Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 requiring police forces to record thefts (a) from and (b) of light commercial vehicles as distinct crime categories to enable accurate national monitoring of van-related offending.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has access to a monthly extract of data from the Police National Computer (PNC) which provides additional intelligence information on the type of vehicles stolen in England and Wales. Such data already enables the monitoring of offences involving the theft of light commercial vehicles and so no additional crime code is needed to identify such thefts.
When collecting data for national monitoring purposes there is always a tension between seeking to capture more detail to identify emerging threats, which are hidden within existing broad offence groupings, and adding to recording complexity and burden on the police.
The Theft Act covers a wide range of criminality, and the Home Office currently require the police to record such offences under some fairly broad groups such as Theft from a motor vehicle, aggravated vehicle taking, and Theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the transition costs to the public purse of the proposed abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
There will be a small programme team in the Home Office to oversee the transition of police governance functions from Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to Strategic Authority Mayors or, where that is not possible, new Policing and Crime Boards. This will be resourced through the reprioritisation of existing resources.
The Home Office will work with Offices of PCCs and local authorities to assess local transition costs ahead of implementation in 2028. Following the approach taken for previous transfers of police governance in mayoral areas, costs are expected to be met locally through existing budgets.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Civil Service sickness absence reports, which provide statistics for sickness absence by organisation and sickness reason, including Mental Ill-Health.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many offenders awaiting (a) trial (b) sentencing were removed from the UK under a voluntary agreement prior to the completion of the legal process annually since 2015.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The Home Office publishes data on returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics quarterly release’. Data on returns by return type can be found in Ret_01 of the ‘Returns summary tables’. This data covers the period 2010 to September 2025.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been (a) arrested and (b) convicted in relation to the sale of illegal vape products in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The data requested is not held by the Home Office.
The Home Office collect and publishes data on arrests as part of the Police Powers and Procedures statistical series, available here: Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UK
However, data is collected by broader offence group and for notifiable offences only, therefore data on arrests for the sale of illegal vapes is not available.
Convictions is a matter for the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to issue guidance to police forces in England and Wales that rapists and suspected rapists are recorded as male in crime statistics.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is considering the implications of the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex within the Equality Act. The Government Statistical Service Harmonisation team, based in the Office for National Statistics, are also in the process of reviewing standards and guidance for statistical data on sex and on gender identity. Once this has concluded the Government will review current guidance to agencies that collect crime statistics across the criminal justice system.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Emergency Services Network will be fully operational, including phone-based location tracking capabilities for emergency responders.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The programme’s priority is to achieve the right balance between credible plans that have user confidence and the need to deliver ESN as quickly and safely as possible to enable the shutdown of Airwave.
The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) has successfully concluded two major re-procurements. In November 2024, the Mobile Services contract was awarded to BT/EE, followed by the award of the User Services contract to IBM in December 2024. With these committed delivery partners firmly on board, ESMCP has made excellent progress into full delivery mode.
The programme has finalised a revised Programme Business Case, which has been endorsed by the Senior Users of the three Emergency Services and representatives from the devolved nations. The Business Case is expected to complete departmental and HM Treasury approvals in early 2026. Our user community remains actively engaged in planning the deployment and rollout of the Emergency Services Network (ESN) and ensuring a safe transition from Airwave. Early adoption of a service-ready solution is on track for early 2028, with full transition from Airwave targeted for completion by the end of 2029.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will publish all intelligence information received by West Midlands Police from the Dutch authorities regarding the Amsterdam riots in November 2024.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent of Government. Officials routinely engage with operational partners to support public safety and effective policing.
The Home Office does not publish operational intelligence or risk assessments produced by police forces or overseas law enforcement agencies. Doing so could compromise public safety, ongoing investigations, and relationships with international partners.
I am aware that the Honourable Member has, since tabling these questions, placed in the public domain reports by the West Midlands Police inputting into the local Safety Advisory Group, and the Netherlands Inspectorate of Justice and Security.
I also gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 1 December on this issue which is available at: 1 December 2025 - Football Policing - Oral evidence - Committees - UK Parliament
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish risk assessments presented by West Midlands Police to the Safety Advisory Group on the fixture at Villa Park on 6 November 2025.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police are operationally independent of Government. Officials routinely engage with operational partners to support public safety and effective policing.
The Home Office does not publish operational intelligence or risk assessments produced by police forces or overseas law enforcement agencies. Doing so could compromise public safety, ongoing investigations, and relationships with international partners.
I am aware that the Honourable Member has, since tabling these questions, placed in the public domain reports by the West Midlands Police inputting into the local Safety Advisory Group, and the Netherlands Inspectorate of Justice and Security.
I also gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 1 December on this issue which is available at: 1 December 2025 - Football Policing - Oral evidence - Committees - UK Parliament
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs review of cannabis-based products for medicinal use is expected to be completed and published.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Cannabis-based products for medicinal use (‘CBPMs’) were placed in Schedule 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 in 2018, making them available for prescribing.
The Government has commissioned the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (‘ACMD’) to review the evidence on CBPMs and assess whether the legislative change in 2018 has had the desired effect and whether there have been any unintended consequences.
The ACMD is an independent scientific advisory body and determines its own procedures. However, the three-year Ministerial commission for 2025 – 2028 flagged the CBPM commission as a priority.
The Government will consider the advice carefully before deciding what action to take. The response will be published on gov.uk.