Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to urgently resolve the police officer pay award issue over the summer.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 1 August, the Home Secretary announced that the Government has accepted the PRRB’s recommendations in full, including a 4.2% consolidated pay increase for police officers (up to and including the rank of Chief Superintendent), effective from 1 September 2025. This decision reflected the PRRB’s assessment of the economic context, recruitment and retention data, and the specific challenges facing the police workforce. The full PRRB report and related Government response can be found here: Police Remuneration Review Body report: 2025 England and Wales - GOV.UK
The Government is carefully considering the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) recommendations for Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and will set out its decision in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the delay to the police officer pay award has had on (1) staff morale, and (2) police recruitment.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 1 August, the Home Secretary announced that the Government has accepted the PRRB’s recommendations in full, including a 4.2% consolidated pay increase for police officers (up to and including the rank of Chief Superintendent), effective from 1 September 2025. This decision reflected the PRRB’s assessment of the economic context, recruitment and retention data, and the specific challenges facing the police workforce. The full PRRB report and related Government response can be found here: Police Remuneration Review Body report: 2025 England and Wales - GOV.UK
The Government is carefully considering the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) recommendations for Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and will set out its decision in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the reasons for the delay to the police officer pay award.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 1 August, the Home Secretary announced that the Government has accepted the PRRB’s recommendations in full, including a 4.2% consolidated pay increase for police officers (up to and including the rank of Chief Superintendent), effective from 1 September 2025. This decision reflected the PRRB’s assessment of the economic context, recruitment and retention data, and the specific challenges facing the police workforce. The full PRRB report and related Government response can be found here: Police Remuneration Review Body report: 2025 England and Wales - GOV.UK
The Government is carefully considering the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) recommendations for Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and will set out its decision in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will provide an update about the ongoing pay review for police officers.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 1 August, the Home Secretary announced that the Government has accepted the PRRB’s recommendations in full, including a 4.2% consolidated pay increase for police officers (up to and including the rank of Chief Superintendent), effective from 1 September 2025. This decision reflected the PRRB’s assessment of the economic context, recruitment and retention data, and the specific challenges facing the police workforce. The full PRRB report and related Government response can be found here: Police Remuneration Review Body report: 2025 England and Wales - GOV.UK
The Government is carefully considering the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) recommendations for Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and will set out its decision in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support local authorities in enforcing trading standards to help reduce the resale of stolen phones.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, local government representatives, leading technology companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves. The Summit resulted in commitments from the police to work in partnership across force boundaries as well as in collaboration with local partners such as Trading Standards and other local authority resources to tackle this criminality. This collaboration is ongoing.
In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose.
Through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will also place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles to provide a more visible and effective service to the public, with each neighbourhood having named, contactable officers dealing with local issues, including the theft of mobile phones.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Metropolitan Police's decision to cut 1,700 staff upon the implementation of the Crime and Policing Bill; and what steps they are taking to mitigate the impact of these cuts.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Metropolitan Police will receive up to £3.8 billion of funding in 2025-26. This is a £262.1 million increase when compared with the 2024-25 settlement, equating to a 7.4% cash increase and 4.9% real terms increase.
The Home Office is currently working closely with the Metropolitan Police and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, to further understand the force’s recruitment and budget challenges, and ensure that the force is taking every step available to prevent further reductions in headcount and increase officer numbers.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle increasing levels of mobile phone theft.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together law enforcement and leading tech companies to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves.
The Summit resulted in clear commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the problem and better understand the role of organised crime networks.
To aid police investigations and recovery of stolen goods, our Crime and Policing Bill also includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geolocation tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant.
Through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles to provide a more visible and effective response, including in response to the activities of mobile phone thieves operating in our communities.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the merits of enhancing police presence and protection around Grade I listed buildings such as Westminster Cathedral.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions about police resourcing are a matter for operationally independent Chief Constables and directly elected local policing bodies, such as Police and Crime Commissioners and Mayors exercising PCC functions.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support junior police cadet schemes.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises and values the professionalism, dedication and sacrifice shown by volunteers in policing. Volunteers enhance the effectiveness of policing by bringing diverse and valuable skills that complement the roles officers and staff play in delivering the best service to the public.
Police forces are responsible for running their local volunteering programmes, including volunteer police cadet schemes.
The annual Lord Ferrers Awards ceremony, which will take place on 5 December, is organised by the Home Office to recognise the time and effort that volunteer police cadets and other volunteers contribute to their local communities.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that immigration lawyers and law firms are not involved in (1) coaching claimants, or (2) encouraging them to make false statements to deceive the immigration system.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office Professional Enablers Taskforce was created in March 2023 to investigate the activities of all Professional Enablers, who may be using their expertise or position to abuse the immigration system. This includes legal professionals and immigration advisers.
Where unethical and illegal practices are identified and evidence exists that obligations have been breached, the taskforce may refer legal practitioners to the relevant regulatory body or to law enforcement partners, where criminality is evident for consideration of sanctions or penalties.