Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will reconsider sending old warrior infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine for restoration.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV) are key platforms for the British Army to meet Defence Commitments.
Although small numbers are scheduled for disposal, these will have been selected in line with serviceability and suitability for role. As such, without substantial investment, they are not likely to offer significant capability to Ukraine. Providing such small numbers would only increase the diversity of Ukraine’s armoured vehicle fleet, increasing their logistic and training burdens.
The UK will continue to work with Ukraine to identify how best to help them to resist Russian aggression.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the security breach at RAF Brize Norton on 20 June, what plans they have to improve the security of all RAF airfields.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We are now conducting a review of security across Defence that will assess and assure the state of protective security at all sites. As I am sure you can appreciate, we will not comment on the specifics before the review has concluded.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that children eligible for free school meals under the proposals to extend free school meals on 4 June receive extended school transport.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government’s overriding priority is to tackle child hunger. 100,000 children will be lifted out of poverty by the end of this Parliament, through the extension of free school meals (FSM) to all households on Universal Credit.
Children who meet the new, higher threshold for FSM from September 2026 will not automatically be entitled to ‘extended rights’ home-to-school travel. Children will continue to be eligible for ‘extended rights’ home-to-school travel if they live in a household with an income below the existing FSM threshold and meet the eligibility criteria relating to the distance between their home and school. Further information about a new mechanism for assessing eligibility for ‘extended rights’ home-to-school travel will be available shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have considered automating the visa extension process for Ukrainians living in the UK whose visas are about to expire.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK has offered or extended sanctuary to over 300,000 Ukrainians and their families under the Ukraine Schemes, thanks to the immense generosity of the British public. We are determined to continue to provide stability for those we have welcomed to the UK and who still need our sanctuary.
The Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme, which opened to applications on 4 February 2025, is intended to allow those with existing Ukraine Scheme permission, who have been living in the UK and who continue to require sanctuary in the UK, to complete and application online for further permission to stay in the UK.
An automatic extension of existing permission would mean inadvertently providing further permission to a person who has now left the UK and is no longer in need of temporary sanctuary in the UK.
Nevertheless, UPE will be one of the first immigration routes to reuse existing biometric records, removing the need for the majority of Ukrainians to attend a UK visa and citizenship application services centre. This will create a faster and more streamlined customer journey. We will roll-out the option to reuse previously submitted biometrics using a phased approach.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to withdraw the 'thank you' payments to sponsors of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Lord Khan of Burnley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Thank you payments remain in place for sponsors of Ukrainian guests under the Homes for Ukraine (HfU) scheme. As the first HfU visas are coming to an end, guests will be eligible to apply for a Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) visa for a further 18 months. To thank them for their continued generosity, thank you payments for eligible sponsors will be extended for guests previously on HfU who move to a UPE visa.
To fund this extended support for HfU guests moving to the UPE scheme, from 1 April 2025, thank you payments will be paid at a flat rate of £350 per month for all sponsors of guests on HfU and UPE visas, regardless of how long guests have been in the UK.
Following this additional 18 month period, thank you payments will end. This is designed to empower guests to live independently, with enough time for guests and sponsors to plan for next steps, including to secure independent accommodation if needed or convert a sponsorship to a lodging arrangement.
To support this transition, we are signposting sponsors to the Government’s ‘rent a room’ scheme for those who wish to convert their lodging arrangements with their sponsors. If sponsors move to an arrangement where they charge rent, they will no longer be eligible for thank you payments.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support flexi-job agencies for apprenticeships, particularly for SME employers in rural areas and regions.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department is supporting sectors with short-term project-based work through flexi-Job apprenticeship agencies, which have so far allowed 1,000 apprentices to work with different host employers, and on a range of projects, to gain the skills and knowledge needed to be successful in their chosen field.
As of October 2023, there are 45 flexi-job agencies supporting the delivery of apprenticeships in sectors such as creative, construction, agriculture and digital, across every region in England. The current register of flexi-job agencies can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flexi-job-apprenticeships/flexi-job-apprenticeship-agencies.
Organisations such as mayoral combined authorities and local authorities will be able to apply to become a flexi-job agency if they can successfully meet the conditions of registration. The department will share details of any plans to re-open the register in due course. The conditions of registration can be found attached.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to allowing local authorities to become flexi-job apprenticeship agencies.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department is supporting sectors with short-term project-based work through flexi-Job apprenticeship agencies, which have so far allowed 1,000 apprentices to work with different host employers, and on a range of projects, to gain the skills and knowledge needed to be successful in their chosen field.
