Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain criteria on the number of staff in the social care sector.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, announced changes to the mandatory requirements and qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain. It was subject to a public consultation, which ran until 12 February 2026.
As part of this consultation, we are seeking views on the potential impact of the proposed changes on different groups, including those working in sectors such as social care. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following the consultation.
The final proposals will also be subject to full economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
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 For this reason, the framework will not be published.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: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who signs off asylum related contracts in her Department.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Internal Home Office Commercial approvals are required before awarding contracts. In addition, Cabinet Office Spend Controls approvals are also required.
The guidance for Cabinet Office Spend Controls applies to commercial activities with a value of £20 million or more and is published on GOV.UK under Commercial Spend Controls (version 7).
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.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Reform UK - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has assessed the potential impact of courier networks using sub‑accounts within courier networks on trends in the level of people working illegally.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has assessed the potential impact of courier networks using sub-accounts and the links to illegal working. We do not disclose operational detail as it would compromise our operational activity.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to classify misogyny as a hate crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that all victims of hate crime receive equal protection under the law.
That is why we tabled an amendment at Lords Report Stage to the Crime and Policing Bill, extending the aggravated offences in sections 28 to 32 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. This will level up protections by adding transgender identity, sexual orientation, disability and sex to the existing framework, ensuring that hostility based on any of these characteristics is treated with the same seriousness as racially or religiously aggravated offending.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with which company Cambridgeshire Constabulary has a contract for the provision of body armour for a) firearms and b) roads policing officers.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Cambridgeshire Constabulary maintains its own procurement function and the Home Office does not hold information on ongoing or prior contractual arrangements.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date the contract for body armour between Mehler Vario System GmbH and Cambridgeshire Constabulary expired.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Cambridgeshire Constabulary maintains its own procurement function and the Home Office does not hold information on ongoing or prior contractual arrangements.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the performance of the Report Fraud service since its launch in December 2025 including of the (a) average response times to fraud reports, (b) proportion of reports resulting in investigation by local police forces and (c) victim satisfaction compared to the previous Action Fraud service.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Report Fraud is the new and improved national police reporting service for fraud and cybercrime which replaced the previous Action Fraud service on 4 December 2025.
Report Fraud uses the latest technology to enhance the reporting experience and report updates for victims, and to improve the speed and quality of information shared with police, increasing the chances of successful investigations and prosecutions.
The City of London Police, who oversee the service, have provided data from the service which shows the following improvements compared to the previous service: