on the IOPC as to how should carry out its functions. It gives the IOPC discretion to decide whether it is necessary that cases that have been referred to it under the mandatory referral criteria should be investigated and, if so, how they should be investigated. For example, the IOPC can decide it is necessary for it to investigate a case independently itself or it can decide that the appropriate authority should do so on its own behalf or that the appropriate authority or another force should investigate as directed by the IOPC. Paragraph 15 of Schedule 3 of the 2002 Act specifically sets this out. Other requirements on the IOPC are set out elsewhere in the 2002 Act and in the Police (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2020.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of reported incidents of (a) assault and (b) abuse against lone retail workers in each of the last three years.

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

The Home Office publishes data on the number of incidents of violent crime and public order offences (including assaults and verbal abuse) recorded by the police in England and Wales. The latest data can be found here:

Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK

It is not currently possible to identify which of these incidents were committed against retail workers during the course of their work, as these incidents fall under categories of crime, such as assault.

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

The offence will be allocated a specific Home Office Crime Recording Rule, which will help provide a more complete picture of the problem, in turn informing future policy decisions and enabling the police to respond accordingly.

The Home Office has also published estimates from the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) on the proportion of retail premises which experienced at least one incident of assault or threat. This data can be found here, and includes those premises which did not report the incident to the police: Crime against businesses statistics - GOV.UK

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, by what date she expects all police forces in England and Wales to have full operational access to the TOEX Capabilities Environment.

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

The Home Office is providing the Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) programme with £8.8 million this year to increase law enforcements capability to respond to organised exploitation, including by providing dedicated intelligence, analytical and technical expertise.

In August 2025, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls announced an additional £426,000 this year, which will enable all forces in England and Wales to access the cutting-edge digital tools that TOEX have developed to support police in detecting and investigating organised exploitation. This includes child sexual exploitation, alongside other organised exploitation crimes including modern slavery, organised immigration crimes, and criminal exploitation.

The additional funding will allow for the expedited roll out of the of the Capabilities Environment, to ensure all police investigators in England and Wales have access to the full array of TOEX’s AI-enabled and time-saving tools

The TOEX programme has already contacted all forces in England and Wales to provide information on how they can access the TOEX tools. In addition to the 15 police forces which are already utilising TOEX tools, since the Minister’s announcement in August, a further 10 forces are currently onboarding. TOEX will continue to engage with additional forces.

TOEX is also a critical component in supporting the delivery of Baroness Casey’s recommendation to establish a new national police operation for group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse (Operation Beaconport).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria her Department used to allocate the funding for the national expansion of the TOEX Capabilities Environment.

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

The Home Office is providing the Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) programme with £8.8 million this year to increase law enforcements capability to respond to organised exploitation, including by providing dedicated intelligence, analytical and technical expertise.

In August 2025, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls announced an additional £426,000 this year, which will enable all forces in England and Wales to access the cutting-edge digital tools that TOEX have developed to support police in detecting and investigating organised exploitation. This includes child sexual exploitation, alongside other organised exploitation crimes including modern slavery, organised immigration crimes, and criminal exploitation.

The additional funding will allow for the expedited roll out of the of the Capabilities Environment, to ensure all police investigators in England and Wales have access to the full array of TOEX’s AI-enabled and time-saving tools

The TOEX programme has already contacted all forces in England and Wales to provide information on how they can access the TOEX tools. In addition to the 15 police forces which are already utilising TOEX tools, since the Minister’s announcement in August, a further 10 forces are currently onboarding. TOEX will continue to engage with additional forces.

TOEX is also a critical component in supporting the delivery of Baroness Casey’s recommendation to establish a new national police operation for group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse (Operation Beaconport).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a scheme to support police officers and emergency call handlers in obtaining (a) housing and (b) mental health support.

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

The Government greatly values the vital work of police officers and emergency call handlers in keeping the public safe.

The Home Office is committed to supporting the wellbeing of the police workforce. This includes providing ongoing funding to the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS), which provides evidence-based guidance, advice, tools and resources which can be accessed by forces. This helps Chief Constables in their duty to ensure the wellbeing of their workforce. In particular, the Service is helping forces 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 Police Covenant has already helped deliver pre-deployment mental health training for new recruits and improved occupational health standards for officers in service.

Any scheme concerning access to housing for the police workforce or other key workers would be a matter for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the scope of Operation Beaconport is.

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

Operation BEACONPORT is the name assigned by operational partners to the National Police Operation, overseen by the NCA, as recommended by Baroness Casey in her report that followed her Independent Audit of Group Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (GBCSEA), published in June this year.

The operation will address the elements identified by Baroness Casey in recommendations 2 and 8, by bringing together all the relevant policing partners under one operation, to ensure a swift and specialist law enforcement response to GBCSEA.

Further details on Operation BEACONPORT will be provided by operational partners shortly.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on trends in the number of (a) hate crimes and (b) instances of racism in communities that have not (i) taken flags down and (ii) removed graffiti.

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

The Home Office publishes official statistics on hate crime offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. The latest release, including information on trends, can be found here: Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2024 - GOV.UK

The Home Office does not hold information on whether flags or graffiti were present or removed from the communities the offences took place in.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's announcement entitled Investment for Border Security Command to tackle people smuggling gangs of 3 August 2025, what the responsibilities of the 300 additional National Crime Agency officers will be.

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

The additional National Crime Agency officers will play a vital role in strengthening the NCA’s response to organised immigration crime (OIC).

This uplift in resource reflects the Agency’s commitment to tackling the OIC threat with greater intensity than ever before.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle increasing levels of freight crime; and if she will meet with (a) the Road Haulage Association and (b) other relevant stakeholders to increase awareness of the danger of unsafe parking.

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

This Government understands the significant and damaging impact freight crime has on businesses and drivers and we are aware of worrying increases in its frequency.

We work closely cross-Government to tackle the problem. The Minister for Police and Crime Prevention recently met with Rachel Taylor MP, and Lilian Greenwood, Minister for the Future of Roads at the Department for Transport (DfT) to discuss this very matter. Parking for HGVs is led by the Department of Transport. The DfT also hosts the Freight Council; this group regularly discusses crime against freight companies, and the Home Office works closely with DfT to engage with the sector on this issue through the Freight Council.

There are strong links between freight crime and serious organised crime, which is a major threat to the national security and prosperity of the UK and estimated to cost the economy at least £47 billion annually.

This Government is committed to tackling serious and organised crime in all its forms. We work closely with Opal, the police’s national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime, which has multiple thematic desks, including a vehicle crime intelligence desk which covers freight crime.

We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies and other invested stakeholders to change the unacceptable perception that freight crime is low risk and high reward and find solutions which will tackle it.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to amend the (a) funding and (b) qualifying spending for Party Political Conference Security Grants.

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

The Party Political Conference Security Grants funding arrangements were outlined in 2016 by the Home Office for the party in power and the main opposition party. These principles have been adhered to since and the Home Office has regular engagement with parties about security planning for party conferences.

The UK government’s security system is rigorous and proportionate. It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, including disclosure of costs, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect future security operations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much was given to the Labour Party for Party Political Conference Security Grant in each year since 2019.

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

The Party Political Conference Security Grants funding arrangements were outlined in 2016 by the Home Office for the party in power and the main opposition party. These principles have been adhered to since and the Home Office has regular engagement with parties about security planning for party conferences.

The UK government’s security system is rigorous and proportionate. It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, including disclosure of costs, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect future security operations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect (a) children and (b) young people from online sextortion.

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

To tackle the growing threat of sextortion, the Home Office is funding law enforcement capabilities to combat this crime, such as through investment in the National Crime Agency (NCA), who use their unique capabilities to disrupt the highest harm offenders, including those based overseas. The NCA is also a member of the Virtual Global Taskforce, which is an international alliance of 15 dedicated law enforcement agencies working together to tackle the global threat from all forms of child sexual abuse.

The Home Office also invests in a network of Undercover Online Officers in Regional Organised Crime Units to disrupt high harm offenders, including those seeking to groom or otherwise manipulate children into sharing sexual images.

The Online Safety Act protects citizens – especially children – from abuse and harm and applies to companies that provide user-to-user services and search services. It places robust duties on tech companies to prevent and swiftly remove illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, and to take proactive steps to protect children from harm. The strongest protections in the Act are for children.

Where a company fails to protect users, Ofcom will have a suite of enforcement powers such as issuing fines of up to 10% of their revenue and business disruption measures including blocking companies.

The Government will continue to engage with social media companies to make it clear they must act and implement robust detection measures to prevent their platforms being safe spaces for criminals.

This Government will continue to proactively review legislation, and we will not hesitate to legislate further to ensure the protection of children online.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12 May 2025 to Question 49534 on Asylum: Finance, how many instances of Aspen card usage for purposes not within the parameters of the cards’ use have been recorded since 5 July 2025.

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

Aspen cards are issued only to the main applicants on claims for Asylum Support. Those on Section 95 support are able to withdraw cash and utilise chip and pin for transactions. Aspen cards for those on Section 4 can only be used for chip and pin payments. Asylum seekers are able to report any difficulties, including loss or theft of their Aspen card, by calling Migrant Help, available 24/7 by telephone, webchat or email.

The Home Office publishes regular information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, but the specific cost data requested is considered commercially sensitive, and its disclosure could undermine the ability of the Home Office to secure maximum value for money in future contract negotiations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many detainees have absconded from immigration detention in each year since 2020.

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

Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) are used flexibly to detain foreign nationals liable for removal from the UK. This includes time-served foreign national offenders, immigration offenders and those who have arrived in the UK illegally. As of 1 September, the Home Office has the capacity to detain around 2,400 people in IRCs, including time-served foreign national offenders awaiting deportation.

The Government takes the protection of the public and escapes from immigration detention extremely seriously. There are robust security measures in all IRCs to prevent residents from escaping.

The Home Office releases data on escapes from immigration detention on an annual basis. The latest published statistics are for 2024. These are available at: Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2025 - GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many detention places are currently available for foreign nationals awaiting deportation.

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

Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) are used flexibly to detain foreign nationals liable for removal from the UK. This includes time-served foreign national offenders, immigration offenders and those who have arrived in the UK illegally. As of 1 September, the Home Office has the capacity to detain around 2,400 people in IRCs, including time-served foreign national offenders awaiting deportation.

The Government takes the protection of the public and escapes from immigration detention extremely seriously. There are robust security measures in all IRCs to prevent residents from escaping.

The Home Office releases data on escapes from immigration detention on an annual basis. The latest published statistics are for 2024. These are available at: Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2025 - GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the NISTA Annual Report 2024–25 dashboard, for what reason no evaluation has been completed for the project Asylum Support Accommodation Programme in the Home Office.

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

The Asylum Support Accommodation Programme (ASAP) is still in the early implementation phase. As such, a formal evaluation has not yet been undertaken. However, evaluation planning is underway, and the programme is being designed with a robust evaluation framework in mind. The evaluation will follow a mixed methods approach including: process evaluation – to assess delivery and implementation; Impact evaluation – to measure outcomes for service users and stakeholders and economic evaluation – to assess value for money. This approach is aligned with NISTA recommendations and Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) expectations that all major programmes are evaluated.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were employed by her Department at the rank of Chief Immigration Officer at the end of the 2015-16 financial year.

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

Border Force had 760 BFOs at grade CIO as of FY 2015/16.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on the use of military sites to house asylum seekers.

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

We are actively exploring all viable options so we can reduce reliance on hotels, including using modular buildings on industrial sites and ex-military sites, that deliver value for money and meet operational needs.

We continue to work closely cross-government, with local authorities, and property partners to assess feasibility of options and accelerate delivery where possible, ensuring any development is safe, appropriate and compliant.

Decisions on the use of alternative asylum accommodation sites will be made on a site-by-site basis, and we will continue to work closely with local authorities and in compliance with published policy.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which military sites her Department has assessed for housing asylum seekers.

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

We are actively exploring all viable options so we can reduce reliance on hotels, including using modular buildings on industrial sites and ex-military sites, that deliver value for money and meet operational needs.

We continue to work closely cross-government, with local authorities, and property partners to assess feasibility of options and accelerate delivery where possible, ensuring any development is safe, appropriate and compliant.

Decisions on the use of alternative asylum accommodation sites will be made on a site-by-site basis, and we will continue to work closely with local authorities and in compliance with published policy.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support (a) local authorities and (b) police forces to manage tensions around asylum seeker housing.

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

The Home Office works closely with police, security teams, local authorities and other partners to ensure all accommodation sites are managed safely and securely. These key stakeholders regularly attend Multi-Agency Forums to provide updates and address any concerns raised within local communities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 55303 on Asylum: Housing, if she will publish the template accommodation contract for housing asylum seekers between (a) her Department, (b) its contractors and (c) private rented sector landlords.

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

The document is available at https://atamis-8888.my.salesforce.com/sfc/p/#58000000L5A4/a/4I000001QuuT/sGjvxn0.zVTmJRxP5zk64Vp4prQLfMGIuGWdVxlBIsA as Schedule 22 in Home Office AASC contracts.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to section 8 of the Crime and Policing Bill, what guidance will be given to police forces on the circumstances in which a vehicle should be seized without warning.

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

We are amending the Police Reform Act 2002 through the Crime and Policing Bill to allow the police to seize vehicles which are used in an anti-social manner without having to first give a warning to the offender, as is currently required in some circumstances.

We will work with the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to assess what guidance is required to forces on the implementation of these changes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities in addressing unauthorised encampments that negatively affect local (a) high streets or (b) businesses.

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

Local authorities and police have a range of powers to manage unauthorised encampments, including those affecting high streets and businesses. These include long-standing provisions under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, and additional powers introduced through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

The response to any unauthorised encampments is locally led, involving multi-agency collaboration between councils, police and other services, ensuring actions are tailored to local needs. Statutory guidance issued by the Home Office sets out how these powers should be applied, including the importance of considering welfare needs and ensuring enforcement is lawful, necessary and proportionate.

The 2022 Act also introduced a criminal offence for residing on land without consent in or with a vehicle and causing significant damage, disruption or distress. Penalties include up to three months’ imprisonment, a fine of up to £2,500, and/or vehicle seizure.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide an estimate of the total number of Gazans that will enter the asylum system following medical treatment in the UK.

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

As the Home Secretary said in her statement to the House on 1 September, the Foreign Secretary will set out further details of the planned medical evacuations of children from Gaza in the near future.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of accommodating asylum seekers with unknown or unverifiable criminal histories on public safety.

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

The Home Office has a legal obligation to accommodate asylum seekers where they would otherwise be destitute. All asylum seekers undergo checks against policing and immigration databases.

Decisions on allocation of asylum seekers to accommodation are made with case-by-case consideration of an individual’s circumstances and needs, in line with published policy. Safeguarding and welfare remain a priority, and the Home Office works closely with statutory partners where required.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times her Department has recorded an asylum claimant’s self-declared age as their official age in circumstances where their age could not be independently verified since June 2024.

