Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why they did not consider the rurality of locations as part of the place selection and allocation methodology for the Local Growth Fund.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK Government is providing targeted funding to the places in Scotland that need it most, while simultaneously delivering the largest Block Grant settlement for the Scottish Government in the whole history of devolution, which they can use to improve general funding settlements for local government services and priorities.
The Local Growth Fund is targeting five regions that contain the local authorities with the lowest Real Disposable Household Income per capita (RDHI) in Scotland, which is an established metric for measuring spatial disparities in living standards across the country. The local authorities in the Highlands and Islands had higher living standards and so did not meet the threshold for funding from this programme.
The Local Growth Fund is just one UK Government investment programme and the Highlands and Islands region is benefiting from more than £300m in other UK Government investments, including Community Regeneration Partnerships for Argyll & Bute, and the Western Isles; Local Regeneration Fund projects including the Fair Isle Ferry and Elgin Town Centre masterplan; the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport; Pride in Place Programme funding for Elgin, Sutherland, Orkney, and Lewis; and the completion of the four regional Growth Deals.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the Highland and Islands region was not allocated funding from the Local Growth Fund.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK Government is providing targeted funding to the places in Scotland that need it most, while simultaneously delivering the largest Block Grant settlement for the Scottish Government in the whole history of devolution, which they can use to improve general funding settlements for local government services and priorities.
The Local Growth Fund is targeting five regions that contain the local authorities with the lowest Real Disposable Household Income per capita (RDHI) in Scotland, which is an established metric for measuring spatial disparities in living standards across the country. The local authorities in the Highlands and Islands had higher living standards and so did not meet the threshold for funding from this programme.
The Local Growth Fund is just one UK Government investment programme and the Highlands and Islands region is benefiting from more than £300m in other UK Government investments, including Community Regeneration Partnerships for Argyll & Bute, and the Western Isles; Local Regeneration Fund projects including the Fair Isle Ferry and Elgin Town Centre masterplan; the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport; Pride in Place Programme funding for Elgin, Sutherland, Orkney, and Lewis; and the completion of the four regional Growth Deals.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of their weapon surrender bins on reducing violent crime.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government did not fund and provide surrender bins prior to 2025, when the Government funded 37 surrender bins, with 33 bins located in London, 1 in Greater Manchester and 3 in the West Midlands to support the extended knife surrender scheme held in July last year.
A total of 2,787 knives and weapons were deposited in the surrender bins.
Since the installation, one bin in London has been vandalised by graffiti.
The maintenance costs in 2025/26 for the surrender bins is £32,500 which includes the collection and disposal of surrendered weapons.
In relation to the impact of the surrender bins, the data the Government published demonstrates that they are being well used. The Government promoted the use of the surrender bins during the extended surrender arrangements and is continuing to encourage their use through engagement with the relevant local authorities and community safety leads.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to publicise the locations of their weapon surrender bins.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government did not fund and provide surrender bins prior to 2025, when the Government funded 37 surrender bins, with 33 bins located in London, 1 in Greater Manchester and 3 in the West Midlands to support the extended knife surrender scheme held in July last year.
A total of 2,787 knives and weapons were deposited in the surrender bins.
Since the installation, one bin in London has been vandalised by graffiti.
The maintenance costs in 2025/26 for the surrender bins is £32,500 which includes the collection and disposal of surrendered weapons.
In relation to the impact of the surrender bins, the data the Government published demonstrates that they are being well used. The Government promoted the use of the surrender bins during the extended surrender arrangements and is continuing to encourage their use through engagement with the relevant local authorities and community safety leads.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many weapons were placed in their surrender bins in (1) 2023, (2) 2024, and (3) 2025, broken down by (a) category of weapons, and (b) region.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government did not fund and provide surrender bins prior to 2025, when the Government funded 37 surrender bins, with 33 bins located in London, 1 in Greater Manchester and 3 in the West Midlands to support the extended knife surrender scheme held in July last year.
