Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure in-person access to police services in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions regarding police resourcing and the police estate, including in-person access points such as front counters, are a matter for Chief Constables and elected Police and Crime Commissioners (or equivalents). They are best placed to decide based on local need, experience, and budgets.‑elected Police and Crime Commissioners (or equivalents). They are best placed to decide based on local need, experience, and budgets.
As part of this Government’s Safer Streets Mission, we are restoring neighbourhood policing, with nearly 2,400 additional neighbourhood officers in post last September. We are also ensuring that every community has named, contactable, officers dedicated to tackling the issues facing their communities, strengthening the connections between the police and the local communities they serve.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the level of importation of synthetic cathinones through mail; and what progress her Department has made in tackling the importation of illicit substances through mail.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Forensic Science Regulator has established a working group to develop regulatory requirements around the use of drug testing kits and devices. The working group involves police, forensic providers, academia and government organisations, including the Home Office. No assessment has been made of the merits of updating Home Office guidance with specific regard to synthetic cathinones.
The Home Office and operational partners have processes and capabilities in place at the UK Border to detect illicit substances, including synthetic cathinones trafficked through mail. The Home Office engages with postal and parcel operators both in the UK and internationally to tackle this threat.
Most synthetic cathinones are controlled as Class B drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Drug Testing on Arrest gives police the power to identify offenders under the influence of Class A drugs and get them the help they need. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are expanding tests to cover specified Class A, B and C drugs. These drugs will be specified through secondary legislation. The Crime and Policing Bill is progressing through Parliament and the Government will look to bring forward the necessary secondary legislation following Royal Assent.
I am grateful to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs for their comprehensive report on synthetic cathinones. The Government is considering the ACMD’s recommendations carefully and we will respond as soon as possible.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs' recommendations on synthetic cathinones in its report entitled Synthetic Cathinones: an Updated Harms Assessment report.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Forensic Science Regulator has established a working group to develop regulatory requirements around the use of drug testing kits and devices. The working group involves police, forensic providers, academia and government organisations, including the Home Office. No assessment has been made of the merits of updating Home Office guidance with specific regard to synthetic cathinones.
The Home Office and operational partners have processes and capabilities in place at the UK Border to detect illicit substances, including synthetic cathinones trafficked through mail. The Home Office engages with postal and parcel operators both in the UK and internationally to tackle this threat.
Most synthetic cathinones are controlled as Class B drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Drug Testing on Arrest gives police the power to identify offenders under the influence of Class A drugs and get them the help they need. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are expanding tests to cover specified Class A, B and C drugs. These drugs will be specified through secondary legislation. The Crime and Policing Bill is progressing through Parliament and the Government will look to bring forward the necessary secondary legislation following Royal Assent.
I am grateful to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs for their comprehensive report on synthetic cathinones. The Government is considering the ACMD’s recommendations carefully and we will respond as soon as possible.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 updating the Home Office Approved Field Testing guidance in relation to synthetic cathinones.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Forensic Science Regulator has established a working group to develop regulatory requirements around the use of drug testing kits and devices. The working group involves police, forensic providers, academia and government organisations, including the Home Office. No assessment has been made of the merits of updating Home Office guidance with specific regard to synthetic cathinones.
The Home Office and operational partners have processes and capabilities in place at the UK Border to detect illicit substances, including synthetic cathinones trafficked through mail. The Home Office engages with postal and parcel operators both in the UK and internationally to tackle this threat.
Most synthetic cathinones are controlled as Class B drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Drug Testing on Arrest gives police the power to identify offenders under the influence of Class A drugs and get them the help they need. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are expanding tests to cover specified Class A, B and C drugs. These drugs will be specified through secondary legislation. The Crime and Policing Bill is progressing through Parliament and the Government will look to bring forward the necessary secondary legislation following Royal Assent.
I am grateful to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs for their comprehensive report on synthetic cathinones. The Government is considering the ACMD’s recommendations carefully and we will respond as soon as possible.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate has been made of the economic impact of housing (a) refugees and (b) asylum seekers in Ipswich.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office works closely with local authorities and takes into account the pressures associated with providing asylum accommodation. We continue to engage with local authorities to manage these impacts, including on their wider statutory responsibilities and local plans.
To support this work, the Home Office administers a range of grants to help local authorities meet the costs of accommodating asylum seekers.
Costs associated with asylum accommodation and support are reported at a national level in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ho-annual-reports-and-accounts.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many referrals Immigration Enforcement has received from (i) local authorities and (ii) police forces regarding rough sleeping by non-UK nationals.
Answered by Sarah Jones - 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.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will publish all information it holds on child sexual exploitation committed by illegal migrants.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information you have requested is not available from published statistics and there is no immediate intention to publish them.
Work is currently underway to publish more detailed information on FNOs subject to deportation. Further information on this work can be found at: Statistics on foreign national offenders and the immigration system - GOV.UK.
In the twelve months between 1 February 2025 and 31 January 2026, over 5,600 foreign national offenders (FNOs) have been returned from the UK under this government, a 12% increase on the previous year, and we will continue to do everything we can to remove these vile criminals from our streets
In April 2025, the Home Office announced that it would – for the first time – categorise as a ‘particularly serious crime’ for the purpose of the Refugee Convention any conviction resulting in the offender being made subject to the notification requirements for sex offenders, regardless of the length of sentence they receive, thereby allowing the UK to exclude those individuals from being granted any right to claim asylum protections.
We will build on these reforms across the immigration system, as well as the asylum system, amending our policies and guidance to ensure we are upholding UK laws - taking action to prevent individuals who pose a danger to the British public from being allowed to stay in the UK, and taking much earlier action on a wider range of crimes.
We will set out more detailed reforms and stronger measures to ensure our laws are upheld, including streamlining and speeding up the removals process. That will include establishing new procedures so that the Home Office can more easily take enforcement and removal action and revoke visas in a much wider range of crimes where non-custodial sentences have been given, not just cases which are sent to prison.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which of her Department's officials informed US authorities that they would not observe the interrogation of Omar al Bayoumi in 2001.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
It is the longstanding policy of successive UK Governments not to comment routinely either on individual cases or intelligence and security matters.
These questions relate to ongoing civil legal proceedings in the United States; this imposes legal and procedural limits on the information that can be disclosed at this stage. The Government is therefore unable to comment further while litigation remains active.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what contact her department had with counterparts in the US on the release and ongoing surveillance of Omar al Bayoumi in 2001 and 2002.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
It is the longstanding policy of successive UK Governments not to comment routinely either on individual cases or intelligence and security matters.
These questions relate to ongoing civil legal proceedings in the United States; this imposes legal and procedural limits on the information that can be disclosed at this stage. The Government is therefore unable to comment further while litigation remains active.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 16 of the Police reform white paper “From Local to National: A New Model for Policing” (CP1489), by when will she establish a new Performance Unit in the Home Office.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
A new Police Performance Unit was established in May 2025 with a temporary head appointed on a part time basis. The permanent head, a retired Deputy Chief Constable, has occupied the post since January 2026.
This Unit will assess police force’s performance to identify areas of high and poor performance, driving sustained and sustainable improvements where necessary, to ensure the public is effectively protected.