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

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

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of raised and resolved age disputes is published in table Asy_D05 of the 'Age disputes detailed datasets'. Age disputes data for July 2024 onwards is not available due to ongoing work on a new case working system. Updated data will be included in a future edition of the Immigration System Statistics release.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle cannabis use on streets.

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

Tackling anti-social behaviour including cannabis use is a top Government priority, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. The Government has committed to adding 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities and ensuring residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong. It is unlawful to possess or supply cannabis without a Home Office licence and we expect the police to enforce the law. As a class B drug, the maximum penalty for possession of cannabis is up to five years in prison, an unlimited fine or both. Law enforcement agencies will use evidence and intelligence to identify and take action against drug users and change their behaviour.

The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to all forms of anti-social behaviour, including cannabis use.

We remain committed to working across public health, education, policing and wider public services on prevention to drive down drug use and ensure more people receive timely intervention and support.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether trends in levels of age-dispute cases have increased or decreased since June 2024.

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

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

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of raised and resolved age disputes is published in table Asy_D05 of the 'Age disputes detailed datasets'. Age disputes data for July 2024 onwards is not available due to ongoing work on a new case working system. Updated data will be included in a future edition of the Immigration System Statistics release.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of trends in the level of (a) debt bondage and (b) tied visa arrangements among migrant care workers in the UK.

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

To date the Home Office hasn’t made an assessment of trends in the level of (a) debt bondage and (b) tied visa arrangements among migrant care workers in the UK.

The Government has taken the decision to end overseas recruitment in Adult Social Care following significant abuse of the system and exploitation of workers. Thousands of workers have been displaced due to employer non-compliance, who continue to struggle to secure full time roles in the sector.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to publish the strategy to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.

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

The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable and this Government is treating it as the national emergency that it is.

We are working tirelessly across Government to deliver the VAWG Strategy. It is vital that we get this right, and we are committed to publishing the Strategy as soon as possible.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 74064 on Undocumented Migrants: English Channel, what is the end date of the pilot.

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

As set out in Article 22 (1) of the UK-France treaty, the end date of the pilot is 11 June 2026. Both the UK and France have committed to continually review and improve the process and effectiveness of the pilot, pending decisions on the long-term future of the arrangements after June 2026.

Further information on the UK-France treaty can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukfrance-agreement-on-the-prevention-of-dangerous-journeys-cs-france-no22025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support is available for communities in the North East experiencing repeated incidents of arson.

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

The Government is committed to tackling and preventing arson. We know the serious impact that arson can have on both individuals and the wider community.

We are committed to ensuring fire services have the resources they need to do their vital work and to keep the public safe from fires, including those caused by arson. Decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions are a matter for each fire and rescue authority.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase arrests relating to mobile phone theft.

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

Through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles to provide a more visible and effective service to the public, with each neighbourhood having a named, contactable officer dealing with local issues, including the theft of mobile phones and other personal items.

On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, leading tech companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves. The Summit resulted in clear commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the problem, better understand the role of organised crime networks and identify the most effective means of tackling these crimes.

In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. This will significantly enhance the ability of the police to act swiftly and effectively.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of staff in her Department did not meet the minimum office attendance target in the latest period for which data is available; and what sanctions her Department issues to staff who do not meet this target.

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

On 24 October 2024 the Cabinet Office announced that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Senior managers will continue to be expected to be in the office more than 60% of the time. Home Office employees with disabilities and health conditions which impact their ability to travel to or work in the office have adjusted workplace attendance targets.

Details of these are not held centrally. If an employee consistently fails to attend the workplace in line with expectations this will ultimately become a disciplinary matter.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made a recent estimate of the value of the illegal drugs market for (a) cannabis, (b) cocaine, and (c) opioids.

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

The most recent estimate of the value of the illegal drugs market for cannabis, cocaine and opioids is available as a part of the Dame Carol Black’s Independent Review of Drugs: Evidence Pack. This is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-drugs-phase-one-report

The evidence pack provides the following estimates for value of the illegal drugs market in England and Wales, measured by the amount spent on these drugs:

• Powder cocaine: £1.9bn
• Cannabis: £2.4bn
• Crack cocaine: £1.3bn

Opiates: £3.8bn

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2025 to Question 65011 on Police: Finance, what estimate she has made of the total monetary value of council tax receipts from the police precept in England in (a) 2024-25 and (b) each subsequent year of the Spending Review, on which the increase in police spending power was calculated.

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

The published total council tax receipts for policing 2024-25 and 2025-26 can be found below (£m):

As set out in the Spending Review (SR) 2025 document, published 11 June 2025, the Phase 2 settlement provides an average 1.7% real terms increase per year in police spending power. Over the SR period, police spending power is projected to increase by an average 2.3% per year in real terms.

Police spending power includes projected spending from additional income, including estimated funding from the police council tax precept.

However, this remains subject to final decision on precept levels and individual police and crime commissioner decisions. The final police precept level and core government funding will be set out in the annual police funding settlement in the usual way.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to take steps to help tackle the dismissal of High Court injunctions relating to the development of traveller sites.

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

It is for the independent courts to determine the lawfulness of individual injunctions. Local authorities and the police have a range of powers available to manage unauthorised encampments.

Statutory guidance issued by the Home Office sets out how these powers should be applied, including the importance of considering welfare needs and ensuring that any enforcement action is lawful, necessary and proportionate.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to regulate the use of privately owned e-scooters involved in anti-social behaviour.

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

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. Our Crime and Policing Bill will give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles, including e-scooters, involved in anti-social behaviour, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles.

On 28 May, the Government launched a six-week consultation on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles such as e-scooters which have been used anti-socially. The consultation closed on 8 July and the Government response will be published in due course. Combined, these proposals will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially by sending a clear message to would be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

There are various offences relating to e-scooter use that the police can enforce with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). Riding an e-scooter on the pavement can result in a FPN of £50.

The Government has made no decisions on micromobility regulation, however, resolving the longstanding problems and missed opportunities of micromobility, including e-scooters, is a priority for the Government.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of providing protection and support during Donald Trump's visit to Scotland.

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

We were delighted to welcome the President to the UK earlier this year. The visit supported our deep and enduring alliance with the United States, which is vital for both our economic and security interests.

As is the case for many visits from high profile individuals, the President’s visit was in part funded by the taxpayer.

It is right that the Government and policing partners take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of foreign dignitaries when on UK soil.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2025 to Question 56675 on Hinchingbrooke Hospital: Roads, what progress she has made on completing the transaction that would see access to Police land granted to Hinchingbrooke Hospital for the new access road to facilitate construction of the proposed new hospital.

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

This is a local matter. The Home Office has not had a direct role in discussions between the interested parties in relation to the ownership of this land and its use for a new access road to Hinchingbrooke Hospital.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of staff in her Department have flexible working arrangements; and how many of those work compressed hours.

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

Flexible working arrangements, including compressed hours, are managed locally and therefore the requested information could only be obtained for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential threat posed by Palestinian Martyrs for Justice.

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

The Government does not routinely comment on intelligence and security matters, including individual groups or cases.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) support retention in the police in England and (b) increase the number of police officers in Aylesbury constituency.

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

In 2025/26, the Home Office is providing a total of up to £17.4 billion for police forces, which is an increase of up to £987 million compared to the 2024/25 police funding settlement. This includes a total of up to £376.8 million specifically to support officer maintenance at the expected headcount levels.

Thames Valley Police will receive up to £627.4 million in funding in 2025/26, an increase of up to £40.8 million when compared to the 2024/25 funding settlement, which represents a 7% cash increase and a 3.6% real terms increase in funding. This includes a total allocation of £10,662,824 to support the maintenance of 4,978 police officers (headcount).