A total of 2,787 knives and weapons were deposited in the surrender bins.
Since the installation, one bin in London has been vandalised by graffiti.
The maintenance costs in 2025/26 for the surrender bins is £32,500 which includes the collection and disposal of surrendered weapons.
In relation to the impact of the surrender bins, the data the Government published demonstrates that they are being well used. The Government promoted the use of the surrender bins during the extended surrender arrangements and is continuing to encourage their use through engagement with the relevant local authorities and community safety leads.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of their weapon surrender bins were vandalised in (1) 2023, (2) 2024, and (3) 2025, broken down by region.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government did not fund and provide surrender bins prior to 2025, when the Government funded 37 surrender bins, with 33 bins located in London, 1 in Greater Manchester and 3 in the West Midlands to support the extended knife surrender scheme held in July last year.
A total of 2,787 knives and weapons were deposited in the surrender bins.
Since the installation, one bin in London has been vandalised by graffiti.
The maintenance costs in 2025/26 for the surrender bins is £32,500 which includes the collection and disposal of surrendered weapons.
In relation to the impact of the surrender bins, the data the Government published demonstrates that they are being well used. The Government promoted the use of the surrender bins during the extended surrender arrangements and is continuing to encourage their use through engagement with the relevant local authorities and community safety leads.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they spent on maintaining weapon surrender bins in (1) 2023, (2) 2024, and (3) 2025.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government did not fund and provide surrender bins prior to 2025, when the Government funded 37 surrender bins, with 33 bins located in London, 1 in Greater Manchester and 3 in the West Midlands to support the extended knife surrender scheme held in July last year.
A total of 2,787 knives and weapons were deposited in the surrender bins.
Since the installation, one bin in London has been vandalised by graffiti.
The maintenance costs in 2025/26 for the surrender bins is £32,500 which includes the collection and disposal of surrendered weapons.
In relation to the impact of the surrender bins, the data the Government published demonstrates that they are being well used. The Government promoted the use of the surrender bins during the extended surrender arrangements and is continuing to encourage their use through engagement with the relevant local authorities and community safety leads.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many weapon surrender bins they had in operation in (1) 2023, (2) 2024, and (3) 2025, broken down by region.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government did not fund and provide surrender bins prior to 2025, when the Government funded 37 surrender bins, with 33 bins located in London, 1 in Greater Manchester and 3 in the West Midlands to support the extended knife surrender scheme held in July last year.
A total of 2,787 knives and weapons were deposited in the surrender bins.
Since the installation, one bin in London has been vandalised by graffiti.
The maintenance costs in 2025/26 for the surrender bins is £32,500 which includes the collection and disposal of surrendered weapons.
In relation to the impact of the surrender bins, the data the Government published demonstrates that they are being well used. The Government promoted the use of the surrender bins during the extended surrender arrangements and is continuing to encourage their use through engagement with the relevant local authorities and community safety leads.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional funding they provided to the Scottish Government through the Barnett Formula when they announced the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee policy on 4 December 2024.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Funding for the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee announced on 4 December is being met from within the Home Office settlement agreed at Spending Review 2025. At Spending Reviews, the Barnett formula is applied to the overall change in UKG departments DEL budget. Because the formula is not applied to individual programmes, the consequentials associated with these individual programmes cannot be identified.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the 13,000 additional (1) neighbourhood police officers, (2) PCSOs, and (3) special constables, they plan to deliver as part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will be (a) newly recruited, and (b) recruited internally from other parts of the police force.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Our approach to delivery in 2025-26 has been designed to deliver an initial increase to the neighbourhood policing workforce in a manner that is flexible and can be adapted to the local context and varied crime demands. This means the precise workforce mix is a local decision.
The Government has committed to publishing neighbourhood policing numbers every six months, to align with the official police workforce statistics. The next update is due at the end of January 2026, which will set out the numbers in neighbourhood policing roles as at the end of September 2025.
We will set out more information on the approach to future delivery in due course.