As of October 2023, there are 45 flexi-job agencies supporting the delivery of apprenticeships in sectors such as creative, construction, agriculture and digital, across every region in England. The current register of flexi-job agencies can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flexi-job-apprenticeships/flexi-job-apprenticeship-agencies.
Organisations such as mayoral combined authorities and local authorities will be able to apply to become a flexi-job agency if they can successfully meet the conditions of registration. The department will share details of any plans to re-open the register in due course. The conditions of registration can be found attached.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there are any restrictions on a Mayoral Combined Authority being a flexi-job apprenticeship agency.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department is supporting sectors with short-term project-based work through flexi-Job apprenticeship agencies, which have so far allowed 1,000 apprentices to work with different host employers, and on a range of projects, to gain the skills and knowledge needed to be successful in their chosen field.
As of October 2023, there are 45 flexi-job agencies supporting the delivery of apprenticeships in sectors such as creative, construction, agriculture and digital, across every region in England. The current register of flexi-job agencies can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flexi-job-apprenticeships/flexi-job-apprenticeship-agencies.
Organisations such as mayoral combined authorities and local authorities will be able to apply to become a flexi-job agency if they can successfully meet the conditions of registration. The department will share details of any plans to re-open the register in due course. The conditions of registration can be found attached.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many police officers left the police force in each year since 2019.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the size and composition of the police workforce, including officer numbers and leavers, in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area (PFA), annually in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales
Data on the number of police officers in the police service, as at 31 March in each year from 2007 to 2023, can be found in the ‘Police Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1172892/open-data-table-police-workforce-260723.ods
This data is available on both a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis and includes officers seconded into forces as well as officers on career breaks or parental leave.
Table 1 below shows the number of police officers employed in the England in Wales, by year, in both headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) terms.
Table 1: Police officer numbers, by year, England and Wales
As at 31 March | Number of officers (headcount) | Number of officers (FTE) |
2019 | 125,811 | 123,189 |
2020 | 131,576 | 129,110 |
2021 | 137,690 | 135,301 |
2022 | 142,505 | 140,228 |
2023 | 149,566 | 147,430 |
Data on the number of police officers leaving the police service, in the years ending 31 March 2007 to 2023, can be found in the ‘Leavers Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1172932/open-data-table-police-workforce-leavers-260723.ods
The table 2 below shows the number of police officers leavers (excluding transfers between forces) in the England in Wales, by year, in FTE terms.
Table 2: Police officer leavers (excluding transfers) by year, England and Wales
Year ending 31 March | Police officer leavers (FTE) |
2019 | 7,387 |
2020 | 7,141 |
2021 | 6,018 |
2022 | 8,117 |
2023 | 9,192 |
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total number of serving police officers in each year since 2019.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the size and composition of the police workforce, including officer numbers and leavers, in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area (PFA), annually in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales
Data on the number of police officers in the police service, as at 31 March in each year from 2007 to 2023, can be found in the ‘Police Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1172892/open-data-table-police-workforce-260723.ods
This data is available on both a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis and includes officers seconded into forces as well as officers on career breaks or parental leave.
Table 1 below shows the number of police officers employed in the England in Wales, by year, in both headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) terms.
Table 1: Police officer numbers, by year, England and Wales
As at 31 March | Number of officers (headcount) | Number of officers (FTE) |
2019 | 125,811 | 123,189 |
2020 | 131,576 | 129,110 |
2021 | 137,690 | 135,301 |
2022 | 142,505 | 140,228 |
2023 | 149,566 | 147,430 |
Data on the number of police officers leaving the police service, in the years ending 31 March 2007 to 2023, can be found in the ‘Leavers Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1172932/open-data-table-police-workforce-leavers-260723.ods
The table 2 below shows the number of police officers leavers (excluding transfers between forces) in the England in Wales, by year, in FTE terms.
Table 2: Police officer leavers (excluding transfers) by year, England and Wales
Year ending 31 March | Police officer leavers (FTE) |
2019 | 7,387 |
2020 | 7,141 |
2021 | 6,018 |
2022 | 8,117 |
2023 | 9,192 |