As part of this, Thames Valley Police has been allocated a total of up and £6,093,042 to increasing neighbourhood policing roles, and, the projected growth for Thames Valley Police over 2025/26 will be 68 police officers (FTE) in neighbourhood policing roles.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the UKVI waiting times for answering enquiries regarding (a) UK passports and (b) British National status.

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

For customer enquiries made to the Passport Adviceline, in August, the average speed to answer passport related calls was 16 seconds.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the correspondence of July 2025 from the Leader of Kent County Council on visas for social care workers from overseas, if she will publish her Department's response to Kent County Council.

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

The Government does not routinely publish Ministerial correspondence.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre disclosed in court which reportedly stated that Palestine Action does not advocate for violence against persons.

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

The Government does not routinely comment on intelligence and security matters and it would be inappropriate for the Government to provide a running commentary on documentation before the High Court in the Palestine Action judicial review proceedings

Palestine Action has conducted an escalating campaign involving not just sustained criminal damage, including to Britain’s national security infrastructure, but also intimidation and, more recently, alleged violence, including the use of weapons resulting in serious injuries to individuals. That kind of activity puts the safety and security of the public at risk.

Palestine Action has claimed responsibility for attacks which have seen those allegedly involved charged with criminal damage, violent disorder, aggravated burglary, grievous bodily harm with intent, and actual bodily harm. The gravity of these incidents is demonstrated by the Crown Prosecution Service’s independent decision to submit to the court that the offences allegedly committed by individuals in certain attacks had a terrorism connection.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to conclude the due diligence exercise and compliance assessment initiated by Home Office officials to determine the appropriate sporting body to govern the endorsement processes for basketball in England, Scotland and Wales under the International Sportsperson visa route.

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

The due diligence exercise and compliance assessment to establish compliance under the International Sportsperson visa route are ongoing. Assessments and lines of enquiry may be revisited throughout. We are working closely with the bodies relevant to basketball, including the Department for Culture, Media and Sports, to ensure we have a full evidential basis prior to reaching a conclusion. All bodies included in the exercise will be notified when the exercises are completed.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 21 July 2025 to Question 67814 on Borders: Personal Records, whether her Department has an accurate count of the number of people leaving the UK.

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

As a consequence of the Common Travel Area arrangements, including travellers who leave the UK via the land border with Ireland, there is a marginal difference between the number of individuals recorded leaving the UK and the overall number of individuals who leave the UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have had Indefinite Leave to Remain status revoked in each of the last five years.

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

In order to respond to your request, a manual data extraction would be required. Under section 12(1) of the FOIA, the Home Office is not obliged to comply with an information request where to do so would exceed the appropriate limit. We estimate that the cost of locating and collating any relevant information and extracting the information to meet your request would exceed the appropriate limit of £600 specified in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. We are therefore unable to comply with it. The £600 limit is based on work being carried out at a rate of £25 per hour, which equates to 24 hours of work per request. The cost of locating, retrieving and extracting information can be included in the costs for these purposes. In this case, the time taken to identify and review the information held in relation to the question would exceed the cost limit.

Where section 12 is engaged in relation to part of a request it is applied to the whole request. This is in line with good practice recommended by the Information Commissioner’s Office. Please note that even if a revised request were to fall within the cost limit, it is possible that further relevant exemptions in the Act might still apply.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 28 July (HL9433), how many of the 871 small boats (1) were seized during or after Channel crossings, and (2) were seized prior to being used in crossings or attempted crossings of the Channel.

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

Of the 871 small boat seizures referenced in the relevant Written Answer, all were seized during or after Channel crossings.

Border Force do not hold data on the number of seizures prior to use in Channel crossings.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to consult charities, faith groups, and frontline support services to deliver a more sustainable approach for procuring short-term accommodation for asylum seekers in line with the recommendations on the procurement of short term accommodation set out in the Office for Value for Money's policy paper UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy.

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

The Government has already begun consultation with charities and frontline support services on future asylum accommodation plans. Officials met with voluntary and community sector stakeholders on the 5th August and plan to meet again in September. Minister Norris will be hosting engagement with faith groups later this year on future asylum accommodation plans.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they had with Canterbury City Council before allocating property on Herne Bay High Street as asylum accommodation.

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

The Asylum Accommodation Services Contracts set out a number of principles in relation to working with local authorities, and other stakeholders including consultation and liaison regarding the location of accommodation and other issues, ranging from security controls to the impact on local amenities.

It is through this consultation and liaison that local authorities may raise any objection to specific properties being used as asylum accommodation, including on behalf of the local people they represent.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the evidence presented by BBC Panorama that ketamine is openly advertised for sale on the internet, and delivered to the buyer speedily.

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

The Government is committed to tackling the supply of illegal drugs, including online, and the harms associated with their misuse.

Our County Lines Programme is targeting exploitative drug-dealing gangs while breaking the organised crime groups behind this trade. Between July 2024 and March 2025, law enforcement activity delivered through the Programme has resulted in more than 1,200 drug dealing lines closed and 2,000 arrests. In parallel, law enforcement agencies continue to target those facilitating the online sale of drugs. The National Crime Agency is working with partners in the UK and internationally to target offenders operating on open and dark-net markets, and to take down UK-based sites committing offences.

In addition, the Government has strengthened the regulatory framework to address online harms. The unlawful sale of controlled drugs online is a priority offence under the illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act 2023 and internet companies are legally required to implement measures to protect their users and to remove illegal content from their platforms, including that related to the sale of illegal drugs. Ofcom, as the independent regulator, is monitoring compliance with the regime.

Finally, the Minister for Policing and Crime Prevention wrote to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in January 2025 to request an updated assessment about ketamine, including advice on reducing harms. The ACMD is also reviewing internet-facilitated drugs markets. The Government will consider their advice carefully once received.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 16 June (HL7929), whether Home Office statistics on transnational marriage abandonment include data on the number of children affected as co-victims; and if not, whether they will consider collecting such data.

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

Since 31 January 2024 those who find themselves a victim of domestic abuse in the form of transnational marriage abandonment (TMA) can apply for entry clearance (Indefinite Leave to Enter (ILE)) under Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse to the Immigration Rules.

Data on the number of applications under the TMA route is published each quarter on gov.uk under the category ‘Settlement VDA LTE’: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/682b151450dbd3ce8372abb4/visas-status-and-immigration-data-q1-2025.ods.

The data shows there were 9 cases in 2024 Q1, 17 in Q2, 34 in Q3, 23 in Q4. For 2025, the data shows there were 12 cases in Q1 and 17 cases in Q2.

This data includes partners and any dependent children as all individuals must be granted their own entry clearance to enter the UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many unexplained wealth orders have been made since July 2024.

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

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2022 requires that the Home Office publish an annual report that sets out the number of unexplained wealth orders (UWOs) both applied for and obtained in a given period. The Act also sought to strengthen UWOs by enabling UWOs to be sought against property held in trust and other complex ownership structures, increasing the time available to law enforcement to review material provided in response to a UWO and reforming cost rules.

The previous report for the period May 2023-2024 can be found here. It states that two UWOs were applied for with one UWO obtained whilst the other had not received a judicial decision during the reporting period. A UWO applied for in the 2022-2023 reporting period was also obtained. The next report, covering May 2024 to May 2025 will be published shortly and, as per the Act, will set out the number of UWOs applied for in the period by relevant law enforcement agencies, as well as the number of orders made by the High Court.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to compare the daily subsistence allowances for people seeking asylum provided by EU member states, Norway and Switzerland.

