Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect children in private messaging spaces from computer-generated child sexual abuse material.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Under the Online Safety Act, all regulated services must implement proportionate safety measures across all spaces. Platform design cannot be used as an excuse to avoid detection and reporting obligations.
Section 121 of the Online Safety Act allows Ofcom to issue ‘Technology Notices’, requiring in scope platforms to use their best endeavours to develop or adopt accredited proactive technology to detect child sexual abuse and exploitation in private messaging spaces.
The Government expects Ofcom to exercise its powers under Section 121 of the Online Safety Act where needed.
As part of the work to implement this, Ofcom ran a consultation on minimum standards of accuracy for accredited technology and draft guidance for providers, which closed in March 2025. Ofcom will publish their advice to the Government by April 2026.
The Crime and Policing Bill further strengthens protections for children against computer-generated abuse by:
We will also ban those abhorrent tools which are designed to generate non-consensual intimate images. Anyone who designs or supplies these vile tools will face time in prison.
Privacy and public safety are not mutually exclusive: we can, and must, have both.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they will maintain routes for international students to study and work in the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The student route launched in 2020 and provides a way for international students to apply to study in the UK. Some students have work rights such as those studying at degree level and above at higher education institutions, who can work for up to 20 hours per week during term-time, and full-time during vacations. Upon course completion, students may apply to extend their leave in the UK, including under work routes, if relevant requirements are met.
We keep all our immigration policies under constant review to ensure they best serve the UK and reflect the public’s priorities.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers were detained on (1) 30 April, and (2) the same day in each of the previous three months.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Home Office publishes statistics on people in detention in the 'Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release', which can be found on Gov.uk. The number of people in detention at the end of each year is broken down by asylum and non-asylum in table Det_01, of the ‘Detention summary tables’, which can also be found attached. The latest data goes up to the end of December 2021. Data for January to March 2022 will be published on the 26 May 2022.
Asylum-related cases refer to those where there has been an asylum claim at some stage prior or during detention. This will include asylum seekers whose asylum claims have been refused, and who have exhausted any rights of appeal, those retuned under third country provisions, as well as those granted asylum/protection, but detained for other reasons (such as criminality).
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that individual asylum seekers are not detained if there is no evidence that the individual presents a reasonable suspicion of danger to national security.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Home Office does not detain anyone in temporary asylum accommodation. Our accommodation providers do not have enforcement powers and those we are accommodating are free to come and go as they please. However,detention is an essential part of effective immigration control and is used to ensure that those with no right to remain in the UK are returned to their home country if they will not leave voluntarily. Migrants, including asylum claimants, may be detained for immigration purposes only in accordance with Home Office policy, as set out in the Detention General Guidance and the Adults at Risk in Immigration Detention policy.
The published detention policy makes it clear that detention must only be used when necessary, and for the shortest possible period. There is a presumption in favour of liberty for any person. We only detain people where removal is a realistic prospect within a reasonable timeframe, or initially to establish their identity or basis of claim. This is set out in both legislation and domestic caselaw and we are held to account on this by the courts, and by a series of safeguards that ensure proper scrutiny of decisions to detain, and on-going detention. Due to the complex range of factors involved, the suitability of detention must be appraised on a case by case basis. Once a person is in detention, regular reviews are undertaken to ensure that their detention remains lawful, appropriate, and proportionate. All asylum claims are considered as quickly as possible and enforcement action is taken once any claims have been considered and refused, and once any appeal rights have been exhausted.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average cost of (1) detaining an asylum seeker in custody, and (2) providing them with social housing in the community.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Home Office does not detain anyone in temporary asylum accommodation. Our accommodation providers do not have enforcement powers and those we are accommodating are free to come and go as they please.
Information on the average cost per night to hold an individual in immigration detention can be found at Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). As at Quarter 4 2021, the average cost per night to hold an individual in immigration detention was £101.61.
The total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ho-annual-reports-and-accounts(opens in a new tab).
We do not publish a breakdown of costs of our accommodation & support contracts by location or property type as such detail is considered commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what (1) advice, and (2) training, they give to public servants dealing with asylum seekers who have family living in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Public servants, including asylum decision making staff, give careful consideration of the protection needs by assessing all the evidence provided by the claimant.
All case working staff receive extensive training on considering asylum claims through our foundation training programme and must follow published Home Office policy guidance when making decisions. The training and guidance cover topics on dependents applying for asylum, child dependents and family asylum claims including those for family and private life.
In addition, an information leaflet is issued to asylum claimants at the point of claim which outlines the asylum process and the claimant’s responsibilities within that process. This information leaflet is periodically reviewed.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, how many cases were reported to the police in (1) England, and (2) Wales, involving assaults and sexual offences by (a) trans individuals, and (b) police officers, in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, and (iii) 2021.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Home Office does not hold information on the number of assaults or sexual offences reported to the police where the suspect was a transgender individual or a police officer.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many police officers with criminal records for indictable offences are currently serving in each of the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, and in the British Transport Police.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Home Office does not hold data on police officers with criminal records for indicatable offences whom are currently serving in the 43 territorial forces in England & Wales and the British Transport Police.
In carrying out recruitment of officers and staff, forces must abide by the College of Policing’s statutory code of practice on vetting, which includes further detail on consideration of convictions and cautions. This is further supported by the College’s vetting Authorised Professional Practice (APP) guidance, which is reviewed regularly. Decisions on recruitment are made independently, and on a case-by-case basis, by each force.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to invite the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation to report to the Home Secretary upon the options and possible solutions for dealing with cases of minors who wish to return to the UK from territories formerly held by Daesh, and who may hold nationality of both the UK and another country, where (1) a country refuses to admit the individual concerned, and (2) such a minor is at risk of capital punishment, torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government is aware that there are British national minors in Internally Displaced Persons camps in Syria, and we continue to work at pace with our international partners on these issues. The Government has no current plans to ask the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation to report on this topic.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the structure of the territorial police forces in England and Wales, in particular regard to (1) the standard of performance, (2) public satisfaction, and (3) ensuring that the full range of expert services, subject to a proportionate and necessary senior command structure, is available throughout the country.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government has no current plans to review the structure of territorial police forces in England and Wales.
More can be done within the current organisational and leadership structures to improve police performance and ensure services meet public expectations.
The Government supports HMICFRS’ ongoing assessments of forces, measuring performance and identifying areas to improve. Through the Police Transformation Fund we have also supported collaboration arrangements, for example, via the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Specialist Capabilities Programme which is developing new approaches for the provision of specialist capabilities across police force boundaries to tackle a range of criminality.