Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps Arts Council England is taking to ensure that its endorsement criteria for the global talent visa comply with the provisions relating to disability in the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This data is not held by the Home Office or Arts Council as information regarding disability is not requested by the Home Office as part of the application process.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when Arts Council England last reviewed the endorsement criteria for the global talent visa; and what revisions were made as a result of that review.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This data is not held by the Home Office or Arts Council as information regarding disability is not requested by the Home Office as part of the application process.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of young girls who are currently in danger of online grooming; and what procedures are in place to support their wellbeing.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
In the year ending September 2025 there were 7,527 recorded offences of sexual grooming (which includes sexual communication with a child). In the same period there were 1,000 defendants prosecuted and 1,085 convicted for sexual grooming offences. Girls are more likely to be affected by sexual offending than boys. However, the majority of CSA remains hidden and under-identified. The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA Centre) estimate that 15% of girls experience some form of sexual abuse before age 16 compared to 5% of boys (year ending March 2020). The Home Office funds the CSA Centre to drive system-wide improvements in professionals’ ability to identify and respond to child sexual abuse
The Home Office also equips UK Law Enforcement with the capabilities required to identify and tackle more child sex offenders, including online grooming. The Home Office funds a network of Undercover Online (UCOL) officers based in Regional Organised Crime Units. This network uses specially trained teams and infrastructure to target those who seek to groom children for sexual purposes.
The Home Office also provides funding to voluntary sector organisations to support victims and survivors of CSA through the Support for Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse fund. In 2025 as part of our response to recommendation 16 of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Government set out ambitious proposals to strengthen therapeutic support for victims, announcing it will provide up to £50 million in new funding to expand the Child House (Barnahus) model to every NHS region in England. This internationally recognised model—rightly viewed as the gold standard for supporting children who have experienced sexual abuse—will ensure that wherever a child lives, they can access the specialist, trauma-informed care they need to begin recovering and rebuilding their lives.
The Online Safety Act is also deigned to drive down online grooming. This landmark piece of legislation protects citizens, especially children, from abuse and harm online, such as grooming. There are over 40 specific measures in Ofcom’s Codes of Practice, which will protect children from the risk of online grooming. The Government is committed to supporting Ofcom’s effective implementation of the Act.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her Department’s new story entitled, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, what metrics will be used to evaluate the success of the new deepfake detection evaluation framework.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The purpose of the new evaluation framework is to enable government and law enforcement to assess the performance, robustness and operational value of deepfake detection tools. The framework evaluates detection tools against a range of technical and operational criteria, including accuracy, false‑positive and false‑negative rates, resilience to adversarial attacks, and usability within high‑volume investigative workflows.
Success will be measured through the provision of clear, comparable performance metrics that support evidence‑based procurement decisions and ensure frontline users have access to the most effective technologies.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's news story, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, whether she plans to repeat the Deepfake Detection Challenge to continue testing the technical challenges of deepfake detection and identifying opportunities.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Deepfake Detection Challenge has enabled extensive engagement across government policy teams, operational users, and the wider national security community to understand current and emerging threats. The Government will continue to evaluate deepfake detection capabilities to ensure tools remain effective against emerging techniques, and operational users have up-to-date information for procurement decisions.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's news story, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, what steps she is taking to coordinate with he international counterparts to tackle deepfake generation targeted at British citizens abroad.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
There has been strong interest from international partners, many of whom participated in the recent Deepfake Detection Challenge live event. The Government will continue to work closely with these partners to share best practice, exchange technical insights and promote aligned approaches to the detection and mitigation of synthetic media threats.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's news story, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, is she will publish an evaluation of the deepfake detection framework.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The evaluation framework is a security‑sensitive tool designed to support government and law enforcement in protecting the public from synthetic media threats. Publishing the framework would risk revealing information that could be exploited by adversaries to bypass or undermine defensive measures. For this reason, the framework will not be published.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Reform UK - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many illegal working investigations have been opened into parcel delivery firms in each of the last five years; and how many resulted in (a) civil penalties and (b) prosecutions.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data on illegal working investigations at the level of detail requested. For civil penalties, illegal working enforcement activity is recorded by employment sector, not by specific sub sectors such as parcel delivery firms. For prosecution, criminal investigations relating to illegal working will be recorded in line with the primary offence under investigation, such as possession of a counterfeit identity document, or assisting unlawful immigration. As a result, we are unable to provide figures on the number of investigations opened into parcel delivery firms or the outcomes in terms of civil penalties or prosecutions.
Any relevant activity would be captured under the broader business sectors of Warehousing, Distribution and Delivery or the primary offence under investigation.
A breakdown of activity by sector is available in the Home Office publication which can be accessed at: Illegal working and enforcement activity to the end of December 2025: by illegal working sector - GOV.UK
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review funding arrangements for local authorities requiring increases in asylum accommodation procurement and refugee move-on responsibilities.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Funding arrangements for local authorities are subject to continuous review. Local authorities were informed of the 2025/26 asylum accommodation funding model. Information on the total amount paid to individual local authorities for DA is not currently publicly available on the GOV.UK website
Discussions regarding funding beyond this period are ongoing within the government, and we are currently awaiting approval for the 2026/27 funding based on similar conditions.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2026 to Question 103186, on Asylum: Council Housing, which local authorities are participating in the asylum accommodation pilots.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
MHCLG and HO are exploring options for a new, more sustainable accommodation model, developed in consultation with local authorities. No final decisions have been taken by Ministers.