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

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. Asylum Support provisions are reviewed regularly to ensure that we remain compliant in meeting our legal obligations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government why they are reducing the move-on period for newly recognised refugees to 28 days for most childless adults of working age before the pilot of a 56-day move-on period concludes in December; how this will affect the evaluation of that pilot; and whether they still intend to publish the findings of that evaluation.

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

On 1 September, the 56 day move on pilot implemented in December 2024 was paused for all single adults in receipt of a positive asylum decision, with the exception of individuals who are pregnant, over the age of 65 or have a known/evidenced disability. This action was taken to ensure that the asylum system continues to run efficiently, and to enable us to continue taking action both to reduce the overall number of asylum hotels in different communities, and the number of people staying in them.

This pause applies to all decisions made from 1 September, anyone in receipt of a positive decision made prior to the 1st September will receive a 56-day move on period as per the pilot.

We closely monitor the impact of all our policies, including the move on period, on the number and occupancy of asylum hotels, the overall costs of the asylum accommodation estate, the wider effect on local communities, and any pressures placed on local authorities and public amenities. We remain committed to working closely with our partners to identify improvements and make efficiencies in supporting newly recognised refugees move on from asylum accommodation.

The independent evaluation of the pilot continues and is due to conclude imminently. Evaluation outcomes will be used to inform longer term policy proposals and will be shared with parliament.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the decision to reduce the move-on period for newly recognised refugees to 28 days for most childless adults of working age on (1) refugee homelessness, (2) local authorities, and (3) civil society organisations helping refugees.

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

On 1 September, the 56 day move on pilot implemented in December 2024 was paused for all single adults in receipt of a positive asylum decision, with the exception of individuals who are pregnant, over the age of 65 or have a known/evidenced disability. This action was taken to ensure that the asylum system continues to run efficiently, and to enable us to continue taking action both to reduce the overall number of asylum hotels in different communities, and the number of people staying in them.

This pause applies to all decisions made from 1 September, anyone in receipt of a positive decision made prior to the 1st September will receive a 56-day move on period as per the pilot.

We closely monitor the impact of all our policies, including the move on period, on the number and occupancy of asylum hotels, the overall costs of the asylum accommodation estate, the wider effect on local communities, and any pressures placed on local authorities and public amenities. We remain committed to working closely with our partners to identify improvements and make efficiencies in supporting newly recognised refugees move on from asylum accommodation.

The independent evaluation of the pilot continues and is due to conclude imminently. Evaluation outcomes will be used to inform longer term policy proposals and will be shared with parliament.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications for asylum are currently awaiting a decision; what is the average time taken to process an application; and what steps are being taken to reduce the time taken to process applications.

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

We are restoring order to the asylum system so that every part – border security, case processing, appeals and returns – operate swiftly.

We are using a range of technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, to improve staff productivity.

We doubled the rate of decision-making. The first half of this year saw the second and third highest quarters for decision-making since records began.

Statistics on the full asylum WIP is published in table ASY_03 on GOV.UK in the ‘Immigration and Protection data’, as part of the ‘Migration Transparency data’. The total number of cases in the asylum system relates to both those awaiting an initial decision and those who have appealed and are waiting a further outcome. The latest published data relates to the year ending June 2024.

As at 30 June 2025, there were 70,532 cases awaiting an initial decision.

The average time taken to process claims is not currently available from published statistics. Statistics regarding the age of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision is published in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum claims awaiting a decision detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the year ending June 2025.We have increased the speed at which cases are processed, with 42% of claims received in 2024 Q4 being processed within 6 months, by comparison, 7% of claims received in 2023 Q4 were processed within 6 months.

By transforming the asylum system, we will clear the backlog of claims and appeals.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what engagement they carried out with the local community before allocating the King's Gap Hotel in Hoylake as accommodation for single males seeking asylum.

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

The Home Office engaged with Wirral Borough council a number of times and remain committed to engaging with local authorities and key stakeholders to identify and mitigate potential risks and address community concerns regarding asylum accommodation.

The Home Office is committed to engaging with local authorities and other stakeholders to understand and mitigate any risks to and concerns of the wider community. This includes working closely with the police and other agencies in matters relating to the operation of the sites, safety, and security.’

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 28 July (HL9433), how many engines for small boats have been seized prior to being used in crossings or attempted crossings of the English Channel since 4 July 2024.

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

This information requested is not available in an accessible format and could only be collated at a disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they had with Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council before allocating the King's Gap Hotel in Hoylake as accommodation for single males seeking asylum.

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

The Home Office engaged with Wirral Borough council a number of times and remain committed to engaging with local authorities and key stakeholders to identify and mitigate potential risks and address community concerns regarding asylum accommodation.

The Home Office is committed to engaging with local authorities and other stakeholders to understand and mitigate any risks to and concerns of the wider community. This includes working closely with the police and other agencies in matters relating to the operation of the sites, safety, and security.’

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost per day of accommodating asylum seekers.

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

Wider asylum accommodation costs other than hotels are not routinely published by the Home Office.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to compare the level of support for health services, including dental care, for people seeking asylum provided by EU member states, Norway and Switzerland.

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

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. Asylum Support provisions are reviewed regularly to ensure that we remain compliant in meeting our legal obligations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to compare the level of support for housing and accommodation for people seeking asylum provided by EU member states, Norway and Switzerland.

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

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. Asylum Support provisions are reviewed regularly to ensure that we remain compliant in meeting our legal obligations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to compare the level of support for child support services for people seeking asylum provided by EU member states, Norway and Switzerland.

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

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. Asylum Support provisions are reviewed regularly to ensure that we remain compliant in meeting our legal obligations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to compare the level of support for transport for people seeking asylum provided by EU member states, Norway and Switzerland.

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

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. Asylum Support provisions are reviewed regularly to ensure that we remain compliant in meeting our legal obligations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 59362 on Asylum: Housing, whether local authorities have a right of objection to the housing of asylum seekers in (a) hostels, (b) hotels, (c) HMOs and (d) private rented sector accommodation in their locality.

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

An important part of our procurement process allows for local authorities across the UK to feed in local intelligence before our providers commit to accommodation. They have the opportunity to respond to consultation requests from our providers regarding either individual properties or specific postcode areas.

We are committed to working closely with communities and stakeholders to ensure destitute asylum seekers are housed in safe, secure and suitable accommodation, and that they are treated with dignity while their asylum claim is considered.

The asylum accommodation estate is provided by Serco, Mears, Clearsprings Ready Homes and CTM.

The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to improve cross-border intelligence-sharing between regional counter-terrorism units and devolved Administrations.

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

Counter-terrorism – like all issues of national security – is a reserved matter. The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, outlines the importance of working together with the devolved governments on a shared strategic response to the threat of terrorism posed across the UK. Regional counter-terrorism units work around the clock with the UK intelligence agencies, local communities and partners to keep us safe. For security reasons, we do not comment on specifics of intelligence or operations.

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Found: − AFC0076 – Department for Work and Pensions − AFC0077 – HM Revenue and Customs − AFC0078 – Home Office

Found: The Home Office actively consulted with the UK’s data protection independent supervisory authority (

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

Found: The Home Office should carry out an updated prevalence study to ensure services can be aligned with

Found: The Home Office should carry out an updated prevalence study to ensure services can be aligned with

Found: Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025 “a sense of disappointment that the Home Office

Found: This is created on an official form known as an MG15, a ‘national file standard’ agreed by the Home Office

Found: professionals/students, funding disbursed via Horizon/Erasmus+, STEM talent exchange numbers Home Office

Found: for individuals in the UK and in Europe. 3 ABTA/SBiT, Unlocking Travel’s Potential, June 2023 4 Home Office

Found: achieved through the Ask for ANI campaign, an initiative where there was joint engagement with the Home Office

Found: Malhotra MP Minister for Migration & Citizenship 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF www.gov.uk/home-office

Found: Correspondence with the Home office relating to ending violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland

Found: in 2021, we have conducted inquiries on areas relating to both the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office

Found: Since the Committee was established in 2021, we have conducted inquiries on issues relating to the Home Office

Found: inal_PDF_Electronic_Monitoring_of_DA_Perpetrators.pdf [accessed 06.08.2025] Singleton, N. et al. (2005) Mandatory drug testing in prisons, Home Office

Found: For example, the Home Office published guidance to support victims of domestic abuse and violence, enforced

Found: When I came in, I was disturbed to learn that Home Office officials would often not attend First-tier

Found: bring responsibility for fire under one Department, it is important that the handover from the Home Office

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

Found: @JointCtteeNSS parliament.uk 9 September 2025 Dan Jarvis MP Minister for Security Home Office

Found: Jess Brown-Fuller: No, I think they are in the Home Office.

Found: Government Department has had a chance to properly feed into this because it is not just an MOJ or a Home Office

Found: departments should also be sought in relation to proportionality or necessity (in particular the Home Office

Found: Government Department has had a chance to properly feed into this because it is not just an MOJ or a Home Office

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Found: Aled Hughes: I believe it is the Home Office.

Found: DSIT will say, “We want global talent”, and the Home Office will say, “We will try to put you off”.

Found: Antony King: We do immigration cases on behalf of the Home Office in Scotland and Northern Ireland,

Found: Actually, if you are in the Home Office, you want really, really good crime statistics.

Found: a visa to come for the part of her PhD that was intended to be based in London because the UK Home Office

Found: out the National Crime Agency, the police—obviously —others in the intelligence world and the Home Office

Found: out the National Crime Agency, the police—obviously —others in the intelligence world and the Home Office

Found: the combination of the ARAP scheme, the Afghan citizen resettlement scheme that was run by the Home Office

Found: Lord Hanson of Flint Minister of State 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF www.gov.uk/home-office

Found: that is something that Nick and I have been working on very closely with colleagues from the Home Office

Found: Britain, gov.uk, 3 April 2025. 39 Q22 [Helen Buckingham]; Dover Port Health Authority (APH0156). 40 Home Office

Found: For all the panel, I was the Home Office Minister for Law and Order between 1993 and 1997.

Found: That is certainly the view of the Home Office.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the increase in cost of Electronic Travel Authorisations on her Department’s target of 50 million annual visits to the UK by 2030.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

DCMS closely monitors factors that may influence inbound tourism, including the cost of electronic travel authorisations (ETAs). We recognise the importance of balancing secure and efficient border processes with the need to remain competitive as a global tourism destination.

DCMS continues to engage with the Home Office to ensure that any changes to the cost of ETAs are proportionate and informed by robust evidence on their potential impact on our 50m inbound target. Supporting the UK's tourism industry remains a priority, and we will continue to review any challenges to its growth.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent the (a) sale and (b) production of skimming devices used fraudulently steal card details.

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

The Home Office announced that an expanded fraud strategy will be published later this year, as part of the government’s Plan for Change, with a key focus of the strategy being combatting tech-enabled fraud.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) prevention and (b) detection measures used to identify fraudulent claims for Universal Credit by foreign nationals.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

This government takes all cases of fraud seriously and has introduced the biggest package of measures in recent history to reduce welfare fraud, error and debt, which includes new legislation, the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill. This contains new powers to modernise our defences and is currently progressing through Parliament.

In 2024-25, we saved an estimated £25bn from our up-front controls and detect activity, with the latter delivering £2bn savings and thereby significantly exceeding our Annually Managed Expenditure savings target.

The Department always checks a person’s identity and immigration status before paying them benefits if they are a foreign national. We verify this information with the Home Office, including through automatic system-to-system checks.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department responded to the correspondence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government of 6 August 2025 on the proposed Chinese Embassy.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

On 20 August, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Home Office submitted written representations to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in response to its correspondence of 6 August.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Commonwealth service-leavers who have served between four and six years have paid for a visa upon discharge since 5 July 2024.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

All applications are submitted to the Home Office. The Ministry of Defence does not hold information about the number of applications submitted by Service personnel on discharge, or by their family members.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Commonwealth service-leavers have paid for visa applications for dependents since 5 July 2024.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

All applications are submitted to the Home Office. The Ministry of Defence does not hold information about the number of applications submitted by Service personnel on discharge, or by their family members.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners in Category A prisons are foreign nationals; and how many of the total prison population are undocumented migrants without proof of a UK visa or granted asylum.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

As of 30 June 2025, 577 foreign national offenders were held in Category A prisons. The immigration status of individual foreign nationals is a matter for the Home Office, and the Ministry of Justice does not hold information in relation to it.

All foreign nationals given a custodial sentence are referred to the Home Office to consider whether they should be removed from the UK on account of their criminality or immigration status.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding was allocated to local partnerships in Buckinghamshire in the last rural and wildlife crime funding settlement.

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

Defra does not provide financial allocations to local partnerships for tackling wildlife crime but instead provides funding directly at the national level, to the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), and in 2025/26 is providing £424,000. Home Office, similarly, does not provide financial allocations to local partnerships. Home Office provides funding directly at the national level. In 2025/26 the Home Office has provided the NWCU with £450k and the National Rural Crime Unit with £365k.

The NWCU helps prevent and detect wildlife crime by obtaining and disseminating intelligence, undertaking analysis which highlights local or national threats, and assisting law enforcers with investigations. In 2024-25 the NWCU provided support on wildlife crime cases to every local police force in the UK including Thames Valley Police.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing statutory guidance to NHS commissioning bodies to ensure that they commission counselling and psychotherapy professionals to provide specialist support for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence from accredited registers.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is working with the Home Office and other partners across the Government on a new strategy to tackle violence against women and girls. There are no current plans to issue any such guidance to National Health Service commissioners.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will issue guidance to NHS commissioners on commissioning qualified counselling and psychotherapy services as part of the specialist support provided to survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is working with the Home Office and other partners across the Government on a new strategy to tackle violence against women and girls. There are no current plans to issue any such guidance to National Health Service commissioners.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many child benefit claims were cancelled because the claimant was found to be living abroad in each year since 2020.

Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

From administrative data, the number of Child Benefit awards terminated by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) through compliance activity per year, due to customers no longer meeting the Child Benefit residency criteria is provided below: ·

- 2020-21 = 113 awards

- 2021-22 = 269 awards

- 2022-23 = 762 awards

- 2023-24 = 1,030 awards

- 2024-25 = 3,017 awards

The increase in terminated awards over this period has resulted from incremental improvements in HMRC’s utilisation of available data sources. In 2024-25 a proof of concept used Home Office travel data as a risk indicator for when customers may no longer satisfy Child Benefit residence criteria. Following the success of this exercise, the government announced at Autumn Budget 24 investment in an additional 180 welfare counter fraud staff in HMRC to tackle fraud and error in Child Benefit. This is expected to save £350 million over the next five years.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 July 2025 to Question 67468 on Diseases: Undocumented Migrants, what the cost to the public purse was for initial health assessments for irregular migrants in each of the last five years.

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

The Department and NHS England do not hold the information requested.

The Department, NHS England and UK Health Security Agency officials are supporting the Home Office and regional and local health partners to support delivery of reforms to the asylum system, including to accommodation for asylum seekers. The Department’s role focuses on addressing the health needs of asylum seekers, protecting local services, and addressing the transmission risks for infectious diseases.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of employed midwives required a work visa in each of the last ten years.

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

The Department of Health and Social Care does not hold the information requested.

However, data published by the Home Office on grants of Health and Social Care Worker visas to midwives shows 606 grants in total during 2023 but a significant reduction in recent quarters. Only 18 grants were issued in the latest data for the three months to June 2025.

Data up to March 2024 can be found in the spreadsheet ‘Sponsored work entry clearance visas by occupation and industry (SOC 2010), year ending March 2024’, available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables.

Data for the last three quarters can be found in the following spreadsheet ‘Sponsored work entry clearance visas by occupation and industry (SOC 2020), year ending June 2025’, available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables.

Not all of those with Health and Social Care visas will be sponsored by NHS providers in England.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on reports of UK police allegedly pressuring a Hong Kong activist to self-censor.

Answered by Catherine West

Freedom of speech and other fundamental rights of all people in the UK are protected under domestic law, regardless of nationality. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office works closely with the Home Office on a range of matters in support of Hong Kongers in the UK. While we do not comment on individual cases, police will rightly inform individuals if there is any assessed threat to their wellbeing and provide guidance on steps they can consider to enhance their personal safety.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of resources available to ensure that increases in police officer numbers do not contribute to an increase in the Crown Court backlog.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

We are working closely with the Home Office to monitor and assess the impact of increased police recruitment on the Crown Court, as well as on the prison and probation services.

Additionally, the Government commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to undertake an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts to propose once-in-a-generation reforms and efficiency savings to improve timeliness and deliver swifter justice for victims.

Sir Brian Leveson published part one of his report on 9 July and the Government will publish a response in due course. We are considering the implications of the reforms to ensure implementation is coordinated with other system partners, including the police and Crown Prosecution Service, and is consistent with system-wide capacity.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) monitor and (b) evaluate the effectiveness of the people smuggling sanctions regime.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK has so far sanctioned 25 targets - 20 individuals and five entities - at the heart of people-smuggling networks that drive irregular migration to the UK. These targets were identified through close co-ordination across government departments, including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Home Office, National Crime Agency, our global network of Diplomatic Posts and others. We will collectively continue to monitor the effectiveness of the designations imposed so far, including with international partners and others, and forthcoming designations, as we seek to demonstrate our ability to target individuals and entities around the world, disrupt the activities of criminal networks, and deter others from engaging in this vile trade.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people who were applying for asylum have been issued with a driving licence since 2020.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

To be issued with a driving licence, the law requires that the applicant is both normally and lawfully resident in GB. Individuals who are subject to immigration control must have been granted either leave to remain or leave to enter the country by the Home Office before a licence will be issued.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) help tackle illegal sales of semaglutide and (b) regulate unlicensed pharmacists.

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

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for the regulation of all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. This also includes applying the legal controls on the retail sale, supply and advertising of medicines which are set out in the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.

Public safety is the number one priority for the MHRA and its Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) works hard to prevent, detect and investigate illegal activity involving medicines and medical devices. This year, the CEU and its partners have seized millions of doses of illegally traded medicines, including weight loss products.

The MHRA also works closely with web-based sales platforms and the internet industry to identify and remove non-compliant medicines and medical devices where possible. This has included the suspension of hundreds of websites and social media listings linked to the sale of weight loss products over the last two years.

The MHRA works tirelessly to develop new and innovative ways to tackle the trade in illegal medicines. This includes:

- enhanced collaboration with search engine and UK internet service providers aimed at blocking harmful online content;

- boosted collaboration with Home Office Border Force allowing the MHRA to grow its operational footprint at the border and increase the interdiction rates of illegally trafficked medicines;

- the launch of an online checker that allows users to search if a website offering medicines has been deemed fraudulent by the MHRA;

- implementation of a web-based reporting scheme allowing users to report suspicious websites, online marketplace listings and social media channels directly to the MHRA; and

- the use of cutting-edge technology to identify, track and seize the proceeds of crime, including cryptocurrency.

The MHRA’s FakeMeds campaign provides advice to people in the UK who are considering buying medication online, outlining how products can be accessed from safe and legitimate sources.

Anyone who believes they have had a side effect from a medicine, or think they’ve received falsified stock, can report it to the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme.

Most legitimate weight loss products are prescription-only medicines, meaning that a consultation with a doctor or qualified healthcare professional is needed to assess the patient's suitability for the treatment and consider any potential risks. Usually, they should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy against a valid prescription. The General Pharmaceutical Council is responsible for the regulation of pharmacies and pharmacists licensed to practice in Great Britain.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has she made of potential impact of the public spaces protection orders process on taxi and professional drivers.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Home Office lead on Public Spaces Protection Orders policy. Public Spaces Protection Orders can be issued by local authorities to stop people committing anti-social behaviour in a public place. It is for local areas to decide how best to deploy these powers depending on the specific circumstances. They are best placed to understand what is driving the behaviour in question, the impact that it is having, and to determine the most appropriate response.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure compliance with benefit eligibility rules by foreign nationals.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department applies strict compliance and benefit eligibility checks to all claimants regardless of their nationality. In addition to verifying a claimant’s identity, DWP checks that claimants are habitually resident here before they can receive public funds benefits including Universal Credit. DWP also applies strict past presence requirements to ensure that claimants of disability and carer benefits have a substantial and recent connection to this country before they can claim. In addition, DWP always checks a person’s immigration status before paying them benefits if they are a foreign national. We verify this information with the Home Office, including through automatic system-to-system checks.

This Government takes all cases of fraud seriously and has introduced the biggest package of measures in recent history to reduce welfare fraud, error and debt, which includes new legislation, the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill. This contains new powers to modernise our defences and is currently progressing through Parliament.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what stab vests are issued to prison officers.

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

Protective body armour (PBA) is currently issued in the following circumstances:

• Operational Response and Resilience Unit staff wear PBA when deployed. Where necessary, ballistic protection may be required.

• Operation Tornado mobilised staff are issued PBA as part of their PPE.

• Prison Officers are required to wear PBA during planned use of force or when managing high-risk prisoners.

Following a violent attack at HMP Frankland in April 2025, the Ministry of Justice conducted a snap review. As a result, rollout of PBA was announced for officers working in:

• Close Supervision Centres

• Separation Centres

• Segregation Units within the high-security estate

The rollout is ongoing and includes individual fitting to ensure maximum protection.

All body armour conforms to the Home Office 2017 standards and all versions have knife and spike resistant protection.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of rural crime.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

This Government is committed to working with the police and other partners to address the blight of rural crime.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council Wildlife and Rural Crime Strategy 2022-2025 provides a framework through which policing, and its partners, can work together to tackle the most prevalent threats and emerging issues which predominantly affect rural communities.

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutors work closely with local police officers and officers from the National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit to tackle all types of rural crime, ensuring timely charging decisions and effective prosecutions.

The Government announced earlier this year that both Units, which the Home Office funds, will receive over £800,000 to continue their important work.

The CPS provides legal guidance on Wildlife, Rural and Heritage Crime, which is available to all its prosecutors, to assist them in dealing with these cases, and specialist training to ensure that its prosecutors have the expert knowledge needed to prosecute these crimes.

The CPS has also recently appointed a national lead on rural crime who heads up a network of Wildlife, Rural and Heritage Crime Champions across the CPS, to work with organisations with an interest in tackling all forms of wildlife, rural and heritage crime.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of commemoration the contribution of British famers to national security (a) through their service in the Home Guard and (b) supervision of prisoners of war during the Second World War.

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

The Ministry of Defence has made no such assessment. Farmers played an important role in the national effort to defeat Nazism, including through their service in the Home Guard and the supervision of prisoners of war. Farmers who undertook actual military service during the Second World War would have had their eligibility for appropriate military honours and awards considered in the immediate post-war period, alongside all other military personnel. However, any commemoration of the contribution made by farmers to national security during the Second World War would be a matter for consideration by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Home Office.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 24 on page 19of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, whether his Department plans to take steps with the (a) Cabinet Office and (b) Home Office to publish a formal policy document on the protection and defence of critical national infrastructure.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The Strategic Defence Review set out the need for Defence Readiness legislation this Parliament to give the Government more robust or additional powers to make the UK safe. This could include measures to improve the preparedness of key industries including nuclear, to better protect our Critical National Infrastructure and to support the mobilisation of wider Defence, including industry reserves. As set out to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy on 30 June 2025, a Defence Readiness Bill is potentially a legislative vehicle for the wider Government, not just Defence. We are therefore working closely across Government through the Cabinet Office-led Home Defence programme to shape our key requirements, and understand and identify the measures needed. This will lay the groundwork to introduce legislation when Parliamentary time allows, but we do not yet have a specific timescale for when this will come before Parliament.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will consider the introduction of mandatory autism awareness training for staff working in (a) HM Courts and Tribunals Service, (b) the police and (c) other areas of the criminal justice system.

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

The Ministry of Justice recognises the importance of training and delegates responsibility for determining specific training needs to individual operational bodies. While autism awareness training is not currently mandatory, agencies across the justice system have the discretion to introduce such training based on operational requirements.

For example, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) provides access to a Diversity and Inclusion Learning Hub for all staff, as well as a Neurodiversity Line Managers’ Handbook to support understanding of neurodiverse conditions.

Any proposal to introduce mandatory autism awareness training within the Ministry of Justice would be subject to its Mandatory Learning Governance Process, which ensures consistent and robust decision-making through engagement with subject matter experts.

The Home Office is the Department with oversight of policing in England and Wales and is best placed to provide detailed information regarding autism training within police forces.

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Found: Home Office (2024). Sabotage: National Security Bill factsheet. 82. Greenberg, A. (2023).

Found: the Treaty, or provision which needs to be 53 Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Home Office

Found: Home Office data indicates there were 5,154 foreign national prisoners returned in the year ending March

Found: the Treaty, or provision which needs to be 53 Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Home Office

Found: We are working closely with the Home Office, the police and NHS England to better understand the implementation

Found: Digital Service); • HM Treasury and the Government Finance Function; • HM Revenue & Customs; • Home Office

Found: DfE and the Home Office jointly run a national transfer scheme, mandatory since December 2021, to ensure

Found: DfE and the Home Office jointly run a national transfer scheme, mandatory since December 2021, to ensure

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

Found: Colleges Colleges (non-state-funded) may ask to see evidence of eligibility, which could be the Home Office

Found: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Home Office

Found: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Home Office

Found: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Home Office

Found: Colleges Colleges (non-state-funded) may ask to see evidence of eligibility, which could be the Home Office

Found: Other organisations can contact the Home Office through their usual process for checking immigration

Found: Lord Hanson of Flint Minister of State 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF www.gov.uk/home-office Dr

Found: Think Fraud, a campaign from the Home Office.

Found:

Found: The Home Office now plans to take a more active leadership role, including setting national priorities

Found: held the role of Director General, Capabilities and Resources (Chief Operating Officer) at the Home Office

Found: We will verify your details with the Home Office to confirm your identity, nationality and residency

Found: BFEG heard from the following contributors: • Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) • Home Office

Found: you that The Marine Directorate Fish Technology Group (FTG) are in the process of applying for a Home Office

Found: • The Home Office responded that the UK Government was not looking to negotiate a Youth Mobility agreement

Found: funding for medicinal cannabis prescriptions was granted to a small number of patients via the Home Office

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the Homeless Persons (Suspension of Referrals between Local Authorities) (Scotland) Order 2022, in light of the reported increased pressure on homelessness services in Glasgow that has arisen since the order was commenced.

Answered by McAllan, Màiri - Cabinet Secretary for Housing

The rules on local connection were changed in November 2022 to give homeless households – like other households – choice and control about where they settle. The SSI in November 2022 stopped referrals of homeless households between Scottish local authorities on the basis of their local connection. Referrals to England and Wales are still permitted and the SSI did not change local connection rules for refugee households. The rules covering refugee households who have just left asylum accommodation are set out in the Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003.

Homelessness statistics on local connection following changes to the legislation remain stable with 3% of households seeking homelessness support in an area where they do not have a local connection. The evidence to date shows that people are exercising choice about where they want to live as the legislation intended. We continue to monitor the flow of people moving in and out of each local authority area to inform our understanding of the impact of the legislative change.

The duties that local authorities owe to homeless refugee households were not affected by the November 2022 changes to local connection. It is section 7 of the Homelessness etc.(Scotland) Act 2003, passed by the last Labour / Liberal coalition which outlines that the time spent in Home Office asylum accommodation does not establish a local connection for newly recognised refugees, as the household has not had any choice about where they lived while accommodated by the Home Office. If a household receives a positive asylum decision while living in asylum accommodation in a Scottish local authority and presents as homeless, they cannot be referred to the local authority where they were accommodated by the Home Office on the basis of local connection.

Conversely, Section 199 (6) of the Housing Act 1996 states that a local connection is established if a person was at any time provided with accommodation in that district. This means that people granted refugee status in England and Wales are found to have established a local connection with the authority/authorities where they have resided in asylum accommodation – despite having no choice in where they were placed. This limits where they can make a homelessness application in England and Wales.

A decision by the UK Government in December 2022 to clear the backlog of legacy asylum claims resulted in an increased number of refugee households seeking support, with this increased pressure being most acute in Glasgow. More recently, the Home Office decision (27 August 2025) to end the temporary extension of the move-on period for single adults is likely to exacerbate the pressures being faced by local authorities. The Scottish Government supports the call from Glasgow City Council that the UK Government must provide adequate funding to allow local authorities to support newly recognised refugees and communities.

Scottish Ministers do not want to roll back the rights of homeless households and do not intend to make any further changes to local connection legislation at this time.

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to recruit and retain social care staff.

Answered by Arthur, Tom - Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing

The Scottish Government recognise the invaluable role of the social care workforce. Whilst not an employer, we continue to work closely with COSLA and key partners to progress joint commitments in the National Workforce Strategy and recently published Service Renewal Framework, which both support efforts to recruit and retain social care staff.

For the 2025-26 financial year, the Scottish Government will be investing £125 million to enable adult social care workers in the third and private sectors to be paid at least the Real Living Wage. This takes the estimated total investment to deliver this policy to £950 million.

The workstreams of the Joint Social Services Taskforce have achieved real change to improve the workforce experience, through supporting career opportunities and staff development, these include:

• creation of a portable national induction framework;
• development of a social care career options tool;
• publication of an earn and learn blueprint;
• agreement of the introduction and trial a new Care Technologist role; and
• publication of our Funding Landscape resource.

Additionally, we continue to provide funding for the NES Social Care Centre for Workforce Supply (CWSS), who support employers ethically and sustainably recruit international works, who play a vital role in our care sector workforce. The CWSS are working with the Home Office to engage with displaced workers in England and promote opportunities to move to social care roles in Scotland.

Collectively these actions make it easier for employers to recruit and retain staff.